Tangled was Here

I recently posted our very own skit of Dora the Explorer and what a good laugh we had.

Now here is our second production.

The movie Tangled has been available to stream on Netflix for the past few weeks. It is a great movie. I get into it every time I put it on for the kids.

As we are watching the movie one day Nehemiah turns to me and says, "Hey, you are Rapunzel's Mom."

I responded, "Wait, are you saying I look like Rapunzel's Mom?"

Nemi, "Yes"

"Why, because of my hair?"

"Yes!!"

Really. I proceed to let my hair down and as I sweep my hair across his face I begin to sing the sun flower song.... "Flower gleam and glow... Let your power shine" and Nemi just melts of laughter...

We have a good time with that. As soon as the kids begin the song, my hair goes down and I become Mother Gothel...

Another Nemi Story

Recently while the kids were cleaning up before bed time I had told Nehemiah to take the handle portion of a broken sand castle shovel and put it in the trash.

Instead he put it back in the toy bin. Like all obedient children do.

A few days later we are all having dinner together and Kimani had to step out. As Kimani makes his way out Nehemiah became very interested in looking at the door. When Kimani opened the door to leave the broken shovel handle popped up from out of no where and Nehemiah began to crack up...

I said, "Nemi, did you booby trap the door?" and with the biggest smile he says, "yes!" HA HA HA HA !!! it was so funny we all busted out laughing.

I need to do a better job at keeping track of these stories. My little munchkins are so funny and they have such a good sense of humor all around.

Pony Rides

It was Eowyn's 3rd bday party this past weekend and I gotta tell you it was a wonderful celebration. At first the stress was palpable only because there was a great threat of rain, but once a few drops fell and the clouds moved along everyone was able to relax and just enjoy themselves. Marisol had created a sandbox where the kids went looking for "gold". And you know kids and sand are always a hit. They had a good time playing there well after the "gold rush" was over.

They had individual horseys made out of a stick and a horse head attached to it and each child got to decorate their own horse as they wanted. That was a great idea.

And then it was time for pony rides. The horse, Teacup, came in to the backyard giving each child a ride around the deck and Kimberlee and Nemi had a good time as well as all the kids that rode him. They all got to feed the horse carrot before he had to go home.

I wish my camera was working to have gotten more pictures because it feels good as a parent to see your child, along with everyone else's, playing and having fun. Seeing them right at that moment and know they are all having a good time.

The kids came home beat, but we had to bathe them before putting them to bed since I feel weird about putting them to bed with bug repellent spray all over their bodies. Right after that they crashed and slept well.

The next morning Nemi woke up opposite his usual self. Usually he wakes up saying, "I want school" and he gets right up to get dressed. This day he woke up and I said, "come on, it's time for school" and as he laid himself back on his bed he said, "No, no school. I want pillow!" Boy did I totally understand that, but alas I had to force him out of the house. (wait is this a sign of things to come as he gets older and begins to not want to go to school every day like he does now - I hope not).

Well, all of that to say, we had a wonderful time at the party. Happy Birthday sweet Eowyn, here's to many more pony rides..... or at the very least super cool birthday parties.

Dora was Here

Yesterday (Friday) Kimani had come home from work and he was on the lap top looking for a movie for us to watch once the kids had gone to bed.

It was about an hour passed the kids bed time and they were feeling it. For no good reason and with no set time to put them to bed the kids were just hanging out with us. So to play around a bit I said to Kimberlee that I was Dora the Explorer and began to sing the opening sequence song. Then I said to her that Nehemiah was Boots; she was Isa the Iguana and Daniel was Benny the Bull.

Kimberlee then turns to me and points to Daddy and says, "What's his name?" I said, "That is Swipper the Fox"

What I did not expect was for Kimani to turn around and laugh like Swipper (ha ha ha) and he said. "you'll never find her now" and he took Kimberlee's kid sized Dora doll and he hid it in the closet all the while I was yelling Swipper No swipping, Swipper No swipping, Swipper No swipping.

OMG!! Nehemiah and I began to crack up so hard. Kimberlee and Daniel ran after Daddy (Swipper) to rescue the Dora doll and when she could not reach it she began crying hysterical. It was the funniest scene ever. I could not move I was laughing so hard. Boots (Nemi) was laughing, but hiding from Swipper behind me and Isa (Kimi) was screaming to get her doll back.

I think what made me laugh so much is that I thought Kimani was completely consumed by the movie search so when he turned around and joined us in our make believe world, it surprised me so much. He jumped right into character. It was unexpected and on point I was literally rolling on the floor laughing.

Potty Training Follow up

It has been now a few weeks since we began to officially training Kimberlee on the potty. The last post regarding her potty training progress I was going to just go for it and let her sleep with no pampers overnight.

Well, she did pee on the bed, but it was only one time. She woke up wet that night and when I went to change her she was burning up with a fever that showed up out of nowhere. I gave her medicine and slept next to her over night to make sure she was all right. The next day she was still feverish so I did put a pamper on her to avoid any accidents. However, she woke up the next day with no fever and a clean diaper.

Now we don't even buy pampers for her anymore. She has been doing great. She used to announce when she had the urge to go so that I would go with her, but the past few days we have found her on the potty all by herself. She takes care of business and then asks to be cleaned. So proud.

Smooth Sailing

Recently we went to a friend's house to hang out with them and go in the pool on a hot day. I was not sure how Daniel was going to react as it was the first time getting him in the water. We strapped him up with a life vest and laid him on the round inflatable. Small enough for his little body to fit right in and be comfortable. Well, he floated around the pool and before we knew it he was sound asleep. He spent a good 35 minutes sleeping on the raft as we played all around him. it was so cute. As a mom i was never further than arms length away from him... just in case.

It was so sweet to see him sleeping as he floated around. We almost did not want to wake him up.

Nehemiah's update

Well since I published and update on Kimberlee and Daniel, I had to continue the brag night with some 411 about my boy Nemi.

He finished first grade with flying colors. Getting several 100% on spelling tests. He did really well. At the beginning of the school year it was considered that if Nemi had a hard time with the class work then the curriculum would be adjusted to suit Nemi's learning needs. Thankfully, the curriculum was never altered. He did all the lessons along with his first grade class. He was fully transitioned to have lunch with his class in the cafeteria. Previously, he would have lunch with his special needs class in the classroom. However, he progressed so well socially that they began to shift him to the cafeteria. At first it was only of Fridays, then it was Thursdays and Fridays and so on until he was in the cafeteria all week long. that was a big step as lunch with 75 first graders can be overwhelming and noisy in comparison to eating with five others kids in a classroom.

Now he is in summer school gearing up for second grade. We are looking forward to another successful year.

So proud of you Nemi, keep up the good work.

Daniel One Year Later

The little chubster, Daniel, turned one a few weeks ago. He is so big already.

-He began to walk about two and a half weeks before his birthday.

-He has three teeth up top and three on the bottom (which is odd because teeth usually come in pairs - so in my head there should be four up top and bottom).

-He gets pretty bad diaper rashes as his teeth come in, which I feel so bad for him every time.

-His hair has it's own personality. We style it differently depending on the occasion. It varies from sleek with some baby oil, to pulled back in a pony tail, ninja/samurai style or even just left out - curly and wild. To us he looks gorgeous every which way.

-He talks a lot. Well sort of, he tries to repeat what Kimberlee says most of the time. He says, nana for juice; Daddy; No and a bunch of sounds that make sense only in that situation.

-He, like his brother Nemi, has been wearing clothing bigger than his chronological age. At the moment he wears 18 - 24 months stuff.

-Loves sleeping with Mommy and Daddy.

-He looks for his brother and sister when ever he wakes up from a nap or in the mornings.

-He loves to drink out of open cups, though he loves his bottle.

-He throws kisses with his hand.

-He gives kisses and high 5's when asked.

-He is very mushy in terms that he loves to be kissed and hugged and carried and cuddled.

for his birthday we had grandma Aida, tio Alfert, his cousin Nano, god-mother Marisol with Kiana and Eowyn as well as his siblings and of course Mommy and Daddy. We had a beautiful BBQ with delicious brownie pops for cake.

Over all it has been a great and exciting year with all three kids hanging out with us. Daniel is a wonderful addition to our family as his brother and sister love to play with him and feed him and help him (sing of things to come).

Love you Daniel. Continue to learn and soak the blessings of the Lord.

Potty Training Kimberlee style

I am so blown away by Kimberlee's progress with potty training. Since I decided to actually follow through and leave her without diapers she has not gone #1 or #2 in her pamper. She has been going to the bathroom consistently. She has not peepeed on herself even during nap time, nor in the car (even as far as NYC).

I am gonna jump on and follow her lead and just let her sleep through the night without diapers. I have actually skipped over the pull up stage all together. So proud of my stinker. I told Kimani that it seems like she was totally ready to do it I just needed to stick to it.

Here we go with only undies to sleep. I hope to be back to give you the update.

Snow storm

Bracing ourselves again for another round of bad weather. I saw the cutest picture recently. It was a picture of one of those billboards that churches have in the front with service times and coming events. It read:

WHO EVER IS PRAYING FOR SNOW, PLEASE STOP!

too cute.

Cabin fever here we come.

Full Swing

We are now back into the full swing of things. Nehemiah is so happy to be back at school. Kimberlee has been telling me she wants the bathroom to poop, though she does not do anything in the potty just yet. She'll just sit there and say, "see poop - see potty". Something is happening in her head. Daniel got his hair done for the first time. At first i was not sure what Kimani would say, but when he saw Daniel he loved his hair. Now Daniel's hair is so fine that it came with a quickness, but it stayed long enough to take a picture.

It's getting crazy here

I finally went to sleep Saturday night and slept for 24 hours. Seriously, even I was shocked. At some point in those 24 hours the virus took over me and I vomited everything I could possibly get out.

We will see what is next.

Friday update

thank goodness that Monique was able to come down and help me out on Thursday night and it was just in time because Kimberlee was up all night throwing up every last piece of food in her stomach. It was along night, but in the morning she felt better.

Off to the doctor again to check on Daniel's progress, and since my regular doctor was not in we had a 'substitute.' He asked me about his treatments and i said Daniel got his last one at 10pm the night before and not another one since. He said that I really need to follow the treatment schedule closely. I said, "well I was up all night with Kimberlee and her throwing up left and right." To this he said, "oh! ok, of all the kids Daniel is in the most critical condition and he needs close attention."

MY VENTING
I'm sorry dude, did the medical field finalize the cloning process? Do you see that there is only one of me and three of them? Was i supposed to leave my daughter to attend to herself while she threw up to give Daniel a 20 minute treatment. And after she threw up, was I supposed to leave all of that mess right there for about 20 minutes while I gave Daniel his treatment. Obviously you are a man, who will never understand how sick children CLING unto you for comfort and you are not a mother of three children, which in itself will make you have to make in-the-moment decisions based of the most pressing need and a 7 month old infant who is breathing effortlessly and sleeping through the entire night is actually a blessing and not a pressing need. I know you don't 'know' me and you are filling in for the regular doctor, but you making me feel like a crappy mother is not helping the situation. I am not a crappy mother dude. yes i will follow the treatment schedule, but how about you help me out with Kimberlee's puking as it has been two days now.

Whew! now I fell better. Ok so, we walked out of there with medicine for Daniel's asthma and Kimberlee's vomiting.

After all of that Kimani arrived from his business trip and hopefully everything will be back to normal soon.

Part Two

today I took Daniel and Kimberlee to their pediatrician and Kimberlee has Strep throat and RSV and Daniel has RSV (of course) and also his lungs are a big congested so he is borderline pneumonia.

I have been giving them their medicine all through the day and hopefully this will all end soon. My sister in law Monique came over from NY to help me with all the sickness in the house as Nehemiah will be staying home and going to the Doctor's office tomorrow with the same RSV symptoms Daniel and Kimberlee had. Well, some of the symptoms anyway.

Just the way you are

We have been addicted to Bruno Mars' song 'Just the way you are' since we first heard it and tonight the kids asked for it as we were cleaning up so here they are jamming to it. I took this with my phone so the quality is quite poor.

I love Nemi's monkey dance and Kimberlee's step up and back move. They sure know how to have fun. And Daniel in the middle of it all. too cute.

Business trip

So Kimani went on a business trip to yesterday and will not be back until Friday. That sounded like party time at first, but with a snow storm coming I am playing it safe and staying inside.

;)