Keepin' Up With Xander

As usual Xander kept himself busy this past spring. School is an absolute favorite of his and once again, in the 3rd quarter, Xander found himself on the honor roll. (And he still towers over most of the other students.)

We are definitely proud of our X-man and his desire to succeed.

He was also chosen to represent his grade in a meeting with the Superintendent to discuss his experience at Abingdon. Staying true to form, all Xander would tell us about it was that the meeting went well.

Xander is one cool cat playing the sax!

Hangin' with his sax buddies before the Spring Concert.

No more glasses for him! After quite the ordeal of learning how to put in and take out contacts, which lasted several hours over multiple visits, Xander is an official contact wearer!

For one of our dates this spring I took Xander to Michaels where he chose some paint by number pictures for us to do together. He worked on lions while I painted a leopard. Turned out to be a ton of fun!!

And the baseball games continued!

He was pretty consistent with getting hits, including some really great ones to the outfield.

Xander was definitely one of their top scorers!

He spent the majority of his field time in the outfield but did come in every once in awhile to play first...

where he got some great outs!

More time on base...

and a little pitching to round things out.

Noah's Golden Eagle

When Noah's school decided to do away with the monthly ABBY student award and introduced a quarterly Golden Eagle award I figured that Noah's chances of earning it had not only been drastically reduced but almost completely erased. Boy, did he surprise me! Noah's classmates voted him as one of his class's 3rd Quarter Golden Eagle recipients!!

Getting a hug from his teacher Ms. Hill; I think she was as surprised as I was!

Noah and his buddy Logan.

My little Golden Eagle!

His fabulous and oh so patient teacher.

It's always nice to win it with a friend!

Happy 9th, Noah!

When I first saw this meme I laughed hysterically because it describes my daily struggle with Noah perfectly!

Noah has always been full of life and quite a character!

He's quite the daredevil - the first up a tree, the first to try the swing rope into the river, the first to try anything that other kids might take a moment and pause before doing.

He's a whirlwind of activity! He sheds shoes and clothes as soon as he enters his room and it's only through a lot of reminding on my part that toys or clothes or anything else gets put away. I think it's hilarious how one can see exactly the order of what came off when!

Noah is constantly begging to play video games or play games on my phone. He was super excited to  take a picture with those piggy buddies of his when we were at the theater one day.

Noah's life is all about playing. Whether it's playing with Star Wars guys, Legos, trains, or knights, he loves it all. And of course he loves going to Target or Toys R Us where he can gaze upon row after row of glorious toys!!

A knight, a ninja, a soldier, a swamp creature, or as depicted here Xander's butler, we never know what character Noah will be from day to day.

Noah is a reader and some of my favorite moments are spent cuddled up next to this little guy as he reads to me about dragon slayers or time traveling kids.

Noah is quite the little artist, leaving his drawings scattered throughout the house. I can't seem to throw away any of his pictures! He drew this one in anticipation of our trip to the VI - it's him, Xander, and Ashlyn snorkeling (seriously, Xander's pecs!!);

his beloved minions;

and a  Roman gladiator, his obsession at the time.

He loves animals, especially our cat Princess who seems to love him back; they spend hours on the back deck snuggling.

Noah also loves stuffed animals, especially this special monkey Ooka. When I kiss Noah good night it is required that I kiss Ooka as well.

He's quite a guy, our little Noah!

Birthday morning balloons...

and sibling hugs!

David and I got in late the night before Noah's birthday so Grandpa was on birthday donut duty.  Noah was thrilled with his special pink sprinkled yumminess!

And of course there was no delay in opening his morning gift. Gifts are his absolute favorite!

What else? Legos!

Later that evening he got to open the rest of his presents.

Did I mention that he loves gifts???

Some of his favorites included a new Wii game...

Star Wars rebels Season 1 DVD...

a drawing prompts journal...

more Legos...

and even more Legos!

A sweet card from Xander.

Finishing off the festivities with his favorite - strawberry cake!

He was extra blessed this year to have Grandma and Grandpa Schaeffer here to celebrate his birthday with him.

Noah's Favorites at 9:
     Color: black
     Food: potstickers
     Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean 4
     TV Show: Phineus and Ferb
     Book: Rangers Apprentice Series
     Toy: Legos Animal: monkey
     Thing to Do: play lacrosse
     Sport to Watch: LAX
     Sport to Play: LAX
     Sports Team: Carolina Panthers
     Sports Player: Cam Newton
     Fruit: blueberries
    Vegetable: peas
    Song: Radioactive
    Singer/Band: Imagine Dragons
    Holiday: Easter
    Candy: Twix '
    Dessert: cookie dough ice cream
    Season: summer
    Restaurant: Noodles
    Temple: Salt Lake City
    Scripture Hero: Captain Moroni
    Place to Go: Target
    Future Career: soldier
    Best Friends: Eli, Kellan

Grandparent Fun!

While David and I were relaxing in the Bahamas, my parents were in Baltimore watching our kids. Their job wasn't too tough because the kids were in school most of the time but there were a few fun things they got to do while they were here. Noah got to participate in his first Raingutter Regatta for scouts! He and David got his boat ready before we left on our trip; Noah of course went with a cool pirate theme!  His is the black boat in the center with the pirate skull on it.

As we've all known for a long time, Noah is full of hot air so this kind of race was right up his alley. He just had to blow that boat!!

And he sure did it well, winning most of his races.

He ended up losing in the championship race against another boy who is pretty full of hot air himself! My mom was a bit upset about the race because Max started blowing a bit before he should have, putting him in a lead that he was then able to maintain the rest of the race. Apparently, though, Noah was a good sport about everything.

I think he was pretty excited to win 2nd place!

The pirates who were there for the event really loved Noah's boat. Arghhhh!

My parents also took the kids to see the new movie The Jungle Book. They all really loved it, especially King Louis.

It was so nice being away, knowing that my kids were in such good hands. They sure do love their grandparents! (And Savannah is super special.)