Alex's 7th Birthday

Presents!!!

Making the Brush-Bots

The kids turned dollar store electric toothbrushes into robots. SO FUN.

Alex lost his top two teeth

On a bored summer day Alex pulled out one of his top teeth. A couple days later he biffed it on his scooter and out popped the one right next to it. After the trauma of the fall the first thing Alex said was "How am I going to eat corn on the cob!!" The great news is he can still eat it even with the missing teeth. Phew... that was a close one.

Alex's First Walk-a-Thon

Alex did his first walk a thon! And thanks to some amazing friends and family, he raised $210 for his school. The best thing about it all was that Alex happily jogged/walked 3 miles today knowing he was helping his school. And can you beat that look on his face? priceless.

BTW, yes that is a faux-hawk. It gave him a little skip in his step.

Alex's First Day of First Grade

Alex woke up this morning ready to go to school. He took a shower. Put on his clothes we laid out last night. Ate breakfast. Brushed his teeth. Got his backpack. And then best of all...got on his bike. Chris and Alex rode their bikes the 1.5 miles to school and then Chris rode on to work. (Alex's school is right on the way)

Its amazing, every year we take these "first day of school" pictures, the kids all of the sudden look older. Its got to be the new clothes and the combed hair.

Could he get any cuter?

Aaron loves baby Jacob more than anything. I am not exaggerating. He is so much more affectionate since Jacob was born and being around the baby makes him so happy.

Alex was playing a game with Chris last night where Alex would think of an object and give Chris one hint as to what it was. Chris would then guess what the object was. Alex's hint one time was "this is my favorite thing" after lots of guesses Chris said "Jacob?" and with a big smile Alex said "yes".

Alex's Kindergarten Art

The school year is coming to a close and today Alex brought home all the art he made in Kindergarten. I was very impressed.

Alex the Hero

After I wrote my last blog post the boys and I went for a little bike ride. I wanted to get used the hand cycle and the boys loved riding along side me. When we were about 1/4 mile from the house my front tire came off. The bike has tubular tires which is where the tire and tube are one unit.

I couldn't even move the bike if I wanted to and I forgot my cell phone at home. As I looked at the tire, started to explain that this was a little emergency, and said "Alex here's what I need you to do..." Then Alex said to me "So I ride my bike home and bring you your wheelchair?"

He knew just what to do and I was a little scared to let him go but I knew we really didn't have another choice. It was 6:30 at night and about 40 degrees so we were anxious to get back home. About 15 minutes after he left I saw him coming in the distance. He was still really far away and he seemed to be struggling. About 15 minutes later, I heard him crying and screaming to himself in frustration. It made me wonder why he was struggling so much. He kept going and after 30 minutes of struggle I saw him about 100 feet away and noticed that the brake was on one of the wheels. He push/dragged my chair the whole way!

I was so thankful to see him. (but so frustrated that I put him through that kind of agony) I could just see of him the whole way thinking "This is so hard! but Mom needs her chair!" He really amazed and humbled me by his attitude and how he refused to give up. I am very thankful for my oldest son. He is a special spirit.

Alex Rides His 2-Wheel Bike

Alex is amazing. While I was in the house after school one day he decided to pick up his two wheeled bike and ride it for the first time. He was screaming MOM at the top of his lungs and I didn't know if he was happy or hurt. I came out, he showed me what he could do, then I got the camera.

Later I found out that five minutes before he tried it, he rode his scooter down to our neighbor's house and saw their little 5 year old girl who just took her training wheels off.

He was inspired. He got on his bike and started riding with NO help. It was so cool.

We are all so excited to ride bikes this summer. Aaron just bumped up from a tricycle to a bike with training wheels, Alex is on a two wheeler, I just borrowed a handcycle from Michigan Sports Unlimited to stay in shape during the pregnancy, and Chris registered to do the DALMAC in September. The DALMAC is a 5 day bicycle camping tour from Lansing to the Mackinac Bridge. We all have bikes on the brain right now.

Letter Sandwiches

...make our day. We have a set of alphabet cookie cutters which have been useful for much more than just cookies. Aaron and Alex are both learning how to read so it was very exciting to eat each letter or take bites of it to make new letters or rearrange the letters or think of new words that start with that letter. So fun.

Proud Moment...for both of us

Alex received a Lego castle set a couple years ago. He was 3 years old and couldn't put it together by himself. I put 98% of it together.

Lately, he has been wanting to find old lego instruction books and put together sets he received long ago. We put together several Star Wars ships and he was just getting more excited each time. Finally he asks, "Mom, can we put together the Lego castle?" When he asks this I can feel my eyes roll back and let out a big sigh. The thing is huge. Even putting together a small star wars ship took 2 hours because finding every piece that is unique to that exact set is really hard when we own probably around 20 sets. And all the pieces are now mixed together.

At first I say "Okay, we can do one wall." Which of course turned into one wall or tower a day. Which turned into this. After a week of hard labor, we made the whole castle. Actually, he built the whole thing, I just found the pieces for it. After 12 hours of work, with the help of my best friend, the BOX4BLOX, it was finished. The box4blox is a great Lego sorting and storage system.

It was a great memory. Somehow all the pain and frustration is erased when I look a this sweet picture of Alex.

Alex and Chris go Ice Skating

Alex and Chris had some father son bonding at the roller skating rink the other night. Alex came home happy and excited to try it again some day.

I have fond roller skating memories from my childhood. I remember my first time at Skate World in Hillsboro Oregon. I went around the rink like 9 times. I know this because each time I slowly went around the rink I waved and smiled to my parents and thought "Hooray, I survived another lap!"

Skate World became a fixture in my life even into my teenage years. I bought a pair of speed skates and the world of roller skating opened up. Backwards skating, 180s, 360s, I was on those skates a ton.

Master Shifu

Kung Fu Panda was a big hit. After a week of solid begging, I made Alex a kung fu robe based on this Master Shifu toy we got from McDonalds. He loved it. It makes me happy when I costume takes 30 minutes to make and provides hours of entertainment.

Alex's First Day of School

The day has come. Alex is a school kid now. He has been ready for a while now so it was a very natural transition. Plus, his friend Kate from church is in his class.

He has a fantastic teacher, Mrs. Shannon, and he goes to a public Montessori School called Edgewood. At this school they group together multi grade groups into classes. So he is in a classroom with 3-5 year olds and the next class up is 1st-3rd graders, then 4th and 5th graders. I am thrilled for Alex to have a classroom where he can learn to be a mentor as well as a student.

Alex has been taking big steps in his "grown up" mentality in the last week. He has been taking better care of younger children, he has been helping with chores around the house, and playing well with older children.

Bunny Ears and Lego Ships

The boys think that the kitchen table is the most exciting place to be in the whole house. 

Alex is a master lego builder now. He worked on this ship for a couple days. And he has made a million adjustments to it since I took this picture. He invests so much time into one project that if it falls on the floor and breaks, he can put it back to together exactly as it was. Alex's lego knowledge amazes me. I can take the tiniest little piece and say "Alex, what set did this come in?" and he will tell me the exact set. He has like 15 different sets. 

Aaron and I went to the Library's story time and he made his very first set of bunny ears. After he made them he said he was going to give them to Alex. So as we drove to Alex's school he held them on his lap and became very attached to them because just before Alex got in the car he said "I not going to give this to Alex" Then he wore them for the next couple days. This was a big deal for Aaron because he rarely gets in to crafts. 

How did Prayer get started?

Today while Alex was stirring his cereal he said "Maybe one day the people on the earth said, How do we talk to Heavenly Father? and they said, Prayer! And they tried it and it worked. And thats how they talked to Heavenly Father."

He rattled off this little story out of the blue. He said it like it was his own personal discovery which makes me wonder what is his perception of God. He is trusting and he doesn't question it. Which is interesting because he questions practically everything else.

"...becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

Mosiah 3:19

Book of Mormon

"Sight Word" Shooting Game

This is the Sight Word Shooting game we made. I took all 31 of Alex's Hooked on Phonics cards and attached them to this little board with velcro. 

1. I tap and point to a word with the light saber.
2. Alex tries to hit that word with his Nerf Gun.

3. I tap the word with the dart and read it.

4.  We each use the word in a sentence.

5.  I tap the word again, spell it, and he says it with me. 
Objective: Alex will be able to memorize these difficult to sound out sight words. 

In these five steps he gets to look at the word 3 times, put it in context, say it, and spell it.  He knows that he can sound out any word in his beginner books but this board is to practice the words that break the rules and are difficult to sound out.

He loves it. To him its the "Mom plays with the lights saber and I play with the Nerf Gun" game.