Dallin turns TWO!

Let him eat cake.

...and grapes!

I made his favorite dinner...pizza and grapes. He was one happy little guy.

We had lots of baloons to play with, and the kids kept calling the baloons "babies". Here is Alyssa with all her "babies". So cute!

Even Dallin wanted a baby!

And of course, the little party horns were a huge hit, as always. There were several horn wars between the kids and Jason, but Jason won, hands down, when he brought out his coyote caller.

Dallin didn't know how to blow the horn, so he just made the noise himself. You can sort of see it on the video at the bottom.

Bryson found a nice comfortable spot to read midst all the confusion.

I totally did the easy-way-out cake this year, but I don't think Dallin cared.

Only two candles on the cake, it looked kind of strange.

Blowing out the candles - it took him a few tries.

Sarah Avalos came for the celebration, and brought with her...

....a toy bus!!! He tried hard to wait patiently as she unhooked everything.

And here's a few videos...Dallin opening Grandma Marilyn's presant...







Dallin playing with his new Elmo toy...










And Dallin eating grapes...

Such a wonderful birthday for such a cute little guy. I love my little Dal, he brings so much color to my life...in a good way. :)

Letter from Cory's teacher

So, for a Cory update on how he's doing at school, I got the following letter from his teacher (Mrs. Chavez) today...

"Cory has been having some difficulty the last couple days, crying and saying he misses his mom. I then offer to let him draw you a picture or sit somewhere else so that he can take a break. He has not really been completing the assessments I have given the class either. We have been doing a lot of assessments and I am hoping that once we are done with this, he will not feel so stressed and participate in class more. At one point this afternoon, he was crying and so I just had him get up and hold my hand while I walked around the room helping other students. That calmed him down and in less than a minute he went back to his seat and felt better. He has been enjoying reading time and really does a great job during partner reading. He also participated during math time this afternoon, which he enjoyed and finished with some help."

So, not GREAT, but not BAD either. I still consider this success. I really like his new teacher so far.

Also, I got a call from Bryson's teacher (Mrs. Wood) today as well. For a history, occasionally Bryson gets into a funk, and there is no talking him out of it. He will sit and pout and glare and tear up any sheet of paper that is given to him. For a long time I attributed it to the "terrible three's", but it has been an ongoing problem. (Any of his primary teachers will know what I'm talking about) I think it may be a learned behavior from dear older brother, at least I hope it is. Well, today Bryson got into one of his little moods at school, and the teacher wasn't quite sure what to do with it. He wouldn't come in to class, then he wouldn't do an assignment, then he wouldn't get on the bus. She called me with some ideas, asking my opinion, and seeing if I had any other recommendations. It sounds like she's on the right track, but I've got to say, I'm embarassed to have BOTH my kids acting up. Other mothers of school-age children out there, is this normal to have kids acting up at school??? I pray there isn't something "different" about Bryson too!!

Back to School

Please forgive my pictures, I had to get the kids to the bus stop by 7:20, so there simply was not enough time to take good ones. We literally almost missed the bus taking the pics we got!

Today wasn't technically the first day of school, but sadly, Bryson ended up with strep throat on the first day, and Cory and Bryson were both sick on the second day. Not exactly the liberating week I had pictured, but today they were able to make it to school, thanks to a wonder drug called amoxocillin.

Everyone in their backpacks.

Brothers going to school! Cory into 1st grade, and Bryson into Kindergarten!!!




Big boy Bryson, the kindergartener!



Getting on the bus! Bryson's climbing in, and Cory's right behind him. While in the car, Cory told Bryson, "Don't worry, I'll show you where everything is at school." Bryson couldn't have a better big brother.

And here's poor Dallin wishing he could get on the bus. Give it a few years, bud, it'll happen. I allowed Dallin to wear a backpack too, so he could feel like a big boy.

Cory and Bryson rode the bus, and I drove, and when I got to the school, I couldn't find them. I looked and looked. By the time I found them, Cory had already gotten Bryson to his class, and he was waiting in line for his own class. What a big brother!

Here's Bryson being lead by his teacher in front of the line (in the yellow). His first day in class, and he gets to be the line leader! Cool!

So proud!

Also, I have to tell my triumphant story of Cory's first day of 1st grade!

First of all, let's refresh. Here is the whole story, but the short version is: Last year, I got a call half way through the day saying that I needed to come to the school. Cory was just too overwhelmed to function. I literally saw him run, screaming down the hall being chased by three teachers. For the next several months I routinely picked him up after lunch.

This year, he found his class all by himself, and when I got there he was waiting in line, very happy to be a first grader. He went in without a fuss, and I didn't get any calls from the school. :)!! When I asked him how he did at school he said "I fussed a little at school and a lot on the bus." Well, considering what happened last year, I'd consider that a HUGE success. I am eager to talk to his teacher (who I really like!!) and hear the "real" report. I am so proud of him!

Good thing mud is washable

When you're stuck without a cooler in AZ, you've got to get creative about how you're going to cool yourselves off.

Hey, it works for rhinos, so why not kids???

Yeah, so our swamp cooler (which I have never loved) finally gave up and stopped working, well, it works on "low", but that's all. Since we're doing the work ourselves, it takes a little big longer to fix. It's not too bad, actually, but when the kids get to complaining that it's hot, I have to come up with SOMETHING to cool em off, right? We usually do baths in the middle of the day or go to my parents house to bask in their AC, one day I cleaned the carpets (between that and the fans, it actually worked pretty well), and today was roll-in-the-mud day. ha ha ha Don't judge me.

Bryson stayed remarkably clean. I later learned that it was because he was the one throwing the dirt on everyone. Sneaky.

Gotta love being a mom.

Bryson's Halloween Idea

Today over breakfast Bryson told me he wants to be Jesus for Halloween. Oh dear. Hopefully this idea will pass.

Anyway, thought it was funny, had to post.

Bryson, the birthday boy

Yep, he did it!

Bryson turned 5!!!

On July 19th, we were able to have a day full of celebration! What a wonderful kid he's been! Seriously, such a joy! I couldn't be luckier!

He was able to open one presant before church....

He got a stylin' camo backpack for kindergarten.

(Yeah, I know, he's a total cutie!)

And here are the boys all gussied up ready for church.

After church, we got home and did presants right away.

Here he is opening a presant from Grandma Marilyn.

And from Daddy, he got....

GUNS!!!!!

And from Mom....

COWBOY BOOTS!!!

Aunt Isha (Shelisa) came over in preparation for

CAKE TIME!!!

Shelisa and I attempted to make a brownie-ice cream cake, with two layers of brownie and mint chip ice cream inside. The idea worked a lot better in our heads, but Bryson was still a happy camper.

Bryson is such a joy, we're honored to be part of his birthday celebration!!!

And here is Dallin doing one of the saddest birthday dances I've ever seen.

but no worries, before long he passed out completely...

I know I'm Bryson's mom, so I'm biased and all, but Bryson seriously is one of the best kids you will ever meet. He's so patient with us all, it's incredible. He's smart and sweet and handsome and well-behaved. I always call him my joy, because that's truly what he is. I just have to express how happy and proud I am to be his mom.

Happy birthday, bud, I love you!!!

Old Pictures

So, I have had pictures stored on my camera (not the card, but the camera itself) for a very long time without the know-how to load them onto my computer. Well, I was bored while Cory was in his appointment, so I was messing around with my camera, and TA DA....I figured it out - although if I had to do it again, it's anyone's guess if I could figure it out again.

So, here are some old pictures. This group is from last summer when we went to visit John at his work.

Cory on John's lap driving a backhoe.

Bryson on Matt's lap on another piece of equipment (I want to call it a loader?)

And John, showing off his stuff to his kids and wife

The next couple pictures are of my grandparents when they visited our house while we were in Escrow, over two years ago, I think I was about 6 weeks pregnant with Dallin when these were taken.

Banana and a rose from our rose bush. That plant is like three times that size now.

Snow storm in 2006, the kids just look so little!!!

Cory building a snow-goat with Nanny's help.

Bryson and Nanny with the snow-goat.

Bryson (looking a lot like Dallin does now) at 2 1/2 years old, all bundled up for the snow.

And potty-training Bryson. Again, he's about 2 1/2. I take a day and stay in a tiled room and give them TONS of salty treats and juice to make the process a little easier. We have lots of games and toys to play with to make the time pass quickly. Here's the little guy in big-boy underwear.

Cory was a good big brother and helped potty-train and entertain Bryson too. Here's Cory driving the train he built.