The Oldroyd Family

I've been the worst blogger EVER lately.  But I can't let the year end without posting about this wonderful Christmas we just had! As always, I wish I had taken more pictures.  Maybe next year!  I also wish I had known that my camera lens had a smudge on it.  Oh well. Here are the kids in their new church clothes.  I loved them this year, especially Alexa's dress! Sunday night we celebrated Christmas with our Oldroyd family because Marianne had to work on both Christmas Eve & Christmas.  The kids LOVE the personalized beach towels from Gma & Gpa!  They got a fun game from Aunt Marianne & the adults got 24 hours without the kids! (Crazy Gma & Gpa thought it would be fun to have all 7 of them for 24 hours! Yikes!) We had a fun Christmas Eve party at Grandma & Grandpa's house where we ate yummy food, talked, played & the kids made their own ornaments!  When we got home, we opened Christmas PJ's from Grandma Marie ...

Wow, its been a while since I've done one of these.  Its also been a while since I've blogged.  There are several things I want to go back & blog but who knows if I will!  Life has been busy! Nathan & Alexa are doing so well in preschool.  They love it & are learning lots!  They love homework & love doing flashcards to learn their letters.  Last Thursday after school, they really wanted to do flash cards & I was finishing up some work on the computer.  Pretty soon I looked over & they were just questioning each other with the flash cards.  So cute!   Max has been giving me a run for my money.  That boy... I feel like I deserve an award for {mostly} keeping my patients with him some days.  He is strong willed & hard to motivate.  But I still love him to pieces. HALLOWEEN happened!  How could I forget?  Nathan was Batman, Alexa was Belle & Max was Spiderman. (Nathan was Iron...

Today was Nathan & Alexa's first Primary Program.  They were very excited & very prepared!  We've been practicing their songs & memorizing their parts.  Nathan's part was: "I follow the prophet by reading scripture stories."  Alexa's part was "I follow the prophet by going to church."  They did great & we're so proud! Nathan & Alexa have both grown so much since starting primary in January.  They love being a Sunbeam, love their teachers & love to sing the primary songs.  I am grateful for the opportunity they have to grow their testimony in such a loving environment!  I look forward to many more years of primary programs-- hands-down the best sacrament meeting of the year!

Today was the perfect day for the zoo.  We love the zoo & have been waiting all summer for the cooler weather to come so we could go back & see our favorite animals!  With low humidity & a high of 83, today was just the day!  We had Isaac (my nephew) with us today & we met some friends there.  So fun! To make the day even better, when we were visiting the meerkats, Sam called to tell us to look for the shuttle Endeavor since it was flying over downtown.  We ran over to the open space by the elephants & there it was!  This picture was as it flew away but we saw it VERY WELL!  SO COOL! Here we are on the Merry-Go-Round-- such happy kids! And we got to feed the giraffes... And pet an alligator & snake over by the children's zoo! Looking forward to many more cool fall days to enjoy the outdoors & animals at the Houston Zoo!

They did great!  They loved it!  I'm so relived.  It was weird having them gone for so long but I knew they were ready.  Who am I kidding?  I know I was ready!  Nathan was obsessed with doing his homework "like Gavin & Spencer" (cousins).  He took it hard when I explained he wasn't going to have a lot of homework until Elementary School.  Alexa didn't say much about it but seems to want to go back so that's a plus! I had a great time with this little guy.  I love him. We celebrated a good first day with Orange Leaf!   I can't believe how grown up they are.  They both are doing & saying the funniest things.  Today, Max did something & Alexa said, "Congratulations Max!"  It was so cute-- she even pronounced it right.  Nathan has such a desire to learn.  I know they'll have a great year!

Nathan & Alexa got to see their school & meet their teachers today! They've been waiting for preschool & it's finally here! They are so excited! We put them at the Little Ranch Preschool in Katy & they'll be going on Tues/Thurs from 9:30am-2:30pm. Their teacher is Ms. Maddie. Their teacher's aid is Ms. Zaida. They had a great time & didn't want to go home! I think it's going to be a great year! *Alexa told me later that she wants me to stay at school with her next time. I think we might have the same problem as we do going to primary every week! Good thing she recovers quickly when I shove her in the door & leave!

On August 10th, Nathan & Alexa went to see Dr. M for their well check!  We had talked about what was coming up & they were definitely nervous about the shots but they were brave.  On the way to the dr, they were arguing who would go first for shots.  Nathan's argument was that Alexa should go first because ladies ALWAYS go first.  Alexa said Nathan should go first because he was born first & is the oldest.  Pure comedy! This was a long appointment.  They did weight, height, sight & hearing tests (both passed with flying colors!), talked to the doctor, got checked out.  Dr. M walked out of the room & Alexa looked at me at said, "No shots!!"  But of course the nurse came in a few minutes later to take them to the shot room.  Nathan was brave & went first.  Both kids cried during the shots but recovered well & were thrilled with their ring pops, pencils & stickers.  Not to mention the stop at Oran...

We did a lot of bed switching today!  Here's the new arrangement: Max is now in Alexa's crib.  We sold Nathan's crib & are trying to sell Max's old crib.  (I wanted to keep a white one) Nathan now shares a room with Max & is sleeping in the Daybed that was already in there.  We'll get bunk beds when Max is ready to be out of his crib. Alexa now has a room all to herself & is sleeping in a giant QUEEN size bed!  Its the bed that we used to have set up in Max's room before he was born.  Glad to have that bed back!  And so are our future guests! Everyone was really excited to sleep in their new beds!  I'm hoping they'll be as happy with the new arrangement in the morning.  Sharing a room is going to be an adjustment for Max & Alexa has never slept in her room without Nathan!  Crossing my fingers for a good night!

Nathan & Alexa turned FOUR today!  I hear 4 is a really good age... I can't wait!  Can you believe 4 years ago they were here... And now look at them!  Silly, big, HEALTHY kids!!! We started off the day by going to the beach with Grandma & Grandpa, our cousins, Aunt Jennie Jo, & the Baker family.  We love the beach! Then we had our family dinner & opened presents.  Boy were these kids spoiled!  And those "smiles"... special.  Very special. And I had to include this picture... Savannah & Alexa had so much fun playing with the dress ups!  So cute! And of course there were cupcakes & candles! And Max... poor Max... he's been a bit of a disaster lately (you know, being 2 & all-- rough life) so today, with all of the attention & presents for Nathan & Alexa... it was just more than he could handle.  Poor Buddy. Ahh... what a great day!  I love these kids! ...

On the 3rd (yesterday) we had a Pool Party for Nathan & Alexa's birthday.  It was so fun to have our friends come celebrate with us!  I'm definitely not the party gal so I'm glad N & A have a summer birthday so we can just do it at the pool!  Poor Max-- who knows what we'll do for him! We had some yummy fruit, drinks, Gogurts, Cupcakes & Ice Cream... We had fun swimming & playing with our cousins & friends... And of course there were presents! (We're working on picture smiles... you'll see in their bday post...) Thank you for all who came & celebrated with us!  Nathan & Alexa LOVE their friends!

We took a car trip to Utah this summer.  Pretty much nothing went as planned.  But here are all of the pictures-- get ready for an overload! We were supposed to stop & see Tiffany & Justin in Colorado for a few days on the way but because of the forest fires, they were evacuated from their home!  So we just went straight to Utah with a stop at 4-Corners on the way.  The kids did really well in the car with the help of movies, games, songs & Dramamine!  Ha!  It was really fun stopping at Four Corners.  It was 100 degrees but we didn't mind- dry heat is NICE!  Check out the picture of smoke from the fire near Price, Utah.  Crazy!! As soon as we got to Utah, we spent as much time as possible with cute little Hunter (Zack & Hilary's baby).  He's grown so much since we saw him in February!  Hunter is the best & happiest baby around.  The kids all loved being around him & seeing his laughs & smile...