Random Photos

I may have posted this one already.... Anyway, AJ and I LOVE going to Smart Cow for frozen yogurt!

At Home Depot building his Penske Truck

Silly face time at Noodles & Co for dinner

Tough to get a good picture of him at his first time bowling. They had the lights out and music blaring! But he had a wonderful time!

With his buddy Jack

This picture is terrible, but you have to just appreciate the outfit.. Fireman rainboots and his shark robe.. Headed to the pool for an evening swim :)

Striking a pose with Daxie at the pool

Another day, another Smart Cow adventure :)

Uncle Matt & Auntie Kristin got AJ this awesome Razor scooter for his birthday! He was THRILLED! He's pretty good too! We'll keep working on it :)

Couldn't resist a snooze picture... In my bed, of course!

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