School in full swing

Yes 2011 school has begun and is in full swing.  Cole started Second grade this year.  Tate is in Kindergarten.  Gryffin started preschool as well (a little benefit with Eugene attending school in Boise until Dec. & a chance for him to feel like a BIG boy).  Here are pictures from their first day of school.

The Shrinking Chocolate Chip

Gryffin: Mom I need some chocolate really bad.  Can I have some chocolate mom? (I am sure he meant to say PLEASE after I just didnt give him the chance.)
Me: Sure, all I have is mini chocolate chips though from making chocolate chip zuchinni bread.
Gryffin:  Okay, wow yum.
(In walks Tate)
Tate: Gryffin what are you eating?
Gryffin: Chocolate chips (I am sure he was giving Tate the duh look)
Tate: Gryffin what happened to them, did they not grow?

2010-2011 School wrap up

So 2010-2011 school wrapped up for all of us and we are breathing in summer now.  Eugene and I finished the first week in May scoring all A's.  I was quite proud of us with everything we had going on and the classes we had on our plates.
Tate graduated preschool.  He was so cute in his cap and gown.  I would like time to go a little slower at times but I know I will be comparing this one to his High School graduation photo in no time at all.

We of course had to celebrate Teacher appreciation week.  Our kids had the most amazing teachers I loved them all and was so happy with the end results.  Things were a little hectic but I came up with an idea for a great gift and this is what I made.  I bought some empty paint cans at home depot.  (I think I was still on a kick from Easter with these adorable paint cans)  I filled them to the brim with salt water taffy and wrote a thank you note that read, "Thanks for painting my future bright."  We gave one to Tate's teacher and one to her assistant.  Since Cole started at Adams Elementary I have let him choose three teachers or faculty members that he would like to show his appreciation.  This year he chose (probably with a little influence from me) his awesome teacher Ms. Ermer, the secretary who we all knows holds the school together, and the principal Mr. Grunig.  I think they all played an intricate part in Cole's great first grade year so before we know it we will be on to 2011-2012 with Cole and Tate both at Adams Elementary.  Im not sure who is more excited.

Mr. T or Mrs. T

During the month of April Tate's preschool started a class room garden and also had some baby chicks so the kids could learn all about them.  They had three chicks and at the end of their learning block about gardens and baby animals they raffled them off.  I didn't think Tate's odds of winning one were that great so I was not concerned at all.  After all there were 24 kids in his class and only three baby chicks.  Luck must be on that kids side, he won a baby chick.  Luckly my parents were here for a day and were able to take it with them back to AZ and drop it off at the Sexy Ranch (that is what grumpa norris calls their place out in the tumbleweeds, I think he started calling it that to try and excite Brianne about moving all the way out in BFE).  We were unsure if it was a boy or a girl so we dubbed it Mr. or Mrs. T.  We took pictures so Tate could compare them with the next time he saw his baby chick.  We were under the impression that it was an egg laying chick but I asked his teacher to confirm and she asked the lady that actually bought them because she thought it was an egg laying chick but was unsure of the breed.  However, it turned out to be a meat chick so Tate probably wont get many chances to compare its growth to these pictures.

Taking it out for a stroll

Later that evening on Gryffin's birthday we took his new scooter for a stroll.  He loved it!

What kind of birthday would it be with out blowing out some candles?  He loved his spiderman candle.  We lit and re-lit that candle so many times for days and days I lost track.

Gryffin is 3

On April 27th I woke up early to the sound of wrapping paper being eagerly ripped of birthday presents.  I could hardly open my eyes all I could due was nudge Eugene and yell frantically, "someone is opening Gryffin's birthday presents."  Fortunately it was Gryffin opening up his presents, unfortunately we missed out on seeing him open a couple and had a hard time getting him to hold off on opening any more until we could wake his brothers up. 
Gryffin knew way before his birthday that he wanted a spiderman theme.  It was probably in February when I was asking the boys for ideas on what they would want when Gryffin immediately responded with spiderman.  Tate on the other hand took forever to decide, probably because he had Cole in his ear telling him what kind of party and cake he wanted.
Gryffin was so fun to watch on his birthday.  I took him on a few errands and he told the lady, "its my birthday shoot hooray!"  How do you just not want to eat him up (metaphorically speaking that is)?
(And if you are wondering about the band aid that is loudly featured in these pictures.  Gryffin fell on a log outside and put a hole, yes a hole, almost the circumference of a dime in his head)

Easter

Easter was fun this year.  Last year the boys had big metal dump trucks as their Easter baskets.  So this year I needed something new for their Easter baskets.  I hated to spend money on something that might get broke, misplaced, or never used again.  The thought occurred to me, why not use empty paint cans.  I figure I could re-purpose those as cute storage in many many different ways, so that is just what I did.  I think they turned out pretty fantastic.  Wouldn't you know it was actually warm enough and the ground was not covered in snow like last year that the Easter bunny was actually able to hide their eggs outside.  Next year we will dye more eggs, a dozen each, at least that is what I have told Eugene.