Happy 5th Birthday to Bubs!

A little belated - it was Friday. But, I have sort of been out of commission since Thursday night with an awful Flu bug. Felt like a human pinata (got that from the Kaiser phone nurse!)

Bubs seemed to have a great "Real" birthday as he calls it. At breakfast I let him unwrap a gift. It was a Monsters vs. Aliens hat w/ B.O.B. on it. He loves his hats & I knew he could wear it to school that day. My mom was in town & thankfully got the kids ready, made lunches, and took them to EDCC. They were much better off there, away from me, with plenty of things to keep them busy.

When Bubs got home, daddy gave him the news that we had postponed his birthday party one week. He took it much better than we all anticipated! Maybe its the FIVE year old in him! He got to open our presents and he let K read the cards.

To help him celebrate the big day, my mom & P's parents took Bubs to Lucky's pizza & brought a birthday cake. I sadly missed all the fun, but got to see plenty of pics & hear the stories!

Bubs was smiles all day long. And instead of a party on Saturday, my mom took the kids to see the movie G-Force. He absolutely LOVES his movies! He just wants to see them all. I'm so happy that he had a great birthday. He thinks he has another "Real" birthday this coming up weekend that he is just so excited for. I am praying daily though, that everyone else stays healthy & that we can infact go through with this backup plan.

Lastly - I'm still shocked that I have a 5 and 7 year old - Kindergarten & 2nd grader. INSANE! Where does the time go?

We miss our little girl!

For the first time ever, K is away from both mom & dad for about a week! She's been away from us for a day or 2 here or there, but I believe this is the longest apart. Grandma S. flew her back to Las Vegas and will be driving back with her Monday or Tuesday next week.

It is a little weird around the house - only having Bubs around. But he's getting alone time with us, and that has been good. We've been able to chat with K & my mom & dad on the Webcam every evening. The first day it was hard, she was clearly showing that she missed us. But last night she was all smiles! Here's a few of the things she's having fun doing: swimming in the community pool everyday from 10-12, going shopping with Grandma, and visiting the "Grossology" exhibit at the Lied Discovery Children's Museum
http://news.ldcm.org/newsrelease-cid-1-id-10020.html
They still have lots of other fun "indoor" things to do because it is in the triple digits there. Can't wait to hear what's next on their list. Miss you K! Hope you are enjoying your trip!

Bubs on the other hand makes us laugh daily with his little phrases & comments. Here's just 2 that have me cracking up the way he says them. Of course, I can't think of the others at the moment. I'll write up down for next time.

"I'm just having a bad day."
"Why you so mad at me? I'm just a little kid." - reminded me that yes, he is still little!

I want to mention one more thing - P & I just celebrated our 9th anniversary! I can't believe how quickly time flies. I feel like we were just dancing our first dance Sunol Valley Golf Club. Now we have a 7 year old and (almost) 5 year old. Amazing! I love you P! Here's to many more wonderful years!

The Relay for Life - Dublin, CA

This is my 4th year participating in American Cancer Society's Relay for life. Tomorrow I will be walking the track CELEBRATING the lives of those who have battled cancer, REMEMBERING loved ones lost to the disease, and FIGHTING BACK against a disease that takes too much.

One day. One night. One community. One Fight. The Relay For Life is a life-changing event.

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/shullshock

Tired kids!

How is it that by Friday the kids & I have our morning routine down so well that we are actually out of the house on time! Monday & Tuesday we were running late. I forgot some non-essentials at the house - like my breakfast one day. I had K set her alarm for Wednesday because she wasn't getting out of bed on time. And by Friday we were actually ready early!! Hurray.

I've been dropping both kids off at the same place all week - and I love it. 2 different buildings, but one stop of the car. The first day Bubs went to EDCC I took pics of both of them. Bubs went through a mix of emotions on Monday morning. Scared, sad that he'll miss his friends, and excited about all the new things (games, food, people). Since then, 4 more days of being excited to get to EDCC. Hope that he keeps that excitement up all summer long.

Yesterday they kids even had their first summer field trip to Super Franks! http://www.superfranks.com/
They got to take a bus there. I can't believe they are growing up so fast. The summer will be full of all these fun adventures. Best of all, by the time I get home I can see that they are exhausted. Its been so easy to get them to bed. Bubs doesn't come out of his room 2-3 times with excuses that he's scared, or not tired. Hopefully they'll sleep in a little tomorrow.

We don't have any plans for Saturday (but clean house, garage, etc!) so maybe the kids can rest up. On Sunday we'll go to the Grandparent's house and they'll play with their cousins.

Wishing all the Dad's out there (and especially my DAD) - a very Happy early Father's Day! We love you & are thinking about you.

K's Rock Star Party!

7 girls,

crafts,

pizza and

music from 12-3pm

I think it was the perfect birthday party. K seemed to have fun. Here's a photo of my cake!

When she first woke up to a PINK cake she got upset & almost cried. She doesn't like pink anymore. Her favorite color is BLUE. She's also not into princesses!

Once I was finished though & she took a look at the cake and said - "Mom....I love it... more than you do!"

Graduation Day!

I feel like I've been waiting for this day forever. On one hand, I never want to wish for the kids to grow up any faster than they already are. On the other hand - I can't wait for preschool to be over with. The school has been great, don't get me wrong. Bubs has seemed to enjoy his last 2 years at Tots. BUT, I am so happy to do without those tuition payments. They will be cut in 1/2 now. AND, next Monday, I only have to drive to one location to drop them off! I don't know who is more excited. Me or Bubs. He gets to go to school with K now.

Graduation is at 2:30 today and he was excited to dress "handsome" with his blue shirt, yellow striped tie & khakis. He gets to put on a cap & gown. Can't wait to see him. Both Grandmas & Grandpa will be there with K and mom & dad. He even asked me to get out the video camera and take pictures. Too cute!

Have a great weekend. Ours will be a busy one - starting tonight with a BBQ for bubs & K's birthday party tomorrow. 7 little girl friends decked out like rock stars! I'll need a good nap tomorrow after 3pm!

June 15th countdown

I went to drop off K at her before school care & flipped through the notebook looking for our last name to sign her in. There was a page in there for Bubs! If only I could have dropped him off... he was ready to stay.

Bubs gave K a big hug goodbye. He won't have to do that soon. Hopefully too much togetherness won't be a bad thing. The good news is that they will be split into 2 buildings divided for the older & younger students. They will go on fieldtrips together & see each other on the playground. Bubs will not get his nap anymore - bedtime may be easier! I know it was for K.

He's going to have a fun summer with her. Only 9 more school days. Can't wait.

TGIF!

It was a nice short week & its already Friday! Bubs calls the tomorrow a "stay home day." He usually counts down till the weekend. This week went by so fast that he didn't have time to do that! But this morning he did ask when his graduation is. His preschool has been practicing for it for the past couple of weeks. I told him it was 2 weeks away and he said that was just too long to wait. I didn't tell him that I was just as anxious as him for preschool graduation. Monday June 15th, I finally get to drop them off at the same place - for the next 3 years!

Tonight, K has a Girl Scout Pajamarama. She's really looking forward to it. Its basically a sleepover for all the girl scouts at her elementary school to stay overnight in the multipurpose room. All of the girls in her troop are a year younger though, and most will probably go home after all the activities to sleep in their own bed. Not her though, she wants to stay! Lucky mommy. I have to join her. She is so excited though for the activities - beauty parlor, games, movies! I'm sure she'll want to write all about it in her new "diary." She got a Hello Kitty notepad from her 13 year old friend Nicole and made it into her diary. I'm glad she really seems to enjoy reading & writing. Hope she keeps that up!

Have a wonderful Friday & great weekend.

Little Lucky Lady

K had her school's Open House last night. She was so excited to be the tour guide of her 1st grade classroom.

The evening started at 5:45 when we got to the school for the Parent Faculty Club's spaghetti dinner. In line we bought raffle tickets. It was $1 for 1 or $20 for the height of the child attending the school. We donated our $20 for 26 tickets or so - K's height. I joked that I wanted to borrow a taller child for this, but in the end it wasn't necessary. We grabbed our spaghetti - the kids with no sauce - just butter, and ours with meat sauce donated from Frankie Johnnie & Luigi's. All the tables were full, but we finally managed to squeeze at the end of a table.

I wrote K's name & phone number on every single ticket, just in case we weren't there. Then, K & I went up to the stage to drop the tickets in the box of whatever we wanted to win. She picked most of them. We pretty much had one in everything (except 1hr massage, spa). We even put one in for the Wii, for a Ipod nano. Her favorites were for McDonald's gift certificates, movie tickets. I put a couple in the wine basket, luggage & airline tickets.

By 6:30 the ticket numbers were called. By the 3rd prize we heard "K... M...." she was so excited she ran up to the front not even knowing what the prize was. She took it, but was warned that the bag was heavy. The bag contained a bunch of groceries from Trader Joes with a note outside stating 50 lbs of Alpine meats. A couple minutes later, a helper brought us a styrofoam cooler filled with meats! Wow - it was all cold & daddy took it all straight to the car. Almost injuring himself on the way from all the weight.

3rd number to the last to be called (right before the nano & the wii), we hear "and we have someone that has one something earlier tonight K... M....!" Again??!! We also had no idea what this prize was. It was so packed with people in the multipurpose room & it was noisy! K once again ran up to the front with me & bubs trailing behind her. This time she won a really nice Jansport backpack with a gift basket. The gift basket had 2 tickets to Great America! We scored. No vacation planned this summer - we definitely have to get in a trip in to Great America.

From there we went to her classroom. She showed us all the things she's been working on this past year. She is currently Star Student of the classroom, so she had just brought in pics of her as a baby, to girl scouts, to softball, to the family. We got to see them all on display. Mrs. Brown had put together a slide show of pictures & comments of the class. My favorite part was K's response to "What was your favorite memory of first grade?" K said - When we went on a field trip to Amador Theater to see Ramona and my mom went with us. That was a very important memory to K!

K was one lucky lady last night. And she had a smile on her face, all the way until her head hit the pillow!

Kids to be proud of...

I just wanted to say that K had her best softball game ever on Saturday! She was up to hit 3 times and each time she whacked the ball past the distance of the pitcher. This is after being pitched to (its was not off a tee). She even made it all around the bases to home plate once. She's my little slugger. Way to go K!

Bubs had his Kindergarten Assessment on Friday. (Its already time for kindergarten!??) He also did wonderfully. Bubs met with K's previous kindergarten teacher & she liked him. Said he was funny. He would answer some questions and then say he was done. She wasn't sure if he knew more, but he was convinced he was just done with that part of the question. Silly boy. We did came to the conclusion that he knew more than he answered, we'll just have to figure out how to get that out of him! Good news is that she said he seems to be right where he should be & he'll be ready for Kindergarten in August. She said she'd love to get him in her class next year. (I quietly hope that she's not the only teacher that will think that through the years.) On a side note, I pulled out K's Kindergarten packet and looked at the number on it. I was #31 to pick up her's & ALSO #31 to pick up Bubs. Is that a strange coincidence? I thought that was pretty cool. Bub's graduates from preschool on June 12th! And the following week he'll be going to EDCC with K. I can't wait to finally have one drop off & pick up! That's all for now. Have a great week.

Mother's Day

I can't believe yesterday was my 7th Mother's Day? Is that right? Wow how time flies. And what a wonderful one it was. The kids had made me some presents at school and were so excited to help me open them after church on Sunday. Bubs had already given me his potted plant on Friday because we didn't want to hide it for 2 days. He painted the base & wrote "Happy Mother's Day - I love you Mommy" around the pot. He brought out his card on Sunday with all his sisters gifts. She made one at school - a portrait of me on a shrinky dink that is now hanging as a magnet on our fridge. (Can you believe shrinky dinks are still around!!) Its very cute. The card was another drawing of me - she did a great job. At after school care (EDCC) she painted a mini pot & at Girl Scouts they planted a seed in another pot. It also had sticking out of the dirt the cutest popsicle stick sunflower with her photo on it. Now, if only I can keep all these plants growing. I'm not really know for my green thumb. But everything they made was just perfect. And then we headed over to P's sister's house for a BBQ and to hang out with family. It was a great day. I hope every other mother out there had a wonderful Mother's Day as well!

The words moms love to hear!

K can't make her softball practice on Thursday because of Girl Scouts. (Normally practices run Mon & Wed.) Yep, she's a busy little bee. I wrote the coach an email to say we had prior commitments and here's his response. Just had to share! Happy early Mother's Day to me & all those other Mom's out there. (Especially my mom - I LOVE YOU! xoxoxo)

No problem L.....
BTW, I can’t say enough about K....she is a great girl. I’ll never forget her giving me a hug after the first practice! Nor will I forget the “kinda-sorta-mad face” she gave me once when I hit her with a pitch!

Adorable!

See you Saturday

Mom's first field trip

I took K on my first field trip on Tuesday (she's already been on several). Of course, in order to drive her & others I had to get approved by the school. I filled out an application and made some changes to our car insurance (had to up some limits for $3.20 a month which I can cancel at any time). The office then checked my driving records and my name against the Meghan's Law website. Good to know that not just anyone can drive my child on a field trip! All for the happiness of my little girl.

Last year I didn't go on a field trip & on that day K cried wishing I could go. The time came around for another opportunity and I felt like I owed it to her. From the moment I mentionned that I might go, she was so excited. I told her not to get too worked up because I wasn't sure about all the paperwork involved. Her teacher informed me that she overheard K on the playground telling someone that her mom was going to take her on the field trip. I just had to make it happen.

I took the morning off of work & drove K directly to school (no EDCC). We checked in the office & headed out to the playground for school to begin. I sat on a bench by the door of her classroom. We saw her friend and I told K she could go off to play with her. Instead, K wanted to sit there right by me, arm in arm. She wanted to show off that her mom came to school today to drive her on the field trip. We sat there & talked for 10 minutes until it was time to go into the class. I hope she remembers that moment 10 years from now (or less) when it won't be so "cool" to be hanging out with mom. I made a mental note to remember!

We drove to Amador Valley Theater, part of Amador Valley High in Pleasanton for the play Ramona Quimbly - by Beverly Cleary. I thoroughly enjoyed the show. This is from the books of my youth! K like it too. Hopefully now she'll want to read some of the books. I'm so glad I took the time off to go with her. It was a nice morning.

Sadly though, this morning Bubs asked me when will he get to go on a field trip like K? I sense that he's a little jealous! Now that I am authorized to work in the classroom, I'll have to do something for him in Kindergarten next year.

All smiles!

At softball practice Monday night, one of the moms asked - "Does K ever stop smiling?" Thats funny because they said the same thing in soccer. All the pics we have of her is with a huge smile on her face. Hope she keeps that up. Seeing her like that just makes you want to smile.

:)

Sharing some drawings...

"Your wish is my command if you don't have your voice."

K has been busy at her after school care with lots of drawings. She's got quite an imagination going. Thought it would be fun to put something new up! Enjoy

APRIL FOOLS!

K was so excited about April Fools Day because they have been talking about it at school. She tried to explain to Bubs what it was all about. At breakfast, she told bubs there was a spider behind him, he looked and said, "Where?" K got all excited and then said "April Fools!"

This morning I had to get the kids. So, from the April FamilyFun magazine I got an idea. I wrote across 3 sections of toilet paper in permanent marker "SURPRISE!" and laid it across the water in the toilet. When Bubs went potty he looked in the toilet & cracked up. He thought the "surprise" was hilarious & called his sister in. She of course, inquisitive as always, asked where it came from. I managed (without laughing) to tell her I had no idea, maybe it was daddy. Of course then she decided to write a note to him (since he was already off at work). It says:

Dad, did you put a surprise in the toilet. We found a surprise in it. P.S. It isn't poo.

Maybe I'm the one having the most fun with this. Daddy will find his own surprise in our bathroom. The one in there says, "Peek a boo." Too bad I won't be home for his reaction.

Unfortunately I don't have anything else creative for the kids. I did get 2 coworkers by putting a Post-It under their mouse. It covered the "optical eye" and they thought their mouse was broken. Now I'm waiting for payback! I'm ready though.

Have a great day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Hope everyone had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day. And Happy Birthday to Daddy!

How do you get a child up in the morning?

We try & try, but I can't seem to get the kids to bed any earlier than 8pm. There's just not enough time in the evening after I get home from work to get them in bed any earlier. Bubs still gets a nap at school, so he's harder to get to bed because he's really "tired" yet. Then again, we've been so busy lately that he hasn't been a problem. K goes to bed, no problem! She's tired from a full day of school & softball practice, or CCD, or girl scouts. Unfortunately she's like me & wants to try and do everything!

It's the mornings that are a problem. I will turn each of the kids lights on and ask them to get up. Bubs is usually hungry so he gets up, gets dressed and eats. K on the other hand will lay in bed until I start to get upset (15 min or so later). I hate to think that my 6 1/2 year old needs an alarm clock set, but I decide to try something. I thought I would set an alarm that she would have to get out of bed to turn off. I would kindly wake her up as normal, but when the alarm went off it was time to get out of bed. Easy enough right?

The first day - she was mad because she said she wanted to wake up to the alarm. (Now, honestly, who really wants to do that? - she'll learn!) So the next day, I set it earlier so she could wake up to it. I came to check on her 10 min after it should have gone off and she's still in bed with lights out. I ask her if the alarm went off. "Yes." Well then why aren't you out of bed. "I didn't know it was time to get up." Oh come on - what was the alarm for? I just don't know what to do. Every morning is another adventure to get out the door for school.

Interviewing my kids

I found this from a friend on facebook. Her children's responses were priceless. Thought it would be fun to do the same.

Ask your child(ren) to answer the questions and type their answers in.

K (6 1/2 ) Bubs (4 1/2)

1. What is something mom always says to you?
K "Good Night"
Bubs "thank you for being good"

2. What makes mom happy?
K "When I snuggle with her"
Bubs "a smile, being good."

3. What makes mom sad?
K "when i don't listen"
Bubs "when i be bad"

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
K "you tickle me"
Bubs "a smile"

5. What was your mom like as a child?
K "huh?, I don't get it... you only had one brother?"
Bubs "a baby"

6. How old is your mom?
K "32"
Bubs "2 and 3 1/2"

7. How tall is your mom?
K - thought really hard & long, "30 inches?"
Bubs "up to the moon"

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
K "do stuff on the computer, oh, I have another, do science projects with me."
Bubs "clean the house"

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
K "do the laundry & do stuff on the computer"
Bubs "you clean & I play toys"

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
K - "rich!"
Bubs "play sports or call on the phone"

11. What is your mom really good at?
K "Writing on the computer, helping me learn my homework"
Bubs "driving to school"

12. What is your mom not very good at?
K "Putting my socks on"
Bubs "being mad"

13. What does your mom do for her job?
K "Work in an office."
Bubs "do stuff, coloring"

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
K "Chocolate."
Bubs "hot sauce"

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
k "because your sweet."
Bubs "being good"

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
K "Baby mouse in Tom & Jerry"
Bubs - " i don't know"

17. What do you and your mom do together?
K "Read"
Bubs "go to school in the morning"

18. How are you and your mom the same?
K - "We are both girls and we both cut our hair at the same time and cut it short together."
Bubs "we like cleaning up"

19. How are you and your mom different?
K - "You are older than me & we don't wear the same clothes everyday."
Bubs "I'm a boy & your a girl"

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
K "Because you be nice to me and you care for me."
Bubs "so I give you a kiss on the cheek"

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
K - "He's funny, he's fat"
Bubs "kissing daddy"

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
K - "Hooters"
Bubs - "Legoland, Disneyland"

Snow Weekend!

We had a great past weekend with lots of family right outside of Tahoe. We did our annual snow trip where we drove until we got to the snow and then stayed Saturday night in a hotel in Folsom (where we also go swimming!). Unfortunately this year we had to drive much farther, practically to Tahoe. My cousins, Aunt & Uncle went up an hour or so ahead of us and found a sno-park (Adventure Mountain) with lots of snow. It was exhausting going up the big hill, but I think we all had a blast. Once again the weather held out for us. Not too cold. A little sunshine & lots of SNOW.

See the photo of Bubs at the beginning of the weekend.