The Ray Family: November 2012

It has been forever since I last posted anything. So much has happened in the last 6 months. T turned 3. He is such a crazy kid and makes Brett and I laugh all the time. We also wonder where he came from a lot of the time! T loves Spiderman, Superman, and any other super hero at the moment. We potty trained him a couple of weeks before his birthday. (It is so nice to be done with diapers!) We will randomly hear that he needs to go potty. He says this very loudly and then races to the bathroom. T comes up with some of the most interesting things. He can put concepts together in ways that are constantly amazing us. The other day at preschool, his teacher asked him what he was thankful for and T said he was thankful our house was safe during the storm. Keep in mind, Hurricane Sandy happened over 3 weeks ago. He does not forget things or get easily distracted! He loves M and loves to play with her. He was sad when school started because M was not around for him to play with. T is my cuddlebug and will sit for hours with me, especially in the morning. I am taking advantage of it as much as I can! T started preschool in the fall and loves it. He comes home and tells me everything that happened and everything he learned. Yesterday I was talking to one of his teachers and she told me the kids were making turkeys and T told her that turkeys had feet and he needed feet for his turkey. She had to make feet for his turkey! Love this little man so much!

New bike helmet

My 3 year old!

Eating birthday cake

Outdoor fun!

Zooming on his bike

First Day of Preschool

Spiderman!

Arg Matey!

M made a noncompeting gymnastics team this summer. She loves gymnastics and has learned so much since June when she started on team. She spends 4 hours a week doing gymnastics and then hours doing cartwheels, handstands, bridge kickovers, roundoffs, and as many gymnastics things as she can do in our living room. She is getting so strong and constantly amazes Brett and me with what she can do. M loved watching the Olympic gymnasts and told me she wants to be on that team. So watch out Olympics 2024, M might be there! M was even an Olympic gymnast for Halloween. A couple of weeks ago, a friend asked if we wanted to go to Philadelphia to see the Olympic gymnasts do a show there. When I told M we were going, her face lit up with so much joy. We had so much fun watching the show. M sat on the edge of her seat with a look of wonder on her face. It was awesome to see her so excited. M started 1st grade this year. She is reading so much and so well. Her teacher tested her reading and put her on a 2nd grade reading level. M missed a week of school because of Hurricane Sandy and so we now have to make up those days. I didn't realize we would be having our spring break during November! This summer we went to the beach with some friends, and M learned how to boogie board. She is so excited to try it some more next summer. My friend took a video so you can all see how good she did.

First day of 1st Grade

Holding Alaina

Future Olympic Gymnast

M and her friend Madison waiting for the Olympic Gymnasts

Having a ball watching the show

Brett had back surgery the end of September. He is doing very well and it seemed to have fixed all the problems he was having with his back. He hurt his back in January and so we are very glad he is able to start doing normal things without pain. We were very fortunate during Hurricane Sandy. We lost a few shingles off our roof. The nice thing about renting is we didn't have to fix it ourselves! We had many friends who lost power for days. We were very thankful and fortunate to be able to help them by letting them stay with us and hang out during the days when their homes were so cold. We have been very blessed but feel for all those people who are on the shore that lost everything. Brett and I are glad that we have been able to see so much of the shore since we have been here because it has all changed now. Here are a bunch of pictures from the last 6 months. Enjoy!