Dinner and a bath

This is all from last night.  The kids were eating dinner and Kyle finished first.  He decided to play a game with Nicholas.  Nicholas was a good sport and played along for a while, but after what probably seemed like the billionth time for him, he gave up.

Mother's Day

Okay, I know this is late but better late than never as they say. 

 HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE MOMS OUT THERE!!

We started celebrating Mother's Day on Friday.  We went out to dinner after Charlie got off work.  Then I went out dancing and enjoying a live band with Marija, Veronica, Charles (Veronica's boyfriend), Ryan, Andrea, and Linda.  I got home a little after 2 am.  I talked with Charlie for a bit, fed the baby because he woke up and went to sleep around 3.  The older two boys decided it was time to wake up at 6 am.  They were excited because we were going to the movies.  I tried to stay in bed but I couldn't sleep since Kyle was now awake too.  At about 7 I finally gave up and got up.  We got ready for our day.  We went to see the first showing of Thor that day.  Then we stopped by the Comic shop for free comic book day.  They boys were excited about that too!  We got home and were relaxing.  I tried unsuccessfully to nap.  At about 4, I left to Santana Row to go watch THERE BE DRAGONS.  I wanted to make sure I got a good parking space and I was meeting Marija, MaryAnn, and Jeanne for dinner at 5.  The movie was excellent.  I really enjoyed it!  I also enjoyed Thor, but this one was really good too.  I went home and went to sleep.  Charlie had to work on Sunday (last minute change because his co-worker who was supposed to work Mother's Day ended up hospitalized with a high fever).  That was okay, because then the boys and I stayed home and relaxed on Mother's Day.
This year, we took the boys to buy me a gift.  They each picked out a set of earrings for me.  They even paid for them on their own with their own saved money.  I wore Connor's earrings first part of Mother's day and Nicholas' the second half of the day. 
In further exciting news, Kyle stood up all by himself yesterday night!  He was sitting on the ground and I was standing next to him talking to Charlie.  I needed to go get something and as I started to walk away, Kyle was standing up.  I realized he was intending to hold onto my leg for support, but by then I was too far for him to do that.  I turned around expecting to have to catch him, but no . . . he was standing there.  He was a bit panicked at first since he realized there was nothing to hold onto, but he didn't fall.  We were so excited and proud of him!  Before you know it, he'll be running around with his brother's instead of just crawling after them!

Here are the earrings Connor picked out.

 

Here are the earrings Nicholas picked out.  

Singing

Today when Nicholas was getting ready for his bath, I was busy in the kitchen.  He waited patiently and I could hear him singing.  I peeked in and found that he was standing on the step stool looking at himself in the mirror and singing Katy Perry's "Firework" song.  I went and got my camera and tried to be stealthy, but he noticed.  He still agreed to sing it for me.  As you can probably tell, he doesn't really know the lyrics!

Kyle decided to join Nicholas for his bath.

 But don't leave, okay Mom?

Tonight the boys decided it was more fun to sleep in the hallway.  We allowed it only if they promised to go right to sleep.  There was not a single peep out of them and so they stayed there.  We have the fun of moving them back to bed coming in a while when we head to bed.

 And look who was still awake while the older two were sleeping!  I told him to say cheese for this picture and he actually tried.  It came out, "Chee," but we were still very impressed.  :)

Teacher's Appreciation Week

Today was the first day of Teacher's Appreciation Week.  Each day is a great gift to the teachers.  They are off of yard duty, they get small gifts from the kids each day, and they get breakfast and lunch each day this week.  Today was a flower day.  Connor painted a flower pot and put in a flower we bought at Target.  He also took her some roses from our garden.  

 Tuesday's gift is a drawing.

 Wednesday's gift is something sweet.

Thursday's gift is a letter.  He made a card and wrote on the inside.

And here you have a video we took of Kyle last evening on the play structure. 

Weekend

So I finally cooked up the pieces of the Rainbow Trout.  The boys had it with their lunch yesterday.  It was a small fish so it wasn't that much meat.  I thought it tasted good.  Nicholas said it tasted good until he heard Connor say he didn't like it, then he changed his mind and said he didn't like it either.  Both of them ate all of their fish though. 

Nicholas decided yesterday that in order to feel better, he wanted to buy a goldfish for our fish tank.  Being that only one of the five fish we originally bought are still alive, we agreed to the simple solution.  Later in the day, he asked me where Connor's fish was.  I explained that we had cut him up and eaten him wondering how he managed to miss that given all the video watching and prep we had done.  He thought about it and said, "Oh . . . so the fishy is in my tummy?"  I said yes and he added, "Okay, but we're not going to eat my goldfish right?"  I assured him that we would only eat fish we caught on a fishing hook and he was satisfied with that answer.  He named his fishy, Silly.  The picture after the new fishy is just after our fish conversation.  Charlie took our picture and Nicholas was feeling silly.  Most of them came out blurry because Nicholas was being so silly and moving around so much, but at least we got one that worked.

"

Kyle is a dare devil.  That's all we can think to call him.  He's not afraid of heights.  He climbed on the step stool in the bathroom to play in the sink.  (I was standing behind him in case he fell, but he didn't ever even come close.)  He climbs on the couch.  He climbs on chairs to climb on the table.  He climbs on the dishwasher.  We just keep wondering what we are in store for if he is already so daring at ten months!

Today was our last Cathechism class for the year.  Nicholas' class got all dressed up in their fanciest attire to do a small procession and presentation of flowers to the Virgin Mary.  As Nicholas was getting dressed this morning, he asked me why he was dressing as a prince and if that meant he had to get married to someone today.  I laughed thinking he had been oblivious to the recent Royal wedding.  I assured him he was dressing up only to honor Jesus' Mommy and that he did not need to marry anyone today.   

Connor did not need to dress up for today, but he desperately wanted to join his brother in getting dressed up for the occasion.   

When we were about to go, Mrs. Ria asked the kids to hold hands.  She meant the whole class so that we would stay together as we walked to the Parish Hall, but Audrey and Nicholas held hands and started walking.  The other three girls then decided they would hold hands and off we went as such.  It was very cute to see Nicholas and Audrey holding hands, a little prince and princess. If her dress had been all white, it really would have looked like they were getting married!  :)

The students all gave their Cathechist a blessing and thanked them for teaching them this year.  Mr. Nelson has been teaching Cathechism for 25 years!  Connor said he was very sad he would no longer be in Mr. Nelson's class next year, but at least he could go visit him in his classroom when class was over.

The Fishing Experience

This morning we attended the annual Fishing Derby in Santa Clara.  Connor and Nicholas have been wanting to go fishing, but we don't have any of the materials so we hadn't gone.  This opportunity was perfect because they provide all the materials for you and your chances of getting a fish are super because there are about 1200 fish in a fountain type thing.  When we got there at 6:15 am, we got in line.  There were already kids in line and some were fishing.  Some other kids had just finished fishing.  One of Connor's classmates was there and she was thrilled to be taking home her Rainbow Trout for breakfast.  Her Dad said they had gone last year but later in the morning and she had not caught anything, so this year he brought her so she could be among the first to fish.  Connor and Nicholas were in the fourth group to go fishing.  Each volunteer was in charge of helping 2 or 3 kids fish.  The parents had to wait outside the fenced off area.  Connor caught a fish mid-way through the time allotted (about ten minutes).  He was so excited he could hardly contain himself.  He was jumping up and down so thrilled.  He came out to join us as we waited for Nicholas.  As he exited, the Mercury Newspaper took his picture, so maybe he will end up on there.  During the waiting time, Connor and I had to talk about what would happen to the fish.  He wanted to try putting it in our fish tank and I explained he was too big for that and he was going to die anyway so we were going to cook him.  Connor said that was sad that his fish was going to die but that at least we would eat him so maybe he would be happy that we didn't just waste him.
Nicholas' helper was busy through most of the ten minutes helping one of the kids who had caught a fish right away.  He could not figure out how to take the lure out of the fish's mouth and so he was busy most of the time and couldn't help Nicholas.  Nicholas had no idea what to do.  He put his reel in the water but was swishing it from side to side and pulling it out a lot to see if he caught anything.  I tried to yell directions to him, but it was not the same as actually helping him.  He finally got a fish, but it was as he was pulling it up out of the water and so his fish got the food but swam away.  This is when the helper finally got around to helping him, but it was too late.  They called time and escorted all the kids out of the area.  The helper felt bad and assured Nicholas he could always get in line and try again.  As we walked to the area to get Nicholas, Connor was saying he hoped Nicholas wasn't sad and that he would share his fish with him.  When we picked Nicholas up, he said to us in a sad voice, "I lost.  I got one but he got away.  It's because that guy didn't help me."  I was surprised he was aware of how much the guy not helping him hindered his fishing attempt, but we assured him that next time he could try again.  We asked him if he wanted to try again now or go home and he chose go home.  He said he would try again next year.  We are kind of thankful he chose to go home because now the line was super long.  When we were getting the kids in the car and settled in, Nicholas turned to Connor and said, "Connor, you got a fish.  I'm so proud of you."  We were touched that he said that all on his own.  As we drove home, Connor was trying to provide the fishing knowledge he gained today to give Nicholas an idea of what to do next year.
When we got home with our fish, we had no idea of what to do with it.  When I was young, my Dad took us fishing all the time.  If we actually caught anything, he would take care of cleaning and gutting it.  I admit I never watched that part so I had no clue.  The only time Charlie has been fishing was at summers at a lodge with his parents and he said he never cleaned a fish either.  We turned to ehow.com and youtube for directions.  Luckily the first youtube video we pulled up was a guy cleaning and gutting a Rainbow Trout so it was exactly what we wanted to watch.  We all watched it and Charlie said I had to do it because he doesn't even eat fish let alone want to be that close and personal with one.  Connor and I re-watched the video to make sure we knew what we were doing.  Well * I * was doing and he was directing.  All he remembered was to put the scissors in the butt and cut upwards.  I have to say that was a pretty gross experience.  After I cleaned and gutted the fish, I removed the bones.  It wasn't a big fish to begin with, so we'll probably all just get a taste.  Charlie keeps telling Connor he will not be tasting the fish with us.  He also keeps telling me that he's glad I cleaned it and that I'm a better parent than him because he probably would have thrown the whole thing out and told the boys he lost it.  Thankfully, I know if it really came down to it, he would have done it for them if I couldn't/wouldn't.  Silly Charlie.

On a totally different note, we have been signing (sign language) to Kyle since about 5 months.  Last night he finally started signing back to us.  He signed 'Please' and he signed 'Thank You.'  Such a polite boy!  He has also started to clap.  I don't have video of any of that yet because he refuses to perform for me. 

The boys waiting for their turn

 Getting silly and hugging while still waiting for their turn

 Can you tell Charlie thought it was an ungodly hour to be awake?

 Fishing!

 Connor in shock that he actually caught one.  

He was so excited he accidentally dropped it on the ground.

 I caught a fish!

 At the end of their turn

 On the drive home

I made him repeat his compliment to video it.

Connor talking about catching his fish, or singing about it anyway.

The boys talking about the fishing experience

 Watching the video about cleaning and gutting a fish

Getting ready to help Mommy clean and gut Mr. Fishy

I sort of got Kyle to clap.  He's difficult to convince to perform, as you can tell when you watch the video.  Please excuse my legs in the background, but unless I contained him on my lap, he would just crawl away. It took like ten takes to get this close to him performing for me.