We will start with the end... the end of school that is. All the way back in May JT graduated from Lil' Einsteins preschool. He will be starting Kinder-Prep in about a week now.
JT's Preschool Graduation!
Ella, Cody, JT and Manny.
JT and Finn.
JT singing with his class. They sang a bunch of songs and ended with "Celebration" which he really got into! Unfortunately the video of his songs was too big and I can't put it on the blog :( It was super cute though!
Goofy Kids. At least they are loving each other here!
The Crew.
Sam, JT, Eli, Jackson, Jordan and Gavin. :)
After ceremony lunch with friends. :)
Sam and his best buddy in Mrs. Motroni's class, Konner.
Getting ready to dance! The kids performed 8 songs for the parents. It was so cute. I got it all on video but all the videos are too big to put up on the blog! Sammy was a dancing machine! People came up to him after and said, "Wow, I didn't know you could dance like that!" He has the moves! :)
Mrs. Motroni's first Centennial Elementary Class. 2011
Sammy hangin with the boys.
Sammy with the hand-made scrapbook that Mrs. Motroni made for each individual student. :)
I'm not sure teachers get much better than this one... Mrs. Motroni will always be in Sam's heart! I couldn't have asked for a better year.
JT's Last Day at Lil' Einsteins.
JT and Jordan
They get to pick where they sit for snack... that is Ella he is next to. Of course.
Ice Cream Bar!
YUM!
ON to JUNE... Our Trip to Rochester!
Sam and JT's Happy Place.
Within the first week, Eli fractured his leg. We affectionately called it, "Green."
We also had so much fun... We went to the Seneca Park Zoo. I didn't realize how small it was until we moved, but one thing it has that Phoenix doesn't is POLAR BEARS!
Cosie GRADUATED!
A bittersweet day. Excited for his accomplishment but I can't believe he has graduated! The boys were ready to celebrate in their ceremony outfits.
This kid is too much.
Waiting for the ceremony to begin.
Sandwiched between Cosie graduating and us leaving JT turned 5! (This was like the 5th time he as turned five!) But we still celebrated it!
Birthday Morning!!
Love that smile.
Cake for Breakfast! Of course!
Trying out the new water gun... what were we thinking?
The New York Party with the family.
JT is lucky to have the same birthday as Colton. So we combined the party for a big blow out!
This was our last day before we left to go back to Arizona. Everyone swam and had a great time.
Everyone except Peg Leg...
When I asked JT the kind of cake he wanted he was very specific...
I absolutely love that the kids do not skip a beat with the family. They feel just as close as if we were living in New York.
Colton's cake :)
The Birthday Boys!
Back to AZ....
We were lucky enough to have the other Ricci party of Five come back with us. They got to celebrate with JT as we had his friend party at Bounce U.
Ready to go with his Mario shirt on...
Brothers.
Are You Ready to BOUNCE?! "YEA!"
Woo-Hoo!!!!
Playing at the party.
We did a cosmic bounce. They turned off the lights and the kids all had glow necklaces. It was super fun!
The Rematch!
When Hayden was up a few years back we went to Bounce U and Fred put a good beating on him in the Bounce U Boxing Ring. Hayden was itching to get him back.
Unfortunately for Hayden, Fred wasn't going to go down without a fight... He ended up beating him pretty good again. It was HILARIOUS!
The CHAMP!
Pizza Time!
The Cake. He wanted Rocky. This one I made.
Happy Birthday Dear JT!!
Present Time!
Birthday THANK YOU!!!!!
DISNEYLAND!!
JT's Party was Saturday and we were off to California for a Disneyland Trip with our Cousins on Sunday!!
As you already know... I LOVE Disney. The kids are always so excited to be there and I have never been disappointed. This trip was no exception!
Here are the boys with Mickey!
Anything shaped like Mickey tastes better!
We rode ALL the rides! We definitely get our money's worth when we go because our kids are little dare-devils. So they enjoy the whole experience of Disney. This year, JT was tall enough for most rides and he went right along like a trooper!
SPACE MOUNTAIN!
SPLASH MOUNTAIN!
This was the One ride in particular that JT couldn't wait to go on... he had been waiting for 2 years since the last time we went with YaYa and Poppy. He was just shy of the cut-off then and he was ready for it this time. This pic is the first time he went down it! Look at his face... too much!
Another pic... Happy to be finally on Splash Mountain. He rode this several times. In fact, he even got a fast pass to the ride...I have to include this story because it is so JT that I will want to remember this. We got ice cream and JT was very engrossed in the ice cream and wasn't watching where he was going. He was walking directly into a woman with a stroller who saw him and stopped but he was still not paying attention despite everyone calling out to him because he was concentrating on the ice cream. So when he finally looked up it was too late and he was so close to the stroller that he tried to move out of the way but there was a curb. He tripped up onto the curb, fell over and so did his ice cream! He was completely embarrassed and wouldnt even look up. Within seconds a Disney guy was there offering us a new cone which we said wasn't necessary. He insisted on doing something so he gave us fast passes to Splash Mountain and Space Mountain!! Only JT would be that oblivious and the get rewarded for it! Gotta love JT!
Grizzly Bear Run!
The Scary Sliding Ferris Wheel...
Splash Mountain.... AGAIN
Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster... A fav of Eli's.
The World Of Color water display. This was awesome! The colored water sprayed up to music of disney films and they even put pictures in the water. It was so cool. We stood in the wet zone and we definitely got wet! But it was worth it!
JT wanted to get his face painted :)
Waiting for the parade the last day.
Eli sees the characters!
I think this was fireworks on the Fourth of July. They were really cool, but really crowded! It looks like Eli has had enough here.... he has Harry and Blanket close by!
Goofy's Kitchen! One of the best character breakfasts because it is fun AND the food is great! I can not go to Disney without getting my Mickey Mouse waffles! yummm! And Hayden was even happy because they served up chicken fingers for breakfast!
Dancing with the Mad Hatter!
Goofy loved Eli. He came over to the table and pointed to him and held his heart. So cute.
Our last family dinner. We decided to do a nice dinner as a whole group to commemorate the great trip. We ended up at an all you can eat rib and chicken BBQ. Let's just say it went over well!
Sammy... :)
Of course... the CHARACTERS!!
Eli absolutely loved them. Even though he and I spent a lot of time together waiting around for the big kids, the characters made every minute of it worth it! I will never forget how excited he was! The cast didn't stop him at all... he hobbled right up there and gave them a huge hug! I got several pictures of Eli alone with them because everyone was on the rides...
This was a special one. We got lucky to see both Minnie and Mickey out TOGETHER. Of course it was 10:45 at night... but Eli was still ready to go! He was so cute. He didn't know who to go to first. He wanted to hug them both. They loved him too...
Donald Duck... he tried to take the Binky. Eli was like, "Mine!"
Love this of the boys.
Buzz Lightyear! We never got his autograph but we did get a high five!
Sammy, JT and Cole liked the characters too. They all had books for autographs. I love this age.
The Crew with Goofy and Max. They are too cool!
The only characters Eli wasn't into... apparently if they looked like real people he was afraid of them!
Stitch was super cool... used the boys' heads as an armrest :)
Eli kissed Mickey's nose... Like Mother Like Son!
Eli and Goofy became close. He calls him "Goof"
Our family in Disney. 2011
We LOVED Disney... but more importantly we LOVED that we got to go to Disney with our cousins! It was so much fun! We had such a great time with them even before we went to Disney together! Thank you Uncle Fresh, Aunt Nita, Hayden, Anthony and Cole! We miss you tons already! Come back soon!!!!!
