Learn To Skate

Yesterday was Jakob's first learn to skate 40-minute lesson. He did very well (of course, a few falls here and there!). It's actually his first time on the ice without any aid (well, the very first time was when he was assessed, but only for a minute, so that does not count!). Watching him made me and my husband realize that he probably really does not need a lesson to learn to skate. He can slide, move forward, move backward (well, barely), hop, stop and I even saw him turn a few times (not intentionally!). But too late to back out. We have to religiously attend the lessons for 10 weeks and after that I hope that Jakob would be a better skater -- good enough to join his friends for a game of hockey! I guess what we have to aim here is not just to learn to skate but to learn to skate PROPERLY. We also decided that this coming skating season, we will bring all 3 kids skating as much as possible so they can be confident on the ice and hopefully learn to skate by themselves...and that includes me!

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PIC OF THE WEEK: My Pastor singing with his wife and youngest daugther

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Bye, bye Big Tube!

Yesterday, I decided that our old, big, heavy TV has to go; it was taking too much space (and energy). So I went around looking for...a smaller TV. (So funny, everybody in the world is upgrading to a bigger, better flat screen LCD or plasma, and here we are trying to look for a small TV). I got a nice white 13-inch JVC TV for $20 at Salvation Army. It looks brand new; no scratches at all. I set it up last night and surprised the kids with it this morning. And I am so thankful that my kids were happy, excited and thankful about it. I have not heard one single complaint! So happy that our lives do not revolve around the TV. It was so easy to downgrade. :D

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WEDNESDAY re-WIND: Jakob on Ice

Here's Jakob when he was only 3 1/2 years old. Actually, up to now, Jakob still can't skate by himself. That's why we decided to enroll him in Learn-to-skate this year. He will start actual lessons next week which will run for 10 weeks, once a week. Maybe a hockey league is next?!?

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Weekend Recap

Sorry for the late post but weekend seem to be very busy all the time so I always end up recapping what happened during the weekend...plus I am really not in great health as I am experiencing this bad cough, cold/sinusitis.

Friday was our family movie night. We watched Save-Ums and Tom and Jerry the next day. Saturday, my sister and I went to a baby shower for twins. Always wanted twins, and so I was specially happy for this new couple and their new babies. Sunday was Open House Sunday in our church. Thank God for people who came through invitations and flyers and for souls that were saved that Sunday!

And Raymond feels very accomplished coz he was able to close our pool for the winter season. Thank God for that! We did not have to spend extra money just to have our pool closed for the season. And can you believe it, Summer is over! Wow! I think it went by really fast this year (mostly because of the huge amount of rainfall this year; I think that made Summer feel short!). Now, we have to look forward to the cold, snowy months...and Beata can't wait! She is praying for snow to come...now. Well, I don't think I am ready for it to be that soon.

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I'm gonna huff, and puff...

and puff again. This is our story for the past week. There is this cold virus going around that we caught and now we are nursing this cold...and cough. My kids have the cold-induced asthma so when they get a cold, they will need a puff -- from the asthma medicine, that is!

So this is our routine every morning and every night for all 3 kids. And this routine will last for a few more days and then down to just once a day for the following days after. Jakob is so used to doing it that he can do it by himself now. And Jethro and Beata are looking forward to it everytime. There might be something in it that makes them wanna have it (gotta do a research on that!) or they just like the cool tube that they use with their puffers. Either way, I am not looking forward to it. Not because it's time consuming, but because I don't want my kids to be sick at all!

Update on Jethro's potty training: Since he started wearing real underwear, he has never been wet and dirty at all...well, except for one night when he refused to go to the washroom to do #2 because his brother was taking a shower; and the same night he woke up screaming coz he's wet! :D

I am now on my search to find Buzz Lightyear underwear for my little space ranger!

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WEDNESDAY re-WIND: Beata's 4th

Our rewind today is from not so long ago --- actually, just last Saturday. Since I have been busy with planning, preparing and cleaning-up (thanks to my sister who did most of this part :D ), and with the cough and colds going around the house, and with the flyer distribution for our church open house, I have not been able to update the blog. So here is a pic from Beata's 4th birthday celebration with our relatives held at our house last Saturday. Thanks for coming everybody! You all made it special for Beata!

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Do I have a mustache?

This was Jakob's question this morning at breakfast. He seems to be too conscious of his facial hair; maybe because we keep teasing him that he has mustache even at a young age. Well, it's not that hairy; only if you look closer then you'll notice that there is a bit more hair above his upper lip. His legs too now have hairs, again only if you look closer. So funny how he asked me this question this morning. He even asked if he needs to shave. Well, I said, not yet. Maybe a few more years. Wow. My little guy is growing so fast. Slow down, bud! I don't want you to grow up yet!

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Thursday Then and Now

Nothing so interesting happened today...aside from the usual silliness of Thing 1 (Beata) and Thing 2 (Jethro). Raymond did not go to work for since yesterday because of a bad cold. Jakob has a little cough this morning and came home from school today with headache...I guess he got the cold virus!

Since it is still officially Beata's birthday week, I decided to do a Then and Now post. Remember the stuffed dog from yesterday's post? Well, it's her favorite stuffed animal. It was given to her by her Grandpa when she was about 6 months old and she never let go. She'll take it everywhere!!! She like to rub it's tail on her nose (don't ask me why?). It's been in the snow, the mud, the puddle, (even to the church service--so she can sit still and be quite throughout the service :P). It has seen many washing cycles in the washing machine. Now, it's showing some "bald spots" and it is not as full and fluffy as before but she still would not trade it for anything (that's why we took her to Build-A-Bear for her birthday thinking that she would want a new stuffed animal!). Grandpa has given her another stuffed dog last year but she still would not give up "Doggie" (what she calls the dog, creative eh? ha!).

So, here's your Then and Now, Beata (and Doggie!)

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WEDNESDAY re-WIND: The many uses of cornstarch

Beata and her gray hair! Actually, it was cornstarch. She happened to got a hold of a jar of vaseline the day before and spread most of it on her hair. I tried washing her hair many times after that incident but there was no change on her greasy, sticky hair. I searched the internet for solutions and found out that cornstarch is the answer. After only 2 applications and 2 washings, the vaseline washed away. Good thing she only did it to her hair and not on furniture or her favorite stuffed dog (more on this doggie in my future blog)...or her baby brother!!!

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Are you 1? Are you 2? Are you 3? Are you 4?

She is 4! Beata is now a 4 year-old! Pancakes and eggs was her request for breakfast (I think Jakob enjoyed more than the birthday girl :D ).

No fancy birthday cake today, just the good old cupcakes--that Beata loves! We made our own and I let the kids help with the sprinkles.

We went to Build-A-Bear at Oshawa Mall thinking that Beata would be excited to get a new stuffed toy for her birthday...but she does not seem so interested. She was anticipating where we would eat for supper more than choosing her own toy. So, I told my hubby that maybe she might be too young for this Build-A-Bear (I enjoyed it more than she did when we were at the store!) so we will try again next year (maybe with some of her friends for a 5-year old birthday party!). Our original plan did not work and we were caught offguard and didn't know what to do next so we just went with the flow and follow their request to eat at McDonald's though I really prefer a different family restaurant. So there we were, eating chicken nuggets and fries, cheeseburger and fruitopia for supper. Then they played in the playplace for half an hour and then we headed home. I was kind of disappointed that we did not do anything "special" for Beata's 4th birthday but then going home Jakob said that he had fun, and Beata agreed to it. There is a lesson learned here -- big things are not BIG time; it's having fun and spending it with family that matters; we should be content with little things and should not expect too much! Wow!

What a lesson learned from a simple trip at McDonald's!

NOTE: There seems to be a problem uploading the scrapblog I did for Beata's birthday. If you cannot view the slideshow from my blog yeaterday, try clicking on this link http://www.scrapblog.com/Jaquino/057AB427-1196. Remember to view it in full screen, turn up your volume and set the intervels to very, very slow please!

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Happy birthday, Beata!

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Wow! What a weekend!

Friday night was the Kids' Summer Soccer pizza party! We were supposed to do it at the soccer field park but weather was not cooperating so it was held at the Coach's house (The Wilsons). Kids had fun playing together and adults had a fun fellowship. Thanks to the Wilsons and the Mackeys for their time and patience in coaching these crazy bunch of kids.

Saturday is a wet one. It has been raining all Friday night up until Saturday morning. Our church's Couple's Golf Tournament was held in this rainy Saturday morning. The rain was not so bad at all. We were not soaked, just a few minutes of moderate showers, then light drizzle for the most part. And we signed up for the first time. Wow! What an experience -- not just first time golfing but golfing IN THE RAIN as well. We had a few good swings; not bad for first timers :)

We promised the kids a trip to the zoo (thanks to our membership!) after the golf. There were no more rain in the afternoon. It's a bit cool at first then it got warmer so we got a chance to visit the splash park too even for just 15 minutes. With us were Raymond's uncle, aunt and cousins (and Phil!). Highlight of the visit would be the stingray bay where we got to touch real, live stingrays. Jakob enjoyed it the most; I was a bit scared (though we were assured that they are harmless coz they removed their barb and won't grow for another 4 months). But for Raymond, I think the highlight would be the food from Beavertails. Haha!

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I'm A Big Kid Now!

Yeah, you know the phrase when kids get over using diapers and is into pull-ups. This should be Jethro's line from now on. He has been on pull-ups since Spring this year. I tried putting on training pants on him during the Summer days (much easier coz he can only wet light summer clothes that are aesy to dry as opposed to thick heavy clothing for Fall/Winter) but as always, accidents happen every now and then. So what I did is put pull-ups at night and and when we are going out, then training pants during the day when we are at home. But within the last month or two, he has not been wetting or dirtying his pull-ups from the night before at all. So now, he usually ends up just using one clean pull-up a day. He never misses to tell us when he wants to go potty (he even goes to the potty by himself sometimes...and that's including wiping on his own, putting the lid down, flushing the toilet and washing his hands!).

So, I decided to put just training pants on him last night (with waterproof sheets under the bed sheet, of course!). And he woke up dry this morning! I was so happy. So proud of him! I will definitely do it again tonight and I hope and pray he stays dry.

"I'm a big kid now" is for pull-ups trainers. Jethro's line should be "Im a BIG big kid now!"

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WEDNESDAY re-WIND: The Day Beata Was Born

Jakob and Beata on the day Beata was born.

Can't believe our little princess will soon be 4 years old!

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First Day of School

Today is Jakob's first day of school in Faithway Baptist School. He is now in Grade 3 under Ms. Buckingham. I drove hime to school today and we were early so I had a chance to walk him to his classroom and take a couple of pics for his first day. Everything went well in the morning. They had a good breakfast, no traffic, we were early for school...but Jakob forgot one thing -- his Bible. He was a bit disappointed. I was going to go home and get it and bring it back to school but the teacher said it's fine; he can just bring it tomorrow. Now his Bible is already in his backpack ready for tomorrow (plus a box of kleenex too, for the sniffles :D ).

I asked him how's first day of school and what's new? He said, school's fine (typical answer from a boy -- no details, no stories) and he said nothing's new but took it back and said, "There's something new...THE BOOKS!" hahaha, very funny Jakob!

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Labour Day 2008

We spent our Labour Day holiday with our church family for the annual church picnic at the Michel's farm. It was a nice warm day (nice and warm under the sun but cool and breezy under the shade). The sandbox is always a hit with these little kids. But never forget the all-time favourite hay ride that both kids and grown-ups enjoy!
And, of course, we have to match! This pic was taken after the church picnic. We got home and Beata was sleeping in the van. We have to wake her up and then take pictures, hence the frown on her face :(
Family photo in matching outfits (another addition to our "We Like To Match" album)

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