Moving Up! The class of 2020.

Today was Travis' last day of Elementary school, which meant a moving up ceremony and awards day. Today also was a day that tropical storm Andrea passed through, so school started on a 1 hour delay and it was a windy and rainy day. We were very thankful when we got to school, and the sun was shining for a brief moment. That meant we could get inside before the next torrential downpour hit!

It seems this brief sunny moment was blinding to Travis.

Yesterday, Travis had the thought to go around to all of his former teachers, and have them sign his yearbook. He was only missing one (with the exception of the one teacher that is no longer at this school), and he caught up with her this morning and asked her to sign. They all wrote such nice things in his book.

The gym was decorated in such a cute Dr. Seuss theme.

After the 5th graders took their final walk through the hallways (high fiving the younger students along the way), they entered the gym and took their seats.

Here he is, getting his honor roll award.

And here he is getting his moving up certificate.

I love this...Mr. Paschall said something to Travis that made Travis react with some odd crazy look just after I took this picture. I knew it was something teasing from his expression. Turns out, Mr. Paschall said "Go Heels". Hahahaha

The ceremony ended with the entire 5th grade class singing a song, with a solo by a very talented girl in the class who also played her ukelele. The song is Count on Me by Bruno Mars and it was such a cute and appropriate, not too heavy song for a 5th grade ceremony.

Here is a video of the song. The first verse isn't included. Jay was videoing it, and just assumed the girl doing the solo was the only one that was going to sing. Then the entire class joined in, and he started a 2nd video. Oops!
You can count of me from Lindsey Souza on Vimeo.

Here he is with his awards and medals. Notice the citizenship certificate. Travis' peers voted him to receive the citizenship award. This one is my very favorite and nearly made me cry. I always tell Travis when he is telling me about someone being rude, or obnoxious or bragging or gloating about something, to always respond with kindness. That it is more important in life, to have good character and react with kindness, than to stoop to the level of others who are acting poorly, no matter how hard that may be. He must be listening, because this isn't the first time he has gotten the citizenship award. I am so proud of him for this!

Travis and his buddy Holden.

Travis and his buddy Will.

Each year, the 5th grade class takes up a collection to present the school with a class gift. Travis' class paid to have a mural painted in the 5th grade hall of stingrays. His schools mascot is the Stingrays. Some really cool things about this mural. The spots on the stingrays (which would make them spotted eagle rays) were made with the students thumbprints. Every 5th grade student, dipped their thumb in white paint and made a spot. Travis did one on the small stingray above his head. Also, every student wrote their name alongside the Class of 2013. One day, Riley will walk that hall, and see his brother's name. I think that is very very cool!

I love South Topsail Elementary School. Travis has had such a wonderful experience there. Moving to Hampstead so Travis could attend the Topsail schools was certainly one of the best, if not the best, choices we have ever made. Part of the reason I am sad he is going to Middle school, is because he will no longer be at STES. But, we are not done for good. In the fall of 2014, Riley will begin Kindergarten here. And it will all start over again.

The great deer hunter

Remember this little guy?



Well...he's grown up a little since then.


He shot his first deer, a 3 pointer, last Saturday!

He was extremely proud of himself. He did better than the big guys! But we let them get in the picture anyway. :)


But I think Granddaddy was the proudest. He took that little guy pictured up top, hunting with a pop gun. Then a BB gun. And now, at 9, he is shooting a 243 Rifle and a 410 shotgun. Looks like all that time paid off!



And now, today, he has taken down deer #2!

Riley is THREE!!!

Riley turned 3 on October 1st! Can you believe it? I can't!





He still prefers to play with his cozy coupe like this


We had a little party to celebrate him.

He blew out his own candles

He mostly opened his own gifts

This is our new favorite way to work on writing letters

A new bike!


Before the party was over, he had to take a little rest.Being 3 is hard work already!

At two and half...

Riley is wild and crazy and sweet and loving and says the funniest things!
At his 2 and a half year old dr checkup, his pediatrician was very pleased with him! His weight is holding at the 50th percentile (AMAZING for a child with his background she says) and his height is in the 75th percentile. Riley's bionic belly is working hard for him. She would like to see him eat more variety and calories since his weight has held EXACTLY the same the last few visits (sick visits and whatnot), but she says we aren't stressing about it. He also passed ALL developmental milestones for the FIRST TIME EVER! Yay!

He is talking non stop now, and you say the FUNNIEST things. Recent conversations include (yes, I recycled these from facebook, can you blame me?!):

Riley: where we going?
Me: We are going to the store to buy Travis some baseball socks ( I didn't dare tell him the name of the store, which distressed him, but it was Dicks. And the way he says things-you will see below- I figured he couldn't be trusted with that knowledge!
Riley: we NOT go buy Trav socks...he gots socks. We go Cot-co and eat samples.
The boy LOVES Costco and those free samples!


Another one...
Yelling out "Give me my nut-nuts!" when you were impatiently waiting for your chicken nuggets to cool off.


Riley put the sun in time out this morning. yes..you read that right...the SUN. "Mommy, sun in my eyes. NO SUN!!! NO SUN!!! You go time out...sun not listening". While laughing, I handed him his sunglasses, which he decided he didn't want to wear..."I not wear my sunglasses Mommy. Sun go away".


has been home all of 5 minutes, and Riley has managed to get the dogs automatic waterer jug off it's base and flood the laundry room. I find out when he runs to me (wet, because he sat down in it) and says to me "mommy, bisty may make mess. Wiley clean it up".


is slightly insulted that Riley refused dessert tonight. His reasoning? "dat dog doo-doo on dat plate"!


Isn't sure which was funnier...me trying to hold my skirt down while pumping gas on a windy evening...or Riley yelling out as I did it," Mommy got gas!".


Yep, he's a funny little guy all right. He barks like a dog at people walking by, he has to have a truck in his bed every night when he lays down, he loves Costco (samples!) and Lowes Food (Riley-size grocery carts) and calls the hardware store the "Bob the Builder store". If he is playing outside, he is either pushing something (a stroller, cozy coupe or dump truck) or pulling a wagon. ALWAYS. If he wants to slide or swing, he will park them (HE has to park them!) right where he wants them, and then go slide or whatever. Then, he goes right back to the item with wheels. He uses what he is pushing/pulling to collect treasures as he is walking about: rocks, acorns, sticks, flowers for Mommy (Pink! for Mommy), the list goes on.

He likes to watch Chuggington, Handy Manny and "bull-dozer" (bob the builder) and loves anything Thomas the Tank. He has absolutely NO desire to potty outside of his diaper, but is FASCINATED when others use the potty. He cheers on his brother at baseball and basketball and whatever else his brother is involved in, and  thinks when Travis has a friend over, that friend is there to visit HIM! He just plays right along with them. Every school bus we see, he gets excited over, that Travis in on it, and he feels very special when he gets to go into Travis' school.  All people are either "little/big boys" or "little/big girls" depending on their size. Child/Adult has nothing to do with his description of them.

He loves splashing his feet in mud puddles, riding the big 4wheeler with mommy or granddaddy and knocking over trees and throwing rocks in the water.

He is 100%, all-around, BOY!

Goodbye crib

Today, Jay took down Riley's crib,and we put up a toddler bed for him. I had said I was going to leave him in his crib, until he climbed out of it! Well,it is probably the one thing he hasn't tried climbing in/out of in our entire house, BUT, he has begun to get his legs stuck in the slats almost every night. And of course that would have to happen around 3am every night. Yesterday, during his nap, he got his leg stuck badly enough, that he could have broken it. So...although he hasn't tried to climb out of his crib, for other safety reasons, we decided it was time to move him out of it.

Our friends had told us we could borrow the toddler bed they used for their son if we wanted. And considering Riley's current obsession, we thought that would work perfect! See for yourself!

Riley was so very helpful during the entire process...




All done! (the fish are now gone from the wall)


Travis thought it was pretty cool too!



Jay also got Travis' train table down out of the attic. Riley kept saying "oh cool!" to it


Still a few more things to do, but the room is rearranged now, and he seems to love it.


His little "coming home from the hospital" outfit that always hangs on his closet door.


Look how much he's grown!


Bedtime!


He never got out of bed at bedtime. We'll see what happens as the night goes on, but there is a baby gate up in his doorway, so at least if he gets up, he can't wander the house!