Sawyer is 5

Sawyer is 5!

A video is in the works, should be done by tomorrow night! :)

This year brought:

• Vacations: Lake Powell, Utah (twice? three?) and camping.
• Skills: Sawyer is now an excellent swimmer, swims the length of the pool multiple times!  Rides his bike without training wheels.  Improved his skills in soccer and basketball :)  And he can actually help me clean!! Hooray!
• Smarts: He is learning how to read, working on sight words, loves math, taught himself to count to 100 and finished his first year of preschool, dual language kindergarten two months away!
• Funny: After explaining that hamburgers are made from beef which comes from cow he had a total light bulb moment.  "That's why they call it Old McDonald's!!"
• Likes: Superheroes, Harry Potter, Avatar, Mario, Sonic, Cake Boss, dogs, swimming, riding his bike, playing PIG (bball), pizza, lemonade and ice cream!

This was a list off the top of my head, things I don't want to forget.  There is so much I could say about this boy and how much I love and adore him.  Putting this video together just reminds me how smitten I am with him...does that ever stop?? 

Happy Birthday Sawyer!!

We love you!

Ollie's 3rd Birthday Video

I am way overdue for an update, and I am so sad and disappointed in myself for not keeping up on my family blog. I guess living closer to family and Quilt Story taking more and more of my time, I left the blog go by the wayside. But I do plan on doing a catch-up by the end of January.  But today is Oliver's 3rd Birthday video.  It takes me a couple hours to do these videos, but I really hope that I do them forever!  We watch them all the time and I think it's just a fun way to document our lives.

Music: We Belong Together by Paul Newman from Toy Story

Mr. Ollie

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby Oliver!

Video coming this weekend :)

Sawyer Boy is 4!

Happy 4th Birthday Mr. Sawyer

Music

Free Little Bird by Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb

Poker Face by Lady Gaga

Folding Chair by Regina Spektor

It's True!

I was so good at posting weekly.  So good. 

Well the last couple of weeks have been crazy!  My amazing in-laws flew from Florida to take care of my boys while I went to International Quilt Market in SLC.  It was so busy, fun, crazy, hectic, overwhelming, exhausting, made me wanna cry, laughed a lot AND I am so doing it again and again.  If you like to craft or fabric or if you're a girl, you would have loved it.  So amazing.  This is a pic of our booth and you can see this post on Quilt Story for more pictures.



Just hours after I left I get a call that Ollie had been throwing up non-stop.  The next few days my poor baby was so sick, losing weight, not keeping anything down.  Bless Celia!!!  Oh my goodness!  They didn't leave the house all week.  Sad.

I think they're friends again. 

We had a lot of fun when I got home...including Chuck E. Cheese, swimming, shopping, Jeopardy challenges, games.  The last night they took me out for my birthday (tomorrow :) at a really cool local place called Joe's Farm Grill.  It's all so nice and fresh, you eat outside and the kids can run around.  Here are some pictures we got there.

Sawyer's face cracks. me. up.

I adore this picture.  It makes me so happy I have sons.  You can tell that he loves her so much.

Hey! Two E's!

I just can't get over these pics.  I just love the silhouette against the sky.

Nana and Papa Jimenez are getting pics of all the boys in the family in the Panamanian Guayabera shirts.  Don't the look so handsome?

Yes!  Ollie is that old!!  He isn't a baby anymore :(

And in other news, Sawyer can swim!

Okay, if you see him please don't throw him in a pool or lake...he's just a beginner.  But it's crazy how fast kids learn!  He's a little fishie now.  He can swim probably 10-15 feet on his own, even coming up for a breath!  He loves diving to the bottom to get his torpedos too. 

Just ask him how to swim, he loves to give people lessons on dry land.  It includes a lot of arm spasms and running.

Happenings

My brothers and their families came over Easter weekend to visit.  It was a blast.  Sawyer and Ollie had 8 cousins playing with them non-stop, we went bowling, ate out, saw a movie, celebrated Easter, went swimming, swimming and more swimming.  Apparently it is STILL SNOWING in Utah!!  My brother Dan and his family kept extending their trip because they couldn't stand the thought of going back to the snow!!

I didn't get very many pictures this weekend.  I'm in a bit of a media crisis right now.  There's some kind of issue with each of our cameras and video camera.  Boo.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how excited do you think Sawyer is about his Easter candy?

For your general viewing pleasure, blue bunny shaped pancakes for breakfast:

And the Easter bunny was quite thoughtful and got the boys super hero jams.

Just a little more than 2 weeks until quilt market...EEEK!!!!!

Just keep swimming! Just keep swimming!

Mr. Sawyer is growing up!!  It's exciting that he's old enough to be able to do classes and things, but at the same time it makes me a little sad.  Is that bad?  Because I know that Ollie is just around the corner from being able to do all the same things too.

Well it's pretty much illegal in AZ for your kids to not know how to swim.  Not really, but as much as we're at the pool, I would  love for him to be a great swimmer.  I never learned how to really swim, but daddy and grandpa are great swimmers, so it must be in him, right?

His first class he got nervous half way through and wanted his life jacket back on and to swim with me and Ollie.  But after a pep talk with daddy, he did great the second time.  He's really proud of himself actually. Here are some pics I got with my camera phone.

In other news...he totally bites his nails!!!  And has for several months.  I had no idea a 3 year old could develop such bad habits.  What do you do?  We tell him to stop whenever we see it, but of course he finds plenty of time to do it.  He says he doesn't want any white on his nails...great.

Maybe taking pictures of it isn't the best idea?  Oops. :)

Growth Spurt All Around

To be honest, I've wanted to do a new post because I'm so excited about the new design on my blog! It makes me happy, yes I pull up my blog just to look at it :)  So I've been thinking and thinking, what can I post about?  I think we're do for an all around update.  Perfect.

Oliver

I'm two

The other morning he asked for a hot dog for breakfast...I gave in.  He ate two.  So gross.

Yesterday morning we were all lounging on the bed and playing, "who wants to..." some question where we all answer, ME!  Well Sawyer said, "Who's Ollie's best friend?" And I answer all sweet and motherly, "Me!" before I could even finish Ollie yelled so loud, "NOT YOU!!!!!!"  Ouch.

He is really funny, runs everywhere, talks way too much, makes me laugh all day long.  And snuggles.
He spends his days playing outside in the sand, eating so much lately and copying Sawyer.

Sawyer

'

I'm three

He always needs to be on the go.  He's taken up roller-blading (hehe).  He can actually wear them around the house without falling every three seconds.  When he turns 4 he wants a skateboard, and he says "not the wiggly kind, the straight kind"

We all watched Karate Kid over about a week, twenty or so minutes a day (otherwise I don't think he could have paid attention). He loved it.  So many questions.  We've already re-watched the tournament and I have a feeling we will a lot.

He doesn't like to eat.  What will he eat?  Grapefruit, oranges, any fruit really, cereal, warm sandwiches (paninis) and then most everything else takes a lot of talking and bribery.

He spends his days being spider man, getting anyone willing to wrestle or play fight and playing with his little brother.

Meg

I'm busy

I have a lot to do before quilt market in May.  I'm excited, nervous, you name it.  How would you feel about this picture?

While it makes me ridiculously giddy, it also makes me think of a lot of work!!  I think I can I think I can.  The good news is that cute argyle pile is going to my mommy for Easter outfits for the boys (thanks mommy!)  And the car fabric was cut up tonight and some of it going to my sisters.  In May my amazing in-laws are coming to stay with my boys so I can go to market.  I have never left my boys for that long!!  I think I can I think I can.  :)  Would I be a really big nerd if I cry?  

Other than that fabric-y stuff I'm trying to balance it all, including this awesome blog that's changed my life (at least this week!), I cooked all of our meals for the week in 1 hour on Sunday.  Awesome.  

E

Working hard

Love this guy.  He's busy keeping up on everything.  He's such a good daddy for boys.  The weather right now is still cool enough to play outside working in the yard, playing basketball and soccer.  Esto spends his day at a clinic, hospital or his office...and sometimes his nights too. :)  But I do know that right now he could not be more excited about pretty much anything than Jimmer Fredette and those Cougars!  Elite Eight here we come! :)

Don't forget to see my really cute bird family post-separator :)

Happy Birthday, Aunt Laura!

Pouring In

It's spring.  I can leave my back door open.  I feel complete peace and happiness, having the door open, warm sun pouring in, and hearing my kids playing and laughing together.  Even if I'm doing dishes, which I was, it is still so nice.

A fabulous time of year.

And soon it will be ridiculously hot, and our AC will run day and night.  BUT the nice thing about extreme heat compared to snow, I can still go out.  We can still drive to the mall and other fun places.  We can still go outside (at like 9 pm).  And swimming.  We can swim in the morning and in the late afternoon, and nothing makes for a fun way to pass the time like swimming.

Keeping You Safe

These two fighting invisible bad guys everyday just has the cuteness meter ready to explode.  Man I love having two boys!!  

If you'd like to see a two year old singing a very raspy ABC's, see below.  The meter definitely broke with this one.

My mommy is still here.  Love it.  Don't remember what life was like before.  With E so busy it has been so nice.  E finished his surgery rotation, and although it was the hardest (hours) I think he really loved it.  He got to stitch people up and participate in a variety of surgeries and his doc was really really good.  He was in a routine surgery where a woman almost died.  He came home and told me what happened, he thought she may not make it.  He was so happy to see that she was recovering the next day.  He's going to be a really good doctor.

I have been obsessed with this song. It is still playing (in my head).

"I'd catch a grenade for ya..."

Proof.

Let me say this, I took a TON of pictures and even more video because I really want to make a holiday video.  I plan on sharing it this month, so wish me luck :)


However, not only did we prepare for Christmas, we celebrated it.  And here's proof.

We got scooters...that we thought were motorized.

We played outside in our jammies.

We dressed up.

We (ALL) played a lot on the iPhone.

We E shoveled snow.  We also built a snowman just from the snow on my parents deck.  He was 4 feet tall.

We ate snow too.

We played with lots of toys.

And took lots of naps.

I'll kiss those lips for you. :)

Today

There is a song by Taylor Swift called The Best Day.  I see the video at the gym and have to try not to watch, otherwise I turn into a puddle on the treadmill.  It is home videos of her with her family and just has really sweet lyrics.  The last bit is:

And I didn't know if you knew
So I'm taking this chance to say
That I had the best day
With you today

And today was the best day.  The little boys and I ran some errands, we went to the library and picked out random new books.  Then I found a calendar and saw that Santa was at a local park, we walked right up and got to see him, no wait at all.  We took pictures and walked around downtown Chandler.  Afterwards we went and fed ducks at the park and played.  We came home and watched Yes, Virginia and it was cute.  When it was done Sawyer turned to me with a big smile.  Then I read them Polar Express.  It was just a nice, happy day with my little boys.

The other night, about 20 minutes after I laid the boys down, I saw Sawyer run across the open doorway.  I was sitting at the kitchen table sewing and he ran into the dining room.  He was checking our advent calendar where I told him a little elf comes every night and leaves a Hershey kiss for him and Ollie.  He's been known to wake at 6 am, go get the candy, eat it, and go back to sleep for an hour or two.  After he saw that the elf hadn't come he came into the kitchen and I explained that he wouldn't come until the whole house was dark and we were all sleeping.  He asked if I was going to sleep after I finished sewing.  I said yes :)  I told him he needed to go back to bed and he listened and started walking to his room.  He turned around after a few steps and said, "Merry Christmas mom."  It was just such a sweet and sincere moment.  I told E that I think that moment will stick in my mind forever.  Just a time where your heart unexpectedly swells with love.  My sweet three year old boy in his bright green footie monster jammies turning and wishing me a merry Christmas. 

Merry Christmas