Sanctuary

How funny is THIS. You were running around the house this morning shouting SANCTUARY! SANCTUARY!


that CRACKED me up.... ha.

Tying your Shoes~

Its amazing to me as a mother how you accomplish things. I don't purposefully force anything down your throat because I don't see the need to force any sort of knowledge on you. Learning should be joyous, spontaneous and desirable. When the right time comes all the accumulated knowledge clicks and you "get it". That being said, today you said to me, "Mom, tie my shoes... No WAIT. I can tie them myself. "

I was apprehensive and running late as usual so I said, "Let me do it. We are late. "

"No mom! I can do it! I did it yesterday. The way you showed me how was a much easier way. WATCH!"

You showed me how you tied the knot. Then you repeated the words and steps that I showed you a week ago. Success!!! You got it tied. One more step towards independence. With a double knot so that they stay "tighter" (you said).

Learning Rocks.

Thanksgiving

In Napa this year. It was beautiful. You were a little bored because there weren't any kids your age, but you were a GOOD kid!

Here is a picture of you and me playing Clue for the first time.



We had a lovely dinner. You stayed up late for 3 days in a row, sat by a bonfire and there was a trip to a working MILL! You loved that.



The trip home was exhausting, but we made it. You were in bed as soon as we hit the house. Good to be with family, then good to be home.

Now its time for SANTA!!! better be good...

Halloween

I got a really bad cold. i had to stay in bed. You and John went trick or treating. I am NOT going to miss out next year. Oh no...

You wouldn't wear your Peter Pan costume at school that I made you. I was sad.

TWO WHEELER!

Dude, you are so riding a two wheeler... You have taken two spills like a champ! And you want to ride more and more...

I am proud of you, bear bear... xo

Santa Monica Pier

We all went down to Santa Monica Pier for my company picnic. We had a blast!



You rode your first roller coaster with John... 4 or 5 times I think. Great Day!

Austin Reunion

We flew to Austin for a family reunion in August. I was happy to go to Texas. I haven't really been back but once since we came to California. We spent time with Pau Pau and Gma, and Gma's side of the family. We stayed with B & C at their house.



And you had a GREAT time. You love family. There were other cousin's there so you had fun with that too...



We got a lot of comments about your name being the same as the city. You said to me that you were going to be he king of Austin one day.

yea. Austin is cool. Still in Texas though too hot and TOOO many bugs.

Flight out

After making a grueling trip to San Diego on Friday, we arrived and got to the Hotel, no problem. It took us 2 hours to get some food for LOTS of reasons, mostly a really lame GPS we borrowed. The hotel was really nice, and had a swimming pool. WE got to bed late. Got up early for a NICE breakfast at the Hotel, then off to the airport. Dropped you off and helped you board the plane. You were off to Texas and VERY excited about it. AND you landed before we got back to Santa Barbara, another long story, traveling up the one and got caught in traffic in Huntington, Surf competition Saturday craziness... sigh.

I called you about halfway home so that I could see how you were feeling. You were very sad. "I want to come home to Santa Barbara tonight. I said, no. You said, its too long! I said, you can come home in a couple of days if you still feel that way, you said, NO i want to come home now! I said, no.. a couple of days.

Decided not to call you again until you are closer to coming home. Things are going well for you there, and you are happy. You have been to the circus and got lots of fun stuff. You got to play Wii. You are eating Captain Crunch, playing outside with Paw Paw and Uncle Chris and watching movies. Tonight is the Birthday party for you and Gma. It will go by very quickly. I miss you! I hope that you are making good memories.

xo

Texas Bound

I am excited about my little guy making his journey. I am off to Michael's to get him a little notebook to keep all his Texas stuff in. Pockets and a pen attached. Nothing fancy. I wish they still made Polaroid film so he could do that. I asked my mom to make sure and print out some pictures for his little book. He will be going to the circus, watching movies, eating shrimp, going shopping with Gma, playing wii with paw paw and chris, and flying in a plane! And much more I believe.

This journey will open his eyes to the beauty he is privileged to see each day. yea baby. Texas is HOT and HUMID and without a beach as close as he has now. surf that my bear bear!

will miss you! that being said, you must journey. safe journey.

SPORTS CAMP!

You are spending your summer learning about different sports. I decided that would be much better than going to regular everyday camp. This way you learn some discipline and find out what it is to be on a "team". A word which an only child will have to learn as he goes through life having to deal with the "others".

You are content, and so far? You love "dunkin" the basketball. Cleats are COOL. And you sat down in the middle of a drill at soccer camp because it was "boring". The coach said, OH no. you don't get to sit down! Lesson number one. The coach is ALWAYS right.

Lexi's Birthday

These pictures I just found from Gary. I am going to post them here...

Austin wanted DirtDay cake. LOL. sucha cutie then.

The End of the School Year

I can NOT believe that the Kindergarten year is over. Today is the Pancake Breakfast at Tuckers. Its all over today at noon. You are growing up so FAST! Here are a few images from your year.



FLASH AHA, He'll save everyone of us! You still wear that costume when you can. Isn't this a great picture?



I put this in so you can see how tall you were in the month of April 2009. That hand belongs to J.



Bob is your daycare provider. He has a big celebration and everyone wore his sunglasses. You got your picture with them on.



I had taken off work to attend this event. The Jesusita fire put a damper on the Triathalon and it was rescheduled. This is you in line for events. Next year I will be more involved. I will mark my calendar and be there for important events.

I look forward to taking pictures of you this summer while you are at sports camp. I feel I haven't been keeping up with this at all. I want to.

Happy Graduation from Kindergarten.

The Pet Show

Today was your first pet show at the school. We arrived with the fish Rodney, and put him with all the other fish. There were dogs, lizards, rabbits, gerbils, and hamsters. It was a blast! Next year i am going to take the day off and stay in class with you.

You finally decided on your science project.. How many planets are there? Time to get some Styrofoam balls and make a solar system. YEE HAW!

Science Project

You have your FIRST Science Project coming up on Feb. 5th. I am not sure what you picked so I have to talk to your teacher about it. You also have to bring 100 things to count for class. I think I am going to send rubber bands with you, color-full ones you can give to your friends.