4s Easter Egg Hunt 2011

Thomas’ class had their Easter egg hunt today at the house of one of his classmates. 

They started out with a sack race (boys went first, then girls – since there are nearly 20 children in Thomas’ class):

Thomas didn’t finish first, but he did finish (unlike last year at his 3s end-of-year picnic!).  And best of all, he had fun!

The girls cheered for the boys, and when it was time for the girls to jump, the boys were encouraged to cheer for them.  I love all the moms in the background with their cameras at the ready…

Then the kids had an egg race (walking with an egg on a spoon).  I’ve never seen these kids so focused!

Then the Easter Bunny made a quick visit while the hostess read a Easter story to the class (while the eggs were hidden!).

Of course, boys will be boys and Thomas and his buddies on the back row noticed that the Easter Bunny had a zipper on his back and they announced to the class that he wasn’t real and gave many reasons why as their proof.  Ahhhh, boys (see them in this picture staring intently at his back).

Boys are troublemakers!

Finally it was time for the big hunt.

They had to find a certain number of eggs with their first name, a certain number with their last name and then were allowed an assigned number of “plain” eggs.  Thomas was more interested in looking in his eggs as he went, but he still had fun.

Here’s Thomas and his best class buddy, Thomas.   I’m sad they won’t be at the same school together next year!

Then it was time for lunch (before we had to rush off and pick up Parker).  It was a warm, sunny day and Thomas quickly complained that he needed sunglasses.  What a kind mother I was to share mine!

This was our first event in a busy week (with Thomas’ birthday tomorrow and Parker’s class Easter egg hunt on Thursday).  I’m so glad the weather cooperated and Thomas had such a fun day with his friends!

Mother’s Day Tea

For most of the time Thomas has attended his current school, I have looked forward to our turn at the Mother’s Day Tea when he was in the 4s.  I’ve heard that it’s the best part of his preschool.  So naturally, I was curious and eagerly anticipating the big event.  Obviously his 4s teachers built it up too because Thomas was equally excited about it.

Today was finally the day.  Thomas kept reminding me that I needed to be on time and that he HAD to wear his “Easter clothes.”  I told him that he’s not supposed to wear seersucker before Easter, but he insisted…only his best would do for the Mother’s Day Tea. 

When I arrived, I found the seat with the program made especially for me (by Thomas).  My seat was right in the middle!  And in the middle of the stage was a poster of “flowers” made by each student in the class saying why they each loved their mother (It says “I love my mom because:”):

Thomas said “buys me stuff when I’m good.”  Ha ha.

At first they all sat until time to introduce themselves (I will have video to share of this soon)…

And then it was time to perform several songs.  The kids were ADORABLE!

Thomas wasn’t the loudest, but he did participate with the motions and the words.  I could tell he was proud of himself and I was certainly proud of him!

This was the color song where they sang the colors in French and the partners waved the flags of their assigned colors.  Thomas and his partner (Emaline) were right in the front middle of the stage.

And then time for another song and another prop…scarves.  Too cute.

My absolute favorite part of the “show” was the final number when they danced together with their partner.  I could not believe Thomas!  I will have the video soon, but he was twisting and twirling his partner and it was so adorable I almost wanted to cry. 

This is apparently a moment between songs when the kids found something funny. 

After they finished with their “show,” it was time to sit and wait until their turn to go get there mom and escort her to her seat. 

Thomas came and walked me to my seat and here it was:

At my place was my yummy lunch, a placemat Thomas made for me, a special card he made and a tile he decorated (with a rainbow)…oh and my placecard.  It was so very sweet.    And here was the rest of the room…

The proud and silly son…

My beautiful placemat (it says “I hand you my heart.”):

The front of my card…

And the inside (it says:  There’s someone who loves you, Now who could that be? That someone who loves you, Is also called me!”).  And then he drew a picture of the two of us.  Now I must note this is the second time recently that Thomas has drawn me with brown hair.  I think I’m the only person who still thinks I am a blonde.  This was not my favorite part of the Mother’s Day Tea.  :)

Thank you Thomas for being such a sweet boy at the tea and for all of the work you put into the event.  It was so special and it was so very worth the wait!  I love you more than words can say and I am so amazed at how much you are learning as you grow!

Pickin’ strawberries…and a little dirt

For weeks I’ve noticed the signs for the farm on Wadmalaw Island where you can pick your own strawberries.  We went there last year and had such fun, so I really wanted to return.  Problem is, we’ve just been too busy.  Thomas can only go on Fridays and all of our Fridays have been and will be booked up this month.  So after thinking about it, I decided it would be a great opportunity to spend some rare one-on-one time doing something special just with Parker.

A friend and her two boys joined us and off we went.  It was a beautiful day and the strawberries were ripe for picking!

Sadly, I didn’t notice my camera was not on the right setting, so the first half of my pictures are not great, but you can still get the picture. 

Parker picked until his basket was not quite too heavy for him to carry, and he was proud of his haul.

Then it was time for our picnic lunch and playtime on the swings…

…and in the dirt!

And boy, was he dirty!

But he was mighty happy!

Give boys a dirty field and they are perfectly happy!

Rub a dub dire, three boys in a tire!

Unlike last year, he decided not to eat the dirt-covered strawberries as he picked them, but he couldn’t wait to take a bite once we got home and rinsed them off!

Hopefully we’ll be able to take Thomas too, but I enjoyed my special date with my baby boy (even though after this photo was taken I did have to take him straight to the shower!)!

Dora, Dora, Dora the Explorer!

When I received the email recently from the aquarium that Dora the Explorer was coming for a free visit, I figured I needed to try to bring the boys to meet her.  Almost every day after Parker naps, the boys want to watch an episode of Dora while they enjoy their afternoon snack.  I’m not sure what the attraction is, but they love her and I like that they at least usually learn a few words of Spanish!

Thomas had his first t-ball game of the season this morning, and then we went to go meet Dora (and they were most happy to see that Boots the monkey made the trip as well).  We had to stand in line for a little bit, but then they got their big moment.

Parker only wanted to look and see what she had in her backpack.  I think he was making sure “MAP!” was in there…and he was.  :)

So much was going on that they would only look at the professional photographer and not me.

Oh well, at least the pictures prove they did “meet” her!

Then we enjoyed a little time in the very crowded aquarium.  We hadn’t been in awhile, so it was fun.

Last year they met Bob the Builder…this year, Dora…who will be next?!?

Even bigger-boy land

After a brief stint in the crib with bed rails, we have taken down the crib forever (sniff, sniff!) and as of last night Parker is now in his real big boy bed (though we have yet to purchase his big boy bedding and decorate his room in any interesting way!).

Thomas wanted to sleep in there with him, but they just couldn’t settle down enough. 

Parker loves his new bed.

He sleeps across the bed and uses every inch of it, but he loves it and his new room.

Moving to big-boy land

We moved one week ago today.  The boys were with their grandparents until Wednesday, and when they returned I still had not found the time to assemble Parker’s crib.  We’ve been planning to move him to a “big boy bed” for quite some time, but were waiting on the move.  Now that we have moved, we have the bed, but not the mattress.  So I decided to set up the crib and use his new bed rails (like we did for Thomas) and finally got it together by Thursday.  I should say that he didn’t mind sleeping on the inflatable bed in Thomas’ room (and they want me to put it back).  But he was excited to see his crib set up in a manner more fitting the big boy he knows he is:

He slept there just fine until 6ish when he called for me claiming he needed a dry diaper, but what he really wanted was to come to our bed (and a dry diaper).  Of course his brother had already made his way down to our room at that point.  I stayed in between them for awhile before I got up to be more productive.  Trey came and got me as he got ready for work and said I needed to come see them.

My boys may fuss and fight sometimes, but they also love each other so very much all the time.

We are working on getting the new mattresses this week.  We’ll have a full-size bed in Parker’s room and two twins in Thomas’ room.  It will be interesting to see if they’d rather:
a) each sleep in their own room; or

b) sleep together in Parker’s new bed; or

c) sleep in the twin beds in Thomas’ room. 

We shall see!