V's First Piano Recital

V had his first piano recital on May 6. He played Alouette, A Song About Cats, and Hosanna! He did a wonderful job and even had all his songs memorized.

 

He has enjoyed learning to play the piano and he has an awesome teacher:

 

Here's a video of his performance:

 

I played the Hosanna! duet with him:

What about C?

C has been going to preschool, put on by a group of us moms, all year. He loves going and always wants to know, "What am I going to learn about today?" Here he is wearing his self-imposed school uniform - brown dragon t-shirt and brown shorts. (One week he was asked to wear his favorite color to school and he's never looked back).

C loves to dress-up and is often a dog or a bat on any given day. Here he is as a pirate super-hero at Christmas. (At least that's what he told me).

 

C has a quirky sense of humor and is always cracking me up.Whether with self-imposed facial hair:

 

A bad case of the spots:

Questionable intentions:

 Or if he just really really wants his picture taken:

C was complaining about being cold while at the grocery store. I turned around to this:

C is also very creative. He is always making things out of whatever is around. Like this self-portrait at lunch:

I'm always amazed at his drawings and his attention to detail. C found a book on how to draw dinosaurs, and sat down and drew them all. He just looked at the final drawings and made his own interpretations. I was impressed. (He also just learned how to write his name, so I added his first signature below):

C recently had a make-over. I like his hair on the longer side - I think his blonde beach hair is so cute. However, it was getting a little on the too long, confuse him with the little girl on his baseball team, side. He may have lost a pound or two. (I was just informed by C himself that he looks crazy with long hair but cool with short. His father must have gotten to him).

C is such a sweetheart too. He loves sitting on my lap and always wants to snuggle. One day I was feeling really sick and I was just laying on the bean bag while the boys played. C came over and hugged me and asked if I was okay. He went and grabbed me a blanket, tucked me in and then told B to be quiet because Mommy was sick.

C keeps us busy and always on our toes. We love the craziness that he brings into our lives. I'll end with a picture of our sleeping ninja:

All about V

V has been busy since the last time I posted. He won the Patriot Award for his class and was honored during an assembly (hence the slicked back 50's hair).

 

He also danced to a 50s song. That's him in the back.

 

Here he is with all his classmates:

 

V also had some of his artwork chosen for display at the district's showcase.

We found this tiny turtle at the park:

 

I chaperoned during V's field trip to the local science museum. With nine parents and eighteen kids, I only had to keep track of V and his best friend. It was a lot of fun spending special time with V; we explored the exhibits, watched an IMAX movie, and attended a demonstration on explosions.

This is a mind battle that you win by relaxing your mind. It was one of the few quiet moments of the day.

V in the tornado tube:

Taking a ride on the high wire:

V finally lost his first tooth. (Yeah I know, he takes after me). Once he discovered it was loose, it was all he talked about. I picked him up after school the first day and he said, "I know what you're going to ask. You're going to ask if I lost my tooth." He was so sure I had been on pins and needles all day wondering if it was gone. An apple at lunch did most of the work, so luckily there was little trauma when it actually came out.

V has also started taking piano and has his first recital pretty soon. He definitely keeps us busy. It's been fun to watching him grow up and we're very proud of him.

2nd Grade Music Program

     V had his 2nd grade music program on Thursday. The theme was "Music Is..."  They were told to wear comfortable clothing which unfortunately meant that I was wrong in making him put on a clean shirt. "But Mom, they said I didn't have to wear anything special!" (He was happy though when I said he could wear his Hawaiian shirt.)

     Here are the boys before the program while we were waiting for our ride:

     B sat calmly throughout the whole thing:

     Each class had a special song that they were featured in. V got to play the glockenspiel during his:

     During the weeks before the performance, he would quiz me on which songs I knew, so afterwards, he asked if I had learned any new ones. Apparently, I'm a slow learner.

     V did a great job. He sang really well (except for when he was hamming it up for the camera). His favorite song was "On Top of Spaghetti" and "Chook Chook" because he got to play an instrument. The only thing that he would like to add is:      "I'm famous."

     Here he is with a buddy from church:

Fall in Birmingham

Fall has been wonderful this year. The weather has been great and the trees are gorgeous. I think my family is tired of me exclaiming how pretty it is every time we are outside.

The boys and I headed out to the Botanical Gardens to enjoy the outdoors with some friends.

 We found a caterpillar:

 

Played in the woods:

Fed the fish and turtles:

 

Rang the gong:

 

Enjoyed the fall foliage:

Made silly faces:

 

 

And generally had a fun time. The Gardens has become one of our favorite spots.

2nd Grade Pictures

I may be biased, but I think V's becoming quite the handsome young man.

 

I can't believe how grown-up he is becoming. 

He is loving school and is doing well. He's an avid reader and excels at math. 

His favorite school activity is wall ball, I hear all about it everyday after school. 

He loves spicy food and has deemed green Tabasco sauce as his condiment of choice. 

He still loves to make paper airplanes and has come up with a few "secret designs" that no one else knows how to make. 

He likes to have collections. He currently has a wall ball collection, a rock collection, a shell collection, a rubber band collection, a paper airplane collection, a bouncy ball collection, an animal bracelet collection, a pencil collection, an eraser collection, etc. (It's fun trying to keep that room clean).

He has developed a special relationship with B that is fun to watch.

He's a great brother and son, and we couldn't picture our family without him.

My New Toy

I was given a new camera lens for my birthday. I was pretty excited about my new toy, but C was disappointed by its apparent lack of 'fun-ness.' 

"But what does it do?"

Well, I've had fun trying to answer that question. Here's some pics from an extemporaneous photo shoot (hence the messy hair and unmatched clothes):