Summer Break : Week 1 !

We made it through the first full week of summer, hooray! Only five more to go. It was a pretty fast week as we work to keep busy with the heat! :)

First we met with friends to see a summer movie - this is Nate's good pal Lauren, who is sadly moving away from us again very soon :(

Nate just started a cooking class! This class they made smoothies and a meatball/bread skewer. I don't think Nate was excited about either, but was glad to see he tried them at least.

He was so excited to be done with school, but then we've ended up playing it almost every day!

We also had friends over to our house for a playdate and a food blind tasting game - they tasted veggies (broccoli, grape tomato, celery, persian cucumber) and some fruit (grape, kiwi, red mango, horned melon, nectarine). Again I was thrilled that Nate tried everything (I was hoping he would since friends were doing the same!) Out of it Nate likes kiwi and mango, and Aaron likes kiwi, mango, celery and "pickles" (as he calls the cucumbers) I think I need to do another one of these! :)

We made chocolate frosted/sprinkle covered donuts at Krispy Kreme! They were really generous - any donuts we wanted they basically just gave them to us, pretty close to free! Kids loved it.

Donuts, donuts everywhere

Big bucket o' chocolate frosting

Most sprinkles we've ever seen in one place!

We went to the library and checked out books - using Nate's very own (and new) card!

Nate started back up with swim lessons! He was looking forward to it. Once a week through August, we're hoping.

This past weekend was our 9th wedding anniversary! The kids enjoyed some time with their Nana and Pap Pap so we could enjoy quality time together. Dinner, a movie, drinks, pool time...it was grand!

Grandmother (Josh's mom) took the kids to the SeaLife Aquarium. They enjoyed it!

See, busy week :) Bring on Week 2 ! 

Kindergarten Graduation

Oh my gosh...it did not take long at all for the tears to come when we arrived for Nate's kindergarten graduation...but first, some pictures beforehand of the very happy kindergartener-

Teacher said to dress fancy - thus the bowtie came back!

Seems like yesterday we were posing for the first day of school!

Party car!

Before the ceremony started they had a picture slideshow with all this sad music...that's when the tears arrived, especially of course when I saw pictures featuring my little dude :(  Staff came around with boxes of kleenex which I was sure to pickup. I totally didn't think I was going to be emotional but apparently...I had some deep feelings about Nate becoming a first grader! :(

However, once the kids came out to the graduation music (it was so cute, they came down linking arms with classmates versus just walking up on stage on their own) and they started singing some songs they learned, my tears went away,thanks partly to some funny bits. Once they sang that was the end, they all linked arms again and we met up in their classrooms to pickup their report cards and say goodbye to friends and the teacher. So he only had an hour or so of school today.

Some pictures from his ceremony/classroom friends...

Point in which I'm bawling

On stage

Singing

Linking arms with a pal afterwards

We love Ms Lopez- we found out she'll be teaching first grade next year - fingers crossed we cross paths again!

Quite the sharpshooter dudes

Yay!

The three amigos that started the year, now ending the year

Daddy had the morning off, so we went to Nate's favorite celebratory place for lunch afterwards!

We had a little summer "surprise" in the backyard for the boys, to start things off, but I'll save that for my next post ;)

Woods Canyon Lake

The boys had a great weekend camping with our church at Woods Canyon Lake - Aaron's first time! We've tried doing "camping practices" in the backyard with Aaron and he took awhile to settle, so I was nervous to let hubby take him along, thinking everyone would be up all night. To my surprise, I think because they kept so busy!, everyone fell right to sleep at night. Unfortunately because of our wildfires that happen in the summer (no rain + dry shrubs) the boys weren't allowed to have bonfires. In fact, we were even a little lucky that they got to go at all, as there was a small fire in the area that was luckily pretty well contained.

They did a lot of walking around, hiking, met some new friends, fished...and lucky for them too, the weather was even a bit chilly! (but now it's back to 100+ degrees) They're all such outdoorsmen , all in their element. We hope to do it one more time this year.

As for me (and no, need I remind everyone, I can rough it, I just don't care to see any bear wildlife!) I spent some of the weekend doing housework and the other half enjoying the peace...after all, with summer here now there will be less of that! ;)

Aaron's Art Party

Yesterday afternoon we celebrated Aaron's birthday with family and friends - since he had a car themed one last year, we decided on an art one this year! We had kids go to a place called As You Wish, where the kids could paint pottery - so the kids got to make ice cream bowls! Yum. Aaron is still smiling today - he took awhile to fall asleep last night he was so happy!

We made "art masterpiece" cookies and the kids drew on them with food markers

The only way I was able to get a group shot of the kids-playing!

Trying to give hugs to the birthday boy :)

The kids all signed his plate on the back

Aaron was in his glory, getting to paint :)

Just about one more week of school left! It feels so nice to not have anymore homework for the year, already. Nate is looking forward to camping this upcoming weekend and having short days of school left before Summer begins! His mood is getting better the closer we get :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Aaron !!

My smallest dude is now three...wow! I said the exact thing a few weekends ago when I signed him up for preschool in August (!) Before some "turning 3" facts, here's some pix of what we were up to on his grand day... (apologies, phone cameras are not the best!)

For breakfast, I made him a little fruit cake

We went to a park...

We went to a bookstore to read books and play trains...

And went out to dinner to enjoy some of his other favorite food (and dessert!)

So at three (!) years old, Aaron.....

--Is not potty trained. Nate wasn't either and didn't become interested until he was 3.5. Not really showing too much interest, either, but come summer he has a very willing older brother to help! I'm glad I have that going for me at least this time around.

--Much like other siblings I'm sure, likes to copy his older brother. And follow him around like a little puppy dog. Not that it's bad, it's cute, I think :) He just really adores Nathan. Gives him hugs when we drop Nate off in the morning and more hugs as soon as he comes through the school gate in the afternoon. They just have difficulty sharing sometimes...

--Still on a car/train/any mode of transportation love affair. He's been this way since he was even a year old. He absolutely LOVES watching all the cars at Nate's school going through the "drive thru" lane in the morning, dropping kids off. I think if I seriously had a coffee, we could go to a construction site and watch them work, and he'd be thrilled all day.

--Art is the same way. Ever since I put a crayon/paintbrush in his hand, he's become fascinated. He's in an art class right now (and will be having an art themed party this coming weekend!)

--Still love, love his eating habits. If it's anything I've learned with Nate, is to get them on the healthy eating kick right away! Especially trying new foods.

--Currently wants to sleep on the floor, with a lamp on. Yep, I can remember the whole "scared of the dark" phase with Nate. Nate even to this day will rarely sleep without having his desk light on. I don't know why he wants to sleep on the floor....maybe because he's scared of falling off the bed? :( We did take his guards down (and propped up pillows instead) but that hasn't always worked, helping keep him in. With summer close on the horizon, however, it worries me a bit for him to continue to be this way - after all, he did get bit two dozen times on the floor last summer :( And then there's always the worry of scorpions...

--Actually does (!) still nap a few days a week. It still varies how often and maybe even how long. However, most times if he does, it takes a while for him to go to sleep at night. So I know we're in that lovely transition stage! If he doesn't nap he sometimes will also fall asleep in the car.

--Entertains himself quite well. Not that, of course, I leave him for hours, but gosh if I wanted to get a few things around the house done, it's quite nice that he finds himself something to do. To this day Nate is always asking "what he can do" so it's a refreshing change. Bless my little man. Generally he's very go with the flow.

Just so lucky to have this cutie pie! And so excited to celebrate his birthday with friends and family next weekend !