AJ at 6 1/2

A.J. . . .

loves gettting to stay up late and asks for it often

likes to watch Wild Kratts, Peppa Pig, American Ninja Warrier and recently Dirty Jobs.  He'll watch sports mainly to look at the numbers (stats, score board, time, etc) and insists on rooting for the team closest to Georgia.

loves to do the spider climb on our doorways (does it almost every day immediately when he gets home from school)

loves swimming and did really great this year in the pool.  His floaties came off the second trip to the pool and never went back on.  He tried to dive this year too, but still needs some practice.

could careless about what his clothes look like and has no opinion as to what he wears except for a few certain items that arent "as comfortable"

is very competitive with his brother Ty.  He can't stand it when Ty is better than him at something.

eats almost anything now, even cheese.  He likes white cheese, which we call "pizza cheese".

hates taking pictures, but with candy bribery he will cooperate for a short amount of time.

likes drawing.  Recently he has been drawing maps, floor plans, and different designs.

usually hugs and rubs on Marks head when he gets home from school.  It's so cute!

likes to sleep with stuffed animals.  Mr. Octo, dinosaurs, and whatever else he can find.

wears Boys small shirts, size 6 shorts/pants, and wears size 1 in shoes.

Ty- 4 1/2

Our sweet Ty is 4 and a half.  I love this age because he's still small, but he is gaining a lot of independence every day!

Ty . . .

is very generous.  He loves to share and will always offer whatever he has to people around him.  He gets to go to the "penny store" at school and pick out toys/candy for good behavior.  He usually picks out something for himself and then something for one of his brothers.

changes his mind a lot.  I'll ask "Ty, do you want honey mustard or BBQ sauce with your chicken?"  He'll respond one way and as I'm pouring the sauce, he'll change his mind.  I'll ask "Ty do you want a mint before school?"  He'll say "No (pause), I mean yes"

loves to teach Mark.  He likes for Mark to repeat after him; Ty is teaching him new words.  He also likes to show him how toys work or how to operate them.

is not into movies yet.  He'll usually watch the first 20 minutes while he has popcorn and then he gets bored and wants to get up and play.

loves music, mostly country.  He always wants to put it on from the ipad.  He likes Luke Bryan, Zac Brown Band, Georgia Flordia Line, and Carrie Underwood.

loves sitting down to play games; Uno, Candy Land, Operation and puzzels.  He always asks me to play with him and I will tell him we will play when Mark takes his nap.

likes learning math from AJ.  Recently AJ has been teaching him addition.

loves to take selfies with my phone and with the ipad, tons of them!  He'll make silly faces and click over and over again!

has really good hand eye coordination, loves to play catch and is very good at it.

just recently gave his nap on a consistent basis, but will still lay down if I ask him to.

doesn't like to play by himself.  He would rather interact with someone.

loves coloring and does very well at staying in the lines.

wears 5T or boys 5/6 Small pants and shirts and has a size 13 shoe.  He is very tall and has big feet for his age!

Learning to mow

One day soon, we'll have one on the mower, one with the weed eater and the other with the broom on clean-up.  And Jeff and I will sit back and supervise :-)

Ty's First Day of School

Ty had been really excited to start school, especially after meeting his teacher and seeing his classroom at open house.  Mark and I walked in with him and as we were walking down the hallway, we heard screaming.  Another kid (in Ty's class) was on the floor crying.  It was such a distraction that I don't even think Ty thought about getting upset himself.  He hung is bookbag up and walked in to his classroom where Ms. Kelly had legos out for the kids to play with.  My heart hurt for the mom of that kid.  All the kids were very quiet in the classroom.  I said bye to Ty, gave him a hug and kiss and he was fine.  I'm excited for him and I know he's going to have a great year!

Pics Before Church

It is no easy task trying to get 3 wild and silly boys to be still, smile and not get dirty outside so I can take pictures of their sweet faces.  These were the best shots I took.  We do have some incredibly cute boys, if I do say so myself.  :-) 

AJ's First Day

I fully expected today to be an easy drop off as AJ went to school for his first day of first grade.  He has the same teacher he had last year; he loved her and is very comfortable with her.  He has many friends in his class; Paxton, Max, Julianna, and others that were in his class from last year.  We went to open house and he knew where his classroom was.  I left the younger boys in the car to walk him in.  We get inside and he's one of the first students there.  He knows to hang his book bag up and put his lunch box in a certain area.  He finds his desk and I can see his eyes filling up with tears.  I pretend not to notice and tell him to have a good day.  He's insisting that I check him out early and I explained that he needs to be there all day, he said, "will you get in the very front of car line (sniffling)"  I agreed and before I let my tears out, I walked as fast as I could back to the car.  I knew he would be fine, but I just didn't expect him to get upset again.  Maybe next year. :-)