Enjoying Christmas

Here are a few photos of X-mas at our house.

The boys decorating the tree...



The boys unwrapping their presents at our house on X-mas day.



We also enjoyed visiting my grandma and aunt on X-mas Eve morning. And then in the evening we hosted X-mas Eve dinner for hubby's family. On X-mas morning we opened our presents at our home and then had breakfast and gifts at my parent's house with my side of the family. It sounds busy but boy was it a fun time!

When I have a few more minutes, I will be back to share more stories. Just wanted to get a jump start before the clock changes to the new year!!

Fast forwarding through Fall

Fall was lovely this year. The weather was just beautiful. Of course we really need the rain but it was hard not to appreciate the great weather. With fall comes pumpkins. Having 2 children in school gave us the pleasure of 2 school outings to the pumpkin patch. This is a great patch for variety of pumpkins. Who knew there are so many pumpkins and not all pumpkins are orange..they can be white, yellow, red, even green. The beautiful view of the ocean is also another perk of this patch.

So..what did the boys end up being for Halloween? Even though the boys really wanted to be airplanes I just couldn't get it all done in 2 weeks. Especially since we were on the east coast for a few days meeting with our adoption placing agency and I was still scrambling around trying to get last minute documents inorder. So the boys...being the troopers they are very graciously and happily agreed to be something else. We looked through a catalog and they chose to be matching dalmatian dogs. Very appropriate I thought, as BW loves to play fireman. Actually Bubba first wanted to be a spider but unfortunately that costume was already out of stock. Geez, mom..get your act together. :-) BW says to Bubba, "Be a dog like me Bubba." And he said "okay brother." What sweethearts I have. So here they are in their costumes at another pumpkin patch. We have a tradition of visiting this pumpkin patch to take their photos in their costumes. It's quite a theme pumpkin patch with 2 trains, tractor and hay rides, haunted house, live bands, food booths, arts store and the beautiful background of marigolds.

Here are the boys scooping out the insides of their pumpkins. They also drew their own faces and even used the saws to help cut out their faces. We were surprised at how long and hard they worked on their pumpkins this year.

After carving the pumpkins, it was time for trick or treating. The boys had a great time. We trick or treated with their cousin, my sister and parents. We decided to turn out our lights this year and just enjoy being with the boys. All three boys really got into trick or treating this year. We trick or treated in my sister's neighborhood. It was a lot of fun and the kids were just too cute. A lot of times when the door opened they were ready to just walk right in people's houses. They soon got the concept down of knocking, saying "trick or treat" and then "thank you" and running to the next house. BW and cousin leading the way. Bubba always had to stop to look at what he got. And then he would have to really run to catch up to the other two boys. Hubby, being a teacher wore the costume that he had worn to school that day. The theme at his school that day was 70's dress.

Here are the boys' pumpkins all lit up. BW has the orange light and Bubba's is the green light.

**I had said I would post pictures from last year's Halloween decorations. I seemed to have misplaced a compact card or 2. I'm trying not to panic, as I haven't downloaded all my photos yet. I'm sure it will turn up and when it does, I will post them.

I promise to update later today!

I can't believe how fast the days are flying by. It's been ages since I have had a chance to sit down and blog about the boys. Although good news...I've been scrapping again and working on Bubba's scrapbook for school.

I promise to sit down later today and do some updates. I have a lot to catch up from and want to share Halloween and X-mas pictures too!!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!! Hard to believe we are just days from a new year! Looking so forward to that new year...so many exciting changes for our family is coming this year.

We just had an Earthquake!!

Wow!! At 8:05pm we just had a 5.6 magnitude earthquake. I haven't felt one that strong since the big one in 1989 at 6.9. I had just walked downstairs after kissing both boys goodnight. The whole house just shook very fast and very strong. I almost lost my balance and just saw all the pots on my potrack swinging back and forth. I yelled out my husband's name and ran back up the stairs to grab my boys out of their beds. My youngest was face down in his bed...he thought he had caused it. My other son thought it was fun and wanted to do it again!! Ugh!! It's funny, I had so much to get done tonight and was thankful that the boys were in bed so I could get started. And now...still a little shakey, I'm glad we are all fine and we are huddled around the TV to hear more and wait out all the aftershocks.

The Month of Halloween

I love Halloween. I'm not sure what it is about Halloween I love so much. Is it the pretending to be anything other than yourself? Is it the girl in me wanting to play dress up? Is it because deep down I just love to decorate? Or do I love to be a little scared? I'm not sure what it is but I love Halloween!!

We live in a small community that is made up mostly of young children and dogs. So you can imagine how busy Halloween is in our area. For the past 6 years I lived on a block that really decked it out for Halloween. Neighbors dressed up the yards, we would all hang out in our yards from 6-8pm passing out goodies, taking lots of photos, and just having fun. Our neighborhood was so popular that people would drive over in cars. Last year we had close to 500 trick or treaters in 2 hours. It was insane and oh so right up my alley. The theme of our yard was Alice in Wonderland. We had the spooky forest with the cheshire cat and the rabbit hole, tweedle dee and tweedle dum and the Mad hatter's tea party that included a 2 foot teapot with bubbles pouring out it's spout and a lovely set of chinese lanterns that were lit. We opted to hand out bubbles, mini flashlights, decks of cards, rings, nail polish, and other small games. It was oh so fun. I gladly played the role of Alice and hubby was the Madhatter.

So..here we are in my favorite month and I have done nothing to prepare for Halloween. No new theme, no costumes, no fun handouts, nothing, nada. To make matters more difficult, we have moved to a new neighborhood since last year and we are set back far on our property. It's not exactly at street level like last year, which presents it's own problem for trick or treaters. I have also been way too busy. I have been over the top totally and passionately involved with our upcoming adoption and we are traveling back east for 3 days next week to work on adoption stuff. I'm also still trying to get a handle on all of the craziness that is school...carpooling, schedules, fundraising, cooking projects and hosting this month's class meeting. I just haven't had any extra time or energy to focus on Halloween and I'm a little saddened by it.

The boys really want to be a jet plane and an airplane this year. I've been trying to figure out how to make this happen as they are very specific about how they want their arms to be their wings so they can run around and "fly" very fast. I'm a little worried I won't have their costumes done in time and this of course is much more important than my Halloween fun of decorating. What I wouldn't give for a little sprinkling of magic so that I can pull it all together.

And if time gets the better of me this year, and there is no chance to get to our decorations, to order our loot, I will survive. Perhaps there is a small gift in that for me too. The boys are older. I have a feeling they might really enjoy trick or treating this year. Maybe by taking this Halloween year off, turning our lights out and just being together to trick or treat as a family in our new neighborhood, I will discover an even better way of enjoying Halloween. At least for this year, anyways. I can always dream about next year.

Those unexpected moments...

So today we have a field trip to the Firestation with Bubba’s class. BW was so excited. Field trips could include siblings and BW loved the firetrucks and helicopters. My boys are not the crack of dawn risers, they prefer 7:30/8am time frame. It’s now dark in the mornings, throw in an early start time and we have a hard time moving on school mornings. I slowly creep into BW’s room this morning and get his clothes out..he rolls over, looks up at me and then immediately jumps up. “Today is firestation day, right mom?” “That’s right,” I say. Up he flies…so excited to get going, dresses in seconds he's downstairs in a flash.

Fast forward to the firestation. So here we are at the firestation. We are the first ones here…20 mins early with my sister, nephew and my 2 boys sitting in the car drooling over the rather large red firetruck parked in front. Out of nowhere I hear from the back row, “Mom, I have to go the bathroom.” The dreaded sentence when you are out, especially when you are no where near an easy restroom. “Didn’t you just go at home?” I ask. “Yes, but I have to go the other. “ Oh, that’s great. What to do? “Mom”…a little more urgently. “Alright…let’s see if we can find a fireman to help.” Never thought I would flag a fireman down for that request. A friendly fireman, seeing my young man’s contorted face quickly ushes us into the bunk house. As we step inside, he says, “Everyone dressed?” Oh great, I think…this is more tour than I’m prepared for. He ushes us into the back and points to the bathroom. I thank him we step inside. BW and I peer into the toliet…hmmm..it’s been used. “Let’s see, flush first?” Quickly the toliet bowl fills. “Oh great…that’s not good.” “Let’s get outta here,” panics my son. We step back in the bunk room. “Excuse me, excuse me”…I quickly call out. That nice fireman is gone and to our surprise so is everyone else. That’s just great…now they are going to think we did that.

Okay, back to present problem, son still has to go potty and we are up in the mountains not too close to anything other than this firestation. I remember I have a travel potty in the car that we have never used. Back to the car we go. BW won’t go outside on the potty because he doesn’t want anyone to see him. A few people have pulled up by now since we strayed from the car. My sister suggests putting it in the back row and letting him go there. “Okay. While he is doing that,” I ask her "should I sign us in?” “Great idea,” she says. I leave BW in the back and the other 2 are still strapped into the middle seat carseats and my sister is upfront. I go sign in and of course start talking. A few mins later my sister comes running back…”We need you. Help.” I come running..”What happened?” I know what’s going through your minds….pooping in the car is probably not the best idea. “It’s the smell…we are dying in here." My poor family… I left them strapped in their seats tortured by what BW was creating in the back. Everyone quickly abandons ship. My sister grabs the toddlers and makes a beeline for the car behind us. I’m quickly thinking I would like to run too. Instead I bravely climb in the back to very quickly help BW dress and dispose of the bag. Never a more grosser moment in my mommyhood. I’m sure it won’t be my last gross moment. So lucky are we …a trash can right across the way. Hopefully the rest of the day will go much better. Hopefully, that nice fireman won’t use the bathroom until after we leave. Gotta love those unexpected moments.

Dining with Dogs

I love being outside and one of the things I love about our new house is we finally have a patio table set. I'm not sure why I waited so many years to buy a patio table set. It's great to be able to sit outside. The kids have discovered eating outdoors and they ask at every meal..."Can we eat outside?" The weather has been so great so of course I say "YES!"

We recently enjoyed eating dinner outside and the photo below just cracks me up. When we sit down at the table to eat there is the four of us but if you look under the table you will find our 3 dogs. Every meal, there they are..waiting. Our dogs...they are like sharks circling their prey...or more like laying sharks. They patiently camp out their spot around the kids and wait for them to accidently miss a bite that falls to the floor and whatever dog is laying closest reaches his/her nose out and gets the bite. It really is too funny because they are the ultimate couch potato dogs...just patiently waiting, quietly nearby. I never have to clean up..inside or out they lick the floor clean. I miss them when we eat out at a restaurant because I have to clean up the mess, and I'm always shocked at how messy my boys can be.

So thank you my dogs, my first 3 kids for helping me clean up after the boys...all three of them! And if I could squeeze you all into my overflowing diaper bag I would bring you with me everytime we ate out too.

Potty training

Raising kids continually amazes me...you just have to roll with the punches and follow their lead. A lesson I'm contantly learning. So Bubba has been using the potty since he was 16 months old. His older brother is only 2 years older so when Bubba was just a year old he pretty much spent much of his time in the bathroom as his older brother was 3 and we were in there a lot for big brother. So it wasn't too surprising when he at 16 months wanted to sit on the potty too and was doing both #1 and #2 pretty quickly after. But I didn't hold my breath and expect that he would be potty trained by 2 years. I figured by 3 years like brother for sure, as that seemed to be the magic age I saw with all the kids in my playgroups and preschool.

So sure enough he turned 2 and suddenly wasn't that interested in it anymore. We backed off and if he didn't want to go that was fine. He was in pulls ups now and we packed away the changing table and diaper genie into future sister's room and became used to the new routine of pullups and dumping the load into the potty and flushing it so Bubba got used to the idea of the potty. Too much info...I know, if you wanted to skip this post I'm sure you wished you had now!!

So imagine my surprise when we were on vacation and suddenly Bubba was dry everytime I would check. Okay..roll with the punches..not expecting new changes while on vacation but we can do this no problem. So we increased our times visiting the potty. When you are on vacation and you have to visit every public bathroom you become pretty efficient about what you have to accomplish so your child is not touching everything in that 2' space. Yuck!! Total sidenote: I really hate public bathrooms and I especially hate to visit a restaurant that I just enjoyed eating at and then see how nasty and unkept their bathroom is. Makes me wonder what the kitchen looks like and their santitation habits...you know what I mean? So I was very surprised that this was the time Bubba decided he wanted to be potty trained. We went with it and took him as often as he needed.

We hadn't been sleeping as well as our normal routine at home. Sometimes the kids were going to bed at 10pm or 11pm at night and once their heads hit the pillow they were out. This one night it must have been 2:30am and I hear at the foot of my bed a thump and then the bathroom light goes on and a "mommy help." Bless his heart, in the middle of his sleep, Bubba had thrown himself over the edge of his play and pack and navigated an unfamilar room, made it to the bathroom and was all tied up in his pjs bottoms trying to get them off. We were in time and he made it, but that told me..he wants this. He's continued being dry at home and so we made the trip to the store to buy his his big boy underwear. Never a prouder child have I seen. He has shown anyone he can that he wearing his new big boy underwear and makes such a big todo about which new pair to wear each time...elmo, spiderman or lighting mcqueen..such important choices!! He has had a few accidents and at night time we still put him in his pullups with his underwear over or under them depending on what he chooses. But this is a choice he has solely made and he is trying so hard and we are so proud of him. You go Bubba!! I guess with Bubba almost out of pullups I'm that much more ready for bringing home my baby girl!!




Update Sept 13: So I started the above post awhile ago and in the meantime, Bubba is still using the potty but we have had a few more relapses since school has started. He was pretty dry throughout the entire day since coming home from vacation and having accidents just in the evening and over the past 2 weeks we have had a few more accidents during the day. I know it is party my fault too. I got a little sidetracked with school starting and adjusting to the new schedule and haven't been as diligent about having him go as often. Shame on me!! I hope to do better this week. The good news: Bubba can now get his own pants and pullup off and climb on the potty himself and we are working on getting his legs in the right leg holes and once they are on he can pull up his pullups himself.

A week in San Diego

We had a great time in San Diego. We flew down for the week with my parents and my sister and her family. It was the boys first flight that they could remember. They did really great. BW was so excited he couldn't wait. He wanted to know everything he could..he was so funny he even absorbed what he could of the emergency landing card...I couldn't get him to put it down to take a photo..it looks like he is really into it even though he can't read a thing on the card.

We stayed at Paradise Point Resort and Spa. Check it out at http://www.paradisepoint.com/We had a cute little bungalo that had it's own beach right outside our door. The kids had a blast playing on the beach and in the bay. We also had a bonfire at night and the kids definately loved roasting the marshmellows and eating the smores. Since we were so close to Sea World at 10pm everynite we could walk out on the beach and see the fireworks show. That was pretty cool.

During our stay we visited Sea World, Legoland, Hotel Del Coronado, Pacific Beach, Balboa Park and the Gaslamp Quarter. I think Sea World was a little old for little guys. It was hard for them to wait for the shows but they did really enjoy the dolphin and Shamu Rocks show and talked about it off and on the rest of the trip. We also saw a shark exhibit with a glass tunnel you walk through and the sharks swim all around you. It was such a hit with Bubba that he didn't want to leave the exhibit. We also spent a day at Legoland. What a great park that turned out to be. It is definately geared towards the younger kids. There were quite a few rides they could go on. There was also a fun playtown that was really large, and a couple of water park areas for the kids to just get wet in. I would think age 6 would be absolutely perfect at this park...they could probably do everything. It was an interesting park...it was really clean and the restaurants served healthy choices to eat...you could even choose a kid's meal that did not include something fried and their meals came with milk as opposed to soda and juice which are both so high in sugar. Many of the rides also had a physical aspect to them too. BW's favorite ride was a car that two people had to bicycle to get it to go around the track. We also as a family really enjoyed the firetruck race we participated in. We broke into groups of 3 and raced each other in a firetruck that we had to pump up and down with our arms to get it to go down the track, when we made it to the pretend burning building we had to jump out and pump the water onto the fire target and then run back to the truck and pump up and down until the truck drove back to the start of the race. The first truck back won...it was a hoot! The water park also had lots of wheels they had to turn and buttons to jump up and down on to shoot water or make music...it was really great to see such a healthy spin on a day at the amusement park. Definately check it out if you are in the area.

One of my most favorite places to visit when in San Diego is the Hotel Del Coronado. http://www.hoteldel.com/ I live for the beach and this place is just spectacular. The beach is cleaned everyday and I swear the sand has gold in it. They also have one of my favorite restaurants for breakfast..the Sheerwater. I love buffet breakfasts and I love sitting outside looking at the ocean and this is the best...great food...beautiful view. It was a beautiful day to hit the beach and kids had fun building sandcastles and running in the waves.

We also visited Balboa Park and saw the model railroad museum. The boys were in heaven...it was pretty amazing...the attention to detail and scale of these trains and they whizzing all around the museum..it was a fun day we also stopped by the Japanese Tea gardens for a tour and lunch at the tea house...yummy terriyaki chicken bowl. There were 2 other local breakfast places we discovered that were awesome. World Famous is located right on Pacific Beach. They have a great view and delicious breafast foods and yummy smoothies. http://www.worldfamous.signonsandiego.com/ We also ate at The broken yoke also in Pacific Beach. Very friendly, family atmosphere, no view of the ocean but a huge assortment of breakfast foods and the food was delicious. http://www.thebrokenyolkcafe.com/ One night we made it down to the GasLamp Quarter for dinner and ate at Croce's named after singer Jim Croce. The food was awesome...it was a little late for the kids but they hung in there the best they could and we enjoyed a good meal our last night in San Diego. It was a fun trip. We had a blast.

Update on Napping

Bubba has been actually sleeping these past 2 weeks during his rest time in his room. Yeah!! I hope this continues as he really seems to need it. Hopefully its more than just a growing period. We have actually had to wake him up most of the days. I've probably just jinxed myself by writing about it...we'll see.

The end of summer is approaching!!

I can't believe we are in August already. Where did the entire summer go? It feels like fall is in the air. It is getting colder in the nights and it has been so overcast this past week in the mornings. As much as I love fall with the leaves turning, and the fireplaces on and snuggling on the couch with the kiddos and going for night time walks with the flashlights and returning to our beloved nursery school I'm not ready yet. Hubby will be returning to work and our laid back routines will quickly become more rigid...more scheduled. I always need to take a really big deep breath before I jump into the craziness of the school year with more to do and less daylight and spousal help to do it in.

Luckily we still have one last laid back fun week planned before the end of summer. We are taking the boys to San Diego. It will be the first airplane ride that either boy will remember...BW is very excited...I hope he is still excited when he is actually on the airplane.

We are hitting Sea World and Legoland and touring San Diego and hitting Ocean Beach. Hopefully the weather will be a lot warmer there than it has been here this week. I'm excited and definately looking forward to our week away! San Diego here we come!!

A day at the boardwalk

Last week we took a trip to the boardwalk. We haven't been able to spend as much time at our favorite beach this summer so we packed up the kiddos and headed off to the boardwalk for day of fun in the sun. Gotta love the beach!!

We spent the first part of the day walking the boardwalk, having lunch and riding a few rides before hitting the beach.

The boys had a blast on the beach...running in the waves, making castles in the sand...it was hard to get them off the beach.

Before leaving we took a break and had ice cream. The boys were being so silly I couldn't resist taking a few shots. These photos were taken after Bubba had already finished his dippin dots ice cream.

Well...I didn't make my goal of 10 posts for the month of July...so close. I did have a great July though so it's all worth it. This summer is really flying by. I can't believe we are already in August!!

Aarr me mateys!!

We were pirates today. What a fun day we had celebrating my nephews 2nd birthday. The hit of the party was a 9 foot pirate ship with bell, steering wheel and sails. The kids loved climbing aboard with their pirate hats on and driving the ship and ringing the bell.

It was such a beautiful day that the kids got to also play in the pop up jets they have in their backyard. What a fun day to be a pirate. Both my boys kept running around yelling..."Aarr me mateys."

HAPPY 7 YEARS!!

Today is our anniversary. Hard to believe we have been married 7 years. For our anniversary my hubby gave me a bouquet of red roses and a sign from my favorite store. It reads:



To celebrate, hubby's parents were so nice to come down and take care of the boys and we went out to the movies to See the new HARRY POTTER MOVIE: ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. It was really good!!

Today is also my grandparents 62nd anniversary. Amazing!! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GRANDMA AND GRANDPA!!

Berry Picking

We have a garden in the backyard. On the fence of our garden we planted thornless blackberries. Some of the berries are finally ripe. The kids wanted to help pick them and really seemed to enjoy the hunt for the blackest berries.

Here they are enjoying the berries over sherbert ice cream.

It's FRIDAY!!!

It amazes me...I've been a SAHM now for the past four years and my hubby is off for the summer and still the excitement that Friday brings. My weekends are really not that different from the weekdays...yet still there is something special about Friday. We had a great day today. We did not try and accomplish anything...no moving...no errands...no crazy getting up extra early to meet appts. It was a relaxing day. The only thing scheduled was a fun playdate with a good friend and her little boy that is BW's age. The boys had a great time playing trains, candyland, bowling, playing with cars. They were so engrossed in play..hubby was right down on the floor with them, being one of the boys... and it gave us moms a chance to sit nearby and chat and make lunch for the crew. It's always nice to have playdates with good friends...hanging out with a friend just seems to refreshen the soul somehow.

After lunch it was time for naps...and even though neither of my boys slept, just played in their rooms. Mommy was able to sneak in a nap for herself...what a heavenly treat. Just gotta love fridays.

Bathroom Talk

Bubba and I were sitting in his bathroom this evening as we do every evening as part of the routine for getting ready for bed. Well.. he was sitting on the toliet and I was keeping him company while we were waiting for him to make his "splashing poo poos" as he calls it. I noticed his legs were really dry from being out in the sun all day. I got the lotion out and was massaging his left leg and was asking him if that felt good. Bubba pauses, and then replies..."delicious." "what?" I say. "It's delicious," he replies. It was too funny and not quite the response I was expecting. Bubba cracks us up. We just never know what he is going to come up with.

Small breakthrough in Napping problem

This past week has been crazy busy. We have been trying to pack and clean out the old homestead in time for a huge garage sale on Sat (more about the garage sale later). Well, for the past few days we have been in the car at 11am on our way back home for lunch and naps when surprise, surprise we arrive home and Bubba has fallen asleep. I have been able to transfer him to his bed and he has been able to take a nap until around 2:30pm. What a difference a nap makes for this poor tired boy. Downside is he is having his lunch at 2:30pm when BW is having his afternoon snack. But I think he needs the nap more. Especially since our routine has been a bit crazier this summer with the house and having hubby home and just trying to fit in everything. Now unfortunately this has only worked when we are in the car at 11am and though I can try to run errands a few times a week to see if this continues I can't really be in the car everyday at that time so we will still keep putting him in his room after lunch and hoping one of these days he just gets bored of sitting up there and falls asleep. It's clear he still needs it..now if only he could see that too.

I want to make 10

I have noticed I have yet to make 10 posts in a month. I even seem to have missed posting all together in the month of May. So my goal for this month is to make it to 10...10 posts! I think I can...I think I can...it's good to start small and have goals.

A Teaching Moment

I've had an Oprah "ah ha moment" this evening. You see, I've been thinking a lot about our parenting methods and worrying a little about our in home interview with our SW (for our homestudy to adopt our daughter from Russia) and wondering if our SW will think we are good parents with positive parenting methods and write a favorable review for us. Now mind you, I haven't been stressing about this...just hoping that when time comes for this interview...it is not a total disaster and that our home, kids, and us come together and present a somewhat true but favorable family picture.

So after spending some time thinking about how we parent and discipline I observed BW using one of our techniques on his brother this evening. This is not the first time I have noticed him use this technique but I was so amazed at how effective he was at it. Much more so than the technique that hubby and I were trying which was pleading...''please stop crying Bubba, please.'' So it is no secret that Bubba spends a portion of his day in tears...due to frustration, being overly emotional, not getting his way, tired from not taking a nap, being the younger brother, just being 2...you get the picture, etc, etc. We have tried everything for him ...currently I'm working on getting him to take deep breaths to calm himself down. Anyways, tonight in the tub Bubba is upset with us after he dumped a cup of water over his brother's head and we were trying to explain to Bubba we don't pour water on people's heads esp. when they are not expecting it. Oddly enough, though he is not the victim in this situation he is still upset that we are not siding with him and allowing him to pour water on his brother's head and thus continues to cry. BW quickly over the spilt water in true BW fashion, speaks up...''Bubba, did you see the shadow on the showerhead? Look at the shadow.'' And there it is....when all else fails...distraction or redirection. BW was trying to distract Bubba from what was currently making him upset, and it worked. Bubba quieted down and looked up at the showerhead. Sometimes, it's like there are three parents parenting Bubba. Being so tired, I'm grateful for that small token of helpfulness...that BW could of really played the victim card and been upset with Bubba but instead helped us in quieting him down..esp at the end of another long day of packing...yes, we are still packing up boxes at our old house. I'm amazed at how observant BW is and how he has picked up on so many things...some of them actually good things and thus the "ah hah moment" maybe just maybe we must be doing something right...maybe we are modeling some useful parenting technique afterall. Heck, I had to get a certificate in early childhood education to learn that one and though BW doesn't know the name of the technique he used, he has been able to apply it all the same.

I've noticed BW use this method before and not just with Bubba. Once, during the school year BW was playing with a classmate in this redwood tree grove --the rocketship as it was called that day---when another child enters the scene and out of no where the boy BW is playing with bonks the new boy on the head and that boy gets really upset and soon the teacher is on the scene to try and figure out quickly what has happened and calm the boys down. Suddenly, BW pipes up and tells the upset child the other child would like you to operate the remote control for the rocket ship. BW points to where the remote control is and asks him to help them go up in space. All of the sudden, tears are gone, the child excitedly agrees to this job and the boy that originally bonked him is also happy about this new idea and everything is fine. The teacher is very happy at how this has quickly worked out and comments outloud how nice of BW to include the new child and give him an opening into how to join the twosome in play and how that immediately diffused the upset situation between the 2 boys. Now I could have immediately felt proud but instead sheeplishly I admited that BW is very good at distracting his younger brother and that technique has just worked so well that he uses it a lot. It would seem he is quite good at being a moderator and has learned some lessons quite well...like how to distract and redirect.

25 Things I know about Myself

Okay, I've seen this done on other blogs and thought I would give it a try for myself.

1. I'm 32 years young.
2. I was born in and have lived all my life in California.
3. I am a quarter japanese.
4. I love being outside.
5. I believe in fate and I'm a hopeless romantic. Favorite symbol I wear..a heart.
5. I met my hubby when I was 18. He was my floor RA in my freshman dorm. He was 20.
6. I hate to be hot and I melt in weather over 80.
6. I always lose weight in the summer because I can't eat when it's hot.
7. I love to drink pretty drinks (non-alcoholic or alcoholic)
8. I enjoy being social and being with my family/friends and I also love to be by myself.
9. Pink Tulips are my favorite flower and Lavender is my favorite scent.
10. I live for the beach...the ocean is my calming place.
11. I have a weakness for chocolate especially chocolate chip cookies.
12. I'm totally emotional and incrediably sentimental.
13. Biggest weakness: being overly emotional, procrastination, over reacting and staying motivated to finish a project that I started.
14. Love to read.
15. Not religious but spiritual. I believe in Heaven, life after death, guardian angels and ghosts.
16. Favorite foods: mexican and japanese
17. Favorite vacation involves a beach, good book and a tropical drink. Loved Tahiti. Want to go again.
18. Love all things french. Also loved Paris and would give anything to go again soon.
19. Name of our home...Lavender Creek.
20. Love and hate to fly.
21. Want to visit all 50 states.
22. Lucky number 3, E is my favorite Letter, favorite color is green.
23. Have three amazing Cavalier King Charles Spaniels
24. Love being a mommy and can't wait to bring our daughter home from Russia.
25. Someday I want to learn to sing, cook and sew.