5-year-old fun :)

Hi there!  Well, now that Bear Cub is almost 5 years and one month old, I figured I'd post some b-day pics of the boy!  I feel like we have been celebrating his birthday for about 6 months now!  Ha!  Of course, his BIG HOOPLA! birthday party was back in June with his friends from school, but we celebrated big on his birthday too.  He awoke to balloons and decorations in the kitchen and all over his bedroom door.  Of course, he went right for the presents first thing!  We headed to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, then on to the zoo!  It was the perfect zoo day... slightly overcast which = NO CROWDS. It was great!  After a couple of fun hours there, we came home and then Aunt S, Uncle T, and cousin A came over for some swim time and then a birthday dinner out at Chilis.  The kids were great and BC was excited for the restaurant crew to sing to him!  Although we were all stuffed, we came home and dug into the snake shaped cake that I had made.  It turned out pretty cute...although I learned my lesson...don't leave an already-iced cake sitting on top of the stove and then cook a pizza in the oven.  That bit of heat made some of the icing melt away, but oh well!  It still looked snake-y enough and was delicious, too!  (If I do say so myself! )

Since then, BC has been busy going to summer camp at his school 3 mornings a week and has been doing really well.  He's making some new friends...at school and in the neighborhood too!  We've had some great pool playdates with some friends and a couple of trips up to our town square area to play in the fountain splash zone.  We stay busy!  We also hit the library once a week and he is now registered for Monday evening gymnastics class!  He had his first class last week and we were so proud of how well he did!  It's a full hour class, so that is a LONG time for him to stay focused and wait his turn for so many things!  He had fun, so I hope he'll continue to enjoy it!  :)

Have a great rest of the weekend!!  Will try and post again soon...enjoy the pics!  :)

 A big hug or choke-hold?  No worries...no one was harmed in the taking of this picture!  ;)

 Doing some science work...making the crystals that Mimi gave him!  So cool!

That's our first crystal!

Tomorrow...

This sweet baby-faced boy will be FIVE YEARS OLD!!

Friends...

Hello again!  Just some fun pictures from one of our final play dates with J & B before they moved.  Bear Cub is missing his friends...and you can see why by just looking at all of the silly fun they had together.  It's amazing what fun can be had with a blow-up pool, a sprinkler, and some popsicles!  Summertime memories!!  :)


(Don't forget to read below in case you missed my post from the other day!)

Good-bye, June! Hello, July! WOW!

Hi there!  Yea...I'm sorry to say that this blog has gone down considerably.  I toyed with the idea of taking a "hiatus" for a while, but I will try to keep going with it.  I like to blog and to document all the things Bear Cub does...but wow, it is just so hard for me to get on to do it anymore!  I think because I spend SO much time on my work computer, I just don't feel like getting on the once "fun" computer.  To tell you the truth...on most nights, I don't shut my work computer down until at least 10 pm, so I am just zonked by that  point.

Ok...so, JUNE!!  Where did that month go!?!?  Of course, BC graduated from his pre-k class and we unfortunately had to say good-bye to our very favorite neighborhood friends when they moved to Kentucky.  :(  Bear Cub is still trying to figure this out in his head, as he keeps saying, "When are J and B going to come over to play again!?"  or "Let's drive to Kentucky today!"  I miss my friend too...their mama.  Our kids had so much common and we just ALL clicked.  Hopefully they'll get back to Florida one day.  We sure do miss them!

I celebrated my 23rd (ok, +10) birthday in June, too!  It was great because MY SISTER was here!  YAY for Aunt J!  My own Mama Bear has a special birthday this summer so I surprised her with a 4-night cruise.  I gave her the "surprise" about 3 weeks before our sail date...she was THRILLED!  BUT...the greatest surprise was that we secretly got Aunt J here too, so we had an awesome "Mother & Daughters" cruise!  We left on June 23 and sailed out of Tampa.  It was amazingly relaxing and just SO fun to have that time together.  We went to Cozumel and had 2 days at sea.  We soaked up the sun, saw late-night comedy shows, ate VERY well, and even played some poolside Bingo!  Oh..and yea...we slept in until NINE a.m.!!  I couldn't get over that...I can't remember when that happened last!  We all loved it and it was hard to get back to reality last week.  I SO did not miss my students' phone calls and constant text messages...it was so nice to have my cell phone OFF and packed away.  Heavenly, really!  :)   Enjoy our pictures from our trip!  We are making plans to get the WHOLE gang on a cruise here soon...BC can't wait to go on one (although THAT idea makes me feel a little nervous...and exhausted), but we'll give it a try one of these summers!

Now we are enjoying a LONG holiday weekend!  We're heading to a big family reunion tomorrow for the 4th! I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday!!  Look for more updates...I am going to TRY and be a better blogger!!  :)

 The day we got on!  What a happy day!

 Sailing the high seas!  So gorgeous out on the ocean!

 My pretty sister!   :)

 Awesomely tiled stairwell in Cozumel

 Just doing a little visiting during lunch...  ;)   

 Is that a big chair or just a really little Mama?

 We got serenaded by these handsome devils

 Sushi time!

 Our cute and comfy cabin - I got top bunk!

Me with my 2 favorite gals...  :)

Birthday party and graduation...what a week!

Hi all!  It's been a busy week here...last week we had BC's "friend" birthday party at our local Pump It Up.  He had a great time and all the kids left red-cheeked and sweaty, so I think they all loved it!  We decided to have his party in June so we could invite his friends from school.  Having that mid-summer birthday is tough...but this worked out great!  Now we'll just have a simple family "do" for his real birthday in July.

And then yesterday, we had his pre-k graduation!  The ceremony itself was adorable...Bear Cub LOOKED adorable, but needless to say, it was very hard for him to sit still in front of a crowd of parents, so it did bring about a few stressful moments for me. BUT...we survived and managed to get a few cute pictures from the day.  We'll be doing one more year of preschool to help him get better prepared socially and emotionally for kindergarten.  The boy has the academic skills, but with his summer birthday, I think an extra year of maturity will do him a world of good before sending him off to kindergarten.  :)  He's fine with this -- and ready to be the "special helper" to his teacher next year.

Enjoy the pictures!  Have a happy day!!