Teacher Thanks

As I posted before, Malachi had a fantastic kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Hobbs. Being a rookie school mom, I kinda forgot to plan out end-of-the-year teacher gifts. Oops.  Mrs. Hobbs didn't get anything too fancy, but Malachi did make a couple of heartfelt thank-you cards for her. I was proud of his work and I hope she knows how thankful we are for the job she does with kindergarteners, especially one as special to us as Malachi!

To all our teacher friends - Happy Summer Break! Relax and enjoy, you definitely deserve it!

Happy Birthday, Oliver!

Oliver is ONE today!

We celebrated with him on Saturday and had a great time. I didn't get my camera out until time for cake, but I'm glad I had it then! As you can see, Oliver liked his cake:

But so did all the other kids! I think he only had about half a minute to dig in before all his cousins and friends joined him.

Big sis, Adeline, had to check things out

 Elliott liked it

 So did Jack

 Elliott wasn't happy when we made him stop though

 In case you were wondering, this is what we started with!

 Happy birthday, Oliver! We had fun celebrating with you and love you very much!

Go Orioles!

Who doesn't enjoy a little treat after a game?

The Orioles are having a great season so far and Malachi has improved SO much. He has had quite a few hits, scored, played outfield and even catcher. If you haven't made it to a game yet, he loves having a cheering section!

Our New Pets

Did you think I'd given in? Ha, nope! I'm still firmly against having pets, but a couple things have happened in the last week that made me feel the tiniest bit sad about that.

First, while Malachi was getting his teeth cleaned Jill (our dental hygentist) asked him if he had any pets. He answered that he didn't anymore, but he used to have a couple named Tree and Chair. Those were the stray cats that used to hang around our house!

Then the next day while we were eating lunch Elliott looked out the window and saw this:

We went outside to look at the geese family and Elliott asked me, "Mine new pets?"

My answer? - Yep!

Erik's Newest Project

Our boys are getting a tree house!

This is a picture of day one. Unfortunately day one didn't turn out to be very successful because the board wasn't long enough. Erik has his plan all drawn up and ready to go, and we have a pile of lumber on our back deck so now we just have to find time and helpers to get it built!

Special Post for the Malins

Our friends, the Malins, moved to Australia last summer. This is how Erik feels about them being gone:

Josh, Raquel, Grace and Lance - we miss you all! Malachi has been asking a lot recently when you will be moving back and I can't quite bring myself to admit to him that you probably never will live here again. Sad!

On a happier note, some of our friends ARE moving back! The Days - Andrew, Heather, Corinne, Cooper and Hudson, and the Sikoras - Jeremy, Heather, Annie, Millie and Owen will all be back in Ohio this summer.  We can't wait to hang out! Yay!

8 Months!

Our littlest man is 8 months old this week and time is flying by! I can't figure this guy out and every time I think I've got him on a regular schedule he goes and changes things up on me. Oh well. At least he's pretty cute and happy (during the day!).

As you can see, Jonas is starting to get pretty adventurous!

Jonas is weighing in around 18 pounds according to our scale. He still doesn't like much baby food but will eat some of the fruits. He's nursing anywhere from 5-7 times a day and is starting to hold a sippy cup and drink water from it. He's getting a little mobile now, mostly by rolling and scooting to reach things he wants. He can wave and we're still working on clapping. He loves being outside and watching his big brothers play...until one of them runs over him or sprays him with water! Things are going well in this crazy house with three boys. Now if we can just get a full night of sleep!

A Barnyard 'Moo'sical

After the kindergarten graduation ceremony, the preschoolers, kindergarteners and first graders performed in a short musical - "A Barnyard 'Moo'sical". The kids were asked to dress as barnyard animals or farmers. According to Malachi, he had to be a cow because that's his best animal sound! He did turn out to be a pretty cute one anyways!

 Elliott and Jonas loved watching the musical. Elliott kept saying "ah-deen" (again) when each song ended, and Jonas was squealing the whole time!

Kindergarten Graduation

Today is Malachi's official last day of kindergarten. Wow! The year has flown by and it's hard to believe how much he's changed. Last Friday there was a graduation ceremony at school where each kid received a certificate. Afterwards we went to his room with him and picked up his portfolio from the year and had a cookout with all his friends.

 

Some of the new friends he's made this year:

Malachi and his teacher, Mrs. Hobbs. She's been a wonderful teacher and we are so thankful Malachi was placed in her class.

Field Trip

Last Wednesday Erik and I were able to chaperone Malachi's class field trip to the Columbus Zoo. We had perfect weather and a very fun day. 

Malachi and his friend Zackrey with the elephants



 Malachi and a tiger, his favorite animal of the day

 The boys liked the statues almost as much as the real animals!

 Starting to get a little worn out

Mother's Day

The kids had a special presentation for Mother's Day at church. It's always so fun to see my boys up on the stage and they were both very excited about their surprise for me!

Happy (late) Mother's day to all the important moms in our lives. I am so blessed to have such wonderful examples of what it means to be a great mom and wife!

A Hit...And A Run!

At tonight's baseball game Malachi fouled 6 balls during his first time at bat, but the next time he was up he finally got his first hit!

One of the advantages of being the last person in the line-up is that the best batters follow you and you have a better chance of getting around to score. So even with 2 outs Malachi was able to score tonight!

Yay, Malachi! We're proud of you and excited to go get your very own batter's helmet now!

Baseball Schedule Update

There was a change on Malachi's baseball schedule that I've updated below - just in case you were planning on catching one of his games!

Thursday, May 10th @ 5:30 and 7:00

Game originally scheduled for Friday, June 15th is cancelled.

Baseball Season!

Although Malachi kept saying he didn't want to play baseball this year, when his friends started talking about it a few weeks ago he suddenly decided he wanted to play again. He's now on the Orioles in the coach pitch league. Opening day was last Saturday and his first game was this past Monday. He did a really good job during all his practices but so far he hasn't had a hit in a game.

Here's his schedule in case you want to try and catch a game:

Friday, May 4th @ 5:30

Thursday, May 10th @ 5:30 and 7:00

Friday, May 11th @ 5:30

Friday, May 18th @ 7:00

Friday, May 25th @ 7:00

Thursday, May 31st @ 5:30

Monday, June 4th @ 7:00

Tuesday, June 5th @ 5:30

Friday, June 8th @ 5:30

Thursday, June 14th @7:00

Friday, June 15th @ 7:00 cancelled

Monday, June 18th @ 5:30

Thursday, June 21st @ 7:00

Friday, June 22nd @ 7:00