Swimming at the YMCA

Today we had the most amazingly perfect spring day! When Kaleb got home from school we decided to take a little trip together to the YMCA for some family time. Kaleb skated for an hour while JJ and the kids cheered for him and I worked out. I had not been to the gym since Nathaniel's surgery and it felt so good to get my muscles moving again. At 6:30 we headed over to the pool for some family swim time. It

was amazing to watch the kids look so comfortable in the water even though they hadn't swam since late last summer. They had such a great time playing and splashing around in the water with J.J.!

Nathaniel really wanted to join them too and kept saying "agua" but unfortunately he's going to have to wait awhile before he gets to be submerged in water to prevent infection to his MIC-Key button. Despite this he still got to play in the water structure and had fun! At dinner, Kaleb mentioned that his favorite part of his day was swimming with dad, Olivia agreed.

Kaleb is on Dolphin News Network

Today was a very exciting day for Kaleb. He was featured on his school's news broadcast, Dolphin News Network doing a sports newscast. Kaleb prepared for his report all week doing research on the Stanley Cup playoffs focusing on the LA Kings/Sharks series and came up with a great report. He did a fantastic job putting the report together, practicing and finally today reporting. I was fortunate enough to leave the little ones at home with J.J. and watch Kaleb live. I could not be more proud! He may have a career in sportscasting one day! Watch out Fuel TV here comes Kaleb!

Making Faces

It all started when I caught Nathaniel picking his nose. I took a picture of the event because he was having so much fun grossing me out. Each time he stuck his finger in his nose Olivia and I would scream "EEWW". He must have loved the reaction because he kept doing it over and over smiling and waiting for an "EEWW" each time. Then pure silliness took over Olivia and I too. We began making funny faces and taking pictures of ourselves. What a fun way to start the morning!

Happy Bubbles

Call it delirium, call it lack of sleep from the fever and ear infection Nathaniel has had. Whatever it is he's made a new discovery that's got him cracking up. We'll call it Happy Bubbles. He continued blowing these bubbles for quite sometime. He kept saying and signing "more" luckily I got to capture his contagious and most adorable giggle on video. Happy Bubbles my little man. Keep smiling and laughing through life even when it's hard.

Happy Easter

Looking through their eggs
The kids looking so cute in their Easter clothes!
Whip Cream fight
I surrendered - Kaleb would have covered my whole face.
Sharing Easter love and their eggs.
The Golden Ticket!
Sophia and Kaleb working together?




The Traditional Van Niel Brunch
My favorite pink tulips from the Platas Family
My sweet boys!
Kaleb takes a picture of me and the little ones

We celebrated Easter this year a little bit differently than most - without our usual family. JJ was away in Dallas for a volleyball tournament, Nana was up in Northern California, and Abuelita wanted to go to her church play. So, this year we invited our good friends, Enrique, Paloma and Sophia for church service, brunch and easter egg hunt.

We woke up early and put on our Easter Best. Don't the kids look darling. They even humored me and sat in front of the house, one of my favorite spots for pictures and posed for a few shots. Of course this doesn't mean they actually looked at the camera or sat still. Then we set off to church for a wonderful service and message from Pastor Bob.

After the 9am service we came home and the kids played while I cooked some of our traditional Easter brunch favorites, bacon and cheese frittata, hash browns, strawberry chocolate chip muffins, fruit salad and of course strawberries with cream. While the food was in the oven, Enrique went outside to our greenbelt and helped the Easter bunny hide the eggs.

Once everything was ready the kids set out on the hunt for the first ever, and most coveted prize the "Golden Ticket" as well as the traditional goodies. We divided the space one side for the older kids - Kaleb and Sophia and the other side for Paloma, Olivia and Nathaniel. Then the hunt began. The kids ran around looking for as many eggs as possible. Meanwhile Nathaniel was content with the one egg that he found. He opened it and found "tandy" and chewed right through the wrapper until the sweet delicious chocolate spread over his lips and mouth. Once the hunt was over the kids sat together and looked over their eggs looking for The Golden Ticket. Kaleb was the lucky one this time and was so excited because he got the most eggs and won the coveted prize. What a blast!

We then sat down for brunch and shared great conversation of why we celebrate Easter and also everyone got to share what Easter Means to them. Once it was getting to serious we broke out the seriousness and Kaleb and I got into a whip cream war. Everyone ended up with whip cream on their noses and a huge smile on their faces. What a way to remember Easter!

Enrique and I worked through the clean up while the kids played a little longer. Once our guest left, the kids and I went upstairs and watched Robots and relaxed for a little bit. The evening ended with kite flying out on the greenbelt with Sam, Jason, Shelby and Jaden and then we came inside for a traditional ham dinner. What a great Easter.

YMCA Easter Egg Hunt

Wow what a day! We woke up bright and early to head over to the YMCA Easter Egg Hunt to practice for Easter Sunday. Other than parking over 25 minutes away and walking it was a fun day. We arrived late for the 2 and under group so Nathaniel joined Olivia in the 3 year old group. When the hunt began for her group Olivia was so focused on finding many eggs. Nathaniel on the other hand picked one up the ground and was content. He figured out how to open the "eegg" and realized it had "tandy". He ate his first sweet tart and wanted "more". After the hunt Olivia sat in the jogging stroller opening each one of her eggs and examining it's content. She sat so focused that she missed out on the bounce house, balloon making clown and other activities the Y had to offer. Meanwhile, Nathaniel's eyes were busy observing all around. Kaleb skated until his group got to go at 12:15 and then he joined us for his hunt. His group moved quickly and he was caught off guard because he ended up with very few eggs. He was quite disappointed and called the egg hunt "lame". Nine is such a tricky age.

Coloring Easter Eggs

We spent our Saturday night coloring Easter Eggs. Olivia and Kaleb got six eggs each to decorate. Olivia loved seeing a white egg turn into beautiful Easter colors. Her favorite color is usually pink but for some reason the pink egg turned out too light so for the evening she declared orange and yellow her favorite colors. The kids soon both got creative and started mixing colors and doing 1/2 egg one color and the other 1/2 another. It was really fun watching them work together. They both had a blast first dipping them in the dye then adding stickers, markers, and other decorations. Then we had Easter Bunny cookies for dessert. This got us in the Easter spirit.

Our "Kalk" Outside

This afternoon we went outside for a walk. Kaleb rode his bike, Olivia rode her trike and I thought I'd walk Nathaniel in the stroller. Funny thing happened, Nathaniel started crying when I placed him in the stroller and kept repeating his brm, brm sound. Then he said," car". And I repeated yes Nathaniel there are cars outside. However, the crying and sounds persisted. I took him out of the stroller thinking maybe his button was hurting. He then crawled inside (the door was still open). He NEVER does this as recently all he wants to do is "kalk" - his word for walk. In Nathaniel's language play outside. Once inside, he crawled over to his favorite car the Lightning McQueen ride along and pushed it towards the door. He said "kalk" and then I finally figured out he wanted to ride the car outside. Once I helped him out he rode his car down the street following the big kids along the sidewalk. His smile said it all.

Our MIC-Key Adventure

Nathaniel had a small procedure today to change his PEG to a MIC-Key button. We checked in to Children's Hospital at 11:30 am. And patiently waited for the doctors surgery was scheduled for 1:30. He was in for about 30 min or so and then I was called in to the recovery room. I walked in and even before I could reach his pod area I could hear him screaming and crying uncontrollably. I was so surprised that he was already awake as usually it takes him awhile to wake up, and that it took two nurses to hold him down. As I got there he called out to me "mommee" and continued crying. I held him in my arms, rocked him and sang my favorite song to him, "You are My Sunshine". He calmed down and fell back to sleep for a little longer. When he woke again he was inconsolable and so the nurse gave him a sedative. He slept a little longer then we were taken to recovery. Once at recovery he just needed to take in some liquids and tolerate the liquid. The nurse started drafting our discharge paperwork. She took his vitals and it was then that I asked, "are you going to teach us how to use the new button?" Her response, " there is a guide in his MIC-Key kit just read through that, it's very easy". I could not believe that she had not wanted to take the time to show me how to use the button. And that she was comfortable discharging a child home without the parent knowing how to take care of a medical device - especially for a failure to thrive child who does not eat and nourishment is dependent on this button. I was totally shocked. We came home and guess what I did read through the manual and yes it was pretty easy to figure out however I still felt like I needed some hands on practice. I bottle fed him the rest of the evening and night. First thing the next morning I called Children's Homecare and they sent a nurse to help me. The MIC-Key is easy but nurses please don't send parents home without training.

Keeping it Simple

Olivia jumping

Sarah flying the kite

Nathaniel playing golf

Ellie and Olivia chasing the kite

The Girl's flying the kite

Nathaniel eating Oreos

Kaleb playing baseball

It was a typical Sunday, we had just gotten home from church when the age old question came up.  What should we do today.  Olivia's first answer when this question comes up is, "let's go to the dinosaur museum." Then Kaleb quickly replies with, "no the dinosaur museum is lame, let's go to the science center".  As the kids were arguing I looked outside and realized we didn't need to go anywhere because we have a beautiful backyard and shared greenbelt to enjoy.  We got out our Frisbee, football, kite picnic blanket and snacks and headed out to the greenbelt.  In no time, Brennan, Ellie, and Sarah were outside too.  We flew the kite, passed the football around and enjoyed the beautiful day without going anywhere.  It was then that I was reminded that it really doesn't matter where you go but rather who you are with.  We had so much fun enjoying the sun, the grass and great company just keeping it simple.

Healthy Kids Day - YMCA

We had an amazing day today at the YMCA Healthy Kids Day. Olivia and Kaleb

got their faces painted. Olivia got a shimmering green T-Rex and Kaleb though hesitant throughout the hour wait in line got a scary skeleton. During our long wait for the face painter it was such a mental struggle for Kaleb deciding on if he was going to get his face painted. At first, he was really excited and wanted to be first and then he kept changing his mind in fear of "the kids" at the skate park making fun of him. Finally he got it done and the face painter did a great job of making it look scary enough. Guess what, not only did the kids at the skate park approve, they too wanted to get their face painted. I'm glad Kaleb made a choice to get his face painted. It assured me that he is still comfortable in his skin. The rest of the day was smooth sailing, Nathaniel got visit the fire truck. He even sat in the driver seat. Olivia and Nathaniel played with bubbles, painted rocks and ate healthy snacks and hangout with our favorite YMCA friend Heather. Right before we left a police car arrive too. Kids were "ooing" and "aahing" the car and then one of the kids asked the policeman to turn on the siren. Nathaniel first freaked out and clanged on to me since the sound was so loud. But as he got used to the sound he began signing and saying more. What a hot and fun Saturday afternoon!