Mr. Malak Starts Preschool

Malak up early waiting for his breakfast. He always wakes up and says, "It's a happy day!"
Uniforms this year for him!
Considering the fact that Malak HATES nursery and will not go unless one of us is with him for the duration of the 2 hours..I didn't have huge expectations for preschool. We have been prepping him all summer. Talking about it..making him say "Lutheran" because we crack up every time he says it and taking him backpack and lunchbox shopping so he could get excited. We put him at the Lamb of God Lutheran School which is really close to our house and offers a full day program on Tues/Thurs. I was able to switch my work schedule around so I could work while he went to school and we didn't have to employ a nanny anymore. Malak was really ready to be a "big boy" and do what his siblings do...so we just decided to take the bull by the horns and go for it. It has made the biggest difference in his little life. We are so excited that he LOVES it. Every time we drive by he yells,"That's my cool" (school) and every morning when he wakes up he says it's a happy day.
James and I dropped him off the first day and he didn't even say goodbye to us. He was off and running to play. He asked one time if we would stay with him and we told him we had to get to work and he just waved and said bye. He's doing great!
He gets to wear a cute little uniform and learn fun Christian songs. We also got him started in some speech therapy at Goynes Elementary and I think that will also help him. His behavior gets better every day and he's listening so much better. I really enjoy the days off that I have at home with him. I'm usually tired from all the laughing he's had me doing during the day...he is HILARIOUS. Now that we've gotten some of the name bugs worked out at school I think we will be fine....He came home from school one day and said they were calling him "Malcolm". We're trying to teach him to just tell them what his name is but it's hard for a 3 year old that can't say his own name...we will keep working on it. Who wanted to name the kid Malak anyway???? (HA HA) I'm so excited to watch his growth through school, speech and soccer. This is going to be Malak's year...watch out everybody!! I can't promise what he'll be saying by the end of the year!

First Day of School

Well I know I'm late blogging about this..but better late than never! This year was really hard for me because it was so close to dropping Jamie off at college. Besides that Malak gets to go to preschool two days a week and I can't believe all this is happening so fast. Now that we are into the school year a few weeks I'm still wondering if I'm ever going to get the hang of the schedule. Losing Jamie and my nanny all at the same time has been very difficult for me. But slowly we are getting it all figured out.Madelyn has been so excited to start 4th grade. I have seen her grow up so much this summer and she is so independent. She has a lot of friends but they all got rearranged this year into different classes so she was nervous to whom she would hang out with. It has all worked out just fine and I think for the better because there is less drama than when they were all in the same class. Her teacher, Mrs. Richards is great but seems very tough. I think Madelyn is always up for the challenge and she is learning this year how to use her time wisely because she is now involved in swimming. She joined Sandpipers Swim Club this last month and they practice a lot! 3 times a week is a lot for her and she is figuring out how to budget her time appropriately so school doesn't suffer. I am very proud of her. We are also trying to do her hair in more exciting ways (Thanks a lot Emma?) but that makes her get up earlier to get her things done so Mom has time to do her hair.

Kai is always pretty easy....he's just my laid back kid. He was also very excited for 1st grade, mostly because he had a lot of friends in his new class. I was a little nervous because I found out that it was going to be the immersion class with a lot of special ed kids in it, but it is working out just fine and Kai seems to be loving it. I will be trying to spend a lot of time in there to make sure he's doing well, but so far so good. Miss Batista is his teacher and she just adores him. She actually fought to get him in her class and it's so funny to see how shy he is with her...He gets VERY embarrassed when she shows him any attention. He was reading at a 3rd grade level when he was done with kindergarten so I hope that he will continue to progress and move forward.

I'm excited to see what the school year brings for these cute kids. I am very proud of them and their accomplishments. I know they will be in college before long... so I'm trying to enjoy the stress and craziness of life!

Friends and Fun

I have such great friends that I work with. I have worked with some of these girls for over 8 years and love them very much. We all try to get together at least once a month to spend time together, usually with our kids but this time we went to Red Rock pool without them. It was so nice. We all have birthdays really close together and so instead of spending lots of money on each other we just all went to the pool one day and had a cabana to relax in. It was a great way to spend the day.

The World of Malak

I'm not really sure what world he lives in but I got a kick out of this..

I went to check on him while he was using the bathroom because he always shuts the door and lets us all know he's "pooping" and we should stay out. I don't know why his underwear ended up on his head but it really is kind of a regular thing for him. He doesn't like underwear...never has. It's not uncommon to find him in the morning with absolutely no clothes on and saluting the world.

Then after the "pooping" episode both boys come downstairs dressed like this?? What? Captain Underpants was the name they were bearing and laughing the whole time!

Sorry the pictures are so blurry...taken by my cell phone in horrible lighting!

Jamie's Graduation

I CAN'T BELIEVE JAMIE IS GRADUATED!! I am still trying to be in denial, but his future is coming at me full force. College is just around the corner and trying to let go is nagging me every day. This is probably the hardest thing thus far in parenting I have experienced because you don't know what you should help with and what you should let them figure out for themselves. If you are like me, you learn best by failing and figuring things out on your own....I'm not sure what Jamie's like yet. He's always been very obedient, but I can feel him pushing the rules and trying to break free. (I wish my rebellions were as bad as his:))

Graduation was bitter sweet for me. I was so proud of him and ecstatic that this day had finally come but was disappointed that we weren't able to truly celebrate this day with him. Unfortunately things with his Mom and us have been very strained for a while so we decided not to mix the celebrations this time. It's the first time ever we haven't invited her to our planned festivities. We decided we would have a party the weekend before with my side of the family so that when she came Jamie could spend that time with her and not have to choose who to be with. Needless to say we didn't see him at all the week of graduation. It was very difficult for me to know that we have sacrificed so much to get him through school and been there for him every day but couldn't celebrate that day with him. I got through it but wished we would have had more pictures, more conversations, more time....then I humbled myself and realized that Shannon probably feels like that every day....so I let them have the short time together that they did and remained extremely proud of our son from afar. He impresses me more and more every day. I get very emotional about him when I think of how far he's come and all the possibilities he has in his future. I hope I can be the kind of mom he needs and also the kind of example that will inspire him to be a better person. I know I am very inspired by him every day....

Scholarships

Abuela came to visit for Jamie's graduation! We were so happy to have her here...it had been almost 2 years since she had visited. I was scared she didn't like me anymore because she wasn't coming to see us. But as I soon found out why, I realized she is the most humble, selfless woman ever. She had been saving her money these last 2 years so that she could help Jamie through school. She took us to dinner the last night she was in town and awarded all the kids "scholarships". Madelyn and Kai got $20 a piece for graduation and then she gave Jamie $2000. I was in shock as well as was Jamie. My mother-in-law doesn't make hardly any money being a school teacher in Puerto Rico and she has to work very hard for what she does earn. It was a huge sacrifice for her to give that money to her grandson. I felt very grateful and a little bad that I hadn't made more effort over the last 2 years to include her in our lives. I decided to turn over a new leaf and try to do better at involving her with our events and build a stronger relationship with her and the kids. With her help, Jamie was able to get the majority of his tuition paid for to attend BYU. He qualified for a grant through FASFA and was also awarded a scholarship through the Air Force Aid Society. His grandpa Michael (Shannon's Dad) gave him $500 which will also help immensely. We are so thankful for Jamie's hard work and for all the people that love him enough to help him. I can't believe he is off to college in less than 2 months.

Kindergarten Graduation

I was so sad that I didn't get to go to Kai's graduation but luckily James took a video and a lot of pictures. Kai was so adorable. All the kids got to dress up as what they wanted to be when they grew up. Kai wants to be a skateboarder...hopefully he'll make a lot of money one day! The program was so cute. They sang many songs and even did a song in sign language. All of the kids got to announce what they wanted to be and it tied into the cutest song. I am so proud of Kai, he really loved Kindergarten. It helped a lot that one of his favorite people was his teacher. Mrs. Evans has taught both Madelyn and Kai and has done such an amazing job with both of our kids. She is moving to a new school and I am beside myself that Malak won't have her as his teacher, but she will still love close by us at least.
Kai has become such an amazing reader. He is really into reading and as long as I don't push too hard he will do it almost every night. He's really grown up this year and become very independent. I really hope one day he will sleep in his own bed...but that honestly might take a miracle so I won't hold my breath. I will be grateful that he loves school and that he is a good student. He will be going to 1st grade in August and we are finally switching to 9 month school! I am so happy about that and very excited that he will have Ms. Batista who also taught Maddy. She is very patient and kind. Congratulations on finishing Kindergarten, Kai. I am very proud of you!

Malak's First Playdate!

I can't believe I haven't had a real playdate for my poor kid yet but decided it was time for him to make some friends of his own. He really thinks that all of Kai's friends are his and he wants Tony and Blake to come over every day to play with him. He doesn't understand that they are in school and have a life of their own. So we decided to invite cute little Logan Hanshew over. I figured Logan could handle Malak and they would play well together. They did indeed! They were so fun! In between having to translate for each other and wanting to eat everything in my pantry they did very well for the 2 hours they were together. I was quite impressed. They go to Nursery together and they are both pretty tough boys as well as spoiled so they handled each other very well. I can't wait to have him over again!

A Day in the Park

Well since I've turned over a new leaf in my life, I've taken the kids to the park every day this week. Malak was the only one I had today when we had time to go but as soon as we got in the car he said, "Are we going to the Dinosaur Park, Mom"? How can you say no to that? When we got to the park it was actually closed for maintenance so we decided to just walk around and look at turtles since they are our favorite! I absolutely love watching them...I really want to steal one and bring it back to the house to have as my own pet....but would never! One of the baby turtles actually let us kneel down next to him and touch him quite a few times. I was surprised because usually they back dive into the water as soon as you get too close. Malak doesn't understand the concept of sneaking up on anything.. but he was very quiet getting close to this turtle.

He picked Mommy the smallest flower he could find in the bunch...what a thoughtful little boy!

You can see the turtle sitting right where the bushes separate .

All the turtles were just sunbathing out on the rocks today. It was very cold and the wind was blowing- I think they were all trying to get warm. We must have seen at least 20 turtles today. They were all out! I Guess they are thriving in their environment....it wouldn't hurt if I just took one would it?

Ya had a Bad Day..

Well Kai had a rough day today... so we made brownies!! He came home from school and was very sad. He seemed to only want to cuddle and cry. We started talking about what was wrong and he told me that all of his friends were moving. Next year all of his close friends will either be going to a different school or moving to a different state. It has been very hard on him because we were supposed to also be moving and now we are staying behind. I told him that he will make new friends and he'll be able to keep some of his old friends, but he just didn't seem to get any better. Desperate times call for desperate measures... and that's when I suggested Brownies!! Chocolate makes everything go away. He was the same old fun loving kid while we were making them and of course while we were licking the bowls. It was hard to share my favorite part with him though....however his puppy dog eyes made me give up my share of the licking. We had so much fun hanging out and enjoying each others company.

Hunting Eggs in the Park

We went and had lunch in the park with the Evans and Otis families during Spring Break. Except for the crappy weather, we had a blast. The kids all get along so well and adding candy to that- who can go wrong? We went to the Butterfly park and it has changed so much. They have added a big amphitheater area that was secluded from everyone else and it was the perfect place for our hunt. The big girls hid all the eggs and the little kids got to find them all. It was so much fun!








These pics are of Malak throwing a fit because I wouldn't let him eat any more candy! He was running away from me and every time he stopped, I snapped a picture... little stinker!! He wouldn't look at me though.