Healthy vs. Unhealthy

I love my kid. Really- I love him SO much. He's so darn smart!

He has heard the words healthy and unhealthy for while. He knows that mommy likes (or liked) to run because it's fun and it's healthy. We have talked a little about my new way of eating healthy food, but haven't really sat down to discuss it in detail.

Today, when we were at the grocery store, he noticed these terribly over processed, packaged blueberry muffins and wanted them. I told him no, we weren't buying them, and asked if he wanted to go home and make muffins? If he wanted to, I'd be happy to do that and he could even bring them to school tomorrow. He was all over it and loved the idea. I was thrilled when after I pulled up a "healthy muffin" recipe on my phone, I found out I had all but one ingredient at our home. I thought he wanted blueberry muffins, but he insisted on chocolate chip. Ok, no problem. We can do this AJ! We got chocolate chips and mini muffin cups and were on our way.

When we got home, I pulled up the recipe for Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip muffins and he was totally involved in making them. He put the cups in the muffin pan, he helped measure everything- while talking about this "ingredient" and how many "teaspoons of vanilla" we needed. I loved it! I get such a kick out of him knowing about wet and dry ingredients and how salt really doesn't taste good unless it's with something else. He's so darn smart!

He was even really into filling up the muffin cups (I think because he knew he could lick his fingers at the end and the more he filled, the more would be on his fingers). We baked them and each had one for dessert. I have to say, they are GOOD! Whole wheat flour, butter, vanilla, baking powder, egg, chocolate chips- not all healthy, but all real :)

Here's my sweet, proud boy :

After we had dinner and made muffins it was time for a bath. He was playing and making his "soap soup" and "tea" or "coffee" in the bath and he mentioned his coffee was "healthy". That made me wonder... Did he really know what "healthy" meant? So, I came up with this game. I would say three things and he would tell me which one of the three was or wasn't healthy. For example, candy, broccoli and grapes. Or, Popsicles, chicken and apples. We did this probably 10 times. I asked him to pick the one healthy thing and the one unhealthy thing. He got it right EVERY SINGLE TIME! I was beyond thrilled! Yes, he doesn't always EAT the healthy thing, but he gets it. He knows what is most healthy things are. I am so proud!!

By the way- I bought a pineapple yesterday and cut it up today and this child can't get enough! And this was after he was chomping on an apple as we were grocery shopping. Loving this!

Sports

AJ is at a great age right now to try out different sports. He is old enough to be on teams through the Recreation Center and is mature enough to really start learning. Of course, we’re not trying out for the Olympics at this point, just getting him involved so he can learn to play team sports, exercise and take instruction from others.


He’s been doing swim lessons for a few months now and for the most part, it’s been really good. It took a few weeks for him to get into it- we went a few weeks with him REALLY not wanting to go, but thanks to a few California trips and a lot of time spent with Uncle Matt in the pool, he ended up enjoying it. I think he learned a lot too. He will continue to do swim lessons once a week until the beginning of August. Then, we’ll take a break from swim and start soccer. We tried it last year, but he was too young. I wanted him to play so badly, but learned a big lesson. He had just started going to day care full time and he was exhausted. I think this year will be a lot better. He will probably be on a team with his buddy Garrett which will be a lot of fun. That will be 2 nights a week for 8 weeks.

After soccer ends in October, we’ve decided to start AJ in Martial Arts. He is VERY excited to be a Little Ninja  The studio we’ve picked is in Castle Rock and they have class 2 nights a week for 30 minutes each night. They focus on respect and safety. They teach the kids what to do if they get lost, and how to handle strangers which I think is a great thing for AJ. We haven’t really discussed strangers too much or how to handle that, so this will be good for all of us. I hope he enjoys it! I think his friend Dax will be in his class which will be great too!

Happy 4th of July! (2012)

AJ and I started the morning off with homemade whole wheat berry muffins- YUM!

Just before the parade we tried to take some cute pictures...

And some silly pictures too!

Love this guy!

At the Castle Rock parade- he had fun :)

Love!

In case you were wondering what this amazing little guy looked like 4 years ago today :)

AJ's New Song

He's such a boy :)

Happy Happy 4th Birthday AJ!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He rolled out of bed a FOUR YEAR OLD!

Happy 4th Birthday AJ!

On our way to school :) He was super excited to bring Bomb Pop Popicles for his class!

Daddy came over for dinner to celebrate with AJ! And brought him a whole adventure gear set. Binoculars, a vest, a canteen and lantern. He gets to use it when they camp this weekend. He was so excited!

Here's a song on his new guitar :)

Dear AJ

Dear AJ,

It’s the day before your 4th birthday and I’m sitting here wondering where the time went. How is it that you are already 4 years old? It truly feels like just yesterday that Daddy and I brought you home from the hospital. It actually feels like it wasn’t that long ago that Daddy & I found out you were growing in my belly. We were both so thrilled!

Today I woke up and thought about this day 4 years ago. It was the day you were knocking on my belly asking to come out to the world. Daddy & I called the doctor and he said it was time to come into the hospital. We packed the car, and drove the hospital. The whole way there we talked about how excited we were and how our lives were about to change forever. We were excited, anxious, scared but most of all we could not wait to meet you.

AJ you have taught me so many things over the past 4 years. You’ve showed me that I can love harder than I have known. People often say you don’t know real love until you have a child, and it’s true. I had no idea I could love someone this much. You have made me want to be the best person I can be. You have taught me to laugh at the silliest things. You taught me to try again when things don’t work out and to be brave. You are so brave and I just love that about you.

I am incredibly proud to be your mom. You are so kind, so polite, funny, smart, adorable, witty and stubborn. You get the last part from me! At times your stubbornness can be a challenge, but I think it is a great quality to have. It means you don’t give up and I love that! You have so many good friends and I love how you’re thoughtful and kind to the people who love you. I have had so many people tell me great things about you. Your teachers tell me you’re so nice to be around, that they all talk about how they want to take you home, and one teacher told me that if she has anymore children, she wants a son just like you. You’re such a wonderful boy!

I hope you always know that Mommy & Daddy love you more than anything in this world. Despite our differences, you are our main priority and we always have you in mind when we make decisions. We are both so thankful that we get along so well and we talk about you every single day. We talk about how you're doing that day, what you're up to, how long your slept, your mood, and tell stories about the funny and smart things you do.

I love you so much AJ. Happy 4th birthday!

Love, Mommy

We have a 4 year old. How did this happen? That’s just crazy! And that’s another blog post…

This weekend, we celebrated AJ turning 4! What a crazy fun time we had.

Thursday night AJ and I picked up Grandma and Papa from the airport as they came in for the weekend to celebrate with us. We were super excited to see them! After we got them, we went out to a quick dinner and AJ started talking about his “family”. He wanted to give a family hug and take family pictures. Here’s a few silly pics we took:

Family Picture :)

Being silly!

Making silly faces!

On Friday, I went to work and the three of them got to hang out like old times. They helped prepare for the party and then went to the pool. That night we just hung around and BBQ’d. It was a good, relaxing family night.

Saturday was the BIG DAY. We invited about 55 people (kids and adults) to AJ’s Star Wars themed party. We had it at a Bison Park and while there were a ton of people, I did my best to keep it somewhat simple. We had pizzas delivered, fruit, chips and drinks. Jason, once again, made a fantastic cake. Here’s a picture of R2D2 (this is a combination of 6 large sheet cakes!)

Jason MADE this!

He's got a great daddy!

Goofin' around

My mom took it upon herself to do a candy bar for the kids. She went to LA to get all the candy and bought a bunch of acrylic cylinders to put the candy in. This was the little party gift for each kid and they all had a great time filling their bags! Not to mention it was adorable.

Most of AJ’s best friends were able to come to his party; Dax & Skylar, Maddy & Riley, Sam & Joe, Abby & Jack, Zane & Paris, Todd & Katelyn, Austin & Trevor and about 6 or 7 of his school friends came too! 3 of his teachers came with their kids and it was awesome to spend some time with them on a personal level and get to know them a little bit. The kids played at the park for a while, then we had lunch, they played some more and then we had a super fun water balloon toss. Next year, we’re doing the water balloons again, but tripling the number of balloons! It was nearly 100 degrees and it cooled us off and the kids had a wonderful time with it. After that, we sang Happy Birthday to AJ and did presents. AJ got some really neat things. A lot of Star Wars and super hero toys, lots of Legos, books and a Yoda alarm clock to name a few.

Abby & Lisa

AJ and his good school buddy Alec

AJ and Kellan- good friends!

Abby & Madolyn Merrill (her first and last name, but everyone seems to call her by both- haha) these girls are going to be trouble! So cute!

Water balloon toss!

So fun!

AJ & Daxie

I have to say that I am so pleased with how well we all worked together this year on the party. My mom, Dave, and Jason are so very helpful and I can count on them all to help with food, cake, keeping AJ busy while we set up, or anything else that needs to be done. We’re a great team and all doing it because we love AJ so much!

We LOVE this kid!

They LOVE him too! (the feeling is mutual)

Grandma, AJ and Mommy

My love..

Saturday night, after we cooled off and rested, we went out to 2 more parties for my mom’s friends. They loved seeing AJ and I enjoyed seeing them again. Sunday, we went back to the pool and hung out for a few hours. It was SO HOT this weekend, we needed it. It was a great weekend!

Here are a few more pictures:

Grandma & Papa got AJ this Star Wars suitcase for our trips to California

New Lego's!

From his friend at school, Will. This is General Grievous... I think? (And if I'm right, I'm pretty proud of myself- I wouldn't have known this 6 months ago!)