ollie's first pinewood derby

Ollie had his first pinewood derby and was so excited to race! He also lost his tooth the night before. Adam has made three cars now (lots more to go!) and is getting better at building them. He started this one a few days before the race, when he used to work on them for weeks. My input was I took Ollie to hobby lobby to pick out some stickers, pick up some overpriced weights and bought the wrong paint... Ollie was hoping to get 1st, 2nd or 3rd place. 

 Working on the car at breakfast.

Between each heat of cars, the dads would run over to spruce up the cars- ha! Adam is adding graphite to the wheels. There are some good tips online about how to get them fast...

Elliott ran over to tell Ollie he thought he was winning, since he'd been watching the times. 

Ollie's car in first!

Ollie and Dawson

The people running the show said anyone could come to see the race stats afterwards... all the dads were interested. Ollie came to see but had no idea what all the numbers meant I'm sure.

These two make a great team.

summer

Splash pad, trying to sleep in, doctor appointments and Finnish lessons with Grandma. We are loving every minute of it! (Except the bickering, I don't love that.)

school's out!

 So it was the first year that I didn't cry the last day of school.

The boys have never cried on the last day- just FYI.

I usually do, but for some reason the tears didn't come.

Even though the boys had THE BEST teachers and we will miss them.

The boys have been lucky with great teachers so far.

Aren't the best teachers nice but expect lots from your kid?

I think so.

Here is Ollie with his teachers:

Mrs. Ackerson on the left, was his Chinese teacher for half the day.

Mrs. Helm was his teacher for the other half. 

They had such a hard job this year getting the Chinese program going!

We benefitted from all of their hard work and are very grateful for them.

Ollie and his best buddy Dawson.

Ollie on the first day of school- he grew up so much this year!

sporting the leis we made for the boys' classes and cousins

 Elliott and his cousin Benny got to play at every recess this year, even though Ben was in 4th grade and Elliott was in 3rd. At one of the stay and plays where you come to their recess and then eat lunch with them outside, I asked what they were doing for recess and they said, "Oh, the usual- walking around and talking and stuff." I told them to run and jump and play and use up some of their energy- silly boys!

 I got to be Elliott's room mom again this year and got to work a lot with Mrs. Fulwider.

She is so sweet and having a baby this month! 

She was really kind to Elliott and he loved her.

Elliott on the first day of school.

We will miss their amazing teachers, but will always remember them!

dance festival

The last week of school always means a few things:

field day

parties

and

the dance festival!

(Also the last time I get to run errands with two instead of four, but who's counting?)

The 1st grade was supposed to dress like rock stars for their dance to "Rockin' Robin."

Ollie had big ideas and told me he wanted jeans with lots of holes in them and a vest...?

We did what we could- I cut a few more holes in his already holey jeans and ran them through the washer and dryer to get them just right.

He couldn't decide which glasses to wear but ended up with these ones. 

He was glad his brand new hair cut matched the look. 

 The 3rd graders danced to "Dynamite."

It started to POUR just as they got started.

And it was cold and windy.

But they were brave and danced through it. 

I think Mister Elliott was glad to be on the back row with his buddy Shawn.

 By the time it was Ollie's turn, they had moved everyone inside, which was great because we could see him a lot better!

 Little Ham.

This picture is very Ollie-- happy, fun, excited and cute!

I love the dance festival!

Every kid needs a little culture right?

These guys already have a one-up on us, with playing Just Dance on the wii.

They've got some great moves already. 

I wish I had learned a little when I was a kid.

Below is Ollie's video- he is so fun to watch (2nd row):

And Elliott's- a little harder to see though: