In the last weeks we've attended three year-end events for the kids--Claire's orchestra party, her piano recital, and Hamilton's family day during his last day at school. May is so packed with these events!
Our whole family enjoyed the orchestra party and picnic at Splash Island. Claire loved showing off her two brothers to her friends, and Hamilton loved flirting with Claire's friends.
Claire received an award for "perfect average" in strings class.
Her best friend Cady got several awards too.
The girls love their sweet teacher.
After the picnic and awards, we played at Splash Island. Hamilton saw a little slide and immediately--and uncharacteristically--wanted to slide down it. He got wetter than he was expecting the first time, so it took a few more times of trying to finally get him to come down the slide again. But he finally did! Many times he slid down after that, though I had to be right there to catch him. He didn't like getting his face submerged in the water at the end.
I caught him on video one of the last times he slid.
Collier spent some time crawling in the water too, but it was so "cold" (overcast, a little breezy, 75 degrees) the day we went. So he really loved being wrapped up in his fluffy towel after his few minutes of playing in the water.
Mr. Morgan stayed home with the boys, and I took Claire to her piano recital. Though she didn't play well at all considering how she plays sometimes, we had a great night with just us girls. Her best friend Cady came to the recital with her dad, and we all went out for frozen yogurt afterwards.
During Hamilton's last day of school, the parents were invited to come for outdoor games and a cookout. When Collier and I arrived, we found the boys already sweaty on the playground.
When it was the two-year-olds' time to play in the jump castle, I was hopeful Hamilton would love it. After a near disaster on the slide, he wanted to get out. He apparently hasn't been on enough slides to know how to do it. The second picture shows his upright position just before he tumbled onto his face at the bottom.
This shot with the boys' teachers was the best we could do, since sometimes two-year-olds don't like to be cooperative.
And here's the famous "Mih Ah-jee," so you'll know whom Hamilton's talking about. When she was his teacher at the beginning of the year, she was the first person he mentioned when he heard anything about school or teachers. She was also the first person he prayed for every night back then.
If you're still reading this long, catch-up post, you'll enjoy this video. This night just last week when Mr. Morgan was putting Hamilton to bed, he asked Hamilton to pray. Hamilton prayed for all his family which he'd never really done before like this. So Mr. Morgan left to get his phone, asked Hamilton to say his prayers again, and this video/voice-recording is the prayer he got. Sweet Mr. Morgan added the subtitles which make it even cuter.
Hamilton loved the trike-a-thon last week, and he was still talking about it this morning as we got ready for school. He thinks every day should be trike-a-thon day.
Hamilton proudly wore his trike-a-thon shirt from last year which he earned from getting many sponsors. He's so fast on his Scoot 'n' Zoom now, but he really wanted to ride some of the other kids' bikes and tricycles at the start of the event.
The course was a big loop for the kids to follow, but Hamilton saw me on the sidelines and wanted to stop after his first lap. So I got a few pictures, then encouraged him to ride around again.
Hamilton's tongue is out in most of my pictures of his scooting around when he was concentrating really hard and trying to go really fast.
Collier sat over on the sidelines watching, and it looks like he's flashing the "loser L" sign at Hamilton as he passes. Sibling rivalry has started early in the Morgan household.
West and Hamilton raced around the loop.
Hamilton really wanted to ride on Grady's tricycle.
Grady's mom Amanda was there taking pictures, too. Here are hers. We looked like the "mamrazzi" with our DSLRs slung from our necks.
Hamilton rode like the wind--as you can see by his flying hair.
Hamilton and West started playing a pretending game during one of their laps where West would point out some "cookies" that he found on the ground. Hamilton would scoot over to him and pretend to grab some. Then they'd both eat them and laugh. Pretending has become a favorite thing of Hamilton's. If I question some ridiculous notion of his, he says, "I jus' preteening, Mommy."
Here the three boys are about to have a crash.
On the home stretch! With 15 minutes allotted for Hamilton's class to use the loop, the boys went around many times. I was glad to see the end because that was our hottest day we'd had so far at over 80 degrees.
Hamilton's smiling big after his trike-a-thon. Yay for another successful year! Thank you to everyone who so generously donated!
What a gorgeous day for the trike-a-thon! I took over 250 pictures, so I'll post more later. I just wanted to give an update on this fun event: Hamilton exceeded his goal, so thank you to all you friends and family who generously donated!
Last year Hamilton was a top earner at his school's trike-a-thon--thanks to you, readers! Next week is this year's big event, and there will be plenty of pictures again of him riding like the wind on his Scoot 'n' Zoom, which he now calls his "luke-n-goom." Consider sponsoring him to support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Hamilton's school instructed us parents to send our children to school today dressed as their favorite book characters. Hamilton's favorite book right now is Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes by Beatrix Potter; however, dressing as one of those characters would have taken much effort on my part. Since we still have a monkey costume from Halloween and a red t-shirt, Curious George it is!
I visited Hamilton at school today during their Christmas party. I always love to observe him in a different, but familiar, environment. He ran around the room while I got to sit back and snap pictures. I have more shots to share in another post, but I like this shot because it shows him--mouth open, giving West an earful about that cookie. Even his posture looks like he's lecturing. Aahk! And a professorial sweater vest, too?!
Last week was Claire's orchestra concert, though I'm finally getting around to sharing more pictures. To say Claire was excited about this concert is an understatement: She was giddy even about the rehearsal the day before! She shares a music stand with Cady who's first viola and one of Claire's best friends right now.
Their orchestra teacher was so proud of them, so I'm assuming they did well for second-year orchestra students. As for "good music," I'm sure it was similar to the middle-school-band concerts my parents sat through when I played the flute.
The boys were well behaved during the short concert, though getting Hamilton to stand still for a quick picture is nearly impossible.
Cady's family invited us to party at a local ice cream shop following the concert. Claire was so excited to go with her friends, and I got to tag along and talk with the other parents. Mr. Morgan took the boys home for baths and bed. Claire ate a cheesburger and fries, and she shared a banana split with the other girls. She hadn't eaten much dinner at our early suppertime because she'd been so excited/nervous, but she made up for it aftewards. Here the girls--Claire, Cayley, and Cady--show off their newly purchased friendship rings.
Last night we were not at Hamilton's school Christmas program for long, but after such a busy week a quick night was best for all. Hamilton's performance was truly quick with the two-year-olds' singing only one song.
The boys' matching outfits were adorable, and I'm eager for other occasions to wear these cute Christmas duds.
My little boy looks so tall in his jon-jon suit.
Since I was dressed more festively than Mr. Morgan, he snapped pictures of us three.
Hamilton's school Christmas program was a bit anti-climactic for the two-year-olds' parents. We patiently waited through several cute songs from the older kids only to have Hamilton's class thrust on stage just before the last song. Since Hamilton and Grady had not been at school during the dress rehearsal, they were mesmerized during their song by the costumed kids and lighted decorations. Most of my pictures show Hamilton--head turned, mouth agape.
Somehow I was able to capture Hamilton and Collier with both faces toward the camera, pleasant expressions, and still bodies. The boys wore their coordinating fall outfits on Wednesday, so I had to snap a picture.
Let's be honest: Most of the shots were a mixture of Hamilton's gripping Collier in a bear hug and erratically waving his arms around.
Notice the super-cute pocket Mimi included on the boys' pants--not that they use them yet. I'm afraid to show Hamilton what a pocket's for, as I'm sure he'd find tons of icky boyish things to carry around on his person.
At school today, Hamilton's class enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast with one class dressed as Pilgrims and Hamilton's class dressed as Indians. They made headdresses with paper feathers and "leather" vests from paper grocery bags.
What a cute Indian he was...
before he ripped off his vest.
The requisite, holiday-themed laminated artwork came home with him. Happy early Thanksgiving!
