Trenton Time!

Uncle Bryan and Alyssa came up to visit on the Saturday before Memorial Day! We managed to spend some great family time at Nana and Papa's house in Trenton! Unfortunately, a lot of crazy events took place over the long weekend...starting with Saturday night when we got a call from Aunt Jackie that she and Uncle Steve were taking Henry to the ER as he had been inconsolable ALL DAY!!! Dr. Dan a.k.a., Uncle Dan had checked him out earlier in the afternoon, but only saw some white spots on his throat, so he gave them the okay to head to a family party at Steve's sister's house! Goodness knows that my kids have had plenty of ER trips and I seriously think Aunt Jackie has been at all of them...which is why we sent Dan and Uncle Bryan up to the park with the kids and Nana and I headed to the ER!!!
After a long night at the ER and some fab Tylenol with Codeine, Henry was back to his normal self!!! And so, the party continued on Sunday!!! Back to the park we went...

Nick LOVED the climbing wall...
Alyssa liked to push her Daddy on the swing...
Jack and Nick liked hanging with Uncle Bryan too...especially when he pushed them like CRAZY on the merry go round!!!
Then it was time to head home...thanks to Aunt Jackie for carrying Luke!!!
And check out who was there to greet us...Baby Henry chilling with Daddy at Nana and Papa's house!!

Summer Send Off - Kindergarten Style!

The day AFTER Jack's field trip, I had the opportunity to head back to school to spend the afternoon with Nick and his class for their Summer Send Off Party!

Step 1 for Kindergarten Fun: Decorate a foam visor with all the fun foam stickers that we donated!!! (Thanks to Michael's and their 1/2 off foam stickers!!!)
Step 2: Apply sunscreen
Step 3: Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles!!!
Step 4: Water balloon toss with environmentally friendly "mitts" made out of milk containers!
Step 5: Move water in an assembly line fashion from one bucket to another with only a sponge!!! Nick was the "squeezer" of the team...needless to say his shorts looked like he had an "accident" b/c he used his legs to set the sponge on to squeeze! Thanks to his sharp thinking his team WON!!!
Step 6: Relay race putting on and taking of a life vest!!! (notice the wet shorts???)
Step 7: Kindergarten class picture of Miss Edwards' Class
Step 8: Popsicle and a slide show of Nick's kindergarten year with all his classmates! All the mommy's grabbed a tissue!!!
Step 9: Pose with your two best buds in kindergarten...Myles...
...and Rachel...
Step 10: Giving mom a hug and heading to find Big Brother Jack!!!

Another amazing day spent at school!!!

Hey, they rhyme!!!

Okay, so it has been a WHILE again!!! I have LOTS to post about, specifically, Nick's 6th birthday, but I can't find the pics anywhere! Dan dumped them from our new camera, but me being the not so savvy computer gal...I can't find em!!! So, we will have to rewind our life story just a bit to get back to my Nicky D's birthday and the boys' party, but in the mean time...the show (okay, the blog!) must go on!!!

The day after MY last day of work, was Jack's 2nd grade field trip to the Science Center! I was so excited that I got to go - and didn't have to use a personal day, since I was already off work! I was introduced to Jack's friend who would be in our "group" and the first response I heard from all the kids standing around us was - WOW, Jack and Zack are in the same group and HEY, THEY RHYME!!! Too bad I kept calling poor Zack - Jacob the whole day! :(

Here are the two smiling boys on the bus heading out!
Our first stop was building the arch! I only managed to get pics of the boys building it, as I was utilized to help hold the blocks together and when I stepped back to snap the completed arch with the boys underneath, it fell!
We managed to make it all over the Science Center in the hour that we had before we saw the Under the Sea IMAX movie! We had never seen this tornado before...it was pretty cool - the boys especially loved sticking their hands in it and making it stop swirling! They liked it so much they even ASKED me to take a picture!!!
After our free time to explore the Science Center and the IMAX movie, we headed to a park for lunch and more free play! Too bad it was SUPER hot! Thankfully, the teachers let us leave about 15 minutes early to head back to school! Check out my red faced little man!!!
Back to school we went!!! We picked up Nick and Jack immediately asked to make a stop for ice cream! AGREED!!!

A HOT Day at the Zoo!!!

All Nick had been talking about for weeks was going to the zoo! So, on the first Sunday that Dan didn't have any patients in the hospital we headed over there...unfortunately EVERYONE was at the zoo - including tons of runners doing a 5K there!!! Oh, and it was SUPER HOT that day!

Our first stop was the monkey house...the boys love it, even though it I would rather pass because of the stinky odor!!!

It was all worth it for this great pic of Luke and Jack with the big ole monkey!
Then we headed to the Sea Lion show...just like Nick had been talking about going to the zoo forever, Dan has ALWAYS mentioned the the Sea Lion show and we have NEVER gone!!! Here we are waiting for the show to begin! (Luke was SUPER happy - waiting and waiting and not quite understanding what it is we were waiting for!)
The giraffes were next...I love all my boys in blue checking out MY favorite animal!
After lunch, we hopped on the train! It was such a busy day at the zoo that we had to wait for a long while, but the boys were oh so patient! Here we are...

The zoo was doing it's part though and had TONS of trains running...maybe running a bit too much as we ended up getting kicked off our train b/c the train in front of us actually broke down on the tracks and needed to be towed. We would have had to wait for over 30 minutes...in the heat...we opted to get off and walk the tracks!
After a quick ride on the carousel and a visit to the penguins though, we were back on the train (still smiling!) and heading home!!!
I think Dan and I may like the zoo even more than the boys!!! We can't wait to go back again this summer!!!

A Sale and A Skate

WAY back in May, we had a yard sale at Nana and Papa's house! Every year I am always so surprised at how much "stuff" we all find to get rid of...and this year was no exception - check it all out!
It is always a lot of work - getting everything priced and organized - we make ours like a little shop - but it is honestly really a fun time had by all involved! Above, Nana is checking out our merchandise!

Here Papa is "manning" the money...or at least looks like he is!
All while the four boys - my three and Baby Henry - played in the garage with all the boxes we used to haul our "goods" to the sale.
While the boxes managed to keep the boys busy for a long while, once they were done they managed to find more fun...this time with balloons and little toy lizards! Check out Jack's cool trick!
Dan was at work, but as soon as he was finished, he headed to pick up Nick to get him to a roller skating party! He was SUPER excited to go!!!
He soon found out that skating was a bit more difficult than he thought. He fell, but check out this landing smile!!!
The other kids were utilizing these 'skaters' to help them around the skating rink, so Nick decided he would too...What an awesome dad - Dan even laced up a pair and went rolling around the rink! (I'm not sure if he fell or if he managed to stay on his feet the whole time though...)
And, this is one of my favorites pics of Nick...check out how fast he must have been going here!!! Go Nick, go!!!
What a great Saturday - a sale and a skate!!!

Mother's Day with My Little Guy!

Ever since my boys have been at their fabulous daycare, I have always spent the Friday before Mother's Day at their Mother's Day tea/program! This year it was Luke's turn, as Jack and Nick are both in school now!

The program started off with all the little ones singing...well, all the little ones, with the exception of LUKE...notice the teacher in the left hand corner...and that cute little leg and hand wrapped around her - that would be Luke! If you look closely, you can even make out his little face!
After they were done singing all their adorable "Mother's Day" songs, it was time to head back to their rooms. Check out this cute flower bouquet - a picture of all the student's in Luke's class with their mom. Here is Luke and me - surprisingly Luke painted our flower blue, instead of his favorite color pink! :)
After we checked out the great decorations, we had a bit of a snack! Yummy trail mix and pink lemonade - but it sure did put a smile on Luke's face!
Once we were all done with our snack, it was time for a quick mommy and Luke pic and then we headed back home! Ah, yet another joy of being a mom - a fabulous afternoon spent with my little guy!

The Birthday Bash...continued!

Okay, so I finally uploaded my pictures from my other camera! Here is the birthday boy - Jack and Dan waiting for our delish eats at Red Robin!
And here is Luke, Nick and me...my boys are TOTALLY rocking their faux hawks!!!
Because Jack typically chooses McDonalds for his birthday dinner, he has never had the joy of hearing all the servers sing "Happy Birthday" to him! He was TOTALLY shocked when these guys/gals came up clapping and singing to our table!
He was even more excited when he realized that he got a sundae with balloons tied to his spoon!!! Ah, the joys of being 8!!!
When we got home, the first thing Jack wanted to do was to jump on his new bike! And off he went!!!
This was just the beginning of our birthday fun as we were going to be celebrating Nick's birthday just one week later!!!

Eight is GREAT!!!

May 6th was a typical Thursday for most, but not for the Morra family! It was the day that our oldest son was born EIGHT years ago in Brick, NJ! It was one of the three BEST days of my life...well, minus the labor and delivery that occurred all night long without any form of pain meds! UGH!!!

Here is Jack - looking oh so excited to open his gift!
The card even made him smile! It was just one that played Pokemon music - but it was almost more of a hit than his actual gift!
This picture shows all of Jack's love for his citrus dragon Webkinz! Even though he isn't a fan of the actual stuffed animal himself, he LOVES playing Webkinz on the computer and whenever he gets a new animal he gets more money to buy things on the computer game!
After he opened up his present, we headed out to Red Robin - Jack's pick - for dinner and then to get a bike - his REAL present! (Pictures of those to foll0w as they were taken on my old camera!)

When we got home we sang "Happy Birthday..."
...and watched as he blew out his candles (with some very UNWANTED help from Nick!)
Happy Birthday to our now VERY Big Kid...John Daniel! We love you, buddy! I can't wait to see how you will continue to mature and grow as each day passes!!!