Proud Mama

Compassion

Alex was awarded the Timber Creek Colt Community medal at this month's award ceremony.

The award is given to one student in each grade level who shows the school's virtue of the month. This month, compassion. The kids focus on the virtue by incorporating it into their lessons. One of the assignments was to write their own definition of the virture.

Alex wrote, Compassion is when my little brother fell down the stairs and broke his head. I helped him feel better. He had to stay in the hospital for 3 weeks. I stayed at my Grandma and Grandpa's with their crazy dog. So, my Mom and Dad could take care of my brother.

It is interesting to hear his take on Ivan's surgery.

He had to stand on the stage next to the principal while she read his definition. His cheeks are still red. So proud of my guy.

Dear Santa,

Al's letter.

While we were decorating the tree, we noticed Alex sitting at the island. He said he was writing his letter to Santa. He hand-delivered it to Santa after some coaxing and encouraging from us. He was afraid Santa would think some of the words were spelled wrong and that it might not be good enough. Santa read the entire letter and told Alex his letter was wonderful.

Alex also asked how Santa got to Kansas City (he was looking for a red light in the sky on the way to Crown Center). Santa replied that he came by sleigh, but Rudolph was sick at the North Pole, with a reindeer version of the swine flu!

Christmas Magic. Alex in unwavering in his belief of Santa this year.

If you double click on the letter, it will enlarge.

Merry Christmas!

Ivan's 4th Family Day

Four Years!

He has changed every day of those 4 years.
Except for 1 thing... he is still obsessed with Santa and everything Christmas.
So, once again, we went to Crown Center to see Santa on his Family Day.
He told Santa he wants balloons... again. 
And, of course, we ate dinner at the Crayola Restaurant, because they have balloons.

Happy Family Day Little Bear.

We love you endlessly.

stories

Ivan's Story

Mommy, Zoe cryin' and whinin' on the bus.

What made Zoe cry?

Zoe sad.

What made Zoe sad?

I don't know.

What did you do?

I ask Zoe, "Why you sad Zoe?".

What did she say?

Zoe say, "I miss my mommy".

What did you do?

I give Zoe hug.

and...

Zoe still cryin' and whinin' and cryin' and whinin'.

I say Zoe, "Why you still sad and whinin' and cryin'?".

I hug Zoe again.

Hmmmm, actually Zoe no miss her Mommy...I pull Zoe hair.

This is the first time Ivan told me a story.

Hope it isn't a sign of things to come.

Ho, Ho, Ho, Happy Halloween

homemade costumes

gotta love their imaginations

Alex's classmates didn't believe him when he told them he was going to be a trash can, until they saw the can. Ivan loved the parade. He led all 60 preschool kids down the hallways, waving and saying, "Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas, ummm Happy Halloween".

that's my boy

The Kansas City Star's House + Home section had a feature on modern fireplaces. Ivan got to be in the picture, we were trying to hide the fact that there weren't any logs in the fireplace.

http://www.kansascity.com/living/home/story/1493720.html

KU Camp

 Cole Aldrich

Sherron Collins
Glad to see he is feeling comfortable with the players...

I'm loving the arm on Sherron's shoulder!

Alex was trash talking, so he was first to try to guard Cole.

"I can take you!"

worn out

Ernie too -

new clothes

Mom, please wash it again. In NEED to wear it tomorrow.

thank you, thank you Papa and Grrrmama

"pressing hot sticky tar"
in honor of Dig, Dig, Digging

( my new favorite picture of Ivan)

my turn

finally.

Ivan's first day of preschool at Timber Creek.
In his prayer tonight,
"thank you for the bus, thank you for Timber Creek, thank you for the big bus, thank you for my new school and the bus (insert Ivan's air brakes sound effect), thank you for ummm, hmmm, whatever, thank you for the bus (more sound effects) in Jesus name I pray."

happy

I love knobby knees and boy legs.

*Mrs. Noble and Alex *
I love that Al is thrilled to be back at school.

I love this kid.
I get to be his mom.
I am one lucky girl.

Al's first day of 2nd grade.
butterflies? Nope, Al said he had alligators chomping in his stomach.

Slo-Mo

Slip and Slide.

One of the many reasons why I love the burst mode on my camera.

can I keep him? PLEEEEAAASE!

Yep, you can keep him. Al caught a lizard at the lake, we gave him a new home in an old pop bottle and caught a few crickets for it. Poor schizophrenic lizard, he was Billy Bob, Bobby, Butler, Lizard and several others before he was officially named Wheat Thin. We found out Wheat Thin was female northern fence lizard who needed quite a bit of care. She didn't even last 24 hours at home. We were planning on keeping her until we could release her next time we got to the lake. Not sure why she died so quickly, could have been too cold at night, not enough water or crickets. My guess is that she was really tired of having her pop bottle shaken! So, we were off with shovels to bury her in an empty lot. Oops, Al dropped her tiny body on the way to the burial site, we haven't seen her since!

summer

"Some kind of help is the kind of help...we all can do without."

*Marlo Thomas*