Five

Gracie Girl is five years old today. My baby is now a big girl. We celebrated over the weekend with a rather coolish pool party (weather wise). I love my girl!

Here's Gracie's Hulk Cake. Hulk Smash.





And here are some shots from the party:

Present time!


The Batman playset draws a crowd.


Mr. Monkey Mac.


Maya, Gracie's new American Girl doll. She's wearing her soccer uniform. Maya also has a karate outfit, complete with every belt color. She's posing with Alex and Gracie, Gracie's twin dollies from her 4th birthday.


Ninja warriors.


Batgirls with the new Batman playset.


Slip and Slide!


The bathing beauties.


Every five year old girl's dream gift: a skull and crossbones skateboard.


Daddy tries the skateboard.


Cake on a stick, Minnesota style.


Hulk, the birthday girl.

Tattooed Brothers

Here are a few pictures of the tattooes that Rob and Scott got after their father's death. They honor some of the things that the boys liked to do with their dad.

Riding the Bikes

Both Alex and Gracie have been working on riding their bikes today. That, of course, means that Rob and I have been running up and down the sidewalk in front of our house. Good exercise for everyone! Both kids are getting closer to riding on their own. Here's a bit of video and some snaps.

MOA Karate Video Clip

Finally, here's the video from the Mall of America karate demo.

Karate Demo

Alex participated in a karate demonstration at the Mall of America last weekend. He did great and it was so neat to see him feeling proud of his karate skills in front of an audience. Very cool! I tried to upload some video, but ran in to technical difficulties. I'll try again another night, but for now, here are a few pictures:

Poetry Reading Part Two

Miky asked me to post the text of Alex's Numbers Poem. I've added it today, along with a few others from his poetry journal:

NUMBERS

numbers can go far
far as infinity goes
because numbers grow


SPRING POEM

The clear sky is like a pool of water with cotton balls in it.
Little bugs like polkadots on flowers sit in the sun.
Lawn mowers hum like bees flying over the garden.
I slide down a slide like a slippery eel.
The sun shines like a giant fire fly.


CRAYFISH

A crayfish is as hard as a rock
It snaps at you like a croc
And it is as stubborn as a lock
It is like a small menacing creature from the deep
It is so creepy to have a crayfish in the class
But the creepiest thing is the way they lash


And here's Alex and his friend George reciting George's "twin poem" (a poem for two).

Poetry Reading

Alex's class had an end of the year poetry reading last Friday. He read a haiku about numbers and did an excellent job. Here's the video: