Kiddo Quotes

Matt and the kids found one of the CDs we gave out at our wedding (that is probably a really old school thing to do now, huh?) and it has a picture of us on the case (the same picture of us is at the bottom of this blog). Miles said, "Who is that with dad?" And Claire said, "That's Dad's old girlfriend. Oh wait, that's mom!" And then she wistfully added, "They were so young then..." Ouch Claire, double ouch.

We have been making up bedtime stories - usually a variation on a classic story. For example, sometimes the three little pigs find houses in Las Vegas, living in the castle (Excalibur), the pyramid (Luxor), or the In-n-Out on Tropicana (that was Miles' house). So one night Claire was making up a story about a princess who had everything she ever wanted. She said, "The princess had a castle... and a backyard." Bless her little heart, she loves to play outside. I do wish we had a backyard for her.


Also, Claire has started using air quotes - she moves her fingers with each word, it's pretty funny because she knows how to use them correctly. I asked her where she learned that, or if she had seen me do that before - she said, "I don't... know??" But not in air quotes :)

While we were watching the Summer Olympics, we finally caught a men's basketball game. The USA vs. Spain (or team ESP as Claire called them  = Espana). Spain has a player named Serge Ibaka (ee-ba-ca). Miles heard the announcer say his name, and he started laughing at his own inside joke, "He he he - Star Wars!" Close buddy, very close.

The other day, Claire drew a picture of our neighbor, a very nice single dad who happens to be kind of tough to live next door to sometimes. She told Matt that she was going to draw an X threw him because he chooses to smoke and she doesn't like smoking. We tell her that people choose to smoke, but we don't. Same goes for alcohol, tattoos, etc.  Matt said - let's circle him instead so we can be his friend. She agreed that this was a good idea, but she said she would still put little X's near him for the things she didn't like (I am starting to think we talk too much about our neighbors in front of the kids). She had a reason for each of her X's - he smokes, his TV is too loud through the window, we find his cigarettes by our house, and his motorcycle is too loud. Time for a few 'Love Thy Neighbor' family home evening lessons.

First Day of Kindergarten

Claire had her first day of Kindergarten on Monday and she was incredibly excited. She has been waiting and waiting to start school - asking every day if it was time to go yet. We went to pick out a back to school outfit this past weekend and this girl loves sparkle, let me tell ya. She picked out this silver shirt with sequins to go with her silver sparkly Vans. There were several other sparkle shirts on the table as options, but I convinced her to just get one. She got a plain pink shirt from MeMa for school, and Claire said, "Well the buttons have sparkles at least."  :)

Matt had taken Claire to meet her teacher the Friday before school started. Since I was at work and missed it, I wasn't about to miss the first day of school. I arranged to come in late for the big day - but I was disappointed. Apparently Kindergarten is no-nonsense at Claire's school. We checked her in at the gate to the playground and she went inside, we stayed outside. Miles didn't want her to leave (as seen by his death grip on her in the pics below), and he cried when she left. Poor guy! He was the only one who cried. It all happened so fast, I didn't get a chance to feel sentimental.

I was glad I took pictures before school because I wouldn't have gotten anything from the classroom. Claire found two friends from church and she didn't look back. Not a wave, a look or even a pause when I yelled out to her. Miles said, "Bye Claire Bear!!" and she just kept walking towards the classroom, holding hands with her friends.

After school, Matt said Claire seemed to like her first day, but not love it. She told me she is sitting by a girl named Jewel. I asked if she was nice, and Claire said, "She speaks Chinese talk, and I didn't understand her very well but she was nice."

Claire was excited to have time on the circle mat and at recess because she could play with her friends. She did have one complaint about the day though. She said, "Well, I was hoping to get some homework, but we didn't. Maybe tomorrow." Oh Claire, I love you! 

Rest of our CA Trip

Doesn't it look like we are having fun at the beach?

Well, about 2 minutes after this, Claire "accidentally" threw sand in Miles' eyes. I'm talking entire eyeballs coated in coarse Northern California sand. We had to go back up to the parking lot to get water to flush the sand out of his eyes - but he wouldn't open his eyes to help the process. We pried his little eyelids open and got most of it out and then he fell asleep from crying so much. We decided to leave and drive back to Placerville so we spent about 7 minutes at the beach. When he woke up, his eyes looked good, and the sand was out. I think all that crying helped. It was just one of those moments where we feel like - why do we try to do these fun things with our kids when it always backfires? For those few cute pics that look like we had a great time ;)

The big girl cousins got along so good this trip - this photo was after a fashion show they put on. McKinley is the event planner/director, Lily designed the clothes on paper, and then Claire modeled them. Fashion and dress-up are not Claire's usual go-to activities at home, so I think she fell into the modeling gig by default, but she had a lot of fun.

We took pics of Beau and Penelope together - they were both so good the whole time, I was very impressed and happy with these two.

Aunt Becky and Penelope (or Nelope, as she was called by Miles and now many other family members) and pics of the slip and slide. I can't wait til Miles gets his cast off next week (we hope)!

Everyone signed Miles' cast - I especially liked the bones that Danny drew - notice they are broken in the drawing too.

Fun trip - cute kids - cute couple - kinda strange Matty is married, but I guess that is how the oldest would feel about the youngest, right?

Cousin Time at May's Drive In

Matty Lou Gets Married

Last weekend, my brother Matt and his fiance Alexis Chee got married in the Oakland Temple. My Grandpa Johnson married them and it was a great reminder of our own sealing. This was the first time I got to meet Alexis, and since wedding days are kind of crazy we didn't get a chance to talk to her much. But hopefully we will get to know her more soon - I think they need to come to Vegas! We had a great time with everyone - honestly, one of our best visits. As the kids get older, they get along better and better. Someday the adults will just hang out while the kids play... :) Here are a bunch of pictures from the wedding and reception in Moss Beach.

 

The Party

Spider Man, Bat Man, Star Wars - it was little boy heaven. I made the Spider Man cake - which I had to make twice because the first time it stuck to the pan. I ended with three layers of white cake with chocolate frosting, Miles' requested flavors. I decided that I made the cake for one reason - to get the "thank you mom!" and big hug that Miles gave me (without being told to) when he saw the cake.

Happy Birthday Miles!

Mr. Man is 3 years old today! He has been looking forward to his birthday for a long time - always saying that his birthday "is comin' up!" Now he he is sporting his new green cast (we all thought he'd pick blue). After two and a half weeks in a half cast, he finally got the full cast on Wednesday. He has to wear it for three and a half weeks. He seems like he's getting used to it and even when he falls down (often) he doesn't complain about his arm. Miles is a pretty tough kid when it comes to real injuries - perceived hurts, now that's another story.

We weren't able to get a waterproof cast because our doctor didn't offer it, or at least not to his HMO patients... So we got a waterproof cast cover at a medical supply store. One trip to the pool (when he still had the half cast) and Miles already figured out how to pull the plug on the side, letting water in. I think it will be good for a quick shower or the splash park, but maybe not for swimming. Too bad because it has been so, so hot! I feel bad for Claire because she has become quite the swimmer this summer and loves going to the pool, but we have been avoiding it.

It's amazing how in one short year Miles has gone from Toy Story to all things super hero - especially Spider Man and Bat Man. Which was good timing with the new movies coming out recently, so the stores are stocked with toys and notebooks and pens from the Avengers, Amazing Spider Man and the Dark Knight. I love Target. Anyway, I decided to make some super hero capes for his birthday present. I think they turned out pretty cute, and now he has more for his boy dress up/costume box.

I asked Miles a few questions on his birthday:

• What is your favorite color? Green and blue
• What is your favorite food? Blueberries and yogurt
• What is your favorite movie? 101 Dalmatians
• What is your favorite TV show? Peep and the Big Wide World (PBS)
• Who are your friends? Claire, Zach, Gabey, my friends at the park
• What do you want for your birthday? Superman cape (good job Shannon!)
• What do you like to do for fun? Ride my bike
• How did you break your arm? "Me fall backwards on a slide. Me try to be Superman and me try, try but I just fall down and hurt my arm. Me cried." (We are working on me vs. I)

Cute Day

While Miles got his cast on (finally - more to come on that), I took Claire and Penelope back to my office. We had been at the doctor's office for more than an hour and Miles had just been called back. Instead of waiting another hour or more, I thought I would be able to get some work done back at the office once Penelope went to sleep and Claire could just play in the empty office across the hall from me. Well, the latter half of that plan worked, but Penelope never fell asleep. Instead we had visitors and distracted everyone else from working.

A girl at work said it was "Cute Day" in the office because I had Penelope and Claire there, plus one of our partners had brought in his little dog who sat on a leather chair in his office all day. I think my girls were much cuter than the dog, but I'm not a dog person. :)

Another co-worker snapped these shots of PBTK's newest employees.

Claire had so much fun in her office - she asked to shut her door so she could make a phone call. She played on the 10-key and wrote out her name and various words and numbers on sticky notes. I do get sort of excited by fun office supplies, so I can't say I blame her.