My Penguin Pal

Finn's class takes turns every week being the class Penguin Pal. This is where a student creates a poster with pictures throughout their short little lives of their family and memories. Finn's last name being at the end of the alphabet, he had to wait towards the end of the year to do his presentation. Finn had a lot of input on his poster, but, of course, I gave him a little direction too. Finn was very particular about picking pictures that were funny but not too embarrassing. Finn was so nervous before his presentation the morning of and told me that he had stage fright.

He did such a good job on his presentation, but he wasn't his usual confident self. His classmates take turns asking him questions like "What is your favorite food or movie". Finn was stumped on a few questions, but it was so cute. Then, his class got in a circle and took turns giving him compliments. Too stinkin cute. Rick and I had to give him compliments as well. I had a hard time picking just one and gushed on all of his sweet qualities, while Rick bragged on the fact that he rarely complains about anything.

And they call the thing Rodeo...

We visited the local Austin Rodeo with my dad, my sister, and my babes in tow. My friends Andrea, Katie, and Cindy met up with us for a little while with their kids while we were there. Finn busted out his rarely worn boots and we explored the place. There were a ton of fun kids activities- like pony rides, pig races, and a petting zoo. Finn even hit up some rides and even conned me into taking him and Aidan on a "scary roller coaster". It was really only scary due to the abrupt jerkiness of the ride and the lack of finesse in the carnival workers ride management. The boys loved it though!

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Pics from Austin's recent Zilker Park Kite Festival. We did more hula hooping than kite flying, as our $1 bargain kites did not last very long in the mix of the hundreds of kites flying. It was sooooo crowded there, and we had to park and ride a shuttle to get there but it was worth it. I love these events that "Keep Austin Weird". It's just one of the 1,356,245 reasons that I love living in Austin.

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Run like the Wind

Finn partipated in a local kids 1K recently and I'm proud to say that he ran the whole time! Finn was very proud of the medal that he earned and started running once a week on the trail outside our house. Future track star, perhaps?

Work it Out!

Here are some pics from my school district's annual Fitsmart Expo. It takes place at the high school and is an opportunity for the community to participate in the all of the different sports the school offers (five year in a row state champions for football)and various other games and activities. Finn loved getting to roll around in a giant hamster ball, play football, tennis, basketball, golf, and soccer.

Hoops!

Finn started his second season of basketball this winter with Rick as one of his coaches. His BFF Aidan was on the team and Aidan's dad Allan also coached the team- the Green Pirates. (Finn was exited to be the one who named the team). Nobody plays basketball better than a team of pirates! Finn improved a lot from last season and even made a few baskets! He still enjoys guarding a lot- even if it means he and an opposing team member are guarding each other on the other side of the court away from everybody else. I

t was a great season with more wins than losses and lots of fun.

Elmo Live!

Sloane's birthday present from my dad was to see Sesame Street Live. Sloane hearts Elmo big time. She watches Sesame Street every morning and I love that. I loved sesame Street when I was little and I like how a lot of the characters are still the same. Not just the puppets, but Gordon and Maria. Sloane's favorite stuffed animal that she has to sleep with every night is an Elmo doll that she calls Melmo.
Sloane and her friend Maddox got all dressed up for the big show, and they were pretty good save Sloane's major temper tantrum during intermission. They danced a little and even got a close up greeting from one of the characters. So fun!