Ryan's line

OK, so I dragged Ryan to the Christmas Program practice every Sunday for the past month. He memorized his line, knew it backwards and forwards. The big morning came and he was so excited. I was poised with my camera and video camera, looking through the lenses - one eye in the cameras one eye on him when I realized someone else was saying his line!!! He did, too, because his eyes immediately filled with tears and then they handed him the microphone for a line the whole group was supposed to say together. I was trying to hold it together, but I was so MAD and sad for him; anyway - I realized it was him speaking so I got just the last bit recorded here.

Our baby is 6

12/17/02

12/17/03

12/17-ish/04

12/17/05

12/17/06

12/17/07

12/17/08

I cannot believe how fast time flies. It really does seem like just yesterday that he was a baby with us in San Antonio and now he is 6...way beyond me bragging about walking and talking, past learning how to read and taking his training wheels off. Now his life revolves around school, friends, and, of course, Star Wars.  I just love him so much that it hurts to know in 6 more years he'll be in middle school and 6 past that he'll be off.   Once he gets this quantum physics thing figured out I'll have him start working on that time machine... Here's a look back!

Christmas Parties

This photo does not do the tree justice! 

The Wimberleys with Santa. We do not have 1 photo of all 5 of us looking at the camera!

AJ with the big guy

AJ in Daddy's Jet

Will with Santa

Ryan with Santa

Santa's other method of transportation!

December is always a crazy month for us with the holidays, birthdays, and anniversary! This year we have had so much fun spending time with our friends getting ready for Christmas with parties, tree decorating, cookie swaps, and even a few visits with Santa, himself! These pictures are from a party at our friend's house, which was decorated so beautifully, and from Heath's work.

Will...what happened to my no guns policy??

Before I had kids I always said, "my kids will never play with guns or Barbies." HA HA. Will makes guns out of everything...EVERYTHING. Even Heath admitted that Will may be the only kids who uses his macaroni noodles to shoot with! Here's how the pleasant hike behind our cabin turned out this weekend...

The Polar Express

We made our annual trek to Flagstaff this weekend for a ride on the Polar Express. Ryan and Will were so excited to see Santa; Will, because he's amazed by this incredible man and Ryan, because he knows how it works - mom and dad aren't buying anymore toys and Santa is a means to an end. We all got decked out in our new jammies and headed to the train station to meet the big guy. Ryan stood in line and rehearsed his wish list. When it was our turn AJ and Will both willingly sat on Santa's lap for pictures. Ryan chose to stay off to the side and was very business-like. It went something like this:

Will (wide-eyed) - "I want racecars and a racecar track"

Ryan - "Hello, Santa. I have 7 things on my list. 1. Wall-E, 2. Eve..." he couldn't remember #5 and got so flustered. Good on him though - he kept his cool, though red in the face - and said, "Well, I'll have to come back to #5" and continued his list and then remembered #5 just in time. My heart melted at how stinkin' cute it was to see him there, braving his fears. 

The train ride was great and we are all now ready for Christmas!

Updates Coming Soon!

.....I hope!! Please check back in soon! Oh yeah, enjoy the music! A friend of mine has an awesome blog and she taught me how to add some flair!

Facebook

OK, while I still love to blog, I'm finding it more difficult to find the time to update photos and write. I have been sneaking around on facebook instead of on my blog...which is fun and fast! 

We've been so busy here with Halloween, parties, school, friends, and everything else that seems to keep us running! Here are some pics from recent weeks.

We're still here!

Life has been so crazy that I really don't get much time to spend on the computer to update the blog! I'll try to put up some photos this week. In the meantime here's what's been going on:

Heath and I went to see Metallica on Tuesday! It was really fun, even though I only knew a couple of the songs. It was fun to scream and dance together again. Oh, wait a minute. We've never actually done that before. Well - we had fun together so we're going to start hitting the concert circuit, I think!
Ryan is continuing to do well in school. We all love his teacher, Mrs. Haight. We got the flu vaccine this week and Ryan is suffering some pretty nasty side effects He is currently upstairs in our bed trying to keep down his fever, which spiked over 104 again today. I am praying that this is short lived and that he doesn't have a repeat pf this past February's illness.
Will is a livewire! He pushes the limits and tests us everyday. Somedays he wins. :) He is very clever and just loves to have a good time. He makes up silly words and songs to try to make us laugh and it usually works.
AJ has learned to wave and clap this week. He has been practicing all day. It is so cute and he is so proud of himself. He is on the edge of crawling, but has figured out quite accidentally that he can bounce around on his bottom and locomote himself wherever he wants to go. I've never seen a baby bounce before as a means of transportation, but it works for him. I'll have to post a video.
Lastly, Izzy. Poor Izzy. I had her shaved again today and she looks, well, ridiculous. BUT, I haven't had to shave and vacuum the furniture today, which makes life better for all of us!
Stay tuned for photos.
Love,
Nat

Busy September!

Over the past month we have been to San Diego twice, where we spent time on the beach, downtown, at Legoland, and more time on the beach. It was so fun and relaxing....which is great because life at the Wimberley house is anything but relaxing. Ryan is fully immersed in kindergarten. He loves it and feels special because he gets to spend half of his day in a first grade classroom where he sits by himself and works on reading..alone...because he is actually reading at a fifth grade level (so I'm not quite sure why they put him in a first grade program). Anyway, enough bragging! :) , we love his school and his teachers. Both Ryan and Will are enrolled in classes at the Little Gym and they cannot get enough of it. They're both doing great with sports skills, balance, and even a little bit of tumbling! AJ is growing too fast for me and will hit the 7 month mark next week. He is not quite crawling yet, but is trying so hard.  He loves to be near his brothers and laughs hysterically whenever they laugh, even though I'm sure he has no idea what's so funny! Heath took the big boys camping for a weekend so that I could prepare the house for a baby shower. It was nice to spend some alone time with my little guy. We're still in limbo about the decision to buy here in Phoenix. Our landlords have agreed to put in a lawn for us if we sign on for an extended lease. We may just do it since this market is continuing to tank AND because the thought of moving again this fall is not appealing. Tonight we're off to see Playhouse Disney Live on tour. Heath and I will be going to see Metallica in a couple of weeks, then it's off to Flagstaff, the polar express, and maybe even a trip to CA after the holidays! Whew...now that I feel semi- caught up, I'm off to make dinner. Sorry for the lack of phone calls. Maybe one of these days I'll have a few spare minutes with no dirty diapers or empty juice cups!

Grandpa's Birthday

Yesterday was my dad's birthday - today is Heath's dad's birthday! Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Papa!!

My Dad is 66 years young today! Happy Birthday, wish we were there to celebrate with you. We love you. Hmmm hmm hmm hmm hmmm hmmmmmmmmm. 

Long time, no blog!

Will petting "Punani", a Navy mine seeking dolphin
Watching the dolphin trainers - this was such a cool, up close experience! Way better view than Sea World
The Wimberleys at Cabrillo National Monument. Is everyone actually looking at the camera and smiling?? NO WAY!
My Baby Love!
Sitting; not so sure about this Elmo guy, though
Will's #1 Fashion must-have is this rain boot, just one is all it takes. It goes with everything. Even in the desert where there actually is no rain!

Wow! It's been a while since my last posting. Life is hectic, but great, around here. We've just returned from a visit to gorgeous San Diego with Heath's squadron. The weather was fantastic; we even needed sweatshirts for a beach party on Saturday night. Naturally, being a holiday, the boys got sick and we had to come home a day early. Oh well, we'll try again next week when we get to go back!

Look Mom, 2 wheels!

Ryan learned how to ride his bike sans training wheels today ~ turns and all!! What a big month for our big boy!

Will & AJ

Will and AJ are really forming a speical bond. Will loves his little brother and is so sweet and loving to him. AJ recognized Will's voice and looks for him when he comes into the room. He beams as soon as Will's in sight!

KINDERGARTEN!

The day finally came when we had to take our oldest baby to his first day of real school. I've been anticipating this day for about...ohhhh 5 and 1/2 years. I just cannot believe that his time at home is done. That's what gets me. It's not being away from him all day, it's not "kindergarten", it's knowing that he will never spend the majority of his waking hours with me anymore (with the exception of weekends, holidays, teacher in service days, summers, and sick days). He has so much to learn and experience. Selfishly, I feel like I'm missing out on time spent with Ryan. He has so much to say and wants to know everything; I am sad to know that he will have to learn how to censor his thoughts and ideas because there is no way a teacher can keep up with the ramblings of 28 5 year olds!

We hired a sitter to watch AJ and Will so that Heath and I could both devote our full attention to Ryan's big morning. I got up early and COOKED BREAKFAST! We were all set to go, early to take photos, dressed in his new uniform when..."mom, I don't feel so good". I took him to the bathroom just in time. The poor little guy was so sick. After about 10 minutes of 'being sick' he decided that he felt fine so we took him to school. I warned the teacher, but Ryan insisted that he felt "A - OK" and wanted to stay. 2 hours later I got a call from the school nurse. So, on his first day of school when I wanted to cry, I instead busied myself with cleaning the bathroom and snuggling all 3 of our little guys at home on the couch!

Do Over

The second day went much better than the first. He loves school - LOVES it! He is so ready for this that I can't feel sad about it. I am so proud of this little guy!

Vegas, Baby - YEAH!

Viva Las Vegas!

Water show at the Bellagio

More water show at the Bellagio

Watching the Gondolas

We decided to hit Vegas the last weekend before Ryan started school. Ryan and Will were so excited to sleep in the pyramid (we stayed at the Luxor), tour Venice, New York, and Paris AND see sharks, pirates, and roller coasters all in one weekend. No where else on earth can you do that? Vegas Baby.....now if only I could get that card counting thing down...