Jonathan's 5th Birthday

Happy 5th Birthday Jonathan!  We love you.  Jonathan's 5th birthday party was a great time.  He decided he wanted to have a small family party at home, so that's what we did. He will have another party at Chuck E. Cheese in Spokane next month with Stacey's family.
 
Michelle flew in on Friday to join the party.  We woke up the next morning and met for bowling at Brunswick Zone.  Lunch was his favorite, homemade pizza. After lunch we had him open up his t-ball and glove set and played at the park for a little while until Grandpa finished up work. After Grandpa arrived we had cupcakes, played pin the badge on Chase and opened presents.  He played with each of his presents as they were opened.  He loved every one of them and has been playing with them ever since.

Oh, and just like at Julia's party, he cheated at pin the badge on Chase.  We all know he was peeking under his mask because he perfectly aligned the badge where it was supposed to be placed. What a turkey.

Be Like The Cool Kids

Cuddle time, audience time, lawn mowing time, big sister time.

We had a door ding fixed the other day.  The kids were very interested in the process and took a lot of notes so that they would know how to fix it by themselves the next time that it happens.  I hope they don't try.

The other day I decided to mow the lawn at night while the kids were taking baths.  After their bath Jonathan came outside to see me.  He wanted to spend time with me, but knew he couldn't while I mowed the lawn. I told him that we would hang out after I finished, which seemed to work for about 30 seconds.  He went back on sat patiently on the back steps with his hands in his lap until he couldn't take it any longer.  This is what we came up with...pictures courtesy of Stacey.

Jonathan had a "sugar bug" filled this week.  He was scared and it hurt, but things were made better by Julia being a great big sister.  She held his hand and supported him during the traumatic appointment.

Last Day of First Grade

Someone's now a second grader...or maybe a third grader, according to Julia's teacher. Julia did great in first grade, even though this was the first time she was in school all day, every day.  The last day of school her teacher said that she saw second graders, and maybe a third grader while looking at Julia, indicating just how well she did at this school year.

Julia was the only one in her class to complete all of her punch cards, which are awarded and worked through by doing good things in class like behaving, being a good listener, being helpful (including helping other students if you had already finished your work) and other schoolwork related tasks.  If there is such a thing as a teacher's assistant and student, Julia probably came pretty close.

She is definitely out of her shell and is completely independent now. She practically reads a small kid's book a night...otherwise, just wants to play with Jonathan or her other friends. Although she is still taking piano lessons, she has yet to show much interest in anything athletic or activity-based. She seems to really enjoy learning and spending time with others.

Below are some pictures before heading to the last day. Her neighborhood friend Hope and her teacher, Mrs. Bratton, are also pictured. When I came home from work at the end of the day and saw Julia, the tears instantly began to flow.  She walked over to me and buried her face in my chest crying and saying how much she was going to miss Mrs. Bratton.  You see, she's moving after the school year and Julia "won't ever get to see her again".  I think she was a little tired and will quickly forget, but it was very sweet to see the impact her teacher made on her.

Last Day of Pre-K

Good job Jonathan! Pre-K is in the books..next up, Harvard Law School.

Jonathan did a great job at school this year.  He liked going even though he wanted to stay home a lot of days. In fact, the same day he finished up school for the year (4 hours later) he told me that he missed school already.  Somehow I think he'll find plenty of this to do this summer.

Next year he will be going back to PPCS for a program designed to fill the gap between Pre-K and Kindergarten. It costs about the same as Harvard Law School. So, we have another year and a few months until he will start Kindergarten.  Judging by how Julia's independence grew after going to Kindergarten, we still have a little bit of time with "Buddy Boy".

Spring Fashion Show

...Cinderella and her two wicked smaht step-sisters (Hope and Taron)
...wondering what to wear this spring while ruling the kingdom?
...instead of folding over my pants, I want a dress belt just like Dad wears to work
...Disney facial hair is in...says big sister with a marker behind closed doors
...it's all about the swagger, even when wearing Mom's sunglasses
...Happy Memorial Day, Earthlings. 

2015 Subaru Outback

...and finally Aaron and Stacey...how about...A NEW CAR!!!  Thank you, Bob Barker.

Yes, we finally bought a new car.  Although the Tercel has been great, it was time to move on and get something bigger for the family.  A friend at work who keeps cars as long as possible was surprised we've lasted this long with the "clown car" (2 door Tercel).  Both of our cars were around 20 years old as well, so it was time.

This was actually the first car I have ever purchased. I was born and married into our two older cars.  Since we keep our cars 20 years, we decided to pay a little bit more for a brand new one so that we can keep it until the kids leave the house.  In fact, if I keep my truck running as a work vehicle and commuter, it's possible we won't be buying another car for another 20 years.

We live in Colorado, so naturally we decided to buy a Subaru.  Actually, we chose the Outback because it's an all around perfect fit for this area.  It has all-wheel drive, great clearance, spacious interior and back, good fuel economy (4 cylinder) and reliability, and a luggage rack for any road trips or outdoor activities we chose.  Of course, it looks much cooler than the previous models.  2015 was a big jump for the Outback in terms of looks and features.  I won't list them all here (you can read about them on the internet if you want the detail), but the car has everything we would want and more.  Compared to our old cars, this thing is like a Ferrari and the Space Shuttle combined in one.  For appearance and wear reasons, we went with the limited package which got us bigger and better looking wheels and leather interior.

The first picture shows the odometer reading of 5 miles when I drove it off the lot.  When it arrived a few days earlier from the factory it only had 3 miles on it.  Talk about brand spanking new.  My favorite things so far about it, besides the fact that it's new, are the front and rear heated seats, and the phone integrated touchscreen (make/receive calls, Pandora, music, etc.).  Those things are probably standard these days, but to us, it's like a whole new world. Besides that, it's really cool to see a brand new engine compartment and that the basic things like oil, oil filter, air filter, etc. seem as straightforward and easy to change as our current cars.  The new car smell is great, but I didn't think about the fact that the entire garage would be filled with new car smell from the exterior too.

We are planning to drive it to Washington in the summer.  Our first road trip should be fun.  I think we'll really get to know everything about the car on that trip. The kids are super excited about the car too.  Jonathan graduated from a car seat to a booster seat for the occasion...he turns 5 in about a month so he was ready. The kids like it so much that they both wanted Stacey to take them to school yesterday and today.  Pretty cute.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.  The color is called "carbide gray metallic". I took all pictures but the odometer reading the second day we had the car, just so we could see what it looked like new before the kids find a way to dirty, ding, smear, or scratch something!

37th Birthday

The weekend of my birthday was a good one.  I took Friday off and spent most of the day doing things around the house and spending time with the kids. Julia had a dentist appointment to remove a baby tooth and Jonathan had school.  Friday got even better when Subaru told me that our new car had arrived and we could pick it up on Monday.

On Saturday my Mom and Dad took the kids.  They spent a day over at their house while Stacey and I enjoyed some time without them.  We spent Saturday afternoon hiking up to the Palmer Lake Reservoirs, and along the way, searching for a few geocaches.  I wouldn't of known about this area if it weren't for the geocache site.

The hike was pretty easy.  The second reservoir is bigger and probably has better fishing. If you walk across the dam and climb under the already bent fence, you can walk down below it and have a great view of the waterfall where it exits the upper reservoir.  We stopped for a snack here while we watched the ducks swim past us.

At night we went out to dinner and then had a relaxing and rainy evening and Sunday morning around the house before the kids came back.  In the afternoon the kids helped Stacey bake cupcakes and decorate the dining room for our family dinner birthday party.  It was an enjoyable weekend.  I wish every weekend could be like this one.

Best Messages Ever

Here are some great videos that Jonathan sent me at work the other day. Priceless. Pay special attention to the end of the second video...Stacey and he have a special response to something I sent them.