Dear Tyler,
Happy 5th Birthday! Hope you had fun at Sweet Tomatoes tonight eating pizza and clam chowder and loading up on treats. I know you are excited to go to Toys R Us this weekend to choose your birthday present. I wish you would stop growing so fast and stay my baby forever!
Love,
Mom
My nat nat has started her own blog. She’s mostly using it to showcase her drawings. Check it out:
http://nataliesday.blogspot.com/
The kids made me cupcakes for Valentines Day. They started baking last night. I asked Tyler, “What are guys doing?” and before he could say anything Natalie said “Don’t tell her Tyler! It’s a surprise!” They finished up icing the cupcakes this evening after dinner. Tyler was so excited about adding the sprinkles on.
Nat enjoyed licking the icing while working on the cupcakes!
“Before”
“After”
I also got 2 bouquets of flowers. Tyler got me red roses cause he knew (well Dad knew) they are my favorite, but Natalie insisted on selected a bunch of wild flowers. So they added them together in this vase for a pretty combination!
One of the hotel/resorts in Reno was having a “free room” promotion so we booked 3 rooms and made a weekend of it. And yes, they were FREE indeed. We stayed at a place called ‘The Grand Sierra’. The kids had fun playing in the hotel and eating buffets. On Saturday, we took them to Circus Circus for brunch buffet and to play some games and then all of us went over to Northstar Village. We originally wanted to go tubing, but it was sold out so we settled on ice skating. It was Natalie and Tyler’s first time ice skating. Natalie enjoyed it, but Tyler didn’t. After a few rounds, Tyler decided to quit and hang out to eat churros instead.
Playing games at Circus Circus
In the evening everyone went for lobster buffet so I took the kids to eat at Johnny Rockets. Poor Tyler got sun-burned/chapped that day.
Nat catching some air while jumping on the bed
Our room
Me: Nat, what should we eat for dinner tonight?
Nat: I don’t know. What do you want to eat?
Me: Let’s go eat Chinese food.
Nat: No!
Me: Why not? You’re Chinese.
Nat: No I’m not!
Do we look alike?
Natalie and I both had today off in observance of Martin Luther King Day. This morning, we were watching TV and there was a spot about him.
Nat: Today’s Martin Luther King Day. He was shot. Someone borrowed a gun and shot him.
Me: Why was he important?
Nat: Because he read a speech and then black people can sit anywere on the bus.
Christmas came and went like a blur. Is it just me or does each year go by faster and faster? We still haven’t gotten our house organized. There are still residual presents and Christmas stuff lying around. I haven’t found homes for all the new stuff yet. The kids made out like bandits this year! They pretty much got everything (and then some) on their wish lists. Santa was really lookin’ out! Thanks Santa!
After we got home from spending nearly two weeks in LA, I made it a point to pack up old toys to donate. The kids were pretty good about helping me too. I told them we needed to make room for their new toys. Most of the stuff we donated were Tyler’s toys. Little Kaiya gets to have Nat’s old princess toys. When we went to the donation center, Tyler watched his box of stuff go into the truck and he looked kind of sad.
Uncle Kang was nice enough to play Santa this year
Someone got mustaches as a gag gift so everyone tried them on
We hung out in SF on New Year’s Eve during the day
After 3 days of rain in LA, there was finally a break and we had a sunny day. Even though it was cold, the ice cream truck drove by.
“BIG UNCLE!! THE ICE CREAM TRUCK IS HERE!”
Tyler enjoyed ice cream on the porch with Big Uncle and they had a nice chat.
The kids went to the movies for the first time today. We watched Tangled. At first, Natalie was nervous and kept asking questions. “Is it scary?” or “Is it going to be dark?” They were excited to get popcorn too! Once the movie started, they settled in their seats. I had to shush Tyler a few times. Nat got so into the movie she even teared up when Eugene was dying.