Once a Princess, Always a Princess

Today Jenalyn said the sweetest words I've heard in a long time: "Mom, can we buy me a new tiara?". 

I was so sad when she out-grew princesses.  It's hard for me, watching her grow up.  But all it took was an invitation to her 4-year old cousin's "Royal" birthday party, and she immediately started planning what she would wear.  She's so excited!  Honestly, so am I!

Money Can't Buy Happiness

But it can buy perfume.  And this bottle of perfume sure puts a smile on my face!  Jason's dad bought us both some perfume/cologne.  It's nothing I ever would have bought for myself, and I felt super weird about how much it cost, but WOW I love the smell of it.  And the bottle is so pretty.

Every time I put it on I feel like a million bucks!

Memorial Day 2012

Jenalyn made an interesting comment the other day while we were watching a show on TV.  She noted that all the Memorial Day commercials showed people having fun, partying, playing at the beach, etc.  She said, "Isn't Memorial Day about remembering the people who died?  Shouldn't they all be sad?"

Interesting that she picked up on that.  I love my girl.

At any rate, we did have some fun today.

We picked up Jenalyn's "favorite friend" (from her school class) and we went to Skate World

That was kind of a bust.  Quinne fell too many times and wasn't enjoying herself, and Corbin only used his skates to be tall enough to watch the "demo mode" on the arcade games.  Jenalyn was the only one who really liked skating (that's MY girl!)  So we didn't stay long.  We went to the mall and let the kids play at the little playground there.

Afterwards, we took Quinne home and then Grandpa John treated us all to dinner.  Towards the end of dinner Corbin and Tienna started to get antsy so I took them outside to play in the fountain.  They had so much fun!  And Corbin got "soakin' wet!" (I have a video, but it won't upload *pout*)

On our way home from dinner we stopped by the cemetery to remember our beloved Grandma Jan.  We miss her so much.  Oh how she would love seeing these kids grow.  I wish they had at least been old enough to form more memories with her before she left this earth.  Every single day we feel her physical absence in our lives, though we know she watches over us.  Can't wait to be with her again.

THIS is what Memorial Day is all about, right?

Dancing Queen

Tienna LOVES music.  When she hears it, she can't stop herself from gettin' down!

The other day we were in the grocery store parking lot and a car drove by with loud music and she started to boogy on the spot.

I know my opinion might be slightly skewed, but I think she's a pretty awesome dancer.

Grandpa Moves In

Grandpa John moved in with us at the first of May.  It's been...interesting.  I think it has been very good for Jason and his dad's relationship.  And I love to see the kids interacting with him and listening to his stories.  I hope they will make good, lasting memories with him.

For me, it has been like having another kid.  Only I can't discipline him LOL.  I can't put him in time-out or make him take "just three more bites!" before he can leave the table. But it's one more person to feed, clean up after, taxi around, and another schedule to manage.

As for positives for me, this new situation has made me more appreciative of my sweet mother-in-law.  I feel closer to Jan than I ever have.  I miss her so much! I think of her often and I can feel her giving me strength.  I often feel like what I'm doing is a favor to her.

J-Bug's New Shades

Grandpa bought Jenalyn a new pair of sunglasses.  She loves them.  Grandpa loves them.  I do not.  I can't see her pretty face anymore!

Easter Outtakes

Here are a couple more pictures from Easter that just HAD to be blogged:

Up until yesterday, my kids had no idea Silly String existed. Sad, right?

I asked Jenalyn to smile so I could take her picture. She gave me the most beautiful smile...and just as I clicked, she switched to this face! HAHA! Jokes, on YOU, sis! I'm posting this for the whole world to see :) I love my sugar bug!

Did someone say SUGAR?

I love this face! I love this dress. Just love everything about this picture!

Tienna has a proximity alert for Corbin. Whenever he comes near her, she SCREAMS! Well, usually. This apparently was a happy exception.

I saved the best for last! I told Tienna she couldn't have anymore candy. She has the greatest pouty face.

Easter 2012

Highlights from our awesome Easter weekend

• Grandma's Easter party on Saturday: lots of family, an Easter egg hunt, delicious food, and Jenalyn and I got to shoot a real bow! (Corbin was sick, so just me and the girls went this year. AND, I didn't have my camera, only my phone for pictures. *hohum*).

(Jenalyn thought this was the coolest!)

• Tienna's new shoes.

(I know, they're just shoes, but they make me smile!)

• Coloring Easter eggs.
  
• Planting jelly beans and seeing lolly-pops in their place the next morning! (amazing, right?)
• Bright-colored Easter Baskets.

• Silly String. It was fun for about a minute (which was about as long as it took for the kids to empty their entire cans!) ... then we had the joy of cleaning it all up. *LOL*
  

• New Easter outfits.

(This is the dress I made for Jenalyn for Easter when she was 18 months old. I was so happy that it fit Tienna this year!)

• MORE family time. Dale, Nancy, Miles, Will & Grandpa John came to our house for Easter dinner.
• I made the entire Easter dinner. This was the first big holiday meal that I have ever made by myself! I was really proud. I love cooking for people! Ham, twice-baked potatoes, green beans with bacon, tossed green salad, rolls, and deviled eggs. Oh, and jell-o salad that was forgotten and never made it out of the fridge *ugh*. Aunt Dale brought some delicious cake to celebrate Grandpa John's birthday, a week late ;)
  

She's at it again.

Last year I posted about Jenalyn's love for paper crafting. Well, she's at it again. This time she's making costumes. I was impressed with the detail she included in this one. The whiskers, the paws, the ears, and the cute little nose. She even had a long tail. Made entirely out of paper and tape.

Jenalyn says she's more like a cat than any other animal because: (1) she can balance really well; (2) she's really really fast; and (3) she likes to eat fish.

Me? I just think she has the most beautiful eyes. So pretty!

Paradise

Jenalyn: Mom, can I have a snack?

Me: No food in the tub.

Jenalyn: Awe, that would be paradise!

That just struck me as funny. Silly girl!

Snow Day 2012

Last week, the week before Spring Break, we got epic snowfall. Well, epic for our town. It just doesn't snow like that around here. No school for two days, downed trees, power outages, etc. It was kind of a big deal.

Jason was out of town.

We were basically confined to our house for two days - if you could see my steep driveway, you'd understand why.

We survived it.

And we drank a lot of hot chocolate.

After the kids got done playing in the snow, they came in with frozen toes and fingers, and pink little noses and cheeks. The best cure for that condition (aside from hot chocolate), is a warm dip in the jacuzzi tub :) They loved it!

Tienna watched from from the sidelines. She's not a fan of the jetted tub.

Corbin turned SIX

(His Kindergarten teacher made him a "6" crown.)

My sweet little man had another birthday. No matter how many times I demand that he stops growing...he just doesn't listen! Why can't he stay little forever?

When I asked him where he wanted to have his birthday party he said, "Well, I really want to have it at Chuck-E-Cheese, but I would feel bad because I already told Red Lobster that I would have my birthday party there!" *he didn't want to hurt their feelings*

So on the night of his sixth birthday, our little family had a delicious dinner at Red Lobster.

We had his party with friends the following Tuesday. I wasn't about to pay for 7 kids and their parents to eat at Red Lobster. **cha-ching**

We decided on an Angry Birds theme for his friends party. If you have spent any amount of time with Corbin, chances are pretty high that he has asked if he could play Angry Birds on your phone. He's crazy for those birds!

We had breakfast-for-dinner (eggs: the birdies, ham: the piggies & pancakes with fruit and whipped cream), we knocked over plastic cup towers, and hunted for the angry birds' eggs. Then the kids decorated their own Angry Birds cupcakes.
Also for Corbin's birthday, Aunt Dale gifted the kids one month of Tae Kwon Do. Don't they look deadly? Don't mess. Seriously.
At 6-years-old Corbin:

• Still likes to sleep snuggled up with Jenalyn...when we let him...
• Would spend all day playing video games...if we'd let him...
• Anticipates Saturday like it's Christmas, because that's the only day he's allowed to play video games.
  
• Loves learning Japanese.
• Likes pizza, pirate booty, most fruits, and Mac'n Cheese.
• Dislikes just about any vegetable. Except carrots.
  
• Loves his music! If he's not allowed to be sitting in front of a screen, he has his music playing.
• Is still a blanky boy. He loves his star blanket. *awe*
• Loves to make people laugh.
• Gives the best hugs in the business.
• Has one of the most contagious smiles around.
• Has moves like Jagger.
• Has a weird fascination with anything scary: zombies, werewolves, vampires, ghosts, haunted houses, etc. He'll talk your ear off about them, and then be too terrified to go to the bathroom by himself.
• Has a super cool light saber.
• Has epic dreams that he's Mario, battling Bowser.
• Loves books. He gets super excited for library day at school.
• Hates doing homework. But he's really good at it!
  

I love my crazy little monkey-boy! He lights up my life.

Little Dancer

Tienna loves music. She's been boppin' to the beat for as long as I can remember. And every once in a while she'll sing me a sweet little song.

Corbin loves music too and every morning (he's in afternoon kindergarten), he turns on his music and races around the house. Tienna sees this as an opportunity to perfect her dance moves.

I've been trying for weeks to get a good video of her dancing. I have to be stealthy, because if she sees the camera, she rushes to see what I took a picture of. So I hid it behind my laptop and she didn't catch on. (I know. I'm brilliant. Although the quality of the video suffered because my location was limited.) Every time I'd look down at the camera...instead of watching her dance, she would yell at me! Check it out, it's pretty cute!



(This awful, make-me-pull-my-hair-out music is the soundtrack from Mario Galaxy. *UGH* Seriously! Who thought it would be a good idea to make a soundtrack from a video game! It drives me insane! And it's Corbin's favorite right now, so we listen to it around the clock.)

Asian Celebration

My kids performed with their school at this year's Asian Celebration. We were so lucky to have all of my local family, plus Jason's aunts come and support them. Especially since daddy was at Disney Land for work (pfft...)

Grandpa John bought them Asian outfits. Don't they look great?
After the Asian celebration we got to celebrate Corbin's birthday with Nancy and Dale. As always, Corbin got totally spoiled :)
Here are a couple videos from the performances. (Most of the videos were too big to upload *sosad*) I got lucky that both kids were on the ends so I got pretty good videos of them both.

(Jenalyn is the one in the middle on the end - they all look the same in those outfits!)

She's growin' up!

Tienna is starting to say simple words. She's taking after Corbin. He was an early talker too. Not Jenalyn - I don't think she was saying real words until she was about 2-1/2. But she baby-babbled like no one else!



It's so hard for me to get pictures of her these days because she's always moving. Especially when she sees the camera! She'd rather see what's on the other side of it than sit and say "cheese" (OH! That's another word she says - but only in reference to the kind you eat...NOT for the camera!) But I did manage to get this picture of her in the cute barrette Aunt Rachel made for her for Valentines Day (while she was strapped into her seat, so she had no choice but to sit still).
I love this little girl so much.