Shawn's 7th Birthday!

7 years ago today we had our very first baby boy! He was 2 weeks early, weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz. and was 20" long. I can't believe it has been 7 years! Wow does time go by quick! I just wanted to post a few pictures of Shawn over the last seven years to show him how quickly he has grown from my sweet little baby to my sweet big boy! (I always tell him he will always be my baby because he was my first!) Here he was a couple days after being born before we left the hospital:

This is Shawn when he was 2 months old (I love this one with his pouty lips!):

Shawn when he was one (doesn't it look exactly like Connor?!) :

Two years old:


Three years old:

Four years old:

Five years old:

And here is our sweet Shawn today - 7 years old:

Here are just a few of the reasons we love our Shawn:

*Shawn is such a good son and big brother. He is always so willing to help mom out with chores and taking care of his two little brothers. He jumps right up to help the minute I ask and sometimes even without being asked if he notices there is something that is needed.

*I love that Shawn still loves to snuggle with me during movies/tv shows and reading books - even though he is "too big" for that sort of things in public. :)

*Shawn is very creative and has a huge imagination - it is always so fun to hear and watch him playing and making things up with his little brothers and the daycare kids.

*He is very artistic - he loves to draw, paint, color, etc. and he is pretty good at it for a boy his age!

*He loves school and learning. He just completed first grade with flying colors and is so excited to start second grade in the fall!

*He picked up reading very quickly this year in school and loves to sit and read for hours (a boy after my own heart!).

*He is very much into video games (PS3, Wii, DS, etc.) as well as board games and card games, reading, watching sports with dad, and anything Star Wars.

*Overall he is pretty much the best we could ever have asked for in a son! :)

Shawn -

we love you and are so proud of the boy that you are
growing up to be! You are such a good example to your little brothers - they look up to you and always want to be just like you! Thank you for just being you! Hope you have a fantastic birthday!

Love -

mom and dad

Just for fun - here is the cake that I made for his birthday. I used to make their b-day cakes and then when I was working the last few years I slacked off and just bought them one. Well, I decided that I would make one this year again. Now, I'm no proffessional (never had a class - just watched my mom do it gowing up), so don't look closely - it's definately far from perfect (I never can frost it smoothly!), but it was fun to make and I thought it turned out pretty cute! It, of course, has Star Wars action figures on it in case you are wondering what those are. :)

Tonight we are going to celebrate his birthday by going to the D-Backs game (his choice of what to do). Then Saturday is his party with friends. (More pics of that later.) Happy Birthday Shawn!

Memorial Weekend Getaway!

For memorial weekend, we decided last minute we needed to get away for the weekend and take a little break from life! So - we jumped in the car and just kind-of decided day to day where to go and what to do. Very much not me. I am someone who loves to go on trips, but I like to know where we are going and what we are doing. So this was different for me (and hard to know what to pack!) but it ended up being a lot of fun!!!

Friday night we drove to Primm, NV and stayed the night (we got there about 1:00 in the morning!) For those of you who have never heard of Primm, it is a small city on the border of Nevada and California about 20 minutes south of Las Vegas. It consists of 3 hotels and 1 gas station and that is about it! It is pretty cool though. It has a huge roller coaster that is a lot of fun (in 1996 it was the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world! I went on it back then with my cousins who lived in Vegas.) It also has a log flume ride and a frog jumper for the kids. That was their favorite. Here is Shawn and Brady riding it (over and over again):

Saturday we just hung out there in Primm to go swimming, ride the rides, walk through the outlet mall (huge),play arcade games, and we went to the movie "Night and the Museum" - the new one that just came out this weekend. It was pretty cute - the kids loved it! It was a fun day!

Sunday we drove into Las Vegas and walked around some shops, went miniature golfing at Circus Circus and played some games there. Then we drove back to Primm for dinner and to sleep for the night! (Each night we decided to stay there to sleep and so we kept having to call the front desk and ask if we could extend another night - pretty funny to do!)

Monday (Memorial Day) we got up and swam at the hotel for a while before we had to check out. Here are some pics of the kiddos at the pool.

I must mention Connor's mohawk hairdo. His hair is so long and in need of a haircut badly! Well, just playing around I did it in a mohawk to show Mike how long it is and it sort-of became his hairstyle for the weekend. The kids loved it! This isn't that great of a picture of it because it is after it was slept on, but you get the idea! :)

After we checked out we got in the car and headed home - with a small detour stop at Lake Havasu to check out the London Bridge! We've never been there before and it was pretty cool to see! Here is a picture of us driving over it:

And me, Shawn, Brady, and Connor standing in front of it:

Cool lampposts lined it all accross the entire bridge.

It amazes me that it was taken down in London brick by brick, shipped here, and then put back together again. Wow! :)

After that stop it was straight home! We had a fun weekend, but I think we all are exausted and ready to be home! Nice to sleep in our own beds anyways....

Here is a little video I took of the kids on the Frog Jumper ride. Brady was being so funny and squealing and flailing his arms and legs when they would ride it - I promise out of fun, not out of torture! :) It was pretty funny so here you go (you can hear it if you push pause on the music player first):

Shawn's Last Day of First Grade!

This was Shawn's last week of school before Summer Break! Friday was his very last day in First Grade! He has sure learned a lot this year and has done very good in school - Principal's Honor Roll and Honor Roll every quarter! He also was tested for the LEAP program and began that this year as well. He loves school and learning and has also enjoyed his class and making new friends! He tells me every day he can't wait until Second Grade! :) Friday was the last day of school and they had an assembly to give out awards for the quarter. Shawn received an award for Honor Roll and also for being Student of the Month in his class for the month of May. Here are a couple pics of his class and him getting their awards. (Sorry they are dark - once again my camera does not take good pictures in the school lighting!)

Shawn with his teacher, Mrs. Willoughby. He loved having her as a teacher and she was good for him - she really took an interest in him this year and believed in him as a "gifted" student! She was fabulous! Hope he gets such a good teacher next year!

We love you Shawn and are very proud of you and all you have accomplished this year! Way to go!

Air Conditioner Gone Bad, Rain Is Good!

Last week our air conditioner went out (one of the motors broke and needed to be replaced). So for a couple of days we had NO AIR. Kind-of a big deal when you live in Arizona and it is over 100 degrees outside. Well, we caught a lucky break! The 2 days that we were without air, just happened to be the same 2 days that is was cloudy, only in the low 90's and rainy! Still, it was quite hot inside our house (had to keep the windows all open and all the fans on all the time for it to stay in the low 80s in our house). Well, Thursday evening Brady found a fun way to keep cool - play in the rain! He had so much fun in the back yard - all by himself - playing under the covered porch at the edge where the rain would drip off the roof! Here are a few funny pictures of him all soaked by the rain!

You can see the rain literally running down his face and dripping off his chin!

Where most people dread rainy days, we here in sunny Arizona LOVE rainy days! Finally a break from the heat (even though in the rain it is still 95 degrees outside!) and this time it couldn't have come at a better time!

First Official Swim of Summer!

A couple of weeks ago we took the kids to Mom and Dad McDougal's condo (they were here visiting for the weekend) and we took our kids swimming in the pool. It was the first time we have ever really taken Connor swimming (besides just putting his feet in when he was a couple months old) - he loved it!!! We bought this cheap little floaty thing for him to sit in and he loved just sitting there splashing in the water! Here are a couple of pictures of him in his floaty:

Here is Shawn (who loves to pose for the camera!) playing in the water:

And here are a couple pics of Brady swimming around. Usually we can't even get him off the steps, but we bought him a life jacket (for when we go to Lake Powell in a couple weeks) and he realized it keeps him floating - SO - he just kept kicking himself all over the pool! Now I can't wait until swimming lessons start so hopefully he will be brave enough to swim without the life jacket!

Shawn on the noodle:

And here is one more of our cute Connor (you can see him testing the water out by poking it with his finger, which of course led to much splashing)!:

We are excited for the summer and the many days playing in the pool to cool off from this Arizona heat!!!

Backyard Fun!

Now that the weather is getting up into the 90s and 100s (and it's only May!). my kids decided yesterday to get out the kiddy pools and take a little "swim" in the backyard, play with the hose, etc. Here is Shawn filling up the pool with water from the hose:

And Brady spraying the lawn (guess he thought it needed watering?):

Shawn:

and Brady (I love this one!):

Shawn loved trying to get Brady with the hose and Brady thought it was pretty funny too!

The kids love these pictures because you can see where he was swinging the water around:

And this one looks like it is circling them:

Even though I am not ready for the heat of the Arizona summer, the kids sure had a blast and are looking forward to swimming all summer long!

10 months and counting!

I have to say I am so happy.........Connor is no longer afraid of the bath! He finally doesn't scream and cry the entire time he is in the tub. Granted, he still sometimes cries when I wash his hair, but that is it!

This is his favorite "bathtub toy". It is a little turtle and he likes to sit there and chew on it. (Teething - go figure!)

And what kind of mother would I be if I didn't have the cute "ate my snack and fallen asleep in my high chair" picture?!

Isn't he so precious?! We certainly think so! Of course, kids are always so cute when sleeping!