Five years old!

Last week we celebrated Aidan's 5th Birthday! It is hard to believe he could be five. I remember going out to eat at Noodles the night before he was born.

Last year I took Aidan on a date to Chuck E Cheese and gave him a Cars watch. He LOVED his Cars watch and wore it everyday until the plastic band broke. So, I gave him a brand new Cars watch for his birthday. He was equally thrilled with the "collectors" pencil box that it came in! You see Zachary in the background scoping out the loot?!

My talented Mom made the awesome 3D Lightning McQueen cake!

We had a guy from Mad Science do a birthday party show for us. It was really neat and the kids LOVED it.

Aidan chose Tenney and Ethan to race tornadoes with him!

Here the kids were racing to fill the bags with air.

Aidan and Alli playing with their slime that they made during the science show. Aidan tells me he had a great birthday this year! We love you, Aidan. Happy Birthday!

Pledge of Allegiance

This is Aidan's version of the Pledge of Allegiance that he learned at school. I had to videotape it so that I could remember it this way before I let him know not all his words are correct!

Playing in Grove

We took a spontaneous trip to Grove yesterday to play. The kids had a blast swimming in the lake. I am guessing that it will soon be too cool to swim. Thanks for having us Grandma and Grandpa!

Tiny Titans, Season 2

Today we started the second season of the Tiny Titans. The boys had a blast scored lots of goals!

Go Tiny Titans!

Good defense, Aidan!

Watch out kid, here comes the karate shot!

WEEKEND!

Today the boys relaxed and hung out at home all day. It was Aidan's first weekend at home after going to school all week. He likes school (though I believe he will LOVE school later) but it is still exhausting and a big adjustment. He now understands weekends and their importance! The boys had so much fun playing in the backyard!

Nice action shots!

I love these boys!

1st day of preschool

Today was Aidan's first day of school. This year he is going to Salem Lutheran Preschool. It is Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. This is a big change for us but we think it is going to be great! Aidan was so excited. He loved meeting his teacher last week, shopping for school supplies, and meeting other kids that are in his class! Last night we put him to bed at 8 p.m. and he finally fell asleep at 10:30 p.m. I think he was excited and nervous. He woke up perky at 6:30 a.m. as usual!

He was so happy that I remembered to have him wear tennis shoes because those are his favorites!

He was very nice about the many pictures that I wanted to take!

Sitting at his desk in Ms. Kathy's class. I can't wait to pick him up this afternoon and hear all about his day! But for now, Zachary and I are getting ready to go to the park and spend some time together!

Crafty mom

This blog post is mostly for my Mom and my husband. I wanted them to see evidence of my sewing machine in use! So, Aidan needs a SMALL pillow for nap time at preschool this year. School starts Monday and we needed a pillow. The small pillows at the local store are ridiculously expensive for nap time at preschool. So, Aidan and I picked out fabric at Hob Lob and I got to work! Did you think he would pick out any other fabric besides Lightning McQueen?! Have you met my son?!

First I pinned the fabric, then I began sewing and realized I did not pin the right sides together. So, I ripped out the stitching and started over! I did not say I was good at this!

Then, I stuffed it with stuffing stuff (the package says it was downlike comfort-can't beat that!)

Aidan might just be one of the coolest kids at school on Monday! (I say one of the coolest because I know some other equally cool kids at his school!)

Kansas City with my sweetie!

Jake and I were able to take a trip all by ourselves! We arranged childcare with Jake's parents for four days and three nights! We have not done this kind of a trip since before Aidan was born! It was long overdue! We started the trip by going to visit one of my best friends from high school. Kristy and her husband, Travis, have an extraordinary family. They have adopted three children from Ethiopia, three children from Liberia, and have two foster children in their home. These children were precious! It is an organized, loving home. We were so fortunate to be able to stay one night there to really experience life in their home. I felt like our home with our two boys is sometimes more chaotic and stressful than theirs with TEN people in it! This is a picture of the almost two year old, Javante.

Emma and Kamari

Micah

Me and Kristy

After our time with Travis and Kristy, we headed to the plaza. It poured down rain for about 30 minutes. Luckily, summer rain is usually short lived, and we were shopping in no time! We went to eat at a yummy Italian restaurant called Bucca de Beppo on National Lasagna Day. We got a free lasagna which Jake later gave to a homeless guy!

We went to a Royals game! We started off sitting in our assigned seats WAY up high and slowly made our way down to a more comfortable seat!

This is how we celebrated National Cheesecake Day! Half price cheesecakes at The Cheesecake Factory! YUM!

We ate dinner at a fancy schmancy restaurant on the Plaza with one of my best friends from nursing school, Kayla!

We are now planning our next vacation! Love you, Jake!

Random

This is what a storm, that apparently only hit our neighborhood, did to our fence. We have talked to others in Springdale that did not know there was a storm. We had hail, wind, and a monsoon! We were leaving for Kansas City so the Harbor Church guys helped Jake get it back up before we left!

The garden survived!

We ordered t-shirts for The Harbor Church. The boys were a little big!

Robin came to visit with Alli and Rachel. The kids were winding down before bed with movie time!