Scribblin' sweethearts

Now that I have children who are learning to read and write, of course I LOVE to see all that they are learning and doing. I appreciate it so much more now that I am back teaching school and seeing just how much work it does require.

I wanted to take snapshots of some of the work Wesley has done this month, especially his phrases that he uses for his journal:
1. My favorite ice cream is cinnamon. (He has never even tried that before!)
2. If a cow came to our classroom, it would drink our water bottles.
3. See it, Say it, Write it (he did a great job drawing).
4. Writing up to 100...I love to see his progress with numbers, and writing the date.
5. If I were a duck, I would ask for candy. (I know he would b/c he asks everyday as a boy!)
6. Do you see the moon? It is "out of space."
7. Chickins eat shells. Animals sleep on straw. Cows eat grass two times. (He had help from dad).

Austin can now write his name, and his imagination is very vivid. Every morning he comes in with a new dream. His stick figures actually look like people!



FHE: We taught the boys the importance of earning money and saving it. Wesley decided he wants a Ben 10 toy figure, and Austin wants a new Hulk motorcycle with a light. I was so happy to see Austin write his own name! And his motorcycle isn't so bad either. To earn money the boys have to do extra work(besides making beds, unloading dishes, and hanging clothing): boys pick up dog poop, clean windows, wipe doors, dust and maybe I can get them to start vacuuming.

We have also introduced the boys to a few classic tv shows through www.hulu.com. "He-man, Inspector Gadget (Austin calls it enspected draged), and Thundercats." They LOVE their new heroes and I love that it's clean and fun.

Valentine's Day

Two years ago Wesley made me this adorable V-day card in preschool. I miss his cheeks.

I made pink heart shaped pancakes for my boys with individual name tags. They bi-passed their notes and went straight for the chocolate hearts. Jared gave me a sweet letter and three roses (for each of my boys). I do love Valentine's day! A day for a mama to feel special.

Our date this year was spent with April/Dustin Ashton, Leslie/Paul Boley and Niki/Mike Thrower. We made the trek out to Tempe to enjoy a night out dancing (after much persuasion and planning). We ate some yummy Mongolian BBQ at a little joint. We were piling it on with lots of veggies, noodles and frozen sliced meat. It was so cool to see them cooking it in 2 minutes in front of you! I went out on a limb and had some Caffeine Free Diet Coke (which I was later teased about) to help me stay awake.

So, with our dancing heels on, tight jeans and cute dates we headed out to go dancing....only to come to find out that one of our friends had forgotten their ID at home. Doh! We weren't able to get in! I was dissapointed for sure. So after picking up my excitement off of the pavement, we headed over to Bahama Bucks for a shaved ice. With not much else to do, it was back to the Ashton's house for Leslie's chocolate chip cookies and Guitar Hero. We rescheduled dancing. More importantly was the great company, my dear girlfriends and Jared.

Isaac

My sweet 13.5 month old baby is growing up so quick. He is NOT walking, but can speed crawl. He is learning how to stand up (not on his own either) and put the muscle where it needs to go. I love the happy faces he gives whenever he toddles back and forth between our arms and he thinks it's so funny to be walking!

He loves balls and can throw them up into the air. He also loves to put on hats and sunglasses (and can do it correctly!) He also raises one or two arms up in the air while eating and we always raise our hands up as well, which he thinks is hilarious.

I do love his naked bum, wrinkles and dimples. I am his mama and therefore I have to put up these pictures for my memory! I love squishing his cheeks together when I am changing him and chasing him on the floor.

He is a solid 24.5 lbs and has a lot of weight to carry! He doesn't do well with textures; strawberries, watermelon, applesauce, cantaloupe, yogurt/oatmeal combo, grapes, peaches (now that I am writing this down, maybe he doesn't like fruit? But he does like them pureed).

He sits on his knees a lot and loves to clap. I love to see how confident and mobile he is becoming. I hope I can take snapshots in my memory of his laughter and cheesy grins.

Lake Pleasant

We loaded up the boys on President's Day to go to Lake Pleasant and meet up with the Boley family. This is why we live in AZ! So we can enjoy 7o degree weather in February. It was gorgeous scenery with the cactus, blue lake, green vegetation and rocks. Jared, "fished" (got a farmer's tan and had no bites), while the boys hiked around and threw sticks in the water for Wrangler. I was sure happy to have our pick up truck for Isaac to crawl hang out in, since dirt is not ideal for crawling.

Chili, FHE and a later bedtime made the night.