Ira's Birthday Bash

Ira turned 6 at the beginning of April. To celebrate we threw a little birthday bash. We decided to rent an inflatable (after all that fun at Jumping Jacks). The pirate ship inflatable was SO fun! The kids had a blast climbing, sliding, and bouncing off the walls. We also got a motorcycle pinata so everyone had a bag of loot to take home. That morning Ira changed his mind about his birthday cake. The plan was to serve cupcakes, but he wanted a cake. To save myself some work I bought the cake when I bought the balloons and the added some Bakugan figures to it. Yes, Ira is still obsessed with Bakugan! Good thing too, since he got a TON of Bakugan stuff.

Make a wish!

Fun In The Pirate Ship

We never got a "before" picture of the pinata.


Score!

All in all, we had a lot of fun. And my little boy has grown up so much this year! He still has a wild imagination and tons of energy. But he has also matured. He is a sensitive and caring boy and I'm so grateful that he is my son!

Fun Day Trips

While Ira was out on spring break, I tried to take advantage of his time away from school to go on a few day trips. I planned the little trips while my niece would be out visiting her parents since it is more manageable with just my kids.

One day we decided to take the kids to see the Cabazon Dinosaurs. For those not familiar, there are two large (concrete?) dinosaurs looming over the 10 freeway as you head toward Palm Springs. The first is a "long neck" (love the Land Before Time reference which we've adopted) which houses a small gift store in its belly. The second is a T-Rex that boasts a great view out of its teeth to the cars below. In order to climb inside the T-Rex and to view the animatronic dinosaurs in the area's General Store you have to pay a small admission fee. Also included in the fee is an area to dig for stones with dinosaur names. If you find one, you can take it back to the general store for a tiny plastic dinosaur. There is also a sluice where you can "pan" for fossils. If you want to find anything more than little pebbles you have to buy bags of dirt at the general store. We bought a bag of dirt for $5 and I think it was worth it. The kids loved discovering the pretty stones. Unfortunately, Emma didn't quite understand the concept and after looking at her portion of the loot, dumped it back into the water. This caused Ira to go into a frenzy to recover the stones and he inadvertently knocked his straining board into the water as well. Thankfully we recovered all the large stones, but only after some diligent hunting.

Did I mention that I was the one who ended up looking for the stones in the "dino dig" area, or that the crushed marble gave everyone "ghost hands"?

For some reason I love this picture of Ira.

Here's the happy family (minus myself). Mark looks good in his Burger King crown. :)

Behind the T-Rex Teeth

For $2 you can take a ride on an animatronic dinosaur.

Loving EVERY Minute!

Best part of the trip, I had a good enough excuse to stop at the Outlets to do some quick shopping before dropping in on my sister around dinner time (thanks sis!). It was nice to get a chance to visit with my sister and the kids always like hanging out with Uncle Scott.

Another fun day trip was planned on a day Mark had to work so he wasn't able to come. I learned about Jumping Jacks from a fabulous book my mother-in-law bought (she later bought me a copy for my birthday so I would return the copy I had "borrowed" from her :p). It's a book all about fun places to go in Southern California with kids. Jumping Jacks is an indoor inflatable "park". It is only open to the public at certain times on certain days. The remaining time is reserved for parties. Ira and Emma were thrilled with all the fabulous jumpers. I had never seen such large inflatables! Emma did get a little hung up on one inflatable, but I was able to get her down and she had no trouble with a similar inflatable in another room (there are two very large rooms filled with inflatables). In each room there is a little toddler corner as well. Sean found the police car cozy coupe and went to town. He also had great fun pushing an infant walker around the two rooms (still not walking!). Of course we couldn't leave until I took Sean on several of the jumpers and down the fun slides. I had to get used to holding him and hiking up the walls, but it was well worth it!

Our little police man!

Isn't He Adorable?!

It was hard to get the kids to sit still long enough for a photo.

After Jumping Jack I treated us to Joe's Crab Shack nearby. The kids loved the dancing and the playground, I enjoyed the food. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera to the restaurant so no pictures of the fun we had there. :( We'll just have to go back some other time.

Still to come... Ira's Birthday and Easter!

Returning to the Blog

So I have neglected this blog for far too long... Got a little caught up in the madness of our lives with 5 kids 5 and under and all that that situation has entailed. I wanted to write a few things I've noticed about my kids. You know, the fun stuff.

First, Sean is a hoot when it comes to shoes. He still is not walking, so I'm not talking about him trying on shoes... at least not in the usual way. Sean enjoys shoving his little hands into any pair of shoes he can find and then takes off! One Sunday I heard footsteps down the hall, only to discover Sean "wearing" my boots. Mark shot a little video of Sean with some hijacked shoes, haha!

Emma has always been a little goofy. My life could use a few good jokes so she has been a real treat. She is also a little sweetheart and definitely knows how to tug at the heartstrings. Her latest invention is to, when someone has tucked her in or said good-bye, say, "Come back! I have to tell you something!" Once you get close she whispers in your ear, "I love you!"

We love you too, Emma!

Ira is a real sweet heart. He is really sensitive to the feelings of others (perhaps because he is such a sensitive fellow himself). Ira's teacher commented on his report card that, "Ira always puts a smile on my face!" I think Ira's teacher is just one of Ira's new friends. Ira loves to make new friends.

Last weekend we drove up to Big Bear to go sledding. Another family with a little girl Ira's age was also sledding. They hit it off and the little girl and her family shared one of their inner tubes with our family (note to self: must buy inner tube sled). Mark was surprised when the wife told him how impressed she was with Ira. Ira had thanked her at least twice for sharing the inner tube and also told her how much he enjoyed making a new friend.

This is not the first time Ira has made impromptu friends on trips we have taken. On our trip to San Diego last month, Ira befriended a couple boys who were staying in the hotel room across from ours. And on a trip to Mission Viejo a few months ago, Ira made a friend at an awesome park we found. The mom was so impressed she wanted to set up a play date! I have always been more reserved (yes, even shy), so to see Ira happy to meet and make new friends makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. :)

Building a Snowman with New Friends!

Merry Merry Christmas!

Well, we are late in mailing out our Christmas cards, but we do have quite a few addressed and ready to go. I thought I would post our Christmas letter for everyone to enjoy. Hope the holidays bring you much joy!!

2009 has brought many changes to our home. Our littlest one, Sean, celebrated his first birthday this October. Ira, 5, has begun kindergarten. Emma, 3, is still our little princess and comedian.

Sean is a delight and a little handful! He enjoys playing patty-cake and peek-a-boo. He recently has perfected his “bye-bye” wave. He also loves to ride on Ira’s lap while Ira drives his motorized play tractor. No steering wheel goes untouched by Sean. We sometimes have to pry those little fingers away, much to his dismay!

Emma is our little doll. She loves to be goofy and silly. You never know what she will say next. Recently, she and Ira attended a winter activity at Ira’s school in which a “Santa” appeared to talk with the children. When she came home, I asked her if she met Santa. She looked up at me with her big, blue eyes and said, “That wasn’t really Santa, it was a teacher.” I asked her how she knew it was not Santa and innocently, she replied, “He didn’t say HO-HO-HO!” Currently, Emma’s favorite things are stickers and purses. And she never tires of crafts.

Ira has begun kindergarten. The first two weeks were difficult. The excitement was over by the first day or two and he was ready to stay home. Thankfully he is now fully enjoying kindergarten. Much of the credit has to go to his amazing kindergarten teacher Mrs. L*. He often comes home singing and dancing. He has learned so much in such a short period of time!

In fact, he loves kindergarten so much he says that when he “grows up to be a daddy” he wants to be a teacher and teach 5 year olds all the fun things his teacher is teaching him! Ira still has a crazy, amazing imagination and is always inventing new games and stories. He eagerly listens to Magic Tree House and Magic School Bus books as they are read to him. He also looks forward to continuing with school so he can learn how to build robots! His current favorite toy is Bakugan Brawlers—little balls that when rolled onto a magnetic card transform into robotic forms.

We have enjoyed our experience in the high desert and in our (relatively) new home. It's hard to believe it has been just over 2 years since we moved! We have lots of room to play (and lots of toys to fill up the room).

We hope that you and yours look forward to a bright New Year! Merry Christmas!!