Liam's Christmas Pageant/School Party

So the week before Christmas Liam's school had a Christmas program. Each class sang two to three songs. There was two to three kindergarten classes that got on stage at a time and sang their songs and then left the stage and the next group got up. Liam's class was in the second group and they sang two songs which I didn't know the tune to and that made it difficult to help him practice. Greg found the songs on ITunes after the show. The songs were It Must Be Santa and Mele Kali. . . something the Hawaiian Christmas song.

Then after each class had their turn everyone got back on the stage and sang Silent Night and Feliz Navidad (two songs I could sort of help him with). Both times Liam was at the front and I got really good video of him, well good for a school production and where we were sitting. Hopefully you can see the videos below. It's my first time posting video to the blog. Oh and being the dork that I am, I teared up when I first saw him on the stage. He is just growing up way too fast for me. And by the way Brianna was a perfect little angle the entire time.

OK, so this first video is taking forever to download - which means you only get this one. I don't have the patience to sit here and wait this long for two more videos. Besides this gives you the idea of how well he did singing. : )

The last day of school before break, Liam's class had a holiday brunch. I volunteered to help out, so I could be there. Santa came in on a fire truck and visited each class handing out candy canes. Oh, you'll notice in the photos that everyone got to wear their PJs. I had to work a few hours that morning, so I didn't wear mine. So after eating their food, it was story time. Mr. Hord is Mrs. Hord's teaching assistant. He still has one more year to go before he can be a teacher in his own right. Anyway, he read The Polar Express to the kids, who were sitting with their stuffed animals listening intently. After the story, Mrs. Hord told the kids that Santa had dropped something off for all the kids. She pulled out a wade of silver sleigh bells. They were all tangled up. So she had the kids move onto the hot chocolate portion of the day while Mr. Bobby (that's what the kids call Mr. Hord) got the bells untangled. After hot chocolate and bell distribution, the kids sat back on their squares and opened their stockings. It was so much fun to be a part of this mini-celebration. The kids had so much fun. It was an early release day, so Liam and I went to the mall and saw the movie Despereau (I can't spell French words), but we both almost fell asleep during it. No reflection on the movie - it was good - we were both just tired from the morning festivities. Typical reaction to the holidays - a ton of fun that leaves you ready for a nap. Enjoy the pictures. (I really need to get better at editing HTML - these photos are in the opposite order than I want them to be)

So Much to Blog and So Little Time

1. So here are some topics I’ve been meaning to blog about and have finally done it. So you’ll see a bunch of new blog entries below.
   
   Halloween
   Cape adventure
   Liam’s Birthday
   Legalizing discrimination
   Baking craziness

Baking Craziness

Some how and I can’t current recollect how at this point, Amanda and I got talked into baking stuff for the DMDC Holiday Craft Fair. Evidently the woman who made jumbo cupcakes each year left DMDC and people were very concerned there wouldn’t be cupcakes to buy. This started our little two week adventure. We spent a week planning what we would make and how to divide it up and then another week actually baking and getting stuff together. Dan, Amanda’s husband, even came up with a really cool logo for stickers we were putting on the packaging. The menu consisted of Red Velvet, Gingerbread, and Mocha Chocolate cupcakes and Peanut butter chocolate chip banana bread, Lemon Almond bread, Apple Spice bread (with and without walnuts), and Pumpkin zucchini bread (with and without pecans). The Red Velvet had white chocolate cream cheese frosting and the other two had this amazing Swiss butter cream frosting that Amanda makes (it takes like an hour at least to make it, but so worth it). Amanda also made these really cute cake toppers to put on some of the cupcakes out of royal icing. Everything looked so professional. We had boxes of three cupcakes, one of each flavor, that we were selling for the highest price of all our baked goods.

Unfortunately when we were setting up the table, the tray of the boxed cupcakes got bumped and they all fell on the floor. We were able to save most of them, but the frosting was either gone or really messed up. So our most expensive item quickly became our cheapest. Amanda was so upset that I quickly calmed down and tried to help her calm down. The joys of being a Libra – I take on the opposite emotion of the person I’m with in order to maintain balance. Had Amanda not been so upset I’m sure I would have been in tears. That was a lot of time and effort down the toilet.
But everyone loved our stuff (except my lemon almond bread – which by the way my Dad loves) and all and all it was a fun time and we may have even broke even on the money front.

Liam’s Birthday

First off, I can’t believe my baby is five already. I really wish there was a way to slow down time. We decided to combine Liam and Dante’s birthday parties again this year, so they are only days apart and have many of the same friends.

Side note: What’s with people not RSVPing anymore? It’s such a pain in the butt, not knowing how many kids are coming.

So we had the party at Jump-N-Around in Salinas. It was fantastic. The kids got to play in a bunch of jump houses for an hour and a half. There were also some token games (both Grandmothers played the spinning wheel of fortune numerous times) that would spit out tickets, ala Chuck E. Cheese. In fact Liam had over 600 tickets by the end of the party thanks in large part to his Grandmothers. Then after the kids were exhausted, we moved into the party room for 45 minutes to pizza and cake -- That part of the party was a little chaotic, but not horrible. We also had the party start at 11:00, so Brianna could take her nap after the party, which worked perfectly.

So we grabbed up Liam’s presents and headed back home to open all his gifts. He loved everything, but loved playing with his Army men gear that he got from Uncle Mike and Aunt Jennifer. It tied in nicely with his new Army cape that Amanda made him. Once Brianna finished her nap and the rest of us recovered/rested, we went out to dinner at our favorite local place, The Village Restaurant. Then we came home to have the birthday cake I made Liam. My mom bought the William Sonoma train cake pan, so Liam had a train cake. It was a pain to decorate it, but it was nice that each person got one train car – no cutting necessary. It did give you about a cupcake and a half’s worth of cake though, so many of us couldn’t eat a whole car.

It was again wonderful for Liam to be able to have both sets of Grandparents at his birthday. Ken and Diana had to leave on Sunday, so it was much too short of a visit.
Oh and I’m so proud of Liam because not only did he write most of each thank you card, but he really enjoyed doing it – well as long as I let him have apple juice breaks.

Cape Adventure

I was telling Amanda about how Liam had a total melt down over Brianna’s cape and how he wanted to know why he didn’t get a special cape too. Not thinking that would guilt her into making him one, but it did. I’m discovering that Amanda has very similar guilt issues as mine. Anyway, Amanda and I spent some time ‘designing’ Liam’s cape. Then she has the bright idea to take Liam to the fabric store, so he can pick out what he wants. I was slightly concerned because I had already picked out what Liam would want (another one of my issues that I’m working on). Our plan was to make the outside black satin and the inside some kind of blue sparkly material and cut it so the bottom looked like bat wings. Well Liam had a slightly different take. He found some camouflage flannel material that he just loved. He wanted an Army man cape. Then we tried to explain how he got to pick another material because there was one color on the inside and another color on the outside. He started talking about how he needed an Army man outfit to wear under the cape and as I was telling him that Amanda was only going to make a cape, he started to have a melt down. I think I was just adding to his frustration, so I walked away with Des and left Amanda to deal with melt down boy. She did a wonderful job. She got him to calm down and look at the pattern and see what we were talking about. I don’t think he truly understood at first the difference between the inside and the outside. So we got the black fabric and the camo fabric and he picked out American flag buttons that he wanted on the shoulders, so he could see them. He also wanted a pocket. Amanda wanted to get the cape finished for his birthday party, which wasn’t that far away. She did an amazing job. She made it reversible, so he can be a bat or an Army man (that’s what Liam calls soldiers) and she made a special secret pocket that she even put some treasure into. He loves it and of course whenever he wears his, Brianna goes running to her closet to put her cape on too.

Legalizing discrimination

So the election brought hope for change in Barack Obama and I believe this country really needs a change at this point. But my excitement about that was overshadowed by my anger/disappointment that a majority of Californian’s decided to legalize discrimination by approving Prop 8. Now I know that many people don’t believe that gays should be allowed to ‘marry’ for religious reasons. That’s fine if that’s your belief, but I don’t agree with the State being able to legalize discrimination. One of the things that Governor Schwartzenagger said stuck in my mind when he was talking about how he wished it didn’t pass, and that was that in the 1940’s it was illegal for bi-racial couples to get married. If that were still the law, then some of my friends would never have been born. I’m sure some of my religious friends will say that is totally different because in the Bible being gay is a sin and we shouldn’t support it. Well, I say, who made this sin hierarchy? Is it more of a sin to be gay than to commit adultery? Is it more of a sin to not honor thy father than to be gay? Last time I checked, all sin was bad. God is the judge, not us. I also know people who truly believe being gay is a choice. Which completely confuses me. I don’t know anyone who would willing choose to be discriminated against, face physical violence from hate mongers, and disownment by their families. I could go on and on, but I won’t. So we took one step forward and two steps back, but at least we took the one step forward.

Halloween

I have to start this off with the fact that I know my children are extremely spoiled and it is something I’m working on. About three weeks before Halloween, my mom and I took Liam shopping with us at Valley Fair. Brianna stayed home with Greg. While we were at Pottery Barn Kids, Liam fell in love with a Robot costume. He just had to have it, so Grandma bought it for him. Then a week before Halloween Liam informs us that he wants to be a Power Ranger Jungle Fury guy. I explained that he had already picked out a robot costume – to which he said, “Mom that was for dress up not for Halloween.” Like I’m some sort of simpleton and should have realized this. I tried to explain that the costume was very expensive and he was going to wear it by golly and some kids don’t even get to have fancy costumes and have to wear paper bags. My son is very logical and pretty good in an argument (future lawyer?). He thinks for a few minutes and then says, “I have idea. This year I’m Power Ranger and next year will be robot.” I tried to explain that everyone will be a Power Ranger and wouldn’t he prefer to be something unique like a Robot. After explain what unique meant, he says, “Mom, Lots of kids will be Robots I just know. This year I should be a Power Ranger.” At this point I’m just tired and we’re almost home. When I tell Greg and my mom about this exchange they both said just get him a cheap Power Ranger costume. It’s not a big deal. Yeah, sure. You didn’t just spend 30 minutes debating the issue with a 4-year-old. So for Halloween Liam was a White Power Ranger Jungle Fury. It turns out his best friend at school, Dante, wore the exact same costumes. So they were Power Ranger brothers (Dante’s idea) and both extremely happy about it.

Brianna’s costume was off the charts. I was talking to my friend Amanda and she was saying that she was making Des (who is 4 months younger than Brianna) a Little Red Riding Hood costume. She was going to be Grandma and her husband, Dan, was the Big Bad Wolf. So we decide in our infinite wisdom (craziness?) that it would be super cute if Des and Brianna had matching costumes. Amanda made two red velvet, red satin lined capes and cute old school aprons. Amanda’s mom made the cutest little green dresses and petticoats for the girls. They were absolutely adorable. Now I want a cape.

Oh and when Liam saw all the attention Brianna’s red cape got, he had a total melt down and wanted to know why he didn’t get one too. More on this subject in the Cape Adventure post.

Wedding Vacation (Just found this saved draft - posting as is)

So we turned Mike and Jennifer's wedding into a vacation and stayed in Missouri for 10 days. My parents went with us which was such a help on the flights. We had two adults per child. So much less stress for me. Unfortunately, my parents sat with Liam, who just sleeps through the flight like I do. Greg and I got Brianna, who is very active, much like her father. But we made it safe and sound. We flew in on the Wednesday before the wedding and we're very busy with wedding type stuff until Sunday evening. I have so much to write about, but I am going to try to keep this brief as most people who read this blog were actually part of most of these events.

On Thursday evening we went over to Mike and Jennifer's for the final tux fitting for the boys and for Brianna's final flower girl dress fitting. It was really nice to see their house and have Jenn's mom cook dinner for us - yummy. Anyway, the dress was adorable as you can see. Oh and Liam and Grandma Boyd picked up Kolby from the airport. Liam was sooooooo excited to see his cousin. He totally looks up to Kolby and talks about him all the time. Liam ended up sleeping with Kolby that night back at the Grandparent's Boyd.

Since we didn't have anything scheduled until late afternoon for the wedding, I decided to give my mom and mom-in-law an early mother's day present of a manicure and pedicure. Janelle was able to join us too for the manicure portion. It was a lot of fun. But unfortunately lead to my downfall - literally. Since this was a last minute idea, my mom and I had to stop by good ol' Walmart and buy some flip flops to wear, so our toenails wouldn't get messed up. Here's the unfortunate part, the flip flops were very slippery. Later back at the house, as I was trying to help Brianna get down the stairs she wasn't use to, I slipped. In my effort to avoid causing Brianna to fall. I ended up landing very badly and not really breaking my fall at all. I started crying but had to suck it up quickly because Liam was very upset that I was upset and he started crying too. To make a long story short. My dear, sweet husband kept telling me I should go to urgent care or the emergency room. But we had no time for that. We had the rehearsal that night, then the wedding and reception on Saturday and finally the brunch on Sunday. I really didn't want to miss anything or any one.

Mommy’s Day of Wonderfulness

So my most wonderful friend and first wife, Amanda, talked me into joining her for a spa day at the Body Suite. You see, she was getting a weekend without her husband and daughter and she planned to take full advantage of it. She decided to do a full day of spa-wonderfulness. I was originally just going to join her for part of the day as she had invited other mommies to come along, but then I just bit the bullet and decided to do the whole day thing too. And the best part was we decided to take Friday off of work to do it. So not only were we totally pampered, but it was like playing hooky too.

The day started with me showing up at her house and we made breakfast together. Her husband and a friend were still at the house, so we all ate together. Then off we went to the Spa. We started out together in the dry sauna room. There’s nothing like getting to know a friend while you’re sweating, naked (except for a sarong), and in a little box of scorching heat. I was slightly (OK really) annoying at first because I couldn’t relax. I was running through my list of things I should be doing instead of sitting in here. It took me a good 20 minutes to start to relax. Amanda was very patient with me – although she might use that against me later.

After escaping the heat of hell, we had to go our separate ways. Amanda went off for her massage and body scrub. I went off for my first ever manicure and pedicure. I was so worried that I’d be laughing the whole time my feet were being touched, but it was actually very relaxing. The spa is right on the bike path over looking the ocean down by Cannery Row. So as I was being made beautiful, I got to watch all the interesting people go by. After our first sessions, we met up again for lunch. There is a cute little café located in the same building as the spa and we got to pick out what we wanted and they brought it over. The food was great and we both were well on our way to blissdom.

Next, I went for my massage and body scrub and Amanda got a facial. The massage was wonderful. I’ve had a sea salt back scrub with a massage before, but this time I was getting a full body sugar scrub - which by the way tastes pretty good when you accidentally get some in your mouth in the shower (more on this later). Anyway, this was a total body scrub and at one point I felt a little weird. So I’ve flipped over onto my back and am face up. I’m totally relaxed and may have even snored a little – who’s to know for sure. Then, all of a sudden, whoosh a hand towel is now covering my, uhm let’s say chest and the sheet is pulled down to my waist. Then boom my belly is starting to be scrubbed/massaged with sugar. Now as most of you know, I’m carrying a lot of my weight that I still haven’t lost (someday, someday) right in my belly and it’s a jolly, jelly, Santa type belly. Needless to say, I came back to reality quickly and abruptly, but was able to get back to my blissed out relaxed state once the initial shock of a stranger intimately touching my belly wore off. And as I was getting my hands massaged for the second time that day, I thought to myself – “I should massage Greg’s hands when I get home tonight, so he can experience just a little of the joy I’ve had today.” And I did indeed give Greg’s hands a massage when I got home later that night.

Now, I’ve got to go take a shower and get all the sugar off of me before I can go for my facial. It’s not as easy to get sugar off your body as you might think. I really had to rub it off to make sure it was all gone. I was doubled over in the shower rubbing my calves and the water was dripping down my head (while the blood rushed to it) when I shot upright – got a little dizzy and got some sugary water in my mouth. It’s not easy to steady yourself when you’re completely relaxed, but I didn’t fall over or injury myself.

I had a little time between the shower and my facial, so Amanda and I got to chat again while she was having her mani & pedi. She was sort of making fun of me for the huge grin I had on my face. I don’t think it was that big, but whatever. So we were trying to decide where to go for dinner when we were done. Then Victoria is ready for me and off I go to my facial - again another wonderful, blissful, relaxing experience. When it was all over, I felt like I was walking on air. I didn’t even think about the kids and didn’t feel guilty about that fact either.

Amanda’s officemate and friend, Renee, joined us for the end of the day. The two of them where waiting for me in the lobby. The first thing out of Renee’s mouth was, “I see what you mean about the grin.” So maybe Amanda was right. I was grinning from ear to ear, but I couldn’t feel it. I couldn’t feel anything but wonderfulness and bliss. And I got to this state without the aid of chocolate. : )

So we decided to go out for dinner, but Renee could only stay for a drink and had to get home. The dinner wasn’t part of the original plan, so I had to call Greg and make sure he was okay with the kids. We had a great meal and great conversation. I ended up getting home around 9:00 pm and again didn’t feel the least bit guilty about my day of pure self indulgence. I’m feeling completely renewed and reenergized. Now I get what they say about the fact that Mommies have to take care of themselves first, so that they have something to give to their families. It’s like the oxygen masks on the plane – place your mask on first before helping those around you.

I’ve decided that we have to get together once a month and have a Mommy Day – no kids, no husbands, no guilt – maybe not a full day at a spa, but at least dinner or a movie or a bike ride or whatever we discover recharges our mommy batteries. I think it’s made me a better mom and wife this week.

Sibling Conversations

This morning on the car ride to school the following exchange happened out of the blue.

Liam: “I love you Beeeeannaaaa.”
Brianna: “Luv Eam”
Liam: “You want kiss?”
Brianna: “Kiss Eam”
Liam then grabs Brianna’s hand and kisses it. Brianna then makes a kissing sound. I assume she blew him a kiss. I can’t really see her when I’m driving.

Then they both start laughing.

Brianna: “GRRRRR”
Liam: “Ahhh, a monster mommy! There’s a monster!”
Brianna starts laughing again

Brianna: “My car! My car, Eam!”
Liam: “No, Beeanna. Mine”
Brianna then throws something at Liam as she yells at him, “MINNNNNEEEEEEE.” Liam then hits Brianna’s arm.

Such great love and such great turmoil during our commute.

Parent Teacher Conference

I just got back from my first parent teacher conference. It didn’t last too long and went relatively well. The reason Mrs. Hord wanted to meet with me (Greg is in DC right now) is because Liam isn’t picking up on his letters very well. He started the year only knowing L. In the month he’s been going to school he’s only added – A, X, x, o, i, a
So he still doesn’t recognize all the letters in his name, although sometimes he can spell it.

She’s so concerned that she’s requested that the speech specialist evaluate him. I also met her today and Liam will be evaluated tomorrow. So Mrs. Hord gave me some ideas to help work on his letter recognition. Now I’m going to go out and buy Leap Frog’s Letter Factory and implement some other suggestions.

She also told me that he’s a little slower in the morning to finish his worksheets and much faster in the afternoon. Guess what they do in the morning? - English. The afternoon is math. He loves the math stuff, which is just sorting and patterns so far. He’s always asking to make patterns or let’s sort this stuff. So maybe he’ll just be a math wiz.

I asked how he was doing with share day, since he has to get up in front of the class and speak. I was worried about his shyness. But she said he does great – that socially he’s doing very well. He does well with rhyming. Basically he’s doing great in all areas but letter recognition, which is why she thought there maybe some other reason that he’s not getting his letters and why he’s seeing the speech specialist tomorrow. I’ll let you know if anything comes of that.

So if you spend any time with Liam be sure to play letter recognition games with him and make it a lot of fun, please.

Dream House?!

So my mom had this great idea that when my dad retired and/or she retired they would build a play house for the kids. Well, that day has finally arrived. Home Depot delivered a huge amount of wood this weekend. My dad did the “ground breaking” last weekend and this past weekend he laid the foundation.

Now when my mom and I first started talking about this, it was going to be a simple little wood house with a door and window. Then she added flower boxes under the windows. Oh and a porch, so the kids can sit on the porch in rockers or a porch swing or something. Now I’m use to my mom building on her ideas and thinking it won’t take anytime because – Hey they do entire room makeovers in an hour on TV. Yes, this is how she thinks – and to be honest I kind of think along the same lines only not as bad.

Well, I found out this weekend what my dad actually plans on building. First he removed the grass from the area in the yard the playhouse will be built upon. OK. Then he spent hours and I mean hours getting it leveled and sinking the concrete corner blocks to tie the foundation to. Maybe a little extreme, but it gets better. Not only is he putting drywall on the walls, but he plans to insulate the thing too. He has some leftover Corian counter that he’s planning on using. He’s putting siding on the outside and shingling the roof. When mom and I teased him that the kids are going to out grow it in three years, he said no they're not. Which explains why he had asked me last week how tall Greg is – he’s building it big enough that we can stand inside?!

Yes, my parents are crazy and yes my kids are totally spoiled by them. I think this is why I’m such a manners nut. At least if my kids are going to be spoiled rotten they will know to say please, thank you, and you’re the bestest grandparents in the world.

Oh tomorrow’s the big day – My first parent teacher conference with Liam’s teacher. I’ll let you know how it goes. Unfortunately, Greg’s in DC this week so he’ll miss it.

Boyd Family Camping

So we survived our camping trip. On the way home on Sunday I called my mom. My exact words were, “Mom thanks so much for making camping so much fun when I was a kid and I’m sorry I didn’t help more.”

My childhood camping memories are filled with fun times and great food. Little did I realize then that my parents camped on our vacations through Europe because they didn’t have a lot of money. This was when my dad was still enlisted and my mom didn’t work. And I had no idea about how much work it is for the mom. That is until now.

Ashley and I are big into planning everything – Ashley a little more so than I am. We basically were driving Amanda crazy the week before we went camping. She finally told us to just give her a list of what she was supposed to bring. Ashley and I went shopping for all the food the weekend before and even made spaghetti sauce (with the help of my mom) and froze it.

We originally were going to go down to Big Sur on Thursday afternoon and come home on Sunday. That was before I realized that Liam started school so early. So the Bridges’ and De Noyer’s went down Friday afternoon. We followed after Liam got out of school at 2:30. Oh, and we took my dad’s pick-up to have more room and still couldn’t fit two boxes of stuff, which Amanda was nice enough to carry down for us. I think all the moms were glad we cut it short by one night.

After trying to figure out the best configuration of tents and cars to keep the toddlers from escaping easily, we finally set down to preparing dinner. The first night was pretty simple – hotdogs, chili, and sun chips. The kids loved cooking the hotdogs over the fire. Liam cooked Brianna’s, since he doesn’t eat them. I made him a grilled cheese sandwich. So after about an hour of cooking and eating it was time to clean up. We were trying to be environmental kind and didn’t use paper plates or disposable silverware - which means that we had to clean dishes a lot. The first night that took forever because we were trying to heat water on the camp stove to do the dishes. We FINALLY got smart and put the pot of water on the fire and it heated up so much faster. We actually learned quite a few lessons.

The kids loved having s’mores that night and the next. We actually had to buy more s’more fixin’s at the little store because we were all eating so many of them. But let’s be honest – isn’t that the best part of camping. S’mores just don’t taste the same at any other time.

The first night was horrible. Poor Noah got sick and was up all night crying and miserable. Joaquin finally packed him up and took him home around midnight. So Greg was the only man in camp. He was great though. Not one complaint out of him. Amanda was smart and brought her pack and play for Des. We didn’t think about it. Brianna got to have her first out of crib sleeping experience on an air mattress covered with sleeping bags. Basically Liam and I slept on one air mattress and Greg and Brianna slept on the other one that was right next to it. Greg discovered that Brianna moves around in her sleep just as much as her brother. And of course the kids didn’t go to sleep easily. Liam didn’t like all the noise and Brianna didn’t know what to do with all the space she had. We tagged teamed laying down with them and actually ended up going to bed pretty early.

So it seemed to take forever to have meals and clean up. The next morning we had pancakes. That was an experience. After what seemed like an hour we had fed the kids, because I could only make three pancakes at a time and the side closest to the middle of the pan would sort of burn while the outside didn’t really cook all the way. So it took some getting use to. Amanda got smart and started another pot to cook them in and took over cooking so I could eat. We finally told Greg and everyone else, if they wanted more pancakes they had to make their own.

We did have a lot of fun on Saturday. Greg stayed at camp, while the moms and kids headed over to a neighboring camp ground that had a playground area that the dads had discovered the day before. The kids had a great time and the little girls held their own with all the bigger kids on the playground. Then we went back to camp had a lunch of sandwiches (yeah no cooking – except Liam’s grilled cheese) and chips. After lunch everyone changed into swimwear and went down to the river to have water play. I stayed back at camp which overlooked the river, so I got some good pictures of everyone having a good time. Brianna didn’t want anything to do with the water, which was very cold. Liam loved playing with the water guns but didn’t really like getting in the river either. Des and Kylie had a great time in the water.

We had the spaghetti sauce and pasta with garlic bread for dinner that night. It was perfect because it was filling and there’s something about being outside all day that really works up an appetite. Again cleaning all the dishes was a pain. The one good thing about all the fun the kids had that day was that they were exhausted – the little girls didn’t nap either. So all the kids went to bed pretty easily that night. We adults got to stay up and talk and have more S’mores. That was the best night but we were all pretty exhausted too. In fact at dinner that night, Amanda and I were discussing how much more fun camping was before we had kids.

Oh and Amanda came prepared. She had little jingle bell bracelets that we put around the little girls ankles just in case they strayed too far. Kylie and Liam got whistles with the rule that they were only to be used in case of emergency. Amanda also brought glow sticks for the big kids for both nights. Liam slept with his each night tightly grasped in both hands.

Sunday morning our kids were up first. Greg and I weren’t quite ready to get out of bed, so Liam and Brianna put on a song and dance show for us on the “stage” - the area of the tent at the foot of the ‘beds’ and in front of the changing room area. They were too funny and I think all our laughter woke up Kylie. It was about 6:45 when we got out of the tent and fed the kids breakfast.

Then we started packing up, which seemed to take longer than set up – mostly because we were all doing it at the same time and having to watch the kids, which wasn’t exactly easy. But we didn’t lose any of them. After Greg got the tent packed up, I discovered a cool looking bug on our tarp, so I called the kids over to take a look. It was the first bug we actually encountered, which is weird because I thought we’d be surrounded by them.

And just for the record, everyone gave me a bad time about bringing so much stuff, but we used everything except the space heater. And when we packed up, it all fit in the truck because a lot of the stuff was food that we ate up during the weekend.

My favorite part was when Greg was talking to Liam and saying (not a direct quote), “You had a lot of fun didn’t you? Mommy put a lot of work into this trip, so you should give her a big hug and kiss and a big thank you.” Liam then proceeded to give me the biggest thank you I’ve ever received and a huge hug and kiss. It made all the work worth it in that split second. The aching back was forgotten, the nasty dishes forgotten, the cold, uncomfortable, sleepless night forgotten and I basked in the glow of my childhood memories that I had just recreated in my son. And isn’t that why we enter into this crazy thing called parenthood. For all the pain, worry, stress, etc. those fleeting moments of pure joy that your child gets to experience make it all worthwhile.

Greg was all ready to make this a family tradition. I’m all for that as long as we don’t have to do it again for at least a year. I need time to recover.

There is one little tip I’d like to leave you with – Don’t take toddlers camping. Take babies that can’t yet move on their own or kids that are old enough to come back when you call them. If you must bring a toddler, I’d suggest tying them up to a rope between two trees. This may sound cruel, but trust me it will save your sanity. : )

P.S. When I picked up Liam from Porter Youth Center on Monday, his teacher told me he couldn’t stop talking about his camping trip and how much fun he had.

Camping and Singing

First, we are taking the kids on their first camping trip this weekend. Yes, I’m a bit scared. Some people have told me I’ve over packed (Greg!). And while I don’t like the boy scouts policy on gays, I do believe in the motto of “Always be prepared”. “Better safe than sorry” “A penny saved is a penny earned” Oh wait, I digress.

So, we are camping with the Bridges (Joaquin, Ashley, Kylie, and baby Noah) and some of the De Noyers (Amanda and Des). Liam and Kylie will entertain each other and Des and Brianna are starting to get use to playing together (ok side by side still with a little interaction every now and then). So the adult to child ratio is still one to one, but we can tag team and I think that will make it somewhat relaxing. This is really going to be the test of whether we keep all our camping equipment when we redo the garage or whether we decide that we can’t hack it. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Brianna LOVES to sing. Liam liked to sing. But Brianna really LOVES it. She’s always singing in the car, when I change her diaper, in her crib -- Basically anywhere. And you better clap for her when she’s completed the song – even if it’s hard to tell when that is – although lately she lets you know by clapping herself. She doesn’t have a big repertoire, but that doesn’t seem to bother her. Here are some sample lyrics.

Up bove whirl so hi
Ike dimnd sky
Winkle, winkle ittle star
Wonder wwwaa are
(that’s Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)

MeDonald hav farm
Eieio
Moo moo here
Moo moo here
Eieio
Donald farm
Eieio
(that’s Old McDonald Had a Farm)

Ring rosy
All fallllllll downnnnn
(Ring Around the Rosie)

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE
(Brianna’s impression of an opera singer – she actually stretches out her arms to either side and screeches at a decibel that I think is going to break our windows one day. She typically only does this when Liam or I are not paying enough attention to her.)

Back to School Night

So this past Tuesday was Back to School Night. Basically the principle addressed the parents and talked about the typical stuff – how to join the PTA, if you want to chaperone a field trip starting this year you must be fingerprinted, etc. Kind of makes you wonder why they started fingerprinting this year – did something happen last year?

Anywoo, then we got to go to Liam’s class room and his teacher, Mrs. Hord, explained stuff to us. Also, the kids weren’t at this little meeting. So Greg and I sit in the teeny, tiny chairs and start looking around before the ‘talk’ begins. Liam’s class is the frogs. So there is a bulletin board with frog cutouts and a picture of each kid on the face of the frog – very cute. Mrs. Hord also made the most delicious lemon cookies. I think between Greg and I we ate a half dozen.

Transitional kindergarten was explained in more detail. Basically it’s a smaller class size and has a dedicated teacher’s aid, so the ratio is 10 to 1. They start the class off slow and by December they have a good idea about where kids are, so in January they divide them up into four groups based on how well they are reading. The best readers go to a more advanced reading group for an hour a day and the ones still having problems stay with Mrs. Hord for the hour reading group – the other two groups go to other groups that are appropriate. So starting in January she said that they are basically doing exactly what the other classrooms are doing and everyone is ready for 1st grade by the end of the year. One of the parents asked if any of the kids re-did kindergarten. She said that last year (the first year of this program) three kids did stay back a year, but one of them was because of emotional development.

Oh, Mrs. Hord was a pre-school teacher and has been a kinder teacher for two years. She looks younger than Janelle, so that took some getting use to for me. But she is super nice.

OK, back to the classroom. She has created a chart with four frogs on it and everyone has a clothes pin with their name on it. They start each day on the green frog square. If they are having a super day they get to move to the rainbow frog square. Not such a hot day the yellow, and if they are having a really bad day (i.e. not listening) then they have to move their name down to the red square. They can move up and down throughout the day. If they’ve been in the green all day, then they get a sticker – on rainbow you get two stickers. After four or five stickers you get to go to the treasure box and pick something out. You know Liam just loves that idea.

She gives a homework packet every Monday and you have to complete it by Friday, which works perfectly for us because some nights Liam falls asleep on the way home. He has to write his name every night (actually trace it). Then there’s cut out the lowercase letter and paste it under the same upper case letter. Color the pictures that are the same. Cut out two different type of objects (different fishes & different flowers) and then paste them in the correct column (fish under fish, flowers under the flower) and color them. This was the first week of homework and Liam started out every session with I can’t do that. So I’m trying to be as encouraging as possible without losing my patience. So I show him one cut and then tell him to just try. He gets so upset if he cuts off the line even a little bit. So we’ve been explaining a lot about having to practice before you’re good at something and how Mommy and Daddy had to practice a long time before we were good at cutting a straight line. So that’s been our biggest battle so far. But he likes to color, especially when I break out a coloring book and color in it while he’s doing his homework – because I want to have FUN too.

This is only the third week of school, but I notice that he’s still pretty much a loner out on the playground when I drop him off and he still wants me to stay and watch until they blow the whistle to line up for class. I’ve also volunteered to help in the class one day a week. On Thursdays from 10:45 to 11:45 (so I can just take an early lunch – nice thing about the school being so close to work), I’ll be helping with Math. Yes, that’s the math time and my mom and Greg are already worried for these poor kindergarteners. But I’ve explained that I should be fine with kinder math, as long as we don’t have to go up past 100 – those zeros can really throw me off. Actually I think they do calendar work with the math section and I’m really good at the days of the week. : )

I’ve also volunteered to help with some of the classroom parties – cuz you know how I love a party. I can’t wait until I get to make 20 themed cupcakes. I’ll be letting you all know how things are going with kindergarten and Liam, so stay tuned.

Kindergarten for Liam

I know I haven’t blogged in a long while. I’m so behind – it’s just hard to find time at home when you’ve got two extremely energetic kids. And there are some people I’ve wanted to write to, but haven’t gotten around to that either - But enough about my inabilities to manage my time.

After much stress and a few visits to the Monterey Peninsula School District offices, we finally got all the paperwork done and approved for Liam to go to Marshall Elementary. It has really good scores and is just a 5 minute drive from work. After talking to a lot of co-workers the interdistrict transfer process doesn’t get any easier as the kids get older and it seems they change the process every other year or so. So the stress will continue.

Anyway, Liam did get to attend a Kinder Camp for two weeks. It was offered through the Army Community Services and because we work for the Department of Defense, Liam was eligible. It was actually held at Marshall, so he got use to the campus. It was only a half a day and the staff at Porter Youth Center would go and pick the kids up and walk them to the youth center for the second half of the day. We just love that the youth center is one block from the school. Liam LOVES the youth center. He plays really hard there - so hard that during the summer, many days he would fall asleep on the way home and sleep through the night – missing dinner. Liam also started taking martial arts classes at the youth center. A friend from work, Chris, teaches the classes and Liam just loves them. It’s two days a week for an hour. He’s getting better and before long will be able to kick some hinny. : )

So, Monterey School District is on a modified year round schedule. Liam started school this past Monday, Aug. 4th. I wasn’t really ready for him to start school so soon and because we found out so late that the interdistrict transfer was approved, we were scrambling the last week and a half before school started. They interview/test all the kids going into Kindergarten and we didn’t get a little about the appointment to do this, so I had to call and arrange it. Liam wasn’t on the original list of students. I was filling out a questionnaire about Liam, while he was playing “learning” games. And it was so hard to listen to because he wouldn’t answer, when I knew for a fact that he knew the answers. He was just too shy to answer. He doesn’t like to be wrong and would rather not say anything as opposed to being wrong. I’m trying to work on that with him.

The Friday before school started, they had an ice cream social get to meet your teacher event. Liam’s class is room 1, which is the same room as the Kinder Camp was held in. This helped him out so much because he was at least familiar with the room. His teacher, Mrs. Hord, is really nice and looks about 12. This is her second year teaching. Liam is in what they call transitional kindergarten. We’re supposed to learn more about what that means soon. But basically he wasn’t as ready for kindergarten as most other kids. We figured this would be the case because his birthday is only a week away from the cut off for entering kindergarten. If he was a week younger, he wouldn’t have even been able to enroll.

So here are some pictures from his first day. He loved it and hasn’t clinging at all. I actually had to call him over to me to get my hug and kiss goodbye and then he was off again. He knows two of the kids in his class from the Child Development Center and Porter Youth Center. Unfortunately, Dante (Liam’s best friend) isn’t in his class, but they get to see each other at the youth center and take the martial arts class together. We’ve gotten through the first week of school and hopefully, I’ll be better about keeping this blog updated with all our adventures.

Most Excellent Mother's Day

So I’ve been meaning to blog about Mother’s Day weekend for a while now, but am finally getting around to it. I had a most excellent Mother’s Day (am I channeling Ted from “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure?).

Some of you may know that back in November we had to have the transmission in the Boyd Family Van rebuilt. Since then Greg hasn’t been super comfortable with the kids and I driving around in it. We’ve been talking about getting rid of it for something more reliable for a while. First we were looking at the Honda and Toyota mini-vans. But with gas prices continuing to go up and our commute, I decided that I wanted to get a Hybrid. So we looked at the Toyota Camera Hybrid. It literally has no trunk. You could maybe fit five bags of groceries in it. So that was a deal breaker. Then we looked at Hybrid SUVs. The Toyota Highlander was nice but a bit pricy. Then we decided on a Ford Escape Hybrid. Needless to say after all the research we’ve done, if you need any advise on Hybrids just let us know.

Soooooo on the Saturday before Mother’s Day, we finally got our stuff together and went to a dealership that we had talked to via email (Costco auto buying service). I really wanted a Kiwi Green Escape with not too many frills. But then the guy showed us a black one with some nice features. As soon as Greg saw it, he loved the color. It “looks sharp” according to my husband. The only problem was that it had gotten water spots on it that morning from the sprinklers and the guy wouldn’t let us take it until after it had been cleaned. So we ended up buying a new car and getting rid of the Boyd Family Van. But we had to wait until Monday to go pick up the new car.

Onto Sunday: My mom and I went to see a movie at 11:00 – just the two of us. We saw “What Happens in Vegas”. Which was pretty funny and didn’t require any brain power – which is what we were looking for. I actually let my mom pick the movie. My parents got me a Wii Fit (but of course they weren’t out yet, so it was more like the promise of a Wii Fit – more on this later). It’s nice to be an only child (i.e. spoiled). When I got home Brianna was down for her nap, Greg was cleaning up the kitchen, and Liam was somewhere that I can’t remember now. Greg had gotten me some beautiful flowers that he arranged himself (very well I might add and they lasted over a week). He and the kids had also gotten me Mario Kart for my Wii (do you see a theme here?). It was great. He also made dinner (steak, baked potatoes, veggies). While Brianna was taking her nap I started to play Mario Kart. Like I could wait once I saw it. Liam came out at that point and wanted to play with me.

Now this is the best part of the weekend and one that is incredibly hard to put into words. Liam sat with me and we both held the “steering wheel”. He steered, while I held down the accelerator button. If you know me, then you know I like to win – a lot. Liam likes to see the cars crash – a lot. As you can guess this led to some hmmm, how should I say this – disagreements, consternation, butting heads. Liam would try to steer us off the mushrooms (he especially liked bouncing off the mushrooms) and I’d be trying to keep us on track, then he’d put his hand up trying to block my eyes so I couldn’t see where he was steering us, then I would yell NO NO NO. So loudly at one point that Greg came out to put Liam into time out for not listening to his mother. Then Greg saw me laughing so hard and realized we were just playing. I had tears running down my face from laughing with Liam and Liam thought it was too much fun playing with mommy and getting to steer the car where he wanted. It was just one of those moments of pure joy and fun and just delight. He really is so much fun and we had such a good time playing together. I’m going to turn him into a gamer yet. I can’t wait for the day when he can kick my butt and wants the newest game console. I know, I know, I’m turning my son into a total geek, but I don’t care. Geeks are easy to love.

So the wonderful Mother’s Day ended with a wonderful meal cooked by the most wonderful husband and he took care of getting the kids to bed too.

You may be wondering about the Wii Fit I mentioned earlier. Well, it came out this Wednesday. Which just happened to be the day my dad was having oral surgery. So my mom had some time to kill waiting to pick him up and take him home. She ran by Target and got one of the three Wii Fits that was left. So I’ve only played it once (last night). I was on it for 31 minutes (well that’s at least what’s in my Fit Bank) and worked up a sweat, which I wasn’t expecting. It was sooooooooooo much fun. My friends know how I feel about running (you shouldn’t do it unless you’re being chased by someone with a knife – if it’s a gun you can’t out run the bullet, so why bother trying). But the running part of the game was so much fun (and where I worked up the biggest sweat), that I’ll be doing that every night after the kids go to bed and I kick Greg out of the family room. I’m just as bad at the step aerobics on the Wii as I am in a regular step class, but at least I didn’t injury myself and no one had to see how bad I am. The hula hooping was fun, most of the balance games are fun too. I did some of the yoga moves, well actually I tried everything at least once. Some of the yoga moves I did really well and some I did horribly. Warrior – easy. The stand on one leg with your arms over your head (I forget the name) – extremely difficult (especially on the left leg). I kicked butt on the ski jump. Well, I could go on and on, but you get the idea. I really liked it and I think it will get me off my butt more. Which should help with the weight loss. Hopefully the thyroid medicine will help with that also. Oh, not sure I’ve mentioned this or not, but I have Hashimoto Thyroiditis. It’s pretty common and I just have to take one small little pill for the rest of my life. So far I’ve lost 14 pounds, but I have such a long way to go. I’m just glad that I’m starting to get some of my energy back, so I can chase my kids around. Brianna is getting really fast.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day and expressed their appreciation to their own mothers. Now I have to start planning a totally excellent Father’s Day.

Daddy's Adventures are Better Than Mommy's Adventures

Last Saturday, Greg took Liam up to see his first baseball game. The A's were playing the Royals. So Greg got all decked out in his Royal's T-shirt. I dressed Liam up in a blue shirt and pants. They headed out at 10:00. Brianna, Grandma, and I decided to go up to Valley Fair and do some shopping.

So this is what Greg told me about his special day with Liam. They were going to get there wayyyy too early, so Greg saw a Kolh's and decided to stop on the way and get some A's stuff for Liam and hopefully save some money. Liam got a baseball cap and T-shirt. They also got some peanuts and apple juice boxes.

It was Bobble-head night, so now Liam thinks you get presents if you go to a baseball game. They sat three rows up from the Royals bull pen. But Liam's favorite part was walking all the way to the top of the bleachers and see how high up they were. On the way to the top they stopped by the A's store and Liam insisted on getting a foam #1 finger (which is now hanging from his curtain rod). They also ate cracker jacks and cotton candy (they brought home the leftovers for mommy). Liam had so much fun and didn't fall asleep until in the car on the way home, which was a relief to Greg.

The next day Liam spent a lot of time finding the exact right spot in his room for his Bobble-head doll of some guy named Travis (I think). He is sitting on his far bed post, where Brianna can't reach him. Liam also wore his new hat constantly.

On Sunday, we all took a walk to the playground and played. Then we walked to Safeway and picked up some groceries. I just love our big stroller - it can carry a ton of stuff and Brianna too. On the way from the park to Safeway, Liam asked if this was his adventure for the day. We said yes, didn't you have fun playing in the park. He said he wanted to go on a car adventure because this adventure was BORING.

Well, sure compared to the day before I'm sure it was, but it made me a little sad because he's told me a few times the things we do are boring. So now I've got to come up with something good that Liam and I can do together that isn't boring. Wish me luck!

Brianna and The Potty

So you know how I was just telling you about Brianna telling us when she was poopy and I had decided to break out the little potty this weekend, well it happened a little earlier than I expected.

Last night after our family walk and while I was trying to fix dinner, Brianna is pulling her pants and diaper down. She looks at me and says, "Poopy."

I think she's got poop in her diaper, so I run out to the garage and get the little potty. She was able to get both her pants and diaper down to her ankles, so I set her on the potty. As she was sitting, I striped her down to just her shirt. After a little while, she got up but no poopy or pee. I praised her a ton. Then we went and got a new diaper. I go back to making dinner. Then I see her trying to rip her diaper off again and heading for the bathroom. She only got the diaper half way down this time, so I helped her take it off. Then I went back to dinner. I heard the bathroom door close, so I checked on her (evidently she likes the door closed when sitting on the potty). When she got up, she had peed in the potty. We did lots of clapping and cheering - Liam helped with this part - oh and he wanted to help flush the potty but that made Brianna very mad. I put the diaper that had only been worn for about 10 minutes back on Brianna. I called Greg to tell him the good news. Then I notice Brianna is gone again, so I track her down to her room where she has her diaper off and is trying to figure out how to get it into the Diaper Genie. She had also peed on the carpet. She won't put another diaper on, so I let her run around nakie while I clean the carpet. Dinner is done and I'm putting it on the plates, when Brianna again says, "Poopy, poopy." Now I'm slightly frazzled because I've spilled stuff, almost burned dinner, etc. So we go back to the potty and I leave her there. She closed the door again. I get Liam at the table to eat dinner and then go check on Brianna. She was standing at the potty looking in with a big smile on her face. She had done a little poopy. So we clapped and cheered again. While the kids ate dinner, I called Greg again to tell him the news. After dinner I put another diaper on her and put on footie PJs - she can't bust out of those. At one point before bed, she was trying to get the PJs off and was getting very mad that she couldn't, but I was thankful.

Oh and I videotaped her on the potty and took pictures. She's just going to love it when she brings her first boyfriend home and I break out the home movies. Anyway, I also saved the contents to show Greg because I'd want to see it, if I missed the grand occasion. He did not feel the same way.

So now I've got to clean all the dust off the potty and really get it ready for use. Greg went out and got Pull-ups, so we're ready for the weekend.

All that's left is to get her in a big girl bed and our baby won't be a baby anymore. How did this happen? I remember thinking we'd never get Liam potty trained. Brianna was almost born before he was fully trained. Brianna is so different. She puts her mind to it and it's done - end of story - no wasting time - let's just move on to the next hurdle to over come. She really is amazing. Liam is amazing too just in a very different way. It's so much fun to watch them grow up and every time that I think I can't handle having two of them demanding my attention at the same time, I think about how cool it is to see their differences and similarities.

Brilliant Brianna

So my beautiful daughter, Brianna, is also the smartest kid in the world. She's not even two years old yet and she can count to three. The other day she was pointing at her book and started counting - un, who, he, nen (nine). So she can count to three, but we've got to work on four thru nine. She also can sing the ABC song pretty well - you can definately tell that's what she's trying to sing, but some of the letters are unintelligible. She does really well with ABC, GH, JKL, P, TUV, Z.

She absolutely loves to sing and in general just loves music - much more than Liam did in fact. I'm not sure where she got this talent, but it has to be from the Boyd side of the family.

She also is very girly - loves to brush her hair and wear jewerly. She also insists on picking out her own socks and shoes. If you try to put on socks that she doesn't want, she just pulls them off and gives you one of her looks. She recently just started doing the same thing with the two pair of shoes she owns. Some days she wants to wear the tennis shoes and some days she wants to wear the Mary Janes. And what I'm most excited about is that she has good taste. She knows what shoes look best with what outfits. Her sock color choices on the other hand aren't always on target.

This weekend, in an attempt to keep her from wanting to climb up on the kitchen chairs and table, we put her highchair away. She is now seating at the table in a booster seat. She loves it and it's one less thing for us to clean.

Brianna just started telling us when she needs a diaper change. This Sunday she looked at me and said, "Poopy, poopy, Mommy." Since Greg was closer to her, he picked her up and checked and she was in fact poopy. So now it's time to bring out the little potty and start the potty training and then I won't have any babies any more.

I'm kind of sad about the kids growing up, but also excited about who they are becoming. It's just amazing to watch them grow and develop - especially because they are both so brilliant.

Month of the Military Child

April is the Month of the Military Child. Although Greg got out of the Army before our kids were born, they attend an Army sponsored day care center (which the kids get to go to because we're civilian employees). Anyway, there are fun activities every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the month of April. So you may wonder, why is she bringing this up.

Well, last Thursday Liam got up in the morning and told Greg that he had to make a hat for school that day. Greg tried to use his Mickey Mouse ears hat, but Liam insisted that he had to MAKE a hat and it needed to be a marching band hat. So Greg did a last minute art project with Liam and made what is a pretty cute marching band hat out of paper they colored on and taped together. Liam even wrote his name on it. I can not stress enough how huge that is - HE WROTE HIS OWN NAME - for the second time. His teacher has been working with him at school because it's one of his weaker areas. So we were very proud of him for that fact.

But back to the story. So I took the kids into school that day and Liam wore his new hat. On the way to school, Liam was getting upset because he didn't have hats for everyone in his class. I said he could talk to his teachers about doing that at school or we could make them at home that night. Then he got really upset and almost started to cry. When I asked him what the matter was, he said that he didn't know how to make everyone's letters (i.e. write their names). So I finally got him calmed down by telling him that we could make the hats and then each child could write their own name on them. When we got to school, I made a point to let everyone know that he had written his name on the hat because we were so proud of him. Later that day, when I went to pick the kids up, I was talking to his teacher and she said it took her most of the day, but she finally realized why Liam has wearing the hat. It seems that the class had decided to make hats for the Classes on Parade on April 4th. So Liam had jumped the gun a little, they didn't even give a handout to the parents about it until Friday afternoon.

Now we just have to make sure to keep the hat safely out of Brianna's reach.

Some of the other fun stuff they get to do this month include: Petting Zoo, Inside Out Day, Stuffed Animal and Pajama Day, Bike Day, Safety Day (when the firemen and police come to school). He'll also be getting graduation pictures this month - all the kids moving onto Kindergarten get graduation pictures. I'm still in a little bit of denial about this fact. I can't believe he's already going to be starting school. He's very excited about taking a lunch to school like the big kids do.

Anyway, during this Month of the Military Child please keep these kids in your thoughts/prayers - it's not an easy life and even harder if you have a parent/s deployed.

Easter 2008

Well, today is Easter and the kids are on a chocolate high right now. Which is why I escaped to the office in my parents house. Yesterday, we came over to my parents to color eggs and make cupcakes. I promised Liam a surprise if he took his quite time. So when he woke up there was a new little inflatable pool in the backyard. Brianna played in it for about 15 minutes before she started shivering. Liam didn't last much longer.

This morning we can back over to my parents house because the Easter Bunny visited here because Grandma and Popi have a nicer backyard than we do right now (that's one of our projects to do). Anyway, Liam was so excited that it was hard to get him to wait for Brianna. They had a great time hunting eggs. We colored three dozen, plus there were plastic eggs filled with candy and toys. So it took some time to collect all the eggs. Liam actually had to get another basket because his was overflowing. He actually thought he found this one egg over and over again, because it kept falling out of his basket.

When we came back inside, Brianna discovered the joy of chocolate eggs. She ate two that we unwrapped for her and then we said no more. So she quickly learned to unwrap them herself. Grandma got some good pictures of her chocolate face. I'm hoping to get those downloaded to Snapfish later today (check out the Greg Boyd Family Group at: http://www1.snapfish.com/groupview/groupid=1602750/groupownerid=4326731/t_=4326731 )

Well, I better get back to the family. Here's some more really cute pictures that Tara took for our Easter Photo Shoot.

Liam's Date

So if you're not aware Horton Hears a Who is now playing at your local movie theater. Liam has been wanting to go to the movies for weeks, but there wasn't been a movie out that he could watch until this past weekend. He asked if Kylie could go with us to the movies when we told him that a movie was coming in a couple of weeks. So Kylie was very excited and Liam was very excited and Ashley & I were just excited that we got to leave our babies home with the husbands and see a movie.

It was so cute. Ashley took a seat, then Kylie, then Liam, and then me. Liam had to sit on the edge of the seat because it had strong springs or whatever and he was getting folded up in the seat when he scooched back. So Kylie notices this and sits on the edge of her seat too. They shared popcorn and M&M's. Then Liam asked if he could stand, so then Kylie stood too. Warning for small children who see the movie: There is a scary vulture that pops out at one point. Liam ducted. Kylie ducted and screamed (not loudly though). Liam sat on my lap during the scenes with the vulture, so Kylie sat on her Mom's lap too. All in all it was a good movie and the kids had a great time.

So we went back to Kylie's house and had lunch. Then we walked to the park and played a little bit. Actually we had the kids racing to each light post on the way to the park. By the time we left their house, Liam was passed out in his car seat. Oh and we took the Honda, which Liam just loves to do. It was a nice day, so we got to drive part of the way with the sun roof opened. It was a fabulous day for him.

After dinner that night (Sunday) and after Brianna went to bed, Liam helped me make green cupcakes for St. Paddy's day. It was messy and fun and the perfect ending to our special Mommy and Liam day - although I'm sure Liam thinks of it as his day with Kylie.

Brianna's New Teeth

So Brianna has been cutting teeth again. A few weeks ago, she got the last two teeth on the top (between her front teeth and back teeth on both the right and left sides) to break through the gums. Yesterday, I had to stay home with her because she was running a fever and they won't take her at day care if she has a fever, even if it's due to teething. So now her last two bottom teeth are trying to break through - then she'll be done until she starts losing her baby teeth to get the adult teeth. I loaded her up with Tylenol this morning and took her to day care even though she had a slight temp, hoping they didn't call me to pick her up - really there is only so much work a person can miss. I got lucky and didn't get the call.

I'm hoping to hear this week whether or not Liam's inter-district transfer for Kindergarten gets approved. Keep your fingers crossed it gets approved - then I won't have to change my work schedule. If it doesn't, then I'm not sure what we're going to do.

Today, Ashley brought Kylie and Noah into work for a little bit. I finally remembered to ask Kylie (and Ashley) if she would like to go see Horton Hears a Who with Liam when the movie comes out in a couple of weeks. She said she would love to - so I guess it's a date. They really are cute together. It's almost like a marriage - Liam loves her one minute and can't stand her the next. ; )

This coming Saturday - the 8th, the kids have an Easter photo shoot and we're going up to visit our friends in San Jose. Frances will be moving to Colorado soon, so this is probably the last time we'll get to see her for a long time. It's so sad, but we haven't seen much of our San Jose friends. It's amazing how hard it is to get together with friends once you have two kids. We find it difficult sometimes to get together with our friends that live in the area. Anyway, it will be nice to see everyone and I'm really looking forward to it. Hopefully the kids have a good time too.

Welcome to the Boyd Family Blog

Hello Everyone,

So some friends at work have introduced me to the whole blogging experience and I thought it would be a great way to share cute stories of the kids. I'm not sure how often I'll update this blog, but I'm thinking at least once a week. Hopefully I don't share more than Greg is comfortable with - his slightly more private than I am or should I say he knows where the line is and doesn't step over it. He's always telling me I don't just step over the line, I take a running jump.

Anyway, so on the car ride to 'school' (which is what we call the day care center) Liam announces he knows what he wants to be when he grows up. So Greg and I look at each other wondering what his announcment is going to be. He's going to be a Superhero Pirate. All his friends will be Superheros too. Kylie (his 'girlfriend') and Dante (his best friend) are also going to be Superhero Pirates. Rami isn't going to be a Superhero because he's not nice. We always have the most interesting talks in the car.

Brianna loves to comb her hair. She sucks on her little comb and then pulls the spit through her hair. It's competely gross, but she's so girly when she does it. She also loves to sing in the car. Liam says we need to start a band. Brianna gets to play the drums. Liam and Kylie get to sing, i.e. 'use the mikephone'. He has to think about what mom and dad get to play, but we do get to be in the band.

Oh, Brianna also loves to beat up her brother. At first they would just wrestle. Lately she loves to pull his hair and hit him in the head. He's so sweet he just takes it - of course he's yelling the whole time until Greg or I pull her off of him. I just know one day he'll turn around and whack her a good one. I really think that's the only thing that is going to stop her. She just smiles at us when we tell her not to do it. She doesn't beat up on any of the kids at school, so it's just a Liam thing. She also has learned to say his name, which of course made him so happy. This morning she was trying to get his attention and said his name three times before he responded to her.

Liam's favorite song right now is "On Top of Spaghetti". Brianna loves all songs and is going through the stage where she wants you to sing the same song over and over until you think you're going to lose your mind.

Liam has learned how to climb up on the entertainment center that we had built in last year. He gets his dump truck and stands in the back of it and then he's high enough to heft himself up. I was pretty impressed when I saw him do this. Greg was worried that he'd get hurt, so now Liam can no longer climb using the dump truck.

This week I've been stressing about trying to get Liam into a good school. He'll be starting Kindergarten this coming fall. I can't believe we already have to worry about school. It seems like he was just born yesterday. He really is an amazing kid. So sweet, imaginative, helpful - I could go on. Brianna is amazing too, but in a different way. She is so much more social than her brother. She's also very girly. She likes to put things on her arms and neck like she's wearing jewerly. She is also stubborn and must pick out her own socks every morning. If I put on the socks I pick out and she doesn't like them, she throws a fit. She also has a temper. She'll just scream and scream until she gets what she wants. Liam also has a temper, but he's more apt to throw things or hit something (much more like I was as a kid). They both love to be silly, but with silly parents it's hard not to be. All their 'teachers' love how helpful they both are - they are good at helping to clean up. Liam loves to help set the table for breakfast and lunch at school. Well I could go on and on about my wonderful, funny kids, but I'll stop for now.

Check back weekly for more funny, cute stories from the Boyd family. And remember if you need a Superhero Pirate in the future you know who to call.