Boss...

I would like to introduce you to Erla. Erla  came to live with us on Christmas Day last year. Aubrey fell in love with her immediately. As you can tell she has been well played with and loved. We have NO clue where the name Erla came from. Her animals and babies have always had unique names. I'm pretty sure Erla tops it though. I have been informed the following...

"Mommy you are my boss all day and night. Well except while I'm at school. Then Lo-Lo is my boss. (Lo-Lo is one of her teachers and Godmother) But you know what mommy?"

Me-"What's that?"

"I'm always Erla's boss. She has to listen to me or she will have a time out."

I guess she has gotten the concept that she will have different people in her life that will be her boss from time to time. Sounds like she has mastered her first mothering skill with Erla. :)

Rocking Erla. Apparently Erla will only go to sleep when she is rocked.



Ready for her next meal. You NEVER KNOW when the next meal will come.

Getting ready to feed Erla. Lately she has been on a strict diet.
It consist of, corn, grapes and banana splits.
(I think that is the items that are the easiest to access in her play kitchen.)



Teaching Erla to walk.
"Sometimes I get tired of carrying Erla around. She needs to learn how to walk."



Monkey Sushi...

Yesterday was Aubrey's snack day at preschool. It's the highlight of preschool! She jumped out of bed excited knowing it was her day. Her list of items she wanted to bring for snack was HUGE! We ended up pairing it down and going with theme of the week. MONKEY'S! So we baked some banana bread muffins, Monkey Munch (forgot a picture of this, but it was a combination of dried fruits) and Monkey Sushi! I found the sushi from this site, http://ldylvbgr.blogspot.com/2009/02/rolled-banana-snacks.html. Instead of peanut butter, we used soy butter then gave them the name Monkey Sushi. Aubrey loved them. To top it off we brought milk. Two of Aubrey's favorite foods, bananas and milk.

When it's your snack day you have to set the table.

Monkey Sushi before it was cut into slices.

Then you get to explain snack to your friends and everyone cleans their hands.

Then you get to dig in!

After snack is playtime out side.

Then you come home and start to cry saying your head hurts, start running a fever and crash on the couch!
Poor thing. She then slept the afternoon away.

7 Is The New Number In The House

It's hard to believe that this little guy is already 7. On his actual birthday I always remind him how he came into this earth hungry and happy. Cheeks so big that he didn't look like he even had a neck. Well the cheeks have slimmed down some and he now has a visible neck, the happy and hunger has not changed. I love how this boy can brighten up my mood in a instance. Still mama's boy, he continues to amaze me as he changes and matures.

Lukas got a LEGO Star Wars Alarm Clock.
He LOVES setting his alarm to wake Jaren and
himself up for school in the morning.

During the party the boys jumped and wrestled on the trampoline.



Cupcakes and candy!



Used his Pop Warner jersey as a decoration.

His helmet and football got tossed in there as well.

Lemonade is his special drink of choice.

Still on the short side, but man did he have a growth spurt over the summer!



Strawberry Jello Cake with fresh berries.





His favorite hobby, LEGOs!



Bucket List...

We were able to cross off two more  items off the summer bucket list. My little family headed over to the coast to get away from the heat. Of course the coast was really really foggy. It limited our time spent down in the sand. :-( The kids did make the best of the time we had though. After hitting up the GAP store for some sweatshirts, we headed over to MOE'S for lunch. Jaren had added that to our list, but we were all happy to join in!

                        Just to the left of the boat was a whale jumping. We enjoyed watching it for a little bit.
Check back soon for some more of our summer adventures and what we are currently up to. 

Pop Warner Football

Fall is right around the corner and that means football is in full swing. This is the first year the boys are playing Pop Warner football. Jaren is on Team Mighty Mights and Lukas is on team Tiny Mights. We are having so much fun as a family watching them. With it being their first year, we are amazed at how much they have learned in such a short amount of time.

Justin is excited to help coach Lukas's team and is enjoying the extra time he gets to spend with him. This weekend we have an event called PPK (Punt, Pass, Kick) Both boys got  to have a scrimmage as well. Lukas was exhausted after it was over because he played the whole game.

The boys were so excited to have some family come watch them play. Their older cousins and babysitter Kara came to watch them play. The boys watched Dalton and Garret play in High School and were thrilled to have them come and watch them play. Thanks again for coming!

Jaren and his older cousins

                                                                            Go #29

Go #41!

 

                                                                                                          Lukas and his older cousins

                                                          Getting ready for the next play.

Last Day of School...

As the school year ended we wanted to do something special for the teachers. I had each of the boys make a thank you card for their teacher. Lukas's card really touched me. He has done such a great job learning to write and try and sound words out for himself.

A Box of Sunshine! I found the idea here happymoneysaver.com

We just changed it up a bit and put in some fun items. Each teacher got some sparkling Lemonade, Wheat Thins, Gum, Pineapple Jell-o, chap stick, Crystal light singles, Crystal light candies, Yellow licorice, butterscotch candies, Banana bar and a scentsy bar.

Hopefully this will brighten up their day!

Some extra time outside. Everyone was trying to avoid the "lake" We have had a ton of rain!

                                                                       Bubble time!

                              A little sister loved getting to join in with class activities this year!

Another one of Lukas's best friends. He made some great friends this year!

One last Kindergarten story.

 Jaren and his teacher. She has really been great with helping him overcome some fears this school year. I will always be grateful for that!

                                                             We survived another year!

We went to Limeberry on the first day of school so no better way to end it but by returning to Limeberry! Here's to a GREAT start to summer.

Strawberry Time...

It's that time of year again. Our town has a Strawberry Festival every year. It's such a fun time and so many people come out to into the festival. This year we invited some friends to join us as we watched the parade. The theme was Strawberries around the world. With such an easy theme, we ended up having some really great floats! Here is some pictures of the parade.

Aubrey and her berry best friend.

Our Strawberry court.

                                          One of out Pastors wife was Woman of the year.

End of the year...

Our first year of Cub Scouts has came to a end. We had our last awards ceremony and Jaren earned a ton of new segments. He also earned 5 arrow head patches for all the extra work he has put in.  He is now reached the rank as a Webelo. After two more years in Webelos, he will become a Boy Scout. 

                       Here he is with his troop leader Jeff earning his beads towards progression.

Scouts has been such a fun program, and we have had some great experiences this year. We are excited to have Lukas join this Month and for all of the fun outings we will have this summer!

Graduation...

It's hard to believe that Lukas has wrapped up his first year in school. Kindergarten is such a wonderful place to be. He was so lucky to have an amazing teacher. The whole class came so far this year and all have blossomed into wonderful little people.

We had a hard time  sending Lukas off to school because of the fears we had with his nut allergy. Lunchrooms filled with peanut butter sandwiches is a scary place to be. The staff at his school went out of their way to make sure he was safe. I'm proud to say we made it through the whole school year without any problems. I even had some parent's call me at home to double check label warnings with me before they brought something to school. I worked with staff before school started and a peanut free table was set up. Being a mom, I was afraid he would be the only child sitting at it. Nobody wants their kid to eat alone. We were so lucky that the two peanut free tables were full all year. My little boy was never alone. That made this mommy very happy!

                         Lukas and his friend pushing an imaginary friend. They thought this was hilarious!

                                                                      Class of 2025!

                                                            Two of his best friends.

His friend Eryn who went through two years of preschool with him and are now in the same class.

Now if only I could keep him in Kindergarten forever.