Apollo's BFF

Apollo and Donny are kindred spirits. I have never seen better buddies, especially so young. They talk about each other constantly when they're apart. They played together almost every day until he and his family moved to Corona a couple of weeks ago. Suzana said Donny has a pretend Apollo that he plays with and said, "Mommy, Apollo's chasing me". I got an email from Suzana saying "Today Donny had imaginary Apollo over again. he said Apollo was wearing a firefighter hat just like him "You see Mommy?" I wanted to cry."

The other day we met Suzana and the kids at the park, and when Apollo saw Donny, he gave him a hug. When they went by there later, Donny said, "That's where Apollo gave me a hug."

Donny is part of many conversations during the day. He misses his buddy. He's excited for his first sleep over this week at his house. He's happy that he still sees Donny during preschool. Last wee during music time they grabbed each others songs and twirled around together.

Here are some memories I have of the two: both being sensitive at the park when others would take toys or whatever when they were younger, peeing together-they love to pee together (we've had to stop them in the middle of a soccer park, middle of a birthday party)-they would hold it forever and we could get them to go after being potty trained if they went together-they are in my church nursery together and Marlon (his dad and a primary leader) said they do everything together-play cars etc. the whole time-they would have to sit right by each other, they copy each other (even when they don't understand what the other said-they still try to copy each other and it comes out funny sometimes), them jumping on the couch during his 2nd birthday party, having to be quiet because their "BooTwos" were sleeping, filling ears with chocolate...I could go on and on.

Suzana did an amazing job with these photos. She has a great eye. Enjoy the engagement-like photos:)

























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Happy Birthday Apollo

3 Years Old!!

We love being with Apollo every day and are really enjoying this fun age. Here's what we know so far about our little man:
-He said today to Annie, "you're my best friend, you're my best friend." He and Annie play really we together and she adores her big brother.
-I asked him just now who his best friend is and without hesitation said "Big Donny". He loves Donny and talks about him all the time. I have never seen such cute buddies.
-Carleton said "he is very polite, always saying please and thank you"
-He's happy
-Very Helpful
-Loves bike riding and adores Dad. He loves anything his dad does-working with tools etc.
-He knows and recognizes all his upper and lower case letters and recognizes their sounds. I think he's ready to start reading
-Loves chapter books. We've read Charlotte's Web, Treasure Island, and we've read 11 Magic Tree House Books
-Loves to snuggle
-Makes us laugh
-Carleton said, "He is a genius, linguistically gifted, very good at expressing himself for his age"
-Loves preschool-the learning and the friends part
-Loves to sing
-Likes to hear stories but also tells us stories (they're funny)
-Likes to make up songs and likes us to make up songs to sing to him
-We play lots of games-the question game (we take turns asking each other questions), I spy, Jenga,Candy Land, etc.
-Says funny things all day long-I try to record them but if I did all of them, I would be writing all day long
-likes puzzles, cars
-we tried taking off his training wheels a couple months ago but isn't quite ready-has fun on his scooter
-Funny, great memory
-We have tons of dance parties, sometimes on beds, the trampoline, or just around-he's so cute when he's dancing around
-very thoughtful-always telling me and Annie we're pretty or what we're wearing is pretty and that Carleton is handsome. Today he held me tight after I went out in the rain and told me he was warming me up.
-He's not high maintenance in the car or in general. We really enjoy his company and love being around him. We feel incredibly blessed to have him as our son.
-He has a really long attention span
-Likes art-likes to paint wooden cars and glue them together, to paint anything



Interview with Apollo:

What are your favorite things? Making cookies, playing and reading books, going to bed (since when??), making play dough out of scary things, playing toys, playing doctor, playing cars, looking at that picture that Grandma painted for me, snuggling with a dog when you're going to sleep and everybody's not talking but Annie is (this happened this morning)

What is your favorite thing to eat? Cheese and dinner and a sandwich, (he just pointed up at our Halloween stuff and said, "those are gorgeous")

What do you like about preschool? I want to play with toys, it's really impressed for me

Favorite Song? ABCs

Favorite thing to do with Daddy? Ride Bikes

Favorite thing to do with mommy? I like to play trucks with her

Favorite thing to do with Annie? Play with her when she plays with toys

Favorite thing to do with Donny? I like to play at his house

Does anything scare you? No. There are no monsters. Just people that give us candy (he must be thinking about Trick-or Treating).

Moab with the boys

Carleton here - last weekend I went to Moab with Brad and Seth to introduce them to the greatest trails on earth. We didn't get out of LA until 7 or so on Thursday, so it was a long night...we slept for two hours at a rest stop in the mountains above Richfield. Brad and Seth both loved Moab, and I rode harder and better than I ever have in my life, especially on the last trail of the trip, the Hazard County to Porcupine trails. I'd never done the top half of the trail, and it was SO amazing...you're going to love it, Josh. It was the best ride of my life and I can't wait to do it again.

P.S. I just bought Robyn a bike yesterday, so now she'll be ready to roll and I'm sure she'll be doing the big hit jumps in just a few weeks.

Big flat landing jump on lower Porcupine. I hit a little too much on the front tire, but the bike is kind, so no problem.



Start of Slickrock, still the most famous mountain biking trail in the world.


One of many viewpoints on Amasa Back - just a great trail.


One of the jumps on Sovereign.


One of the views on Upper Porcupine - we rode along a cliff for several miles, sometimes just a few feet from the edge as we went down...so fun.

Little Buddies

Annie and Apollo are becoming such cute little friends. Annie adores him and follows him everywhere, but she knows how to push his buttons by taking off with his things or wearing his shoes. He says things like, "you said that really well" or "you look pretty, Ann", and he calls her "sweetie". He is very, very sweet to her. I love how they are so close in age and get to experience the world together.



I came out to this scene the other day. Apollo asking Annie to find things on each page and Annie pointing them out.




Annie's trying to get to the books further back in the cupboard. She and Apollo are obsessed with books. Annie can sit forever by herself and look through book after book many times a day. They are both bringing me new books to read.




They dumped out all the toys and rode in their train I think it was.





Here we made a cave with the laundry I just washed to hide from the dinosaurs. We read, took a fake nap, sang songs, told stories (Apollo tells cute little stories)-all in our dark cave by candlelight.




I feel very blessed to spend each day with the little people I enjoy most.