Visit from Grammy and Pappy

My parents came out for a visit the end of Sept., beginning of Oct.  As always, it was a wonderful time together.

 

Grammy and Adam, wearing the hat she brought for the boys

 

 

 

The boys had “rediscovered” the swings and Alex had gotten over his fear of heights (the fear only existed on the swings!) and they couldn’t get enough of Pappy’s assistance!

 

 

The four of us in Michigan at the Bakosh’s cabin

 

 

 

Pappy watching and helping Alex do one of his favorite things, spell words.  I think he was spelling Grammy, then he did Pappy.

  

Leaving too soon!!!!

Alex’s 4th birthday

Alex turned 4 on Sept. 20th.  We had a small party, just the four of us, and surprised him with a decorated house.  He loves parties!

 

walking into the eating area and reacting to the decorations

 

 

 

 

At the time he was really into a classic Mickey Mouse DVD so that was our theme.

 

 

We had a really hard time finding a gift for him because there just isn’t one thing he is into.  He loves Wii and computer games - basically anything electronic with a screen!  I don’t think he cared about the clothes but he seemed happy with the gifts we picked out.

 

Wii Mario Kart car

 

 

 

 

 

Razor scooter just like Adam’s

 

 

Gotta give it a try!!

Now, time for the most important thing . . . cake!!!!

 

Mickey was invited to the party!

 

 

 

 

The best part of a party, as far as Alex is concerned!!  Happy Birthday, Munchie!!!!!

Omaha Zoo with Grandma and Papa

We were in Omaha, NE in August for the wedding of one of Travis’ best friend’s, Keith Swanson.  It was a quick trip but we couldn’t leave without a visit to the Henry Doorly Zoo.  Trav and I haven’t been in years and were so excited to go back.  It truly is one of the best zoos I have ever been to and I’ve been to San Diego and Sydney, Australia.

 

Travis and I have a picture of us sitting on these lions probably 12 or 13 years ago!  The desert dome, in the back, was not built then.

 

 

 

 

 

The cats were so active that day.  This snow leopard had been staring at the window as if she was watching us!

 

 

This gorgeous little one was born on June 22nd (Carey’s birthday).  Just adorable!!

 

 

 

When we walked by about 30 minutes later, we watched her wake up, stretch and step over mom to eat.  Of course, mom never budged! 

 

 

 

On a train that took us around the zoo – probably Alex’s favorite part!!

 

 

The rest of these are in the Leid Jungle.

 

 

Funny Adam conversations

This is the conversation I overheard one morning.  My 5 1/2 yr. old talking to his best buddy, Will (also 5 1/2) - "Hey, Will.  Do you know what your nuts are?  They are your testicles.  You know, those round things by your penis and when you squeeze them it hurts your stomach?  Those are your nuts!"  I found out later that he had asked Travis the night before what your “nuts” are.  And Adam came up with the hurting your stomach realization on his own!

We jokingly tell Adam that we don’t want him anymore and we are going to throw him in the trash can.  He’s comment to me one day when I said that to him, “Well, Mom, I’m going to throw you in the recycling bin and they are going to make something new out of you!”  I’m quite impressed at his understanding of recycling!

Adam has a lot of questions about God and Jesus (and LOTS of other things!).  He asked us once who God’s father was and I tried to explain that God didn’t have a mother or father, God was always here.  He must of not been satisfied with my answer because the next time we went to church, and he went up to the altar with the other kids to get his kids bulletin, he asked the priest the very same question!!  The priest announced this to the church and then gave him the answer – that God is the only person without a mother or father.

Always interesting with Alex

Alex seems to continually find ways to make us laugh and remind us of just how bright he is.  We often say grace, but sometimes add our own “personal” prayer (our friends, Rick and Laura, often do a personal grace and the boys have noticed).  So at times, I or Adam have said our prayer.  Now Alex likes to do it.  He’s prayer usually goes something like, “Thank you God, mumble, mumble, mumble thank you for the Wii, mumble, mumble, and outside, mumble, mumble, and the slide, mumble, mumble, Amen!!  It’s so adorable because he folds his fingers and puts his head down and everything!

Old McDonald is such a great song.  Tons of animals to sing about, right?  Alex has to take it up a notch.  We started singing this before bed and I let Alex pick the animals.  He picks 5 as I’m singing and then I go through all the sounds at the very end.  He starts with farm animals, but then decided to add a giraffe.  I asked him what sound a giraffe made and he said “mmmm”. That apparently is also what a zebra and butterfly says.  Then he said that Old Mc Donald has a humpback whale on his farm!!  The noise a humpback whale make is “ah-oooo”, which is actually from a Diego show.

So I’m preparing myself for new animals but he changes it on me.  Did you know that the farmer has lots of instruments?  Like a guitar, piano, horn, accordion, etc.!  Coming up with those sounds are pretty funny!!

Alex has been the in the state of a kiss can cure anything.  Which is adorable, especially when he bumps his head and he tells us he hurt his hair!  And he loves kissing us when something hurts, too.

This happened a few months ago but still makes me laugh.  Milt and Carol were hear for a visit and he was trying to get Milt to play Wii.  Milt said that papa doesn’t know how to play.  So Alex handed him the instruction manual!!

First day of school

We weren’t ready for summer to end but were so excited to get back to school.  Adam started kindergarten at Prairie Point Elementary (go Panthers!).  He is in the half-day program, afternoon class, with Mrs. Huddlestun.  As excited as he was to start, once we got to school, he was a little nervous and apprehensive, but he’s doing well.

 

 

Daddy was off that day so he was able to go with us.

 

 

 

Alex started a few days later.  He is back at Brokaw Early Learning Center (yeah, Bluejays!) and we are so happy to have him with Mrs. Howell again, he’s teacher last year.  Though he is so familiar with the place, he wasn’t too happy to walk in the first few days but is now back to his routine.

 

He likes carrying his back pack this year!

 

 

Waiting inside to walk down the hall way to his room.

Adam lost his first tooth!!!!

Adam first noticed his loose tooth a few months ago, right before a dentist appointment.  She informed us that we would probably have a few months before it would come out.  A eek ago, I checked it and it was really loose.  He attempted to eat corn on the cob and it hurt too much (poor guy started to cry because he loves corn on the cob!).  I laughed and said that a Jimmy John’s sandwich (Adam’s favorite) would probably do the trick.  For those of you who don’t have Jimmy John’s, it’s an awesome sandwich shop in our area.  Adam loves their white rolls and they are a bit tough.  When he gets the sandwiches, he always saves half of it for the next day.  Day two of the sandwich,  Adam is eating and says, very calmly, “Mom, my tooth just came out!”, and he proceeds to show me the tooth now in his fingers.  The best part of the story is after we quickly check out the tooth and  the empty spot in his mouth, he says his mouth hurts, so he drinks some water, swishes it around his mouth, says, “that’s better” and then finishes his sandwich!!  And then we call Daddy.

Thanks to Auntie Colleen, he has a super cute tooth pillow.  We prepared for the arrival of the tooth fairy.  I’m honestly not sure who was more excited, possibly me!  The next morning, he wakes up, wanting to watch Lilo and Stitch, saying nothing about the tooth fairy – it drove me nuts!!  So I mention, about 2 hours  later, “how does your mouth feel?”  Then he remembers the pillow.  The tooth fairy thought the first tooth deserved an extra bounty so he received 5 $1 bills.  And that’s what he told me, “Mom, she didn’t leave me money, just bills.”  So I had to explain to Adam that bills are worth more than quarters!  Goodness!!