Zachary's Great Day

Last Friday Zachary told me he had had one of the best days ever. And it truly was an awesome day for him! It started off with a bang when he received an award that morning at the first assembly of the year. We were so excited to find out that it was for his artwork! He works at home everyday on his drawings and it has been amazing to see him get better and better and to watch his passion for art grow. Having someone else outside the family recognize that right away is super exciting!

Later that day he won the estimation jar! Every week his teacher fills the jar with a food item. Each child in the class gets to guess how many items they think are in the jar. The child with the closest number to the actual one wins and gets to take the contents of the jar home. This week Zachary's number was the closest and he got to take home a bag full of cheese Ritz Bitz!

When I picked the boys up I also found out that he had won their weekly class raffle and was able to pick a prize out of their treasure box! Both boys also received green all week (meaning perfect behavior, no warnings, on time to school everyday, school and homework all completed) and they were able to go to Principals Recess which is a reward for doing all of the things mentioned above. They get extra time to play and can purchase a treat for a quarter. Double awesome!

As if all that wasn't enough for a very cool day, I greeted the boys with the news that we were headed to Disneyland...right then! The screams that followed...priceless! We proceeded to have a great night with Jacob getting to ride Splash Mountain for the first time and all of us getting to ride the seasonally decorated Space Mountain for the first time. I do believe you had a fantastic day Zachary! ;0)

Alexis at 13 Months.

Baby girl has been one for a full month now. We are enjoying her as much as ever. In the past month she has:

*Not grown much. Actually make that the past 4 months! At her one year check up we found out that she only weighed 18 pounds 10 ounces. Not big enough to face forward and only weighing 5 ounces more then she weighed at her 9 month appointment. That puts her in the 10th percentile. She is only 27 1/2 inches which puts her in the 3rd percentile for height. Still baffled at that since Craig and I are both fairly tall. I hope she get s a little more height to her when she's older but for now we are enjoying our tiny girl!

*On that note she is still in all of her 6-9 month clothing and some 9-12. She is still in a size 3 shoe! I have been looking for a size 4 shoe in the stores and am having a hard time. Most hard sole shoes start at a size 5. Since a size 3 is usually worn by a 6 month old they make most of those a crib shoe (soft bottom). I started looking on-line and am currently bidding for a very cute pair of 4's. Now if the person bidding against me would kindly step away from the shoes...that would be great!;0) She also continues to wear a size 3 diaper.

*Right after turning one she said her first word...or words actually. She said Thank you (pronounced Tank-Chew!). Oh my word that was one of the cutest things I had ever heard! I thought it may be a fluke but she kept saying it! She also says "Hi" occasionally while she is waving and will blow kisses. She claps and dances when she hears music...all of which is super cute!

*Looks like she is getting two more teeth. I can see a little bit of white poking through next to each of her top teeth. Once those come in that will be a grand total of six!

*She has started pulling out her hair bows, ties etc. As soon as she realizes they are there, she rips them out. As soon as I try to put it back in, she rips it out again!! Little stinker! Doesn't she know how adorable she looks with piggies? Doesn't she know how excited mommy is to do her little girls hair? Apparently, not so much.

*She's as busy as ever. Roaming the entire house. Shoes, magnets and baby purse contents strewn all over the place. She loves her baby dolls. Loves toys in general. She continues to be very good at playing by herself. Something she needs to teach her youngest brother!

*I love how silly she is getting. Her "sniffy face" is the best! If you haven't seen that you are definitely missing out! She scrunches her nose up and sniffs loudly...it's a family favorite!She even does it on command! Lately she has also been sticking her neck out in a really funny way while looking to the side...it's hilarious to watch. I nicknamed that "The Turtle". She has also started growling, such a goofy baby!

It's fun to see our little girl growing and changing! I can't wait to keep finding out more about her!

Tyler

Tyler's teacher asked us to send in a note about our kids so that she could know a bit more about them. Due to the chaos that is our house I just got that email out to her. Also due to the craziness I realized I never did an update around Tyler's birthday. So, I thought I would post here some of what I wrote to her. We love our boy and are so proud of how he is growing. We are also proud that his teacher calls him "Smiles" and that she constantly says he brightens her day! =0) Here are a few things about Tyler at 8 years old.

Tyler is a smiley guy! He has a very big heart and really likes to please people. If he knows he's done something wrong or really upsets someone, he takes it pretty hard. He is very kind and is usually willing to give things up for his siblings.

Tyler is an avid reader. He can be found at all points of the day with a book in his face! Usually when we can't find him, he's tucked away somewhere with a book. It makes me so happy to see his love for books (I love them too!). His other great passion is video games. If allowed, he would play them all day! That is one of the things that can make him lose all train of thought...when playing that's all he can think about! As a result that is the thing most often taken away from him! He also loves all things Star Wars and has recently become obsessed with Michael Jackson! Hilarious to watch he and his brothers "put on shows" for us!

Often Tyler can seem to be "walking through the clouds". He will daze off and we have to bring him back to Earth! This leads to forgetting to do certain things or losing items such as jackets, glasses etc. As he gets older he has been doing better but there are still times when he is really focused on a book or a game where we really have to put effort into getting his attention! He is also quite a chatter box and loves to let you know about facts that he has recently learned. He is specifically interested in animals and learning all about them.

I am so happy at how sweet and innocent he is. I love that he will still happily watch "Backyardigans" or "Go Diego Go!". He isn't trying to grow up too fast or be older then he needs to be. Other things he enjoys are riding bikes and scooters, going to Disneyland and Sea World, playing baseball and going out for frozen yogurt. He loves his family and has a good relationship with each of us. I love when he shows concern when one of us is hurting. He will come up to me and rub my back asking, "Does this feel better, Mommy?" Too sweet!