Water Day

To celebrate Kyle finally being cast/ace-wrap/sling-free we decided to have a water day! He can finally get his arm wet and run around without anything on it. He still has two more weeks of no playgrounds, climbing, push ups and pull ups, but after that he'll be back to normal activity. Today we set up the sprinkler in the yard and got out water guns for some water fun! The boys had a blast! I think they most enjoyed getting me wet! And the boys were quite excited that they were making rainbows on the ground as well. which I was able to capture in several of the pictures.

Graduation Party

On Saturday my cousin, Derek, graduated from high school. We went up to Mechanicsburg, PA to celebrate with my extended family. It was a fun day - lots of yummy food, the boys enjoyed playing with the cousins, lots of outdoor fun, and it was great to catch up with everyone! Poor Uncle Brian tore his achilles tendon while playing volleyball so he joined Jillian with her hurt knee and Kyle with his recovering broken arm in the injured group! Kyle didn't let his arm slow him down though and still managed to play lots of games. And Max was a little social butterfly and kept saying how much he loves Aunt Lauren's house - he can't wait to go back!

Craft Time

We've been trying to find ways to keep busy this week since it's our first full week of summer and we can't do a whole lot of active things at this point with Kyle's arm still recovering. Both boys enjoy doing crafts so we've been doing a lot of those. Here are a couple we worked on the past 2 days and there are more to come the rest of the week. Yesterday we made toilet paper roll T-rex dinosaurs and today we did sponge painting with animals. Max was thrilled to get to use scissors to cut(although he clearly needs a lot more practice) and they loved how their dinosaurs turned out. Both boys had fun sponge painting and are excited to do it again!

Happy Father's Day!

A couple weeks ago I took the boys to a ceramics place called Color Me Mine. The boys got to choose something to paint for Jason. Kyle chose a dragon and Max chose a mug. They were thrilled! The painting brought out their personalities and the final results were very indicative of those personalities! They both had a good time and worked very hard. Kyle was very meticulous and chose his colors carefully. Max mixed all his colors together and was covered in paint himself when he was done. They were both very proud of their work and hoped Daddy would love it, which of course he did! We gave him their creations today and then took him out to dinner at Buca Di Beppo - a yummy family-style Italian restaurant that Jason loves! Happy Father's Day to Jason and my Dad - the two best Dad's ever!

Summer Reading

Kyle is GREAT at reading and once he's motivated to read he does enjoy it. In an effort to keep him motivated to read this summer we've come up with a summer reading incentive for him. He helped me come up with a list of small prizes that he can earn for every 5 chapter books he reads this summer. Some of the things on his list are a trip to get ice cream, a Pokemon booster pack, a new book from the bookstore, and a solo trip to the pool with me. So far he's almost finished his first book and he's only on day 1 of summer. His first book he's reading is from the A to Z Mystery Series "The Missing Mummy." We checked out that book and several others from the library. So far his reading list includes "The White Wolf," "The Vampire's Vacation," "Pirates Past Noon," and "Night of the Ninjas." Once he's read all those he'll get his first prize. He also has to give me a verbal summary of the book and write/draw about his favorite part. So far he seems very excited about this plan!

Kyle's music concert

Last night was Kyle's first school music concert. It was optional to participate but there was a great turnout. The music teacher at his school put together a fun program for the kids grades K-2. Each grade level performed about 6 songs. It was held at the nearby middle school. There ended up being 12 kids from Kyle's class alone there. He was thrilled to see all his friends and perform his songs for us. He did a great job making sure he was careful with his cast - he was holding back with some of the motions so he didn't injure himself - I was very proud of him! Max LOVED watching Kyle and the other kids perform. He clapped so loud after each song - he was happy to be a part of the evening. It was very HOT in the cafeteria where it was held, but we made it through and it was a good time. I took some videos but Kyle's so far away that you can't really make him out in any of them.

Max's last soccer class

Monday evening was Max's last soccer class of the season. He really seemed to enjoy it and has grown so much during the course of it. He actually listens well and follows directions now. I don't have to chase him around to make sure he stays with the group. I can actually just sit and watch from the sidelines. He even seems to be getting the skills that he's been taught and tries hard to do what he's asked. He's growing up! They did a small medal ceremony at the end where each child was presented with a medal and got their picture taken with Coach John.