Little Bunny Foo Foo

You can wish Mama a happy birthday all you want, but it's going to be hard to top this.

Dateline Ossining: Besties Face Off in TBall

After a game postponement on account of rain and a very soggy field 2 weekends ago, it was FINALLY the day for the Miller's Gulf Falcons to battle the Carvel Ice Cream Braves!  Or, in Luke's words, "we're versing Gavin's team."  

The two of them were so adorably excited!  Gavin came running up to us when he got there, and their bitter rivalry was captured for posterity.

Here's where they were told, "yell baseball!" 

Warming up!

Casey at the Bat.

King at Catcher.

And vice versa.

There is a lot of this in every game.

 Post game Coach Joe Talk!

 Hands in!  GOOOOOO Falcons!!!

And where was Harper?

Tending Baby Goldfish.

"Baby Goldfish needs sunscreen!"

Moving Up Day!

Daddy got home just in time for Luke's Moving Up Day at All Aboard.  The Koalas celebrated their friends moving up to be the "big kids" in preK, and those, like Luke, leaving for kindergarten.  And Mama experienced minimal blubbering!

Waiting to begin...

A song in ASL, "Love Grows."

Diplomas were conferred

Everyone told us what they wanted to be when they grow up - the Koalas had lots of teachers, firemen, and policemen, and also a taxi driver and a garbage man!

Luke's.

Note the baseball diamond (not to scale) to the left, "dirt on my knees from sliding to base, my #6, and my cleats."

Mama: Luke, why do you only have one arm?!?

Luke: Because I forgot the other one.  

After the ceremony, we busted Harper out of the Pony Room and let her join the reception in Luke's classroom.  She is blurry because she was gobbling 3 cookies in rapid fire fashion while Mama was distracted with small talk.

The parents struggled mightily to get a picture of the besties, who were playing coy.

Alllllmost.

There we go!  Sadly, 4th Musketeer, Chase, was not having it.

Personally, I like how Ryan (center) is selling it in EVERY. SHOT.

Harper joined the shot.

And she photobombed Luke's picture with Mama.

Luke and his teachers, Denise (left) and Sharyn (right)

Goofy faces!

Sharyn was nice enough to give all of the parents the pictures of their kids from the past year.  I think you can see from the below that Luke LOVES school!  And owns only 3 shirts!

Riding bikes with Tyler on the playground

"I am the clown of the class."

William Tell Day?

Conducting!

LOCOMOTION!

Leprechaun Lukey!

you may recall he pioneered the beard and "moooostache"

Not being so coy here.

Locomotion's climbing wall

Drama Center, his favorite!

Look out, Park School, here comes Luke Casey!

(after summer camp at All Aboard, of course)

CAR SHOW!

In the continuing theme of "It Takes A Village to Keep Paige Sane When Paul is Gone for 17 Days," Mama and Harper were allowed to tag along on a Dads and Boys Car Show outing on Sunday - making the final hours of Daddy's absence fly by!

Some of Luke's friends and their dads have created an annual tradition of attending the Maryknoll Car Show here in Ossining.  A gorgeous backdrop for a fun morning, no doubt.

 Harper graciously allowed Pink Teddy to ride in her stroller.  After spending a good 3 minutes getting the straps just. so.

 The kids' runaway favorite part was the 2 car "Olde Tyme Halloween" display.

 POKE

 Oddly, Harper was unafraid.  (Chinese Dragon Dance, though?  WORST. THING. EVERRRR.)

 "Look!  He is VERY CWEEPY!" she screamed delightedly.

 One of the macabre figures had a speaker built in and was "talking" to the kids (there was an old car guy about 20 feet away with a microphone).  It was hard to tell who found it more delighting - the amazed kids or the rascally car guys.  Or the dads feeding the car guy kids' names.

 Boys run amok!

 Harper took her kids' ballot VERY seriously

Face painting!

Better yet: FREE face painting!

 

Luke and bestie Gavin got matching snakes.  Of course?
And these boys are all just amazing little guys. Luke is beyond lucky to have such great friends.

 There was no question that Harper was getting a cupcake.

 A SPARKLY cupcake, no less.

 Our band of troublemakers got the bounce house to themselves for a while.  Mama was worried about Harper in there with those crazy boys, but as you can see (fore right), she more than held her own.

 She'd peek out every few minutes to yell "MAMA!  I AM HAVING *SO MUCH FUN* IN THE BOUNCEY HOUSE!"

The Ossining SWAT truck was in attendance.  Mama's FAVORITE.

The kids got a gander at all of the gear - holding the battering rams and the shield.

 Sitting in the back of the truck.

 Some more work on her ballot.

 Slot cars!

Ice cream!  Before lunch! (Y'all, it was H O T)

See you next year, Maryknoll.  Or at least Luke and Daddy will!