Los Aldama

Happy Birthday to a little boy who melts my heart. We are so blessed to have Corom in our lives with his sweet disposition and sensitive personality. At 3 Corom loves Toy Story, playing with his best friend, joyschool, nursery, playing spiderman, adores playing and creating with Noelle, thinks Elijah is amazing and loves to give kisses. In some ways it feels like Corom has been a part of my life forever, and in some ways it feels like it has gone by in the blink of an eye. I cannot imagine my life without him. We celebrated tonight with a small get together at McDonalds. Happy meals and play...what can be better? Dan's parents are here from California and have the kids for the night at the hotel. We also created another cake masterpiece! It has been a weekend of celebration! HAPPY BIRTHDAY COROM! We love you!

I don't know when it happened. Elijah is so big that he loves playing with the big boys. I wonder if they will always have the same friends. We are having a quiet day today. The kids wanted to have a picnic in the living room! We are preparing for a weekend away. It is our first one ever along (besides camping) and we have been married almost 9 years. Deb (Dan's mom) is brave enough to have the kids by herself for the weekend and Dan and I are going to Idaho to see about potential employment opportunities. I know, you are probably saying, "IDAHO?" We are going where the job opportunities are and have found a few good communities. We will keep you posted! Hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day. We did- it was full of parties and candy!

Let me paint a picture for you of what life is like with my five year old. I swear I could write books about Noelle as funny as any Junie B. or Ramona Quimby books. Yesterday morning she was outside playing with friends and as I came down the stairs she said to them (their parents included) "Oh, no! Its my boring old mom!" Okay, even typing the statement makes me want to cry! I'm 29- that is not old and I know I spend my days doing housework, but I wouldn't consider myself boring! Anyways, fast-forward a few hours and Noelle and I are on our way to the craft store. Noelle is wearing royal blue (tight) stretch pants, a long-sleeved purple shirt that barely passes her bum with a kind of diagonal- cut and ruffle at the bottom, pink hello kitty rain boots and Corom's spider man full-head (tight) mask. It was so snug in fact that her little ears were pushed out. Here is where the true Noelle comes out- she has an ABBA obsession lately. She sang in the car, at the top of her lungs "Take a chance on me" like 10 times! "PLAY IT AGAIN MOM!" The funny thing is that through my rear view mirror I could only see a spider man singing ABBA with a great big smile! This child is so imaginative and creative. I must admit that having a child like this is exhausting, but I wouldn't trade her for the world!

We have a remote controlled Land Rover LR2- it has beefy tires and is huge. Corom comes up to me this morning crying and says, "Elijah took my Happy Little Dumptruck!" (Have you ever read that Golden Book from probably the 1950's-hilarious!)

We were driving in the car this morning and Noelle said: "How about I go to kindergarten, the boys go to daycare and you stay home and clean the house!" "Why are you laughing mom?" (Dan and I had just been talking about how nice it is that the kids get to stay home!)

We were eating lunch yesterday and Corom looks up at the picture of Christ on the calendar. "Remember that day when Santa and Jesus Christ came to the earth, UMMMMMM, what is that called again?" (Me: "Christmas") "Oh yah, Christmas!" (Is this what we are teaching our children? That Santa and Christ symbolize the same thing? Oh, no!)

Elijah's words of the week: When you call out "ELIJAH..." He will respond with, "What?" He cannot say Corom's name but has learned to pronounce his middle name "Bennett". He calls out for "Berries, cheese, yogurt, juice, water, milk, bite, food," When you ask "Who wants breakfast, lunch or dinner?" Elijah squeals. He also walks around the house pointing to all of the light switches, "LIGHT?!" Its funny because it seems like he understands just about everything we say and is very tuned in. Its like he is always listing to what I say and is ready to respond.

This morning we dropped the car off early and went out in our jammies. I couldn't resist taking a picture of Elijah in his long johns and snow boots. He looks like a little old man with his big belly.

Corom wanted his picture taken but would not look at the camera!

I was trying to catch a picture of him pointing to the car on the pillow, while making car noises. He looked up and smiled.

We're not sure where this silly smile came from!

We actually went out to breakfast with him wearing this!

The kids have been playing pirate ship with blankets, baskets, pillow, etc. They are so creative- it has been 2 days now and the pirate play is still going strong. It is even equipped with a pirate baby birthing area, a food area, a sleeping area, you get the idea. Any how, this bat has doubles as a cannon and a telescope!

Reason Number 1 that I am grateful to live in 2011- I can sit down at 10:30 at night to plan a preschool lesson for tomorrow morning and find a whole lesson plan full of clever, colorful, printable things in like 10 minutes. Seriously, what did we ever do before we had this resource?

On a side note, I really am not a slacker. I do not usually procrastinate so much. It has been a REALLY BUSY WEEK. We are preparing for the Stake Dinner on Friday. I just finished 200+ sugar cookies, for example! We are also preparing crafts for all of the kids. It should be a lot of fun, just on a really large scale!

Have a wonderful week- I'll post more later! Oh, one more thing...we officially have a climber! I found Elijah on top of the kitchen table and on top of the play kitchen in the playroom. He also frequents the bathroom where he will either climb in the tub or stand on the toilet. Lovely, I know. I have to encourage myself to start babyproofing the house again.

Doesn't this picture make you smile? These moments brighten my days!

Rub a dub, dub, when its 20 degrees outside and you want to swim, you put on your bathing suits and swim in the tub!

I am sitting in the car outside the hospital. It is freezing! The temperature is 16 degrees with a wind chill. The coldest I have felt here so far.(waiting for Dan)