Halloween

This Halloween Ron and I decided to make costumes for the boys. After searching on the internet I found a cool costume....a pair of dice.

I had cardboard boxes at school and white paint in the garage. The only thing we had to buy was black construction paper. I know what you're thinking....I'm a teacher....why do I not have construction paper? No excuses...just don't keep art supplies at home.

So Friday night, the night before Halloween...Seth and I painted the boxes. Saturday morning we cut out the paper circles and holes in the boxes for the boys arms and head. Ron even came up with a great idea to attach the boys candy bag inside the boxes.

After it was all done we went to Jesse and Amy's house to go trick or treating around their neighborhood. The boys had a bit of a hard time with the costumes because they couldn't see their feet or any stairs below them. They fell down a few times. It sounds harsh but it was actually kind of funny because they couldn't get up on thier own.

They did have a great time despite the couple of spills they took and they got more than enough candy.

It's Been A Long Time

It's been a long time since I've blogged. I haven't given it up, I just (insert excuse here). Guess there's no good reason or any specific reason at that. I just haven't done it.

Seth is doing great in 1st grade. He absolutely loves it. He's got more homework this year so he's learning the fine art of balancing extra curricular activities and homework. He's got spelling tests this year so we practice his spelling words everyday. Dad told him if he got 100% two weeks in a row then he would get a Nintendo DS!

Evan is having a great time in preschool. He loves playing with his friends and is learning a lot. He loves to come home and do homework.

Levi is growing quickly. He just turned 2 and is learning to drive mommy crazy by taking off his diaper. Maybe he's giving me a hint that it's time to potty train. He's recently learned to count to 10. (thanks in HUGE part to Miss Amy)

Ron is keeping busy with work and also doing projects for other people. He likes to stay busy. In fact last weeked he came home from helping someone and was only home for about 10 minutes before he said, "What do you want to do? Wanna go somewhere?"

That's it for now. The newest update. Promise I'll try harder to keep posting more often.

Good Times!

Ben and Nathan came over today to hang out with us. Last weekend we had talked about going to the beach so today they brought their swim trunks and boogie boards. We got to the beach and off the kids ran, straight into the water. Ben was nice enough to let Seth borrow his boogie board. Seth caught on pretty quickly on how to use one and when he road his first wave in he said, "That was gnarly!" He absolutely loved it!

Evan played around on the sand and allowed only his feet to get wet. It takes him awhile to get into the pool at Grandma's house and so I didn't expect that he would jump into the ocean!

Levi had a good time getting wet and sandy and also playing with Evan.

Ben and Nathan also seemed to have a good time.

It was a nice to see everyone laughing and having a good time. Even Ron went in the water! It was one of those days where we didn't do anything spectacular but we still had a lot of fun! Good times!

Big Changes in the Perry House

And no....I'm not pregnant. Whenever I have something to say people seem to think I'm pregnant.

Nope...the big changes in the Perry house are the sleeping arrangements of the boys. Since Levi was born Seth and Evan have shared a room. We bought them some cool bunkbeds when Evan was big enough to sleep in a "big boy bed". Levi has always had his own room since, as a baby, sleeps more often than everyone else in the house. Well, Levi has begun to crawl out of his playpen when he doesn't want to go to sleep and Seth has been begging for his own room. We decided to give it a try. Seth got his own room and Levi now shares a room with Evan. Levi is doing great in the bunkbeds. He sleeps on the bottom which is pretty much on the floor so even if he rolls out he won't drop onto the floor just roll out onto it. He even stays in the room until I come and get him. Evan has had to adjust to not going into his room while Levi is napping in the middle of the day but that will all change next week when we go back to school.

One night when Levi first started sleeping in the same room as Evan, Ron woke up in the middle of the night to find the milk jug on the floor (not spilt) and the refrigerator open. This is the only time (that we know of) that he has woke up in the middle of the night.

So that's the news in the Perry house. Seth is trying to keep his room clean in spite of his brothers wanting to play in there all the time. Evan is adjusting well to sharing with Levi, especially since he loves Levi so much. And Levi is doing great sleeping in a "big boy bed". My boys are growing quickly. Ron says to cherish these days because one day I will miss them. I'm sure he's right.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

At the Perry house we count down the days until summer is over. I know it's strange and that most people count down the days til summer begins. However, my boys LOVE their school and I LOVE my job. The summer is a nice break. We enjoy getting to sleep in, go to the park in the middle of the day, go to the library when no one else is there...BUT we also LOVE school.

We've got one week to go and the boys are getting restless. Each day Seth crosses out a day on the calendar to count down how many more days til school. Today there are 11 more days. Technically, there are only 11 days until the teachers at our school go back. We have one week to get our classrooms ready, go to meetings (this year we are working on accreditation), etc. Seth will be in daycare on the elementary side, Evan will be in daycare on the preschool side and Levi will be back to hanging out with Amy (or Mamy, as he calls her).

The official first day of school is Tuesday, September 8th. Seth will be in 1st grade with Miss Chia and Mrs. Barth as his teachers. Evan will be in the 4 year olds class with Mrs. Turner as his teacher. As for me, I will have 12 students this year (a small class for me) and will be in a new classroom.

And so, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and are awaiting September 8th when we get to take the first day of school picture in front of the school sign like I make the boys do every year!

The Haircut

BEFORE:


AFTER:

Who Did It?

Last night I went into my cupboard to pull out the bread and I saw this...

The funny thing is that these cans were in the back of the cupboard. A few months ago Ron asked me to buy V8 the next time I went to the grocery store. I did and since he is the only one who drinks that stuff it's pretty much just been sitting in the cabinet. Well since Ron calls me "Pigpen" you can guess that I didn't line these cans up neatly with all of the labels facing forward. So who did? That's more Ron's style so I asked if he did it. Nope...not him. Must have been one of the boys. So I thought to myself, 'Which child has that kind of personality?' I decided that it must be Evan. Everytime we go to the store he finds something on the floor that must be picked up and put away. If a door is open, he must close it. Ron insisted that it was Seth. He figured Evan might stack them up but never put all of the labels facing the same way. Guess which one of us was right!

And the son who neatly stacked and lined up all of the V8 cans with the labels facing forward is........

SETH!

Family Time

Last weekend we spent the day busying ourselves with things that needed to be done. We tackled and conquered the mountain of laundry that grows when you have 5 people in your family. We also helped Grandma with a little cleaning out of kitchen cabinets. After the long day of getting done those things that needed to get done we decided to go to the park. We first stopped at Rite Aid to get some icecream. We bought the boys suckers instead because, afterall, we were just at Grandma's house which meant they already had icecream! We met KC, Jen and Jacob at Wilson Park and let the boys play and run off all of their energy. We had a great time! We even got the boys to sit in a tree to take their pictures. Levi and Jacob did not like being up there. Evan got a little scared but stayed up long enough to let us take his picture and Seth loved it. The day didn't consist of anything dazzling like going to an amusement park but we had a good time just hanging out with the family.

Ron's New Blog

I'm often very proud of Ron. But the latest thing that he's doing that makes me proud is that he's created his own blog with do it yourself home improvement projects. He started the blog with a post on how to remove that cottage cheese look from your ceiling and then added a new one on how to fix a hole in the wall. As he does more projects in our home or for friends he will be documenting them and blogging step-by-step instructions. Everyone should check it out. www.makeithappenwithron.blogspot.com

Playing in the Pool

Last weekend we went to Grandma's house to go swimming. It's been so hot here and sometimes our fan in the living room just isn't enough to cool us down.
Evan usually just puts on his floaties and sits on the steps. He's terribly afraid of going in the water where his feet don't touch. Even when Ron goes into the pool and holds him, he still freaks out. Well this weekend Ron grabbed hold of Evan's hands and guided him away from the wall of the pool so he couldn't hold on. He was nervous for a second and then shouted, "I'm swimming!" It was a great big deal for him. We're so proud he finally got over being scared.

Ron was cleaning Grandma's patio and found the snorkeling mask that Auntie and Uncle bought last summer and threw it into the pool. Well, Seth thought that was very cool and decided that he needed to go snorkeling. After playing for awhile he told me that we need to do that in the ocean so we could see fish. Think he'll have to do that with Daddy!

Auntie Jenny and Jacob came swimming with us. Jacob loves the water!

Magic and More

Seth has a new favorite TV show. He likes to watch TV's Biggest Magic Secrets Revealed. He thinks it's awesome to see how the magician does his magic tricks and wants to learn how to do them himself. Ron has taught him a few tricks that he performs for me. This show usually comes on Monday nights. Last week we missed it and Tuesday morning Seth reminded me that we didn't get to watch the magic show. Guess I'll have to remember this show now!

Evan has been loving the library. Whenever we go he goes straight to the kid's section and picks out his own book. He's already looked at all the pages by the time we get home but he'll let me read it to him again later. He's getting excited to go back to school and keeps asking when he gets to go back to Mrs. Almerina's house. :)

Levi is growing quickly. He's learning a lot more words and has become an excellent climber. We often find him in Seth and Evan's room on the top bunk. He can climb up there really well but has not yet learned to get down so when he wants down he calls me to come get him.

My boys are growing quickly!

Library

Today I took the kids to the library for the first time. I'm ashamed to say that my kids have never been to a public library. Seth has library time at school once a week so he already knows the rules of the library. I explained the rules of the library as best I could to Evan and tried very hard to explain to Levi that the library is a quiet place.

Our first stop was the desk to get our library card. The boys did a fabulous job at waiting very patiently and quietly, even Levi.

Once we got our new library card we went off in search of kids books. Evan chose, The Cow That Clucked and Seth chose Buster.

On the way home the boys were very excited and already talking about what kind of book they want to get next time! Yay, I just might raise a couple of bookworms!

Summer Fun

Today I pulled down the pool from the garage and let the boys play in the front yard. Last year Levi did not like the pool or the water but this year he ran to it. As soon as he got in he went crazy and started splashing. Seth is getting too big for the pool and he noticed it too. He got in the pool first and as soon as the other two got in he came out and said, "Mom, can we get a big pool?"

All in all, we had a lot of fun. I brought out the hose and made it "rain" on the boys. Then they started making it "rain" on themselves. Even Levi learned how to turn on the water.

And even though Seth may be too big for the pool I bet he'll go outside and play in it tomorrow.

4th of July

On the Fourth of July our family went to the Aguilera's house. It's always fun to go watch the fireworks there because we can see the awesome Wilson Park fireworks without the Wilson Park crowds. Plus it's always fun to hang out with our friends! Here are a few pics of the day.

The-Not-So-Innocent

One afternoon I was sitting in the living room and all was quiet! Any mom (and especially moms of more than 1) know that quiet usually equals trouble. So off I go to check on the boys. Seth and Evan are quietly playing in their room and watching TV. But where is Levi? I walk into the kitchen and see this:

My innocent looking Levi. Now you may think, "What's wrong with that picture?" Nothing...as long as Evan doesn't want to eat dinner. Levi has climbed up to the table and helped himself to Evan's dinner! I cooked stir-fry chicken and apparently Evan did not like it and excused himself. At least he didn't let the food go to waste!

Take a look

I have dreams about what my boys will be like when they grow up and occasionally they give me a little glimpse into the future! :)

Introducing the newest UFC champion!

Today we signed Seth up to take Brazilian Jiu Jitsu! He got a gi and was able to take a class today! There are only four kids in his class. He and one other boy and two girls! They are adorable. His class is called Little Tappers. He takes classes twice a week. I got to watch through the window. Only through the window because Levi was too loud to stay inside! He is a very good listener and was the only kid not playing around. He had a lot of fun and is excited to go back on Wednesday!

Easter 2009

Easter 2009 - This year we couldn't go to church for the Good Friday service or the Easter service! This is the first year that I can remember not going to church on Easter. However...since all 3 of the boys keep getting runny noses...it makes it extremely difficult to make it to church. Our church has a very strict policy that children with runny noses can't go into children's ministry. I totally love the policy since it helps kids to stay healthy. It's just a bummer that my boys keep getting runny noses!

So...we went to Grandma's house for an Easter Egg Hunt and dinner! Uncle KC, Auntie Jenny, Jacob and Grandpa were all there too! We all had a real great time! Ron and Auntie Jenny got to hide all of the eggs and they hid some in obvious places for Jacob and Levi and some in more difficult spots for Evan and Seth. Ron even hid one in the tailpipe of his truck! Evan had a hard time getting it out and unfortunately pushed it in further. I'm not sure how Ron got it out but he's that way....he can do it all!

Jacob on the hunt!

Seth found an egg on the windshield!










Evan trying to get that Easter Egg!

Floors

Awhile ago we had new floors professionally installed in our living room...by Ron and I! Okay, so we aren't professionals but we did a good job, if I do say so myself! When we moved into our house we ripped out the old carpet (that we'd had since I was 12) and put in new blue carpet. In a short amount of time and with the help of our three sons, the carpet was looking pretty bad. We decided to pull out the carpet and refinish the original hardwood floors. After talking about all the work that would take and the thought of trying to keep the boys off the floor for the entire weekend while waiting for the floor to dry, we changed plans. We deided to put down new floors on top of the existing hardwood floors. We did this same thing in our kitchen so we've had experience and we know it's pretty easy to do.

Ron cut the pieces and I installed them. After we finished the floors and put the molding back in we went and bought our new couches! Our living room looks MUCH better! It does look like a man's living room but with a house full of boys...what do you expect?

Here is a picture of it half way done!

The old couch and carpet before Ron took it to the dump!

Dancing in the Car

When I was in junior high and high school I went to schools in Torrance even though I lived in Carson. Because of this I never walked to school (for obvious reasons) and my mom had to drive me to school. I didn't get my license or a car until I was a senior in high school so my poor mom had to drive me every day until then. I remember that she used to turn the radio up and dance in the car. This, of course, embarrassed me something awful! I used to say with the most attitude I could muster as a teenage girl, "M-o-m!" She eventually would stop so as not to embarrass me too much. I've always held on to this memory as something funny my mom used to do to me.
After today this memory has a new meaning. One that I'm sure my mom will appreciate.
For the past two days we have been listening to Seth's MP3 player in the car. Seth is happy because he gets to hold the MP3 player and play DJ. I'm happy because there's less "boy noise" in the car. Yesterday, after picking up Levi from Amy's house Seth turns the music on and all three boys start dancing around in the car. All 3 of them are bobbing their heads and pumping their arms. I'm looking in the rear view mirror and a smile suddenly bursts onto my face. I can't help it. It's pure joy. They are having the time of their lives. Turning up the radio and just being care-free. And all of a sudden I find myself singing along with them and dancing around myself. Today we did the same thing. And it hit me. One day I will be driving them to school and a good song will come on the radio and I will turn it up and dance and they will say with all the attitude that they can muster, "M-o-m!" and I will stop dancing.
And so, as my friends with older kids always say, I will treasure the days I have with them when they do think I'm fun, they laugh at my jokes, they want to dance in the car with me. I'll remember the past two days during the times when they are fighting each other and don't want to go to sleep or clean their rooms. And I'll keep dancing in the car in hopes that they'll remember the fun we used to have!

From the Mouths of Babes

I found these questions online and decided to ask Seth. Here are his answers. My responses are in parentheses.

1. What is something mom always says to you?I love you (I try to tell him everyday because I do and because he likes to hear it.)

2. What makes mom happy? when I clean my room (this is true)

3. What makes mom sad? when I'm not around (he got to go to Chuck E Cheese with Dad today and skip school. I told him that I missed seeing him at school today so I think that's why he said this.)

4. How does your mom make you laugh? by tickling me and making funny faces

5. What was your mom like as a child? I don’t know (this is funny because he's always asking me this question. I always tell him to call grandma and ask her.)

6. How old is your mom? I forgot (good)

7. How tall is your mom? huge (I'm 5'4")

8. What is her favorite thing to do? play the piano

9. What does your mom do when you are not home? watch tv

10.If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? for God

11. What is your mom really good at? playing the piano

12. What is your mom not good at? playing the guitar (he wants to give me lessons)

13.what does your mom do for a job? go to school and teach (yes I do)

14.What is your mom's favorite food? spaghetti (no, that's Seth's favorite food)

15.What makes you proud of your mom? when you take me to school (Seth really likes school)

Now That I'm A Parent

Now that I'm a parent there are some things I should say:

1. I think that parents should get a present on their child's first birthday. Especially first time parents. After all, parents did an awful lot of work and an awful lot of worry just to get through the first year.

2. All parents should go back and apologize to their own parents because now they know how it feels. So Mom and Dad I'm sorry for:
a. banging the piano keys when you (Mom) were trying to actually play a song
b. half baked Easy Bake Oven cakes that Dad had to at least try
c. the fit I always threw everytime you tried to clip my finger and toe nails.
d. the fit I also threw when I had to take a bath/shower
e. for never wanting to clean my room

3. All parents should thank their parents now that they know that parenting is a tough job. So Mom and Dad thanks for:
a. dancing in the car even though I thought it embarassing at the time, it's super fun to do with the boys now!
b. discipline
c. taking us to church every Sunday
d. teaching us to "let our yes be yes and no be no"
e. allowing my imaginary friend to have dinner with us

Love you Mom and Dad!

Helping Mommy

This afternoon I went out for my weekly grocery shopping trip. I left all the boys at home with Daddy as I normally do. When I got home I came into the house and told Seth and Evan to put their shoes on and come help Mommy with the groceries. I've never seen them put their shoes on as fast as they did then! Seth came out first and opened the back of the car for me. Then he told me that he could carry more than one bag so now he needs two. So I gave him two bags to carry in. Evan came out and I gave him the bread bag. He looked inside and said, "Mmm...sandwiches!" The two of them carried in all but two bags. The two they did not carry in were ones that I felt were a little too full. Then after they had brought in all of the bags they didn't run back to watching TV but they stayed in the kitchen and helped me put all of the groceries away. They knew exactly where everything went and they put it all away correctly! I am such a proud mama!

Today

So I'm sure that I should be writing about how this is a historic day as we have a new president today but I've seen enough of it on TV, asked my 3rd graders to journal about it this morning, and then we prayed for President Obama and his family.
So on to the good stuff....Every year our school has a talent show. Last year Seth asked why he didn't get to be in the show. The truth was that I just didn't think about putting him in it. So this year when the flyer came home for sign-ups I asked if he wanted to be in the show. He responded with a resounding "YES". So I came home and told Ron that he needs to get working on writing jokes for Seth to tell at the Talent Show.
Seth can tell a good joke. Ron taught him a few jokes about a month ago while I was in a restuarant picking up food. Just in that short time he learned to tell at least four jokes.
So tomorrow I will go into the office and sign Seth up! They usually make a DVD of the Talent Show so if you can't make it and you want to see it please let me know and I'll order it!

Haircuts!

Yesterday we were all bored out of our minds so Ron decided that it would be a good day to get the boys haircut. Mind you, Evan has never had a haircut at a barber shop and everytime we have cut his hair he has hated it. I was a little nervous but got off easy because Ron took them both and I stayed outside with Levi. He and I took a walk and would stop and peek in the window for awhile just to see how Seth and Evan were doing. They both did great and all the ladies at Fantastic Sam's commented on how cute they were and how well behaved they both were. Here's the end result. They look like cute little boys!