first day of kinder & 4th grade

micah has been waiting for this day for so long. not for kinder, but going to the same school as malia. and with daddy.

they were both excited this morning to get dressed and go to school. uniforms, i love them. malia will finally need a new jumper next year. she is still wearing the same jumper from 1st grade, it's size 5. micah is sporting his $2 shirt.

i surprised malia with a new monster high backpack and micah with a new avenger's lunchbox. malia's still using her princess lunchbox and micah's using a $3 buzz backpack i bought last year.
yes, that's how we do it - cheap and not matching.

micah's teacher's name is Ms Salmon. it's funny because he just started eating salmon this month. malia has Ms Hernandez. roel says she's good but strict. that will be good for her.


it was minimum day, micah got out first. so cute with his monkey hat! 

 

this is what he said about his first day:

then we went to get malia.

  

she didn't have much to say about her first day. i found out later that she already got in trouble for being too chatty in class. so that's probably why she didn't have any comments.

first school day excitement is over, now to get back into routine. it's going to get more strict around here with both kids now in elementary. mostly because i am already dreading homework.

the encyclopedia

if anyone ever needed someone to talk to, i'm sure malia would be happy to volunteer to be their partner.

it was a 20 minute drive to our destination to sign her up for dance class and she went through a bunch of topics. here are some bits and pieces of our conversation:

mom, do you ever wonder why God made us small and not big like him...did you know that the Devil was actually an angel first...and that's why there's death, God really planned for humans to live for a long time, but the Devil brought death and sin...i've been reading that book about the human body, did you know that there are four sectors of the heart...that's right they're called chambers...you know what else has chambers, the pyramids in egypt, ya they have chambers, one was for food, and there was one for the mummies...the mummies actually had different colonies...you know where else in history there were colonies, during the days of the early presidents...there were 13 colonies, and that's why there are 13 stripes on the american flag...whew, i feel like an encyclopedia.

sorry, the ... parts are where i kinda tuned her out to focus on driving, she said a lot more than that.  plus i was thinking that she talks so much and who knows where she got it from. i did manage to get in a couple of answers and some facts of my own.

my daughter, the talking encyclopedia. gotta love her.

driving in peace

driving in the car...

malia: micah, stop putting your stuff on top of my things!
micah: but i had it there first!
malia: put it on your side!
micah: but i had it there first!
malia: no you didn't!
micah: yes i did!
malia: quit it!
me: umm, do you guys even like each other?
micah: yes
malia: yes

and the fighting stopped. i had some peace.
wow. i have to remember to ask that more often.

happy birthday grandma & ninang

it's been 15 years since my mom went to heaven, but it seems like only yesterday. so july 1st is always a family day since it's also my sister's birthday.

we went to church, then breakfast, then watched brave. loved the movie.  

then we headed over to the cemetery. the kids made cards for grandma. lia and i made pom poms and shaped them into a heart. jonah said it was a necklace for grandma.

the kids are getting so big. and i love how they have unconditional love for their grandma letty even though they've never met her. i'm sure they've seen her visiting when they were infants and still feel her protecting and watching over them.

malia loves to hear my stories of my mom. micah is still grasping the concept that she was sick and had to leave to be with Jesus because he was the only one who could heal her.

the kids played at the house the rest of the day, mostly in m&m's room. so it was pretty much a party in the room, just like malia wanted, because that's where grandma's picture is.

almost a kinder

my baby boy is graduating from preschool on friday. it came up so fast, i am not ready. and i'm getting really sad. why does he have to grow up?

he started at spectrum preschool the day after his 2nd birthday. he was a baby!

and i've watched him grow these last 2+ years into this little man who asks a lot of questions, plays nicely with his friends, and adores his teachers.

i never really pushed him academically because i was sort of in denial about him growing up. but he's amazed me. he's reading words, trying to spell, and practicing writing & drawing. and i've learned that he's more interested in all these things if we don't push him.

this is what a typical afternoon looks like when i pick him up:

i enter the gate and look to see if he's outside at the playground.

if he is, he runs over to me, always happy. then we go get his things in his class.

sometimes when they're not outside yet, i find him playing with toys inside, just after snack.

i get his things (papers & jacket) in his cubbie and grab his lunch box.

when we get outside, he runs in front of me up the ramp.

he runs toward the gate. (he doesn't want me to run too.)

then he stands at the gate measuring me with his thumb and index finger to see how much bigger i get as i get closer to him.

and he smiles at me. i love him!
 

i will miss this. just as i still miss picking up malia from preschool. she used to wait on a bench and jump up and down as if she won the lotto when she saw me coming. why do they have to grow up?

kisses

i smother my kids with kisses. and any family or friends' babies too. i will even do the grandma sniff.

malia loves cuddling and getting kisses. micah only likes it sometimes, but especially likes it when he's sleepy. he's a boy after all. but i seem to smother him a little bit more because he has more meat on him, and he's my baby.

micah: stop kissing my cheeks mom!
me: why? those are my cheeks.
micah: no, they're mine! (gives me a mad face)
me: you know what? when you're asleep, i kiss you all over your face as much as i want and you can't wipe it off.
micah: what?!!...daddy, does mama kiss me all over my face when i'm sleeping?
daddy: yup!
micah: aw man, i don't like a lot of kisses!

hand foot and mouth disease

say what? my daughter has what?

i picked up malia at school on monday. she had a fever and felt like vomiting. she never threw up though. by 9pm, she said her ear hurt as well. so off we went to urgent care. the pediatrician said her ear was fine, but she had hand foot & mouth disease. apparently it's going around. it's a virus, nothing we can do about it but wait until it passes. it's easy to catch just like catching a cold.

her highest fever was 102.7. so far, the only blisters she got are were her throat. nothing on her hands or feet or on her skin around her mouth. i guess that's not too bad. but she would cry because her throat felt like it was on fire. i told her i wanted to take a picture of her throat so she could see it and remember it. her response, "really mom?" ...so it didn't happen.

so she's been quarantined ever since. she has her own little spot at the foot of our bed, in front of the tv. i put her mattress there and she has art supplies and some toys. micah isn't allowed to touch any of her things. we are all doing a lot of hand washing. and i am always ready with my lysol wipes in case she touches anything else or sneezes. yes, i'm a freak.

anyway, i've been home with her for the past 2 days. she's gotten a lot better, the blisters are fading. she discovered jem & the holograms on netflix. she was surprised when i told her i used to watch it all the time when i was a kid. she made us some jem earrings to wear. they're pink because she likes pink.

she's not going back to school until tuesday, after the holiday. she's really bummed because she likes school and there's only 1 week left. she was supposed to get an award today, but they will present it to her in class when she comes back.

happy brother's day

micah always tries to find a reason to get a present.

me: here micah, we're decorating these bags for mother's day, can you write on them?
micah: who's it for?
me: grandma, ninang jos, ninang lori...
micah: how come there's not one for me?
me: because's it's mother's day, it's for moms
micah: can you write happy brother's day on this one?

he made his own bag. and put his own gift in it. so i guess we're celebrating brother's day today. i gave him a spiderman pez and he was thrilled.

i googled it, and there's actually an official brother's day that is celebrated every may 2nd. so i guess he wasn't totally off.

superheroes

we are all about superheroes. roel grew up collecting comics, going to the comic con, collecting action figures, etc. i grew up watching spiderman and friends, the justice league, and loved wearing my wonder woman underoos. i also wore batman and superman jewelry. i guess it also shows in micah's name that we love superheroes. so naturally, m&m love all that too because of us.

so of course we were excited to watch the avengers today. we loved it! well, micah got a little bored during the story parts of the movie. but all the action was great. and the comedy! i painted on the kids' hoodies just for the movie. i didn't want to buy new shirts (they aren't on sale yet). micah didn't want the avengers logo, he wanted the spider for spiderman. but he likes hawkeye in the avengers because of the bow and arrow. malia likes black widow, of course. i like captain america, the character and the actor.

happy half birthday malia

 

my girl is 8 and a half today. her school is in the middle of CST testing right now, so she has a busy week. earlier in the week, we found out she made it to the GATE program at school. very proud of her! we sent brownies for her class today that we made last night.

she picked a truffle brownie chocolate cake this time. it was SO sweet, too sweet. then came time for her gift...disney universe for the wii. she was jumping up and down.

the kids have been wanting this game for a while, especially lia because it involves dressing up. she thinks i spent a lot on it because it's usually expensive even when it's on sale, but of course i got it for a steal! it's her new favorite game.