Five cousins skiing

Stayed tuned.....five kids, two days, four adults one day, Aaron and I solo the next. May the force be with us.

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Erics

Today is my Grandpa Eric's birthday, Eric's namesake. He would have been 100 years old today. As far as I can tell there is no one sweeter or more content with his life than he was. He will always be a very special human who had more love and silliness to give than he seemed to realize.

 December 10th will  also always be 98 days after my labor day. Yet this day will never pass by without specially noting it as Eric's second birthday. No, not second as in two years old, but rather the day we came home from the hospital and walked through our front door together as a new family.

Eric, you embody the kind and happy nature of your great grandpa. Your smile, your bright eyes, your deep-belly chuckle bring daily joy into this world. You, my baby, have grown so much in eight years and the person you are becoming has me in awe every day. You are growing into a bold, confident, determined, and exceptionally enthusiastic young man. You wake up with sun wearing a huge smile on your face and strong bouncy steps underfoot. Although I struggle to wipe the sleep out of my eyes and say "good morning sunshine", I love your eagerness to start the day! Mostly though, I love you and as the trauma of our early days getting to know each other fades further behind us, I will remain forever grateful.

Eric soccer

Eric's soccer coach said he was the player with the best  sportsmanship and biggest smile all the time. His smile glows and lights up. His highlight move was passing and assistang in the goal which is what they c were working von all season as a team!

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Three buddies

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These 24, 26, 25 weeker NICU grads celebrating together their 8th birthdays. #sweetestboysever

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Fave travel companions

Montana summer here we come.

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Noah completed his summit of Mt. Whitney

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Best quotes from Father's day camping at Cisco Grove

"Noah do you have to go potty?" "No, I am just holding it for fun."

Eric after slipping into the creek crossing with one foot and sobbing, "Now my shoe will be wet for one hour"! Man, was he mad.

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Biscuits, breakfast, boys

Breakfast at Kali's with my boys. Love Fridays!

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New room

For the last 2 months we have been remodeling Eric and Noah's room. They have been sleeping on mattresses on the floor in the living room with toys and clothes lining the walls. Noah never actually realized that he has been sleeping in a toddler bed. Today we welcomed the final touch and moving back into their new room. Here you see their new bunk beds.  Each of them now has there on private place.  Eric even posted a sign. It reads "Privacy please.  Please go away".  Older siblings have to spell things out for their younger ones. At least he said please.

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Keeping up

Keeping up, let alone staying ahead of things is hard to do these days. The boys are always ten steps ahead of me leaving me scrambling to catch up with the next activity before someone breaks something, punches something or someone, gets hurt, or simply makes a mess that will require my immediate attention for the next 60 minutes.

We are days away from completing a remodel over their room and painting of our downstairs. This activity, taking place in 1300 sq ft house doesn't leave much room to live in. Needless to say we are all feeling a bit "jarred and unsettled" with the displacement of EVERYTHING. Getting ready in the morning goes something like that.

"Time to get dressed"!

"Eric put can you please put your dirty jammies in the hamper."

"Where's the hamper?"

Oh, uhhh, I think it is in the living room or maybe on the back porch

" Eric, can you please get dressed (second request)."

" I can't find any underwear.!"

"Oh, yeah. I think they are all folded downstairs, sitting on daddy's desk."

" Please get you backpack and shoes"

"Where are they".......

You get the picture.

Meanwhile we have had some lovely time getting away from the chaos with a unforgettable trip to Lego Land and San Diego, Santa Monica for Daddy's birthday, and a Mother's day camping trip!

Over the course of these activities Eric has mastered reading books with complete sentences, chapters, and stories! He love to read to Momma and beams when provided with the reassurance that he is doing a great job.

Noah has learned to ride his bike. He can't start on his own yet so Momma olds on to the seat until I hear my queue, "Let off, let off I side." which is means "let go NOW" mom.

Eric's baseball season is wrapping up and I wish I wasn't so excited about but it has been a trying season wrought with discontent between parents and coach. The coach would be better suited for 14 year olds and doesn't understand the point of baseball at this age or know how to communicate very well. Oh well, dealing with difficult people is a good lesson for all and only a few more weeks left.

On that note...kids need breakfast, Momma's needs a long run, and Daddy needs to be woken up (we let him sleep in).

PS Daddy is sleeping in Eric's bed, mattress on the floor.

Happy Easter

Easter is a celebration of coming out of darkness and into the light.  It is a celebration of gratitude.

Happy Easter to all!

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Satisfying training run in the hills

Fun morning on Mt Diablo! Missed first in my age group by 20 seconds. Alas, Eric will be disappointed in my finish. He wants me to bring home a first place metal for him to wear. We are working on teaching him the joys of personal victories,  but seven year olds like to win.

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Let's go number one

Great hit and speedy wheels to first base got him around the bases!

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Lunch date at Kali's

Such a treat!

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A few great one liners

Momma says, " I have no energy left for mini golf". Noah responds "POOF....I gave you some of mine [energy]. Now you have some".

Noah demands a snack after school  to which Momma reminds him she needs to hear those respectful magic words. Noah replies in his most tired and whiny voice, " I don't have any magic left today."

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Last week, Noah's pre-school celebrated International Day of Happiness and the letter "U".  Among all the joyous activities, they explored the fantastical world of unicorns by making horns;  practiced writing U's by making happy faces; and even re-purposed our pvc pipes by making upside down U's for the garden, which will be used as a support system for their plants/vines to grow around. They also kept up with  energetic 3/4 year olds by having a dance party where were they had a robot dance off and congo'd all around the classroom to "Happy" by Pharell (clearly a new favorite song). 

Here's a gist of what was said during one of our Happy vs.Unhappy circle times..

What makes you happy? 

Reza: Valentine's Day

Noah G.: When I go with my mom and go see firetrucks and see astronauts when it flies.

Noah T.: Toys!

Taavi: When I get to ride trains...and climbing on a firetruck connected on a play structure at a park.

Lily: Daddy

Silas: Firetruck that takes away the park. That's crazy!

Colt: When I go on trips. It makes me happy.

Jax: I love firetrucks, backhoes and dump trucks!

Eli: Superhero, my birthday day!

What makes you unhappy?

Reza: First robot day makes me unhappy.

Noah G. When you fall down you might get a boo boo.

Noah T. Blood.

Taavi: When my baseball team doesn't win. My team is the Giants.

Lily: Nothing...never!

Silas: When trucks take away the park and dumps it on the ambulance and goes boing boing!

Colt: When I don't get to go on pretend firetrucks a little bit.

Jax: When I'm burning on smoke and fire!

Eli: Firetrucks, well actually...

He is so sweet

Took a little work trip and was greeted with this note on the driveway.

"Welcome back from Monterey home sweet home Tara
Love Eric"

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Spirit week

Guess which rockstar I am for spirit week?

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Team Lugnuts opening day

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Eric is reading

Eric's reading ability is really progressing. Watching him recognize new words and read longer sentences is as fun and amazing as listening to his verbal skills develop as a toddler.

He reads all the easy books now and is clearly ready for more. I have a pile of books I am reading next to my bed. Yesterday he picks one up, studies the cover and says, "Can borrow this book Mom?" I say, "Sure."

This is the book he is borrowing which is now sitting by his bed:

Getting the hang of it

Noah is eager and enthusiastic about learning to swim.

Eric is really focused on being in single A league baseball and if he would be still long enough for a photo in his Lugnuts team uniform, I might  have a photo to share.  But he is too excited to be still and feeling very grown up having to wear a cup this year!

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Happy birthday baby

Noah, being a bit bashful to all the birthday attention,  reluctantly standing next to the birthday sign his Mt. Whitney preschool glass made for him.

Also post class treat of strawberries with whip cream ( or sugar as classmate Silas refereed to it.

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Guess who turned four today

Happy birthday to my sweet, tender,  and loving boy. Your strong will, expressiveness and advanced vocabulary amaze me daily.  Your face can steal hearts and also bring down mountains with a steeley glare.

I love you.
Love, Momma

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Nap time

Noah's school activity

January 2014 Newsletter » Mt. Whitney: Out of This World!

Hi Preschool Families,

Happy 2014! This month we were welcomed with an influx of new friends- Jackson Morantes and Silas Poppas. With them, they bring bright smiles, warm hugs and silly dance moves. We are beyond excited to have two more friends along for the ride.

Jackson vying for the class clown title

Silas with his signature silly frown.

“N”ew Year, New Goals

First stop - Letter “N.”  Being as it was the New Year, we based our curriculum around resolutions. The children came together to brainstorm goals for both the classroom and themselves. This social emotional activity encouraged them to try new things, become more self-aware of their actions and for some, continue to be silly. Here is what was said:

Taavi: "I would like to go to a new park that I have never been before."Noah playing bean bag hopscotch.

Colt: "I want to write my name all by myself."

Noah T. "I want to be brave and write my name too."

Lily: "I want to buy a new shoes."

Noah G.: "Nicer to my mommy, daddy and my Nolan."

Silas: "I want buy a big fridge for my home."

Reza: "I want to go to Mars and say ‘hi’ to the martians."

Jackson: "Poop on the potty and get choco-latte!"

Cruz: "I want to 'oh yeah, oh yeah ( spins around and dances)'…more!"

Eli: “I want to meet and be nice to my  ‘watermelon (new sibling)’. Oh I want to fly like Spiderman!"

Owen: “I don’t know. I just want to play with all my new toys from Grandma and Santa. I have so many!"

In addition to making number rockets, the children used their creativity to draw other things associated it like Earth, aliens and astronauts. Some even drew their own version of a rocket.In addition to sharing our goals for the new year with one another, we worked on another "N" word - number! We helped put together the days for the new month, counted down the days to Taavi's & Owen's B'day, played number/bean bag hopscotch and made a number rocket! These activities helped us with number recognition, rote counting and one to one correspondence.Cruz & Lily observing each other's masks.

“O”uter Space

As we continue our adventures through the year, many of our interests guided towards Outer Space. So fittingly, our next stop was far far out in the galaxy. Together with our child-made astronaut masks, we hopped on the Mt Whitney space shuttle, practiced counting backwards and blasted off into outer space. While flying, we used our imagination to see aliens, boats, shoes, rocks, moons and planets floaReady to take off!ting around, all the while being careful not to get "space-sick (Taavi)"! Once we arrived, we collected specimens such as "moon sand."Using our five senses, we closely examined this peculiar sensory item and made a few predictions of what "moon sand" was actuaAstronaut Reza & Cruz stayed in character as they checked out their specimens.lly made of. Eli "I think it's made out of cheese because when the astronauts are hungry they have something to eat" What do you think?

Exploring moon sand with block people

  

Here are a few other enrichment activities during this "out of this world" journey into space:

Learned about suspension and springs as we launched our rubberband plastic cup rockets.

Using shape recognition/fine motors, Reza trace/draw cuts out his planet which was later painted. Each child further their language and cognitive skills by explaining their planet's uniqueness. Colt called his "Planet Lily, where nice people live"

 Stregthening our fine motors, we carefully squeezed cornstarch/paint filled water bottles to create a galaxy.

Jax help kneading out salt dough to later mould into moonsPainting our freshly baked salt dough moons

This month also marked two big milestones for our friends - Taavi & Owen as they celebrated their birthdays. Thank you to their families for the yummy treats!

Next up, we will be hopping off the space shuttle and set sail on the ocean to learn more about Pirates! Arrgh. Argh.. Arrgh.. Can't wait to share our discoveries with you!

With love,

Ms. Mylee 

In search of snow.....

As our plane began its decent into Great Falls, Eric looked out the window and exclaimed with excitement loud enough for the whole plane to here , "Look Mom! I SEE SNOW! " Then he said, "I think I even see Showdown!"

Montana Grandparent-love and snow.
Bring it.  We need some of both.

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Showin' Momma how it's done

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Back at it

Opening day at brand new swimming lesson facility!  Noah shivered his way through his lesson with promise of a warmer pool next week. It didn't hurt his motivation a bit.

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Best day

Many days I ask everyone in the house what the best and worst thing that happened to them was that day. This Saturday afternoon Eric and I went on a bike ride up the beach and then stopped for lunch.  While we were eating our tacos Eric says to me, "If you asked me what my best thing was today I would say  spending it with you. " Tears. Oh how a love my sweet boy.

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Base Camp pre school fun and buddies