Laraway Family

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Starks got some help creating a fishing pole. This is a video Anthony took of him, and it's really not funny in and of itself. It's just that it's MY house. You can hear the kids from a sleepover in the background, Anthony nabbed the camera from the office, Starks has a naked hiney, the vacuum is out- why?- and it's just Starks' repetition to get the result he wants! BTW, the masking tape on the floor is another of Anthony's creations... a marble game.

As you can see, the above pictures with all of the vegetation are the pictures of our patio when we moved into the house.
The bottom pictures are of our NEW patio! (The square seen against the fence on the left is actually going to be placed back under the central air unit.)
It's a shame to get rid of the plants, but it was suffocating out there and really left us no room to move. So, we took out all but the maple tree, and we'll place all of our potted plants out and put up some hanging plants. It's amazing to see that we had so much room! All of those pine like trees were pushing on the fence. The "Dr. Suess" tree with the three balls started growing out from the house to reach the sun. The ground cover went WILD! Anyway, we transplanted the SIX hydrangeas to the front, so we don't feel terrible about ripping out the rest! :) This is MUCH more functional with three boys! Now, we can actually grill outside, too! Yea!!!

Chas is seen here standing in front of grades K-2 to receive his FIRST AR award- 25 points! AR is Accelerated Reader, and the students are encouraged to read books and take comprehension tests on them to receive credit for them. Most books for Chas- he's reading at a third grade level- are 1/2 a point each. So, to get to 25 points, he had to have read at least 50 books! (You don't get a full 1/2 point if you miss a question.) We are VERY proud of him!! The awards are given out during the monthly - bimonthly assembly, and each assembly has a theme. The one for today was "Crazy Hair." As you can see, Starks was NOT going to be left out of the celebration!
Here are the boys standing outside after school. I'm also including this adorable picture of Chas during his party today. Surprisingly, they had an EASTER party!? They even had an egg hunt. I helped in class today and got to see 19 kids on a high! Here's Chas with the bunny ears he made this morning! They also made a basket for their goodies shaped like rabbit ears, read Easter bunny books, and ate lots of candy! :)

Wow! Today we ran the Happy Hour Run along Guadalupe River Park here in San Jose. It was a gorgeous day, but it began a little cool- low 60's- and windy by the park. Anthony was chilly when we started but happy to have only a t-shirt and shorts as we began to run! :) Here we are huddling to stay warm before the race with Chas and Starks.
We are in line waiting for the starting gun. Anthony's friend, Daniel, also ran with his Mom, but they were lined up ahead of us. All in all, I think there were 6 kids from 7-5 years old. :) It's named the Happy Hour run because it starts at 11pm, and Gordon Birsch beer is free when it's over. We, of course, didn't stick around to drink!
Here is Anthony running to the finish line! He ran about 1/2 and walked about 1/2 today. His goal was to finish 3.2 miles, and he did! I tried to pace him in the beginning, but I think it was more difficult to run slowly than to run faster for him. So, we ended up doing wind sprints! "Sprint to the next bench, and we'll walk to the trees.... then sprint to the cone!" It was so much fun, and we had some great conversation along the way. :) He is just too cute. The volunteers, other runners and police officers were cheering him on throughout. Then, at the end, he was all about getting his fruit, pretzels, drinks, and licorice! ?? yes... red vines. Who knows why?
So, we ate some and headed out. He put his t-shirt on when we arrived home, and we put his number up on his wall. What a great day!