Kason turns 4

What?!  How does this happen year after year?  They go by so quickly. 

My dear, sweet Kason,

Every day I look at you and am amazed at how much you have grown.  It seems each day, you lose more of those cute little baby cheeks and turn into a big boy right before my eyes. 

You play sports now...I can't tell you how happy this makes your Daddy.  But, I promise you, that if someday, you no longer love soccer and baseball and hate all sports, for that matter, that your Daddy will be so happy and proud of you.  We both will.  You just finished up your first season of soccer and are set to start t-ball on Saturday.  I'm not sure how much you'll like it, though, because you do NOT want to hit off the tee.  You want the ball thrown to you and you knock it out of the park every time.  You are also turning into quite the little swimmer.  We have been amazed at your progress this summer.  Your favorite game is to chase Mommy or Daddy across the pool.

You started PreK this week.  I can't believe that this time next year, you will be fully immersed in Kindergarten.  I'm not sure what you'll learn there, though, seeing as you already know how to read, you can add and subtract, and you are even learning some Geography.  Regardless, I know you'll love it. 

Your newest addiction is board games.  Your favorites right now are Monopoly, Jr. and Sorry.  And, somehow, you always seem to win.  You were so excited when I told you it would be cold and rainy yesterday, so after swim lessons, we could play any game your little heart desired.

You are one of the greatest blessings we could ever know and we are so proud to be your parents.  You inspire us every day to try harder to be the very best for you and your brother and sister.  We love you so much and can't wait to see what this year has in store for you!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Trampoline for my birthday

Fun at the North Pole

The North Pole - his request for his birthday day

All 3 waiting patiently in line waiting to ride

Noah got to ride a few rides, too

Kason & Grandma

Some other small gifts for the birthday boy

I'm 4!

More cupcakes, please

Just call me Smurf

No, you like Cheeto's face, better???  (no, we don't normally feed our kids junk, btw)

Uncle Lyn

Spencer, Kason, Megan, & Emmy jumping

Aunt Fifi, Uncle Lyn, and Aunt Josie

Curious George cupcakes

Let me help you with that, Noah

Remember that board game obsession we were talking about earlier?

Yes, Emmy got presents for the boys' birthdays, too

The Fergels Visit

This is old....several months old, actually.  But, I just realized that I never posted pics from the Fergels visit.  We were so happy to see them and meet their precious little girl, Aurea when they were in Colorado a couple of months ago and are excited to see them again when we head to Tucson in January.

New Pics

Noah turns 1

July 4, 2012 - Happy 4th of July and Happy 1st birthday, little man!

I can't believe a whole year has gone by since I first held you in my arms.  You have been the greatest surprise of our lives.  We didn't know you were missing until we had you and now we can't imagine this place without you.

You have been the happiest, easiest baby.  You love books and insist we read to you several times a day (just like your big brother did at your age).  You are walking now and love that you are finally a 'real' part of the action.  You love your brother and sister (and like to take away their toys, too) and go back and forth between being a daddy's boy and a mommy's boy.  You are still nursing, though, so primarily, you are a momma's boy. :) 

In the past few weeks, you have had a word explosion and you will repeat just about any word we say to you.  Some words we know you say:  kick (as you chase your ball around the house kicking it), scoot (as you wiggle down the stairs), up, all done, hat, outside, Maggie, Daddy, no no (of course), juice (what you call anything in a cup), quack, neigh, night night, hi and bye.  I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones that come to mind...still no mama or mommy, though (unless nana counts).

You could spend all day everyday content with a ball.  Before you could walk, you would get so mad if mommy didn't take you around the house holding your hands so you could kick it repeatedly.  Daddy has high hopes that you will share the same love for soccer that your big brother is currently displaying. Now, you kick, throw, etc and it can entertain you for hours. 

You blow and give kisses (even to the crying baby in one of your books).  Speaking of, one of your new favorite things to do is snuggle one of Emily's baby dolls.  It doesn't entertain you for long, but you do love to snuggle.  You have always been a snuggler, so this isn't much of a surprise.  You also love to shake your booty and feel your hair whip around as you shake your head back and forth.  I have a feeling you will have your shaggy locks for as long as mommy and daddy get to decide what kind of haircut you have.

You are one of a kind, amazing, sweet, smart, and the perfect addition to our family!  We love you more than you'll ever know!  Happy, happy birthday, firecracker!



* Some pics from the big day - unfortunately, none from the main event, though, which was the sprayground.  Noah love love LOVES the water and had a blast*

Opening gifts

He had helpers, of course

Oh yeah, choo choo is another of his new favorite words

Picked up Spiderman cupcakes at Walmart b/c the real party is in August

Noah walks

He's been 'walking' for a few weeks now, as in able to string together 10 steps or so and walk across the living room.  He is just now deciding, though, that he's going to use it as his primary mode of transportation.  :)

Potty Training, take 2

My big girl and her beautiful smile

So, in case you didn't know or forgot, we attempted to potty train Emily before we left Texas.  It was a no-go.  She wasn't ready and we were so stressed with the move, that we were not as a patient as necessary.  We decided to put it off a couple of months and pick it up again later.

Kyle had a work trip scheduled at the beginning of May, so my mom decided to come out and help me with the kids for a week.  I figured what better time to potty train than when I had a whole week's worth of help.  It turned out to be much easier than expected.


This time, I decided to modify our 3-day potty training approach.  I bought a couple of books that Emily loves and set a timer.  We did still ditch the diapers and go straight to undies, though.  I also reminded her every minute or two to tell mommy when she needed to go potty.  If there was an accident, we rushed straight to the potty.  One of her books, Duck Goes Potty, really helped the whole process.  I set a timer on my phone to go off every 15 - 20 minutes.  I just so happen to have a duck timer on my phone, so this was perfect.  She would race to the potty with her book, exclaiming that duck said it's time to go potty.  After a few successes, duck wasn't necessary anymore (but, she still liked to hear the timer so we kept it going for a few days).

By day 2, we were down to very few accidents and by day 3, we were at the zoo - no accidents at all.  She now goes to the potty all on her own and tells us whenever we are out and about. 

In more recent news, she is also paci-free now.  After several failed attempts of getting rid of the paci (she even used 'broken' pacis that we cut the tips off of), she bit her tongue one day last week.  She cried that her paci hurt her tongue that night, so we told her to just hold her paci.  She never realized that her tongue had healed and was convinced her paci would hurt her tongue.  So, after a few days of holding it to go to sleep, she threw it in the trash.  Hasn't asked for it since.  She's getting so big!  All that's left before she attains full big girl status is transitioning from her crib (I don't see this one happening any time soon, though).  :)

Back in the saddle...

...the blogging saddle, that is.

There has been so much going on around here and I have been so terrible about updating the blog.  But, I am determined to get back to it.  So, here we go:

A little run-down of the goings-on of the summer (many of these will get their own post with lots of pics) -

1.  Soccer - Kason started soccer a few weeks ago and he is an all-star!  And, no, I'm not biased at all.

2.  Swimming lessons - Kason has also started swimming lessons.  He loves it and is doing very well.  I'm sure he'll be a little fish in no time.

3.  VBS - Kason just finished up VBS last week.  Again, he had a great time and is really looking forward to starting up pre-school again in September (can you believe he'll be in preK???).  Emily will also start a Children's Day Out program in September.  She was very upset that she could not attend VBS, so I'm sure she'll love school in the fall.

4.  Noah got his first haircut.  It was a teeny-tiny trim, but much needed.  He needs another one now.  :(  I love his shaggy locks!

5.  Noah turned 1!  What?!  Where in the world did the last year go?

6.  Emily is 100% potty-trained.  This is actually from May.  I potty trained her, with the help of my mom, while Kyle was away in Vegas on a work trip.

7.  We've had a few visitors, but were especially glad to catch up with the Fergels and meet their precious little girl, Aurea.  We are excited to plan a trip to Tucson in the coming months.

I know I have a million more things to talk about, but these are the biggies.  Individual posts are coming soon.

Just hangin' at home

I'm trying to get the kids out of the house more and involved in more activities (i.e., gymnastics, soccer, swimming lessons, playgroups, etc), but we still spend a lot of time at home. So, enjoy some pics of our down time.

*I was playing with my camera and Emmy made the perfect model*

Playing in the sandbox - they hate that giant blue shovel

Pretty sure she wanted me to stop taking pics here

They love to have lunch out on the deck

At Dinner tonight...

Emily looked at Noah as he was eating his spaghetti and said, "Oh, NoNo, you a messy boy.  What we gonna do with you?".  Then, she flashed the cutest little grin you've ever seen.  :)