Haircuts, rowing reunion, sickly Graham and more (G: 5 years, 3 months, 26 days old / C: 2 years, 8 months, 15 days old)

More happenings in April!
First up was haircuts for the boys.  I like to let their hair grow long and sort of straggly and then cut it really short so I see a dramatic difference between my sweet little boys with longer hair and my grown up little men with shorter hair.  I also decided to go for the shorter hair in all the pictures with their brand new baby sister, so I knew I needed to get the haircuts done right away.  I ended up only taking pictures of the before and during, but in later pictures from this post, you will be able to see the after.  The boys love going to Kids Cuts for their haircuts and are always really good, but this time, Carter was extremely quiet and serious during the actual haircut and didn't perk up until he was done and onto the lollipop reward and playing with the toys in the facility phase:

No shirt to avoid the itchy afterwards.

G refused to look at the camera when I was taking pictures.

So serious.

Next up was the weekend which was a mix of the 50th UCSB Rowing reunion and poor Mr. Graham getting the worst stomach bug of his life.
Graham is very, very rarely sick and when he is, it is usually something mild.  There was a stomach bug going around school, so when I got the call that he had thrown up, I thought I'd bring him home and he would rest and that would be it (or maybe one more throw up) but the poor little dude was sick all weekend long.  He spent a lot of time resting and he would wake feeling pretty good, but as soon as any food or drink went in, he would get quieter and quieter and look more and more miserable until he finally threw up and then the process would all start again.
So... our weekend of birthday parties and babysitters during the rowing reunion ended up looking a little different.  No birthday party, no babysitter, and Nick stayed home with sick Mr. Graham while I did rowing reunion stuff on my own.
The reunion was wonderful.  I had been to the 40th reunion and absolutely loved the program and speeches that were put on during the banquet.  This time around, the real joy was seeing some of my old and dear rowing friends and meeting the many, many babies that have joined all of us.
So, here is what our sick/rowing reunion weekend looked like:

The very beginning.  Came home from school, got his sick bucket, but was feeling pretty good.

Still feeling good, but only allowed to eat and drink over the hardwood floor.

Oh no, that water wasn't sitting too well.

Some of the dearest rowing friends.  My girls from my novice year (minus Alethea)

Little sista's.  The girls the year behind me.

I got inspired to share some old photos, after seeing everyone, so I took some pictures of pictures that I have in my scrap books:

The freshmen on varsity (we had all rowed in high school, so we joined the varsity team as freshman and were very close that first year.)

Alethea came to visit a sick little Graham

Carter came up to the boathouse with me (to burn off some energy) while Graham stayed home sick.  The kids played on the ergs and we all marveled at how low the water level in the lake was. 

Look at that form!

Analise commenting.  Wow Carter, you are a natural.

I even took a video of my perfect form erg/rower:

 

Me with Stacey Fish and Analise :)

Ashley, Alison, Katie, and Stacey's kids with Carter.

We did a photo shoot for a local photographer one morning and for years the pictures have randomly showed up in magazines, on calendars, and in mailers.  Alethea brought the Seventeen magazine that featured one of our photos.  Only my nose made it into that picture, but it is still a great memory that I get to say I was in Seventeen magazine:

As I was watching Carter eat, I thought to myself just how messy kids are and wanted to take this picture.

Still sick :(

Graham was feeling much better after the weekend and was able to go back to school on Tuesday while Carter got to go to a birthday party with his PEP group.  This kid is very serious about his desserts:

For Cute Antics, I thought I would mention that Carter is obsessed with pretend food gathering.  He will ask what we want and then run to another location to 'prepare' the food and then bring it over for us to eat. 
The other thing he loves to do is beg to play for "one more minute" before it is time to go for his nap or bedtime.  He always drops his voice really low to almost a whisper as he tries to charm me into giving him more play time.
I got a video of one of his "play for one more minute" requests:

And a few more random pictures:

Carter got a close up view of one of the lizards at the pet store.  We had never seen one out of its cage before.

Graham is getting ready for Kindergarten!  He had his screening where he met both teachers and showed off his fabulous skills and then took a picture so they would remember who he was before arriving on campus this fall.  My big boy!

While Graham was sick, I promised him that he could go to the doughnut store and have whatever he wanted once he went 24 hours without throwing up.  He took me seriously.  He selected several doughnuts and enjoyed a variety of slices for several days.

After pick-up one day at preschool, I let the kids stay and play and Graham and his friend Ari were having the cutest little chat in side by side camper chairs.  I took a picture from far away, but when I went to get a close up, they just started being silly (which ended up being cute too):

Remember how I mentioned that this kid takes his desserts seriously?  Well here he is again:

And finally, I just had to take a picture of Carter in the morning.  He wakes up full of energy and ready to go, but this particular morning I coaxed him into my bed and convinced him to watch a video, so I could buy myself a few more precious minutes of shut eye ;)