Palatal Expander

So I was talking to a good friend that has recently started reading my blog and we talked about how I haven't really been posting. I also realized I haven't really been telling all of you about my kids and that is why I started the blog to begin with so with that in mind I decided to copy my good friend Marleny and grabbed a few templates to use to tell the kids story and end up with a book at the end of the year. We will see how it goes. Hopefully you will get to see the kids more and see what they are up to...

Adreana got her palatal on Monday and we have had to get used to it. If you look closely at the bottom picture you can see the wires on the bottom picture. The hardest thing for me has been to acknowledge that my child is old enough to have orthodontic work done already... that and cutting up her food in tiny pieces!

Bible Story Snack

Benjamin rushed into my room and said "Look mama! I am eating a Bible story Snack!"

Can you guess which one? Jesus feeds the 5,000! See the bread and the fish!  I LOVE THIS LITTLE BOY! and I love how closely he pays attention in church.and I love his teacher who is superb at leading him to God! Thank you Jesus for such a great year!

Benjamin is 5 - Party Part 1

Benjamin is 5! It is hard for me to believe but it is true...

I really wanted to come and share about when Benjamin turned 5 but we also started school about that same time so I am just thankful we were able to have a party (although about 3 weeks late)! I do have to say that I had lots of help from moms at the party and Nay! So thanks. We wouldn't have been able to do it without you!

Anyway I am splitting this up into two posts because there is so much to tell...

INVITATIONS

I so stole the idea completely and utterly from here I even ended up printing her Caution labels because they were done and it was easy.

CAKE, CAKE POPS and food

We saw this on another site and he loved it. So he had to have the eye! I really wanted to make a volcano cake but the boy would not go for it. He wanted the eye.

The cake pops were the same story as above. I wasn't sure how big the eye cake would end up being so I decided to make some cake balls also and he wanted the eyes and would only consider eyes. So there you have it. Just for kicks we made them with red velvet inside.

Other than that we had Ice Cream, grapes, strawberries, chips and a veggie tray. The veggie tray was almost intact at the end of the party but I think they liked everything else.

For something fun I was lucky to find these fizz koolaid tablets at walgreens 1/2 off. We had a pitcher of water and the kids got to pick lemonade, grape or fruit punch to stick in their water and watch it fizz and become their drink. I also got some glow in the dark straws so they could sip their drink from. I didn't take pictures of those because since it was daytime they really didn't glow that much but the kids didn't seem to mind. But believe me when Jorge took out the trash later that day it was glowing.

DECORATIONS

I was so busy coming up with experiments (and doing school) that I didn't spend much time thinking about decorations. We had decided to buy him a microscope for his birthday so I knew I would have that. The test tubes contain slime and the others food coloring.

Now the cookie jars is something I have been seeing on blogs and have wanted to try for a while now. When Hobby Lobby had them on sale the week before the party I knew I was going for it. I think they turned out great. It added so much and the best part was when I opened them as they ate the cake, a couple of kids asked me if they were real lab worms :)! Anyway thanks to Angie I didn't keep anybecause she nicely packaged the candy up in ziploc bags to put in their favor bags before they left. BTW the TNT was this fizzing candy that I thought tasted awful but the kids seemed to like.

PIÑATA

I knew I wasn't going to be able to find a mad science piñata anywhere so Jorge and I came up with this idea. Some kids were a little hesitant about hitting it with all the caution signs but most figured out that it was all a scam and were ready to break it. We blindfolded the boys over 5 except the birthday boy and the girls just got to go at it. We only had 4 there anyway...

Which leads me to this story. When we had finally figured out what type of party Benjamin wanted, we started making the invite list and after naming his friends he said Hayden and Gunnar. Then I said something about Adreana and he said, "No, only one girl at my party and that is Hayden" Of course my girl was so sad but I told him she had to be there because she was part of our family and so did Katherine. He didn't get to pick those, they just were part of the list always. Well he was not very happy and after that he kept telling me, "but mom I only want one girl at my party! He really likes Hayden which makes it tough on his sister. I obviously won out and by his party he was ok with it. I know one day he will be a lot more interested in girl but for and I will have to bring him over here to read this post.

THE FAVOR BAGS

This year I decided to keep the bags pretty simple, so I bought sandwich bags and added a caution sign. Inside were a magnifying glass, pop rocks and a super sour gum. On top of that at the party they got to add their scientist journal and their slime. Some chose to take their straws home and their snow home too. More on that in another post.

I made the science journal because as a homeschool mom I couldn't let the opportunity go without teaching them something. The journal had one page with what we did (sort off) and another explaining the science behind what they found them.

THANK YOU CARDS

I loved the design of the m&m jar so much I decided to use it on his thank you cards. They were easy to make and I loved the look.

Anyway I will go over the actual party later. I am getting tired so it must be time for bed. I must tell you this has been by far the most labor intensive party we have thrown, but Jorge and I had a blast. If any of you have any questions about any of it... I would love to share what I learned.

Christmas Programs

I have been kind of silent in our blog but mostly because we have been BUSY! I mean really busy. I feel like we are finally getting ready to breathe and then it dawns on me Christmas is right around the corner. The good thing about not having family around is that besides the kids we really don't do much Christmas shopping.

But getting back to my post: Adreana participated in our church's Christmas production... Lost and Found. She was the cutest snowman out there and danced her little heart out!

They practiced for days and she did great! No fear and all smiles.


But that is not all! The Awana program our kids participate in had a program and the Cubbies (Benjamin) and Sparks (Adreana) but on the Nativity... Here are the kids...

My shepherd boy

Up on the stage... he actually did pretty good!

My cutest little angel. She actually also had a line and performed beautifully!

My little angel. This was suppose to be a picture of both of them

but he insisted he needed to hug her. He loves her sooo much!

In the Awana program they also said their theme verse and sang away in a manger with sign language. They were so cute! I wish you could all have been here.

Benjamin's 4 yr old pictures

So I finally posted our past month. With homeschool and life I haven't gotten a chance but I know that some of you were waiting patiently for pictures of the capes I made for Benjamin's Birthday. Well yesterday I had the brilliant idea of hiring my kids as models. We watched Project runway recently together and so I used that as an example of what models do. They wear what the photographer says and do as she wants, if they want to get payed. So for $5 my beautiful kids posed for me. Adreana did everything as she was supposed to. Benjamin did better than normal (see post below about our school pictures). Anyway here are the results in storyboards. I am learning how to work with actions therefore the storyboards. Don't quite get it yet but working on it...

We added some gems to Adreana's crown. The reason she picked this instead of the butterfly.

So not smiling in all of them but better... don't you think. He doesn't like the B on the other side of his cape. He is trying to take it off in that one picture. I will probably take it off myself after I get a decent picture of it.

And my sweet girl modeling the cape for me. She is a princess and a super star and super girl all in one. I love this little girl. She had to take pics to show brother how it is done and she did a fine job of it. Thanks chiquitina!

So anyway please don't call the authorities on me but I needed to get Benjamin's 4 yr old pictures and I couldn't figure out how to do it! A mom's got to do what a mom's got to do! Hope you enjoyed our BIG kids!

First day of school pictures

Another year of homeschooling has started for our family and as has become tradition we got our first day of school pictures on the bench in front of our house. Adreana did great and as usual smiled nicely but Benjamin... well see for yourselves...

My beautiful girl

I love her smile.

A bit blurry but this smile is so her I just had to keep it.

Our first try. This has become my most captured pose.

A pitiful pose.

His response when I said he needed to look up: "I don't want you to take a picture of my face." and swiftly showed me his back.

When I made him show me his face. Another pitiful face.

And there you have it. Our school pictures. Maybe next year he will let me take a picture of his face.

Super Hero Birthday!

For Benjamin this year we had the hardest time deciding between a dinosaur party and a super hero party. In the end the super hero party won out. At first he wanted a super hero party with a dinosaur cake but in the end he chose a spiderman cake.


I made the capes and the piñata so I opted to get the cake at Walmart. Yes, I made the green gob... or kriptonite! After our fiasco with the honey jar last year at Adreana's party I decided to make it myself.

For games we had tag (because the birthday boy requested it). Benjamin was the tagger and after he tagged someone they became part of his team. We also played a kriptonite pass (hot potatoe with a glow stick) The kids loved both of them. We had tons of fruit and candy and cake.

Edited to add: I forgot to add the kids picked the "brand" to put on their capes. The boys all picked lightning flashes and all the girls but Adreana picked butterflies. Adreana picked a princess crown. The also made masks.

Some cuteness about my girl

Another one of those more for me posts but I haven't done any lately so I thought I should.

Anyway, we went to field day with the homeschoolers group friday and the kids had a blast. I have realized Adreana is so competitive. If it is a competition she wants to be in it. Thankfully she doesn't seem to NEED to win which makes this next story so funny.



She tried the bean bag toss and I am not sure what she did when she threw but it went slightly sideways, almost backwards. She can throw better than that but she didn't when it counted. So anyway they made them go stand next to the bean bag. She ended up being the shortest throw. They were only giving ribbons to top three. Benjamin and a couple other boys when they saw all the bean bags flying over their head left the scene and went to play at the playground but not my girl. She stood her ground proudly until the winners were anounced. On the way back home as we recalled the adventures of the day she said that her throw was kind of backwards but that it was okay and it was still fun. I hadn't said anything because I just didn't know what to say so her admitting it made me laugh.




On a better note the kids did win 1st place in the three legged race. We don't know anyone there (yet), so when they announced that it was time for that race and to find a partner I was so relieved that we have each other. They raced like if they had been attached forever and had a HUGE grin when they won... they were the only team that didn't fall!

1st place... upside down.. But 1st place anyway!!!

Something else happened that was extra cute except it was Benjamin (well it is cute now it was infuriating then!).

At the end of the competitions there is a water balloon fight. I had spent quite a bit of time that morning getting them ready and Benjamin couldn't wait to throw them. Then all of a sudden he starts screaming I rush to get him out of the fight, getting wet in the process. When I ask what happened he said: I GOT WET! She wet me. After a minute of explaining to him the concept of a water balloon fight he went back to the balloons and would cry every time one hit him. But just long enough to get another one.

And on completely unrelated note:

Jorge was watching the Poker championship on TV when Adreana walked into the room. Jorge and I were talking (about celebrity apprentice mind you) when Adreana interrupted:

Adreana: I know what this game is about

Jorge: You do?

Adreana: Yes

Jorge: What is it about.

Adreana: It is a stacking game. See, they are seeing who makes the biggest tower.

We also got Adreana the Wii littlest pet shop game (with the discover card that she got from her bday from uncle dan and tia Marleny) this past saturday. Well yesterday she called me in to name one of her pets. It was a hamster:

Me: What do you want to name it.

Adreana: S#%t

Me: What?

Adreana: you know chit, like in chit chat.

Me: I think we need another name.

I hope you got a bit of a laugh from these. They sure were funny to me!

Video - Our stories

This is from last week but I didn't get to post it because we had too much going on. Not that this week is any different but atleast I can try :)!

Adreana and I were doing school and I wanted her to count but to make it fun we counted stickers on a page. After that I gave her colors to make up a story. Well it got elaborate and Benjamin decided to join in and I couldn't help record it for all of you.

Before you take a look at the videos make sure you take a look at the drawing :)! It is kind of hard to understand what they are talking about with out them.

Benjamin's first dentist visit

I almost didn't post about this but I did for Adreana, so it is only fair. But let me tell you so different. They both had appointments at the Dentist and after just a bit of waiting they came to tell me that I should go with Benjamin and that they would take Adreana somewhere else... well I knew that wouldn't happen because she was more afraid than he was so they let us do one after the other.

Anyway my big boy climbed up on the chair first and opened his mouth and let them do it all. He picked a brush and toothpaste and kissed Mr slurpee and let them use the water gun and all. He is such a hoot! I think the thing that bothered him the most was that he couldn't talk with all those things in his mouth.

Now for my sweet girl not much changed. When she saw that water gun being used on Benjamin she freaked out and said she didn't want it but this time God blessed us with this wonderful dental hygeniest that allowed her to use a cup and spit instead of the slurpee and gun so she did let them brush her teeth for real this time but we are a far way from getting cleaned!

And yes we did go for a donut after the dentists... we can't break tradition after all! (We did come home and brush our teeths though).

Sitting down all ready to go
Not so sure about that water gun!

Kissing Mr Slurpee
After our appointment playing on the train. Benjamin said we needed pictures on it but this is the only one I got... guess he meant you need to take pictures while I play.

I finally got a picture of his eyes. Ok so there is a napkin infront of his nose but look at those gorgeous dark eyes. I have been waiting for a shot of his eyes for a long time so I am taking what I get.