Tiny Turtle And Toothless

Today Brayton made green jelly (Je.ll-o) at school and learned a song to go along with it:

McColley had an even more adventurous day. There was a special event at school - a children's author/former professional soccer player came today and gave a presentation. Apparently at the end of the presentation, he played soccer with the kids.

And apparently the game got a bit rowdy because McColley's front tooth got knocked out!

Along with the molar that the dentist pulled out last week and the front tooth he lost a couple months ago, the new lost tooth has made is smile pretty silly looking:

Red, White and Blue

Today McColley's class was asked to wear red, white and blue to school. Knowing he doesn't have a ton of red clothing, I had him search last night for something to wear.

After a short search through his sweater drawer, he came down with a slightly frustrated look on his face, "Mom, this is the only red sweater I have and it seems a bit itchy. Plus I think it's too big."

I immediately knew what sweater he was talking about without even a look, "McColley, I know that sweater is your size."

"Why?"

"Because it was your daddy's sweater and I know he wore it when he was seven years old."

Needless to say, McColley wore it to school today:

And in an accidental theme - Brayton wore red and Pearson wore blue:

Hiding Away At Oxbur.gh

Today the boys and I decided to drive east and visit Ox.burgh Hall:

The Hall was built during the medieval period but came into prominence during the Tudor era. You can see the Hall's history on its walls:

One of the most famous things about Oxbu.rgh is its Priest Hole... for some reason my children were hesitant to climb down into a small dark hole:

But by going first I convinced them to join me. Despite the Hole's spaciousness once you descended, the boys still weren't super excited to be in it:

Earning a sticker for going into the Hole did liven their moods a bit. However they really didn't understand why I was having them pose in front of a fancy bird cage. I only confused them further by explaining that it was a montrance:

After all that history and religiousness, it was time to get outside and hit things. Or in the Civilized English Manor House Way - Croquet:

The boys had fun trying to get the foam balls through the pony wicket for a few minutes and then we decided to quickly check out the chapel:

After a quick tour of the chapel we decided to walk all the way around the house. On the back side I tried to take a family picture with the Hall behind us.

I did eventually figure out how to get people and the house together in one shot...

except Pearson refused to stand up, so we had to take a second picture of just people:

Before leaving we had to take a quick jaunt around the swirls of the parterre:

Look Who's Going To School Too!

Who is this young gentleman walking up to school for his very first day ever?

It's Pearson!

After two long years of having to take his big brothers to school and not being able to go himself, today was his day!

Pearson will be going to school every Thursday - luckily he has a big brother who is more than excited to show him the ropes.

News Bulletin: He's Now Two!

Today Pearson turned two! We decided to have a low key celebration for him, so we waited until after his big brothers' school day ended and Daddy could come online to have him open his presents.

Pearson figured out how to open his presents pretty quickly but his brothers REALLY wanted to help him:

And they actually got a bit more excited about some of them than he did:

In fact the excitement was so high that we had to move Daddy off the table and up to the buffet to make sure he wouldn't be knocked off the table:

With Daddy still watching I brought out Pearson's cake (which was my second attempt at baking/decorating):

Pearson didn't quite get what we were asking him to do when we told him to blow out the candle. Brayton actually blew it out first to show him what to do. We then re-lit the candle and let Pearson blow it out himself:

We did not, however, eat the cake at this point. Instead we had to take Brayton to his swim class.

Pearson didn't mind the delay because he got to play with his biggest brother:

Home from swimming, it was time for cake. Pearson didn't actually want to eat any cake though - there was toys to play with!

Back To Preschool

Today (see what I did there - I'm finally caught up!) was Brayton's first day of preschool. This year he is one of The Big Boys and will be going a bit more often than he did last year.

He was hesitant to start:

And then really did not want to go in:

It took a bit of cajoling - he really loves staying at home with Mommy - but we did get him in for his first day. As I suspected, he had a great day and came out at the end of day full of stories about all the fun things he'd been able to do. I hope it was just first day jitters!

First Day Of First Grade

Thursday August 29th was McColley's first day of school:

We got him to school a bit early and he was able to catch up with one of his friends from last year:

Brayton and Pearson were also excited to play on the playground again:

At 8:25 the bell rang and it was time to line up for the first time. The principal was there to greet all the kids and wish them (and their new teacher) well:

McColley is in the split class again this year but last year's teacher had to move. He does know his new teacher because she substituted a bit last year:

At the end of the day she required a quick hug before releasing the kids back to their parents:

Things are going to be different this year but McColley ended his first day as excited about the upcoming year as he had been when the day started!

Ending The Summer At The Theatre

Unfortunately Aunt Arianna and Uncle Tim had to fly home on Tuesday the 20th. However, in expectation of the let down that was bound to happen after so much time hanging out with family, I had purchased some theatre tickets to get us through the last week of summer.

On Thursday August 22nd we joined some friends and headed into London to see 'Going On A Bear Hunt':

With six kids and only two adults, we had the lowest adult-to-kid ratio in the theatre. Luckily all of our kids were extremely well behaved and had a great time!

On Sunday August 25th McColley, Brayton and I journeyed down to London to see 'The Lion King'. Knowing that our train journey was going to be unusually long due to track work, we took along some snacks for the trip:

After arriving in London we headed straight to the theatre where we finished up lunch in our seats:

We were in the Royal Circle (First Balcony) for both shows and had a great view from there!

This is our second year taking advantage of Kids Week (one free kid ticket for each adult ticket and up to an additional two kid tickets 50% off) - we've managed to squeeze in three shows both years. The boys are turning into excellent theatre audience members.