{aNgeL...."sMurF"???}

Ayden came running downstairs yelling, "Mommy, come here, I built a temple with the blocks....come see"!!  So I went upstairs and found this!!  I laughed out loud......I guess the Smurf on top is supposed to be Angel Moroni!!  LOL!  Love it!!  :)

{1sT daY oF sChoOl....TAke 2}

We changed our minds.....AGAIN.....and decided to move Ayden from attending another year of preschool to starting Kindergarten at the elementary school!  I feel bad that he missed the first 5 weeks of school since they started in early August, but it is what it is and everyone keeps telling me he will be fine!  If anyone can adjust to change like this, it is Ayden!  He is such an easily adjusted boy, has no problem with change and is great at making new friends!

Monday was his 1st day of REAL Kindergarten!  I can't believe that my big boy is a kindergartener now!!  I'm a little sad that I missed out on the 1st day pics where all the moms have their cameras and are taking pics of their little ones standing in line or with their teacher!  But I at least got one at home!  :)

What is it about wearing a backpack that makes a kid look SO BIG!!  When he puts that backpack on, he all of a sudden looks like a 3rd grader!! 

We went shopping on Saturday and had a hard time finding backpacks.....apparently late September is not a popular backpack buying time!!  But we FINALLY found the Star Wars backpack and lunch box that he was looking for and he was so excited!!

I am actually loving having him in Kindergarten so far!!  I am still adjusting to the change in our routine.....I was just getting used to our other schedule!!  But it won't be long before we have this one down too!!  And as soon as we figure out when the best time to get homework finished (or even the fact that we have homework every night), we will be all set!  So far, he loves school!!  He thinks it's the greatest thing that he goes to school where his friends from church, friends from soccer, and neighbors go!!  And I have to admit that I love seeing familiar faces too!!  He also thinks it's the coolest thing in the world that he gets to go to the same elementary school that his Daddy went to!!  :)  Lucky boy!

He has 3 days under his belt so far and some of the things he has told me about school:

-He has 1 friend, Jacob, that he likes the best and plays with.

-There is 1 cute girl in his class.....she wears skirts every day....but he still wants to marry Kayla from his class last year!

-They learned the same thing today that they learned yesterday....nothing new!

-The first day, he ate lunch by somebody he didn't know.

-His favorite thing to do on the playground is the balance beam.

-If kids are bad, their clip gets moved from the happy face to the sad face.

-He started out sitting at table 1 and got moved to table 3 with 3 girls...no boys (lucky him)!

-His favorite thing about Kindergarten so far is that Monday is his sharing day where he gets to bring whatever he wants for Show-and-Tell.

We live RIGHT NEXT to the school.....like close enough that I can hear the kids playing on the playground during recess and I hear the bells ring during the day!  I love being this close and getting to walk to pick him up from school!!  I hope we always live within walking distance to a school!

 

I think someone might be getting a little too big to ride in a stroller!!  :)  That's ok cuz I know a Mommy that doesn't want to carry her when she complains she is "TOO TIRED" to go any farther!!  :)

{miNi Me}

On Sunday, Zoe wore this dress to church!  This dress was mine when I was a little girl!  There are a couple outfits that my mom saved of mine and I have had so much fun dressing Zoe in them!  This post was another one she wore and it was fun to actually have a picture of me in it!  I wish I had a picture of me in this dress, but I don't!  I think this one looks so cute on her....she looks like she is all ready and dressed in her private school uniform!

I want to remember to save a couple of her cute little girl dresses so that some day her little girl can dress up in Mommy's clothes......because she sure loves wearing my little clothes....and she KNOWS she is cute!!  :)

{buSy sAturDaYs}

Our Saturdays are busier these days since we get to go to soccer games every weekend now!  Life seems busy with just 1 kid in school and sports.....I know that it only gets crazier when more than 1 kid are in school and sports!!  :)

Last Saturday was Ayden's first soccer game.  His game wasn't until the afternoon, so we were just hanging around in the morning.  We had a crazy thunderstorm......rain, the loudest thunder I have EVER heard in my life, and lightening!  We all stood at our back door and watched as it started to hail.  We were counting the seconds between thunder and lightening and knew that the storm was getting VERY close!!  Then we literally saw a lightening bolt hit a true right behind our house!  Then the tree started on fire...even though it was raining!  It was crazy!!  Ayden, Zoe and I were kinda freaking out....it was a good thing Jeremiah was home to calm us down!  :) 

We got to call 911....Ayden was in heaven!  So you can imagine his delight when the fire department actually showed up and he got to watch them in action!  It was his lucky day!!

Miss Zoe did not feel so lucky!  She was not a fan of all the commotion and stayed curled up in a ball on our bed....not wanting to watch any of the action....

She said she was scared so I told her to give me a scared face....

When all the drama was over, the skies cleared up and it was time for Ayden's 1st soccer game!!!  It was also picture day and Jeremiah snuck this picture in so we don't have to buy one for $50!  It isn't the best picture....and they may not be looking at our camera, but it's good enough for me!!  :)

The first game was kinda comical.....Ayden was a little bit clueless and just ran around with a smile on his face!  I am not sure if he even touched the ball at all....he just followed the pack with a smile on his face and looking cute!  :)

It's hard to sit on the sideline and not jump up and down and freak out when your child doesn't get it......I feel like I am going to be "that parent"!!  But I hope not!! I just have to keep reminding myself that he IS only 5 and that is young!!  I didn't start playing sports until I was 7....and I turned out ok!  :)  So these first couple years are hopefully just going to be a learning experience.....and having FUN!!!

He sure looks like he is pretty good at having fun, doesn't he?!?!  Always a smile on his face....

Gooooooo #7.........

Half time snacks.....Ayden's favorite part of the game!

Right before the 2nd game started the next week, we told Ayden that every time he kicks the ball, he gets $1 and every time he steals it from the other team, he gets $2, and every time he scores a goal, he gets $5!  Well, we learned that he is motivated by money because he was a different kid on the field....he was totally into it and going after the ball and we eventually lost track of how much he was earning!!  But after the game, he went shopping online and bought a $20 toy he had been wanting....he was satisfied with that!!  :)  So hopefully we can try the same motivation for this Saturday and before you know it, we will have a star soccer player on our hands!!  :)

{LabOr dAy weEkeNd}

We had a great Labor Day weekend....we went to La Quinta with some of our friends on Friday, Saturday and left Sunday morning to head up to Big Bear with my family!  La Quinta was super hot....like 105-110 degrees hot!!  We pretty much hung out in the pool the entire time, hung out in the air conditioned house, and went out to dinner!!  :)  This is the only pic I have of La Quinta....we spent a lot of time here....

We headed to Big Bear on Sunday morning to spend Sunday and Monday with my family.  My Aunt Pam and Uncle John were visiting from Chicago and we had a great time visiting with them.

The kids started out with a silly string fight....

An 11 year old someone tried to squirt a 3 year old someone and ended up squirting himself in the face!!  HAHA!!!!

Have you heard of the game "Corn Hole"??  I had never heard of it ever....but my Dad had and he decided to build the game himself so we could all play when we went to Big Bear!!  It was seriously a blast.....a major hit with all of us adults and we spent HOURS playing it!!  I seriously can't wait to go back to play again....it is addicting!!  :)

My Aunt Pam wanted us to put on our traditional "Carnival" that we do for 4th of July, so the kids were excited to have ANOTHER pinata!!

Grandpa's popcorn machine is always a major hit and one evening, Jeremiah and Joe took all the big kids for a bike ride, so the little ones got the popcorn machine all to themselves to help Grandpa out!!

Zoe got to pour out the kernels into the measuring cup.....check out that concentration....

And Crew got to pour the measuring cup into the machine....

And then it was time to wait....and wait....and wait....

YAY!!!  POPCORN!!!!

They were so excited....they acted like they were on a Disneyland ride!!  :)

When it finished popping, Grandpa asked, "Who wants popcorn????" and two chubby little hands shot up in the air right away!!

Mmmmm.....mmmmm.....good!!

My Aunt and Uncle own a restaurant called "Johnny Pamcakes".....cute huh??  They are John and Pam!!  :)  We were all SO excited to have them cook for us....they made some AMAZING food while we were there and I swear that I gained 5 pounds in 36 hours!!  Their restaurant specializes in breakfast and on Monday morning, they made their specialty.....Sweedish Pancakes!!  Mmmmm......

It was so fun to watch them in action and whenever they were in the kitchen, everyone else was hovered around watching!!  :)

Cara and I pretended like we knew what we were doing!!  :)

The kids loved all the food too.....never have seen them eat so well in my life!  :)

 

The weather was a bummer.....it rained ALL DAY on Monday!!  It's ok though.....some of us stayed in our jammies all day and enjoyed being cooped up indoors!!  :)

Crew and Ayden hung out in the garage on the computer watching Star Wars.....

We moved the Corn Hole game inside the garage so we could still play and not be in the rain!!  Thank goodness the garage was big enough!!

And then the rain stopped for a few minutes and we ran out to do the pinata!!  Zoe was one of the people that stayed in her jammies all day!!  :)

They all look so serious.....like they are in time out or something!!  HA!  :)

Finally Cooper busted the green monster open and the kids went to town filling their bags!!

And then the green monster came alive....

We had a great weekend....love spending time with our families!!