Summer Vacation

Ahhhhh, summer vacation. I have a love hate relationship with summer! I love it because I get to spend time with my kids and I don't have to wake up early! 

Some days I hate it though because my kiddos have nothing to do and they just fight and complain that they are bored! So this year I did my research early. I started them on a "Summer Reading Challenge". I challenged them to read as many "Magic Tree House" books as much as possible. 

Ok, I bribed them. I said that if they could read half of the books on the list they could get a prize, anything they wanted. And if they read the other half of the books they could get another prize. My kiddos have been on summer vacation for almost 2 weeks and they have been such little bookworms! Nenji has read about 8 of the books already and Rylan is on his 3rd one. 

I am so proud of them!

Ry!!! He finished his first chapter book! I am so proud of this kid! He's come such a long way from wanting to be Preschool drop out. Now he is at the top of class, reading and writing like a pro and reading chapter books. I couldn't be more proud. 

I love Pinterest. You find the coolest stuff. Here I made a roads out of tape for my boys. We left it on the floor for a few days until the tape started coming off. But they had fun with it while it lasted.  

Spending Time With My Boys

Being a stay home mom is hard work! Some days I just want to run out of my house screaming.

Other days it's good. I keep reminding myself of how crazy it use to be with Nenji and Rylan being so close in age and having them depend on me for everything!

But now that they are older we're entering a new phase where they are able to be helpers and are more independent. They can take showers by themselves and they even take Spencer with them and help give him a shower too.

They can set the table and clear the table. 

They can fold their laundry and put it away. 

They can clean their room up.

They play independently.

And they still fight like crazy too!

But they are pretty good boys overall.....some days. :)

Went to their Back to School Night and then we went out for ice cream.

Then they wanted to play sequence! That's another thing that I love about them at this age. They understand how to play board games!  

I also decided to enroll them in Tae Kwon Do because I wanted them to have something to do and to be disciplined. They love it! But it's too expensive so we're on the hunt for a new hobby. Ugh. Too bad because they love their teachers. 

Some days we just chill at home and they just watch a movie. :)

Fun Weekend

On the weekend of Mother's Day, my parents came down. The boys were so excited and had a movie night and tried to stay up until my parents got into town. But they didn't get here until 12:30 am. The boys made it until 11 pm. 

In the morning they woke up and saw my parents but instead of excitedly running to them to give them a hug, they just said, "Oh, hi". BOYS!!! They really don't show any emotion even at their young age. 

That day my parents took the boys to LA to visit their Uncle Ben and Aunty Marilyn. And they decided to stay the night there.

So what did we do? We went movie hopping! Just kidding. We paid for both the movies.

We watched The Huntsman and Captain America.

Then we decided to just go to Fresno to visit. It was great. I love my kids but I forgot how great it is to just be spontaneous and do whatever the heck you want and pick up and go wherever you want!

We came home that same night and just hung out.

The next morning we slept in (which was amazing!) and got the house cleaned before the boys and my parents came home.

At the movies.

Yum!

My parents bought the boys sunglasses and they thought they were soooo cool!

Eating at Uncle Ben and Aunty Marilyn's 

Riding Bikes

Here in Bakersfield there are a ton of parks, and I do not exaggerate. There is literally a park in every single neighborhood and they are big nice parks too. The boys love going to the park but it gets pretty hot here so I am not the best at taking them. Heck, I didn't even take them out much when we lived with my parents and there was a park right across the street from their house.

Anyway, we found a park close to our house that is pretty shady and has a lot of sidewalk. We bought all 3 of the boys bikes and they love riding their bikes! Nenji and Rylan are both riding without training wheels and Spencer just went from a tricycle to a bicycle with training wheels. 

It's one of their favorite things to do here when we have free time....or when mommy is up for it. :)

N's Mother's Day Gifts

Nenji and made some Mother's Day gifts. 

He made a coupon booklet, which I thought was so cute. 

He also write a little paragraph about me, which made me laugh SO hard. You'll just have to read it to see why. 

Ah-hem. If you can't read it this is what it says, 

"My mom is 32 years old. She is 5 feet tall. She likes to sleep all day long. 

Her favorite color is blue. My mom loves me because I help do the laundry. I love

my mom because she takes good care of  me. Love, Nenji"

OMG, did he really write that I like to sleep all day long?! LOL.

Ok, I have been taking lots of naps because of being pregnant, but did he really

have to write that down?! Couldn't he say that I like to read, or crochet, or even watch movies?
Oh my silly boy!

Mother's Day Tea Party with R

This year Rylan invited me to his Class Tea party.

It was all very sweet. They had our seats ready for us and they even gave us flowers and sang "Mama" by Boyz to Men. 

They also sang, "You are my Sunshine".

Then we had some sweets and lemonade.

He was very excited about it all week and kept telling me everything they were going to do, even though it was supposed to be a secret. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. :)

Rylan bringing me a flower. <3 p="">

My Boys!

I love my boys. Sometimes I am so worried about getting things done that I forget to just take the time to just enjoy these little precious boys! 

I love this kid. One morning I woke up to him sleeping like this. 

I don't know what was happening here, but I think my boys were just being silly. 

This is the second time that Rylan has knocked a tooth out of Nenji's mouth. Ridiculous! The first time Rylan punched out one of his front tooth out. This time, don't ask me how, Rylan somehow KICKED his tooth out! Oh boy, I don't even want to know what's going to happen when they are teenagers.