A New School Year

This morning the boys started back to school for 2008-2009. Bennett starts Kindergarten and will wear a uniform. I tell you they make life so easy. You set out a shirt and shorts and there is no arguing over what to wear, because there is no choice in the matter. I LOVE uniforms. Bennett posing for his official first day of school photo.

Brayden is finally old enough for pre-school. In AZ they have to be 3 by Aug. 1st and fully potty trained. Here is Brayden posing for his official 1st day of 3 yr. old pre-school. He also happens to have the same 3 yr. old teacher Bennett had. He was super excited to finally have a class of his own.

Both of my big boys together just before heading out to school.

Bennett outside his new classroom. His little friend Mason peaking out the door. He has at least 3 kids that he knows in his class, that he has been in pre-school with.

Bennett sitting at his table with Paulina and Mackenzie.

Brayden's class starts 15 minutes after Bennett's class, so guess what? Brayden will never be late for school unlike poor Bennett who was also the last one to skate in :o). His class is just across the hall form Bennett's, so they are looking forward to saying "Hi" to one another throughout the morning.

Brayden sitting at his table playing with toys until the teacher calls the class to order.

Well it's time to go back and get my boys.(they start with a half day today and Brayden will only go M,W,F) I did manage to hit the gym and grocery store, got back and got a quick shower and did a blog post all in 2 hrs. time. Now I tell you is that making good of my time or what?

Baylor's newest trick

Here is a little clip of Baylor and his newest trick. He loves to clap for himself all the time. You say," Yeah Baylor" and he starts clapping, so cute!

Water Fun

Getting some air! One of our boys daily activities is swimming in the pool. They look forward to getting in and cooling off. They have fun doing cannon balls, and trying to see how far they can splash the water when jumping in. Brayden's turn! Baylor enjoying his little water melon float. Your one in a melon baby!!! He loves the pool splashing and kicking around.

Over the July 4th weekend we went to Family Camp with our church in Bison Ranch located in Payson, AZ. It is only about 3 hours north, but the temperatures are about a good 20 degrees cooler. We enjoyed cool weather, daily rain showers, fishing, fellowship, good food, and great company. This will definitely be a yearly event for us from now on. We had such a wonderful time and hated to come home.

Baylor watching the boys fish.

On this trip Bennett and Brayden both caught their first fish! They loved going each day to the little pond on the property and fishing with the boys.

Bennett actually reeled his fish in by himself.

Bennett holding his fish up. He was so proud of his catch. Bruce had actually caught a fish just prior to Bennett on this little Pirates of the Caribbean fishing pole. After he caught his fish, Bennett wanted to catch one, but we had no worms left except what was left on the hook. Bennett caught his fish within about five minutes of Bruce with the left over worm.

Look at Brayden's facial expression in the picture. He was so sad, because he wanted to catch one now.

So......

With the piece of worm that was left from Bennett's, Brayden caught another fish just a few minutes later. Talking about stretching a worm!!!! Look at the smile on that little boy's face. He was so happy to have caught a fish just like his daddy and brother.

He had a little help from daddy reeling his fish in.

Brayden's first fish.

About this time everyone else around the pond was seeing the boys real in fish after fish and came over to see how they were doing it. Bruce gave a few tips to some of the boys and fixed a few fishing rods and some of the other boys caught a fish or two themselves. Talk about some good fishing stories at dinner that night :o).

ASKA Karate Tournament

Saturday June 28, 2008 Bennett had another tournament for the Arizona State Karate Alliance(ASKA) held at Phoenix First Assembly's gym. All the competitors for the age bracket 5 and under lined up and ready to perform their Kata's.

Bennett recently learned a very difficult kata Naihanchi. He did very well and one of the judges even said after he completed his kata, wow that was a difficult kata. He was so proud of himself for learning this kata and said, "I'm going to do Naihanchi because I'll earn lots of points since it's hard." :o)

Waiting to get his score for his Kata

He took third place which he was pleased as a peach with! Yeah baby!

Getting a pep talk from one of the judges just before they began kumite(sparring).

This judge also happens to be Bennett's Sensei Jasmine's brother Niko Fernandez

His first match was with Sebastian the same boy he fought against in the National Championship match in Albuquerque, NM in March of this year where Bennett one first place.

Nice Roundhouse kick! He won this match 3-2. It was very good competition for both of the boys.

Next Bennett fought a boy from his own dojo named Zachary who had won his match with another boy. Bennett and Zach were fighting here for first and second place positions. He won this match getting first place.

Bennett and his first place trophy!

Zachary and Bennett with their trophies, way to go boys, good job!

Our latest dental visit

We are very pleased to announce that the boys had great dental exams last week! As you can see by their great smiles they are pleased as well. On a more serious note, Bennett had several areas that the dentist was concerned about possibly becoming cavities, so he advised putting sealers on. He also had two fairly deep pits in 2 other teeth that he recommended filling before a cavity develops. I guess we pretty much see that his mouth will be a money pit. He will more than likely need all of his teeth pulled since they just don't seem to loosen up and the adult teeth grow in behind the baby teeth. He has already had 4 pulled with the prospect of the top 4 to likely be pulled in the next several months. His dentist also said we would need to get him in with an orthodontist around age 6 as there is not much room for all his new teeth. The 2 new adult teeth take up all the room from the 4 baby teeth on the bottom. Sigh...

Just call me Uncle Buck!!! Brayden got this as his reward for being such a big boy. Dr. Brenke thought this was hilarious. He had a great exam and so far nothing to worry about for Brayden, other than we would watch his frenulum between his front teeth. It is fairly prominent and after his baby teeth come out he may need it clipped to prevent his adult teeth from having a gap between them.

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Baylor also has the first little sign of his first tooth coming in on the bottom left side. You can see a slight little white line :o). I guess I can now blame his crankiness and bad diapers on a new tooth!

It's Getting Hot In Here

Do you remember the song by Nelly It's Getting Hot in Herre? I thought it was appropriate for this post :o). I fact I just downloaded it to my phone for the ring tone HaHa! Yes folks you are reading that thermometer correctly. We have an indoor/outdoor thermometer and the outdoor part resides on our back patio. I took this picture the other day when the temperature on our patio was 121.6 degrees. It was 122 but dropped a bit by the time I got my camera out. Now mind you the sensor for this is in the shade. Well I guess we can officially fry and egg on the asphalt. I also saw this article today on MSNBC about Phoenix: It may be "dry heat" out there, but Phoenix leads a list of America's sweatiest cities, according to an annual ranking from deodorant maker Old Spice. The desert city's average high temperature was 95.1 degrees in June, July and August 2007, the company said. As a result, the average Phoenix resident pumped out 26.4 ounces of sweat per hour. That's the equivalent of more than two cans of soda. Las Vegas is America's second-drippiest city, followed by Tallahassee, Fla. San Francisco, with an average summer temperature of just 63.5 degrees, is the nation's least sweaty city, coming in at No. 100 on the list. Oh well I can assure you that we will not be moving to San Francisco to escape our sweating. Really it is not as bad as many make it sound. Sure it's hot, but when most places are having dark, dreary, cold winters we are still enjoying the sun. I'll continue to take stock in the deodorant companies. I remember our first summer here, we would literally take 3 showers a day to cool off. I guess we have adjusted to the heat now :o). Our pastor says really it's the perfect time of the year to convert folks over to Christianity, because when you tell them that Hell is a lot Hotter than Phoenix summers they want no part of it. Just thought I'd share anyone ready for a visit?

Daddy's Little Boys

This post is in honor of our daddy! He loves each of unconditionally and is sure to give us lots of play time and one on one attention. He also shares his knowledge of Superhero's with us, which we think is super cool! Sunday we celebrated our daddy all day long. Well actually Saturday we all went to a new children's museum here in Phoenix and had lots of fun all being together, even though not all the exhibits were ready. Sunday we gave daddy his gifts of new shorts, 2 new shirts, guitar hero summer sleep shorts, swim trunks, and Baylor made a hand print of his hand in plaster. We took an early morning dip in the pool and then we went to church . After church we went out to eat lunch at one of our favorite Greek restaurants, Cypress Pita Grill. We made a couple of stops while we were out, and then headed home for a little bit of R&R. After the sun began to go down a bit we went for another swim in the backyard with our daddy. Mommy is still chicken of the chilly water. It needs to be high 80's before she will get in. That evening we had chicken on the grill with other sides and continued to just relax. Bennett and daddy. Thanks daddy for helping me with me karate, taking me in the pool, taking me to the park, teaching me about guy stuff that mommy dose not know about, making sure I eat lots of good food to make me grow big and strong, and for loving me for who I am. Brayden and daddy. Thank you daddy for always making me good food to eat, playing video games with me, taking me in the pool, giving me my baths, and for helping to teach me to grown into an awesome little boy.

Baylor and daddy. Thank you daddy for feeding me, changing me, dressing me, and keeping me safe. I love you and I'm looking forward to playing rough and tumble with you and my brothers when I get a little older.

Daddy and his boys :o).

Thanks daddy for always making time for each of us and making us feel special. You rock and we are so lucky to have you for our daddy. You are, are Hero!!!

Water Babies

The boys just finished their mini May session of swim lessons at Teacher Lynda's Swim school. http://www.teacherlynda.com/ Bennett has been swimming since about 18 mos. while we were in NC, through the YMCA, but has swam year round since our move to Arizona. He loves the water and would almost rather be in the pool than anywhere else. He was so funny when they took their under water photos this time. He said, " momma I smiled under water this time" Brayden has been swimming since around 18 months as well, since our move to Arizona. He cried, screamed, and threw tantrums you would not believe, but I stuck to it. We would pull off on Olive Ave. exit to head towards the pool and Brayden would begin crying and would not stop until his lessons were over. Finally when he was around 2 1/2 or so, he decided that this momma was not giving in and he had just better enjoy his time, so the crying stopped. This morning I gave him the choice of Vacation Bible School or swim lessons, and he said swim lessons! He loves the water and would spend hours there like a shriveled prune if we would let him.

And last but not least, Mr. Baylor began his lessons at the ripe old age of 8 months. He began swimming under water on the first day and cried quite a bit through the session. Today he had his 6th lesson and did not cry at all. He floated on his back and swam under and seemed to enjoy himself the whole half hour.

While I know there is no guarantee that the lessons will save our children's lives, it will certainly buy us a little time. We do not allow our kids in the pool without one of us in the water with them, and we have a 5ft. locked fence around our pool. Here in Arizona almost everyone has a pool and we just can't rely on the fact that all parents are as conscientious about water safety. We know this to be true as last summer while working around the pool, Brayden fell in and immediately flipped to his back and began to float and kick in place. Bennett said, " Oh look Brayden is doing his kicks" He did not panic and knew what to do. We are so thankful to Teacher Lynda and her staff for helping our boys learn about water safety and how to swim.

Baylor at 9 months

Monday I took Baylor to Kiddie Kandids for his 9 month growth panel pictures. The following 6 are what we got! He did so wonderful and it was by far my best experience at the picture studio. 30 minutes in and out with pictures selected and in hand! Whew :o).

The adorable outfit he is wearing here, is a reversible one from grandma and grandpa McKinstry when he was born. I loved it with the beach setting.

Just prior to our photo appointment, he had his 9 month check up at the doctors. He weighted in at 21 lbs. 2 oz.= 50%, Height 29 1/4=90%, and head circumference 18 1/2 90%.

He still has no teeth, only rolls one way front to back, sits up well, & pincher grasper is perfect and has been for quite a while(this boy ain't missing out on his food:o)). His Doctor said not to worry just get rid of jumper and exersaucer as they are seeing it slowing babies development or limit to 30 minutes max a day and he will get moving in his own time. To be perfectly honest it does not bother me that he does not move and get into mischief with the brothers yet. I know all to soon, my life will get even busier. Dr. P said be glad that he is just so content and mellow.

This child is a dream child and is so laid back and easy. Well if you know my other busy boys, then you can see where I'm coming from. Bennett has been opening the refrigerator since 9 months and he did not even walk until he was 14months! Yes he is a curious little one and still is!

Baylor is on his second session of swimming lessons and today we had a huge breakthrough. He did not cry!!! Teacher Lynda and myself were quite shocked at how clam and wonderfully he did. Yeah Baylor man, we love you. Oh yeah this boy doesn't really like to take naps during the day. A quick morning nap maybe 1 hour, and then maybe 1-1 1/2 hours in the afternoon. (occasionally we may get a 3 hour nap, but they are far and few between)Not like the other boys who would and still will take 2-3 hour power naps.

Wordless Wednesday