My baby is SEVEN!

      6:30 am I walked into Dylan's room to wake him for school but because it was a special day he was woken by me singing Happy Birthday. He woke up with THE biggest smile. He was thrilled to FINALLY be seven. We bought his favorite cookies to bring to school since this was a special day. On the way to school with his cookies in his lap and a smile on his face he said "I'm so happy its my birthday. The kids will have to watch me take the first bite of my cookie before they can eat theirs. I get to open presents, go to ChuckECheese and have a sleep over and eat allllll my CAKE. Ohhh Today is THE BEST DAY EVER!"

Our sweet boy is SEVEN! He has grown to be the sweetest, most caring loving little man. I couldn't be more proud of this little guy.

After he blew out his candle just like at school with his cookie we had to watch him take his first bite of his cake before we got to eat our own piece of cake. ha ha.

Dylan wanted to end his night with one of his best buds sleeping over. This was the first time since Christmas he got to come over and check out Dylan's new toys so OF COURSE Dylan wanted to play "Soldiers." They played for hours.

Dylan told us weeks before his birthday he wanted a "soldier" cake with a tank on it. It just so happens we live on a military base! JACKPOT! He loved it. The tank was also a transformer.

Dylan wanted a ChuckEcheese birthday party. So he got just that. This would be his second year in a row spent at ChuckEcheese for his birthday!

At the end of Dylan's birthday Mike says to me "wow cant believe he is 7. He will be asking for our car keys before we know it!"  Jeeeeeezzzzzzz way to ruin a moment! ha ha.

Christmas Time...

This year was different from last year because last year Christmas we  just moved from Alaska to Colorado so we were living in hotels. This year was so close to a deployment and was important to stay home and spend as much time as our family of four we decided not to travel to our hometown this year. However, Grandma Killion decided to join us. 

We had Dylan make a Christmas list of EXACTLY what he wanted, a top 5 of what he thought he "couldn't" live without. Between all our family and not traveling this year Dylan was able to get EVERYTHING off his Christmas list...and then some.

There came boxes to our house for a couple weeks from our family. This picture is of Dylan getting spoiled from his great grandma and great grandpa Burns with the legos (which was his newest and favorite thing to do this year) and also got an Angry Bird sweatshirt from his Aunt Tina and Uncle Joe. For the past two years Angry birds has been one of his favorite things. "Mom, can I play angry bird on your phone?" 

Breaking into the legos immediately after opening them.  He also got a race car track that attaches to the wall

Short Story....When my aunt got remarried she married a guy who has 3 boys around Dylan's age. When my aunt first introduced Dylan to the boys she said..."This is Logan, Tyler, and Dylan." The look on my Dylan's face will always be remembered because this was the first time he met anyone else with his same name. He was SHOCKED. His eyes were big, he looked up and down at Dylan (who is older then my Dylan) and said "YOUR NAME IS DYLAN?" Completely surprised. It took him a while but he LOVED it! He loved he had boy cousins his age and one of them who was named Dylan. Later on my Dylan said "Hey Big Dylan come here." And that's where it started. We have a Big Dylan and lil Dylan. :) So this sweatshirt he got for Christmas has his uncles construction buisness on the back and on the front left says "Lil Dylan" Big Dylan also got one that said "Big Dylan" 

Got another delivery from the UPS guy...this is a gift from his Grandma and Grandpa McAllister who live in Florida. He got a remote control car that later on that evening we had a military meeting so we let him bring it with. Remote control car in with a whole bunch of soldiers safe to say it was a big hit. In this picture he got a "glow dome" which he loved. Dylan is very artistic and LOVES to draw so this is a big hit when he is laying in bed. He draws on it and it glows in the dark and shows off his gorgeous drawing.

I wrapped Dylan in lights for a Christmas card and this would be him laughing at how silly this idea was. However it was one of the pictures I used! ha ha 

When I was pregnant with Dylan, Mike and I wanted to make a ginger bread house together because we have never made one. We loved it so every year for the past 8 years this has been a tradition. Of course when Dylan was old enough to join he couldn't keep his mouth off of it. :)

Making some home made cookies for his class

Decorating his cookies and of course saved a few for himself.

Legos from mom and dad

Dylans love to be like his dad and grow up and be a soldier is getting stronger by the minute. His Aunt Jo and Uncle Lawrence (who is Navy) sent him this cool army vest all the way from Japan. We bought him a army knife, helmet, grenades, cell phone, and all sorts of  army accessories to put in his new cool vest. He is Absolutely OBSESSED with being a soldier he will sleep in this.
Funny story...
Mike being the soldier he is takes Dylan's "gun play" seriously. Dylan had laid his gun on the counter and ran into the living room to get something, I heard Mike say "Dylan are you done playing with your gun?"
 Dylans answer was "no I went to get something" I thought maybe Mike wanted Dylan to pick up after himself but that was not the case...I should of known.
 Next thing I heard Mike say was "Dylan don't EVER leave your gun unattended."  I can't help but laugh because Dylan also takes it very serious and says "oh RIGHT!" he grabbed his gun puffed out his chest and marched out of the kitchen. Junior boot camp in progress...future soldier in training.

Mommys little helper

When Dylan was really little he would ALWAYS help me with cleaning. Well you could almost call it "helping" When I would vaccumn he would sit on it and hold tight, I would wash dishes he would play in the water but he thought he was helping, He had a small broom and dust pan he would "help" clean up a dirt pile (and when he wasn't watching I would redo it.) As he has gotten older he has gotten more chores and expected to do a better job. He unloads the dishwashers putting the dishes on the counter in stacks of what they are (plates on plates, pans on pans...etc) He sorts the laundry (doesn't fold them BC chances are I would refold them) he puts dads clothes in front of daddy's closet, Mommy's clothes in front of moms closet, towels on the toilet lid...etc A couple other chores he is expected to do is set the table, dust, clear the table, sweep the floor, vaccuumn (not riding on it) room is to be tidy, take care of his pets (Duke,Bella, and his turtle).He has always loved to help with chores and he loves being in charge of taking care of his own responsibilities.
      Growing up I never got an allowance and either did my husband, we feel the kids need to learn responsibilities and pitch in without getting paid. However we have decided to teach Dylan how to save money and how to handle money so he gets paid 3 dollars a week. I have to admit its weird to hear him say "Is it pay day yet?" On Friday's he has 3 dollars taped to his chore chart. cha ching.
      Today Dylan told his friend he had to do his chores before he could play and his friend told Dylan he gets 9 dollars a week but he doesn't want to do his chores bc there isn't anything he wants and his grandma sends him money to buy things. Unfortunately for Dylan he doesn't have a choice but to do chores and getting paid is a bonus. :)


Chore Chart:
A calender frame
hooks with sticky backs
In the frame is scrap book paper (I did red to match my kitchen)
Scrap book paper cut into squares with holes is what the chore is on

Everyday he has different kind of chores so the ones I want him to do are faced forward for him to read, the ones he doesn't need to do are flipped over...when he completes his chore he flips the card over
total cost: $7.00

Earning for learning

Every week Dylan has to learn up to 25 sight words/spelling words and takes a test every Friday. This can seem like a LONNNNGGGG process to learn. Dylan and I used to sit down and with a pen I would point at the word I would want him to read over and over AND OVER until he got them. I would hear the typical "awww agaaain?" "When am I going to be done?" and then the negotiating "If I get 5 more right can I be done until tomorrow?"
Bottom line I disliked it as much as he did.
     Dylan's routine is after school he does homework, has some play time, dinner, bath then in bed by 7. I know 7 seems early but he has a tv in his room and he is allowed one movie before bed (its the only tv time he has in a day, and it relaxes him) which puts him to bed about 8-8:30. For a while Mike and I were talking about letting him stay up a little longer because he is almost 7 which gave me an idea.

I sat Dylan down with these cards (in the picture below) and explained to him. "mommy has come up with a plan. On the back of these there are your spelling words for the week"

I continued "there is also a number on the bottom, the number is minutes you can earn if you get these words correct. His "lay down time" is 7 o clock but he can earn to stay up. The clock starts at 7 o clock and he does 10 of these cards an evening that hold up to 5 words. If there are words he struggles with I write them a few times on different cards and give him extra points. The points don't normally add up to more then an hour. When he earns his minutes he can choose in that time he gets what he wants to do however after 8 o clock there is no movie in his room but he can choose to watch a movie in his free time.

The minute I pick him up for school he says "Can we go home and earn minutes?" I feel like a genius. He is thrilled to work on his words, he gets straight A's, and he doesn't mess around. He has to get the words right or he doesn't earn his points which takes away the "I don't know what this one is" He takes his time and gets the job done. Genius I tell ya Genius! : )

Dilan?

      At the top of Dylan's homework he wrote his name, although he spelled it Dilan. I said "Hey bud you spelled your name wrong" He looked at me like no i didn't, and said "No that's how I spell it now." I asked him why and he replied with "Because I like it this way better"
      I had to tell him the story when he was born. I had Landon and Dalton picked out for names but after Dylan was born Mike said "Dylan" I looked at him shocked because through out the pregnancy he never mentioned that name. Bright red hair and blue eyes, Dylan was perfect. I wanted to be creative and spell it Dillion, so we did. We got the birth certificate it said Dillion Michael Killion. I was pleased with it. We ran it through the newspaper.

      My aunt called me and said "people are asking me why you named your son Dillion (our last name is pronounced Kill yon, so naturally people were saying Dill yon) "oh boy" I thought. I brought it up to Mike and he couldn't sleep that night. He kept saying we just put a target on our son for bullying. He woke me up a few times and said "We have to change the spelling, tomorrow!"
      The next day came I asked the nurse if we could get the birth certificate changed. The lady who notarized the birth certificate was less then amused. She said she had been doing that job for 30 years and not once had to have a spelling changed. We didn't care what she said we got it changed.
      Dylan loved to hear that story. His dad calls him "Dill E yon Kill E yon" its our inside joke and now Dylan knows why. After this story he erased his name and spelled it Dylan.

First Grader

      "Mom can I walk to school with my friends?" Dylan asks. Where did the time go? This kid thinking hes all grown up. Cant believe he is in first grade! Every birthday I always say "Cant believe my baby is ONE!" "Cant believe my baby is TWO" Every year is a new chapter.
      No he cant walk to school but I do let him walk INTO the school from my car at the drop off line. haha. baby steps baby steps. Dylan has a great teacher who he looks forward to seeing everyday which makes school easy for him.

Everyday when I pick him up he has to tell me 3 things he learned, 3 things he did and his high and low of the school day. (that way I get more then the typical answers "school was fine, I learned nothing")
Some of his "highs" of the day would be:
LOVES eating school lunch
LOVES music class
LOVES science (right now they are studying reptiles so OF COURSE he loves it)

Some of his "lows"
When he has a yellow day (Its basically a warning and he gets it because hes a talkative little guy)
When he got sent to the nurse because his tummy hurt
Too much homework

Dylan has lots of friends and is ALWAYS yelling out my car window leaving the school "Whats Up Johnathon?" "HEYYYY LUCAS"

Everyday when I drop Dylan off for school he walks away wearing his bright blue crocks, Mario backpack and hollers "Have a good day!" and off he goes to first grade! I'm still trying to get used to it but so proud of this smart, friendly little guy! :)
      One evening we were laying out Dylans clothes for school the next day. It was a red Mario shirt and some jeans, he said "OMYYYY Don't you know I cant wear red?" I looked at him clueless on what he was saying, he continued with "I have a bad day when I wear red I have to wear blue!" HA HA! So the red shirt went back on the hanger. No more red shirts for Dylan.

Thats a wrap!

      Its official... Dylan has graduated Kindergarten and is moving on to grade school. Typical mom emotions, sad, proud, and happy. It seems like nothing changes from day to day but as I look back EVERYTHING changes. I was putting on my heels, and makeup getting ready to watch my baby graduate kindergarten. As his teacher says his name to get his diploma I look at that huge smile, tears fill my eyes. I look at this little man who has become just that, a little man. He is smart, creative, the friendliest 6 year old I know, loves life and everything about it. He has reminded me everyday since he graduated he is in first grade now, Im still not thrilled but I am beyond proud!