Happy Valentine's Day!

We had lots of fun getting ready for and enjoying Valentine's Day this year. Rexford chose Toy Story Valentines with lollipops and wrote the names on them by himself. Austin had to take Valentines to our "Mommy and Me" class so he picked out Cars and Toy Story ones with pencils to give out. That morning the boys were excited to open their gifts from me and Brian and they loved their new books, toy cars, and candy. I made pink chocolate chip pancakes and they loved them! Then we took Rexford to school and Austin and I went to our "Mommy and Me" party. After that we went back to Rexford's school for his class party where the kids had happy meals and cupcakes, decorated buckets, and passed out their Valentine cards. I didn't make heart pizzas for dinner like we normally have but we bought pizza so we didn't have to cook :) Then we made heart sugar cookies and decorated them with icing and sprinkles. Rexford and Austin had so much fun helping roll out the dough and use the cookie cutters. They especially liked pouring the sprinkles on the cookies and eating them. It was a fun day!

For my little loves

Opening their Valentine gifts

Pink pancakes! The boys loved them

The boys love their new books!

Eating a Happy Meal

Rexford's class

Rexford with his Valentine bucket that he decorated

Rexford passing out Valentine cards to his classmates

Rexford with his bucket of Valentines

They both were so eager to help roll out the dough and do the cookie cutters! Messy but fun :)

Making lots of yummy hearts

It's decorating time!

Pajama Day

This week at school Rexford's class was learning about the letter "p" so today was Pajama Day. They got to wear pajamas and slippers and bring their blanket and stuffed animal. Rexford wore his new Lego Star Wars pajamas and brought his blanky and Pooh bear. They watched part of Peter Pan and ate pretzels and popcorn. He was so excited to go to school for this fun day. They all looked so cute in their pjs and slippers! Here are some pictures of Rexford before school at home and then with his friend Grace when he got to school.

Earning Money

Rexford has recently been playing the Lego Star Wars video game when he goes to my dad's house so when he saw some Lego Star Wars pajamas at Target he had to have them. I explained to him that they cost $13 and he wants a lot of things he sees and I can't just buy them all for him. He wanted to know how he could get $13 so I told him he could do work to earn money. He wanted me to make a chart and he wanted to start doing jobs right away. He picked up lots of toys without being asked, made his bed, washed, dried, folded and put away 2 loads of laundry, and vacuumed my car for me. Brian said that doing some writing practice and not playing Wii could count too so he spent a long time doing workbook pages practicing writing numbers and number words 1-10. He also wrote a letter to his cousin Ethan and got it ready to mail. This all was done in a couple of days. I would have liked it to take him much longer to earn all the money but I let him earn quickly because tomorrow is Pajama Day at school. So I let him get to $13 in time to buy the pajamas for his special day at school. His next goal is to earn $20 to buy a Toy Story game for his Leapster Explorer.

Practicing numbers and number words

He wrote a letter to his cousin to mail

He made his bed (which we should make him do everyday but we're usually in a rush in the morning and it doesn't happen)

He "folded" and put away all the clothes

Two loads of laundry - done!

He earned $13

He was so proud of all the work he did and so happy to have his new pajamas

Brian Can Still Dunk

This clip is for my brother who laughed at me when I told him I thought I could get in shape and dunk again within a couple of weeks. Then I decided I could probably do it in one week, if I really tried. This was accomplished after only three days of training. Who knows where this may lead!

Day at Disney

Thanks to a really sweet friend, we were able to go to Disney on Saturday! I told the boys on Friday and they were so excited. We looked at some of the rides and things to do online and they were very excited to do the Toy Story rides. We started our day at Hollywood Studios so that we could do the Toy Story Mania ride and meet Lightning McQueen and Mater. We got in the line for the Toy Story ride and then a few minutes later they made us leave because it wasn't working and they didn't know when it would be running again. I was so disappointed because that was the main reason we went there. So we went over and got in line to meet Buzz. The boys had fun taking pictures with some of the decorations while waiting in line. Austin was excited when he saw Buzz but then once we got close he wouldn't turn around for a picture. Rexford stayed back of course :) Next we went over and found Luigi's tire shop to see McQueen and Mater. The boys loved this but were a little nervous about the loud engine noises. They were so excited to find a penny machine there too and both got one with their favorite Cars characters. Then we took them over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground and let them have fun on the slides for a bit. Then we decided to check the Toy Story ride again and it was open! So we got in line (50 minutes) and waited. I was surprised how well behaved the kids were for waiting in such a long line. They had a snack and were really good. It was a long wait but it was a really fun ride! You get to wear 3D glasses and ride around and shoot at fun targets. They loved it and wanted to do it again.

Then we left and ate lunch in the car on the way to Magic Kingdom. Rexford wanted to do the Buzz Lightyear ride first but ended up getting Fast Passes for those and then going over to wait in the race car line instead. Of course they loved the cars. I let Austin do all the steering and he did pretty well. It really wasn't too jerky at all :) Then we took a relaxing ride on the people mover ride and then did the Buzz ride. We did the Winnie the Pooh ride, Mickey's Philharmagic Show, the carousel, It's a Small World, Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride, and of course rode the train around the park because they love trains. It was so funny to watch the boys during Mickey's Philharmagic 3D show. Rexford reached out trying to touch something and Austin said, "whoa!" and they were both pretty amazed. We didn't take pictures with any other characters but we did get to see Jesse and Woody, Daisy, Minnie, and Pluto, and a few others around. We were all pretty tired and left around dinnertime but we had a really fun day together. It was a great day and we were so glad we got to go and have fun and let the boys see their favorite characters.

Austin and Rexford ready to have fun at Disney!

Playing in Buzz's spaceship

Sheriff Rexford

In the green suitcase headed for Tokyo

Austin meeting Buzz

Brian and the boys with Lightning and Mater

Mater and Rexford

Lightning and Rexford

making pennies

Rexford and Austin in front of Luigi's showing off their pennies

Going down a fun slide

Here I come!

Wheee!

Giant Play-doh (Rexford is covering his ears because it was making a loud sound putting out play-doh smell)

They loved watching Mr. Potato Head in line

Rexford wanted to pose with a monkey

Austin liked the monkeys too

Cool 3D glasses

So cute

Toy Story Mania

Brian and Rexford getting ready to drive

Having fun

Austin loved driving

Relaxing a bit

Buzz

Austin and Daddy

Rexford on the Buzz ride

Austin loved the carousel and wanted to keep going

Rexford