Mothers Day Present

This is what Samson made for me at preschool for Mothers Day, and I LOVE it!!

Miss Carli asked the kids questions about their moms & filled the answers in for them. Every time I read this I laugh. Obviously I need to spend an entire day with him just talking about ME. At least he knows my name is Tracie....lol

Chocolate covered strawberries, YUM!! And the cutest strawberry hand print art. The strawberries are long gone, but the hand print art I will put in his memory book and keep forever (along side the paper about me, that is mostly not accurate, heehee).

Spring Wings

For Samson & Seri's Easter baskets this year I was feeling a little cheap/crafty, so I decided to make their main Easter gift. Seri has butterfly wings & Samson has Blue Angel wings, both made out of 3 layers of cereal boxes, hot glue & fabric glue. I don't expect them to last too long, but so far they are still going strong. Even with Samson forgetting he now has to factor in "wing clearance" as he runs through and behind things they remain fully intact. LOL

Seri's Two Year Pictures

Here are several pictures from Seri's 2 year photo shoot. It was so hard to pick which ones to post because I love them all so much! A HUGE shout-out to my friend Ashleigh for being the awesome and talented girl that she is! You rock Ash, thank you!!!!







This black and white picture is Sal's favorite




Seri is running "fasss"

Swimming with Cousins

Samson has become quite the little swimmer, especially in the last few weeks. We've been able to visit Uncle Travis & Auntie Diana a lot lately so he's had several hours of practice. When his cousins got here he decided he didn't need his life vest any more, and he swam (actually swam) for a couple of hours on his own. He followed his cousins around the pool with a fair amount of ease. To say I was impressed would be an understatement. I was amazed watching him swim the length of this Junior size Olympic pool over and over again. When he would get tired he'd flip over onto his back for a rest. The year of swim lessons has paid off, yay!

Spring Butterflies

I found this cute blog, http://funhandprintart.blogspot.com/, full of hand and foot print art. I really like how these turned out except for a few things. I wish I wouldn't have outlined Seri's hand prints & I accidentally had Samson do his upside down. Oops. I bought a 12x12 leather binder w/ clear page protectors with the idea that we'd do a monthly themed art piece. I love the idea of having a binder full of a year of their growing hand/foot prints to look back on. Unfortunately, Seri was not a fan of me painting her palms and feet. In fact, she hated it so much and screamed and cried so hard someone might think the paint was causing her physical pain. Another unfortunate thing is that because I know it doesn't actually hurt her, at all, I'm okay with torturing her for a minute in the name of capturing this cuteness that I can hold and flip through for years to come. Sorry Seri. Bwahahahaha...

When they drive me nuts....

.....I make them craft. Samson & Seri have been bickering & teasing each other non stop for the last few days. Literally, from the moment they wake up they start fighting. The last two mornings it's been over a Nemo stuffed toy. Nemo now belongs to me. Their toy room is looking scarce as I have confiscated whatever they are fighting over. I had to take so many deep breaths today I felt light headed. If they keep this up I'll need meds. So, whenever they drive me nuts like this I pull out a craft. They're too busy creating to fight. I'd much rather clean up a huge mess that listen to the fighting. So today they made necklaces out of noodles.

Step 1: Paint the noodles
Step 2: Paint hands
Step 3: Paint Seri's hands
(Seri has decided she doesn't like paint on her hands)
Step 4: Paint arms
Step 5: After noodles dry they strung them on yarn

Step 6: Be SO happy to wear their homemade bling.
Step 7: Craft over, happiness over. Start fighting again over stupid princess rings that were on Target cupcakes. Bye bye rings.

Happy 2nd Birthday Seri Baby!!!

Seri, today you are TWO years old! For the most part you are very mellow and sweet, but you do have your moments when you're a complete ball of fire. At two years old you love having books read to you, coloring, and play dough. When Daddy gets home from work you get SO excited! As soon as you hear the "click" of the door unlocking you squeal with delight and run to the door yelling "Daddy home, daddy home!!" Lately, you've been a little turkey at bed time. You've become very good at stalling, especially with your daddy (but that's because he's a sucker, heehee). You cry and in the most pathetic sounding voice say "I want numm numms", as if you're starving. But if we start rocking you, you forget about being starving and fall asleep. That's how we know we're getting played.

You also love teasing Samson (but he probably deserves it). You ram him with your baby stroller, randomly throw things at his head, and knock down his towers that he spends to much time building. We call you "The Seri Monster". But you also love giving him hugs and are eager to say "sowwy Feefee" (we'll get to that later). You're not to into sharing. Even if you weren't playing with a toy doesn't mean someone else can play with it, after all "dis mine!" One way I'm able to get you to finish your meal is to take your plate and offer it to Samson, then you're all of a sudden hungry again.

Samson is your idol. You copy everything he does. Literally. Everything. Dance moves, silly sounds, transforming, he does it and you copy it. A new phrase you've learned from him in the last few days is "Poopoo peepee head", followed by giggles. It's awesome (sarcasm). You know, and often hum, the theme songs to Star Wars and Superman. You are a perfect mixture of tom boy and girlie girl. You love playing tea party and taking care of your babies, but you also love playing with Legos, cars, light sabers, and flying like superman.


Some of the things you love;
your pink w/ polka dot blankie
Pae Pae (the little penguin Grandma & Papa got you at Seaworld)
swinging
M&M's
Seasea (Mommy & Me movie, Sailers Went to Sea Sea Sea)
bubbles
balloons
airplanes

Seri-isms;
Tee tu - Thank you
Feefee- Samson (We have no idea why you started calling him this)
No! I saaaay FEEFEE!! - This is done in your best Asian accent whenever we try to get you to actually say "Samson". And then, compliments of Saturday Night Live, your Dad tries to get you to say "Heee look-a liiike-a maan". Don't worry, we'll YouTube this for you when you're older.
Two five two - This is how you count
Uhhh....no tee tu - You have such good manners
You mean! - It's hard not to laugh when you glare at us and say this
Weeee - swing
Numm numms - food
Sowwy - sorry
bess u - When ever anybody sneezes or coughs. So sweet.
So far you don't call any animal by its name but instead by the sound they make "mooo, ruff ruff, ee-ee-aww-aww", etc.

As you can see, you're the definition of cuteness and we absolutely adore you. I love smothering you with kisses and gazing into your deep brown eyes. I swear they sparkle. I love staying home with you and Samson. When I hear you two giggling together it melts my heart and is music to my ears. Your father and I love you to the moon and back a million times.....

"Not I", said the duck.

Today we spent the day in Solana Beach celebrating Uncle Rob & Seri's birthdays. Samson & the neighbor girl, Marley, became friends instantly. Together, while exploring the backyard, they found wheat. Uncle Rob gave them stones & they spent the next 45 minutes trying to grind their wheat into flour so they could make bread. It was adorable watching their determination and team work.
On the drive home Samson asked several questions on how bread is made. He really wanted us to grind the wheat he brought home with us into flour and then make bread with it. We came to a compromise and decided that we would make bread with the flour I already had on hand. Both kiddos helped measure & pour the ingredients, and both were in awe at watching the dough being made through the bread machine window. One of my favorite parts of being a mom is watching their excitement and being a part of their learning. It's just awesome.