First day, Last day

Last Thursday, William finished first grade (sniff, sniff)! I'm sad he's moving along to 2nd grade because to me, that seems like really the big times...BUT I'm SO ready for our summer schedule. Laid back mornings, lots of time at the pool, seeing friends, staying up late, etc. 

Here is William on his first day of First Grade:

and on his last day of First Grade:

Mother's Day 2013

It was a great Mother's Day weekend! Even though this was the 8th year to be celebrated as a mom, it never gets old. William and Hudson were very excited about Mother's Day, even telling Dave that I get all the hugs for that day.

It was an extremely momentous weekend in the Dennison house. Dave does a LOT of things around this house...too many to name. Plus, he works HARD at his job. But one thing he does NOT do is cook. In fact, that has been one of the point of contention in our nearly 10 years of marriage. I have always wanted him to cook me a "real" dinner. Sure, he can grill a mean steak, but to use a recipe and COOK...never. But, he proved that it can be done! He cooked dinner on Saturday evening AND managed the kids-- with Pioneer Woman recipes and all. It was DELICIOUS, and he even said he enjoyed doing it.

Jalapeño Shrimp, Apricot, and Onion Skewers and Green Bean casserole:

He didn't exactly clean as he went:

Me and my 3 little men:

I feel so very blessed to be these guys' mommy. Every single day is a blessing, even if I'm feeling it during an "ugly" moment.

Peter Rabbit

The day after we got back from Brazil William was in his 1st grade play, Peter Rabbit (I am just realizing that these posts are out of order. oh well). William was offered to play the part of Mr. McGregor, but unbeknownst to me, he turned it down because he thought "it would be more fun to be a bird" (his words, not mine!). I was a bit disappointed since a bird is not nearly as front and center to the story of Peter Rabbit. BUT, I bit my tongue since he was thrilled about his part as a bird.

And I'll admit, the bird costume was cool, and he did have 4 or 5 lines. So, it wasn't a total bust. :-)

They didn't allow pics during the performance, so here is part of the cast: the 4 birds, Peter Rabbit, Benjamin bunny, and Mr and Mrs McGregor.

Golf

William and Hudson are REALLY loving golf these days. Since they were each about 2, Dave has taken them to play golf. They each have a set of clubs, and recently they got bags. The problem we've had up to this point is that all public courses require you to pay for 18 holes, which they're just too young to play for that long! So, we finally bit the bullet and joined a golf club. It's been fantastic because we can all go up together and play 9 holes. It's the perfect amount. And Dave can take them up to the driving range to practice as well. It's amazing how much they've improved in just a month!

Groups of 3

So, you know how bad things happen in 3's? Well, I can attest to the fact that it is very very true! A month ago when Crew had to go to the ER for knocking himself unconscious after a fall, a friend of mine said, "you do realize that these things happen in 3's, right?" Well, I didn't take a whole lot of stock in it...until about 2 weeks later when Hudson had to go to the ER because of not being able to breathe (allergy induced, of course). 2 down, 1 to go. Hudson also got his thumb slammed in the door at school, so I was hoping that was #3. Not so much. I'm starting to think it's a literal 3 things-- as in, they all have to be SUPER similar.

Last Friday evening we were spending the evening at the park for dinner and play with our friends. We were at a new park that the boys had been wanting to go to for some time. It's a little older, so not as much "updated" play equipment, but still fun nonetheless. About 45 minutes after we're there, we heard blood curdling screaming, and then William comes walking towards us with blood EVERYWHERE. All over his face, arms, shirt, and shoes. In hindsight, I should have immediately taken a picture. I'm afraid Dave would have smashed it though, so it's probably better I didn't. He stopped crying pretty quickly, and we even managed to get the blood to stop flowing pretty quickly. Apparently, he was running around on the playground, and he was going to run/duck into one of those tunnel things, but either a)didn't duck fast enough or b)didn't realize he was too tall to run on through. Either way, he ran head on into the tunnel, and gashed himself open- down to the bone!!!!!

We scooped him up (and Crew), left Hudson there with our friends, and headed to the ER.

This is in the car on the way to the ER: (he wasn't thrilled I was taking his picture)

He was pretty cold while we were waiting. I told him about when I was in the hospital having my babies, that the nurses always gave me hot blankets to keep me warm. He was jealous. He had blanket envy. He told the ER doctor, and when we came back into the room from getting x-rays, there were warm blankets waiting for him. We love our Children's hospital!!!

If you're at all squeamish, now's the time to stop reading. This is where it really starts to get freaky.

We realized that if he raised up his eyebrows really big, we could see deep down into the wound. He thought that was hilarious!

We LOVED the doctor that stitched him up. He's what they call a "wound specialist"-- so stitching people up is his specialty. He was picked to do this job because of his attention to detail. He trained for a YEAR under a plastic surgeon to do this. I'm sure this job he could have done blind folded since it was pretty straight forward. But he spent extra time and care since it was so front and center on William's face. He knew that a minimal scar was extremely desirable. After he got it all cleaned up and ready for the stitches, he wanted me to get this picture (below). William slightly protested, and the dr reminded him that moms get to take pictures like this. It's our right, so hold still. :-)

All stitched up and ready to roll (4 stitches on the inner layer of skin, and 6 on the outside): 

 a closeup the next day:

It was quite the adventure, I will say. I have no doubt this won't be our last visit to the ER, but I sure am glad that this group of 3 visits is now over!

Last, but certainly not least: RIO!

Our last stop on our adventure was Rio. It was amazing. The food, the people, the sights, the BEACH, everything. We arrived on Sunday afternoon, and we spent the latter part of the afternoon strolling the beach. Then we went to dinner...more amazing food!

On Monday we hit it early. First stop: Christ the Redeemer. It was amazing...just as we knew it would be. We took the train all the way up the mountain, and there, perched on top was the statue. Of course, the view from the statue was breath-taking!

From Christ the Redeemer, we headed to Sugar Loaf. In the below collage, you can see Sugar Loaf- with the cable car going up. We took the car to the very top, and again, saw some amazing views. In the top picture, towards the middle, you can see a (foggy) view of Christ the Redeemer.

For the better part of the later afternoon, we rested our weary feet at the rooftop bar with drinks in-hand at our hotel. After a little siesta there, we headed down to walk the beach.

Dave was most excited about dinner Monday night. We went to a true Brazilian steakhouse. He definitely got his money's worth! It was super yummy, and as I had already experienced daily, the drinks were divine.

Our last day in Brazil we spent at the beach, soaking up the rays. It was FANTASTIC! The water was great, the people watching was phenomenal, and again, the drinks were delicious.  Something I wasn't able to get a picture of: as we were relaxing on the beach, we were looking out into the ocean, and about 100 yards from the shoreline, we noticed about 20 dolphins jumping out of the water. It was like we got our own personal show. Amazing.

We cleaned up from our day at the beach, packed our bags, and headed to Aprazivel- the most amazing, unique restaurant EVER. It's sort of in the middle of a not-too-fabulous area of Rio. It's nestled on the side of a mountain-- just a multi-level treehouse. It was so delicious, but the thatched roofs, tree-trunk tables, and levels and levels of seating areas were what made this restaurant so amazing.

We had a red-eye flight home on Tuesday night. As we were waiting to board, we realized: we got burned! I guess these white winter bodies hadn't seen much sunlight in awhile. (side note: 2 weeks home, and Dave is STILL peeling)

Saying that it was an amazing trip doesn't really do it justice. We feel like it was a good balance of a fun time with Trent and Paige, but also a good amount of time just being the 2 of us. Of course, we were happy to get home to the boys, but what a blessing to be able to have that time away together. And a shout out to my mom and dad who took care of our sweet babies while we were gone. They were such troopers- I never felt like they were tired, worn out, or agitated with the kids (although, I'm sure they were). They were always so upbeat when we talked to them. Thanks, Mom and Dad!