May Fun

May was a blur of birthday cake and school events and springtime fun. The school playground has been under construction for most of the year, but it finally opened and the kids are thrilled to have more space to run. For most of the year they held recess in a tiny 15-spot parking lot; most days Bruce said he read a book at the side of the lot or stayed inside. That would be Oliver enjoying an afterschool snack of blueberries. He's a big fan.

And here is Oli throwing a fit. This month he turned three, so we should be moving out of the Terrible Twos soon, right?! In good news, we have been going full force on the potty training with some success. Oliver is definitely the roughest to potty train though; Bruce and Phoebe were easy compared to this kid. Oliver does not care about staying clean (like Bruce) or feeling the accomplishment and pride of being a bid kid (like Phoebe). 

We had a bingo night with our friends Allison and Chris. It never gets old. After awhile the kids start repeating the numbers: "B-12." "I-27." Then they start saying it in creative ways - singing it, playing with their voice.

We have been spending a lot of time at the YMCA going to swim lessons. One of the lovely perks of having three kids far apart in age is that they don't overlap in any kind of classes, and their three classes are on three different days. It is awfully inconvenient, but they're good about sitting through each other's lessons and are enjoying their time in the water. 

The fifth graders have been learning ballroom dancing in gym class and they had a showcase for all the parents and families. Bruce said that ballroom dancing was "the most embarrassing moment" of his life because he had to hold hands with a girl. He made sure to frown at me every time he saw me hold a camera up. Of course Phoebe and Oliver thought the showcase was fantastic and loved every moment of it.

We had an early release day at school so in Raymond family tradition, we got a pass to the Museum of Science and spent a few hours there.

Oliver ran about 5 miles just going up and down this track.

One of Bruce's favorite topics of late is space. He recently read a book about black holes and keeps asking me all kinds of questions that I don't have answers for.

It was birthday month at our house. We celebrated Oliver's birthday on a Tuesday during our toddler music class. I teach the class at the church, so I made it birthday themed and called it a pseudo-party. We sang the birthday song a bunch of times, read a few birthday books, busted a piñata, and danced. We took turns opening "presents": each gift had a song inside that we had to sing. We finished it off with a cake shaped like a bunny because that's what Oliver wanted. He likes to read the grocery store ads and he saw a picture of a cake around Easter and never forgot about it. Bruce's birthday was on a Thursday and we had a busy day with the usual: school, math club, piano lesson. But we finished it off with cake too!

Oliver gets lots of attention from Bruce's friends at school. He has a gaggle of girls that now love to babysit him on the playground. I love it too.

We celebrated Bruce's birthday on Saturday. We hung out at the park, played Capture the Flag, broke a piñata, played soccer, and ate pizza and cupcakes. Thankfully the weather cooperated.

It was Oliver's real birthday so we made sure to sing to him too.

Oliver wanted a Christmas tree for his birthday presents, so we pulled out the fake tree. 

We attended a birthday party for one of Phoebe's friends that same afternoon. Oliver probably thought all these parties were for him.

He had to go potty while at the park so peed on a tree. He thought it was so funny to pee on a tree and kept visiting the site to relive the memory. Awesome.

After eating a zillion cupcakes, we ended the day with a birthday song and more cake.

Oliver is getting this potty training thing figured out - as in how to work the system. One morning he said, "Undies. Dry. Donut." So we went to Dunkin Donuts.

My brother Will came to town. We talked lots and lots, had a Dorito commercial watch party while eating Doritos, and got lobster sandwiches together. I didn't get any pictures of Will, but here's one of the lobsters. He will have to come again for a sibling photo.

I organized a blood drive and donated blood at the end. It was busy the whole time and we exceeded our goal. I still don't like needles. But I still do it.

Phoebe made his lovely creation.

She wants to get into Lego Magazine so she can be famous.

We went to the Boston Run to Remember kids race. Phoebe and Oliver wanted to race. Bruce was happy to sit on the sideline and chat it up with some other kid.

Oliver had a false start, but came back and then started after everyone else. 

He was really proud of his medal and wore it most of the day.

Phoebe put on her game face. The race handed out shirts, but she wanted to wear her own; she picked it out specifically for running.

The race was close to the Boston Fire Museum, which is free, so we stopped by and pulled the fire alarm a few times.

Another bingo night - or day. It really doesn't get old.