A little Pomp and Circumstance

What a weekend celebration, albeit a soggy celebration at that! Aiden had his Pre-K graduation at his preschool, Canterbury Preparatory School. What a great time. We started with a party on Friday evening at Aiden's friend's house, Lincoln, where a few of the Pre-K'ers in Aiden's classroom celebrated with their families at an outdoor BBQ. The kids had a blast at the outdoor fort at Lincoln's house (they have 3 boys, which makes their backyard a haven for fun times!). We followed up dinner with an official graduation cake, and then Aussie tattoos in honor of their classroom, Australia. As if all the kiddos weren't on a sugar or adrenaline high, we ended the evening roasting marshmallows and making smores in the firepit.

Saturday morning was the graduation ceremony. It was supposed to be outdoors at the school; however, the rainy weather ruined any plans of that. All 5 classrooms had all onlookers crammed into one of the classrooms inside. Each student was called to the front to receive their "diploma". Aiden was voted by his teachers to be the tallest NBA basketball player when he grows up!! At almost 4 ft. tall (46 1/2 inches to be exact), he's got a great start! Aiden's best buddy, Blake, was voted to be the next Donald Trump - I told him he should stay good friends with him throughout the years!

We followed up the ceremony with a quick lunch and then off to a soccer game - in the pouring rain!! What a mess, but I think the boys had a blast. Aiden continued his domination of the soccer field scoring five points at this week's game! Thankfully the rain canceled t-ball practice, so we ended the day with a family movie night cuddled up snugly and warm in the basement.

Here are a few of the pics to show the fun of this event!

Mother's Day

What a great Mother's Day I had! My boys ran out to get a special breakfast, including my very favorite drink from Starbucks, to start the morning right! The boys gave me two sweet cards, including one of which there was a little boy & a monkey sitting in a crib, which I opened to read "Happy Mother's Day from me and my brother". I think the vote is still out as to who is the monkey in our family!

We then headed out to Gram & Papa's house for lunch, which us "Lindemann's" ate as much peel & eat shrimp that we could possibly consume, and the "Smith's" ate a variety of steak & chicken fingers!! Needless to say, I made a happy plate - as Aiden likes to call it (for all of those Yo Gabba Gabba fans out there).

We followed up the afternoon visiting the Kammerts, which the boys had a great time. On the way home, the most funniest conversation ensued. A perfect example of how Aiden is turning into my Type A personality, as he is such a planner (among other Type A traits).

Aiden: Happy Mother's Day mom. Hey Dad, you know what I'm going to get you for Father's Day?

Chris: No Aiden, today is Mother's Day and Father's Day is more than a month away...AND, it should be a surprise.

Aiden: No, but it's this really cool toy that you and I can play together.

Chris: But, I don't want a cool toy Aiden. I think you should buy me that phone I've been wanting.

Aiden: Well dad, we don't always get what we want...

Penny: (in the background snickering)...I guess we should be proud that some of our parenting moments are sticking...although, makes you think twice when the kids use them against the parents!

Kieran LOVES cars

Ok, so I'm pretty sure that everyone that has met Kieran know how much of an infatuation this kid has with cars. Aiden was all about the ball - ball this - ball that. However, Kieran literally lights up like Christmas morning when he spots his favorite car - a clunky orange model car Nissan Z.

The following pictures will probably put this into perspective for you. Kieran's newest favorite hobby is to climb himself up to our kitchen table and "rum" the cars back and forth, or, to line them up on our window sills and drive them from one side to another. Wonder if his future will entail NASCAR or Formula 1 racing...we know what kind of influence daddy will instill on that one!

Finished product!

Survival of the Fittest?

This past weekend was certainly one of the first. Chris went to St. Louis to go biking with friends, while I stayed back managing (aka running) the boys to the weekends activities.

Aiden is back in spring soccer where his true competitive nature shines through, which earned him a whopping THREE goals in Saturday's game! He has always had natural athletic ability (not that I am biased or anything), but you can tell this season that he is getting the hang of dribbling the ball and doing more to keep control up and down the field. What a thrill!

Aiden has also joined a t-ball team for the summer, and Saturday was the first practice for 15 pre-K boys. They did quite well, splitting them up into small groups among 4 different coaches - mostly working on grounders and throwing the ball. Aiden got to break in his new big boy baseball glove. Also, halfway through practice Aiden experienced being one with nature - i.e. peeing into the woods since there were no bathrooms to be found! While I think (& hope) this is a first, just hope I don't catch him over at the neighbors house trying this again, as he was quite amused with himself. Must be a boy thing...

Sunday, we headed up to Ironwoods Park with my parents for their 'Party in the Park'. Aiden did a few fun activities, the most unique of which he got to pet his very first snake. Being the cautious boy that he is, it took much coaxing. He wasn't too impressed but was more focused on the fact that he REALLY wanted the VERY BIGGEST snake to come out of its aquarium, because Aiden only likes things that are BIG...the BIGGER the BETTER!! I'm glad that didn't work out for him though, as I would have gone running for the hills!

So, needless to say I survived a weekend on my lonesome. While I thought surely all of my half marathons would put me into great shape, I'm not sure I've quite got the stamina to keep up with these boys and their activities over the next 20+ years; but for now I'm going to say...GAME ON!