June 30, 2013

I forgot to take any photos today, so here is Luke again at bed time.  He has been crying that his room is "dark" at night, even though we leave the hall light on and it really isn't very dark at all.  So tonight I told him it is dark when we sleep and then showed him "see, when you close your eyes it is dark."  He thought this was super funny and kept squinting his eyes closed and saying "sleep, dark, sleep, dark."  His little squinty face cracks me up.

June 29, 2013

We had dinner tonight at La Sirena Grill.  Afterwards we let the boys run in circles around the fountain outside.  There are always a handful of dogs in that courtyard and tonight was no exception.  Luke was especially taken with this little guy named Bogey.  Luke would run a few laps, then stop and give the dog a pat or two, then run again and come back to the dog.  Isaac liked him too, but Luke was kind of obsessed.  Charlie & I took a liking to little Bogey too.

June 28, 2013

One of the moms from Isaac's preschool class organized an end of the year party at the Lagoon.  We got together in the late afternoon and let the kids swim and play and then had dinner.  There was some drama when we first got there because Isaac's "friend" (the same one who kept teasing him on the last day of school) put sand in his water blaster and ruined it.  So Isaac was in total meltdown mode and then he got going with his attitude, yelling at me, trying to throw sand, etc.  Luke kept running off into the water without me while I was dealing with Isaac, and then Luke saw leaves in the water so that triggered hysterics from him too (for some reason he always freaks out about leaves floating in the pool).  I know that all parents deal with tantrums and meltdowns, but it is really stressful and embarrassing when I have two of them freaking out at once.  I was pretty close to packing up and leaving 10 minutes after we got there.  But we stayed and Charlie came and joined us after work and turned out to be a nice evening after all.  

This is a blurry photo, but I love it anyway.  Before bed Luke wanted a "ride" from Dad and Isaac hopped on too.  Isaac told me he was pretending that Charlie was an AT-AT from Star Wars.  

June 27, 2013

Haircut time again!  I got some coupons in the mail for Great Clips.  We'd never been before and it is over by UCI, where we never really go but I thought I'd give it a try.  We went right after the gym and were the first customers when they opened at 9:00 so we didn't have to wait.  Luke sat on my lap and did great.  He laughs at the clippers like they are tickling him.  Isaac kept crying that his stylist was hurting him.  Such drama!  But it was quick, cheaper than usual, and they both got good cuts.  I call it a success.  

June 26, 2013

Isaac had a dentist appointment today.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  He's been twice before and one time he did awesome and the other time was a total nightmare.  I was pleasantly surprised today when he handled it all like a champ.  Luke, on the other hand, was like a whirling dervish.  The waiting room was a total fiasco as was the last 10 minutes or so of the appointment when the dentist was trying to talk to me about some work Isaac needs to have done.  I had three different people tell me "Wow, you've sure got your hands full."  I don't know if that should make me feel better or worse about my wild and crazy boys.  Anyway, we made it out alive but we need to go back soon for Isaac to get some work done.  And I suppose I should make an appointment for Luke too.  Sounds fun.

June 25, 2013

This morning we met some friends at the park.  It was a new park we hadn't been to before so Isaac had fun checking out all of the new playground equipment.  He wanted me to play a spider game with him and chase him around this web and try to eat him.  Ha!  

This tube slide was Luke's favorite and he went down it probably 30 times.  He would run over and grab my finger and pull me over saying "see me!  see me!"  He liked me to crouch down at the bottom of the slide and drum my hands on the side saying "ready, set, go!" and then he would slide down giggling.  

June 24, 2013

These two boys... sometimes they make me want to pull my hair out.  But sometimes they are so full of joy and cuteness and laughter that I don't know how I could ever live without them.  While we were out running errands today we spotted this crazy car in the parking lot.  It was covered with all kinds of "art" and they both thought it was super cool.

When we were picking out some things for the 4th of July Luke wanted to try on this wacky headband.  Isaac said he looked like a girl.  He kind of does, but I still think he's adorable.

Later this afternoon when Luke was at therapy Isaac and I went to the reptile store to feed turtles.  Isaac always loves seeing Frank, aka Mr. Kipling from the Disney show Jessie.  Isaac doesn't really watch Jessie, though it has come on a few times after another show he was watching so we have actually seen this lizard on TV before.  Isaac has finally accepted the fact that Frank is not for sale.  For weeks he was begging me to have this lizard as a pet.  Um, no.

June 23, 2013

Yum yum.  I was going through some old recipes recently and found one for these Rocky Road Brownies.  I probably hadn't made them in a couple of years.  We have been missing out!  This pan didn't last too long.

Here's Luke eating his and playing with some Backyardigan figures that he found in Isaac's room.  He makes them run around yelling "METEOR!" because that is his favorite part of his favorite episode.  I love this kid.

June 22, 2013

Legos and Star Wars.  Those are Isaac's two greatest loves in life right now.  He talks about Star Wars all day, every day, non stop, all the time.  And when he is not following me around talking my ear off about Luke Skywalker and the Death Star and the AT-ATs and who knows what else, he is usually in his room playing Legos and building ships.  Star Wars ships.  Here he is after the pool with his latest and greatest creation.  I don't remember the name of this particular ship but I'm sure that it could destroy anything and everything with it's missiles.  I think it's great that he loves Legos so much and he is pretty creative with some of the stuff he builds.  Just don't let Luke touch any of it!

June 21, 2013

First day of summer!  So we hit up the Lagoon again.  Luke's schedule is kind of annoying right now because he has therapy every afternoon.  It worked fine during the school year but now for summer vacation I am hoping to get it changed to the morning.  Anyway, we hit up the Lagoon in the late afternoon after Luke's nap.  He had another big fall on the way to the car and scraped up his knee really bad.  On the drive home he was very concerned about the few pieces of sand that were left between his toes.  This kid is so sensitive about being dirty.  Whenever he walks around barefoot on our hardwood floors he is constantly stopping to check the bottoms of his feet and pull off any offending crumbs or bits of dirt.

June 20, 2013

Today was Isaac's last day of school for the year.  He kept telling me he was so sad that he wouldn't be able to go to school anymore.  He really had a great year.  Isaac loved his teacher Ms. Chelle.  She was wonderful for him.  His class started out with a different teacher at the beginning of the school year and I actually chose this program for Isaac based on that teacher.  Then about a month into the school year she left to take another job!  Ms. Chelle came in as the sub and ended up staying the entire year.  She didn't have the dynamic personality that the other teacher had, but I could tell that she really cared about Isaac.  She took him under her wing and helped him get through the year and I am very grateful for that.  He seriously loved going to school and I am sad for him that the year has come to an end.

Anyway, for their last day the class had a picnic and games out on the playground and the families were invited to join.  I kept trying to get a picture of Isaac with his friends but none of them would cooperate.  Isaac was the least cooperative "shooting" and yelling "no cameras!" every time I got close. Here he is with Timmy, a kid I don't know from another class, Alexander (the "boss") and Jack.

At least the girls were willing to smile!  Emma and Ivanna both LOVE Isaac.  Seriously, it baffles me a little sometimes because he is not always the easiest kid to get along with, but they love him.  When I dropped him off at school the other day I heard Ivanna telling Isaac that he looked so handsome.  Ha!  And they are both always wanting to hold his hand and sit next to him.  Cracks me up.

Luke was SO excited to get to go play on Isaac's playground.  I told him about it the night before and the first thing he said when he woke up this morning was "Go!  Slide!  Woo-hoo!"  I'm not sure how he learned to associate "woo-hoo!" with a slide, but he says it all the time.  "Go slide, woo-hoo!"  It's pretty awesome.

Isaac's friend Alexander is supposedly the boss or the leader of his little group.  I don't think he's always very nice to Isaac.  Today he kept telling Isaac that he couldn't have any "powers" unless he ate pizza and since Isaac doesn't like pizza he was quite upset.  Really, I don't understand the five year old drama.  Isaac was getting really worked up and Alexander was pretty relentless in teasing him.  I kept telling Isaac not to let this silly kid trying to boss him around.  We eventually had to go take a break on the blanket and have some cookies to calm down.  Luke was happy to oblige.  

At the end Ms. Chelle gave each student a certificate of completion and everyone clapped and cheered. I'm sure we'll see some of these kids over the summer for play dates, but we are sad that the school year is over.  

June 19, 2013

Luke is OBSESSED with the pool.  He asks to go to the pool  ALL.  DAY.  LONG.  This morning we passed the Lagoon on our way to take Isaac to Meadow Park and so instead of asking for the pool all day, Luke asked for the Lagoon all day.  We went after his nap.  He loves hanging out in this inflatable ring and jumping from the shallow part into the deep water over and over and over again.  

June 18, 2013

Few things make me happier than getting a fantastic deal.  I love Kate Spade shoes and have acquired a few pairs over the past couple of years.  I've always gotten them on sale, but none were as good of a deal as the pair that arrived in the mail today.  $34.99 for a pair of brand new Italian leather Kate Spade pumps (retail price is $298).  I am grinning from ear to ear.  Thank you Ebay!  Now can I wear brown suede shoes in June?  I'm thinking I should probably save them till the Fall.  Anyone care to offer an opinion?  

June 17, 2013

Isaac and I ran a few errands today while Luke was at OT.  We had to go by Petsmart to get Cracker some food.  We spent about half an hour there checking out all of the fish, turtles, lizards, birds, hamsters, etc.  Isaac has always loved and been fascinated by animals.  Today we learned that the standard goldfish can actually live about 10 years and grow to be a foot long.  Most people keep them in simple bowls where the water is not oxygenated and they die quickly.  In order for them to have a long healthy life they should be in tanks with an air pump.  Who knew?  I asked Isaac if he wanted to carry one of the bags of dog food out to the car.  He insisted that he was super strong and wanted to carry both! 

June 16, 2013

Happy Father's Day to Charlie!  My boys are lucky to have such a hard working, loving, and fun Dad. I love how Isaac calls Charlie his "buddy" and how Luke gets so excited whenever Dad comes home.  Today we celebrated with a big breakfast, a few presents & a card that Isaac made at school, yummy dinner and dessert.  I forgot to get a photo of them when everyone was dressed nice for church, so the pre-bedtime pajama shot will have to do.

June 15, 2013

Saturday is my favorite day to run because it's the one day a week that I can run outdoors without a stroller.  I feel free and fast and always really enjoy my run.  I also do an aerobic/weight lifting class at the gym on Saturday mornings and then I run my 6 miles either before or after class.  My new running shoes have been great and I don't have any pain in my knee anymore.  My pace has improved significantly since I got them.  I'm kind of sad that we won't be running the Woodbridge 10K on the 4th of July this year (we'll be in Utah) because I know I could totally beat my time from last year.  Today was one of my fastest runs ever - 6 miles in 47 minutes, which is a 7:50 pace.  I almost can't believe it! It makes me so happy because I've been really working on improving my running over the last year or so.

June 14, 2013

Oh Luke, what can I do with you?  Lately he is very insistent on climbing in and out of his car seat by himself and also walking running to and from the house.  "I do, I do, I DOOOO!!!"  But the problem is he takes off running and he always falls.  Like at least 4 or 5 times a week he has major falls - usually in the parking lot.  It is so so sad because he skins his knees and his palms all up.  He cut both of his knees open from falls in Hawaii and they have not had a chance to heal because he keeps falling over and over again.  So every time we are walking I am constantly reminding him "don't run Luke, be careful, don't fall, etc, etc" but he doesn't really listen.  He does NOT want me to carry him, he does NOT want to hold my hand, and he does NOT want to walk slow.  Unless of course I have my arms full of groceries or something and then he wants to stop and look at ants while I try and corral him into the house with no hands.  Anyway, he cut his knee up pretty badly the other day and it would not stop bleeding, so I put a Mater band aid on it.  He just calls it the "truck" but he loves, loves, loves it and won't let me take it off!  Let's hope his little knee gets a chance to heal this time.  

June 13, 2013

Today I had to take Luke for a hearing screening.  This was kind of ridiculous because I'm positive that Luke's hearing is just fine.  In fact it's more than fine.  He has like super human ears and wakes up from sleep at the drop of a pin.  Anyway, because he is receiving speech therapy through Regional Center they require a hearing screening to ensure that hearing loss is not contributing to the speech delay.  I had to do this same thing with Isaac and in fact the same doctor did Luke's test.  (That was four years ago and in a totally different office but she actually remembered Isaac and I.)  

I took Luke into a sound proof booth and the doctor sat outside and watched us through a window.  The test started with all sorts of strange sounds of different tones and volumes, coming from various speakers throughout the room.  The doctor watched Luke to see how he responded to the sounds and if he looked the right way.  There were black boxes with stuffed animals inside of them and when Luke looked in the right direction the box would light up and the animals played their drums and cymbals.  The animals were every bit as creepy as I remembered them!  They light up with red eyes and make strange alien spaceship sounds.  But Luke thought it was fun, so I guess they serve their purpose.  Isaac was supposed to be sitting outside the booth playing with the iPad and eating the snacks I brought for him.  That lasted for about two minutes before he started knocking on the door.  He couldn't stand missing out on all of the excitement.  The doctor told him he could sit very still and quiet in the corner of the booth.  If you know Isaac, you know that didn't happen.  But we did eventually make it through the test.  All three of us.  And Luke's ears are just fine.  

June 12, 2013

Today Isaac had an appointment to "Meet the Teacher" for Kindergarten.  This may or may not be his actual teacher, but they want to meet each of the kids and get an idea of where they are at so that they can balance the classes out evenly.  From what I could hear sitting across the room Isaac aced all of the questions.  He's very smart.  I hope and pray that Kindergarten will be a good year for him and that he'll be able to fit in, make friends, and keep up with the other students.

And here's Luke and I waiting for him.  Luke watched his birthday video on my phone over and over and over again.

June 11, 2013

Tonight when Charlie got home he asked the boys if they wanted to go to the pool.  It didn't take much convincing.  We hurried through dinner (which meant the boys didn't really eat anything and were hungry again at 8:00) and then headed over to the Lagoon.  This was our first visit this season since they've filled the pool again.  It was a gorgeous evening and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  Except for the geese!  There are tons of them.  More than ever and they are taking over the place.  The worst thing is that they poop everywhere so you have to be really careful where you step.  And they are not friendly at all.  The white ones are especially aggressive and will charge you and hiss.  So I didn't feel too bad when Isaac started shooing them all away with his water gun.  Worked like a charm.  

June 10, 2013

Luke had his 2 year old check-up today.  He is a healthy happy boy.  We have suspected that he might have some allergies because his nose is constantly running, so the doctor ordered a blood test to check it out.  The blood draw was a little traumatic because the technician didn't get the vein the first time and kept poking the needle all around in his little arm.  It was horrible to watch but Luke was actually very brave and didn't even cry for the first 12 or so pokes.  I'm assuming he'll have an ugly bruise on that arm in a few days.  

Here are his current stats:  height is 33 inches (10-25th percentile), weight is 25 pounds (10-25th percentile), and his head is 18 3/4 inches.

June 9, 2013

My oldest sister Lisa and her family are visiting from Utah this week to go to Disney Land.  Tonight Sandy had us all over to her house for a family dinner.  It was nice to all get together since my family is not very close.  My brother Brian lives locally, but we haven't seen him in over a year and he didn't return any phone calls about the dinner tonight.  But at least we had all four sisters together, and that hasn't happened for six years.  (From left to right: Lisa, Carrie, Wendy, Sandy)

The house was a bit crazy with all of the kids running around, but they had fun playing together.  Here are all of the cousins that were there.  Isaac, Lisa's step son Taylor, in the chair is Katie, Ryan & Emma (three of Sandy's kids), behind the chair is Seth (Lisa's step son), then Lauren (step daughter) and Katie (Lisa's daughter) on the grass, Hailey (Sandy's daughter) on the chair, Josh (Lisa's son) behind her, and then little Luke.  Lisa also has two older step sons that didn't come on this trip.  And of course our husbands were there too, but we forget to get a photo with them!  Bill, Chris & Charlie.

Lisa's birthday is later this week so we celebrated tonight.  I was in charge of dessert.  I had been wanting to try my friend Amy's recipe for a fresh strawberry cake and tonight seemed like as good a time as any.  It was a huge hit and every last crumb was eaten.  I also made a Texas sheet cake since I knew that one cake was not going to be enough to feed the whole crowd.  

June 8, 2013

Just in case anyone has been wondering what Luke has been up to lately, it looks a lot like this.  His favorite thing to do is have me get out the big box of Matchbox cars and bring them into my room next to our bed.  He then proceeds to pick vehicles out one at a time, drive them across the bed, and park them.  Once he tires of the bed (usually when I've left the room), he starts carrying cars one or two at a time to his next spot. The dining room table, the table by the front door, sometimes the couch, the table in his room, or on the floor in the hallway, where he creates similar parking lots or roads full of cars.  If I don't keep cleaning them up throughout the day then by night time there are at least half a dozen collections of cars scattered throughout the house.  

June 7, 2013

Isaac has been seeing Miss Elaine for speech therapy for three years now.  That's a long long time for a kid that's just 5 and 1/2 years old (and has had a dozen other teachers & therapists come in out of his life).  His school year is coming to an end and so is his time at ECLC.  Isaac and I have both grown to really love Elaine and it makes me sad to think that Isaac won't be working with her anymore.  He has come SO far in three years!  When Isaac first started with Elaine he had about four intelligible words (go, mama, dada, and uh-oh).  Everything else was all vowel sounds.  Now he pretty much never stops talking!  Oh I love my Isaac, and now thinking back on that time when he was a little 3 year old and wondering if he would ever speak... my heart is just full of gratitude for how much he has grown and accomplished since that time.  A big thank you to Miss Elaine for all she's done!

June 6, 2013

My darling little birthday boy Luke!  Today he turned 2 years old.  We had a fun day celebrating with this little cutie.  A few days leading up to his birthday I tried to get him excited by telling him that there would be presents and new toys and cake.  What really caught his interest was the cake!  Every time I would mention his birthday he would tell me "take!" (cake).  And here it is, the much anticipated cake. It's my standard chocolate cake and chocolate frosting recipes, but I wanted to make it a little more fun for him.  When he saw the "diggers" on top he got really excited and started making engine noises and making digging motions with his arms.  It was really adorable.  He was all smiles while we sang to him, and absolutely loved blowing out the candles.  (I really need new cake pans because mine have slightly angled edges and it makes it really difficult to get the frosting smooth on the side.  Not that Luke cared, but I do.)

June 5, 2013

Turns out the frozen berries that I have been putting in my smoothies for the past few months are linked to a big Hepatitis A outbreak.  How nice.  I first read about this while we were still in Hawaii.  I actually bought the exact same product at Costco in Hawaii so that I could make my smoothies every morning.  Since we've been home I've had two calls from Costco warning me about the outbreak and cautioning me to see my doctor if I have eaten any of the berries within the last 10 days.  Symptoms can appear anywhere from 15 to 50 days after being infected.  For some reason I'm not really worried, though maybe I should be since I've consumed at least two whole bags in the past month.

June 4, 2013

We're back at home and dealing with vacation aftermath.  Mountains of laundry, suitcases full of sand, no groceries, piles of mail, phone messages, long to-do lists, and jet lagged tired kids.  But Kauai is totally worth all of that.  Dinner wasn't going to be made by me tonight so we went to Rubio's.  Luke thought the table tents worked nicely as tunnels for his trucks.  You can see how his arm is all scratched up.  He actually looks a lot worse in person.  I used a new brand of mineral sunscreen on this trip and near the end of the week I noticed that it was totally drying out our skin.  Luke's was by far the worst.  His arms got kind of bumpy and itchy and then he scratched at them and his skin just split open.  He also has horrible dry patches on his face and ears, skinned up knees (from falling), blisters on his feet from flip flops, and one foot is still a bit red and swollen from a bee sting he got the first day of our trip. He looks TERRIBLE!  Poor kid.  

June 3, 2013

Here are my two cute boys at the Lihue airport waiting to fly home.  Charlie dropped us off and went to return the rental car (easier than hauling all of the bags everywhere).  While we were waiting Luke was getting really excited about all of the taxis, buses, and even a garbage truck that went by.  He loved the buses the most and really wanted to go on one.  When we were about an hour from landing at LAX Charlie mentioned to Luke that we were going to ride a bus (the rental car shuttle).  Oh wow.  The excitement level was through the roof.  "Bus!  Vroooom!  Fast!"  I hope he was not too disappointed by the slow moving vehichle that we actually rode on.  

June 2, 2013

Today was our last full day on the island.  We spent a few hours at Kiahuna beach this afternoon just lounging on the sand and playing in the water.  The waves here were probably the strongest we'd seen all week (still not bad and you certainly can't tell from this photo).  Isaac still didn't hesitate to jump right in.  He actually got knocked down a few times which probably would have traumatized him on day one or two, but after a week of body surfing he just got up and jumped right back in.  

June 1, 2013

Today we drove back to Polihale beach at the far southwest point of the island.  Beyond this beach is the Na'Pali Coast which can only be seen by boat or helicopter.  I think the contrast of the sandy beach against the towering rock is gorgeous.  This beach is usually pretty empty and the ocean has a gentle shallow entrance that makes it easy to play in.  It is one of my very favorite beaches on the island.  You can see Isaac's head bobbing in the ocean where he played for hours and Charlie & Luke are digging a big hole in the sand.