Miles FINALLY gets his first haircut

 We have made a tradition in our family of not cutting our boy's hair until they are two years old. 

For the sake of tradition (Noah's parents didn't cut his until he was two either),  and also for the basic reason that our kids are pretty bald for a long time.  It seemed to take forever for them to grow any hair at all, and so we wanted to enjoy the cute little baby wisps of hair for as long as possible. So with the older boys we cut their hair right around their 2nd birthday. I'm not sure what the deal is with the red hair, but we decided that he still had not had enough grown in, and that we were going to wait even longer. We just couldn't cut those beautiful ginger locks yet!! Thus,  Miles made it to over two and half years! We decided to cut his lovely locks right before Christmas. This also broke from tradition, because I decided to have a professional do the cut, instead of myself.  That beautiful red hair deserved some extra special attention!

 The "After" shot.

 Don't let that cuteness fool you though. 

He was not a big fan of getting his haircut.

 The "During" pics.

This face sums up how he felt about the whole situation.

He was trying so hard to be brave!!

He refused to even look in the mirror. What a stinker!

Love him anyway.

 Even though I didn't cut it this time, I still held him on my lap for most of it.  Not a great shot of me, but at least proves I didn't totally abandon him to the scissors!

M & M

Thanks for doing a great job! We loved it!

Six, pick up sticks!

and yes. we did have one more birthday boy to celebrate!

Our awesome little Ronan turned Six!

Where has the time gone?!

I went with a very basic Ninja Turtles theme this year, as I had picked up some great TMNT decor before we left the States. This little guy sure loves his Ninja Turtles!  

We of course had all the usual fare:

 cake, presents and candles, and pizza.

We did, however, decide to forgo the big party this year and 

give him something else instead that he's always dreamed of…

we rented the bouncy house that they have here at the 

Embassy Compound for him to have all to himself!!!

Bouncy houses are a special favorite of Ronan's, (and I'm sure most other little boys) but it is always torture for him when his turn is over or he has to stand in line and wait his turn.
SO, problem solved! 

I had originally intended to invite other kiddos to enjoy- but truly. This birthday was all about him, and he LOVED every single second. Plus, jumping around like a
Ninja fit right in with the theme!

Lucky brothers, who got to play too!

It was a great day, just what he wanted. Perfect. 

 Happy Birthday Buddy! We love you so much!!!

Kindergarten King -Ronan

In the great 2013 blog catch-up, next up is back to school! 

Ronan started Kindergarten!!!!!

Our cute little Kindergarten King did so great on his first official day of school! 

This was the first time he was in a mainstream regular classroom, and to say I was so nervous to see how he would do is an understatement. I was freaking out the night before, but thankfully we had made an awesome choice in school for him, and it went better than I could have imagined.  The school has been absolutely amazing to work with, and they have helped to accommodate him so much. They have bent over backwards and have truly loved our little guy! I cannot stress enough how glad I am that we found such a wonderful school to take care of our little guy!! It has truly made all the difference, and he  loves school!  

His seriously cute-as-a-button teachers!!

Miss E. and Mr. M

 On the first day of Kindergarten I make the boys a crown and they get a special little present, and their favorite dinner. I am giving myself special kudos this year though; because since we were in temporary housing still I didn't have my stash of cardstock and scrapbook paper  (and didn't know exactly where to find this stuff yet)I whipped out this baby from some washi paper and a cereal box! Pretty cute if I do say so myself! 

 (He loved his new train also!)

 Porter also went back to school of course,
so we'll give him some airtime too.

On our tour of his new school, we came across the new set of earthquake helmets for his classroom!

Welcome to Japan!

Miles also thoroughly enjoyed checking out the school library!

Now, of course I do have some more cute ones of him by the bus, but for security sake I'll leave you with this cute snap. My firstborn is ready to roll for another great school year!! 

Can't believe how fast time flies!

Cousin Time- So Cal Style

 On our way to Japan, we had to stop in LA for some meetings for Noah. Lucky for us, my brother and awesome SIL live in the area. Being that all of my side of the family still lives in "the West", it was an easy choice for several of my other family members to try and meet us in California rather than DC before we headed out. Now, of course we missed everyone who couldn't make it, but it was an awesome little family reunion for those of us who could!

We had so much fun, and we all loved being together!

We stayed in Long Beach for a few days before 

heading inland a little bit.

We partied hard on the Boardwalk!

There was so much to do, and so many delicious things to eat! 

I also loved watching these three
really play together for the first time. 

A new generation of cousins. Love these cuties.

(sorry for the bad picture-)

We stayed at the hotel that was right next to where the 

Queen Mary (the ship just like Titanic) is docked!

 I'm not into haunted adventures, so we just opted for a picture from the bridge! 

Still pretty awesome though. I can see why it was so impressive! (still is)

Eating some yummy treats for breakfast by the boats!

 Playing at the arcade by the beach- we had to tear the boys away! 

By far one of their favorite places of the trip

Miles took his fair share of naps on the go-
 but he rested hard then played hard!

This kid has only ever known life on the go it seems. 

 Eating more treats….this boardwalk had so many fun places!

 Our Submarine boy- 

We hit the Aquarium of the Pacific, which was terrific-

spent lots of quality time with the fishies!

running amuck at the aquarium (Miles' specialty)

We had pizza/swimming parties at the hotel,

always a favorite pastime!!

Of course we hit the beach too…

(and I KNOW I took some pictures, but I can't seem to find them anywhere! Aack! That's the cost of vacationing mid-move-
I might be losing my mind a bit?)

And last but not least, we spent several of our yummy meals eating at this joint! probably one of my new favorite burger places ever….

Thanks for giving us this new "Habit"
every time we come to visit G & A!

Loved it!

 It was so great to see everyone as a last sendoff!

Some good family reunion time to get us through till next time.

We miss you all!

D Family Does Disney

 I won't say much about this post, as the pics speak for themselves. But essentially, we had a few days in the LA area on our way to Japan for consultations for Noah. We had essentially one free day for Disney. We have never taken the boys to Disney yet, so we were excited to squeeze in something.  We have 3 little boys, however, so it is not surprising that we chose to do California Adventure instead of the Magic Kingdom. We had heard all the rage about the new "Cars Land", and we all couldn't wait to see what the hype was about! It was terrific! We had a fantastic day! The boys were in heaven, and once again Disney you pulled out all the stops! We loved it!

Catch you next time Magic Kingdom! (and BTW, Tokyo also has a Disneyland, but Cars Land is only in California. Easy choice)

 Ronan was a BIG fan of the train ride in the Bug's Life area. We did it more times than I care to count. Still fun though. Love my boys.

 Also, the version of "tea cups", is the ladybug ride in A Bug's Life. 

 I Love this pic I got of the three of them.

 Perhaps the best part of the day though, was the parade! We all loved it so much. 

I even got Miles to pose with Mater for me. Even if he wouldn't smile. Ronan is hiding behind the camera guy! He was not into getting that close to Mater once it was actually his turn. Silly boy.

 Also, we fulfilled Porter's dream of going to Ride Makers. Where you pick your own pieces to make your own RC car. It was all he wanted for his birthday, and essentially this whole trip to Disney was centered around getting this for him! He was absolutely beaming!

 My favorite picture of the day. Miles is on a mission!!

Mission Fun Accomplished!