Last day of first grade.

Yesterday was the last day of first grade. When I went to pick up the kids, Oliver and Millie’s teacher was walking them to the car, crying with Millie. One of the hard parts about going to a school where the teachers are coming from a foreign country is that they can’t stay forever. So I wasn’t able to get a picture with the boys with each of their teachers, but it’s okay. I’ll survive without having every single aspect of their lives documented.

Last day (standing the same order in both pics):

and first day:

Want to see more last days? Here you go.

Excuse me while I hyperventilate

Today is the last day of first grade. Um, excuse me? How did that happen, exactly? Well, those official “end of the year” pics will be coming later, so I can get photos of the boys with their teachers. But we had an end of the year play date after school yesterday with Miles’s class, and I got some nice pics of the boys. If I may say so myself.

and then Miles got in another tree by himself and the light was so pretty and I couldn’t resist.

This one’s my favorite. How lucky am I to have three that are this adorable?

The boys with Miss Claire, who taught Linus in PreK-4, Oliver in Kindergarten, and Miles in first grade. I’m not sure how I’m going to cope with not having her as one of our teachers!

Oh, Ollie and his weird smile. I think he’s really self-conscious because he hasn’t lost either of his front teeth yet.

The unofficial start of summer!

We were bored last weekend and the weather was nice enough, so I decided it was time to join the pool for the summer. I also wanted to make sure the boys got some swimming in before they head to the beach with Grandee and Larry in a couple of weeks.

As usual, I pulled out my trusty waterproof camera and got some fun pics!

Linus

Ollie

Miles

It was also notable because it was my first time swimming post-Lasik! Pretty awesome not to have to worry about wearing contacts.

New Orleans, Louisiana

We moved my office to a different room yesterday. Check it out, along with a bunch of my coworkers’ offices! You’ll really want to work with us after checking them out.

Office Today

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Power Rangers Megaforce: Showdown {world premiere}

Introducing…

an original motion picture event…

Written and directed by Linus…

who also stars, alongside his brothers Oliver and Miles…

It’s

I actually had more fun than I expected “helping out,” (i.e., doing all camerawork and post-production and dealing with temperamental artists) and I was impressed with how much work the boys put into it.

Watch out, Sundance!

Dancing man

Last night Miles’s class participated in a dance competition through a local program called Mindsteppers. I can’t share most of the photos and videos I took because of privacy issues, but I do have to share this adorable one of Miles and his swing dance partner.

Miles insisted on staying the entire time, and good thing, because they took home the gold!

At one point, a class was dancing to Uptown Funk and Oliver and Linus couldn’t not dance. It was simply not possible.

Friday five

Five things for today:

– Miles has a dance competition tonight. I don’t know what’s going to kill me first, this or the movie we’re working on. (Coming soon…very soon.) I’m not sure if I’m going to see the tango for the first time, but if it’s anywhere near as cute as the merengue or the swing, I’m doomed.

– I’ve been having pain in my achilles’ tendon for a couple of months now, and I finally made an appointment with an orthopedist to get it checked out. It turns out I have, as I suspected, achilles’ tendinitis, so I’ll be starting physical therapy next week to get that worked on. I was oddly proud when the doctor told me I had the tightest achilles’ tendon he’d felt all day! (How many achilles’ tendons does he feel in a day? A lot, I guess. He is the practice’s ankle expert, after all.)

I can’t run until it’s not pissed off at me anymore, so now I go to the gym and die of boredom on the bike or elliptical instead. I know lots of people think treadmills are boring, but you can run or walk or do intervals or go fast but on a bike or elliptical, you just…ride a bike or do whatever it’s called on an elliptical.

– A couple of weeks ago, when we came back from DC, I started a rotation on a new team. It’s really cool to learn a different side of things from what I’m used to. And on that note, if you have a passion for WordPress and helping people, we’re hiring.

– Yesterday was George’s birthday and at his request, even though it’s spring in Louisiana, I made beef and barley stew. I have to say, it was incredibly delicious. I used this recipe from Williams-Sonoma, but subbed out beef broth for all of the water, I used bone-in short ribs for most of the meat (took the bones out at the very end) and threw in a parmesan rind. Oh, and a dollop of red wine. I was using all of the tricks I could think of, and they worked. Man, it was good.

That’s four. Hmm. Here are some random photos, then.

Linus invented a game. I can’t figure it out, it’s way over my head.

The boys finally WANT to read. The trick was just figuring out what…

Dinner out with my triplet mamas!

My ankle got x-rayed.

New shoes for our trip to England, which is coming up soon! They will hopefully work for the “hiking” we’ll be doing (i.e., walking from pub to pub) in the Lake District.

Coming soon…an original motion picture

Linus is the brains behind the boys’ newest project, a movie involving Power Rangers and a ninja and some other stuff. I’m just the hired help.

We filmed over two days and now I just have to edit it all together and add special effects. I’m a little nervous about that part, since I only have iMovie. Maybe I can convince Uncle Evan to give it a little pizzazz. (Hint.)

It was actually pretty awesome to watch Linus and his brothers create this. There were costumes, a script, the fights were even choreographed!

part of the script — If this doesn’t shred your heart into a million pieces…I don’t know what’s wrong with you.

I was able to get some behind-the-scenes photos. I guess I’ll use these in the inevitable “behind-the-scenes” documentary.

And what you’ve all been waiting for…the movie’s trailer that I put together last night. Gotta build up some buzz, you know.

Things becoming a mom taught me about mine

Lovely post my cousin-in-law wrote about her Mom for Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day 2015

It’s only 9:45 in the morning, and it’s already a winner. I got to sleep in (thank you melatonin) and I was presented with a plethora of cards and gifts upon arising.

Look, I love presents. A lot. But I can honestly say that there is nothing I love more on Mother’s Day than a pile of handmade cards and drawings. I want no other gift.

Some highlights from today include:

A family drawing from Miles, with a list of what he loves about me and George on the back (they combine Mother’s Day and Father’s Day since they won’t be in school in the summer, but George lets me keep them on my desk.)

A photo of Linus with his hands in a heart:

A card from Oliver with some nice (I guess) things about us in French:

There’s also a list of 10 8 things that Miles loves about me (he assured me he ran out of time, not things)

and then Linus, who brought the tears:

You have to love the honesty of kids, don’t you?

I’m not going to publish this right away, because I’m still waiting for the other requirement of a great Mother’s Day: a photo of me and the boys. Preferably one with only four chins between the four of us. We’ll see how that goes.

Editor’s note: it went fine. Always get a friend who understands how to minimize multiple chins to take your photos. Also, I think I need a new dress.

Washington DC trip

The boys and I got back Monday evening from our trip to Virginia and Washington DC. It would be a really long post if I recapped in detail (and I know no one wants to sit through all that), so I’ll just hit the highlights.

Plane ride went fine. iPads FTW.

We met Emily at the bus stop.

Much soccer was played in the backyard.

I got some Andrew snuggles.

We went to the Natural History museum one day.

Emily had her First Communion.

There was a crawfish boil after.

The next day, we went back into DC to go to the Air and Space Museum.

After, the boys and I spent some time with Kiki and Mike and some other friends I don’t get to see very often. This is how their kids reacted to the boys: