AJ is 4!

I am having the hardest time getting over the fact that AJ is already 4! Do I say that every year in his birthday post? I just feel like time is whizzing by and he is growing up even faster than I thought he would. I swear with every child you have you time moves twice as fast!

Anyways AJ is a great kid. I am so proud of the little man he has grown into. People are constantly telling me how polite and well behaved he is. I never worry about him hitting or acting out at other people houses in fact he is usually the one taking the abuse. Poor kid. Sometime Miles hits him, which we are working on, but the other day he was being so mean I told AJ, "the next time he hits you like that hit him back." "No Mom, I don't want to hurt my little brother!" so cute!

He teacher said he is top of his class and one of the best behaved kids she teaches. She also said that he is the best baseball player in his class! He loves sports, mostly baseball and basketball, and most of all he loves to swim! I can't wait for the pool to open this year so I can see how well he does. We spend A LOT of time in the hot tub through the rainy season.

Something else I love about AJ is his love of music. He knows how to get itunes all set up and find his favorite songs. First he moves the computer chair out of the way, gets his fake electric guitar to rock out with, crank up the volume, and it's time to Rock!!!! He is pretty well rounded in his taste mostly he loves old rock (were could he have gotten that from?) but he likes some pop, country, and other stuff as well. Right now these are his top 5 most played songs:

Dude (looks like a lady) - Aerosmith
White wedding - Billy Idol
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - the Beatles
You can't hurry Love - the Dixie Chicks
Whip It - Devo

He knows the words to all these songs and many more, I seriously need to get his performance on tape soon! He is so cute when he's in "rock star" mode.

He has slept in the pitch black his whole life and recently decided he's afraid of the dark, which means he got his own night light from Ikea. It has a green bulb and is right by his pillow. He also has pictures of dinosaurs tacked to the wall by the light to keep him safe from monsters. He can't go to sleep with out his nightly snuggles, a nose rub, smooch, hug, and asking me the questions. The questions happen when I am on my way out the door after snuggle, " do you have your tickets? purse? wallet? keys? Okay have a good night with Dad on the couch and I will come get you in the middle of teh night if I see any monsters! love you Mom!" He also has to be in bed by 6:30 or else he does not go to bed well, he flips his lid and says how scared he is and screams for more than an hour until he is finally to tired and falls asleep.

He loves taking pictures and is constantly asking to use the camera. He will wander all over the house taking pictures of everything or just hang out in the stroller on a walk and snap away. He likes to take pictures of things and then go up to the table with the camera and try to draw a picture of the things he took a picture of.

His best friends are the Wagner girls, they see each other pretty much everyday. The three of them all get along so well. He really misses Beckam and sometimes they play a game that they are the Tolmans and he always say's he wants to be Becks, ha ha ha. When we were in the car a few days ago he said to me:

"Mom when I grow up I am going to be a Dad and have 10 kids. Then my kids will call you Grandma and Dad Grandpa."
"that will be so fun AJ I can't wait!"
long pause........ "and Mom."
"Yes"
"they'll call Megan Mom"
"oh okay"

HA HA HA, It was so cute. Miles has a crush on Erika and follows her like a puppy, Erika like AJ and is always wanting to hug him, sit by him, hold his had, and then AJ is totally in love with Megan. He has told me that he is going to marry her more than once. Megan one the other had has eyes only for a little boy from school. One day AJ told her,"I don't like to talk about that boy cuz we aren't friends with him, just me and you are friends."

Anyways he is 3 foot 4 inches, 32.5 lbs, and the spiting image of his Dad. He's shy and quiet in public and a crazy man the minute he get home. He's got the biggest heart and the sweetest smile and I love him more than I thought I ever could!
Happy Birthday Charlie!

AJ's birthday at school with his best friend Emma:
For AJ's party we decided to go bowling and out for pizza. Thank goodness I had Bex and Cole there to help out with the kids, other wise I would have had a really tuff time. Lucy decided she wasn't into the party and screamed and cried everytime I took her off my lap so......yeah I needed their help! The kids had so much fun and with all my coupons and everything this party only ended up costing me$15.00 including decorations and treat bags, AWSOME!

Tub time!

When I was little I love playing in the tub especially when it was in Grandmas cool tub with my cousins. This is a tradition we are passing on and the kids seem to love it just as much as we did. Mile and Mads where not into it but these three where having a blast.

Stayin' in Stirling

The boys always love going to Grandpa Zoe and Grandma Moje's house, what's better then living with the puppies for a week???? They love following Gus around the house and going out to visit zoe in the back yard.

Miles learned to walk up and down the stairs and despite the mild heart attack he gave Grandpa he never even fell once. He could walk up and down the stairs all day long and be as happy as a pig in mud.

AJ re-discovered some of his favorite movies that we only watch at Grandmas and his love of working side by side with Grandpa. They spent a lot of time out in the garage working on whatever. lol.

Since it was just one week till AJ birthday Grandma decided to throw him a little birthday party with all the grandkids. First we made a 4 layer birthday cake which AJ and Grandma spend a good deal of time perfecting.


Miles and I found our own way to pass the time: no shame Then it was on to the Party!!!!! We started out with a dance party, took a few minutes for everyone to relax but eventually we had a really great party goin' on.Please make sure to take a closer look at Grandmas Dance Face, FAB-U-LOS!


Whats a party with out bloweres?


for dinner was home made Mac and Cheese and AJ request. Usually he wants Taco's since tehy are his favorit food, but he told grandma that it had to be Mac and Cheese today. It turned out great and the kids scarfed it right up! (actually we all did!) Now the moment you have all been waiting for....the pinata! I loved Em's softer approch to the game. I think she loved the little three horns to much! Thanks for letting us use your wooden spoon Grandma! (this is normaly her spanking spoon for the grand kids, Yikes! ha ha ha, just kidding!)
The boys on the other hand went at it full force!what'cha doing back there grandma?



It jsut didn't seem like that was enough sugar for these tiny tikes so we took them back to the table and loaded them up with that 4 layer cake from earlier in the day. Good-bye early bed times! ha ha ha.







Where the heck is Poy????? Oh there he is! Enjoying his cake in the other room with his back to the madness, that's my boy!

Time in Fort Mac

We had a great trip to Canada and the timing couldn't have been more perfect! Chelsea and the girls ended up having spring break at the same time as us and so they came and spent the week in Fort Macleod, HURRAY! It was like a second Christmas, kind of.

Chelsie brought some awesome new recipe books with way to many sweet treats to try out as well as a few new meals. It was a wonderful week of food, food, AND MORE FOOD! I think my favorite was the cheese buns and blueberry lemon pound cake, ummmm!!!!!

We played, watched movies, swam, and got a semi-nice day and headed out for a little wienie roast down by the river. It was a little chilly and we were definitely short on dogs (thats why you don't send me to get the groceries!) but it was so fun! I believe this was our boys first river bottom dinner and they really liked it.




Miles also found some mud in the back yard one afternoon and ended up getting a bath in Papa's sink. I seriously love these pictures!


This is my very favorite, I just love the lighting and it seems like a old picture that you might find of youself as a kid.I also love these pictures of AJ. He LOVES collecting rocks, he has ever since he was able to walk. He use to fill his pockets with rocks while we walked around the neighbourhood and then add them to his rock pile as soon as we got home. Thr reason I love this so much is because he is not the only one in the family with this particular habit, Grandma Poytress also pickes up rock where ever she gose. The river bottom, waterton, hawiia, new zeland, BC, saint George, you name any place she's been and I'll bet she's got a rock form there.
Oh yeah one more thing. Miles was making me a little nervous on the top bunk with out a big rail but he kept getting out of the bottom so......we fenced him in! ha ha ha, are we bad parents??? It was for his own safty!