Our Graduate

On Friday evening, we gathered along with Mim and Poppa at a little Episcopal church near Jacob's school to celebrate his graduation from Junior Kindergarten.  His class had been working for weeks and weeks to prepare and he was absolutely thrilled to graduate! We have been so blessed with wonderful teachers this year and he has enjoyed every minute of school.  Jacob is beyond excited to join me at Bennett next year, but I think he is most concerned with the "snack drawer" I'm going to have in my classroom for after school snacks!

Getting ready to sing a few songs with his classmates

Singing "Three Little Ducks" using sign language

Our little ladies man!

He was so excited to see Mim and Poppa in the audience!

Jacob was very serious walking back in to receive his diploma!

His big moment!

Our graduate!

Jacob holding his diploma and his award for funniest friend!

After the ceremony, we all headed to Jacob's favorite restaurant, Los Charros, for a delicious dinner!  It was a wonderful evening to celebrate our little Kindergartener!!!

The Perot Museum

Thanks to a mild winter, we had a four day weekend to celebrate Memorial Day (no bad weather to make up!).  At first, we were planning on a little getaway to Ft. Worth for the weekend, but were honestly so exhausted that we decided to stay home at the last minute.  We still wanted to do something fun so it wasn't like any ordinary weekend, so we decided to visit the new Perot Museum downtown.  I had visited back in April with my second graders, but I was looking forward to taking the boys.  We got online and reserved tickets for the 11 o'clock entrance and made sure to leave the house in plenty of time.  Parking is horrible, so that set us back a little bit, but it was the perfect way to spend a yucky, muggy day.  We loved exploring all of the exhibits but Jacob was most excited about the dinosaur bones!

Of course, the dinosaurs had to be first on our list to see!

Jacob loved looking at all the minerals, too!

 

Finding out what an earthquake feels like...

 

Racing a T-Rex with daddy in the sports exhibit

 

Then it was on to the Children's Museum while Jonah took a little nap in his stroller!

Jacob probably could have stayed in there all afternoon!

 

On our way back to the car (with the museum behind us).

 

The next time we go, we will definitely reserve tickets enough in advance to gain the 10 o'clock entrance, when the museum opens (and bring cash for parking so we aren't driving around downtown trying to find an ATM which btw doesn't exist, thank goodness for Nathan's office).  We will also go to the cafe for lunch as soon as it opens at 11 (That was a lot of fun with a stroller in tow, you would think it would be planned out better!). There were a few exhibits we didn't catch just because of time but hopefully we'll be back this summer!

This and That

Well, to say that it's hard to believe that it's the end of May would be a major understatement.  It seems as though I blinked and it was almost summer!  Not that I'm complaining, but the past few months have certainly flown by!  Nathan has been traveling pretty frequently and the boys and I have fallen into a little routine while he is away, which consist of lots of movie nights!  Many of our weekends this spring were spent ripping out our existing landscaping and completely replanting.  It was a ton of work (mostly for Nathan, let's be honest) but it has made a huge difference to the front of our house!  All we need to do now is spread some new seed to help our grass grow in the areas that were previously too shady!

Work has been great, but busy and I'm happy that it's starting to settle down and we only have two weeks until summer vacation.  I'll be teaching second grade again next year and am so thrilled to be on the same team and in the same room!  I am already planning what things I'd like to tweak next year and look forward to feeling even more settled at Bennett!  I truly am blessed with wonderful coworkers and the BEST admin. team I've ever worked with!

Movie night is definitely a favorite activity in the Cox house! 

Our new landscaping is complete!

Jacob will be graduating from Junior K next week and he is officially registered to be a Bennett Bear next fall!  Nathan brings the boys up to school every now and then, so Jacob is familiar with the building, the wonderful ladies in the front office and the principal.  He is so excited to be coming to school with me next year and I just can't believe he'll be in Kindergarten!  Jacob is still completely obsessed with Legos and has been introduced (thanks to Daddy) to Star Wars.  He loves to read and write (and often does "homework" at the kitchen table!) and is honestly the funniest guy I know!

Showing his "guns". (Yes, those are snowman pjs, don't judge)

 Last week, Jacob and Daddy went to their first Rangers game of the season.  Daddy picked him up from school at lunch time and they had a special afternoon at The Ballpark together!

Jonah continues to grow and amaze us every single day!  He is not only walking steadily now, but is practically running everywhere!  He truly is the happiest, sweetest boy!  School is going great for him!  He was promoted at the beginning of April to "First Steps" and he love, love, loves his teachers Ms. Taylor and Ms. Yogi.  His class only has 5 babies and he's the only boy, which doesn't seem to bother him one single bit!  They do so many wonderful things with him each day and I love knowing that he is getting wonderful care and truly enjoys his days!  Jonah is still eating up a storm and totally makes up for Jacob being so picky!  We can pretty much put any food on his tray and he'll eat it up!

Eating Spaghetti Pizza (a favorite Finkelstein recipe) for the first time.  Yum!

Seriously, this is how he wakes up!

What a charmer, no one can resist this cutie pie!

This summer we are looking forward to lots of fun!  Swimming at the club, playdates and lazy mornings are all on our to do list!  We are also looking forward to a few little getaways, both as a family and just Nathan and I.  Summertime is always so special since I don't work for three months and we're going to enjoy as much time together as possible!

Easter 2013

After Jonah's birthday party on Saturday, we were all pretty exhausted but ready to celebrate Easter with our family.  Sunday morning was stormy and dark.  We had a tough time getting out of bed, but Jacob just couldn't wait to see what the Easter Bunny left him and to get started looking for eggs!

The Easter Bunny did well this year!

First look!

That Easter Bunny is a clever fellow and brought Jacob the Star Wars Lego set he'd been wanting!  This boy is obsessed!

Ready to hunt for eggs!

Jonah found one!  He discovered that he could squeeze the eggs and they would open up!  Jonah's eggs were all on the floor and filled with Cheerios and puffs.  Jacob's were higher up and had jelly beans, Skittles, Lego men and even some money!

Gotta love the bedhead!

He found the golden egg!

Jonah was finally ready to explore his own Easter basket!

His very own remote (hopefully he'll stop messing with the actual remote controls!)

Jonah loved finding his own eggs!

Of course, I couldn't resist an opportunity for matching pjs!

After searching for Easter eggs, we all got ready for church with Mim and Poppa.  We all sat together and loved worshiping and reflecting on the real reason for Easter.  Afterwards, we headed back to Mim and Poppa's house for another Easter egg hunt and a delicious lunch.

They sure do clean up well!

My favorite boys!

Man, it's hard to get a 5 year old to take pictures!

Outside picture before the rain returns!

Jonah's basket from Mim and Poppa

Jacob's basket was filled with all his faves!

An Easter egg hunt during a break in the rain

Action shot!

Taking turns with the Resurrection Eggs

Waiting patiently and ready to play with all his new toys!