A Wonderful Birthday

My little guy had a birthday recently and turned the big 5!! What a fun time! He wanted a transformers/legos birthday party but since party stores don't have decorations for legos, it turned into a transformers party. The party was at The Little Gym with some of his closest friends. They played in the gym for about an hour and then came into this room for cake and presents! (If you look closely through the glass you can see Grandma Mamu!! What a special treat to have her come for the festivities!)

This is what was on his cake!! He thought it was awesome!
After, we took him to Red Robin for some fun presents (Optimus Prime) and...
ice cream, which I ended up eating because he was too excited about his toys! I know, the sacrifices mom's make for their kids!
Happy Birthday Bug!! We love you very much!!

From the mouth of my babes!

So I've procrastinated documenting the funny things my kids say so I will start doing it here. Hope it doesn't bore you.

The other day me and the kids are driving down the road and we see a blow-up santa. The air must not have been very strong because the santa was leaning forward just a little. As we pass, NayNay says "Santa's tired". What a funny kid.

Halloween and Pumpkin Fun!

A week before halloween we actually found a Saturday nice enough to venture out. We loaded the kids and headed to the pumpkin patch. The kids took a ride in barrels pulled by a tractor, had duck races, ran through a maze, and milked a wood cow (that may explain my previous post!). Then they found the corn pit (I'm not sure what it's called). It's basically an area surrounded by hay bails and filled with dried kernels of corn. They played in it for half an hour, we bribed them out so we could go pick our pumpkins, and then they got in it again till we lured them out to go home. Who knew that dried corn would be so much fun.

The following Monday (Family Home Evening) we carved our pumpkins. Just like last year, FeFe cleaned out the pumpkins and NayNay carved. And the final result....

NayNay's is on the left and FeFe's on the right. If you know my kids well, then you'll understand how well they reflected themselves in the pumpkins! Crazy kids!!

For Halloween this year NayNay convinced us to let him be his beloved Bumblebee (the transformer, not to be mistaken for the insect).

FeFe quickly decided she wanted to be Tinkerbell but I was not impressed with any of the store costumes. Thanks to Aunt Pickle, we were able to make FeFe into a beautiful fairy with sparkles, a bun, a magic wand, and special shoes! She looked amazing.

Unfortunately for NayNay, FeFe's choice of costume led all those who do not know of transformers to think that he was A bumblebee, not THE Bumblebee (get it...Fairy and insect, makes sense). He was quick to correct everyone but also let them know that it was in fact a costume and he could not turn into a car or save them from danger. Needless to say, it was a wonderful Halloween!

Really?

I have a lot of updating to do between Halloween, Birthdays, and Thanksgiving but they will need to wait until my better half uploads the pictures. Until then, today (Thanksgiving day) NayNay walks out of the playroom holding a toy lion and says "Let's milk this cat." Where does he come up with this stuff?

Max Who?

Today I'm talking to FeFe about her upcoming B-day party. I say "Who should we invite?". She points to the first person she sees. So I start naming her friends. "Should we invite____?" insert name of friend, and she says "Yes!". Well, one of her friends is named Max so I say "Should we invite Max?" to which she replies "Max Hall?".

Lost a Tooth!

NayNay lost his first tooth. Due to his young age we thought maybe his tooth was loose because he hit it on something but upon closer inspection we realized that his new tooth was already coming in! He did get his first tooth when he was 4 months old so an early tooth isn't unheard of. He put the tooth under his pillow and went straight to bed.The next morning he got up and went about his day without mentioning his tooth. When I brought it up he said "The Tooth Fairy didn't come". "Well, let's go check anyway." I say. So off we go and to his surprise, he found this!! Lucky boy!

One more year until Kindergarten

NayNay on the first day of preschool 2008 and 2009. Can you guess which one is which? I feel like he's grown so much but then I look at these pics and I think he looks the same. Maybe I need to add more color to his wardrobe. I've been thinking a lot about how next year he goes to kindergarten. I get all excited and wonder what's up with these mom's that cry. But I almost guarantee that when the time comes I'll be the one on the corner crying as the bus drives away and wondering is he'll be okay.

Summer School!

This summer I needed something to keep me sane while the kids had oodles (is that a word?) of free time. Structure is the key for my kids. Keeps them calm. So every Tuesday and Thursday we would have school. We did circle time highlighting one letter a day, sang songs, danced, had crafts, and much more. The kids loved it and I loved the sense of accomplishment it gave me! Here are a few highlights from the summer!

D day was "Dad day!". The kids each chose a rock from the backyard, cleaned it, dried it, painted it, and added eyes! It made a great Father's Day gift and both rocks are now at the office!

E was for Elephants. The kids made these great elephant masks and ran around acting like elephants all day! So fun!!

F was one of the best, and easiest days. With a number of friends we toured a local fire station! The kids loved the whole thing! They got to climb in an ambulance,
ride in the trucks,
and hang out with the cool fire fighters! They had a great time!

H was Hat day. Silly kids!

I is for Igloos! NayNay and FeFe loved making their penguin houses!

J is for Jello. Crazy as it sounds they LOVED painting with the jello (and their art work looked amazing) but they would not eat it. I ended up giving the whole pan of jello jigglers to Aunt Pickle. Lucky gal!

M is for Me! We talked all about who they are and how they are so special. Then they colored an outline of themselves!

And last but not least, Z day we went to the zoo! NayNay couldn't wait for the sharks!
It was super scary!
They were so excited to be done with all the crazy! Yeah! One summer over, many more to prepare for! Good job NayNay and FeFe! You are amazing kids! I love you!

It's been how long?

Nine years!! Yep, that's right! Nine years ago today Curtice and I started the rest of our lives together and what a ride it has been. Thanks for all the fun but most of all for always being there for me! I love you!

Here's to my Sunshine!

I definitely do not give enough praise to my wonderful husband! I find that most of my entires are focused on my kids and I forget to mention the one who keeps me sane! So, just so you all can see how amazing he is, I will tell you a crazy story. We decided to paint our family room and living room and set it all up so we would be childless from 1 pm to 8 pm on a Saturday (7 hours, that's enough time, right?). So, we start painting. It takes a little longer than planned but by 6 o'clock we're almost done with the family room. We get ready to start on the kitchen. Curtice vigorously shakes the can of paint and then stirs it with a stir stick. We do the edging (maybe 45 minutes pass). We go back to the paint can and it looks all good (note: we only stirred the paint for the family room once and painted out of the can over a 3 hour period) so we dump it into the roller pan and start painting the main part of the walls. About half hour later, Curtice stirs the can again and then dumps more into my cup for edging. We have now taken from the can 3 times over about an hour and a half time frame. I start painting more edging and as I do we can't help but notice that the edges look so much different. Hmm. At about 8 pm we realize there's a problem. We have used over half the gallon of paint, the kitchen is 90 % complete, and there are 3 (count them 1, 2, 3) different shades of brown on our walls. All we can figure out is that this specific paint requires blender-like stirring. When Curtice stirred the first time it didn't get all the dark off the bottom so the first color was very light. Then he dumped out without stirring again (who stirs every 20 minutes?) and took most the light color out, and we finished by painting the dark pigment on the ceiling edging. Anyway, to make a long story longer, I was exhausted by this time, and Curtice was mad. I wanted to go to bed, he wanted to try to fix it, something I thought was impossible. So he comes up to me and says, "Go to bed and when you wake up in the morning you will have a beautiful kitchen.". I didn't believe him but I was exhausted so I said okay and off to bed I go. This is about 11 pm. At 3 am he crawls into bed. And do you know what? He was right! In the morning I woke up to beautiful kitchen!! I love you, Curtice! Thank you for always making me happy!!

Graduation Day!

So my little guy just graduated from his first year of preschool.  He loved Miss Camilla and all the things she did.  The kids put on a great program where they marched around the yard, said the pledge of allegiance, and sang a few of their favorite songs.  This is a picture Naynay drew of what he wants to be when he grow up (see video below!)

                                

     
                        

So, this is him saying what he wants to be when he grows up.  Sorry, I keep forgetting that I can't turn the camera for video so you'll have to watch it on it's side.

By the end most everyone had shed a tear, except me.  Is that weird?  I was very excited for Naynay and a little worried about how I was going to fill his active life with meaningful activities like Miss Camilla did.  I guess we'll just have to take it one summer day at a time!  Good Job Naynay on a great year full of many big milestones!  I love ya, Bug!

The Many Faces of Us!

                                                          
                                                        

Spring recap

Well, spring is gone and summer is here!  Yippee!!!  Here's what's been going on at our home.  As a special treat, Mana and Papa came to visit in March to spend some much needed time with the kids.  It was a very laid back visit with one exciting ride on the potty train (the monorail!).  The kids loved the downtime with Mana and Papa and I loved all the attention for the kids and help with every day life.  I was still working (crazy tax season) so Mana stayed a whole week to help out.  What a wonderful blessing for me!  I could never have asked for a better mother-in-law!  Thank you, Jan, for all you do for me and my family!

NayNay continues to surprise us with his lego building abilities.  Here is his version of Grandpa's tire store!  I love the color scheme!
For Easter we had the pleasure of a weekend visit from Uncle Teo and Cousin Ryland.  It was baby Mikey's blessing so Grandma and Grandpa were also in town but stayed with Mikey most the time.  The kids were lucky that the Easter Bunny knew that Ryland would be visiting and they all got fun baskets, lots of eggs, and too much candy.  

Shortly after Easter, tax season ended and I was able to go meet Curtice in Rome.  He was there for work but I snuck in for a few days of sight seeing!  How fun for me!  Go to http://gallery.me.com/icurtice for more pictures.  NayNay and FeFe were so lucky too because Grandma Mamu stayed to watch over them, leaving Grandpa to fend for himself.  Poor Grandpa.  At least we had fun!
Upon returning home from Rome, FeFe and I started the wonderful journey of potty-training as a surprise for dad who didn't get home from Rome until the first of May.  And for all of you who have done this, you know that it is a journey.  She's doing great!  Thank you to all who helped with NayNay!  I could never do what I do without you!
More recently, we were lucky enough to be visited by my Uncle Grant and Aunt Annette.  Grant immediately started spoiling the kids (as is evident by the large tower he left behind).  They were great guests and I hope they come again, after their mission in Columbia, of course!

NayNay and dad had a great weekend at a father son outing and ever since NayNay can't stop talking about the next time we go.  So now you all know our vacation plans this year.
And last of all, We have just been doing all kinds of crazy and silly things here at home!  What a great start of a year it has been and I hope it will just get better and better!!