Makenzie's 1st Birthday

Makenzie was the second of the crew of 2010 babies to turn 1.  (Zack- April; Makenzie-August; Dylan-Sept;  Mia-Nov; Joseph & Alex- Dec).  The Weidas hosted a pool party to celebrate Makenzie's first birthday - complete with butterfly decorations and a photo album filled with pictures for each kid as favors. Since it was my first time being out since surgery, I didn't take my camera so I pulled these pictures from Monica's blog :)

Dylan and Uncle Nolie playing in the pool

Brian & Brooke and Dylan & Uncle Nolie

Happy Birthday Makenzie Grace!

Touchdown!

Gavin's football team is having a great season so far - they are 3-0-1 (3 wins, 0 losses, and 1 tie).  At his August 14th game, Gavin contributed to the win by scoring his very first TOUCHDOWN!  I'm sure you can imagine how excited he was and how proud of him we were!  What a long way he has come from his first game where he didn't even want to play.  He really enjoys practice (mostly because he gets to "play with new friends") and loves the snacks provided after the games :) 

After practice each Monday the coaches hand out a newsletter recapping the previous week's game and also give out awards for the previous game....Gavin won the "Most Improved New Player" Award for his touchdown.  He was so proud of his award!  Here is what the coaches had to say in the newsletter...

Congratulations to our Most Improved New Player of the week Gavin! Gavin has come a long way these past few weeks and is continuing to show that there's always room for improvement. He gave us his first touchdown this past Sunday and we know his effort is limitless! Awesome job Gavin!! Congratulations to Gavin's parents.

TOUHDOWN!

At the end of each game all the parents make a tunnel for the kids to run through.

Most Improved New Player :)

 

Falcons are 2-0!

Gavin had his second flag football game last Sunday - they have won the first two games of their season!  Being the analytical, cautious person he is, Gavin has been slow to jump right into this new endeavor. At his first game, he didn't want to play but after getting to observe and analyze the situation, he decided to give it a try at his second game.  He played the position of the center - the one who snaps the ball to the quarterback (the coach). On most plays he would hand the ball off, but there were a few plays where he wasn't paying attention and coach just had to take the ball out of his hands :)  Once he snapped it though, he never paid attention again until the play was over (so coach could never hand the ball back to him to try and run it). I'm sure with each game he will get better - he enjoys practice and games and the snacks that follow the game and the fact that he is having fun is what's important anyway!

His team is good! There are some FAST little kids on that team that know how to pull flags and dodge people coming at them to run touchdowns! His coaches speak a lot of pidgen (a local "slang" type dialect) and we've noticed when Gavin practices at home, he mimics them!  Here are a few pidgen phrases -

*At half time last week, I overheard the coach say to Gavin, "Gavin, Brah you doin good today!"

*When they are practicing they must do their exercises in reps of 10 because Gavin will say, "Give me 10. Are you read-a?"

*This one is by far the funniest. Gavin's team is the Falcons, but they refer to themselves as the Dirty Birds. Every time they huddle together they say "Dirty Birds on Three...One, Two, Three, Dirty Birds!"  Only in the pidgen dialect, this is what they say..."Dirty Birds on Tree.....one, two, tree...Dirty Birds"  ("Three" is pronounced as "tree").   Gavin thought they were saying "Dirty Birds on Trees!"

He's not crazy about wearing the mouthpiece!

Gavin and Chloe

Mark & Steph + 4

Last Saturday we babysat Abby & Zack Martin while Matt and Katie went to a wedding. At first I was a little nervous having four kids ages 3, 2, 1, and >1 four days after my surgery, but to be honest they were easy.  We originally assumed Mark would be doing all the work, but I was able to pull my own weight :) Of course four kids need to be kept busy, but with all of the toys we have around here there was plenty to keep everyone occupied.  All the kids played great together and we had a great evening. 

We started the afternoon with a game of flag football. 

Abby showed a lot of potential :) Go Abby Go! I love her face in the middle picture :)

The boys...Gavin, Zack, & Dyan

After football it was time to go cruising - we had enough riding toys for everyone to get their own, but that didn't deter them from always wanting to ride on one someone else was using.

Next it was time for a walk around the neighborhood.

We made a pit-stop by the swings and let the kids run around outside.

Next stop was the big banyan tree for Abby and Gavin (Dora and Diego) to explore.

After dinner (pizza & fruit- something we knew everyone would eat) it was time for baths, brushing teeth and books. 

I'd say it was a very successful evening and fun for everyone.  As a side note, I wanted to say how much I enjoyed having Abby around.  I forget what it would be like to have a little girl in the house (the scene around here is usually one of chaos and full of rough play). She picked flowers on our walk, complimented me on my pink pajamas, liked looking at the beautiful sunset that evening, and cuddled with me on the couch while she and Gavin watched Dora before bed.  I guess since there probably won't be any more babies in this house, I'll have to borrow Abby again sometime to enjoy an afternoon with a little girl :)

Slipin-N-Sliding

There is something nostalgic about your kids enjoying the same things you did as a child. Playing in the rain...the smurfs...making tents out of blankets/chairs or big boxes...and playing on a slip-n-slide.  We bought a slip-n-slide about a month ago and have brought it out a few times for the kids to play on - both seem to have a blast! Gavin has got the hang of how to run and slip, but Dylan needs to be pushed- either way it was fun for all!

Where did Dylan go?

Marley loved having us all outside while she basked in the sun and rolled in the grass :)

First Day of School

Gavin started his second year at preschool on August 1st.  This year he is in the Yellow Class with teachers Mrs. Nguyen and Mrs. Robinson.  He is really enjoying being one of the "older kids" at school and all the different learning centers in his new classroom. Over the summer when he found out which room he would be in, he told me to be sure and let his previous teachers (Mrs. Magno and Mrs. Sutton) know that he would no longer be in the Blue Class...just in case they noticed he was missing :)

Here are a few pictures I took on his first day of school...

First Day of School in Yellow Class (2011-2012 SY)

Mr. Mom and his kids :)

First Day of School last year (2010-2011 SY)

Bedtime Woes

As a baby, Gavin went down with no fuss.  He was sleeping all night by 3 months and has always been a great sleeper (like change him into his pajamas and he would stay asleep if we were out late good). When we moved him to his toddler bed, we would read to him, say prayers, and kiss him goodnight without ever hearing a peep.  All of this somehow changed (maybe he sees the bad example his little brother is setting). Now, he gives us grief every night about going to bed and even more about taking naps on the weekends. 

With him being on summer vacation from school during July, we got pretty laxed on his sleeping rules- not making him take naps (which he does ok with most days and doesn't get too grumpy) and pushed his bed time back to 8 pm.  At night after baths, when we put Dylan down Gavin will ask us the dreaded question: "When Dylan goes to sleep go I watch one show?"  So being the great parents we are, we let him watch one of his 30 minute shows instead of reading books like we used to during that time. 

Now that school is back in session, we had to get his bedtime routines back to normal- so we told him his bedtime is 8:00 - and if he gets all of his bedtime routines done (including reading a book) before 8:00, he can watch TV until then.  Of course, even though he understands this and runs to check the time every night to point out to us that it is not 8:00 yet, when that dreaded hour rolls around he still throws a fit.  The temper tantrum is usually the result of an overtired child, who falls asleep within minutes of getting into bed, but these bedtime woes Gavin is giving us are starting to measure up to his younger counterpart in the room across the hall!

The lazy days of summer (I am referring to our lazy parenting here, not the child passed out on the Dog/Mom bed- see "It is funny now" post for explanation)

I forgot to mention that on some nights (many, many nights) Gavin will get out of bed and peek his head downstairs with a whole array of excuses why he needs us to come back up (I'm thirsty, I've got to go to the bathroom, You said you would come and check on me, etc...).  On this night, he must have got up and sat on the stairs without our knowing and when we came up several hours later to go to bed, this was our discovery.

It is funny now....

I had a microdiscetomy on Tuesday to remove the bulging part of my L5-S1 disk. The surgery went well - I stayed one night in the hospital and came home yesterday. Although my back is sore, I feel SO much better! No leg pain! I can walk (very, very slow) and move around on my own.  Movement is a little painful, but seems to be getting better each day. I was nervous about the surgery, but glad I had it done.  Now that I'm on the recovery side of surgery, I can talk about all the funny things that happened when my back was having another episode (no more pity-parties, I promise)

~The White Trash Family~

One day I needed to go to Target to fill a prescription for pain killers. The whole family went (I couldn't drive myself so Mark had to take me and the kids).  I limped in from the parking lot and felt relieved when I saw a motorized cart in the front of the store.  I hopped on that thing and took off. I laughed at myself and Mark was laughing at me (he wanted to take a picture, but luckily I talked him out of it).  Looking like either a 1) 99 year old woman OR 2) White trash that wasn't really hurt but taking the motorized cart from someone that really needed it -  I motored my way over to the pharmacy. (Let me paint the scene for you...Gavin standing up on the motor-cart with me trying to push the buttons causing us to jerk forward then stop suddenly...Mark pushing Dylan in the shopping cart. Dylan has wiggled his way out of the seat belt in the front and keeps trying to stand up in the cart)

I get to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription and "park" next to the consultation counter to talk to the pharmacist about my fear of over-dosing on all the pain killers I was taking.  Apparently you need to turn the motor-cart off because when I tried to pull away, it wouldn't move. My battery died. At this point, Mark had taken the kids somewhere else in the store, so I was stuck there - no moto-cart and no help.  I got off and abandoned my moto-cart and started painfully limping through the store to find Mark.  Eventually I made my way to find them and then back to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription.  I figured I would sit on my moto-cart (yep, it was still sitting where I left it in the middle of the aisle) and magically, it now worked. 

On our way out of the store, Mark looked at me and said we really looked like a white-trash family.  I would agree!

~Sleeping with the Dog~

Usually the joke is that when the husband gets in trouble in the marriage that he has to sleep with the dog.  Well, that's exactly what I had to do for a few nights.  We took the memory foam off our bed and put it in the living room floor for me to lay on my stomach during the day so I could at least be downstairs when the family was awake.  As the days went on, it got harder to get upstairs and get into our bed, so I eventually just slept all night on the memory foam mattress.  Marley LOVED having the memory foam to sleep on- she curled up next to me the whole time I was there.  I got a good glimpse into her life - lay around all day with nothing mentally stimulating to do and no one to talk to.  I started to feel sorry for her (and myself...I think that was the day I wrote the Pity-Party blog post).  

Marley kicking it on "our" bed. 

 

Hanai Family

In Hawaii the word "Hanai" has a similar meaning to the word "adopted." It is used to describe someone that is not related to you by blood, but that you consider family.  Our friends here are certainly like a hanai family. Of course it is hard to live so far away from our families, but having friends as great as ours makes it a lot easier.  Through this whole ordeal with my back, our friends have helped in so many ways...phone calls, text/facebook messages, cooking meals for us, watching the kids for us, and sending books and movies over for me to watch while recovering. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people in our lives.  Although my mom was worried about not being able to get over here to help out after I came home from the hospital, she knew our friends would be there to help us in any way we needed. So, to the most caring, wonderful friends a person could have - my hanai family - thank you!

Here are a few pictures taken when our friends watched the kids....

Last weekend Jenn took Gavin for the day so that Mark could help Tanya and Jerrod move (Dylan was in daycare, I was "handicapped").  She took them on a field trip to a macadamia nut farm.

Mark gave Gavin money to pay for his entry and to buy lunch.  Jenn texted me and said Gavin spent all of his money in the gift shop. He insisted he NEEDED macadamia nut cookies and he NEEDED to buy cinnamon rolls to help me feel better :)

The Weidas watched the boys for us one night this past week so that Mark could take me to get another MRI...

Sibling love (I guess that's what you call the headlock Gavin has on Dylan)