What January Has In Store For Us

Jason is proving to be quite the curious one.  It seems like it's never a dull moment with him!  Why leave the bowls neatly stacked in the cupboard when they can line the floor and be noise makers?



One morning when Sho was not home, I found Jason on the table.  And being a good mother, before I removed him from the table, I had to snap a quick photo with my phone to send to Daddy.




Kara started Kingsburg's Junior Viking basketball program on Saturday.  She and her friend, Kiara, had fun and did well.  Of course Daddy made sure that she had the appropriate footwear for her first basketball practice... 'cause who wouldn't want to sport the purple and turquoise Jordan's?



While Kara was dribbling and shooting, Ben kept himself occupied by taking photos of himself... He also loves playing Star Wars Angry Birds.  Our iPhones definitley come in handy.  And my guess is this is just the beginning of our time sitting on gym bleachers...



And with the very cold mornings, we do what we can to keep warm and toasty.  They warm our hearts instantly. 

Happy New Year!

We were invited to spend New Year's Eve at the Arakawa's house and to our surprise, Kara and Ben stayed up until midnight to ring in the new year!  The afternoon naps probably helped a little, but I think it was all the kids and their energy that fueled our kids to stay up til midnight.  Sho and I didn't know if we were going to make it, but with a little peer pressure, we all watched the ball drop and did a big family hug!

And within minutes of getting in the car, they were out.

Even though Grandma had planned not to do a big New Year's Day celebration, the "scaled down" version included all of our favorites and we enjoyed it all.. a few times.  Isn't that what New Year's day is about?  Eating and being with people you love... and eating some more.  Here's to a wonderful new year!

Happy Birthday, Kara!

Kara also got a jump on celebrating her birthday.  It started with a post-Thanksgiving strawberry cake...

Then the Friday before her birthday, Kara had root beer floats with Mrs. Harrell's kindergarten class.  She informed us that sometimes parents bring their kid's lunch to school at lunchtime on their birthday...

Kara's choice... Long John Silver's fish and Cheetos.  Uncle Todd must be proud!

We told Kara that when she started kindergarten, she could have a birthday party with her friends.  We also said she could choose a trip to somewhere like Disneyland or Legoland.  And after much consideration, she chose to have a friend party. 

The morning of her birthday we are discussing what she should wear for her party and when I suggested a few things, Kara said, "I wear that to school.  I can't wear that to my party."  So after breakfast we went off in search of appropriate birthday party attire.  If this is happening at six, I can only imagine the teenage years!

Kara invited her friends to come and shop at Trinkets and Treasures, which according to Ben, is the best thing in "our little town".

 

All the kids seemed happy with their treasures and Kara loved playing cashier and ringing 'em up!

After pizza and cake and lots of spilled Skittles on the floor, we headed home having had our first successful kids' party.  Kara said it was the best birthday of her whole life... and seeing Jason's excitement when we walked in with balloons reminds me to savor every moment because every moment is precious.  And I gotta say, I love the birthday skirt.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

Today is Ben's 4th birthday, but we started celebrating a week early!  On Thanksgiving, after the turkey and stuffing, it has become tradition that we have birthday cake to celebrate with all of the family that's gathered for the holiday.  It has worked out pretty well because Ben and Kara feel like it's their birthday party!

Ben chose his own cake - both the cake flavor and the decoration.  So he ended up with a chocolate mint-flavored cake and some new cars to add to the collection.

We celebrated Ben's birthday at school with root beer floats, a favorite at our house.  Ben styled his own look, asking for his "dressy jacket" and his oversized sunglasses... 

And then it was Cattleman's for ribs...

and of course some birthday dessert.

The best gift that came from Ben's birthday was the gift that Ben gave to me... At school, after Ben did his Helper Of The Day duty of couting the days of the month and after the kids sang Happy Birthday to him, he said to his teacher, "I need to tell my mom something."  I put down my camera and said, "no, Ben, just finish up and we can talk later."  But he just looked at me across the room and said in front of his teachers and friends, "Mommy, I love you." 

How Fast They Grow...

Kara has Thanksgiving week off from school and since the rain stopped, we thought it was a good day to be outside.  Kara agreed to remove her training wheels... and shortly after, she was riding solo with a big smile!  She also learned to start peddling without help and make a turn, so Kara told us she is now ready for a big bike with handle brakes.

Ben was happy to show us that he's started to dribble... and with all the excitement over Kara's accomplishments, Ben would ask, "am I doing great, too?" 

Jason is eager to do everything that everyone else is doing... so he was also outside trying to figure out how he could climb on the bicycles.  He also likes the bounce pass.

I think the best part of our first day of vacation was when we asked Ben if he was going to preschool today, which was open and not closed for Thanksgiving yet.  Ben replied, "I like school, but I want to stay home with Kara because I don't want to miss out on being with my family." 

Happy Halloween!

Kara decided long ago that she wanted to be Wonder Woman, which I found interesting because she doesn't watch the Super Hero cartoons, so I figured she didn't really know the characters... but she knew enough to ask to also order the Lasso of Truth!

Ben decided that he wanted to be a rodeo cowboy.  Not just a regular cowboy, but a rodeo cowboy.  He was fixated on each piece of his costume... "Mommy, when are we going to get my cowboy belt" and right after it was purchased it was "Mommy, I need to get boots" and "How about the lasso?"  And when I finally thought we had it all, he asked for a vest.  Good thing Grandma was able to whip one up in a hurry.

Jason definitively told me that he wanted to be a turtle.  In fact, he demanded that he wear the same costume Ben wore a few years back.

He is the fastest little turtle I've ever seen...

Everyone had a great Halloween... Jason, very tired from all of his activity, went to bed early and since it's so quiet in the country, we don't get trick-or-treaters and he was able to sleep peacefully.  I took Kara and Ben trick-or-treating in the big city and they gathered enough candy to last them quite awhile and have already made a pile of candy for the Candy Fairy who trades candy for money to use at the dollar store!  It's a win-win Halloween!

Sneak Peek

Here is Kara's Halloween drawing... with the night sky, stars and a bat.  Any idea of what they're dressing up as for Halloween?  Stay tuned!