bedtime excuses

in our house, bedtime is usually at 8pm. this gives the kids some time to settle down, and hopefully they are fast asleep by 9pm. sometimes micah gets some leeway since he's still in preschool, plus he's my shadow. so if i have a lot of things to do around the house, he gets up from the bed and looks for me.

getting them to get ready for bed and in the bed is not always so easy. especially when we're having fun playing or watching a movie, no one wants to go to sleep. so the excuses start.

here's a list of the most common excuses:

• but i'm really really hungry (micah's favorite excuse)
• i'm not tired (this one is usually followed by a yawn)
• i have a lot of energy still (malia's #1 excuse)
• but i'm still playing
• the movie's not done yet (and they've watched it before, so they know the outcome)
• but micah's not going to bed yet
• i need to find a toy to bring to bed first (micah's 2nd favorite excuse)
• but i didn't get to read a book

so when i remember, i announce when it's the last chance to eat again. and i announce that it's 10 minutes until it's time to get ready for bed. it doesn't always eliminate the excuses, but it cuts down the whining. and no whining makes a parent happy.

my birthday at disneyland

i've never been to disneyland on my actual birthday. i got one of those birthday buttons and it was surprising how many cast members greeted me. it was really nice. micah's ninong arn was able to join us for the day.

micah's first ride choice was "the ghost ride", but since pirates was on the way we went to that first. we waited maybe 5 minutes for each ride. we were lucky because it got crowded right after we rode. they added some new things to haunted mansion, i was actually freaked out. malia just wanted to go to the tarzan treehouse.

the kids spent some of their money on sugar. then we headed to fantasy land. they rode the circus train for the first time. of course in the monkey car.

one of the highlights of this trip was seeing baby ducks walk across the way. micah is usually pretty good about just looking, but i turned around and there he was running after the ducks and trying to touch them. i don't know what got into him. i had to carry him away because he wasn't listening to me to stop.

malia also wanted to go see mickey in his house. i love that mickey's greeting place changes themes. last time he was in his sorcerer outfit. this time he was steamboat willie with his boat in the background.

the kids each chose 1 thing to buy. out of everything there is to choose at disneyland, malia picked a little tiara. she had me checking it the entire time to see if it was straight. micah picked a storm trooper figure. loved my thirty-something birthday.

words of wisdom from micah

if you eat a bug you explode...because bugs have bombs inside them.

happy mom's day

malia made this banner for me this morning. it's made out of 2 pieces of tissue paper and sticky notes. i loved it. the kids behaved in church. ate some pho. we watched Rio. it was a great mom's day.

my early mother's day

today felt more like mother's day to me.

i brought micah to school this morning because his preschool was having a breakfast for mother's day. not all together, it was optional, and you could take the goodies to go. i didn't go last year so i really wanted to go this time. they had all sorts of bagels, breakfast pastries, pound cake, juice, and coffee. it was really nice. i really don't know why i didn't take a picture of it.

i stayed for a little bit to have breakfast with my boy. and since he doesn't eat bread (except for breadsticks), he just ate the cereal we brought and had some juice.

when we were done, he gave me the things he made in class for mother's day. i gave him a big hug and had to go. i didn't really read the card and sign until i got to the car. then i started crying because it was so sweet. and then i started crying more because i started missing my mom. so there i was, crying while driving to work.

when malia came home, she brought me tulips and several cards she made. she wanted to get me blue tulips since i like blue, but since they didn't have blue, purple was the closest to it.

she made some cute cards, and then i noticed one was a book, about me. i was almost scared to read it because she can say some random things sometimes. but i loved it, and i was cracking up.

yes, i like to nap but it's rare that i get to. i normally joke around with her that napping is a fun game. nice reminder of how old i am.

that's the best one: my mom is african! hilarious. she has been saying this since she was learning the continents in preschool and i told her i was born in africa. she thinks daddy is hawaiian because he was born in hawaii.

i love mother's day! it's so emotional, but so much fun. and i love all these presents from my silly kids.

lia's half birthday

happy 7 and a half birthday malia!

i came home and she was already in her bathing suit. she loves that thing. she will look for it and try to wear it in the winter time too. if she had her way, she would probably go everywhere in it. i think she has cheetos in her mouth in the picture. she's been working hard at school, they are doing the CA standards testing all week. so it's great that her half birthday came to help lift her spirits.

micah's legoland field trip

i love how micah's preschool goes on field trips. malia's preschool didn't have any field trips. field trips allow me to have some quality one-on-one time with one of them without the other getting jealous.

i was really excited for micah to go to legoland because of the new star wars models in miniland. and of course, he loved it.

we mostly hung out with two moms and their sons. micah got to drive a lego car all by himself for the first time since he meets the age requirement now. and he was able to do more things, like the slide and the lost kingdom, since he is taller.

we were able to do a lot of rides because we chose to stay longer after most of the preschool group left. i hope they do legoland again next year. $30 for the 2 of us for 7 hours isn't bad at all. bringing lunch saved us a lot of money too. can't pass up on those apple fries though. those are a must! but of course, he wouldn't leave until he bought something from the store.

swc concert choir performance

malia's school choir had a field trip to southwestern college to perform for their concert choir. her choir director sings in the swc concert choir. apparently, the southwestern college concert choir has quite a background. they've been to carnegie hall several times. they've also performed at the sydney opera house. malia's school choir sang some songs for them during their weekly practice. it was a medley of 50s songs, which explains the poodle skirts. it was cute. and of course, my daughter is the smallest one so she's right in the front. the swc concert choir sang a couple of songs with them. then the swc concert choir performed for us. they were pretty awesome. it made me miss being in choir when i was in college. i hope malia got something out of the whole experience.

easter 2011

the easter countdown started on thursday when we went to watch the movie HOP. it was pretty cute.

on good friday after church, m&m colored eggs with the 3 jo's. it probably only took them 10 minutes and they were back off to play again.

on saturday, we went to an egg hunt sponsored by the chula vista fire department. the kids had fun exploring the different types of fire trucks, saw the easter bunny, got free sandwiches from chick-fil-a, and the egg hunting was organized into different age groups. it was the best egg hunt we've been to and we will certainly go next year if they have it.

easter sunday was also roel's birthday. after mass we headed to grandma & grandpa's house for lunch. the kids did their egg hunt there and we celebrated roel's birthday.

dinner was spent with papa vic and the adventos. (kids were loaded with sugar, no photos)

calling the kids

malia is on spring break and roel only has to work in the morning. so the kids are home by lunch time. i love calling them. it's so nice to hear their little voices over the phone. they are sweet on the phone. they miss me, i miss them. some of the reasons i love calling them: i can't see if they're dirty, i can't see what they're wearing, i can't see what they did to the house, and they can't ask me to do something for them. we end the call with i love you's and they know when i'm done with work that i'll be home. and then i get home. my visions of perfect, clean kids are gone. back to reality, but at least i can kiss and hug my stinky, crazy kids.