5 Years, 10 Months

Around the House

Trouble incarnate Henry and Executive Assistant to Trouble Jack take selfies with my phone:

I gave the boys an old digital camcorder we had laying around and they've started making videos. Henry is especially interested in making movies and re-watching them.

Overdressed director Henry and underdressed actor Jack:

Henry, on his outfit, "I'm a real princess. I cannot take my dress off, it's attached to my skin."

Henry, on why he'd elected to layer a tulle skirt with a dress, "So if someone tries to shoot me, I have more protection." Superhero princess. Makes sense. 

Henry taking a series of selfies with my phone:

Firefighter Henry seeing if he can be louder than the siren in his megaphone. The answer is yes, he can.

Royal superhero Henry with magical wand:

Henry, showing off his new skateboard leggings (and narwhal): 

Jack, "I'm helping Henry with his shower!"

Uh, great?

Jack, "This is the life!"

Jack showing off his kinetic sand creation: 

Jack attempted to play a game with us where he put an item behind his back, told us the first letter of said item, and we needed to guess the item. Unfortunately, he picked camera (which he thought started with "k"), phone (which he thought started with "f") and keychain (which he thought started with "c"). English is hard. 

Jack, diligently writing his letters:

Jack lost his first tooth!

Anniversary

I asked Henry to take a picture of me and Steve on our 16th wedding anniversary. Jack insisted on being in the picture.

Then Henry needed to be in a picture too. Dressed up and with laser sword, of course.

Pre-K Graduation

The boys' preschool held an adorable graduation ceremony, complete with "flat hats" (as the boys enthusiastically called them). The boys have been at Neighborhood Childcare Center's combination daycare and pre-k for four years. It's been a tremendous place to them that we will miss tremendously. 

Well, the boys and I will miss it. Steve got talked into being the community member on their board of directors, so he'll be sticking around.

Jack, with graduation bear. Henry, victorious! 

Friends all lined up. Left to right: Avery, Rowan, Bascom, Stella, Pax, Henry, Declan, Jude, Zoe and Jack. 

Jack's best friend in pre-k has been Bascom, Henry's has been Avery. 

Singing their "Moving up to Kindergarten" song, complete with enthusiastic fist pump (teacher Sherri on right):

Comments read by his teachers, Bea and Sherri, about Jack: 

Remarks on Henry:

Father's Day

Out on the town for an ice cream treat:

Jack's most serious ice cream face:

Just a couple kids who have no idea how absolutely outstanding their father is: 

Visiting Friends

We spent one lazy Sunday at local Santa Cruz friends "Big Jack" and Lucy's house. Their boys, Alex (entering 8th grade in the fall) and Anthony (entering 2nd grade in the fall) entertained our boys all day while the adults sat around drinking while dinner cooked in the smoker. We did almost no parenting the whole day. It was fantastic.

Jack and Henry, replete with new wetsuits, ready for the plunge into the apartment complex's chilly unheated pool:

We're raising some little Santa Cruz beach bums.

Boys decompressing with a TV show (Jack, Henry, Alex and Anthony):

Jack's pose cracked me and Steve up.

Visiting Grandma

Over 4th of July weekend, we all loaded up in the van (including grumpy bunny Bruce since we couldn't get a pet-sitter over the holiday weekend) and headed for Sacramento. We were extraordinarily lucky to have beautiful weather that wasn't too hot. 

Henry pushing Dad and Jack on the front-yard swing:

A fun summer activity: water balloon fight!

Jack winds up:

Watch out!

Dad strikes back:

Threatening the camera-person:

Taking a break from the outdoors, Henry builds a Lincoln Log tower:

For TV time, Henry makes himself comfortable with Grandma's pillows:

Afternoon fireworks preview (2-for-1 sparklers meant we had a ton of them to get through):

Henry, getting his fire dance on:

Jack disapproving of his sparkler going out before Henry's:

Even Dad gets a sparkler! 

He's thrilled, you can tell.

Fun in the evening, Uncle Ed and Cousin Camdan launch whirly toys into the air as the boys attempt to catch them:

We attended Carmichael's 4th of July parade. Jack pointed to the first American flag he saw and exclaimed, excitedly, "It's Captain America's flag!" He then realized there were flags everywhere and mused about whether Captain America had delivered all the flags. 

It didn't get dark until nearly two hours after the boys' bedtime, so we kept them up by watching a movie (WALL-E) and having dessert. Finally, the dark descended and it was fireworks time! Steve and I bought several small fountains, smoke bombs and the like, and we all had a great time setting them off with the next-door neighbor and their teenage boys. We were enjoying the show and only ended up taking pictures of the sparklers. 

Henry:

Jack:

Alas, the next morning it was time to go. Jack and Henry read with Grandma while Mom and Dad pack up the van:

Mother, son, and grandsons: 

We had a wonderful visit, even though Henry was extra grouchy for several days after staying up late for fireworks. It definitely reinforced Steve's and my assessment that we only break with their schedule when absolutely necessary. And cool fireworks with Grandma was definitely necessary.