Karate Kid

Coop participated in karate for a hot minute. Once a week for about 2 months to be exact. We are struggling to find things that Coop is interested in. For now, Karate is not one of those things. Perhaps he'll pick it up again in the fall. Or perhaps he'll keep his crisp white "gi" hanging in his closest for time and all eternity ;)

Black Tie

Cruzie's preschool had a benefit in March to raise funds for an awesome new play structure. It was a "black tie" event. Once the invitations went out, they sent an addendum that clarified it was "Estes Black tie". This is as black tie as we get. It could very well be one of the only times all 3 of my boys will wear a tie so it had to be documented as a big event.

100 Days

Here we are the day before Coop finishes kindergarten and I'm finally getting around to posting about Coop's 100 Day of School Project. We hit the 100 Day mark back in February and as I look back at the pics, I can't believe how much Coop has changed. He no longer has his snaggletooth and his front permanent teeth are already almost in their place. His hair is even moppier (and starting to really annoy him) and his smile is so different. I'm sure there will be a Summer Hair Cut Post coming soon ;)

It's plain to see that I won't be blogging about his entire Kindergarten career but I do hope to dig up some stuff as it comes to me.

For Coop's 100 Day project, he had to stick or glue 100 items all of the same theme. It was an easy choice for him as he's still a Dinosaur "Expert" (borderline nerd). We decided to make it in the shape of a volcano and used licorice for the lava. Coop wanted to make the "100" out of licorice too. He was very proud of the final product and it now hangs proudly in his room.

Monster Truck Jam

In February, we took the boys to a Monster Truck Jam with some friends. Why is this something that I wanted to document? Well, Cruz LOVED it and Coop absolutely HATED it. Poor Coop. We brought plenty of ear protection. Ear buds and Ear "muffs". Our little friend didn't have "muffs" so Coop let him use his and he used the buds. Apparently, they didn't cut it for him. The combination of the noise, dirt and exhaust actually made his nauseous and on the verge of ralphing all over the people in front of us. Not only did he have to leave our seats, but he asked Mark to escort him out of the stadium! After some fresh air, he returned (donning some purchased "muffs"). But the damage had already been done. Coop wasn't in a Jammin' mood.

Rocco and Cruz ate it up though. These guys are two peas in a pod......

trim.15795975-1310-414B-BBF7-AF720B09D186 from A Mendonca on Vimeo.

Cruz Preschool Update

Cruzie is still enjoying school. Drop off is sometimes rough but he always has a great time once he gets in the flow of things. Cooper was more than a year older when he started preschool so we didn't really have an issue with drop off with him. Cruzie is coming around though.

As long as he's wearing a Spiderman shirt (much to my chagrin) he will pretty much rally through. This past month has been much easier. He's definitely getting the hang of it.

His Spiderman infatuation is pretty annoying but I try not to make a big deal about it and hope it will pass. If it's a confidence thing, then I can accept it. Gone are the days of dressing my boys cute :(

When I made love notes for Coop at school, they were pretty easy. He would give me requests but would also be happy with surprises. Cruz on the otherhand, wants Superheroes and an occasional ninja in the mix.

I try my best.......

Behind

I've dropped the ball on updating the ole blog once again. There's no way I have it in me to regurgitate all that has happened in the past 4 or 5 months but there's stuff I want to document. I'll do my best to throw some posts up as they come to me.

Cruzie does Preschool

My blogging is lacking as of late. I've lost my blogging mojo once again. Things are still happening. I just don't have the desire to blog about it. I must though because I know I'll regret it down the road if I stop. I really do enjoy looking back and reading posts from long ago. That's really what it's all about.

Our baby boy started preschool last week and transitioned like a champ. He's at the "Y" and goes 3 mornings a week. Thanks to the beauty of living in a small town, he knows most of the kids that go there already. Including his best buddy, Rocco.

Here's an interview in the car ride home after his first day;

Me: What was your favorite part of today?
Cruz: Eating gummies.

Me: What else did you do?
Cruz: Say hi to people.

Me: Do you love school?
Cruz: Yes, it's so awesome!

Teeth

I doesn't seem like that long ago that I was writing posts about new baby teeth and now I'm posting about them falling out! Coop has lost 3 teeth already and he's got a 4th hanging by a thread. He's the type of kid that let's them hang and dangle and wants them to fall out on their own terms. His bottom two dangled and his permanent teeth were completely out before they finally fell out.

He sure looks different. And it sure seems early to me. Before you know it, I'll be blogging about braces. It really does fly by!

Holiday Recap

We closed out 2013 with a visit to St. George and a quick stop in Salt Lake on the way home. We couldn't imagine spending The Holidays without family so we made it happen. We had a great time filled with football, food and fun and a couple of day excursions to surrounding parks.

The only negative is that I managed to leave Grandpa Pat with a parting gift of bronchitis. He is now on the mend and I am grateful for that.

Santa 2013

We haven't had much success with happy go lucky visits with Santa in the past. But we finally got the kid that will gladly sit with him!! You'll be able to tell from the (extremely-blurry-phone) pics below which one of our kids it is. One of our kids loves the dude and the other kid is firm on his opinion----not a fan (of his lap). The one that is not a fan has watched from afar and would rather 'send him an email' instead. He also states that 'maybe he'll be ready when he's six'.

The kiddo that is a fan has requested that he bring him 'a candy cane' and 'iron man socks'. He may very well be the only kid on the planet that has ever requested socks for Christmas.













I love how different our boys are from one another. I'm proud that the each stay true to their convictions. In this case, one makes for a much cuter photo op ;)

(Edited to add the following photo;)





This is the photo that was posted in our local paper. They did a full spread with every kid that sat with Santa. We thought perhaps being in the paper might be enough of a draw for Coop but we thought wrong.

Thanksgiving 2013

Today we went on a beautiful sunny Thanksgiving hike. We are missing our family but are thankful for each other and thinking of you all from a far.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween 2013

Hey, that rhymes.

Another fun (but chilly) Estes Halloween in the books. Coop dressed up as "Aladar", a dinosaur from a movie released in the early 2000's. He discovered the flick when we went to WA and stayed with Aunt Jennifer over 2 years ago. Not many kids know who Aladar is. I think the movie went straight to video when it was released ;). Thanks to EBay, the costume was easier to come by then I would have thought.

Cruz was "Super Hero Tuxedo Man" with his best buddy, Rocco. They were actually Harry and Lloyd from the movie, Dumb and Dumber. They of course, didn't know this but their Mother's sure ate it up. An added bonus is that Rocco's mom majored in costume design! This is probably the last year I can have any type of influence in what either of our kid's costumes will be and I went with it. Before you question my motives, I'll have you know that Cruz LOVED his costume and still wants to wear it daily. They had quite the fan club too. Numerous people wanted to take the duo's picture. Coop jumped in several of the pictures too. Cruz and Rocco quickly learned that people could take their picture but they wanted candy in return. Smart kids!

Coop also had a super fun class Halloween party that we all got to be a part of. I've included a few pics of his kindergarten parade as well.





























"Ninja Turtle" fan club. These girls asked to take their picture and shrieked like giddy High School girls that D & D is one of their favorite movies. Who knew? I don't think they were even born when the movie came out. It just goes to show that classic potty humor knows no age. The boys were just as star struck to be surrounded by TMNT's. Totally win-win.

Hello There

Well hello there blog, it's been awhile. There has been quite a bit going on since my last post. Enough stuff that I just don't have the energy to catch up in full detail. A quick synopsis doesn't do any of these events justice but perhaps one day, I might have the desire to dedicate more time to some of these events. Until then, here's a recap (in chronological order NOT in order of importance;

-Coop lost his first tooth.
-We put an offer on a house.
-We said farewell to our sweet boy, Targhee (after a month of waiting for him to tell us 'it was time').
-We witnessed a '1000 yr flood of Biblical proportions'.
-I got involved in a t-shirt fundraiser for flood relief.
-We proceeded with the purchase of our home.
-We moved into said home.
-Both boys completed a season of soccer.
-We eagerly await the moment when we can finally flush our toilet like civilized human beings in our new home.




































That's pretty much it.....

Kindergarten Coop

Coop started Kindergarten last Weds. We've made it through 5 whole days already. So far, it has been nothing but good. He loves his teacher and is on an Elementary School high! Every day I pick him up he asks when he gets to go back and tonight after soccer practice he wanted to go back to Kindergarten right then and there. We're off to a good start I'd say.

On day 3 he asked if he could walk to his classroom by himself. I asked him if he'd humor me a little longer so that Cruz and I could walk the halls with him and be a part of his day. Both yesterday and today I took a chance and walked in with him again. He didn't say anything but I'm sure he's going to kick me to the Kindergarten curb very soon.

I'll have you know that I did not shed a tear the first morning I dropped him off. He was excited and I was at peace. I did feel a little guilty because numerous Moms have told me how distraught they were and how the cried for days!?!? Coop is happy and I am proud!

Mark missed his first week but luckily was home for Coop's open house the week before so he at least got to meet Coop's teacher and see his classroom. We'll catch him up to speed once fire season is over. Only six more weeks!!!!!!

Our First-Morning-of-Kindergarten pics didn't start off very well. Coop was not happy with the shirt I chose for him to wear. I was panicked because every shot I took looked like this;




Does that look like a Happy Kindergartner or what? Luckily, he came around when I told him he didn't want to start his first day boo-hoo'ing about a SHIRT. Kindergarteners don't fuss about such nonsense ;)

His eyes are still a little puffy here but he's slowly coming around........



Targ did his best to tell him how proud he was of him.










Welcome to Kindergarten, Coop!!