Culebra Baby!

The fence and overhang to the left of the photo with the hammock was our little room where we stayed while on the island of Culebra, off the north east coast of Puerto Rico for the first 6 days of our trip. Can you see the blue strip in the background of the pic? That is the ocean!
A better view from our room, taken from the pathway outside of the porch. We were literally steps from the sand, it was pretty awesome!
The view every morning! Can't beat that!
Yah, we're on the beach!
And we are dancing in the waves! :)

Pool Playdate!

One, two, three! Ayden and his two girlfriends :) were so cute jumping in together! This was on Monday, June 7th.
He was being so helpful and gentlemanly, I loved it! :)
Cheese!
They were being so silly looking through the goggles!
Zoey is like, "what are you laughing at?!" Hee-hee!

BLUE!

Oh my little two year old! He cracks me up! I think it was about 4 or so months ago, he took on a love for the color blue! Not only does he love to wear blue clothes and shoes, he loves to play with blue legos and one day when he needed a kleenex, I tried to get one from the green box of kleenex and oh no, that wouldn't do! It had to be one from the BLUE kleenex box! Hmmm...what else...he wants to drink from the blue sippy cup, eat with a blue plastic spoon and if you try to give him another color, watch out! Well, he knows what he likes! :)

Spring Soccer Season - Last Game & End of Year Party

On Saturday, June 5th, Ayden played in his last soccer game of the Spring season. Here's the whole team with the three coaches after the post game party! This was the first season that Julio was head coach, he had a great time and some great kids joined team Sweden this season. This was Ayden's third season on the same team, but there were many new kids to the team this time. I think we only had three returning players. Oh well...kids at this age have to try it out and not all of them love it and then some do!
Here's Ayden receiving his trophy!
In action on the field!
Goofing around on the sidelines with Kyle!

Ayden Graduates from Preschool!

I couldn't help but get weepy the night of Ayden's preschool graduation. It was a glimpse of his future, all dressed up in cap and gown!! What a precious moment! I didn't think I was going to be emotional...oh gosh...just wait for the first day of Kindergarten!
Here is a shot of the whole class and their great teachers, Ms.Lisa and Ms.Sally!
Family shot!
Ayden with his shrunken teachers...they were laughing as they got down on their knees so that they wouldn't be so tall in the photo compared to Ayden! :)
Just goofing around with some classmates! :)

Ayden's Preschool Teachers!

Ayden had a very special last year of preschool before as a pre-kindergartner. He was in a half day program with 3,4 and 5 year olds and he made some pretty special friends! He had two very awesome teachers, Ms. Lisa on the left and Ms. Sally on the right (in the photo). On the last day of school (June 4th) another mom and I put together a special gift for Ms.Lisa and Ms.Sally from the whole class. We pooled our gift money together and bought them 3 gift cards to 3 different stores and presented them in flower-shaped paper card holders that were stuck in an potted orchid plant. You can't see them very well, but behind the paper flowers are 3 photos of the whole class of children from throughout the year. I found the idea online http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/gifts-from-the-whole-class-874514/ and I think it was well received! :)
Thanks Ms.Lisa and Ms.Sally!! We'll miss you!

Potato Versions of Ourselves!

Gabriel has been sooooo into Mr. Potato Head for the longest time now! He took a short break from loving him, but after only a couple of weeks, he was back in full swing adoration of the spud! One day, he came into the kitchen and showed me his potato versions of me (the one on the left with the crown! Yep, that's right...I do rule this house! :) ha,ha, Gabriel is in the middle - the one with all the interesting mouths and a bit of chin hair! and Daddy, a goofy sailor with big ears and no eyes! He had me cracking up, I had to get a photo of it! Oh and he wanted to do an Ayden version, but we only have three potatoes. He made one for Ayden a little later I think. :) All this Mr. Potato love has tempted me to buy some more interesting accessories for me to play with, I mean for Gabriel to play with, but I shall resist! :)

Farewell Nick & Ashley!

Our Life Group has been a wonderful gift in our lives this past Fall/Winter/Spring. One couple from our life group, Nick and Ashley will be moving on to serve in ministry through Campus Crusade at Georgia Southern University. They will be sorely missed!
Above is a photo showing that Wendy, the talented cake maker is at it again with this awesome display of "Nick and Ashley" sitting on their suitcase with a bible on top.
The real Nick and Ashley posing with the fondant Nick and Ashley! :)
Wendy, the cake creator posing with Ashley!
Gabriel goofing around with Ashley!
The whole life group! We finally got a photo with everyone! I had tried several times to take a group photo, but every time I tried, someone was missing from the group that day! Now, I've got one, yah!!

A Special Friend!

This past year in his preschool class, Ayden found a great friend in Sean. We planned a play date at our house with Sean and had to snap a photo because Sean and his family were not planning on coming to the graduation festivities due to a family vacation. Sean and his mom taught Ayden how to say "Papa (Dad)" and "Mom" in Korean. Sean will be going to a different grammar school, so we will have to keep having play dates so that these two buddies can stay in touch!

Duke Gardens on Memorial Day Weekend

This past Saturday, May 29th, we all hopped in the car and drove over to Durham to visit The Sarah P. Duke Gardens and boy, were they gorgeous! So many plant and flower varieties, I had so much fun learning about new ones I hadn't seen before. The boys loved running around the beautiful grounds and the weather was perfect, not too hot.
Ayden had to try a few daring moves as usual and this was one of them. :)
My Mom loved the gardens too!
The old church on campus was breath taking from the outside. We could go inside though due to a wedding that was happening that day.
Cheese!

Spring Theater Class!

Ayden was signed up for a Spring session of the same theater class that he participated in during the Winter, only it was centered on a different theme. Again, their little play at the end of the 8 week session was too cute!
During the session, they worked on this storyboard that depicted their "adventures!" (they pretended to go to different places each week (centered on a farm theme) and they used their creativity to make their trips fun!
Here is the class ready to perform their play!

Pool Playdate!

Every Thursday am, we get together with some of our neighbors to play. This last Thursday, we got to hang out at the pool with little Miss Karena. :)
It was definitely a hot week and the water seemed to warm up significantly by Memorial Day weekend! We had a good time!

Granda Gayle Visits!

The pool opened on Monday, May 17th and we decided to sign Ayden up for the first session of swim lessons since he is so excited about it! My Mom came to visit starting on Sunday, May 22nd for the week, so she got to see him complete his two week session! Here he is holding his certificate of completion for the "Youth 1" swim level. Normally, he would be in the Preschool level (age 3-5), but I knew from watching him last year, that he would love the challenge and I think it was the right thing to do. He was super excited to learn something new every day! This year, our club is starting up a swim league and I think that I am just as excited about it as Ayden, of course because of my history as a swimmer. Swimming and swim team provided such fond memories for me growing up and I would love for my boys to have that as well! I think we are off to a great start with Ayden!

Gabriel says his name!!

I was so excited when I saw Gabriel looking at a name tag with his name on it and he said, "Bay-Bel!" It was the first time I had ever heard him say anything resembling his own name! It was one of those moments, I had to capture it on video tape!

End of the Year Picnic!

Here is a group shot of Ayden's preschool class at the end of the year picnic. This was taken on May 20th.
Ayden having a grand ole' time running through the sprinklers!
It is amazing how entertaining a regular old sprinkler head can be for a bunch of 3, 4 and 5 year olds! The end of preschool is rapidly approaching for Ayden and I am already getting sentimental about it. :) Only two more weeks from when this photo was taken!

A Day Trip to San Diego!

I was so excited to be able to come out for the baby shower for my good friend Kristin and it was a huge bonus to be able to borrow a car from Diana and drive down to San Diego to visit my Papa John and Linda! We just chatted for the afternoon and then went out to dinner. It was so nice to see them both!
I also luckily got to see and visit with my Aunt Jan! She let me crash at her place that Monday night and she even went out early the next morning to get me fresh squeezed oj and a yummy egg bagel sandwich! Her new place was so charming and perfect for her. It was one of those short, but sweet visits!

More Baby Shower Pics!

More pea in the pod shower photos! We strung this line of cute baby items up for decoration and also for a game. We left it up for most of the shower, but didn't tell them the game and then they had to just fill in what they could remember to see who could get the most items. Those green balloons with the different shape are actually pea in the pod balloons! My co-hostess, Pam, who was in charge of the decorations did an excellent job!!
Lindsay found this adorable pea in the pod onesie online! :)
Old roomies! :) Now we all have children, almost (two in the tummy!) !
The planning team with the Mom-to-be!! From left to right: Pam, Lindsay, Kristin, Cindy and Diana.