Twenty-One Questions to Ask Your Kids

Tonight we squeezed in this little Q&A with my darlings as we were wrapping up with dinner and getting baths ready. The idea came from Mama Pea's blog, and her kids' answers are hilarious.

1. What is something Mommy always says to you?

Emily:  "Don't go pee pee in your pull up tonight."

Jake: "Stop!"

2. What makes Mommy happy?

Emily:  When I don't go pee pee in my pull up.

Jake: Me.

3. What makes Mommy sad?

Emily:  When I don't give you a hug.

Jake: Me

4. How does Mommy make you laugh?

Emily:  Tickle me.

Jake: Tickle me.

5. What was Mommy like as a child? 

Emily:  You liked being tickled.

Jake: Me.

6. How old is Mommy?

Emily:  57

Jake: 3

7. How tall is Mommy? 

Emily:  50 inches

Jake: Big...No, wittle.

8. What is Mommy’s favorite thing to do?

Emily:  Do the laundry.

Jake: Play with sissy.

9. What does Mommy do when you’re not around?

Emily:  Do laundry.

Jake: Say goodbye.

10. If Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?

Emily:  No, not that one Next question.

Jake: --

11. What is Mommy really good at?

Emily:  Doing laundry and not cheating at Mancala.

Jake: Toys.

12. What is Mommy not very good at?

Emily:  Making good smoothies.

Jake: Ummm...being silly.

13. What does Mommy do for her job?

Emily:  Work.

Jake: Dancing.

14. What is Mommy’s favorite food?

Emily:  Corn and meat and meatloaf. 

Jake: Cheese.

15. What makes you proud of Mommy?

Emily:  Not cheating at Mancala.

Jake: Singing,

16. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?

Emily:  Minnie Mouse

Jake: Dancing.

17. What do you and Mommy do together?

Emily:  Play at the park and ride our bikes and sing "Stuck Like Glue."

Jake: Dancing.

18. How are you and Mommy the same?

Emily:  We have the same hair sometimes.

Jake: Big.

19. How are you and Mommy different?

Emily:  You are big and I am small.

Jake: *Gagging noise* ???

20. How do you know Mommy loves you? 

Emily:  Because sometimes we listen.

Jake: Dancing.

21. Where is Mommy’s favorite place to go?

Emily:  McDonald's to get a salad.

Jake: Sonic

Wordless Wednesday - Loev

We Swim

When it is 108 in the Central Valley, we happily take our sweat-drenched bodies over to Mom and Dad's house for a dip in the pool. Emily likes to horse around with Uncle Tony and Daddy, but she toned it down a little this day so Jake could join us.

Potty Trained and Ready for Preschool

Emily started preschool at Harvest Christian Preschool on July 1. Here is a picture of us on her first day.

She has been doing wonderful there, having no potty accidents, learning lots of songs, styling Mrs. Sarah's hair, and making new friends.

Wordless Wednesday: Picking Flowers and Bored with Tummy Time

Soothing Words

Emily (as Jake was screaming in the car ride to Anthony's baseball banquet):

"It's okay, Baby Jake. Stop crying...we're going to a party."

Wordless Wednesday: Smiley Guy and Sliding in Sacramento

How to Beat A Hot Day; Or...May in the Central Valley

Yesterday was a hot one. After a very quick trip to the park and nearly getting our bums burned on the slide, Emily and I decided a different choice would be better. So, we hit up Sonic Drive-In's 2-4 Happy Hour for some refreshing cold treats. Emily opted for the usual Cherry Slush, while I indulged in a large Diet Dr. Pepper (with the good, crunchy ice!). We ate in the car (okay, van) while Jake slept and blasted some good ol' country music.

Best part: Making our toddler smile.

Second best part: it cost me under $2.00.

A Toddler's Work

How to turn a simple lunch of macaroni & cheese, pretzels, peanut butter, and blackberries into this:

Step One: Remove pretzels from tray.
Step Two: Mix Mac & Cheese into peanut butter.
Step Three: Eat Up!

Toddler Talk

Although I think Emily is a very good talker, sometimes her pronunciation is not the best. Here is a little guide to understanding some of Emily's verbiage:

Fire enshen - Baby Jake's pacifier (Supposed to be "fire engine." We think she calls it this because there is a "fire" sound at the end of the word, but who knows!)

Tummis - Hummus

PooBucks - Starbucks

pamish - sandwich

machamovie - Max and Ruby (Nick Jr. cartoon)

abalabella - abracadabra (what she says to "magically" open the doors to the car)

My Mother's Day = Wonderful

Why My Mother's Day Was Amazing:

1. Sleep. I think it is what every mother of an infant desires most, and it is what I got. Ryan let me sleep until 8:00 on Sunday, which is wonderful. I feel like a million bucks now!

2. Mother's Day Tea with my mom, sister, and our escort, Jake. This lovely event was hosted by Latinas Unidas and held at the Vineyard Restaurant where we grubbed on sweet bread, chile rellanos, mango salsa, and enjoyed just one of Joel's Lemon Drops (please try this...it will knock your socks off!). There was a Sexy Shoe Contest, though I didn't dare enter with my comfort-based apparel choices. Jenn won a great original oil canvas by a local artist, Mom got a Grandma's Baking Kit, and I got a prize for being the mom with the youngest child (finally...all those sleepless nights paid off!). I also got to see two moms honored as Mothers of the Year (one of them had 16 children and over 50 great-grandchildren, and the other raised four girls after being abandoned by her husband when the youngest was just two).

3. Time with my mom, who is amazing and wonderful.

4. Time with my kiddos, who are fun and adorable.

5. Dinner with the Fam, but no cooking for me! Because it is so hard to share holidays with multiple families, we decided to celebrate Mother's Day on Saturday, where everyone could enjoy the day guilt-free. Dad made his fabulous Pappy's Chicken, Ryan made some non-lumpy mashed potatoes, and Evan and Jenn topped it all off with some amazing Strawberry Shortcakes. Yuuuuuuum!

6. Handmade gifts, like this one that Emily made for me.

Mommy Time

With all this "new baby" business, Emily needs her special time with Mommy and Daddy more than ever. Here is some Mommy time, but as you can tell from the photo, I had to pause my recording of "What Not to Wear" and that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

"This is my Daddy"

Many, many things are about Daddy these days, and we're not sure the reason.

Incident 1

We were at a friend's 3rd birthday party and Emily told everyone at least twice, "My Daddy's at work" (pronounced "wook") without any prompting or questions. It's something she shares with almost anyone, anywhere.

Incident 2 (ongoing)

Mommy (noticing that Emily has shoes and a hat on): Emily, where are you going?

Emily: Fishing, with Daddy.

Sometimes she will say they are going to catch big fish, but other times she says they will only catch the little ones (as if she's trying to convince me to let her go???). We have never talked about fishing, and Ryan doesn't even know where to fish around here.

Incident 3

Emily and I draw on her Magna Doodle frequently. Its creative, but not too messy. Recently, she has been asking me to draw everyone she knows (usually Daddy, Mommy, Emily, Baby Jake, Mimi, Papa, Jenn, Evan, Anthony, Carrie), and I proceed to draw something resembling a stick figure either wearing a dress or a shirt and pants. Yesterday when she asked me to draw Daddy, I asked her to draw him instead. So she did, and when she was done, she proudly said, "This is my Daddy."

Sibling Love

Two reasons I love this picture:

1) Emily. She is absolutely thrilled to have a new baby brother. She gets so proud when she holds him, and loves having her picture taken right now. She'll even bring me a camera and ask me to take a picture. Crazy girl.

2) Jake. Apparently he doesn't share the same enthusiasm. He makes the best "grouchy old man" face around, double chin included. I keep telling him that the more he frowns, the more wrinkles he'll get later in life. I'm just trying to look out for him.

Easter

This year, our Easter was spent in Palm Springs in a very relaxed way. We got up, packed up our stuff, and had a little Easter Egg Hunt (all those eggs for just Emily!).

Uncle Tony helped Emily find ALL the eggs:

We stopped to take a picture to send to Daddy:

Jake couldn't participate in the Egg Hunt, but he was a good sport while being pushed in his stroller by Ga-Ga and being held by Pa-Pa ("Little Pa-Pa," as Emily calls him, since "Big Pa-Pa" is great-grandpa Mindt).

Then, Emily and Anthony fed the geese...candy. Emily wanted to give the birds some of the treats that fell on the ground during her high-speed hunt. So..We finally took some family photos, but it was a challange getting Emily to look at the camera while she held a bucket full of candy. Talk about temptation!

And after an Easter Brunch at Marie Callendar's, we said our good-byes and headed home. Before we left, though, Emily offered to drive Big Pa-Pa's RV home for him:

We finally started our long trip home. Yikes...7 hours in the car with a 2 1/2 year old, and a 3 week old on Easter Sunday. Don't be jealous.

Palm Springs

We took our first road trip! I headed down to Palm Springs with the kids for a little 4-day getaway. My parents and grandparents were so kind to share their timeshare and space with us. Unfortunately, Ryan had to work, but we decided to go anyway. Mom was our co-pilot on our drive, but she was mostly on Pacifier Duty, as the Jake-ster did not like being without his (thus, we've dubbed him the "Lazy Sucker").

Well, we had fun once we got there. Here are some pictures of what Emily did the entire time (swim!):

And here's what Jake did (talk and coo and stare at Ga-Ga and Pa-Pa):

We were so sad to leave, as it was wonderful watching Emily and Jacob spend time with their grandparents and great-grandparents. And thank goodness all those extra hands were happy to help, because there is no way I could have done it alone!

Pictures of Jake

Because Blogger has some size restrictions, we decided to post a link to pictures of his first week. Click below and enjoy!

Baby Jake

Mama Mia!

We made pizzas at home last week, and Emily loved it!

Emily and I brushed our pizzas with sauce, then loaded on some cheese, pepperoni, and olives.

She was kind enough to stop and take a picture with Mommy.

Then, she helped Daddy make his pizza. She made sure not to short Daddy on any cheese!
By then, she figured out that all ingredients were edible. Yummmm!

"A" Team

I pity the fool.

Baby Cake

Why My Workplace/Co-Workers Are So Awesome

Reason #1584: Baby Shower thrown on February 13

*Background: Email received on February 4: "Thought of you when I saw these...make sure you read the captions below the cakes. CakeWrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong."

On that day, my co-workers found me at my desk, almost in tears, laughing. The email began to circulate, and those cakes became a source of many more laughs. These three were my favorites, all coming from a blog called CakeWrecks, a very witty, undeniably funny website where the worst of the worst of all cakes are highlighted:

Jen's Quotes (from CakeWrecks):

Sasha probably wasn't too happy when her colleagues gave her this

The plastic clone babies wearing naught but mohawks are bad enough, but then they're also riding carrots. What do you do with that? It looks like some kind of perverted vegetable rodeo, or maybe a bizarre clone military exercise, what with their little plastic fists raised high in identical salutes. And what kind of occasion calls for a "naked babies riding carrots" decor, anyway? No, wait, maybe I don't want to know.

...and this beauty:

And then there are the disturbing cakes. If you received this one, you'd have nightmares for years.

Bring on the nightmares, because my marvelous boss/baker extraordinaire brought this delicious dulce de leche goodness to the shower:

...and these were the remnants that were found on my desk afterwards:

I toted them home to share in some laughter with my mom and sister. Emily found them on the counter and was a little confused, repeatedly saying "Daddy fix baby." Sorry, honey.