Halloween!

 The Flash & Wonder Woman!

We did a Justice League theme this year. Here are three of the heros. There are so many, we might be able to do it again next year. :) 

They look so great!!!

 The Flash in action!

Bear was dressed up as Superman! Here he is protecting the car (and the candy).

You can't see it in this picture, but he's wearing a red paper cape that sweet Miss Mykala made for him.

The Big 3-0

My wonderful husband is now 30! That makes us both feel old. :)

(The birthday boy hanging out before the party.)

 Kala and Jace putting candles on the cake.

With all of those candles, it's a good thing Jacer was there to help out so that dad got his wish. ;)

Updates

    It's been awhile since I've posted, I'm sorry. A lot has happened and we've been busy. 

    Mykala loves her second grade class - she's a Martinez Monkey this year! She's going to be one busy girl - we just recently signed her up for a couple after school programs which she (and we!) are excited about. We signed her up for a drama class called Off Broadway, which will get her acting, singing, and dancing. She's also going to be in chess club once a week (she'll be the next Susan Polgar) - in addition to her weekly piano lessons. She's been busy with friends, too. Just this weekend she had a play date with her friend Alison and they went to Peter Piper Pizza.

    Jacer is still in daycare and is having fun. He takes Bear with him these days. My absolute favorite part about it is seeing my little boy light up when his teachers interact with Bear. It's so fun to hear from his teachers what Jace and Bear did during the day, and to hear them say hello and goodbye to both of them. I just love it. Also, we went as a family to see the movie Planes this month. It was pretty cute and got Jacer even more excited about airplanes. 

    Chad went to St. Louis for a week with his research group this month. He presented all of his work on purple bacteria at a Bio conference. We're so proud of him, but we definitely missed him! It was a little sad, though - he's never has been away from us for so long before. I'll post his cool pictures of St. Louis on his page when I'm finished loading them on the computer.... which brings me to the only person left in this family.

    I have been terribly busy the last couple of months job searching. The college I work for decided to close the division I was a part of. It's been sad since I really enjoyed what I did and who I worked with. But its closure has a silver lining - it's given me (as well as the others I worked with) other opportunities that might've not been considered prior to its closing. And it has certainly been an interesting experience. I applied for many, interviewed for a few, and now have two part time jobs, which actually works out really well. I will still work for the community college (for another department), but will also be working for ASU. I've been really impressed with ASU so far and I'm excited about both jobs. I'm even more excited to see where they - and life in general - take me.
    So, I'm sorry there are no new pictures to show yet, but we'll get there. :) If we're lucky, maybe life will slow down a bit soon.

2nd Grade

Mykala with Leo the Lion

Aug 12, 2013

Mykala's first day of 2nd grade! She is a Martinez Monkey this year. :)

She not only has a new teacher and a new desk, this is day one in a brand new school!

Jace: "You're too big."

Me: "What do you mean?"

Jace: "You're too big. Turn four."

Me: "Why?"

Jace: "Because I love my mommy. You should turn four."

July 2013

Updates

I've been working on a couple videos for the blog. Sorry it's taken me so long to do it!

I'll try and post the new ones here as I do them.

 

Piano Recital Video

Mykala's first piano recital! 

June 2013

Makutu's Island

Makutu's Island is, in short, an indoor mega playground. The kids loved it - but really, what's not to love? They got to climb, crawl, run, jump, slide, explore, and walk across really high beams. They loved it so much, they wanted to spend all day there. When we left, they were already looking forward to going back!

This is a little glimpse of the obstacles you had to go through in order to get to the top of the playground.

I was surprised that this TV sort of worked. It didn't turn on, but the buttons lit up. 

Jacer and Grandpa

Grandpa played with the kids the whole time -  he impressed us all! He was able to climb through the obstacles and keep up with the kids! He was Super Grandpa!!

Mykala and Grandpa

Mykala and Jace

Such an awesome Grandpa...

 Grandpa, Mykala, and Jace making their way to the large twisty slide. It looked like so much fun, I had to go on it myself!

Grandpa coming down the slide.

Here are the kids waiting for me to come down the slide. Mykala said she could hear me screaming and laughing on the way down. It was a blast!

This was high above the playground! 

A few times while we were there, they held mini classes. In one, they played the drums and in another did a hula dance.

Not sure what brought on this pose, but it's really cute. :)

Mykala took this picture!

Grandma, Grandpa, and the kids

We are pretty crazy about our family. :)

Us

(This is more like it...)

(...and this)

Note from Mykala:

We went in a blue cave and had lots of fun. We went on the slides and we jumped and took lots of pictures. My favorite part was going in the blue cave and going down the slides with Papa. At the end I got a headache from all of the slides. When we were taking a picture, Jace was being silly and didn't want to. He thought we were going to leave after. But we didn't leave after. We stayed until like an hour and a half and then we left. Grandma brought jellybeans and licorice to snack on at the park. 

Note from Jace:

I went on the grey slide and I went through the purple thingy and then the yellow slide. And I went in the blue cave and sliding on the blue cave slide and sliding down those things that are those things you hold on to and slide. My favorite part was going on the turn around slide - the grey slide. I didn't like climbing up the pole. That was so scary!