New Year...New Commitment to Blogging??

Well, in terms of keeping a family journal/blogging this year...I kind of stunk it up!  So here is to a new year, a new comittment!
Sara

Deep in Concentration

Kyle is good at puzzles. Like REALLY good at puzzles. He can whip out a brandnew 48 piece puzzle in a couple minutes. Recently he has completed 100, 500, 800, even 1000 piece puzzles. The most intersesting thing is his level of concentration/dedication to a puzzle. Anyone who knows Kyle knows he is a run around, crazy little boy. But when it comes to puzzles, he will stay at the table, until it is done....one, two, or three hours..there he stays. He also has his own way of doing each puzzle. He doesn't seperate pieces, or do the outside first. He just picks up a random piece out of the pile and goes from there. It makes me wonder what job this little guy will have when he grows up.

Sprinkler Fun!

We have had a BEAUTIFUL May. But, I think June is going to hit us with a vengence! But, that also means that its perfect sprinkler weather! Kyle was first to place his claim on the hose.
Poor Carter was the first victim.

Followed by Kyra. Then Karl. I was able to avoid the brunt of the spraying by yelling "I HAVE MY CAMERA, YOU CAN'T SPRAY ME."My sweet girl. Carter bailed early, and headed to the local sandbox, while maintaining a constant look of disgust for the obvious lack of respect for the water hose rules. Kyra making mud puddles.After the pool was drained, Carter sat everyone down, and went over the proper safety protocals. Finally after a grueling 10 second meeting, they hugged it out and were best buds, yet again.

Kyles turns 4!!

On March 30th, Kyle turned 4 years old!!! With Mater Tall Tales out, he has fallen in love with Cars all over again. So we decided to do a DRIVE IN MOVIE! Here is the invitation I made. I found something similar online for mucho mucho moola, so I just recreated it in powerpoint. I was going for a movie ticket effect. Here are the decorations for the party. Super simple. A banner, ballons and a red table cloth. We had some squeezers for drinks, and popped some popcorn and set up a candy bar. The cake was Tokyo Mater themed. I had this grandeous idea for the cake and the the moring of the party as I began to decorate I realized I had NO IDEA what I was doing! LOL! So a couple of hours before the party I scrapped everything I had, and did a simple round cake, and then cut a slightly taller cake in have and put it behind the round one to make it look like a ledge. A friend let me borrow the toy crane from the movie, and I had that swaying in the background. I used the backside of legos as distant buildings. Then I made a variety of Tokyo themed signs. Then I attempted a fire affect along the bottom. He loved it (all that matters!). We collected a lot of cardboard boxes, and painted them red, black, blue, and purple. We used white paper plates as headlights, and spray painted some black for wheels. The kiddos decorated their cars with foam stickers and then made a license plate for their car as well.

We borrowed a projector from a friend, and pulled down our sun shade that is attached to our back porch. It worked FANTASTICALLY! We, of course watched Mater Tall Tales.

We sure love the sweet, energetic energy our little guy brings to our family!!

Kyle started T-ball last week. He was SOOO excited! He is on the Yankees. We really lucked out with the coach that was assigned to his team. It is a husband and wife team, and they are SO great with him. I think they are a perfect match for him. They practice twice a week, and then have a couple games a week. So it will be a busy couple of months! He loves wearing his uniform! He wasn't a fan of the cup during the first practice, but I did something different for the next one, and he wasn't bothered by it at all tonight. (Of course Karl goes out of the town the week our first born son has to wear a cup for the first time). Tonight was his first game! Here he is all dressed up. I told him he was so cute, that I could just eat him up. To which he said "Please don't. I don't want to be late for my game."Here he is with his meanest game face on. Kyle loved the game! I think he may of enjoyed the socialization of it all, as much as everything. On two of the bases they have a parent volunteer standing there, just to give the kids an extra reminder when they are supposed to run. It was so funny, because I think Kyle used his opportunity of a captive audience to his full advantage! Then when he was running the bases, he would often times be seen chatting with the opposing team's member who was covering that base. He even scored four runs!

Kyle had such a great time. I think this will be a really good experience for him!

Stubborn

Although I tried to explain the benifits of using just one spy glass at a time, and looking through the correct end, he was set in his ways.

Stubborn????? NOOOOOO.....

Kyra's 100th day of school!

For Kyra's 100th day of school, she had to bring a collection of 100 things. Her idea...100 jokes. The hardest part was finding 100 jokes that passed Kyra's level of humor. We then just printed them out on mailing labels. I drew the dog, and she colored it and all of the numbers/words. Then stuck on each label, and outlined each label to add a little extra color. She was SO excited to do this project, and was beaming when she showed her teacher. Lets hope this enthusiasm lasts through HIGHSCHOOL!

Our new pet...Pancake

We have a new pet.

He is a mean little cuss.

He doesn't fear humans, and will let us get within about a foot of him.

He does NOT share.

He is regal.

He guards his food like no other.

The majority of the time, we watch him during breakfast.

Often times he hides, waiting for someone to eat his food, and then he attacks.

The kiddos named him Pancake.

Carter turned 1!

On January 13th Carter turned 1 year old!!
Here is a little montage of his first year!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Their prayers were answered

When I was little I loved snow. Now my children love snow. To them snow is the epitomy of happiness. However, as you know, we live in Tucson, and have thus been told in no uncertain terms that it is cruel and unusual punishment that we make them live in a place where it never snows. They have asked Karl to request a job transfer. We have attempted to explained that we live in the desert. It doesn't snow. So as we drive around town, they will ask "Are we still in the desert?" and I will say "Are we still in Tucson". To which they give a low moan/growl and answer yes. To which I have to utter the soul crushing words of "Yes, we are still in the desert". Well this has gone on for the past couple of months, and they finally seemed to accept the fact that I personally could not change the climate. So they took their plea to a higher power. Specifically Kyle. He prayed for snow. I think in his hearts of hearts he equates snow with Christmas, and you can't have one with out the other.

As it began to hit mid 70's all last week, the amount of times they asked if it was going to snow began to dwindle. Then Saturday night, I heard rumor of a chance of snow. I didn't tell the kids. Sunday morning, before they woke up, I ran to the window, and felt like a child again, as I saw that we did indeed have our own little winter wonderland. When the kiddos woke up they stood in stunned silence, as they processed what their eyes were seeing.

But as an adult, specifically a parent, snow loses some of its luster. Quite honestly, not so much of a fan. For the two hours that the snow actually stayed on the ground before it melted, we had two of those "Cosby Show" moments...you know..when you finally get the kiddos bundled up from head to toe, in seventeen diffent layers, and they utter the dreaded words "I have to pee."

We finally got out the door...dressed in 3 layers of PJ pants, because we honestly didn't have anything much warmer. We had a snowball fight (the dogs were not amused), made a couple snow angels and considered making a snowman, until the kids realized that the snow was colder than they anticipated. Then, after a few short minutes, they ran back inside, ready for hot chocolate.

Kyle was more of an observer of the snow, than a get cold kind of kid.

Kyra was queen of the snowballs. Carter had the expression of "Why am I out here???" the whole time.

Now a mere 3 days later we are in the 80's! I recently heard someone say that mother nature was going through menopause. I agree!!

Dr. Suess's Birthday and Report Cards

Today Kyra's class celebrated Dr. Suess's birthday day. They read their favorite books, made "Cat in the Hat" hats, and watched Horton hears a Who. She was shocked to find out that Dr. Suess wasn't the authors real name and is currently contemplating her "writing name."

Yesterday she brought home her 2nd trimester report card. She received straight A's (which means "Exceeds standards") and even earned two "A+"s in Penmanship and Reading! Her teacher also included a little note with the report card. Here is a little tidbit of that note "Kyra is a very perceptive independent learner. I am entertained and intriged by her sense of humor on a daily basis."

I am so gratful for a teacher that seems to have gotten to know Kyra, not only as a student but as an individual and has really embraced Kyra and her sweet quirky personality!

Poor sick Girl!

My poor baby girl is getting her booty kicked by some ugly germ she caught. Her fever finally dropped below 103 this morning, and she was able to drink a small amount of juice for the first time in two days. Here she is watching the bizillonth movie snuggly with Mittens the cat, a dog named Checkers, and with Brittany the chipmunk.