Playing Catch Up – Our Taekwondo Green Belt

We are so proud of DJ! Although I am so far behind in blogging that I didn’t blog his last belt ceremony, I am happy to announce that DJ just got promoted to Green Belt tonight!!! We are so proud of him and excited that he is still enjoying Taekwondo.

 

Next Saturday he is going to be training with Bill “Superfoot” Wallace. (I didn’t know who he was so I had to Google him.) Apparently, he’s pretty famous and DJ practically begged to train with him when he found out he was coming to his Taekwondo class to train his group! I’ll be posting pictures after the training. =)

Oh and I am going to be blogging out of order for awhile to catch you up on the two boys. They have been pretty busy! :)

Our Family's Portrait Session

For the first time since DJ was about 2 or 3 years old, we FINALLY got our family portraits taken. This is the first time Cody is included in our family portraits so I think this officially makes him a permanent fixture in our family. =)

We headed out to the Wooden Valley Winery with the awesomely talented Sharon of Homegrown Photography.

True to form, my boys wanted NOTHING to do with a camera! I can't imagine why. It isn't like they have had a camera on them almost daily for all of their lives. =)

Sharon was able to hold their attention and capture some beautiful expressions on my boys faces. DJ, of course, had to throw in his "cheese" smile. He's so funny!

I was going to post another family picture, but you will just have to wait for our Christmas card instead.

Look at my little stud muffin! He's so cute!!!!

At the end of our session, Cody found a twig and decided to draw on the dirt. He had an elaborate story about what he was drawing and in his own little language shared that story with Sharon.

Sharon stole Doyle and I for a few couple shots. This is my favorite! (For those that haven't seen his hair yet, YES, Doyle is now blonde!!!)

Halloween 2009

This Halloween DJ decided to be a Ninja. Not a red one like a few years ago, but a “different” Ninja because it was BLUE and black, not RED and black. =)

I don’t think I would want to mess with this Ninja!!!!

Because Cody prefers to not have anything on his head or face we had a difficult time finding a costume for him. When I saw this Pirate costume I knew it was perfect. BUT because he would not wear the hat people thought he was a Gondola driver. HAHA I should have bought him an oar to carry around. =)

I’m not sure what pose this is, but apparently this is how mean, savage pirates pose when you ask them to pose.

 

Cody with his Uncle.

 

At school, Cody had a costume party. They had crafts, trick-o-treated, enjoyed a haunted house, and munched on pizza, chips and cupcakes. By the look on his face, I would say he enjoyed the pizza. =)

 

DJ’s Spirit Day – Pajama Day

I am just a LITTLE behind on blogging – by about 2 months. =)

Because kids at DJ’s school are not allowed to dress up for Halloween, they had a spirit day instead. For Spirit Day they had Pajama Day. 

Here is my little “Bumblebee”. =) Isn’t he so cute that you just want to pinch his cheeks? =)

Cody’s First Field Trip

Cody recently had his first field trip for school to the Vegetable Patch.

He fell asleep in the car right before we go there so he was not happy when I woke him up. He’s mad at me in this picture, but he is still so cute! I love how he has his thumb in his pocket. Such a tough little guy. =) And yes…those are snow boots he is wearing. I couldn’t find any rain boots for him to wear at Target so he ended up with snow boots. =)

 

With his “veggie collector” bag on his back, he was ready to go!

They started out by collecting greens and tomotoes. Cody didn’t much care for collecting either. He just wanted the “balls” (tomatoes) so he could throw them. He’s such a boy!!! Here he is with his bounty of goodies.

They even got to plant their own seeds. 

After the learning experience, they had a little picnic at the Veggie Patch’s pumpkin patch. Cody loved snacking on popcorn and drinking juice

 

…but apparently got bored after awhile. I LOVE this picture of him. It is as if he is in deep thought! 

The last event of the day was posing for Ms. Sarah with some pumpkins. He kept signing ball and knocking over the pumpkins. =)

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

We didn’t get to go to the Pumpkin Patch last year since Cody spent much of last fall and winter sick with an ear infection.

This year, however, we made sure to visit the Cool Patch Pumpkins Pumpkin Patch.

The first thing we thought when we got there was “this isn’t a pumpkin patch. Where are the rides? The petting zoo? The CEMENT?”

Can you tell we are a bit citified and not used to a “real”, cut-you-own-pumpkin-of-the-vine pumpkin patch? We are used to the kind in San Diego. You know, the one at the mall! =)

We saw small pumpkins…

and HUGE pumpkins.

Cody even tried to pick his own pumpkin.

The boys had a fun time checking out all the cool things this pumpkin patch had.  From the teepees to the mini houses, the boys had a blast!

DJ really wanted to check out their corn maze, but the giant one had been torn apart by the previous week’s storm. Parts of the mini corn maze were still standing so the boys went through it. DJ loved it…

….Cody – not so much.

 

Can you see just how “thrilled” he was about the corn maze?????? =)

I probably should have taken these next pictures at the beginning of the visit. They may have been more cooperative.

By this point they were both wired and didn’t want to sit still. These are the best of the bunch. =)

Lately, Cody has been such a love bug and has been giving his brother LOTS of unexpected kisses. He is SO sweet. =)

 

It’s Hulk Smash Time!!!

Last year DJ received the game Hulk Smash. He happened to find it in his closet (yes, I was hiding it! shhhh!).

When I agreed to play with him he was ecstatic. Isn’t he cute? =)

The object of the game is to try to get  a “Smash” card and smash your opponents play-doh game piece. That was DJ’s favorite part of the game – the smashing – and for some reason, he always got the Smash card!

Here’s how you play….

You make a vehicle with play doh and place it on the game board.

Then you roll the dice and move your character that many spaces, BUT if one of the dice has a fist on it, you get to draw a card.

If your card looks like this then you get the honor of smashing up any of your opponents vehicles that land on the color position you choose.

So what is the reason behind this blog?

 

Well…I want you to see what pride my son takes in SMASHING my game piece!

(Evil laugh included…)

The end result is my clay ambulance being smooshed until it is unrecognizable.

Doesn’t he look proud of himself? =)