First day of summer 2015

Today was Simon's first day of summer with Jessie and Lillian. It was a great day of park and play time. And they even got along great!

Saturday of Summer Play

Fun day today with bubbles and a bit of face painting. It was the first day of Simon's Summer vacation - but he still had to wear a sweater as we walked down to building blocks for face painting. It warmed up and while Lillian and I went for a walk and played in the park, Simon wanted to stay at home and play with his new birthday toys.  

She got totally soaked - but had the best time trying to drink from the fountain.
Mom note: She did have a water bottle, this was just much more fun.

Simon's Last day of school 2015

It is somehow already Simon's last day of school. I am completely amazed at how much our boy has learned and grown this past year. He can identify and write every capital letter and 23 lower case letters (p,q and l are still tricky). He can count to 20 and occasionally higher. He can write his full name in all capital letters. He has learned to talk with kids his own age, practiced entering groups and asking friends to play with him. His imagination has soared, he leads imaginative play with peers and adults, he is so very competitive (you can get him to do almost anything by telling him it is a race) and his love of sports has (somehow) increased as well. He danced and sang, was in a school show, toured restaurant kitchens, made pizzas, went on field trips, learned about trees and watched butterflies emerge from cocoons. He has had TWO surgeries this year: one to remove the wart from warty toe and the other to take out his tonsils, adenoids and put tubes in his ears. He began to love his little sister and they are finally playing together nicely on a fairly regular basis - I attribute at least some of that turn around to how much the kids in his classroom loved Lillian visiting in the morning.  His favorite color is purple and when talking about who he is going to marry (after ruling out all family, including aunties) he thinks he will marry Adelaide (I'll include a picture after the jump), but that might just be because she wants to marry him. When asked who he wants to play with he says Sadie because he just doesn't get to talk to her much during the day and she is always so nice. He plays sports with Calvin every recess and claims he wins every race, even when he obviously has not won.   He never wants to leave the house to go to school, but once we are on our way he runs to get there and is thrilled to see everyone and start his day. He is very attached to the schedule and process and is so very proud when he gets a job in the classroom (like line leader, chime ringer, or counter). When asked, he told me that he will miss Ms Zairel the most this summer.

Simon's amazing Pre-K teachers
From left to right: Mrs Walker, Simon, Ms Zairel, Ms Roshea. 

A picture of 4 year old Simon next to a mural at school.
I envision this picture annually with the kids for the next 10 years. 

Father's Day cake decorating

We went to Dinkel's for Simon to decorate a Father's Day cake for Alan. He was so very deliberate and careful with it. He thoughtfully added each decoration and squirt of frosting - even asking the host if he could have a sugar baseball and another plastic 'dad' hat. All the other kids (about 8) were done in five minutes or so and just squished on a lot of frosting and dumped the sprinkles - we took about 30 minutes and made it just right.

Simon made absolutely the best cake for his Amazing Daddy. 

Overheard this morning

Alan to Lillian: you want to get up?
Lillian: yeah! Cheese please!
Alan: you want cheese?
Lillian [with great joy]: yeah!
Alan: I'm not going to give you cheese while I change your diaper.
Lillian [heartbroken]: why???
Alan [laughing]: because...

Gaga and Papa's Visit (June 12-15, 2015)

We had a wonderful visit with Gaga and Papa on Simon's birthday weekend. We were so busy playing and reading and opening Simon's presents that we didn't really take many pictures. Simon loved having us sing Happy Birthday to him! But it was a wonderful visit!

Simon's 4th Birthday Party

Simon had 17 of the kids in his class to his birthday party at Little Kickers (they do kid soccer classes and soccer themed parties).  We had 2 coaches for 2 hours to help the kids play, run, kick and generally have a blast. Simon was a happy, sweaty birthday boy.

Simon loved being the goalie and kicking. He did some drop kicking like a goalie does and he was pretty good at it. We didn't open any presents during the party; we brought them home and we started opening them in the afternoon after the party. Simon opened presents and played with each one before moving on to the next present. He opened the last present from the party on Monday evening! He has had a wonderful birthday.

Showing off his Drop Kick.

Pre-Game talk with the coaches.

Blowing out the candle on his 4th birthday cake.

Simon and Noah.

CRAZY BOY!

Guess how old he is??