San Diego Highlights - Hot Tubbing

Each night we were at the hotel, we went to the pool and hot tub. While the boys like the pool a lot, I think their favorite part of the night was sitting in the hot tub. Shawn, especially, loved the hot tub, and his whole body would instantly relax the moment we got in to it.

I think the funniest part about our pool time was how social the boys were. They wanted to talk to EVERYONE. It didn't matter if the people were big or little, either. :)

San Diego Highlights - Mostly Wordless Wednesday

One of the last things we did at Sea World was talk to Grover and Elmo. Everyone wanted to go meet them and take a picture. Score!

Shawn was excited to talk to Grover!

Jason and Elmo became instant pals!

The whole family!

Just once I'd like a picture with everyone looking at the camera...this was not to be the time, I guess. As usual, Isaac and I nailed it, though! ;)

Rocked It!

We are back from our three day, two night trip to Sea World!

Here's a quick rundown of our trip:

• We went to Build a Bear for the first time and made ourselves new stuffed friends.
• We went swimming in the hotel pool at night! The boys loved it. Shawn especially loved the "little pool" (Jacuzzi) and I think would have been happy playing in it all night long. :)
• It was Jack's first time in the pool. He is now hooked.
• We went to Sea World, the highlights of which were: seeing Shamu and dolphins, petting the sea creatures, the water play area, seeing Grover and Elmo, playing arcade games and winning prizes, watching the sea turtles, and so much more!
• The boys stayed up way too late and woke up way too early. The big people are exhausted.
• Jack discovered a new love for the top bunk of a bunk bed.
• The toaster I took with us erased the stress of what to feed Jack. Yay!
• Public restrooms must be the hottest place on Earth. Each time I came out of one of them, I was dripping with sweat. With three boys, lets just say that I was in a bathroom many times. But the new "family" bathroom phenomena? Brilliant. ;)
• The hotel had only two child friendly(ish) channels on their television. One was the Cartoon Network, which was not exactly child friendly enough for my kids. Instead we watched Nickelodeon. In the morning, before we'd head out, that was fine. Nick played some of the boys' regular cartoons. It also played SpongeBob Square Pants, a show the boys can't see until they're 8. (Long story as to why. lol) The boys were in heaven while they watched the forbidden. In the evening, however, there were no cartoons. Instead the station played Full House, something I thought would be tame enough except they had to go and show episodes of drinking and driving a car through the kitchen wall among other lovely topics! The little eyes just soaked it all in. Sigh.
• The boys behaved fabulously! I am so, so proud!

We have been told it was "the best trip ever" several times. So, I think it can be concluded that they had a good time. Pictures to come soon.

Monday Memory - Smile

We always find a reason to smile around here!

I think he's sticking his tongue out, too! ;)
(I did a double take when I saw his hands...they just look so grown up!)

Bonus pic...

 

No photo session is complete without a photo bomb.
Jack says, "Cheese!"

Kidbits: Our Life in a Series of Face Book Updates... Part 26

July 22

The boys are playing iPads right now. From out of the blue I hear, "Awesome! I can smell victory! Here it comes! YES!"

Sounds like a very educational app he's playing.

 

~~~

 

July 19

Apparently Jason is moving to New York. I asked him what he was going to eat because he can't use a stove yet. "Aren't you coming wih me? Jack's coming, too. You're going to cook."

"Well, isn't Shawn coming?"

"No, he's staying in California with daddy."

Um...

 

 

~~~

 

July 18

HE IS ASLEEP!!!! Woohoo! Parental celebrations happening over here. Jack went to sleep in his bed and didn't get out of bed once! Whoot! Whoot! (And please not let this jinx me for tomorrow. Had to add that just in case.)

 

~~~

 

July 13

Seeing how Jack barely fits into his crib and he's now trying to climb out, I guess it is time to move into a big boy bed.

Hold me.

 

~~~

 

July 6

I just watched both the big boys sort and eat their M&Ms by color...

The craziness in this family runs deep. I'm so proud!

 

~~~

 

July 1

"Mom, what kind of punctuation do you use when you own something? Is it a 'postrophe?"

I think I may have teared up a little.

 

~~~

 

June 29

The little people have been attached to me like glue. I have had at least one, and usually more than one on my since yesterday. What is going on?

 

~~~

 

June 29

Yet another thing I never thought I'd say: "Quit eating my sock, Jack!"

 

~~~

 

June 28

Just spent the last hour showing the boys videos of themselves as toddlers. They loved it. It's the funniest thing to me that even they can't tell each other apart! Lol

 

~~~

 

June 25

Summer "school" day 3 done with the boys. We didn't do anything too taxing - wrote letters to someone, wrote the numbers to 60 (for one) and 100 (for the other), read, and wrote about what we read. I even got a "that's all?" when we were done. Lol.

 

~~~

 

June 24

Shawn just told Jason, "I love my little brother."

Jason has declared that no, he is oldest. "I want to be the big brother!" Telling him he was a big brother to Jack did not appease him. Lol.

Sorry, Jay, Shawn has you beat by 1 minute.

 

~~~

 

June 23

I think my child just ate a spider. I may NEVER recover. Just saying.

 

~~~

 

June 20

Just took the boys to Toys R Us (their first time ever going) to get a toy to celebrate the end of kinder and all their hard work. Their minds have been BLOWN. It was totally awesome.

 

~~~

 

June 20

The littlest just went to get his shoes, put them on, and declared "vamanos!" Okie dokie then.

 

~~~

 

June 20

It has been one of those really great days: I am out of school for summer, the dynamic duo are now officially 1st graders, Isaac won 4th place in a poker tournament, and Jack came to get me to take him to the bathroom and actually went potty! Woooohooo! Here's hoping this is a sign that we are going to have an amazing summer!

 

~~~

 

June 15

Happy Father's Day, Isaac! You truly are an amazing father and our boys are so, so lucky you are theirs! I love you very much!

 

~~~

 

June 14

Every time I leave my phone unattended Jack grabs it and clicks on FB. I think he likes the pictures. Lol.

 

~~~

 

June 7

Telling the boys stories about when they were newborns. They are fascinated that daddy's ring fit all the way up to their armpits. "But daddy's ring fits on his finger! That's how big my arms were?"

Yes, that's how big they were. It blows my mind to think of how far they've come.

 

~~~

 

June 2

Rushed into their bedroom because one yelled as if the world was ending. What happened you ask?

He had a hang nail. Sigh.

 

~~~

 

May 28

"Mom, my favorite number is 9927."

"It is? Why is that?"

"I just like it, that's all."

Well okay then.

 

~~~

 

May 25

It was a beautiful day today! We spent a good part of the day outside playing. I know they played hard, too--they've all been yawning for the last hour! Lol.

 

~~~

 

May 24

Sesame Street Live was a huge success! The boys were amazingly well behaved. Aside from 4 trips to the bathroom and a fear of heights (we were in the balcony), they sat in awe and hardly moved!

Whew. I'm so relieved!

 

~~~

 

May 23

The boys are watching Hercules for the first time and having a picnic in the living room. I am "the best mom ever!" Lol

 

~~~

 

May 22

The boys are in their beds taking turns making farting noises and laughing hysterically. I can't help but laugh myself. I love these twin moments they have.

 

~~~

 

May 21

My foot started bugging me earlier this evening. After an inspection, I found what I suspected to be a splinter embedded in the sole of my foot. I pulled it out only to discover it wasn't a splinter--it was one of Jason's hairs of steel! I guess this was an occupational hazard from doing the boys' haircuts myself.

 

~~~

 

May 9

Isaac's playing Jason's racing game on the ipad. He's trying to get points so Jason can "buy" a new car tomorrow night. By the looks of it, he's having more fun than Jason ever does. lol

 

~~~

 

May 2

Isaac just text to say he'd be a little late coming home with dinner. I asked him why. He said he lost our pizza to some seagulls. Apparently he forgot the pizza was on the roof of the car when he drove away...the box was picked clean by the time he got back to it. (Not that we'd eat it or anything after that.)

He's waiting for a new one now. Lol

 

~~~

 

April 26

The littlest is running around the house singing, "No body knows the trouble I've seen..."

Life must be sooooo rough for this one.

 

 

~~~

 

April 23

While playing with animal cards...

"Look! An ostrabitch!"

Um, that's pronounced osTRICH. Got it?

 

~~~

 

April 22

I can't make this stuff up if I tried. Stuff like this always happens to us!

Spring pictures are in but there is a problem. Shawn's pictures are in Jason's envelop and Jason has no pictures. (Which...Jason still swears he covered his eyes anyway so who knows if we'd even like them anyway.) The school emailed Lifetouch and reordered them, but they won't arrive for 8-10 more weeks. On a positive note, I'm told Shawn's pictures are adorable! We get them tomorrow.

 

~~~

 

April 16

Jason has the hiccups. I told him to hold his breath until they go away. It has been the quietest 15 minutes ever! May need to tell him that he has to keep holding his breath or they'll come back...

 

~~~

 

April 11

"Hey, mom, remember when we saw that giraffe peeing at the zoo? That was the best."

Now that's exactly the type of memory I hoped they'd take from our zoo experience. Sigh.

 

~~~

 

April 10

Hanging at the LA Zoo today.

 

~~~

 

April 10

Shawn: "Jason, go put on your glasses."

Jason: "No. I don't have to!"

Shawn: "Yes you do! Mooooom, tell Jason he needs his glasses!"

Lots of adjustments for all of us on this milestone...

 

~~~

 

April 9

Fun is an eye appointment with the twins and dilation drops. Totally fun. The screams and crying are bonus!

 

~~~

 

April 6

The boys had a fantastic time playing outside today. Dirt is pretty magical to a boy, that's for sure!

 

~~~

 

March 31

Big boy had his 3 year well baby visit today. He's 40.5 inches tall and 35 pounds (with clothes and shoes).

 

~~~

 

March 30

Happy 3rd birthday, Jack! You bring so much joy into our lives each and every day! I love you!

 

~~~

 

March 29

Just kissed Jack goodnight. Just like that, we're leaving the year of 2 behind us.

Wow.

It is so hard to believe Jack is a few short hours away from turning 3 years old. I'm not sure what this year will bring, but it is bound to be interesting!

 

~~~

 

March 17

Him: Hey, mom. This is great sauce for my shrimp.

Me: I'm glad you like it, babe. It's ketchup, though.

Him: Well, it's really good ketchup. I can't even taste the shrimp anymore.

Me: Sigh.

 

~~~

 

March 15

Isaac just got a courtesy laugh from his children for the joke he just told! Ha!

 

~~~

 

March 10

So the littlest is in his bed making the loudest "farting" noises he can muster followed by "Oh no!" Over an over in an attempt to lure me in there. It's not going to work little man. Not going to work.

 

~~~

 

March 9

I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up buried under a pile of matchbox cars. Oh, the joy of raising boys. And man, I must have been OUT!

 

~~~

 

March 8

I must once again profess my love for the boys' teacher. We are so, so lucky to have her in the boys' lives. Now, how to bribe her to move up to first grade next year?

~~~

March 3

All three boys are asleep at the same time. During the day.

Has anyone checked the temperature of hell lately? Just want to make sure this phenomenon is due to germs and not something more...

~~~

March 1

Listening to a symphony of coughs. All three have now joined the band. Sounds as if it will be another interesting night. Yay.

~~~

March 1

"Mom, put this on Facebook! Say, 'Jason whistled on March 1, 2014!'"

That concludes this breaking news announcement.

 

~~~

February 15

Nothing cooler than lying on the couch, reading with one of my boys. Him reading his book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cupcake," and me with my kindle.

~~~

February 13

Uh oh. Jack's watching the luge coverage on the Olympics. He is riveted and laughing! He loves it!

~~~

February 8

Just finished stage 1 of the boys' 100th day of school projects. (Times 2 because it's always times two or three around here.) Hoping that the rest goes just as well.

~~~

February 6

My husband just "pegged" my son's pants. I think we've just been transported back to the 80's.

~~~

February 4

On this day 6 years ago, after 100 days in the NICU, Jason came home! Happy Homecoming Day, Jason!

~~~

February 2

I just want to say that I am in love with the boys' teacher. Seriously. She is amazing.

~~~

January 25

6 years ago today, after 90 days in the NICU, we got to bring our Shawn home. Happy Homecoming Day, Shawn! It's your day!

Cute Boy Saturday

I keep saying you just never know where you'll find him. He keeps giving me reason to say it. ;)

How I found him after "quiet time."

In case you missed it, he's inside the basket!

More Water Fun

This is one of my all time favorites...
Jack trying to drink some water from the sprinkler.

Love his face here!

Brotherly love.
(look at Shawn's tan line on his neck!)

And brotherly attack! ;)

Outdoor Fun

We filled the sandbox with water this afternoon. The boys played and splashed and generally had a fantastic time. It is so fun to watch them interact together. Even (maybe most especially) when they do things like this...

 

Shawn aims...

and fires!
Good thing Jack moved his head at just the right moment. ;)

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

When Jack goes "missing," you never know what you will find. This time I found him in my bathroom. standing IN my toilet, sucking on the hairspray bottle's cap, and staring at himself in a mirror. My hairbrush has been tossed to the floor. (Thank goodness it wasn't tossed into the toilet, but I guess there was no room with his feet already in it.)

 

"Jack! What are you doing?!?"

 

"Pretty hair," he tells me.

 

Sigh.

 

Apparently it doesn't matter that his hair is only an inch long. ;)

Conversations With 6 Year Olds

Him: Mom, did you know ants have two stomachs? One stomach is for their food, and the other stomach is for food for the colony. 

Me: They do? I didn't know that. How did you learn that?

Him: I saw it on the internet. But there's one thing I don't understand...Do ants digest the food in their other stomach?

Me: ...

Somebody and Nobody

Our boys' attempt to illustrate that old expression "Two mysterious people live in my house - somebody and nobody. Somebody did it, and nobody knows who." ~author unknown.

There has been a new (or renewed, depending on
the boy) fascination with the bathroom. They are
all under its spell all of a sudden. Sigh.

I have a hunch as to the culprit, but no one fessed up to it. It's also quite possible this was a team effort, in which case we are in trouble! lol

Conversations with a 3 Year Old

"Come into my office," he says to his brother. I think it's safe to say the room was a huge hit with the littlest.

Chillaxin' in his room. :)

Cute Boy Saturday - The End of the Crib

This week we decided to do away with the crib. In all reality, we had to. The boy is 41.5" long and the crib is only 51.5ish" long. He couldn't move without banging on the sides of the crib somewhere.

Jack's last night in the crib.
Sniff...sniff...sniff...

On Friday, the boys went over to grandma's house. While they were gone, I set about to making Jack's room into a full fledge big boy room.

I used Sesame Street as the theme and went at it.



Sunny day
Sweepin' the clouds away

 

On my way to where the air is sweet...
(I ran out of the 's' and 'w' and had to order them. lol)



Come and play!
(missing another letter 'n')

When the boys came home later that afternoon, they were all super impressed, especially Jack.

 

He looked around and kept repeating, "Woooooowwww!"

He got on his new bed, proceeded to jump around a bit,
and then continued to admire the walls. :)

It was pretty awesome. When we put him in bed that evening, I was prepared for a difficult night. Again, he surprised me and went right to sleep!

I couldn't believe our good fortune!

Nap time today proved to be a lot more challenging, so I did go out and invest in a baby gate for his room. Let's just say that this kid is sneaky and has the potential to create complete and total chaos when left unattended.

This evening, gate installed, I thought for sure that he'd give us more problems but nope. He again went right to sleep, not getting out of bed a single time.

I am going to make a valance out of Jack's top sheet (the boys tend to just kick the sheet off anyway) and add the missing letters before it is completely finished. I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

Better yet, Jack is happy!

Friday Five

Jack has found a video on Jason's LeapPad that he absolutely loves. It drives the rest of us crazy. So of course he must play it over and over and over...

My Hairs Too Long...



~~~

I gave Shawn a haircut yesterday. He did so, so well! When he was a little guy, he hated haircuts, and it was a brutal endeavor for all of us. Lately, though, it was like a switch was flipped and his is totally fine with it. I think I can officially say that he's left his fear of haircuts behind him. Way to go Shawn!



Isn't he a cutie pie?

 

After we finished his cut, I asked him if he wanted to add gel to his hair to make it spikey. He is not a fan of the spike, at least yet. :)

 

For the record, Jason is not exactly a fan of haircuts, either. He was just less vocal about it. ;)

 

~~~

 

Jack took another selfie tonight. Melt my heart!

Say cheese!

~~~

We had a sad night here at Casa Lopez last night. Paul, one of our Fab Four, joined his tank brothers, John and George, in the great big ocean in the sky. We had a touching toilet bowl ceremony where Shawn sang a hymn, otherwise known as the National Anthem, and Jason spoke a few words about what a great pet he was. There were some tears, naturally, but the boys handled the entire situation very well. We're very proud of them.

~~~

So the decision has been made on how to decorate the big boys' room. Of course the couldn't agree on a single theme, so their room is going to be divided down the middle so each has decorations of his own choosing.

When showing them their design options, I deliberately chose things that were available on Amazon Prime at a reasonable price. My thought was that we'd transform the big boys' room this weekend. Wouldn't you know it that when I went to order the designs the boys chose, they were on back order and not due to arrive until September!

This would not do, especially because I opened my mouth and discussed updating their room with them before I knew it would take so long.

After some quick internet searching, I was able to find the designs elsewhere (for the same price and free shipping to boot!) and they'll be delivered next week.

Jason, however, is still dying from the wait. "Mom," he lamented. "A whole week is a long time to wait for a 6 year old!"

Ha! So it is!

He was not consoled by my "this will build character" response. Go figure.

Anything Can Happen.

On the quest to make our boys more adventurous eaters, because 'picky' doesn't even begin to describe how unadventurous the boys are with food, Isaac coined the term "Anything Can Happen Thursdays." He figured we should set aside at least one day a week to have the boys try something new.

Before you get too excited, the "anything" in "Anything Can Happen Thursdays" doesn't have to be something huge. In fact, it usually isn't something big. One day I gave them mustard in which to dip their chicken. (failure) Another day they had to try raw cauliflower. (mixed reviews) The point is that everyone knows it's a day that they MUST try a new food, chew it, and swallow. Yes, we had to quantify what "trying" a new food meant. lol

Shawn is a great eater. He'll try whatever I have and most times, he'll eat at least a few bites. He really hasn't had much of a problem with our "Anything Can Happen Thursdays." He's liked some things much better than others, but he does try it all.

Jason, on the other hand, is a great eater for some things. He only likes the tried and true, which I honestly understand because I am like that, too, but it does make meal planning challenging when he just won't eat much variety. It's possible, "It will only take a few days before he'll eat whatever you give him," I guess, but fighting over food is just not something I really want to do.

And Jack? Sigh. Let's just say Jack is like Jason. We were celebrating that he put a carrot into his mouth and chewed it this afternoon. So what that he spit it all out in my hand a few moments later. He chewed! For most things I offer, he refuses, and we call it a day.

~~~

This week Jason saw a quick video on one of his kids shows this week. It was about a young Chinese girl who talked about her family, her home, and what they eat. At one point she said, "We eat noodles because we believe they make you live a long time." (paraphrased) Jason heard that and asked if it was true.

"That's what her family believes," I told him.

"Yeah, but is it true?" he asked again.

"To her family it is." I returned.

He thought about it for a bit and then asked if eating noodles would make him live a long time, too.

"Do you think it will?" I asked.

"I think so," he said.

"What if we had some noodles on Thursday?" I asked.

"Okay," he said.

I did an internal happy dance, because hello?, the boy agreed to something new on his own! Together, we decided we'd have chow mien for this Thursday's dinner.

Fast forward to tonight. Shawn gobbled down his chow mien like he'd been eating it all his life. Jason, I am happy to report, ate almost his entire serving! I am so proud of him! As he ate each bite he'd say, "Here is 5 more minutes of life!" It was too cute.

The topper was Jason's fortune said, "You will live a long, prosperous life." That sealed it for him. It has to be true now.

Then Shawn opened his fortune cookie. His fortune said he was going to take a trip.

"Hey mom! Sea World is a trip! Do you think that's the trip Shawn is going to take?"

Sigh.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday - Making Tortillas with Daddy!

Today, the big boys got to make flour tortillas with daddy! They had a blast, especially Jason. It was so much fun to watch. :)

Jason measured out the flour.

Shawn got to measure out the baking powder.

Shawn measured out the butter...

and Jason measured the lard, which Jason kept calling "larder." lol

Daddy cut the butter into little chunks and then Shawn
put some in the bowl.

Jason added the rest.

Jason and daddy kneaded the dough.

They formed the dough into little balls.

They ended up with 11.

After the dough rested, Jay rolled balls out flat.

He got a little floury, too. ;)

Shawn had his turn rolling out the dough.

Looking good!

That's his concentration face. ;)

 

Shawn took a turn frying them up.

 

This one didn't come out too bad!

Jason was VERY pleased with the results.
Add a little hot dog and cheese to it, and he was in heaven!

Not the best picture of Shawn, but he liked them, too!

One more thing to check off the Summer Bucket List! Yay!