Book Blogging & Family Blogging

Hey there - if you are interested in reading my book "reviews" - please go to my other blog...

http://heathercim.wordpress.com/


Also, I think I'll be just updating everything on my other blog, so be sure to go over there from now on. It is just too much to keep up both blogs!

http://heathercim.wordpress.com/

See you there!

Just a quick update

I thought I would write a little update since I don't have much time and it has been a while.

Benjamin informed me last night that he is no longer going to play with dolls because boys don't play with dolls. I told that boys can play with dolls - that it is o.k. and he said that no, he just isn't going to play with dolls.

Ella asked me if she could be a kitty for Halloween. She also drew a picture and told me it was o.k. for me to take to work. :-D I thought Ella was doing better with going poo on the potty. She actually went while in Spokane in a restaurant bathroom all on her own doing, but yesterday, she had an accident at school. It wasn't really an accident as I know she knows what she was doing. UGH! Someone please tell me what to do!

Nicholas is now embracing his name and telling people that it is name rather than saying his name is Footy or Nick. He also tells people that he is two.

I am recovering from having my gall bladder removed on the 8th. It was an outpatient surgery though I did end up staying the night because of pain and nausea. I was back to work on my birthday (the 13th) though I probably should have taken one more day and if I had more sick time, I probably would have.

My mom is now doing oral chemotherapy because the other chemotherapy wasn't working. I hope that this oral chemo does the trick in kicking cancer out of her body.

I also learned that my dad has diabetes so now I'm even more concerned about my diet to make sure I don't have the same fate.

Well, that's all for now. Maybe eventually I'll write about our trip to Spokane this past weekend and the kids trip to a farm.

3 little stories

The other night when I asked Nicholas his name. He told me it was Nick. I said "Nick, not Nicholas?" and he said "noooooo (little laughter), not Nicholas. Nick!" Apparently, it was funny that I thought his name is Nicholas.

Last night, Benjamin was quietly singing "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele. I look at him and I smile and he grunts at me. Apparently, I am not supposed to notice his cuteness as he sings an adult song. :-D I should know this because when I was around 7 or so, my aunt (who is 10 years older than me) caught me singing to a song on the radio and exclaimed "that's so cute!". I didn't sing in front of her ever again or maybe anyone.

I am taking Ella to a baseball game tomorrow night. The plan was to take her to the Sunday game, but the timing isn't working out too well. We are taking the kids to stay at grandma and grandpa's house in Tacoma overnight on Saturday afternoon and picking them up Sunday afternoon so I didn't think we'd get to Everett by 4 since we are going to meet my brother for lunch on Sunday and that would mean we might not get to Tacoma until 2 or so. And Tacoma and Everett - a good 1 1/2 hour drive in between them at least, if not more due to traffic. Oh well, at least she will get to run around the bases which is all she really wants - that and getting ice cream in a baseball cap like Benjamin did.

Weekend of One on One

This weekend, I got to do some really fun things with each of my kids.

Friday evening, I took Nicholas to the library with me to drop off books, then we played at the playground there for a while. Then I took him shopping (that wasn't really fun but it was still one on one time). He enjoyed spending his time in the sand pit (something he would do again at a different park on Sunday).

Saturday

Saturday morning, we took the kids to their swim lessons. Thankfully, Benjamin got in the pool this time! They seemed to have enjoyed themselves. Nicholas, on the other hand, defintely enjoyed himself. He was doing a little doggie paddling in the pool. This time, instead of being in the pool with him, Jon went in so I could watch (and so I wouldn't need to wash my hair again before going to my next social event).

In the afternoon, I went to a friend's baby shower while Jon took the kids blueberry picking. They also got to look at some farm animals - they told me how they had fed the goat.

When they got home, I took Ella to the movie theater for her to see her first movie in a theater. We went to go see Kung Fu Panda 2. Most of the time, she was telling me she wanted to go home (probably because she was tired and not because of the movie). She did enjoy the popcorn though.

Then on Sunday, we went to church, then out to a picnic lunch with a couple friends and their almost 20 month old son. Nicholas liked the sand pit. Ella and Benjamin did too, though Benjamin also seemed to like just hanging on the blanket too.

Then that afternoon, I took Benjamin to see the Everett Aquasox game (the Mariners are too expensive when they play popular teams). I think he enjoyed it at lot. He watched the game, ate a hot dog, then went on an inflatable slide, ate some ice cream that came in a cute little baseball cap and then got to run around the bases after the game. I tried to get Benjamin to run on the bases by himself but he wasn't doing it so I ran with him (of course, I didn't mind that at all - though it isn't quite the same as when you are at Safeco Field).

A very busy weekend but it was definitely fun. I didn't get a lot of chores done, but we had a lot of fun. And an extra bonus is that one of the ladies at the church gave us some size 6 clothes for Ella and Ella was really enjoying the fairy costume. There are some really cute dresses in there too that I am so jealous of Ella's wardrobe!

Well, that's it for now. This coming weekend, we are going to a 40th birthday party of a friend of Jon's from high school that promises to have a bouncy house for the kids. We haven't seen this friend since we were going through IVF so it will be his first meeting our kids and our first meeting his son. Also, I plan to take Benjamin to a movie in the future and Ella to a baseball game because they both want to and well, so do I!

Little stories

Well, it's been a while again. I can't seem to get myself motivated to blog ever.

Here are some stories:

Nicholas got a string and told one of our kitties to come with him. Jon told Nicholas to walk away and the cat would try to get the string, so he did. And when the kitty got the string, Nicholas scolded him and said "Oviler, be nice!" (His name is Oliver but he pronounces it Oliver - something Ella used to do too).

Speaking of Ella and kitties, she LOVES animals. She wants to pick up the kitties so bad and pet them all the time. We told her she has to wait until she is 6 to pick up the kitties. She just wants to be like her idol, Olivia (the pig) and pick up the kitty. The other night,we watched an Olivia episode in which Olivia plays a "magic" trick on her brother and pretends to disappear. So when the episode was over, Ella announces that she was going to put on a magic show and buh-peer (IOW, disappear). Benjamin said it the same way. At one point, she announced that she and Benjamin needed to go their room so that we couldn't see them and buh-peer. Funny!

We started the kids on swimming lessons again and once again, Benjamin refused to get into the pool. We are thinking it is because the teacher is a girl and not Jonathan this time. No bribery was working on him. UGH! Nicholas, on the other hand, was in the pool with me and was doing great with swimming. I would hold him by the belly and he would go doggy paddling after the toy he just threw in the water. He was laughing the whole time and he even crawled over the float bridge thingy they made! Progress! Ella is doing well with swimming as well! I wish Benjamin would just get in the pool.

This past weekend was my 20th high school reunion and I didn't go. I really wish I would have. Had I scheduled things a little differently, I probably could have gone. Oh well. I hope I can get together with some people when I go over to Spokane sometime. We are going over there in September for a family reunion, so probably not then, but perhaps the next time. I hope!

4th of July

This past weekend was rather busy. We took all 3 kids to get a haircut (I need one myself too but haven't made that appointment yet). Then we took the kids on the bus (the 41 bus - very important detail to Ben & Ella) to downtown (Ella still says "down the town"). We just wondered around for a while, then headed back home for naptime. On Sunday, after church, we took the kids to Tacoma to visit my in-laws. We went to a farmer's market and got some fruit and a balloon animal( that Benjamin promptly popped once we got back to their grandparents house - thankfully, Nicholas forgot about his as his popped as we were trying to load things up). We also went out to lunch at a buffet where I learned that Ella & Nicholas will eat beets (though I don't) and Benjamin will eat chicken drumsticks (again, I don't eat - don't like dark meat). We went back to their house for the kids to open their presents from him - bubble guns and a big bottle of bubbles. They enjoyed that.

For the 4th, we went to a birthday party of a 2 year old from their daycare/preschool and came back home for a low key 4th. We watched some fireworks on tv and when it was over, Ella says she wanted to watch the fireworks. I told here that is what we've been doing. I don't know if they quite get excited about fireworks yet. At first, they thought I was talking about firetrucks.

This weekend, we visit my family for a family reunion on my dad's side. It shall be interesting and fun, I hope!

Quick Story

The other night Nicholas told me he wanted to sit on the potty. I took him. He sat on the potty for a full 5 seconds before he got up, stared into the potty, and saw that there was nothing there. He sat down again - this time lasting about 10 seconds. He gets up and I say - nope, there's none there. He then looks up to me and says "we need to go to store to get more." Ha! Silly boy!

He did tell me the other night he had to go potty and I sat him on there and he went pee! I was all excited, but he hasn't done it again and refuses to go on there each time I see him going poo. I offer, he declines. I don't push it as I don't want another Ella potty training time. Ugh - that was exhausting. I would love it if Nicholas trained himself. I already feel behind the curve when I hear that others have their 2 year olds trained already. Really? Am I just that bad at training or do other parents have more time to devote to it than I do?

Ben & Ella's 4th Birthday Party

We had Ben & Ella's party this past Saturday and yes, it did rain. We were covered though and the kids didn't even care that it was raining. They went ahead and played in the playground and because no one else was at the park, they played in the skate park, on the baseball fields and all the way across to the end of the other park. They had a great time. They didn't have success with hitting open their pinatas so we ended up using the strings to pull them open (and I put way too much candy in there as the candy did not come out like it was supposed to). They also enjoyed the little treasure hunt that I set up for them too (though I should have waited a bit longer as some kids showed up right after we played that little game). I also got a little horseshoe game for the kids to play.

It was a good day. I wish I had taken more pictures but I felt like I didn't have the opportunity to this year.

They got a few presents and they've played with them all - they got camping chairs (we had to go get one for Nicholas after he saw them), little computers, books, a little paper and pencil set, and M&Ms.

On another topic - the kids wanted me to tell them stories last night. Ella wanted stories about when I was pregnant with Ben & Ella, when I was pregnant with Nicholas, about when her friends were in their mommy's bellies (though I told her that 2 of her friends weren't in their mommy's bellies but were adopted - I tried to explain that as much as I could to a 4 year old). I thought about mentioning the whole IVF thing to the twins, but thought I'd wait a little bit longer for that.

Benjamin wanted stories about dinosaurs and flowers. I told him a g-rated version of Jurassic Park and made up a story about flowers (it wasn't easy for me).

And on yet another topic - I learned that I have gallstones this week so I'll be having my gallbladder removed in the near future. I don't see the surgeon until the 19th though so I'm not quite certain how soon after that the actual surgery will take place. Thankfully, it is done by laparoscopy so the recovery time is much shorter than if it was a bigger incision being made. My dad had it done a few years ago and he said he was fine a week later. I hope that's the case for me too!

That's all for now! Until the next time when I feel like blogging!