Finding Baseball Gloves for our Hot Rods

We were running out of time to find our Hot Rods gloves with their first practice tomorrow but we made a trip to Play it Again Sports to secure some broken in gloves.   The selection was daunting and we weren't sure if Jackson was going to use his left hand as his dominant hand.  Good thing, the Hot Road coach was with us.

Another item on the list was tennis balls to help the boys get familiar with catching a ball that wasn't going to hurt them.  While Coach looked for the gloves, the boys helped count out the tennis balls that we needed for practice.

Coach secured a couple of gloves for the boys to try on and we started the process of narrowing down.  This part of the trip was kind of comical as the boys were getting tired and couldn't focus as much as Coach needed them too.  Play it again sports had a lot of other types of equipment, which was apparently too exciting for the boys to keep away from.

Finally, the gloves have been secured and we are out the door.

Cinderella with Rali

After a couple of attempts to figure out a plan, we were finally able to coordinate with Rali and her mom on a trip to Cinemark to see the new Cinderella. 



It was our first time at Cinemark and the theater was beautiful.  At the suggestion of Ms. Burton, we brought a football for Jackson to hold onto and encourage him to sit still.  Connor was incredibly concerned about the candy that we brought with us. He may have been more concerned about the candy than the movie.

Jackson sat next to Rali's mom and she told me that he teared up at the end of the movie when the Step Mother locked Cinderella in the attic.  He explained that he was concerned that she wouldn't get to try on the shoe and get to be with the prince.  Jackson is very excitable but there is so much more to him.  He has the sweetest heart, wants to make sure everyone is happy and is unable to handle a confrontation.  If there is a possibility of a confrontation, he puts his hands over his ears and walks away as he can not simply handle the conflict.  It is one of his sweetest personality traits. 

Everyone had a great time and we will see her again in school soon.

Fun at the Zoo with Senuri

In an effort to connect with more friends at school, we invited Senuri and her mom to join us at the Zoo.  Senuri was happy to see the boys but definitely not as interested in the animals as they are.  She had indicated that she would have been happy if she saw a rabbit. 

The iron lions are always good for a photo opportunity.

We arrived around penguin feeding times and the kids were actually able to ask the keepers
some questions.

We moved on to the polar bear and he was in the water.  This is one of those once a summer events for us and we stayed for awhile soaking it in. 

Once the polar bear got out of the water, we moved up to the tundra buggy to see if he would get back in to the water.  We stayed up there awhile checking him out. He did a lot of maneuvering and shaking off of water but never returned to the pool.

We stayed for lunch and enjoyed a carousel ride before walking around the Children's Zoo to end the day.  There were a lot of slides down the Tree House slide and we hope that Senuri appreciated more than just the rabbits that we did see.

Towson Presbyterian : Pancake Breakfast

Michael was put in charge of organizing the dads.  Somehow, this message was lost on Jackson or he thought he was in charge as well.  Michael arrived earlier in the morning and Jackson was incredibly upset that Michael had been there getting everything ready.  Upon his arrival, he was checking in with the men to make sure that everything was in order (hands on his hips and all).

Jackson did slow down from his checking in with the dads to secure some pancakes for himself.  It was fantastic to watch him moving between playing with friends and checking in on the dads.  He even checked on the ice to make sure that it was still frozen.....

Al of the dads. 

Dad with his twinkies. 

Once the last pancakes had  been served, Jackson was in the kitchen supervising the clean up crew.

Connor and Senuri had a lot of fun playing together. Jackson was salty about getting his picture and that he didn't contribute enough.  He has such a big heart and it was so sweet that his excitement can be used to serve others. 

Dog Loves Books at Goucher

After hearing great reviews of the Tortoise and the Hare and both boys' ability to sit still, we checked Goucher's stage schedule and discovered a showing of Dog Loves Books.  We figured that it was a great opportunity to try again.  The boys love books and animals so the combination had to work, right??

 Picture taken after picking up the boys from the first stage show other than Disney. ALL smiles.

The website had shown that limited tickets were available and when we called to order, the ticketing people confirmed that they had tickets remaining for a couple of people but not for larger groups. 
We arrived at Gaucher and there were a lot of buses and the boys were in awe.  We did talk about how they came to see Tortoise and the Hare in a bus and there were probably a lot of buses that day as well.

Ms. Burton relayed that she gave Jackson a sensory ball to hold on to during the Tortoise and the Hare and he responded well.  We decided to get him one too and try it out.  He struggles sitting still and it worked wonders just like she had indicated.

We found our seats and waited for all of the school children to stream in.  

Goucher prohibited pictures during the show to avoid the distraction of the performers.  The story was easy for the boys to follow and inspiring.

In the end, Dog sold his 3 books and was well on his way to selling the million he wanted. 

Upon arriving, we received a complimentary copy of Dog Loves Books for our continual reading enjoyment. It was a great morning with the boys and we are both wishing that we had looked into taking the boys to shows earlier.  We are super thankful to Ms. Burton and her many suggestions related to Jackson especially the use of a sensory ball.  

Towson Presbyterian : Art Show

After a party to celebrate Uncle Tony's 80th birthday, we moved on to our second event of the day -- the Towson Presbyterian Preschool Art Show.

We moved to the boys' room and found their teacher and Meet the Artist displays.

When we walked in to the room, Grace was in with her family and immediately started helping the boys find their art.

The boys' class theme was School Days and their teacher incorporated aspects of all that they were learning. These family portraits are so telling.  If you look at Jackson's, you will notice that Connor is frowning.  This has caused some lively discussions at our house.

The boys' favorite section at school was probably the discussion of Community Helpers.  They learned so much and we have had many spirited discussion about who is a community helper.  Jackson didn't get a chance to do his community helper poster but he was super proud of his reptile as a representation of how he wanted to be a Zoo Keeper. 

Connor worked on multiple displays of his love of his favorite Community Helper, the Zoo Keeper. 

There was a considerable period of time that we didn't get any art from the boys' school and we were finally able to figure out what they were doing in the fall.   We recall a lot of discussions about leaves and Native Americans.

They also did a discussion of the planets.  Most important to us is the progress in the boys' handwriting from when they started school.

The class worked on the alphabet and the sounds that the letters made.  Jackson helped with the I and J and Connor worked on the O and P.

Towson Presbyterian has a series where they learn about different artists and create renderings similar to the artist.  This cutout picture is from Matisse, which will help provide some background for their upcoming trip to the Baltimore Museum of Art.

The boys worked with Clay and Connor confirmed that he made the number 13. 

We finally found the self portrait before checking out the other rooms. Such a wonderful display of art. The boys were so proud of their creations and we were too.