Nerf Gun Party

About two weeks ago, Alex attended his first Nerf Gun party for a school friend. Each guest was given a bullet pouch (made out of an old make-up bag and a ribbon … genius!) and sunglasses (for eye protection). Then they went across the street to the neighborhood park for a big “war”. They had so much fun hiding under the playground equipment and trying to shoot each other. After a while, the kids all turned on the 3 dads in attendance (Spencer wasn’t invited, so our Daddy was at home). Alex had a blast!

Wacky Wednesday

In honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday, Alex’s preschool had a Wacky Wednesday! Alex loved putting on crazy clothes and wearing my mom’s Dr. Seuss hat!

I think Alex’s favorite part was wearing two different shoes!

Spencer was sick, which explains the pile of tissues in his hand!

Sleepover

Alex has been asking for a while when he can sleep in our bed. He’s never spent longer than 5-10 minutes in our bed after wandering to our room in the middle of the night. For some reason though, he’s been begging to sleep in our bed. Tim had to work out of town Monday night, so I told Alex he could have a sleepover in my bed. He was SOO EXCITED! I told him to bring whatever he wanted to my bed while I was singing to Spencer. I came into the room to find his pillow and about 10 stuffed animals! He ended up sleeping like a champ … I did not! It was an adventurous night, but I loved it!

This is how Alex fell asleep.

The next morning … notice my pillow is halfway off the bed!

This boys has always been a crazy sleeper! This is how we found him a week ago.

Alex’s Fire Fighter Gear

After the fire fighters came to Alex’s school, the boys played a lot of fire rescue around the house. I love Alex’s tactical fire gear …

He has on his Spider Man mask to protect his face and the Iron Man Mask as his oxygen mask.

Spencer also joined in on the fun!

Fire Fighters Visit School

Alex’s school celebrated fire prevention week back in October. The fire fighters and a fire truck came for a visit on a Tuesday, which is my regular day to help out. Ms. Sarah and Ms. Niki let me bring Spencer along in exchange for taking some photos. What fun! The Huntersville Fire Department did a great job talking to the kids and explaining why they should never be afraid of fire fighters.

Alex is in the far back of the photo.

Alex giving the fire fighter a “high five”.

Spencer was excited and intimidated by the fire truck.

Alex really wanted Spencer to go in with him, but Spencer said, “NO”!

Pumpkin Patch 2015

Last October, Alex’s preschool class went on a field trip to Patterson Farm’s Pumpkin Patch. You can reminisce here. We had so much fun last year, so I really wanted to take the boys back this year. Even though last Thursday’s high was 80 degrees, we went back to Patterson Farm. Since it was a Thursday afternoon, we had the patch mainly to ourselves. It was a blast!

They were excited for the hay ride to the pumpkin patch.

Alex took this picture!

My cuties and their huge pumpkin.

Making corn angels in the corn pit.

They are pretending they are stuck in the spider’s web.

Alex had a blast (again) on the huge slide.

Alex’s 4K Update

Alex is still having a blast in 4K! Ms. Sarah and Ms. Niki are wonderful and have already taught him so much! I think Alex most enjoys learning new games … Duck, Duck, Goose, Musical Chairs, and Red Light, Green Light are some of his favorites. He and his friends start impromptu games of Duck, Duck, Goose on the playground … I even played last week! Spencer and I went in to read books to the class last week. We both had a blast! Spencer had so much fun that he gets mad if I don’t get him out of the car when we get to school to get Alex. He thinks he should be playing on the playground too! Tomorrow, I start helping out during center time. Spencer will stay with our baby-sitter and I’ll spend 30 minutes at school on Tuesdays. I am so EXCITED!

Ms. Sarah and Ms. Niki try to take a lot of pictures during the school day. They share these pictures on their classroom blog at the end of the week. It has been wonderful! I love seeing Alex in action as a fly on the wall. Here are some of the pictures:

Another favorite activity - chasing Ryder (who always pushes the lawn mower).

I’m guessing this is an important boys only meeting?

Apple prints during “A” week. Alex had paint everywhere when I picked him up!

Alex and friends working on the light table.

Another “A” week activity … making an “A” into an apple.

Identifying numbers with his (gulp) “girl friend”. She runs fast like he does!

Practicing his name.

Alex won this musical “freeze” game. He was so proud!

Alex’s “B” week show and share … a Batman mask!

Soccer!

Alex is in his second year of soccer! This year is quite different and much more organized. Though we are in the same league, he’s in the next age group. This means he meets for practice once a week and has games on Saturdays. There are only 7 kids on his team, which is much nicer than the 60 or so 3-year-olds at the soccer clinic last year. While he’s made it to all of the practices, he’s only played one game. He missed the second game due to a cold, and the third game was rained out. Hopefully we’ll make it to all the other games during the rest of the season.

Alex falls asleep on the way to practice every Wednesday!

Alex was always very concerned about the other team scoring. He’s definitely a defensive player.

Getting ready!

Victory dance during warm-ups.

Spencer has been enjoying soccer practice as well!

Exploring Charlotte’s Parks

Last Wednesday, the 3rd, was our last unplanned day of the summer (Thursday was orientation at school and the long weekend was spent in the mountains). When I asked Alex what he wanted to do, he said he wanted to see the big buildings. So, we drove into Charlotte to check out two parks nestled in the heart of uptown. Our first stop, 4th Ward Park, was pretty. It had several flower gardens and a few fountains. Unfortunately, the playground was super small and the boys quickly lost interest. So, after a quick walk-about and a few photos, we drove a few minutes down the road to Romare Bearden Park. We watched July 4th fireworks in this park, but it was dark and crowded. The boys were impressed by the skyline (office towers and condos line three sides, with the baseball stadium on the 4th) and all the construction surrounding us. Then, they noticed the fountain. They had a blast getting soaking wet. After a quick change, we shared a picnic while watching the cranes. We finished our adventure with fro-yo and headed back home in time for Spencer to nap. It was a fun day!

Butterfly garden in 4th Ward Park

Fountain in 4th Ward Park

Running in the fountain at Romare Bearden Park.

They loved it!

One of Alex’s photos of the construction site.

Another one of Alex’s photos of a dump truck.

We finished off our adventure with a cool treat.

Alex’s 1st Day of 4-K!

Tuesday was Alex’s first day of 4K! He is still at Playwise Preschool Academy, but he is now going 4 days a week from 8:45-12:45. This is a pretty big change from last year when he went 2 days a week for only 3 hours. The other big change is that Daddy is driving him to school this year! Alex was counting down the days for school to start … and I kind of was too until the night before, then I couldn’t stop crying! The first morning, I was counting down the hours til Spencer and I could pick him back up! Spencer asked about Alex a few times, but I think he enjoyed playing with all the toys without Alex around!

Alex enjoyed his time at school this week, and I know it’s going to be a great year!

Alex is excited to ride with Daddy to school!

Ms. Sarah, Alex, and Ms. Niki at dismissal. Alex loves them already!

Check out all of Alex’s hair! He also included a small (yellow) pond, grass, and leaves falling around him. I think someone is ready for fall!

Super Hero Madness

The Super Hero madness is upon us! It started with the Lego Batman game for the Wii. As Alex met more and more of the characters, he became more and more obsessed. Now, he has Batman Legos, a Superman shirt, two Batman movies (not the new ones … too dark!) and an incredible memory for all things Super Hero related! He and Daddy even created a Batcave in the sandbox over the weekend.

Tim had to make 3 entrances to the Batcave … just like in Alex’s game.

Alex putting Batman and Robin in place.

Batman and Robin

The bad guys flooded the Batcave!!

Spiderman mask + Superman shirt + red t-shirt cape = Batman (according to Alex)

Summer Camp & Bowling

Alex went back to his preschool for two weeks of summer camp earlier this month. I can’t believe it’s been a year since dropping him at his first camp and boo-hooing in the Starbucks parking lot! This time, we were both very excited for him to return to camp for a few days. I should probably say all three of us were excited, because I know Spencer enjoyed the time at home and on adventure away from Alex!

The first theme of camp was cooking. During each of the 4 days, they read books about a certain food, then cooked it! Alex had so much fun! The first day was noodles, so they cooked linguine with a butter sauce and picked fresh veggies from the preschool garden to mix in. Alex doesn’t like noodles, so he wouldn’t try it, but Spencer and I enjoyed it! Over the next few days, they made small pizzas, flipped pumpkin pancakes, and baked oatmeal raisin cookies. Each day, Alex was so proud to come home and share the remnants. The second theme was underwater adventures, so they learned all about ocean animals. He learned a ton about sharks and whales and made some cute artwork.

While Alex was in camp, Spencer and I ran errands and enjoyed our time playing at home. We did sneak to a play date with Liam, one of Alex’s friends … we actually went bowling! We tried bowling one time last summer, but Alex wasn’t impressed and Spencer was too little to really participate. This time was a blast! I can’t wait to go back again!

Alex’s noodle dish and the noodle bracelet he made for me.

Alex’s artwork from top left: aquarium, (tree … not from school), turtle, cookie, pizza, whale, ocean, and the rainbow fish.

The smallest bowling ball was 6 lbs, so I would carry it to the ramp, with Spencer “helping and holding it from the bottom. Then he’d give it a push. So fun!