Sock Hop 2009

Friday night was the annual Sock Hop PTA fundraiser at MLE. This is our second year attending the event (many many more to come). The boys had lots of fun running around with Jake's friends and dancing to the music. We tried to get Kira to dance, since she does this a lot at home, but she wasn't really in the mood Friday night. She did manage to wiggle a bit towards the end. I think she was more distracted by all the crayons that were out on the table (probably just for that purpose).

Jake and Jonah dancing at the Sock Hop.

Kira dancing for just a few seconds.

Jake boogies down.

Jonah at the Sock Hop

Kira picked out a few crayons out of the cup to hold in her little hands. Isn't it interesting?

Mommy and the little stinker. I love her facial expression in this picture.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Yet another year has passed. I turned 29 yesterday...woohoo :) I didn't want it to be a big deal, since I get to plan and celebrate 3 kiddy birthdays a year already. Mike actually had the day off, so he was able to spend the day with Kira. By the time we got home from work (OMG was work busy this week), I was really exhausted. Not to mentioned the fact that I stayed up late 3 days in a row (for no good reason of course). We had a nice dinner at Azteca. They actually sang happy birthday to the wrong person at the table next to us. It was hilarious - when the waiter put the sombrero on her head she was like "what???" At least she got some yummy chocolate mousse on the house. After we got home we had some cake and I opened a couple of little presents - since he gave me my birthday present around Christmas time (that's a long and confusing story). I was glad that he bought me a couple pieces of Chinese cake, which is in the only type of cake and I like and will eat, I was very pleased that he actually listened to me. After that, I got Kira ready for bed and passed out with her at around 9-ish. I got a very good night's sleep and made up for the sleep deprivation I've been carrying around for a few days (thank goodness).

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, I look forward to next year, the big 30!

The best birthday present ever:

Daycare Stress

Kira started daycare last week. She went on Monday, Thursday and Friday. I don't know whether it's actually harder on her or me to adjust to our new routine of the baby attending daycare.

Mike dropped Kira off Monday morning for her first day. She apparently cried when she realized that she was spending the day there. When I went to pick her up, she stared at me from a distance as if she was angry with me :( Tuesday was Mike's day off, but I got deathly ill from a cold that came on out of nowhere and knocked me on my butt. I called in sick (on my call day!!!), thanks to Tina and Doreen, who graciously took my call that night. But because I was home sick, I undoubtedly got her sick as well. I had Wednesday off, so Kira had a couple of semi-happy two days with mommy and daddy at home. On Thursday, I drove her to daycare...as soon as we walked towards her classroom, she held on harder and harder onto me, it was so hard for me to let her go and turn my back on her...leaving her screaming for me. The same thing happened Friday. I would call in the middle of the day to check up on her, and they would just tell me she's "adjusting"... I feel so guilty and sad putting her in daycare, but I know that once she adjusts, she will have such a fun time learning new stuff and making new friends.

How do you leave a little girl looking like this???

Saturday Jake had his basketball game. Thankfully Mike was able to get off work early to watch the game. Jake even made a basket! After the basketball game, the boys were invited to attend a birthday party at 321 Bounce. I stayed home with Kira, partly because we were both still kinda sick and it was during Kira's nap time, so she would've been crazy psycho baby at the party.

Gladiator in training.

Sunday was our usual steak dinner, a great way to end a hectic and stressful week. I was so sad this morning when Kira had to go back to daycare. Mike took her there and because she was so upset at the whole ordeal, she threw up all over herself and Mike when he was trying to drop her off. I had to pick her up and bring her home to get her all cleaned up again. Then I had to drop her off at daycare...again...for the second time of the day. Poor girl... She was so worn out that she fell asleep in minutes. But I guess the teachers said she had a better day today then she did last week, so things are looking a bit better. I really do hope she adjusts soon, I can't take more of this emotional torture everyday. Every second of the day while I'm at work, I'm thinking about her, wishing I could be with her to make her happy. I'm just having a hard time letting go because she is my baby.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Super Bowl

Well, I guess the Pittsburg "Stealers" won super bowl again... At least Arizona gave them a good run in the last few minutes of the 4th quarter to make it interesting. Oh well, I hope the Seahawks get their acts together next year...we'll see.

We had some family over to watch the game and have our weekly steak dinner. We asked Mike's grandma to make her delicious fruit salad (we missed it terribly during Thanksgiving and Christmas time since we didn't celebrate either holidays together this last year), it was better than I remember it. Kira gobbled it right up. She pretty much only ate fruit salad and some broccoli for dinner. My parents are leaving for Taiwan for a month today, so it was nice that they came and visited for a short while today as well. Which brings me to the sad fact that Kira will be starting preschool tomorrow :(( I'm very sad about it, she's the youngest of my kids to go the preschool. She will be going 3 days a week, I know she'll enjoy having her own friends and learning all sorts of neat stuff, but she's my last baby and it's just that much more difficult to let go. I had wanted to drop her off in the morning but Mike said that he better do it...because it'll be hard for both of us (Kira and me). So he'll drop her off in the morning and I'll pick her up in the afternoon since I'll be leaving work early...I'll tell you later how everything turned out. In the mean time, I've instructed Jonah to take good care of her and to protect her while their at preschool together.

The kids.

I guess there were 3D commercials...whatever...

Kira with grandpa.Kira being funny girl.

Jonah is 5!!!

Jonah's birthday was January 19th. I can't believe that only 5 years ago was he in the NICU, tanning in his little isolette. He's grown so much, full of personality. He will be starting Kindergarten next year, I know, already!

For his birthday on Monday, we went to Red Robin, which is the boys favorite restaurant. Jonah ordered his usual - macaroni and cheese with melon slices, and also devoured his birthday sundae. We didn't have a party for him until this last Sunday. He had another swimming party, because what else can you do in January? It's been freezing cold outside, in fact, it was snowing during the party. I also booked the indoor playground for after the party - party because it was the only room available and partly because I knew the little kids can enjoy it too. There was this big ball pit, which all the kids absolutely loved.

Jonah at Red Robin

Jonah with Jake.

Jonah was so shy when the waiters sang for him, it's really funny.

Jonah at the pool.

Paying with the noodle.

Jake and Ryean.

Jordan swimming.

Jonah and Jordan - aren't they adorable? Too cute!

Jonah playing in the playroom.

Jonah and Kira enjoying some snacks.

All the kiddies at the party.

View from the other end of the table.

Kira playing.

The ball pit!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

My little princess singing, finally! As you can see, it takes quite a bit to get her to sing on camera. She would just sing and sing in the car, but once you get that camera out, she stops. She's missing more than half the songs, but you get the idea. It's really cute when she sings it over and over again...maybe I'll have to be sneaky and film her when she's not paying attention.

It's a long video, I know. But we tried for a long time to get her to sing all by herself at the end here. Jonah was especially helpful. He is so good with her, though sometimes he gets carried away.

Kira and Blue

Kira LOVES Blue's Clues on TV. She almost always asks us to put it on for her, though most of the time it acts as background nosie for her. It's funny because most of the time she's not actually watching it (or even in the same room for that matter), but the second you change it to something else, she'll be right there asking you to put it back on for her.

She also loves reading books, needless to say, Blue's Clues books are her favorite. We took this clip before bed yesterday of her reading her book. My little princess is growing up so fast!

Busy Busy Busy

Wowee...have we been busy. Seemed like once the holidays were over and the snow melted everything went back to normal, mayhem! No real new development in the Paulsene household.

The first weekend of January, we had Christmas re-do. So we got to open a couple more presents, which was cool.

Jake started back up playing basketball, so we have practice every week and a few more games to go to until the end of the season.

Jonah just had his 5 year check-up. He's growing and doing well. The pediatrician said that he was ready for Kindergarten - yay! Poor kid, he got 4 shots and got poked in his finger. But he's a tough kid, he survived it just fine. We're planning on going out on his birthday on Monday and then having a party for him next weekend.

Kira is Kira. She started singing!!! Imaging that! The boys didn't sing this young, so the fact that she sings is hilarious to me. I will post it later.

Have a wonderful new year!

Historic snow storm 2008