May There Always Be You.

Friday night, Henry officially graduated from Nike's

Preschool Program. Throughout the many months of planning

for this ceremony, I really didn't think much of this

day, I mean, it's PRESCHOOL, right?

It completely snuck up on me as one of the most

emotional experiences I've ever had with my children.

Our Henry made us so incredibly proud.

Seven months ago, Henry would never have been

comfortable in front of a crowd of 500+, would never

have sang and smiled on a stage.

But Friday, he was like an angel on earth.

Truly, an ANGEL on EARTH.

And I unexpectedly pulled out the "ugly cry".

I had no control over myself, and Nate

got it all on video.

Walking to the Ceremony

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these sweet boys.

Henry's Board - where we learned his favorite song is Gangi, Gangi

and his favorite lunch is waffles - yep! That's my boy!

Henry and his friend Luke:

Henry and Alia:

Henry's beautiful teachers, Jamie, Lacey and Audree:

Lacey rallying the "Dynamotion" class:

I can't even caption the next two photos because nothing

can describe how sweet these two can be to one another:

Yes, they are forehead to forehead:

Henry wanted Charlie to join his class:

They had face/body painting for the siblings:

Leaving for their ceremony:

Henry on stage with Luke, Anna, Catie and Jared.

Nervous?

And then he spotted us:

The Butterfly Song:

After the hour long ceremony, they had food and drinks

and candy and bouncy houses, slides, clowns, magicians

and hundred and hundreds of people!

Here is video of the songs...and where I went to the ugly cry.

The last song is especially difficult.

Go ahead, try it.

May there always be sunshine

May there always be blue skies

May there always be children

May there always be you.

May there always be stories

May there always be music

May there always be teachers

Who take care of you.

I love you so much Henry Barton.

Daddy and I are so proud of you.

May there always be you.

Happy Father's Day

(The boys dictated the following to me):

Dear Daddy,

Thank you for being our Daddy.

Thank you for always putting us first.

Thank you for our regular "boy" wrestling matches, making lego guns ALL of the time, building indoor forts, cutting our food in small pieces, spending countless hours pitching wiffle balls, shooting hoops, riding bikes, having rules, cleaning our crusty noses, teaching us manners, doing our crazy nighttime kitchen dances, making our car drives like Star Wars missions, teaching us how to treat ladies, always saying good night to us after we are sleep, being good to our Mommy, asking us about our day and most of all, letting us be little carefree kids.

Thank you for always putting us first.

Thank you for being our Daddy.

We love you.

Happy Father's Day to Nathan, My Dad - who will hopefully see this despite being 1/2 way across the world, Grandpa Stan and Grandpa Mark who all in one way or another helped shaped someone important in my life.

Sunny Day!

Last summer's duct-taped water guns had

seen better days, so we upgraded to the $9.99

Target-special.

These guns somehow, someway, tickled their funny bones. There was a lot

of hysterical belly-laughing going on this day.

Four, going on Nine

A couple of weeks ago, Henry just decided it was time.

He is a big kid now.

And he wants to go to sleep in his own bed.

Huh?

Bedtime has always been a battle for us and Henry.

We didn't really fight him....we actually liked snuggling

with him. Or, we'd let him fall asleep in our bed and then

move him to his own in the middle of the night.

Because getting him to fall asleep in his bed could take

2 hours. Alternatively, it would take 30 minutes in our bed. I'm not a woman of leisure

and choose the 30 minute route.

But tonight, something changed.

Not only did he want to go to sleep in his own bed,

he wanted to read a book, BY HIMSELF, and then turn

his own light out.

After Henry proposed his idea, Nate and I exchanged looks.

A mix of scared, suspicious and probably sadness because, HELLO???

How old ARE you?

As I tucked him in, we talked about the "plan".

He repeated:

"I will read my book, The Dangerous Book for Boys,

but big kids can read it too, then I will put my book away,

then turn the light off, then go to sleep, then wake up, then

go to school!"

Good Night, Henry

Good Night, Mommy

Thirty minutes later, we found the light was off, the book

on his bedside table and our big boy under his covers....ASLEEP.

Which means we are just one step closer to total independence.

Thankfully, the microwave is up high, because when he can cook

his own chicken nuggets, I am no longer needed. Oh stop, I'm kidding.

Actually, I hope this means that amid all of our chaos, we, as parents,

are maybe, possibly doing something right.

Chieber

Charlie + Justin Bieber = Chieber

or "Baby Bieber". Either way, he is rocking the Bieber hair.

And his "Puppy", which is actually not a puppy

at all. It's a lamb.

Puppy is Charlie's sidekick.

And Charlie is my sidekick.

Which means Puppy is also my side, sidekick.

Helicopter

No matter when or how many times you ask him, the response is the same.

There is something about this word. I called them "Hawkers". Henry

called them "Helibacters". And now Charlie, well, your guess is as good as mine.

But at least he is consistent.

And yes, I totally get the irony of his shirt, which says "college".

The Graduate

There comes a time in your life,

when you know its time to trade

in your sand shovel for #2 pencils

and your nap cot for....oh wait, I

guess you still get to nap and play in the sand box in Pre-Kindergarten!

Never mind!

Meet the Nike Child Development Center Graduate:

Henry sure is going to miss his girl, Alia.

His last day is June 24th.

I know, they sorta remind me of Danny and Sandy, too!

We go together like

rama-lama-lama

ke ding a de dinga dong

remembered forever like

shoo bop shoo wada yippitee boom de boom

Chang chang changity chang

shoo bop

Thats the way it should be

Wha oooooo YAH!

Henry graduates in a fabulous Nike ceremony at the

Tiger Woods Center

on June 18th at 7:00.

His proud mama will be snapping photos

and video like you've never seen. Not only to share

with you, but mostly to hide my "stop growing up so fast" tears.

Congratulations Big Guy!

Silliness

Happy Days!

A glimpse into Henry's preschool class.

This is "cot dance"

A time when the kids go wild and crazy using

their outside voices inside and let it all hang out.

One of his teachers captured a very sweet moment.

Too sweet to not share.

That's Oliver attached to Henry.

A very sweet little guy, but I'm guessing by the looks of this photo,

Henrys girlfriend, Alia, must be out today.
And just prepare yourselves. Tomorrow I will unveil

Henry's graduation photo. I get goosebumps even thinking about it, it's so precious!

It was warm...ONE day!

One day this past weekend, it was warm!

So, maybe it was only like 67 degrees,

but after the winter/spring we have had, we were like

"Holy Hot Cakes, put on the bathing suits, hook up the AC, slather on the sunscreen, close the blinds and get me a cool glass of sweet tea!"

HAVE PASSPORT! WILL TRAVEL!

The Light Supper

This is what a high-calorie meal can do to your table.

On the flip side, we are getting very good at balancing our beverages on our knees.

He's got the beat

We stopped for a snack at the Seattle Center,

which just also happened to be the West African

Drum Festival. And Charlie had the beat!

And then he used his feet as he took off towards

the door. I'm starting to think the "child leash"

isn't child abuse after all....

Public Market Beauty

This is how I envision my days will look like living

in Weesp....at least this is what I HOPE they look like.