Truffula Trees

This weekend Bill and his brother, Alex, have been in New York visiting their sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law Ron! I'm extremely jealous of all the fun things that they are doing but on the other hand, I loved spending some quality time with Sawyer before he starts school later on this week! On Saturday we were out at Village Point Mall doing some shopping for school clothes and Sawyer and I were trying to decide where to go for lunch....He kept trying to explain this one place that he wanted to go and kept saying, "It's that Truffula Tree place!" and after a while it dawned on me....he was talking about 'Cheeseburger in Paradise' whose logo has a palm tree in it....or a Truffula tree. (From Dr. Seuss's 'The Lorax') 

Later that day we were driving around and Sawyer was enjoying a sucker in the back seat......after a few quiet moments he pipes up, "Raylan really likes suckers!" WHAT?!?! Apparently Sawyer had been giving Raylan little licks of his blue sucker! 

Sawyer's reasoning was "Raylan just wanted a little taste..." 

 When I got him out of his car seat, Raylan's lips were all blue and sticky but he was sure loving it! (And yes, we did have a little chat about not giving Raylan little tastes of anything...) 

Every night when it's time for bed, Sawyer always begs to have Raylan come down to say good night and it's the cutest thing ever.....they lay in bed together and between pillow talk secrets, Raylan likes to grab Sawyer's face which makes Sawyer laugh and laugh and laugh.....I just love it*

Sneak-A-Peak

 Last night was Sneak-A-Peak Night at Sawyer's new school! This was a little different from Kindergarten round up because we were able to meet his specific teacher and see exactly which room he was going to be in. The kids have been divided into two groups and half of them will come Tuesday and Wednesday, then the other group will be there on Thursday and Friday and they will all be there together on the following Monday. They wanted to keep the groups small so it wasn't so overwhelming on the first day-Which I think is a great idea! Anyway, they started out the evening with a dinner from The Pancake Man! He had the coolest and biggest pancake griddle ever! He would just slide the batter over the griddle and it would pour out perfectly sized pancakes!

We sat in the gym/cafeteria where Sawyer will be eating lunch everyday! While we were eating, this other family came and sat down with their kindergartner who was VERY out going and introduced himself to Sawyer right away. (Sawyer would neeeeever do that!) He and his new buddy Grayson unfortunately aren't going to be in the same room together but at least he'll have a familiar face to look for on the playground!

We navigated ourselves through all the hallways to the Kindergarten wing and found his class! 

Sawyer walked around until he found his seat and started looking through the welcome back that his teacher had laid out for him. (He was pretty excited about his name tag too!)

Mrs. Johnson came right over and introduced herself to us and started telling Sawyer about all the fun and exciting things she had planned for the next week! She was soooo sweet and we are really excited to have her as his teacher! (Note: as soon as we walked out of the classroom, Sawyer says, "Our hair looks the same!" Ahahahah!)

Checking out the bathroom pass......

In the mornings the kids decide what kind of lunch they will be having : Hot lunch, lunch from home, salad bar or yogurt lunch (which I think is just weird, but knowing Sawyer, he would LOVE the yogurt lunch...) They put their stick in the bucket for whatever lunch they decide on....

After looking around and getting a feel for the place, we headed out back to the playground. Sawyer and Grayson spotted each other right away and took the place by storm! (Grayson is the little boy in the black shirt, next to Sawyer) They twisted each other up on the swings, dumped sand on each other, rode the zip lines and found the only two big rocks on the entire playground and put them in their pockets...I foresee rascaliness in their future!

The evening was meant to get everyone excited for the start of the school year next week and it did just that! 

Sawyer is just aching to get started :) 

Smiles all around....

For some reason my mommy can't stop making me wear huge sunglasses!

Brotherly LOVE....I was telling Sawyer the other day that Raylan is probably going to want to be tagging along with him wherever he goes for years and years and that he's probably going to complain, "Moooom, do I really have to take Raylan with me?!?" and Sawyer says, 

"That will never happen, I'll ALWAYS let him come with me!" 

So sweet but I'm sure he'll be singing a different tune in a few years :) 

Raylan hanging out on the super soft blankie that his Great Aunt Joan made for him! 

Some of Bill and I's best friends, John and Ashton have a little son, Jackson who is two weeks younger than Raylan. They were back in town for a visit yesterday and the boys had a grand time togetha!!!

They are totally going to be the trouble twins for sure!!!

Our friend Scott brought over his new truck last night and they needed to take it out for a spin!

Boys will be boys!

Sugar High Anyone?

Yesterday Sawyer's good buddy, Nolan, celebrated his 3rd Birthday! So we spent the afternoon partying it up! It was an absolutely perfect day for jumping in the bouncy house too! 

One of Sawyer's most favorite things is a bouncy house-so he was in HEAVEN!

This is a result of too much sugar....Sawyer is bouncing off the walls and Nolan looks like he is about to go into a sugar coma......it was all due to the ridiculously yummy cupcakes!

Raylan spent a good amount of time playing with his friend Bella's toys! 

He thought that this little green frog was just about the coolest thing he'd ever seen! Every time he'd look at it, he would get all excited, squeal and pound his fists :) It's always so much fun to spend the afternoon with best friends, cupcakes and bouncy houses. Nolan, we hope you had a wonderful day and we have loved watching you grow up for the past three years-how time flies!

Wanna play the Wii a wee bit?

 Yesterday after nap time Raylan was 'sitting' (more like slumping) in his bumbo chair and I told Sawyer to go play with him for a bit and keep him entertained. I come back five minutes later, Sawyer is gone and Raylan is just covered in toys! I guess that's Sawyer's idea of how a baby has a good time :)

He even had an ankle bracelet! 

One thing that Sawyer just LOVES playing is the Wii. Nana Jane bought him a new game while she was here called 'Star Wars LEGO' or something like that....but the problem is that there is quite a bit of stuff that you need to read as you go through the levels of the game....and for a little guy who is just about to start kindergarten, it's a little tough. So luckily our new roommate, Liz, is a sweetie and let's Sawyer talk her into playing with him. 

Raylan likes to play Wii too!

I was a tad bit nervous that Sawyer would be really jealous and stand-offish when Raylan was born but it has been the exact opposite! He loves to help take care of him and is CONSTANTLY asking to hold him. So we have been working on making sure his bottom is held up and his head is supported :) 

Sawyer loooooves holding Raylan........Raylan doesn't love it quite as much :)

Oh Sawyer.....

While eating his breakfast the other day, Sawyer was looking at the birds out on our deck and says, 

"Birds are pretty smart. I wish my brain was as big as a bird's brain." 

The Pawnee Water Park

Every year Papa Steve's family hosts a huge golf tournament followed by a family lunch! Bill, Uncle Alex, and Papa Steve have played for the past few years and uncle Mike joined them yesterday too! Nana Kathy, the boys and I decided to spend the day at the Pawnee water park while they golfed and it was SO fun!!!

I was a bit nervous about it being a little too hot to have Raylan out, but the weather was just perfect! Not too hot and just a tad overcast. The park had quiet a few attractions for kids Sawyer's age and a lazy river for those of us who were feeling lazy :) Sawyer's favorite was swinging his way across the pool on a rope net thing but he wasn't quite tall enough to make it all the way to the other side...so Nana Kathy and I had to stand there every time to catch him at the end :)

Half way through the afternoon Raylan called it quits and conked out.zzzzzzzzz

He was the cutest thing ever in his little sun glasses!!!! Check out the chubby belly!

As you can tell from Raylan's face, we had a GREAT time!