Balloon Drop

Jeremy had a balloon drop for his elementary school kids last week to celebrate a terrific year.  His Aunt has a cool balloon twisting business (seriously, she can make anything - no kidding - anything.  It is amazing).  She kindly came up and helped him get this set up and the kids LOVED it!!  I was standing by the door as they all walked into the gym and I was wishing I could have been recording their reactions as they walked into the gym and saw the ceiling full of balloons.  It was fun!  Here are a couple of lame pictures that I took with my phone while we were there.

Looks like fun huh?  But it doesn't truly capture the moment.  Luckily Brenda (Jeremy's Aunt) captured it much better and put a fun video together.  I have to share it here. It is short, so take a couple of minutes to watch it.  Just click on the link and put a little smile on your face.

Taylor Elementary Balloon Drop

Checking In

Just checking in with a few random pictures . . .

Drake finished his preschool year with a sendoff in a space shuttle.  His amazing teacher always goes all out for this day with space suits for the kids and everything.  All of my boys have loved this.

Here he is inside, ready for blast-off into space!  We are so grateful for his teacher and the amazing job she has done teaching all of our boys.  We wish Drake could have another year in her school, but we are so happy for her that she is finally able to go on the mission she has been working toward for so many years.
We just hope she picks the preschool back up when she returns home so that Tad can have a year at her school before he starts kindergarten.

I just had to include this picture of the tub after my little boys got done with their bath a a couple of nights ago.  Apparently they got pretty creative with their choice of tub toys when I wasn't looking.  How they got their little naked behinds past me with these toys from three rooms away is a mystery.

I also have to post this sweet Mothers Day Card that Jack brought home from kindergarten for me.  The biggest reason I am posting this is because I am amazed at how far he has come in a year.  I was sooooo worried about sending Jack to kindergarten because after two years of preschool he only knew the names of three letters and he did not know any of their sounds.  He couldn't count past five.  I didn't think there was any way that he would be able to succeed in kindergarten and I was seriously considering keeping him out another year.  Jeremy convinced me to send him and told me that if he wasn't able to learn what he needed to, then we would have him repeat kindergarten.  So, off to kindergarten he went.  Thanks to a great teacher and a fabulous reading specialist Jack was able to flourish in kindergarten and was even exited out of the reading room by Christmas, because he was no longer considered at risk.  This note that he wrote to me was done completely on his own with no help from his teacher and I only had to ask for his help reading one of the lines.  His teacher has told me that she has no reservations about sending him to first grade and the principal (Jeremy) agrees.  I am so proud of Jack and his hard work, and I am so thankful for the teachers at his school who are so competent and who care so much about the kids there.

Well that is all the randomness I have for today.   I am sure I will have an equally random post to share soon. : )

Sunday Morning Waffles

I wouldn't exactly call waffles a Sunday morning tradition at our house, but my boys love them, and so I make them quite often for breakfast on Sunday.  I usually make the whole wheat waffles that my mom made when I was growing up.  The boys and I love them (seriously they are soooo delicious), but Jeremy isn't a fan, so sometimes I make a white recipe that I developed a couple of years ago, just for him.  So-- this is how a typical Sunday Morning with waffles goes at our house.

Tad - up on the counter helping me mix up the batter. He loves to help me crack eggs and dump ingredients into the bowl.  Jeremy hates that I let him get up on the counter to help me, but I am too much of a softy with my boys - - especially when they are two and cute as a button.

Fluffy waffle batter. If you want perfect waffles, it has to look like this folks!! :)

Batter in the waffle iron.  Almost there!!  My mom gave me this waffle iron for my last birthday.  We had been without one for about a year and my boys were soooooo excited when I opened this baby up.  Thanks mom!!

Dallin prefers to eat his waffles like toast, with just a little bit of butter and no syrup.  

Notice the syrup dribbling down Thomas's chin?  I hate to say it, but Thomas has always been my messiest eater.  I remember when he was a baby, I had all these clothes that Dallin had worn that practically still looked new.  After Thomas ate in them once they were completely destroyed, and yes, he was wearing a bib.  Oxi-Clean and Biz and I became very well acquainted due to this kid.  I am still keeping my fingers crossed that he will grow out of it, because he is definitely too big for a bib.

Jack and Drake didn't make it to the kitchen in time for the photos.  I probably had to go pull them away from the Legos or the Kindle.