Finally an update

So sorry it's been 3 months since I posted anything.  What's the saying...The days are long but the years are short.  It's been like that.  The days are long but the months are short.  It's hard to believe that August, September and October passed so quickly. 

Well, in August Aiden started school again.  He's doing great.  He goes to a reading lab one day a week after school.  He's up to 20 words he can pick out by sight.  And he's started to read very short books.

Aiden's first day of school

He graduated from Nitro 1 in swimming so he's now in Nitro 2.  It took quite a while for him to pass the last station in Nitro 1 so it was a huge accomplishment.  We were (still are) very proud of him.  He's also in football for his second season.  (they just finished up today)  He went through a bit of a rough patch in controlling his temper tantrums.  But he got them under control and finished up the season on a high note!  He has said for the past few months that this will be his last season of football, he wants to play soccer next, then baseball and then bowling for the rest of his life.  I'm hoping that we can put off bowling for a while though.

Asa is doing great too.  Getting bigger every day.  He's also talking a ton.  He can get his socks on all by himself now too.  He's very into doing things himself nowadays.  It's great and frustrating all at the same time because he normally wants to do something (like get his shoes on) when we're in a hurry. 

He's having tons of fun in Little Gym.  He is getting really good at all sorts of stuff now.  He can hang on the bar with his feet on the bar all by himself.  See the picture right below.

He's all over the place while we are in class trying all sorts of stuff.  And of course he wants to do it all by himself.  A lot of the other parents have commented that we have a future gymnast on our hands.

Halloween was great.  We had lots of fun and lots of people commented on our costumes.  Hopefully we will be able to continue with the family costume theme.  It's so much fun.

Drew finished his last triathlon October 2.  It was a Half Ironman, which includes a 1 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run.  He finished in 6 hours 5 minutes.  Pretty impressive, I think!  He has finished 6 triathlons this year.  He signed up for the Austin Marathon in February.  So he'll stay in training for a while longer!

I've been working on Christmas gifts.  I had the idea to make a bunch of our gifts this year.  Hopefully I'm able to accomplish all that I want.  I'm also getting ready for Aiden's birthday in December.  I can't believe he's almost 5!  It just doesn't seem possible.  I guess it goes back to what I said earlier, the days are long but the years are short.

I will try very hard to not take so long in updating again.  Have a great November and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,
The Powers Posse

July 2011

Here we are in the middle of August and I'm doing July's update.  I guess doing it electronically doesn't make me anymore on time than sending mail.  Sorry about that everyone.

We had a great time on our trip to Ohio.  The boys were really great in the car.  I was expecting 22 hours of screaming, but they did great.  I think they watched Finding Nemo pretty much the whole way to OH and then Toy Story 3 the whole way home.  We only hit one bad patch of traffic.  That was in Dallas, it took us a little over an hour to go 3 miles.  The highway was shut down and all the cars were being diverted onto the service road.  It was horrible!!!  But we made it through.

Our time in Ohio was really fun.  We got to go to a HUGE pool and Aiden got go show off some of his swimming skills.  The boys had lots of fun running around in Grandpa and Grammy Tsa's huge yard.  They really loved the outdoor shower.  I think they got messy just so they could use the shower.  They had lots of fun with Grandpa and Grammy Tsa's dog Jake too.  He was very tolerant of their attempts at gentle petting.

They also got put to work a few times.  They helped Grammy Tsa clear out the rocks in the front yard.  Here's a picture of them standing by their rock pile.

And here are just some cute of pictures of them.

Drew completed two more triathlons and he's got 2 more to go.  He has signed up to do an Olympic length one at the beginning of September and I think he's doing a half Ironman at the beginning of October.  I think he's retiring from triathlons after that.  He'll still do all the swimming, biking and running, but just to stay in shape not to train anymore. 

I've already started on my Christmas projects.  Hopefully I haven't bitten off more than I can chew project wise.  But that's why I'm starting so early!



I will try hard to get the August update done more quickly than mid way through the month.  There should be lots to tell regarding Aiden's first month of school. 

Until then, I hope everyone's summer is going well and you're surviving the heat that seems to taking over the entire country!

Love,

April, Drew, Aiden and Asa

June 2011

Birthday Boy

June, what a month.  Our little boy is now TWO!!  How in the world did two years go by so quickly?!?  He got to have 2 birthday parties.  One on his actually birthday with cake and presents from Mom-Mom and Mommy, Daddy and Aiden.  The second party was a zoo party with some friends.  We had a great time at both parties. 

Hanging around at Little Gym

Asa is now talking up a storm and is almost understandable.  Mommy still needs to translate sometimes though.  He's 33.5" tall and weighs 24 pounds.  He's still on the small side but that's OK.  He finished up his Little Gym class this month.  He'll start again in August.  He has so much fun in class.  We've been busy so he hasn't had a chance to miss it yet.

Crazy hair day at school

Aiden finished up his first year of school on June 25th.  He has learned so much this year.  He can write his name pretty well, he knows all his letters and he can count to at least 30.  Sometimes he can go higher with a little help.

Drew continues to train for his triathlons.  He did one in June, he's got 2 in July, 1 in September and the last one in October.  One of his friends is trying to get him to do the half Ironman triathlon for the one in October.  He's not worried about the swim (1.2 miles I think) or the bike (56 miles).  He's really not sure about the 13.1 mile run.  Me, I would be worried about all of it!! 

The project Drew was working on got canceled.  Luckily he had already found a new job and was able to start it about a week early.  So we weren't with out a paycheck.  This new company does web games which is something Drew hasn't worked on before so he's learning a whole new programming language.  He likes the challenge. 

Here a few pictures of the boys helping Daddy wash his car.  They did a pretty good job.  The boys got SOAKED, but they had a great time!!!

I've been keeping busy myself with the boys and finishing up some projects.  I got involved with a "pay it forward" gift exchange this year.  I promised to make a gift for 5 people if they promised to make a gift for 5 more people and so on.  I made a few sets of notecards with bags for some people I'm not too close to and quilts for everyone else on my list.  It was a total of 2 sets of notecards/bags and 4 quilts. (I added an extra person because I didn't want to say no to anyone)  I wanted to get it all by the end of June.  I got it finished the first week of July.  Not too bad I think.  I might try it again next year, but be a little less ambitious with the project choices.

I've also started thinking about Christmas.  I want to make a bunch of presents this year.  I've started looking around for projects already.  I want to start now so I'm not swamped in December trying to get everything done.

Ok, that's all the news from the Powers family for this month.  Until next month!!

Love,
April, Drew, Aiden and Asa

The new monthly update

Starting in July instead of sending out pictures, I'll be posting them here for you all to see.  Hopefully I'll be able to get pictures up here in a more timely manner.  Especially since it's the end of May and I haven't sent out the April pictures yet. 

Actually I might start this with June's pictures.  I might even be able to post some videos of the boys as well.


I hope everyone likes the new format.