Happy (really late) Valentine's Day!

My sister posted a funny bit on trying to compete with the elaborate "card" exchanges at the school, and it made me want to share what we did. It just took a while to get around to it! Starting at the beginning of Feb Caden started talking about how excited he was for Valentine's Day. I kept thinking, really? So I asked him why. He answered with a grin, "Because Daddy always gets us a chocolate heart!"
Okay, I need to explain this. When I was growing up, every year we'd wake up Valentine's day with an inexpensive heart with chocolates on our pillow from our dad. It wasn't much, but it really made us feel special and we loved it. I wanted Steve to carry on this tradition. Of course, he didn't think it was any big deal, so I was always the one to get the heart, make him sign it, and put it on his pillow. Well, this year with Caden constantly giggling in anticipation, Steve realized it was important to them. I wanted to do something special for them too, but didn't want to "compete" with Steve, so I had to think of something non-candy. I found these little heart molds at Target for $1 and knew I could use them. Caden has eczema, so I make little bath fizzies for the boys because he can't use bubble bath. I used the molds to make cute little heart fizzies for them. Then I found this little dinosaur tag I attached to the bag. Yes, I know it says friend, and Steve thought I was weird for using it, but I knew the boys would like the dinosaur and not really care about what it said. And, of course, I was right!



I wanted to make fun stuff to eat for them too. I was going to make them pink heart pancakes for breakfast, but the boys started talking about how they really wanted eggs and sausage for breakfast on Valentines.
I tried to die the eggs pink, but of course they turned out orange. The boys went along with it though. Then I made "magic" milk for them. I put a couple drops of food coloring in a glass when they weren't looking, so when I poured the milk, it magically turned pink. They loved that and kept asking for magic milk days later. Maybe we'll have it on St Patrick's Day...



For lunch we had tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches and red soda. I cut the sandwiches into little hearts and everyone really liked them, even Andrew!
Dinner was fun too, but we didn't get any pictures.

So Allison, this post was for you! I hope it sparks your imagination for next year! :)

Hot Dog

Steve and I always laugh at the silly people that dress their dogs in little outfits. So this is what we did...

A little rusty

Last week I was shopping at Walmart and I couldn't find the sugar cubes (because they don't carry them). I saw a man who worked there so I asked him where the sugar cubes were. He pointed to his ear and made signs like writing. Of course I didn't have a pen handy, but I thought, I can do this. I thought I remembered the sign for sugar, but it was awfully similar to the sign for cute, so I decided to finger spell it. My fingers were really slow and awkward, and I had to do it twice for him, but I made it. He answered me and I went on my way feeling proud I was able to use my ASL training, more to understand him than anything.
Well, this week I was back at Walmart, trying to find a hole punch without success. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a worker walking down the isle. I started to ask him where it was, when I recognized him as the deaf man from before. I couldn't think of the sign for hole or punch, so I just finger spelled it again. He helped me, I signed thank you, and then he quickly signed a question. Oh no. I could start to feel the pressure of a conversation in sign when I haven't really used it for 7 years. All I caught was "how you know..." Luckily I remembered the sign for again. He asked me how I knew he was deaf. I knew I couldn't finger spell that whole answer, so I struggled to remember enough signs to answer and plowed through a little conversation with him. It was fun to sign again, but it also made me flustered. Even though deaf people are always patient with my signing, I always feel more pressure signing with a deaf person. I would like to practice it more, but how do I find a hearing person who can sign?

Why can't boys communicate?

Last week Caden's teacher sent home a note saying, "Ask Caden about the award he got in the assembly today!" I thought, cool. So as we were walking home, I tried to get him to tell me about it.
Me - How was your day?
Caden - Fine.
Me - Did you do anything fun?
Caden - Not really.
Me - Anything exciting happen?
Caden - Nope.
Okay, I'm guess I need to be more specific.
Me - Did you have an assembly today?
Caden - Yeah! (a little surprised)
Oh good, now he'll tell me.
Me - Did any thing fun happen there?
Caden - No.
Argh!
Me - What did they do?
Caden - They gave out awards.
Me - Did you get an award?
Caden - No! (a little defensively)
What?
The whole way home I kept trying to get him to tell me about this award, but he didn't seem to know what I was talking about. I finally pulled out the note from his teacher and had him read it.
Caden - Oh yeah! I got an award.
Great! That's a start.
Me - Cool! What was it for?
Caden - Working hard.
Yes! We're on a roll!
Me - Who gave it to you?
Caden - Mrs. Ferachi. (his teacher)
Then I had to try and figure out if it was just some award that his teacher did for all the kids in the class, or maybe it was just the first grade. It was like pulling teeth to get it out of Caden. Finally, we got the story straight. It was a school wide assembly. His principal gave him a certificate for working hard. He was the only one from first grade. And everyone clapped for him. Pretty awesome. When we finally figured it out, we were very proud of him! And yes, these are the best pictures we got!



































Today was the 100th day of school for Caden. He made this castle out of 100 sugar cubes. I thought it turned out pretty well. Steve helped Caden find a picture of a castle on the internet, then they designed it together and I helped him glue it.

Happy Birthday baby boy!

That's right. Andrew turned one today. I don't know where the time has gone. We had a fun little family party and I thought I'd share some of the pictures. Enjoy!

First word

That's right! Andrew said his first word today! I feel like I've been pushing for it for a while. I always try and get him to repeat words that would be meaning full for him, mama, dada, etc., but he just looks at me and smiles. He makes the sounds when he's just playing around, but not communicating. He even shakes his head and says "Uh uh" but he's just playing. This morning I walked past him and didn't stop. He started whining, crawled after me and cried out, "Mama!" It was the sweetest whine I've heard in a long time!

Happy holidays!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. We were, and still are, sick the whole two weeks of vacation, so our holidays were nice, but low key. I made a few things for the boys and, believe it or not, they actually turned out pretty cute! You know those "taggie" baby blankets? Well, I found this idea for a taggie monster and I made it for Andrew. He likes it! He thinks it's really funny. It always makes him laugh.


I made these snakes for all three boys. Andrew's is about 4 feet long and the other two are about 5 feet. My sewing machine quit on Christmas Eve, so poor Andrew's snake only has one eye! The boys really like how big they are and they sleep with them every night. It feels so nice to make something the boys actually like!


Who's ready to party!?!