It's the Journey...: December 2011

Friday, December 30, 2011

Snapped Them Asleep Together! - August 5, 2011

Just a cute photo I snapped of them together since they fell asleep together in the same bed. ;)

New Playground in the Backyard! - August 1, 2011

Now we don’t have to leave the house to play on a playground thanks to "Backyard Playgrounds"! They came and built this awesomly compact structure for our narrow yard in just a few hours.

First Day of 1st Grade for Ayden! - August 1, 2011!

With only a few weeks off after the Kindergarten school year was complete, Ayden has already started his second year at Alston Ridge. It is time for 1st grade with Mrs. Beck! Time is flying!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Lil Kickers Soccer Program at Net Sports - July 28, 2011

Both Gabriel and Ayden participated in the Lil Kickers program from the time they were eligible, which I think starts around 18 months. Here, Gabriel finished a session with his good buddy, Jake along with a couple other kiddos.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Baking with Mom! - July 27, 2011

Gabriel Gets Better at Riding his Two Wheeler! - July 27, 2011

For the longest time, Gabriel didn't want to give up on his little Mickey Mouse scooter (he was way too big for it, but still dragged his long legs behind after pushing really fast down the street because he was good at it). He never really wanted to ride the tricycle that we had for him. He gave it a try a couple of times, learned to peddle on it, but sort of skipped ahead to a two wheeler. He is about 3 months into his big 3rd year in this photo as he is beginning to really get the handle of peddling a big boy bike! :)

A Quick Trip to the Library! - July 27, 2011

We have spent many hours at the West Regional Library since it opened not long after we moved to Cary! Luckily both boys are really drawn to books and reading. We have such great memories from our trips to the library!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Swim Lessons! - July 26, 2011

It has been six years since I kept up with this blog, I will not lie! I have decided to go back and blog the last six years so that I can turn my entire blog (will be 10 years in total) into photo books!
So, picking up where we left off, it is the Summer of 2011. Ayden is 6 and Gabriel is 3 years old. Ayden participated in swim lessons/clinnic to get ready for swim team and Gabriel enjoyed some play time in the shallow end of the pool by the water play structure.

Durham Rescue Mission Summer Program - July 25th, 2011

A friend of mine at church asked me if I wanted to help her lead a program for the kids that would provide some Summer activities for the children (who were out of school for the Summer) who live at the Durham Rescue Mission (a local womens shelter) while their parents are working/doing their recovery program. We ended up doing a few different themed activity days including water play, a couple outings to Build a Bear, Chuck E. Cheese and craft day, which is pictured here below. The photo above is of a volunteer reading a bible story about Jonah and the whale to the children on that same craft day.

We made sun visors. We had a few tables of different craft activities that all the kids enjoyed, including some of the volunteer's children!

We did canvas paintings!

Here's my friend Wendy who lead a yarn cross craft! It was such a fun program to lead and of course I love event planning and helping those less fortunate, so how could I go wrong! :)

They say the cutest things...

10.09 - Teacher at preschool: "Ayden, where are you from? (during Celebrating Cultures Week at preschool)

Ayden: "I am half of a Puerto Rican!"

6.1.09 - Ayden over dinner tonight, "I love these Rolly Ollies!" (Ravioli's)

1.22.09 - Ayden: "Mom, upstairs I heard God talking in my heart!"

1.19.09 - Ayden: "I am a scientist at legos cause I have a creative brain to make them."

12.21.08 - Ayden: "I am a really good expert!"

"Israel is not in the United States, but it is still on the Earf (Earth)!"

"When baby Gabriel was born from your tummy...let's be grateful that God gave us a baby!"

6.6.08 - Ayden:"Spiderman and God have special powers...they can control the earth!"

I love how I have filled his head with the power of God! :) He (God) comes out in his thoughts as right up there with Spiderman. :)

5.13.08 - Conversations with Ayden:

Ayden: Mom, why is it cloudy out today?

Mom: Well, the sun is there, but it is behind the clouds.

Ayden: Oh, the sun is playing hide and seek!

5.7.08 - Ayden was getting ready for bed last night and he found his children's bible on the bathroom counter and recalled his "reading" from his nap/rest time that day. He said, "Jesus and God are our friends!" I said, "Yes, they are!" He proceeded to look at the cartoon photos on the front of the book and tried to guess who was Jesus. He pointed to Noah and said, "That is Jesus!" Then he pointed to Moses and said, "That is God!" I told him that God is not pictured there, that he is up in heaven. It did make me quite proud that he was reading his bible during rest time! :)

3.18.08 - Ayden and I were talking on the way to school and he was talking about where we were going and we had also just passed our church. He said, "Only I go to school and church." I said, "Well, Momma and Daddy go to church too, but we don't go to school anymore, we are all done with college, high school, grammer school and preschool." He replied with, "When I go to college, I can go to Stanford!" I laughed and said, "And when you graduate from Stanford, you can find a job like Daddy." He then said, "I can find a job at Stanford...I can do art or painting or stamps!"

This cracks me up, it is like a combination of what Daddy did (Stanford) and the things that Ayden and I do together (crafts, etc.)! I have to admit that we did feed him a line a few weeks ago about going to Stanford when he grows up! :)

2.27.08 - He also has been curious about more complex issues and concerning himself about the future. He said today, "When I am older, I will have hair on my cheek like Daddy." Another cute thought of his was, "Daddy has to work so that we can have toys, food and our house and other things." Of course he learns these things from us, but it is cute the way he processes them. :)

2.11.08 - I was putting Ayden to bed tonight after he read his books to me. He often does this because he memorizes how his favorite ones go and he reads them to himself or rather recites the sentences from memory. :) We were trying to quiet down, which is often difficult for Ayden to do (surprise, surprise!) and after sitting there for a few moments, he reminds me that we need to pray. I said, "Who do you want to pray for?" He said the usual folks and at the end, he said "And tank you for ebrebody in our wife (life)!" This is how he ends most nightly prayers.

Oh and by the way, Ayden went pee-pee on the potty all day today! Not just a small portion of the day. We are making slow progress!

2.6.08 - Ayden was helping me vacuum the stairs. He did the whole flight of them and when he got to the top, he said, "When you've got yuckies, you have to clean them up! Then you can have juice or water or somsing (something)."

It's the Journey...