2012 {the second quarter}

April:

Nearly a year of Fridays in kindergarten:

~Dr. Seuss Day; green eggs & ham~                       ~Easter eggs~                    

~crafts~

~they love me~and I them~

                ~Spring hat parade~                   ~best part of decorating Easter cookies~

~waiting to line up for lunch~

 ~a camera made of Legos took MY picture~    ~Hayden building with blocks~

~the girls really got attached~

~painting~

~rainy day indoor play~

May:
Seth washing cars, doing his duty as an amazing leader in K-Kids at Discovery.

 Should I be worried that he's surrounded by girls?

Hayden lost his two front teeth - at the same time!

 and got hurt, again.

 Brad's dad and step-mom, Sue, came through town and stopped for a few hours to visit.  it was short but sweet.

 Tristen earned the next level belt in Karate at school. This is his second belt ceremony.

 

 June:

Well, you see, a LOT happened in June. I'll start by telling you that my second-cousin got married June first. Brad, the boys and I attended the San Diego-based wedding (<<< click link to view wedding photos by Amanda Logo Photography) and brought my mom -who had flown in with my grandma for the wedding- home to spend the last few weeks of school with us. Here are some personal snapshots from the wedding:

 We spent time at the beach, celebrating another second-cousin's birthday.

Mom & her sister

Birthday girl

 Aaaand time's up! 

In order to get any blogs posted (since I'm ten months out of practice), I've given myself a set time limit to write and the timer just went off.  Stay tuned for the rest of June (including my baby boy's promotion from kindergarten and our trip to Legoland with my mom).  If I keep up this way of blogging, I just may get caught up sooner than I expected.  I certainly am enjoying all of this reminiscing, I hope you're enjoying it too.

...as we enter the teen years...

~thirteen~                                         ~eleven~

 There's never enough food.
X-Box, computer games, DSi or 3DS - these are more than words, they are a way of life.
I can't get rid of that smell.
...And this is only the beginning.

 Sure, they play with their friends on the trampoline outside now, laughing, tackling, enjoying their childhood together, but in the blink of an eye that big backyard will be empty of their smiling faces. Still. Their screams of joy and laughter will have long-since been silenced by time...

 Their wishes are most likely for money and the newest edition of Halo or Minecraft. 
My prayer is that I don't miss a single moment of any of it.

Spend it wisely boys, and I don't mean the money.

Simply click their names to view their birthday photo shoot by none other than yours truly at Amanda Logo Photography.

Tristen & Seth



2012 {the first quarter}

Surprise! Surprise!! Surprise!!!

I told you I'd be back! Man alive, I sure feel weird sitting here pounding away at these old familiar keys with so much to say and so little time. Outside, the weather has finally begun to cool down. I'm even sipping hot tea in my new, over sized flannel jacket my DH (dear husband) brought home for me not too long ago while the curtains flap in the breeze of the open windows.  I've had such a busy and fulfilling year. It's hard to believe its already October and I'm just getting around to sharing my experiences with you.  So, without further ado-

 

January:

Sorry to start things off so soberly, but this January marked the would-be 16th birthday of a dear friend's daughter who is no longer with us.  They reside in another state so I was unable to attend the balloon release and celebration with them, so I had my own, right here in my backyard with my sons. 
RIP Meagan - Gone too soon, never forgotten:

 

February:

 

 The elementary school the boys attend (Discovery) do these fun-dress days throughout the year, a way of showing school spirit, I suppose.  This Friday in February was "Cowboy Day" and Hayden chose to wear his oldest brother, Tristen's, old cowboy hat he'd found in a box.  He even dressed himself in his most cowboy-looking apparel.

 In addition to this being "Cowboy Day," Hayden's kindergarten class was performing some traditional patriotic songs.

He even had a speaking part (I could've sworn I had a video of that,but since it WAS nine months ago, I've misplaced it, not having electronically filed it with my photos, apologies)

 

March:Seth performed in the choir at school in a "Hero's All" musical.  I recorded the entire play, however, did NOT get any stills, so here we have the opposite problem (video, no pictures) but the videos are long and Seth is in the background singing, no lead parts (plus he requested I not post the video) so if you're interested in viewing that musical, let me know and I can try to email it to you.

This school year (2011-2012) has been great for me.  I've been able to volunteer in Hayden's kindergarten class every Friday!  One Friday in March he was running a fever and was unable to attend school.  He was so disappointed!  So... when I dropped his brothers off at school, I went in to ask his teacher for his work for the day and we had school at home!  It truly made his day, bless his heart!

1. I surprised Hayden by getting today's work from his teacher so we could do school from home today. (He LOVES his Friday Centers).

 2. He was very happy!

 

 

3. I even got a great big hug!

 4. We did some painting with glitter glue...

 5. Colored a page after completing a maze...

 6. Practiced our sight words...

 7. Had rest time (he insisted on using his school towel and laying on the floor - just like at school)...

 8. (I guess he got cold at some point...)

9. Woke up happy and ready to continue...

10. Did some reading...

11. And got awarded a note and treat for following the rules (just like Fridays in school)!!!

(You can really see how sick he was in this last photo... poor nugget :-()

Also in March - my two eldest celebrated their birthdays!  But I'll tell that story in a separate blog because my timer has gone off and I am now out of time!  More to come (soon) - I promise!