Valentines Day 2012

Valentines morning came bright and early, and the boys were super excited to see the Valentine Breakfast Table set and ready. 

While I made our Valentine Breakfast Nathan and Bracken peaked in their pouches to get their surprise.

 

We gave them each a superhero monster truck and they were besides themselves with monster truck happiness.

 And here is the adorable Valentine that Nathan made for me at preschool.  We have a basket that we display our most favorite valentines in from over the years and this one is definately joining the bunch to be brought out and read year after year.

I took a vote and my family wanted to eat strawberry pancakes again this year and just like last year they were totally scrumptious.

I had a physical therapy appointment so I had to jet and miss out on eating with my 3 boys, but Curtis did a great job carying on without me.

While I was at physial therapy Curtis made sugar cookies with the boys.  When I came home we made mini heart shaped fruit pizzas to give to some friends and family. 

Curtis and I were able to go out to dinner while the kidlets played at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  We went to Olive Garden because we had a gift certificate and we thought why spend money when we can go out for free.  Olive Garden was of course super crowded, we had a 40 minute wait.  During our wait in the lobby we got to sample some appetizers and we listened to Curtis's MP3 player which we almost busted out some dance moves to.  So all in all the wait time flew by and before we knew it we were feasting on breadsticks and salad.  It was a Valentines Day Date to remember.

Nate's Valentines

Nathan loves his preschool.  He loves his teacher, his classmates, taking his own lunch and he really loves the holiday parties.  He gets super excited for them.  He helped me put together a goody bag for each of his preschool friends, and he wrote their names and his name on each valentine card all by himself.  He did a great job!  He also wanted to share a little balloon sword love, with his preschool so I pumped up one for each friend plus a few extras in case there were any casualties.  He was very proud of his valentines efforts and couldn't wait to get to school and get the party started!

After school he happily opened and "read" each of his valentines and chose to first try this giant chocolate monkey.  He only made it through half of the head.

Ankle Progress

As of February 6th, I am cast FREE!!!!

After another round of xrays I was cleared for take off.  No more heavy cast and no more ugly cast shoe!Walking without the cast felt really strange.  My foot was floppy and weak and in serious need of some scrubbing.  I have a brace I am supposed to wear when I am out and about, the only problem is with the swelling plus the brace my footwear options are incredibly limited.  I had to purchase some lace up shoes in size 11 to fit it all comfortably. 

The morning after my cast came off I took a bath to let my leg soak and I spent 30 minutes alternating between scrubbing and shaving.  The water was nasty from all the scabs and dead skin that came off.  After the bath I took a shower for a whole body clean.  I was extremely grateful to say goodbye to my 2 trusty garbage bags that kept my splint and then my cast water free for 5 weeks.  I will not miss trying to bend over my belly and situate my leg in those bags.

My ankle is really stiff, swollen and extremely limited in movement, but I can walk on it.  I have started physical therapy to help regain normal use of my ankle.  I go 3 times a week for 1 1/2 hours, alternating between the pool and "Land" as they call it or the work out floor.  On PT days I am wiped out.  It sure takes a lot of energy to grow a baby and heal an ankle.

Even though I am not back to normal, and I still walk with a  limp and it will be several months before I can wear any heels I am extremely grateful to have come this far.  I will not be sporting a cast when I give birth and I have enough energy and capability to take care of my home and family.  Here's to the next stage of this unexpected adventure! 

Family Birthday Bash

On the eve of Nathan's birthday we had all our family over for dinner and celebrations.  Nathan chose nachos for his birthday dinner again this year, I guess he really likes nachos.

It is always fun, and a bit chaotic, when all the cousins get together but they sure have a great time.

The Birthday Cake. 

Nathan saw a picture of this cake online and immediately declared it was the cake for him.  It didn't disappoint.  The cake was delicious, not to mention adorable.  We used the football candles again in honor of the Super Bowl.  Nathan's birthday usually falls near Super Bowl weekend.  We aren't Super Bowl people but we did have it playing on the computer for those of our family who wanted to watch it.  I love the Super Bowl because it is the one time a year that guacamole goes on sale!

Look at that pleased face!

He got them all in one blow!

All the cousins wanted to have a hands on experience with opening the presents.  Luckily Nathan was just as eager to rip into them so he didn't mind the extra help.  Once the gifts were all unwrapped, the kids went crazy playing with the new toys and we all enjoyed cake and ice cream.  It was a birthday bash to remember!

Birthday Boy

On Sunday February 5th, Nathan turned 5!

I can hardly believe that 5 years have passed since he came into our lives.  I have been there every step of the way watching him grow, but there are moments when I am stunned at how grown up he is.

Stats:

weight 47 lbs

height 45 1/2"

Nathan loves life.  He is all about fun, activities and action.  Just about every day, the very first thing he asks me is "So Mom, what are we doing today?" He wants the daily run down of everything cool and wonderful for him to look forward to.  The down side to this ritual is we don't have cool and wonderful things happening every day, at least not things that he thinks are cool, like laundry.  On those days my answer is "Who knows Nate, the day is only beginning,  You have your amazing imagination to take you where ever you want to go!"  His response is usually a sigh or groan. 

Sometimes Nathan has a difficult time enjoying the moment. He gets in the rut of thinking "the grass is greener on the other side."  The next activity will be better so we should do it right now!  I am trying to help him realize that mentality never satisfies.  He resists it but after a while he relaxes and finds himself having a blast and not thinking that something else would be more fun.

Nathan loves to help with projects and household chores, especially if it means helping get the job done faster so we can plan on a fun activity.  On days when Curtis is home, Nathan follows him everywhere.  He wants to be in the thick of it, painting, drilling, hammering, weeding, you name it.  If Pappi is doing it so is Nathan.  He also likes to help me out with the household jobs.  He dusts, vacuums, shines windows/mirrors and does a good enough job that I don't bother redoing it after him, which is saying a lot about his cleaning skills.  He really likes to help me cook and bake.  He is in heaven if I let him use a "real" knife to chop veggies.

Nathan still has some issues with throwing fits, but he has assured us that since he is 5 now, he won't throw fits anymore.  I have already had to remind him of that promise several times.

Nathan is still 100% percent boy.  He loves sports of all kinds and he is good at them.  He is very coordinated and capable for a little dude.  He has been able to dribble a ball since he was 4, and can even make a basket on Pappi's hoop when it's on the lowest level.  He has discovered a love of climbing trees as long as they have low branches.  Nathan adores monster trucks, car races, and shooting guns.  He is still out to get the "malo corre camino" that frequents our neighborhood.  And his bike, scooter and skate board get used very frequently.  

Coloring, drawing and writing are becoming more and more interesting to him as he grows older.  His coloring pages from church used to consist of a few spare squiggles from one color of crayon.  Now he attempts to color most of the picture and even attempts to stay in the lines.  He really enjoys his preschool and is absorbing everything he learns there.  He is still very inquisistive and asks a million questions a day.   

Funny Nathan Tidbits:

Nathan thinks he is an expert on China.  If you ask him where he wants to serve his mission he responds "China, and I'm going to meet the Karate Kid and be his friend!"  At least once a day Nathan mentions China in some random manner, why people in China do certain things, like certain things, say certain things etc.  For example, while eating food that includes ketchup, he always brings up the fact that: "In China, people eat ketchup on everything!  In their water, on their toast, they even dip their banans in it."  And he is completely serious and animated as he is explaining this to us.

Nathan LONGS to have a Wii of his very own.  He has friends and cousins who have Wii's and he will play them as long as he possibly can when ever he can.  But when he is inbetween Wii experiences, he plays his imaginary Wii at home.  He stands in front of our blank TV with the DVD player remote in hand, and imagines himself playing his favorite games complete with sound effects and actions. You can't imagine the looks he gets from his Wii owning buddies, when they come play at our house and he asks "Hey, do you want to play imaginary Wii!?!?!"  No they don't.

Nathan has out grown lots of cute little sayings and word pronounciations.  But as he grows older and learns new bigger words, he still has a few funny sayings that are unique to him.

thirst = first

displode = explode

laxtricity = electricity

Hamily Fome Evening = Family Home Evening

We love our Nene, and look forward to another year of experiencing life as he continues on his childhood journey! 

All For Boys

Growing up both Curtis and I mostly had family birthday celebrations with the exception of the special milestone birthdays, such as 8, 12 and so on when we had a bigger birthday party with friends.  Nathan has been excited to turn "5" since he was old enough to know that you start school when you are 5, and when you start school you get to play basketball and football, or at least that is what he thinks.  For Nathan turning 5 was a big deal.  We decided that it was time to through our first friends brithday party and Nathan was super pumped about it.  The whole week before his party he checked with me every day to see how many days were left before the big event.

His birthday fell on a Sunday so we had the party on Saturday February 4th, which meant that all the birthday decor went up early and stuck around for a few days.  Nathan ADORES our special family birthday decorations and he looks forward to them just as much as the presents he anticipates opening. 

My goal for this party was simple: let boys be boys and just have fun!

Nathan invited 6 little boys to join in the fun with him.  Luckily for us the weather was gorgeous which allowed the party to take place in the backyard where little boys do there "thing" best.  We had a hotwheels racing station set up for the boys to play at while we waited for all the guests to arrive.  It never ceases to amaze me how much boys love little hotwheels cars.

When they tired of that we armed each boy with a marshmellow popper and a bag of amonition pinned to their pants for easy and quick access.  These poppers were a GIGANTIC hit!  The boys had fun shooting each other but mostly they enjoyed seeing how high in the sky they could shoot the marshmellows.

  

Bracken was mostly interested in the marshmellows and spent his time gathering them up off the grass as fast as he could and stuffing them in his mouth with both hands.

Birthday Boy Pose: like I said he was really excited for his party.

When the popper hype started to fade (which took a lot longer than I expected and I'm glad they enjoyed them so much) we settled things down with birthday munchies.  We served mini bagel pizzas, carrot sticks, grapes, apples slices, and popcorn.  All the boys loved the food, who doesn't love their own mini pizza.  One of the boys (after devouring 3 pizzas) exclaimed "Nathan's Mom, you  make the best pizza ever!"  I have to give credit to good ingredients, good crust and sauce go a long way for yummy pizza.

For this group of boys, having them all sit still at once is an amazing accomplishment. 

While the boys ate their food, I busted out my ballon shape making skills and pumped up swords as fast as I could.  They all happily finished the fruit and vegies on their plates so they could get their hands on a sword.  Boys + Swords = Crazy Mayhem!  I'm so glad we could have the party outside, plenty of space and nothing to break.

At one point during the sword play, Nathan ran up to me, gave a big hug and said "Mom, this is the best party ever! I love you so much!"  That made all my work worth it, luckily I had the sense to snap a picture of him before he bolted off to play more.

Instead of the traditional birthday cake or cup cake I made ice cream sandwhiches, which as Curtis put it they "were bomb".  The only drawback to our outside party was not being able to light the candles due to a steady breeze.  But we sang Happy Birthday anyway, and moved on to opening the presents.

As we waited for parents to come, the boys ate their ice cream sandwhiches and played more.  When the boys first started to eat their sandwiches they all complained that their cookies were hard, and I patiently pointed out that they had been in the freezer to keep the ice cream from melting.  I told them to just keep eathing and soon they wouldn't be hard any more.  When all was said and done they thought the sandwiches were yummy and they ate every last bit of them.

All in all it was a very succesful first friend birthday party all for boys!



Hiding

This is Bracken's latest "it" spot for hiding.  Usually the bar stool is still in place and he wedges himself between the stool and the counter.  Quite often after eating a meal or snack he "hides" here to avoid getting wiped up.

Cookies With Grandma

One morning Grandma Kleinman came over to watch the boys while I went to an OB apointment.  When I cam home I found them in the midst of baking cookies.  Luckily Grandma is VERY patient because she had her hands full with her 2 oh so very helpful helpers.

Luckily the recipe called for most ingredients in sets of 2, 2 sticks butter, 2 cups flour etc. which allowed both boys the chance to help and keep everything fair and the meltdowns to a minimum.

Using the hand mixer was a group effort.

Once the cooie dough was mixed my kidlets didn't wast time plunging their fingers in for a few little samples.

Thank you Grandma for the wonderful cookies!

Bilingual Smarty Pants

Last Friday evening we had a special visit from Javier.  We have known him and his family since our Flagstaff days at NAU.  He and Curtis were in the Spanish linguistics Masters program together and we have kept in touch ever since.  He, his wife and 2 teenage daughters currently reside in Costa Rica were they oversee the study aboard connections for NAU and Yavapaig College.  Several times a year Javier makes the trip out here to Arizona for business matters and last weekend was one of the times.  He was able to stop at our house for dinner before he hit the road for Flagstaff.

Ever since our boys were in the womb, Curtis has tried to speak 100% Spanish to them.  We are determined to raise bilingual children.  Since I'm not fluent in Spanish I do what I can and we make sure that their media at home is in Spanish.  At times we thought it wasn't going to work out but as the years have passed Nathan has really caught on to Spanish and Bracken is right there with him.

At dinner Javier and Curtis were jabbering away in Espanol, as we call it in our home,  and the boys were following right along with their conversation.  At one point Javier was quizzing Nathan a bit on his Spanish knowledge and he asked (in English) "How do you say Hello, how are you doing? in Spanish?"  Nathan was having one of his rare sky moments and didn't respond.  Bracken turned to Javier and promptly responded "Hola, como estas? See I can do it!"  We all cracked up and Curtis was a very proud Papi.