Memorial Day 2013

Well boo to you!

This is probably the second time ever that T has had his face painted... Even though he was totally creepy I have to say, they did a good job (and it came off easily in the shower).

My cousin Robyn's son Nicholas celebrated his birthday in Memorial Day-style with a fantastic outdoor party on a beautiful day. 

 Above, little Anthony was painted like a cheetah..... and then it must have gotten wet or something, because later, he was also a skeleton.

 Jim was hard at work making the clubhouse for the boys. When this 6'x8' monster is done, you can be sure I'll take pictures and post them!
In the evening, we headed out for a Blueclaws game in Lakewood.

Took the kids home before the end of the game to get them to bed... which still didn't happen until 9:15... and they were up bright and cheery at 6:15 this morning! It is very hard, when there is still sunlight at 8PM to convince them that it is time for bed ;)

Ollie Loves Mommy

Oh, my little boy. How I love thee.

Oliver had a Mother's Day Tea at his preschool. They sang this adorable song (same one T sang ;)

 

 I absolutely LOVED his answers... He's 100% correct, except that I'd rather drink my tea than eat it, haha.
And I never watch TV in front of the kids... he's talking about all the NPR he listens to with me every day. And he does tell me that I'm the best Mommy ever because I'm so warm... :)))

We trekked up to IKEA in Elizabeth this week to buy a new mattress & bed linens for the top part of the bunk bed that I've reluctantly agreed to have built. Jim's been dying to put it together, and the boys say that they want to have it. I doubt they'll sleep separately consistently (they've been together since we dismantled the crib) and I worry that someone is gonna get hurt... But we'll see...

 Garden time, folks! We were sooo excited to get out to the Master Gardeners Sale this week in Freehold. And now we will have peppers (orange, green, and red), eggplant (white and purple), squash (yellow and zucchini), and more cucumbers than we probably need! (I'm totally mastering the pickle recipe this summer!)

Very happy to have my little buddy with me. He chose a great patio tomato plant, too.

Trenton Takes the Field-- Blueclaws Night

Awww yeah.

Each year, T's baseball program hosts a Blueclaws night for the families and players. This time we all went, because Trenton was one of the lucky little league players chosen to be ON THE FIELD during the national anthem! 

Jim got to parade around with him and all of the other kids about an hour before the game. Very cool to walk on the warning track all the way around the stadium.

 Goofing around in the dugout before the game started.

 

Taking the field! With left fielder, #32, Brian Pointer

 

National Anthem, Blueclaws Game from Sheryl K. on Vimeo.

A great night for baseball... although it was really cold. 

T wasted no time doing the Gangum Style dance on his way back to the dugout...

Kids eat free on Monday nights, still!

Below, the boys hang with our old neighbors Christian and Logan.

Mother's Day Scans

Yup, that's me.

Mother's Day, 2013

Assorted pictures from the last week, ending with Mother's Day

 

 

 

Beautiful indigo irises that come up every year around our home.
(Pictures below were taken three days later)

"The Oldest School I've Ever Seen"

 (This post is written by Trenton. He created the title, and now, will tell you about "The Oldest School" he's ever seen.)
On a Saturday, I went to this really old school. It was called Ardena School, built in 1855. The school was not always there. It used to be somewhere else in Howell.

 The school looks really old to me and there's really cool pens. The chalkboards are made of a type of stone.

 These desks look really old. They're pretty fancy, too. There is a fireplace that's black and wood next to it. You can't see the window because it is too bright, but if you look at that desk that looks like a teacher's desk, next to that there's a window. The guide told us that the windows were huge because they didn't have lights back then and the windows let the bright light come in.
There were tons of grades in there and there was first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, and if you're lucky, you can go to sixth. Some kids had to work at home if they lived at a farm.

 (The school above in the picture is the one that Trenton would attend if we lived where we do now 150 years ago. Too cool, right? -Mommy)

 They learned a lot about science in school. (I'm holding a turtle's skull.) They learned how to read and write and there were a lot of old, fancy books in there.

Me and mom really like it here, but we can't go to this school anymore because now it is a museum.
I'm glad that people could go to this school back then. It would be bad if this school wasn't there back then because people couldn't learn science and reading and adding.
Thank you, Mom!