Going Private...For real this time!

So we had a speaker from the Chandler Police come to our MOPS group today. He did a presentation on keeping you and your family safe when it comes to the internet. He gave us just enough info to make me aware, but not so much that it totally freaked me out! He mentioned how easy it is to get someone's personal info online, and how important it is to be careful of what you put on your facebook, blog, etc. It made me realize that I have pictures and posts about where Brayden goes to school, what Corbin does for a living...basically enough info for a crazy stalker to be able to find us if they really wanted.

Having said that, if you'd like to keep reading about our King fam adventures, please leave me a comment with your email letting me know!  Don't be shy...I love blog stalkers :)

No More Growing Up!

Corbin and I have an ongoing joke with Brayden that he can't grow up any more. I tell him he has to stay my little boy so he can fit in my lap. Corbin threatens to strap books to his head so he can't get any taller. Brayden laughs, protests that he will indeed continue to grow, and then sweetly says that we can come visit him when he's an adult...living in the jungle and studying _______ (insert favorite animal of the week).

I have no doubt that he will be doing something amazing when he grows up. Hopefully, it will be near his family, or maybe we'll just move to the jungle :)

Until that day, we are busy with Brayden's 2nd year of preschool. He is officially in "Pre-K", otherwise known as the year you prepare for kindergarten, otherwise known as my baby boy starts kindergarten next year! Where did the past 4 1/2 years go?

To say that we love Miracle of Minds preschool would be a complete understatement. We adore everything about the school, from the loving, positive environment, to the teachers, to the adorable little schoolhouses. What an amazing start to Brayden's school experience.

At the beginning of this year, Brayden:

- can write his name and all the letters of the alphabet

- can count to 40 (starts to get a little iffy after that!)

- loves to color and paint, but is sometimes a perfectionist about

staying in the lines!

- says the sounds of every letter and is attempting to sound out words

- can tell you the name and facts for any dinosaur or snake

- explains words such as nocturnal, venomous, awkward, carnivore, camoflauge, creative, and molting

- begins sentences with "Clearly", "As you know", "I was thinking...", and "Speaking of..."

- makes up words and then says "That's how you say ____ in Spanish!"

- loves to wrestle with Daddy

- has started calling us "Mom" and "Dad" (I don't like this at all!)

- has a love/dislike relationship with his little brother

- has endless energy

- has an equal amount of love and sweetness

Here are a few pictures from his first day, last year (just to prove that he's not growing!) and this year.

Notice his head measures right above the handle...

And now clears the lock! Nope, no growing there!

Apparently when you're in Pre-K, you're too cool to smile for a picture

There's a smile from the handsome dude!

Showing off his snake tattoo

Brayden and his sweet teacher, Mrs. Wostl...

just pretend he doesn't have a horrible face in this one!

Stories from the Crib

One of Brayden's favorite things to do is greet his brother after a nap. He usually hops into the crib to goof around with him, until I come get them both out (or rescue Caleb, however you want to look at it!). Today I heard some talking coming from the room, so before I intervened, I opened the door a crack....and this is what I saw:

I just love moments like these!

Impromptu Mini-Vacation

Let me just start by saying two things:

1. Thank you to my great friend Cindy for motivating me to throw the kids in the car and go (definitely not typical for me, I'm too much of a planner!)

2. I LOVE Flagstaff

I could go on and on with reasons why, but I won't bore you...ok, maybe with just a few.

The weather (78 degrees, sunny and afternoon rain both days!)

The smell of pine trees

Adorable town and shops

4 years of memories from college (sooo much fun!)

Corbin still DJs weddings every now and then, and had taken a job up in Flagstaff for the weekend. The initial plan was for him to drive up, do the wedding, stay the night and head back in the morning. That was until I was motivated to drive up there with the boys too!

Why not, right?

I was a little nervous about the evening hours, since I would be on my own trying to get two boys to bed in a hotel room! We ended up staying in the hotel on NAU's north campus. They had suites, which was perfect (if you have kids and you've stayed in a hotel, you know how important an extra bedroom can be!)

We met Corbin around lunchtime and Brayden requested pizza,

so we headed to NiMarcos pizza.

Goofing around, waiting for our pizza!

Despite the face, the pizza was really tasty!

After lunch, it was time for Corbin to get ready for the wedding. The boys and I had the rest of the day to hang around. We went to Thorpe Park and relished in the fact that it was mid-July and we were playing outside!

Then we took a drive around campus to show the boys some important NAU landmarks

(ok, let's be honest, they could have cared less...but it was fun for me!)

Beautiful San Francisco peaks

After waving to Reilly, Tinsley and Mountain View, I thought it would be fun to drive by the Rec Center. This happens to be the exact location where Corbin and I met, and so it definitely holds some sentimental value :)

However...as I drove closer, this is what I saw:

I seriously almost cried (I know, I'm a girl). They tore down the old Rec Center and are building some fancy dancy new one :( I had a moment, then got over it. I still have the best part of that memory anyway!

I had a delicious sandwich from Crystal Creek, the boys had free food from the hotel (they wouldn't have appreciated the amazingness of Crystal Creek!), and we took one last walking tour of the campus. This time with Brayden on his scooter and Caleb in the stroller. I just couldn't get enough of the beautiful weather! Can I tell you how strange it is to be walking the same paths you walked as a college student, only now with your own kids? Strange but cool.

We settled into the room and the night was fairly painless!

Brayden watching Tarzan on his "own bed"

The next day, Brayden requested that we go on "an adventure in the forest." We drove up to Snowbowl and found a nice hiking trail. Another gorgeous day!

Brayden with his pen and paper, ready to draw pictures of animals he saw!

Caleb was quite the little hiker!

As we were headed back to the car, Brayden slipped and fell. Poor guy! When we got into the car, he said to Corbin and I, "Next time, can we go to a different forest that has sidewalks?" Classic city boy quote!

The morning ended with a stroll downtown to look at shops, complete with some rain!

And lunch at Oregano's, where Corbin and I had our first date (don't let him tell you different!)

Thank you Flagstaff for an amazing, beautiful and perfect weekend with my family!

The Brotherly Bond Begins!

Growing up an only child (for the most part), I've never known the bond between siblings who share life together day in and day out. When we decided to have more than one child, I knew I was entering into uncharted territory and would get to witness many things I didn't grow up knowing about. Depending on the moment, the verdict is still out on whether I think I "missed out" by not having a sibling living with me full time!

However, in all seriousness, it has been amazing to watch the bond form between Brayden and Caleb. Now that Caleb isn't so little and "boring" (Brayden's words, not mine!), they have taken quite a liking to each other....for the most part. They read books together, chase each other and play hide-and-seek, jump on the bed together, and I even watched Brayden put Caleb's shoes on for him :)

Which balances out the times when Brayden steals a toy from Caleb and he runs after him screaming, or when Caleb didn't get enough of his own breakfast so he proceeds to "borrow" some from his brother's plate when he's not looking...which ends with Brayden getting upset and claiming what was rightfully his!

Happy 4th Birthday Brayden!

Brayden had a great time celebrating his birthday with friends and family! He has been planning his "dinosaur" themed party for months now, requesting everything from dinosaur food to dinosaur wrapping paper on his presents. I decided to take on the job of making the cake...not realizing what a job it would be! After 4 cake mixes, (2 for the first one that stuck to the pan and 2 for the second, more successful cake!) I finally started the decorating around 10pm the night before his party. It turned out really well, if I do say so myself! :)

The first cake...not looking so great!

The final product!

Aunt Hollie was in town from Texas and she loved on both boys the entire weekend :)

The "Family Wall"

Me and Hollie

Brayden seeing his dinosaur cake for the first time...he and his friends were pretty excited!

Sydney helping Brayden open some presents :)

I still can't believe my baby has gone from this....

to this!

We love you Brayden!!

Rub a Dub Dub...Who's in the Tub??

Caleb has always l-o-v-e-d the bath. In fact, after prying him out, he would then proceed to scream like crazy when we wrapped him up in a towel....until last week.

I have no idea what changed, but suddenly our bath-loving child now screams the moment we put him IN the bathtub! I thought maybe it was just the day, or the phase of the moon...so we gave it a few more tries...with no success. He won't even sit down. This is a huge dilemma for a boy who likes to get dirty! Baths are a MUST in our house! So, I did what any mother would do (I think...)

I put on my bathing suit and got in the tub with him.

(You are now realizing why this post has no pictures!)

He immediately looked up at me with a huge grin, as if to say "Umm Mommy, what are you doing in here with me?" and then proceeded to splash and have a great time for about 10 minutes. It was like old times in the bath (minus the fact that I was in there too!)

I know this may seem like a silly thing to write about, but it brought me such joy to know I made him feel completely safe. It was like he had never been scared in the first place. There is no better feeling than to know you are able to protect your children....even if that means taking a bath in your bathing suit :)

Dance Party!

A couple disclaimers to this video:

1. Please excuse the semi-inappropriate music. 104.7 plays some questionable music these days!

2. Yes, that boy shaking his booty in the snow suit is my son. We are headed up to the snow tomorrow and he just couldn't wait to try on his friend Hunter's "winter clothes"

3. Although it's hard to look past the camouflage snow suit (what an oxymoron that is!), make sure you watch Caleb in the background...he has some moves!

Welcome to another night in the King house!

No Babies Allowed!

This is the sign Brayden made for his bedroom door (I helped him with the drawing of the "baby"...although he probably could have done a better job than I did!):

And so it begins...

The Virus of 2010

My poor little guy is finally over the nastiest virus I have ever seen! It's exactly like strep throat, except there's no antibiotic to take...so you basically just watch your child suffer through a high fever, no appetite and screaming every time they take a drink. These pictures pretty much sum up the mood he was in for about 4 days straight. Thankfully he's back to his usual happy self and life is good again! :)

Fingerpainting with Grandpa Mac

For Christmas, my dad got the boys some fun fingerpaints and special fingerpaiting paper. He also made them their own frames to display their artwork in :) They both had a great time creating their own artwork...and I think my dad realized why I don't do messy art projects with them very often! Special thank you to Crayola for making their paints truly washable...comes off of carpet and everything :)

Scrambled Eggs Anyone??

Here's what happens when my 1-year-old gets in the refrigerator...I had literally taken my eyes off of him for 2 seconds!