Happy (day before) Valentine's Day

We celebrated Valentine's Day as a family on Sunday the 13th because our Mondays are our most busy day of the week. (both kids have school, Carter has toddler gym class, Ava has gymnastics, I coach, and Cristian has play practice from 6:00-7:30). So, when they woke up, the table was set...
My beautiful valentine tulips
And Daddy made heart shaped waffles
and I sliced some berries and sprinkled powdered sugar on them... they were YUMMY!
and the fireplace was decorated
Carter was pretending to sleep

Still sleeping, hehe

Kyle opened his Valentine presents first. He got an Office (the tv show) rip off calendar that is full of Michael Scott quotes. (that's Kyle's favorite tv show). And his new Wii game he'd been wanting, The Michael Jackson Experience.
Cristian and Ava opening their presents
A case for their Nintendo DS
and a new DS game
Carter opening his presents
A green (his favorite color) toddler wii remote with buttons that are closer together for little hands
And an Elmo Wii game
Ava made me this cute heart valentine card and a key chain, and I also got a University of Washington hoodie and Gene Juarez gift card.
The kids had one last present to open together...
The kids each got a nerds rope, little activity book with dot to dot games, word searches, stickers, etc, and a coloring book.

and a pack of gum
all things they can use on an airplane ride...
To DISNEYLAND!! The kids found out that they are going to disneyland at the end of March with some friends.
and they each got a disney gift card so they can buy a souvenir (those are some very excited smiles!!)
Auntie came over and we gave her a Valentine present too
A chick flick and her favorite movie treats
Auntie got these two some accessories for their DSs and Carter got a buzz toy.
while Carter was napping, Cristian and Ava made valentine's day cards for their classmates. Ava chose Tangled cards and Cristian picked Star Wars.

Then the 5 of us went out to dinner at the HG Bistro. They were so polite and used their manners! We had a great time. Happy Valentine's Day to all my Valentines.

Time with Just Mommy

Every couple of weeks, I really try and spend time with each of my kids one-on-one. Right now, Carter gets a lot more of that time since the other two go to school, but for the other two, it's a real treat. Last weekend Cristian and I went for a run together. We ran to Fred Meyer to return some red box movies, and then up, down, and around the streets in our neighborhood... winding our way back to our house. Then, later that same day, Ava and I went and got manicures. I didn't get any pictures of C and I running... but I did take this picture on my phone :) That's one happy girl!!

I Heart My Kids

Anyone who knows me understands how much I like Holidays, and I tend to decorate and go all out for each and every one of them. So, we enjoyed a Valentine themed weekend. We made some muffins for breakfast using valentine muffin holders, and got out the Valentine plates
Cristian showing off his new hair cut!
Ava said our morning prayer
And Carter inhaled 9 mini muffins :)

Family Fun Night - Feb 11

I thought I'd get back to posting about our Friday, Family Fun Nights. This was the cute little basket I put together for the kids last Friday night. :) I had a free Red Box Code, so I rented the kids the movie, How to Train Your Dragon, and put in their favorite movie treats too! The kids get so excited for our Friday night tradition.

Ava's Preschool Winter Social

Ava had her Winter Social at her school last week. She picked to wear her favorite Gap dress that she got as a hand-me-down from her friend Natalie. (Ava loves getting outfits from her friends; they quickly become her favorite items of clothing!)
We curled her hair and put a little "pixie dust" (as she calls it) on her eye lids. (it's really just a little bit of glitter).
and she amused me by posing for a few pictures before we left
Ava with her friend Elise
Ava performing
I have to say, she was pretty darn cute out there.

praying at the conclusion of the social.
A group picture of everyone who came to watch her perform in her last preschool performance. My little girl is growing up!!

Park w/ Friends

Ok... Cristian, no wait... CARTER. He looks so much like 2 year old Cristian in this picture.
We had some really nice (near) Spring like days last week, so we took advantage and played at the park.
Ava and Carter going down the slide
How big is Carter!! It was nice to be able to watch him play and climb around on the massive big toy all by himself. Gone are the days of me having to follow a baby around while they play.
we also rode our bikes around on the trails
Our friends Kydin, Adilyn, and Maycin joined us too. Here's Maycin on her bike.
Kydin and Ava on their princess bikes. It's always so nice to get fresh, sunshiney air!!

Happy Birthday Mia!

On February 8th, our dog, Mia turned 9 years old. The kids picked out some yummy treats to give Mia for her birthday.
She really enjoyed the Scooby Snack dog treats Cristian picked out
Carter has called Mia "Meana" since he was little, so we often refer to her as Meana now :)
Happy Birthday to our sweet mannered, disaster prone (some of you may recall the cliff incident, or the horrible allergies she has and broken tail that she suffered from) doggy, Mia!! Even though she doesn't live with us any more, she will always be apart of our family!!

Ava and Natalie

My friend Tara recently had some flooring work done in their house (new carpets and tiling in their master bathroom). One morning we went and checked it out since we are looking into re-tiling our guest bathroom right now. The girls enjoyed getting the opportunity to play since Natalie is in afternoon Kindergarten. I wish I had pictures/videos of the little hula hoop contest we all partook in; it was pretty comical.

All Smiles at the Children's Museum

One morning while both Cristian and Ava were at school, I took Carter to the Children's Museum. He didn't stop smiling the whole time we were there; he had so much fun!!
Carter playing with the cash register
and painting
more painting
they had this cool tube system built that used air to push the ball up the tube, and then the kids could watch it roll down through the rest of the tubes. Carter must have done this a hundred times, he was fascinated with it.
watching the ball work it's way around the wall tubes.
Erin and Cami joined us at the museum, and we had fun building a fort for the kids out of these huge foam blocks.
they jumped off
and climbed back up
we also made a tunnel
here they are constructing more fun things
Carter exploring
having fun in the ball pit
one of the workers walked around blowing bubbles, and Carter kept trying to catch one on his finger. He tried, and tried...
and tried some more...
until he finally caught one :)

Love that smile!
We sure had a fun morning together!

The Dreaded Phone Call...

Wednesday, January 26th started off like any other day... it was late start day so we got to sleep in a bit and have a lazy morning. After breakfast I dressed the kids in coordinating Red and black colors and then we headed to Ava's preschool to drop her off at 9:30. Then the boys and I headed for the Starbucks drive thru before dropping Cristian off at school at 10:00. At about 9:53, I had my latte in hand and was headed to Cristian's school when my phone rang. It was Ava's teacher from school calling, and right when I saw her number on caller ID my heart started pumping a little faster. I thought, uh oh, this can't be good... she must be sick or, worse, I was actually receiving the VERY PHONE call I've been DREADING for the past 2 years. I answered, and her teacher told me that Ava was having an allergic reaction to something, and that she gave her some benedryl, but she still thought I should come to the school right away. Since I was now in Cristian's school's parking lot, I waited in the line of cars to drop Cristian off, then headed straight to her school. When I got there she was standing outside with her teacher (who had her epipen in hand). Her entire right cheek was red and had white welts on it, she seemed very short of breath, and was intermittently coughing. Turns out a little girl in her class brought a little sandwich baggie full of PEANUT BUTTER cereal from Trader Joe's and had shared it with Ava. Ava said she ate maybe 5 little pieces of this cereal (which she thought were KIX). She told me her head felt funny and she was feeling dizzy, so I took her home and she laid on the couch to rest. I called her pediatrician's office and the nurse told me that there are 5 stages leading up to anaphylactic shock, and that she was in stage 3. (redness/welts, wheezing/coughing, and faintness/dizziness). She asked me to feed her a snack to see if she seemed to be having troubles swallowing, but she was able to eat and swallow her string cheese. She told me if she were to develop any of the other 2 stages, to poke her with the epipen and to call 911 immediately. She also told me to give her benedryl every 4 hours for the next 24 hours, and that they would also follow up several times with me throughout the day just to make sure she was doing alright. Once the benedryl kicked in and the welts had gone away, I noticed she had what looked like spider veins on her cheek. The next time the nurse called she told me that was probably due to lack of oxygen. Kyle brought home one of those handy little devices that measures oxygenation levels, and sure enough, hers were lower then they should be (but still not dangerously low). So, what started out to be a very typical day, ended up being anything but! Thankfully, Ava is fine, but she did suffer from post traumatic stress the following 2-3 weeks after. She did not want to leave my side even and cried when I would drop her off at preschool and canceled her playdates because she was scared to go to anyone's house. (SO UNUSUAL for her). But her teachers did a wonderful job helping her cope and making her feel safe at school, and I'm happy to report that all is normal in Ava's world again. Valuable lesson learned... I don't think she'll EVER eat anyone else's food again, even if it appears to be something that is ok for her to eat. This gave us all a good scare!!