Thursday, June 25, 2009

Ethan Turns 11

We celebrated E's 11th birthday yesterday. First he came to work with me and we took him for a nice lunch at Oak City Bar & Grill across the street from work. Then I put him on the train, on his first solo ride ever, back to San Mateo to meet his cousins to spend the rest of his birthday. Alison, Eva & Jude spoiled him with a big birthday banner and swimming all afternoon.

In the evening, we had family over for pizza and cake. It was us, plus the Concepcions, plus his dad, Grandad, Grand Mere, and Papa Don. And it's not even over since he and a few of his friends are going to get some laser tag action in this Saturday!

Ethan did mention that he enjoyed his birthday last year just a little better. I was home with him and got to spoil him all day then, starting with breakfast in bed. This tells me that I need to take more days off on their birthdays and give them my time on that special day. I'll do this from here on out. :)

Some photos on Flickr to enjoy; I will post more if we get more from Saturday's events... just click here.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Graeme Quote of the Day

When I picked Graeme up from school yesterday, I asked him (as I generally do) about his day at school. Obviously not in the mood to tell stories this day, he answered quite matter of factly, "I can't remember my day because my brain is making my hair sweat." Who could argue with that?

Monday, June 15, 2009

Guess Who's Walking???

He actually took his first two steps about a month or so ago, testing his land legs between mommy and daddy, but his walking is really taking off lately. He can stand off the floor on his own and then take a few steps with great balancing techniques. He can even pivot on one leg to turn around now. The only deterrent to him walking more, in my humble opinion, is the fact that he can crawl so fast that his walking holds him back. To have an idea of how fast this kid can crawl, I want to remind you of the scene in "Aliens" where the alien baby jumps out of that guy's belly and scurries across the lab floor. Yes, THAT fast! We aren't worried about the love of crawling, though. We are sure that, sooner rather than later, this kid will be running and I will be complaining about why we ever decided to teach him to walk - hahahaha!

How Time Flies...

Last Thursday, Ethan graduated from the 5th grade. Wasn't it just last year that I was dropping him off for his first day of Kindergarten? Time passes by way too quickly and it kind of freaks me out that Graeme's starting Kindergarten in the Fall. I just know I'll blink and he'll be at this same point with him too... Where does all the time go???? Ah, just another reminder to really cherish every day; our time with our kids is way too short.

A quick story about cheering... As Ethan sat waiting for his name to be called to collect his diploma, he caught my eye and was begging in his own version of sign language for me not to cheer as loud as I promised I would. I guess he doesn't know that that kind of thing just eggs me on. Hahahaha! So when Ethan's name was called, there were loud cheers and yelling of his name (by me, Rodney, E's dad, Uncle Manolete, and even a few of his friends). Much as he thought the whole thing would be embarrassing, I do think he enjoyed it at the end, especially since his friends were also cheering him on (because, you know, that makes it "cool").

We are so proud of Ethan and all he's accomplished at elementary school and can't wait to see how much more he grows in middle school. For graduation, Rodney and I finally got him the cell phone he's been asking for as his graduation gift (we held out as long as we could!). He seems pretty pleased with the phone we all picked out so that's always good. We also took him out to an Indian buffet lunch as an extra celebratory treat that day. It was a fun treat for us to be off work and just enjoy our time with Ethan without the other boys for the day. We hope Ethan felt the same way. :)

Our graduate...


Posing with Roni and Eva...

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Stories of Graeme, Part 375

This kid provides us with a treasure trove of stories and things to laugh about, I can't wait til Xavier is old enough to regale us with the same craziness.

Two days ago, Graeme was hanging out with me, doing "homework," meaning he was practicing his letters, colouring, etc. After a few minutes at work, he declared that he needed glasses so he could see better. So he went to his room, collected his swim goggles, and put them on. Those apparently did the trick...

I love this boy!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Another Graeme Gem...

I guess he's just at that age... so precious!

This last weekend, we went to an early dinner with our friends Dina and Sam and got seated close to the front desk of the restaurant. After eating, Graeme decided he was going to stand up on his seat and chat the ladies of the reception up. One cute, blonde girl gave him attention and that's all he needed to throw down his pickup line: "I like the boom boom pow..." Of course, she (and the other ladies with her) were all tickled, which just encouraged our little Romeo. Thanks Black Eyed Peas, our son is now well-prepped for the teenage years and beyond!