Cooking Class - Last Session

Well, cooking class session #3 was not as big of a hit as the previous two. The first item made was pickles in a blanket. It consisted of a piece of turkey, cream cheese, and a pickle rolled and then sliced and served with a toothpick. He informed his teacher (and everyone else) he did not like pickles or cream cheese. The next item was stuffed celery. This was a mixture of cream cheese (yeah the stuff he does not like), crushed pineapple, and minced maraschino cherries spread onto celery. He apparently does not like cherries either. Sigh.
The last item was the only hit for him. It was Peanut Cheerio Pretzel Mix. Not sure what all was in it but it did have peanut butter, peanuts, honey, vanilla, pretzel snaps, peanuts, and cheerios. All things he liked, yay! Success, third time's a charm for him. All the kids loved this last item. No pics of the cooking class items since the first two we did not bring home and the last was quickly devoured by us and unfortunately, the dog ate some too after we went to bed. Darn Calvin! At least he saved me some calories.
He has told his teachers at school he is allergic to cheese. He does not want anything that has cheese, is remotely cheesy, has a texture of cheese, smells like cheese, etc. I thought it was pretty funny that he was able to grasp that other kids did not have to eat something if they were allergic to it, so he would claim an allergy to cheese, seems pretty smart to me. Hubs did not think it was very funny.

My Jedi Knight

The dude got chosen to fight the Dark Side at the Jedi Training Academy. He got to fight Darth Vader!!!!! He told everyone: I wore a brown hood, got to hold a light saver (yes saver), and fight Darth Vader. It was sooo cool!

California Trip, Day 3

Yay! We are in California for a few days vacation with my mom (Mimi) and my sister (Aunt Jocie), who is on Spring Break.
The trip was not as good as has been in the past, the dude has always been an angel on the plane and a great traveler. Well, this time he wasn't great. He whined a lot, only fell asleep on the descent into Salt Lake City, and said he did not feel well. Hint #1, he never says he doesn't feel well. Hint #2, he only ate fruit loops, one piece of candy, and 4 bags of peanuts the whole trip and barely drank some water, no milk. Luckily, he did not disturb those around us, just me a little. We landed, he was so excited to see Mimi and Jocie. We went to go to lunch and he got sick at the restaurant. He ended up being sick the rest of the day and went to bed at 6:30 p.m. He woke up at 3:30 wanting to go into the "hot pool" (hot tub). I managed to get us to stay in bed until 6:45 when we went up and snuggled Mimi. He felt 100% better and is not sick anymore. Yay!
So far, we have gone in the hot pool three times, went to the Sacramento Zoo, and went to dinner at Hacienda Del Rio, have been eating there since I was a kid. He has been totally loving on his Mimi and his Auntie. He also has got to hang out with my brother's girlfriend's son Brian, who is 3. They are on the alligator together.

Museum Fun!

We went to the museum today with some of his friends from the playgroup. He saw Malaya, Sammy, Kimberly, and a few other friends. Him and Malaya have been playing together for about 2 1/2 years. I have always joked that he is going to marry Malaya. But between Alina at school, Kimberly, Malaya, the neighbor Leyana, and more, who knows. But we really love Malaya, she is such a sweet, cute, energetic, happy girl. Here is the dude dressed as a fireman and me and then him and Malaya in the sandbox. He is wearing an eye patch he made at the craft table at the museum.

Easter Egg Hunt

Today we went to the park down the street from our house for an Easter Egg Hunt. We went to the same one last year, too. This year they had many more eggs and they split the ages. Last year he got trampled and managed to only pick up one egg and then someone gave him 2-3 more. Poor kid. He did not understand that the bigger kids were just faster and got the eggs better.

First he made a hat that looked kinda like a bunny, jumped in a bounce house, ran through a caterpillar bouncy thing, then they had the egg hunt. He got about 8 eggs this year, so much better than last year. He saw a friend Maddux there and they played after the egg hunt in the baseball

field. They played tag, did somersaults, and ran a lot!

Cooking Class - Easter Theme

We had our second cooking class. He really enjoyed himself again. They made three things again this week. Everything was themed in Easter.
1. Bunny Cupcakes - Cupcakes frosted in white frosting, then coconut sprinkled on. For the ears cut a marshmallow in half, dip in pink sprinkles, pinch to make them oval and then stick on with frosting. For the eyes and nose use jelly beans, then the cheeks are mini marshmallows.
2. Egg Mice - Hard boiled egg with radish ears, olive eyes, and a chive tail. Cut slits in the egg and place the ears, eyes, and tail on. She also had cut a small piece off the bottom so they sit flat.
3. Chocolate Pretzels - the kids placed pretzels on their plates, then unwrapped hershey kisses and hugs. They then melted them in the microwave and when done, stuck a easter colored M&M on them. She said you can do red and green for Christmas, orange for Halloween, etc.
He wasn't too fond of coconut it turns out, so me and my co-workers got the cupcakes, daddy got the eggs, but the pretzels he wants to eat them all :-)

We have one more class left. April was full, so I will need to try to sign up again in May.
On a side note, in the new picture, I re-painted the dining room (there is still tape up) this past weekend. It was red and pink and now it is brown and blue, I am quite happy with the new colors. Just still need to touch up the chair rail and molding.

Savannah Birthday

Savannah turned one on Saturday. She had such a great party, the kids all enjoyed themselves. The dude played so hard that he fell asleep at 7 on the way home from her house. Savannah managed to sleep through about two hours of the party. Most of that was in her crib, but then she stirred and Hubs went in and got her. I, of course, had to then steal her from him and I sat in the glider and held her for about another 30 minutes while she slept on my chest. It was so sweet, reminded me how I used to hold the dude when he was a baby all the time. He has always been a touchy baby that needed to be close to someone, preferably in their arms. He still is that way. I wouldn't trade it for anything most days.
She had a very cute cake, yummy, too. Do you see all the loot that she got?!?! That was just the clothes, did not include the toys, she is going to be one of the best dressed babies you will ever see. She was quite attached to the Easter hat and purse she got, she did not want to let the purse go, girlie already? Of course!
We got her cabbage patch twins, I loved them when I saw them and knew they were perfect. Every kid needs a cabbage patch kid, I had them, so did my brother, shhh don't tell anyone. I can't find a picture of what they looked like, but they were the cutest African-American twin babies with pacifiers and books. I can picture her toting them around now.

Random Musings

Oh, I so wish I would have written down all the funny things the the dude says. I am going to try to get better now. He makes me laugh daily with the funny things he says.
He has insisted for a while he has a girlfriend, her name is Patty. She may be a little too old for him, but that hasn't stopped him. Oh, and the fact that she is engaged to my brother hasn't stopped him either. He has a picture of the two of them (shown here) that he keeps on his bedside table. He told me yesterday he is going to marry only Patty and not me, then said, I 'm joking mom, I am marrying you AND Patty. :-)
Today on the way into school he tells daddy he needs swim lessons so he can swim in the deep end of the pool. Can you guess what I will be looking up today? Yep, swim lessons. He has had two sets of them and is close to swimming. I'd say he can swim 15 yards unassisted.

Menu Plan Monday

I saw a menu planning blog and am going to try to also plan my meals for the week. I will actually really have my list on Sunday, then plan Mon-Fri. I know when I plan, I do better at saving money at the grocery store.
Monday - Pesto Chicken Bake with RiceTuesday - Chick-Fil-A for kid's night (am I cheating already?)
Wednesday - Crock Pot Beef Stew
Thursday - Pizza I think I will try the recipe the Meal Plan Monday had last week. Looked good! For the pizza, I am going to give C his own dough and let him just add sauce, chicken and whatever. He does not like cheese, so this let him decide what he wants on his pizza. I am sure it will be only sauce and maybe meat. :-) Friday - Not sure I can think out that far this week, maybe next time. We usually do Mongolian, Japanese, or Chinese out on Fridays.

Friday Fun

Today was our monthly Interracial Families play date. We do more play dates than just once a month, but every second (changed this month to the first) Friday night we get together and play at a jump house. The other play dates always change, but this is an every month one that is always on the calendar. The kids love it and it is a small place so the adults get a chance to hang out and talk and the kids play. Some of these kids, we've been playing with for 2 1/2 years, wow such a long time. Some were just babies when we started, like Tera, the cutie with the pigtails!
Here are some pics from today's play date.

Tomorrow is Savannah's birthday. She is the dude's little baby cousin who is one tomorrow. She is the sweetest, cutest, most adorable little girl. He likes to love on her and make her laugh. The funny thing is when he is done, he kind of just plops her off his lap. He still needs to learn to be a little more careful with her. She is walking and babbling and loves to watch him. Here she was 1 year ago:

Sleeping

The dude started having nightmares. I actually really think they may be night terrors. Saturday he woke up and sat straight up in the bed calling out "Ms. Jessica, Ms. Jessica, Ms. Jessica...". It took me a while to get him settled down, but I finally got him to lay back down and he just dozed right back off as if nothing happened. On Monday, he did it at quiet time at school, but called out for mommy, stumbled to the potty, then laid back down and went back to sleep as if nothing happened. The one I saw Saturday was a look of real fear/terror on his face. Ms. Jessica said the one she saw was kinda weird and out of character for him.

We have had several rough nights since, where he cries in the night and just been having difficulty sleeping. Two nights ago it was pretty bad and none of us handled it well. He was upset, overtired, crying, sad, scared, etc. Hubs was impatient with him, I thought I could be a little more patient, but after a long time, even I was a bit impatient. I am not happy about that, but sleep deprived no one in this house is happy. I am not sure what the issue is, but hopefully it will resolve. It seems just when we get in a sleeping groove, it never lasts in this house. He has been wanting someone to sleep with him every night. Chris We are trying to get him to sleep a little more often on his own. But he was sneaky the other day. He knows we are going to California and he said when we go he gets to sleep with someone every night because Mimi only has three beds. One for Jocie, one for Mimi, and one for me and him :-) Too funny! I am ready to get a little more sleep so hopefully it will get better soon.

I haven't taken a pic the last few days, so I will post one of him and one of his teachers Ms. Jessica since he loves her so much!

This week, I got the dates wrong, hockey starts next week. We went and they said it starts next Wednesday. So instead he got to play in open gym for a while with another little boy and they played with a basketball. They were so cute trying to dribble and shoot. The baskets were not lowered so they didn't make it anywhere near the basket, but the attempt was cute! Can't wait to see him play hockey! He seems to think he will play on the ice, but they are just going to learn some basics in the gym.

Bath Time

We are currently in a drought so C rarely gets to use the big bath anymore. But occasionally I will put him in there and he has so much fun. He got to take a big huge bubble bath with his buddy JD the other night. They played with all the toys, squirted each other with water and poured water on each other's heads. This is such cheap and easy entertainment. The kids enjoy themselves while Courtney (JD's mom) and I hang out in the bathroom watching them to make sure they don't flood the bathroom or spray water all over the walls (which they still do even with us in there) and have a glass of wine. C decided to make himself a bubble beard! JD wanted nothing to do with the whole bubble beard.
If he has so much fun in the tub, why does he tell me before every bath that he doesn't like baths? He gives me grief before each tub-a-scrub as we call them, but then gets in there, plays, and does not want to get out. They make no sense most of the time. But still so cute and adorable.

Incorporating Learning

I have been trying to get better about incorporating learning in daily conversations with C. It usually goes pretty well, but yesterday morning he threw me for a loop. I was lazy and just made oatmeal for breakfast, but he was excited because I add food coloring to his oatmeal to make it a color. Yesterday I made it green. He liked it! I said, "C what other things are green?" He went on to say grass, turtles, oatmeal (haha) , I added leaves so he said trees, and a few more. I said, "what else is green?". He responded, "why do we always have to talk about what is a color like green, why can't we just sit and eat and talk like adults?" I almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard. It was just too funny! Where has he heard that or what made him think that?!?! No clue how their big minds work.

I checked out a book at the library called Before Five in a Row, it is a book that gives ideas to parents of preschoolers on having fun teaching their children about the world around them. So we checked out some books on the list and have probably 15 books out from the library for now. He has pretty much memorized Going on a Bear Hunt after three readings. His favorite though that we checked out was Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. We also are doing some activity sheets with the Mike Mulligan one, where C will have to draw what he would discover in his hole if he was Mike and he was digging. I am looking forward to getting some more ideas on how to bring the books alive and teach him a little more at home. Some more examples are we are reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear and I made some activity cards where he will match the words to the characters in the story (like white and white dog). Also, for snowy day I made some picture cards and since we pretty much know that story by heart, I am going to have him color and glue his own snowy day picture book.

We started cooking classes tonight and it was a lot of fun. For March he is signed up for Cooking and Hockey and April I think we will do cooking and t-ball.

For his class tonight they made boats (deviled eggs with pepper sails), sandwich kabobs, and chocolate peanut butter rice krispie treats.

For the deviled eggs they were cut in half and the kids scooped out the yolks and then each had a plate that they mixed the yolks with a little mayo, mustard, and pickle juice.

The sandwich kabobs they got to choose from turkey, ham, cheese, pickles, olives, bread, peppers, and more and make their own sandwich kabobs.

For the rice krispie treats each one got to measure one thing and took turns stirring the bowl in between microwaving it to make it melt, then each spread their own into the pan. The kids had a good time.

Here are the finished products: