School Started!

Colin started Kindergarten at Gilbert Christian on August 10th and loves it. Mom is not so sure she likes him being gone all day, but he is learning so much already. Alex also started preschool and is surrounded by all his friends! Naturally he did not have any separation issues and loves playing and learning his letters. Here's Colin ready for his first day of school!

Jen, Mikele, and I have a tradition of "sneaking" into the new Kindergartener's house the day before the 1st day and dropping off a poster and some treats to make their day extra special. Colin was excited to see his poster and loved the cookies... of course I gave him one before breakfast!!!

And of course since our best friends live seconds away from the school in Mayberry, we had to meet over there and walk to school together. We are so blessed that our kids can go to school together and see each other everyday. I loved watching all the kids walk together, it was so special. This made Colin feel MUCH better and he was so excited to see Miles, Kate, and Madison on the playground.

Colin was excited to see his desk and wanted Alex to stay with him. Alex would not have minded and truly thinks he's five and was confused why he had to leave.... The confusion of a second child! The first picture shows their brotherly love and the second one shows their personalities... Do not be confused, Alex is trying to put Colin in a headlock :)

Next was Alex's first day of Preschool! Thanks to Carrie, I am able to have some great pictures. I forgot my camera!!! Bad Mom! Alex loves having his friends in his class - Jordan, JJ, and Eli.

Little Man is FIVE!!!

Well, he actually turned five on December 9th, but I decided it's better to post late than never! In our house, we really think celebrating someone's birthday on just one day doesn't do it justice so we celebrated the whole week for Little Man turning 5! He has grown so much over the five last years and I'm not sure if I will be able to let him go to Kindergarten next year. For his birthday post, I thought walking through the last five years was appropriate. This is one of my favorite pictures from his first year (or as he would say, this is when he was zero).
Here's when he was 2 and his Aunt TaTa is 7.And when he was 3, I decided to try to grow his hair out... Not one of my better decisions. However, with those big eyes, he looks cute with any hair style. And this gingerbread man is his favorite craft and every year he will ask where it is, so we can decorate the house with it. As you may know, I am not a collector of any sort, I would much rather throw things away, but this one I will keep as long the construction paper holds out!Here's Little Man in OuterBanks when he was 4.And then he turned 5!!! Little Man you are so dear to us and your tenderheartedness continues to grow throughout the years. You are conscious of other's and their feelings and pray for others when they are hurt. You are a special boy who desires to do the right thing and love showing how much you care for your family. You love your brother, even though he can be spicy, and would always rather stay home than venture out. You are 100% boy and can make anything into a gun to shoot the bad guys. You are curious and love to ask questions. We love you and are blessed to have you as our son! Happy Birthday Little Man!

Family Camping Trip

Yes, you read the title right, Family Camping Trip. My type of camping is staying at a hotel close to a campground, but not this time. Little Man told me he would miss me bunches when they went camping and asked if I would go with them. How could I resist such a request? So, off we went camping for 24 hours up to Payson. In a Tent. Overnight. No Showers, No Toilet.

It didn't take Little Man long to find a leaf the size of his head! I guess this if proof that some places in Arizona have four seasons...We did find a sweet camping spot right by a stream where the boys were able to go fishing and play with the live bait. I did not touch any worms or bait any hooks, but watched closely as everyone else in the family did.... And I loved watching how happy they were! Just in case you were wondering what kind of bait we had...Here's Adam teaching Little Man Fishing 101...Little Man listened closely and truly loves fishing. So this time Adam let him bait his own hooks, casting the line, and reel in his FIRST fish all by himself!!! I was so proud of him! His smile could not have been any bigger! This picture will definitely be framed!Meanwhile, Little Ax was crossing over the rocks and he was so happy that he was able to walk in the freezing cold water until he realized the shoes and socks didn't dry as fast as they got wet! In the course of a few hours, the boys caught eight fish! Adam may have been a little excited..Overall, a great camping trip and who knows I may even go back again next time :)

Montana Vacation

After Disneyland we ventured to Montana for some country fun! The boys loved running in the woods, playing hide and seek and seeing all the animals. We didn't have any apples to peel for apple pie, but we were fortunate to pick some zucchini from my mom's garden and make homemade zucchini bread (so homemade the flour was freshly ground from wheat grains)! Alex loved stirring and stirring and stirring..Until the boys discovered that eating the flour was more fun than helping make the bread :) While the zucchinis were not this large, this squash seemed to be on steroids...Our next adventure was Splash Montana. This was a community pool complete with water slides, kiddie play pool, and my favorite... Dippin Dots!!! The only thing it was missing was a heater for the pool for the Arizona wimps! Can you tell Little Man is freezing?And of course our ruler follower Little Ax decided to try the kiddie slide head first!!Cows were the next thing on the agenda. We met Bo Jangle, Hello Dolly, and the calf Sweet Sugar Plum. Here's Hello Dolly smiling for the camera!Little Man and Alex loved that Sweet Sugar Plum was just their size!

What better way to end a great family vacation than with a perfect picture with Big and Little Man?

More Disneyland Adventures

Usually around August I am a little frustrated and annoyed with the heat in AZ and ready for a vacation. So this year we decided to go to Disneyland for five days and then go to Montana to spend some time with Nana, Pa, and TaTa. The first stop was Lightening McQueen and Tow Mater (if you are wondering our next trip to Disneyland/California Adventure Park will be in 2012 when Radiator Springs opens)

The next morning was the character breakfast. This is the ONLY way both the boys would come within a 1/2 mile of the characters. Which I am perfectly okay with and didn't have to worry about standing in line or elbow punching anyone who cut in front of us... Pa was reunited with his distant relative Brother Bear..

We stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel and as hotel guests were able to get into the park at 7:00am and get into ToonTown an hour before it opened to the public! This was the best! Take a look at the castle and barely anyone was around it, it was great! The only downside is I was ready for lunch and a nap at 9:00am.... Here's the ToonTown Welcome!
Here's Little Man using all his body strength (literally) to open the mailbox...Alex was really excited about driving Toad's car, Little Man on the other hand was a bit frightened.And of course one of our favorite rides is Dumbo. Here's Little Man posing for his picture (this is very rare)

Most of the group pictures were taken by my mom's camera, so I will have to wait to post those, but this is one of the family shots.There's a new Disney collection that is called Vinylmation and you can buy a mystery Mickey Mouse figurine from various collections and trade it at designated stores in the Park and at Downtown Disney to collect different figurines. It was fun and we felt like it was a treasure hunt. And here's Alex's best pirate face...

Overall, it was a fantastic trip and we can't wait to go back to see Radiator Springs!!

Summer is Officially Over

This summer has been filled with lots of fun such as swimming lessons. Check out the diving pose... TaTa was able to come out for a week and enjoy swimming lessons too. Little Man loves his TaTa.

The last day we brought brownies for the coaches. Here's Jordan showing me some love!

Spontaneous trip to Disneyland with our best friends (minus the Midwest crew and the newly relocated AZ residents). I am ready to go back anytime!

And now the first day of school, does that mean summer is officially over? If so, someone please tell Mother Nature it should be less than 100 degrees now!

The boys had mixed emotions about starting school. Little Man was nervous and really wanted me to stay with him the entire class, so I could be R2D2 and play Star Wars. Tempting as it is, I declined and he survived. Here's Little Man "attempting" to smile but kept telling me the sun was in his eyes... mmm that's weird being the sun is BEHIND him. Oh well, it's the first day jitters, so I wasn't about to argue.

Here's Little Man and Ax posing for the camera....This picture made me cry seeing my Little Man growing up to be such a big boy. He has grown up so much and I wish I could freeze time and have him be this small forever. Any ideas? Ax has always wanted to go to school like his big brother, so this year he was finally old enough to go. He was excited and could not wait to get in the classroom and rule the world. It only took about 5 minutes for him to climb on top of the play dough table and declare his territory. Sweet. Good Luck Miss Debbie, you have been blessed with Mr. Spice himself this year..... He sure is cute though!