Couch to 5K in 1 week

 Dave hadn't been doing much, if any, running lately and has been spinning and riding his bike to prepare for Ragbrai in under a month. His Ragbrai partner Kyle asked him to do the Dam to Dam 5k with him so he agreed. About a week before the run he figured he should probably run a time or two. Duh. (I say that it the most lovingly way)

Of course they finished both with their best time. Almost ten minutes less than they thought they would run. When Brittany and I with the boys walked over to the finish line to watch them come through we didn't know they had already finished, walked through the line to get water, and were looking for us. I wish it was that easy to prepare for a 5k. If it were, I might do one. But I think I would die of lack of oxygen if I tried to run anything more than .10 of a mile.

We listened to music for awhile and headed home just to go back to Brittany and Kyles that evening for a BBQ with the other couples we will be spending a week with in Mexico. It was a perfectly Doyle filled day. :)

Birthday Party

Every year we have always had long invite lists for Jaxson's birthday party. We loved doing it. Unless you asked the night before when we were preparing food for alot of people. But we still had so much fun inviting all of our friends and family to celebrate our baby boy. This year he turned five. That is kind of a big deal. And since he had gone to school this year and made some friends we decided to let him have his party for himself this year. He could invite the friends he wanted and for the first time ever we had the party at our house as well. We hoped for no rain and to send the kids outside to play, eat, and have ice cream.


He had two friends from school attend and his longest friend Ryder he has known since his first birthday. He also had two of his good girl friends come, Aubrey he has known since he was born and Lilah who we have spent so much time with this summer. When his friends began to show up he was so excited to have them at his house. The best part about having them on his turf was he was not nearly as shy. He opened up and was talking to them as if he always had. It was great to see him having so much fun and feeling so comfortable with his friends.

So it wasn't supposed to rain and we were going to send all the kids outside to play and have fun. We had several yard games set up along with all the regulars like basketball and such. The party started right at noon. So did the downpour. Just as the clock hit noon it went from sunny skies to rain as hard as possible. We got all the kids inside or kept them inside as they arrived. We sent them to the basement to play with the foosball table and Ms. Pacman. Those two 'man-cave' items came in pretty handy.

The rain didn't last long so we had sent them back outside and tried to stear them away from puddles with limited success. We hurried to do cake and ice cream and presents before parents started arriving to get their kiddos. I am not used to a two hour party since there were very loose end times in the past.

He loved his party this year and so I loved it too. And we still have Asher that we get to do the big birthday bashes for at least one more year with!

Fun Day for his Birthday!

When you're a kid your birthday is the best day of the year. I want Jaxson to love his birthday so we always try to do something special on his big day. This year he wanted to bring some friends to Chucke Cheese! We loaded up on some tokens, divided them out, and then tried to keep track of all of them while they scattered about. We stopped for a quick snack to prolong the time the coins would last and ended up with nice number of tickets for everyone to bring home a little treat or toy.

Asher played basketball pretty much the entire time. He figured out how to put coins in the games this time around so we had to keep a close eye on his jar as fast as he was flying through them. 

 Hey Chuckee!

 Here is the real reason we had enough tickets to get everyone a little something.

There was some dancing among friends, then just Jaxson watching his friends dancing.

Once we made it home it was his favorite dinner. Pizzas! He loves jazzing up his own pizza with all his favorite toppings. Only his faves on his bday.

A little happy birthday Facetime with Aunt Mimi and Uncle Jesse and the twins. 

If you want your present your obligated to get photographed with your mother. How embarrassing right? 

 And your father....

Get singing.... 

And moments after opening his gift and finding his new Nintendo 3DS he was off to check out his new gadget (like he needs one!) He knew how to use it like he has had it for years. I think stuff like that is actually born into their DNA or something. 

What a great day it was. I think I look forward to their birthdays just as much as them. I love seeing them so happy and loving life. And I also love surprising people and giving gifts so getting to do it with my own baby is a perfect combo. Until next year....

Dear Jaxson

 My Dear Jaxson Boy,

You are five! I say this every year with disbelief. At every birthday I look at you with awe that you have grown another year. I wish it would slow but yet can't wait to spend the next day with you. In the last five years I have learned that I love being a mother. But most importantly I love being your mom. You make me smile everyday and I could stare at your perfect little face for hours (if you sat still that long) just like I did when you were only 8lbs and fit in my arms.

You are five. You can flash your age with all the fingers on your one little hand. So let me tell you five ways that I think you are absolutely awesomely amazing.

1. For those of us that you share your words with, we are so lucky to know how thoughtful you are. You always ask questions about those around you. I hope you always stay thoughtful and caring for those you are close to.

2. I love to watch you learn and see what interests you. But what makes you even more awesome is watching you teach your brother. Even when he gets an answer wrong, like calling the color red green, you so nicely correct him. I hope you always stay patient with those who don't always know the answers.

3. I love to play board games and card games with you. You are so serious about it and it is one of my favorite things. I hope you always think through your moves and encourage everyone to join in a game with you.

4. I love how much you love your family. From how you want to be around Asher, even though he may be a "baby" to counting down the days that daddy doesn't have to work and you can spend all day with him. I hope you always realize that your family should come first and spend as much time with them as you can.

5. Your laugh is infectious. Please always keep laughing. It makes everyone around you happy.

Mudding

 I am not sure if this is what is to come. Maybe he just has a thing for mud. On our way out of the Y the other day the boys ran ahead to push the (handicap) door buttons like they always do. Right behind them I yelled to Asher don't jump in that puddle....... and before I could even say another word he was laying in the mud puddle. Tears streaming down his face and him wanting me to pick him to save him. But rather I gave him a kiss on the head and held his hand back into the Y and straight into the locker room shower. As we came back in the front desk lady, who had just told us to have a good day, couldn't help but giggle and get us some extra towels and plastic bags for our clothes.

After carefully removing the muddy clothes we left the Y with a few less articles of clothing actually ON him. Luckily it was over 90 degrees... 

Movie Time!

Monster University, the prequel to Monsters Inc came out recently and we knew we had to go to the theater and see it. I am not sure how many times Jaxson has watched Monsters Inc but it is enough that I even know most of the words to the movie. Really. It was pretty spontaneous and went out for a Sunday evening showing. Many of the showings had been sold out (many frustrated parents I had seen on FB) so we were a little worried but walked into a theater with more than enough seats to pick from.

It was Asher's first movie theater experience and he was in awe. He sat and watched the movie but mostly just ate popcorn. Almost eating an entire large by himself. I am not sure how he didn't get sick. Really.

(On a side note the little boy behind me kept throwing popcorn on me and it was very rude. After the second time I mentioned it to his mom, who barely disciplined him. It was frustrating because he kept doing it. Jaxson would have been carted out of that theater so fast he couldn't say... well anything.... )

The movie was good! Somehow Dave has managed to not actually ever watch Monsters Inc. I am not sure how he did that living in our home but he did. So the following night we watched Monsters Inc all together! Now all four of us are caught up on all things Monsters....

Cooling Off!

 We have had a mild summer and have finally had some weather than warranted a little cooling off. We enjoyed the splash pads around town last year and decided to get our suits and take a dip for the first time this year. The boys had no time getting right to business!

This year it is pretty nice because Asher is a little more self sufficient. I still keep an eye on him at all times of course but he doesn't need assistance to splash in the water. He can sit in the deepest part of the pool with his shoulders above the water and keeps close to his brother no matter what (who keeps close to me) so it works out perfectly. It will be several years I can bring a book to the pool and be worry free of course but the stress of being "pool" side with them has lessened considerably. And that means we can go more often!!

Jaxson wanted to get warmed up and looked so cool on his little towel sunning himself. Sunning himself with spf 50 and spf swim shirt and shorts... but sunning himself none-the-less.

He couldn't get enough and was a pro at getting our toys out of the hands of other kids. Something his brother never would do. It is nice to not have to go do it myself anymore!! Although, he doesn't always do it in the nicest voice. But he does get the job done.... 

His little pants just can't stay up. The cutest little toosh on the block.... 

Mommy-Asher Date

 Asher and I have had time together just the two of us all year while Jaxson was in preschool. Asher will be so excited to have Jax to play with everyday but on our last day before summer vacation we had a special treat. We still had a Build-A-Bear giftcard that we hadn't used since his birthday and it was the best day to use it! Asher got into fixing up his special teddy, from picking it out, filling it up, washing it. The whole nine yards.

Of course he it was a basketball player and Asher picked out a puppy. So his name is Puppy. It is good he didn't pick a bear because Jaxson did a couple years ago and named him Bear. My kids are really creative..

Last Day of Preschool

We ended Jaxson's first year of school just under a month ago and I didn't get anything put up on the blog. eeks!

We really got so lucky with Jaxson's school and especially Jaxson's teachers this year. Mrs. Reagh and Ms. Vasquez were so great as teachers and as people. I had no expectations on what Jaxson would learn at preschool but I am blown away. He is learning to sound out letters, he can write with some words even spelled correctly after sounding them out, he counts to over a hundred, he tells me about all kinds of things from science to things about the world around him. He counts and says many words in Chinese and she gave them a great lesson on expectations on behavior for school. Coming out of her class they will be more than prepared for success in kindergarten and beyond.

They had a fun graduation in their classroom and sang songs and danced for all the parents. They each got a certificate from Mrs. Reagh. It was so cute!

Best. Ice Cream. Ever

For Jaxson's last day of school we decided to celebrate with ice cream after dinner. What else do you do in the summer!?!?

 Jaxson was pretty specific that he wanted to have an ice cream cone, not in a cup. So Cherry berry and every other ice cream shop that has been popping up all over were out since they don't have cones.  There is an frozen custard place very near our house that we haven't even been to, so we gave it a try. It was sooooo good. I mean like I want to eat it everyday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner good. :) But really, I would probably eat any kind of dessert for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I could.

Even though it was pretty cool that evening it was a drippy mess for all of us. We were all so messy by the end of it but it was worth it!!  I can't imagine how messy it would be now that it is hot out! Anyone want to go on an ice cream date soon??? I need a reason to go back!