First Day of First Grade 2010!

Our handsome boy so grown up and ready for another year of elementary school!

He loved the laziness and fun of summer but was excited to get back and see his friends.

We were thrilled his good friend, Kerry, was in his class again this year.

His teacher is great and she updates a class blog everyday with pictures.

It is wonderful to be able to discuss with Hayden each day

and to see what he is learning in the classroom.

Oops, Mommy hadn't gotten another pair of "school shoes" yet as

you will note from the worn out Vans he is sporting.

Oh, how I appreciate the greatness of the good ole'

trusty flip flops that we sported each day of summer!

But alas the flip flops just will not do for school day activities.

last year's First Day pic for comparison- growing boy!

 Sadly Evan's first day of Hayden's first day of school was not so joyous...

Now I must not mislead in saying this was Evan as Hayden got out of the car.
This was just how he spent a good portion of the morning as Hayden was away.
I will say that he does miss his brother terribly and would often ask
me when we could go get brother from school last year.
Let's just say he just typically does so much better
when he has his playmate.
Even a fun trip to Going Bonkers that morning was not enough to
make this little boy happy that day.
Oh, my Evan, you look so pitiful in this pictures.
Preschool starts soon for you and you will get to swap play stories
 with your brother in no time!

Who says there are no good beaches in Texas?

Since last summer the boys and I have enjoyed venturing

to the beach park up the road at the lake.

It is free, usually not too crowded, and we enjoy bringing

       lunch to enjoy in the sand before we play.

It always makes for a great afternoon together.  

            

We don't have a real beach umbrella so this time I just brought the 

Little Tikes Umbrella from the boys' standing sand table.

(classy I know!!)

I figured it would work just as well.

Not so much...

Granted it was windy out that day, (thus the mess you

see all over the place in front of Hayden,) but that thing 

became a flying projectile at least 3 times before I finally

secured it. It did the job though. Hayden and Mommy picnicked

quite nicely under it.... 

 Evan, on the other hand, prefers to eat on the go.

The boys quickly started in on their construction project -

a fort and a river.

I know he will be so mad at me one day but 

I just couldn't help myself. Older brother's old

swim shorts were still just a tad too big.

Evan had to keep pulling them up but

little boys get too busy when they play to

worry about silly things like exposed behinds.

I kept getting the perfect "plumber shot"

as I watched him run back and forth from the water.
I am sure this pic will come in handy some day :-)

It is kind of hard to see with the bright sun, 

but you can see the little "river" they dug

running diagonally along the lower left corner

of the pic.

The little "fort" they master pieced

is the little elevation to the left 

of Hayden and was even topped with a tiny leaf like

garnish they had found in the sand.

My little engineers had a great afternoon.