2/2/10

Charles Alexander James Poytress

I'm sorry but where does the time go? SERIOUSLY! It has been so long since my last blog and I have so much to catch up on, first and for most being my boys. This post is dedicated to my little Smage, just a post I can look back on to remember how he is right now.

Right now AJ is 34 months old (2 months from his third birthday!), he weights 30 lbs, and stands just over three feet tall. The other day he got a new pair of shoes and I almost started to cry, right there in the store, when I realized he is now a size 8. He just moved up to the 3T's and finally learned to completely buckle himself into the car seat.

Age has more energy than I can ever remember possessing. He lives to run, jump, climb, and roll over every square inch of our apartment. Sometimes he will run in circles around our sofa for 20 minutes strait. He pull all the pillows off the back of the couches and pile them up so he can jump, jump, jump!! He also loves forts. Although Dad is the expert Mom can throw together a decent fort if Dad is off to school or scouts. We might not have anything fancy, like tents or tree forts, but we have plenty of blankets and furniture to create the perfect hide aways.


Art is another past time this little man just can't seem to get enough of. The other day AJ spent over 4 hours doing art at the table (and a little bit on the couch too! opps.) I think his favorite thing to do right now is painting. He has known all his colors for a long time but now he is learning what you can make when you mix two colors together. He knows red and yellow make Orange but we are still working on blue and red. His work is all displayed on his art wall, it just kills me to throw it away but seriously you can't keep everything forever.



It has been a while since me and AJ worked on his numbers and letters but I still think he his doing okay. He can count to 16, recognize all the letters of the alphabet and make their sound, as well as read/recognize the words: Mom, Dad, Miles, AJ, Dog, Cow, Elephant, and clap. I hope that we can do more work on his reading but we have been so busy this year already!


AJ's favorite movies are: All the Toy Stories, Bolt, Cars, Tab letter factory, UP, and Sandlot (which is now *LOST*). I have seen all these movies MORE times than I ever imagined possible but he loves them and so....I love them. If we aren't watching them we are quoting them, talking about them, make believing that we are characters from them, or coloring pictures of them. THANK-YOU DISNEY & PIXAR, where would the mothers of the world be without you. You never know what movie it will be next but whatever it is I just hope the DVD is ready for lots and lots of time in the player!

When it comes to looks this boy is a mini me of his Daddy but I have to say the personality is defiantly Mom inspired. If you guys think I talk a lot you need to spend a day with Age, the chatter is non-stop! I don't ever try to listen to the radio anymore because I just end up turning it down ever few seconds to try and hear what he's saying. When AJ is done with his food he always says,
"Mom I like to save it for af-er tomorrow." which translates to throw this away please. He also never gives the one work answers like yes or No, it's always,
"Yep I did get to go to the park"
"No you're not a boy Mom."
If he doesn't want to talk on the phone he says, "I'm a little bit busy right now."
Bathroom time always gets a "I need privacy Beckem!"

Recently AJ's has became obsessed with dinosaurs and Dragons. He got some wonderful toys from his Grandmas for Christmas and has been busy ever since. His favorite book is the Dinosaurs ABC, it is so crazy how he can learn and memorize all their names. His favorites are the Diplodocus, leptrosaratops, and the Velosalraptor.

The last thing I wanted to get down is how AJ does at Church. AJ loves going to Church and taking the sacrament. He say's "just one peice Mom! It's a symbol not a snack." lol, so funny. He gose to nursary really well and is on of the best participents during song time. He knows I am a child od God, Love is spoken here, a childs prayer, and all the fun ones as well. AJ also loves to pray. He want to be the one to pray at every meal and every family prayer. He has even said the prayer when we were at our friends house for dinner.
Big Sigh, "Heavenly Father Thanks for the food, (even if we aren't eating) thanks for (everyone one present, usually more than once each.) Please bless President Monson and the missionaries. Thanks for Jesus and his Manger. (Then extra slowly) In the Name of Jesus Christ.......Amen.


All in all AJ is a pretty good little boy. We have our off moments or ruff days but I love him so much and more than anything he brings me Joy. I am so proud of all he has accomplished so far I can not even imagin how a parent must feel when their Children accomplish the big things like Graduating, go on a mission, get married, and having Children of their own. Parenhood is such a blessing!

Grandpa Tolman


Christmas was so busy this year we didn't really get to spend a lot of time with Grandpa and Grandma Tolman and aunt Alaina so we were really excited to find out that Grandpas business meetings would bring him to Portland.

His plane arrived January 16th around midnight and he got to stay until 4:00pm on the 22nd. It may not seem like a long time to you guys but when it comes to visitors we'll take whatever we can get!!!!

We spent most of the time chatting, playing dominion, and of course eating Delicious food. Lynz made beef on a bun for lunch and (at the missionaries request) we had waffles, whip cream, strawberry's, and all the breakfast extras for dinner. We also discovered the joy that is, THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY!!!!! What a special treat it was to get to all go out to dinner together and let me tell you this place dose not disappoint. The have amazing food, totally worth the 20 minute drive. I swear I gained 5 pounds that weekend.

It was so great to see the boys back at home in their comfort zone showing Grandpa what they do on an everyday basis. It seems like they get so much more out of their time with the Grandparents when they are totally comfortable and at home. Thanks for swinging by Portland Dad it was so great to see you for a few days!!!Here's Grandpa icing AJ head after getting a bad bonk on the desk chair. I am not sure which calmed him down more the ice or the ginormous sucker!

1/20/10

Poytress Christmas.

It has always been such a blessing for us to have our families live so close together. Every year we get to spend Christmas with both sides of the family instead of having to go back and forth yearly. We love heading out to our Poytress home aways from home to spend time eating, swimming, playing games, and catching up. AJ has so much fun Uncle Jared, Jorpo, and Jeff......well maybe he'll warm up to Jeff a bit more next year, lol! Seeing our boys with their aunts and Aby and Syd makes me want to be back in Fort Macleod already.
Here's some pictures from our Poytress family Christmas:

Aaron took Age out to play in the snow but it ended up being more of a quick walk around the back yard and right back in!
Chels has this cupcake book full of really neat ideas. (that's right I said neat) These may have taken a little longer than expected (4 hours) but us girls had a great time chatting away while we made them and in the end it was totally worth it, don't they look great?!

Uncle Jared playing prince Charming to Syds RapunzelHere are all the stockings hung on Christmas eve, I can't believe how big the family is getting!CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!


Gift of the year goes to Uncle Jorpo for picking out this Great looking hat for Poy. Over the holidays I think I say it on everyone but Lorraine. One of the best parts of Christmas morning is BREAKFAST, mmmmmm....They are always wearing Christmas colors and looking so cute on Christmas morning.

They haven't quite made it to co-ordinated Christmas shirts yet but they will....
That's right boys, as of April 26th this girl is legal Dating age!!! Of course you still have to get past her Dad!


Meeting of the Minds

Thanks so much for another wonderful Christmas, I know we aren't the cleanest or quietest addition to the house but we are so greatful you are always willinga nd ready to have us. Love you guys!

1/13/10

Peterson Christmas

What a Crazy Christmas we had this year! Me and the boys were off to Canada with Lynz and Beckam on Dec. 11th while Aaron and Dust stayed until the 19th to finish exams. We were ALL over Southern Alberta but the majority of our time was spent in Stirling and Fort Macleod. It may have been busy but it was Great!

Here are some pictures from our Peterson Christmas:
Living in an apartment dosen't really leave much room for out door lighting. I LOVE coming home to Mom and Dads beautiful house and lightsAJ LOVES Grandpa Zoe's theater room. After a while he would just go down there and watch by himself, so cute!What do you think now that he's had time to fill out, just like AJ or his own little man???
Story time with Grandpa....What else can I do to try and push back bed time????Here's the Tolmans with little Emery on her very first Christmas. Here she is just 11 days old!!! Umm... we're not related!Also a first timer this Christmas, Miles. I think he was a pretty big fan of the whole Christmas season.Although I am not quite ready to post about it, this is my sweet little Grandpa Dick who passed away just 5 days ago. He means the world to me and I already miss him with all my heart. He was able to meet Emery Elise and spend quite a bit of time with us over the holidays. Love you Gramps!I think these two must be the proudest Grandparents in the whole world! I have never seen them happier than when they are surrounded by these cuties.AJ & Beckam are two peas in a pod. Age loves being a comedian and Beckam laughs at ALL his jokes, lol.
Her she is, Emery Elise Tolman! She is in high demand around the house since she is the only girl we have to play with for now. She could have a little competition this summer depending on what flavor Lyndz is having!!!!Santa Miles.
After being such a good boy this year Santa gave AJ just was he wanted, BUZZ and Woody. I think it made his whole Christmas perfect.Christmas eve jammies. I'm not really sure how much they liked them since ALL THREE BOYS decided to soil themselves in the night. That's right folks instead of going straight to presents we made a pit stop at the tub. Instead of helping him I just sit behind him making that face, way to go Mom!This year the kids got Pillow Pets, you get them on-line and they are AWESOME!
Just wanna say a quick thanks to Mom and Dad for letting us stay with them again this year. I know it's not easy going from just you two to all of us but it was so much fun for us! Love ya lots.