Shamrock Race 2019

This year for St. Patrick's Day, since it fell on a Sunday, I thought it would be fun to do the Kona run in Downtown Plymouth.  I invited Scott's family, but only his parents were available.  We signed up to do the 5k and the kids ran the half mile.  It was a very cold morning, only 19 degrees at race time for the kids.  But, we bundled up and made it work.

Evan did his best time!  He finished in 4:17 for the half mile and Sean was just behind him at 4:18!  Unbelievable!

Our friend, Ashley, who lives near us and has two boys the same ages as ours came to pick up our two to play at her house for a bit while we ran the 5k with Scott's parents.  I had been running intervals on the treadmill at home to regain some endurance, but surprised myself by running the 5k straight through and finishing at 35:03 (one second shy of beating Nana).  Scott finished in 28:55.  Kona went all out this year with a beer tent sponsored by Arbor Brewing Company that is about to open in Plymouth.  Bigalora made tons of pizzas, breadsticks, and warm pretzels too that were all you can eat.  It was freaking awesome!

We picked the boys back up a while later and went to brunch at Red Olive, even though none of us were really starving after the feast in the post-race tent.  It was a really nice morning!  I'm glad Scott's family joined us and that the boys ran in the half mile.  Our next race is the "I Ran the D" 5k in Detroit that finishes inside Comerica Park on the field.  Scott and I are doing that one on our own.  I'm also hoping to do the Atwater Brewery 5k that's in May.  Trying to convince Scott...

Evan at 6.5 years old!

I know, right?!  How is he 6.5 years old already!  It's like I blinked and he's suddenly a boy.  Not a toddler.  Not a preschooler.  A very opinionated, passionate, energetic boy. 

Evan's in Mrs. Ropert's Kindergarten class this year and he's thriving!  Reading level D/E books independently, killing it on his math assignments, making new friends (even a "girlfriend" this year), and drawing/coloring up a storm.  His NWEA scores were fantastic this winter, as he's ahead of the mark for both reading and math.  He loves to come home school and go straight to the playroom desk to color or draw.  This week he drew "Evan's Planet" and went into detail about how close it was to the sun and how it had spikes on it to keep others out.  When he gets an idea in his head, it's always something elaborate. 

He recently got an award at school for positive behavior, signed by the principal.  His teacher also sent him a postcard letting him know that his story he wrote, "The Sad Cheese" was awesome.  It really was!  He's sounding words out and writing really well (in our opinion).  We couldn't be more proud of his progress at school!

His favorite friends at school this year are Sean (not his brother), Jude, and Jace.  He still really likes Logan (girl Logan) from Young 5's last year that's in Mrs. Ropert's class with him this year.  And little Bella had quite the infatuation with him all fall.  Drawing pictures of them getting married, trying to kiss him at recess. 

He's loving all the fun Kindergarten holidays and celebrations this year at school.  They just recently celebrated the 100th day of school where he had to make a cape.  He chose to glue on raffle tickets to say that he has been "winning" for 100 days this year.  He made a leprechaun trap to take to school this week too.

Outside of school we wrapped up fall activities through November.  We took December and January off as a break from soccer and swimming.  The boys took an art class one day during Christmas break that was awesome.  Evan's artwork came out great!  We hung it and put it on the wall outside of his bedroom.  He's currently in a soccer clinic every Friday evening at The Pitch to get ready for spring outdoor soccer.  It's run through the travel soccer team in Plymouth, Reign.  He'll start both soccer with Scott as his coach again and machine-pitch baseball with our neighbor, Jameson, the beginning of April. 

He's still loving the idea of being into motorcycles, 4 wheelers, and guitars.  He spent his $20 on dirt bike gloves and had to pose by the 4 wheeler at Costco last weekend.  He cracks us up!  He's also adding RC Speedboats into the rotation for his current obsession.  He got one from Santa and can't wait to take it up north to try out on the lake with Pops.  He's quite the daredevil.  I'm sure we'll have our hands full with him as he's a teenager. 

He's around 47lbs. and 47" tall.  He's wearing size 6 in pants and shirts and a size 12 in shoes.  He's added a few things to his "will eat" list like grilled cheese, grilled chicken, and salami sandwiches on toasted sub buns now.  Although, he's given up a lot of pizza brands and won't eat mac and cheese anymore either.  At least he'll eat fruits and veggies.  My little snacker...

We are so proud of him!  Even though he can be a feisty little guy at times with that attitude, he has a good heart and he knows what he wants. 

Valentine's Day Celebrations

This year we kicked off February with special mailboxes for the boys on the kitchen table.  Every day in February leading up to Valentine's Day, I wrote them a note about something we love about them and put in a treat.  Some days it was a Hershey kiss, other days it was a bath bomb or a bigger piece of candy.  They loved running down to the kitchen table in the morning and opening their mailbox.  And it helped the both of them practice their reading!

For their class parties, Evan picked this cute Oreo kit I found on Amazon.  It came with a two-pack of Oreos and an Oreo candy to put in these small square boxes for each kid.  It also included a full package of Valentine Oreos that he could give to his teacher.  We spent an afternoon making the boxes and stuffing them. 

Sean wanted to do Pokemon cards as his gift.  I printed off some free tags that were on the internet, laminated them, and we attached them to a bag that had 2 Pokemon cards and a couple of Starburst candies inside.  It was quite the labor of love cutting those tags out and laminating them, but he loved it.

They each had small class parties, that of course I couldn't attend.  They exchanged Valentine's, had a few snacks, and did a few crafts.  I was glad that I didn't pull them out of school for the flight to Tucson.  They would have hated missing the party!  They rushed home and opened their bags of goodies on the living room floor before we left for the airport.

Since we were leaving on Valentine's Day for the airport and the boys didn't get to see Scott that afternoon before we left, we did our Valentine's dinner the night before.  Normally I make or buy heart shaped pizza, but this year I found the cutest heart shaped pasta at Aldi's.  I made the pasta and a salad for dinner and for dessert we did our chocolate fondue with strawberries, apples, marshmallows and other treats.  Yum!

I had my nails all decked out, a homemade cookie from a parent at work, and handwritten cards from the boys.  I enjoyed all our Valentine's Day traditions this year!