Good-bye summer

With the cooler weather setting in, I feel the need to say good-bye to summer and the many visitors it brought us, especially those whose pictures I took, but didn't get around to posting (until today, that is). The specialness of summer is very clear for me now. The less structured days. The longer daylight hours. The pool and water outdoor fun. The little t-shirt and shorts pj's and clothes. The easy excuse for popsicles because it's just too darn hot NOT to have one. Then, the resulting popsicle mouth of various shades of purple, red or blue. Comparing whose tongue has the cooler color. The stickiness of hands after a frozen treat, but the elation (and sugar rush, no doubt) of getting that treat all the same. I miss summer already. But, I am also very ready for fall.

 AD & A having fun

 Friends visit from Las Vegas - 1

 Friends visit from Las Vegas - 2

 Cousin Michael from Indy with boys

 Cousin Michael from Indy 

Piggies

Sorry for the video quality. I just got a new camera, but was using the old one for this video. Regardless of the quality, the video is pretty cute.

Bicycles

The boys practice riding their bikes in our clean garage (thanks again to Uncle Justin!). Woo hoo!

Grandma A visits from Florida

Grandma A visited us for a four days in September and the boys had such fun with her, however we didn't get very many pictures. But we did get a few.

What a treat to have some awesome grandma time!

 Reading time

 Saying good-bye

Josh visits too!

Z is 3!

 The birthday boy

Happy Birthday to my little man. We've celebrated in style today starting with French Toast for breakfast, then Bam's for lunch with some good friends, and tonight we'll have dinner with Uncle Justin's roommate, Rey (it's also his birthday!). The big gift for Z this year, was a bicycle that's just a bit smaller than the one A got earlier this year for his birthday. So, now I have two two-wheeling guys! Very exciting times.

The pics and videos represent our day so far. :)

 A & AD

 My boys hamming it up for the camera

 KC grandkids minus BJ

Alina the Imaginary Friend

Last year, Z had a classmate named Alina. This girl was special to Z and he asked me often to email her mommy and set up a play date. Well, I finally made this happen a few months before school ended. We went to a local coffee shop that also has a kids room (is that awesome or what?). Z spent the majority of the time, quietly sitting next to me, eating a snack, and peering at Alina through his long eyelashes. It was adorable, and the light bulb went off for me that this was a very special girl for Z.

Once school ended, Z started pretending that Alina was playing with him at home. A liked this, and started playing with Z and the imaginary Alina.

Fast forward a few months, and imaginary Alina is a staple in our home. The conversations below represent only a small amount of the Alina-based imagination that I hear on a regular basis:

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One day, while driving in the car, A all of a sudden tells Z, "I killed Alina and threw her out of the car."

Z calmly responds with "That's ok, I make him disappear right next to me. See. He right here." [Note: We're still working on the appropriate pronoun based on gender. Although, now that I think about it, since Alina is now an imaginary person, I suppose she could now be a he. Hmmm.]

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A current favorite theme is that Z likes to tell me that Alina is hitting me. I usually ask him to tell Alina to please stop because it's not nice, and I can hear him whispering over his shoulder a recitation of my request to his friend.

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When we were driving in the car a few weeks ago, we saw a man walking his dog on the sidewalk. That prompted the boys to pretend that Alina was walking on the side of the road, like the man. Then Z says "Oh no, Mommy hit Alina with the car. Poor Alina." and he and A laugh like banshees.

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[Note: this is not an Alina story, but rather another car-oriented story.]
There is a large hill that we drive up and down regularly as part of our weekly errands. One day, I didn't hit the light at the top of the hill, so we were driving at a slightly faster speed than usual when I hear the following:
Z: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 11. 17. 20 BLAST OFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A: Yeah, Mom's driving super fast. If we put wings on the car, I bet we could fly into out space.
Z: Yeah! Outer space. BLAST OFF!!!!!!!!!
[I apparently inherited my lead foot from my mom. :)]

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So, to end this Alina post, I have to share that I took Z to school today for his first day back. The real Alina is not going to his school this year, so I don't know if or when we'll see her again. However, I did have to tell his teacher that the imaginary Alina may also be in her classroom this year. This might be interesting.

One last comment about Z's first day of school: Last year, Z was beyond excited to be starting school. He was grinning ear to ear, and could barely contain his happiness. This morning, he told me that school was closed and he had to stay home. He also told me that he wants to be a baby and wear diapers (we're potty training, and he's doing fairly well, as long as I remind him when to go.). Then he said that Alina is staying home with me, and she doesn't get a backpack. After the thought of the backpack, his attitude changed, and he was ready to go to school.

School has started!

 A - Day 1

 A & Z - Days 2 & 1, respectively

Wow! I took a picture of A yesterday before his first day of school, then took a few pics of the boys together before Z started school today with A, then the kids wanted to see what pics I had on the camera. Um, I guess I haven't blogged for a while, nor have I downloaded my pics because I had some pictures from mid-summer. My apologies! But, perhaps, now that I'll be getting a bit of non-kid time each week, I'll finally get around to posting more. For now tho, I'll simply provide you with the school pics of my big guys. Enjoy!