Dodgers in the house - or the garage.

The new view of our garage/game room! Bobby bought this mural/wallpaper thing from dodgers.com and we put it up before the weekend - it was our first time wallpapering, so it took us a long time and got messy and frustrating, but we're so happy with how it looks in there. We've managed to move out most of the video games (but one) and all of the neon lights we had in there, so intead of a mostly poker-bar themed room, it is now almost FULLY dedicated to the Dodgers!

Big Sister - Big Heart

What a sweetie this one can be! Nearly 6, Sidney is so much fun to be around if you have the time to listen to her entire dialogue of whatever she happens to be interested in the moment. She is an excellent artist for her age, and actually prefers to explain things in art form sometimes when she's describing things! She loves to cut things out of paper, which explains the photo of her with the robot made of paper cuttings above. She LOVES bugs - in fact every time she says her prayers, she ALWAYS closes with: "and Jesus, thank you for helping the spiders make their webs, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen." And if you happen to MISS that little sentence, she'll catch you and either interject it herself OR ask you to please remember the spider part of the prayer. She says she wants to be an animal rescuer someday, and that mom will be able to drive the car she rescues the animals in. What an honor for me! As much as she is into animals and insects, that is equally how much Alyssa prefers dolls and princesses, so it surprises me often when I find Sidney playing dolls with her sister, which they've been doing quite a bit lately. They do their share of fighting with each other as well, though, so there's been a lot of "alone playing time" lately. Hopefully they'll realize what wonderful "built-in best friends" they can be and really learn to play better more often. That's definitely one of my great hopes for them - that they are good friends as well as sisters! We'll see!!! In the meantime, wow are they fun to watch and listen to, especially when they don't know I'm around the corner! Usually I give myself away quickly because I'm laughing so hard at the fun scenarios they dream up in their play! For instance, right now they LOVE to play queen (Sid) and princess (Alyssa) and they stage a wedding between the two of them. I TRY to explain that queens and princesses don't marry unless they live and perform in west hollywood, but they don't get it yet!

What a girly girl!

Can you believe this one is almost 4 years old? Just a month away, Alyssa is 3 going on 9. I really don't think she realizes there's much age difference at all between herself and her big sister. She is extremely girly - LOVES dolls, princesses, and talking. She pretends to talk on the phone all the time, and I hear complete phrases of my own come out of her mouth. She definitely learns to talk on the phone from hearing me talk to Andrea on the phone! "Oh really? No way! So, my baby, she's so cute and...." blah blah blah. VERY talkative little one, once she gets over her initial shyness if you happen to be sort of a stranger. She is beginning to be VERY interested in what she's wearing, and comes downstairs in a new outfit many times a day. I'm trying to explain to her the difference between play clothes, church clothes and all that, but she doesn't get it. She thinks she should be in a dress and tights every day. She's extremely picky about shoes, too! She's sensitive (cries easily if she thinks she's disappointed you!) and pretty funny, thinking up her own words constantly and explaining to ME what they mean, as if I should already know! What an entertaining (and sometimes tiring!!!) little being! Sometimes I have to just stare at her and let it really sink in that she's ours! What a complete little blessing.

LJ - Little Jack

Jack is a pretty funny little kid right now. (Above he's being held by his grandpa and his great grandma!) He's trying SO hard to crawl, he can scoot around toward toys he wants and he's starting to whimper and cry when his desired playmates walk away or out of the room. This means there's lots of totin' him around with me wherever I go, but it's so fun to see him enjoy every little thing around us!!! He started to suck his thumb about two months ago and has really held on to that habit! I'm starting to feed him solids, but applesauce doesn't seem to be his favorite yet - I think the "bold" taste still shocks him!

Busy summer days already

Took a few videos with my digital camera, and with some technical help got them onto YouTube so I could put them here on this site (Thanks MW!)! They're nothing great, just the girls saying their alphabets (more for the cute sounds of their voices than anything else) and a very boring shot of Jack. This was more or less just a test to make sure I COULD get videos on this site, so I promise they'll improve and be more worth your time!!!!
Happy Summer!

A few videos to check out and enjoy:
">Sidney

">Alyssa
">Jack

Kids update - 6/11/07

Sidney, almost 6, is nearly finished with preschool! She finishes this Thursday. Very exciting, and she's very happy to go to Kindergarten. She loves learning about very specific things, like volcanoes and praying mantises, and she is a wonderful artist.

Alyssa will start preschool (or Pre-K as they call it, since she'll be 4 by the time it starts) this coming fall and right now it's a battle to find which preschool she'll attend. The preschool Sid's been attending is now going to be a low-income only deal, so we have to find another for Alyssa, since it's hard to qualify for low income when you're basically not. Alyssa's a talker, and if you catch her playing dolls alone, you'll hear some dialog that will surprise you - sounds like a mini soap opera going on with the Barbies and the little people!

Jack - no school! He's doing well, almost 5 months and weighs about 18 lbs. He is rolling over both directions and reaching for things he wants - like my face while he's drinking his bottle. He loves to grab my nose and chin and run his hands across my cheeks. Right now he has a cold, so he's sleeping a lot. In a way it's nice, I'm getting things done without a baby in my arms. But in another way, I start to miss him when his naps are too long. Still, I don't DARE wake him!

Enjoy the pictures! I'm going to try to keep this site updated and use it instead of myspace, which really makes me feel old! I'll keep you posted!

Here I am with Sidney in 2002 - she was about 8 months old! Then, check out her preschool graduation picture - my how she's changed!!! And a little pic of all three there at the bottom...