Six point five

 Edward is 6 and a half today.  You can tell by the pictures he really did not want to have his picture taken.  At all.  I tried a few different things to get him to smile but he just didn't want to cooperate.  Turns out, he wasn't feeling good.  

Edward loves Minecraft now.  He loves watching "The Diamond MineCart" on youtube.  

He still does not like school.

Edward is very intelligent and knows so much more than I give him credit.  We are still working on improving his reading skills and he doesn't like reading.  

If Edward could pick, I am sure he would watch Youtube and play minecraft all day.  HA!

Edward has been in to riding dirt bikes with Stephen on Mondays.  He really seems to enjoy it.  It is helping is confidence and his balance.

Edward moved up in gymnastics and likes being in the older boy class.  

He starts piano this Saturday!  I am excited.  He isn't!

We went to Cool Springz to celebrate then on to Dairy Queen for a quick dessert.  

Once we got home, Edward told me his ear hurt.  Sure enough, he's sick.

I love this sweet little guy.  He is cantankerous but that's what I love.  He is strong willed and knows what he wants.  He is very intelligent and kind.  I can not believe he will be 7 in 6 months!!!

Last year of Pre-Kindergarten

I just can not believe Nolen is almost 5!  Today is his first day of afternoon pre-school.  He was so excited!!  He barely said good-bye to me as he walked off with his class.  He is so adorable.  I bought a new lens and decided to go "full" manual with my camera.  So, here was my first test shots! 

Escape room!

Stephen and I joined a few of our friends last night in an epic adventure! We had heard of escape rooms a few months ago and they are just starting to gain popularity. Albuquerque got an escape room about 3 months ago. 

An escape room is a room set up with certain clues and you have one hour to solve all the clues and escape the room. 

It was so fun! We all worked together and solved the clues. We needed two hints out of three available. We finished in 40:13 and broke the record, for now. I am sure another group will come through and blast through the clues. 

Check it out! http://nmescaperoom.com/ We had a blast!

Another one bites the dust

We have had the BEST occupational therapists at Kid Power. Amy is one of my favorites because she sees both of my boys. 

Edward is seen for auditory processing disorder while Nolen is seen for sensory processing disorder. Amy has been amazing with both boys. She is incredibly patient. It's been great to watch her work with my boys for the last year. I am so sad to see her go. She is moving on to work with adults. My boys will miss her terribly. 

What's the price of a photograph?

Let me take you back to one of my very first memories. I was two or three. I lived on a farm in Maricopa, Arizona. We had a huge house out in the middle of no where. Behind our house was an all grass back yard lined with fruit trees.  On the left hand side of our property, just outside the fence was our family garden. I recall walking through the gate to help my dad in the garden. He was tall then. He was thin and had a lot more jet black hair on his head. He was young but I didn't know that back then. Nothing specifically happened that day of note. But I remember the gate, my dad, and the garden. As I age, (I'm currently older now than my dad was in my memory) that memory is going fuzzy. It's pixilated and not crisp. It has blank spots then ends abruptly.

This is precisely why I take a million pictures. (That's an over exaggeration.) I want to always remember things as they are in this particular moment because it will never happen again and my memory will fade. 

I know a photograph won't last forever; however, it will last a long time. Especially digital photography. 

So, for me, the value of a photograph is priceless. I love to remember. Pictures take me back to those moments. I can almost taste the dust in the air that day I walked out to the garden with my dad. I never want to forget. 

This is all the more reason why I bought a camera and started capturing my boys in moments they may not recall. I value the photograph almost as high as I value my memory. 

It's priceless. 

First day of First grade

I may actually have been more anxious than Edward.  I barely slept.  Edward had a hard time falling asleep.  We didn't know who is teacher was until we got to the school today.  Kindergarten was a little rough for us last year so this year is super important to me (and Edward).  I want him to have a great year and love learning.  I want his teacher to understand him so that he can learn and grow to his up most potential.  

The school parking lot was packed so we had to park on the street.  We ran in and met the teacher briefly.  So chaotic!  There were parents everywhere!  I gave him a kiss on the cheek and said goodbye.  This year was almost harder than last year.  Luckily, I had Nolen with me and we had to get to his Occupation Therapy session at Kid Power.  After Kid Power we had pre-school registration.  Then we zoomed home for ABA.  Such a busy day.  

I sure love that little Edward.  I can not believe he is starting first grade.  I remember first grade.  It was better than kindergarten.  So here I sit, saying a little prayer that his first day of school is epic!

Feenixxxx

At least, that's how I think Phoenix should be spelled. Ha! We took our last summer vacation last week and headed to the city of extreme heat! 115 degrees is a bit high for my taste these days. I had such a great time with Craig and Blair. I'm always so grateful to have amazing siblings!

Our first stop was in Snowflake, Arizona. We had a great chat and delicious dinner with Stephens grandparents. I even snapped a 4 generations picture. Yay!

We, then, headed down to Phoenix and hit up Butterfly World. Sadly, it was grossly over priced. $20 per adult and $15 per kid. Here in Albuquerque we have a bio park that includes a butterfly pavilion, aquarium, and all the bio park garden displays for $7 a person!

This place did have an active beehive and that was cool. 

The boys built dune buggies with the pillows!

We drove down to Maricopa on Saturday night to get all of Stephens family together. We have missed spending time with them over the last year. I tried to get a group shot and failed miserably. Ha!

Such a great trip and always fun to see family! I miss you, feenixxxx!