Mother’s Day cards from my boys

My boys couldn’t have given me anything better for Mother’s Day than the cards they made in school (they actually DID give me some nice things too). I love finding out what they think about me. 

Ethan’s card says:

My mom’s name is Camilla.

She is 25 years old. (Score!)

Mom spends most of her time doing things like reading books.

Her favorite food is soup.

Her favorite TV show is Cake Boss.

Mom likes to wear pants and a shirt.

I love my mom because she is my best mom. 

 

 

  Luke’s card says:

My mom’s name is Camila (need to work on the spelling…ha).

She is 20 years old. (Securing his place as my favorite….ha).

Her favorite color is purple (really?)

My mom like to wash the clothes (oh boy…wow).

Her favorite show is Biggest Loser.

I like it when she cooks waffles (haha…because I stick ‘em in the toaster and load ‘em up with syrup).

I like to play with the cars with my Mom.

My mom is happy when she washes the clothes. (who knew I like to wash clothes so much?)

I love my Mom because she plays with me.

My name is Luke.

I love my kids!

I apologize

I went a little crazy, I’m sorry. I have been struggling with blogging for so long now it had become a chore. Blogger always gave me problems that I did not look forward to chronicling any of our excursions or moments I wanted to remember. Last night Steve showed me a better way, its called Windows Live Writer. Doing a blog post is easy peasy lemon squeezy (thank you, Ethan, for that saying) now and I got carried away. I just wanted to catch up. I just wanted to relieve myself of the guilt of not recording our events (it sounds worse than it is but it was something). I’m excited to blog again. Anyway, just know there are quite a few new posts. Pace yourself. Read one a day for a couple days. Please comment though, I love your comments. :)

Sadie’s baby hungry

A few days ago my sisters and I were hanging out at our parent’s house. Sadie sat down on the couch and wanted to hold Eva, Evelyn’s newest addition. She was so happy.

   Then she saw Mae holding Ezra and decided she NEEDED Ez too. This is how she looked at me, as if to say “I won’t be happy until Ezra is on my lap too.”

 

So, of course, she got what she wanted.

Don’t pick your nose

Someone in our family has a little nose picking habit. Someone in our family gets a bloody nose from picking his nose at least once or twice a week. Someone in our family has had his nails clipped to avoid this problem. Someone in our family has had band-aids put on his fingers to try to break this habit. Someone in our family now gets band-aids or tape put on his nose whenever we catch him gold digging. Is this too harsh? We’ve tried just ignoring it but then the frequency seems to increase. We’ve tried telling him we’ll have to take him to the doctor, that results in crying and fear. Do you have any suggestions to help someone in our family? I mean, I’m not going to tell you who.

Sea World for a Birthday Bash

Beware: This might be the longest post of pictures known to mankind.

My sister turned 30 a couple weeks ago and we all headed down to Sea World to celebrate. I know, what adult wants to go to Sea World for their birthday? Well, adults that have children. This is what its like to be a parent. You know that you’ll have more fun if you’re kids are having fun. You know that you just want something to break the monotony and good company. Don’t worry, she got her grown up party too…I just don’t have pictures of it.

Ethan and Luke were pretty disappointed we didn’t sit in the splash zone for Shamu’s show. I think next time we go I’m gonna have to get wet…sigh.

Firsts

This is a post of some recent firsts around here. We’ll start off with the first dumping of the pasta. I was trying to prepare some dinner one evening in April (how’s that for a random date?) and thought I’d distract Sadie with some dried pasta in a bowl. Usually I distract her by sitting her on the counter and standing next to her while I try to put a meal together. Anyway, this is what happened. It was lovely.

We are having so much fun having another family of cousins close by. The last time we visited the Oceanside Rasmussens Sadie decided she didn’t want to just be pulled in the wagon anymore, it was time to do some heavy lifting (not saying Evan is heavy or anything, just an expression…ha). I thought it was so cute. I just wish you could see Evan’s face so you could see Sadie’s twin. Really, they really do look like brother and sister.

Luke is learning to ride a bike without training wheels. He recently inherited Ethan’s old bike (since Ethan got a new one for his birthday). He’s been doing a fantastic job we just need to get around to practicing a little more.

Sadie’s first swim and the cutest swimsuit ever. She actually wasn’t screaming this time (like she was when I tried to get her in the water in AZ). She’s adorable. Can she stay 18 mos. for another year? I don’t want her to get any bigger yet, not yet!

Six

Its been six years since I brought home my first baby. My first baby, a boy we named Ethan. It was six years ago I was holding him in my arms in wonder at how perfect he was.

Eight months later we took our first Christmas picture and decided it was only fitting that he be the star of the show. He was, in fact, the center stage of our lives. He was more than willing to oblige, as soon as I took out the Christmas lights.

Fast forward a few years and Ethan is turning six. We spent the day at Disneyland with our cousin Ellie. The kids got to choose some toys (that NEVER happens at Disneyland…thanks Tia Ev!) and have some ice cream cones.

After Disneyland Ethan wanted to go to McDonald’s for dinner (he is not my child) and play in the play area. We met up with the rest of the family at home for some cupcakes and birthday partying.

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

Ethan stats:

weight – 62 lbs.

height – 49.5 inches

loves to – ride his Razor, run/be chased, play with his guns/swords, play with friends and cousins, watch movies, ride his bike, swim

favorite foods – apples (actually all fruit, he’ll eat without abandon), chips, hangurbers (I purposefully misspelled that), cheese pizza, nuts. He’s a pretty well rounded eater

dislikes - bedtime, green beans, and homework (oh boy, he doesn't know its only just begun)

Weekend at the Rasmussen’s

Ethan and Luke had Spring Break April 5-9th so we took off on the 7th and drove to Scottsdale, AZ to visit the AZ Rasmussens. I drove the kiddos by myself. It was a big moment for me. I was terrified but the kids were fantastic! We didn't have any problems...smooth sailing! Brian and Denice (and family) have always lived too far away (Texas) so we’ve never been able to visit them on their territory. I am a nosey woman, I’ll admit it. So I was excited to go see what its like to be in their household, what their house looks like (I love soaking up good decorating ideas), what they watch, eat, how discipline works, how 6 people live together under one roof etc. It was a great mini vacation and Brian, Denice, Mateo, Porter, Soffia and Stone were fantastic hosts…thank you! These pictures will give you the cliff’s note version of our trip.

Mateo had his Pinewood Derby race while we were there and that is right up the alley of these two little boys. Uncle Brian made cars for all the little kids the next day. He even let Luke design his own Star Wars derby car. Uncle Brian rocks!

 

Aunt Denice took us to an incredible Children’s Museum while we were there. My kids had SO. MUCH. FUN. I love that feeling. You know the one. The feeling where you know, without a doubt, that you did good that day for your kids. I was warm all over watching them enjoy their day. I miss this museum. If we had one nearby we would definitely have a year pass. This is the play dough table they had outside. Soffia took good care of Sadie.

 

On the way home from the museum we stopped for a sweet treat at the Phoenix Ranch Market. I was a little disappointed with my dry, fauxtess cupcake but the doughnuts did not disappoint the kids. Look at Stone’s face…priceless. Sadie was wondering where hers was?

 

Another park of the museum, cool bike riding.

 

Luke chomping down. He takes after his momma.

 

I forget what they call this activity at the museum but it was fun.

 

Stone and Luke let the creative juices flow. It really made me want to play with some fondant.

 

PVC pipe is a blank canvas. Ethan was a little creatively stumped…he wanted to move on.

 

B and D have a great pool and hot tub. Friday night B warmed up the hot tub and all the kiddos got in (minus Sadie). Ethan has been asking for one in our backyard ever since.

 

I have read about the great hikes on D’s blog ever since they moved to AZ and we got to experience one. It was beautiful and we all got a good workout in.

 

Two cuties. I could squeeze ‘em.

Spring Break Trip to AZ Rasmussens

Ethan and Luke had Spring Break April 5-9th so we took off on the 7th and drove to Scottsdale, AZ to visit the AZ Rasmussens. I drove the kiddos by myself. It was a big moment for me. I was terrified but the kids were fantastic! We didn't have any problems...smooth sailing!

We visited a Children's Museum.

Ate some delicious donuts and treats at the Rasmussens favorite Mexican store/restaurant. It was pretty cool!

Swam in their hot tub and pool!

Went for a fun hike!

And experienced all the joy of pinewood derby time!

 It was the best Spring break yet! Thank you Arizona Rasmussens!