Mary Poppins

Last week we enjoyed a production of Mary Poppins at the Smith Center.  It was the first time I had ever seen Mary Poppins (besides the movie of course) and I loved it.  The set was awesome and the songs were even better.  I am loving my broadway season tickets!

Keller - 10 Months

Not a lot of pictures but I did want to journal a few things about Keller at 10 months.

-He has his two bottom teeth.  I keep trying to get a picture but it's really hard to do it by yourself.

-He pulls himself up and loves to stand.  We are definitely far from standing unassisted or walking.

-He waves at whatever he wants.  It's pretty cute!

-He has started dancing when he hears music.  He mostly dances with just his arms but sometimes he gets his whole body into it.

-He is really close to clapping.  He is making the right action but his hands aren't quite connecting with one another.

-He is saying "dada" intentionally.  He doesn't associate it with Chad, but he will say it (sometimes) when you ask him to so I think it's on purpose.

-He prefers to feed himself.  He thinks he is way too cool for baby food and wants whatever we are eating.

-He loves to climb all over Vance and get up in his personal space.  Luckily Vance thinks it's funny and not annoying.
-He is still waking up at 5:45 or 6:00...grrrr.
-He takes two 2-hour naps and goes down for bed at about 7:45-8:00.
-He is becoming quite the lover.  He loves to cuddle, especially with his blanket.  He is getting pretty attached to his blankets.  If you hold one up against your chest it's almost a guaranteed cuddle.
-He will watch a little TV.  It doesn't captivate him or anything but he will watch it for a few minutes here and there.
-He knows Grandma Sutton is the weak link and will give him whatever it is he wants.  He frequently goes around the house searching for her.
-He is still doing the army crawl.  At this point I'm pretty positive he isn't ever going to crawl up on all fours.  -He likes to stand up in his crib and play peek-a-boo with you before bedtime.
-He is SUPER ticklish on his sides and neck.
-He is done nursing (rather I'm done nursing him) and takes formula out of a sippy cup. 

I can't believe only 2 more months until his first birthday!

Oh how I love the summer!

Progress

I know I have done my fair share of complaining about Keller.  Well, I am very proud to announce we are seeing progress!!!  He has definitely gotten a little easier lately.  Nothing major, but we are definitely seeing more smiles and independent play at our house.  Thank goodness!

Mama loves you Kellerboy!

Vancey-pants the Smarty-pants

This is definitely going to be a bragging post, so if you hate it when parents go on and on about how amazing their kid is then you should stop reading now...seriously!
Today was Vance's last day of preschool for the year.  I am going to do a separate post about graduation, but the point of this post is to document the many things he has learned this year.  He amazes me!  His mind is like a sponge - he just soaks up everything you tell him.  On top of that he has a memory like a steel trap.  Combine those two traits and you end up with a smart boy!

These are some of the scholastic achievements Vance has made this year:

-knows 101 sight words
-knows all the letters (upper case and lower case) and their sounds
-can write all of the upper and lower case letters (they aren't perfect, but you can definitely tell what letter he was trying for)
-read 51 books
-can count to 100 by ones (pretty good at counting by 10s too)
-knows all the basic shapes as well as 3d shapes (sphere, cylinder, etc.)
-knows all the days of the week and 9/12 months
-writes his own name
-knows his full name and birthday
-can identify and spell 11 colors

Vance has also exhibited good behavior all year.  He never had to sit in the dreaded time-out-turtle, filled up his "star behavior" chart 3 times, and only got one warning (for peeing in the backyard...boys).  To be honest, this is almost more important to me than all the academic stuff.  It makes me beyond happy to know he is well-behaved at school.

Miss Heather (his teacher) has taught him so much and I'm so excited for him to have another year with her.  She embraces his big personality instead of trying to lessen it.  She is more academically-based instead of artsy-fartsy which is exactly what I prefer.  Most importantly - Vance loves her!

I am also proud of myself.  Not to toot my own horn but not all of this progress would have been possible without the hours we spent working on it at home.  Miss Heather introduced most of the topics, but we did lots and LOTS of reinforcing at home.  What I find amazing is that Vance doesn't resent or dislike it.  He truly has a love for learning!  Whenever he was losing interested I tried to be quick to stop whatever we were doing because I want learning to be a very positive experience and he is way ahead of the game...he's barely 4 for goodness sake!  Being a mom really is the best, most rewarding job ever!

I am so proud of Vance and this makes me so excited for what the future holds for him!

Mother's Day

Chad spoils me everyday, but he really goes above and beyond on holidays.  My Mother's Day was fantastic!

Chad started a tradition when I had Vance that each baby's first Mother's Day they give me diamonds.  Vance gave me diamond studs for his Mother's Day and I wear them all the time.  Keller gave me a gorgeous diamond necklace.  I absolutely love it and have been wearing it pretty much everyday!

Chad also carries on the tradition in my family of giving mom a corsage for church.  I know this isn't very common anymore but I love it anyway.  I hope he never stops :)

Vance had made me a gift at preschool. I kept trying to get him to tell me what it was, but he would not tell me.  I was actually surprised because I tried multiple times to get him to slip.  He was excited for me to open it on Sunday morning.

One of the preschool moms took pictures of the kids and then they made this clip/frame.  So cute!!!

For dinner Leslie and Grandma Great came over (Amy was sick). 

The guys made a delicious dinner - chicken enchilada pasta, salad, and a yummy dessert.  It was great to sit and relax while they worked in the kitchen.

Chad also gave me a Nothing Bundt Cake (my fave) and three coupons for whatever I wanted.  I know some people don't like coupons, but I love them and I use them!  I only have one left :(

Chad made me feel so appreciated and loved.  He is such a great husband and hopefully my boys will learn by his example how to treat a woman because I don't know anyone who does it better!

Live-Fast

Walmart had a BMX and motocross event in their parking lot to launch their new Live-Fast clothing line.  We happened to be in the area and went to check it out.  It was really cool!  I thought it would be lame, but the riders did some amazing tricks.  Some were even x-games gold medalists.

 I got one amazing picture!  I got all four of the boys plus the two motorcycles and the riders at the peak of their trick...perfection :)

 Vance was eating it up.  He was cheering, clapping, and smiling so big.  I don't always understand boys, but I've learned enough to know anything with wheels and an engine is captivating.

 At the end the riders gave the kids high-fives.  They also handed out posters and the riders signed them.  We went straight home and hung the poster in Vance's bedroom.

Not too shabby for free entertainment. I'm glad we happened to be in the shopping center at the right time.

Grandma's 75th

My Grandma Sutton recently celebrated her 75th birthday!  She is such a fun Grandma!  The whole family got together to go to our favorite (more because of the memories, not the food) Mexican restaurant - Macayos.

Grandma with all 5 of her children.

 Grandma with a bunch, not all, of the grandkids and great grandkids.

 All the crazy boys!

 Chad, me, and Aunt Laurie

 Lisa, Chad, Chris, and Amy

 Vance and Lillie

 Sophie, Briton, Maddie, Bailey, and Bailey's friend.  I can't believe all these teenagers...I feel a little old.

Grandma, Mom, and Dad

 The birthday lady with her eyes shut :)  Grandma Sutton is impossible to get a good picture of.  She is always either moving, talking, or closing her eyes.  We're going to have to work on that.  LOL

Happy, happy birthday Grams! 

Chad's Graduation!!!!!!!!!!

Chad graduated on Saturday!!!!!!  I honestly don't think I could possibly be more proud of someone than I am of Chad right now!  It was a very long, very hard road to this point.  Getting married and starting a family so young made it a challenge (to say the least) for Chad to go to school.  At one point I wasn't positive this day would ever come, but Chad never gave up.  He was determined to graduate and (8 years later) he did!

 I couldn't wipe the smile off my face on Saturday.  He didn't want to walk, but I can be pretty convincing :)  I think in the end he was glad he did!  It's such a big accomplishment!
 It was a doubly special day for the Waldrons.  Chad's brother, Josh, graduated from UNLV's dental program at the same ceremony.  What are the odds of two brothers graduating from the same college the same year?

 Chad's big entrance!  I LOVE HIM!!!

 Josh walking across the stage and getting hooded.  He and his family will be moving to South Carolina this summer for a year. We are excited for what the future has in store for them, but they will be missed.

 All the graduates.  There were just over 2,800 graduates total.  The youngest graduate was 19 and the oldest was 74.  83% of the graduates were from the state of Nevada.  54% of the graduates were female.

 All I really cared about was my graduate and his big moment walking across that stage!!!

On the way out Chad gave us a little fist pump action.

 A picture of those brave enough to attend a college graduation.  Thank you all!  It meant a lot to have you there.  I especially love the picture with Chad, Josh, and their parents.  Such a special moment for their family!

 My mom, Amy, Leslie, and I all happened to wear stripes.  Aren't we cute?!

 Then it was time to party!  I asked Chad what he wanted to celebrate and gave him lots of fun ideas.  His reply - "Hot dogs.  I just want hot dogs."  I decided to throw a hot dog themed party.  It was low key, but just what he wanted.  We had some fun taking cheesy pictures for a few posters...

 My handsome graduate cooking some hot dogs and showing off a delicous cake made by Leslie.

 More posters...haha

 For food we had a hot dog/nacho bar.  We had lots of toppings so you could build your own gourmet hot dog and nachos. 

 The best part of the party was the company.  We had lots of family and friends come to eat and swim and most importantly express their congratulations to Chad!

 I bought Chad some UNLV Alumni apparel.  Alumni...so exciting!

What's next for Chad?

Chad's bachelors degree was in accounting.  He has already taken 15 graduate credits so he only has one more year until he graduates with his master's degree in accounting.  In the meantime, this summer he will be studying for 3 of the 4 CPA exams.  He has made a study schedule, and he will be studying over 425 hours this summer on top of working full time!  He will interview for accounting jobs this fall, but the job wouldn't start until fall 2013.  If you have any contacts or job info please send it our way!  All I know is some employer is going to be lucky to have him!!!

Congratulations Chad!  I'm so incredibly proud of you!

At Home

I have been trying to do small and simple things with the kids lately.  Sometimes the many ideas I see on Pinterest or other blogs I read make me feel like every activity has to be over the top.  While it is fun to be over the top every once in awhile, I've realized my kids don't really care.  They like the easy thigns too.

Our latest fun thing was a science experiment with eggs.  We put eggs in vinegar and it dissolved the shell leaving behind a "naked egg."  Then we put one naked egg in a glass of water with food coloring and one naked egg in corn syrup.  The results?  A red egg and a shrunk egg.

We did a few other things with our eggs over the next two days.  Every day we talked about making and testing a hypothesis.  Vance had a blast and it provided some great dialogue between the two of us!

The last thing we did with our eggs was see how high we could drop them before they broke.  Vance loved this part!

Grandpa bought a rocket from Hobby Lobby.  It has provided both boys hours of fun.  The rocket is actually pretty amazing.  It goes REALLY high.

We have been very excited for the end of the semester.  Vance and I made cookies for Daddy to tell him good job.  Vance is always my best helper in the kitchen.  I tried convincing Vance we should just buy cookie dough, but he was positive we needed to make the cookies from scratch.  I gave in and we made them from scratch.

Our note said, "Congratulations on earning your bachelor's degree!  We are SO proud and think you're one smart COOKIE!"

Chad is studying for the CPA exams this summer.  We are NOT looking forward to the hours of studying, but we are excited to start the next step. 

Can't you just see the excitement?!

Vance has had two sleepovers this week.  Briton spent the night to help babysit the kids during Chad's graduation (post coming soon) and Vance convinced her to let him sleep with her on the couch. The two of them fell asleep so fast I'm not sure who put who to sleep.

 Vance and Chad had a sleepover on the trampoline on Saturday night.  Vance was exhausted after a long day of baseball, swimming, and parties so he fell asleep right away and didn't wake up until the sun came up.  I have to admit I kind of enjoyed having the bed to myself for the night :)