Last Minute Road Trip

Adam took a last minute job in Las Vegas this weekend that required him to shoot an event from 6-10 in the MORNING. So we decided to tag along.

We left Phoenix at 6 p.m. on Friday and we were asleep in our Las Vegas hotel room by 11 p.m. Adam got up at 5 a.m. to go to his shoot while the kids and I slept until 9:45. We then went swimming; went to the kids' first buffet; went to see the World Series of Poker tournament (and then got kicked out because the kids were under 21); went to Sigfreid and Roy's Secret Garden Zoo; went to M&M World; and then got Noble Roman's breadsticks and drove home. We were home by midnight on Saturday. The kids loved it and told us that they want to go every day. (Side note: Allie is a great traveler in the car.)

While we were driving on the strip and seeing hundreds of people crossing in front of our truck, we got the feeling that something was wrong with the front of Adam's bumper. People were staring, gawking, pointing, showing their friends, etc. So we finally pulled over to take a look. You'll see what we found when you watch the video below. :-) The video is a quick 60 second summary of our trip.

Hilton Head Island

We went to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina again this year for vacation with my parents and my sister, Christina, and her family. We had a great time. There was lots of bike riding to the beach and restaurants; eating seafood everyday; and swimming, swimming, swimming. Here are some pictures from the trip:

Our kids plus their cousins, Sydney & Carter

Calvin showing off his face painting.

My parents got Calvin the "army guy" costume for his birthday. He wore it every day. After we got home, he told me that he saw a "real army guy" on the airplane. The army guy wore boots and not tennis shoes, so he asked if he could start wearing his army guy boots too (camo rain boots). Sure thing.

My mom and Allie with Jake from the Salty Dog Cafe.

Allie LOVED the water. Salt water in the eyes - no problem. Sand in the mouth - yummy. She crawled right into those waves.

Allie sleeping on the little propeller plane from Charlotte to Hilton Head Island. She hates being held when you are sitting down because she is a huge wiggle worm -- which makes flying very, very difficult. I don't think we will be flying anywhere the rest of the year. We need to wait until she can understand why she has to sit still. Not fun!

You can see Adam and Wes in the background heading out into the ocean. Wes LOVED going out as far as he could touch (and farther when Adam was holding him). They stayed far out for hours. Calvin chose the beach. He saw tons of jelly fish and huge sand crabs. No thank you.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Happy 1st Birthday Alemitu!

Our baby girl just turned one. Allie is doing so well. She is now in the 10th percentile for weight/height (18 pounds/27 inches) versus the 4th percentile when we brought her home. She is also cruising around the furniture and standing a little bit on her own. She says "ma ma" and "da da" and occasionally will say "Ciao Ciao" (bye bye) or "ut-oh". She loves to wave hello/goodbye, clap her hands, blow kisses, and blow raspberries. She flirts with everyone from afar, but if you get in her personal space she will cling to mommy or daddy.

She sleeps 12-13 uninterrupted hours each night, and she takes two 2 hour naps each day. Her stomach issues are getting better, but there are still some minor feeding concerns so she will be going to therapy at Phoenix Children's Hospital soon. She will probably have to take a probiotic daily for at least several years, if not the rest of her life.

Allie loves:

• Her brothers. Allie's grandpa was so happy that she would have brothers, and I know he would be so proud to watch that relationship grow. Her brothers are probably her favorite people and are constantly making her laugh. She looks for them every morning when I wake her up. The boys are just as smitten with her and have not uttered one complaint about her.
  
• Water. Allie is a sand eating fish. She is not terrified of water, including the ocean. She crawls right into those waves. Sand, shampoo, saltwater, etc -- gets in her eyes but it doesn't bother her. (You would understand why if you saw her nannies give her a bath in Ethiopia.) She loves to go completely underwater, swim, drink the water, etc.
• Animals. She thinks our dog and cat are funny. She likes to pet (pull out their hair) whenever they let her get close.
• Move. This girl can't sit still. She has found freedom and is constantly on the go.
• Give kisses. She loves to cuddle a few seconds at a time and give lots of wet kisses. Normally if you say "that's nice" or "be nice", you will automatically get a big wet kiss.
• Stealing food. If you put table food in front of her, she'll throw it on the ground. If she can steal the food from your plate, it will end up in her mouth.
• Her swing. My sister gave her a patio swing for her birthday. She sits in it most nights and will swing and swing and swing. I mowed the entire lawn last night while she sat there happily swinging.
• Dancing. Anytime she hears music, that body starts moving.
• Laughing. She laughs all of the time. She laughs at herself and her brothers the most. She has a great, deep belly laugh.
  

Allie doesn't like:

• Sitting still. Which is why I won't be flying with her again anytime soon. She doesn't like to sit in a car seat when the car isn't moving. She doesn't like to sit in a stroller if you aren't moving. She doesn't like to sit down while you hold her. She needs to move and cruise.
• Brushing her hair. She is getting better, but I have to wet down and brush out those curls everyday. She gets excited to put her head under the faucet. She hates it when I comb through the many tangles. Unfortunately, she has to develop a tough head at a young age.
  
• Normal baby toys. She likes her brothers' army guys, swords, etc. She likes cups, keys, phones. She doesn't really care to play with baby toys.
• Being told "no". It is hard not to laugh when we tell her no. She will look at us with this awful face with a mix of being shocked and sad at the same time. This lasts for about 30 seconds. Then she opens her mouth and belts out some screams.
• Doctors. Since we brought her home 3 1/2 months ago -- if a doctor touches her at all, she starts screaming.

Allie is a great baby. She rarely fusses, and she is just a happy girl most of the time. We feel so blessed to have her in our family. We love her dearly, and I can't wait to see what this next year holds for her and our family.

Birthday Party!!!

We had a great birthday party for all of the kids last night. With their birthdays being so close together, we decided to throw one big party and the boys wanted a superheros theme. We had a great time, and it lasted almost 5 hours. The funny party was that there were exactly 17 adults and 17 kids there so Adam and I got to play with our friends too. The boys said it was the best birthday party they've ever had, but they also said that next year would be the best too. Allie was a little overwhelmed at first with all of the people, but she warmed up quickly.


There was lots of fun on the trampoline. Quite a few adults got on it too throughout the night.


There was LOTS of swimming. We've had cold weather recently. The pool was 80 which is pretty chilly out here. The kids didn't seem to mind though.



Allie was completely shy and overwhelmed for the first 30 minutes or so, but after we blew out the candles she had a lot of fun.


Early in the night, Calvin asked Adam if he could have a bottled Coke because he saw Adam drinking one. Sure thing buddy, it's your party. After the party was over, we discovered that Calvin lost a tooth at some point during the party. Maybe the acid from the coke dissolved it . . . or maybe Calvin just swallowed it while he was eating dinner.


We had such a great time. Thank you to everyone who came out and made it special for all 5 of us!

Graduation!

My boys have graduated from Kindergarten!! They had a graduation ceremony yesterday, and today they went to their 1st grade class for the day. I am officially the mother of first graders!! I was so, so sad when they left for kindergarten, but I am so, so happy for them right now!

This has been a wonderful year for both boys. Let me start with Calvin. Last year, his pre-school teacher told us that she was "on the fence" about recommending he start kindergarten. He would be a young 5 year old, and she felt he had some confidence issues. She said she is pretty sure that he knows the material, but he always says "I don't know" when asked. After talking to several teachers and the principal of their current school, we learned that since the issues weren't behavioral and maturity, then it would be best to go ahead and start him in kindergarten. Nervously, we did.

In the beginning of school, we were also told that Calvin had scored ZERO on his first DIBELS test before entering Kindergarten. Again -- was it because he didn't know it, or because he was too shy? Calvin's teacher caught onto this real fast and she helped bring him out of his shell. It was simply a confidence issue. When I got Calvin's report card today -- he met all expectations for Kindergarten. He exceeded in a few areas of math and drawing, which doesn't surprise us at all. Calvin can look at an object and draw it very well. His DIBELS test scores were all above average. We are so, so proud of him!

Whether it was his teacher or a substitute teacher, everyone always complimented Calvin. He never got in trouble or reprimanded one single time at school. We were told by several teachers that he was extremely well liked in class and a great role model. Calvin loves his teacher, Mrs. VanDeCar, and I believe the feeling is mutual. She is always telling me Calvin stories, and she always talks about how much she enjoys having him in class. We were hoping we could get a first grade teacher that would be as good as her, and a few weeks ago she pulled me aside to let me know that she was looping up with the class. If we wanted, she could be Calvin's teacher again. YES!!!

Principal Gunning giving Calvin his diploma

We are just as proud of Wes even though we knew he was ready for kindergarten. He had a great year! He scored very, very high (one even off the charts) for his DIBELS test score. He loves to sound words out. Sometimes we will be in mid-conversation, and he will stop to sound out a word. His favorite subject is Art and he was so sad when he had the flu and missed art class. I promised him that we would have our own art class this summer, and Adam is already looking into other art classes for the kids. As you can imagine, being self-employed in creative fields, Adam and I both think that Art is the most important thing you do in school. It is nice to see that both boys enjoy it so much.

Wes met his new first grade teacher today, and he said she was really nice. He is really proud of himself for being a first grader. Just a few minutes ago, I learned from the next door neighbor who was a 1st grader this year that Wes' new teacher yells a lot. Ut-oh. :-)

We had a really, really good school year with only some minor bumps in the road. It ended on a great note too -- both boys got Student of the Month this month! I am so excited to get to spend more time with the boys this summer and we have all sorts of stuff planned. Wes' first plan is to stay up until midnight tonight.

Wes' 5th grade class "buddy" congratulating Wes.

Calvin is Student of the Month, next to proud teacher Mrs. VanDeCar

Wes showing off his Student of the Month certificate

Camping On Trampoline

They made it until 3:30 a.m. and then had to come back in because it got too cold for Wes. Wes is our Phoenix boy because he hates anything cold. In fact, he carries his drinks around in a koozie so he doesn't have to touch them if they are cold.

Sweet Pictures From Calvin

Tonight was just a perfect night. I was laying on the floor in the playroom reading a book. Allie was climbing all over and around me using me as a jungle gym. The boys were sitting at their table drawing pictures. Adam was working on the boys' ipods. I thought my night couldn't get any better, but I was wrong. Wes has asked if he could tape a picture up in my room. Sure thing buddy. He likes to tape pictures on the wall by my desk. However tonight was different. After we put the kids to bed, I went back into my bedroom to see a heart that Wes had drawn and colored. He had taped it on the wall, centered over the headboard of our bed. What a sweet, sweet boy.

This reminded me of another post I've been meaning to do for over a month now but I keep forgetting to go downstairs and scan in the pictures. I finally did it tonight. Calvin drew me 2 pictures that I will cherish forever.

This first picture was drawn after my birthday. We went to the green park and had dinner. He told me that he drew the picture of us at the park so he will never, ever forget what a special day we had.

The second picture is actually a note that was written a month ago. I had to put the boys in time-out for not listening. After they come out of time-out, we always talk about what they did wrong, and then all is happy again and they go play some more. A few minutes after they started to play again, Calvin brings me back a note that he wrote me. Calvin isn't good at making spaces between letters, and he actually started writing at the very bottom of the page and worked his way up. However the note said "I love you and I never stop loving you." This was his way of saying sorry. He probably mentions this note at least once a week and asks if I still have it.

The boys are at such a great, cute age. I know I say that no matter how old they are, but they just make me smile every day. I am so excited to have them home from school this summer (even though they are already sad about school ending). This past week, they are playing with Allie nonstop. Carrying her around places is the most fun. They love to make her smile and laugh. I am so happy that she has been home almost 3 months, and that the boys have welcomed her with open arms and without any jealousy issues. I think it is easier for twins to accept new siblings. Whatever the reason, it has made this transition so much fun!

Now it is time to go to sleep underneath the heart taped on my wall.