The latest place to hit the hay

After our little animal started breaking out of his cage, I've been anxious to just put him in a "big boy" bed.  Less chances of having to put a cast on any, or multiple parts of his body.  So last night, after a good book and a good prayer, Cruz slept on the bottom bunk.  We weren't sure if he would be in and out all night or not, but he was so pumped to be there--crib-less and with his OWN pillow, that he did awesome.  A nice pump up session for the potty training soon to follow... 

My boys (mostly Oshyn and Cruz if he can be convinced) like to make beds all over the house when they are playing.  Beds under tables, in tents, on closet floors, you name it.  As soon as we had the thought of putting the mattress in under Oshyn's bunk (we used to have all of our books and toys under there), O suddenly REALLY wanted to sleep there.  We denied him last night because of Cruzer's first night out of the pen, but tonight when he asked if he could cuddle Cruz until he fell asleep, the answer was "Sure."  I figured it would last all of two minutes until Cruz would scream "Leave me alone!" but when Beau went in to check on them, this is what he found.  I love it.  Hopefully I love it all night and not rudely greeted at 2 am by cranksters.  Regardless, as for now, they are little sleeping angel buddies.

Tadapolts

On Wednesday we went to a birthday party and one of the party gifts was a jar with tadpoles in it.  Kind of fun to think we could watch the little guys get legs, arms, and then turn into frogs in 6-10 weeks time.  Our neighbor gave us a cup of dog food to feed them (they told us that is what they would eat) and Oshyn is determined they are called "tadapolts".  If I refer to them as tadpoles, he corrects me.  They made it home on our bike with Cruz protecting them, but as I look at them only 2 days later, I only see one swimming.  Kind of pathetic when we started with about 8, but I don't know what we are doing wrong...I don't think they need to be pet, or taken for a walk, and we have talked to them periodically.  Let's just cross our fingers that the one makes it through the night and that hopefully one or two others are just sleeping.  I guess if they don't, this will be a good story to tell the kids when they want a dog--"We can't get a dog!  We can't even keep tadapolts alive for 3 days!"

Bug lover?

Cruz is intrigued with bugs.  He calls most flying bugs "bees or butterflies" and crawling bugs "ants".  One Sunday at church he was being a "bugger" himself (I couldn't help that one) and someone was trying to pray.  Luckily we saw an ant on the floor and I let it crawl on my hand so he could check it out.  He suddenly became very reverent.  The ant became my friend.

It isn't abnormal to find him laying on the sidewalk outside, or recently in our kitchen, watching them march their way around.  He will yell for me to come and look.  "Mom, come ere...I need show you something."  Then after examining and watching them for a few minutes the lover turns into a hater.  "Can I squish it Mom?"  And that is the end of that.  No matter how many Cruz squashes to smithereens they never seem to run out.

Preschool's out for Summer...Preschool's our for-ever!

Oshyn had his last day of preschool today.  It was a party at a gymnastics joint.  They seem to do that a lot here--have the end of the year school party's at a "place".  We never did that, but I guess that is what happens when you aren't allowed to bake cupcakes for a party at school anymore. 

Last week was his official last day of school-school.  I showed up on my bike to pick him up and I must have missed the "bring your camera" memo.  Every single mom/dad that was there had there cameras with the big lenses taking tons of pictures of the kids on the playground.  Whoops.  I'd like to say that was the first time I felt out of the "Mom-loop", but that would be a big, fat lie.  Oshyn didn't seem to notice.  I love that guy.  Grace Presbyterian Preschool was a fabulous, happy beginning to school-life.  Thanks Miss Patty and Teacher Jan.  So long, until Cruzer turns 3.

Cana's Crush

This is a picture I got on the last day of school of Oshyn and Cana. All year in preschool, Cana has told people that Oshyn is her "boyfriend" and that she wants to "marry" him (Miss Patty actually informed me that ALL of the girls in class want to "marry" Oshyn and he just takes it in stride). Her mom came to school one day and told me she saw Cana in the bathroom brushing her hair and giggling. She asked her what she was thinking about. Cana said, "I had a dream about Oshyn last night!". Another day, after going on a daddy-daughter date, her dad was a bit concerned because all she talked about when they were out was Oshyn. He tried to talk about school--that led to Oshyn, he tried to talk about soccer--that led to Oshyn. Her dad tried to work with it and said, "Well do you think you can beat his team?", Cana said, "Oh no--he's sooo fast!" It cracks me up that their, well--her, mind is already thinking a bit that way.

Oshyn likes her too... she can hang with the boys and their games, which is pretty cool.

"The Biggest Little City" right in Grandpa & Tutu's backyard

How lucky are we that these two live within driving distance?

And lets not forget this little happy guy too! Hi Winston (Cruz likes to call him Winstie)!

We had fun staying in their new house, waking up at sunrise, learning how to water flowers, having a fun dinner party, relaxing and doing a little bit of this

and this

and ending our visit at a fun little park in Reno where the log ride was a hit for Oshyn (and others that may not have shown their perma grin on their sleeve).

He loved it so much that he went

TWICE!

We left for Lodi straight from the park with tears shed the whole way out of "the Biggest Little City" and the question of, "But when do we get to come back to Grandpa and Tutu's?" We will have to come back soon!!!

Thank you for having us and we love you.

Houdini

Cruz decided that his late night hang out (the crib--in case you were wondering) wasn't "the hot spot" anymore last night.  He usually sings, talks, and rocks from about 8-9:30p nightly.  I know, that's quite sometime, but he's not even 2 and needs to be put to bed by 8 at least...and he's happy in there--or so I thought.  One leg over and a shimmy to the ground--without making a sound. The little munchkin starts coming down the steps and  sticking his little cute face by the stair rail.  Maybe its because it was the first night he climbed out (about 6+ times) or maybe because Oshyn didn't ever try it, but Beau and I thought it was hilarious and before I got home--Beau and Cruz even hung out for a bit.  This morning the usually rocking and uh uh uhing didn't happen.  Why?  Well that little string bean shimmed his way out this morning and the only thing that woke me (and Oshyn) was his struggle with a sticky door.  This guy is definitely his own man.  I say "man" because he still uses an unusually low voice when he talks, so low and gravely even O can't imitate him.

Let the splash season begin!

Yesterday after the boys got home from camping and Oshyn had a warm morning soccer game we had the pleasure of spending the afternoon at the pool.  What a fabulous way to spend Saturday.  Oshyn was a fish as usual and Cruz (after getting over the fact that Miss Julie was there to be our friend, not swim teacher) got excited and was swimming a bunch too.  This was our first trial of the underwater case.  I have a feeling there will be many an underwater picture taken these next few months---and movies too.  This is going to be fun!

Father/Son campout

The 2nd Annual Father/Son camp out was a success once again for the city slicker Dad and his Pops. They came out a bit more prepared and as far as I know, had a camp-a-rific good time. Oshyn and Pop Pop shared a teepee & Beau and Cruz shared a wigwam. I'm not sure what sounded better to me, their yummy fajita dinner (Beau is not a novice in the cooking department) or the glow stick covered tennis balls in the launcher.

I had Oshyn convinced that he better stay close to Daddy with him camo-plane pj's on or Daddy might loose him in the wilderness. He thought that was pretty cool--almost like he was invisible.

Ever since the camp out, Cruz has been a bit obsessed with Pop Pop holding him. Whenever Pop Pop is on the phone or we happen to see a car like his, Cruz says, "I wanna hold you!"

This has been a super fun little tradition to start up with the boys.

Small dose of freedom, BIG smile

 We rode our bikes to school today, but I drove to pick Oshyn up.  Whenever I take the car back instead of my bike we just throw his bike in the trunk and call it good.  He was a bit bummed that I didn't ride back, which doesn't always phase me, but today I decided to let him try and ride home alone...semi-alone, that is.  I was driving right next to him, hazards on, but I think he felt like a brand new man.  It was fun to witness him feeling so independent and proud of himself.  Spiderman is growing up in so many ways and it is definitely showing in his high water superhero clothing (Superman and Flash included).  I've stopped fighting the formatting of blogger--too late tonight, happy I finally made a post.

Pleasurable sleeping arrangements

I guess the shirt trick wasn't enough for Cruz last night and 

does this remind anyone else of the Wizard of Oz?

Stepping into reality

This may come as a disgrace to the law abiding citizens out there, but after 5 years in denial of our move to CA (not the 10 days they "suggest"), I went to the DMV this week to submit my Hawaii license.  This was a sad day for me, but the years of holding off most definitely helped keep my eyes dry.  At times it feels like a dream that I lived in paradise.  I have to admit, it was mostly for the expiration date of this summer coming up that I didn't really want to deal with, and also my kids trusty 2nd mother going out of town soon that made me give it up.  I guess I won't be hearing "WHY in the world did you move HERE?" anymore when showing my ID.  Aloha 'oe.