bring your child to work day

it was micah's turn this time. malia has come to 2 bring your child to work day events, so she was a little sad that she wasn't coming. micah was really excited.

we got to my work at 6:45am. he was a little shy at first but still said hi and good morning to everyone i introduced him to. i had him put labels on envelopes first since he was fresh and in good listener mode.

then he took a picture for his ID badge. and while we waited for that, there was breakfast and arts & crafts to do.

then the presentations started. micah liked police officer greg, especially when he showed his taser gun.

the SD fire fighters were cool too. all the kids were able to use the fire hose.

the event ended with a certificate of participation, pizza, and goody bags.



he had a blast. micah thinks it's this fun at my work every day. i wish it were.

happy earth day

i told the kids that we were staying home for earth day. the only place we did go was to church, which isn't that far away. the kids painted and played with their toys. and we watched turtle the incredible journey. it really was an incredible story, all of the challenges a little turtle faces to survive. the kids got really into it, yelling at a crab not to eat the turtle, and yelling at the turtle not to eat the trash in the ocean or go into the oil puddles. their life cycle is amazing. i patched up malia's school jeans that had holes in the knees. why buy new ones when she's just going to make holes again and it's almost the end of the year. finished off the day timing the kids' shower and challenging them to take shorter showers to conserve water.

happy easter!

fake or real?

me: micah, i forgot to tell you that chuck e cheese said happy half birthday to you.

micah: he did? then how come he didn't give me a present?

me: he'll give you a present if you go there. he'll give you tokens to play games, and then you can get tickets for prizes.

micah: oh. remember when we went there last time and joel was scared of him?

me: how about you, were you scared of him?

micah: no, because i know he's not real.

me: are you sure he's not real?

micah: ya, because it's a costume. and i saw a net where his mouth is. it's just like mickey mouse. when i was taking a picture with him, i looked under his head and saw a net. it's all fake.

me: what?!!!! but i love mickey mouse!!! i think he's real!

micah: nah, it's fake mom.

me: but i still think he's real. can i still love mickey mouse?

micah: ya sure.

me: do you still love mickey mouse?

micah: i still love mickey mouse.

i could tell that malia was having a hard time on who she agreed with. it's a fine line. she always has questions. she's a true believer in magic and fairy tells. but other kids always make her wonder if things/people are real. don't even get me started with her questions on God and faith. i always tell her it's real if she believes in it. she will figure it all out on her own.

my other artist

micah is now interested in drawing. he has always liked to color and paint, but now he just wants to draw. and it's to the point where he doesn't want to go to sleep yet because he has to draw one more thing. even after i've already turned off the lights.

he started drawing a lot of garbage trucks at first (of course). but he really likes drawing superheros the most. i thought maybe i should be concerned about all the guns, swords, crossbows, and bow & arrows. but he says they are all the good guys, and they are playing with toys.

he says he wants to draw as well as his ate' malia draws. he thinks she's "really, really good."

brainstorming for sharing day

micah has sharing day every wednesday. they go through the letters of the alphabet. we try to get him to share unique things on sharing day, not something that 10 other kids will most likely share. but ultimately, he is the one who chooses what he will share.

these are some of my favorite things he's shared in the past:
G - garbage truck (so obvious)
H - harmonica
U - ultrasound
Y- yoda
Z - zigzag (which was entirely his idea and he drew it on paper)

so every tuesday is brainstorming day for sharing day. tomorrow is the letter C. we just called out anything we could think of that started with C. some really good ones from the kids were carbon dioxide, collarbone, candle, california, and christmas. some of roel's ideas were chewbacca, cookies, cars and candy. the word candy made their faces light up, goodness. i said things like chocolate, clouds, and cuddle. after dinner, micah said he wanted to share "clap". so he drew it on paper and intends to clap in class.

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happy green day

happy st patrick's day. malia was itching to do some kind of craft for the holiday. i was not prepared. i didn't have any green paper. so she suggested we make hats. all i had were paper plates and regular paper. so this is what we did. she made a cool top hat. and micah was happy with my 2 minute hat i made for him. and he pretty much kept it on for 2 minutes too. lia wore hers to grandma's house. grandma always makes corned beef and cabbage for st patty's day. yum!

i need a button

malia joined the st rose children's choir, directed by her ninong joe. she had a solo last sunday and she did wonderful. it's the in between songs time that is very challenging for all of us. it's hard for her to sit still. and that's fine, as long as she is behaving. and most of the time she's not or she's borderline. i'm hoping that joining the choir will teach her how to behave properly in church.

she practiced with the choir today. and as i watched her swing her song book up and down and up and down, i wished i had a button. a button i could press. and when i pressed the button, it would tap her to remind her to behave. because apparently, she couldn't feel my eyes burning in her direction.

last week after the 2nd song, she asked her ninong if she could go home because she was hungry. i needed the button then too. but the button couldn't have made her take back her words, lol.

when she gets into the songs, she's fine. i'm very proud of her. she has a ton of faith. she has a big heart. but sometimes, i need a button for her.

39.5

that's how much they weigh, 39.5 pounds each, at their annual physical yesterday. we are still waiting for malia to break 40. we are so close! micah caught up to her so quickly.

m&m are always good at the doctor's office. they loved getting weighed, having their blood pressure taken, doing the hearing test, and doing the vision test.

and before they even saw the doctor, micah had to get his iron checked. (memories of his 1st year appointment with the iron check went through my mind. his screams filled the entire office.) so i asked him if he wanted to sit on my lap and reminded him to be as brave as he could. meanwhile, the girl was freaking out, almost in tears, and she wasn't even going to get poked! she even asked to leave the room. but micah barely flinched when the nurse pricked his finger. so proud of him.

then it was time to see dr garcia. malia talked his ears off. when he was checking micah, and asking him questions, malia would answer and micah would just nod his head in agreement. he told micah that he's a good size right now but to watch what and how much he eats because he has the body type that could get big. and he doesn't want micah to have any problems in the future. and he told malia to eat as much as she wanted, but good foods of course with occasional treats. too funny.

the nurse came back with shots in hand. malia quickly got off the exam table and ran behind me to hide. micah said,"don't be scared ate'." when i told malia that only micah was getting shots, she did a big sigh of relief but still hid behind me. micah got a TB test and 3 other shots. and it was only after the 3rd shot that he said,"that one hurt." but he never cried. my tough guy.

we went to target after and malia asked, "so do we get to buy something because we were so good at the doctor's?" she cracks me up.

let's play legos

legos are such a good investment. great toy, endless possibilities. exercises your mind, promotes creativity. well, for them at least. i didn't really have a lot of legos growing up. so if you put a bunch of lego pieces in front of me, i don't really do much with it if there's not a book of step-by-step instructions on how to build something specific.

micah can play legos for hours. he builds different cars, guns, houses, etc. then he has specific sets like ninjago and a garbage truck.

we played legos tonight. i took a lot of the figures and switched their hats, helmets, and hair. cracked myself up. he just looked up at what i was doing and then got back to his building. i even got a, "seriously mom?" from malia. but she snickered at my little creations. then i did stuff like darth vader fighting over the trash with boba fett, but then he took boba fett. so i ended up with darth vader and optimus prime fighting over trash. micah only smirked at it.

micah made a car that flies for boba fett. he said boba fett was going to the beach to surf on his surfboard. and he brought his lunchbox with him.

maybe i'll start getting some of the new girly sets for malia, so she doesn't have to play with the boy ones all the time.