We built a bear

Okay, so clear back at the beginning of August, we met my sister Lexi at my mom and dad's house with the sole purpose of going to Build-a-Bear together in Las Vegas. As a side benefit, it was nice to see everyone, of course, but really, the trip was planned around the bears. You may be thinking how sweet that we wanted to take the kids to make bears, but let's be real here. I wanted to make a bear. So did Lexi. I decided the kids had enough unused Birthday and Christmas money to make bears too, so they got to tag along. :)
Choosing the bear was harder for some than others. Isaac saw the Panda bear and immediately grabbed it. Decision over. Sareny tried to pick the Hello Kitty with a humungous head, but mean parent that I am, I vetoed it. She considered a unicorn, but finally settled on the limited edition Hannah Montana bear.

Lexi and I were the slowest to choose our bears. These important decisions take time. I chose curly bear, because it was so cute and soft, and Lexi chose Read Bear, which was also cute. Then you help fill your bear with fluff.

Putting the heart in your bear is an essential and long-revered experience. They have a whole process you have to go through, like kissing the heart, rubbing it on your tummy, jumping up and down with it, and they make adults do it too. Fortunately, they can't also force adults to post pictures of themselves doing these things on their blogs though.

Then you have to carefully bathe your bear.

And finally, it's time to choose your bear's outfit and accessories, a process that can take hours. Unless you're Isaac, and knew before you even got there that you wanted the batman costume. He also opted for the tighty-whitey underclothing instead of the camo boxers.

Sareny picked the flamboyant gold lame dress first thing for her bear, although she ended up changing her accessories before the afternoon was through. Oh, all right, probably before I had even selected any part of my bear's outfit. I'm telling you, it was difficult to choose!

Somehow, despite all odds and predictions made by Keith, we did actually choose outfits and accessories for our new furry friends.

Even though she did not get a bear, Finley was pretty happy. I had carefully explained to her beforehand that she simply had not saved up enough allowance money for this excursion, and perhaps next time when she wants to spend her hard-earned money on junk, she'll think twice. I think it did the trick.

The final step is choosing a name for your bear that they print out on an adoption sheet for you.

Below is me with Mitchie, Lexi with Primrose Hannah Montana, Isaac with Bruce Wayne, and Sareny with Selena Gomez. We had a great time!

Kids having fun

Finley likes playing in the rocks while we wait outside in the morning for Sareny's ride to school.

Makes me wonder both how she gets into this position, and how she manages to balance in it.


It is really difficult to tear Isaac away from the computer. But I'm trying. It is not easy. This day we got out his bike, twist car, and trike. He remarked that he was tired after riding his bike only 2 garage lengths, so I was surprised that I was able to keep him busy outside for an entire hour. I was proud.

It's nice that it's finally cooling off!

Love the tongue sticking out.

A few weeks ago we went somewhere that Sareny had the chance to "ice skate." It wasn't actually real ice, it was some weird plastic stuff, but it felt quite a bit like ice skating. (I know, because I got out there to help her. Turns out she didn't really need my help. Also turns out, ice skating is very tiring on the ankles!)

She did so good!

The instructors told them to keep their arms out to the side, and she was very diligent about this. Maybe that's why she never fell down! And in case you're wondering, I didn't fall down either. Thank goodness!

That's what sisters are for

I love how well the kids play together sometimes. Finley loves to get down and do whatever her big sister is doing. They sat and colored together for quite a while.

Such good friends!

And then for something you'll never believe...we opened up the Cars! All 120+ of them. The kids arranged them into a long line.

We all picked out our favorite(s).

Some of our Lightning McQueens.

One benefit of opening them up--it is now far less important to me that we have every single one. In fact, the other day at the store we saw Burnt McQueen, and did we buy it? No we did not. Baby steps.

Kids

Here's what the kiddos look like these days. I thought I got some decent ones of them--no easy feat. Isaac usually does a kind of silly, faky smile, but I caught him right as he was telling me he saw a bee and he seemed to have a natural smile on his cute little face.

Cool Tool

I love this guy! I'm not even kidding, my hair looks so much better when styled with my new Chi. Go get yourself one, they're $60 at Coscto, and while that is outrageously expensive if you're cheap like me, I must say it is worth it. Many of you probably have owned one of these for years and are now wondering where I've been, since I just heard about them. I don't know. You'll just have to excuse my dowdiness and lack of fashion all these years. I mean, really, I didn't even know about plucking my eyebrows until after I was married. What do you expect?

I want some cold water in my "mouse"

This is how Isaac asks for a drink. He's recently started dropping the "in my mouse" part, which is sad.


A couple weeks ago, I had to go to Best Buy during the day for something. When we pulled up, Isaac said, "This a boy store! I'll go in there, and you go to a different store." He also didn't think Daddy would be too happy about Mommy going to a boy store without him. Best Buy is located right by Hobby Lobby and Old Navy, so you can guess why Isaac thinks it is a "boy store," and why Mommy should go to a different store.


One day, I said to Isaac and Sareny, "Come on guys!" Isaac said, "We're not guys! We're kids."


Another day, Isaac pointed at his "piders" and said, "Hook! It a little turtle, and there's its eye. That cool?"

Hidden Mickey and a hungry boy

We recently had to chop down the tree in our front yard.

Is it just me, or does this resemble a famous Mouse?

My boy is hungry. He is always hungry. He wakes up hungry, and I'm beginning to think he'll eat as long as I continue to give him food.

It is currently 12:30, and this is a list of what he has eaten so far today:

a poptart

a baggie of Honeynut Cheerios

a yogurt

a slice of pizza

4 boiled eggs with the yolks removed.

And he is insisting to me that he is hungry and his tummy wants food. I can only imagine when he is a teenager.

Mommy Confessions

Confession #1

I did not sweep my floor yesterday.

Confession #2

Sometimes, my children get ahold of my camera while I am completely unaware.

Confession #3

I made a phone call today. Here is the evidence to prove it (contents of an entire package of Costco wipes.) What was I thinking?

School Bowling Activity

This past Saturday, Sareny's school had a bowling party. When she saw the papers they sent home about it, she excitedly asked, "Am I going bowling??" How could I resist taking her?

Unfortunately, this activity happened to coincide with Keith going golfing, and the thought of me with three wild and crazy children at a bowling alley just somehow didn't appeal, so I found a babysitter for Finley and took Isaac and Sareny to the bowling alley.
I realized afresh that I would make a terrible single mom, as even with my supervision, both Isaac and Sareny managed to get hurt by the bowling balls. Anyone who has been around when Isaac is upset knows that he freely lets out all of his emotions, at a very loud, very high pitched wail. He got his fingers pinched between two bowling balls, but fortunately, it wasn't too bad so he got over it quickly.

I love how seriously he is watching!
Sareny's owie, however, was pretty bad. She picked up her bowling ball, dropped it, and tried to catch it midair. Well, that didn't actually work as planned, and her finger got smashed by the ball pretty badly. She was very brave and didn't even cry, although little tears did come to her eyes. It was at this point that we packed up and headed home to get some ice on her fingers. They quickly bruised up to a beautiful blue and purple.We managed to get in almost 2 games before this happened.

We shared a lane with a little girl named Olivia who is in Sareny's class at school.
After we had been bowling for about 30 minutes, Isaac told me he was hungry. (Really, when isn't he hungry??) Then he crossed over several lanes, walked right up to some people eating a pizza, and just stood and stared at them. It was a little embarrassing. That's when I took him to the snack bar. That boy knows how to get what he wants.

My Buki starts preschool!

My little boy had his first day of Preschool today! He has been looking forward to going to school for weeks and was very excited. He picked out a Transformers backpack and tells everyone about it (not that they can understand him...)

I was a little bit sad dropping off my growing-up boy, but excited for him to have some fun new opportunities.

When I picked him up, I asked him what he did at preschool. The only thing I got out of him was, "Not hit." If his teacher manages to drill that one thing into his head, I think we'll call preschool a success.

Also, when I told Isaac I was putting pictures of him on the blog, he said, "'Bout the Halloween one?" I asked him which one, and he said, "The scary one!" I think he meant his "rar-rar" costume, which is what he called his Beast costume from when he was one. So, to make him happy and for your viewing pleasure, here is a little flashback.