Happy 4th Birthday Drew!

Drew is 4! Drew woke up today and wanted to know when it was his actual birthday. We all told him it was today, but he wouldn't believe us. I showed him the calendar and he still wasn't sure. I couldn't figure out why he didn't believe us, but then I remembered that we had told him that it was going to be his birthday on Tuesday but we weren't celebrating it until Saturday. Now we understood the "actual" birthday part.

Drew has grown so much in this last year. He loves being a big brother to Brett and is always looking out for him. He wants to do everything that Reed is does. He is excelled in school and has a blast! He has a great group of friends that he talks about all the time.

All Drew wanted this year was Transformer toys, but he hadn't even seen the movie and Anakins spaceship, again hasn't seen Star Wars. Well, he got both of them and is in heaven! He is also got the Transformer movie and I think this is going to be watched just as much as Cars was. Jay loved it as well.

To nap or to not nap?????

I have recently not had Brett taking his morning nap. One, we have a lot of things that we do in the morning and two, I would rather have him take one long nap instead of two short ones. Well, I am not sure if he is ready for this or not. There has been numerous times that during lunch he has fallen asleep in his high chair. As you can see in the picture he still has food in his hand. He has also fallen asleep mid bite. Also when we are in the car he usually falls asleep. If I could get him to sleep in a little longer in the morning I think we could fix this problem.

First Day of School 09-10

Reed started third grade this year, and I know I have said this in the past but I can't believe how old he is getting. He has a great teacher this year and not many of his classmates from the last two years are in his class (he looped). He was a little bummed that his friends weren't in his class, but I think he will stay a lot more focused. He will be starting advanced classes this year in reading, writing and math. He is excited to be challenged a little more this year. Unfortunately, this will be our last year at Hintgen. Reed, Jay and I have really enjoyed this school and are definitely going to miss it next year.

Drew started his second year of preschool at the Montessori preschool. He LOVES it! Every morning he asks if he has school and then gets ready. There is no arguing in the morning...wonderful! He is currently only going three days a week right now, but I am thinking of later this year putting him in 5 days to start to get ready for next year. He has grown educationally so much since last year. He it is so wonderful to see all the new things he has learned and is learning.

Brett also started "school" this year as well. I am in a bible study on Wednesday mornings and the luxury of this bible study is we have babysitting. It is great for him and I, since he has become such a momma's boy! I thought my other two were bad......YIKES! He has cried the first couple of times, but I am hoping as he gets more used to going he will really enjoy it.

Camp Shriver

"The first Camp Shriver in Wisconsin, an inclusive summer program for children both with and without cognitive disabilitie was hosted in La Crosse this July. During the camp, children participated in sports and other enrichment activities to improve their motor development, sports skills as well as their self-esteem, social skills, and confidence in building relationships with peers.

130 kids attended the camp including 80 who have cognitive disabilities and 50 who don't. Some of the activities that campers participated in include archery, a visit to a horse farm, ropes course and arts and crafts."

This camp was unbelievable! It was amazing to walk into the ice arena and see ALL of the kids getting along and playing with each other. It didn't matter age, gender or if they had a disability. Reed was so excited to go the camp each day. When the camp ended, Reed was already asking when he could do it again. We are hoping that Reed will be able to participate in the camp before we move next summer.

Each day the campers started out at Green Island, and then in the afternoon went on field trips. Some of the places they went were; Memorial Pool, Horse Sense, bowling, rock climbing at UWL, fishing, canoeing and many other sports.

Brett's first hair cut

This post is a little behind, but I wanted to make sure I got it posted. We are actually on hair cut #2 already. We decided right before we went to Arizona that he needed a cleaner cut. We were sick of his long mohawk and mullet. He did such a great job! He sat on Jay's lap and enjoyed the whole thing.

Check out those bangs!

Can you consider it a mullet yet?

For some reason only hair in the middle

Meeting his hair dresser for the first time.

Making sure that she isn't going to grab anything that will hurt him.

The first cut

and he loves it!

Still sitting nice even though she is using the razor.

Picture Time......UGH

WARNING!!!!! There are a lot of pictures. I had a hard time picking pictures to put on here, but as you can see each kid has his/her own personality and it was captured throughout the trip. We had such a blast getting together with my family and I am hoping it won't be as long in between the next time!

The boys making silly faces!

Swmming, swimming and more swimming in AZ

The boys could not get enough swimming.....