Camping Fairies

These special fairies only come out at dusk when you are camping and they only visit if all the kids have been good campers. They secretly leave prizes all over camp for you to find with your flashlight. The kids LOVE it!!

Last night I was in Garrison's room helping him get his stuff together to go camping this weekend. Gar stopped and asked me if the Camping Fairies were going to come this trip? I had to hurry and think of something and the best I came up with is that they wouldn't because they are friends with Grandma Hardy and we wern't camping with them this weekend. Whew, crisis averted! We went back to filling his basket and I left his room. A couple minutes Gar came out and said he knew why the fairies were only friends with Grandma "because she is so nice to all kids, she probably even reads the fairies stories and gives them prizes!" Comments like these are priceless

I had been thinking maybe I could bring the "fairies" to camp this weekend but I'm going to leave this special activity as Grandma Hardy's. Looks like we'll need to make plans for camping with them soon!

Diamondbacks

Gar started baseball in April and he was so excited to be playing with his best buddy Sam! He is loving it and would play a game everyday if possible

Below is their schedule, most of their games are on Thursdays
04/10/10	Cardinals (S) @ Diamond Backs (S)	10:00AM	Pony Right Field
04/15/10	Diamond Backs (S) @ Cubs (S)	5:00PM	Pony Infield
04/22/10	Braves (S) @ Diamond Backs (S)	6:00PM	Pony Infield
04/29/10	Red Sox (S) @ Diamond Backs (S)	6:00PM	Pony Infield	Cancelled
05/1/10	Diamond Backs (S) @ Yankees (S)	1:00PM	Bronco (4) NE	Cancelled
05/6/10	Diamond Backs (S) @ Padres (S)	5:00PM	Pony Infield
05/13/10	Braves (S) @ Diamond Backs (S)	5:00PM	Pony Infield
05/20/10	Diamond Backs (S) @ Indians (S)	7:00PM	Pony Infield
05/27/10	Cardinals (S) @ Diamond Backs (S)	5:00PM	Pony Infield
06/3/10	Cubs (S) @ Diamond Backs (S)	6:00PM	Pony Infield

Someone is 5!

Oh Hi Blog!

I have no excuse for my absence and in this absence I have missed something very important. On January 9th a blonde hair, blue eyed little boy we call Gar turned 5 years old! I can't believe just 5 short years ago our world was turned upside down and what a ride it's been!

This year Gar decided to have a party at Classic Fun Center with family and a couple friends from school. What a blast! I could barely keep the kids at the table long enough to eat, open presents and have cake and ice cream.

Happy Birthday Gar Bear!!

Festival of Trees, Dec. 3rd 2009

Gar's "Hip Hop" crew danced at the Festival of Trees this year. It was one of the cutest thing I have seen all year! I was so nervous for him and all he could ask is "when do I get to dance on the big stage?". I thought for sure he would see all the people watching and just freeze up but he was in his element. The kids were all dressed the same with their hoods on so we couldn't tell who was who. I finally spotted him by his shoes........he's the 3rd from the right on the back row. He does his cartwheel about 2:58 in and does his solo about 5:17 Can't wait for the next performance! Sorry for the motion sickness and their bodies being cut off at one point

Gobble Gobble!

Gar is thankful for....

1. His sister

2. Sleeping in his fort

3. His animals and toys

So simple and so meaningful!

I couldn't let the holiday pass without sharing what I am most grateful for. First and foremost I am the most grateful for my family. I am so extremely thankful for my two beautiful and healthy children, they are the lights of my life! I have an amazing husband that just keeps getting better with age! I have a roof over my head, food in my cupboards and the freedom we have to enjoy it all!

Gu - Gu - Gu......STUBBORN

At daycare they started their preschool curriculum back in September. At the beginning of every month they send home a Newsletter of what they will be learning and at the end of the month they send home a Report card to let us know how much they learned. Their system is check+ or a check. We received his report this week and I quickly checked how he did, when I got to the last 2 categories I noticed that he had only gotten checks. I was a little shocked but quickly started giggling, he had received checks in Singing along with the group and Making hand actions while singing. Hmmmm, sounds like my Gar and I'm pretty sure he'll never get check+'s in this category, ever! Unless you're a fly on the wall in his bedroom and he's zipped up in his tents safety where he thinks no one can hear him. Yes, the tent is back and he's been sleeping in it the past couple of weeks. I wonder how long it will last this time?

In the past couple of months Gar has learend to identify letters and associate them with words. He'll be walking around the house going Ca - Ca - Ca CAT. The other day I could hear him and I can't remember the exact word but he was all Gu - Gu - Gu Door. I tried to correct him and sounded out Du - Du - Du Door only to be told "No, that isn't right!". And just to prove his point he walked around saying Gu - Gu - Gu Door the rest of the night.

The following day he was playing with a toy and because ALL toys nowadays have to make noise there is a switch on the front of it that has On and Off written on it. He asked me if O F F said off and I replied it did, than he asked me does Zero N mean On. I said no, it's Oh N and that read On. Only to be followed with "No mom, it's a zero".

Can you say S. T. U. B. B. O. R. N.!! Wonder where he gets that from!?!

Biker Dude

The week we got back from Strawberry Gar wanted to take the training wheels off his bike. We decided to go ahead and let him try it to see how he would do.

Sean was holding the back of the bike for him to get him steady and explaining to Gar what he needed to do. The next thing he knew he just took off! No help, no running behind him he just set off down the sidewalk. Well that was easy!

Hip Hop Horray

At daycare they have a dance studio that comes in once a week and offer classes to the kids. I didn't think much about it since Adi can't walk, much less dance and Sean would probably keel over if I signed Gar up. A couple weeks ago one of the directors asked me if Gar would want to go try the Hip Hop class for free, they had just changed the class from Friday to Tuesday to see if more kids would sign up. I left it up to Gar and of course his immediate response was no, shocker! I didn't push the subject with him and I just mentioned to his teacher that when his friends left to go to class that if Gar wanted to go to please send him. I got home that night and just casually asked him if he went and what he thought. He said he had gone to the class, I figured he might when all his friends were going, and that it was fun. I asked him to show me what he had learned but he didn't want to (he did want to but he has to do these things on his terms) so I stopped paying attention and all of a sudden.........he started busting out all his moves. I'm pretty sure he free styled a lot of the moves but some of them I could tell they had showed him, like a back spin! The next morning Lindsay showed me a video she had taken of the class, So Cute!! Sean will probably kill me for saying his boy was cute dancing but he is and I can't think of a better word. And honestly, who doesn't love a boy that can dance?

*sorry the images are blurry, I had to take them through a window*

Ummm, where'd he go?

We wake up on Saturday(the 18th) ready to play some soccer. The day is actually nice, it's not snowing or raining and we can actually see the sun. We load up and head to the field, not realizing how huge these fields are. We park and get out, only to wander around for 20 minutes trying to figure out where we should be. Luckily, along the way we ran into Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Lance to help us find where we should go. The game is almost ready to start as we are setting out our chairs and Adi decides she wants out of her bucket (car seat). I get her on my lap and grab the camera to catch the action of Gar. I could only get this one picture and he is out on the sideline and refuses to go back out. (he's on the far right chasing the ball)

I go down by Gar to ask and see if I can talk him into playing and he claims he's not playing because Dad pushed him. (Sean has volunteered to be the assistant coach of his team, his main job is making sure all the kids get a chance to play and for equal amounts of time) Sean had simply touched Gar on the shoulder to get his attention and this upset him giving him a good excuse to sit and watch. I'm not suprised at all by him sitting out, he's extremely shy and does not like the attention to be on him. I was just hoping his excitement and love to play would have kept him out there longer. Maybe next week?!?

Does the wind ever stop blowing at 40th West? By the end of the game we were all FREEZING!

So all last week we talked up his next game and how much fun he was going to have playing, Gar has even promised several people that he is going to play. I was hoping that by him watching last week he knew what was going on and he'd feel a little more comfortable playing. Unfortunately, by Friday we are all feeling sick and the weather has turned cold. Saturday morning comes and Gar is still asleep at 9:30 (I can't remember the last time he slept that late), this isn't going to be good. I was throwing a wedding shower for my niece (that makes me feel old having a niece old enough to be getting married) so I wasn't able to go to the game. Sean and Gar finally get out the door but they are both snappy with each other so I'm very nervous that he won't play again. I finally get a call from Sean and he reports that he played for about 3-5 minutes and than sat on Grandmas lap. Baby steps.....next week hopefully he'll play a little longer.

Star of the Month

Every month at preschool a child is picked from each classroom to be the "Star of the Month". They are asked to make a poster with information about themselves like when they were born, about their family, favorite colors, activities, movies etc. Their poster is hung outside the classroom doors for everyone to look at. Since October Gar has asked me every month if it was his turn yet, so when we got the note this month he was so excited to help me make a poster!

We left Sean and Adi home one night and we ran to the store to gather our supplies. I've got all these ideas on how it should look and what I'll need so we head to the artsy aisle and I begin to search, but I should know better, Gar's got his own ideas about how this poster should look. I have a quick conversation with myself to remind me that this poster is all about him so I should listen to what he wants. Simply put, he wants stickers on it, stickers of Transformers, Spider-Man and Batman. He wants nothing to do with what I have found and what I think should be on the poster. Letting it go......this is about him and not how cute I want this poster to be. So come Monday morning Gar marches into school with his poster, upside down/sideways stickers and all and presents it to his teacher. All the kids came over to take a look and Gar was beside himself with all the attention being directed right at him but I know secretly he loved it! Here are most of the pictures that we included on his poster.

In our house we cheer for.....

Gar loves the tub, always has

Drink, Pacifier and Blanket...life is good

Indiana Jones and Power Ranger

Gar loves to........

play on the Wii

swim

fish

play Baseball with Daddy

jump on the trampoline (especially with his cousins!)

ride his bike (or scooter)

play in the snow

throw rocks

boating

Making this poster with Gar has reminded me of how lucky I am to be his Mom! I like to tease Sean that we are raising his Mini-Me, but he is an amazing combination of both Sean and I (all the good parts of course!). He is an extremely independent child which sometimes is very frustrating trying to parent him yet makes it easier for us to parent. I've learned to pick my battles and let him make his own decision, who cares if he wears navy blue and black together(I do actually but I let him wear it and comment that it doesn't match in hopes that next time he won't put that combination together), he's happy right? He is a mover and a shaker and tirelessly on the go (he did however get the Milne sleep gene and usually puts himself to bed). He is our constant helper and worker bee in the house. Boy are we in trouble if we dare turn the dishwasher on ourselves and don't even think of scrubbing the toilets without him(he definitely got the clean gene from his Dad and Grandma Nancy)! He is Sean's constant companion and wants to do EVERYTHING that Daddy is doing. He wants to do and try it all but everything is on his terms. Gar has really taken to Preschool and absolutely loves to do his art projects and learn. His teachers always give glowing reports and comment on how well behaved he is, always willing to help. I don't think a day goes by that Sean and I don't look at each other and crack up laughing at something Gar has done or said. This four year old does a heart good.....everyone should have one!!