Ke-yah!

No idea how to spell that, but it's what Alec's karate teacher makes them shout as they kick & hit. 

After 2+ years of begging, we decided to let him start some karate lessons. We signed him up through parks & rec for now (cheaper, so a great place to 'try out' activities with no serious commitment). 

He got in trouble the third week for talking too much! Haha! By the fourth week he was doing awesome & decided he was done. :-( 

Alec's health

Last year it seemed as though Alec's reflux got better.  We took him off his prescription Prilosec and had no problems. Just as we got super excited about it, it returned with a vengeance! So, after several trips to his G.I. specialist again, we were referred to an allergy specialist. Alec underwent the scratch test on his back for over 70 known allergens. It was painful (I had to physically restrain him during the testing), but we received great news-NO allergies!! The biopsy from his throat indicated basic esophagitis (inflamed throat). So, he could outgrow it still!!

Until then, we stick with the restrictive diet: nothing acidic (chocolate, citrus, tomatoes, etc.) & no dairy (eek! That's new!). It seems the reason he got better was our foray into vegan-ism last year. Good thing we're used to almond milk & skipping yogurt!

Visiting great-grandpa

We haven't seen my grandparents for nearly 2 years, so we decided to drive up and visit them in Wellington, Nevada. It was a tedious drive, through small towns and barren landscapes. There were some cute old Western-style towns, but with small children we didn't want to stop and explore too much. We spent the weekend visiting with my grandparents, going to church with grandpa, and checking out Lake Topaz.

Soup Sunday-Grandpa's branch stayed after church and had a potluck.

Watching out the window to see the animals come and eat. Mostly rabbits and quails.

James & the nap time poop

James was very upset to have to take a nap one day. So in a vengeful mood, he pooped in his pull-up, stuck his hand in it, then proceeded to wipe it all over the boys' dresser/bookcase. Little stinker (pun intended).

Swim lessons

We decided to sign James up for all four weeks of swim lessons this summer, because he has absolutely no fear of jumping in the water despite his inability to swim.

He's very enthusiastic, and tends to shout out (as Alec did), "I want to do it by mine own self". It's difficult getting him to focus on one thing at a time, such as simply kicking with a paddleboard.

We put Alec in for one week as a refresher. He still struggles with side breathing during freestyle, frog kicks in his breast stroke and his arms during the butterfly. His swim teacher has been encouraging us to put him in swim team, but it's three days a week for an hour in the sun. It's not in a part of town I would feel comfortable leaving him alone for an hour, and I'm not sitting outside with a little two in the sun for an hour. Maybe next summer, if he wants to. He's not too excited to do swim team right now anyway. Right now, he's quite content to do the occasional lesson, and mostly play with his friends.

Evelyn has not been as excited about the water as her two big brothers were. She tends to scream every time James splashes her.  I'm sure she'll get used to it, living here in Vegas.

Bike riding

We had totally been slacking on teaching the boys to ride bikes. Ironic really, since Paul used to love bike riding. Paul had been working with them occasionally on the weekends, but it clearly wasn't enough. So, I just started letting them ride their bikes on our street in front of our house for a few minutes each morning. We usually head out as Paul is leaving for work, right after scripture time, while Evelyn is still sleeping. It still cool enough outside to be alright, and not too many cars go by. 

At first, they would get tired within 10 minutes and want to go in. I didn't push it, because I wanted them to enjoy it.

After about three days Alec was riding all over by himself and was starting from the top of the sloped driveway to get some speed going.

James has pedaling down, but every time he tries to go down the driveway he tumbles over his handlebars. He's just a little more timid than Alec 'the daredevil' is.

We got a Wii

So, this deserves a post, because we had been deliberating it for a while. We really didn't want the boys to spend too much time playing video games, so we had held out for a long time. But, when an awesome deal on the facebook craigslist came up we couldn't resist.  We got the system, remotes, board, guitar, and eight games. Alec only wants to play one game-Mario brothers. Every time. I had hoped that he would be interested in trying the sports games, so that it was somewhat active, but no go. Oh well, it works as a great bribe. It's not allowed on until 4 o'clock, and they earn 10 minute increments by doing chores, cleaning, or through good behavior during the day. Usually they earn about 30 minutes a day.

James likes to play the Mario racing game. Usually he gets stuck early on in the game, but we still tell him that he won at the end. 

It works great as a 10 minutes filler as well, while I make lunch when his friends are over (we just give James a wheel-no remote). So serious during the game:

Laughing at the end:

Kindergarten wrap-up

Alec's school has had a lot of activities going on, as the school year wraps up. They had a multi-cultural festival one evening. His class had Australia & danced with ribbon sticks. He loved it & had been demonstrating the moves to us a full week prior to the festival.

Their kindergarten play was, 'The Little Red Hen' and Alec was narrator 2. He colored his own little bear hat-super cute! 

After they performed their play, their teacher gave them their certificates for completing kindergarten. Alec had trouble figuring out the handshake. ;-)

Alec, Bradley, Logan, & Cannon

Alec & Mrs Greathouse

Alec had a fun year, but we're pretty excited to be moving to a charter school next year-Somerset Academy. Capped classroom sizes, individualized education plans, uniforms, & Spanish!

The last day of school was a field day. Basically water games for an hour and a half. Alec sure loved that!

Let's go play at the park

Alec was a semi-finalist writer

Alec's train story was a semi-finalist (ranked in the top 20) in the state-wide writing competition. He won a book & certificate. They had mailed it to his teacher at school, so he got to receive it in front of his class. He was disappointed he didn't get a trophy, but he was pretty excited about the book. Funny guy.

James's Extracurriculars

Now that James has turned three, there are a lot more activities he can be involved in. The boys are only allowed one activity at a time, but James also gets to go to story time at the library. We  pick up his cousin Kayden, who is his best buddy, so it becomes a play date & library time. Score for James!

James has also started gymnastics. He's quite timid about most things, and cried the first time the coach put him on the monkey bars. He absolutely loves the climbing and trying to flip over the bar. It's really helping him learn to follow directions.  He loves Coach Dave, who remembers having Alec in gymnastics a couple years ago.

Alec turned 6!

We had agreed not to do a big birthday party this year, since we did one last year and we had just gone to Disneyland. So, I decided to surprise Alec after school one Friday and take him and his friends to Flip 'N Out, a trampoline place. He wasn't expecting it at all, so that was really fun. It was nice to keep it simple, with an afternoon of bouncing and cupcakes, while the little two stayed at my moms house.

Catherine, Loryn, Bradley, Alec, Cannon & Logan.

He chose these candy/juice box robots to make & bring to school for his birthday. 

Evy's hair

I don't think even I realized how much I desperately wanted a little girl until we had Evelyn. Now that her hair is long enough to fall in her eyes, but not quite long enough for a ponytail I'm having fun doing some styles with it! As long as she has a cookie to chew on, she's quite content to sit our bathroom counter while I do her hair.