Birthday Gift for Moi

My wonderful mother-in-law has spoiled me rotten and given me this wonderful (and pretty) camera for my birthday. Ours broke and we are all so, so, so grateful! Thank you! It takes great pictures, which I will post when I have more time! :)

Baking

It is 100 degrees. Again. Please bring back my 75 degree weather!!! I am baking!

Sleep, Please!

Yesterday Alisa woke up bouncing up and down in her crib, yelling cheerily, "Mama! Mama!" It would have been really cute, except it was 4:00 am!!! I tried to get in there before Jake woke up, but failed. So we were a very awake family (minus Scott, who slept on) for over an hour. Alisa finally went back to sleep. Jake and I were on the couch. I tried to sleep, he tried to persuade me to give him some food. I dozed off around 6 and was in and out (thanks to Jake's persistence) until 7. Wow, what a night. At least Scott got some sleep!

On that same note, Alisa is in a funk. She won't go to sleep until 9:30 pm (it's been two weeks) and will scream inconsolably in her crib, keeping her brother awake. It has been rough. Especially since I'm already pretty tired! Today she fell asleep on our walk at 10:30, so maybe by bedtime she will be ready to sleep again! Cross your fingers.

Misprint?

I just read an email from Redbox that said the Elmo movie was rated PG-13... what?! Really?

Tonight Jake was jumping from his horse (at the foot of his bed) onto his bed. We sat down to get Alisa dressed and he said, "Excuse me, parents, but I have to jump!" What a little man! Parents? Never heard that one before.

Easter and the Haps

We had so many pre-Easter egg hunts we chose not to have one the day of Jake's party (Saturday before Easter Sunday). So the Easter bunny just left some baskets with eggs filled with candy and fruit snacks for the kiddos. They were thrilled, and actually gobbled up the fruit snacks before touching the candy. My deprived kids. No fruit snacks. 

On Easter Sunday we got up early so Scott and I could sing in church with our friends, Ginger and Lee. It was a great Sunday. After our own little Easter dinner (ham, potatoes, rolls, green beans), Scott gave a lesson on the Resurrection of Jesus. Some funny things happened during it. I hope they aren't sacrilegious to share. 

First, Alisa started humming the Darth Vador theme song while Scott was showing pictures of the crucifixion. Then when he was talking about Jesus having owies in his hands and feet after the Resurrection, Alisa sang (to the tune of Old McDonald), "Jesus owies in the hands. E-I-E-I-O!" We were trying not to laugh. At least she was listening!

Here are the kids in their Easter outfits. We are getting pictures taken this Saturday... it's been a year! Can't wait (to get the pictures back. Taking pictures is not that fun...).

Last week Alisa said, "I wub poo" without prompting! She has said it ever since and it's the SWEETEST thing. She also says, "Where's Jakey? I dunno!" and other funny little phrases. She is getting much more verbal lately. She's also really into colors, but doesn't know them at all. She picks up whatever and says, "green!" or "blue!" She is mostly right about pink, though. She'll get it. I feel like a slacker because I am pretty sure that Jake knew his colors before two. Oh, well.

Jake started swim lessons at the Y last week. It was a rough first day. He is such a fish, just had a hard time with the first one. So I finally got sick of him whining and clinging to me. I picked him up by the hands, dangled him in the water, and dropped him in. I know, I sound like a MEAN MOM. But really, his teacher held him for about one minute, then he warmed up. He was at the wall dunking his head in over and over, and volunteering to be the first at the kick board, the jumps, etc. He really is a fish. I hope we can swim as much this year as last year. He got really good and was diving into Lake Powell from the shore by August. He now LOVES swim lessons, by the way. It was for his own good, right???

Happy Birthday, Jake!

We had one crazy week last week! So busy! Glad it's over!

We started the day with pancakes and ended it with a small birthday cake. He was thrilled.

Jake opened his presents in the morning and was pretty hyper the whole day.

He kept saying, "Is I four yet?" and then answering, "no" until after the cake. I can't believe my baby's four! 

We had a very small Pirate Party (in our very small house, so we had to simplify, condense, and invite only a few). We pinned the patch on the pirate (due to inclement weather and thanks to Scott's artistic abilities), dug for buried treasure, and went on a small treasure hunt. We ate chicken nuggets, fruit, and capri suns, followed by pirate birthday cake. The kids gobbled up the nuggets and fruit, but didn't touch the cake or ice cream (besides Alisa, who will always eat!). 

X marks the spot--they found the treasure bags. I made them out of felt squares and filled them with candy and mardi gras beads. By far the biggest hit was the ring pop.

Scott's art work. I figure this would go over better than my stick figure pirate. Alisa was really scared of it. She was clinging to me or Scott for an hour saying, "Yucky eye!" and pointing at the pirate. In the end (the next day) she was brave enough to pat him and affectionately say, "pirate!"

Ring pops--Yum!

Lunch. I've never seen this group so quiet and focused on eating.

Pirate cake

Birthday Celebration and Ballerina

At Jake's preschool, Mrs. Morales has a tin can birthday cake. She sticks some candles on a lights it, reminded the kids that only grown ups can use matches (smart teacher--we love her!). Jake was thrilled that it was his turn to celebrate his birthday (we are having an Easter party tomorrow on his real birthday). Here he is... what a big boy!

Jake refused to look at me for a picture.

Alisa's new ballerina swimsuit, courtesy of Grandma Seaman. I wouldn't be able to resist, either! It's so so so cute!

Broken camera=no blog posts!

Well, since our camera takes some jerry-rigging (sp?) to work, we haven't taken pictures lately. Here are the very few I have taken over the past month. 

Here's me with my sister, Lisa, Jake, and Alisa at Disneyland. Scott came, too! This was a fun day... but as I mentioned the next day at California Adventure wasn't as fun! Not such a flattering picture of me, but oh, well.

Here's Alisa being a cutie and sticking my keys in her ear. 

What a cheeser! She's getting so big!

Still posing... love my little princess!

We had a great Conference weekend, along with an ice cream/outdoor movie party with dental friends. We continued our tradition of going to the chapel for the Sunday am session. Our kids were pretty good and it kept us on a schedule. 

I am losing my mind lately and can't remember what I was going to write. We are well and busy. 

Here's an excerpt from the hilarious book "How Murray Saved Christmas" that I posted about earlier, just to give you an idea of how hilarious it is:

(Murray is subbing for Santa and runs into a little 6 year old)

The boy exclaimed, "Santa!" And Murray said, "Where?

Oh, right, you mean me. Yes, I'm Santa, I swear!

Get a load of this laugh--Ho, ho, ho!" Murray chuckled,

But just as he chuckled, his belt came unbuckled, 

And his pants, which were loose, went down straight past his knees.

"MURRAY KLEINER" was stitched on his silk BVDs!

The boy looked perplexed, so he said "Please explain,

Why you and your underpants have different names?"

Betrayed by his boxers. Let down by his pants.

Murray knew a good story would be his best chance.

So he said, "Murray Kleiner's a famous designer. 

Calvin Klein may be fine, see, but Kleiner is finer."

"Are you sure you're Santa? You don't have a beard.

Your suit is all baggy. You smell kind of weird."

"I shaved off the beard. Mrs. Clause said it tickles. 

... And I went on a diet--club soda and pickles.

That should explain why I'm beardless and belly-less.

The pickles would also account for my smelliness. 

So there, I've explained. I've made everything clear."

And then the boy asked him to name his reindeer.

Murray hummed and he hawed--he did not know this stuff, 

So he huffed and he puffed and proceeded to bluff:

"There's Dumbo and Jumbo and Mason and Dixon, 

Cosmo and Kramer and Richard M. Nixon."

Murray looked at him hopefully, "How did I do?"

"You're a fake!" the boy cried. "I guess Santa is, too."

It doesn't end there, of course, but there's a taste of how funny this book is. Someday I will own it. For now, I will keep checking it out from the library. I wish I could post it all here. It's great.