First Day of School

Patrick had his first day of preschool for the 07-08 school year. He is at San Tan Montessori again, but in a new classroom with a new teacher. Ms. Teresa seems awesome so far and I am excited about the new year. Many of his friends from last year are in same class with him again. In fact, his best buddy, Evan is in there! He will attend Monday/Wednesday/Friday mornings. So Aaron and I will have about 3 hours together! I think today went well. He came home covered in FLOUR! They had a flour sifting activity. That meant more laundry for Mom as he couldn't keep that shirt on and had to change. You'll notice the Bengals jersey he wore for his first day. (Compliments of Uncle Bernie and Aunt Teri)

Silly Willy Stories

Patrick just completed another class with Ms. Kathi. This was a fun one. They read "silly" stories and did projects/activities to go along with the books. They read How I Became A Pirate ( I think that was it anyway) and got to dress up as pirates.

Camping in Flagstaff

Well, we survived our first camping outing alone. We stayed at a KOA in Flagstaff, about 3 hours away. It had bathrooms and showers! (This was a must for me!) We arrived about 5:30 Friday night and Mike got everything set up and then grilled brats for dinner. Patrick enjoyed the playground right across from us. He wasn't thrilled to go initially as he thought that the Schuhmachers from WI should join us too! (We had only camped with them before.) He got over that though when he met a new friend at the playground. It was a bit chilly at night dropping into the 50s for sure. Not too bad though. It was nice Sat. morning when we got up, but by about 11 it began to rain. We sat in the camper and Mike read and I cropped photos. That part was ok. When it let up we headed out to see the Meteor Crater. That was interesting. Too bad the weather didn't cooperate. It was rather windy and rainy by the time the guided tour was to take place and they cancelled it. Oh well. We drove back into town and ate at the brew pub. Back at the camper Mike and I played the Archie Bunker card game. It was rather fun. I began raining again and I had a hard time sleeping with the continual PING PING on the camper. The boys didn't seem to have any problems at all. Just me I guess. Not fond of it at home and didn't like it there either. Luckily it stopped raining before morning so things weren't too wet and we could get packed up. Headed toward home and stopped at Montezuma Well. That was interesting. Maybe we'll see the castle next time. It POURED part of the way home and then by the time we hit Phoenix it was blue skies and over 100 degrees. Overall it was a nice time. We have another trip planned the second weekend in August with another attorney and his family.

Three Months Old

Our baby is three months old today. His smiles are coming more often and are so cute. He has rolled over both ways and is now sleeping better in the night. He actually had a six hour stretch the other night. He is also getting a tooth. We can see the edge of it coming through.
He is sporting his second Harley onesie and is holding onto his Grand Canyon bear! (compliments of Uncle Dan!)

Janis Joplin - Cry Baby (live in toronto 1970)

Play this w/ screaming baby in background. Really, it works.

Summertime Fun and More

Aaron in his "Car" in the pool. Patrick loves it too so likes to share it.

Patrick sure loves his brother!

Aaron is looking cool in his shades riding in his fish boat.

When it's 100+ degrees in AZ you have to find something to do in order to keep children occupied. So we spend LOTS of time in my parents' pool. Patrick LOVES to be in the water and plays hard while in it. He and Papa play games and race. Patrick likes to cheat in order to win and then gets mad when Papa wins. He says he doesn't like it when Papa "cheats." Aaron likes the water as well and is often asleep in the water at some point or another. Papa is pretty good at getting him asleep in the pool! He's very content and when he's sound asleep enough we put him in the recliner on the patio to nap. It's a good thing Aaron likes the water or we'd be in trouble! Patrick would be in the pool ALL the time if he could. When not in the pool we try to find fun things to do indoors. As shown in a photo above, we went to Build A Bear Workshop with Patrick's friend, Evan, and Evan's sister, Reagan. They made Shrek that day and had a great time. We have also gone to McDonald's to play at the play area for some fun. Patrick is in his second level of swimming lessons and is doing well. Tomorrow night he begins VBS for the entire week for 2 1/2 hours each night. This will be his first experience with VBS. Hope it goes well. I begin teachigng Study Skills camp at Sylvan on Tues-Thurs nights this week and next. Pray it goes well and that the boys do well. They will be with Nana and Papa or Daddy depending on the night. I hope Aaron takes the bottle better than the last time I worked. I have only been away from him twice so far. So I am excited about teaching the camp, but not about being away.

OH, AARON has ROLLED over again! This past week he rolled from back to belly. He doesn't roll often which is ok by me for now. Otherwise he'll be all over the place!

Fourth of July

We had a nice day. We headed over to my parents' house for pool time and grilling out. Mel and Brett joined us after a visit to Urgent Care (Brett hurt his ankle). The boys both really like the water. Patrick can spend hours in the water, but likes it best when there is someone in there to play with him. He invents games to play and also the rules that go with them. In the early evening we came home. Mom and Mel joined us to watch the fireworks. We were able to see them from two churches nearby. Aaron even seemed to be watching them and never flinched at the noise. Patrick thought they were pretty. It was a nice day to spend with family.

Aaron is wearing his "Fourth of July" outfit that Grandma bought for him. He's too cute!

Aaron's Bad Mood

Aaron fell asleep in a bad mood and wasn't afraid to tell the world how he felt.