Thursday, December 16, 2010

Catching Up: Birthdays 2010

A week before Riley's birthday, he participated in a fundraiser for the St. Baldrick's Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research. Riley raised $300 by promising to shave his head! Here we have the "before" look...
...and "after!"
Having almost no hair feels good on a hot summer day!

Riley's birthday arrived - The Big Six!
Our bigger boy needed a bigger Auburn jersey!
Look at all that loot! Somebody must love this kid!

Birthday party at the park - Riley is still good buddies with his first three friends from preschool, Jordan, Will, and Jake.
Instead of presents, Riley asked his friends to bring packaged macaroni and cheese (his favorite food) to donate to a local food bank. His new friend from Kindergarten, Coulson, helped him count them all.

Papa came to visit for July 4th and Donovan's birthday! We celebrated with ice cream...
...water balloons and popsicles...

(it took a long time to fill up the wagon with water balloons, but not long at all to empty it!)

...and, of course, fireworks!
Donovan got one of his favorite foods for breakfast on his birthday - bacon!
But not even bacon would get him to put up 3 fingers for the traditional birthday photo.
He was OVERJOYED to receive the "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" movie!
This was just PART of Donovan's loot... seriously!
(more arrived later)
Alas, I didn't make it to Aldi before they sold out of red-white-and-blue ice cream cake, so we put candles in three cookies instead. Make a wish!

Friday, December 10, 2010

More Catching Up: Spring becomes Summer

Donovan rounded out his first year of preschool with a Grace House tradition: Beach Day!

Donovan and his good buddy Calvin (which he pronounces Cal-uh-vin) loved the squiggly sprinklers...

...but nothing beat the huge inflatable water slide!
A class full of wet burritos!

Riley's school put on an end-of-the-year Kindergarten Celebration, full of songs, poems, and a slide show. Each "group" (class) wore its color. Riley had a great year in Purple Group! Riley even had a speaking part in the program, and he did a fantastic job!

Mrs. Rossi and Ms. Jones were WONDERFUL teachers for Riley! We miss them!
Mrs. Rossi chose one of Riley's favorite "journals" (the topic: his favorite part of Kindergarten) to display in the hall at the end of the year. She said Riley was a great storyteller and that he always made her laugh!
Literal transliteration: "I liket when we took naps. Becus I am tiyerd. Evrey day. And ar field Day."

English translation: "I liked [it] when we took naps, because I am tired every day. And [I liked] our Field Day."

A banner on our front porch greeted Riley when he got home on the very last day! He's wearing a crown because his class celebrated all the summer birthdays that day.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Got any fries? Here's some "catch up!"

Rewind the clock... way back... Here are some highlights from Riley and Donovan's spring!

Palm Sunday

The boys got balloon creations at the church Easter party!

Easter!
photos at WFU on Easter afternoon




Taking in a game at our new minor-league baseball stadium



Finding springtime visitors in our yard


Playing with cousin Garrison


Playing with cousin Joe
Stay tuned for Spring, part 2!