Roller Skakes

We gave Makaila new roller skates for her birthday. They are old school 4 wheels and lace up. Hannah Montana actually, but that was all they had. We weren't sure what she would think of them. She's never tried skating before, or talked about wanting to try it. But I'd say they were a hit. She has worn them all afternoon/evening for the past 3 days. The first day of using them she got brave and decided to try a loop around the house. That meant going on the wood floor in the kitchen. It sounded like she made it 3 feet in and then her legs were going like crazy until there was the plop of her falling. She yells from the next room, "I'm all right!" Then she comes back into the carpeted front room and says, "maybe I'm not ready for that yet.

Hopefully you don't think I'm a terrible mother for putting on a video that she falls at the end, but she was cracking me up with this song she was making up while skating.

Spikes

This is Cole fresh from getting his haircut to have spikes again. We did this before the big weekend to CA so Grammy could see his spikes. In this totally posed picture he had pulled his socks way up and was walking around the house pretending to talk on this phone.

This morning he was pulling at his hair. He told me he was making spikes so Grammy could see (we're home from the trip now). He told me he was doing this in his bed too.

Night light

So, my husband is still a little mad at me for purchasing this, but I'm blogging about it anyways. This is a nightlight. Not an ordinary nightlight. It has a timer and clock. It can be set for when it is time for sleeping (the blue moon) and time for waking up (the yellow sun). Cole has been having a little trouble the past few months staying in bed as long as we'd like.

Truthfully, we think he doesn't need quite as much sleep as his sister at this age, but we still feel it is important to stay in your bed (or at least bedroom) until 7:00. He moved into a big boy bed a little younger than Makaila did and she was quicker at learning to read numbers. So we taught her to look at her clock and that isn't an option yet for Cole. He has been waking up whenever Makaila goes to the bathroom in the middle of the night because he sees a light on.

The first week he wasn't quite getting it because in the day it is not on at all and at night time the blue moon in on. Whenever he woke up he would see the light and come tell us the son is up. Finally we started saying you can get up when the YELLOW sun is on. Now he gets it. He comes running into our room, "The sun is on, it's wake up time!" Of course he's so excited he's kind of yelling this. Sometimes we have to go in his room and see it.

My husband thinks this is ridiculous because it cost $35 + shipping of a whopping $8 more dollar. Yes, you got that right, $43 for a nightlight. But I say, an hour more of sleep is priceless.

Grandma turns 90

My Grandma turned 90 this weekend. We had a big surprise for her with all 3 children + spouses, 7 grandchildren + spouses and 8 great-grandchildren getting together for the weekend. This is pretty good considering we live in 5 different states and Dad was coming from Guatemala. We bowled, ate, talked, took pictures and did all but the bowling again. It was so much fun to have all the cousins together for the first time in 13 years.

Boys will be boys Part2

I love watching my son play. Something is just so great about this age. And there are just somethings that boys do that little girls would never do.

Take yesterday for an example. He took out every ball he has in his room (a good 15 or so) and they were all over the place. He was taking them one by one, getting a running start and throwing them into his closet door to see how they bounced off. There were many ooohs and ahhs when some of them bounced really well. A girl wouldn't think of that game on her own.

Then we were at the park. We met a friend and they both brought little soccer balls. After tiring of actually playing soccer (shooting into the little goal we brought and yelling "goooooaaaaalll!"), they were throwing them through some monkey bar rings. They added another guy playing with them with his football. They didn't talk at all, but everyone knew the game and they all took turns throwing. They would even get each others balls and bring them back. Then another boy came to the park. The four little boys (ages 2-3 1/2) started playing football. No, really. Okay, there wasn't any plays or tackling, but they were tossing the ball around to each other. The two oldest of the group were more skilled at tossing and throwing. But Cole's friend would give him turns to throw. Whenever their was a stray throw, they all ran after it. Again there wasn't any fighting and there wasn't any talking. But the boys were red-faced and having a blast.

Today I was in Cole's "house" in his room. He was Larry the mailman (yes, we actually know the name of our mailman) delivering me mail and picking up my letters to send. Of course he had to take a break from delivering mail to fix my house. He got out his tools and sawed, hammered and screwed the door so it was all fixed.

He also has just discovered many vehicles he has had for a while. But suddenly he loves his Tanka dump truck and his blue tow truck. He drives them all around the house and loves putting things in them.

I also think it is amazing that where girls may have a automatic interest in Princesses, boys gravitate to things like Spiderman. The only Spiderman thing Cole has is some slippers, yet he loves to play he is Spiderman and point him out whenever we're out shopping. How do they just know to like superheros?

Saturday clothes

My friend Wendy is really good at not caring what other people think and letting her kids wear whatever they choose. I am not so good at this. I admit to accassionally caving to the pressure of wanting people to say, "how cute are your kids!" and forcing my oufit choices on the kids.

Often I work on Saturday mornings. When the kids are having their daddy time, Chad does not feel that same pressure. We're lucky if a brush ventured near Makaila's hair on their Costco, Home Depot or REI outings. Here are some Saturday outfits. Cole would wear sweatpants or shorts every day of the week if I let him (takes after his Grandpa T). Makaila is trying to make a statement with her flowered leggings, pink and brown stripes and tea pot shirt. No need to teach her about a "pop of color". She's got plenty of pop. But it looks like her hair got combed this week. :)

In-n-Out

Yesterday Cole is talking on a play phone and tells me they're going to go to In-n-Out with Kate and Ryan (their cousins). In-n-Out is only in CA, parts of AZ and Las Vegas. Then as we're having dinner he continues to be disappointed that we aren't going to In-n-Out. Don't know what made him think of it, we haven't been there since February.

random toys

You're thinking to yourself (if you have kids that is), are we playing I Spy? No, we're not. These are just all the random toys my son was playing with in a 2-ft space between my dresser and the wall. He saved them there for me when he moved on to something else.

The Master's

The Master's Golf Tournament is on in the other room. I'm listening to one of the funniest conversations. These are some of the parts I can hear.
Chad, "Get in there!"
Makaila, "why would it be dancing?"
Chad, "Oh, some people say the ball is dancing."
Makaila, "What is the water called?"
Chad, "A hazard."
Makaila, "What is the sand trap called?"
Chad, "A bunker."
Makaila, "But don't you want Tiger to win?"
Chad, "But I like them both"
Makaila, "Cole sure is taking a long nap. . ." (she was told she couldn't eat some Easter chocolate until her brother woke up)

Easter 2009

Here are some pictures of our Easter. We dyed our eggs yesterday. This was the first year Cole was a part of this. Makaila is still a little fuzzy about the concept of the Easter Bunny. She says she knows that it isn't real. But then she says, "hey, you had these eggs" when she sees a recognizable egg in her Easter basket. Let's just say we're still working on the reason we personally celebrate this holiday.

Today we had an Easter egg hunt in the greenbelt with some neighbors. It was surprising how the eggs actually hid pretty well in the tall patches of grass. It also is amazing how quickly the 11 kids found all the eggs.

Kaboom

Last night we has some pretty good storms. Cole had woken up at 3 a.m. because he couldn't find froggy and a storm followed. He spent time off and on in our bed for the next 2 hours whenever the thunder was coming. One time I told him he could come back if it started to thunder and make a kaboom sound. He came in and told me, "Mommy, it kaboom". How can you refuse a kid like that from coming in your bed?

Froggy mishaps

Yesterday we had a new one. Froggy got a bath due to him falling in the toliet. Neither Chad or I was with him when he went to the bathroom. But somehow, Froggy took a swim. Luckily, Cole wasn't too upset when he had to use a substitute to sleep with for nap time.

Dora

All this time I thought my son has been calling Dora, "Dora, Bora". It would make sense to me, it rhymes. He says "owie, bowie, tu-tu, towie" for no reason. But my daughter just informed me that Cole is saying "Dora explorer". And I think she's correct. Dora is an explorer. Hmmm, it actually makes MORE sense that way.

Makaila quote

We were talking about a boy in Makaila's class who still sucks his thumb and the teacher tells him to stop. I was thinking she should have empathy for this since she too was a thumb sucker and had to work at it to stop. I reminded her how it was hard to stop. Her response was, "it's like drugs." Apparently kindergardeners do pay attention at Red Ribbon week. Sucking your thumb is like drugs, it's hard to stop.

Little Boo-Boo issues

Don't know what is up with my kids lately. Chad and I were wondering whose children we had this weekend. Ours occassionally fight, but not too often. The last 3 mornings we've had to break up a fight before 7:30 in the morning and on Saturday there were actually TWO by that time.

When we were last in Arizona, Cole started calling his Uncle Keith "Little Boo-Boo". Don't know where it came from, but he did. Since he doesn't get to see Uncle Keith very often, he has started calling Makaila "little Boo-Boo". It doesn't really mean anything. It's not a good or a bad thing. But for some reason Makaila does NOT like it. She has repeatedly asked Cole not to call her that. Now we're at the point where we have to discipline him for doing it.

I'm hoping that the fighting is a really SHORT phase that goes along with Cole's strange CRABBINESS that's been happening this past week. One day last week I just felt like NOTHING was making Cole happy. Hoping that will be soon a far memory.

Spring planting

Yesterday we did our annual flower planting to beautify the front of our house. Really, just once a year. Neither of us really have a green thumb so it is just dumb luck if something grows well for us. I am always a little sad how it looks so colorful up close, but from the street you can't see much of it. Well, hopefully when those flowers get as tall as they are supposed to get. I think the saddest part of the whole thing is how sore my body is from one day of working in the garden. Darn Texas soil. At least the kids had fun playing with the worms and roley poley bugs we found.

quotes

Latest cute kid quotes.

Makaila says, "this is SO fiction. A tomato, talking?" when I put in the Veggie Tales Easter video.

Cole says, "I like it when you run with me" after convincing me to run across the parking lot with him. The same morning he was shooting or throwing balls around his room and I heard him say, "Awesome!". I guess that's what happends when there's an older sibling!

We were talking about a girl the same age as Cole that didn't talk as much. His response was, "I talk LOUD."