Fun times with friends!

Brandon and Wes had a great time the other night with their friends Zack and Ashlynne. I made them pizza and they watched a movie, then they had a blast in the spa!!

What a beautiful rainbow we had the other day!






Wes with his new Mickey mouse chair.








































Perfect display of brotherly love :)









Wes with his 2nd cousin, Nicky on Thanksgiving.














Our cute little bunch in our Sunday School class.

Halloween : )

Brandon and Wes were both Batman, their cousin Nicky was the Red Ranger, Rocco was a pumpkin, Peka was a lady bug, Tom and I were a 1930's couple, Auntie Lina and Lisa were witches, Pop-pop was a cow, Bamma was an asian lady, and Uncle Brian was a summo wrestler : ) We also had a vampire fairy, a mad scientist, a baby, miny mouse and a doctor.........so much fun!!

Just some new pictures....

These pictures are from the Great American Beer Festival and Colorado trip. Tom and I had a really great time and it was nice hanging out with some family and meeting tons of people from around the world! The big white building is the haunted Stanely Hotel, where Steven King was inspired to write, The Shinning.























I also included some cute ones of the boys : )

"Potty training? Umm......no thank you!"

I'm pretty sure Wes will be the only high school graduate that has mastered the art of changing his own diapers! He is so bound and determined to make a game out of my most serious efforts :) Let's see, I've tried big boy underwear (cool Spidey ones like Brother's), which he just peed in and stayed in them until I could corner him. I think the fact that he is not bothered in the least by the feeling of wet or messy bottoms, has become my biggest challenge! I have also bought one of those cool potties that plays music when the child goes pee pee, well Wes just figured out that if he poured a little water in it, it would work just as well! I most recently got him one of the cute little potty covers to accommodate the size of his little bottom and I made a little potty chart that I taped on the cabinet next to it. I took him to the store and let him pick out cool stickers to put on the chart when he at least sat on the potty and 'tried,' since I have accepted the fact that I need to ease him into feeling comfortable with the potty. I bet you can't guess what kind of stickers he picked out, but of course.......Spidey! Anyway, that worked for about a day, when he at least passed a little gas on the potty and said, "I DID IT!" I was happy with that little bit of progress, but now he thinks of sitting on the potty as something he has to do in order to get a sticker. So, he just sits on the potty for a split second smiles and says, "Okay, I all done" and heads over to the stickers. So, I am open to any other suggestions!



The picture on the right I thought was too cute; he always lays like that when he watches his cartoons :)








Daddy getting to do push ups with out Wes climbing on his back-- never!!










This picture of Wes is of his reaction to watching Brandon as Spider man in the D.V.D that Gigi and Pa gave him for Christmas a couple years ago. He just thought that was the coolest thing ever!!




Brandon is getting adjusted to his new classroom and new teacher, and I am so happy because he is really enjoying it! Above all, he is doing really well with his school work. Occasionally he has trouble with reading words with more complex phonetics, but the most important thing is that he is keeping a positive attitude and is excited about learning. I figure that if I can foster that attitude, it will take him a long way :) He absolutely loves drawing, which is what he spends most of his free time doing, however, he has been expressing a lot of interest in acting lately. I don't know where or when his interest in acting came about, but it's there. So, if there are local acting lessons offered at a decent price I will sign him up and see how he likes it.




Brandon is packed up and ready to scoot his way to school with his friends! The one on the right is after a recent hair cut :)










Wes and I have been attending Stroller Strides twice a week, which is a group of mothers with stroller aged children getting together for a good work out. The instructor is wonderful and manages to make working out a lot of fun! We meet at the park, so Wes gets to play with kids his age for a while before and after our work outs. We also signed up for Zumba classes, which is a Latin inspired dance class; I am so excited! I saw a sign the other day on the mail boxes that said, Wanted: Two ladies to alternate working in child care room in exchange for free classes on off days. I was really thrilled to see that, because there is absolutely no childcare offered at any of the gyms here, which makes it difficult to exercise. Just taking power walks gets boring and the short while that I woke up at 5 a.m. to hit the gym before Tom left for work got old fast! Anyway, this class will gives Wes even more playtime with little ones his age, and maybe they will be potty trained! Hee, hee :)



The boys love their new bunk beds! It worked out perfect for Tom and I because a friend of mine needed a single bed and she had these bunk beds that she no longer needed, so we just swapped. They had crayon and marker all over them, so Tom and I scrubbed and scrubbed then I put a coat of wood protectant on it, and it was as good as new!








So this is it, the first actual prototype of my product. I am working on a top notch Power Point presentation to explain the details of it: the market need, the perks for the licensees, the versatility of the product, the features, etc. It's been a long road and I know I still have a ways to go, but it's been fun!

Our summer so far.

Pop-pop had a chance to re-assemble the boy's park-- they're lovin' it!


Hello everyone,
I know it's been so long since the last blog,
so there is a lot to catch up on. We went
camping in the Sequoias, and of course the
boys had a blast, however; there was a bit
of a mishap with Wes and one of Auntie
Lina's dogs. Somehow though, Wes is still
just as fond as ever of dogs! Brandon is
enjoying his last couple of weeks of sleeping
in and doing as he pleases all day.

Tom and I enjoyed a weekend away, for our
birthdays, in the beautiful wine country of
Murphy's. We stayed at a cozy, little, Victorian
bed and breakfast, which was so peaceful and
relaxing! Bamma, Pop-pop and Auntie Lina
made a team effort and took great care of the
boys while we got away. They went to Monteray
Bay and visited the aquarium, and I was told that
the boys were a bit of a handful, especially Wes--
what a shock!!

Well, the heat is really getting to us! The 100
plus degree weather makes it really miserable
to be outdoors most of the day. The boys don't
mind as long as they take advantage of the slip-n-
slide and water guns :)

Brandon's birthday celebration has begun!
He absolutely loved the goggles, Spidey towel,
Kung-Fu Panda book, and Bible. He's already
jumped in the spa and had a blast with the
goggles, and is so much more excited for the
Disney Cruise, all because of the Spidey beach
towel :)















Brandon also got a cool Spidey card from Aunt Wilma and Uncle Cotton and there is a sweet thank you letter from him, ready to send to them and to Gigi and Pa.










Brandon's Birthday cake; I had fun making it!

Warm weather has come our way!

Supposedly we just experienced a temporary heat wave, however; it did get up to 106 already! Fortunately it has started to cool down and it is no longer miserable to just step outside. Before the heat wave hit though, there was some nice Spring weather and the boys got to fly their Blue Angels kite.
So, I know you all heard about Wes' trip to the E.R. the other night. It is so horrible when your little one is in such pain; it's a very helpless feeling. The up side though, his stitches are out and his nose has healed quite well. Let me tell you though, stitches did not slow him down one bit! He did have to skip a day of swim lessons, but that's about it. However, the poor kid saw the Doctor one too many times, since they left a stitch in and I had to take him back. By this point he already knew what was coming and he was definitely fighting it!
Other than the frequent Doctor visits we are all doing fine. Brandon only has 9 more days left of school! I met with his teacher yesterday and she did an end of the year review on him. I am so happy to say that she said he is doing really great!! Tonight was his last day of baseball, which I'm sure he'll miss.
Sorry this blog is kind of short, but I'm taking an advanced composition class with an emphasis on persuasive writing. So needless to say, writing is not something I have been wanting to do in my spare time!
I hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day :)

Easter

Easter came and went quickly, but not with out a lot of activity! Brandon and Wes went to color Easter eggs with the neighbor kids Sat. morning, then we went to a fun egg hunt and a little Easter carnival that housing put on. The boys had a lot of fun : ) Then, on Sunday morning Brandon came running into our room EARLY in the morning, yelling that the Easter bunny came and brought him lots of cool stuff. Wes was more excited than I thought he would be, which was neat, obviously he didn't get that from Daddy! : ) Wes was especially excited about the Easter bunny bringing him his very own baseball glove and ball! Later that afternoon the kids had another egg hunt at the neighbors, along with Easter dinner. Although it would have been even more enjoyable with family, we had a good time.

Check out this brotherly love.......they are the best of friends!!