Growing Pains

I know I haven't posted all summer. Did you miss me? Probably not. You were probably enjoying summer as much as I was.  But summer has ended, school has started and brought with it (ironically) the hottest weather of the summer. 

Rebecca started third grade and got off the bus proclaiming: "I LOVE my teacher!"
Joseph started Pre-K at Rebecca's school. It was a miracle that he got the very last spot they had to offer. He was very nervous but let me go without a problem, so it was successful!  

I love my kiddos.  It made me emotional to let each one of them go.  I'm so glad they're a part of my life.

Heritage Park Cerritos

Ever since I went there last year I've had the desire to go back to Heritage Park and take pictures of my kids. I tried today, but it was incredibly challenging without another adult to help me with the baby. The ones I took of all three kids didn't turn out because Theo would NOT sit still on Rebecca's lap.

I've had a secret desire to learn to become a good portrait photographer. I know it's going to take time, and all I can do right now is learn from books, but hopefully someday I can start understanding the physics behind it all and learn to take good pictures. I just hope I learn before my kids are too big! Right now I'm doing everything on automatic, and I want to learn how to use my camera properly. We'll get there eventually, right?!

Bagel Bros

You've heard of the Muffin Man, but do you know the Bagel Bros?

Superboy T

He might fool you pretending to be an innocent builder.



He might fool you because he's so cute you just want to eat him up when you see him.



But when you're not looking and help is needed: Superboy is here!



Quick as a flash he's back to building again. What an innocent face! Where did Superboy go?



But don't worry. If you need him, Superboy will be back and will save the day-complete with his sidekick Big Bro.

Conversations around the house

(painting with Opa, Christmas 2010)

These conversations are probably only funny to me (their mom), but I wanted to document them so I wouldn't forget them.

Rebecca one day: "Mom, I smell like lemon. I smelled my skin and I smelled lemon."

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Rebecca to Joseph whose piggy bank money was all over the floor:
"Can I have your money?"

J: "Sure. (pause)
But only for one day."


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Joseph to Mommy:

"I'm don't want a baby anymore."

M: "You mean you think we should give him back?"

J: "Yes. I want to be a normal family again. Just a mom and dad and kids. No baby."

Men are from Mars, kids are out of this world!

We were looking at a book about space last night and so today we started practicing the names of the planets. Joseph would repeat after me.

Me: "Uranus."

Joseph: "Is that where the rain comes from?"

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M: "What planet do we live on?"

Joseph: "World!"

M: "Well, we call it earth."

J: "What's world?"

M: "Another name for our earth."

J: "Like it's last name?"

M: "Well, no, not really..."

J: "It's middle name?"

A new Sunbeam

Hard to believe, but my little Joseph started sunbeams yesterday. I was worried about the transition since he was very attached to his nursery leader, but he did fine and came out of his classroom singing "do as I'm doing" and "once there was a snowman" all the way home. He brought our famous "sunbeam hat" to church and wore it walking all the way from the chapel to the primary room and kept it on for singing time. Whatever it takes to make the transition smooth, right?

He proudly announced to Great-grandma Darlene that he is not in nursery anymore. We sang "Jesus wants me for a 'sunbean' " over and over last night. I think it's going to be a good year.

Joseph-isms

Mommy: "Before Theo came to our family he was in heaven."

Joseph: "Theo didn't like it in heaven."

M: "Why?"

J: "It was too dusty."

M: "What kind of dust?"

J: "Cloud dust."

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Definitions according to a 3 year old:

I was handing Buzz Lightyear to Joseph and I said: "Here's Buzz."

He must not have liked how I pronounced Buzz because he said:

"His name is not Bus. It's BUZZ. A BUS is a BUS and BUZZ is BUZZ."

Joseph the engineer

Joseph loves playing, wrestling etc. with Theo. Joseph sat down with Theo like this and requested I take their picture. They are already great friends.

Today Joseph discovered blocks at a new level. It probably would have happened sooner, but they've been out of reach. I was impressed by his creations.



Joseph's ship with a diving board for diving off. (blue)



Joseph's spaceship. Please note the symmetry and the colors being used together. He also separated his screws by color and type in his little tool box cubby holes the other day.



Joseph walked into my room like this. I was pretty impressed that he got them all on his fingers by himself. He's not smiling in the picture, but he thought it was the funniest thing and was laughing when he walked in.

My joys

This big little guy makes me smile! 17 pounds at four months! I don't think I could possibly enjoy a baby more. What a joy. I love how he puts his soft little chubby hands on either side of my face and pulls my face into his and plants a big, slobbery kiss on my cheek.




I love it when babies fall asleep on the floor in the middle of everything going on.



Theo continues to feel so comfortable in Rebecca's arms.



Joseph and Theo are good buddies. Theo trusts Joseph more now and frequently laughs at Joseph's silly faces and antics. When Theo is lying down Joseph loves to lie down on top of him or next to him and roll with him. A common phrase around here is :"Don't squash the baby!"







A little sitting up here and there at 4 1/2 months! Theo has been our strongest baby even though the others were strong and sat up early, too. He has been pulling himself forward for awhile now whenever he sits on your lap or is the bouncy seat or the car seat. He wants to get going with R and J!

Conversations around the house

Photo taken at Heritage Park in Cerritos

Rebecca as she was holding a dripping wet washcloth up to her eyes:

R:"You never told me only to put nail polish on my nails."

Me in disbelief:"You mean you put it on your skin?"

R: "Yes, and it's stinging now."

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Rebecca to me after Joseph spilled a bottle of water on the floor:
"We won't let Joseph have water any more. Only if he needs a drink of water or needs to wash his hands." (Good insights there. Not so easy on the follow through.)

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Rebecca frustrated with Joseph who was taking some time out of their game to talk to the baby:
"You can't play with the baby if you're a knight!"

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Warren to Joseph: "Let me wipe your nose."

J: "Why?"

W:"There is something black on it."

J: "That's Becca's make-up. We were playing mermaids!"

Joseph's first swimming lesson

Rebecca started swimming lessons at age 3, so this year when I was signing her up and Joseph (now 3) begged to start I decided to go for it. He is more shy and so I was worried about how he would do and whether it would be a waste of money or not. At first it looked like he wouldn't get in, but a teacher just grabbed him and took him in and he was fine. He wouldn't blow bubbles in the water, but he did kick and go out in the water with his teacher. It was very cute to watch. When he was done he got out and declared: "I DID IT!"






During family night Rebecca did a little photo shoot.



Not sure what was going on here.





That's one tired momma.

Three little piggies

I like pointing out interesting pictures to my kids that I see in the newspaper. Today I saw a picture of a wolf and showed it to Joseph at the breakfast table.

He looked at me and asked in all seriousness: "Is he going to blow the house down?"

My best friend

Rebecca did a little photo shoot with her brother the other day. There were many more pictures, but I just chose some of the best to give you a feel for their activity. I know the quality isn't great, but the drawing and writing she did during her free time at school today says it all. They are best friends and have a lot of fun together. What more could a mother want?

Cute

(Btw, for anyone who gets bored of so many pictures of my kids, just remember, both sets of grandparents live overseas, so we are sharing lots of our daily life for their sakes.)

Happy Valentines Day 2010!

For Valentines Day I'm sharing with you Rebecca's sweet thank you card to her daddy. No one told her to do it, she surprised us completely. You might need to click on it to be able to enlarge it and read the words.

For Valentines Day I'm also showing you what my son wore to church today. It wasn't his fault. I let him sleep till the very last second because we had had a late night and so brought his clothes with me. Alas, when it was too late to turn around (because I was the organist responsible for the prelude music) we realized I had brought everything but the shirt. I thought it would look a little strange to have him in a vest and pants, so we left the pj's on. I was embarrassed enough that instead of our usual spot near the front we sat in the overflow (after all, it was ward conference today and the whole Stake Presidency was visiting), but I wasn't embarrassed enough to go home afterwards and get his church. He went to nursery in his jammies. When we got home and were taking his jammies off he said: "Mommy forgot my shirt, and my pants..." (which was only half true) and he laughed and laughed at how funny he thought that was. Glad that was his reaction.

Happy Valentines Day dear Friends and Family.
I love and appreciate your friendship, your comments, your emails, your phone calls, your kindness and love. I hope you had a wonderful day today.

Joseph's plans for the future

"When I grow up I want to be a garbage truck guy and a digger guy and a builder guy and a spaceship guy."

Daddy Daughter Date

Rebecca all ready for Daddy.
Joseph wanted to be in the picture, too.

Rebecca's school hosted a Daddy Daughter Dance. I'm not sure who was more excited-Rebecca or me. I couldn't wait for her to have this experience. She picked her hair-do off a hair-do website, I let her wear some blush and lip gloss and she was ready to go. Joseph could tell that something special was going on that didn't include him and it made him sad. So after they left I made sure he felt special, too. We had mommy-son time and took some crazy pictures, had a bubble bath and cuddled at bed time. When we were taking pictures Joseph would instruct me on what kinds of faces to make. Even though I'm alone with Joseph every day while Rebecca is at school it somehow still felt special to have an evening date with my little guy.

Rebecca loved the dance and had a great time getting her dad's full and undivided attention. The next day she wrote him a thank you card all of her own making. So sweet.

Grumpy

Surprised



Silly

Happy