Jackson's LAST Day of Preschool 2013!

 Yesterday was Jackson's LAST day of school for this 2012-2013 school year :(  He had a GREAT year!  He LOVED his teacher, Mrs. Hughes!  Every night when we tucked him in he asked if had school the next day, and he got SO excited when the answer was, "Yes!"  Each day after school we went through the usual questions: what his job was, what was for snack, who he played with, what they played, and what he learned.  His favorite job was the caboose, but he was really excited to be a helper in any way.  He loved all of the snacks!  It seems like he had a nice little group of friends to play with, and that made this mama's heart happy :)  I was so nervous he would be the kid sitting by himself on the playground...  As the year went on, he was able to more readily share facts he had learned during the day.  

Here is the comparison shot from the FIRST day of school in September!

 Brothers on the last day of school...

And, brothers on the first day!  

 Jackson's last day of school was actually a picnic at Locust Shade Park.  All of the children from all of the classes gathered for a picnic and small certificate presentation ceremony.  There wasn't an organized effort to  take a picture of the class, so this is the best I got!

 Jackson and Mrs. Hughes at the end of his first year of preschool :)

Memorial Day!

 We had the Yanceys over for a Memorial Day barbecue!  This was also our last chance to hang out all together since Joe leaves at the end of the week for a five-month deployment to Guantanamo!  We had a nice relaxing time to end the long weekend.  

We made brats, brat-burgers and macaroni and cheese cups with Ritz cracker crusts!  YUM!  

 Ben enjoyed a little bouncy seat action outside on the deck :)

Memorial Day Sunday

We had a house-ful yesterday, and it was such fun!  Rachel and Jake rode in Rolling Thunder with her parents, so we had the kids over to our house to play for the day!  Jackson and Graham were IN HEAVEN!  Graham LOVES playing with his big brother, but he loves when other kids are added to the mix, and he especially loves when there is someone his size!!!  The castle was a hit among all ages!

Graham just plopped himself down and hung with Avery :)

"Hi, Mom!"

After breakfast and playing inside, we had lunch on the porch!  Then the little guys napped while the big guys watched a movie!  Then we all went back outside for some softball!  They had quite the little game going!

A boy and a ball

CUTENESS!

Check out Avery with the binoculars--every team needs a binocular-girl :)

Graham was super happy playing in the grass!

Sliding down the new slide!!!

Brothers in their clubhouse :)

The Bashore Three...soon to be FOUR!

A little snack-time outside!

After the above picture was taken, everyone helped us wash out our pirate water table so it is ready for the season!  Once the bikers got back, we all grilled at our house for dinner and enjoyed the nice weather.  A great Memorial Day Sunday!

Post-Mother's Day Zoo Trip!

We have gone to the zoo for our Mother's Day activity every year since I was lucky enough to start celebrating the holiday...even the year we were in New Orleans!  This year, I was SO excited to celebrate with my mom in Evanston, but we did not head into the city for the zoo.  Sooo...we went a little belatedly once we got home :)

Our strategy is to head all the way to the other end of the whole zoo (the petting zoo) and then work our way back up the enormous hill with lots of stops along the way.  First stop: petting a cow :)

They were letting kids take turns brushing the goats!  Some liked it better than others...

The seals are always a good time!  LOVE this little face!

And, this one :)

A little stroller lunch.  Maybe this will catch on as a fad like bento boxes???

Some puffs for dessert--look at those fingers and lips working so hard!

He LOVED watching the seals!  We all loved watching the seals and ducks play tag above water--the ducks liked to mess with the seals, but once the seals started swimming around, the ducks got a bit flustered!

Jackson was SO excited to climb up on this huge statue!  We had SUCH a great day!  We didn't worry about naps or anything.  We headed in when we were ready--not super duper early--, took our time checking out the animals, enjoyed our picnic lunch, and just had a relaxing visit.  Jackson was really interested in learning facts about some animals and asked lots of questions (on top of the normal 400) about them.  I loved getting to spend time watching him observe :)

We came home for a brief rest, and then headed out to Red Robin for dinner!  Somehow we ended up with a picture of JOSH and the boys, even though this was the end to our extended MOTHER'S Day...  :P

When we got home, Jackson helped Josh get the mower started.  They added some gas...

...and then worked together to pull the cord to start it!

Super Saturday!

We had FOUR different social engagements to go to on Saturday!  There was one more that just wasn't possible on top of that!  May 18th was a great day to have a party, I guess :)  We started the (rainy) day with a soccer game.  Jackson played really well and scored a great goal!!!  From there we went to Rachel's FIFTH (how did THAT happen?) birthday party!!!  

It was rainbow themed--isn't this the most amazing wall decoration???

Susie organized a great rainbow-colored sticker scavenger hunt!  The kids had such a good time searching for the different stickers and filling up their own sticker books.

Pinata time!  This rainbow pinata was STURDY!  It was quite the process to break it open...

Time for a rainbow-decorated cake!  Happy birthday, dear Rachel :)

Jackson thoroughly enjoyed his cake :)  Cake #1 of 3 for the day...

This isn't the best picture, but I like it because Graham was totally hanging with the big kids as they played in the big cardboard box!  He's going to be crazy once he can really "play!"

Our next event was a party for Jackson's soccer team so they could receive their trophies!  The above picture is funny because all of the "big" kids sat down and started playing with the baby toys!

Jackson getting his trophy from Coach Jason and Coach Roger!

Team picture (minus two friends)

Cutie :)

SOOO proud of his trophy!

Jackson Smith

Go Gold!  PWSI U4

Spring 2013

Sunday was a MUCH more relaxing day!  Josh assembled Jackson's new bike!!!  He was doing great on his old one, and he hadn't complained, but we noticed his little knees were hitting the handlebars :(  He FLIES on this one!

I also made my first Strawberry Rhubarb Pie using rhubarb from the farmers' market and my new pie pan and pie bird :)  YUM!

Mother's Day X 2!!!

 I have TWO fabulous reasons to help me celebrate Mother's Day this year!  I cannot believe Graham was still in my belly last year!  These two pictures weren't actually taken on Mother's Day, but close enough :)

Friends in cahoots already ;)

 We kicked off the day with Bampa and Jackson making us a pancake brunch!  It was delicious!!!  After lunch, we went over to visit Nan and bring her some presents for Mother's Day.  She loved seeing the boys, and they loved showing her their newest tricks and special toys.  We relaxed back at home for a bit before heading to Hackney's for a yummy dinner!

 LOVE being the mom of these two sweet, snuggly boys!!!

 I was THRILLED we got to spend Mother's Day with MY mom too!!!  I couldn't ask for a better mom, a better Mimi for my boys, or best friend :)