Fall!

First, I have to say that I can't believe it's been over 2 weeks since my last entry! So much has happened and I have very little time to document any of it. And to be honest, I feel so far behind, I don't know how to get caught up! At some point, I will get you caught up- but for now, here's a few things from this past weekend.

AJ and I were lucky enough to spend 4 straight days together and we loved it! I worked some of the time, but on the weekend it was time for a lot of fun!

On Saturday, AJ and I went down to Colorado Springs visit our friends, Joy, Riley and Maddy. We all went to Happy Apple Farms in Penrose (about 45 mins south). I had been there before I had AJ and AJ and Jason went last year with friends. It's a lot of fun- apple picking, pumpkin patch, tractor rides, etc... This year, however, because of a late frost, they didn't have apples! It didn't matter tho- we still had a great time with our friends :)

Here are a few pictures:

In the car on the way to the farm, dancing :)

Check out our pumpkin!

He loves tractors! (and candy, of course:)

I LOVE the fact that Riley is 11 and AJ is 3 and yet, they are still such great buddies!

Checking out the farm....

I just love them both :)

Then, on Sunday, AJ and I went to the Colorado Railroad Museum for a "Day with Thomas". We did this last year for our first time and will continue to do this annually. We get to ride on Thomas the Train, visit the fireman and see their trucks, eat Kettle Corn, see Sir Topham Hat, and check out all the old trains at the museum. It was SO HOT and we weren't prepared, but it was a great time!

Here are pictures from this:

Riding on Thomas!

He held this fireman captive asking ALL KINDS of questions about the truck for about 10 minutes :)

Loving it!

In a nutshell- and I will give many more details soon- AJ is doing awesome. He's loving school and life seems to once again be more consistent. He's still in swim lessons and enjoying that. He's hilarious, smart, a great friend and just so much fun to be with.

I love my boy!

DEEEEEEP breath...

Wow- this past 2 months or so have been CRAZY hectic. So crazy that I've barely had any time to post more than a few pictures. There's been so much going on and finally things seem to be slowing down a bit- a good thing for everyone.

I know I have a ton of stories to share about the past few months, but at this point I can't remember them all.

In the past few months, I've lost one job, gained 2 jobs, quit one of those, and am back down to 1 job that I love and am doing really well at. I went almost a month seeing AJ A LOT less than I'd like (3 nights a week instead of 4 or more a week). I wasn't able to concentrate when I had him because I was just too stressed out. It makes me so sad to admit that, but it's true. When I think about it- I thought my life was hectic and I have some control over my life. AJ being 3 years old, does not. If I thought my life was chaotic, I can only imagine what he was thinking or feeling.

So, that all being said, life is on it's way back to be "normal" and fun for all of us. AJ is doing GREAT in school. He really likes his teachers and seems really engaged when he's there. He sits for circle time, does crafts, and is always learning something new. He's polite, kind and makes friends easily. The other day I looked in his folder and noticed he had a birthday party invitation in there for a little boy I'd never heard of. This is so new to me! I asked him if he knew of Blaine- he told me no. But, I decided that even if this invitation was one that went to the entire class, we were still going to go. It's a great way to meet the kids and the parents of the kids in his class and he gets to have a fun time at the party. One of my friends who has older kids said this is totally normal and to go because this is the time when I start meeting the kids who will be in class with AJ as he continues to grow up.

Now that my life has settled down and I'm working my one job at Dish Network with my regular 8-4:30pm Monday thru Friday schedule, we can get back to our more consistent schedule with Jason and I. For a while there AJ was with Jason a lot more- which wasn't a bad thing at all- but made me miss my boy terribly. It threw AJ off to because it was a constant shuffle back and forth to Mommy's and Daddy's house- it was confusing and stressful for him, I'm sure.

In the past few weeks AJ and I have gone to the zoo with some friends, gone to a BBQ, hung out at the house and just played toys and watched movies. Yesterday we went to Tiny Town- an actual tiny town with a railroad around it that we could ride on. We went there last year too and had a blast! I love that we're back to just doing fun, relaxing things. The stress level has gone down considerably.

AJ and Daxie at the Denver Zoo

Ice Cream..YUM!

Tiny Town Railroad!

Play time :)

Train ride with Mommy!

Tomorrow starts swim lessons again. I'm really excited to get back into that routine. AJ just did so well and was so proud of himself when he did then this summer. It made me so proud to see  :) I just hope he gets his favorite teacher, Miss Kayla again!

I know this post is all over the place. I'm just feeling a huge sense of relief and gratitude and excitement about the future with my boy :)

My Love.....

September 6, 2011

Random Recent Pictures End of August

AJ and I took Puppy to Build A Bear - also known as the puppy doctor- to get a new recording. Puppy also was lucky enough to get his own skateboard!

AJ washed his scooter after helping me wash my car...

All I could think about is that Pop would be proud :)

He's a pirate! No, he's a Fireman!

Riding his bike on Saturday morning at the park across the street in is pay jays :) We love these types of mornings!

Park with Mommy!

Great Student!

A quick update about school:

Yesterday I went to pick up AJ at school after not seeing him for 2 days. I walked into his classroom and stood to the side to watch what he was doing and let him see me first- like I always do. When he noticed me, the first words out of his mouth were, "Mom, do you wanna play with me?" haha! So cute :) So, I quickly walked over and gave him a big hug and kiss and told him, yes, I want to play :)

At this time, it was about 5:15 and there were still a bunch of kids there playing. While AJ and I were playing, one of his teachers, Miss Jordan and I talked about how he's doing and what he's learning. AJ showed me how he knows how to hang these little "wet" mittens with a clothespin in order to dry them out. I never realized how much coordination something like this took- but it's something they are working on at school. He did great! Then, I noticed some kids were playing on these rugs. When I asked Miss Jordan about it, she told me that all the kids have a rug and at certain times during the day they each get out their rug and unroll it, get some toys and play on it. Then, they put their toys away and roll it up and put it away. At first, the whole thing sounded a little silly, but then I realized that there's a lot to learn there. He has his own space. He has to learn to open it carefully so not to hurt anyone. He also can share it- or not. He then gets to roll it up neatly when he's done. Simple- but great things to learn!

Then, while looking around the room I saw the board on the wall with different "jobs". I asked AJ what his job was and learned that this week, he's the kid who gets to stand up during circle time and talk (with the pointing stick) about the date (he told me it was August and counted each day in the month with his pointer). He also gets to talk to the class about the weather and move the arrow to point to the correct picture (sun, clouds, rain, snow, etc..) I can picture him up in front of his classmates talking about this and just get such a kick out of it! I absolutely HATE speaking in front of crowds and hope that he doesn't grow up like that. I bet he loves being center of attention at school :)

Miss Jordan also told me that AJ is "such a little man"- which is something I love to hear and have been hearing since the day he was born!. He has great manners, plays with all the kids, is nice, shares and is getting better each day. I am so proud :)

Random Recent Pictures

My little student- playing computer games at the library :)

After a LONG day at school and soccer practice...

Making cookies with Mom!

Check out this awesome firetruck! My moms friend, Sherron, got this for AJ from a garage sale. His new favorite toy!

Crazy Busy

Haven't been able to post much the past few days because life has been HECTIC! And the few moments I have to myself, I don't think about blogging....

I got a 2nd job in retail 2 weeks ago and so I have a lot less time. I actually did this on purpose though. I make a little extra money, I get a great discount on clothes I love and most importantly, it keeps me occupied on days and nights I don't have AJ. I'm not too sure how long I'm going to be able to keep it up as my 2nd employer has to be VERY flexible with my 1st job and my time with AJ and it's just a lot to keep it all together for me personally. I do love my job in retail- I love being around people, meeting new co-workers who are fun and it really is fun. We'll see how it goes.

My point is, I don't have a ton of time for blogging or videoing. But I'll try to do better! :)

Quickly, I'll say this- AJ is doing great! He likes school, and is a very happy boy. He's confused though lately as to where he's going each day. Daddy's, Mommy's, school, Grandmas.... it makes me sad. But I have to remind myself that this is starting week 2 of school. It is a confusing time. I hope to make things easier for him soon!