Surviving The Chaos: November 2013

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Logan's November School Work

It's exciting to see what fun new project Logan will bring home each Friday. He is so proud of his work. Here is a some of the best of his work. It just makes me smile - I love it!

Lincoln's November School Work

I can't believe how many papers the boys bring home at the end of each week. They do so much work at school. Lincoln just passed his +7's which means that he was able to answer 50 addition questions (i.e. 5+7, 2+7, 7+9, etc) in under four minutes. He passed it on his second try. Quite impressive.

Lincoln is a really expressive kid so it's been fun to read his writings and try and interpret them each week. You can clearly see the words they've learned vs. the ones that will come later. So cute. Translation: First you get the easel. Next yu get the paint and paintbrushes. Then you figure out what you are going to draw. Last you paint your pic.

Translation: First you turn on the computer. Next, then use the mouse. Then type in stuff on the computer. Last, you turn off the computer.

Translation: First you turn on your computer. Next, you type in your password. Then you type in what you play. Last, you play.

Lincoln's just completed his first big school project. The assignment was to make an animal habitat diorama for the school science fair. Each first grade class had a different habitat and the kids were to choose an animal to highlight in the habitat. As you can see from his diorama above, his class had the ocean and he chose a killer whale. Below is the grading sheet (100%!) and his report about his diorama that he had to read to the class. I have to admit I'm pretty proud of our little ocean scene. He did a great job!

CA Trip - Everything Else

The second day we were there we went to the Orange County Discovery Center. I had lived in OC since high school and had never been there. Because we had the boys with us I figured it was the perfect opportunity to check it out. Of course, they loved it. While several things are similar to our Phoenix Science Museum, the majority of it was different and it kept the boys busy for hours. My favorite part with the traveling exhibit of Ripley's Believe It or Not. Here are a few pictures from that day which included a visit to see Santa at the Brea mall and an early Thanksgiving at Grandma's house (which I don't have pictures of).

Good thing they've practiced rock climbing on Tutu's rock wall.

Lincoln showing daddy how his voice can be changed with the spin of a dial.

Snake exhibit in Ripley's.

Yes, it's Justin Bieber made with all candy and yes, I took a picture of it.

Lincoln with Bumble Bee.

Lincoln as an astronaut. I love that the little boy thought he was real.

Logan was obsessed with using the scanner in the learn to eat healthy and be environmentally friendly exhibit (that's not the real name of it but that was the gist of it).

This is what's inside the big black cube that I drove by on the 5 freeway for years. I had no idea. Blast off.

Lincoln asked Santa for an Army tank, army guys and some Legos.

Logan asked for a train. (No surprise there!)

CA Trip - Disneyland

I took a day off and we headed to CA for a quick trip. Our main purpose was to spend a family day at Disneyland and then celebrate an early Thanksgiving with my family. We ended up sneaking in a few other things while we were there too. We had a wonderful day at Disneyland.

It's so much fun as the boys get older and can go on most all the rides, to watch them and experience it through their eyes and with them. I love when they laugh so hard because they are getting swung around on a ride, or when their tummy gets butterflies because we just went on a big drop - it's a special memory for me. Despite the fact that it was fairly crowded, we managed to get on 15 rides, watch two stage shows and see one parade in each park. Logan experienced Star Wars for the first time (which he loved - no surprises there) and we got to ride in the front of the Monorail. The boys are getting much better about standing in lines but we still have a ways to go before they are great at that. This time we brought their Nintendo DS to help get through the wait times. Grammy was so helpful in getting us fast passes, saving seats for the parade and being an extra set of hands for the day. I believe Disneyland is such a wonderful place to make family memories and I look forward to taking the boys as often as we can. It's become a special time for the boys to be with Grammy. When I asked Logan who lived in Disneyland, he first said Mickey Mouse and then he said Grammy. He knows that when we go to Disneyland, Grammy always comes too!

I'm glad that we got to go this year during Christmas time. It's my favorite time to go and of course, it was a special moment when we stopped on the spot that Ricky proposed to me coming up on 11 years ago this December. We got to see the Christmas parade and the boys experienced Haunted Mansion for the first time with Nightmare Before Christmas decor and Small world with all the Christmas themes. It was definitely a successful, fun and memorable trip.

Riding the train was Logan's favorite thing. He was so mad each time we got off at a different stop. I'm sure he would've been content staying on it the entire day. He insisted that we watch the engineers re-load at the water station and he wanted to watch the train go into the tunnel.

Our first ride of the day was the Mater Tractor Tow in DCA. I rode with Logan and he laughed the entire time. Precious for a mommy to hear her kiddo having so much fun.

Since mommy and daddy have weak tummies, Grammy braved the flying swings and took the boys for their first time on this ride. Ricky and I were a bit nervous for them considering how high they go but they loved it. They didn't seem scared for a second.

Lincoln and Grammy on the Little Mermaid ride.

Logan was so excited he was tall enough to go on the bumper cars. He was still mad about the fact that last month in Vegas he was too short to ride those cars so this was a treat for him.

Mommy was lucky enough to ride with Logan.

Daddy scored and got to ride with Lincoln.

Christmas card sneak preview....I love this picture! (Yes, it would've been better if Logan actually smiled but that's life. What can I say his brother is the ham in the family and Logan is just rolling with it.)

I was glad that the boys were as excited and interested in the parade as I remember being at their age...heck, I still get excited about it as a grown adult!

Our one and only family picture of the day.

This was taken while riding in the front of the monorail. As you can see, Logan was thrilled! For him this super special ride was only second to riding the train earlier in the day.

Ricky's favorite part of the day (and always is) the last stop of the night...beignets at New Orleans Jazz Kitchen. I unfortunately was still full from dinner so just he and the boys at them while they were still warm but he was a happy camper after that stop.

Lincoln Turned 6

Lincoln's actual birthday came on the tail end of a busy celebration weekend. We went to church where the primary sang to him and then came home and had an afternoon of cousin play time. We did sing happy birthday to him (yes, again) and he got to open the last of his birthday presents. It was a fun day for him and an easy day for us since we just hung out at the house with all the family.

As Ricky pointed out, in just five short months, Lincoln will be halfway to a teenager. It's a bit crazy/scary to think about it like that but I guess that's the reality of your kids growing up. It just happens. We've always said from very early on that Lincoln is especially gifted in certain areas. As he has gotten older it continues to show. He is a very social kid and that's been a blessing for him but also something that he's had to learn to manage in the structured classroom environment. He is quite independent and willing to talk to, or play with, anyone. His ability to understand complex concepts, at his age, is quite fascinating. He loves math and art and he's greatly improved his reading skills over the last couple of months.

While Lincoln will venture out and try new foods, he's still quite a picky eater when it comes down to it. He loves cheese pizza, tomato soup, bean and cheese burritos, Taco Bell nachos with sour cream and CHIPS - all kinds of chips. He could survive on chips alone if we'd let him. Legos are still what he gravitates toward most although he is now into Pokemon cards, super hero guys and anything Army or camouflage. Lincoln is been very into the ipad game Minecraft. Anything Mincraft related is also very cool to him.

We are blessed to have such a smart, sweet and bright little boy in Lincoln. Even though now that he's six and sometimes has attitude like he's sixteen, he is a kind and has a very sensitive spirit. I can't believe my baby is already six! We love him so much it's hard to believe he's growing up...even though he told me the other day that he's not a young man yet, he's still a little boy.

Lincoln on his actual birthday.

Auntie Calee, Caden and Nikki playing cards.

The monster truck pinata to go with the monster truck party theme from earlier in the day.

The family hanging out watching a movie together.

Monster Truck Party at Pump It Up

I decided early this year that I didn't want to have the boys party at the house. We had quite a few friends and family coming into town and I knew that house was already going to be busy and full. I gave the boys several options of places to have their party and they chose Pump It Up. It's a big facility that just has big inflatable bounce houses, slides, etc. We all had a great time. It ended up being a ton of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. It was really easy for me because the facility took care of the decorating, ordering food, tracking presents, etc. We just had to show up and have fun.

Later that evening we continued the celebration at home with the family. Grammy, Aunties Nancee, Dana, Calee and Michaela, Uncles Jared and Troy and cousins Caden, Vance, Danica, Erica and Sadie were all there to help us celebrate. We ordered in Mexican food (yay for me for not having to cook or clean dishes) and sang happy birthday and had cake and ice cream. The kids also got to break open a pinata, which is something Lincoln had been asking for for quite sometime now.

The boys got some really fun gifts but most of all we created great memories with family and friends. It was a busy weekend but it was worth it for the opportunity to be with everyone to visit and for the cousins to all play together.

Cheers to a simple yet fun party!