Welcome to the Fruvellhoff's page...Here to keep you updated in the lives of us!:) We are a growing family...month by month you just don't know what will be running around here!
It honestly was pretty uneventful! He has been to the school a handful of times, knew the routine already and felt great about going in. Though, Russell and I had to shake the nerves off of us. I almost cried a couple of times when I got to work, but luckily kids distracted me! 
#2-29-Rykeeboy-RykerMan-Ryk: Oh this kid is going through an interesting time. He has developed this whine from he-ll. It is ridiculous. He does good once he can take some breaths. He has decided to wake up in the middle of the night, thankfully lately he has made it until 530/6am. He comes and wakes me up and says "I'm scared. Protect me." ohyoyoyo. He loves to randomly tell me, and others, that he loves me/Dad/Grandparents/even the neighbor guy Kevin. Speaking of Kevin, he loves our neighbors. He will yell across, "HI BRADWHATAREYOUDOINGBRAD? HI KEVINWHEREAREYOUGOINGKEVIN." His vocab is still off the chain, which is so cool. He loves wrestling. He hates washing his hands after the bathroom. He sometimes eats great, and sometimes it's pulling teeth. He can ride the Strider better than any person I have ever met. He really likes summer, and doesn't enjoy going back to a different routine. He loves the indoor pool, not so much the outdoor pool. He has got personality for sure.
#3-DempsNo, Snowbaby, Demps, SisterGirl, SIster: Guh. This picture sums her up. I mean, I know I've written this before, but this girl rules. She is so versatile. Trucks, dolls, pretty sparkly shoes, hiking shoes, hats, trains, dogs. She feels the beat if it is there. She loves her Dad. Like really loves her Dad. Makes me miss her sometimes, but she eventually comes around to me again. She has to snuggle with an animal or dolly when she goes to bed. SHE loves to play "night, night" all day long-which is confusing as to why she cannot remain in her room past midnight most nights. She loves swinging and saying "weeeee". We put her on the strider bike for the first time last night and she liked it. She loves water-especially showers. She cannot be outside without pouring water on herself or something else, which means her outfit NEVER stays dry. Ever. She sings. She loves apples, all the apple. She doesn't enjoy diaper changes much anymore, which I hope translates into potty training eventually. She also loves loves talking to her grandparents/anyone really on the ipad. "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" "Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" 
He learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. This was such an epic moment and something that I hope to remember forever. We have been in the process of riding without training wheels for awhile. As always it has been a fine balance between encouraging but not putting too much pressure on the guy. We have moved his training wheels higher, encouraged the use of a Russell-made strider, and lots of stickers offered as incentives. Finally, the other day he was ready. It was great-I went out with him and the family followed. Luckily we have a great backyard (aka park) that has awesome huge sidewalks that are perfect for riding your bike. Within minutes AJ got it and took off, like legit took off and flew! He started screaming, "I'm doinggggg it!!!!!!!!!!!!" and had biked faster than I could run, and then went straight into the grass and crashed. So there he was, crying and smiling, and then all of us converged on him and YELLED our congratulations because "HE WAS DOINGGGGGG IT!!!!!!!!!" This caused AJ to be cry-laugh, which then made us adult people cry-laugh because this was indeed an amazing, epic moment in AJ's life. And with awesome AJ style, he got up on his bike and did it some more and really started getting the hang of his bike! So cool.
We spent a day last week having an AJ and Momma day, which was so darn fun. AJ started the day receiving his certificate that said he passed his Alligator class and was moving onto Seal. After 3 attempts he finally got his roller over (where he goes from his front float to his back float unassisted) to pass! He has really gotten into swim classes and will continue on this Fall. Then we headed up to Estes Park to do a 3.6 mile hike. This was the hike that he needed to do, without any assistance, so that we would buy him his own Camelbak (aka water holder backpack thingy). The hike is decent for sure, and AJ definitely had his share of "how long is this hike going to take?" every 5 minutes on the way up. And this happened to take 2 hours, so that was a lot of "HOW LONG MOM???" But he did it! And he was sure proud when he saw the sign that said, GEM LAKE! On the way down he halved his time, and seriously went so fast in parts that he kicked my butt. It made my Colorado hiking Momma self PROUD. Heck yes my kids will like hiking, I hope. So he made it down and the next day we purchased his Camelbak. 
AJ has been a bit of a trip this summer. Clearly he is into accomplishing things. His vocab is through the roof sometimes. He can be insanely helpful cooking in the kitchen, doing things in our garden, assisting with his younger siblings, cleaning up, using teamwork to accomplish tasks, cuddling, and learning new technology. He also can be a bit challenging because he just LOVES bugging his little siblings too. This always verifies for me that he is most definitely ready for Kindergarten. He tells everyone that he is so excited! I'm 80% excited, and 20% nervous as hell. I know he will do well. And I know there will be challenges in things that I haven't even predicted. 
I just love this guy. Our first born who has been such a trooper. His smile and laugh is SERIOUSLY contagious. His eyes are so big and tell a story. His imagination, especially with legos, in so cool. He has huge desires to help his Dad out doing projects around the house. He loves to cuddle and say sweet things to me at night. He is just a legit well rounded kid.
Even the best project manager might have rolled their eyes at the scheduling it took to schedule anything related to this trip: the meetings to discuss where to go, the emails to figure out how to figure out where we were going, when we were going, where we were going to meet, how long, who brings what, the meeting to discuss who would bring what, etc. I mean seriously... I was so impressed by everyone's ability to stay the course despite countless reschedules and texts and emails. This was going to happen, no matter what!
The last day was fantastic. Due to a faulty sleeping pad the first night, I had figured out how to use my backpack as a pad. I actually slept amazingly well, and woke up before anyone. I made my coffee and sat out on a rock. I could hear the stream and the birds. I felt the most peaceful I have felt in a long time. I witnessed a moose running across the stream, and felt so content that I saw moose every day. My friend Julia was next up and we sat talking by the fire pit for a few minutes, when I looked over and saw two MOOSE 10 feet away. Julia and I actually felt the need to hide behind a tree because they were so close. They went over to the tents and sniffed around, which Nina later recalled thinking she heard us snoring!! Not quite-just a MOOSE right by your head Nina! 
Anyways, I loved being with these ladies. It's not every girl that you can go backpacking with and hike 20+ miles in the forest and still 
