The boys were very excited about Stuart’s birthday on Tuesday.  Connor had been planning some little details for over a week.  He drew daddy a nice card, he wrapped up some cookies from our pantry, and he decorated the game room with Happy Birthday signs to surprise daddy.  Logan came in to help decorate as well.  It was funny to watch the two of them wanting to give daddy a surprise but yet kept drawing attention to it.  They told Stuart not to go to the game room as they were cleaning it and kept saying that it was still very messy. 

    On his birthday I took the day off; Stuart and I went shopping to get him some outfits for his upcoming trip.  We had a fun time and a productive shopping day. When we picked the boys up at school, they wanted to rush home to take Stuart up to the game room.  Beside the birthday celebration, Logan had an additional reason to be excited.  He was looking forward to playing the board game, one of the gifts, we had for Stuart.  He was definitely thrilled when Stuart opened that present.  Afterward, we all headed out to Connor’s soccer practice.  At the end of the day, we also enjoyed an ice cream cake to wrap up a special day for Stuart.

I had the last Art Vistas of the year for Connor’s class yesterday; portraits was the topic.  The two moms showed the class a couple of ancient famous portraits, and discussed some of the details in the painting.  The children often enjoyed looking at these prints and were eager to raise their hands to answer questions.  Next, we all became a portrait artist making a self portrait with the aid of a mirror in front of each child.  I first demonstrated steps by steps how to make a sketch of myself on paper with crayon, and the kids had a good laugh while I had them help me figuring out what’s next.  Then the kids were ready to make their own.  They had a blast looking at themselves through the mirror, and did not hesitate to start drawing.  There were many good looking portraits, and some nice details, ie. glasses and even freckles.  We were surprise how efficient the children were as well.  We were able to use the remaining time to finish up some previous projects and preparing for their portfolios.  It was a very productive class today.  It is hard to believe that we had completed all the Art Vistas lessons for the year.  The moms and I have truly enjoyed the time we had with the children, and appreciate the hard work they put in.  There will be an open house in May to display the wonderful artwork.  The moms and I will have to prepare for that soon.

    We finally bought a slightly larger bike for Logan, so he could pass on his “Golden bike” to Connor as Connor’s “Green Machine” was too small for him.  On Sunday, we had both boys try on their new bikes “Flash” and “Lightning” which they have named.  They both were still adjusting to the new height and were a bit timid riding.  They did fine overall; we just need to continue to practice some more.  We now need to buy a bike rack as these boys’ bikes are getting too big to fit into Stuart’s car.

   Lately both Logan and Connor love playing basketball.  It could be from all of us enjoying watching the Warriors during this season.  Every night after dinner, Logan would ask to go play in the backyard and Connor would love to join in.  They love to have Stuart play with them and they often ask me to join them to play 2 on 2 as well.  We are spending more time in the yard as a result.  Connor is like an Energized Bunny, running non stop.  He is assertive, and has learned to push the ball higher; he is very proud of himself making many baskets.  Logan shoots quite well from far away, and he wants to become Steph Curry making long baskets.  Stuart continues to encourage Logan to come in and get some rebounds. 

   Connor did not have a game on Saturday morning, so I had a chance to finally watch Logan’s entire basketball game.  Logan has a good team and coach this season.  The team was good about passing the ball around and the game was fun to watch.  Logan was hesitant to keep the ball too long; he passed it on almost as quickly as he got it but he made good passes.  He still preferred not to be under the basket so he did not try rebounding.  He attempted to make a basket a couple of times. 

    Right after a small lunch, Stuart and I switched kids.  I took Connor to his classmate, Sophia’s party on Saturday, and it was held at a kid place in the mall.  We had never been to this place; people were spread out everywhere, and it was definitely a popular place with lots of kids.  Connor found a couple of his classmates, and he immediately climbed up into the structures to join them.  The party invite was sent out with a very short notice, therefore the turn out from the class was low.  A couple of parents actually dropped off the kids too, so I did not see anyone I know.  I talked with the mom for a little bit, then I encouraged Connor to go try the foam guns with me and later Chris joined us.  The shooting was fun; the two boys kept climbing up and down to gather balls for us to shoot.  Next, everyone headed over to a party room for some pizza and birthday cake.  The kids were excited to return to the playground when we were all done eating.  Since we were at the mall, I decided to go buy something and Connor was more than happy with the idea.  Even the mom told me that I could go for a longer time, I ended up returning within an hour.  I let Connor continue to play as he was having such a blast with the classmates.  Finally by 3pm, I told him that Logan missed him, Connor was then willing to say bye with his friends and go home with me.

    This was the first year that the school held a Mother and Son event which was on Friday, and the theme was Star Wars.  The boys were excited to attend, and I did my best to make sure I left work on time that day.  We arrived a little early at school while the parent volunteers were finishing up the set up.  We were the first one to take a picture at the photo booth.  The boys were too embarrassed to pose for it.  Next we moved over to make a light saber.  All the kids there were engaged in this activity and wrapped the tapes on to make their own designs.  There was a Jedi training, but the boys decided to eat first.  We got ourselves a slice of pizza, and they both made themselves comfortable on the ground with one of Logan’s classmates to eat.  We did finally join in in the training.  All the boys there were having a blast fighting each other with their light sabers, some more feisty than others.  Logan seemed a bit intimidated with the action there and preferred to hang with me instead.  Connor was more willing going off to fight with others.  We stayed there for awhile, then a Jedi started to talk with the crowd and began the training.  By then, it was Connor’s turn to be not interested in following the instruction.  I had been talking with some moms here and there, but by then I was tired and the boys seemed to have enough as well.  Therefore we headed out to go home.  The boys were happy to receive some Star Wars pins throughout the different events for the night too.