Xavier's First Day of Kindergarten

Xavier's first day of Kindergarten was great!  

It's funny, now that Xavier is officially a school aged kids my nightmares about school have resurfaced.  I had a nightmare the night before his first day that we missed the bus and I had to take him to school, but couldn't find his classroom.  I was frantic and worried and sad that my baby was leaving me. I tossed and turned all night worrying about Xavier's first day.  Would he make friends?  Would he like school?  Would he like his teacher?  Would he be good?  Would he be okay on that BIG bus?  On and on and on.  

Well, Xavier was so excited.  It was only me that was nervous!  I am so glad he was eager to hop on that bus and head over to his new school Forks Elementary!

 It was raining, so that must mean we had some good luck on our side.

 Xavier and Kylee are good friends and they were able to sit on the bus together.  I am so happy he has a friend from the start that he can buddy up with and she's a total cutie!

 You can't see it very well, but they are holding hands.  Awe!  My heart melted when I saw this.  They helped each other feel brave that day!  

The first two days Xavier went in the morning and got to eat lunch in the cafeteria.  He usually has afternoon Kindergarten, but they do things a little silly for early dismissal days and holidays throughout the year.  I will tell you those 4 hours he was gone seemed like the longest 4 hours of my life.  I couldn't wait to pick him up and hear all about his first day.

Here is Xavier's first school lunch, bento box style.  (1/2 a PB & J, tomato and mozzarella kabobs, carrots and cucumbers with ranch, strawberries & grapes, and a hard boiled egg)

 Gavin loved loved loved seeing the big yellow bus.  Every day he asks to see the bus.  He kept saying "Me go! Me go!  Me go!"  

 He came off the bus grinning from ear to ear.  He has a couple friends in his class already and he loved school.  Yeah!!

 Buddies for life!

 When we got home and Xavier took off his backpack Gavin immediately put it on asking if he could go on the bus!  No way, I'm not ready to give him up yet.  He's stuck with me for a few more years.

Donadieu Crew Visit

The Donadieu Crew came to visit us for the last two weeks of the summer!  We had a fabulous time.  Unfortunately I was kind of lame this time and only got a couple pictures, but we had so much fun.    Having 5 boys in the house was pure craziness, but a crazy that I love!  

 We visited the Jersey Shore.  Gavin and Ronan played in the sand for hours, while Porter and Xavier chased the waves.  Little Miles was completely happy sitting under the umbrella in the cool shade.  The picture above is classic Gavin, eating while he's playing.  I hope he got more chip than sand.

It wouldn't be a trip to the beach without our sand art.  Gavin was a crab this time.

 We also visited Promised Land State Park where the little ones played on the beach and in the lake.  Xavier, Porter, Tim and Noah all went out on a boat to fish for the first time!  Doesn't the picture above remind you of the Andy Griffith show?  

 Let the fishing begin!

 Quality time together.

They didn't catch fish, but they did catch a tree branch of some sort and a little jelly fish.  Why there were mini jelly fish in the lake I have no idea.

We also made a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo, ate at some yummy restaurants, played at the park, watched movies, stayed up late chatting, and Kendra and I got some girl time crafting.  The house feels so quiet now that they are gone.  We will certainly remember all the wonderful things we did together to end the summer with a bang!

Two-wheeler!

Xavier did it!  He is riding his bike on two wheels!!

He has been practicing and practicing all summer long.  We began the summer with a boy on training wheels.  He was terrified of hills and thought that even the flat part of the road in our neighborhood was a hill.  I had to have my hand on his back and handle bar for him to even get on the bike.  Many times he refused to get on his bike and it became a negative experience.  We took a couple weeks off to hopefully turn the attitude around a little bit.  Then after a lot of patience, encouragement from me and Tim, and a lot of practice Xavier finally became confident in his abilities.  He felt brave when riding on small hills and now he is riding a bike without training wheels!  He has come such a long way from the beginning of the summer and we are so proud that he worked hard and accomplished a Big Boy skill.

Olympics FHE

We loved watching the Olympics together as a family this summer.  To keep my kids in the spirit of the Olympic games I decided to hold our own family Olympics.

Our first event was TRACK and FIELD:

 We had the boys do 100 meter dash

Long Jump

 Our family event- the 3 legged race

 Javelin (using some white sticks I had in the garage)

and Discus (using a ball)

 A quick drink and on to the next event.

 Balloon between the leg race.  This was quite difficult because the balloon kept sliding down my legs when I ran.

 Gavin loved this one. He figured out that if he held the balloon between his legs it wouldn't slide down. 

 Tennis

Volleyball using balloons

 Soccer-  it was Gavin and I against Tim and Xavier.  It quickly turned into mommy against daddy.  Xavier grabbed the camera and started shooting pictures of us.  Many of them were pictures of my rear end, so I'll spare those for everyone.

 Although Tim is much quicker than I am, I did gain a few victories!

We also did gymnastics: front rolls, hand stands, and cartwheels.

To end the Olympic games we had the boys hold up their Olympic torches and we awarded them each a gold medal!

Cheers to London 2012!

Lemonade Stand

This summer we had Lemonade Stand as something to accomplish on our bucket list.  My friend Lindsey's husband was awesome enough to build a wood stand himself.  The kids got together for a play date one day and painted the hand made stand themselves.  They had a blast.  It turned out blue, white, and purple.  They did a great job painting it.  Then we scheduled a day to have our FREE Lemonade Stand.  It was a hot day, perfect for our business plan!

 Xavier was extremely anxious to get customers over to our stand.  Here he is shouting to all the cars that pass by- "Get your Lemonade!  Free Lemonade!"

 Penelope and Baxter designed this sign to advertise their products.

 I made the sign on the top to add to the stand's advertising.

 Here are the entrepreneurs- Xavier, Penelope, and Baxter.  They had brownies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, and white chocolate chip, cranberry and oatmeal cookies.  Plus, the lemonade, of course.  Many customers wanted to pay for their lemonade, but we didn't allow it.  Some even insisted on tipping us.  We didn't allow that either.  The kids had fun and learned how to plan and prepare something from start to finish.  That was our goal!

 Penelope and Baxter poured the Lemonade.  They did a great job!

Business was a little slow in the morning.  The kids were so patient.  When customers came they were eager to help and serve them treats and drinks!  The kids did a great job and worked so hard.  Our customers were 100% satisfied. 

Thirsty anyone?

Harold and the Purple Crayon

We had such an awesome summer that I am finally getting around to posting about it.  One of my favorite outings was a mommy and kid date to see Harold and the Purple Crayon.  Muhlenberg University presented this fun book in a wonderful live rendition.  The props were fun and they used some fun technology throughout as Harold drew different scenes from the many different stories of Harold.  Xavier and I went with our friends Lindsay, Penelope, and Baxter.  

Xavier's favorite part was the dragon depicted in the cover above.  The best part about this is that it was in a small theater and the kids got to sit on carpets on the front row.  The theater was small and intimate so it made the story feel even more real.  The cast answered questions about the props and costumes they used after the play and autographed all the children's programs as well.

 Luckily I was able to pull some pictures from news articles so you could see a glimpse of what we saw.  The masks were a little creepy, but it didn't phase the kids.

 Afterwards we went out for pizza and ice cream at Penelope and Baxter's favorite pizza shop and ice cream parlor.  The cone in Xavier's hand was a small.  Yowzah!

He didn't quite finish the entire thing, although deep down I thought he might!  Last but not least we headed to the park to run off all the calories we just ate.  The magic of being a kid was alive and well on this day!