grandparent's holiday visit

My parents were for a long weekend visiting us for the holidays. They got to see our new home, take a ride on the light rail to the Tempe Arts Fest, visit the boys school for a holiday party, see Ethan's flag football tournament, watch a holiday play and help us build a gingerbread house! We really enjoyed them here. Here are some pictures of the weekend.

 

Gingerbread House Building

 

Tada! 

5 minutes later ...

 

 

Freezing at Ethan's Flag Football Game

East Valley Children's Theater Holiday Play at Mesa Art Center

Enjoying dinner at the boys new favorite restaurant - Got Sushi?!

Hudson's Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast

 

flag football

This fall Ethan has been playing flag football, go Mountain Lions! He has learned so much about the game and it's such fun to watch him and his teammates play each Saturday.

 

halloween

Here is the trick or treating gang! Gnome (Tommy), Super Mario (Ethan), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (Hudson) and Star Wars Trooper (Timmy). We had a great night trick or treating and stuffing our faces with candy!

Here are the boys terrifying jack-o-lanterns! Ethan's is on the left and Hudson's is on the right. We listening to spooky music while creating them to really get into the mood.

our new home!

 

We moved into our new home last week and area all settled, unpacked and decorated!

Our new place is super cute. We really like the neighborhood. The space inside fits our family well. It is cozy and so much quieter then our last place, so much quieter. The kitchen is slightly out of the way and I like not having to see any unfinished business in there when I'm relaxing on the couch. Chloe has her first ever doggy door. I hope she loves it as much as we do :) The kids playroom has a door and full walls which helps a lot with sound control. We have a sweet little backyard with enough space to play, a pretty tiled patio and lots of flowers, we have even had some visits from butterflies and hummingbirds which I love.

Here are a few snapshots ...

We hope you will visit us soon!

Aziz 1st Birthday!

We celebrated our friends Sulaiman and Joey's baby boy Aziz's 1st birthday recently! He such a cutie. It was great to see the whole family and how much Aziz has grown. Ethan and Hudson had a great time at the party. Ethan thought it was "off the hook"! Here are some pictures:

Mini Me

Table cloth peek a boo.

Yum Cake!

Happy Auntie Z

Presents!

Prince Aziz in his new super hero cape from the Fagan's!
Handmade by a local AZ mama.

I totally should have gotten one of Aziz, Jacynda and the boys! I hate when I miss a good photo opp. Hopefully we will see them all again soon. Happy 1st Birthday Prince Aziz!

parent teacher conferences and student of the month!

 

This week we had parent teacher conferences and Hudson received the student of the month reward for cooperation in September! We had the ceremony this week - here is the little man going up to get his reward.

Bert visited the boys teachers and received two great reports!

Hudson knows all of his letter names and sounds, counts from 1-100 and by 10's to 100 and knows all of his shapes. He received outstanding marks in language, math, science and social studies. He is very social, plays nicely with the other kids and is enjoying his new sense of independence. He actively participates, is helpful to his classmate and just needs a little guidance about being respectful and not talking when the teacher is talking.

Ethan had a great start to 2nd grade! He also received outstanding marks in language, math, science and social studies. He is currently in the top math group (93%) and top reading group (92%) in second grade. He is reading 118 words per minute (87 is the end of the year goal). He is doing exceptionally well with his understanding of money. He needs to remember to be patient and use his self-control when he is frustrated. This is something he has been working on since Kindergarten and each year he improves, he also needs to focus on using capitals and punctuation when writing. His teacher thinks he is a good candidate for Mesa's Extended Learning Program. We will learn more about that in the Spring.

We are so proud of both of them!!!