In May the boys and I took a trip to IL for our cousin Andrew's First Communion. 

Here are Nick, Sam and Ben all dressed up for the occasion!

Digging in Grampa's garden, with their cousin Jack!

Bird watching out Grandma's back door, wtih Mackey!  Grama has lots and lots of birds that come to her feeders each day.  The kids love to bird watch with Grama.

We were on hand to celebrate our cousin Alina's 18th birthday as well!



Andrew and Aunt Ellen.

T-ball

We spend our Thursday evenings watching Sam play t-ball.  His team is the Cubs.  Sam really enjoys playing ball, especially socializing with the players when he's on base!

 

Nick and Ben enjoying the game, in their own way!

Nick's t-ball team is the Blue Jays.  He plays on Saturday mornings.  Nick is known as the hustler on his team when playing defense!

And the best part of t-ball, the post game treats!

Backyard Fun

The month of May has been warm enough to break our all of our water toys.  First water balloon experience was a hit!  Now that's all Nick and Sam request!

The boys are enjoying our newest addition to the swing set, a tire swing!  (with a race car tire, of course!)



This year we are trying our hand at a garden.  Nick, Sam and Ben were big helpers in planting it....we'll see how the rest of the season goes!  We are hoping to harvest tomatoes, green beans, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and lettuce. 

Sam was busy measuring.... something!?! 

Mother's Day 2012

Lucky me with my three sweet boys!  I was treated to breakfast in bed and showered with handmade cards, flowers and chocolate strawberries! 

End of the School Year

The end of the school year is here, already!  Nick enjoyed attending Interactive Academy on Wednesdays where he learned Spanish, gymnastics, and school skills.

 

Nick graduated from preschool and is off to kindergarten at Eagle Elementary in the fall!

 

Nick with his Pre K teachers Mrs. Pat and Mrs. Ann. 





Ben and his teachers Mrs. Helen and Mrs. Tina.  Poor Ben was running a temperature on his last day of school and stayed home with mom.  When we went to pick up his brothers from school he was a good sport and posed for a picture with his teachers.  Sam wasn't as cooperative!  But his teachers were fantastic as well- Mrs. Dawn and Mrs. Janell.





 

One more....

One last Disney post!  There were professional photographers all around Disney just waiting to capture the magic on film!   These are a few of our favorites!

Magic Kingdom

The photographer told the boys to look at their hands and act surprised.  Gotta love Disney Magic!  Nick and Sam were pretty surprised when they saw that Tinkerbell had landed in their hands.  I think they may have been wishing for Donald Duck!



Epcot

Hollywood Studios, best buds!

My favorite picture!

Going home

Making our way through the Orlando airport. 

We have many happy memories of our trip to Disney World with plans to return again to visit Mickey and the gang. 

Hollywood Studios

Our final day at Disney was spent at Hollywood Studios. 

Each day we waited patiently for the Disney bus.

Sam's favorite ride was the Star Tours! We went on a spaceship ride into the galaxy to get Darth Vader! 

C-3PO was our tour guide on this adventure!

3 D glasses!

After the ride we were treated to a young Jedi experience show.  Sam was in awe!   Kids could sign up for real Jedi training and then battle Darth Vader.  The spots were limited and were all taken by the time we arrived at the park, but we are making plans for the next Disney trip and hoping this will still be offered!

We had lunch at the Hollywood Vine with characters from Disney Junior.  I think this was the kids' favorite character dinner, they were most familiar with these characters.   This is June from Little Einsteins.

Jake from Jake and the Never land Pirates.

Special Agent OSO.

Handy Manny.

Streets of New York! 

We enjoyed a puppet show with Mickey, Donald and all the gang!

Honey I shrunk the Kids!  There was a larger than life playground that the boys enjoyed.

Best Buds!

End of a fun filled day at Hollywood Studios!

Our hotel had a fantastic pool and arcade that we enjoyed playing in the last night.  The boys had such a fun time in the pool and were all brave enough to go down the water slide as well!  As we were leaving Disney we asked the kids what their most favorite part of the trip to Disney was, their response, the swimming pool!  Why didn't I take any pool pictures?!?

Animal Kingdom

We spent the 3rd day at Animal Kingdom where we saw gorillas, crocodiles, rhinos, giraffes, and all kinds of other creatures!

While waiting for the bus outside our tree house, Ben enjoyed learning about the flora and fauna of Florida, as well as playing hide and seek!  We were always on the lookout for geckos and saw one every day.  That was a unique experience for us! 

Mickey Mouse waffles for breakfast!

Doing a little bird watching.

Meerkats!

Gorillas!

We had lunch with Donald Duck and his friends at the Tusker House.  At every character dinner there was a chance for the kids to dance.  Nick and Ben joined in the fun!

We went on a safari ride through Kilimanjaro where we saw all kinds of animals including rhinos, crocodiles, giraffes, ostriches, lions, warthogs and elephants, to name a few.  That was the favorite attraction of the day.

Leave it to Ben and Sam to find a place to get wet!  There was a great kids playground at Animal Kingdom that we spent a great deal of time at.  The kids enjoyed the slides, climbing rope ladders and getting wet! 

The bus ride home! 

That evening we went to Downtown Disney via boat!  The boys loved riding the slow, calm boat ride

to Downtown.  The captain of the boat played gave the boys a magic coin and a trading card with a picture of the boat.  They thought that was the best ever!   We went to dinner at Rainforest Cafe and met up with a friend from our days back in Illinois, Sherry, who happens to live in the area.