The Caffeinated Mommy Blog

houseboat and Leo Carillo

2008-11-26T18:36:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to take a minute to post a few vacation pictures. We went on our annual houseboat and camping trips over the summer. Yes, I let the boys dye their hair red and blue, that isn't just your eyes going crazy!

Some house pictures

2008-11-26T18:33:00.001-08:00

Some updates on us

2008-11-26T18:21:00.000-08:00

It's been so long since I've blogged that quite a few things have happened since I last wrote. The biggest thing is we finally bought a house! We've been here for about 3 months now and are just thrilled. After renting for 10 years, we are so happy to have a place to call our own. The kids are still able to go to the same school, which is nice.

Sam just turned 4, which brings me to our next big accomplishment in the last year- he finally peed on the potty! I have been working with him for over a year now to try to get him to do it and he finally decided tonight that he was ready. We made a big deal about it and wrapped up some bubbles and a ring pop since we've been telling him that if he did it he'd get a present. Woo hoo!

I just found out today that Sam has qualified for the special day preschool through the school district. This is a program for kids with mild to moderate delays. Sam has been in speech therapy since he was 2 and we don't think it's quite enough to give him the boost he needs. This program is 5 days a week, 5 hours a day, and is geared towards kids like Sam who need early intervention to get them off to a good start. I've heard great things and we're nervous and excited for him to start. What will I do with myself for 5 hours a day? I'm suddenly finding myself out of a job;).

Will is 8 and in 3rd grade. He's doing well and liking school and his teacher. He has two of his best friends in his class this year. His cousin Carson has also moved to Lake Forest and is also in 3rd grade at the same school, which has been really nice for both of them.

Will, Ben, and Carson are all in boy scouts this year. Will is in the same den as Carson- they are bears. Ben is a tiger. They both won 1st place in the Raingutter Regatta.

Ben is almost 7 and in 1st grade. The beginning of the school year was a bit of an adjustment to staying at school all day, but he has transitioned really well. His reading is really coming along. What a difference a few months can make! He was struggling a bit with his sight words in K, but is now sailing through the lists and reading the stories in his anthologies with no problem.

No Baby Sister

2008-01-02T20:22:00.001-08:00

I was putting the kids to bed tonight and Will informed me that he wanted a baby sister. Some of you may remember that when I told him I was having a boy, when I was pregnant with Sam, he was furious with me that the baby was not a girl. Sam overheard what Will said and looked a little worried and said, "No baby". I said, "No we're not having anymore babies." He turned to Will and said, "No baby sister. Sorry!" This is the kid who we have trouble getting to string 3 words together and who is in speech therapy. It seems he becomes quite articulate when it comes to important matters, like talk of usurping his baby position in the family! Sam still insists that he is a baby, and when I turned away from him for a second to look at the other two, when I was singing his bedtime song, he turned my face to face him when I sang the word "baby" in the song and made me say it again.

Family Christmas party and cookie baking!

2007-12-24T13:50:00.000-08:00

Thursday was a busy day for us as well since it was my birthday, Ben's holiday performance, Sam's holiday performance, and both Will and Ben had their school parties that day as well. Brian and I both went to watch Ben sing (he was so adorable!) then went to help out at his party. After that, Brian went to watch Sammy sing at his school while I picked Ben up from school. I'm the room mom in Will's class so I went to his school in the afternoon and gave the kids their holiday party. We played Bingo, decorated sugar cookies, played pin the nose on the snowman, made a reindeer candy cane craft, and of course, ate junk food! That night, we went to an Italian place to celebrate my 31st birthday. All in all, a great day.

Our annual Leonard family Christmas party was Sat. and we all had a great time visiting with family and friends. Santa came, the kids did lots of fun crafts, and best of all, got to play with all of their cousins.

Today is Christmas Eve and we spent the morning making cookies for the big guy. Santa that is!The kids did the ones decorated with sugar by themselves and I did the ones that are iced. The kids ate the last chocolate in their chocolate advent calenders and are so excited about tomorrow!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2007-12-09T15:18:00.000-08:00

We have really been getting into the Christmas spirit here at the Leonard house. We have our (fake) tree up and decorated. We are talking about getting a real one next year. We have garlands and wreaths hung. We have a rudolph car costume on my van. We watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation with the kids last night (had to fast forward through a little bit of it, but the kids thought it was hilarious!) As I type this, the men folk (except for the one napping in his crib) are all outside stringing Christmas lights and putting up the light up train that they bought for outside. I wanted to go all out this year! We got the big, old school colored lights too because Christmas decorations are SUPPOSED to be gaudy, people!

This morning we put on some Christmas music and decorated a gingerbread tree and nativity scene. Last night we baked decorated cutout cookies and will do some more later on. I tried a new recipe, but nothing beats the old recipe my mom used to use. The cookies are light and crispy and lemony, a little different from traditonal sugar cookies, and nothing quite says "Christmas" to me like those cookies do (kind of like Brian and the Christmas tamales that his family makes every year)! So I will have to make some before Christmas because I have not gone a single year without them in the 9 years since I have been out on my own. I have also made a batch of fudge with more to come, and made homemade peppermint marshmellows. Baking is one of my favorite things about the holidays.

I love family traditions and it's really important to me that we create our own with our kids so that they have things to look forward to, that we only do around this time of year. One that happened sort of by accident, is that we go out on Christmas Eve and look at lights, then we come home and eat take out Chinese food. Then we put out milk and cookies for Santa, read The Night Before Christmas, put the kids to bed, then wait for Santa. I like having a quiet, laid back evening before all the craziness of the next day.

I hope all of you are having a magical holiday season and enjoying your own family traditions!

Cool eggs!

2007-11-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

A friend of Brian's at work keeps chickens and she has a lot of extra eggs and offered us some. The different types of chickens lay different colored eggs, so here we have green, brown, and brown speckled. The kids thought they were really cool! The yolks of these eggs were also darker yellow than the ones you find in the grocery store, but they tasted the same.

Sammy is three!

2007-11-25T11:33:00.000-08:00

We've been so busy lately that I forgot to post about Sam's birthday! Sam turned 3 on the 14th. The weekend before his birthday we went and stayed in Indio, which is near Palm Springs, with Brian's family (it was us, Tim, Wendy, Cory, Carson, Zukie, Laura, and Kathe). We had a little party for him there so he got to eat cake and open presents twice (my mom came in on Monday and stayed for the week, and Sam's birthday fell on a Wednesday). We also got to go swimming over the weekend since it was so warm in the desert. We all had a really nice time just relaxing and hanging out.

Before we left for Indio, I went to Costco to pick up the cake. I put it in our fridge until it was time to go, and Sam wasn't too happy when I told him that we needed to save it for later that night and couldn't dig into it right away. Brian and I were in our bedroom packing and in walks Sam, covered in red icing. We ran to the kitchen and the pictures you see are what we found!

I also included a picture of the flurry of hands helping Sam to open his birthday presents. We had a hard time getting the other three kids to let Sam open his own gifts!

Sammy said "I love you" for the first time today!

2007-11-19T17:47:00.000-08:00

And it was to Ben! Ben laid his head on my lap when we were doing puzzles and said that he had a stomach ache. Sammy looked over at us and said, "I luv ooo Ben". Awwwww, brotherly love! Kind of makes up for all the time they spend fighting!

So the kids want a dog

2007-11-13T08:25:00.000-08:00

The boys have been asking us for a dog for months. We can't get a dog where we live now because the landlord won't allow it, so that has been an easy excuse. We are however, in the process of trying to buy a house. As soon as I mentioned that to the boys, they immediatly thought "dog". I am not too keen on the idea of getting a dog because I know that the responsibility of walking, feeding, and cleaning up after the dog will be primarily the grownups' responsibility. We are considering getting one when Sam gets a little older, so that I only have to clean up the poop of one person/animal. Yes he is three now, and no he is not potty trained. Then we also have the issue of boarding the dog or finding someone to watch it when we go out of town which is often.

I did feel a little guilty about the dog issue when Will and Ben were in the backyard trying to teach the cat to sit and jump up on his hind feet!

Ben lost his first tooth!

2007-11-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, Ben lost his very first tooth! He was very excited, coming into my room at about 5a.m. to tell me that his tooth was gone. He said it just fell out on it's own, so it's probably lucky that he didn't end up swallowing it! He was thrilled when the tooth fairy left him a "gold" one dollar coin. The reason this picture looks kind of funny is because Ben was upside down on a chair when I shot it. That was the only way he'd let me take it. Typical Benny!

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-01T15:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we finally got around to going to the pumpkin patch and picking out our pumpkins. Better late than never! In our defense, we had plans to go to Tanaka Farms, a really cool local organic farm and take the pumpkin tractor ride, pick veggies, visit the petting zoo, and pick our own pumpkins, but that got cancelled due to the fires. So yesterday we visited Pumpkin City at the mall instead, went to the petting zoo there, rode a terribly overpriced "car" ride, and picked out our pumpkins. I did get a few cute pictures of the boys.

We ended up using templates that we printed off the internet to make Blues Clues, Sponge Bob, and alien faces on our pumpkins. With the alien one, we used a kit that came with these little lite brite type pegs that you pound into the pumpkin and the "candle" that you put in it blinks. It's kind of cool. It looks just like those lite brites we had as kids, except with a pumpkin.

We went trick or treating with Will's friend from school and another little girl. They all had a great time running from house to house and collected about 10 pounds of candy. We will probably end up sending some of it with Brian to work because that is just WAY too much candy!

Fire

2007-10-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let anyone who might be wondering how we are doing that we are fine and the fires are staying a safe distance away from us. It's smoky out and the kids have not been able to get out to play at recess and there is ash all over the backyard, but I can't see flames from where we are at. You can see a thick cloud of smoke over towards Foothill Ranch, and Sam's school is closed. Some of the houses in Foothill Ranch were evacuated but those are higher up in the hills.

The boys are in the paper!

2007-10-21T13:26:00.001-07:00

Well, the online version of our community paper, that is. This Sat. was the annual Fall Festival at Heritage Hill here in Lake Forest. It's a fun community event that we go to every year. We always see lots of people that we know and the kids have a great time doing crafts, playing games, and collecting candy in thier costumes. Here is the link to the story in the paper. http://www.ocregister.com/news/vampire-historical-live-1901031-robinson-half If you click on "view more pictures" you can see the pictures of Will, Ben, and Sam. I believe Will and Ben are number 8 and Sam is number 10.

Super Mario Bros.!

2007-10-20T08:52:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of pictures of the boys in thier Mario and Luigi costumes made by Grandma Zukie. They got so many compliments on them last night at the party we went to! We are going to our town's Harvest Festival today so they will get another chance to wear them before Halloween.

Cupcakes for Ben's class

2007-10-16T16:39:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, Ben and I spend some time making 36 cupcakes for his class for tomorrow's party. He cracked the eggs, mixed the batter, put the cupcake tins in the pan, did the sprinkles, and put the ghost rings on all of the cupcakes himself. I thought they turned out pretty cute!

Pet turtles

2007-10-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

We are now the proud owners of two red eared slider turtles. We were walking around China town with the boys and Will, who has been asking for turtles for awhile now, saw all of these little boxes with 2 turtles each in them. They were 5 bucks and I knew I'd have to end up buying it a bigger tank, but I thought "what the heck" and let him buy the things. Not a very well thought out plan, as it turns out. I went home and researched these little guys and learned that they grow to between 8 and 15 inches and need a 20 gallon tank at the smallest. They also need a strong filter, and a basking area with a heat lamp. So, $300 later, the turtles are happy in thier new habitat. Will is in turtle heaven.

Vegas Vacation!

2007-10-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

This past weekend the boys and I tagged along with Brian to set up for a convention in Vegas. We stayed at the Hilton and the kids and I visited grandma Kathi on Saturday and went swimming in the hotel pool and played in the arcade on Sunday while Brian was working. We were there for three days and had a great time!

We met up with daddy at night and took the kids to Bennihanna for dinner on Friday night, Planet Hollywood on Saturday night, and Rainforest Cafe on Sunday night. On Saturday afternoon we went with Grandma Kathi, Bob, and Uncle Kevin to Freemont Street in downtown Las Vegas where we had lunch, saw some performers, and saw a really huge fish/shark tank surrounding a swimming pool with a water slide going right through the middle. The waterslide was made of some sort of plexiglass so that when you went through, it looked like you were in the fishtank. The boys wanted to go back to our hotel and get our bathing suits!

Family hike

2007-10-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went on a family hike at Casper's Park with our playgroup and Jodi from Earthroots Field School. She takes children and thier families on nature hikes, teaching them about wild, edible, and medicinal plants along the way, showing animal tracks along the trail, teaching about the animals that live there, and just having a great time outdoors. The kids loved it. We didn't call it a "hike" because for some reason that turns them off. We termed it an "explore" and they were very excited, asking Jodi questions, collecting rocks and sticks, and helping some new friends to build a fort out of fallen tree bark and branches in the clearing where we stopped to eat lunch. Normally a picky eater, Will even sampled some of the prickly pear that we picked on the trail. We hope to make this a monthly family activity.

Camping fun!

2007-09-30T17:33:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a weekend camping trip to O'Neil park today. We decided to try a little overnight trip and it was great! I had reservations about such a short trip, thinking that maybe it would be more trouble than it was worth, but we condensed our camping gear and were able to pack and unpack in record time. We went with a huge group of friends from one of my playgroups. There were 15 parents and 14 kids ranging in age from 7 to 22 months! We had 4 or 5 sites, so there were 2 families per site. The kids all got along great and had a blast! I was a little worried about how it would all work out with that many kids, but it was so awesome that we were all talking about doing it again sometime. Brian had a really good time with the dads too.

If anyone would like to schedule a trip just let us know because this place is about 15 min. from our house and really nice. They have bathrooms and showers, hiking trails, and a playground for the kids. It's also very close to civilization in case you need to run to the store. It's also very easy to get reservations and a nice little weekend trip. We're thinking of going from Friday night after work to Sunday morning sometime since it's so close.

I wish I had taken more pictures and I *really* wish we had gotton a group shot, but as you can imagine it was pretty much chaos with 14 kids running in different directions. Lining them all up for a picture was just not going to happen. I did manage to snap a shot of Will with the baby lizard he caught and one of Sam and a friend.

Ben has a loose tooth!

2007-09-25T17:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Ben got an apple out of the refridgerator, bit into it, and told me that I must not be brushing his teeth very well because one of them was hurting. I asked which one and he said it was a bottom tooth. I wondered if maybe it was loose, and sure enough, it was! Now I know why he has been asking that I brush his teeth lately. He was saying that he thought he wasn't doing a very good job by himself. Turns out that tooth was just bothering him because it was loose. I'm going to have another little toothless grin pretty soon!

I actually did it!

2007-09-12T13:56:00.001-07:00

In my seemingly never ending quest to shed the last 30 baby pounds (can you still call them baby pounds when your "baby" is almost three?) I have taken up jogging. I have never, ever in my life been a runner. Even when I was a skinny little high schooler, I would get winded trying to run more than about a minute. So I had my doubts as to whether I could actually do this or not. I found a running plan on the internet called the "couch to 5K running plan" where you work up to jogging for 30 min. straight over a period of 9 weeks. I am currently on week 5 and have just completed a 20 min. jog with no walking in between! I'm now pretty sure that I will be able to do 30 minutes in another 3 weeks or so.

p.s. In case anyone is wondering where the pictures are over the last couple of posts, unfortunatly, Ben spilled orange juice on my camera cable and it isn't working anymore. I will try to get out to get another one a.s.a.p. so that you can all share in the kid cuteness.

September 11, 2007

2007-09-11T12:36:00.000-07:00

Today was Sam's first real day of preschool. I got a little teary in the car driving away after dropping him off. My last baby is a preschooler. How did that happen? When did that happen? The time has gone by even faster with my last baby than it did with my first, if that is possible. I'm still blown away by the fact that I'm the mother of a 7 year old 2nd grader!

I am so grateful that I have been able to be at home with the kids all of this time. Today I went to volunteer in Ben's Kindergarten class. He was thrilled to see me and ran up and gave me a big hug. He absolutely *loves* Kindergarten. He is already making new friends and was talking to some other boys in his class during snack and playing with them on the playground.

Now a moment of remembrance. Every year on Sept. 11, I, along with every other American, I am sure, think about what happened on this day in 2001 and how the world will never be the same. Everyone has a story to tell about that day. Everyone remembers where they were when they heard of the horrible events. I was sitting at home alone with Will, who was 15 months old at the time, having breakfast. We hadn't turned on the t.v. or the computer, so we had no idea what was going on. Brian called and I asked him what time his flight was going to be coming in since he was scheduled to fly home from Houstan that day. He said that he wasn't going to be coming home today and to turn on the t.v. What I saw on the t.v. looked like some scene out of an action movie. People running and screaming on the streets of New York. The footage of the twin towers being hit by the plane. It was very surreal. I can't remember how our conversation went after that, but I remember walking around in a daze for the next few days. The playgroup that I had when Will was a baby got together at a park on a day that we didn't normally meet, just so that we wouldn't have to be alone. For the first time ever, I really felt like I had a shared history with every person I saw. We all had this tragedy in common. We will never forget.

More back to school pictures!

2007-09-06T13:48:00.000-07:00

First Day of School!

2007-09-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of school for all three of the kids- big day! Will is officially a 2nd grader, Ben is a Kindergartener, and Sammy is in preschool. I can't believe how big my babies are getting! Sam's first day was actually an orientation, so we have not left him there alone yet, but he absolutely loves his school. He cried when it was time to leave. I don't anticipate him having separation issues. Ben was excited, but very nervous, which is reflected in the pictures that daddy took. This is all old hat for Will now and he marched off into the classroom without so much as a backwards glance at us *sniff*. He was excited to see his friends, and happy that a few of them were in his class.

Muddy Mudpit!

2007-08-18T15:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a friend was telling me about a neighborhood park that has a big waterslide and a mudpit for kids to play in. I thought the boys would love that, and it would be a nice family outing so we made plans to go today. The place was pretty cool. They have several play structures with ropes, fireman poles and lots of ladders and rock walls to climb, an area that is open during the school year for kids to come and use wood and tools to build forts and play structures of their own, and then in the summer they have the waterslide and mud pit. The boys were a little nervous about going down the waterslide, but they did brave the mudpit. We all got in and had some good, dirty fun!

Camping trip to Leo Carrillo

2007-08-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

We are back from our annual camping trip to Leo Carrillo! Okay, well technically we got back two weeks ago, but who's counting? We had a blast as always. We had a really big group for the first two nights which was a lot of fun. It was me, Brian, our three boys, Tim and Wendy and thier two, Zukie, Laura, Lisa and David and thier four kids, Kathe, Lauren, and Aunt Mary. The kids loved getting to play with all of thier cousins and Sam was quite smitten with Brianna, Lisa and David's daughter who I think is 9. What can I say? At two, he is already a little ladies man. He had a great time playing with Izzy as well.

One of the big highlights of the trip for the boys was getting buried up to thier necks in sand by daddy and another big favorite was roasting marshmellows at the campfire. There is just nothing quite like sitting around the campfire with family on a cool summer night. These are the memories that our kids will hold onto and treasure for life. I still remember camping trips that I took with my parents when I was thier age. It just goes to show that kids do not need fancy, expensive vacations to be happy. Give them some dirt, a tree for climbing, and a beach and they are in heaven.

Houseboat Trip 2007

2007-07-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our annual vacation to my parents houseboat on Lake Mohave on Friday. Fortunatly we got the camera working before the trip so I have plenty of pictures to share! We all had a blast, as usual. This time, no stitches for Will, which was definatly a plus! Also no major storms to report, which thrilled me, but Brian was a bit dissappointed. His hope was to capture the perfect storm on his camcorder and send it in to the local news stations. Oh, well, maybe next time.

The weather cooperated with us for the most part. The first couple of days were a bit windy so we didn't do much boating out on the lake, but the kids got to play on the shore in the cove that the houseboat was in. The next two days were calmer and we made it all the way to the marina at Katherine's Landing one day, and to Willow Beach, which is right near the Hoover Dam, the next day. Both were full days of boating and swimming and we were all exhausted by the end of the day. The kids slept great and the adults relaxed under the stars on top of the boat.

It was another wonderful vacation and our time there just flew by! We're now counting down to our camping trip at Leo Carrillo.

Some cute kid speak

2007-07-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

The kids were in full form yesterday so I just wanted to share a few gems.

We were going to do some watercolor painting yesterday, but Ben's preference was to go shoe shopping. I told him that we'd be waiting for dad to come home before we went out and he said, "When I'm a grown up and I am an artist, and I have a phone, and it's a reading phone (he means a phone will caller id, where you can see the person's name who is calling you) and it says "mom", I'm not going to answer it.

Later on, Ben, still thinking about what shoes he was going to get said, "I want those shoes. You know, the ones I cried and cried for when you bought Sam's Crocs but YOU wouldn't buy them for me". Those would be the $70 Geox shoes from Nordstroms. For the record, he did NOT get the $70 pair yesterday either, he settled on a "jazzy, snazzy" pair of Vans with flames on the sides.

Will, on the other hand, was more enthusiastic about the watercolor painting. He piped up with, "This is even better than getting into trouble!". Indeed.

Moving up the ranks!

2007-07-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

Will is now officially a Wolf in cub scouts. We had a bridging ceremony at a local campground and some families camped out for the weekend while others (us included) just went out there for the evening festivities and then came back again the next day for more activities. The kids had a great time. Roasting marshmellows was the biggest hit of the evening, of course!

Last week, Will spend Mon.- Friday at Boyscout day camp. It was a really neat experience for him and he is eager to do it again next year. He got to do archery, push carts, make a tool box in woodworking and a wallet in leather crafts, have relay races where they did silly things like walk on stilts, they had water play, tug of war, and did just about everything that a group of 6-11 year old boys would want to do! He came home filthy every day so I know we got our money's worth!

This might be my last update for awhile, as sadly enough, our camera has given out on us. We are going to try to get a new one this summer so that we are able to take pictures of our upcoming vacations.

Will's 7th birthday!

2007-07-02T09:34:00.000-07:00

Will standing in front of the decorated car
The kids on Will's actual birthday eating some homemade cupcakes (decorated by them)
Will's Patrick cupcake cake, made by Grandma Zukie
Pineapple house Sponge Bob cake, made by Aunt Laura
Will with his friends at Chuck E. Cheese

My oldest "baby" is 7 years old! I can't believe it. Having older school aged kids is really starting to make ME feel old! Am I really old enough to have a kid going into second grade? He's just such a happy, good natured kid (most of the time anyway!) and it seems like 7 is going to be a good age. Right now, for the first time in many months, I am happy to report, none of the kids are going through especially difficult stages. We are on pretty even keel around here lately. Will had a great birthday. On the day of his actual birthday, I surprised him by painting the van with window paint that said, "Happy birthday Will" along with other messages, on all of the windows. His teacher made him a crown at school. The next weekend was his Chuck E. Cheese party with all of his friends from school and cousins. Pizza and video games. What more could a 7 year old ask for?

Ben's a preschool Graduate!

2007-07-02T09:21:00.000-07:00

Ben with teacher Nick, taking a little bit about Ben's experiences in preschool.
Ben with a few of his buddies from school
This picture is a picture of the picture that they gave us at the graduation. They asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up and Ben said he wanted to be a chef. The expression on his face is so funny!

Ben has officially graduated from preschool! He is so excited to be going on to Kindergarten in the fall. He will most likely have the same teacher that Will had, which we are really happy about. He looked like such a big boy standing up there while his preschool teacher talked a little bit about each child. They also sang a couple of songs, which was really cute. Benny was very antimated to say the least! I wish I could show video of it on here, pictures just don't do justice to his "performance". He is our little ham! We are all going to miss his preschool teachers very much. Sam is on the waiting list for preschool, but this time around we are going to send him to a closer school. The preschool Will and Ben both went to is a good 20 minute drive from where we live and next year we will have 3 different pick up times for preschool, Kindergarten, and 2nd grade, so we wanted to simplify as much as possible.

Self Portrait of a two year old

2007-05-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I have solved the mystery of which boy had my camera today. I found it on the coffee table, out of its case, after I had gotton out of the shower this morning. I asked who did it and both Will and Ben blamed it on Sammy. I admit, I didn't quite believe them until I uploaded these pictures this afternoon. Not bad for a 2 yr old, eh?

About the pictures

2007-05-20T16:06:00.000-07:00

Will and Ben have started baseball season. They are both enjoying it and have improved so much over last year. Brian is having fun playing with them and has decided he wants to coach next season.

A breif explanation of the picture of Ben in the tiger suit on the next post- he had drawn those stripes on himself at school with marker, complete with stripes on the tummy. As soon as we got home, he wanted to put the costume on. I thought it was hilarious and wanted to take a picture of him. He didn't want me to, so I had to bribe him with a dollar.

The Sponge Bob invitation is the invite we are using for Will's birthday party. I ordered it custom from someone on ebay.

Pictures

2007-05-20T15:59:00.001-07:00

Updates on the kids

2007-05-20T15:43:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I've posted anything new that I thought I'd do a general kid update.

Sam is talking up a blue streak. The speech therapist is now coming to our house once a week for an hour to work with him and he's made incredible progress. Talking in four word sentences and learning new words everyday. He's very much your typical, into everything, 2 year old! When you ask him a question, he pauses, says, "ummmm", thinks about it, then answers you. Very cute. His newest saying is, "awww maaan" with perfect inflection in his voice. He is also learning his colors. He asked me for pink paint the other day and would not be tricked when I gave him orange. I had to go back into the closet and drag out the red and white and mix it up for him. He will be starting at Country Village preschool in the fall. It's closer to our house than the older boys preschool is so it will be more convienent for us. It's a great place with several huge playgrounds, a science room with lots of birds, reptiles, and even a chinchilla, and a "barn" area with a pig and chickens. It looks like a fun place to be if you are a 3 year old!

Ben is graduating from preschool next week. *sniff sniff* I can't believe my baby is going to Kindergarten! He's so excited to be going to the same school as his big brother. I have requested that he be put in Mrs. Shields class, the teacher that Will had for K. He introduced himself to her on Friday at the school carnival. He has been really interested in letters, numbers, and writing lately. He has workbooks that he will sit and do for over an hour. He asks me to spell out words for him and he writes them down and is even starting to sound out a few. He's really going to be ready for Kindergarten! There are several siblings of Will's friends from Kindergarten that will be in his class too, which will be fun.

Will is almost done with first grade. He can read just about anything now and has learned to tell time and add and subtract. We have been working on his very first science report, about Triceritops. He was instructed to write a couple of paragraphs on it and one of the sentences was supposed to be his favorite thing about the Triceritops. He said that his favorite thing was that if he lived in the time of the dinosaurs, he would be able to catch a Triceritops because they don't run very fast. We also made a paper mache model of it and he painted it and glued on wiggly eyes. Will has lost his two bottom teeth and the top ones are loose. It would be cute if they waited until December to come out but it will probably happen this summer.

My little artist!

2007-03-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

He didn't want me to wash his face until I showed him what he looked like in the mirror. Thank goodness for washable marker. It all came off with a baby wipe. He is starting to try to draw people now. If you look closely at his picture, you can see that he's drawn circles for faces with dots for the eyes inside the circles. Every picture he draws now looks like that. We have one taped on the refridgerator along with things the older boys bring home from school.

Will's first missing tooth!

2007-03-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

Will lost his very first tooth today before school. It was really loose and he wanted me to see, so I felt how wiggly it was and asked if he wanted me to pull it out for him. It came right out! He was soooo excited! He can't wait to put it under his pillow tonight for the tooth fairy.

Just had this conversation with Sammy...

2007-03-13T17:03:00.000-07:00

Sam, walking into the room: "Poop. Poooop".

Mommy, excitedly: "Sammy, let's poop in the potty".

Sammy, wrinkling his nose: "No. Nooooo. Bapa. Poop bapa".

I so thought he was ready to potty train. He tells me and wants to be changed as soon as he goes. Apparently though, he would rather poop in his "bapa" than in the potty seat I have ready for him in the bathroom. Hopefully he will not follow in big brother Will's footsteps and not potty train until he's 4 and a half!

Winners at the Pinewood Derby!

2007-03-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

Today was our very first pinewood derby race with boyscouts. Brian has been looking forward to this since I was pregnant with Will, I think. Something about those little cars really appeals to the dads.

Will is really into Sponge Bob right now, so Brian came up with a concept for a sponge bob car. Ben, not to be out done by his big brother, wanted to participate as well and wanted a car just like daddy's Mustang. They had a friends and family race for the siblings so he got to race his car too.

Will's race was the first of the day and he ended up placing 3rd. Not bad for our first attempt at this! I admit I did not have much faith in the car because of the boxy shape, but it turned out to be the little sponge that could! It also got voted best paint job by the kids.

Ben's race was later in the day and I stayed home with Sam while he napped, but Brian took video. Ben's car took home first place in the friends and family division! He was so thrilled!

My latest knitting projects

2007-02-20T19:53:00.000-08:00

I just finished the 2 sweaters I have been working on for the past couple of months, a sweater vest for Brian and a sweater jacket for me. Here we are modeling them. I'm now working on another sweater for myself and some fingerless gloves for the boys.

Sam is talking!!

2007-01-28T18:53:00.000-08:00

We recently found out that Sam had fluid in his ears that was preventing him from hearing clearly. He was sent for a hearing test since he is language delayed. We noticed the language delay around 18 months age or even sooner, but decided to wait until age 2, based on the Dr.'s advice to do testing because he may have just been a late talker. Even after age 2 when we started going through the process of having a full evaluation, most people told us that he was probably fine, that the evaluation probably wasn't necessary and that they knew lots of later talkers. Something was setting right with me about it though, so we forged ahead.

I never would have guessed that it would have been his hearing that was the problem. I did note that he screeched a lot, but thought that was due to frustration over not being able to talk. We ended up seeing a specialist for him who told us that he needed tubes in his ears. It has been a little over a week since he's had the tubes in and what a difference!! The first couple of days I didn't notice a change, but about the third or the fourth day, it was like night and day.

He is having a language explosion. He picks up new words everyday and is even stringing two and even three words together. We couldn't be happier with his progress. It's amazing what a little modern medicine can do! The operation took all of 10 mintues, maybe less, and I was back with him.

His new word for today was snow. We all went to Pittsford park because yesterday they had dumped a huge truckload of snow there for Snow Fest. They had games and sled rides down the hill that they put snow on. We had a birthday party to go to yesterday, so we didn't make it, but today was even better because it was FREE! We didn't have anything for them to use to slide, but a bunch of kids had brought sleds and boogy boards and were kind enough to share with the kids who didn't have one. It was great. There was an older boy there who was really great with the younger kids, taking him down the hill on his boogy board. Sam grabbed daddy by the hand and took him off to the play area of the park while mom watched the older two in the snow. They slid down that hill for over an hour and didn't want to leave for lunch.

We are planning to take them to see real snow next month since daddy has a friend who owns a cabin in the mountains where we can stay. That should be a lot of fun for the boys, as they have never been to the snow before. If today was any indication of how much they'll enjoy it, I'd say it will be well worth the trip!! I just wish I had brought my camera.

Ben's 5th birthday!

2007-01-28T18:36:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was Ben's 5th birthday party. I have never seen anyone so excited over thier birthday. He wanted a big party with all of his friends at Pump it Up, this party place that has huge inflatible slides and bounce houses for the kids to jump in and run around on. We all had a blast, even the adults. When you saw that big slide, you just couldn't *not* want to try it out! He picked Power Rangers as the theme so we went to the party store together and picked out all of the trappings- cake plates, goody bags, table clothes, etc. and of course the number 5 candle that he blew out.

It's hard to believe he is already five! It doesn't seem like it's been that long since we moved to Orange County and we were only here a few months before celebrating his 2nd birthday. I remember that he was into dogs when he was 2 and had a dog cake and we gave out dog bone shaped cookies with the kids names written on them as the party favor. And now he is five! He's smart and articulate and has us laughing on a daily basis. He came into this world an "old soul" and still very much seems that way. I really don't believe in reincarnation, but some days he has me wondering where he gets the things he comes up with. He's a great kid and growing up so fast.

Just when I think they hate each other...

2007-01-10T19:04:00.000-08:00

they do something really sweet. First I'll say that I'm really glad that we chose (uh, okay, well not exactly chose but I will spare the details) the child spacing that we did. Having Will and Ben so close in age has mostly been a blessing. They enjoy a lot of the same things and play together a lot. They also spend a not insignificant amount of thier time together beating each other up. They have been doing a lot of this lately, so I was really happy to hear this exchange this morning.

Me: Will, Matt has invited you to spend the night at his house Friday night. Did you want to go?

Will: Spend the night?! Yay!

He then runs off to find Ben and says, "Benny we're spending the night at Matt's house on Friday!"

Me: Well, actually honey just you are invited to spend the night at Matt's house. He's your friend from school so his mom just invited you.

Will: Awwwww. If Benny doesn't come I will miss him. I miss Ben.

See, they do love each other!

Pictures

2007-01-07T17:16:00.000-08:00

Just a few more pictures!

2007-01-07T17:12:00.000-08:00

Yet more Christmas pictures!

2007-01-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

More Christmas pictures

2007-01-07T16:59:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more pictures from Christmas and Christmas eve. We were able to steal a couple of hours on Christmas eve to go to the park and play baseball with the kids.

Our Christmas

2007-01-07T16:44:00.000-08:00

This year we stayed home for Christmas and Grandma Kathi and Uncle Kevin were here. Then later in the week we had Christmas round two at Grandma Zukie's. The kids had a great time looking at lights in the neighborhood on Christmas eve, baking cookies, and leaving cookies out for Santa (we almost forgot, but got them out of bed at the last minute to do it!).

Christmas morning we woke up before dawn and opened gifts. The boys were super excited about thier Star Wars Lego sets and Floam (warning- stay away from this stuff, it is messy and doesn't do what it's supposed to do!) and then ate ginger scones, sausage balls, and quiche for breakfast/brunch.

Later in the afternoon Grandpa Ed and Irene came over and we all hang out and opened more gifts and then ate dinner.

The day after Christmas my mom and I hit the mall and we scored some great deals.

The day after that we went over to Grandma Zukie's house where the boys got more Legos, which we have been really busy with ever since, games, and Ben got some power ranger clothes that he has been wearing almost every day. Brian and I also had the opportunity to stop by San Antonio winery and pick up a few bottles of wine. It's a really neat place in L.A. that I didn't know about until recently.

All in all it was a really great Christmas! We hope that everyone else's holidays were happy and that everyone is healthy and doing well!

Sammy bones

2007-01-07T16:38:00.000-08:00

Just a quick funny Sam story.

One of Sam's many silly nicknames is "bones". This stemmed from when he was a baby and we started calling him "ham" because on his first Christmas I said he was the size of a little Christmas ham. The name stuck and morphed into "hammy", "hammy bones", "sammy bones" and just plain "bones".

Sam is learning his body parts right now. We'll ask him to point to his nose or eye and he (usually) will do it. Well, for the past few days he has been pointing to his head and saying, "bowl" or something that sounded similar. Brian was joking, saying he was saying the Spanish word for hair, "pelo". Yesterday Brian said, "Bones" talking to Sammy, and he pointed to himself and said, "bones". Yes, we are saving for his future therapy sessions!

My little comedian

2007-01-05T07:55:00.000-08:00

This morning I was lying in bed with Sam and Brian had gotton up with the boys and turned on the t.v. for them. Ben came in when Brian left for work and said he was hungry and wanted breakfast. I told him that we didn't have any waffles left (his usual) but that he could have cereal or eggs. He said that he wanted something with syrup on it. I joked with him that we could put syrup on his eggs and he said, "No! That is going to be gross. I'm going to give you a bite and you are going to think it's nasty!". So I asked him about putting a little syrup on his cereal. He thought about it for a minute and then very seriously said, while pointing his finger at me, "Ok. I will try it. But if I don't like it I will try something else. I will try candy". Yeah, nice try bud!! This child cracks me up!

Slices of Life With Kids

2006-12-19T15:04:00.000-08:00

Kids do not seem to support Darwin's theory about survival of the fittest. If I had a nickel for every time I have saved my kids lives over the past 6 and a half years, I would be rich. They put small, shiney objects into thier mouths (Have you ever seen what a penny looks like in the x- ray of a 4 year old's abdomen? I have.) , they attempt to eat "treasures" out of the cat's litter box when you are not looking, and they dart out in front of moving vehicles if given half a chance. Last week, as we were getting ready to go to the park, the kids and I were in the carport and Will was bouncing a ball. I heard a car start up, my mommy radar kicked into gear and I said, "Will, please put the ball in the car and get in and buckle up. If that ball goes out into the street and you run after it, a car might hit you." Of course being 6 years old and *much* smarter than me, he decided to ignore me. Not even a second later, the ball goes into the middle of the parkway and he takes off running after it. I grab him by the hood of his sweatshirt, dropping and breaking my favorite water bottle in the process. I suppose my firstborn is worth more than a water bottle, even if it was my favorite one, and even if he doesn't listen to me.

Ben is very busy planning his 5th birthday party. According to his preschool teacher, who has been priveledged enough to receive an invite from Ben, it is sounding like the event of the year. He says he is having this party at Pump it Up, one of those inflatable fun house places where kids can jump to thier hearts content on these huge inflatable bouncy houses and slide down slides that are at least 2 stories high. So I guess this means Brian and I better make good on this party since he has already invited about 15 4 and 5 year olds. While he is at it, he is also planning his 6th, 7th, and 8th birthday parties, right down to the theme and contents of the goody bags. Oh boy. He asked if we could make his birthday cake today and when I told him that it was actually mommy's birthday tomorrow, so we should probably make my cake instead since he has another month until his party, he asked me how old I was going to be. When I told him that I was going to be 30, he said, "Wow, mommy. You are going to be OLD".

Our December Activities

2006-12-16T08:47:00.000-08:00

We've been really busy with the boys activities this season. Will made Christmas cards to send to the troops overseas with his Boy Scout pack earlier this month. I don't know what he enjoyed more- making the cards or fishing in the backyard of the person's house where we made the cards.

We also attended the Holiday Tea at Ben's preschool, where tea is not actually served, lol. Plenty of cookies, brownies, and cakes though! He was so excited to give his teachers thier gifts:).

Last weekend we went to Heritage Hill, this little historical area right up the street from here, with the boy scouts. They decorate for Christmas and give candlelight tours. We walked through 100 year old houses, an old one room school house, and a chapel. There was storytelling in the school house and singing in the chapel. I'd like to make it a tradition and go every year. At the end of it we got hot cocoa and cookies and saw santa. Will is the only one who isn't afraid of Santa, so he's the only one in the picture. Ben keeps trying to pscych himself up for the big event, but so far he is 0 for 2 on the Santa thing, since he would not sit on his lap at daddy's work party either. We will see how he does at the Christmas party tonight.

Brian just got his MCSE (Microsoft Certified Engineer) yesterday. He attended a bootcamp all week long from 7am-10pm so I was on my own with the boys for most of the week. He was able to get away long enough to accompany us to the Wonderware family holiday party, which the kids were really happy about. Santa was there, I helped the boys with craft projects and we all ate pizza and goodies.

I have been doing lots of baking this week. Peanut butter blossoms, Magical mint kiss cookies, fudge, peppermint bark, and oreo truffles, and then we will be doing our lemon sugar cookies cut out into Christmas shapes next week. These are the cookies I grew up making with my mom and we have continued the tradition of leaving them out for Santa on Christmas Eve, of course. We also built a gingerbread train with the boys yesterday.

Later on today is our annual family Christmas party with Brian's side of the family. The kids are really looking forward to that! Santa (or daddy, as he is known around here ;) ) will be at this party too. I am curious as to whether the kids will know who he is. The kids will also be doing various craft projects and just having lots of fun running around playing together.

The boys are so excited about Christmas. They have a chain that counts down the days until Christmas so they tell me every day how many days are left. My mom and Kevin are coming for Christmas so that should be fun. I think we will go look at lights on Christmas Eve. We did that last year and then went out and had Chinese food and it was a lot of fun. There is a house somewhere around here that goes all out with the decorating. They even have a Santa coming out of their chimney when you press a button.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanksgiving at Grandma's

2006-11-28T19:49:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of lots of good food, good friends, and good family! We sure did! We drove out to Grandma Zukie's house on Weds. night so that Brian could get the brine ready for his smoked turkey. He started smoking the turkey last Thanksgiving and wanted to keep that tradition going. Aunt Laura and I took the kids to the park on Thursday while everyone was cooking, just to get thier wiggles out. We all made a bunch of side dishes to go along with daddy's turkey and just ate ourselves silly. We had turkey, roast beef, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, maple glazed carrots, creamed spinich, sauteed green beans, cranberry sauce, cornbread pudding, sweet potato balls, rolls, and salad with pumpkin pie, creme brulee, and gingerbread trifle for dessert. YUM!

The kids got to sit at the kids table, as per their request, and we all sat at the new HUGE table that Uncle Jon finished as a gift to Grandma Zukie for her birthday. I think we got 14 people around that table!

It's that time of year again!

2006-11-28T19:34:00.000-08:00

Time to start thinking about Christmas! This time of year is so much more magical when you have kids. The boys ask every day when it's going to be Christmas. We'll have to make one of those chains for them to count down starting December 1st. We also picked up some chocolate Advent calanders the last time we were at Trader Joes. We have made it a family tradition to go out looking at lights on Christmas eve. Last year we drove to a house nearby that had thier whole yard covered in decorations, including one of those huge inflatable snow globes with "snow" blowing around inside of it, and a Santa coming out of their chimney that you can actually control by pressing a button out front. The kids got such a kick out of it that they didn't want to leave. The promise of Santa always gets them to bed on time though.

The night before last we took pictures of the boys, which we are going to use in our Christmas card this year. Uncle Jon shared with us the idea of taking a picture of them while they were sleeping, so we attempted it and are very pleased with the results. Staging this took quite a bit of planning on our part. We dressed them in thier matching Christmas jammies, put them to bed as we usually do, then waited for them to fall asleep. I then draped thier sheet over our queen sized bed, brought thier pillows in, then we carried them into our room. Brian took the picture standing on the bed and covered the flash with a white piece of paper. We thought we were pretty artsy, LOL. We hope you enjoy!

I have to brag on Will!

2006-11-15T14:32:00.000-08:00

Hey, if you can't brag about your kid on your own blog, then where else can you?;-) I just have to take a minute to sing Will's praises. I had his parent/teacher conference this morning and Will is doing so well in school. She said that he is always raising his hand, ready with the answer when she wants to call on someone and he is eager to take his turn to read when they do reading groups. He has passed the tests so far for all of his sight words, he is good at sounding words out, and he is on the 5's in thier timed math tests, the highest they have gone so far. He has not had to take any tests over again and has no problem finishing in the amount of time allotted.

I'm so pleased that he's doing so well and that the teacher seems to like his personality as well. She's very sweet and patient. Today Will wanted to make an art project at home to give to his teacher, so I get the feeling he likes her too:-).

Happy Birthday Little Guy!

2006-11-14T17:09:00.000-08:00

Our baby is two today! I remember every detail of the day he was born so clearly that it seems like yesterday. He was so tiny and so perfect. It's so bittersweet watching my last baby grow up so quickly, but we are also thrilled to finally be getting some sleep! If anyone ever tells you that babies sleep through the night at 3 months, don't believe them!

We celebrated on Sat. with Brian's family. Everyone came out and spent the night. It was a full house, but lots of fun. The kids had a blast playing with thier cousins. Sam was also really excited over his gifts and cake. He kept taking the little Telletubbie figures off of his cake, and then putting them back on again. It was hard for him to get through the stack of presents because he wanted to stop and play with each one. He was so cute, enjoying his new toys.

This Thursday my mom is flying out from Vegas and we'll do a little encore party on Sat. and my dad will come over too. We aren't having cake tonight, as we feel that THREE parties would be overkill. Sammy doesn't really know that his real birthday is today anyway.

We are just spending a quiet evening at home tonight and I'm going to make ravioli with pesto and chicken. It is finally cold and rainy, which I LOVE. Will came home from school with very muddy shoes today, which are in the washing machine as we speak. I think I'll send him in rainboots tomorrow, that way I can just hose them off.

The first parent/teacher conference at Will's school is tomorrow, which I am looking forward to. He seems to be doing very well in first grade so far. He has gotton A's on all of his spelling tests, his reading is really taking off, and he's doing well in math too.

Trick or Treat preview!

2006-10-26T17:19:00.000-07:00

Just a little Halloween preview of the kids in thier costumes. They just *had* to try them on as soon as they got here so I took pictures just in case I didn't get any good ones on Halloween. I am going to atempt to get a good one of the three of them together on Halloween too. We have decided that even though we'll only have 5 days to enjoy the decorations, we kind of owe it to the kids to make the last ditch effort to decorate a little. So we're going to get the box of decorations out this evening when Brian gets home from work. We'll definatly do better at Christmas!

Will is a Clone Trooper, Ben is Obi Wan Kenobi, and Sam is Yoda.

Our scout

2006-10-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

Will is now an official cub scout with the full uniform and everything. A couple of weeks ago he participated in the raingutter regata, where they raced little wooden sailboats at the park. Will's had a spiderman theme. Daddy was quite proud of the way his (um, I mean Will's) boat turned out. Then on Monday we all went to the new firestation here in Lake Forest and were given the grand tour by one of the firefighters there. He is now collecting canned goods for Second Harvest, a local charity that helps to feed the hungry around Orange County. So far scouts has been very good for him and he is enjoying it. Thanks so much to everyone who supported his pack by buying popcorn!

Jogathon pictures!

2006-10-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who supported Will in his Jogathon! He jogged last Friday morning. Brian and I were both there along with his brothers, to cheer him on and pass out water. They also had a dj encouraging the kids and playing upbeat music. The kids had a great time, got some excersize, and enjoyed the popsicles after it was over!

Pumpkin patch and painting pictures

2006-10-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

Our trip to the pumpkin patch!

2006-10-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. We are all still wearing shorts and t-shirts, but Halloween is fast approaching! The boys are doing the countdown and they tell me we have only 5 days left until the big day. I don't know if it's the candy or the costumes, but the kids just LOVE Halloween. Last Friday we went to Tanaka Farms with MOMS Club. It is a small organic farm in Irvine where they have a tractor ride, petting zoo, hay bale maze, vegetable picking, and of course, pumpkin picking. The kids had a great time petting the animals, jumping on the hay, and picking thier very own pumpkins. Then on Monday, our MOMS Club got together at the park to paint the pumpkins. Even Sam got in on the action.

We have still not managed to drag our Halloween decorations out of storage so I don't know if we will get to that this year. Fortunatly the boys haven't really mentioned it. We are planning on going trick or treating with a friend of Will's from school in his neighborhood, so we won't be home anyway. We are also going to a little Halloween party in the park this Saturday also with MOMS Club. There will be trick or treat stations there as well, so of course- more candy!!

Well, he's an official two year old now...

2006-10-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

almost. He will actually be two on Nov. 14, but he has been acting very "twoish" lately. He has even thrown a full fledged temper tantrum, lying on the ground, fists pounding. I have to keep myself from laughing.

His new shtick at the grocery store is this: We get out of the car and he starts pointing and making that "ah, ah, ah" noise until we get to the front. He sees the car cart and goes nuts, attempting a daring leap out of my arms in order to get into the coveted cart. I buckle him in and we're off. He then points to the general direction of the bakery where he knows the free cookies reside. We grab a cookie and I race to do my shopping in the time it takes him to finish his treat. We then get in line, where he knows the balloons are. He gets his balloon, I finsh checking out, and I try to make my escape before he realizes that he's been cheated out of the free lollypop in the basket by the door. No such luck. The whining and pointing commence until he gets his sucker. It's amazing to me that one so small, with so few words can be so smart!

He did it!!!

2006-10-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

I'm so proud of Will! After much struggle, he has finally learned to tie his shoes! It's so much fun to get to see things like this "click" with the kids. He does it the bunny ears way, which wasn't my first choice, but seemed to be easier for him. He stayed home sick from school today and with the extra time we had, I decided that he'd learn to tie his shoes if it was the last thing I did! So I think this turned out to be a day well spent. He's so proud of himself and can't wait to show daddy when he gets home from work.

Aren't kids kind and considerate...

2006-10-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

The back story:

Will is sick with the stomach flu today. He had to stay home from school and is hanging out here in the playroom, alternating between watching t.v., playing video games, and wretching into a large bowl that I gave him.

So Ben asks me if we are going anywhere today. I tell him no, that Will is sick and we are just going to hang out here. He says, "ALL day? We aren't going ANYwhere?". I say no, Will is really sick, we have to stay home, sorry. He ponders that a minute and looks up at me and says, "Will can just bring his bowl and stay in the car while we go out". Jeez, what kind, caring children I am raising here, huh?! ;)

Get down Will!

2006-10-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we went to an anniversary party for Brian's uncle Gilbert and aunt Linda. It was really nice and we all had a great time (open bar, how could you not?!?). Will is not usually one for dancing. Even at home, he's pretty shy when it comes to singing and dancing. I don't know what got into him, but he was out on the dance floor for hours at this party. He was break dancing, he was doing a dance that can only be described as the "snow angel" where he got down on the floor and started moving his arms and legs. He was doing moves I'd never seen out there before! Of course we took pictures and even borrowed a video camera for the occasion. The best part was when he let me pick him up and have a slow dance with him.

The aforementioned taekwando pictures

2006-10-05T11:34:00.000-07:00

For your viewing pleasure!

Sammy updates!

2006-10-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

Sam is turning into a little boy right before our eyes. He's losing the last of his yummy babyness but it's being replaced with the cutest big boy mannerisms. He still isn't talking all that much, although he's gaining more and more words. Still not stringing the words together too much. One thing he does that is really adorable is when he poops and you ask him if he pooped, he nods his head and runs into his bedroom and stands by his changing table, waiting for me to come in and change him. He still has that little toddler shakey butt run, you know, where they don't really bend their knees, so they kind of waddle side to side really fast. I love that run. We'll be so sad to see it go.

He is really starting to respond to questions or requests that we give him. He will bring us a book if asked and can point to things that we ask him about on the pages. So even though he might not be saying much, I can tell there's a lot going on in that little noggin of his! Hopefully age 2 will bring some more speech his way!

Here's to the newest yellow belt!

2006-10-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

Today when I picked Will up from Taekwando, he was proudly wearing his new yellow belt and carrying a certificate!! He tested in front of Master Choi and the judge on Friday afternoon. He was really nervous, but he did so well! I was so proud of him. He knew all of his fighting stances and his blocks and was able to demonstrate them in front of not only the judge, but a room full of parents and kids, most of who were twice his age.

The climax of the test came when he broke a board using his fist. He looked really surprised when it actually broke! Of course I took pictures, but I seem to have misplaced my digital camera so you'll all just have to close your eyes and imagine how cute he was until I can find it, then I promise to post lots of pictures of his testing. I wish I had been able to take video too, but we had run out of tape.

Will's first soccer game and spelling test!

2006-09-26T15:23:00.001-07:00

Brian and I have decided that we will take turns taking the boys to their respective soccer games. So this week Brian took Ben (And actually ended up getting roped into coaching simply by asking the person in charge of the U5's for a ball since he had forgotton Ben's. I will not be making that mistake!) and I took Will to his game. Saturday was Will's first soccer game of the season. His team is the Hotwheels and they wear bright orange. He had a lot of fun running around out there. He didn't actually score any goals, but he did get a couple of good kicks in there. The cutest part of the game (yes, when we are talking six year olds, we are talking about the cutest part of the game rather than the most exciting part) was when they all were out on the field about to start play after half time and they got into a little huddle! Of course I took a picture.

This Friday will be Will's first spelling test. The words to practice were sent home yesterday. I tested him on them today and he got 100% correct! This Thursday is back to school night so I will get a chance to hear all about the curriculum for this year, which I am looking forward to. First grade looks like it is going to be a challenge, especially with respect to all of the writing they will be doing.

Will

2006-09-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

Another Ben funny

2006-09-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

Ben is definatly the little ham in the family. On the way to our first MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting, we got a little loss. With me in the drivers seat this is no big surprise. We showed up at the wrong location (the business office rather than the actual church) and the guy there gave me a map and said that if I just follwed it, it would take me right there. If he knew anything about my history with maps, he would have realized that he may as well have given the map to my two year old. Anyway, after my second wrong turn I was getting frustrated. Ben pipes up with, "Mommy, if I were you, I'd just turn around and go home". This is said complete with big arm gestures, palms up, eyes rolled skyward. Then he adds, "But... I'm just a little kid".

Then on Sat. we were all at baby Sophie's birthday party. The kids had just hit the pinata and collected a couple pounds of candy each. Ben had his bag and was sitting on the couch next to Carmen and Monica. He looks at them and says, "I am going to set this bag down. Don't touch it." Puts his index finger up for emphasis. Then he walks a few steps, turns his head over his shoulder, narrows his eyes and gives them a look as if to say, "I'm watching you!".

Will is a Tiger Cub:-)

2006-09-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

Last night was recruitment night for cub scouts at Will's school. He has a couple of friends who are joining so we thought it would be fun for him. They had a presentation where we all watched a slideshow of pictures of the boys at various activities over the past year. He was really excited about the prospect of getting to go fishing and camping and participate in the pinewood derby. I think Brian was equally excited about the pinewood derby;). He keeps asking me when his next boyscout meeting is. I'm happy that he's so excited about something other than video gaming!

I am supposed to go over the local boyscout store to get his uniform, so I will put up pictures of him in it as soon as I can. Be prepared to get hit up for popcorn sales in the near future! he he he

Our crazy schedule

2006-09-18T17:18:00.000-07:00

Lately I am feeling like we all just run around non stop! The boys are in school, plus they have Tae Kwan Do and soccer, Sam has swimming and Music Together, and Will as of tomorrow, has cub scouts. I am also going to be doing MOPS on Fridays which will actually be a nice break because the kids go to the nursery while I go hear speakers, have breakfast, and do projects. We are also in MOMS Club so there are activities that go along with that. It's fun, but hectic.

I am actually having nightmares about having to be somewhere and forgetting about it, lol. That actually happened on Sat. Will and Ben both have soccer, but they are in two different divisions. Will is in the U8 division and Ben is U5. So Ben's game was at 9:30am and then Will's was supposed to be at 10:15. They overlapped, but I thought it wouldn't be a problem since Brian was there too and we could just divide and conquer. Well, for some reason it did not stick in my brain that Will's game was at Rimgate Park and Ben's was at Heros. All our games last season were at Heros so I just thought that is where all the games were. I was getting worried as to why Will's team wasn't showing up and then I had a feeling that maybe we got the place wrong. Sure enough, we had and by that time there wasn't enough time to make it to his game. I asked him if he was dissappointed about it and he said, "YES. I WANTED rice krispy treats!". It was his friend Matt's moms turn to bring snacks and she had said that she was bringing those. Apparently the best part of playing soccer is the snacks!

Here are some pictures of Ben. Hopefully we'll get some of Will next week. Anyone who wants to come see a game on Saturdays through this fall is welcome! We will probably do basketball in the winter, at Will's request.

Our trip to the fire station!

2006-09-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

Our town just got a brand spanking new fire station and our MOMS Club was the first group to tour it! I took Ben and Sam there today since Will was in school. Ben was scared and cried and I had to work hard to get him in the door (no big surprise there). He would not let me take any pictures of him, but I got some cute shots of Sam on the fire engine and wearing the fireman's boots. Benny did warm up to the whole thing eventually and was interested in seeing thier rec room, where the firemen hang out on these lazy boys that are all lined up. The kitchen is right off the rec room and houses 4 big stainless steel refriderators and a HUGE Viking stove. They said that they have to spend their own money on the t.v. They have a fund that they all contribute to for things like that. They do have some sort of an allowance for food but it only covers the basics. Things like ketchup and other condiments they have to buy. The things ya learn!

Anyway, the kids had fun. Sam enjoyed playing with the excersize ball in thier gym and Ben was excited about the pencils that the fireman handed out afterwards.

What's that SMELL?!

2006-09-15T21:39:00.000-07:00

Six year olds can be quite entertaining. Will had this little gem for me today.

We were all piling into the van this morning trying to get Will off to school and I'm leaning over him helping him buckle his seatbelt over the booster seat. He says to me, "Mommy, what's that SMELL?" wrinkling up his nose. I tell him that I had to borrow daddy's deoderant this morning because I left mine at Grandma Zukie's last weekend. He then starts asking me all sorts of questions about deoderant. Why grownups have to use it, when he will have to use it, do all grownups use it (the answer to that one of course is "no, but they all SHOULD!" LOL). I tried changing the subject several times, but alas, we ended up discussing the merits and pitfalls of deoderant the entire way to school.

Fast forward to the afternoon. Will had a playdate scheduled with his friend Matthew. I picked Matt up from school along with Will and brought the boys back here to play. As we are all getting into the car, Will leans over and tells Matt, "If you smell something stinky, don't worry. That's just my mom's deoderant!".

Will's 1st day of school pictures!

2006-09-07T17:25:00.000-07:00

Will's first day of school!

2006-09-07T16:19:00.000-07:00

Today was Will's first day of 1st grade! He is in Mrs. Voltin's class with his friends from last year, Kyle and Travis. He was happy to see some familiar faces this morning when we dropped him off. The teacher came out and introduced herself, then asked the kids to come inside and find thier names at thier desks. I wanted to follow him inside and take pictures, but not wanting to appear too stalkerish, I just snapped a few from the door and we waved goodbye. Brian of course, took video. He was excited to go and looked *so* big to me!

When I picked him up this afternoon he was really tired and a bit grumpy. Seems like it's going to be a bit of an adjustment for him since he is gone for 6 hours a day now and K was only half a day. He is at Taekwando right now, so he's going to be *really* tired tonight. I promised him ice cream from Maggie Moo's on the first day of school, so we will probably head over there when I pick the boys up from taekwando. Nice little before dinner treat;).

Ben's first day of school pictures!

2006-09-07T13:32:00.000-07:00

Ben's first day of preschool!

2006-09-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Ben's first day back to school! This is his last year of preschool, next year will be Kindergarten I can NOT believe how fast this is all going by. He was really excited to go for the past few weeks, asking me daily when school is going to start. Then when we got there, he all of a sudden got very nervous and didn't want us to leave and said he wanted to go home. Poor kid! I finally got daddy to separate from him though, and then we watched through the viewing window that they have where they can't see you but you can see them. The teacher had him on his lap and was getting him interested in some playdough. They were getting ready to go outside too and his best friend, Devin, was there as well. Daddy promised that he would pick him up today so we all headed over there at noon to discover that after his initial fears, he ended up having a great day! Today when I picked him up he wasn't nervous at all:).

Feel better Andre!

2006-09-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

Recently we were sad to hear that Uncle Jon's friend Andre had suffered a stroke. We were relieved to later hear that he is on the road to recovery and is doing well. Andre if you are reading this, know that we wish you a speedy and complete recovery!

Our kidless weekend!

2006-09-06T14:28:00.000-07:00

Our 8 year wedding anniversary was yesterday. I can't believe it has been that long! We have been together for 13 years. That is almost half my life- crazy huh? Anyway, yesterday was a pretty quiet day, we did not go out or anything, but 2 weekends ago we celebrated early by leaving the kids with Grandma Zukie and going to see our favorite band, Dave Matthews Band. The concert was awesome! The kids were supposed to come home the following day, but in the morning when we talked to Brian's mom we were thrilled to find out that the boys were having so much fun that they wanted to stay another night, and grandma agreed to keep them:). Sammy woke up quite a few times during the night, but other than that he had a great time, as did the older boys. We were very grateful to get a much needed break and not one, but TWO full nights sleep! That alone was worth celebrating;). Thanks Grandma Zukie!

Leo Carrillo pictures

2006-08-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

I'm having major picture posting issues on this site so I could not post these with my post about the trip. Oh well, here are a few cute shots!

Camping at Leo Carrillo State Beach!

2006-08-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

We just returned from our second vacation of the summer, a camping trip to Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu. It was a lot of fun, especially since we had such a large group this time around. The kids were in heaven with both Grandmas on the trip! Grandpa Ed and Irene also came and visited us the first day that we were there and helped us put together the pirate ship kite that Grandma Zukie got for the boys. Sam and Ben especially loved the kite.

All three boys really loved the beach this year. Will and Ben loved splashing at the shoreline and running away from the waves and Sammy had a great time with his sand toys. We set up a big shade canopy and spent about 5 hours there the last day of the trip. The kids were having so much fun that we hated to leave. Leo Carrillo also has tide pools and the boys thought it was really cool to see starfish, sea anenomes, and sea urchins.

Everyone also enjoyed the campfires, smores, and banana boats around the fire every night. All in all, a great trip!

Summer fun pictures!

2006-08-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

Summer fun!

2006-08-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

This summer all three kids have been around every day all day, so I've been trying to come up with fun activities for us to do to keep them from sitting in front of the t.v. or playing video games all day. All three of them are in swimming lessons and doing really well. Will is swimming on his own, Ben is getting there, and Sam is going under water and jumping in off the side by himself. The older two have been taking Tae Kwan Do as well, and are enjoying that. It's great for excersize and discipline and Will is close to being able to test for his yellow belt.

We also visited the Discovery Science Center with Wendy, Cory, and Carson, and we went to the La Brea Children's museum where the kids got to climb on a real MTA bus and touch real stuffed taxodermy animals including a bear and a lion!

Then, a couple of weeks ago I took the kids to visit Grandpa Ed in Long Beach where we went to Mother's Beach and the kids splashed around in the water and saw his new apartment.

I also joined the Lake Forest Moms Club so we've been joining them for some of their activities like watermellon picking at Tenaca Farms and playgroups with other kids who are the boys ages. It's been a busy summer, but I think we will all be ready when school starts! Will is already saying that he misses school and his friends and Ben keeps asking if he has preschool today. We have the boys signed up to play AYSO soccer this fall, Sam and I signed up for Music Together, and Will will be in 1st grade making him eligible to join the boyscouts!

Houseboat 2006

2006-08-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't gotton a chance to update in a while, but our annual summer houseboat trip has come and gone. It was a lot of fun and as relaxing as a vacation with three kids can get, I suppose! Plenty of swimming and boating during the day and drinking on the top deck of the boat at night after the kids go to bed (the relaxing part;)). We did have a couple of little glitches along the way this year. The first one was on the 4th of July when a HUGE storm hit. That was a little scary, but the boat was tied on really well so we did not end up in the middle of the lake during the storm (others were not so fortunate!). That night we recovered with some beer and a little fireworks show. Good times!

The second thing that happened was that one of our kids got stitches for the first time. Daddy and Will were playing in the water and Will ended up jumping out too far into the lake and hitting his chin on dad's forehead. He was a trooper though, and by the time we got to the ER, he was more interested in the fish tank in the waiting room and playing his nintendo ds than he was about what was going to happen to his cut. His parents however, were not quite as calm and collected;). He did great for the stitches and the nurse brought him ice cream afterwards so all was well.

A little more adventure than we had bargained for perhaps, but a good trip nonetheless!

Disneyland!

2006-07-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to Disneyland on Wedsday. Ben is going through a very nervous phase right now so we weren't sure how he would do. Brian's uncle Jon came with us to hang out with Ben in case he was afraid to go on the rides. He sat out the first couple of rides, but then he did great the rest of the trip! He was a little trooper:). Both boys had such fun. Disneyland is the best with kids this age. They are in awe of everything. Sam stayed with grandma Zukie since he's a little young yet, but will probably come along on next year's trip.

Will and Ben both said their favorite ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We were *shocked* when Ben saw the ride and wanted to get in line for it, since he had been so scared of everything before. They also had a fantastic time running through all the caves and over the bridges and climbing in the tree houses at Tom Sawyers's Island. I think this was the first time we made it over there. .

Last day of school pics

2006-07-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

Will's last day of Kindergarten...

2006-06-23T15:44:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is all done with his first year of public school. Where does the time go? I keep thinking, NO! This can't be happening. He was just a BABY yesterday, dammit! How did he get to be this big 6 year old with these long legs who can read and write? How did that happen so fast? I still think of Will and Ben as perpetual toddlers, I think. They were always just WillandBen, one word, my boys, my almost twins. Which by the way was the absolute best "accident" I have ever had in my life. Having them so close together in age has worked out better than I could ever have imagined. I keep accidentally calling Sam Ben. That started in the hospital right after his birth and I am still waiting for it to sink in that I actually do have three kids now! His little personality is really starting to emerge though. He is forging a separate identity for himself, separate from his big brothers.

Today Brian and I both met at Will's school to pick him up from his last day of school. I brought him a balloon in honor of this mini "graduation" from just starting out school to big boy 1st grade. Are we really old enough to have a 1st grader?!?! I still get these flashbacks of the two of us hanging out on the "quad" during snack in highschool, 16 and 17 years old, the biggest thing we had to worry about being what to wear on our date that night and making time to study for that next biology test. Are we really all grown up with three kids now? Some days I still feel like I am faking it.

The kids all marched out in a line, following thier teacher, Mrs. Shields, for the last time ever. They were all carrying large envelopes with thier names on them with presents from Mrs. Shields inside for both them and us. An adorable magnet with his picture on it, a dvd with pictures of the class, arranged and set to music, a book about the old lady who swallowed the fly, a ruler, a cd of music with the school name in it, and a photo album with pictures of Will and his friends taken all throughout the year.

All the parents waited by the tree, snapping pictures of the kids walking towards us, then posing them for pictures with the other kids, with thier teacher, and with us. All of us getting a little sappy over our babies growing up and moving on.

We all went out to lunch at Islands, Will's choice, and the kids had ice cream for dessert. Sam amazingly enough, behaved relatively well throughout the meal, talking and smiling, and eating fries, one of the few foods that my picky eater likes.

So that's it. He's finished with Kindergarten and our school adventure is really just beginning. Next fall he'll stay all day long and eat lunch in the cafeteria. Ben will be in his last year of preschool. I think I'll just keep Sam a baby forever;).

Will's 6th Birthday!

2006-06-09T09:06:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is already six years old! I can still remember exactly what he looked like the second he was born. He was so tiny and seemed so fragile. Now he is going to friends birthday parties without us, going to playdates, playing organized sports, and going into first grade! Where does the time go?

This year for his birthday we went camping. I brought along streamers and balloons and bought a cake while we were there and Aunt Wendy and I decorated the campsite while daddy kept him occupied, and then we surprised him with a decorated picnic table, balloons, a cake, and most importantly, presents. The look on his face was just priceless. His big gift this year was a Nintindo DS, a portable video game player. He's enjoying it immensely.

Here are some pictures of the festivities. The picture of him with the crown on was taken Friday after school. In his Kindergarten class, the teacher makes each child a special birthday crown and they all sing to them. Then he got to choose between six birthday hugs, six birthday kisses, or six birthday spanks from Mrs. Shields. He chose hugs:). He was just bursting with excitement when I picked him up from school. His teacher said he'd been floating on air all day:).

Our June Camping Trip

2006-06-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we kicked off the start of the summer season by taking a weekend camping trip up to the mountains in Idylewild. The older two boys had a fabulous time hiking, roasting marshmellows and just running around in the dirt at our campsite. There was a little creek at the bottom of a hill right off our site and the big boys spent most of their days there. We also took the scooters and went for rides around the campground. The big hit of the trip was of course, the marshmellows at night. Everyone went to bed exhausted and happy. Sam had a little bit of a rough time of it, being off his routine, but we think that he'll get into the camping spirit before too long. Our next trip of the summer will be the houseboat on Lake Mohave in early July which the kids always look forward too, and then beach camping in Leo Carrillo. Looks like a fun summer ahead!

The joy of having a six year old

2006-06-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

So yesterday we were doing our normal routine, driving the kids home from school and they (as usual) start fighting in the back seat. Pretty soon Will was hitting Ben. I threatened to take away his video games if he hit Ben one more time. He tested me, so the games got taken away. Boy was he MAD! If looks could kill, I would be a dead mommy. If you've never faced the wrath of a six year old before, it might look something like this

In case you can't tell what that says, it reads, "you hath to moov now", which traslates to, "You have to move now". He had apparently decided he'd be much better off if mommy just moved out of the house and left him to his own devies. No worries though! By bedtime he had cut out a little red piece of paper, colored it with an orange crayon and presented it to me, saying that it was "fire" because I was "fire nice". Whatever that means. I think it's something good though;).

He also, in his rage over losing the video games, took a blue marker and wrote on the tile floor the words, "Ben did this". I guess it didn't occur to him that the only thing Ben can write is his name. Either that or he just thinks we're stupid. Probably the latter. Unfortunatly that picture came out too dark too see. Would it be terrible if I wrote it on the floor myself and took a better picture of it to recreate the scene?

The Great Exploration 2006

2006-05-25T15:11:00.000-07:00

Lately Brian has been taking the kids on what they call "Explores". They hike down into the woods by our house (really just a grove of Eucalyptus trees) and play with sticks and throw rocks into the little creek that runs through there, maybe find a few bugs. They all really enjoy themselves though (daddy maybe even more so than the boys!) and they come home FILTHY, so I know they are having fun;). Anyway, last time they went they took the digital camera so I got to take a little glimpse into what went on.

Lucky Ducks!

2006-05-25T15:03:00.000-07:00

Will's Kindergarten class had the priveledge of getting to watch duck and chick eggs hatch in incubators this spring! The kids then got to take turns bringing the ducks and chicks home to "babysit" for the night. Yesterday was our turn and the kids were so excited!

Easter pictures

2006-05-25T14:57:00.000-07:00

We spent Easter this year at Grandma Zukie's house and then got together at Aunt Esther's house with all of the cousins. We got some cute shots of the kids in thier Easter outfits.

Star Wars "egg"stravaganza

2006-04-13T16:32:00.000-07:00

The boys were really excited about dying eggs this year, so we went ahead and let them do it a few days early. Daddy took video and mommy manned the digital camera to ensure that the moment was properly captured;).

"Look ma, green hands!"

Too little to join in on the fun.

"You don't know the power of the dark side".

"Look what we made!"

File this one under "things you never thought you'd say until you had kids"

2006-04-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

Said by me to Ben today, "Well, if you wouldn't pick your butt, you wouldn't get poop on your hands".

Grabbing a few extra minutes of sleep...

2006-04-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

I think I've mentioned before that Sam normally wakes up at 5a.m. At that point, our motto is "whatever works" in getting him to go back to sleep for a few blissful moments. I bring him into bed with us and 9 times out of 10 he will just nurse and then be up for the day, but today he surprised us by going back to sleep for a whole 2 hours! Brian caught the moment on film:).

The Importance of Being Benny

2006-04-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

So last night at dinner we're all sitting around the table eating and talking about our day. I think I was complaining to Brian about the fact that Ben's preschool is going to charge us $100 for him to NOT attend in the summer to "hold our spot" when the fact of the matter is, attendance is so low in the summer that there is no way our spot would get filled anyway- grrr! Anyway, Ben keeps shouting, "GUYS! GUYS! Listen to ME" with a big scowl on his face. We made him wait his turn and when he finally got his chance, what does he have to say that is so important? "Mom. Dad. Devin and I are going to be FIVE on our next birthdays. We're BOTH going to be FIVE". Big dramatic pause. Big smile. "FIVE". Holds up five fingers. So funny how he takes everything he does and says so seriously at such a young age!