April Celebrations

We've had a wedding, baby shower, and Birthday party so far this month. All have been great parties and we've been happy to be part of the celebrations. Up first was a baby shower for Jon's cousin Kyle's wife Tammi (did you follow that?). Their baby was due May 5th but surprised everyone when she arrived 5 weeks early on April Fools Day. Tammi was a trooper and went ahead with the baby shower and baby Emily even made an appearance at the end. Since the shower started at noon I took Reed along and left Kieran to nap with Jon. Nonna was watching Lyla for the weekend so Reed was excited to see both of them and also one of his favorite girls in the family - Megan! The shower was at Auntie P's house and she was very sweet and made Reed his own plate of food separate from everyone else's. She has a beautiful backyard that the kids loved exploring and the weather was absolute perfection. We are so excited for Emily to be part of our family and it was a great day celebrating Kyle and Tammi's new role as parents.

Reed was being shy but warmed right up to Megan

This past weekend was Jeffrey's 2nd Birthday. Mikael and Erin recently moved back to California and we are all pretty excited they bought a house in Kingsburg. For the party, Mikael smoked some delicious pork and was so nice to ask me about ingredients and pretty much all of the food was Reed friendly, which again makes my life so much easier!!! Erin even had a cupcake topper for the cupcake I brought for Reed which he loved. The party had a Car theme and the bounce house, play structure, and toy vehicles were a huge hit. The boys had a blast and were bummed when we had to leave. They even broke into the goody bags as soon as we got home and started working on a Cars craft project. We can't wait to spend more time with the Johnsons now that they are home for good and know Jeffrey, and his Sister Emma, will be good friends of the boys!!!

Lyla swinging

Clara driving

Connor sliding

Kieran climbing

Reed posing

Birthday cupcakes!!!

Kieran Says February/March 2016 Edition

Kieran is such a comedian and the mischievous look he has before he delivers a funny line or does something hilarious is really pretty cute. He is definitely my wild child and I'm always saying how I think he's going to give me problems as a teenager. He throws fits, but they seem so staged I often just start laughing, which turns into him laughing, and us both agreeing there are better ways to get what you want. K-Bug seems to be the King of Catch Phrases. For a few weeks anytime something would go wrong he would declare "oh poops!!" His newest phrase is "hhhuuuHHHH????" said supper exaggerated anytime something doesn't make sense to him. While he uses his words to be funny he also knows how to be so polite and charming I constantly find myself thinking what a sweetheart he is. He almost always says thank you when you do something for him, tells me all the time "thank you for dinner Mommy, it's yummy!!!" He also still tells me every night that he loves me "so, so much" and is the best little hugger you've ever met. But enough of the mushy stuff, back to the fun . . .

Jon was reading a book of first words to Kieran and was pointing to different pictures. When he got to the picture of grapes Kieran shook his head and said "that's too hard!"

I heard the boys fighting in the back of the house and I went to investigate. K-Bug told me, through tears, "I close the door and then Reed opened the door and came in the room. No trespassing!!!"

I was asking the boys if they thought the babies in C and Aunt Kari's tummies were boy babies or girl babies. K answered by saying "I want to do rock a bye baby with the girl/boy baby."

Kieran came running up to me crying "there's an egg in my nose." When I investigated I found a giant dried booger hanging out of his nose.

Out of nowhere one morning K-Bug ran up to Jon and said "I don't worry about you Dad" and then gave him a big hug.

Our power went out a few weeks back so I lit a couple of candles in the kitchen. When K saw this he immediately started singing "Happy Birthday to Mom!!!" Followed by "Where the cake?"

Kieran was helping me make dinner one night when I pulled out a bag of rolls. He asked me "what's that Mom?" So I told him they were dinner rolls. To which he asked "Oh, are you going to roll it?"

K-Bug was running around the house naked and suddenly stopped and told me "my penis needs to get dressed - he needs underwear."

I was backing the car out of the garage and the sensors starting beeping. While putting his hands out in a calming motion K said "calm down car."

I heard Kieran yell "hey, Mom I'm having leftovers!!!" and turned to find him eating a chunk of spilled food off of the floor.

Reed Says Winter 2016 Edition

I don't really feel the need to give any updates on Reed since I just did his 4.5 year post, but of course The Monkey has had some interesting things to say over the past few months that I just have to share . . .

On the way to school one morning Reed asked me "why don't you make your hair pretty for work?" It was wet in a pony tail - my norm.

In an attempt to help with Kieran's potty training Reed explained to Kieran that "poop is a WHOLE different thing than pee!"

Most mornings Reed attempts to put his shoes on himself. One morning he was struggling with the task and informed me "I can't get my shoes on. I have lots of problems being a kid."

When I was packing for Avila I told the boys they could each take a back pack along with them with whatever they wanted to put inside. Reed took this on as a challenge to see how much he could fit in both packs. I overheard him telling his brother "Kieran, we can only have one bag each. Put Max and Geno in your bag, we have to figure out how Blue Blankie can hitch a ride."

Reed needed to go to the bathroom while at a friend's house and Kieran came along with us saying he "just wanted to watch Reed pee" to which Reed replied "it's pretty boring Kieran!"

Reed commented on the size of Dodger's poop saying "that's the most poop I've ever seen in my life . . . unless I go to a poop show."

There are two girls that have potty accidents at Reed's school. He has taken to calling them "The Poopers." After quite a few conversations I think he understands that's not a nice thing even if "that's what they do, Mom."

Reed kept changing his mind about what book he wanted before bed so Jon just picked one and read it. When Reed declared, when it was over, that wasn't the book he wanted and Jon refused to read another one Reed asked "Dad, why are you such a head-butt?"

The boys have been playing pretty well together lately and I love overhearing their conversations. After breakfast one morning Reed leaned over to Kieran and said "let's get building, shall we."

Reed worked at HMC for three hours last month helping Auntie P. On our way home he decided he should earn $3 for his time, which I agreed to. He asked how much the Ninja Turtle he's been wanting is and I told him it's $10 and suggested he could do some work around the house to earn the rest of the money he needed to buy it. He thought for a moment and then asked me "why don't you just take the rest out of that bank you keep giving my money?"

Jon misplaced his headphones and when I found them he asked Reed "where do you think Mom found them?" Reed replied "I don't know, where did you have them last."

The Monkey was helping me fix a hole Dodger had dug in the backyard. When I laid a trellis over the spot to prevent future digging I said "I think this is going to really pay off." To which he said "Yeah!!! What are we going to buy with it?"

Imagine U

For Christmas we received a membership to ImagineU from Nonna and Pepe, a kids museum in Visalia, we also gave a membership to C, Tio, and Lyla as a gift. We've been twice now and had so much fun both times. The first time we had a play date with C and Lyla as well as our friend Michelle and her son Ryan. Then last week Kieran and I met up with C and Lyla, Ashley and Eli, and Laura, Eden, and Baby Serena. This was definitely a younger group but they still had a blast. The activities of choice are the glass room you can paint in, the outdoor fishing exhibit, the little kids play area, and Kieran's absolute favorite - the citrus picking and packing exhibit. It's a great place to go anytime but especially when outside play is tough because of the weather.

Eden an I obviously take fishing very seriously!