Mother's Day with Gramma

We started celebrating Mother's Day with my mom a few days early by going to dinner at Batanga and then to a Mercury Orchestra concert (Beethoven's 4th and 5th symphonies) on Friday night at the Wortham.  It was fantastic!

I always forget to get a picture with my boys on Mother's Day, so I made sure that Gene snapped a bunch before church on Sunday. Look at my two cuties!! I am so lucky I get to be their mom!

After church, we headed up to Kingwood for a Mother's Day feast! Gramma and Grampa made meatloaf, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, corn and peas, and cranberry sauce. YUM!!

After lunch, we opened our Mother's Day gifts.  

The boys and I made the same gift for Gramma that we did for Nana, but with different wording of course! It says, "Grandma, we love you because... you play Rat-a-Tat Cat and other games with me (Henry) and you give really good hugs (Will)."

 Then I opened Will's gift. Check out his grin!

Will filled out this adorable questionnaire at school. I just love it and all his sweet answers.  

This is what my big boy had to say about me:  

What do you love to do the most with your mom? I like to go to the Children's Museum with my mom.

Complete this sentence: My mom is as pretty as a flower.

What's the smartest thing your mom has ever told you? She told me "I used to be a teacher so listen to me."

If you could give your mom anything in the world, what would it be? I would give my mom one hundred Reese's pieces.

What kind of stuff is your mom really good at? My mom's really good at exercising.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be? I would make my mom give me ice cream every day.

What's one thing you think your mom should do less of? My mom should do less of trips.

What's one things you think your mom should do more of? I think my mom should hug and kiss me more.

What does your mom do to relax? My mom naps to relax.

What do you think your mom was like before she had kids? My mom was happy because Weezy kept her company.

What's your mom's favorite food and favorite drink? My mom's favorite food and drink are chocolate and coffee.

What's the craziest thing you've ever seen your mom do? She banged around with pots and pans.

Complete this sentence: I know my mom loves me because she hugs and kisses me a lot!

Will also made me a sweet pot holder that apparently I can use for my 100 Reese's pieces and Gene's red bean soup. 

After the gift opening, we headed outside to enjoy another beautiful May day and practice our bike riding. Will has completely mastered this riding-without-training-wheels thing and is doing great!

Henry did great too but we're going to practice even more to build up his confidence.  

Will raced Gene and Henry. He has some serious speed!

Daddy was goofy, 

and Henry was happy. 

And before we knew it, it was time to pack up the car and head on home! We tried to get a picture with the boys but they were tired.

I am so glad I got to spend Mother's Day with my mom and my little boys.

It was the great ending to a fun-filled weekend!

Mother's Day with Nana

We spent Saturday afternoon celebrating Mother's Day a bit early with Gene's family! The boys and I made this card for Nana and framed it. It says "Nana, we love you because...you make the best food (Henry) and because... you come to all my school events (Will)." So fun!

Nana worked hard and made a delicious dinner, and afterwards, the grandkids helped her unwrap her gift.  

Then the cousins settled in to watch Finding Nemo,

while the moms sat around the dining room table just relaxing and chatting,

and the men cleaned up the entire kitchen!

One last pic of the moms celebrating Mother's Day.

I am so thankful for all the wonderful moms (family and friends) who surround me and support me on a daily basis. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

A Mother's Day Luncheon

Mother's Day is a three-day affair around here! It all started Friday morning with a Mother's Day luncheon at Henry's school, which all the moms made it to despite the torrential rains and flooding streets right as we were driving there! This is the pretty invitation I received to the party.

We sat with friends, and the moms enjoyed chicken salad, croissants, and salad followed by cheesecake while the kiddos munched on hot dogs, cheese puffs, fruit and cookies. Henry was famished, as always, so he helped me eat my lunch!

After lunch, the teachers played a game called "That's Me!" Each child had drawn a portrait of his mom and wrote a little blurb all about her. Mrs. Merrell showed us the portrait and read the note and the moms had to guess if that was her.

Here is Henry's portrait of me. Apparently I am the only mom in the room with eyebrows!

And this is what he wrote:  My mommy is great because she makes good dinner. I like some kind of pasta that she makes. I like to go to museums with her. We play Sleeping Queens together. She always says, "If you just do it, it's done!" I'd like to give her a trip to California for Mother's Day because she grew up there. I love her all the way up to the moon and back. Pretty obviously mine, right?

The kids also passed out cards and lotions

and then sang a sweet song.  

Henry's teachers are wonderful and we are so happy to have them this year.

A picture of me with my boy!

The Mother's Day luncheon was a great way to kick off a fabulous Mother's Day weekend!

My Henry

We are down to the last two weeks of pre-K for Henry!  This kid has grown so much lately and is just an amazing, sweet little boy.  

These are some comments Henry has made lately: 

On checking the Stilton to make sure it was still good to eat:  

How do you know when stinky cheese goes bad?  

On Mommy's never-ending housework:  

(Back story: We watched a short called Burn-E on the Wall-E DVD, where the repair robot Burn-E tries to fix a lamp only to have everything go wrong. He finally fixes it, turns on the lamp, only to have it crushed and they cycle starts all over again.)   

Mommy, you are just like Burn-E! Your work never ends!

On tearing down small, less expensive houses in West U to build mansions: 

But Mommy, that doesn't make sense. What about the people who don't have as much money? They could buy the small house and live in it!

On feeling grouchy: I feel grouchy when I don't get enough sleep.  

Henry's class made their last bulletin board of the year based on Eric Carle's The Very Grouchy Ladybug. Henry is a grouch when he doesn't get enough sleep!

Happy boy who clearly had lots of sleep the night before :)

Sometimes when Henry is supposed to be sleeping, he is busy writing googol (1 plus 100 zeroes) on his Magnadoodle. We heard him counting to 100 but didn't realize right away that he was counting out zeroes to make googol. I'm 100% positive I was not doing this when I was five years old!

And finally, we have been enjoying this lovely spring weather and Henry's half days (I am so going to miss this next year when he is in kindergarten!) by getting outside lots. I packed us a picnic lunch for the zoo on Monday, and just as I was picking up Henry from school, Gene called to see if he could join us for lunch. When I told him we were headed to the zoo, he met us there!

Meerkat sentry:

And the best thing ever: elephant babies swimming in the water

and rough-housing. They were shoving and kicking each other playfully, just like my boys do. I knew I lived in a zoo!

It was such a fun afternoon but we all missed having Will there. He would have loved it!

Right now, I am just trying to soak up this special time with my little guy before he gets all big and grown-up and has to go to all-day kindergarten.

 In the fall, I know I am going to miss this.

The Weekend: The End of Soccer and Outdoor Time

This weekend marked the end of spring soccer and the end of Sunday school classes for the boys. While we loved both activities, they made for busy weekends!

The Tornado Dragons celebrated the end of the season with donuts after Saturday morning's game.

Coach Gene passed out the trophies. 

Henry loves this soccer ball trophy! The ball spins...

Henry with Daddy.  

Our team mom gave Gene a framed picture of his team with the kids' signatures all around. So cute!

Will's last game was yesterday afternoon.  

He and the Dynamo Champions played hard!

We had a small party on the playground and the boys got their trophies.

We had big plans to get outside and enjoy this beautiful May weather by hiking at Brazos Bend, but our Saturday yard work and errands took longer than expected, so we just enjoyed the outdoors in our own backyard. Gene got the grill out for the first time this year!

This was Sunday lunch, courtesy of Gene. Hummus, olives, Triscuits, almonds and tons of fresh veggies with roses from our garden as a backdrop!

The weekend ended with another relaxing grilled dinner outside and some bubble fun for the boys.

We are looking forward to many more grilled dinners in our backyard in the coming months.

Lately: A Dog Show and Some Crazy May Weather

This has been a busy week but it was so nice to get back in the regular rhythm of things. This was the first week since March that no one had to stay home sick!

I snapped this picture of Ainsley and Henry on our way to pick up the big kids on Tuesday. It was a typical warm spring day in southeast Texas.

And then a cold front came in and it was in the 40s yesterday morning. We had to dig out our winter coats and bundle up! It was so windy that Henry's hood kept blowing off his head. Crazy Texas weather!

It made for the chilliest Dog Show Day in St. Paul's history.

All the kids got to bring dogs (real or stuffed) for the Honeybee class's annual dog show. 

Each dog won an award from the official dog show judge.

Henry's no-name puppy won the award for quietest dog. 

Yesterday afternoon was BEAUTIFUL!  The boys and I always play at the playground after school when the weather is nice (which has been most days since October!). We stayed an hour and a half yesterday afternoon. It was just too pretty to go inside!  Will devoured his snack on the slide.  

And then we decided to head to Jerry Built Burgers for dinner. We hadn't been before but they are sponsors for our soccer league and provided us with lots of coupons for free meals. The verdict? Thumbs up! The food was good and I love that they use grass-fed, pasture-raised, antibiotic- and hormone-free beef and lots of local, organic ingredients. When you're in the mood for a burger, it's a great place to go! Plus the chalk board is just plain fun to draw on.

We have big plans to get outside today and enjoy this beautiful May weekend!