School is out!! (May in a nutshell)

I have had kids at the Language Garden preschool for 4 years now. Every year the owner (and my dear friend) Sue Ellen hires a wonderful photographer to take pictures of the kids with beautiful farm landscapes in the background. 

One day I will get around to blowing these up for my home.  They are WAY too gorgeous for just posting here. Amiright??

I mean, why would I pay for the generic "school pics" with the gray background when you can have these??

She somehow got Mateo's NATURAL smile, which is sooooooo handsome, but often hard to catch.

And this little super model.....

Kramer Papi's birthday rolled around Cinco de Mayo 

My parents were in town and we thought we would spend the day on the Beltline and take birthday boy out to lunch.  But! You will never guess how we ended up spending the day....

Yep.  We threw down sod for five hours!  Happy birthday!!

 That is what this 74 year old man pushed for...Im not kidding.

 He was THE catalyst for this work day.  Then later on....
"oh I don't know how I get myself into these things" 
Well dad, we know.

 The kids kept busy in this mudpit washing rocks with toothbrushes.

 Before laying the sod, the ONLY things looking pretty were these foxgloves.

 My mom brought me these from her garden last year, and boy did they put on a show!

 We have put down sod now at two houses, and I must say that the instant gratification/beautification of laying sod it amazing! From ugly weeds to a YARD!! And it looks so.much.bigger.

We ended the exciting birthday celebration at Mellow Mushroom. Pizza. A-GAIN.

 (Pizza was not a regular part of my diet until we moved around the corner from this place.  It is good, but would not be my choice of fare if my kids didn't run the roost.) But hey, it's easy!

The next week, we Ernesto got started on the back fence.

It is not a privacy fence, but more of a don't-fall-down-the-hill fence.  It's going to be about 4 feet high, and we decided to use different widths of wood in a 1-2-1-2 pattern.  The posts were stained "slate" by Behr, and already it looks AWESOME.

I am totally loving it. We are going to add black 2x2's on the top and stain the horizontal boards. 
More progress pics to come soon!!

On Mother's Day I was given this sweet poem by Marcelo!

Paloma and Ernesto were in San Diego, so it was just me and the boys. 

Mateo ended another Inter-Atlanta soccer season.

He was so proud to receive his trophy and boy did he deserve it.  This little guy is lighting on the field and seriously loves the game.

 It was a lot of fun watching him.  I can't believe how good he is after just two seasons on this team.  He is serious about soccer [and soccer shoes]!

The siblings hang out on the sidelines or on the playground while big bro plays.  

Before we knew it the school year was over (May 23).  The week before I volunteered at Field Day.

Both Mateo's class and Marcelo's were outside at the same time, so I got to see both of them in action. 

The parachute waving really reminded me of my youth.  I remember doing this at school and how exciting it was (for some reason?) It was fun watching the kids' obviously feeling the same way I did way back when. 

I don't remember playing this game...carrying a rubber chicken with big chopsticks??!!

It looked fun though!

Marcelo's loves his sweet teachers 

Graduation from Pre-K had this little guy excited!

On a side note, I am so thankful that when he sees me at his school he is happy Im there...like here when I showed up for the ceremony. "Mamiiiiiiii"...Look at that face!!

 Marcelo adjusted easily to "all day" school and made lots of friends.  He is quite the social butterfly.

It may have been easy for him too because he snuck toys in his pockets and backpack everyday and took them out to show his friends at the WRONG times.  I loved his teachers Ms. Carter and Ms Jones.  They had there hands full [of Marcelo's toys] this year!!

 Mateo also had a great year too. Unfortunately, Mateo's teacher mysteriously left (or was asked to leave?) six weeks before school let out and he had a hard time with that...

He made her this and asked if we could get it to her.  I did send it to her email, but not sure if she was still checking it.

But! He was still very happy to receive a certificate and "graduate." Here is shakes the principal and vp's hands up on stage.

Im proud of my little baby.  He has a knack for math which makes me laugh because I am and have always been horrible at math.  Ernesto will definitely have to oversee the math homework!

Mateo's class had a "Grease" theme, but I couldn't get this guy to wear a white t-shirt OR jeans! (Ugh, the soccer attire!)

Can you spot him up there?  LOL Well, he did participate in the singing/motions, so that was fun to watch!

  I love Marcelo's shirt from school.  "Pre-k is so last year"  LOL

Once we were free of school schedules, we.....made pancakes!

We were out and about Atlanta!

 Beltline, friends and King of Pops!

We strive to wear these kids out on the daily, so a scoot out to Stone Mountain is always a great option.

It's a bonus that we get a workout in too.  Sometimes carrying an extra 30 pounds. 😂

As you can see by the boys wet hair (below) you work up quite a sweat in the 30 minute hike.

Although this girl is a big sweat-er like mami, she always looks fresh and beautiful (which is not quite like her mami).

The burning Summer question:  Will this guys hair come off with the HEAT???  Only sweat time will tell. Im LOVING it longer!