Another School Year!

Look how much these two cuties have grown!  

First Day of School ~ August 2011

Last Day of School ~ May 2012

A Little Fishing Trip

One of Reese's favorite things to do with the boys on the weekends is to head to one of the area lakes for some fishing.  Anderson has become quite the fan and really enjoys it too!  They usually ask for Mommy to come along on their fishing trips, but I usually use the time to go grocery shopping or snag some alone time cooking in the kitchen.  However, one Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago, their begging won me over, so I showed up with my phone to take some pictures and video.  Had it not been SO windy that day, I could have gotten lots more!

Anderson's fine casting skills  ;)

Daddy always takes care of the hooks and worms!

Everett's first catch

Bluebonnets and Brothers

A few weeks ago I ventured out to a local park with the boys for some quick bluebonnet pictures before letting them play.  I was a little worried how things would go since last year's bluebonnet experience basically included Everett wailing the entire time. 

Yes... that's Everett lying face-down in the bluebonnets because he was crying so hard he literally fell over.  And, that top right picture?  It's completely deceiving because Everett is (of course) crying and poor Anderson was just trying to figure out what in the world he was looking at that was so upsetting.  

 But, we had a pretty good time this year and there was no crying from Everett!  Neither of them would sit down in the bluebonnets since there was dew on the grass and it was wet.  In comparing this field to last year's, it's also not near as pretty.  Oh well- this year's spot was literally only 2 miles from our house rather than a 2 hour drive! 

Neumann boys in the bluebonnets 2012 

Anderson - barely age 4

Some more sweet brotherly fun from that morning.  

We walked over to a creek to see the fish and turtles and of course hit up the playground.  

Some more sweet pictures of the brothers.  Having some dinner together, snacks in their favorite chairs, snuggling while watching Blues Clues, and sticking their toes into the pond in the backyard after dinner.  Such cuties!

Tea for... ME! (times two)

I just LOVE the Mother's Day Out/Preschool where we've sent the boys for the past ~4 years.  And, it's not just because of the cuteness that's below in this post.  Prestonwood Christian Learning Center (CLC) is truly filled with the most loving teachers who have the biggest heart and desire to share God's love with children.  I could go on and on, but I do want to get to the sweetness that came from the boys' CLC classes this week.

First, the invitations arrived a few weeks ago for the special Mother's Day Teas!

Anderson was beyond thrilled with the upcoming event, especially the night before.  I had no problems getting him dressed and in the car that morning ~ he did not want to be late!  

Anderson was SOO excited to try tea at the tea party.  For some reason, he had forgotten that he's had it many times before.  ???

After the tea, cupcakes, and fruit, it was time for the kids to recite Psalm 139, which they had been working on memorizing this year.  Up next was The Lord's Prayer.  These videos are cute because they totally capture "nervous" Anderson!  He knows both of these verses/prayers and can recite them by heart.  But, that morning the camera and excitement got to him and gave him a serious case of the nervous yawns!  :)

And of course, the sweet little biography Anderson wrote about me:

Anderson's teachers also presented the Mommies with a handmade yearbook that highlighted each month of the school year with a cute poem, a hand or footprint and a few pictures from that month's activities.  It is such a special memento and I really appreciate their thoughtfulness and effort into compiling and creating such a sweet gift.  Here are a just a couple of the pages I scanned out of Anderson's book.

Anderson loves his teachers SO much!

In Everett's class, the Mommies were treated as Queen Bees by their little Honey Bees!  Boy was Everett confused when I walked in to come and sit by him at his table!  After a minute or two, he was SOO excited to have me there all to himself.  :)

Just for record purposes, Everett actually ate 8 pigs-in-the-blankets at the tea party and passed on the cupcake altogether.  His teachers were very impressed.  

(I'm wearing my special crown in this picture!)

Everett's class also put on a little performance of saying The Lord's Prayer along with singing a few rhymes and songs.  Everett basically just kind-of smiled, sat there, and looked cute.  :)  He's not really a big performer when it comes to singing.  Now, had they been putting on a show that included climbing or jumping, he would've been the star!  

Everett's sweet hanging bumble bee footprint that I received:

Like Anderson's teachers, Everett's wonderful teachers also created a yearbook filled with monthly pictures and hand/foot/fingerprints and poems.  It was so sweet to see the pictures of Everett and how much he's changed from a baby back in September to such a big boy now in May.  I loved seeing a glimpse of Everett's time at school through the pictures in his book.  It's such a heartwarming gift that I know I'll treasure forever!

Everett also worked very hard (according to his teachers) on painting the pot and planting my flower.  :)

I had such sweet tea days with my boys.  So many special memories for this lucky mom!  

Some Cinco De Mayo Fun

Well, we figured we needed to celebrate that famous battle at Puebla.  Or at least it made for another good reason to go to Nico's, where we pretty much spend every Friday or Saturday afternoon/night with our good friends and their kiddos (they have a fenced-in playground out back within a huge patio...what more could a parent ask for?!)  :)  At least this time we brought along a burro filled with candy and goodies for the kiddos to take some whacks at with a stick.

When E first saw the pinata at the store, he excitedly proclaimed "Giraffey!!"

Everett's attempt at getting to that "nandy" inside.

...and then we lost him to the salt & pepper, which were much more interesting until it started raining candy.

SWING!  We figure the more pinatas the better ~ it's great practice for t-ball.  ;)

Brody & Anderson looking for that Super Moon that made it's appearance tonight.

The Mommas  :)  We all met in a new moms' group when our oldest kiddos were born, so it's been 4 years now. We got some good chatting in tonight, thanks to the Dads' help on supervision duty. 

Look at all of these cute boys!!  3 sets of brothers

 

This is what happens when the 4-year-olds are hot, exhausted from playing for hours on the playground (not to mention the day of t-ball, swimming, etc.), and just want to chill out.  They all flock to the Iphones and play together.  It was hilarious to watch them as they would help each other and just randomly switch phones with each other, even though they were all playing the same game: Space Angry Birds.

What a FUN night we had with wonderful friends.  We say this every weekend that we go to Nico's:  the most awesome thing we've ever found is a restaurant that has a fenced-in playground on their back patio.  Smartest. Thing. EVER.

Everett's 2nd Birthday Interview

A Masterpiece by 2-year-old Everett himself:

An Ode to Everett and his love for climbing, which he acquired over the past year:

This little guy is Trouble. :)

But, OH SO CUTE!!!

 For fun, here's a comparison of my two favorite boys at 24 months old!  

Everett on top, Anderson on bottom

Everett's 2nd Birthday Day

Everett turned 2 on April 26th!  He spent some of the day with his best friends at school.  His sweet teachers made the day extra special for him including singing and, of course, a birthday hat.  After school, I took the boys to the park for a little while since that's one of E's favorite places to go.  Then, we had an early dinner at one of Everett's favorite places: the Smiling Moose Deli.  They have a giant stuffed moose in the entryway and Everett loves giving it hugs and kisses.  They also have a fun mini-arcade and kids' room in the back corner of the restaraunt, so it's a super family-friendly place, which sends it to the top of our list.  After a fun dinner, we headed to Anderson's t-ball practice, which Everett was excited about because he loves being outside and playing with his friend Matthew while Brother practices.  After practice, Everett opened a few presents from Mommy, Daddy, Anderson and Riley.  We then presented him with his very own birthday cake, which was actually a cookie cake because at this point, we're all a little tired of cake.  Everett was thrilled with the cookie cake, though! He received many well-wishes and phone calls from family and friends throughout the day and loved the special attention.  He can happily tell us that he's two and can even show us 2 fingers, one from each hand put together.  ;)   Happy official 2nd Birthday, Everett!

Everett's 2nd Birthday Song & Candles
take 1

Everett's 2nd Birthday Song & Candles
take 2

That pesky Big Brother!  ;)