PANCAKES ANYONE?

The kids have been too busy to eat lately, so I cooked up some multi-grain, flaxseed pancakes with sugar free syrup. No go. So, I brought out the tiny little cookie cutters I've had for years with animals, flowers, and different shapes like hearts, and let them cut them out. BIG HIT!!! Now, every morning, they want to "make" pancakes. And they don't just cut out the shapes, they eat them, too!

Malena takes a bite of her perfectly shaped boat. Yummm.

Jacob is having soo much fun, but not quite pulling it out. Enough to gobble it up, though.




Joshua's horse came out perfect! and delicious!

Picasso, Jr.

Jacob's at it again. All three love to read and to draw, but Jacob just seems to be in his element, especially with drawing. Here are some of his recent works






Before this drawing, he announced he was going to "draw animals." The next thing I heard was, "I drew a bird, Mommy."







Here he is drawing his "fish in the ocean".











and the works of Malena and Joshua:









If Jake is the artist, Malena is the reader. Oh how she LOVES books. She will follow you around the house with a book to read to her. On our way to the doctor, she had a book in her hand, and I took it from her so I could hold her hand. Boy did she scream at me. But a better story is the other day, when I caught her sitting on the couch with her "baby" next to her. She was pointing to the pictures in the book, then took her "baby's" hand and had the "baby" point also. It was sooo cute. I wish I had my video/picture camera! My little bookworm.

SUMMER FUN, FUN, FUN!

Oh boy, where do I begin. It's been a while since I've updated because we've just been having soo much fun. And working, too. The good news is that Malena's verbalizing so much (babbling and immitating, too!) that her school has decided she's ready to make the move from OT to ST. Yeah! She's said "purple", "mama", "dog", and "apple" through immitation. With some hard work, she'll be saying words on her own, very soon.

We had a mini vacation to San Diego a few weeks ago. We went to Sea World to visit with "Shampoo the whale", and also to LegoLand. The kids had such a blast! And so did Mommy and Daddy, except the 10 minutes that Malena got lost. She is quiet and fast. She literally disappeared within one second. Really, one second and she was gone. After searching for her everywhere (at the big water park), I happened to notice her only five feet away from us in SOMEONE ELSE'S STROLLER, which was turned away from us! It was scary, but from that point on, she was on a harness!

Yesterday, we went to celebrate Emily's 5th birthday (Happy Birthday big girl!) at the circus. Boy was that fun. The kids did really well throughout the 2 hour show. They were fixed on the elephants, and loved the motorcycles going "round and round" in the big metal cage.

Many pictures to come in the July pic's (in the right column of the blog), but here's a couple til then.-Maryann

Playdates Playdates Playdates

The month's only half way through and we've had so many fun playdates, the kids will soon be spoiled with all the fun.

Here we are with our friends Olivia and Benjamin:



Here we are with our friends Sam and Emma:




And of course with our beautiful cousins Emily and Erin:





Thank you all so much for keeping us company! We had sooooo much fun, as you can see. Hope to do it all again. We did have another playdate with our handsome cousins Aryel and Elon, but silly Mommy forgot the batteries for the camera, so hopefully Zeyde will send some pictures her way and she will post them soon.

Potty Success!

Jacob went Poopoo on the potty! It was small (sorry tmi), but it's a start.

There I was, lying on the couch trying to get some rest, when all of a sudden I smell this peepee smell. Then I hear Jacob say, "Mommy, I took off my diaper." Yep, he had taken off his diaper and then put it right in my face. What a way to treat your mother! LOL So I decided if he's going to take off his diaper, I was going to make him go to the potty. He resisted, and I literally dragged him there (which I know you're not supposed to do), and told him he could flush the toilet if he went. Once he got ON the potty, he was fine. Then he started pushing (yes, he knows what the potty is for). "It not working, Mommy. Poopoo stuck." Then I encouraged him to keep trying. I heard some toots, then he said, "It not working" again. Joshua came in and decided he wanted in on it too. So there they were, both on the potty. Jacob decided "it not working" and stood up. Low and behold, there was poopoo in the potty! I cheered, "You went poopoo in the potty!" He looked down so surprised, then had the biggest smile on his face. So he got to flush the toilet and wash his hands, a big reward for him. Hopefully, we'll soon be out of diapers for good!

Here they are at previous "unsuccessful" attempts.

Too Cool 4 Pre-school

The kids have been going to school since last September. It is a parent participated school, so I have always been there with them. Jacob moved to the "sibling room" in October. After some adjustment (crying hysterically) he loves it. Well, today was the day that all three started drop off pre-school. Boy was I worried... for the teachers! As I dropped them off, they played with the sand and water table that was set up. They were already having so much fun, they didn't even notice when I said goodbye and left! I instantly felt bored and anxcious, like there was something I forgot. I also found that you can spend a lot of money in 3 hours if you're bored. It seems they had an "amazing" first day and there were no tears shed. They even hugged all their teachers and friends when it was time to go. Wow, 3 free hours every Friday. I think I'm in heaven!

I've also taken advice from everyone and separated the boys for their naps. It's worked out very well, and are now sleeping again! Woohooo! Life is good.

Fourth of July was lots of fun. There was swimming at Grandma and Papa's, a bbq, then off to Titi Julie's house for fireworks and smores! Yum. Everyone had fun and didn't want to wake up for school the next day.

Happy Birthday Gamma. I love you. I miss you.

What a day! Yesterday began with me waking up and opening the door to two little naked boys who pooped all over their beds and themselves and were having a good ol' poopy party. Yuck! Then I tried to potty train, and when Joshua had an accident, all three wanted to "help" clean up and got wipies and got down on their hands and knees in it "cleaning up". Yuck, again! And Jacob refuses to get on the potty, though he did pee on the potty, but, unfortunately, his aim was off and missed it completely. Needless to say, I'm putting off potty training for another month or two. Hopefully, by then, the sleeping situation will have calmed down.

Did I mention the boys broke my blinds in their room? Now their room is filled with light. So I put on some tinting film, which they proceeded to peel right off. Other than boarding up the window, I'm not really sure what I to put up.

They're really giving me a run for my money this week!

No pics today, just wanted to share a few things. Malena is talking more and more and using signs like crazy! "more" is the biggest one. She has also said "Cah" for "cat" and a few others as well as "Mommy" (well, once).

Today, Jacob was counting how many times he threw the ball at the board. He got all the way to "nine", then said "seventeen." Of course I corrected him by saying, "No Jacob, it's ten." Without hesitation, he said, "I was getting to that." I apologized through my hysterical laughter.

Joshua is fully recovered from his allergic reaction to what I think were pistaccios. I'm finding he is quite the lady killer, also. At the playground the other day, I went to get the boys to go home. I grabbed their hands and led them away saying we have to go home now. All of a sudden about 4 or 5 girls (I'm not kidding), about 4 or 5 years in age ran to Josh and started kissing him and hugging him. A cute little blonde girl even KISSED HIS HAND, and said, "He's my bestest friend." Then she gave him a big kiss on the cheek! He just met her! Boy are we in trouble in about ten to twelve years!

My Little Rocky... Why does everything always happen to poor Josh? Today we gave the kids a unique little candy with some kind of nuts in it. I think they were pecans or pastaccio. Well, Josh was screaming at his naptime (not unusual), but this time I decided to go up and calm him down. I open the door and he's rubbing his eyes. When he stops, I notice his eyes are swelling up like he got hit in both eyes.

After calling the doctor, I gave him some benadryl and let him sleep. When he woke up from his nap, I noticed that not only had the swelling not gone down, but now he has red blotches all over! Off to the ER we go, while Jake and Malena get dropped off at Grandma and Papa's for swimming.

Turns out this could last for a couple of days, and the benadryl only helps to stop it from getting worse. Just to think what could have happened had I not gone up and let him cry it out, or if I had not gone up and it had constricted his airway! It was so scary, and so sad to see him. He was fine through all of it, though, only complaining once to say, "MY eyes huurt."


Here he is before and in his "Rocky" look (right).

Happy Birthday to us, happy birthday to us. Happy birthday dear Us... Happy birthday to us!

Make a Free Flash Slideshow
Some pics from our recent lake trip

Heading to the lake the other day, Jacob said from the backseat, "Mommy, I draw hippotomus." Jacob is a talker. Just like his Daddy. Talk, talk, talk. So, without looking back, I replied, "Oh, yeah, Jake..." Well, he wouldn't settle for that and wanted full recognition, "Mommy, hippotomus!" So, Daddy and I looked back to notice that he did indeed draw a hippopotamus! I will never doubt my little Van Gogh again.

This is an old video.... Just trying something out. To see more videos, click on one of the links in the right column below.

Daddy and his boys all went for an overdue haircut. Don't they all look spiffy?

Here are my little stinkers getting ready for gymnastics class where Jacob manages to get hurt EVERY time he jumps into the foam pit.










New beds for everybody! Yeah. They just LOVED their new racecar beds.... Until it was time to sleep in them....









Here's where they woke up. All 5 of us in Mommy and Daddy's bed! Things are better now, except for Joshua beating up Jacob when they're left alone. Jacob even tells me to take Joshua away because "Joshua be's mean to me." We're working with the little bully.

Here are my cuties at Easter. Don't the boys look so sweet to their sister? Hahaha.