Mason's Preschool Graduation

The last week in May our little scholar (cough, cough, wink, wink) graduated preschool!!  Anyone who's met Mason knows that school and organized learning are not really his jam but he did it!  And he showed major improvements from the beginning of the year.  

Mason is my not-a-morning-person, sleep-in-until-10:00, grumpy-until-he-wakes-up-an-hour-after-he-opens-his-eyes kid so getting him up for school was a bit of a challenge (pretty much the EXACT OPPOSITE of Kade).  Only 13 years to go!

Give this kid a fishing pole.  Or a knot in the line.  Or an engine that needs figuring out and he will astound you with his patience, ingenuity and manual dexterity.  Ask him to say the alphabet or count to 100 and he'll tell you, "Nah.  How about you do it instead."  It could be a long 13 years...

But, dang, does he make graduating look good!!!

Silly dancing with Dad.

Diploma time!

Mason and Harper, the only time they'll be in the same class.

Mason is on to kindergarten next year.  Harper, who is a little younger, will do another year of preschool.

Mason and his best buddies from daycare.

Ashtyn, Gunnar and Harper

Grandpa and Grandma time!

Little stinker was winking in every picture we took.

He asked for strawberry cake, and that is what he got!

Not to forget Kade Man.

He had an end of the year activities day that ended up being inside due to rain.

Here he is with his buddy Kelton.

And Charlie and Nolan.

Nolan, who is the oldest, with his 2 giant bookend buddies!!

End of School Year

It's been a busy few weeks with end of school year activities and the start of summer activities overlapping right now.  I can't believe Kade is done with 2nd grade and Mason is done with preschool!!  Time is flying by and I just can't get enough of these handsome baby faces.  It's amazing how much they grew this year, both in size and maturity.  They're definitely turning into little men right before my eyes.

Mason's first day of preschool picture,

and his last day of preschool picture.

Kade's first day of 2nd grade picture, 

and his last day of second grade picture.

I have to post on the end of the year activities because there's a ton of pictures!  Summer will be in full swing before I know it!!

A couple weeks ago Mason had his field trip and Erik went along.  They went to the trampoline park in the morning and were supposed to go to an outdoor park for lunch and play, unfortunately it was too cold and rainy for that part.  

Kade's been busy with the horses again this spring!

Mason has found his true passion in life...fishing!

I know I've mentioned it a few times here but I just can't get across how much this kid truly loves to fish.  He's been going every week, for hours at a time.  He's focused the entire time, he does all of his own baiting and removing of his catches.  

When he's not fishing, he's watching fishing on tv, practicing his casting at home and pretending to fish in the yard.  I can't tell you how many pictures we have of him with a fish on the line!  It seems like Kade has been gone a lot lately, with friends, baseball, horses, etc.  So, when Mason gets left behind we head down the road to Chester Woods and throw a line in!

Mother's Day

We went back to Whitewater on Mother's Day for, what I thought, was going to be a nice walk in the woods.  We brought fishing poles "just in case".  We made it roughly 50 yards down the trail and the boys had to stop to fish.  Then we proceeded to watch them fish for the next hour or so.  Eventually we did make it further down the trail but it was completely blocked/destroyed by beavers.  So, we turned around and found a different spot to throw the lines in.  Basically, my Mother's Day consisted of about a 10 minute walk and roughly 3.5 hours of fishing.  But, it was a beautiful day, the boys had a blast and they did manage to catch ONE fish--that got off the hook before they could reel it in.

Attempt #1 at a picture with my boys.

2nd, and final, attempt at a good picture.

I got to watch these handsome boys, in their matching outfits, have the time of their lives.

 While I got to sit.  

And do nothing.  

Best Mother's Day ever.

These boys love to do jobs!  Usually (that's the key word) when we give them a job to do they get so excited.  As I was looking back on my pictures, trying to decide the theme of the week, I realized I had a few pictures of them doing some work!

Dishes are so much more enjoyable with a teammate!

Erik's little helper.

He was trying to send me the measurement of the bracket you see in the front.  

But all I could see was some cute cheeks, focusing hard on a nail, in the background.

Practicing his casting!

This kid would fish all day, every day if he could!

Getting things ready for a mini garden and a cucumber trellis.

Erik asked them to smile.

This is what he got.

Scooping compost for the garden.

Last week we took a hike in Whitewater State Park with cousins Violet, Isaac and Eve.  

Climbing, getting dirty, tossing rocks in water and running around with friends.

Doesn't get much better than that!