End of school - Beginning of summer!

I don't know about anyone else, but it seems like my kids take at least a week or two to really adjust to summer. They get a little extra cranky, sensitive, tired, and - well - sometimes naughty. I think it's mostly because it takes them a while to get used to a new routine and schedule (or lack of one)...and also being around each other more. Well, I think we're finally done with the adjustment phase and now we are really enjoying the summer freedom. We've been playing outside more....

...playing in the sandbox and jumping on the trampoline seem to be the kids' favorite activities lately. The sandbox is a true test of my motherly patience. If I had my way I would get rid of it in a flash. I hate the mess and I hate the trail of sand that ends up in my house. I also hate having to strip Lilly down and giving her a bath every single time she plays IN the sandbox. It just gets everywhere! But all three kiddos just love the sand, so I just grit my teeth and let them play and get dirty.

The boys both had a great year of school/preschool. It's always bitter sweet to end a school year...at least for me. It's usually extra busy with field trips and special projects and programs. I don't mind the busy-ness of it all....I just wish the teachers would give us more than a few days notice. What's up with that? Anywho....here are some picture to document the last little bit of the school year.

Tyler attended Miss Debbie's preschool this year. He loved every single second of it! That kid loves to learn and he loves to be social with his little buddies. We did a carpool with 2 other kids this year and Tyler became really close with our carpool buddies. It was a great help for me too...only driving one day a week for preschool was great!

Miss Debbie planned a fabulous program for the preschoolers to perform on the last day of school. Tyler did a superb job of singing the songs, doing the actions, saying his parts, and soaking up all of the attention! It was so fun to see him really enjoying the performance! Luckily both of his grandmas were available to come witness all of the action too:

Thanks to both Grandma Deb and Grandma Nancy for joining us for his program! It meant a lot of all of us that you were there.

One of Sam's end of the year field trips was to the Hogle Zoo. There was no way I was going to miss out on that! We had a great time spending the day there....along with 2,000 other school kids - no kidding! I was in charge of 4 (including Sam) very active boys for the day...and they really wore me out! It took me 3 days to recover (I'm not exaggerating either!).

Sam seemed to really enjoy the bird show that we watched. When the rest of the 2nd graders went home, we stayed - just the 2 of us - and rode the train together! It was the highlight of the day, of course!

One of Sam's end of the year projects was a report on any animal of choice. To our surprise he picked the snowy owl. Random, I know. Here is his poster that he made at school:

He also gave an oral report in front of the class about the snowy owl. Matt was available to go to that, and said that Sam did a great job. He's come so far!

Here is Sam with his teacher, Miss Livingston.

And here is Sam with his special ed teacher, Miss Kat.

Unfortunately this was Miss Kat's last year at Sam's school. We are VERY sad to see her go. She has been a HUGE part of Sam's success at his elementary school. She is also a very big reason why we even moved here to this neighborhood in the first place....so he could go to the school she worked at. We did get to meet her replacement, and we look forward to working with her next year....but Miss Kat has left some mighty big shoes to fill. I'm honestly worried that Sam is going to freak out next year when he realizes that Miss Kat is gone. :( He really got attached to her.

So the rest of our summer will include some swimming lessons, Super Hero Spy camp at Miss Debbie's (for the boys, just this week), playing outside, going on adventures, a lot of time at the playground....and, oh yeah, then there is that baby boy that is coming in July!!!! I'm scheduled to be induced on July 20th. However, I've been having so many contractions lately (the Braxton Hicks kind) that I'm starting to get a little nervous that he might try to come earlier! I've never gone into REAL labor on my own before - so that would be crazy! We are so very excited for him to come, no matter how it happens. I've been busy getting the baby's room ready and doing A LOT of laundry to get all of the clothes, burp cloths, blankets, and other baby items clean. So in just 4 weeks (or less) we'll have a sweet little bundle of joy come to join our family! Yippee!