It was a busy spring for the family, highlighted by two road trips. In February, we went to Washington, DC, to celebrate our new friend Brendan's first birthday and dedication ceremony. It was an exciting visit as the kids got to ride on a train (the DC Metro) for the first time and visit the Air & Space Museum.
In April, we met up with Brendan and his brother Danny again (and of course parents Dave and Colleen) at Notre Dame's Blue and Gold Game. Rose and Jacob hadn't been to campus in a few years, so the sights were a distant memory for Rose, and were basically brand new. They loved seeing the dome and other landmarks in person, witnessing a few bubble soccer games, and being up close with the band and the leprechaun. We managed to stay for the whole game, but only because they had popcorn (and because Jacob napped for most of it.
After a quick two years, Rose is now a preschool graduate and will be starting kindergarten in the fall. We signed her up for kindergarten a few months ago, and she was a little disappointed to find out she couldn't start right then. In the meantime, she's enjoying riding the scooter she got for Easter, and playing soccer and tee ball. Soccer is new to her, but she's learning quickly. Rose is a pretty self aware kid for five and a half, as she always seems to be working on going outside of her comfort zone, like facing her fear of fire alarms or making new friends at the playground.
Jacob starts preschool in the fall, and he's proved that he's more than ready by spending a few days with Rose's class this spring. After a slow start, he's now mostly potty trained, which was the last major hurdle over starting preschool. The Easter Bunny brought Jacob a bike for Easter, and when he's not riding that, he's practicing for tot ball or trying to help Rose with soccer. Unfortunately, he'll have to wait a few years until he can join a soccer team. Jacob is a very imaginative kids, playing pretend and singing to himself. Even when he can't quite verbalize what he wants to say, you can tell there's a lot going on in his mind. My favorite new habit is when he'll ask a clarifying question about something, so he can remember to tell someone about it later. Or, since he doesn't know all of his numbers yet, when we play Go Fish he'll just show someone a card and ask, "You got... one of these?"
Onto the pictures...
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| looking out the train window in DC |
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| doing yoga |
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| board games with Mamaw |
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| board games and card games got us through the winter |
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| decorating cookies |
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| at the dentist |
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| people make gingerbread houses in April, right? |
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| pioneer dress-up with Daddy |
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| I'm a Ninja Warrior! |
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| library carnival night |
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| playing at Rose's school |
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| the Easter Bunny was very generous this year |
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| bubble soccer |
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| Ready to race! Rose and Jacob each completed half of a 5k with Mommy |
