Saturday, September 29, 2012

Roadhouse Reward


These two boys did an incredible job their first semester of kindergarten & third grade.  I went to both parent/teacher conferences and each of their teachers raved on and on.
Mrs. Duncan (Cruz's teacher) said, "If all of my students were like Cruz I would go home singing everyday."  She said that he is so on task & he just can't understand why other people talk when she's talking or do anything out of sorts in general.  She said it just boggles his mind :)  She also told me about how Cruz likes to be first in line on the way to the cafeteria for lunch.  He chums it up with her, asking her questions about life & what she is having for lunch.  I was beaming and proud as a mom could be after his conference.  On our way to the car, I was trying to think of what I could do to show him how extremely happy and proud I was of his efforts.  Should I take them out for ice cream or something better or should I just tell him & leave it at that?  (Sidenote: I had been giving the boys a tic tac when they got their seatbelt on--Tyce motivation)  As they were all getting in the car, I really made a point to let Cruz know what a great job he was doing and how that made me feel.  I gave him his tic tac & feeling that I was proud of him, he said, "Can I have TWO tic tacs?"  I had to laugh because my plans of ice cream or bigger were settled by a mere tiny piece of a mint/candy.  I said, "Sure...you can have THREE!"  Boy that was easy.
Mrs. Adams (Oshyn's teacher) first words to me were, "He's rockin' it!"  She was blown away at his dedication and seriousness for learning.  Oshyn told me she said to him, "If people would cooperate like you, Oshyn, I would have the best class in the world!"  All of his scores were above average and his mind is always working, figuring things out on his own--such as the fact that division is the opposite of multiplication.

Beau and I decided we wanted to let them know how much we appreciate what they do all day at school.  We took everyone out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  Rewarded with RIBS!  A treat for us all.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Lucky Day

A Costco employee handed the boys some "free" cell phones off of the cell phone display stand to keep.  You'd have thought they all won the lottery.  They began 'fake' texting, calling and checking their phones right away & couldn't wait to show their friends.  1st world excitement.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

A&W

What good is it living in Lodi and never visiting A&W?  
After all, Lodi is where this root beer joint originated.  A&W began in June 1919 at 13 Pine Street... 

One hot day in June of 1919 in Lodi, California and entrepreneur named Roy Allen mixed up a batch of creamy root beer and sold the first frosty mug of this delightful beverage for one nickel.  Now, more than seventy years later, A&W Root Beer is the world's number one selling root beer and is still mixed fresh daily and sold at hundreds of A&W restaurants.
Allen purchased the formula for his root beer from a pharmacist in Arizona.  To this day, the unique blend of herbs, spices, barks and berries remains a proprietary secret.
With the success of his first root beer stand in Lodi, Allen soon opened a second stand in nearby Sacramento.  It was there that what is thought to be the country's first "drive-in" featuring "tray-boys" for curb side service, opened up.
In 1922 Allen took on a partner, Frank Wright, an employee from his original Lodi location.  The two partners combined their initials-"A" for Allen and "W" for Wright and formally named the beverage, A&W Root Beer.

Kai's 1st Frosty mug!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

I love to see the temple...

Sacramento LDS Temple 

and the turkeys...& the deer.
(When you're lucky, you get to see them all!)

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Final Dip

Brrr!  It's getting cold (even in the "little pool")...

1st day of fall--I was sad (& so was Kai) to think we'll have to put our swimsuits away for a few seasons.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder :) and we'll embrace the pumpkins and changing leaves.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Muddy Aftermath

Dive rights, some jukes, pump fakes & touchdowns!



These guys are HARD CORE...

and Tyce wants a piece of 'em!

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Longing for H2O...




When you don't live close enough to the water (freezing, butt cold water doesn't count) to teach your kids to surf, you fake it!  We love that when we walk in our house the first, ginormous thing we see is this wave.  Serenity now.  Feel the stoke!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Festival of the Grapes


I love that we live in a small town that has its own fair.  Its not too big and they always fill up the Grape Bowl Gym with tons of art work made all of Grapes.  We live near a "few" vineyards :)  The boys are all about the rides.  It doesn't take much to satisfy them and its almost as fun being on the side watching their faces. 
Freshly shaven, ready for a good time, and the beginning of Tyce's sugar high.
1st stop: Race cars
Oshyn riding the bull this year took the cake--for sure!  He was determined NOT to let go!

Ski-do's for Cruz & Tyce
He waved to us almost every time around 
Too LOUD for Little man!!  He's not much of a crier, so we thought it was pretty cute :)
Mark it in the books...1st Grape Festival--check! All is well when Kai's with Daddy.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Free-spirited, early shower taker

Tyce makes a lot of his own decisions without thinking twice or wondering about the consequence.  He giggles about it and has a smile that makes putting up with his chaos doable.  Life with this kid is like running a blender with the lid off...but he gives the best cuddles and kisses.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Kai

Wait for it...
Wait for it...
BAM!  I'm so happy I can hardly contain myself.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Quick-isms

I feel as though I just had an -isms post...yet the days/months are flying by, so here's another--some quick-isms...

What am I in for today?!?
Kai is still as precious and sweet as can be.  He has found his voice and at times when dinner (or life) is loud, if we can get everyone else to be quiet, we can all hear him cooing away.  He is ticklish and now instead of uhhh-ing when I go for his sides, he squeals and giggles.  I love it.  The big boys talk all kinds of baby-gibberish to him and light up when he smiles at them.
Crazy baby rolled over from his back to his belly @ 2 months!  He looked pretty happy about it!

Pretty big shoes to fill
Cheese for lolli's!
Tyce is full of energy and spunk, but is also very thoughtful and concerned for others.  When he goes to get a snack, he'll show up with two.  My first thought is--he's trying to have more, but when I ask him, he hands it over--"I got it for you".  When we ask all of the kids 'highs' and 'lows' for the day, Tyce makes sure to ask Beau and I what our 'highs' and 'lows' are.  He'll ask how our day went and is a  'please' and 'thank you' guy--without being prompted.  When he wants to find his baby, he often says, "Where's baby Kai..............noa?"  with a ginormous pause between syllables.

Mr. Studious
Funny/ugly face
Dancing machines
Cruz is all about school, learning and tae kwon do (free karate gets him pumped).  He loves to teach me stretches--my little yogi son :) and tells me cool things. As we're driving...Cruz: "Mom did you know there's a subway under our car?" Me: "Really?" Cruz: "Yeah, subways are underground".  He's also been into his watch and tells us what time it is...5:51 (for 2:12), 12:91, seven hundred for 7:00, 7 o 40 (just a few examples I wrote down one day).  After a few of these, Oshyn tells him, "I hate to tell you but you're watch has got to be upside down!"

Oshyn is big.  Not really, he's only 8, but compared to the rest of the littles, he seems so old.  He's a conversationalist.  He asks me just about everyday what my favorite sport is, what I would want to compete in the olympics, if I think he has at least a 4-pack (if not a 6-pack), and on & on.  Oshyn says "pacific" for "specific" and the words "literally" and "seriously?!?" in every other sentence.  He is an animal at every sport he plays.  Oshyn gives 150% at every practice, game and every time he wrestles his little brothers down to the ground. I love that even though he is getting older and wants to have friends over every week, he still thinks we're pretty cool.

Soccer animal