Random happenings

 

Braden did an eye exam at his 5-year well visit. He was 20-20, so that's great! He weighed 54lbs and I don't remember how tall he was... Anthony threw away the paper.   

Braden made it to the top at the climbing wall at the gym!

Hunter is too young to use a harness, but it doesn't stop him from doing some bouldering... Anthony is jealous of Hunter's calf muscles. :)

I was most impressed with Braden making it over this outcropping!  

Braden got a buterfly kit for his birthday. The first jar of caterpillars only had 2, so they sent us a second jar that had 5. It was amazing to watch the process from larvae to chrysalis to butterfly.  

We had 7 Painted Lady butterflies all together. 

And we released all of them in our backyard. Some stayed around for a bit and we found them on the bush in the backyard. 

Eating dinner and waiting for Toby at the Children's Museum. Yep, we still have picnics when it's over 100 here! 

Hunter, Toby and Braden in the climber.  

We went to the Science Center when Mimi and Grammy were here to learn about ice cream made out of liquid nitrogen. Hunter wore his safety goggles... 

They always love playing in this stream bed. 

A little Hunter...

This kid really is a trip. This video gives those who don't have the pleasure of spending much time with him the tiniest glimpse into who he is.

The boys are doing a demo of a karate class, so that's the first clip.

The second is him jamming with the band after church.

The third is how he prefers to go down the roller-coaster (aka - slide).

And for those who don't know, "oga" is the same as yoga. And he enjoys doing some oga himself.

Our Fish...

They do even better when they wear their goggles!

5

So the celebration of turning 5 has finally come to an end. Braden mentioned something about 6 this past week and I told him we can't even start thinking about that. We're just going to enjoy being 5. Before we move on to the celebrations, here are some reflections on his year of being 4.

The first year of "real" school is under his belt.

He decided to put his face under in the pool and now is a literal fish.

He learned how to ride a bike with no training wheels.

First year of t-ball.

Went fishing (and lost his pet Rocky).

Discovered Lincoln Logs and Lego's and that he wants to be a "builder" when he grows up.

Continues to be a great big brother.

And, most importantly, asked Jesus to live in his heart.

We love you, Braden! Keep growing with your kind heart and spirit.

I love that smile! We had a party on Braden's actual birthday at the house with his "grown-up" friends who love him and like to celebrate his day.

It was a Jake and the Neverland Pirates theme for birthday 5.

Although I think Jeanine knew what she was doing with her cookie bouquet.

Nicole was on duty on the day of the "grown-up" party, so she and her crew decided to swing by and say hi! So firetrucks became a party theme as well! 

And I think some of the grown-ups were as excited about the ride around the block in the truck as the kids!

Thanks for the super-cool birthday surprise, Nicole and crew! And especially for the rides around the block!

Braden's kid party was at the pool at our gym. The sign coming in was cute... even if they did spell his name wrong. 

The kids spent lots of time in the pool and going down the slides.

Then we had some food.

The pirate theme was carried over. And Hunter got into the spirit.

It was hot, but nobody seemed to mind much since we all got in the pool.

Braden got a special cookie.

And everyone else got cookie bars. 

Here's the crew. Kyndal hung tough as the only girl! 

And they headed right back in after dinner!

School's out for summer!

We're so thankful Braden had such a wonderful first experience with school. Mrs Small was awesome, he made good friends and Scottsdale Christian was a great environment. I loved the fact that he was at a K-12 school even though he was in Pre-K.

Here's the classroom at the end of the year. He'll be right next door next year in Mrs. Bohl's class!

He got to have an early birthday party since he has a "summer" birthday. 

Mr. Hand is playing drive-through with the kids.

On the last day of school the kids wash all the chairs and toys with shaving cream. They have fun and it gets things cleaned up a bit! I heard one mom ask if it was a violation of child labor laws. :)

Benson and Sammy are Braden's favorite friends from school. 

Then we, of course, had a little pool party for Memorial Day. The kids did the pledge.

And while the girls played cards, the dad's watched the kids... which meant some iPad time. 

And plenty of pool time! 

One of the favorite activities is getting thrown up to touch the umbrella. 

And relaxing... of course!

Visit with Grandma's!

We did have a pretty big event this week with Braden turning 5! He has his "kid" party this afternoon. But his "grown-up" party was pretty fun as well! That will be another post, but here's a preview of the main event!

We've had a great visit with both Mimi and Grammy being in town. We always make it to Postino's.

And Anthony pretends to be super smart.

We went to a Diamondbacks game. And Hunter thought he was super cool drinking some Sprite... backwards.

Hunter still thinks he's cool... too cool for a picture!

But once he gets his bear, he's pretty cuddly. 

It was also Peach Festival time! Which means... roller coaster time! We all gave it a try the first go around.

Hunter preferred the Bumble Bees.

They gave the airplanes a try, too. And here's my normal activity... taking pictures!

We also tried some of the yummy peach fare.

Anthony told my Mom and I he was glad we wore our Where's Waldo outfits for easy spotting.

Here's Braden riding solo and pretending to drive the coaster. He literally rode this roller coaster at least 30 times!

Grammy wasn't too far behind in the number of rides.

Notice that Braden keeps his arms up in the air the whole time down the hill!

We've had a great visit and I did tease "the Mom's" about acting like an old married couple last night. And I think they are ready to get out of the heat!