Donut Man

Dad took Jason to go get donuts after his doctor appointment. It looks like he's pretty happy with his selections!

Mr. Creative

He found an insert that held two light bulbs in their box. He ran into the kitchen...

and came out like this. LOL

He made himself a mask and completed his look by taping it to his head! Ha! Made me laugh. :)

Dad and His Mini

He saw his dad stretching and decided he needed to join in the fun. lol

Magic Carpet

He went for a little ride around the yard in his magic carpet after his swim...

He's flying in the air right here!

What's Next?

You never know what this kid is going to be doing when he comes into the room. Somewhere, he found a clothespin...

and became a duck. LOL. Who knows what he's going to morph into next! :)

French Fry

Jack found French fries today.

 Shawn and Jason have loved French Fries for years.

Jack, on the other hand, has never shown any interest in French Fries...until today, that is.

In the past, it was often a struggle to even make him try a French Fry. The mere mention of trying one was like we were trying to force him to eat poison. It got to the point that we would offer, he'd refuse, and we'd all go about our meal. (He is not our most adventurous eater at all.)

But for some reason, today was different.

We gave him a French fry expecting him to make all the unhappy faces and forced exclamations of “This tastes delicious!” he normally offers, but instead tonight, he ate the first fry, perked up and asked for more.

More!

And when he was handed only three more fries, he quickly asked for the whole French fry box.

What have we done? We may have created a French Fry monster!

Friday Five

The boys' first week of testing is in the books. This week the focus was on Language Arts. Math is up next week.

We're so proud of both the boys for trying their best. Way to go, boys!

~~~

The awesome week at school led to a Target trip so the boys could pick out a toy. They were super delighted to see that the Cars 3 toys were out on display! June can't get here soon enough. They can't wait to see the new movie!

~~~

He said he felt sick. I told him he was fine. He came back like this.

~~~

Jack has his first appointment at the eye doctor next week. He didn't pass his school vision screening in one eye, so we are going to go have his eyes checked. (Of course, Shawn didn't pass his school screening either, but the ophthalmologist said the results from the school screening were waaaay off, so this doesn't necessarily mean his vision needs correcting. We shall see.) I don't know whether he'll need glasses or not, but I know he's going to be super cute either way. :)

~~~

We were SO excited to find this little beauty in the garden this afternoon!

We've been growing our artichokes for nearly a year, so it was pretty neat to see some fruit for our labor!

By the Numbers

95 - school days down...just 5 more school days until the big 100th day
100 - objects Jack is tasked to find and take to school that day
0 - 100th day projects that need to be completed this year
1 - happy mother! Yay!

Oh, This Boy

Today it rained. Hard.

Who had to call his parents for a change of clothes after he was jumping in puddles at school? 

Our Jack, that's who. Oh this boy keeps things interesting. Lol

Boo

Today was my last day of winter vacation.

As you can tell, it seems that I am wildly excited about it, too. Lol. 

The good news is that the boys have yet another week of vacation ahead of them, so they can continue to stay up late and sleep in...if I can be quiet enough in the mornings not to wake them that is.

Here's to getting back to the routine in 2016!

By the Numbers - A Mish Mash of This and That

We haven't done one of these for a bit, so it is time to catch up.

8 - size Jason wears in both shirts and pants. (The pants are just too big around the waist.)
7 - size Shawn wears in shirts.
6 - size Shawn wears in pants.
5 - size Jack wears in shirts. (Gone are the days of the Ts.)
4/5 - size Jack wears in pants. (The pants are too big around the waist.)
2 - days of school missed so far! (Awesome for us! Both were missed by Shawn. Poor guy.)
65 - the number of school days for them so far this year.
15 - the number of days until winter break...and yes, we're counting!
15 - the number of weekdays the boys will get off of school.
2040 - number of posts on this blog. Go us!
1653 - the number of posts we've done in a row. (Started posting daily on 5/21/11!)
8 - the number of years we've been chronicling the boys' lives. Wow!
17 - the number of Kleenexes used today. Woo who...the number is going down.
6 - different medicines used during this round of Sick. Sigh.
257 - the channel that is most watched at our house.
254 - the channel that runs a close second as most watched.
1043 - times I've wondered why we don't have another television. There really is so much a person can take, you know. lol
1 - present left to purchase for the trio.
55 - personalized Christmas cards ordered. They are so cute this year!
26 - days until Christmas!

Vampire!

We picked our carrots from the garden this evening. Jack took a liking to them, and before we knew it, he had eaten pretty much all that we picked! Lol

We did manage to catch his silly side when he grabbed some carrots and did this...

"Look! Vampire!"

Oh, this kid! :)

Friday Five

Week one of second grade is in the books! We had a fairly decent return (Shawn's sickness aside), and the boys were rewarded with a trip to Target. They love themselves a Target trip. They are smart boys, after all.

~~~

Speaking of school, I am very pleased about what I am seeing come home. This teacher is trained in some of the same strategies I use in my own classroom, and it is very nice to see how she has adapted everything for the second grade. I have high hopes for an amazing year!

~~~

Jack fell and scraped his knee today. Although he has hurt himself before, I think this is the first time he's had to have a band aid for something. He was fascinated and repulsed all at the same time, and waffled between wanting it and not wanting it for the rest of the night. lol

~~~

The boys had homework to create a bag of three things that were important to them. The class would look at the objects and then try to guess who they belonged to.

Jason took a rock (to symbolize his collection), a few legos (because he loves to play with them), and a Matchbox car.

Shawn took some Cars stickers (because he loves the Cars movie), a family picture (because he loves his brothers), and a zebra figure (his favorite animal).

~~~

Jack has taken to watching videos on Kids YouTube that are in different languages. For the last several days he was watching Elmo in Mandarin. Tonight, he was watching Peppa Pig in French. He then likes to tell us all different phrases in the language of the day.

What is most amazing to me is that I am fairly certain he understands what he's watching! Crazy.

Jumping Around

We spent some time jumping on the trampoline. I can't tell you how happy this makes me!!!

May - Numbers Style

Here is the rundown for May and the upcoming end of the school year...in our by the numbers style.

5 people who are anxiously awaiting the start of summer.
14 days of school missed for Jason this year (so far).
8 days of school missed for Shawn this year (so far).
1 urgent care visit for Jason today.
1 more possible missed day for Jay tomorrow. (Fingers crossed for no!)
7 sick kid visits to the pediatrician for Jay since January.
Sigh.
4 pairs of shoes for Jason this school year. (The kid drags his feet. Grr.)
2 pairs of shoes for Shawn this school year. (The kid does not drag his feet. Yea!)
3 shirt sizes Shawn has moved up this school year. So long to the itty bitty department!
1 pant size increase for Shawn, too.
0 clothes size increases for Jay, although he is getting close to moving up a pant size.
3 sizes grown all the way around for Jack. :)
3 pairs of shoes for Jack, too.
46 days until the last day of school.
33 days are actually school days.
7 weeks more...that's all. Yea!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This morning, the boys woke up to find their Valentine's Day gifts. Each got a beanie baby and some chocolate coins.

I'm not sure how well Jack liked his baby, though. At quiet time, when I gave him his dog and suggested he sleep with it, Jack chucked the poor thing across the room. Sigh. Shawn took his monkey to bed with him finally. At least Jason was appreciative. :)

We lounged around the house until after quiet time and then went to grandma's to give her the gifts they made.

  

Jason's on the left, Jack's in the middle, and Shawn's on the right.

They made paintings for her. I am so pleased with how they came out! I may even have to get them to paint me some, too.

They also gave each other some lovin' - a group kiss. It doesn't get much better than that!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday Five

Today we crafted. The boys all painted and created Valentine's Day cards.

And it went well!

While it may seem that this shouldn't shock me with all of the crafting I've done with the boys over the years, I will admit that there used to be a time (until not too long ago actually) when I would have to psych myself up before I attempted it. We were always well intentioned, but of course things would never go as ... we'll say smoothly as ... I hoped. Ahem.

Thankfully, if today is any indication, I think the days of me being drenched in sweat at the end of our crafting sessions may be over. lol

~~~

Jack blew me away while we were making our cards because he wrote all of the letters I told him by himself! I did tell him where to put each letter, but still. Pretty awesome!

~~~

This week also brought with it more 100% spelling tests for both the boys. I am so proud of how hard they are working in school this year!

We actually have all of the boys' spelling word lists hanging on our dining room wall. Shawn reads every word at least once a day; most often he reads the words every time he sits down at the table--not because we tell him to, either. He likes to read them and does so on his own!

Who needs expensive artwork with decoration options like this?

We are only half way through the school year, and I am rapidly running out of room on the wall. Clearly it is time for us to move to a bigger house so all of the words fit...

~~~

I am also beyond proud of Jason's performance on his ST.AR testing. This testing measures a student's reading level so he can participate in the Acc.elerated Re.ading program.

Jason did extremely well! His reading level was at a third grade, seventh month level! That's not too shabby for a first grader! :)

~~~

Jack's love affair with You Tube continues. He has now discovered the Three Little Pigs Geico commercial.



He also now breaks out with "Wee Weee Weeee!" random times throughout the day. Sigh.

2014 Revisited

Tonight is New Year's Eve. We spent a quiet day at grandma's house, playing in the boys' fabulous bouncy house and celebrating my brother's birthday. The even toasted to the new year (we celebrated east coast time) with sparkling soda. :)

As is the tradition when things come to an end, it is time to sit back and reflect on the year. There were definitely many exciting things that happened in 2014, and for the most part, it was another good year for Team Lopez. :-)

We are all happy, thriving, and except for dealing with the latest bout of germs, relatively healthy, too. Can't beat that!

~~~

I did this meme in 2011, 2012, and last year, so of course I need to do it again. The rules are to post the first sentence of the first blog post for every month of 2014. I added my comments about the post after. Here we go...

January: Hidden Talents (1/2/14) "The boy has inherited one of my hidden talents." This post highlighted Jack's talent of using his feet to do things. It totally cracks me up. It just makes Isaac shake his head and exclaim, "He got that from you!" Over the year, we've discovered he shares quite a few mannerisms with me. :)

February: Jason's Day (2/1/14) "6 years ago on Tuesday, after 100 days in the NICU..." We celebrated Jason's Homecoming Day a little early this year because of school. I think this will be a tradition we continue for as long as the boys let me. I love celebrating their homecoming!

March: Cute Baby Saturday (3/1/14) "He cracks me up!" This post is just a silly picture of Jack playing his LeapPad. He still finds unique ways to make me laugh every single day.

April: April Fooled (4/1/14) "The boys have always been obsessed with the calendar." In this post, I played a couple of April Fool's jokes on the boys. Too funny!

May: Conversations With 6 Year Olds (5/1/14) "While lounging around on the couch with my boy..." What started out as a conversation about eye color ended with Jason wanting to know if I am an albino. Sigh. My skin color is pale, but not that pale, kid!

June: Conversations With 3 Year Olds (6/2/14) "Scene: We're all in the living room." Just another crazy conversation with the crazy littlest. :)

July: Summer Bucket List - Making Ice Cream! (7/1/14) "July is National Ice Cream Month!" This post marked our first item marked off of our Summer Bucket List! We made ice cream this way several more times last summer!

August: San Diego Highlights - Water Fun (8/1/14) "Jack's favorite thing about Sea World was most definitely the Sesame Street Bay of Play splash area." We couldn't keep the boy away from there. Anytime he'd make a run for it at Sea World, he would head straight for the splash area. It was like he had access to some sort of location device because he never failed to know where it was.

September: Relaxing to the Max (9/1/14) "When Jack relaxes, he goes all out..." There is not much more I can say about this one. The picture speaks for itself. lol

October: Mostly Wordless Waaaaaaaaayyy Back Wednesday (10/1/14) "Three years ago today. :)" A sweet picture of daddy and his youngest boy.

November: Cute Big Boy Saturday (11/1/14) "Shawn and me last weekend! :)" This was a cute picture of me and my oldest boy after we took family pictures.

December: Conversations With 7 Year Olds (12/1/14) "He came rushing over." This was about one of Jason's burning secrets. He felt so much better once he got this tidbit off his chest. :)

2014 was such a decent year for Team Lopez. (All except for the sickness, at least.)

I look forward to seeing what 2015 has in store for us--hopefully

it will be healthier and even better than 2014!

We hope you and yours have a wonderful 2015!

Friday Five

I got a text from a friend today which asked us if we had a "'virus free' holiday weekend." I had to laugh, because of course we did not. I'm guessing we have about ten more years or so before we can be so lucky! lol.

Speaking of viruses, Shawn is feeling a bit better although he is still a bit (well...a lot) grumpy. Jason still has a yucky cough. Jack is still Jack, so who knows what's going on with him. ;)

~~~

Jason declared his like for one of the side dishes he had for Thanksgiving yesterday. Today I gave him some for dinner. He grimaced his way through and immediately followed each bite with several gulps of water. The verdict is still out as to whether he truly "likes" said dish or if he is merely tolerating it.

I'm fairly certain it may be the latter.

~~~

Jack has been a crack up lately. Tonight he found a round block. He pushed that thing all over the living room while saying, "Oh no! The letter 'O' is getting away from us! Let's chase it! Oh no!" While the comedy of the scene may not translate well into words, believe me when I say it was hilarious. :)

~~~

We got the nicest text from one of the boys' teachers yesterday:

"I am blessed having you as students! Happy Thanksgiving Shawn and Jason!
Love,
Mrs. C"

She always tells us when she sees us about how much she loves our guys. It is really very sweet. And clearly she is a brilliant woman. Ahem.

~~~

Snuggles with the littlest. He loves my "tickly hair." lol

It's TIme

I've finally decided it's time.

I didn't want to think about it, so I've tried to push this milestone out for as long as possible. I've duct taped it back together. I've repeatedly tightened screws. I've ignored the decreasing space available. (It's down to less than 10 spare inches left!) I've done everything I could, all in an effort to postpone the inevitable--moving Jack out of the crib.

dum, dum, duuuuuummmmm....

I wrote those words and I swear I heard a crack of thunder not too far off in the distance.

The kid's got so big so fast, we actually had to bypass moving him to that pretty new toddler bed waiting for him in the garage. (Bummer) So Wednesday afternoon, our lovely friends from Amazon will deliver brand new bed frame, mattress, and sheets. I also ordered some wall decorations. I figure we might as well transform the whole room while we're at it.

When we do things, we go all out. ;) Now all that's left is figuring out some way to keep him in his room all night. I doubt wishful thinking is going to do the trick with this one.

~~~

I mentioned to the big boys that I was thinking about redoing Jack's room to transform it into a big boy room. Somehow, the conversation drifted into talking about a transformation of their own room.

Now that these two are older, this kind of thing gets more complicated. Gone are the days when I can just make the decision and go for it. (Bummer) Now they have all these opinions and want to express themselves and stuff.

Expression gets a little tricky when you have two very distinct ideas of what is wanted in a room that must be shared.

Tonight we brainstormed. The boys came up with these possibilities:

• dinosaurs (which includes a volcano wanted by one and not the other)
• robots
• bugs
• airplanes
• police cars
• race cars
• planets/stars
• superheroes
• flowers
• our family (I am not sure how this one would work!)
• books and sight words

Now I have the mission of coming up with something that would work based on their ideas.

We plan on voting tomorrow! Fingers crossed that they can decide on something together. If not, I may end up just drawing a line down the middle of the room and calling it a day. Of course, that means two different decorations...

Ack! Why did I even start this?!?!