Monday, April 26, 2010

Happy Birthday, Jason!

It seems like Jason's birthday celebration has lasted a few weeks! First was the get-together with his family at Red Robin. Last month, when I asked him how he wanted to celebrate his birthday, he said he wanted to go to a Grizzlies game with his friends. This past Friday, Aaron, Adam, Allen, Randy, and Brian joined Jason to see the Grizzlies play Reno. Jed was supposed to come but got sick, so he hung out with his Jason on Sunday night. Today was Jason's actual birthday. The kids and I dropped by his school at lunch with some In-N-Out. For dinner, he requested fried calamari steaks, which I prepared with lemon linguine and artichokes. For dessert, he requested strawberry pie, which I made for the first time (nothing can compare to his mom's!). After our meal, the kids took Jason on a treasure hunt for his gifts. Grace wrote out all of the clues earlier today (it was Monday afterall- Monday is Writing Day). The hunt led to the bathtub and after retrieving his gifts, the kids excitedly watched him open his gifts. They (I mean, Grace) had insisted a month ago that they wanted to get Jason a watergun.
I feel blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life- he really is my best friend, an incredible husband, and an amazing daddy. Happy Birthday, Babe!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

I Love Books!

How many of you know that I was an English major in university (in Canada, we actually call it "university")? I was! I earned a Bachelor of Education degree and my major was English. Most people would assume then that I have read a lot in my life... Um... no! I confess that I lost my love of reading after being assigned so many books to read during that time period! In fact, it wasn't until a few years ago that I began to read again simply for the enjoyment of it. I'd come across some books that were so good that I made Jason read it just so I'd have someone to talk to about it. He kept saying that I needed to find a book club to join. I kept making excuses, the best one being that I simply didn't have time. Well, taking this year off of work has given me a lot more time. I decided to start a book club, and I even started a blog all about books! I am proud to share- click HERE and let me know if you ever want to do a book review to add to our book blog!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Noggin, Melon, Mushroom Head

Our poor son... Jason and I are always commenting to each other about Jeremy's huge head (aka giant noggin, melon, mushroom head)!!!! It's hard not to laugh when he wakes up from naps or when we see him first thing in the morning. His hair has been out of control as of late.
I finally got a chance to take Jeremy to get his hair cut this week. Of course he screamed and cried, even though we went to the "cool" place where they have cars in place of the barber chairs, and the kids get to pick out a movie to watch while their hair is being cut. It took a lot of bribery before he calmed down long enough for the stylist to cut his hair, but at least now that it's done, it helps minimize the size of his head. Phew- that's much better!

Lunch with Mrs. Butler

Grace's teacher, Mrs. Butler, had to have knee surgery a few weeks ago and so she won't be back in the classroom until the last week of school. Grace has missed her, and so it was with a lot of excitement when Mrs. Butler invited Grace and two of her friends to lunch (the moms and our other kids were also invited). Grace got a chance to see her teacher, and I enjoyed chatting with Mrs. Butler and the other moms. One of things I've really enjoyed this year is the chance to get to know other moms of kids in Grace's class. I can't believe that Grace's kindergarten year is almost over!!!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Spring Birthdays

Spring is a busy season for Isaac birthdays! We got together to celebrate Jennifer, Dan, and Jason's birthdays last Friday at Red Robin. We typically go to the Red Robin at Manchester Mall because there usually isn't a long wait, and because the kids love to ride the carousel after dinner. Afterwards, everyone came over to our place to hang out for a bit and have some dessert.
Lucky Jason- he had this family gathering for his birthday, he's going to a Grizzlies game with his friends this weekend, we're doing a family birthday dinner on his actual birthday, and then we're going on a birthday dinner date next week just the two of us. Happy Birthday indeed!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

A Lot of Potty Talk

I don't know if you remember me posting a while back about wondering when the right time would be to potty-train Jeremy. Overall, he has shown us that when he decides he's ready for something, he'll make it happen! He has self-weaned from using a bottle to a cup, decided when it was time to use a fork/spoon, self-weaned from using pacifiers, pretty much taught himself to ride a tricycle, and now we can add potty-training to that list! The first day we put big boy underwear on him, we almost changed our minds and put him back in diapers. A friend of ours had shared that nothing seemed to work until the day they decided to let their son go commando. We tried it- it was warm outside, so after having to change his underwear 5 times in 3 hours, we decided to let him go naked (he wore a shirt with nothing on the bottom). To now have nothing to "hold" his pee/poo, our son understood very quickly what "having to go" feels like. So the next day, we let him wander around naked. The days following that, we let him wear just his big boy underwear, and then a few days later, he started wearing underwear with pants on. He did have a few accidents and gee, lucky for us, they were mostly #2 ones. EEW! For incentive, we gave him one jelly bean (since we already had so many from Easter) for going #1, and two jelly beans for #2. That was the first week. Our challenge after that week was to convince him to go on any potty, not just ours. I think he's finally figured out that when he needs to go, he needs to go! When we're out of the house, we carry a foldable, portable potty seat for him in what used to be his diaper backpack. Since that week, it has been another two weeks that he has been accident-free. We're still using diapers at night because he still isn't able to be dry throughout... That's ok with us- time will tell us when his bladder's ready to be without. Despite night-time diapers, I think we can say it... our Jeremy's a big boy now! (that's it- the last of his jelly beans!)

Sunday, April 11, 2010

For the Love of Hockey!

On Thursday, Jason and some of his friends went on a day trip to San Jose to watch the Sharks play against the Vancouver Canucks at the Shark Tank. Some of them were Sharks fans, and some were Canucks fans, so it was a perfect game to go watch together. They left at around 1:30pm, drove to San Jose, ate dinner, and then went to the game. They arrived back in Fresno at about 1:15am! It was the Sharks' second to last game, and the Sharks have already clinched a playoff berth, but the game was still very exciting, particularly when in the 3rd period, the Sharks had 6 of their players in the penalty box at the same time! The Sharks still won with a final score of 4-2.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Happy Easter!

As followers of Christ, Easter is really significant to us. We have been celebrating in many ways!

Easter Eggstravaganza:
On Good Friday, our church hosted an Easter event at nearby Robinson Park. The kids rotated between 4 stations: bounce houses, craft, singing, and drama. They got to learn more about Christ's death and resurrection in "kid-terms." After the stations, the kids were divided into age groups and hunted for eggs. The morning was very enjoyable and ended with lunch at the church.

Easter Sunday: He is risen! Sunday's church service was even more significant as we celebrated Christ's resurrection by witnessing baptisms at church. I love baptisms- they remind me of new beginnings, and of the new life and hope that come with the decision to live for Christ.

Later that evening, we joined the Yamashita family for dinner. They sent our family on a scavenger hunt! So fun- the kids were so excited to find "treasure" at the end.Easter Monday: We celebrated Easter with Jason's family on Monday. First off, Jason's mom gave the kids Easter baskets. They love getting treats, especially from grandma! Afterwards, since the weather was rather chilly, we decided to hold the Easter egg hunt indoors. We hid the Easter eggs around the entire house and the kids hunted for eggs. Jeremy got a head start since he's the youngest. Later that afternoon, we enjoyed a delicious meal. Jason's mom is a phenomenal cook- this year, she broke from tradition and we had ribs!
Decorating Eggs and Cookies: In addition to all that we did, I was able to bake sugar cookies with Grace on Baking Day last week, and a few days ago, Jason helped the kids decorate eggs. Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Easter. We are grateful to know that the reason for this season is not the Easter Bunny! Praise God for His love for us! Happy Easter! There are more pictures in the photo album on the right.