School's out for the summer!

Luke officially wrapped up his first year of preschool with a "graduation" ceremony this afternoon. He will still be in preschool next year, but some of the students in his class will be stepping up to kindergarten so this was a fun way to celebrate the end of the year with some songs and even a diploma! Here are some pictures of the graduate.

Forget formal handshakes ... this graduate gets a hug from his teacher Mrs. Blazi and a diploma from Mrs. Malone!

The Leahy men at the graduation ceremony.

Weekend at the Cabin.

When Jami was away in California, Scott and the boys joined our friends Joe & Mary Fran and their dog & cat for a weekend at their family cabin near Gunnison, CO. This part of Colorado still has a lot of snow ... in fact it snowed while they were there! Scott, Luke & Reid had a blast at the cabin! Luke enjoyed the hot tub and checking out the snowmobile, while Reid became fast friends with Penelope the Dog. (A big thank you to Mary Fran for sending these great photos from the weekend!) To the left: Penelope, Reid & Joe play in the snow.

Scott backpacks uphill both ways in the snow while carrying a 25 lb. Reid. True story.

Luke gears up to brave the sledding hill.

May Visitors: Round 1

3 cousins & a giraffe at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

.....

This spring, we have been blessed to have several visits from Jami's sister Briana and her family. Briana and Dalton paid a visit to Colorado this week, and we took full advantage of the great weather. Luke and Reid adore having Dalton around. They all entertain one another! A video for you ... it will either make you dizzy from watching Luke run in circles or give you whiplash from watching Dalton keep up with Luke.

Art by L. Leahy.

One of the greatest joys of Luke going to school has been the art projects he brings home. We are always entertained by his creative mind. With the end of the school year being this week, he has brought home some interesting artistic masterpieces. Here's a virtual art exhibit for you.

"The Squirrel." Yes, it has three eyes ... not sure why. The better to see you with, my dear.

"Spring Chicks." Notice that Luke signed this piece. Someday his signature will be recognized for the number of horizontal lines going through the letter "E."

"The Cycle of the Butterfly." This is our all-time favorite piece because of the complexity of the subject matter and the different materials used. Fuzzy green dots, sticky tack, a branch, tissue paper ... and yes, the butterfly also has three eyes. Mom was a bit shocked when Luke came home asking about butterflies and the "chrysalis." Big word for a 4-year-old!!

Down on the Farm Field Day.

Remember back to the days of old when you had field day at school? Today was that special "first" for Luke at St. Peter Catholic School. Jami volunteers with the PTO and helped plan the preschool field day with a "Down on the Farm" barnyard theme. The activities included:

• Fetchin' the Eggs (digging through hay to find eggs to put in the basket)
• Milkin' Old Bessie (water bucket relay)
• Dressin' the Scarecrow (the students had fun dressing the teachers as scarecrows)

Top Photo: It's not about finding a needle in a haystack. Luke's looking for an egg!

Middle Left: Farmer Scott ran the snack station. Reid sampled the coffee cake.

Middle Right: Moooo-ve over! Luke's on the run.

Bottom: Old McLeahy had a farm. E-I-E-I-O!

Head, shoulders, knees & toes.

Check out Reid's latest favorite game. This video also showcases how he likes to laugh at himself (what a ham!) and that he doesn't sit still for longer than 3.2 seconds. Enjoy!

Bowl-a-rama.

Tonight the family enjoyed a night out to our local bowling alley Pinz. With the bumpers raised on the gutters, we were ready to bowl! Luke bowled an amazing 103 using the skills in the video below (who knew bowling required kneepads!), and Reid was infatuated with the nearby driving video games.

13.1 Reasons to Visit California.

This weekend Jami joined 5 friends from Phoenix to run the Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon. The 13.1 mile race route took us through vineyards, lavender farms, fruit orchards, horse ranches, and along many rolling hills and the dreaded Corkscrew Hill (whew ... that was a tough climb!) The course finished in the Danish village of Solvang where we celebrated with some winetasting at the post-race Wine & Music Festival. Not only did the finishers earn a medal but a wine glass, too! After resting up, we then took a trip north to Santa Maria to visit some wineries -- Cottonwood Canyon and Cambria. In all, it was a fantastic weekend with a mix of work(out) and play!

It's 6 a.m. and we're ready to race in our Girls Running Wild shirts ... Jami, Meghan, Mitzi, Singne, Stacia & Terese.

Checking out the gorgeous views helped pass the time while running.

All smiles about being done with 13.1! Meghan, Singne and Jami finished with a time of 2:11.

To celebrate, we did some winetasting near Santa Maria.

Mother's Day Tea.

Today Mimi Dixie and Jami were treated to a lovely Mother's Day Tea at Luke's school. Luke's class provided refreshments and entertainment with some spring / mother-inspired songs. The guests also received elegant paper flower wrist corsages and fancy flower pins. We felt like quite the guests of honor!

Slim Goodbody.

Some of you are likely experiencing a blast-from-the-past moment! Slim Goodbody was around when we were kids ... and he's STILL around ... and yes, he's still wearing a spandex suit covered in bones, muscles, organs, etc. Jami, Luke & Reid headed to the City Auditorium this morning to see Slim's show that tours nationally called Bodyology. He still preaches some wise lessons about taking good care of your body and the importance of healthy eating and exercise. It was a fun educational morning for all!

Mom's the word.

We celebrated Mother's Day a weekend early since Jami will be out of town next weekend. The boys surprised Jami with their traditional Mother's Day brunch. One exciting part of moving means starting new traditions, so we swapped our old AZ favorite of Wild Horse Pass Resort for a Colorado restaurant called the Sunbird perched atop a cliff overlooking the city. The Sunday brunch is well known in the Springs, and it certainly lived up to its reputation. Crab legs and bananas foster were highlights of the meal. The boys preferred the waffles and hot chocolate!

Cheers for hot chocolate!

Hats off to the graduates!

The Junior League Spring Provisionals celebrated graduation with a Kentucky Derby themed event ... hats and all! What a grand finale to our first few months in the League!

Jami, Julia, Cathy & Sharon are oh-so-happy in their hats!

Off to the races!

Meeting Marilyn.

Marilyn Monroe paid a visit to Colorado Springs on Friday ... well, via her art exhibit. The Fine Arts Center hosted an opening event for the exhibit "Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe," featuring a mix of art and photographs. Jami and some Junior League pals attended the event.

Pillow pit.

When it's movie time, the boys enjoy kicking back in a "pillow pit." Optimal comfort for the at-home cinema.

Kiddo comments.

Below are a few videos of the boys giving political speeches in support of the presidential candidates. Okay, just kidding. The first one is Luke saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Please remember to be thankful for the "ation" in which we live and that together we stand "indibisible." The 2nd video is Reid reciting a few words. His vocabulary has recently exploded, and he can also clearly say "no" although THAT word is not encouraged nor is it cute when repeated frequently at loud volumes.

April showers bring May blizzards.

That's right. Most of today it snowed ... and snowed ... and snowed some more. May certainly is off to an interesting start!

The truck and the trike in the backyard are sidelined due to snow. Wonder if they make a toy snowplow?!

Spring snowball fight!

To sleep or not to sleep...

This is a bit of a random post, but this one is dedicated to sleeping (or NOT sleeping in the Leahy boys' case because they are busy little monkeys.) The first video was a tagteam effort of the boys. Luke scaled the crib. Then Reid tried to climb in (still too short), so big brother hoisted little brother over the railing so they could do this...



Luke was thrilled this week that the part to fix his top bunk arrived. He's on Cloud 9 sleeping sky high in his room.

It is a rare occasion when Reid will sit still these days, let alone fall asleep by Mom. Ahhh ... peaceful zzzzz's and treasured moments.

Mimi & Co. at Mimi's Cafe

Today's adventures with the family landed us at Mimi's Cafe for dinner. The kiddos were good entertainment as always, and it was nice to all be together before Briana and Dalton head back tomorrow.

Dalton and Briana are all smiles!

The boys try to test if this high chair can hold 3 kids.

All in the family. (Notice Dalton is being sneaky and is trying to pull Grandma's hair!)

Royal treatment.

In the mail this week, Scott received a fun gift from his good friend Will Long. You see they are both HUGE Royals fans. Have been ... and always will be probably!! Anyway, Will and his wife Raegan recently went to a Royals game, where the promotional giveaway at the game was a powder blue jersey. They arrived 2 hours before game time to be one of the first 20,000 fans who would be granted these fine freebies. Afterward, Will sent one of the jerseys to Scott, who was so surprised!! Not only was it very thoughtful of Will, but it might be the all-time greatest gift ever that Scott's received. (Yes, he loves the Royals THAT much.) Now that this fact is out in the open, any of you KC folks who attend games and get good promo items can feel free to send them to Scott when you are done! Ha! There's been talk that Will and Scott might go to Royals fantasy camp to celebrate turning the Big 4-0, so maybe they can wear their powder blue jerseys then!

Future Royals fans.

Crazy cousins.

We are so happy to have Aunt Briana and Cousin Dalton visiting this weekend. Luke and Reid adore Dalton and love entertaining him ... and likewise, Dalton is always so intrigued by the antics of his big cousins. These cousins sure have fun together!

Dalton gets ready to show off his army-crawl skills!

Paws to Read.

Our local library offers a program called Paws to Read where children can read books to dogs. Our boys both love dogs even though we don't have a four-legged furry family member of our own. At today's reading time, Luke "read" two of his favorite books to Sequoia (pictured here). The literary choices included Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Goodnight Moon. (Side note: Luke can't really read yet but he's heard these favorites so many times he has them memorized.) Reid enjoyed petting Sequoia during the storytime and only had to be reminded a few times to not pull out ALL the dog's hair.

Sweet as Shuga.

This evening the Junior League Provisional Class had another fun-filled evening on a bus tour to the different groups who received Junior League assistance to get started, including the Ronald McDonald House and CASA (which just happens to be Kappa Alpha Theta's philanthropy, too ... talk about paths crossing!) It was great learning more about these non-profits in the Colorado Springs community. Afterward, we met at a hip, eclectic restaurant downtown called Shuga's to grab a bite to eat. Great food and amazing iced tea. A fun night out with the JL gals!

P is for park.

Today we ventured out to one of our favorite parks, which has a Charlotte's Web theme and an amazing view of the mountains. What better way to play the day away! Reid has mastered climbing the ladders, and Luke loves to zip around on his scooter.

Tunnel vision.

Reid hitches a ride on Wilbur.

The boys love to swing high and fly like Superman with a little help from Superdad.

Saturday afternoon adventure.

This afternoon the Leahy crew headed to Denver. We then decided to take off on a little road trip adventure to the mountains with Mimi and Papa.

Our First Destination: The Jefferson County Open Space right outside Pine. These pictures say it all ... we enjoyed the fresh air, mountain stream, and gorgeous scenery.

Luke loved wading around in the water. Guess he didn't care that it was freezing cold.








Reid loved the stream, too. He enjoyed digging around with this stick ... and trying his best to get all wet.





Even Mom took a wade.








After the stream we walked up to the lake. Well, some people walked; some people just hitched a ride.








Destination #2: Some of Jami's Junior League friends had been talking about this unique restaurant right outside Pine that has been around forever and is a small gem in the rough of the Colorado terrain. It's name is a funny one ... the Bucksnort Saloon. After winding several miles on a narrow dirt road, we reached what resembled a village of small mountain dwellings somehow anchored into the side of the mountain carefully so as to not fall in the creek below. In the midst of it all was the Bucksnort Saloon. We sipped Antler Ale, ate some great burgers, and soaked up the character of the establishment and this quaint little area.


The Bucksnort Saloon -- off the beaten path but well worth the experience!

Blondies at the Bucksnort.

As we headed home, we saw some pretty amazing sights as we took the scenic route. Several years ago, a wildfire significantly damaged the area and the toll was devastating to see even today. We also were "wildlife watchers" and spotted 4 elk ... then 4 deer ... then 2 more elk. So incredible to see up close!

Let's go fly a kite.

Our evenings tend to get a little windy, so we've enjoyed flying our lizard kite lately.