Playing Catch-up

Since I've been a slacker on the updating of the blog, I am attempting to redeem myself with posting a lot of pictures from the last couple of months. Here's what we've been up to:




Mase turned 4 and had a double birthday party with Renelle's son Nile. It was a very fun superhero party where the kids got to choose their own superhero capes and logo. After the jumping castle, pinata, pizza and batman and spiderman cupcakes, everyone was happily exhausted.





I could hardly get a picture of Mason. He never took this Batman cape off, never stopped running, and never stopped laughing. (Shen, I have better pictures for you that I'll send in an email... they are on the other computer.)





We went on another road trip to California and the kids got bored in the car:






We had a fun Easter Sunday...




Aves went with me to the nursing home to have an Easter Barbecue with the old ladies... so I dressed her (and her dolly) like one. (:




We went to the fair. Not just any fair, mind you, the YUMA COUNTY FAIR! Gotta love it!





Mase missed the last episode of "What NOT to Wear" and made some interesting clothing choices...




Ava did some lounging...




Ro and I booked our trip to Hawaii for July...



And last, but not least, I bought a swimsuit and started a diet... (: (No, these are not my legs... I'd have to do a lot more than diet to look good in my swimsuit if they were!)

There ARE perks to being four!

There is something ridiculously exciting about a boy who suddenly decides to wipe his own booty.

Showdown

Princesses verses superheroes. Who do YOU think will win?

(Note the pictures on their pajama tops. They are CLEARLY rooting for their own teams...)

We'll miss you, snowbirds! (:

We finally moved out last month, after spending about five months living at my parents house. We were ready to have our own space again, and I'm sure they were ready to be done living with other people again. (After having kids living with them since, uh, 1963???) BUT... we did have a good time hanging out with them and the kids just LOVED IT! I also had some added perks- thanks for doing the dishes, mom! (And I know I can never repay you for all of the babysitting, but just know that Ava loved every second of it.) Now they are making the big snowbird migration and heading back to their adorable haven in Beaver, Utah for the summer. We have appreciated their good examples, their warm hospitality, their love for each other and their family, and their GREAT babysitting skills. Monster Hancock will live forever, Dad! The grandparents bonded with both kids, but especially Mase and Grandpa and Ava and Grandma. It was really nice. A few photos from our short return to 2375 Greentree Drive:




BALLET IN GRANDMA'S KITCHEN


ALL KINDS OF FUN IN THE YARD


THE "PLAYROOM"



CHRISTMAS MORNING



PIGGYBACK RIDES ON GRANDPA (with Grandma's loving assistance)


ATTEMPTED FAMILY PHOTOS


JUST WATCHING MY KIDS PLAY IN THE SAME YARD I DID

We love you, Grandma and Grandpa! (Mom and Dad)

Have fun in Beaver and we'll visit you soon!

Swamped

No, I did not forget about my blog... My excuses for not posting are endless, but mainly it is because we moved into a new house and the Time Warner guys could not get us hooked up with cable and internet for a MONTH! (Tomorrow is the big day) So, I have a ton of things to post but for now, I will leave you with a quote from my date with Ro yesterday...
"Sears is the BOMB-DIGGITY!"
(I am sure that nobody has or ever will in the future utter that sentence again, so I thought everyone should hear it the one time it will be said.)

HIJACKED!!!

Just so you know, the post below this just appeared on my blog today. He did not write that in a letter just to have me post it for the world. I didn't even know he knew the password of our family blog, but I guess my secrets are not too hard to figure out. (: And I'm going to keep it on there so my kids can see one day just how much their daddy loved me. MAYBE he'll still like me by the time the kids decide to read this old blog. Love you, too, Ro!

What I see...

In this life, you happen upon one person who will determine how you shape the rest of your existence. A person so important to you that there are no words to describe what life would be like if you didn't have them. A person with whom you dream. A person who makes those dreams a reality. Someone in which your heart is so intertwined that feelings occur simultaneously in both of you. A person who challenges you and makes you great. A person whose own happiness comes in knowing that you are happy.

Let me tell you "What I see..."

"What I see when I look across the table from me,
is a person so great, greater than I could ever be.
What I see when I hold your sweet hand,
is a lifetime of conquests beyond what we can understand.
What I see when you smile with the greatest of ease,
is the way your eyes light up and your heart gives me its keys.
What I see when I look into your heart is the best,
I see me and our family and no other guests.
What I see is a heart that is pure and true,
One that screams in quiet tones, I Love You!
What I see when I feel your breath on my face,
is a future without limits in Mase and Ava Grace.
What I see when I look at these words that I write,
This statement is true and could not be more right...
You are...
Wonderful First, Mom Second"

I know everyday seems like you are a Mom first, and everything else seems to take a back seat. I wanted to let you know how I really feel about you and how important you are to me. I have the greatest person in the universe as my best friend. Do you know what kind of a special thing that is? It's amazing!! I love you and am so blessed to share my life with you. Thank you.

Love, Roland

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Can snoring be cured?
Blame it on the strep throat he is getting over if you want, but the snoring keeps getting WORSE at our house. Before you start feeling sympathy for the sick guy, think about this for a second. You finally get the kids in bed, hang out for awhile with your husband, think about the jillions of things you need to do the next day, and immediately feel tired. Before you can relax, you know it's coming. You dread it. You know you will be awake just listening to it. The anxiety that "the snoring" has blessed me with has become worse than the actual snoring. I try to be a nice wife and gently touch his arm and tell him to roll over. But after a few times and still no sleep, I get a little more forceful. Nothing would rememdy the snoring last night. All I could do was think up ways to vent about his snoring (through our blog) just to bug him. (: I informed him about it today and he just started laughing. I still love the man, but come on! (: Any suggestions to save my sanity and get my much-needed beauty sleep?

The pooping fashionista and the ladies man

Today was an eventful day at our house. So eventful, in fact, that the kids got new nicknames out of it. These nicknames change from day to day (and include things like Mr. Out-of-control, Miss Whiney, Skater Boy, Princess Perfect, etc) but today it was the Pooping Fashionista and the Ladies Man. Ladies (man) first...
I went to pick up Mase from preschool today and his teacher told me a funny story. Three girls from the five-year-old class had come up to her all giggly and asked her about "the new boy with the spiky hair". They said "he's so cute!" And then she said they found excuses to walk by the class and whispered to each other, while giggling and staring at him. Two things- 1. When did FIVE YEAR OLD girls start liking THREE YEAR OLD boys? 2. Are restraining orders allowed in preschool? (:
Ava gained her nickname by going poop in the potty for the first time. She had such a shocked look on her face when she looked in and saw her creation. (: I asked her if she wanted a treat and she said, "No. Want to wear coat!" She inherited a cute pink jacket with a fur collar from her cousin and it hasn't been cold enough to wear it. So we put it on and she was in heaven, repeating "kitty coat!" over and over. Then she walked to the potty and said, "Poopy potty, wear kitty coat!" Ever heard of a kid forgoing stickers and M&M's for a new wardrobe?

A freebie!

I could not resist posting this situation that happened at my job. To refresh your memory, I do recreation at two small assisted living homes. During a meeting on Tuesday, my boss told this TRUE story about when she first opened the facility. Ocassionally, some confused (or uninhibited) resident would escape from their room with their birthday suit on. Well one day, TWO ladies happened to forget their clothes at the same time. A man down the hall had his door open and caught a glimpse of the scene in the hallway and said, "I didn't even have to PAY for this!!!" My job is very rewarding in many ways...

No more BINKIES

At 20 months of age, I thought she'd have more hair. At 20 months of age, I thought she'd be talking LESS (little chatterbox!). At 20 months of age, I thought FOR SURE she would be done with her binky. I guess I wasn't trying hard enough to take it away, but I just still think of my little baldy as such a baby. This sort of happened out of convenience. Or lack thereof. We were driving home from Jana's house one night and the kids were TIRED. Ava fell asleep in the car with her purple binky in her mouth. See exhibit A.



When we arrived home, it was raining and we were in a rush to get the kids in the house. The binky never made it inside. Now I know for a fact that we have purchased about 57 binkies for this kid. However, when she cried at 2AM, there were NONE to be found. (It turned out later that my mom found a big stash of them in a basket Aves had been playing with.) So we decided right then and there that she was done. No more binkies. Surprisingly, it wasn't very hard at all. She asked for it 2 or 3 times after that night, but we never gave in. We combed the house and made sure to find all of the other binks before she could, and believe me, there were TOO many. Anyway, she has been clean for almost 2 weeks and we are not going back. I just think it's comical that I have pictures documenting the very LAST time she used her pacifier and then after it dropped out of her tired little mouth. See exhibit B.

Mr. and Mrs. Hall

What a fun wedding! I mean, it's ALWAYS fun when all of my brothers and sisters and the millions of kids get together, but this time it was such a special ocassion. Jon is a very important person in my life. He was the only one I ever got to pick on. (: We were actually very close. We spent A LOT of time playing video games and being silly and... just talking, I guess. I can't even say how much we enjoyed the year that Jon lived with us before his mission. He made our house so full of life and Mase and him created a bond that will last forever. Anyway, I feel so happy that he has found the girl that he wants to spend forever with. Just seeing the look on her face during the wedding ceremony was enough to know he picked exactly the right person. My dad was able to perform the ceremony and it was so beautiful and touching. We are excited to have you in our family, Lisa! Now let me borrow some shoes... (:
I didn't get the best pictures of the happy couple, but I will post a few just so you can see how beautiful they looked. And then I hope to post more when they send me some of their professional pictures. (Because I am the WORST photographer on the planet.)


Lisa looked stunning with that beautiful hair, and under her dress are the cutest pair of funky red shoes. I have to admit I am jealous of her style. Maybe I can learn a little from my new sister-in-law. Jon didn't look too shabby, either. But the real pictures are fabulous, I'm sure.


Once again, bad picture... but these are the centerpieces I made for the open house. I took this at home before we took off to Mesa. They looked much better on a real tablecloth instead of a dress and a mousepad, I promise. The boxes were full of red and white striped mints.


This is my FAVORITE pic of them, just because it tells the story of the REAL them. I snapped this at the open house when they were just alone in a corner laughing at something. Look at how Jon is playing with his new ring and how natural they are. Adorable!

Can you believe they married us ALL off???

Just a quick shout-out to my single-for-one-more-night little bro and his adorable girl Lisa. We love you guys! More photos to come...

I can do it MYSELF! (:

I know you have all heard about how much Mase is growing up, but I HAD to cite another example. (Partly because it was so cute and partly just to get my big face not to be the newest post...) We had lunch and Mason wanted to watch a movie instead of take a nap. I put on his movie and came up to check my email and after a few minutes went back to check on him. He was lying across his skateboard with a big smile on his face and eating something. "What's that?"
"Mom", came the reply, "I made myself another sandwich." He had gone into the kitchen, found a knife, got out the bread and peanut butter and jelly, and made himself a sandwich. When did this kid become so self-sufficient? And the best part is, he put everything away! I was so proud. Now that the boys in my house are showing me so much talent in the kitchen, guess I won't be cooking anymore!

First impressions

There is a reason I put this very unflattering self portrait of myself of this blog. If you look oh-so-closely, you can see that something is wrong with this picture. Yeah, that's it, look at the ears. Nice... one brown earring and one red. Silly me, I put two different earrings on yesterday. That wouldn't be so bad, except that yesterday was my first meeting at my new job. That's right- I have decided to return to work (part-time, doing my favorite thing in the world, recreation for seniors...) and I was at a meeting where I had to MEET everyone and give a little presentation about my new recreation program. I failed to notice the earrings until I got home. Nobody said anything to me, but how could they not notice? I had on a big red beady necklace that matched ONE of my earrings. Hee hee! Anyway, I'm sure I already have a dorky reputation to live up to at my new job. That shouldn't be too hard. Next time I'll do mismatched socks and see if the old people notice. (:

A milestone

Mase grew up today. And I freaked out a little. Today was his first day of preschool. He was very excited about it this morning and did not even complain that his bath only lasted 5 minutes. That's HUGE. My freakout wasn't really visible, it just happened on the inside. I wasn't nervous for him, and I knew he would love it. It all comes from the fact that he is almost FOUR and getting so grown-up. Pretty soon he will be in regular full-time school and then he will move out forever! Okay, so I'm overreacting... But to see him with his little backpack on... and then when he was so brave when I left... and then to hear him talking about his new "friends" that I don't even KNOW! (: It's all very new to me. And new to him... And I'm just glad he is not prone to the same freakouts that I have. I love my little well-adjusted happy person. Hopefully, he still thinks I'm cool for a little while longer.

Kid Humor

Just wanted to record some funny things these guys have been saying lately.

When Ava gets something she wants, like to eat a banana or go down the slide, she says, in the most hilarious tone, "WU-CKY!" (Lucky.)

I put her in her booster for lunch the other day and a salad was sitting there for her (she loves salad but not many other veggies) and she said, "Oh my doodness! Sawad!"

Ro was cooking for me the other day (again) and he told Mase he felt like Ratatouille. Mase looked at him and said, "Try FATatouille!" and started cracking up. I am STILL laughing as I write this one, by the way...

We were walking through the toy aisles at Walmart and Mase said, "HOLY GHOST! More superheroes!"

Interview with the greatest almost 4-year-old on the PLANET!

Me: Hey Mase, can I ask you a few questions?

Mase: Bout what?

Me: Just want to know a few things. How old are you?

Mase: Three.

Me: Who is your favorite person to hang out with?

Mase: You.

Me: What do you like to do best?

Mase: Play with my superheroes.... Hey mommy, I love you.

Me: You too, buddy. If you could pick anywhere to go today, where would it be?

Mase: To Target.

Me: What would you buy?

Mase: Some more crayons and fingerpaints.

Me: What is your favorite food?

Mase: Carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, pineapple, cantaloupe... and french fries and cake!

Me: What did you learn at church on Sunday?

Mase: Prophets... I just learned those. I'm thinkin about somethin that rhymes with somethin else. OH! Cat, hat, FAT!!! (Crazy laughter)

Me: Nice. What city do we live in?

Mase: Portland... I mean Arizona!

Me: What do you think about Ava?

Mase: Mmmm, she likes to watch Elmo.

Me: What is your favorite movie?

Mase: Surf's Up. Cuz I like when Cody falls when he's surfing and the big wave hits him and he goes underwater and he gets hurt... but he was SLEEPING! Mom, can we be done? I gotta think about somethin... What rhymes with Capital???

Chef Roland

The alarm clock read 9:40 when I opened my tired eyes this morning. Bonus! I got to sleep in. The sound of feet coming up the stairs is what woke me and I could see my cute husband holding a plate and coming toward me. Breakfast in bed! Double bonus! As I eagerly awaited my cold pizza or even peanut butter toast, if I was lucky, I saw this:



WHAT?! I squinted to see if this was some leftover lasagna, but no... It was made-from-scratch banana crepes with fresh blueberries and strawberries. I had to take a picture before I ate it because it was just so... so... well, pretty! Delicious, too, once I finally got around to eating it. Anyway, Crystal with the chef hubby, you might have this done for you EVERY morning, but this is a much-appreciated change in the kitchen from Ro's delicious egg sandwiches. They ARE good, too, though... maybe starting this Master's in Accounting thing wasn't the best idea after all. I have a chef on my hands! (And he BETTER appreciate this post and make me lots more samples!) Love you, babe!

Cute protective brother

If you can look beyond the crappy phone pic, you may see one little boy who REALLY loves his baby sister. This didn't even capture the moment very well, but this made me smile. I met Renelle on the canal bank for a bike ride and both of our kids were in the trailers. The moms got to talking, of course, and didn't pay much attention to the little ones, but when I looked back, this is what I saw... She was tired and almost falling asleep and her big bro had taken it upon himself to put his arm around her and was talking to her softly. I like to take the time to document these times for them just in case they are not as "friendly" when they get older and start yelling at each other about who gets to use the phone (remember, Jeffrey?). Wait, I guess in the current day and age they will each have to have their own cell phones by the age of 8, so maybe we will have peace after all! (: