Oklahoma is OK...

but I-O-W-A is closer to family!

What a year of whirlwind excitement, change, challenges, rejoicing...all in the protection of God's hands for family this past year. So we were ecstatic to help with Uncle B and Aunt R next adventure in life. Who wouldn't be excited to have your family closer? (well, I guess it depends on who your family is!)

We headed to OK last weekend, as I told the boys, to bring Cousin JE closer to our house (but of course we brought her parents and puppy too). Lots of driving, packing, and caravaning, but all in all, successful!!

Grandma and I had the privilege of riding with Cousin JE. Can she be any more precious, adorable, spunky? She has been practicing saying our names and walked around pointing at us proudly saying our names: Papa, Gma...

A stop along the way to pick up our boys. Then I had the kiddos all to myself for the last hooray! VW was thrilled to help cater to Cousin JE along the way.

We made it to our final destination...the dairy farm! Home Sweet Home (for now)! DG was quite distraught that the cows didn't moo!

Look forward to having my brother and his family closer, to get to know them better, and experience life together. Plus, with JEs personality mixed in with our rambunctious boys...the adventures will continue!

And Our 3-Year-Old Favs

And since DG was hanging out with us and had some pretty adorable answers too, we thought we better document his three-old favs:

Nicknames Drewski (from Daddy) Bubba/Buddy (from Mommy) Drew Drew (from friends) 

How old are you? 3  (showed me his fingers, this is two, this is three) 

What is your favorite color? Green 

What is your favorite animal? white-I like sheep (when I explained white was a color, he informed me sheep were white)

What is your favorite book? um, a dinosaur one (Dinosaurs Wear Underpants)

What is your favorite TV show? Team UmiZoomi (although he tells me IronMan today, which he doesn't watch)

What is your favorite movie? Ice Cream its a UmiZoomi  one

What is your favorite song? Let It Go (from Frozen) 

What is your favorite food? Fruit Snacks 

What is your favorite drink? Milk and water with stuff in it, that's all I want

What is your favorite breakfast food? Watermelon (not sure when we had watermelon? we usually start the day with some fruit snacks on our way to buddies)

What is your favorite snack? Fruit Snacks

What is your favorite game? baseball

What is your favorite toy? Dump truck that is what my favorite toy is

Who is your best friend? Haden (this is actually VW best friends brother)

What is your favorite thing to do? Play

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play, ride a bike and just play outside

What is your favorite holiday? I like Halloween and Christmas

What do you like to take to bed with you at night? blankie and puppy

What do you want to be when you grow up? Helicopter Man

Inspiration from Our Six-Year-Old

Finally sitting down to ask our active, adventurous, cuddly VW about his life favorites.

Nicknames Spanort (from Daddy) Buddy (from Mommy) Brother (from DG) Vinnie (from friends) Vince X (from VW himself as a signature)

How old are you? 6 

What is your favorite color? Red 

What is your favorite animal? Bear

What is your favorite book? Monster Truck Book

What is your favorite TV show? Spider-Man

What is your favorite movie? Frozen

What is your favorite song? Let It Go (from Frozen) 

What is your favorite food? Hamburgers 

What is your favorite drink? Sprite

What is your favorite breakfast food? Waffles and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

What is your favorite snack? Donut Holes "my friends bring it to school and I like it. when are you going to buy me some?" 

What is your favorite outfit? Wolverine (cuz there can be, even though I don't have one)

What is your favorite game? UNO (like your Uncle Kevin) 

What is your favorite toy? Super Hero toys

Who is your best friend? Noah (cousin), Anna

What is your favorite thing to do? Play with Play-Doh, play tickles, baseball, soccer, iPad

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play basketball with Daddy

What is your favorite season? Summer

What is your favorite holiday? Halloween when I get candy (chuckle-heehee)

What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My favorite blankie

Where is your favorite place to go? BounceU

What is your favorite restaurant? Runza, The Amazing Pizza Machine (we have never been there but everyone says its good, its good, its good. when can we go there?)

Where do you want to go on vacation? The place we are going to when I am 7...you know what that is (Hawaii)

What do you want to be when you grow up? Police Officer

Elegance

So much admiration for our Niece EK...her grace, poise, and elegance is breathtaking! What an amazing dance recital today!

Also very proud of VW for lasting all three hours with me our our "date"!

Love how VW sneeks in for a family shot with his cousins. Of course, has the most precious, cutie pie smile ever! (I think he was glad to be out in the fresh air!)

Thanks Miss EK for sharing your beautiful dancing with us...admire you greatly!

Field Trip Day

The day finally arrived...summer field trip day! First bus ride and field trip for DG, first field trip for Daddy, and last field trip with L&L for VW. Monumental!

So Daddy and I partnered and had DG and a friend and VW and friend. Quite the adventure and who knew how much 2 more kids (esp. when they are not your own) would add to the excitment!

Daddy and I decided no bumpy, loud bus ride for us, so we met the boys there. Here comes DG super excited to have riden the bus.

New fish at the zoo that was really cool!

Staring contest with the gorilla.

Loved this birds spikey hair!

How much have a grown? Tall as a lemurs tail!

This gorilla put on quite the show, shaking and digging for food out of the plastic ball.

Hanging out on the caboose with Daddy and then spot the real one. Boy its loud! Cover those ears.

We were glad we decided to take the wagon (I think this is the longest we've ever stayed at the zoo!)

Fun day with the family (and a couple extras). Beautiful day and lots of discoveries.

Overdrive

May 9 - VW has been excited about the Mother's Day Snack. We've played a lot so those not finished with Mother's Day rejects could finish before lunch.

May 12 - VW has a good day. I was amazed at VWs ability to blow through his straw to move marbles across paper.

May 13 - VW was in overdrive all morning. Then I accidentally bumped his forehead with a cot. He was fine. I felt awful.

May 14 - VW had a great day. Coach gave him a stamp. Then before lunch I told the class the quietest gets a sticker. It worked! The class was quiet even through nap.

May 15 - We had a fun day. The story tell came which made the morning go by quickly. Today was nothing like yesterday at lunch or nap time!

May 19 - VW had a busy day. We made knocking noised (he loved that) and studied rocks and seashells. He thrived on the clamor. Playing in centers and on the playground was his favorite part of the day.

May 20 - VW enjoyed building with blocks. He enjoyed running around the playground. he was in Time Out during journal work (He turned his journal into a flapping object to annoy others and me.)

May 21 - Our carnival was exciting and the ice cream sundae after was so yummy! It was hard to eat lunch after that!

May 22 - VW had a mostly good day. We said goodbye to a couple of friends today. Even more will leave next week. Here's to a good summer for us at Love and Learn.

May 28 - VW complained of his left ear hurting before lunch. He didn't feel warm but a cold paper towel calmed the spirit. He had a mostly good day.

May 29 - The chariot races did him in! He is asleep and quiet. Of course playground time helped. He had another emotional morning too. He also earned 2 stickers. One for helping and one for sitting quietly in Ms. Danielle's room.

May 30 - VW had quite a set up for show-n-tell. Awesome! His was was very actioned packed. Our travel pictures are going on the door. VWs is cute. "You can't see him because he is under water!"

Flying High

VW wanted a helicopter so bad this year for Christmas. He told us all about them. In an effort to guarantee that he got one, when I asked him what we should get Daddy for Christmas, he suggested "I think he wants a helicopter."

We have had some great flying moments with the helicopter and even VW is getting pretty good at it, doing flips and dives.

But as the Father's Day weekend approaches, what I love most is the bonding these two get and they way VW looks up to his Daddy. (In hindsight, should have gotten daddy one too!)