Will's last day of Kindergarten...

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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"

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...

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

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!

Mama, am I an artist?

This afternoon during we were all just relaxing, having a quiet Saturday. I was crocheting in the livingroom with my mom, periodically stopping to get Sam down off the train table which he kept climbing up on (or sending uncle Kevin to his rescue!), Brian was on the computer with Ben, and Will was in his room, the entire carpet littered with art supplies.

After 15 minutes or so, he came out, masterpiece in hand. This was the first collage he made He had written, "bi Will, love mama." After quite a lot more fanfare in his bedroom, he came out with three others.


He said, "Mama these are for you because I love you for thousands and thousands of seconds. Not just one second. The love just keeps on going. I love you best in the world and you love me. Mama, am I an artist?". Of course I told him that he was a wonderful artist and that I loved him too. Does life get any better than this?! It's moments like these that make it all worth it.

The boys basketball game and Grandma Kathi's visit

Today was the boys second basketball game of the season as well as picture day. Both Grandma Kathi and Uncle Kevin were there to see them in action! Will made his first basket EVER, during practice as opposed to the actual game, but hey, it's a start! Brian caught the moment on video, but mommy was too slow with the camera. We did get a few cute shots of them standing in line waiting for pictures, with grandma, and on the bench during the game.

Thinking about Halloween

If you have kids, you have probably experienced this in your home as well. The discussion began the day after last October 31. The discussion of course being what the boys want to be NEXT Halloween. Ben usually starts up first thing in the morning. First he wants to be Marth from a video game that they play (try finding THAT costume at Target!) then he wants to be a Jedi, then Anikan, then a power ranger (his costume from last Halloween). Will then chimes in, saying he will be Shrek, then Ben nixes that idea, saying that Shrek does not even have any superhero powers.

Any bets on how many times they will change their minds before Halloween actually rolls around?

The caffinated buoys!

A friend was just telling me about her recent trip to Japan and mentioned that in Tokyo they have vending machines out on the streets selling all kinds of fruity sodas, beer, and even caffinated gum. That reminded me of what happened in our house when I decided it would be a good idea to forgo the coffee in favor of the gum. I had gone to Target with Wendy and we noticed it up by the cash register. Me, being the highly caffinated mommy that I am, thought this was a GREAT invention and threw some in the basket. When I got home, I put it on top of the microwave, not really thinking too much about it. Later that afternoon, I noticed that the boys were totally bouncing off the walls (not unusual in our house, but this was a bit beyond their "normal" activity level). I looked on the ground in the kitchen and realized that they had chewed the entire package, except the one piece I'd had when I bought it. Yikes! Looks like caffinated gum wasn't all it was cracked up to be;).

Scrapbook photos

Here are a few of the scrapbook pages that I've been doing of the boys.

Been doing some crocheting lately...

The boys finally got to wear the hats that I made for them last year since it was cold and rainy today. I've been getting back into my hobbies now that Sam is pretty much sleeping through the night and I have a little more energy. I made Will and Ben these ones last year and Sam's I just made yesterday. I am thinking of adding a few cutesy buttons to it just to give it some flair, so maybe a trip to JoAnns is in order. And if I just *happen* to pass by the scrapbooking supplies while I am there I just might have to take a peek at those too.

I have been getting back into scrapbooking too lately and am all caught up on my album. Sam's first year one is done and I am currently working on 6 other albums (vacation, family, holidays, and then one for each boy with birthday, first day of school, and sports stuff in it). I met another mom in Ben's preschool class who is a Creative Memories consultant and she hosts crops in her house once a week so I have been going to those. I really don't get much done in my book since Sam is with me, but it's nice to get ideas and talk scrapbooking with other people who are into it too.

Oh that Sam I am!

He is one of the three most adorable kids I have ever seen, but boy is he a handful! His new thing is climbing. Climbing on the furniture, up steps, up on the kids' train table, anything and everything that his short little legs can get up on, he is there. The only drawback is that he cannot get down by himself. So he does this combination cry/whine until someone comes and rescues him. We'll hear him in another room making that sound and someone will say, "Well, it sounds like Sam's stuck" and sure enough, there he will be, waving his arms, looking for a hero to save him:-). If Will finds him there he'll heave a big sigh and say "Oh, Sammy. You aren't supposed to do that!" and then lift him down from wherever he's gotton to.

He is also REALLY into the bathroom. We keep the door shut, but the boys sometimes forget. This morning while I was attempting to do my hair before taking Will to school (yeah, right, I should have known better!) Sam comes in carrying the toilet brush- ewwww! The older boys didn't really do things like that, so now I am really learning what parents mean when they say their toddler is "into everything". That about sums it up! The boy will not eat a vegetable, but give him a dried up worm or a piece of cat poo from the litter box and it's chow time. I have to watch him every second!

Just a few random pictures of cuteness

These are some of my all time favorite pictures of Sam. His smile is absolutely irresistible!

And a few of Will- gotta love those dimples!




And now of Benny- it is so hard to get a picture of him just smiling at the camera!