School, Summer, and Smores

Being silly after bath time

One of Finn's favorite things to do is a bonfire.  Despite the rain, he insisted on helping our neighbor get the fire started one Saturday night

And this is one of the reasons Finn loves bonfires....Smores!

Movie Night!  Finn thinks he is just one of the big boys...and sometimes he is!

YUM!!


Aiden has TWO days of school remaining and Luke and Liam have 8 days remaining!  In just two weeks, we will have a kindergartener and two second graders.  That is so hard to believe as is the fact that Finn will be two years old at the end of July.  The boys are definitely ready for a break from school although they may change their minds when they find out what all I have planned for them.  Just kidding!  I do have some thoughts on things we need to do and/or work on over the summer.  Aiden will have his end of the year school picnic this week and Luke and Liam will have their picnic next week.  

One of Finn's favorite things to do right now is to visit our backyard neighbors (Kevin and Melissa) and sit by the bonfire.  Keven and Melissa have a fire pit and they frequently roast smores on the weekend.  Finn loves to "help" with the bonfire, eat marshmallows, and talk about how hot the fire is.  He has a very hard time saying goodbye to the fire when its bedtime.

Happy Summer!

The Pirates

Reading...its contagious.  This happened one Friday night after dinner when Jack (far right) brought out a book to read at his bonfire.  Soon after that, Riley (middle orange shirt) brought his book, followed by Liam and Luke.  The firewood is provided by our winter hockey rink, its the gift that keeps on giving all year round!

This is a series of pictures that Aiden took on the iPad the other day while I was in the shower.  He's sitting on the couch in his shorts (no shirt) because he just finished "washing dishes" with Finn and his clothes were soaking wet!

Take 2

Take 3

And 4

Its baseball season!  Luke and Liam received their jerseys this week.

Go Pirates!

It is baseball season for us.  Luke and Liam received their uniforms this week.   I haven't gotten a picture yet (since we have not worn them due to a rain cancellation), but Luke is #7 and Liam is #3.  They are playing for the black and gold Pirates in an 8 and under league.  Their main coach happens to be the husband of our favorite teacher at Montessori, Ms. Kristi.  She taught Luke and Liam in kindergarten and has been Aiden's preschool teacher for the last 3 years and will also be his kindergarten teacher next year.  Game #1 is this week barring any weather related issues.

Although baseball is keeping us busy two nights per week, spring hockey is over, thankfully.  It is actually a blessing that the baseball games are on the same days/times so that we only run around on two nights per week rather than four.  I am always thankful for a little rain here and there.  Its a nice break to have an evening with no planned activities.

All of the boys are counting down the days until summer when Liam has explained to all of us that we will have 90 days off.  We have several things planned with swimming lessons, more baseball, Bible school, beach vacation, Finn's 2nd birthday, and lots of fun at the pool and park with friends.  We are finished with school around the first week of June.  

Recipe for Motherhood

"Recipe for Motherhood"

1 heart full of love

1 head full of understanding

2 eyes in the back of your head

3 heaping cups of patience

1 gallon of generosity

1 barrel of laughter

Mix well.  Sprinkle with kindness, add plenty of faith.  Heat with sunshine and spread generosity over a lifetime for a plateful of joy and a cup of warm memories. 

So thankful for the one I call "Mom" and the four who call me the same.  And a Happy Mother's day to my sister Sarah, my sister in laws, my mother in law, and so many close friends who have helped me along as a mother over the last seven years.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mimi and the boys on our Florida Vacation-August 2014
The recipe above was on the cover of Aiden's mother's day gift that he made at school.

Finn and Luke

Enjoying his ice cream (note the spilled portion on the bottom left which is why we are enjoying our ice cream outside!)

He's asking me to "see" the picture I just took

Time to rinse off the steps (and Finn) after ice cream

Watering the plants

There were just a few DVDs stuck in the DVD player (courtesy of Finn)

One thing John and I know for sure....Finn loves Luke and Luke loves Finn.  Recently, however, Luke has become Finn's "partner in crime" which isn't really a good thing.  Finn knows that he can go to Luke when I say no to something and most of the time, Luke will give it to him.  We had a talk with Luke to explain that he cannot give Finn anything he wants even if Finn is crying and throwing a fit for it.  Not an easy lesson for a seven year old!

Let me give you a couple of examples....The other day as we are all getting ready for school, I heard the door to the garage open and shut loudly.  When I went to see what was going on, Luke told me that Finn wanted to go outside so he let him out the door!

One of Finn's favorite things to do right now is to sit in the car and pretend he is driving.  It is relatively harmless since I have removed everything from the car that Finn can get into unless, of course, he has someone to help him.  Luke opened the glove compartment (Finn cannot open on his own) and gave Finn the chap stick that he wanted.  Since Finn couldn't open the chap stick on his own, Luke opened it for him.  I was working on dinner and had the door open listening to them in the garage, but when I went out to check on Finn, he was covered in chap stick.  It was in his hair, on his face, all over his clothes, etc...

In the picture of the DVDs above, Luke also got the DVDs down for Finn to play with.  I put the book of DVDs up high so that Finn couldn't reach it, but Luke, of course, could reach them and gave them to Finn when he asked for them.  Finn loves to stuff as many DVDs as possible into the DVD player.  Thankfully, John was able to disconnect the DVD player and empty out the six or so DVDs that were stuck inside.

Another one of Finn's favorites is "mum," also known as gum.  I don't know ANY kids that are Finn's age who chew gum.  That's right, Finn wanted to try gum from a gum ball machine that Liam had so Luke gave him a "little piece."  I was in the shower at the time and Luke ran in and said, "Mom, just so you know, Finn wanted some gum and I gave him a little piece." What???

As you can see, if we can train Luke, then we might have a chance with Finn.  As much as it sounds like we shouldn't leave Luke and Finn alone (which is true), Luke really is a huge help with Finn.  He always watches out for him, tries to make Finn happy, shares everything with Finn, etc...I am thankful that Finn loves his brother so much; however, Luke is definitely not ready to be a babysitter anytime soon.