Happy 4th Birthday

Mommy sang "Happy Birthday" to him with his 4 donut breakfast with grapes this morning!

So glad he was so excited this morning, even if it did mean a 5:45 AM wake up call from my handsome boy!

We are so proud of you and the amazing year you have had growing up in front of us.  Four short years ago we had no idea that today you would be the amazing kid, artist, creative thinker, loving, super intelligent and super fast boy that you are. 

This year Waylon has really blossomed with his alphabet and numbers. He can write almost anything out by tracing the letters or numbers.  He knows how to spell his name and can recognize most if not all the letters of the alphabet. (we still have some trouble with b's, p's, and d's but those are tricky) Waylon loves learning too, it has been so much fun this year to see all the fun he has had learning his letters and coming home and doing the same fun over and over again. He is a learner and I love that about him.

Waylon also LOVES to color and paint. I borrowed this paint from our Art teacher at school and boy do I have a huge Thank You coming to her.  HE LOVES this.  I love that it has been so nice in May this year and he has been able to do most of his painting outside.  He doesn't just scribble paint either, there is a story behind each of his paintings and each one he takes his time and uses a lot of color.  He loves to paint coloring pages too.  We have a large collection of his art work this year and not to brag, but he is a very amazing artist when it comes to coloring. He knows the colors of characters and does so well at staying in the lines.  He has come a long way in a year with his coloring.

This is a puzzle he has that he has been using to review his alphabet.  You simply match up the letter with the picture of the object that starts with that letter. He is really starting to get the hang of puzzles and loves that this is something he can do by himself right now.  He is a proud kiddo once he completes a puzzle on his own.

Remember this picture...? This is one of the best parts of Waylon this year. He became a big brother.  Wow! He has he impressed all of us with how great he is at it.  He loves the fact now that he can "play" more with Toni and teach her things.  She watches him so carefully and just adores him.  Her face lights up when he enters the room and starts talking to her.

This is just one of hundreds of pictures we have of his sweet side with her.  Taken by my friend Stacey, she does an amazing job with the kids and gets them at just the right moments.  

Waylon you are growing up too fast, but you are growing up to be such a wonderful person.  We are all so proud of you and know that you have a lot of amazing things ahead of you in your journey called life.  We know that you will be a leader in whatever you do. Continue to grow and have fun. Always  know that you are loved by SOOO many people in this world. 

We can not wait to see what you bring to the world this year being FOUR! 

Our first Family photo taken 4 years ago today.

Waylon Glen Pickard

May 31, 2007

5:18 am via  Emergency C-section

8 lbs. 11 oz. 21 in.

A small family vacation to Tucson

Summer Fun has started around here...Saturday we took the kids and my in-laws down to Tucson for a short but FUN trip.  This is another one of those FREE rooms we got and had to use before the end of the month, so instead of staying for two nights we brought Grandma and Grandpa with us!

We went to the Pima Air Museum and the Titan Missile Museum.

This time Little Missy was not in my belly and enjoyed herself at the Museum too.  It was hot that day and she did great, who wouldn't when you have brother, grandma, grandpa and Daddy to entertain you right?

One of the fighter jets that looks just like the ones in Top Gun.

A jet simulator that Waylon got to play in. This was all I could see from the ground of him sitting in the pilot seat.

Here he is in the jump seat. I am not sure what he liked more here the fact that there was a table right next to him or all the buttons.  He said, "maybe you could eat breakfast if you sat in this seat here."

Then after the long drive (yeah right 2 hours) and the museum it was finally off to the HOTEL.  I forget the little things that make kids so happy...a hotel and the fact it had a pool was AWESOME to Waylon.  This was the only picture I could get of him because he was dancing around and being such a goofball.  All he wanted was to go swimming and hang out at the hotel.

So here is little Missy in her swim suit getting ready for her first swim.  So stinking cute she is...I love the rolls on her, it is even better when she sits down.

Waylon had to splash a while first before he was ready to get in...I am hoping that he gets a little more used to the water soon, because I want to put him in swimming lessons with an instructor and not me.

Toni with Daddy..

A splash pad they had near the pool too.  This was fun for Waylon.

 Here we are at the Titan Missile Museum the next day.  This was very interesting and something I did not know was even there.  We took a one hour tour and learned a lot about the missile and I even got to press the button in a mach launch. 

 This was the chair I sat in and pushed the button to launch the missile.  It was neat, and interesting to see the old technology in this room.  Even though it could still do the job if needed today dispite its age.

 The missile is underground here.  You can look down and see it in the silo.

We had watched a video before doing the tour of the silo and command center. It was 17 minutes long and Waylon watched and listened to the whole thing. I was impressed because when we walked out and began the tour he pointed out this jeep that was in the video which was a security jeep.

Waylon liked this tour, but did not understand a lot of it I am sure.  He thought he was going to see a rocket and really really wanted to buy a rocket.  Unfortunately there was no rocket for him to see nor was there one to buy either...Poor guy...oh well we stayed in a hotel with a POOL right?

Happy Summer Everyone, the fun is just starting over here many more blogs to come.

Date Nights done RIGHT!!!

Jake and I have not had many date nights but this month we were SO Lucky to get 2 and They were AMAZING!!!! We have such great family around us that just adore our kids and would probably take them more often for us, but life is just so busy at times and date nights are not nearly as easy as they used to be...sigh...sniff...sniff..

 Date Night #1

Kenny Chesney Concert

May 1st

 Yep, that is how close we were! I told you these were amazing dates! Jake and I have not seen Kenny in 2 years and we had talked about not going but so glad we did.  We have been to a lot of Kenny Concerts (I think we said this was our 5th?) and over the years they are very much the same and VERY predictable.  However, they are still a lot of fun and a who doesn't love loud music!

This year his show was different.  We LOVED the changes he had made and really loved and appreciated the fact that his WHOLE show was LIVE.  Two of the members in his band are Phoenix Boys so it is also fun for them and they always seemed PUMPED to be here in town.  There was two or three times where Kenny throughout the show messed up (but in a good way) and you could tell it was live and a great time.  We laughed one time because he sang one chorus part three times and he kept looking back at his band like he was telling them "play it again and I will sing the right verse this time" and finally he said "I like this verse we will sing the next verse next year since I can't get it right this year!"  It was very real and I liked that, however, my favorite it ALWAYS when his band takes a break and the lights go low and HE SINGS.  I could listen to him sing ALL NIGHT like that.

This was Billy Currington who opened for Kenny.  He was great too also live and would love to see him again someday.

Date Night #2

Montelucia Resort

(aka for the old locals-La Posada Resort)

May 21st

This was our VIEW from the ROOM....!!

Camelback Mountain and the Pool. 

This was an amazing room but the view and balcony was AWESOME.

The best part about this whole date night/day was that this amazing room was FREE.  Remember when I said there are FEW (and I mean FEW perks to Jake being out of town) well this is one of them.  He has saved over 250,000 points to get this $400+ a night room for us.

We were very proud of ourselves because we spent only $100 this whole time and that was a Really nice dinner alone at Houstons and then spent about $20 in drinks at the store to have the whole day instead of purchasing their $10-15 drinks (a piece).  We packed a cooler of food and snacks so that we were never tempted by the food here.  I can not imagine what some of these people spend at places like this...a sandwich that I had made Jake probably would have cost $17 down by the pool. 

THAT IS CRAZY!

Our bathroom was HUGE..this is only 1/2 of it.

Here is the other half.

Our bedroom and sitting area.  I did not get a picture of the balcony but it was Huge to.  There was a table, two chairs and a lounge chair out there. Such a great place to watch people spend a lot of money and know we were spending close to nothing and having the same expierence.

I am so grateful we had this time together.  I miss it though.. Dates like both of these make me miss US a lot. I would never ever change anything we have but do look forward to the days (someday) when we can start DATING again.

Thanks for two great dates in May honey...I love you!

Many fun things for May!

Waylon came home the other day from Brandy's with a heart Muffin and this little teapot they made for me for Mother's Day. Inside the tea pot it read

 "Here's a gift for Mother's Day! I'll try my best in every way but when you get upset with me relax and have a cup of tea!"

He was so excited as you could tell, but I think more to eat the muffin with me than anything else.  

He is getting really good at tracing the letters of things.

Our annual Mother and Children shot..Not the best, but another memory in the book.

For Mother's Day we had another breakfast here at the house. 

A super cute picture of my cute girl.  She had just finished her new favorite. Noodles, peas carrots mixed with butternut squash.  Her face was twice as dirty as this but because it is orange sauce you can not see it nearly like you would if it were spaghetti sauce. WOW! she was a mess.

Waylon and I have one week left to go and then summer officially starts.  However, this weekend we started on some of the many things and ideas I have to keep the fun/learning going on over here.  I have so many ideas and so many fun blogs that I am reading that I really hope I can get it all in.

This was an activity that he did that was fun and put all those boy tools to use for him. He thought this was so cool and this shot was actually taken at 7:45 AM!  It was funny and cute because he worked and worked on this for the longest time and then decided he could not break it. However, once I told him to throw it down on the ground and break like I do with ice sometimes, he LIT UP and thought OK THIS IS GREAT... We have done this I think twice now and it is a big hit. (ha Literally!)

I have ideas and projects galore to keep us busy for the summer. My goal is to get Waylon reading small words, remembering all the letters and numbers he has gained this year at Brandy's and also do basic math skills with him over the summer.  I feel almost like a kindergarten teacher planning right now, since I am no longer planning for the 3rd graders. 

I LOVE planning for my class of ONE!

Well more and more to come I am sure...so stayed tuned to find out just all we do this summer it is going to be busy and FUN!

Toni is 10 months

Toni 10 months old

These pictures never seem to drasticlly change, but still make me smile because they are my kiddos.

Toni and Waylon in his "rack truck" They both do not fit in here together only for the picture. But as you can tell Waylon thought this was so cool that she could sit in his truck with him.

Toni has reached 10 months old and is doing a lot in most areas but is still not crawling yet.  Which the doctor seemed a little concerned, but he was also about this concerned when she had not been rolling over a few months ago.  Thankfully, she is rolling because that is ALL she does to be mobile right now.  I guess I should not worry to much before I know it my time will be consumed with where she is and teaching her what things are ok and what is not in her huge world.

This is about as close as she gets to crawling.  Although it looks like she is well on her way, what you can't see is her left leg is still crossed.  She can not seem to rock herself enough to push her whole body forward into the crawling position and GO!  When she does get up on all fours she does not stay long and falls onto her stomach and then begins to roll and roll to where ever she needs to go.  I have even tried propping her up so that she can be in the crawling position but she seems to think that is not fun either. 

Toni has started eating a lot of finger foods.  She has had baked apples and pears in bite size pieces.  She has also had peas, carrots, corn and even chicken.   She does eat well most of the time, but is more of a "picky eater" than Waylon was.   She is becoming more opinionated in shaking her head when she does not want any more of her food or she SCREAMS! Which I LOVE!!!

This is the last picture of I have of her in her swing. :-(  She has officially grown out of it.  It creaked so much the last time I put her in it and would barely swing back and forth.  I am excited to have a little more space when the swing heads to Gammies house for new babies that she takes care of, but sad as some of the first big furniture of Baby Stuff starts to leave the house for good.

Toni and Waylon love being together.  Waylon had set up a blanket the other day for her with some toys for her to play with and he had started to pull some of her books out to read to her. I wish I had video of him reading these books to her, his words and story voice was so cute.  Waylon and I are really beginning to work hard on some pre reading skills so that soon maybe he will read to her. 

(He wants to be like Hudson and Read books too!-So thanks to his cousin we have a great motivation to read right now.  Thank goodness summer is almost here!)



Super happy girl in her cute shirt. "everyone loves a brown eyed girl"



Bye Bye see you next time! Only 2 more Months to go!!!