Da Boyz

Scott and the kids swinging together

Check out those dismounts!!

Nathan's End of Year Party/Last Day of Pre-school

Nathan's pre-school End of the Year party was held at his friend, Gracie's house. The kids had a blast playing in the water!

Nathan and his buddy, Andy, eating lunch

The cute girl on the left is Rory. She and Nathan are buds. Rory has called Nathan her boyfriend all year and her nickname for him is "cutie face". On the right side is Virginia. She and Nathan have know each other since they were babies. They love to play together!

How cute are these graduation cookies?

Last day of school

One last group hug

Each of the parents made a scrapbook page of our child for a keepsake for each of the teachers. They loved them!

Mrs. Brenner, Nathan, and Mrs. Heckert

Happy 40th To Me!

For my 40th birthday this year some of my awesome girlfriends decided we should celebrate at the beach! My friend, Kristin, put a lot of work into finding a wonderful place in Emerald Isle for us to stay! We left Thursday morning for our 4 day weekend!

We arrived Thursday afternoon to a wonderful duplex complete with homemade cookies! After unpacking and checking out our new digs, we relaxed and chatted! That night we had a delish dinner made by Katy and Kristin. Some of the girls are huge American Idol fans, so we watched their results show and then put on "My Big, Fat Greek Wedding"!

My sweet friend, Juliane! I love this pic, I love her smile, and I love her!

Friday we relaxed all morning and then went out for Thai for lunch. It was a "hole in the wall" restaurant and super yummy! Afterwards, we went to see "Bradley Cooper - drug" movie, a.k.a. "Limitless". (Ha, ha, Kristin!) That night we played games and laughed until it hurt - literally!

Saturday was my birthday and the girls asked me what I wanted to do. All I wanted was to sit on the deck in the sun, listen to the ocean, and read. And that's what we all did! Pure bliss! Kristin put a lot of effort into finding a special restaurant for my birthday dinner and she did a fantastic job! We ate at Icehouse Waterfront and she made sure our table was by the water! I ordered the Tropical Shrimp Curry and it was AMAZING! Later that night we had a chocolate cake for dessert and played more games. Who could ask for more?

Juliane, Rebecca, and Kristina

Pretty Kristin!

Sweet, sweet Sophie!

PJ's, games, and chocolate!

BEACH WEEKEND MEMORIES:

bopsy, bliopsy, bibopsy

Tropical Shrimp Curry
searching, searching, searching

suck on that!
good girl
name something that makes you sweat - C&C Music Factory
Kristin and the door at the movie theater

milk jugs
strawberry gorgonzola salad
Celebrity Name Game
watching the dolphins

Down and Derby

The end of January brought Noah's annual Pinewood Derby with his Cub Pack. He drew a car design on paper with all of the details he wanted. Scott asked him if he wanted to make a car that looks good or go for speed? Noah said last year he went for speed, so this year he wants to go for looks. Scott and Noah went over to our friend, David's house to work on his car. David has LOTS of tools, so it made the project go a bit faster.

How CUTE are these cousins?!?

Noah's car is the red one with the yellow stripe towards the upper right corner.

He lost this heat.

Look at his car go!

Noah was very precise about his car placement on the track.

Since Noah decided he was going for looks this year we chatted about being a good sport if his car didn't win anything. Scott said not to get hopeful. Well, it turns out that out of the 13 Cubs that competed in his pack, Noah won 2nd place!

Here's Jonathon (left) in 3rd place, Sam in 1st place, and Noah in 2nd!

Noah did the majority of work on his car, went to the derby with a great attitude and showed good sportsmanship! His car also won an award for "Sportiest"! We're so proud of him!

The Lion King

In January, The Lion King came to a local venue. I saw this production with my mom when it came a few years ago and was AMAZED! I'm not a huge fan of the animated movie, but loved the live show! This time it came I decided to take Noah.

We had fantastic seats and put Noah on the aisle because the actors walk in the aisles a couple of times. I glanced at Noah periodically to see how he was reacting to the show. He had almost no expression on his face, so I couldn't read him. During intermission I asked him what he thought. He paused for a moment and then said that if anyone told him there was something better than this he wouldn't believe them. He loved it! I hope he grows to enjoy going to see shows as much as I do!

Checkmate!

In January, Noah participated in his first chess tournament with other schools. He was pretty excited.

Scott and Nathan played with Noah between rounds.

Noah didn't place in this tournament. Every round he played 6th graders and I was so proud of him for being a good sport. He stayed calm throughout the games, shook hands with his opponents and smiled when it was over. Way to go, Noah!