First Day of School!

Just a quick post of pictures. I promised the boys hot chocolate chip cookies after school so I need to get upstairs and get started!

The boys had fun at open house yesterday. Nolen was kind of nervous but perked up when he got to visit his old teachers. Max was his usual carefree self. I have no worries about that one!

All ready for school today. Nolen wanted his hair spiked! And even Jazzy was excited for school.

Ready to go. It was so nice to drop them off together this morning. I think Nolen likes having his brother with him. And even though my baby Max is in school today, I'm not too sad. I miss him but I know he will do great! Max doesn't know a stranger. I can't wait to hear all about their days tonight!

Max Turns Five!

My baby turned five yesterday! He had a great birthday and a party on his actual birthday! I made him blueberry pancakes for breakfast while he told me all the people he wanted to invite to his party. Then we headed to Jazzercise where the Jazzer girls all sang Happy Birthday to him while he stood on the stage with me. I think he liked that. Afterwards, we had to run a few errands (sorry Max) and then we headed home. The boys played video games while I finished some last minute party prep. When it was party time, Max came upstairs and oohed and aahed. He is so sweet. I had hung a few yellow stars from the ceiling low enough so that the kids could touch them. Max thought that was amazing. He is so sweet and easy to please! We had mystery boxes filled with gold coins (just like in the game), some pirahna plants left from Nolen's Mario party in May, a few balloons, a balloon popping game, a pinata, pizza and cake. The kids had fun and Max had a blast!

Spitting on the...I mean, blowing out the candles.

I made his pinata - I'm not sure if I would do it again. It was fun to paper mache for the first time but I had a hard time figuring out how to attach something to hang it with. In the end, it held up alright and made it through 6 kids before it broke off its zip tie! By the way, its supposed to be a mushroom or turtle or something from Mario Bros.

Here is the homemade cake! Again, it was a lot of effort and its not the most beautiful cake. The actual decorating wasn't that tough but I wasn't sure I had enough icing and I only have one icing coupler so I could only do one color at a time and then wash everything and do the next one. It turned out pretty nice though and cost about five bucks so you have to love that! And also, I think somehow the boys liked it more because they got to watch me decorate it. They also loved that I squirted some extra icing directly into their mouths! They both looked at me like I was crazy and Nolen asked me why I did it. hehe!

All of the kids waiting to whack the pinata!

Max loved opening his presents - of course! Thank you to all of our friends and family that brought and sent gifts. Max had a wonderful birthday! So many people love my boys and I am so grateful for all you. More people love them than they know. They are lucky and sweet boys!

Beach Day in Leonardtown!!!

We had heard a lot about Beach Day so we had to see for ourselves! The boys had a blast! It was a great evening in the square with friends and neighbors and PLENTY to do for the kids! The boys got to run through the fire hose, climb a rock wall, go in a moon bounce, play with a giant Jenga set and eat junk food. What more could a kid want?

Thanks to the lake house, a Florida vacation, swim lessons and countless afternoons at the pool, both boys are pretty tan. Many people commented on how blonde and tan the boys are! Max looked like a little hispanic kid when he took off his shirt! ha!


There is a small rock wall in the gym at Leonardtown Elementary and Nolen has told me before that he likes to climb it. So, when we saw the giant rock wall and wanted to climb it, I thought we would give it a shot. And of course, if one boy is going to do it, they both have to try. Max is on the left. He got a decent start but I don't think he was very committed and he didn't seem to understand that he had to keep going up. He would let go and come down and start again.

Nolen (my chicken) is apparently not afraid of heights! He made it almost all the way to the top before he got stuck and couldn't climb any more. I think for a minute he was scared to let go and "rappel" down but he finally did it and was smiling all the way!

On his way down...

I think this is a funny picture - the crazed look in his eye!

The Fassett's gave us a ride down to the square but we decided to walk home (it is less than a mile). The boys beat us to the front door and looked so cute sitting there after such a fun evening! (Please ignore the half dead potted plants that need to be cleaned out!)