happy 4th!

happy fourth of july!

hopefully i will find the time to do some creative stuff this weekend and blog about it!

too good to be true

"how could this be possible?" "could it be THAT easy?" "when will he lose interest?"

these were the thoughts that ran through my mind this past weekend as i started kyle on potty training. (well, my mom started it and i continued.) it all started on friday when kyle complained that his wee-wee hurt. my mom took off his diaper and let him go commando. to my mom's surprise, kyle went to the potty by himself AND he even did #2 in the potty! my mom told me he was ready to be potty trained so i decided to train him.

going into the weekend, i was very pessimistic. i thought it was just a fluke because he would show interest in using the potty, but quickly return to the diaper because of accidents. amazingly, he didn't have a single accident this weekend! i didn't have to use the 20-30 minute timer or force him to go! i simply asked him if he needed to go and sometimes he would just go by himself. he would even stop playing outside to go pee!

i am astonished, shocked and extremely proud of my baby kyle. he made potty training too easy. (knock on wood.)

trouble

now look at what i got myself into....
















homemade scrapbooks

a birthday letter

dear aaron,

today is you a special day for you. it's your 4th birthday! in the past year you have grown tremedously! although you only weigh 35 pounds, you have grown so much as a person. you can speak clearly, you've finally caved in and sing(!), you have your own fashion sense (stipe shirts and jeans are your favorite), your competitive side is coming out, and you are a smart boy. you can do basic math, you can count to 100 (with a little bit of help), you're starting to read, and you can write your name! oh, and you can pronounce your middle and last name! how many 3-4 year-olds can say "mi-ya-gi-shi-ma?"

we had a big party for you at our house yesterday. all the people you love were there! your school buddies (jack, scotty, and ethan) came to celebrate your birthday too! you all had a blast! we continued the celebration today at disneyland and got your first annual passport so that you don't have to say you're 2 any more! we then went for lunch at red robin. you ate a whole corn dog, mandarin oranges, fries, chocolate milk shake AND an ice-cream sundae! (did i tell you, you only weigh 35 pounds?! :) you also had your first taste of gum today! you did great!

i hope this year will be a year where you'll discover sports so that you can keep up with your neighbor, katie! i hope you'll learn to swim, learn to ride a bike w/o training wheels, do some karate, t-ball, and basketball this year. don't worry, no pressure! daddy has high hopes for you in kendo, but that's not until you're 7 or 8. in the meantime, enjoy age 4 because soon, you'll be off to big boy school - kindergarten! mommy will sure weep then....

i love you!

- mommy -

custom scratchers

we had aaron's 4th birthday party yesterday and boy, was it a full house! we had a lot of fun and we hope everyone enjoyed themselves!

we had scratchers as "door prizes." i made scratchers for kyle's birthday and i thought i'd resurrect it!

here's how to make your own scratchers:

material:

• heavy cardstock
• color printer
• word document software or other software to create the card is fine
• scratch-off stickers

steps:

1. make the scratcher card using word doc (use whatever image or layout you like); make sure the words/prize area will get covered by the scratch-off sticker
2. cut and paste the scratcher card so that it fills up an 8x11 cardstock paper
3. print
4. cut out each card
5. remove the scratch-off sticker and place it over the writing/prize area!

have fun and get creative! i'd like to hear from you if you've tried making your own!

have you seen me?

ok, you guys can all call off the missing person search. i'm back!

i've been quite busy planning family night at aaron's school, making maddie's super late announcements, and planning aaron's 4th birthday party. plus, i've already gotten my in-laws 50th anniversary party, teachers' birthday celebration and teacher appreciation week activities spinning in my head. i swear i feel like i have A.D.D.

so here's aaron's birthday invitation. i'm not 100% happy with it; i had a creative block and time was running out. i will be posting maddie's announcements as soon as her mommy sends them out (i don't want to spoil her "surprise.").

happy birthday!

happy 4th birthday, houston!