Earth Day Weekend!

During Earth Day weekend there was lots of Geocaching going on!!!

Our first event was a Cache In Trash Out event at a local elementary school.  Armed with gloves and garbage bags, we helped clean up the field and playground!  The boys LOVED it!  I think the smaller you are, the smaller pieces of trash you find!

After the official event, we did some caching in the neighboring area.

There was one cache in particular that we searched for A LONG TIME to find!  We finally found it!

Josh with the fun find inside

Placing the cache back right where we found it...in it's tricky spot!

We came home for some rest time, and to get everything ready for the babysitter before heading out on a big hiking date!  Josh has been doing some long hikes to go after a bunch of geocaches, and I wanted to go too, but at a grown-up speed!  ;)  It rained on us for the majority of our time, but we still really enjoyed it!  We had the forest to ourselves, it was so peaceful, nobody needed constant snacks or to be carried, and we just enjoyed being together!  We certainly earned our delicious Buffalo Wild Wings dinner!

Sunday morning brought another CITO event for Josh and Jackson--at Leesylvania park.  Then they went on to a goecaching picnic, all before soccer!

Check out these cute cookies someone made!  We finished up the weekend with our first dinner on the deck and dinner from the grill!

 BIG bite of burger!

 Not only did he EAT the burger, but he requested it!  HOORAY!

Love these boys!

Spirit Day: Twin Day!

Every Friday is Spirit Day at Pattie, and while it always means "Wear Blue and Yellow," sometimes there is a special theme.  Today's special theme was Twin Day!  Jackson, and his buddy, Athan, (friends from soccer AND in the same class this year!!!) wore matching soccer jerseys!  Jackson's very first soccer team was yellow, but Athan lent us one of his special jerseys because it had his special shark name on the back!

Graham wanted to model too, of course!

Athan's mom, Jaime, and I went to school to have lunch with the boys :)

Silly, silly faces!  Graham has frosting on his nose because he scored an extra cupcake from someone's birthday treat!

Buddies!

Getting ready to go back to class!

Returning to Outdoor Adventures!!!

This is the first time we experimented with letting the boys play outside while we were inside.  It was SUPER ADORABLE!  They spent most of their time at the picnic table just being cute!

We took a hike through Lake Accotink on our way to the Yanceys' for dinner.  

All four of these legs keep up pretty well on our hikes!

Big Man on the Trail!

Look how big all of our littles are?!  

Apparently, Graham's the only one who heard my silly face request...

Passed out after a day of fun!

Jackson's First Field Day!!!

I am thrilled that the PE teachers decided to make a typically end-of-year event, Field Day, earlier in the Spring, so the weather wouldn't be so warm.  It worked, and we had a BEAUTIFUL day for these Kindergarteners' FIRST Field Day!!!  The theme was Harry Potter, and the stations were perfectly planned for the amount of knowledge these kiddos had about Harry Potter while showcasing the skills they've worked on all year.

 Station #1 included a relay-style race to stack these special giant cups to make a Hogwarts-like castle!

 Jackson ready to race back after adding a cup to the stack!

 Check out these cool "castles" the teams built!

 Station #2: Rest with some Ice Pops :)

 Graham even got offered an Ice Pop!  Lucky dog :)

 Waiting to go to the next station...

 Station #3: A Quidditch-like activity with trying to kick the ball in the goal

 The hand-off!

 Station #4: Racing to the Golden Snitch!

 There were two relay teams lined up for each tee with a "golden snitch" placed on it.  A player from each team ran to the snitch, took a turn picking it up and putting it back, and then running back to tag the next teammate.

 Station #5: Dizzy Brooms!  This was hilarious!

 The kids had to pick up the bat ("broom"), spin around three times, and then run back!

Station #6: Dragon Chaser--All but one child had a scarf "tail" tucked into their pants, and the one chaser started it off by grabbing a tail off of a friend.  That friend then became a chaser too.  The idea was to be the last one left with a tail.  This went better than us parent spectators thought it might...

The kids had a BLAST!  It was really fun seeing what they have worked on so far!

Spring Weekend!

Josh reported his time in August at the Masters was amazing and better than he ever imagined!!!  He brought home quite a few souvenirs, including the baggies the famous sandwiches come in.  He always has loved pimiento cheese sandwiches, but I looked up a copycat recipe for the ones served at August, and made it for his lunch on Friday: 

 ...and packed the sandwiches in the special baggies :)

 Apparently, there is now a National Siblings Day!  Coincidentally, Jackson informed me this is the best part of having a brother!  Perfect!

 On Saturday 7-11 offered a sale to bring in any container and fill it with Slurpee for the price of a medium Slurpee ($1.50)!  There was a limit, but it was quite generous...  We took a family walk and got a delicious treat!  Jackson chose the classic combo of wild cherry and Coca-Cola.

 YUM!

 Graham loved the treat too, and after the bucket was washed, he would point to it and say, "That was (a) fun treat!"

 The bucket was obtained at the National Zoo during ZooLights a couple of years ago when my dad bought popcorn--we've had it ever since!  It was PERFECT for this!

 It was a gorgeous day, and we played outside and told our neighbors all about this special treat deal so they could enjoy it too!  The Yanceys came over for taco dinner and to hang out--all in all, a super fun day!

 I love everything about Jackson's reading ability, but this might be my favorite :)

 I Love You, Stinky Face!

 Soccer Sundays have begun!!!  Jackson found his buddy, Athan, who was playing on the field next to us--they were really excited to see each other :)  The game went really well, especially with substitute coach, Josh!

These two are the sweetest and cutest fans!!!  I think they actually like each other, but they for sure love sharing seats and snacks :)

Josh and I finished off the weekend with a date to see a movie and have dinner.  It was so nice out, so we got in a little geocaching that included a pretty walk too :)

Jackson Ties His Shoes!!!

Tying shoes requires very specific fine motor skills, and I know kids aren't ready to learn until they can maneuver their fingers properly.  I tried teaching Jackson a couple of years ago, and he was definitely NOT ready!  I've been buying him the shoes with elastic laces and one strap of velcro, but they are becoming more difficult to find.  The lady at Stride Rite said they really are just laces starting at size 1.  Since it was time for a new pair of gym shoes, I thought we'd buy laces, and give tying another chance.  Jackson was totally ready and SO proud of himself!!!  It also worked to our advantage that he and I both had a ton of patience and were in the mood to learn/teach...;)

After soliciting some advice from friends and doing a little research on the internet, I tried this method first: we tied a jump rope around Jackson's legs and practiced with those nice big "laces."

Once he had that down, we tried on his actual shoes.  This is still a bit tricky as the laces pull all the way through some of the time, but we're still practicing!

Last Day of Spring Break!

I was so pleased that the last day of Jackson's Spring Break yielded such beautiful weather!!!  Josh left SUPER early in the morning for Augusta to attend Tuesday's practice round at the Masters.  The boys and I set off for the playground, where we ran into one of Jackson's friends from school.  It was adorable to see how excited they were to see each other out of school and run around playing!

 I had brought the stroller and Jackson's scooter along, so we left the car parked and scooted/strolled to Dairy Queen, which is just under a mile away.  This was supposed to be a late morning treat before lunch, but we got a later start, and it ended up being lunch!  What an end to Spring Break :)

 The boys shared a Blizzard with M&Ms, and I finally got to try the Salted Caramel one I'd been seeing delicious looking commercials for :)

 Oh, this boy...

After a quick selfie, we made our way back to the car and headed home for a nap for Graham, a playdate with Izzy for Jackson, and glorious time on the porch for me!  The big kids kept playing all afternoon, and Graham joined them after he woke up.  Showers and an early bedtime finished off the day!