First Day of Preschool

I can't believe Will is big enough for preschool! He goes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:00 - 11:30a.m. He says that he likes his teacher, Ms. Nancy. Here he is outside the school on his first day:

Here he is outside his classroom, by the cubbies where I pick up his papers and crafts (and where we'll eventually try to cram his winter jacket):

The kids have to wash their hands first and then go to class. I let him go in the door and he headed straight for the puzzle table with the other kids. The teachers couldn't even get him to look up to tell me goodbye (sniff):

Here he is at the end of the day. Ms. Nancy (in the blue) called his name and he came running out the door with a huge smile on his face. He was excited to tell me that he got to be the "Flag Helper."

Here he is this morning before school. Today was his third day, but it was the first "Show and Tell" day. Will brought his favorite book, Alphabet Adventure:

B is for Birthday - Part 3

Bringing this birthday-post-trilogy to an end is the credits. A lot of little friends helped to make Will and John's birthday so much fun. Here's the gang:

Rylee

Jenna

Lucas

Avery and Jaret

Grace and Sophie

Zack

Anastacia

Jewel

Charlotte

To give you an idea of the chaos, here are some candid shots of the partying.
Here's Will, Anastacia, Grace, and Rylee playing at the bottom of the stairs. I think they were taking turns folding eath other up into the couch:

FOOD!

Present-Palooza:

Luke and John playing blocks in the only space left that the big-kids hadn't taken over:

The after-present aftermath:

By the end, everyone was a little exhausted - some more than others:

We want to thank everyone so much for coming. Living far away from family is hard, but having a house full of people who love you makes it much easier! We are so blessed to have ALL of you as friends!

B is for Birthday - Part 2

There were so many great photos of the boys at their party, it was hard to pick just a few... so I didn't! Here's John at the beginning of the party:

Here he is getting a kick out of playing with Jordan:

"Do It Again!"

Will playing "Alphabet-Soup Toss":

Will loved hearing us sing "Happy Birthday" so much that he joined right in:

John was nervous about everyone looking at him and singing:

Blowing out the candles:

John carefully removed the "J" from his cake and admired it for a while:

but then he figured out what to do:

Video of John enjoying his cake:

Will making a "cheese" face with his piece of cake:

Time for presents!

How fitting:

Will, stopping to read a book:

Upon opening this gift (a long-sleeved shirt), Will immediately started taking off his shirt:

...and then did an awkward happy-dance in his new shirt. If only we'd taken video of it!

The boys got so many great gifts! I think this face says it all:

(One more installment of "B is for Birthday" coming with pictures of all the friends, chaos, and fun!)

B is for Birthday - Part 1

Here are the first pictures from the boys' ABC Birthday party. This one is right when you walk in the door looking into the dining room where all the food was set up. We filled the back shelf with pictures from the boys' portrait session. After everyone arrived, that present table on the left was covered in presents and they filled up the floor all the way out to the hallway!

Here are pictures of the Alphabet centers we set up for the kids to do during the party. This one is the "ABC Train Station." There is a 10-foot alphabet train puzzle laid out on the floor.

This one is the "Alphabet-Soup Toss" where the kids threw alphabet bean-bags across the table and into the bowls to make alphabet soup:

Here's the "Alphabet Hospital" where there were letter-shaped lace up cards for the kids to sew together and a variety of other doctor-tools to make sure the letters were in tip-top-shape:

This one is the "Letter-Tower Construction Zone":

Here's a shot of the living room all clean and decorated. This is where most of the action took place.

Cake and drinks table:

Here are the beautiful cakes made by our friend, Melodie Floro. Will absolutely loved the alphabet cakes!

These are the crayons that we gave away as favors. We made each kid their own special name-crayons!

Next post I'll put up the pictures of everybody partying and the boys doing cake and presents!