Alex's Birthday Party

Alex's birthday party was Transformer themed (of course) and per his wish, we had it at the local bowling alley.  All of our families were there and a few friends too!  Megan made his cake and he got lots of good presents (including some Angry Birds - his other current obsession)! 

Five Years Old!

I'm sad that I missed doing a special post for Alex on October 22nd, but we were just so busy that month I couldn't keep up!  Alex had his big 5 year milestone birthday!  I can't believe it has been 5 years since I delivered this little guy after 29 hours of labor. 

These days I couldn't imagine life with Alex.  He makes me laugh every day with a dance or a song or some little remark that I did not expect! 

He is obsessed with Transformers, new and old, which makes Daddy proud and is an interest they both share and revel in.  He also likes cars, jets, dinosaurs, and sharks.  He always likes the "bad guy" in all of the shows and movies. 

He isn't a follower and does things on his own terms.  He has no problem saying "no" to doing something even though everyone else is doing it.  It's not unusual to have a house full of guests and find him in his room playing or reading by himself.

Alex is also my little vegetarian!  He does not like meat so I try to accomodate that and substitute beans. nuts, eggs, and peanut butter to make sure he gets his protein.  This makes me a short order cook since my other two are the exact opposite!

He is my smart, funny, sensitive, unique little guy!  Happy Birthday Alex!



Birth



One Year



Two Year



Three Year



Four Year



Now

Alex's Point of View

Here are some of the latest photos take from Alex's camera...

Daddy's Father's Day Book

I HAVE to post these pictures the kids did for the book we gave Josh on Father's Day telling him about our planned weekend in Colorado.  I gave them a bunch of props and told them to pose how they wanted and had them hold signs with the words explaining the plan.  Here are the pictures, in order:

End of the School Year Recap

The kids finished the school year in May.  Aurora completed the first grade and finished strong!  Her report was really good.  She brought up a few subjects that we were concerned about and kept her her good grades in all of the others. 

She reads really well and has an amazing talent for art and drawing. 

My friend Alida is a graphics designer and she is a good mentor for her.  She drew this picture of Aurora and Freddie!

Aurora is spending the summer at the city's community center summer program where she plays games, swims, and goes on various field trips before moving on to second grade!

Alex is still in preschool but he's been doing a great job too.  He can identify and write his letters and he can write and spell his full name.  He can also count to ten in Spanish.  He also draws really well and loves to sing and dance. 

He's spending the summer in the same school doing fun summer stuff like water play, pajama days, and trips to the park.  Since he doesn't turn five until October, he'll be continue there for another year.

Both kids have had some behavior problems though.  Aurora just can't stop talking and intterupting.  Alex has temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way at school.  The marble jars were not working well to curb these school behaviors so we implemented a sticker chart.  Every day that they don't get in trouble at school they get a sticker.  We tend to do a lot of fun things on the weekends, so they now have to get at least 4 stickers out of the 5 days, or we don't get to do anything that weekend.  It's been working really well!  We only had a week or two each that they haven't gotten enough stickets.  They definitely don't want to miss out on any plans we have!