The Party Goes On!

We had planned on having a big birthday party for Luca on his 5th birthday, but plans never worked out. I guess it just wasn't one of momma's priorities. (does this make me a bad mom?) Even though we had already taken Luca and a few of his friends to the Pirate Dinner Show and to Disneyland, we hadn't done the cake and singing thing. Kirk was supposed to come out early Friday night, so we figured we would celebrate with the cake and ice cream 2 days late. No biggie. The only thing Luca asked for his birthday was a Pinata. We decided, pretty much last minute, to have a few of Luca's friends over to help destroy the pinata and eat cake with us. And that's just what we did. Thank you to the few friends that helped celebrate last minute. Luca loved it and I'm pretty sure it was his favorite part of his birthday.

Tony became "father of the year" for picking out the transformer pinata. All the children got a few turns, but in the end it was our little beast who broke it open.

Scroungin' for candy. I think this is their favorite part.

These are our fun and generous friends who where there for us at the last minute. Thanks guys for helping create such a fun time for Luca. (Families: Walters, Coons, Moores & Hallen's, including Andrew)

Luca asked for chocolate cake, so I made my favorite German Chocolate. I made it for him last year and he absolutely loved it. However, this year he wasn't such a fan. I felt bad that he didn't care for his cake, but I sure enjoyed eating it.

Luca and Kyla have been buddies since he was about 6 months old. Aren't they cute?

We thought this was hilarious. After the pinata, cake, ice cream and presents we found all the children, minus one, huddled up in Acacia's room playing sequence. I don't think you could fit too many more people in that teeny tiny bedroom. They had fun too. Even though there were 13 children in our home that night, they were all really good. They were wired, excited and having a blast, but all in all it was pretty fun. However, it does make me realize more and more how much it would be nice to have a bigger home. Maybe SOMEDAY!

THE BIG 5

Luca's 5th birthday was February 4th. We made the day special by going to Disneyland to celebrate. It was the last day of our Season Passes, so it worked out really well. When Luca woke up on his big day, I asked him what he wanted me to make for his big birthday breakfast. His answer, "honey nut cheerios". What??? Who wants cheerios for their birthday? I convinced him to pick something a bit more fun and he decided on homemade waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Yummy!! That's my favorite too. That was what my mom always made for me for my birthday breakfast. He pigged out--so did I!

Yup, he ate all that!

We were just about

to get swallowed up

in the story book

adventure ride by

the whale that

swallowed Pinocchio.

The big wet sliding

ball. Acacia didn't

really care to touch

it, but she had

fun watching the

other kids get

it going.

The merry-go-round

is one of Acacia's

favorite rides. She

grins from ear to ear

every time she takes

a spin.

He thought if he

pulled hard enough

the sword would

come out. I guess

Luca is absent

of any magical powers

Oh what to say

about Aunt Laura.

Luca is totally in

love with his Aunt.

He thinks that Kirk

and Laura should visit

every day. He has so

much fun when they

are around. We were

really glad they could

join us at Disneyland

to celebrate Luca's Day.

ARGHHHH!!

We took Luca and some of his friends to the Pirate Dinner Adventure in Buena Park for his birthday. We didn't really want to spend money on toys, so we figured he would enjoy getting together with some of his buddies for a night of fun pirate style. What an incredible joy it was to watch these little tykes get so excited and have so much fun cheering on their pirate. Luca and Jayden actually got to participate in the show. They were junior pirates who fired muskets at the bad pirates at the end of the show. They were all dressed up in pirate garb and were the handsomest little devils!Rikki, Luca, Hayden, Andrew and Jayden before the dinner show. They were all really anxious to get inside and see what this thing was all about.

We were all just minding our own business, enjoying our h'orderves when this wacky pirate came to visit and give us a hard time. The boys really had fun hanging out with him.

This was the captain pirate and he really got the boys quite stirred up. He is a really good actor and made us all laugh a lot.

We were rooting for the purple pirate--who actually ended up being quite the entertainer. He was definitely an acrobat; a very talented one at that. He was the "ridiculous" pirate, but it was fun cheering him on throughout the show.

AHHHHH. . . . .Wipe-Out!!

I guess they just couldn't hang any longer. It only took about 10 minutes in the truck before they all checked out. Thank goodness for the flexibility of little children. Could you imagine falling asleep like this?? Yikes.

Scandia Madness

Thank heaven for good friends because good friends = good time!

We went to Scandia (an amusement park) with some friends of ours (Marc & Rachelle Larson) who treated us to an awesome afternoon of games, rides, food and a lot of fun. Luca had a blast running around with his friend Ellie. They ran and ran and ran and went on ride after ride after ride. We half expected Luca to get sick from all the spinning rides he went on, but instead he loved it and thoroughly enjoyed his adventure.

Luca and Ellie on the Big Truck ride. Can you see the excitement on their faces?

YIPPEE!! Although it may be a small merry-go-round it doesn't matter Acacia loves it!

Little girls with big guns??? I don't think so, but she seems to love this arcade game.


Okay, Seriously? These two grown men actually outdid the girls on the dance revolution game. How hilarious is that?

This was the first time I have ever attempted this. How did I do? Not so great until I learned how the game worked. We weren't nearly as good as the pro men, but we sure had a lot of laughs.

Can I play too?

THANK
YOU LARSON FAMILY!!

Snowman & Mittens

Well, having a snowman & mittens party in southern California when it's warm outside is actually fun for 4-5 year olds. There was lots of food, snowmen made from socks, mittens, caps and tons of laughs and excitement for our preschoolers.

Luca and his buddy Andrew. These two boys have a lot of fun and great conversation together. It's actually quite entertaining to listen to 2 little five year old boys engage in conversations. Oh how life used to be so simple. . .what happened?

After the festivities, it was time to wind down to some music. Mrs. Morales has the children lay down for 2 minutes of quiet time and music when it's been a rowdy and rambunctious day. (Isn't that every day?)

Catchin' ZZZZs With Jiggles

Okay, since Christmas it has been on rare occasion that Acacia sleeps through the night. In fact, it's not that she just wakes up once or twice, it's more like she wakes up more than she sleeps. The only thing that we could think of to help all of us get some sleep is to make a bed on the floor for her and for one of us. This way when she wakes up screaming every 15 minutes we can just pat her back until she falls back asleep. Talk about exhausting. Tony has been a huge help by staying with her on some nights. Between teething with 3 of her molars and having several rounds of some nasty cold it's been a six weeks from. . .well, let's just say somewhere down south! Actually, we've been really blessed to endure, but seeing as we wil be having a newborn in the house in a short 6 months, Acacia better get back to sleeping through the night PRONTO!!

One morning she actually ended up on our bed snuggling very closely with Jiggles. She loves this little bear. I just think it's precious how tightly she's holding him. Luca never really slept with or was attached to anything, so this is new to me.

FROGGY FINDS A HOME

We've had a fun little visitor every year, and Luca surely looks forward to his visit. We can hear him all through the day. Don't ask me how he gets in there, but it definitely excites the kids when they hear him and see him. Our visitor is . . . MR. Froggy.

On our way out to church one Sunday we could hear the frog, so Luca and Acacia got excited to see him. (Doesn't Luca look so excited?)

He lives in some green thing in our front garden. Tony says it's called a "hand hole". I'll have to take his word for it because I've never heard of such a thing.

She's just too darn cute to not take a picture.

DADDY'S GIGGLER

It's not often talked about, but I have to admit that my children are the most blessed little ones on the planet, because they have the Daddy every child only wishes they had. Tony is amazing with our children and they love him with all their heart. When Luca was little, I didn't think it was fair that he loved his Daddy more than he loved me, but as time has gone on, it has become very simple--his Daddy is the best Daddy on the planet. Of course he's going to be Daddy's boy. I've tried really hard to have Acacia be Mommy's girl, but sometimes I lose that battle too. Everyone always told me that Luca was "going through a phase" of being Daddy's boy. Well, if you call 4 and a half years a phase, I suppose they were all correct. But, I doubt it.

One thing is for sure. . .Luca and Acacia think the world of their daddy. He has been involved in every aspect of their life. I would call our children lucky, but the fact is they aren't lucky--they are extremely blessed!

PARK JUNKIES

Watching these two little tots is so much fun. I truly enjoy the way they love each other. They are little buddies and think the world of each other. I am so blessed to have children who are share such fun and enjoyment together.

Every time Acacia went down the slide she would find Luca's belly button and stick her finger in it. Luca's such a great big brother. Instead of getting annoyed or mad, he laughs and thinks it's funny.

TREE MONKEYS

Luca and Acacia love trees. We spent the afternoon in the park one day and they both spent a really long time climbing (Luca) and trying (Acacia) to climb the various trees. Luca goes super high in the tree, so he's been told by Daddy that he's not aloud to climb the trees unless an adult is watching him. He is our monkey boy! Of course, Acacia wants to do what her brother is doing, so she eagerly watches him awaiting her turn to get into the tree.

SILLY FACES

We took the munchkins to Quizno's the other week and these silly faces came with the kid's sandwich.

SO MUCH FUN!!

I WANT TO BE A FIREMAN WHEN I GROW UP!

We went on a field trip to the fire department. It's a really special firehouse because it is the original one in Redlands, only it's been remodeled and is pretty amazing inside. This is one of the best field trips we take.

Here's the entire class posing with their fire hats.
This was a really good demonstration by Mrs. Morales. She held a blanket over the kids' heads to imitate smoke and how you are supposed to stay close to the ground below the smoke so you don't inhale it. The kids thought this was pretty fun. Hopefully they really understood the importance of what she was teaching them.

This is the original pole in the firehouse. Luca was having fun climbing up it, so we thought we'd take a quick picture with it. I think this was the best part for some of the boys.

A special guest came out to show the children all the gear that firemen have to wear when they go to fight a fire. Talk about bulky clothing. What these firemen have to wear is no joke. It was pretty entertaining and the children were mesmerized.

Luca and Acacia were enjoying sitting on the back of the fire truck eating a little snack.

Thanks to all the firemen for their service!

STARTIN' YOUNG

Acacia went to preschool one morning with Luca and she was entertained the entire time. She such a great time roaming the room, trying out all the toys, and she even participated in the art time. It's such a precious time in my life to watch this little angel explore life and learn about new things. It really makes me smile & giggle inside.

The preschool has a lot of dress up clothes. Since one of Acacia's favorite things are hats, it's no surprise she found the fireman's hat.

This is a picture of Acacia enjoying "rug time" with Luca's class. She sat right down with the class and listened to Mrs. Morales' stories.

It's art time! Talk about being nothing like Luca. Luca never enjoyed crayons or drawing, but this little one loves to draw and color. She sat down at the table with the older children and fit right in.

PANCAKE BREAKFAST

It's a tradition at Luca's preschool to have a pajama pancake breakfast every winter. This year some of the mom's did a little something extra special for the children. Thanks to Nola's great recipe we made true homemade buttermilk pancakes, complete with strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream. Of course there was OJ, bacon and other yummies. These kids got spoiled for sure and had a ton of fun. I love being able to participate in these kinds of events with my kids. It's pure joy to see such bliss on the little ones faces.

This is Luca's little buddy, Xander. They met last year in school and have been great buddies ever since.