JULY 2013

JULY 2013

The above picture was the last picture of the Northill Boys Club ... we would get together with the next door neighbor and the across the street neighbors frequently! The two from across the street moved out of the country and sadly we will be moving in October.  So we had one last Water Splash Party and it was a hit!!

The City of Richardson just remodeled the Heights Park Recreational Center and Swimming Pool ... It has a huge slide (not shown) and this wonderful playground area.  It also has a lazy river, lap lanes, basketball hoops and several different swimming depths.  It is perfect for any mother just wanting to relax and read a book ... look up and make sure all is well!

Can't miss the opportunity to show Zayne's bedhead :)

It has turned into a Carla and Alycia tradition to go to the Ranger's game every year ... It truly is special and fun!  Can you believe that Zayne actually sits through the game and watches intently, I think we might have a baseball player on our hands?!

As our adventure this month we decided to take a bike ride to a new splash park, eat lunch, play and attempt to ride back without complaining ... which was a feat! But we made it :)  Can you see the love ...

JUNE 2013

JUNE 2013

It took an entire month to finish the Death Star ... But it is finally finished!! And ready for play ...

Zach's favorite character is Darth Vader and as it was recently told to me, it is basically because he sounds cool and he has alot of cool gadgets and buttons.  I guess that makes sense, I have to think like a little boy at times.   Zayne idolizes his brother!! He thinks his brother is the funniest kid ever and I can't stop laughing when they start laughing!! There is so much joy between them, how could anything in this world be bad.  

Have I ever told you guys that Zayne loves to dance?  Well ... he loves to dance, if there is a good beat all you have to do is look for Zayne and he has already heard and is either moving his arms, hips, legs, or head to the beat!! I love it!! I hope you enjoy the video of him jamming!

Funny Story:

I asked Zachery to bring me a roll of toilette paper.  He comes into the bathroom with one square! I start laughing so hard!! Can't really do a whole lot with one square ... Anyways, I know that everyone has their bathroom stories ... I guess this one is mine for the month :)

MAY 2013

MAY 2013

We wrapped up AWANA's this month and had the awards ceremony.  This was Zachery first year in Sparks, which was fun and I was able to be an assistant leader with him.  Helping him with his Bible versus has been a joy for me.  He still continues to seem to enjoy it, especially game time!!

Baseball season continues and Zachery continues to be a slugger.  He normally plays outfield, but this picture actually has him playing pitcher.  Yes, Charlie and I are fully aware of how dorky we are because we have matching uniforms with Zachery's team.  We do look cute though!!

We continued our membership to the Children's Science Museum and go often!  They just finished the new museum and is considered a green building.  This just basically means that a certain percentage of the building uses environmentally friendly building products; electricity; recycling; garden type roof; etc.  The pictures above were taken outside while we were playing in the rain on the instruments.  

The boys invented a new game, to them, with their swords ... destroying plastic bottles and tin cans!  Talk about getting a lot of aggression out and the noise is ... well lets just say it is loud!! Crashing and banging but the laughter is what is so joyful!

The boys are totally into these cards right now that have a very high pitched voice, I think they were introduced to them from one of their Aunts :) And right now they love giving birthday cards or cards in general from these talking little guys ... they are actually truly hilarious, as I roll my eyes!  I love it when I get home made gifts!! I absolutely love them ... this year for my birthday, the boys painted me pictures!! So as you could imagine, I went crazy with excitement and pure joy!!

I am so thankful that the cape that was made for Zachery is getting some good wear!! Superman Zayne!!

Zayne was finished with school earlier than Zachery for the year ... so I brought him to work with me, this picture is a selfie!! I do have to say though, that when we were leaving to pick up Zachery from school ... he had to touch everything:  construction signs, several light poles, a garbage can and I am sure if I walked close enough every car prior to ours!! What is even funnier is if I say "don't touch"  his little hands would wring in front of him in a mischievous way, debating whether it is worth obeying or not!! Truly enjoying these little moments of parenthood!!

Zachery had been saving up for the Death Star for awhile ... he had $100 to go before he reached $400.  We were over at a friends house and I bet that he couldn't swim across their pool (the long way).  Since it was the beginning of summer, I thought I was safe!  Nope ... he DID IT!!! I was so excited and truly proud of him to save his money for something he really wanted!! The very next day we went to the bank withdrew all his money and went to the Lego Store and he bought the Death Star ... what was frustrating though, was when we got to the second bag we discovered that we were missing a piece.  So we packed everything back up and brought it back to the Lego Store and they exchanged it ... wasn't that awesome??!!

APRIL 2013

APRIL 2013

We continue to enjoy our walks to the grocery store! We get to cross over a creek and most of the time we are able to see turtles, either sunning themselves on the bank of the creek or on a rock or we will see them swimming around with their little heads sticking up from the water.  The boys truly enjoy watching them and it is about half to the grocery store, which is approximately a mile away.  Zachery started baseball this month and thrilled as can be ... Zayne was signed up for T-Ball.  He is thrilled, actually thrilled can't even describe his excitement.  He has been waiting for at least a year to play baseball.  He talk about it all the TIME!!  We also enjoy our movie nights ... yes those are bean bags, which have their names on them with pillows and their favorite stuff animals we are set to spend the night in the living room after our movie!!

CAMPING TRIP - SMOKEY MOUNTAINS

This was the month that we went on our adventure to the Smokey Mountains!! Yes for our camping trip.  My brother Cal flew from Tacoma, WA and we drove through the night to get to the Smokey Mountains.  My poor mom sat in the back of the truck ... she has motion sickness, I am not sure how she did it, but she is a trooper!! Once we got there it was so nice not to have cellular coverage, truly off the grid! I know this isn't the place to share my opinions on the advances on technology, which I have a love hate relationship with, but I was so happy not to be bothered with the idea or thought of needing to or responding to voice mails, text messages, and/or emails!! I truly believe we all need that once and a while.  The boys had a blast!! We went for 5 mile hike one day with my mom and brother, which was a little aggressive for the boys, but I really wanted to go .... In the middle of the hike was a small waterfall and creek to rest and cool off our feet.  There was alot of carrying ... but we made it and there was smiles and laughter later that evening.  There was a mile hike in the immediate vicinity of the camp site that the boys and I would hike often when we were needing to get some energy out ... that was a lot better suited for our little legs.  But I have to say I truly love how determined both boys are and how they don't complain that much.  We enjoyed the old houses and a horse pulled carriage ride.  Zachery shot his first BB Gun.  The day before we were leaving a large camper with a motorcycle in the bed of the truck pulled into the camp ground adjacent to ours ... as you can imagine the boys were fascinated with the motorcycle, that is the motorcycle they are on in the picture below.  There were tears when we had to leave, but we knew that we would have another camping adventure!!

MARCH 2013

MARCH 2013

Since Charlie and I separated in July 2012 we had a Nanny, Ms. Amy, that helped us with the boys while I worked on Thursday and Friday's.  She was blessed with a baby and had to leave us in October 2012.  My neighbor, Ms. Gypsy, helped us until this month when my mom came to help!! As indicated in November 2012 post, my parents had returned from their travels to visit each of their four children.  I think a plan was conceived to assist my mother with her hearts desire to remain in the states, while my father sailed their sailboat back to the United States across the Pacific Ocean, which I think took a month.  Anyways, this was the month that my father needed to return to their boat in the south Pacific Ocean and my mother was to come and stay with us for approximately 6 weeks.  My brother Gray  and I had been talking about meeting somewhere to go camping in April 2013 and my mother was scheduled to assist him and his family after being with me.  So the camping trip was a perfect opportunity to say our goodbye's ... but that isn't until next month!!

We had so much fun with Nana!! As you can see a Plateosaurus, fish and an unknown creature was created from clay!! Nana also potty trained Zayne!! I thought it was going to be impossible, but she did it!! She also helped me so much with Zach and Zayne's school.  Zayne has such a different learning style than Zachery's that I was having a hard time being patient.  But Zayne has such a desire to learn, just like Zachery that I really want to harness that and ensure that it is not squashed!!  As you can see the boys continue to love climbing trees and trying to scare their mom!  Zachery was building a table for his fort.  Zayne enjoys swinging on the neighbors swing.  And of course we all love digging in the garden!

Zayne's Birthday

Can you believe that Zayne turned 3 this year?!  He acts so much older, which makes me sad because I want him to enjoy childhood.  Anyways, he wanted to go to Cosmic Jump, a trampoline park here in the DFW Area.  We played dodge ball, slid down the inflatable slide, jump on the trampolines, danced to the video games, and play ping bong!! He absolutely loved his new bicycle and of course making a mess of his face while eating cake.  Can you see his determined look on his face while riding his bicycle?? Another thing about Zayne, is he really doesn't like candy or sweets or desert in general.  I think he eats it because Zachery LOVES it!!! Zach asks for desert every night! Thankfully he will settle for popcorn most times.  Zachery helped me this year with lighting the candles and singing the Happy Birthday song!  It was truly a wonderful celebration of Zayne!

Easter 

As you can see we had an eventful Easter! Coloring eggs and Easter egg hunts!!