a boy and his mermaid {again}

P's first day of kindergarten!

P could not wait to go to school the first day of kindergarten!  I was thrilled to see his enthusiasm, because I know school will be more fun for him if it's something he wants to do.  I always loved school, and it makes me happy that P does, too.

P's school has a "uniform" {it's pretty lenient for a uniform, so I think of it as a dress code} that involves a solid colored shirt with a collar, so he dressed up his outfit with his "pirate tie".

Before we left for school, P's buddy Noah {who goes to our church and is also in P's class} got in on our photo shoot.

P headed into school with the cards he made for his teachers.  They were so sweet!  He came up with the idea to give his teachers cards on the first day of school all on his own.  In each one, he wrote, "Thank you for teaching me.  Love, P".  His thoughtful nature is one of the things I love about P.

P and Noah posed for one more photo inside the classroom.

Yup, I was one of those moms.  I just had to snap a picture of P with his teachers.  They are both so sweet and so adorable.  Look how cute they are!

We are so blessed with P's school situation this year!  I felt so good about the classroom and the school that it made leaving him there much easier.  He has wonderful teachers and is having a fabulous year!

NDS open house

This was a big year for our family - P headed to kindergarten at the end of August!

Two days before school started, P's school had an open house and he had a chance to check things out.  His teachers are both phenomenal, and his cheerleading coach is also his PE teacher.  His classroom is such an inviting place.  Daddy A snapped this photo of our excited kindergartner-to-be by his labeled coat hook.  Looking at the expression on his face, I couldn't help but be thrilled with him that school was about to start!

 

 

in which the boys help me celebrate my birthday

This year, P and C baked and decorated a special flower cake and some cupcakes for my birthday.  They worked so hard, and everything tasted delicious!

The boys - decked out in festive face paint - sang to me and helped me blow out my candles.

And of course, they also helped me eat my cake.  :)

The boys were so excited to give my gifts, especially P.  When we were at EPCOT in Disney World, he picked out a pearl from an oyster in Japan and chose a setting for it.  He had it made into a necklace, and he kept the secret for almost a month!

I had a great birthday, and I loved spending it with all three of my boys!

Challenger soccer camp

P participated in Challenger soccer camp again in August, and this year C joined the fun!  It was a small group {in fact, they combined P and C's groups}, and the boys had lots of personal attention, learned tons, and had a blast!  Thank you Coach Katie!

a performance of Peter Pan

In early August, my parents took P on a Disney cruise.  While he was away, Daddy A and I took C to see Peter Pan at CoMMA, our local auditorium.  C was so excited about the show - he kept reminding us, "At the play, you have to stay in your seat and be very quiet."  He had a blast at the show, and now he's hooked on theater!  He has since seen several more plays and concerts, and he says he can't wait to be in a play himself.

Legoland and fun with friends

While we were in Orlando, we planned to take the boys to Legoland since it opened in Florida last year.  We were thrilled when we realized that some good friends of ours lived just minutes away!  P and C were so excited to see their friend Holland.

I was pretty psyched to be reunited with Holland's mommy, too!

Our first full day in Winter Haven, we headed to the park.

On her first trip through this rollercoaster, Holland screamed the entire ride.  However, after her mom warmed her up and we rode some other attractions, she couldn't wait to give it a second try with me.  :)

There were cool Lego creations like this throughout the park.  If you know P well at all, you won't be surprised that he was almost as excited to get his picture with Lego R2D2 as C was to pose with Princess Tiana.

P alleges that he finds "girl Legos" boring, but he did pose with Lego Friend Olivia "for Holland".  :)

The two kindergartners to be had a blast hanging out together!

C was happy to try on Holland's dresses and nightgowns and convince his friend "Cape" to paint his nails.

We had such a good time visiting the Sibleys!  They've now moved to Virginia, so hopefully our time between visits will shorten now that the miles between us have lessened.  Thanks for a great time, friends!

DISNEY!!!

We are a house of Disney fans, so we were super excited when we realized that we would be able to take P and C to Disney World during Daddy A's sabbatical.  There are so many things we love about Disney.  I plan to {eventually} make a scrapbook of our trip, but I'll hit a few of the highlights in pictures in this post.

{THE MAGIC}

{THE RIDES}

{THE PRINCESSES}

{THE MEET AND GREETS}

{THE SNACKS}

{THE SPECIAL ACTIVITIES}

{THE PIRATES}

I cannot say enough good things about our trip.  The boys can't wait to go back!

mermaids, Oceana, and more Virginia Beach fun

Grandma Hen and Granddaddy Rooster took us out Norfolk while we were visiting for some fun abut town.  C was especially eager to look for the city's mermaids, and his radar was right on target.  He spotted his first mermaid before we were even out of the parking garage!

We spent the majority of our day at Nauticus and learned all sorts of fun facts.  Granddad's favorite part was exploring the USS Wisconsin.

C spent several minutes learning about fuel efficiency before moving on to one of his greatest loves - that's right folks, more mermaids!

While we were examining the different types of clothes sailors on the Wisconsin might have worn, C enjoyed one of his favorite pasttimes - dress up!

The boys both enjoyed all of the interactive exhibits in the museum.  P really enjoys science, so he was thrilled to have some hands-on opportunities to learn more about how things work.

As a mom, I enjoyed watching my boys having so much fun learning new things while spending some quality time with their grandparents.  We had a great day!

Captain Jack's tour

While we were in Virginia Beach, Grandma Hen took us and our nephew Bradley on a tour with Captain Jack the pirate!  The boys were excited about waking up, putting on their "pirate clothes", and heading off on an adventure!

There were so many things to enjoy on the ship!  The boys enjoyed rousing games of limbo

 

and hot potato.

P was chosen to help prepare the cannon for firing.

P especially enjoyed the face paint.  He chose this gory scar.

Near the end of our time at sea, Blackbeard came past our ship in his motor boat.  Everyone was encouraged to shoot the rogue pirate with water cannons, and - as you'd expect - that was a popular attraction.

We closed out the day with dinner at Chili's with Uncle Michael and a stop at the store for some school uniforms and a face paint kit.

C also spotted this Snow White top at Old Navy.  It was originally part of a pajama set, but the pants were gone.  The top was on clearance for 47 cents, and C has worn it at least 47 times.  We have definitely gotten our money's worth on that one.  :)

Thanks for a great day, Grandma Hen!