I'm the King of the World

One More Party

 On Friday, November 18th Carter had some friends over for a little birthday party. Of course, we had to play Angry Birds. I constructed this Angry Birds game out of all the left-over boxes I could find and two of my dining room chairs. The kids took turns throwing the stuffed birds at the boxes, and knocking over the pigs. It was a success!

Cali and her friend Kenady set up the boxes in different configurations after each kids' turn. My friend Emily and I taunted the kids and secretly laughed at our son's throwing abilities. It was just as fun to watch as it was to play.

The kids also got to make their own personal pizza. They came up with some very delicious creations and were more than ready to scarf them down after all the Angry Bird throwing.  Carter was a little down in this picture. Somehow during the Angry Bird game he injured his "hip". He was fine by the time presents came around, but it's pretty weird to hear a six year old say, "my hip hurts". That's usually my line!

 Some cowboy donuts, some presents, and a few more pictures, and this birthday was officially wrapped up. Carter had a great time with his friends, and we are so thankful to be surrounded by great kids with great parents!

You Only Turn Six Once

"Mom, It is my dream to have my birthday every day. Or, at least the first day of every month" -Carter Pollastro six years old

Carter loves to play Angry Birds on the phone, but really wanted to play. angry. birds. As in, throw birds around the house and knock things down. His dream came true when he got a whole gang of Angry Birds for his birthday.

Eating his birthday dinner at Broadway Burger out of a cardboard car, another dream come true!

Getting his own Captain America, yes, a dream come true.

Getting clothes for a birthday gift... Not excatly his idea of a dream gift. He looks kind of happy here because he was told if he didn't quit crying about the clothes and say thanks to his grandma, he wouldn't have another birthday...ever.

A Lot of Anger Followed By A Lot of Coolness

Carter wanted an Angry Bird birthday, so for his school birthday treats I made angry birds sugar cookies {thank you Pinterest, you never let me down}. For a few short moments I was the coolest mother, ever!

Carter and his friend Chandler carefully handed out one angry cookie to each student in the class, while I sat back and basked in my ultra-cool-mother status.

Shouts of joy and excitement could be heard all around the classroom. Squeeky kindergarten voices shouted, "Carter, these are the best cookies ever", "Carter, I love your birthday cookies", "Carter, can I have another one", "Carter, your mom is so much cooler than my mom", so maybe I made the last one up, but you get the general idea.

Carter was so proud of his cookies and his birthday hat, he was king for a day.

With all the joy and adulation I forgot about this cute little angry piggy, he helped himself to several cookies and made himself right at home among the kindergarteners.

{side note} In the background of this Caleb picture you will see bean bags piled up in the left hand corner. You will also notice that these bean bags have no covers on them, and that their covers are laying on top of the bags. When we attended Carter's parent teacher conference Caleb fell and hit his head on the cubbies {pictured in the right side of this photo} and bled all over the bean bags. Thankfully the covers are washable and head injuries heal.

Brothers, A Visit, and More Birthday

My parents always try to come out to Rock Springs in between Caleb and Carter's birthdays, so this year they came for a visit the first weekend of November. My dad had been planning this trip for months, and considers coming to our house a good vacation. I can think of better and more relaxing vacations, but to each his own.

Tyler dropped Bethany off in Rock Springs on his way to S. Dakota, so we had a really fun family filled weekend. We attended a ward chili cook off fundraiser, participated in the Sage Elementary Turkey Trot (which, due to weather problems turned into me teaching Zumba at the school), and did a lot of hanging out and chatting. Of course, there were presents!

 

Having their birthdays so close together is fun, but they are both a little young to understand why they both don't get presents on both birthdays. Caleb's is first, so Carter "helps" him with his gifts. Then the next week Caleb has a mental breakdown when the presents aren't for him anymore...

We finally cut the Spider Man cake, and ate it all gone in a matter of a few hours. 

The sight of small children diving into cake is always funny to me, and quite frankly, encouraged. This cake was so good, we totally forgot about the amount of Caleb slobber we were consuming.

Happy Birthday!

Caleb's Birthday

Some things you should know about Caleb, the two year old:

1. He does not do ANYTHING that is not his idea, unless it is suggested to him by his dad or Jesika Nacey or Johana Hansen (I need some sister wives!)
2. He can pull off his own diaper and dispose of it all by himself.
3. He can say his prayers they go something like this "my daddy, my mommy, my mommy, my mommy, my daddy, Carter, Cali, my mommy, my mommy, my mommy, my food....ANENNNNNNNNNNN"
4. He can open any door and unlock deadbolts.
5. He has mastered the word "NO!" and is working on his version of "yes" which is a fast head nod while he says, "K".
6. He totally thinks that if he closes his eyes, we can't see him.
7. Not a day goes by that he doesn't try to escape and run down the road.
8. Most afternoons he either chooses to wear pants or a shirt, not usually both together.
9. He talks all the time, and we have many wonderful conversations. A lot of them start with the phrase, "I waaaaaaant...."
10. He is very curious and can often be heard saying "doindare" Which is Caleb for "What are you doing there?"

He was so happy to get his own Buzz for his birthday. He's been playing with Carter's for months, now they can play together without fighting (theoretically).

When Christian and I were talking about which of Caleb's friends to invite to his birthday party, we realized that he'd scratched or pushed most of the kids his age. So, we invited our friends instead! Here is Caleb with his real mother. Whenever we see Johana he immediately tries to jump into her arms while saying..."Mama mama". It's strange and cute, and we've all just accepted that he may be Peruvian in his heart. 

Johana took this picture of us, just in case there was any future confusion.

He's a very sharing child, and offered to share his frosting-less cupcakes with anyone in sight. He really just wanted a new cupcake and more frosting. I think he ate the tops off of at least five that night.

Caleb loves Spider Man (Pidernam), and since I am still in contention for mother of the year, I made this cake for him. I think it really put me over the top. We didn't cut it that night, we devoured the cupcakes instead. Lots and lots of cupcakes!

I wish I had some more pictures of our fabulous friends who made Caleb's second birthday so special and fun. I need a personal photographers, like the Kennedy's had, to follow me around and document my life. It's hard to party, and take pictures of it!

Halloween (Still Have the Candy to Prove it)

What do Spiderman, a girl pirate, and Thor all have in common? Not much...really.

Spiderman wanted to run around the neighborhood unattended, and when trick or treaters didn't come to our door fast enough, he ran down he road to try to give out candy. The girl pirate tried to act brave, but ended up crying well into the night (after her friends left of course) as she recalled in great detail all the scary things she'd ever seen in her whole life. Thor hung with the hard core trick or treaters until his basket was "full enough" (his words, not mine). Then he took his entire costume off, only to put it on again and leave with a friend who came to our door. That friend's mom ended up walking him home after about three blocks.

I'm not sure if Halloween is the holiday for us. Caleb was too young to avoid running rampant in the streets, Cali was too aware of her own mortality, and Carter was too bio-polar in his approach. Still, we managed to make the most of our Halloween, and we still have candy to prove it!

We started off by visiting some class Halloween parties, then the ward Trunk or Treat, and then the older kids took a few laps around the neighborhood.

Caleb and I stopped by Carter's class to deliver some food we made, mummy dogs and witch hats. Caleb had to wear his costume, of course, and he fit right in with all of the little superheros.

We stopped by Cali's classroom too. Compared to the kindergarteners, the older kids were having a very sophisticated Halloween party complete with dancing. They stopped long enough to pause for this picture.

When it started getting cold, these beauties jumped inside the trunk just long enough to get warm. They hit the mean streets of our neighborhood and finished the night off strong.

The Perfect Caramel Apple

It is our goal every year to dip the perfect carmel apple, and we're getting pretty good.

The perfect apple, the right temp for the caramel, the precise dipping tecnique; it's all very professional. We fulfil very specfic jobs when it comes to this persuit.

Cali, head dipper.
Carter, caramel quality monitor.
Caleb, apple taster.
Christian, CEO of operations.
Me, official photographer.

I think I'm the only one that needs to be fired...these pictures are pretty awful. I found out later that my camera had been set to a 5 megapixel setting. So even though these pictures were taken in 2011, they look like they are from 2005 {so retro!}.

This was Caleb's first year as a dipper, he needed a little assistance, but he's a fast learner.

The only thing better than dipping them is eating them. We did both!

Zumba Extravaganza

On October 22, after many months of planning, the Rock Springs Family Recreation Center hosted a huge Zumba event featuring Camilo Jimenez. If you don't know who he is, that's OK, suffice it to say he's a pretty big deal in the Zumba world. He hangs out with Beto {the owner/creator of Zumba} and has been featured at several national events.

How, do you ask, does a Zumba celebrity find his way to Rock Springs? We have a secret Latina connection by the name of Johana. It is my personal opinion that everyone needs a really hot Latina or Latin friend. Johana attened one of his classes in Salt Lake, asked him if he'd come to RS, and the rest was history {a very long history of politics and money and preparation and new audio speakers...but that's a very boring blog post}.

I wrote a radio ad for the event and had the opportunity to go to the radio station and voice the commercial. I learned two things, (1) it's really enjoyable to write something fun and not academic, and (2) my voice sounds ridiculous on the radio. Does anyone like hearing their own voice? Since the ad started with the phrase, "When was the last time you got sweaty with a hot Colombian?" There were a few complaints. But, complaints lead to curiosity and curiosity leads to interest and interest leads to ticket sales. So, I think I did my job. We had over 150 people in attendance.

One of those people was my very own sissy. Yes, she came from SLC to get her Zumba on with Camilo. Well, that and I promsied to load her truck up with baby stuff. Either way, it's always fun to sweat it out with a hot pregnant cutie like this one.

The night was a little stressful. I nearly strangled a hot Colombian when he very chill-like and swaggar-y told me he thought he had to be on stage at 6pm instead of 5pm. The faster I tried to move him, the cooler and chill-er he got. Things worked out, we were able to stall our 150 person crowd with some give aways and give Camilo time to get dressed and do his hair. He made it up to me later by inviting me on stage to dance with him. Correction, he said..."I need three girls on stage with me..." I took that as a personal invitation. Then I wowed him with my moves!

All in all it was worth the stress and effort and work. It was a great opportunity for our small community to do something different, I got a little taste of event planning, and we all went home sweaty and happy.

This is Nice, Just Two Brothers...

A couple years ago while I was up to my eyeballs in pregnancy, Carter started saying a certain phrase. It goes like this. "This is nice, just two {fill in the blank with friends, brothers, sisters, etc.}sharing a {fill in the blank with something they are sharing}. It all started when I would run to Utah for my doctor appointments. Sometimes just he and I would go, sometimes we would take Cali, but most of the time we met up with Bethany at Jason's Deli to eat before we headed back.

The first time he said it, he said it to Bethany. "This is nice, just two friends sharing a soda". We've used this Carter-ism consistently since then.

This is nice, just two brothers sharing a date to the swimming pool.

This is nice, just two brothers sharing their Halloween costumes

Changes

Changes around here change from day to day, sometimes hour to hour. Our most recent change came when Caleb decided that he was going to potty train himself. Yes, all by himself...He wants no help from anyone. He would rather be in charge of all bathroom goings on {for everyone}, then have me help him.

It sounds like a fairy tale, right? A 1.95 year old boy potty trains himself. This could be a national headline. However, it's not as great as it sounds. You see, he takes his diaper off at the first sign of any moisture...ANY. Then he discards the diaper, sometimes in the garbage sometimes he tries to flush it and it's contents down the toilet. This is an exhausting process...for me.

When it gets too quiet around here, I know that he's in the bathroom going potty...Or doing something potty related. So, I carpe diem(ed) and bought some underpants and a potty chair and we are going to follow his lead and hope that it leads us to a diaper free two year old. Stay tuned... this is exciting stuff!

Another major milestone for me and for Caleb was the dismantling and passing on of the baby furniture {and all other baby items for that matter} to my adorable pregnant sister. On Saturday she and Tyler came out to pick up their new baby gear. She isn't due until March 10th. but this girl is a super-nester...for real!

I tried to muster up some tears and get really emotional about this phase of my life passing by, but I just couldn't do it. I thought about all the nights I had laid tiny {and not so tiny} babies into this very crib. I tried to explain to Caleb that he was going to be having his last night in a crib. I thought about the day we put it together for the very first time. I thought of all the times we took it down, just to put it up a few years later. No tears. They wouldn't come out, I tried.

Instead, I felt a deep sense of gratitude at the opportunity given to me to have three healthy babies. It has been an adventure like nothing I could have ever imagined. It is special to me that my sister gets to enjoy the same crib we've loved for 8 + years. When I see her lay her tiny baby in his crib I will think of the big kids that used to be that small.

Not Quite...But, Kind Of...

One night Cali and Carter watched a few episodes of a Hoarders marithon with me. Was it totally kid appropriate, probably not. Was it terribly sad, for sure. Did it scare my kids into cleaning their rooms, you better believe it. Not only their own rooms, but other rooms around the house too. It's an anti-Hoarding miracle.

Today as Carter passed Caleb's bedroom on his way to the bathroom he paused--turned his head--and yelled down the hall, "Well, mom, it looks like Caleb's room is a hoard again." The best part of this story is that there were two blankets, three toys, and stack of clean diapers on the floor. This is what Carter calls a hoard.

Do my kids have an interesting percpetion of what a hoard actually is, obviously. Are they vigilant in making sure our house doesn't turn into a "hoard", oh yeah. Are they scarred for life, most likely. But at least they will be scarred in a house that they cleaned, right?

Disclaimer: I have never won a parent of the year award and do not endorse 90% of my parenting methods.

There He Goes

Carter's been working on learning how to ride a bike for a couple of months. And by "working" I mean staring at his bike in the garage. He's been riding a scooter with ease for years, and preferred being able to jump on the scooter and zip around instead of learning how to ride a bike. He got a cool new bike right after school started as a reward for doing his chores all summer. He wasn't that interested until he saw...A neighbor kid a whole year younger take off and ride like a pro. It was the inspiration he needed to jump on that bike.

He told me that he would try it three times, and if he didn't get it on the third try he was going to stop. Lucky for him, and for me, he got it on the second try. We're still working on the art of stopping, and he hasn't seemed to notice speeding cars yet, so we have some more work to do.

I Throw My Hands Up in the Air Sometimes

Especially when I shatter {by whole minutes!} my previous best 5K time at one of my favorite places in the world.

Thanks to my sister Bethany for the action shot here. I really really wanted to get that girl in the gray shirt just about to cross the finish line. I was hot on her tail for most of the race, passed her a few times, and almost got her at the end. The feeling must have been mutual because at the end of the race we felt it necessary to hug. Don't know why...Never met...But we pushed the guts out of each other that day.

Of course, Swoop was there to greet all of the race finishers. Funny story, when we were in college at the U Christian was playing basketball with the guy who was {at the time} Swoop. During some sort scramble for the ball Christian's elbow ended up on Swoop's head {no, he wasn't in his mascot suit at the time...I thought the same thing}, and Swoop {I'm sure he had a real name} bit down on his tongue nigh unto biting it off. From then on {and to this day} we call Swoop, Thwoop. Because that's how you'd say it if you had a problem with your tongue. Go ahead try it... {if you haven't already!}

More Than Once...That's For Sure

How many times have you and your sister appeared together in the same shirt? Well, for me and my sister, the answer is...more than once. It's not as awkward now that we live 200+ miles away from each other, but when we worked together it happened, well...more than once.

I guess we must have impeccable taste. That, or we have similar taste and can patiently wait for the $36.00 shirt to hit the clearance rack for $8.00. I'm just glad I'm NOT the pregnant one in this wardrobe match.