Memorial Day

My 5 boys!



We went to Canyon Lake for Memorial Day. It will be one of our favorite places. We only drove about 30 minutes and ended up at the Randolph AFB area. An area of the lake just for military-Thank you! The water was warm and the sun was hot. The boys had a fantastic time swimming and playing. Anya and I just sat under an umbrella and enjoyed the scenery. It was quickly determined that 1) We should have found this place last summer when we got here 2) We will definitely be buying watercraft/jet skis when Darin gets home and 3) We want to stay in the little shacks as soon as possible.

*On a side note: we will also be reapplying sunscreen at shorter intervals. Playing in the water with all that sun...bad news. My oldest 2 boys got their first real sunburns. They included blisters, crying, and eventually peeling. A bad mom moment, but hey I was worried about the little ones. I told them, they just didn't listen and I didn't push it. It was a lesson learned.


The boys

Sleeping beauty. She looks bigger than she really is in this picture.

Here is one of her feet compared to my thumb. She's a tiny girl.

The Last Week of School/The First Week of Life

The last week of school and the first week of Anya's life unfortunately happened at the same time. Darin was still wrapping up some last minute items at work and so little Anya and I were the cheerleaders for our boys and their activities. Noah tagged along as well, and was great at anything that required clapping. These are the last "Hoooraaah's " of the school year!


Davis and Mrs. Gaytan at the 5th grade honors night.
The spring band concert. Fabulous french horn action was going on. He even played a solo in between the 6th grade songs.

Kindergarten Graduation. Jag and Mrs. Dickson. She fought me for the entire year because I pulled him out 1/2 day. I let him go full time starting the end of April, I am sure she thought that she'd won the fight.


Third Grade Awards program. Christian got the Patriot Award for being nearly perfect in every way! He is a dream student (as are his brothers). He is in the front row, end, in the green shirt.
We also went to the Intermediate School talent show. Davis played his horn. I don't have a picture because he was so nervous I couldn't see his face. He put the music stand right at face height and hid behind it while playing "O, Canada!" Darin, who came straight from work and was in full USAF uniform... found the selection choice funny. Davis can play "America the Beautiful," but he loves his Canadian song. (Talent show was on Davis's birthday, double whammy.)

We also finished up the baseball season. It was a successful season. Davis was recognized for being the fastest kid ever. His coaches enjoyed having him steal bases at crazy times. Like right before the pitcher stepped on the mound to pitch... SAFE!


What a busy last week of school we had. Why did the school's save everything until the last week anyway? We're just really glad that it is all over. I kept saying that Anya needed to come out before the last week of school because there was just too much to do. Fortunately, she listened.

Birthday Stuff for 2

I've been away on a blogcation. I think that having a baby that screams a lot and losing a husband that helps a lot has made blogging more difficult to get to. I am going to quickly catch up with everything that has happened in the last month. Yes, one month ago my life changed and a beautifully loud little girl entered.
Before I get into the baby and life stuff, I must first start with the birthdays that happened.

Jag turned 6!! May 21st wasn't just Anya's birthday, it was my favorite little 6 year old's day too.

He had wanted a jungle cake. The night before his actual birthday, I'd gotten 48 cupcakes made with some ready for school and the rest to be made into his cake. I knew I should have stayed up and finished, but sleep prevailed and well the rest is history. My dad was great at frosting the cupcakes, singing, opening the gifts, and taking the pictures. I still have to get them off of my dad's camera. 6 days after Jag's day is Davis's birthday. I couldn't make Davis a cake if Jag still hadn't gotten his official celebration. So...here is his tiger cake. It isn't beautiful, but he liked it anyway.

Just as "Happy Birthday" was ending and Jag was gearing up for the big blow out the candles moment, Noah gave a big puff... Jag was heartbroken.

Round 2 was a success.
This is the only picture I have of Jag and his gifts. Thanks to a last minute gift from his dad. A headlight to read in bed.


On May 27th Davis turned 11! How quickly they grow. His birthday list was mostly a list of books. He put in his order for an OREO birthday cake. He wanted it to taste and look like a large OREO.
Davis declared it a success! Hurray, it tasted like an OREO.

Books, books, and more books. So happy and excited. (He seriously read at least 5 books in the following 2 days. That's my boy!)

2 birthday's down. 1 blogging baby step. It is going to take me a bit to catch up with the last 4 weeks. I now have a goal to be done with this by the weekend, so don't get too bored with us. I must catch up, it has been bugging me.

Out

Out. That is what I've been since the birth of baby 2 weeks ago. I've been out with the boys and their end of year school stuff. Out with my family making some last minute family memories while we can. Out with one thing or another. I have a billion pictures of the 3 birthdays and the traveling and the blessing. They will all be out of my camera and onto the blog soon. For now, here are a few photos.

BABY

I've been instructed by the boss (a.k.a. Jessica) to post some info on my new baby. I'm sure you won't find it as cutsie, clever, or entertaining as my wife's posts...Baby Anya born 0747 hours on 21 May 10; 7 lbs 3 oz; 19"; cute as button (but also looks like pink little pig); fair amount of what appears to be light colored hair. Must be something about 21 May - that's when we received our last blondie (Jag). More cutsie fun stuff to follow from my wife...

See?

I posted about Noah and his pretend play, but just a bit too soon. I had to take Christian to soccer practice last night and left the boys with the "babysitter" briefly. The babysitter played his french horn a bit too loudly and didn't pay attention to the BIRD that had gotten in the house.

When I walked in the house Noah came running out yelling "I'm a bird, I'm a bird." He had decorated his body to be more birdlike except he made his legs look like a robot's. He was grinning and wanted me to take his picture. He refused to see why he would be in trouble or let me wash the bird off of him.


Even after I was home, he modified his bird face to make it better. I wasn't even playing the french horn, but I was talking to the horn player about babysitting responsibilities... yep, I'm a great example.

And to think that he does this transformation without help or the use of a mirror.


The markers say WASHABLE, but they really aren't. He let me try to rub him clean after Jag told him that the Kindergartners would laugh tomorrow, but I still can't get the bird off of my boy.

My Dog-Cat-Raptor-Monkey-Cheetah

I love my Noah, but he is rarely just Noah. He is always, ALWAYS, something else. He loves to imagine and pretend. Most of the time when he is running it is hunched over, arms in an awkward position, on tip-toes...thus he must be a Microraptor, his favorite dinosaur. He hugs with his whole Monkey body, wrapping his tail around you tightly. He fights as a cheetah with big scratching claws, screams as a bird, and licks like a puppy (I hate that one.).

He also dreams that he is an animal. One morning when I went to wake him, I was completely startled when he popped up from a dead sleep (I thought) and Meowed LOUDLY at me...he was a cat. This morning when I went into his room he rolled over and laughed. Then said, "This puppy (referring to himself) is the cutest puppy." "Go ahead, scratch his back."

See Mom, I have a lot of pets and I really love them. My kids aren't deprived, I've given them an amazing, changing pet.