I’m your buckaroo, I want to be like you.

Harry drew Dean a picture of riding bikes to the Ocracoke lighthouse to welcome him to Father's Day
And we gave him a little love

And had some fun at a beachy restaurant, including CHEERS all around

My boys love to bowl :-)

And I love to watch them growing up with their wonderful Daddy

We love you, babe - it was a beautiful day!

~Thank you for this life ~

Rodney Atkins' Watchin' You

You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast

We are celebrating Father's Day with a relaxing weekend filled with lots of love....

the boys had to try out The Claw after seeing Toy Story 3 Friday nite....we took one spikey ball home this time.

This is one of my favorites.....a local fall festival when they were 2 1/2 years old (Jack L, Harry R)

This is what they looked like tonite....that chair is getting a little tight, but they still managed to fall asleep....here's how Dean looked helping 3-month-old Harry get to sleep back in '04 :wub:

Thank you, sweet man, for all that you do to help them on the road to good, strong men. I am proud to call you all my own and can't wait to share all the rest of this journey with you.

Here are the slew of posts (92 and counting) I labeled daddy pix

Happy Father's Day to you and all the other great daddies out there!

Trace Adkins' You're Gonna Miss This

I thank my lucky stars

Jack: We're the luckiest people in the world!

Yeah, he was just reacting with great glee that there was a new Rescue Heroes episode being
taped, but he was right - a really lovely relaxing day at the beginning of summer is hard to beat!

I've been going thru old blog posts, trying to clean up some of the labels, and it makes my heart smile to see the life we've been given and what we're making of it so far....lucky, indeed!

JB's Lucky Stars

An offer you cannot refuse

Man 101 is all about The Godfather, right?

when the big report card comes

Harry read his report card to Dean this morning.....

Here's how it looked when he got his first note from his teacher back in August. Did I mention what a great experience Kindergarten was for our youngest? Great teacher, great learning and growing...just a real pleasure for him and us!

Jack read his report card to Dean, too....

and here's what he looked like back in the fall, reading his teacher's welcome poem. He also had a great experience, with a very kind and creative teacher whose love of animals was a great fit for Jack.

JB's Summerzcool

Life is good today, life is good today

School's out for summer, and we spent the afternoon with friends getting ready for summer fun. First, we tried out a new restaurant that Harry has been dying to try ....they have the place all decked out, including this back area where the kiddies spent most of their time. The food was good and the company was better - thanx to the 30 or so friends that helped us kick it off right!
After lunch and errands, we got to hang out at the pool, and guess what....

I mentioned that he was determined, right?

Here he is describing his tooth loss, wanting to tell his girl Loren, what he'll be doing this summer and next fall, and so on....forgive the sideways view....still gotta learn how to flip these things!

It was also the library's annual ice cream social, so all in all, a pretty busy day....we'll be relaxing soon ;-)

Zac Brown Band's Toes

wiggle wiggle wiggle

He's excited enough that it almost made up for Jack getting to do the morning announcements this morning! Let's hope the Tooth Fairy is ready for her visit; tho I hear it can take quite a while, it went from zero to major movement overnite - it wouldn't surprise me if he gets it out before tomorrow at 11 since he doesn't want to be the only kindergartener to not lose a tooth.

It's the end of the world as we know it

The boys had their end-of-the-year party today, complete with awards - that's Harry carrying off his completion certificate and his Perfect Attendance certificate - he made it! That's his wonderful teacher and the adorable buckets they had the kids autograph for each other. The party had a beach theme, complete with limbo, water balloon tosses, tug-o-war that Dean got to ref, and all sorts of other fun.

Jack prepared to catch the water balloon...you know I love those shadows!

And Harry preparing to be soaked!

Jack with his wonderful teacher


Harry with his amazing teacher....thanx to you both for helping them start their academic careers so enthusiastically and with so much love - it's hard to imaging two kids loving school any more - you both rock!

REM

I'm shy, I'm right up in your face

It's hard to believe how much our youngest has grown this year...school ends Thursday, and I'm not even sure I can recall or document all the firsts. He's had an amazing teacher (and an amazing sub while teacher had a beautiful boy of her own) and stretched in ways I had only dreamed....this is how I found him stretching this afternoon

Kindergarten is not what it used to be....seriously, probability?? It's so great that no one seems afraid to put higher order concepts out there and see what the kids absorb - there have been discussions and questions in this house that I really didn't expect to have this early. Fun and exciting
Ever the helpful one, Harry helped me freshen up the old house with a little spray...his new favorite job....I guess as long as he doesn't spray it in his face ;-)

Jimmy Buffett's Piece of work

(NO) fever in the morning

Jack and Harry both have strep and have been on the medicine long enough to return to school, but Jack just couldn't break that fever until late last nite....there's a 24-hour fever-free rule for school, so he lost his run at perfect attendance today. He looks pretty pitiful, doesn't he?
He was practicing his music producing skills, helping me edit the beach music for tomorrow's school party, when the music got the better of him

John Travolta better watch his back!

...it's hard to find songs that are kid-friendly....I thought I might be being too picky, when he started writing the lyrics for each song....yikes, and I thought I'd only chosen g-rated songs. Back to the drawing, er sound, board

Can you tell which these songs are? He literally wrote over 20 songs' lyrics.....does that count for morning writing, Ms. J??

Let's hope he's nimble and quick the rest of today and can get back to school in time for their beach party tomorrow :-)

Elvis's Fever

manly men men men!

I had to laugh when I was straightening the family room the other day and ran across this tableau...
Of course, this was also the week when they had a playdate with some of their favorite girls ;-)

I have a feeling he's going to be that 'typical man' when he's sick - they are both on meds for strep, but Jack is really working the chills side....silly boy!

Two And A Half Men theme

Maybe all we need is water and friends

Jack, he's got his swim goggles on....
...and he meant business this afternoon! We ran into a fun friend and met some new ones. Jack is determined to learn to do flips and got most of the way there this afternoon. Harry met a new (older) girl who let him cheer her on as she did all sorts of tricks and slid down the monster slide. We even missed the bulk of the major storm that hit just before we had to leave the pool. All in all, a great day, with the exception of missing Daddy - hurry home, sweetie!

Bush's Swim

Yeah I live for little moments like that

Brad Paisley's Little Moments

Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear

So, when your child stops eating for a while and says his head sort of hurts, maybe you should look inside his mouth - two big boy teeth up front and four new molars at one time....ouch!

Jack was a bit distraught until he realized Harry still doesn't have any LOOSE teeth, just some extra ones squeezing in....They are among the last four kids in each of their classes who haven't lost a single tooth - some have had as many as 6 or more visits from the Tooth Fairy this year, but still no wiggles here!

Bobby Darin's Mack The Knife

For a job well done

We are truly blessed - our town has a beautiful ceremony every year to give thanks to the soldiers who have given all to our country. We've gone every year since we learned about it, and the boys call it 'the soldiers'....the speaker this year talked about the true meaning of our pledge and the family members who have so selflessly shared their soldiers, important reminders all.
Our deepest thanx - we have close friends sending their men to Afghanistan in the next weeks, and our prayers are with you all.

Dean snapped this picture of Harry and I recovering from all the fun we had this weekend ;-)

Trace Adkins' Arlington

Bar light, bar bright

We tried a new local restaurant and found....tada....an ice cream bar. Yum! I'm trying to ignore the fact that they look right at home, bellied up to the bar

Charlie Robison's Barlight

Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash

Money has been a big topic this year in school, and the boys were excited to make the trek to the money machine....cashing in a few months' worth of piggy bank savings.

Have I mentioned that they LOVE this??

Jack has never met a dollar he didn't want to spend, but Harry seems to be able to make money grow. They both spent some at a video sale, and we've spent the last few days watching movies they bought with their own money....they say the movies are way better since they bought them themselves ;-)

Pink Floyd's Money

So you read it in a magazine

The birthday magazine subscriptions have started rolling in - thanx Mom! They dig them and they dig mail :-)

Jack and his Sports Illustrated, just like Daddy!
Harry and his big kid puzzle book - it has all the goods of PuzzleBuzz but a lot more fun thinking games. Jack 'borrowed' it today

Steel Train's A Magazine

Sweet summertime

Summer is on its way, and we've had a lot of fun adventures lately, with more to come. This is such a great age, overall, but it's hard to believe they will be finishing kindergarten in just a few weeks - all the new experiences, friends and growing have made this a very full year. And, yes, Christina, the buckets were a big hit :-)

Kenny Chesney's Summertime