Happy 1st Birthday Jamal!

Jamal turned 1 year old today! I can't believe it has already been a year since we welcomed our little man into the world. We've been telling him and singing "Happy Birthday" to him all day. Andre has been deployed for the past 2 weeks but was able to come home Sunday night and left this morning. I'm so happy he got to see Jamal on his birthday! We are holding off on the presents and cake until next week because my lovely husband's birthday is in just a couple days and decided we would celebrate their birthdays together. These were some cell phone pics I took this morning before he left..

Even though we weren't doing cake and presents today, I still wanted to do something fun with Jamal. I took my boys to the spray park and we were the only ones there! I love when that happens =) All in all, Jamal had a great day and even got a front tooth!!

Jamal's 1 Year Old Portraits

I suggest not trying to decide which one is your favorite...it will give you a headache ;) I love them all and it's going to be so hard to decide on which ones to buy.

Jamal's Portraits Sneak Peek!

Jamal's portrait session went amazing this morning! He looks like my little football player. The photographer knew exactly what I wanted without even having to tell him. We got some indoor and outdoor portraits. I can't wait to see the rest in 3-5 business days =)

Deployment

Andre left this morning for his 3 week deployment. We wanted to spend some quality time together before he left and since Andre didn't have to work last night, we went for a walk and to the playground. By the time we left the park, all of the boys were covered head to toe in sand.
We woke up bright and early to say our goodbyes then I had to rush off to take AJ to school. As I was walking AJ to class, he pointed out his artwork hanging in the hallway bulletin board. Proud moment! The littlest things excite me! He's been doing so good at school and looks forward to going to school everyday. He even told me one day "Mommy, I'm going to college!" His teachers and friends at school call him Andre, which is his real first name. AJ told me that he wants me to call him Andre now too so I've been using it a little more around the house.






We really miss daddy around here and can't wait for him to come home!!<

AJ's First Day of Pre K

Yesterday was AJ's first day of Pre Kindergarten. He goes to school from 9am until 11:45 at an Elementary School. The whole family has been so excited for this day and we couldn't believe that day was finally here. We started the day at 7am. I woke up the whole family and cooked pancakes for breakfast. We decided that taking AJ to school for his first day would be a family event..ha! Andre really wanted to send him off to school on his first day, meet his teacher, and see his classroom. When we got to his classroom, he didn't cry and barely said good bye before he took off to play with puzzles and his classmates.
At pick up time, we arrived a little early and was able to see his class walk in a single file line out to the car circle. It was the cutest thing ever! I got AJ loaded up in the car. He told me that he had a great day! He said "I learned EVERYTHING and made A LOT of friends!" I probably asked him a million questions about his day.
We were home for not even 30 minutes before AJ said he was bored. He usually never says he's bored but I guess after all the excitement at school, home is boring now..haha! So he went and got his paint set out and started painting for a couple hours in his color books. He is such a great kid!

Oklahoma Science Museum

This past weekend, we went to the Oklahoma Science Museum. It is free for military families all summer. It was our first time going and it was so fun. There was so much to do and so much to learn. We only got to see the first floor of the museum and plan on going back again soon. We spent a good 4 hours there and as we were leaving, we stopped in the gift shop and AJ picked out a toy rocket ship. Ronde got a bug catcher that came with a magnifying glass,tweezers, and a container to collect bugs. ( Ronde usually just picks bugs up with his fingers but I wanted him to put his bugs in a container and observe them instead of smashing them..ha!)I also bought glow in the dark stars for their bedroom ceiling. That was a huge hit! They had the best gift shop and I plan on doing some Christmas shopping there for the boys.

Pre K, Reggae Fest, and Sprayground

I've missed out on so much blogging that last couple months. I finished up my summer semester of college and will be starting back up again shortly for fall classes. This week I will be applying for the nursing program and AJ will be starting Pre Kindergarten! I can't believe my little boy is finally going to school. It's exciting and sad at the same time! We had orientation today and met his teacher and got to see his classroom. AJ has already told me that he loves his new school. I took him school shopping for a backpack (He picked Transformers), new shoes, and all of his school supplies. This weekend, we are going on a family clothes shopping trip to Burlington because we could all use new clothes and I still need to pick up some new school shorts for AJ.

Last weekend we went to Reggae Fest. It was a BUST! We were so excited to go and get some Caribbean food but they had nothing! So we took the boys to the spray ground around the block. It was Jamal's first time! He loved it so much and it was so neat to see him standing and splashing in the water spouts. Jamal just started standing independently a couple weeks ago. He is still so scared to take a step on his own. Well here are some pictures and I'll be sure to keep up with my updates!