Sugar cereal with Grandpa

We have been so lucky for the last couple months because Grandpa has been doing some work up in Thousand Oaks so he has made a few trips to visit us lately. The boys love it when Grandpa comes to visit. I usually buy cereal that doesn't have sugar in it. Like plain cheerios and kix, etc. I know, kind of boring, but I really can't believe how much sugar those other cereals have in them. I usually get sugar cereals for special occasions like holidays and birthdays. Anyway, One time when Grandpa was here visiting he was fixing himself some corn flakes and, of course, he put some sugar on the corn flakes. My kids were like, "what is he doing to his cereal?" I told them that Grandpa likes to make his cereal sweet with extra sugar so, of course, they wanted to put sugar on theirs. I said it was okay, but ONLY when Grandpa is here to visit. So last time Grandpa came to visit, he was here when Jimmy got home from school. After giving Grandpa a hug, Jimmy wispered in my ear, "Mommy, can I have cereal with sugar please?" At least he said hello first and gave him a hug. But my kids don't forget! This is a picture of the boys enjoying their sugar cereal with Grandpa. So now they will always associate Grandpa with sugar cereal. Beause he's so sweet, we love him, and we always look forward to having him visit!! Just like frosted flakes or fruit loops.

Winter Fun in L.A.

This week I taught Ben's little preschool and the theme was winter. It was a little strange teaching them about snow and winter and then letting them play outside in short sleeves and sandals right after. Since we can't make real snowmen, the kids each made one out of play dough. They had so much fun and the snowmen turned out really cute.

When Jimmy got home from school he wanted to make one too so here is his masterpiece.

After about five minutes Jimmy's snowman evolved into something else. I'm not quite sure exactly what it is. It has a piece on it's head from Optimus Prime (a transformer) so it can fly. It is kind of hard to tell from the picture but it also has 2 mouths and when I asked Jimmy why he said, "the one on the bottom is so he can talk to the bugs on the ground and the one on the top is so he can talk to people who are bigger than him." All I could really say to that is, "Oh, very creative." He also made a gun out of toothpicks and buttons to "shoot the bad guys" and a green plastic water squirter in front of the snowman. Jimmy said that if there are too many bad guys then the water squirter will flood the whole city and save the snowman from the bad guys. I have to admit, he is very creative and imaginative. His kindergarten teacher calls him "little picasso" because his artwork always has an abstract quality to it. Thankfully she is very understanding and lets him explore his creativity. I guess it's better to allow him to express his creativity then to squelch it.

Luke's first day of nursery!

Luke had his first official day of nursery today - well kind of official. He is really going to be 18 months tomorrow but it's close enough. I have a calling as a primary teacher so I haven't had to deal with Luke for the past couple months. But I know that Jim is celebrating because he was getting pretty annoyed with having to chase Luke around the church for the last 2 hours. Except I think he might be a little bit sad because now he can't use Luke as an excuse to leave priesthood. Oops, did I say that out loud. Unfortunately after about an hour of being in nursery they had to come and get us because they thought that he had leaked through his diaper. But he actually just sat in water while the kids were playing outside. So Jim had to take him home to get a change of pants. Next week we are going to come prepared with an extra set of clothes.

Transformer Mania

So my kids have just recently become obsessed with transformers after receiving them as a gift for Christmas. Now I am seriously wondering what I was thinking giving them Transformers! If any of you have these you know what I am talking about. Each figure comes apart into about 18 small pieces the size of my thumbnail (okay, that might be a slight exaggeration) and I find myself stepping on them and nearly breaking my ankle or I find Luke with Megatron's head in his mouth. Not a good thing. Seriously, when I bought these I didn't realize that they would come apart so easily. I know that's not how they were back in the day when I was a kid. Not that I played with transformers as a little girl, I was too busy with my Barbie dolls (that's a whole other issue that I won't get into today).

Anyway, despite all of my rumblings, my kids absolutely love them. They really are pretty cool when you think about it and they keep them busy playing for a while. I mean these things are not easy to put together. I feel like I need an engineering degree to figure some of these out. Also, they also have every episode of the animated series online for free so Ben probably asks me like 25 times a day if he can watch Transformers on the computer. I usually just let them watch one episode a day but sometimes it's really tempting to just turn it on and let it go for a few hours. Not only does he ask me constantly to watch it, he also asks me questions about the characters all day long. He got me good the other day. He said, "Mommy, what color are Optimus Prime's (that's like the leader or something) legs when he's transformed?" I say, "blue, of course." He said, "No they're not! Trucks don't have legs!" I felt like an idiot. Yes, I was out-witted by a 3 year old! I need to be more careful. I guess I will just have to embrace this transformer mania and enjoy the moments of peace and quiet when they are focusing their energy on assembling and playing with the blasted things!

My little boy is growing up!

After 4 1/2 months of begging me to go to preschool Ben is finally there! I felt so bad after we moved here because I wasn't able to enroll Ben in preschool but I finally found some friends with kids close to his age and we just decided to do our own. The mom's take turns teaching 2 days out of the month. He goes 2 days a week for 2 hours and it is sooooo nice! (For him, of course.) He was so cute because he just wanted to go to school so badly. When we would walk Jimmy to school in the morning he would take his back pack along and act like the big boys. Sometimes when Jimmy's class lines up to go inside he will just get right in line with them like he belongs there. Actually, he looks almost big enough for kindergarten. He just needs a little catching up in the maturity category.

So right now Jimmy is at school, Ben is at school, and Luke is napping peacefully and it's just me, myself, and I right now and boy does it feel good. Every mom needs a little "me" time to stay sane. There is only so much screaming, whining, demanding, messes, mischief, fighting, and poopy diapers that one can take. Gosh, when I say that it sounds like I have the kids from you know where. It really isn't THAT bad. They are good kids. It just helps to have a little peace and quiet so I can remember the good things that they do. Sometimes it's just hard to think of those things in the midst of the chaos. So right now, I'm just going to sit back, relax, and enjoy the next 40 minutes until I have to go pick up Ben and hopefully my batteries will be recharged enough to make the most of the rest of the day!

Fun Times in Utah

Here are a few pics of our exciting times on our trip to Utah. The kids loved the snow! I hope they got their fill of it because they certainly aren't going to get any here! Which is okay by me, just maybe not for them. They had a blast playing with their cousins! Jimmy keeps telling us that in 5 years when daddy is done with school that we are moving to Utah. He is very matter of fact about it. We'll see what happens. It would be nice to be closer to family. But for now we will just enjoy the visits!

Christmas

After a long, happy, fun-filled, crazy Christmas vacation in Utah we are now back in LA getting settled once again so I finally have time to blog. Christmas this year was fabulous! We had the best time in Utah with friends and family. Our Christmas Eve was very exciting with an Ostler family rendition of the nativity. It was quite a production. Craig and Sandy brought back some amazing costumes from Israel that really made it special. The most entertaining part of it all was watching Jimmy play the part of the director. He definitely had some very strong opinions of who should play which part. I got to be the angel. Amber and Derek did a great job of playing Mary and Joseph with, of course, Luke playing the part of baby Jesus. Given that it was a very long night for him and he was ready for bed, I think that he was significantly more grumpy than the real baby Jesus would have been. Jim and the little boys were shepherds, Heather was the inn keeper, Jared was King Herod and Craig and Sandy were the wise men. Oh, and don't let me forget Kristin. She had the privilege of playing the donkey that brought Mary to Bethlehem. Lucky her! That was exactly how Jimmy the director/producer wanted it. It turned out great, although, I think our version was quite a bit more loud, crazy, and chaotic than the real night of baby Jesus' birth would have been. Anyhow, we had fun doing it.

The next morning the craziness continued, but not until 8am when my kids finally stirred out of bed - thankfully. We all needed some extra sleep after the previous night. The boys were so happy with all of the fun stuff Santa left for them. And, of course, both sets of grandparents really out did themselves this year. Jim and I got the best gift from Craig and Sandy. A few days after Christmas they (including Kristin, Heather, and Derek) watched our kids for us while we stayed overnight at a bed and breakfast. It was our first overnight getaway in 5 years and it was very much needed by both of us. It's amazing what a little break will do for your spirits. But that's not all, my parents got us a Wii. We are having a blast with it. I told Jim that whenever we need to go out on a date but can't get a babysitter all we have to do it turn on the wii and go bowling or play tennis together! It is so much fun. Thanks so much Craig and Sandy and Mom and Dad for your awesome gifts!