family blog

we’ve been busy these past few weeks. doing what, i don’t remember, but it sure seemed like we were on the go.

we had our first trip to the emergency room for thomas. somehow, he slipped and fell to the ground, tore up his lip, and jammed his front tooth up and back. we were mostly concerned about the tooth.

we were advised by the on call dentist to go to urgent care. at urgent care, we were advised to go to the emergency room. at the emergency room, we were advised to take him to the dentist on monday.

the dentist did confirm that the tooth had been pushed up. the root was still in tact, though. she said that the tooth may straightened back out. tom and i, thinking about the adult tooth, wanted her to pull it. she said that it would cause more injury to pull it and suggested letting it fall out on its own.

the lip is all healed. the tooth has straightened back to almost its previous spot. but the tooth has started discoloring.

he will go back into the dentist in 2 weeks to check how things are going.

kayla celebrated her sixth birthday. she went back and forth on having a party but finally decided not to, because she said she just wanted it to be our family.

it was so neat that she could actually read her own birthday cards.

daddy bought her a skateboard and a new bike. they should fit her until she’s 18

she also got a hannah montanna makeup kit from her friend. she wasted no time getting herself dolled up before dinner.

she picked out the restaurant for dinner, olive garden. she has been craving it since we ate there when grandma was in town, last october. tom and i chuckled quite a bit at the restaurant. she ordered calamari and fettucine alfredo. she drank her raspberry lemonade from the wine glass, holding it very properly and making toasts. she is just so fancy.

she had a great birthday. thanks for all the cards and calls and gifts.

today was the last day of school. there was a little kindergarten celebration. the class sang their school song, then each child stood up and said what they wanted to be when they grow up. almost all the boys said they wanted to be a fighter jet pilot. almost all the girls said they wanted to be teachers. kayla said she wanted to be a singer.

so, summer is here. i’m looking forward to spending my days them.

hope you all have a great summer!

in a few weeks, she’ll be home for the summer. whew - kindergarten sure flew by!

i’m actually really looking forward to the summer and having them home. we signed up for some classes at the community center and swimming lessons. hoping to balance out activity with lots of down time. and freezie pops.

k finished her 2 week session of swimming. she can swim underwater for about 10 feet on her own. still needs some work on her back float.

k had some trouble with a boy in her class ( this is the same boy that hurt her feelings awhile back. )

m: maybe we should pray for him.

k: why?

m: because God says we should love our enemies and pray for them.

k: why would we want to do that?

and honestly, even as adults, don’t we feel the same way?

i’ve been working with t on letters and numbers and cutting and pasting.

he is so serious.

or not. i tell you, his facial expressions are funny.

soccer season is over. her team only lost 1 game. they have quite a few scrappy players on the team. she got a trophy, ribbon, and medallion that she wore with much pride.

if i could keep him 3 forever, i would. i love this age.

and…

she finally lost her first tooth.

k had a sock hop at school this morning. lots of twisting and shouting. limbos and hula-hoops. even the hand jive. lots of fun for the kids.

it took me a few days to get back into the routine. the kids, i’ve come to realize, are made of rubber. they seem to bounce back instantly.

kayla and the bad news bears are still going strong.

they held a jesse perez field day at school. there were lots of fun games - wheelbarrows, relays, egg toss, tug of war…

she also started swimming lessons again. i tried to sign up thomas but the class was full. i hope to get him into one this summer.

we read books everyday. sometimes, he’ll read to me.

in one book, there was just a baby cow.

m: oh, what’s going to happen to the cow? who’s going to take care of him?

t: i don’t know. sister’s at school, daddy’s at work.

m; where’s the mommy?

t: she went to a meeting.

we have new neighbors and they have kids, ages 8,7, and 4. they love having someone to play with so close by. one day, all the kids were out riding in the cul de sac and k said, ” we’re having a bike party.”

other than that, not much going on around here.

except for the bees.

i was too panicky to take pictures of them.

but we are now bee-free.

a few favorites from our trip home.

they are truly cousins, and yet look so different. the kids had so much fun with peyton. thomas keeps asking to go play with him again.

dyeing easter eggs at nana’s. the kids were filled with lots of goodies. thanks making it so fun!

they loved that the park was right across the street.

a favorite, taken by kayla.

a few from easter.

the third or fourth time, used the timer. that was actually pretty fun. and i heart this picture so much.

lots of fun with the wii.

we had a great trip.

we miss you all so much.

we’ll have to try to convince you all to move to arizona

i received a gentle nudge to  update the site.

thanks, dad.

look for an update by thursday.

kayla was supposed to start school last tuesday but she got sick the night before.

but she rested and was able to go to school on wednesday.

thomas has been getting a little ornery with me, so this is what i do to him when he acts up.

the kids have a cd in the car that we have been listening to constantly. after we dropped kayla off, thomas asked me to stop the cd at their favorite song. he wanted to wait for kayla to get out of school so that they could listen to it together.

isnt’ that sweet? i mean, i get 10 minutes of child free music?? yes! yes! yes!

kayla got her third quarter report card on thursday. she is doing great!

my baby loves cheese and crackers.

does anybody ever wonder why i always take pictures of him eating?

because when i look through pictures, i think boy, does he eat all the time?

and well…yes…he does.

somebody asked me what i’m doing with all the pictures i’ve taken. when i get a chance, i scrapbook. here’s a recent page - you might recognize the photo.

don’t get me started on scrapbooking, now.

on friday, they had spring pictures at school and they were allowed to be out of uniform. when we got to school, there was only a number of kids who were dressed up. kayla cried and said she wanted to go back home and change into her uniform because she didn’t want to be the only one dressed up. we talked it over and she calmed down and was okay.

boy, does it start this young?

i’ve been reading a lot of parenting books lately. been really thinking about some things i’d like to do for the kids.

i have to say, he is really amazing. and right now, nothing brings me more peace than this.

later that night, they went out and took off the training wheels.

within a couple of hours, she was pretty wobbly, but she was doing it all on her own.

she couldn’t wait to get home the next day to ride her bike.

look at her go!

they have been riding bikes every day after school. i’m happy i live in a cul-de-sac. i just pull out my chair and sit and watch them ride around.

i got so sick on monday night. i had to call tom home early from work on tuesday. i was so tired and my head was throbbing. i’m feeling much better now.

kayla finally has her first loose tooth! she has been wiggling it around all day.

on saturday, peyton turned 6! happy birthday! we’ve heard how big and handsome and smart you’ve gotten! we can’t wait to see you soon!

on tuesday, we met some friends at a nearby park.

unless i’m bribing them, this is how they react when i say, ” hey, look over here and smile! ” i know they must hate my camera, so i make sure i place it in a spot they can’t reach.

on wednesday, we ran errands. this is what she wears to walmart.

and she took about 20 minutes to decide on shoes.

dear Lord, please help me.

well, good thing i have him.

he calls me “boss.”

actually, now that i think about it, he calls everyone “boss.”

hmmm…never mind then.

on thursday, we went to my mom’s group easter egg hunt.

on friday, we stayed in.

on saturday, kayla had her first soccer game. it was so much fun! i was telling kayla, ” wow! that was the best game i’ve ever been to! ” and tom looked over at me and said, ” what about all my games? ”

kayla got a couple of kicks and almost scored a goal. her team won 4 to 1.

afterwards, we went out for ice cream.

tom has been working so hard lately. we really do appreciate him, but the kids miss him terribly. thomas, my little boy who is rarely affectionate, told his daddy one day last week, ” daddy, i don’t want you to go to work. i want you to stay home with me. ” for him to say that is huge and totally melted our hearts.

on sunday, he even asked me to take a picture of the heart sticker he got from his sunday school teacher for knowing his bible verse.

that there is his posed smile - which is why i chose to take candids

kayla is back to school this week. it sure has been busy and fun having her home. i know thomas will miss her.

oh, yeah… (cough, cough) me, too

first of all, happy birthday, aunt melissa. hope you liked our singing

the other day, kayla wanted uncle joe noodles.

k: why do we call them uncle joe noodles?

m: because when uncle joe lived with us, he used to eat them and whenever you saw him eating it, you wanted some. but they’re really not uncle joe noodles. they’re really called ramen noodles. should we just start calling them ramen noodles from now on?

k: no, i still want to call them uncle joe noodles.

a new season of dancing with the stars has begun and we are in full effect in this house. she loves that show.

on friday, we met some friends at the park. they are in our bible study group so they also saw us on thursday night. i had to laugh when my friend asked me how many lightning mcqueen shirts thomas has. that’s because he wore one on thursday and a different one on friday. he also has a hat, a watch, many different sizes of their cars - and maybe a “tad” more things. but he still loves them.

speaking of our bible study group, the kids are all boys, except for kayla and one little baby girl, whose still under a year. kayla asked why we couldn’t have any girls for her to play with. so we told her, the criteria for the next family to join us is that they must have a daughter kayla’s age. i’m sure God would understand

later that day, i took the kids to our town’s ostrich festival. they had such a good time - going on rides, watching pig races, riding a real pony, eating hot dogs, seeing a clown show. lots and lots of smiles from these two.

today, we went to an aloha festival. it was pretty crowded but we still had a good time. tom kept remarking what a beautiful day out it was.

this here is my little family, who i am so in love with.

i forgot to mention that my boy got a haircut on sunday. his daddy did it for him and he cried the whole time. even though he didn’t want to wear the apron, he didn’t want hair all over him either. go figure.

even with the new do, he’s still not into getting his picture taken.

yesterday, we drove into the city to visit the children’s museum. the kids had such a wonderful time. on the drive over, the kids had this conversation.

k: thomas, do you want to hear something really gross?

t: yeah.

k: birds do not have a potty. when they go poop, it just falls on the sidewalk or on your car.

t: ewww!

k: the bird poop might fall on your head.

t: no, it (does) not!

k: yes, it can.

t: no, it (does) not!

k: uh-huh!

t: momma, kayla says bird poop is going to fall on my head!

don’t let those big, innocent eyes fool you. i think she secretly loved teasing him.

after a little trip to the park this morning, we came home and had ice cream sandwiches. thomas is just like me, in that he does not like sticky or dirty hands.

see, here he’s not trying to avoid the camera. he’s trying to tell me he needs his hands wiped because the ice cream sandwich is dripping. that’s where the similarity ends. if that happened to me, i’d just lick my fingers clean. no sense in wasting good ice cream. my boy, however, likes to actually wipe his hands clean.

amateur.