Some thoughts...

What did we do before we had this thing? I swear the boys are on it all the time. This is them today after school. And yes, it's is sufficiently warm enough to be Mogli and wear no shirt. Go ahead, be jealous!

On another note, you may notice the band-aid on Dylan's arm. He got 5 shots today in preparation for Kindergarten registration next week. Yes, I know he was supposed to have gotten them during his 4 year old well-child check-up. It's interesting how with your first child, you make the appointment on the day of their birthday and with subsequent kids, you figure, "Oh, it's not that big a deal if we're a whole entire year late!" Carter is late on his shots too, in case you were wondering.

I felt bad today because being 4 is a whole lot different than being 5. He definitely knew what was going on. I had brought some bribes with us and told him if he was extra super brave he could have his very own small bag of Smart Food and his very own small bag of Swedish Fish. He was excited about his treats but not excited about how long the nurse was taking to come back.

He's the kind of kid who likes to watch the shots pierce the skin, evidently, because he watched the whole thing. He didn't even flinch when she put the needle in, 5 times over. Not one tear, not one noise. Amazing, right? I was proud of him.

But I think the reason I'm reflecting on this today is that while we were at the doctor's office, I was flashing back to the same appointment that Jake had. Of course, I was an on-the-ball mom back then and he was only 4, but he had the exact same, stoic response to having to get some shots. He had his bribes too (I think I remember a Nerd's rope) but I remember being just as impressed.

I feel like these experiences are kind of like looking into a little peep hole and seeing a tiny glimpse of what kind of men these boys are going to be. Not classic "tough guys" per se, but men who know who they are and are sure of themselves and can weather a little discomfort because they know it will be over soon. And I'm so grateful.

Or maybe they'll just turn out to be junk-a-holics.

The Moore's Come to Arizona (Finally!)

The Moore's joined us in Arizona for their winter break and we were so excited to have them visit! It had been a year since we had last seen each other. We did some fun things in Anthem and took a road trip up north. And of course we had to hit In 'n' Out Burger! Our nephews are sweethearts and the cousins loved being together! Here are some of the highlights:

Yay cousins! Here's all the boys at the Community Center before they did the rock wall. D.J. was a natural, being the first to get to the top. Andrew was next and after many, many tries Jake finally got there too. Dylan didn't quite make it but he sure was cute! Carter ran around and Austin wanted to go home.

Here's us at Oak Creek in Sedona. We stopped there on our way up to the Grand Canyon. It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed a picnic in Old Sedona and played by the creek.

Jake Man

Dylan and

Carter Boy

Here's our family at the Grand Canyon! It was fun to have Kim and Dave there so that we have a picture of our whole family. But when we got home, I realized we didn't have any of them!
Isn't this gorgeous? I can't wait until we can go explore inside. Someday. This is the first time I've seen the Grand Canyon with snow!

This is the life, right? Look at all those handsome boys.

Oh sleeping beauties. We tuckered them out. Hopefully they'll come back next year!

We miss you already!

Birthday Boy and Soccer Star

I know.

No, I know. How can it be possible that this baby of mine is five years old?

Yes, his hair is also five miles long.

These are his new books from Grandma and Grandpa Motley.

This is Flappy. He is the only pet our family can handle. To the left is Dylan's handmade sign that identifies that this is indeed Flappy the fish.

At the end of a treasue hunt is a big boy's bike!! He's been riding without training wheels for a good three months now, after learning to ride on Jake's tiny "Crocodile" bike that was a hand-me-down before Jake got it. Now he has a shiny new one of his very own.

We spent the morning showing him his baby pictures and talking about the day he was born. I love this little guy who is getting so big way too fast.

Here's Dyl playing soccer. He was so fun to watch because he loves to run! He was always out there in front trying to get to that ball. He scored a ton of goals this season but we later figured out this was likely due to being the oldest kid on the team.

This game was one of the two they lost. One of our teammates Grandpa's pointed out to our kids that they were getting beat by a bunch of girls.

We're on to T-ball now to see if he likes playing baseball too.