I have a 5 year old!!!

It is sad when it has been so long since I have blogged that I have to look back at the blog to see what I have already posted about or not. I may eventually catch up on what I lost these last few months...or not. We will see!!



The most important blog...I have a 5 year old!!! WOW! I know this sounds silly, but I just never thought it would happen! When I thought about having a baby I never pictured that baby turning into a little human with his own thoughts and ideas. I never knew how much joy I would find in his accomplishments and how much hurt I would feel in his hurt. Alec is such a little man and an absolute joy to have around.



For his 5th birthday we actually had a few celebrations. First, we went to Disneyland on Monday the 13th. We mainly went because his pass was going to expire on his birthday and we don't plan on renewing it at this time for financial reasons. We left Ashley with Grandma so that we could have some one on one time with just the boys. We got to Disneyland around 10:30 and stayed until 7:00 p.m. Wow was that a long day! We went on lots of rides and had so much fun. The last ride Adam and Alec went on was Star Tours. When they got off the ride it puts them right into the Star Wars shop where you can build your own light saber. One of the options is to make a double bladed light saber that Darth Maul uses. Alec has ALWAYS wanted one of these. When Adam told Alec that he was going to make one as his birthday present he was SO excited! The light saber is litrally 6 feet long when fully extended and Alec is treasuring it! We had a wonderful day!



Wednesday was Alec's friends birthday pool party at our association pool. We had all his friends from school and church over to go swimming. We picked up some pizzas and made some chicken dinosaurs (Alec hates pizza...weirdo) and had a cupcake cake. Everyone had a wonderful time swimming and eating.



Friday was Alec's actual birthday so I gave him a few options of what he wanted to do and he choose Chuck E. Cheese. We had a extra special treat as Aunt Ree joined us there as well! We had pizza, bread sticks, and fun! Taking after his Mama, Alec's favorite game there is skeeball. We pretty much played it the entire time, and he is very good at it! That night when Daddy got home we walked to the new frozen yogurt place nearby and had a nice night.



Sunday was the final birthday celebration. Since the previous Tuesday was Adam's birthday and Saturday was Papa's birthday we had a triple celebration. All our family and close friends came over for a Jedi birthday. We grilled Thumans Hotdogs (adam's request), had a huge Darth Vader pinata, and yummy cake that left everyone's mouth blue. It was the perfect formula for fun!



Being that Alec's birthday almost lasted a week, he was quite in heaven. Every day he was anxious to wake up and ask, "What are we doing today???" He has finally gotten used to the idea that it is over, but is now looking forward to Aaron's birthday next month. More cake is always a good thing, right? Well, I think so!!

On the Monday after Alec's birthday we had his 5 year well check appointment. We made the appointment on a Monday so that Adam could go with me. There was NO way I was going to be able to handle Alec and shots without Daddy being there. Alec was 43 inches tall and weighed in at 43 pounds. He is growing well and is very healthy. He did have 5 shots and boy, was that quite an ordeal! He was sitting on Adam's lap, I was holding is arms, and the nurse had his legs clamped between her legs. He screamed at such a high pitch that I am amazed the windows did not blow out!! Poor kid. I knew it was going to be bad, and it was. Thankfully he got over it pretty quickly and we proceeded onto swim lessons after that.

Speaking of swim lessons, both the boys are doing AMAZING!! I was worried about Alec on his first day since he has a history of clamming up in new situations and clinging to either myself or Adam. He surprised both of us ad walked right over to his class and hopped in the water! They even braved the diving board on the second day and he jumped right off and swam to the side on his own. WOW!! He is learning so much and I am quite pleased with the results. Aaron is doing well also but he is a bit more hesitant. His teacher is awesome and loving but she is very aggressive with the kids and really makes them swim. She has taught him so much.

A bit of news that we have for Alec is that he will be entering Kindergarten this next school year! We discussed it quite a bit with Dr. Marino at his 5 year appointment and came to the decision after that. Alec is big enough for his age to hold his own with the other kids and he really has grown socially these last few months. We decided, after much consideration, to send Alec to St. Joseph School instead of St. Francis. St. Joseph is a smaller and older school, but we felt that the diversity in offered in many areas was a much better choice for our children. Alec will have Mrs. Knapp (Carrie's sister) as his teacher next year so we are SO excited.

As I said before, I am so proud of the young man that Alec is turning into. He is the first to jump up and open the door for someone and really works to make sure that everyone is happy and comfortable. I truly thank the Lord for the gift he gave me in him!!!

Happy Fathers Day!!

We were in Vegas the morning of Fathers Day so it was not the typical yearly celebration for us. We woke up that morning and Alec and I (Air and Ash were at Grandma and Grandpa's house) and we gave Adam his gifts. He got a baseball glove, baseball, Angels tickets, and a frame with a picture and a poem in it....

"Walk a Little slower, Daddy." said a little child so small.I'm following in your footsteps and I don't want to fall.
Sometimes your steps are very fast, sometimes they're hard to see;So walk a little slower Daddy, for you are leading me.
Someday when I'm all grown up, You're what I want to be.Then I will have a little child who'll want to follow me.
And I would want to lead just right, and know that I was true;So, walk a little slower, Daddy, for I must follow you!!

In the picture the kids are all wearing the shirts that Daddy was wearing on the day that they were born. I hope to take a picture of them each year wearing those same shirts for Adam for fathers day.

Adam was quite happy with all his gifts and we had a wonderful morning. After that we got up and went down to breakfast to meet up with my family, and most importantly, my Dad. We all enjoyed a nice breakfast together and then headed out. We drove Alec thru the strip before heading on the road. Traffic was not too horrible and we were to the Hawley's house by 4:00 p.m. For the rest of the day we enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa and some wonderful food. Despite all the driving, Fathers Day this year was quite relaxing!

I always knew that I picked a wonderful man for my husband, but I never could have imagined what an amazing father he would be! Alec loves playing star wars with him and helping him in any way he can. Aaron absolutely IDOLIZES him and Ashley is just his little princess.

Sweet...

We just had an unexpected rain and hail storm come through. We had stood there watching for a good amount of time and I was even the good Mommy and braved the weather to go out and collect hail for the kids to see. We discussed how this was God's way of watering all the plants outside. I finally decided it was time to make lunch but Alec was still standing at the back door watching the rain soak our backyard and I heard this...



Alec, very softly, "Thank you God!"

Me, "What are you thanking God for Sweetie?"

Alec, "Because he is filling up my water table for me!"



His play water table was just outside and sure enough, I looked outside and it is about half full already! So sweet!

Privacy

As you have noticed since you are reading this, I have now put my bog to private. I have been thinking about doing this for a while as a protection to my family but the decision was truly made this week. Adam left on Sunday for Maryland to attend a FBI training class about Internet predators. As of our conversation last night he was only one day into the class, but he already was sharing with me about the CRAZY people out there who pray on little bloggers such as myself and use them as for their own "special" entertainment. Yuck.

I have to say, there have been plenty of times where I have held back on sharing something or telling a certain story because of the general public seeing it, but now there is just NO holding back!! Wow, is that a good thing? Maybe not. :)

I am sitting here writing this blog while procrastinating doing my report for my church council meeting tonight. With my meeting tonight, Adam being out of town, Aaron being sick again with a sinus infection, and a calendar FULL of future events I am a tad overwhelmed at the moment. The one wonderful thing is that I am heading off to CHICAGO next weekend to meet up with many of my Moosejulie friends for the very first time. I can't tell you how excited I am about going!! I know the weekend is going to go WAY too fast!

Alright, back to work, but thanks for being my faithful readers. I promise to get back on track and make this a more entertaining blog to look at! :)

Aaron's first Angels game

Ok, so I was caught up on pictures for a while...then what happens? I get all behind and have to catch up once again. Go figure!

On April 17th we had Angels tickets through Adam's work. We decided that since they were family friendly seats we would go ahead and take Aaron to his first baseball game. LOTS of food was consumed, LOTS of fun was had, but not much baseball was watched I am afraid.

One of the really fun things of the night was that it was Mike Soiscia bobble head night. Both Alec and Aaron were SO excited that they got a prize just for going to the game. I truly don't know what happened, but 4 of us attended the game but we somehow walked out of the stadium with 5 bobble heads. Weird. Guess I had better watch them closely at home and and make sure they don't start reproducing themselves here! ACK!

We had a great time and made it just through the 7th inning stretch before heading out. Not even sure if the Angels won that night or not, but either way, we had a blast! Congratulations Aaron on your right of passage into the "Angels Club" We look forward to many more games with you!

San Diego Pics

As I promised in a post from a few weeks ago, here are some pics from my trip with Ashley to visit Carrie and Kasey in San Diego. Can't wait to do it again!!!

Ashley looking like such a big girl!

Kasey and Ashley. They are BFF's already!!

Have I wrote in here lately how much I LOVE having Carrie in my life? She is such a special friend to me and I truly don't know what I would do without her. This trip was such a great way to catch up and enjoy some serious girl time!!

I finally did it!!

We have SUCCESS!! On Sunday, after church I made a decision that it was bottle bootcamp time. I tried giving her the bottle first and Ashley absolutely flipped out. Any time I would get it even near her she would just cry even harder. This went on for about 2 hours. Finally I put her down for a nap where she slept for a good amount of time. When she woke up I made another bottle, handed her and the bottle to Daddy and she just went for it and drank the entire thing! Since then it has not been an issue at all and she is now actually getting excited when she sees me shaking the bottle up for her.

I really did not think that it would end up being that easy but am SO glad that it was! Now I can go to Chicago at the end of May with an easy mind. :) Lookout Moosejulie girls, here I come!!

School Conference

It is still weird to me that I am attending school conferences, even if it is just preschool. Seriously, where did my baby go? He grew up into a little boy...crazy!! Last week I had my observation and meeting for Alec. His school starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 11:30 a.m. For the observation and conference Mrs. Lindsay had me arrive around 10:00 and I got to sit in a closet off of Alec's classroom and watch the kids through a two way mirror. It was so interesting watching Alec in his school element without him knowing I was there. He is a very smart guy and a rule follower. The one thing that happened that made me laugh was when they were all sitting down for snack. All the kids were washing their hands and finding their seats and Alec was one of the last to sit down. As he turned around to find a seat for himself I hear a little girl say, "Alec, sit here!" and so my little guy of course goes and does what the little girl asks and sits down next to her. I am thinking he does not mind being bossed around by the girls! In my husbands family they would call that a "muckracuckus"...meaning a "wet chicken."

After observing for a while Mrs. Lindsay came in to chat with me. She had done a kindergarten assessment on him and went over the results with me. What she said is that according to her test he is "probably" ready for kindergarten and would do okay if we were to put him next year. She did also say, however, that if we did decide to keep him back one year that he would really soar. That to me is a no brainer, I want my kid to soar. We had already decided that we were going to hold Alec one more year but it was good to hear one more opinion of his progress to make us feel like we made the right decision.

Alec got very good reviews from Mrs. Lindsay. She commented that she loves the interesting and insightful conversations that she has with him. The one area that she did have a critique in was with music and movement. She said that for some reason Alec absolutely does not want to participate in music and movement AT ALL. She said it is not defiance on his part, he just does not want to do it. This really did not surprise me but it was certainly still amusing to hear.

I am so proud of Alec and the progress that he is making this year at school. We have signed him up for the 5 mornings class next year at the preschool. Hopefully this extra year will just give him the extra time he needs to refine is fine motor skills and maturity so that by the time he gets to kindergarten he will, as Mrs. Lindsay put it, SOAR!!

Jedi dog...

Have I ever posted about our dog? Well, we happen to have the best dog in the entire world. Not only is he amazing with the kids, never really barks, and entertains us to no end with his howling when a siren drives down the street, but he is also a true Jedi dog. When he is hungry, thirsty or has to go to the bathroom he does not bark at you or at the door like a normal dog. He just simply comes over to you and stares at you and sends you dog Jedi messages. I swear, he looks at you and you know EXACTLY what he needs. It is so weird!

So the other day after putting the kids to bed and cleaning up their toys I came to spend a little time on the computer. When I went back out to the family room I found Obi like this...

I swear I did not pose him...he was truly laying like this. I guess he truly IS a Jedi!

Angels Baseball is BACK!

One of our favorite things about the month of April is that it is the return of baseball season! We are huge Angels fans around our house so we like to go to at least one game a month. Adam and I were able to get pretty good seats for the home opener. Adam got off work a bit early and we went to the stadium in time to see some batting practice and have some yummy food before the game started. Big Ashley and her parents were also at the game in their season ticket seats so we were able to spend part of the game with her. Even though the Angels got killed that night it was still lots of fun. We look forward to many more Angels date nights over the next 6 months!

Ad and I right before the game started. This was the view from our seats which was pretty good.

Two huge Angels fans!

The flag for opening day ceremonies. Kenny G. played the National Anthem which was quite interesting...

This was the view from Ashley's parents seats...MUCH better! When they left in the 8th inning we went down and used their seats that were right behind the Angels dugout. They also did fireworks that night so we had a wonderful view for that show as well.

FINALLY park weather!!

It is FINALLY park weather. I know, all you back east might be thinking what a WIMP I am. I know I live in California where it does not snow or even rain much...but for a Cali native like me, 60 degrees is just WAY too cold to go outside and play. Now that it is consistently in the 70's or above it is much nice to be able to get back to our regular Wednesday afternoon park dates with my preschool mom friends!

Aaron swinging.

Ashley on one of her first rides on the swing. She LOVES to be pushed hard and then grunts against the baby g-forces. Maybe she might actually go on a roller coaster with me someday since my boys all will not!!

Alec park self portrait. He is quite the photographer!

Playing in the jungle

When we bought our new house a couple years ago there were two things that really needed to be done to it...the kitchen and the backyard. Neither of those have come into our financial realm of possibilities yet so we are just simply making the best of what we have. Alec and Aaron don't really seem to mind about the back yard at all! We have a slope going up the back that is covered in different vegetation that grows pretty quickly. Al and Air have found in that slope their own private jungle...and they LOVE IT!!!

Alec peeking through his jungle bushes

Al following the paths.

The jungle slope with St. Francis watching over all the lizards and spiders that live in it!

Get together

Before Oma and Opa went back to New York we were able to have them, Steve and Jeannie, and all our friends over for dinner. Opa made a DELICIOUS lasanga and cheesecake for everyone. We all sat around and stuffed our faces until we were about to burst! With everyone's lives so busy it is so hard for us all to get together these days. It was nice to have a Sunday afternoon to just relax and enjoy eachother!

From left...Chris, Janet and Chris Jr., Adam and I, Jason, Kelly and Aliyah, Phil, Natalie and Rihanna.

6 months old...

I can hardly believe it, but Ashley is 6 months old! While starting out as a surprise for us, she filled a previously unknown void in our house and has completed our family like I never knew it could be. I know I have posted about this before, but the boys are just enthralled with her. They are so kind to her! Alec is always trying to make her laugh and Aaron never hesitates to bring over his favorite toy and put it on her as she is upset or even just when she is nursing. Yes, I said nursing. Ashley absolutely refuses to take a bottle. As much as I love certain aspects of this, it sure would be nice to be able to leave for more than 4 hours at a time without wondering if she is screaming her head off for whoever takes her. This is going to change in about two weeks when we go through bottle boot camp. I hate to do it, but I have some trips coming up that she will not be going with me on so it is going to have to happen! Pray for her and me around the first of May!

Ashley did very well at her 6 month doctor's appointment. Dr. Marino said she is in excellent health and is measuring in the 90th percentile for height and around 50th for weight. She was not crazy about her shots, but what else can be expected.

This month Ashley learned to sit up by herself, scoot backwards while on her back, and just yesterday waved at Aunt Baba for the very first time. Thankfully she is not even close to crawling yet. I am not ready to deal with that one yet!! Ash is growing up right before my very eyes and I am loving every second of it. I could not imagine my life without her!

cutting corners

With the economy coming what it is, as well as trying to figure out how we are going to pay for two boys to be in school next year, Ad and I are looking at different ways to save a bit. I went through our finances and realized that we were paying $36.00 a month on haircuts for the boys. We went to Costco and they had a hair cutting system for just $25.00. Let's do the math...that's right, saves us a bundle. We bought the system and went to town on the kids hair. It was actually quite fun, although the boys did not seem to happy with it. I like the financial aspect of it as well as the ease of doing their hair in the mornings. Adam just really likes the buzz cuts!

Alec before...look at that MOP of hair! It was crazy long!! Can you tell how excited he was about getting this done?

Once the actual haircutting was over he was happy but it was not a good experience during. I am always amazed at how blonde Alec's hair is when it is cut very short!

Aaron had quite a bit of hair going as well. It was just starting to turn from fine baby hair into course boy hair. The long bangs in the front would fluff up during the day and look so strange during the day. There was just NO controlling it so off it went!

My little peanut guy!! Such a cutie!!

Disneyland fun!

I had to share this pic! The day after Easter all of us, including Carrie, Brian and Kasey went to Disneyland. Yeah, BIG mistake. Can you say CRAZY?!? Spring break is NOT a good time to go to d-land! Thankfully we went pretty early and only stayed through nap time. In the short time we were there we certainly had a great time. Here are all the kids just outside of the Winnie the Pooh ride.

Easter at the Hawley's

After my parents house, we headed over to Adam's parents house for dinner and yet another Easter egg hunt. That makes 4 total. Wow! Lucky kids! We had a great time hanging out with Oma and Opa who were in town from February thru mid April.

Aaron with his stash of Easter eggs.

Alec was a absolute PRO at this by now!

Oma and Opa with Ashley. You can tell she is tired because she is sucking her thumb and grabbing her ear. Too much fun for one day!

4 generations...Oma, Jeannie, me, and Ashley.

Easter at the Young's

After church we headed over to my parents house to have a quick brunch bite to eat and enjoy a Easter egg hunt for the kids.

Super shopper that Allie is, she found the most ADORABLE dresses for Brooklyn and Ashley to wear on Easter! We even managed to get a bow into Ash's hair...just don't blow on it, it will fall right out!

My Easter kiddo's all dressed up!

Alec hunting for Easter eggs in Grammie and Papa's back yard.

Grammie and Papa with all the grandkids.

Easter Mass

We managed to pull ourselves out of our sugar coma and make it to 10:00 a.m. mass on Easter morning...even stopping for doughnuts on the way there. We get doughnuts every week on the way to church but on Easter they provided for a distraction for the boys so that they would sit outside and eat them while we waited for mass to start. On major holidays, if you don't get to church 45 minutes early or more, you won't get a seat. The mass was very nice and the boys both did VERY well. Alec is used to sitting through mass, but Aaron spends his Sunday mornings in the nursery so it is always a challenge for him!

By the way...if you happen to click on the picture, that is not Aaron's tongue hanging out of his mouth, it is a pretzel. Looks kinda weird so I had to clarify!!

Happy Easter!!

Well, would you believe it? The Easter bunny came!! From left to right, Ashley got some baby food, a princess book and hair bows. Aaron got Darth Vader, a new light saber, curious george book and some snacks. Alec got the same as Aaron but with Yoda and a star wars book instead. The gifts behind the baskets were from Uncle John and Aunt Anne Marie in New York. They are always SO generous with the kids!

The "loot"

Alec and Aaron exploring their baskets. Aaron was excited but Alec was not as surprised. He just said that he knew the Easter bunny was going to bring him that. Um, ok.

Ash seemed to like hers!!

The boys checking out their goodies inside the eggs that the Easter bunny hid around the room. What fun!!