The Last Days of May...

Time continued to pass at its sporadic pace, bringing us happily closer to Billy's return from the Captain's Career Course and regretfully closer to our move from Iowa. With it also came the last days of May, a last day of school, and a third birthday.

Brody's final day of preschool was May 20th and they put on a super cute Noah's Ark themed end of year program! Of course, my son was the happy caboose of the animal train and may have never made it to the stage at all except for the gentle prodding of his awesome teacher. Once on stage, though I had heard Brody on several occasions break into song at home (in what I could only assume were the songs he was learning at school) on the day of the actual program, he assumed true Brody form, standing on stage, holding his shirt, and sucking his thumb. He never even attempted a single motion or syllable.



















Upon completion of the presentation, the classes were invited, one by one to step back on stage for a class photo with their teacher - this is Brody's class.

Can you find Brody? No? That's because he was in my lap while I took this photo after refusing to step back on stage. I guess he was afraid he might have to sing again - the stage apparently is not his forte - he is truly his father's son!




He returned to his jovial self once the photo ops were over and everyone progressed downstairs for snacks. His good friend Ashley was in a three year old class at the preschool and was sitting at a table with all of her girlfriends from her class. Brody took the only empty chair at the table, surrounded by other older girls of whom he had never met. Confidence? Perhaps. I don't want to know what this foretells about his teenage years.

All in all, it was a fun but sad day. I had to admit that my little boy was no longer so little, and we had to say goodbye to some fantastic teachers. However, two days later we were in full celebration mode when Billy pulled into the driveway after five months at CCC! We made the most of every hour together over Memorial Day weekend!

Saturday we drove up to Story City, Iowa so the kids could ride the historic carousel. Adjacent to the carousel was a park with an "old school" playground where the kids enjoyed the merry-go-round, jungle gym, and seesaw! Megan, Ashley's older sister came with us and after spending a few hours outside playing, we met up with Megan's family at a great BBQ restaurant before heading to Ashley's dance recital.


























































Monday was Brody's 3rd birthday and though his party was planned for 2 weeks later, we could not let the day pass without a celebration! We met up with some friends at the mall and visited Build-A-Bear. Brody immediately selected an adorable, soft, brown puppy dog which he pulled from the shelf and gave a big hug. We smiled and put the example back on the shelf and handed Brody the limp, shell of a puppy which he was supposed to stuff. Having never been to Build-A-Bear, Brody wasn't too impressed with the flat dog and put it back in the bin so he could again grab the already stuffed example. Eventually, we had to just let him carry the example around until his became 3 dimensional and we could make the switch! He appropriately named his new pet "Puppy" and carried him proudly around the mall, "reading" his birth certificate to him when we stopped for ice cream.

















































Below are more fun photos from May, including some from numerous park visits, a play date with Alexa's friend Zoe, and the bird nest we discovered in our back yard!