If April showers bring May flowers, what do May Flowers bring?

Happy Pilgrim Day!  Last Friday was Native American Day, now Pilgrims!  While not as large a scale as the last one, the little K4 Pilgrims got to do a lot of neat crafts, poems, stories and more!

Listening as Ms. Jodi reads the story of the first Thanksgiving.

Getting ready for Pilgrim day!

Dipping candles, just like they would have in Pilgrim days.
 Brant said he wanted to put his on his birthday cake!

Is it getting bigger yet?

A snapping Pilgrim!

Cutest Pilgrim class at "Plymouth BDS"

The students also got to shake up butter and try it on crackers!  And of course, finger puppets topped off the day with a great Thanksgiving poem!  We really can't say enough about the experiences BDS provides for Brant, it's why we are there!  Thank you Ms. Stacy and Ms. Jodi!

A Pow Wow and Fun Friday!

Remember the paper bag vest of last week!?  Well, today was the day Brant got to wear his!  It was the Kindergarten Native American Day!   And it was an O'Day family affair, as Grandma and Daddy got to come too!  Set up in the gym, the kiddos got to play their drums, climb a mountain, hunt a deer, play Native American games AND fish in an Indian pond.  Our little Indian brave won his feather and had a fantastic time!

Walking down the hall to the gym, Brant shushed Grandma for talking in the hall!

Chief Shooting Deer plays his drum around the tee pee

check out the cool noodle necklace!

The Pow Wow begins with great music!

Grandma helped the princesses and braves play Pebble Magic

Daddy helped with the deer hunt, throwing a "spear" through the hoop at the deer!

Creating sand art

Climbing Eagle Mountain (which Mommy built!)

Reaching for his feather!

Fishing in the Indian pond

Tasting beef jerky..the verdict? "It's too hard for me to chew!"

The class in front of the tee pee 

Nate, Brant, Izzy and Zaid, great K4 buddies!

Pop Pop's Train Club

What do you get when you combine Pop Pop, trains and Brantley? 

Pure and utter joy! 

 I found these photos on the camera, and realized they didn't get in the Delaware post.  On Sunday afternoon, Pop Pop's train club has operating session.  What's that you say?  They get together and run trains.  Now, let me tell you what I imagined the club to be like....several train layouts with men at the controls.  OH NO, I was mistaken!  They don't run trains, they RUN trains, work trains, deliver loads, basically, run an actual working railroad, but in miniature form!  And the layout?  It was larger than my classroom, and went into two rooms! 

Brant was in heaven.  His cousins Jacob and Hazen rode along to Delmar, along with Grandma.  Now let me explain something about Delmar.  Half of the town is in Maryland, the other in Delaware. Literally, it runs down the middle of the street! About an hour from Milford, the boys enjoyed the ride down.  And you know Brant enjoyed the trains!  Truth be told, we all did. Grandma was pleased to see there was an entire Ohio River Valley section, complete with the towns around where she grew up!  Take a look at Pop Pop's Train Club!

A logging operation

Notice Brant's hands, he was told not to touch ANYTHING!

This was the larger scale train side

This is the computer screen they use to control the trains AND all the controllers use radios!

Remember those pumpkins?

Snoozing in Daddy's arms

This week's blog was supposed to be about Brantley's first field trip.  Daddy took off the day, and was heading with the K4 class of BDS to the Corn Maize, Pumpkin Patch and Gem Dig in High Point.  




The weather was calling for light showers, so the boys dressed in their rain gear.  Expecting an 8:30 departure from school, Brantley hopped in the car to meet the bus there.  8:30 came and went, NO BUS!  A call to the bus company says that they thought the trip was cancelled!  They sent a bus, but it was 2 hours later than the kids were supposed to leave!  By the time the kids got to High Point it was POURING rain.  They had to turn around and come back. 

The kids were so cute, because even though they didn't get to have their trip, they had a bus ride!  For the kids at BDS, this is a few and far between experience, as we don't have school buses.  Although disappointed, Brantley bounced off the bus.  Daddy decided to check him out early, to salvage the day, and they headed to see Alpha and Omega in the "fee-a-ter."  

Remember those pumpkins we brought home from Delaware?  Brantley does, he had to load them AND unload them twice before we got them back to North Carolina!  Well, tonight was THE night.  It had to be, as Brantley doesn't have another night off before next Friday, and carving pumpkins in the O'Day house is a family affair. 

Two of the pumpkins Pop Pop bought Brant for his "pumpkin train"

Daddy working hard on the Thomas pumpkin

We didn't set out to carve pumpkins tonight. As a matter of fact, we went to a birthday party (Brantley's good friend Allie from school), Lowe's (to try and pick out paint for the laundry room) and a few other errands.  It only dawned on me as I was pulling into the driveway at 5:30, that Halloween is NEXT weekend!  

Another birthday at the Little Gym, good thing it's a favorite!

Nothing like a good belly flop!

Taking it slow on the beam...look at monkey Hannah on the bars!

Smacking the mats and singing Happy Birthday to Allie (center)

As much as we got done today,we only got two pumpkins carved tonight, Brantley's and mine. Daddy will do his one morning he's home (that baby's huge!) Didn't Thomas turn out well, and my owl on a branch is ok.  I don't know what these people do who carve these pumpkins in magazines! Either we got really thick pumpkins, or it's not as easy as it looks! 

Even though Halloween is not a big holiday for our family, the excitement is growing!  Lots of activities coming up this week!  Tomorrow, team party, Friday is the Halloween carnival AND he gets to wear his costume to school...Saturday...corn maize with Mommy and Daddy...then Trunk or Treat!  Whew...anyone else tired?  Check in often this week!  

A Blustery kind of day in Delaware

Brant: MOM!  When are we leaving?

Mom: Early in the morning. 

Brant:  But I want to go NOW!  I miss Mom Mom, Pop Pop, Jacob, Hazen, Hadley, Baylor and Bwalaney!   

We've been planning to come back up to Delaware for Fall Break, since our last trip up.  Brant had so much fun, and really misses his cousins in between trips.  Mom and Dad love to come up too, so it was no problem! 

Beautiful Delaware mums

The only plan we had for this trip was to go to the Pumpkin Patch.  We took Brant to the Pumpkin Patch when he was only a few month old, and haven't been in Delaware in October since then.  We set off with Pumpkin Patch as our ultimate location, but Pop Pop told us that the Delaware State Police Aviation Unit was having an open house.  We swung by the airport to check it out.  Brant enjoyed the helicopters, and seeing all the Troopers, like Pop Pop used to be. 

Brant made a bee-line for the helicopter

The rear-stablilizer of each plane or helicopter had the State Police emblem.

There were helicopters from New Jersey, as well as Maryland

Checking out the plane, like the one Pop Pop almost got sick in on duty. 

Finally, we got to the pumpkins!  In North Carolina, the pumpkins are expensive!  But here in Delaware, we got a pumpkin that Big Brant could hardly lift..for $10!! (keep posted for carving pictures later in the month!)  We had fun comparing pumpkins, putting them back, getting more and enjoying the fall beauty.  But HOLY COW! It was windy, even for Delaware!  

Of course, a fall trip to Delaware is not complete without a trip to Smith's orchard for some yummy apple donuts, turnovers and cider!  This time, the pumpkins were in abundance, as well, and I couldn't resist sneaking in another photo!

We are now prepping for  a Phillies cookout and game party!  How fun it is to be with family!  How blessed we are to have each other!

   

We're "falling" for fire safety and festivals!

As the boys are taking a rest, Brant with Grandma and Brantley at home, I thought I'd take a minute and update the blog!

School this week has been very exciting!  It's Fire Prevention Week, and the K4s have filled it to the brim!  The local Fire Department did a puppet show in the gym for the students, and then Christopher's daddy (a classmate) is a fireman in another city, on a ladder truck. He brought in all his gear, and the students LOVED it.  I got to slip in for a minute, just in time to see Brantley, waiting patiently with his hand raised (while chaos ensued around him), ask "Can't I just crawl UNDER the fire?!"  This was in response to how you get away from it!  Christopher's dad very seriously answered back the correct way, whew!   But ask Brantley how to prevent fires, how to check your smoke detectors, or what to do during a fire, he knows it ALL!  

Saturday brought another soccer game.  We are down to only 3 left in the season. I really don't know if Brant will play this Spring.  It's up to him, but he seems really interested in playing t-ball.  He can play both, but we'll see.  After the game, we headed home to change, and then to the annual Fall Festival.  It just keeps getting bigger and better!  It always amazes me, that a town that seems like Mayberry, puts on such great events! 

Cleo, the stubborn little pony!

This year, there were pony rides on the sweetest little shetland pony, and regular sized pony.  Brant, of course, HAD to ride, and seeing as the daughter of the operators had to go somewhere, I got elected to lead the pony!  Brant got settled, feet in the stirrups, and with a death grip on the pommel, off we go!  Cleo, the pony, got a bit stubborn with me, and didn't want to follow the other pony, but she got going in the end!  Brant's only comment, "IT'S VEWY BUMPY!" 

Enjoying his bumpy ride!

The favorite of everyone, no matter what age, is the  Garden Railroad.  We found a shady spot to watch the trains (IT WAS HOT!) .  Then the bouncy slide was next on the list.  The first year Brant was old enough, he was petrified of it!  One of the older kids we knew took him up, but he could barely make it.  This year, not a problem!  I can't believe how big he's getting!  

Brant is leaning on the hockey stick he won playing a game.

Brant called this the tunnel to Misty Island, his favorite new Thomas movie

Looking downtown from the layout

What goes up...

must come down!

We rounded off the trip to the festival with visits with some friends who were running booths.  It was great fun to see Dana, and her Cookie Lee friends, and we got to see her sweet kids too!  Bringing home lunch from Reno's and a quick trip to the best chocolate shop in the world, Once Upon a Chocolate (www.onceuponachocolate.com), we walked home.   

The rest of the weekend is wide open.  But I am happy to announce, we are back home.  Brant has finished the floor, and is working on the walls.  I've got to choose a new paint color...things are progressing!  From our house to yours, lots of love!