7 Years, 8 Months

Me and Jack, out at brunch at Firefly Tavern:

Jack enjoying his fancy strawberry lemonade smoothie at Kiantis (Jack and I like really like the pasta there): 

The boys insist that they are not too big for the little kid games at the mall. 

They definitely are, but that doesn't stop them.

Henry letting Jack pilot him around:

Jack and Emile show off their April calendars while Henry lurks in the background:

Henry the school hostage displays his calendar:

Henry and friend Camden:

Camden is one of Jack and Henry's best friends right now. Since we started Jack and Henry in elementary school as late as possible, they are almost a full year older than Camden. It has turned out that delaying the boys' start in school was a very good decision. Though doing very well in math (undoubtedly due to being an entire year older than most first graders), they are sitting right around grade level in reading.

Jack and his butterfly:

Hostage Henry again, with his butterfly:

The entrepreneurial spirit continues. The boys and their friends set up a paper plane store at school, and I was able to take a picture of the signs they brought home.

Immediately drawn to any screen like moths to a flame, Jack and Henry watch their dad play a game on his phone:

Henry and Jack watch Henry's new favorite show, the Kung Fu Panda Netflix series: 

Playing Super Smash Bros.: 

I held off letting the boys play video games for quite a long time. I ultimately caved because, without the calm provided by a screen break, they are constantly doing stuff like this: building "spider webs" across the pathways in our house with tape.

I wish I could find it charming, but mostly it just makes me want to go back to bed since I can no longer move around my own house without destroying precious installations.

Needless to say, we buy tape in bulk at Costco.

7 Years, 7 Months

 Henry and Jack living the dream at a local ice cream shop:

Henry loves coffee ice cream, so he has a cone of that, while Jack tends to be a traditionalist, choosing vanilla more often than not.

A typical night in our house. Jack has, for unknown reasons, stuffed himself in a shopping bag while Henry and tiger supervise:

Playing in the backyard during a downpour:

Henry shows off his Lego flowers:

Jack and his Lego panda:

Jack in his bed, playing games on his tablet, surrounded by stuffed animals:

Jack is fond of necklaces. However, being an active kid, he does tend to break them. After breaking his favorite chain, Jack was delighted to discover Forever 21's jewelry clearance section on our outing to replace it. His selections:

Jack's writing on our fridge whiteboards: 

Saint Patrick's Day ends up being a big theme at school. Jack shows off his March calendar:

Jack and Henry at home in their festive attire:

The boys insisted that we celebrate because "all the kids at school do!" Sigh.

Me and Henry:

Jack and Henry designed and built this leprechaun trap at their spring break camp. They didn't get the leprechaun, but there were some "gold" coins left behind:

Jack's shamrock art:

Henry's shamrock art:

Henry often looks a bit like he's been held hostage when asked to pose with his art.

I was amused by a couple of this month's classroom writing assignments.  

Jack's answer, "my bunny because it is cute:"

I should note that we no longer have any pet rabbits, but I think he's angling for another.

Henry's answer, "my dad because he works on my house:"

Note Steve on the ladder, working on the house, while I am the tall figure inside the house, scowling at the children. An accurate depiction of our home life.

Jack's three wishes: "to travel around the world, to travel in time, and 1,000 bunnies"

Henry's three wishes: "a pound of gold, a ton of gold, and pile of gold"

I'm sensing a theme.

Henry doesn't always want the teacher to take pictures of him with his art, and she respects that, so I have fewer images of him. Jack, being generally obedient and willing to pose, gets more pictures taken.

Jack with flower art:

Jack with sheep picture:

We took a nice rainy day walk to our local library to see Jack's art on display. Jack gets a boost to point out his picture:

Jack and his chameleon painting:  

Henry with his chameleon: 

A classroom's worth of chameleons: 

I absolutely love the chameleon art. I can't wait for those to come home.

Jack and Henry had not yet been on a field trip in elementary school, so they were very excited to visit the Seymour Marine Discovery Center (a small aquarium affiliated with UC Santa Cruz) with their class. They had also never been on a bus before, so that too was very exciting. 

Emil, Jamie and Jack on the bus:

Fantastic character shot of unamused Avery and disdainful Henry:

Henry looking a bit more interested: 

Jack:

Jack and buddy Camden check out the anemone: 

Jack, looking like he got his hand caught in the cookie jar (in this case, full of sea creatures):

Jack and Camden admiring the jellies: 

Avery and Henry on the bus back to school:

Jack and Henry (third and fourth from left) and friends: 

Guess who the main troublemakers are? Yeah, probably mine.

I am glad that they have great friends and love school so far. They actually complain if Steve or I pick them up early from their afterschool program because they want to spend more time playing with their friends.