Time Warp

Go back in time with me for a bit:

April 19, 2012

Andrew had a gymnastics skills exhibition. He's a good little gymnast (with a dorky, unnatural little smile in this picture.) 

Beam is undoubtedly his nemesis.  But I find the intense look of concentration on his face very endearing.  Also, you can't tell, but the beam is only about 6 inches off the ground.  This does not matter to Andrew: it might as well be 60 feet. 

The backwards roll, on the other hand, is definitely in his wheelhouse.  He can pull off backwards rolls like nobody's business.

Also, the trampoline.  Later, he showed off his skills on the rings, the parallel bar and the high bar.

Ta-Da! 

April 29, 2012.  This will become an iconic photo of Andrew, my nap-taking 5 year old.  Picture this scene:  Andrew asks to play a game.  I say yes.  He goes upstairs to find one and bring it back down to play.  He doesn't come down for a while, so I head to the stairs and I see this: No, he's not dead.  Just zonked out asleep across three stairs, his game of choice, Cars Memory, tucked safely under his arm.  I'm not sure how this could be a comfortable position, especially to his head.  Poor little guy.  I guess when you're tired, you're tired.  But even if you have to fall asleep, never drop your game.

May 2, 2012.  Andrew graduates from preschool.  He was voted by his teachers, Biggest Muscles.  I'm not sure how this happened, seeing as how he's probably the smallest kid in his class.  Which led me to believe it was a charity award, but a coveted one, apparently, because his little friend Lincoln was a little bit jealous about Andrew's award and not his, which was, Future President.  These are the things important to little boys.  Who cares about the presidency.  It's the big manly muscles that really matter. 

They gave every kid a pair of these sunglasses and Andrew totally loved them.  Here he is, Big Muscles, diploma in hand, destined for stardom.

We really liked having him in the Klein preschool this year.  Chad was able to peek in on him quite a bit and be involved in the stuff that he did and so that was really great. 

 May 4, 2012.  It was Chad's birthday.  Judging by the expression on his face, it doesn't look like it was very good.  He doesn't look very happy about turning another year older.  Hey Chad, guess what?  Remember how we went to Hawaii and that counted as our holidays? 

 Oh, yes, that's much better.  He actually did get some presents besides Hawaii, most notably, some new denim jeans so he can retire the pair we got from Costco, which, while cheap, were very dorky.  (And I say that in the most loving way.) 

 May 6, 2012.  Chad trains for the Strongman Competition by taking our children on a double piggyback ride up the stairs.  I'll let you know if he makes the qualifier.

May 25, 2012.  Aubrey participates in the living Texas History Museum at her school.  Each 4th grader chose a historical Texan about whom they wrote and memorized a biography.  Aubrey had Clara Driscoll, aka, Savior of the Alamo.  Some kids were Davy Crockett, some were George Bush, some were Sam Houston. Then they all dress up in costume, line up in the cafeteria in rows, like this, head down and silent.  (Except Aubs raised up her head up quickly so I could snap a quick picture of her cuteness.) 

 Then the parents wander through the living museum and when a person pushes the characters button on their photo nametag, like this:

 Then Clara Driscoll came alive and gave her biography.  She's actually a very important character, and she's called the Savior of the Alamo because she was a very wealthy debutante and bought the Alamo from the Mexicans. 

 Grammie came to see the living museum.

 I was there too but my stylist was not so I had no one to tell me how shiny my forehead was. 

 June 20th, 2012. Chad and I went to Girl's camp.  Megan came too. 

 Megan had to go home after the evening's events, but Chad and I stayed the night in these deluxe accommodations because we were giving four workshops in the morning.  The bed actually was a full size, and given that we normally sleep on a king size and are not snugglers, this bed proved to be a bit small.  In this case we had to spoon in order for neither of us to fall off the sides.  It also had an attached bathroom, and by attached, I mean, there was no door.  Off to my right, there was a doorway, and through that doorway, a toilet and sink and a shower.  I politely turned to my left when Chad got out of the shower.  The workshops were on the topic of Coming Unto Christ, and based on talks we gave in church a few months ago.  We used the analogy of an invitation in the mail and compared it to the invitation we have from Christ to come unto Him.  We just gave the same workshop four times, to each of the years and their YCLs.  I think it went pretty well.  Several girls came up after each one and said thanks and it was good, so I guess that's a good sign.  We had handouts and treats so I think that helped.  Our handout was the quote from President Monson, "Life by the yard is hard, by the inch, it's a cinch."  I was really glad I got to go to Girl's Camp, I love it so.

 June 24th, 2012.  This is a good story.  Andrew is not a quick morning eater.  Not a big deal during the summer, except on Sundays when we have to be out the door by 8:30.  Oftentimes, he is such a slowpoke getting up and dressed he eats something in the car on the way to church.  This particular day, I had made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, per his request.  But once we were in the car, he didn't want to eat it.  Rather than throw it away, I wrapped it up in its little paper towel and left in the car when we got to church.  Later, in Sunday School, I could hear Megan's stomach growling.  Turns out, tsk, tsk, she hadn't eaten breakfast either, and hadn't eaten dinner the night before.  It was not fast Sunday, and she was not fasting on purpose.  I whispered to her, in a "you know you want it" voice, "I've got a pb and j in the car, you want it?"  I had to ask her a couple times and then wiggle my car keys to show her I was serious.  I guess the hunger got the better of her so we went outside and sat on the curb at church between our van and the car next to us, while Megan ate Andrew's castoff pb and j.  I was glad I hadn't thrown it away.  I think so was Megan. 

 June 25th, 2012.  (Don't be mad, Megan.)  The day after our pb and j on the curb, we went to Academy and rode bikes. Actually only Megan rode while I laughed almost until I cried and took video of her riding this cruiser down the aisle of Academy.  I think she and this cruiser made a connection because she ended up bringing it home.  Getting it into her car was fun. 

 July 3rd, 2012. Aubrey's birthday! The benefit of having a summer birthday is that most of Aubrey's birthdays have been spent at very fun locations and with out of town relatives.  She's had birthdays at Lake Powell, Arkansas, Disneyland, Utah, some others, and now, add Schlitterbahn to the list. (It was actually the day before her birthday but we were in New Braunfels the next day on her birthday.) Chad's brothers, Jason and Randy and their families, met us in New Braunfels for a fun day at Schlitterbahn.  Aubrey and cousin Rachel are pretty much inseparable, and on her birthday morning, they woke up in the same bed and ate donuts and kolaches, Aubrey's breakfast request.  Other cousins joined us later for donuts and she opened some presents.

 Then they had some silly time.  I love these two girls together. 

 Then we drove to Schlitterbahn and spent a long day there.  Andrew could have stayed at the tidal wave lazy river all day, and mostly did.  The lazy river was fun for everyone, and Aubrey ended up in a stranger's tube after one wave came and washed over her.  I spent about two hours in a long line waiting with these two funny girls to ride the uphill water coaster, the Master Blaster.  One of my favorite parts of the day was at the end after Andrew had ridden the tidal wave lazy river for about the 20th time, and said he was tired.  Go figure.  So I found a nice lounge chair, and Andrew curled up on my lap and fell deeply asleep.  I felt quite contented there, holding my little man, listening to the sound of the waves of the lazy river and feeling the breeze.  I closed my eyes and it almost felt like Hawaii.  My least favorite part of the day was when we decided to go to Los Cucos directly from the water park, and so I had nothing on there but my swim suit.  Most others had brought shorts, or sundresses, or things like that, unfortunately, I didn't know I might need something like that so I was just in my swimsuit.  Oh well. 

On the way home, we stopped at Bucee's and saw several hilarious signs, like this:  It says, "Try to train your dog to do this... (picture of dog scooping poop) But if you can't, would you mind helping out?"  That gave me the giggles for a long time after leaving Bucee's.

 Also on the way home, Chad had some fun brother time.  I can't remember what was going on here, but whatever it was, Chad was pretty pleased with himself.

 We did have cake and ice cream at Grammie's house later on and swam and she opened more presents.  I think she had a good birthday.  She's feeling very grown up now that she is in the double digits.  Some time later, she and Rachel were talking and Rachel corrected her about something she said, with, "no, no, Aubs, now, we're pre-teens!" That's a freaky thought if ever there was one.  Doubt I'm ready for that.     

 July 4th, 2012.  Does this image look familiar?  Scroll up a little ways if you forgot.  Except it's Chad instead of the stairs, and the iphone instead of Memory.  His mantra stays the same: don't drop your game.  Actually, when I looked on the phone, it was still going... he fell asleep while playing this time.  Soooo funny to me.

 He woke up later to do fireworks though, and sat with his Aunt Janae. 

 And the twosome turned into a threesome with the arrival of Ashley.  They are so silly together.  I could fill a whole album of pictures where they're being goofy. 

 So we did some fireworks. 

 Here's almost all the Stolle cousins.  Click on the picture to enlarge.  We're cute.

 July 6th, 2012 found the entire Stolle clan going bowling. 

 Romance is in the air on lane 5. 

 Except for when we have to get down to business and go for the turkeys. 

 July 6th also found Aubrey in the chair at Claire's waiting to get her ears pierced.  Her best friend Isabelle has hers pierced, and the other two of the cousin threesome have theirs pierced, so Aubrey decided at 10, it was about time.  Here's before... looking a little bit nervous...

 During....

 (Also during, Andrew found this belt, pulled it out and said, "That belt is SO awkward!"  A latent talent for fashion, maybe?  In any case, Andrew, I agree. 

 And after... Rachel, Aubrey, and Ashley, all pierced ears and smiling.  I found out that part of Aubrey's nervousness stemmed from the fact she thought they pierced her ears with a gun resembling, by her description, something like a rifle.  She when she discovered it was a tiny little thing that looked like a box of dental floss, it was a lot better after that.

Lastly, the threesome put on a musical, What 2 do w/ Summer.  The tickets were extremely reasonable, and seats at the premiere were deluxe.  It was a hilarious musical involving all the Stolle cousins.  There was even an intermission and concession sales. I have video but I think it's too long to post. 

Hope you enjoyed your time warp.  We will now return to the present.