As Lily would say after her experience at church today. The associate pastor decided it would be a good idea during children's moments to use the kids as characters in an acting of the story of David, where he gets annointed by Samuel. Being by far the littlest of the children present, Lily, of course, was given the role of David. She was given a stuffed sheep and told to go stand off to the side, and "tend the sheep." Knowing Lily like I do, I had to stop myself from laughing at what must have been going through her head at that moment.

 

Then, came the time when she was called forth and "annointed as king." She seemed utterly confused and bewildered, which was really funny considering how the associate pastor was telling everyone how David was surprised at what was going on. At one point, although only a couple people must have heard it, she even said, "I'm not a king, I'm just a kid!" Truly, out of the mouths of babes...

 

It was wonderful to see Lily acting out her very first Bible story, even if she did play the part of David. Don't worry, the part of Samuel was also played by a girl, and most of Jessie's "sons" were actually daughters, lol. Most importantly, although she has no idea what she did, Lily did a great job of acting in a manner that must have been very similar to how David would have actually reacted!

It's no secret that the economy is in the toilet right now. Not only for the entire country as a whole, but also for the individual states. If your state happened to have an over-ambitious, self-centered, spend happy, left-leaning governor,like our state...then your individual state's economy is really sunk.

 

So that leads to the inevitable budget cuts. Boy don't we hate those two little words- "budget cuts." Because of those two little words, so many necessary and indispensable services for people are in danger of being cut off. These may include all day kindergarten, early intervention therapies, and parts of most other social services. How in the world can the politicians do this?! Don't they care about the little people?! How can people survive without their services?!

 

Well, maybe that's just the question, isn't it? How can we survive without government services up the wazoo? In my opinion, once we start flipping out about it and thinking we can't do without these, or at least with decreased services, then there's something terribly wrong. Maybe this is the wakeup call that we've been needing for a long while- we can't depend on government, or any other man made entity for that matter, because it is highly likely at some point to fail us. Nothing against the people who run it, but just because they are humans and fallible for whatever reason (selfish or otherwise), the system ultimately fails everyone. Persons who are taking advantage of government services out of true need have every right to do so, but they should also consider their alternatives, and how they will make do for themselves, if these services were to fall through. More importantly, they should take advantage of these services with the active plan of coming off these services within a reasonable time period. The idea of taking government services indefinitely "because it's our right" and "the government should..." is ludicrous, and why we're in this pickle to begin with.

 

I'm saying this as someone who has taken and is currently taking advantage of these government services. All day kindergarten- we are immensely lucky that the school we chose for Lily will indeed be providing this, and I am grateful. No, it is not our right, and although I would have been disappointed if it hadn't happened for her, I know I would have managed somehow. Those against all day kindergarten say that it's just "all day babysitting." My response to that? Maybe it is! I won't pretend to get all offended like all day kindergarten proponents do. I fully admit that for most people, all day kindergarten really is just for the free daycare. It won't be for us because of our own childcare arrangements, but again, I'm just grateful, as opposed the "they're darn lucky they did this" mentality. 

 

Liam is currently receiving Early Intervention services through the state for his therapy, and nutrition services for his food allergies. I am very grateful for this, it's wonderful that we've had these services. If we lost all that, we'd be in a pickle...but we would get by, and Liam will thrive regardless. I have already planned for this and am more than ready to step up on my own for my son if the government should fall through. The responsibility of caring for my son is on me, not on the government.

 

I guess all this is to say that I absolutely refuse to allow my children and family suffer because of whatever whims befall the government. People say that if they cut such and such service, then children will suffer, etc. I say that my children will not suffer. I refuse to allow that, with or without the government's help. Silly me, but I thought this is what the American spirit is about.  

Ok, well maybe El Guapo wouldn't care what I have to say (bonus points if you know what I'm referencing here!). That said, one really would be wise to heed the phrase, "Be careful what you wish for."

 

Lily loves gardening, and she loves her veggies. Unfortunately, until recently, she has had to rely on Grandpa's garden thanks to her mommy's black thumb when it comes to gardening. I have literally killed every single garden that has graced our yard.

 

...Except this most recent one. I was determined that I would not kill this one. Well, I have not killed it. It has not died. Not in the least. In fact, it's thriving...no...it's threatening to take over my back yard! Ok, not that bad...yet, but this is really more than I expected. It's doing great. The zucchini that we're picking could probably make a run for the Guinness World Record book for size. And the tomatoes, we're drowning in them! They're very good, though, so they make for good finger snacks. The flowers I planted on my own are doing great too. Well, kind of. They're doing well in the sense that they're big and healthy. However, they're not exactly flowers...more like tall stalks of green. Strange.

 

Guess I'll have to think of something to do with so many tomatoes and zucchini. Any ideas, Alton???

Honestly, how much can a little wobbly toddler possibly get into?! When he's not trying to climb onto furniture, he's trying to climb onto his sister's table and chairs. And no, he's not climbing onto chairs to sit on them (though sometimes he does). His intent in climbing chairs is so he can stand on them! And laugh like a madman at the sight of us flippin' out to find him like that! He's already had an accident doing that, by the way. He pretty much went straight through the rocking chair. Nice bruise on his head to show it off, too.

 

He also has a fascination with the trash can and toilets. Why wouldn't he? Things would be so much easier if he didn't. We can't possibly have that now. He loves to throw toys into the toilet, bonus points if Lily's sitting on it when he does that. Needless to say the rule in the house now is that the bathroom door stays closed. He recently threw daddy's cell phone in the trash. Imagine the look on daddy's face when he called the phone to try to locate it and the trash can started ringing!

 

Liam doesn't only like to throw things in the trash, though. He also likes to take things out of it. Just this morning, daddy watched him wander into the nursery. Daddy then heard a bang, followed by Liam contentedly and proudly wobbling out of the nursery, holding a little green plastic bag that had been holding one of his dirty diapers. He then placed it in the little compartment in his Diego car and promptly drove off. It was quite the sight to see.

 

Lily doesn't leave all the fun to Liam, though. Just this afternoon, she decided that it would be fun to pull up all the flags planted in the ground. Mind you, we are preparing to take down one of our palm trees, and these flags were planted in the ground by Blue Steak to mark utility and cable lines, so we wouldn't hit them when digging the tree out. No biggie. Not like that's important or anything. It was quite the sight to see her standing outside the back door waving all these cute little flags.

 

Fun ;)

That's what little girls are made of. And they are dainty and girly and love nothing more than playing mommy to their baby dolls and brushing the hair on their Barbie dolls. It is also to be expected that they will dress up with crowns and tiaras, pretending to be beautiful princesses.

 

Yeah. Tell that to Lily.

 

Her favorite toy at the moment? A toy model of the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek, made from...get this...Hot Wheels!! And she can't put it down!! Very few things have made her glow with unhindered joy like this. Nevermind the My Little Ponies, Barbies, etc that were passed up in the toy aisle. She had to go for the Hot Wheels.

 

She does wear her Tinkerbell fairy wings. Not because she wants to be a fairy princess, heavens no. She wears them because they can help her fly, and superheroes like the ones on The Incredibles can fly. She's no fairy princess, she's a superhero. She's very interested in shoes lately. Not because of any of the girly reasons for liking shoes. Heavens no. She's interested in shoes because she wants the ones that will make her run the fastest- like Dash on The Incredibles. Apparently, superheroes can run very fast, too. Of course, this means that there is no room in her shoe closet for pretty heels or straps. Firm, sturdy, and fast are the way to go. Superheroes need to prioritize function over looks, after all.

 

Little girls also like fairy tales and can name princesses from memory. My little girl's favorite things to watch on DVD- The Incredibles, Star Trek (edited, of course), Wall-E, and she has been asking for the Disney movie Cars. As a new reader, I am encouraging her to read books and am willing to buy her more books of her choice when we go to the store. Her most recent picks? Cars and Dinosaurs.

 

I think we have a little tomboy on our hands. This isn't to say that she is against ponytails, dresses, ribbons, and pretty little girl things. Thank goodness she's not. But given a choice, she can always be seen playing with her cars and Starship Enterprise, and refining her superhero skills.

 

As interested as she is in the inner workings of starships and cars, and the refinement of physical human ability- maybe she'll be a scientist later on? I gotta admit, that would be pretty cool :-)

If you give Lily a swimsuit,

 

She’ll ask for a swimming pool.

 

Swimming pools remind her of the bathtub,

 

So she’ll ask for one that has a “water squirter,” like the showerhead on the tub.

 

Once you’ve brought home the perfect pool,

 

She’ll want you to fill it up right away.

 

Being in the middle of a growth spurt, the thought of swimming will make her hungry,

 

So she’ll ask for chicken nuggets with ketchup to eat.

 

While you’re baking the nuggets for her, she’ll realize she’s also thirsty,

 

So she’ll ask you to bring her some apple juice to drink.

 

Apple juice will remind her that she likes apples, so she’ll ask for one of those, too.

 

While eating her apple, she’ll think of her garden, and how it needs to be watered.

 

While watering her garden, she’ll see some weeds, and bend down to pull them.

 

Being uncoordinated as she is, she’ll lose her balance and fall onto the wet ground.

 

You’ll try to clean her off, but realize the only way to do this without getting sand all over the house is to hose her off outside.

 

Getting her legs hosed off will make her think of the water squirter on her pool.

 

Lily will suddenly decide that she’d like to go swimming.

 

She’ll ask you to finish filling up her pool (while wondering why you haven’t gotten it done already).

 

Lily will then realize that she can’t go swimming in her clothing.

 

So, she’ll ask you to bring her a swimsuit.

Really, there are certain times when kids ask us for something and a firm "no" is warranted. The question, "mommy, can I play with the water hose?" is definitely one of them. Yet I failed to say "no", and instead just kind of nodded and mumbled something about not making a mess. I was already outside anyway, so keeping an eye on her would be easy...so I thought.

 

So, while I was busy doing my own gardening work, Lily excitedly announced, "Look mommy, I made a river!"

 

Hmm...she was only supposed to use the hose sparingly to dampen the sand she was playing with to make it workable. I should have paid more attention, but I didn't. Then came another announcement- "Look mommy, the river's making a lake!"

 

Ok, this caught my attention. Just in time to see her flooding most of the side of the yard. There definitely was a lake there, along with a contributing river and tributaries.

 

I guess this would be a time when a smile and nod is warranted. I can't really say it was her fault after all.

 

The lake and river did look kind of cool though! Not that I would tell her that...

Ok, well it has been a while since we've updated on the kids, so here's just a snippet of what they're up to-

 

Lily will be starting Kindergarten at the end of July! I don't know whether to be excited or fearful about it...maybe both. She's super excited though. She will be starting kindergarten at the 1st grade level since she already knows so much. She's reading at the 1st grade, close to 2nd grade level, counts to 100 (or one hundildred if you ask her), can do simple addition, etc. I'm so happy that I was able to find a school for her that keeps a small class size and is willing to work with her on her individual level. It's not every school/teacher that is willing to teach a different grade's curriculum!

 

Liam is a regular little daredevil. He's finally walking! I'd say he's been "officially" a walker for about a week now, though he's been taking steps for a while. He loves to climb on anything that seems unsafe at the moment and shows no fear (Heaven help us). He's in speech therapy for a speech/language delay, and now has a small handful of words- "papa" (grandpa) is his favorite, "mama" (probably means "up" to him, lol), and "eat" (a signed word). He's also still dealing with his food allergies, but his skin is looking so much better now that he's not butt-scooting on the floor so much :-)

 

Both kids love each other and get along great, which is wonderful. They're happy and healthy, and that's about all we can ask for.  

No secret, right? This kid loves her veggies just as much as she loves her sweets. Thank goodness for the tomato garden courtesy of her grandpa! Today she decided she wanted to snack on tomatoes and asked if she could to so. I agreed. Next thing I know she wanted "tomato rice"...ok...now I'm really hoping this doesn't turn into a tomato version of "If you give a mouse a cookie." While I'm standing at the corner trying to think of how in the world to make "tomato rice," she brings back her bowl of tomatoes. I'm now a little confused as it seems she didn't eat any. THEN she proudly tells me about how she took ONE bite out of each of them to make sure they're all good, and yes, according to her refined palate, they're all good.

 

Really???!!!

 

Well, two of the tomatoes were diced and ended up in my concoction of what can be vaguely called "tomato rice." The rest of them...hmm...I guess I'll be snacking on tomatoes tonight.

So it still counts, right :-)

 

I guess I haven't written because I wondered about the validity of doing so. Then I come back after months, read some of these old posts, and realize that these are great memories! What a great way to journal what the two little rugrats are up to! Are there other and better ways to journal childhood memories, absolutely. But this is as good a one as any if I do say so myself. So, I'll say we're getting started once again. I'm considering adding an entirely seperate pictures page, and probably will. However, I'm only human, and only one human at that- so patience is key.

 

Do check in often! The kiddos never leave me with a lack of material :-)

As you may know, we have a little guy who has severe food allergies to quite a list of things. He's still young enough that Halloween isn't an issue. However, he won't be so little forever, even next year he'll be wanting to sample a few things. And there are many many other kids out there who have sensitivities and/or food allergies. Imagine how stressful Halloween must be for those kids and parents! (we'll talk about Thanksgiving and Christmas later...)

 

Believe it or not, it's not so hard to be a little friendlier to kids with food allergies during Halloween. There are quite a few candies out there that are generally free of nuts, milk, eggs, wheat, and soy. What are these strange candies you ask? Here are just a few examples:

 

* Yummy Earth Organic Lollipops

* Pure Fun

* Enjoy Life products, including their chocolate bars

* Bottle Caps

* Fun Dip

* Dum Dums

* Gummy Bears

* Swedish Fish

* Sour Patch Kids

* Disney Princess Snacks

* Smarties

* Skittles

* Starburst

* Nerds

* Runts (original, not chewy)

* Gobstoppers

* Pixy Stix

* Sweet Tarts

 

As you can see, these are very well known and popular candies already. Kids wouldn't even know the difference! Sure, most chocolate and caramel is out of bounds and forget anything that contains nuts and nougat, and please dont even ask about baked goods, but I can think of lots of kids that would be thrilled to have this list of candies in their Halloween bag.

 

It's really no harder to be a little kinder to kids with food allergies during Halloween. They already have to have so much "different" food...using this list, these kids can actually have an event where they are eating and sharing the exact same thing as everyone else!

 

If you know of any child in a preschool or classroom, or even in the neighborhood with allergies, wouldn't it be wonderful to present him/her with a very special Halloween baggie that looks just like the baggies that other kids love to enjoy? Go ahead. If you ever thought the delight of a child with candy is a sight to see, just imagine the delight in the face of an allergic child when they see a bag of "normal" Halloween treats that they can have!

 

PS- any responsible parent of an allergic child will still comb through all the candy anyway and read labels. please don't take any offense, it's for the safety of the child. But that will likely just lead to a parent that is just as giddy as the child, you might even get a hug and kiss out of it. Now THAT would be one heck of a sight if you ask me!

 

Well, we've made the jump and enrolled Lily in preschool! Exciting yet nerve-wracking all in one. Considering that the closest we've come to sending Lily to any structured setting with others watching her is the church nursery and now Sunday School, we're having to take a few minutes to take it all in!

 

Lily, though, is her usual self and has found something more important to worry about. As a celebratory/preparatory gesture following our tour and agreement with the preschool director, she got to go to Target to pick out her first "official" school backpack! She chose a very pretty Tinkerbell backpack that came with a complementary Tinkerbell wand.

 

Lily came home and couldn't wait to try out her new "magic" wand! She promptly took hold of it and waved it around...then waved it around some more...then became upset. Apparently, this wand is broken! She waved it around and around and it's still not winter! The wand isn't working!

 

We convinced her to wait two months then try to make it winter again. We're sure it'll work by then ;-)

 

Hopefully, she'll find the magic of discovering preschool much more interesting. In the meantime, the wand will lay dormant until December 21st.

Too long, but it goes to show what moving will do to a routine. On the good side of altered routines, however, is the fact that Liam is now sleeping in his crib AND in his room AND is pretty much sleeping through the night :-) I feel bad that he needs medication to be able to do this, but it's what he needs so it's what he gets. Sure there are occasions when the mommy and daddy's bed gets crowded with both kids wanting a spot, but that's occasional and too sweet to say no.

 

So what has happened since the last post?

 

Lily turned 4 years old! Where has the time gone?? She is fully aware of the fact that she's now 4 and couldn't have been happier at her birthday party when she was sitting by her birthday cake, being sung to, and getting ready to blow out the candles. Yes, she enjoyed that more than she did opening her presents! Mind you, she did eventually get to enjoy her presents, but who would have any mental energy to give to them when there are cousins around and you're in a fun pizza place???

 

Liam turned 9 months old and is as spunky as ever. He has fully adopted the "Toddler property laws" even though he's still an infant, he seems to believe that he has the right to grab and own anything and everything that comes within arm's reach and is even remotely interesting. He's also babbling up a storm now and is only too happy to hold entire "conversations" with us to let us know what he's thinking and the way the world should run.

 

Gee, aren't we lucky, we have two children who think highly enough of us to make sure we hear anything and everything they have to say about the way things should be ;-)

 

Overall, both kids are doing well and loving life. Lily loves her new house in Mesa and is settling in well.

 

We hope to get back to regular posting soon, including pictures and Lily's yearly video. Stay tuned!  

 

 

 

 

Well, we're almost moved in to our new home, our internet has been hooked up, and now we just need to get the computers hooked up. So I've gotta post whenever there's an opening in the schedule and computer availability. Today's the day :-)

 

I honestly can't believe my little girl is 4 years old! As cliche as it sounds, it truly does feel like only yesterday that I was holding her (all 5 pounds of her) in my arms and marveling at her beauty. She's still very beautiful, and she would say by now she's only confirmed what she knew just after birth- she really does know everything!

 

Lily, may you have a very happy birthday my little one. May this next year be one full of new experiences for you as you begin to unfold your wings and take the world by storm.

I think one of the most fun things about having a preschooler around is that we never know what will come out of her mouth. By the way, that's also one of the scariest things about having a preschooler around! I love "Lilyisms" and I can always tell when I've heard a good one...mainly because of the fact that I usually end up laughing with Lily looking at me like I've gone nuts.

 

So, this past weekend we were trying to figure out what we wanted for dinner. Daddy asked Lily if she wanted chicken, to which she excitedly responded, "Yes, sure do!" He then asked if she wanted Church's Chicken, to which she responded...

 

"Yes! I love Jesus Chicken!"

 

I took a couple seconds for me to realize that Lily had made a connection between "Jesus" and "Church's", but that was just too cute.

 

It's about as cute as her declaration that she wants "cold food", as opposed to hot dogs...and so much cuter and easier to deal with than anything potty related that she decides to discuss in public!

You never know when you're gonna find yourself the recipient of random kindness. I walked (or shall I say, drove) into that just this morning, and it was probably the best way to end the work week that I've ever experienced. And to think, it happened because I was in desperate need of a Starbucks fix :-)

 

My "usual" order is simple- A venti vanilla latte and a butter croissant, and I placed it like I do on any other morning when I need a treat. Once at the window to pay, I was told that my order had been paid for by the person ahead of me! Quite the pleasant shock I must say. Then the lady at the window told me that someone started it 30 minutes prior and it was still going on!

 

Of course I wouldn't be one to break that chain, and promptly paid for the person behind me. I don't know how much longer that chain lasted. I was there near the end of the morning breakfast/rush hour anyway, so it may not have been much longer before someone arrived at the window with no one behind them. Or maybe someone simply chose to break it flat out. Or maybe it lasted much longer than I can really imagine.

 

The truth is that it doesn't matter how the chain ended. What matters is that it began, and someone started it- just because. And then, the recipient of that person's kindness paid it forward, and so on. That's a pretty efficient Starbucks, by the way. So lots of people would have been served and would have made that choice in 30 minutes.

 

I just feel honored to have been a part of it, and can't wait until I get to be part of it again. Yes, I do believe it will happen again.

 

Then again, maybe I'll start one myself...

 

 

Here's wishing both of you the best days possible, it's can't be too bad since it's on a Friday, right?? Take time out to live it up, relax, and have lots of fun. We love you lots :-)

Well, this is a heck of a way to ring in his 8 month birthday. We have known that Liam has food allergies for about 2 months now. Venturing into the world of solid food basically put us on this road thanks to some bad reactions coupled with the eczema that we've already been managing. A trip to the allergist yesterday, however, really opened our eyes to how serious Liam's condition really is. One very long appointment later, Liam is now the proud owner of an epi-pen due to the doctor's determination that his allergies are life threatening. He's also now on a regimen of medications twice daily plus two other medications to be given as needed. Definitely not what we had expected, but we'll learn to adjust to our new "normal" now at least for the time being...and maybe the church nursery will have to wait a little bit longer after all.

 

On the upside, Liam is starting to show us quite the little personality! He's now babbling up a storm and interested in anything and everything that we bring within his arm's reach. He also has a heck of a way with silly faces and isn't shy about showing them to us. The poor little guy feels miserable at least half the time, but it's awesome to see how happy he still is and what a little trooper he is for putting up with the things that have been thrown his way.

Ok, so usually when the kids are having meltdown tantrums, I'm feeling the way most parents would- frustrated and upset. But hey, always remembering that someday I'll WISH for the days when the worst they could do is throw a tantrum!

 

That being said, there are other times of discipline (like...most of them) when honestly, the hardest part of the discipline process is keeping a straight face while laying down the law to Lily. She gets into the most hilarious situations that I sometimes need a quick timeout to compose myself before coming back to talk.

 

Most recently, for example, when she was upset that the snout of her stuffed puppy was wet. A quick sniff of the snout revealed that the child had been "sharing" her juice with the dog.  Mind you, it was difficult enough dealing with this issue, if it weren't for the fact that daddy was 5 feet away, facing the corner, trying his darndest to laugh as quietly as he could.

 

Then there was the time when she couldn't eat her sandwich because it looked like it had been "picked". Turns out she was sharing it with her toy giraffe.

 

There's also something quite hilarious about a kid who has fallen and is laying on the ground acting like she has a mortal wound. It's hilarious once we've determined there are no injuries, of course, but once that's done, It's darned funny!

 

The kicker? Lily walks out from the bathroom with a very puzzled look on her face because, try as she might, she just can't get her underwear on. She looks at us as if to say, "I've done this dozens of times on my own, why won't it work now??" The fact that she's actually mistaken one of her brother's baby t-shirts for a pair of underwear might have something to do with it...

 

I think the most important lesson I've chosen to learn and practice as a mom is to definitely keep my sense of humor. Why should I think that someday I'll look back and laugh, when I can laugh now? These kids are hilarious, and hopefully, I'll be able to teach them to keep a sense of humor about themselves too :-)

 

Is it possible that Lily might actually be on the verge of being potty trained?? She's actually been out and about with us a few times already - with NO accidents! She has even gone quite a long time between potty visits without a problem. She's amazed me! Getting rid of the pull-ups on outings was actually her idea, when she explicitly told us she didn't want pull-ups. Risky as it was, we honestly couldn't say no and uphold all the work we've done with her. So, we packed some extra clothes, said a prayer, crossed our fingers, and set out into the unknown. She came through like a champ and has continued to do so :-)

 

We still have a couple issues to deal with before we're willing to declare her officially potty trained, but we're so close. We're even at the point of actually considering regular preschool for her now. How awesome is that!

 

This child has gone through so much in her short life. Her route to achievement of crawling and finally walking gave us a new appreciation for her milestones, and this is yet another one. She'll get there when she does, and that day will be very special indeed :-)

Glad you made it over! Since we have a new physical home, we decided it's time for a new "cyber home" too :-) It was an incredibly busy day today, having spent most of it at our new house to thoroughly cover it with primer in preparation for a total paint job. What a task! We did manage to learn a few things in the process though-

 

* Strength in numbers. It's amazing what can be accomplished with only a couple pairs of added hands, and we are completely appreciative of those who came over to help today. Nana, thank you so much for watching the kids and helping to make this a fun day for them in the midst of all the chaos. Tata, thank you for using your expertise to help us with anything complicated that came up, and for picking up a paint roller during the downtimes. Uncle Joe, your company always makes everything more fun. And thank you for picking up a paint roller too!

 

* Lily learned the reason why we've always told her to stay away from cactus. Ah...she's been initiated and is truly a desert child now.

 

* Perspective. You know you've got a really bad paint job when an uneven mass of primer automatically makes the house look 100% better!

 

I'm sure there's more lessons that have been learned, and will continue to be learned. Already though, we know that getting our house in order is going to be a truly wonderful experience for our family.