4th of July

Our what we like to call the revolving door holiday...

We had several friends (at different times) stop by for different phases of the celebration.

Cody wasn't phased by the fireworks, he just loved being outside.

(our resident fireworks expert - such a hottie! pun totally intended, but still...)

Good times, excellent company, great food - fun fireworks. What more is there to say?!?

Oh, I know - I'm proud to be an American, and so very thankful for the many blessings and opportunities my family and I are allowed to have because of this great land.

Nolan's Summer

I'll start with Nolan, just because I have a lot of pictures of him since summer includes his birthday... (special birthday cupcake - compliments of our very dear friends - thank you!)

Nolan had a great summer, we celebrated birthday #6!

There was going to be a big pool party bash, but it sort of fell through. I was going to try throwing together some kind of friend party, but Nolan was being Nolan, so in exasperation, I asked him if he would rather have a party and invite his friends or get a "big" Lego set.

Any guesses on what his answer was?

Clue: we now have this at our house...

So we just had a "family" party - which was pretty great because Grandma Diane & Grandpa Dave were in town! Good Times...

Moving on - the boys got the chance to catch a new (to us) reality show... I dare you to guess what it was...

(if you guessed Deadliest Catch - you're good!)

We spent a good amount of time at the pool where Nolan learned (on his own - because we all know with Nolan there is NO other way) to swim! Yay Nolie! (sorry no pictures...)

Nolan also spent TONS of time outside this summer - our next door neighbors get a nanny for their 3 kidlets in the summer so they can be home - and that suited Nolan just fine, he had almost unlimited access to his BFF Hudson (& crew) and LOVED it!

This is one of the (many) times they flooded the sandbox... There was also MUCH scooter riding.
And, we added a new obsession to the mix - Super Mario Bros. - specifically this guy...

All in all Nolan's summer was fantastic!

Where To Begin?

I have been a blogging slacker - again! But now I have a few minutes, I'm going to attempt some updates. Lucky for you, because there is so much to blog about the posts will be short - mostly pictures, with minimal explanation.

Ready? Here we go!

Watch Out World...

this little guy is now officially one!

Happy Birthday Codes! =)

What Nolan's Been Up To...

"Graduating" Kindergarten



Losing Teeth

#1




#2

Being a Great Big Brother

And... counting down to Brithday #6!

Festival of Strings

I cannot believe the boys only have about 12 school days left!

Lots of year end activities going on & this was a BIG one!

It was the end of year concert for all the students playing strings. Keep in mind, this was held at the high school Matt will one day attend, and all these kids are 4th - 8th graders from ONLY the feeder schools to this high school (our city has 3 high schools total...) + the high school orchestra. Each grade level played and the finale was the high school orchestra (Awe - some!)

Each grade level played a few songs, staring with the 4th graders and working their way up. It's fun to see the skill increase with each year, I can't wait to hear Matt's improvement as the years go by...

I included a recording of the first of 3 selections the 4th graders played (sorry it's sideways, someday I'll remember our camera can't do that!). It is pretty darn impressive (to me anyway) how much they've learned in 8ish months, in "group lessons" and how great they sound together! They all practiced together for the first time earlier that day.

Anyhow, we are so proud of our darling, wonderful, sweet, talented (10 year old?!? - still having trouble with that one...) Matt.

4th Grade Wax Museum

For a year end project, the 4th graders at the boys' school do a "wax museum". They each research (an assigned famous person), write a speech, make a timeline, get together a costume, practice (about 1 million times), and present their speeches (in full costume) 3 different times - To their class, to the rest of the school, and to their families on a special night.

Matt did all of this. He did a wonderful job as Satchel Paige. Hard work, great activity. Have I mentioned how much I love their school?!?

Here are some pics of Matt & other classmates, and finally Matt performing his speech.

Matt as Satchel Paige

A good friend of Matt's - he's Mark Twain

Another of Matt's good friends was also Satchel Paige (they are in different classes)

Harry S. Truman

Another Mark Twain

Can't remember who he was, but cool costume, huh?

Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis & Clark)

William Clark (of Lewis & Clark)

The "Unsinkable" Molly Brown

Matt's speech