No more 5

Dear Luke,

We have been counting down for almost 70 days and the big day is finally here. I hope it was all you imagined. It was certainly full of legos. I am a little sad to see my 5 year old slip into a 6 year old. There was something still smallish about 5 and I will miss it a little.

I am so happy you are happy about your age.

Love, Mom

PS Last night I asked you how old you thought I was and you guessed 35....ouch. :)

Friday nights

Some pictures of what happens on a typical Friday night over here...

Violet eating Rockie Road ice cream with Apple Jax on top (blame john)

Katie & Isabella hugging

John & Violet acting inseparable and very cute

Isabella acting silly

Happy F & M Day!

I love kid projects for Father's and Mother's day. This year was no exception.

Mother's Day

Father's Day
(I dig this little nuts and bolts man)

classic

I wasn't convinced that moments like these actually occurred outside Norman Rockwell paintings. But here's the evidence. This was a 'moment' for me.

makes me happy

Just a few things that make me HAPPY!

#1 Rinunculas at Descanso Gardens




#2 Beautiful old cars....oh ya.

Statistics

Charlotte,

I decided to statisize you for the afternoon. Here's how you look in numbers.

Outfits: 4
Screams of frustration: 3
Questions about your birthday: 7
Messes: 5
Self-originationed help: 3
Cute dance moves: 2
Requests to change your name: 4
Requests for music: 3
silently mouthing what you want: 4
Cuteness: off the charts

Horrible photo, great moment

I realize that I can't stop myself from writing because I don't have the perfect photo to go with it. I figured out that is the reason why there are overwhelmingly large gaps in time in this here blog. Thanks for your patience while I figured that out for myself, now on to the real reason I am writing...

After graduation last weekend we went out with a huge group of friends & kiddies and got self-serve frozen yogurt (oh yum yum yum). Afterwards the kids played tag and one of the dads organized and entertained them, what was it....8, 9 children?? Anyway, it was such a great night. I love that we have such a beautiful crowd of people in our lives. Pretty thankful right now.

Cucumber Farmer

Charlotte & Grandpa planted cucumbers a few months ago and they have been painstakingly caring for them. Yesterday was "harvest day." They were pretty stoked.

Graduation

Lucas graduated Kindergarten this year, which is very exciting. He can read & write and draw like a maniac. We are very proud.

Lucas & Nana Jeniffer

Lucas & da boys belting out their songs

Charlotte sings!!! This is her one stage appearance.
The rest of the time she scowled at the audience, as is her performing modus operandi.

At first Lucas was too shy to come on stage by himself so John assisted.

Our boy graduates. That's his teacher Cecilia Ash.


Our niece graduates.

Charlotte graduates.

Getting ready for Graduation

With two kids and myself all in the show the getting ready part of the day was a bit intense as John will attest (thank you honey!!). Here are some shots after we are all destressed a bit. :)

Char's "I grimace when I smile" pose, hysterical.

I love this photo because it is so classic Charlotte. She's whining "I'm HHOOTT!!!"
She is always hot.

When John said "Okay put your arms around each other" Luke tried to
squirm away from the impending cooties.

Now that Charlotte finally let's me kiss her
I am taking it while it's hot. :)

Here I am thinking "Okay guys, it's just a necklace,
let's look at the camera and smile okay?

Oh MAN that's a lot of handsome.

I love this shot, this captures their personalities perfectly.

Carlsbad Beach

The night of our Legoland adventure...I was a little sunburned. :)

Our not so successful attempt at "holding the sun"

Charlotte running at the beach

This is a big deal because Charlotte is a wee bit afraid of old man sea, so the fact that she was willing to run down with John is very big for her.

Sunset at Carlsbad Beach

LEGOLAND!!!!!

We did it!! We made it to Legoland! It was pretty amazing to see all the lego creations; 9 foot giraffes, miniature whole cities (like Las Vegas, San Fransisco, Hollywood, New York, etc.), a 10 foot statue of Einstein's face, etc.

Here are the highlights....


A 12 or so foot dragon (all of legos!!)


This is one of those freefall rides that make you feel like your stomach is coming up through your mouth, anywho....Charlotte LOVED it and since there weren't any lines at this point we rode it like 4 times. The things we do for love...



These last two pics are from the airplane ride, check out Charlotte's face. Hysterical.

Luke battles Darth Vadar with light sabars (all legos!) Sorry I really can't get over the fact that people are smart & patient enough to figure out things like that. I DIG that sort of stuff.

So all in all it was a good weekend with lots of new experiences. John and I agree it to be a very valuable learning experience. We learned that we need to get out of town more. We learned that we don't do well at amusement parks, long lines, crowds and lots of waiting. We learned that the beach is a better day as a mini fortune at an amusement park. We learned how good it feels & what fun there is to be had at a hotel that really cares about it's guests (West Inn & Suites of Carlsbad).

The best part was the feeling of being together every second the whole weekend & what that does to the family dynamic. Bliss.

Just Another Manic Monday.....

....wish it were Sunday....okay not really. But it was quite nice to take 27 seconds this morning to take a deep breath and remember we are all sweet when we sleep :)