Kindie Day 1 Con't...

I had to post this..

Tonight, around 5pm, Mrs. Hayden sent all the parents an email telling us about how today went and just a few things that we need to tweak. Nothing major at all, and the day went great. So, I email her back and tell her thank you so much and that AJ had a great day.

She returns my email (which really, she didn't need to do because she should be home with her own 2 kids and husband) and the first thing she writes is, "What a GREAT kid you have!" Then she goes on to answer some of my questions and ends with "I adore your boy!"

How sweet is she?? I have talked to many other moms of kids who are starting at different schools and their kids love their teachers but the teachers aren't really reaching out or conversing with the parents. I feel so lucky that AJ's teacher is such a great communicator and so kind! I also love that only one day in, she sees what a great boy he is :) I love him!

Here's AJ today after school. He had this whole new confident look to him. Stood up taller, wanted to wear his backpack (with all the buckles done), walked me out of class, held the door for me ("ladies first!") and played at the playground for 30 minutes with friends. He grew up today :)

First Day of KINDERGARTEN!!!!!!!

Today is a BIG day for AJ! It's the first day of Kindergarten! He is so ready! On Monday we had a "practice recess" where we met his teacher and classmates and saw his classroom. He also got to play on the playground with his new friends while we met the teacher and went over some information. I think this was very helpful because it made today a much easier transition.

 

 His teacher is Mrs. Hayden and she is AMAZING. She's funny, quirky, full of energy and so fun. I'm thrilled that she's AJ's teacher. She calls the kids her "little friends" which I think is adorable.

 

I wasn't sure how today was going to go. Honestly, I was more worried about how I would be, sad as that is. I expected to be an emotional wreck, as I was already emotional on Monday's practice recess! But it went great! I met AJ and Jason in the parking lot and he was all dressed in his uniform with his cool Star Wars backpack on. He wasn't nervous one bit! Seeing him brought a tear to my eyes, but I pulled it together quickly.  I made him a little card he could keep in his pocket in case he got scared or missed me. We took some pictures, and walked in. He found the place to hang his backpack and then we took a few more pics, said hi to his teacher and then he sat down with his friends and listened to the teachers aide read books. He gave us hugs and kisses and that was that! He was champ!

 

Tonight we'll take him out to dinner to celebrate. I can't wait to hear about how his day goes! I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO proud of this guy!

 

First day! Such a big guy!

AJ and Daddy

AJ and Mommy

Us 3

In his classroom

All the kids sitting together reading books.

July Randomness

It should come as no surprise when I say we've had a very busy July! I don't have time to write about it all, so I'll give you pictures instead :)

Our friends Heather and Domenic had a Fiesta at their house. It was PACKED full of people and food. It was a blast!

 

The kids had a great time together!

These two are so cute! Kellyn and AJ..

We also went to the pool one day with Ki, Dax and Skylar and then AJ wanted to swing by Gemstone park to play. This is where AJ had his 3rd birthday party and it's really close to where Grandma and Papa used to live.

We also went to Red Rocks to see John Mayer with our friends Summer and Guido



We had a great time at Red Rocks! (and thanks Guido for ruining this picture...)

I played hookie one afternoon, picked AJ up early and hit the pool. Fun times!

One weekend AJ and Jason went camping and I stayed home with Jazz. She and I had a great time together- here we are going on a run together. She's a great running parter and can easily outrun me!

AJ and Jason went camping and did some fishing. You can see here that they caught one!

We also went to the Lego store and played a bit. AJ really wanted me to take a pic with his creation

We went to dinner at our friends house. Here's AJ and Kelan eating (and goofing off)

AJ got this awesome new Dinosaur lego and it took us some time to get it together, but we did it! I took this picture and sent it in to the Lego Club magazine and hopefully it'll make it in there!

Cheyenne Frontier Days!

Jason, AJ and I took a long weekend and went to Cheyenne Frontier Days. It's something I've wanted to do for a few years and we finally made it happen.

I expected this fair to be similar-but much bigger- to the Orange County fair- the fair I grew up going to growing up. I was surprised to find that it was very similar in size, rides, food and people to the OC fair.

We stayed at the Terry Bison Ranch, which is about 10 miles south of Cheyenne and about 2 hours from our home. The ranch was amazing! Jason and AJ have stayed there a few times in the past, but this was my first time. AJ was super excited to show me all around. They have 2 great parks within walking distance, tons of bison, a train which takes you to feed the bison, 5 camels, 2 restaurants and a little General Store. Our campsite was directly across a small road from a park so AJ and his buddies could play.

On Thursday when we got there, we unpacked and then went straight to the fair. AJ was able to ride on some rides and we got some dinner. Then we went to the Rascal Flatts concert. The concert was a lot of fun, but we learned a big lesson (one that we should have known). Bringing a 5 year old to a concert where the opening act starts at 8 and the main event starts at 10pm is not the best idea. He enjoyed the opening act, The Band Perry, and we had fun and danced around a bit. But when Rascal Flatts came on, he was exhausted and even giving him my phone or candy didn't work. We only stayed for about 5 of their songs. I was sad, but totally understood.

Friday we went to the carnival with our friends and bought the kids wrist bands which allowed them to ride as many rides as they wanted all day long. We ate a ton of bad food and junk and rode rides, walked around and just hung out. The kids had a blast on all the rides. Then we went back to our campsite and the kids played at the park while the adults made dinner.

Saturday we got up and went to breakfast at the little restaurant at the campground, then took the train ride to feed the bison. It was about an hour ride and it was super fun seeing the bison and their babies.  After the train, we went back to the fair for a short time to ride more rides. Then, back to the campsite to rest for a bit and then back (again!) to the fair for another concert. We had plans to see Tony Keith and this concert would have been AMAZING! Once again, we weren't able to see much of it. What a huge bummer tho, cause he was awesome! We got thru 2 song and AJ was crying and "so so so tired" he said. I can't blame him. We had a number of 10pm nights or later, prior to the concert.

Here are some pics:

Cheyenne Frontier Days!

Playing at the park in the campground

Ready for Rascal Flatts

Riding with Daddy!

The view from our campsite

The BIG park

I thought this was a funny pic.. This is "Truck Hill"- we parked at a park and ride and all the trucks got to park here.

Surfer, Bronco, Cowboy.. he's got it all going on



Can't go to the fair and not get cotton candy

Meet the newest member of our family.. Flames the snake

On the train!

Feeding the bison!

A baby :)

Trouble makers!

AJ and Todd riding the Caterpiller

Wating for Toby Keith

We got a DOG!

Yes, you read that right! We got a dog! While we were in Yellowstone, a good friend of mine texted me asking if we were interested in adopting a 3 year old boxer. Her owner was moving and couldn't take the dog with her.

Heather knew that I couldn't take the dog because of where I live, but I talked to Jason about her and he decided he would take her. She got us in touch with the owner and we talked a lot about the pup. Her name is Jasmine and she's a GREAT dog!

Jasmine is really well trained. She will sit, lay down, "load up" in the car, is healthy, loves to run and hike and great with kids. AJ and I were able to pick her up after Yellowstone and the whole way home, AJ was talking to her the whole time. He introduced us to her- "Jasmine, my name is AJ and this is my Mom, Kate". He told her he loved her "so, so, so much". We talked quite a bit about how dogs need to be taken care of, fed, walked and cleaned up after and how he would have a lot of these responsibilities. He was so happy!

AJ and I have been talking about getting a dog for a while now, but I knew I couldn't do it until I got out of this apartment. I wanted to get him a puppy, but now that Jazz showed up in our lives, I'm so thankful we didn't do the puppy thing. Jasmine is already trained, has had no accidents in the house, is crate trained and just a great pup. I'm so happy this worked out for all of us :)

Here are some picks of sweet Jazz. She's such a good girl! And she loves to play fetch too!

Right after we picked up Jasmine

Driving home.. She was a bit nervous, as expected.

Her previous owner sent her with a leash, collar, food and some toys. She loves this boot!

AJ's 5th Birthday Party

AJ had another REALLY fun birthday party! It's so hard to believe he's 5...

We were lucky enough to have a lot of family come visit for AJ's party. My mom and Dave, my Dad and Cory and Jason's dad, Tom came to visit. I love how everyone gets along so well! AJ is such a family guy- he really, truly, loves his family :)

We invited all the kids from AJ's class as well as all of his other friends. I don't know exactly how many people were there, but look at the pictures below and you'll see it was A LOT!

It was the perfect day for water guns so each kid got his own gun and we filled up big buckets around the yard so they could refill. We also had HUGE buckets full of filled up water balloons (thank you Mom and Cory for filling them all up!) and had an awesome water balloon fight. It started as a toss, but then we let all the kids just go crazy (adults too!) It was amazing!

Jason BBQ's burgers and hot dogs and we had a ton of fruit, veggies, chips and drinks and everyone really seemed to have a wonderful time. I had hoped it would be a relaxing, fun, low key party (or as low key as it could be with that many people) and it was! AJ had a wonderful 5th birthday!

Pop, AJ and Grammy Cory

AJ and Pop

AJ and Papa Tom

AJ and Papa

AJ and Grandma

AJ and Grammy Cory

Us 3



Papa Tom, AJ and Daddy

Grandma, Papa and AJ

Boys pic!

Water gun fun!

Water balloon toss- so much fun!!

Even the adults got in on the fun!

Total chaos and total fun!

Happy guy

Pop and Grammy are staying away!

 

AJ's Sonic the Hedgehog cake! Yep, Jason made it!

 

 

Sprinkler time!

Hanging with his buddies

Here are some pictures from the time that we got to spend with our family before and after the party.

Helping Grandma fill up water balloons

At the park with Grammy Cory

Playing Monopoly Jr. with Pop and Grammy- this was fun!!

We also got to celebrate Pop's 70th birthday! I thought it would be fun to get him a cake and see what 70 candles actually looked like. It was funny, AJ was a little afraid that we'd burn down the house! It was nuts!

Grandma and Papa got to come to AJ's T Ball practice!