5 years old

Aisling turned 5 last Sunday. Crazy to think I have a 5 year old. We celebrated her birthday at chuck e cheese with her friends from school and family too. It was great fun. She had a blast and got to go in the ticket blower which she was very excited about. Although when she got in there she got a bit freaked out and nervous, even made boo boo face, but once the tickets started flying she was fine. I made her a rapunzel tower cake with red velvet cake as per aisling's request. Although to be honest she calls it red velver. Anyway, it was a fun day and she is very excited to be 5. Still can hardly believe it.

Potty training

Xander asked for big boy undies last night and even wore them for a few hours before bed time. And yes of course he peed in his pants but it's a big step in our lives. Kind of wished he waited for next week though as I am swamped getting birthday cakes ready for ais and my brother. I don't really have the time to sit on the floor of the bathroom with Xand, but there is no way I am going to stand in the way of potty training progress either!!

Update

Ok since I just finally got around to posting our fall update, I've decided to change things up a bit here on the ol' blog. Needless to say motherhood leaves me little to no time to get on this computer and the blog has a really lame way of adding photos so it is a total pain and I can never get it done. So from this point on I will be loading pics to our photobucket site and only updating the blog with text. Not quite as exciting, but I really want to keep a record of what the kids are doing, and I think this may be the best I can do at this point in my life.

Anyway, so here is what is going on currently. (I have no time to go back and talk about what I have skipped over) :) And just a warning what follows is bound to be a stream of consciousness with what is sure to be appalling grammar and spelling.

Aisling:
She is turning 5 on Sunday which is an insane thought. She is having a Rapunzel party at Chuck E Cheese with a bunch of her friends. She is very into Rapunzel, Little Mermaid, Tricereatops, and of course Unicorns. She goes nuts for them. She loves to draw and draw and draw. I have to bring a bag to school now to carry home all her drawings that she does every day. She's recently gotten an official diagnosis of Cyclical vomiting and has been on supplements which have made a huge difference in how often she gets sick. She is in dance class at the moment and loves to tap. She is very into music and sings constantly. We just had her parent teacher conference and she got a glowing report. She is doing great at everything, still prone to be a bit dramatic, but is doing amazing. She loves being at school and playing with her friends. Her best bud is still Natalya.

Xander is going to be 3 in a couple of months. He is full of energy and always on the move. He is down right exhausting and is still a challenging 2 year old. We have just started the potty training and it is going slow for the moment. But I am excited that a diaper free world is just around the corner. He just started a My Gym class and loves it. He is very strong and agile and just loves to run around and jump and chase after the instructor Matt. He is very into Buzz lightyear, Pirates, Star Wars and Cars. He also tends to love all the princess and fairy movies thanks to his sister. He is really cute and fun when he is playful. He does the cutest little squirrel yawn noise and loves to pretend to be animals. Animals are still one of his favorite things. He still is a totally picky eater and aside from milk, cereal bars, peanut butter eggos, pizza, chocolate chip pancakes, and fries he doesn't eat much else. Sometimes he'll go half a day without eating. Guess he is too busy to be bothered. He is just giving up naps again which is a total bummer, cause I need them more than he does. He sleeps sporadically in his room and usually ends up in our bed at some point of the night.

One of my favorite things about the kids is during our nightly routine. After the kids are tucked into bed we each take turns telling a story, even Xander. It is so sweet to hear Aisling's tales about Unicorns and to hear Xander start his story... "once upon a time."

So there we have it for now. More to come later I am sure.

Fall Time

Here we are again. More pics of what we have been up to.


The kids with Goofy. He's Xander's favorite and Xand is finally letting the characters get near him.

Aisling with her favorite (for the moment) princess Ariel.


Another of Aisling's favorites Jack and Sally. It is her favorite movie and she just loves the Jack ride (haunted Mansion)


I took the kids to the beach on a super hot 90 degree day in November.

At Vinces with the family for Grandma Petals 90th birthday.


Grandma Petal with all the Great Grandkids


Cake time at her party at her home.


Took Aisling to her first live theater show (outside of Disneyland) to see Peter Pan. She loved it.


Xander eating his guacamole and chips. One of my favorite things. I am soooo proud. :)

Here's are budding artist at preschool. She just loves art time.


Ais at her eye dr. She doesn't have to wear an eye patch anymore. Yay!!!

Play time with Aisling's best friend Natalya.

Aisling at the Halloween carnival with another good buddy Alicia.

Aisling with her teachers, Mrs. Bond and Mrs. Taylor.

Aisling with fellow Dino junkie Joseph.

Pumpkin pickin time at the farm.

Horsie rides.

Wagon ride.

Drive in time at Bob's Big Boy.

Aunt Joan and Sam joined us for the drive in.

Our caterpillar "Sparkle" tunrs into a Butterfly.

Trick or treat with Benjamin and Arianwen.

Apple Pickin.

More Apples.

Summer Fun

I'm on a roll. Here are some more pics from this summer. And of course in no particular order.


We took the kids to Jump N Jammin on Labor day. Aisling loved this automatic cannon that she would shoot at Daddy.

More Jump N Jammin fun. We all climbed all around the structure. We were all so tired by the end of the two hours we spent there, but we all had a blast.

We had lunch at Grandma Petals recently and of course made a stop at the ice cream parlor. Grandma turns 90 next month by the way.

Ailsing on her first day back at preschool. She is in room 4 this year with Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Bond. She is also going Monday, Wednesday and Friday this year.


Aisling has been doing great with her glasses. We have had to start patching her right eye for a few hours a day. I had to do it too when I was a kid and I remember hating it. She is handling it like a trooper though, especially now that I bought her a little Mermaid eye patch.

Aisling, Xander and Matthew on a recent trip to Disneyland.

Xander at our only beach trip this summer. He loved digging in the sand from the safety of the blanket, but I had to hold him any other time we went off it.

Aisling tries to fly a kite at the beach in Malibu.

On Labor day weekend we went to San Diego to check out the USS Midway aircraft carrier. Here is my little Starbuck checking for Vipers. (Yes that was a battlestar Gallactica reference.)

Xander giving his version of a thumbs up, which is more of a point while trying out the pilot seat in a jet. The kids were both in heaven!!!

Xander ready to get his orders.

Aisling's turn in the Jet.

Here we all are in the pilot ready room.

We had a caterpillar that we captured and it turned into a butterfly. Aisling named it Sparkle and was really excited by the entire process.

Xander has been taking Daddy and Me swim lessons at the Y. He was a little apprehensive at first, but now loves it. He loves to jump in from the edge of the pool. He is so unafraid of water and really wiggly in it.

Ais is doing great as a Pike in her swim class at the YMCA. She loves the water and is really getting the swimming thing, she can swim for hours on her own with her little floaties. She still isn't sure about jumping in the water though, or the showers before and after either, but she is getting better.

Tara came for a visit and we had a full day to catch up while she hung out at my place while her older kids went to Magic Mountain. It was so fun. Here are the little ones playing dressup. Aisling, Cailyn, Ethan and Xander. They all got along so well. I sure do miss them.

Xander had his first camping trip this summer too. We went to Lake Casitas with some friends. The place was swarming with yellow jackets. Xander got stung about 5 minutes after we got there and was pretty much terrified the rest of the trip. Here are all the kids (Xander, Aisling, Aidan and Tristan) taking shelter from the bees and eating in the screen room.

Aisling showing Xander a Rolly Polly.

First camping trip!!! Aside from a rocky start, Xander did good. He loved the tent and had a blast at the water park they had at the campground. He also loved feeding the ducks at the lake.

Brian's cousin Chris also got married this summer. Here is Xander and Chris.

Here we are all gussied up for the wedding.

Jackie and flower girl Aisling.

Pics

Here are some pics in no particular order.

Elephant ride at the OC fair.

The kids at a carnival. It's the first time Xander and Ais ever rode a ride together on their own. It was so cute and they loved it.

Xander in his toddler bed. He started climbing out of his crib so we switched him over. He doesn't stay in it all night though, Brian and I are back in sleep deprivation mode most days.

My sweet little ones at Disneyland.

Aisling right before her first dance recital.

On Aisling's 4th birthday at Jumpin Jammin. Her favorite indoor playground.

Xander on his first horse ride. He loves animals!!!! All of them and was so excited to get to ride on one. He was laughing almost the whole time.

Aisling, Arianwen, and Xander at Legoland.

At their joint birthday party. They are getting too big too fast.

At the Huntington Garden in the children's garden.

Aisling riding her trike at the Wheel-a-thon at her school. She rode for over an hour until her wheel fell off(literally). I couldn't get her off the trike. She said she wanted to win. So competitive...

Flower girl Aisling with Jackie at the wedding.