The Ralphie Cookie

Anybody who knows Jonathan knows he LOVES the University of Colorado at Boulder.  Even more than the school, he loves the football team.  So I wanted to surprise him with some Ralphie cookies!  I happened to find the official Ralphie cookie cutter, and had a magnet that was roughly the same size that I was able to use ad a decorating template.  And the results are ...

Pretty cool, isn't it!   For the "CU" logo, I placed the magnet under a piece of parchment paper and then used royal icing to trace the logo.  Once it dried, I very carefully lifted it from the paper and moved to the cookie.  The icing was wet, so the logo simply stuck and stayed on the cookie once the icing dried.

VOILA!!!

Halloween Cookies

My sister and I went to another "Cookie Boot Camp" tonight and here are my creations!

As with the first class we took, I am excited about this craft and I am planning a new cookie project at home:  Captain Hook and shark cookies for Christian's upcoming birthday party.  Stay tuned!

As with 

Meet the Happiest Boy in the World

Christina's latest fascination is Captain Hook, and his imagination has him making just about anything into a hook ... including breaking numerous coat hangers to make into hooks.

I found this "real hook," and knew he had to have it! He was THRILLED!!



 

Christian Loses Another Tooth

Today I walked into the living room and Christian called out, "Mommy ... looooook!"  He had this huge grin on his face ... but a grin that was unfamiliar to me.  His front tooth was gone!

The tooth has been loose for a while, but not loose enough to fall out.  So, he'd been working it and working it and made it come out, like kids often do.

Good thing the Tooth Fairy only brings $1.00 per tooth ... his teeth are dropping like flies! :)

Week Two of Kindergarten

Christian has now completed two weeks of kindergarten!

It seems to be going well, because he's happy when I pick him up from school.  But he still doesn't say much about his day. 

He hasn't been going potty at school, so I have bribed him with an OtterPop.  If he goes potty at school, he gets an OtterPop when we get home.  I can tell if he's gone or not because his underwear gets a bit twisted when he pulls them up.

He's become a bit apprehensive about going into class by himself.  One day, he told me he was feeling nervous.  Scarlett has been particularly affectionate with Christian lately and reached up and gave him a kiss before he went to class.

One thing I'm wanting to address with his teacher is his reading assignments.  Each day, the students get to pick out a book to take home and read with their parents.  They are very short books, with one brief, super easy sentence per page.  Christian is an awesome reader, and gets through this book within seconds.  We are supposed to log the books he reads, so we've been reading books from home that are at his level and logging those.  I'm hoping doing so will clue his teacher into this reading level. 

Since all of our communication with her is via e-mail, I'm trying to think of a way I can be sure she knows Christian is way beyond a kindergarten reading level ... and yet, not sound boastful or like I'm suggesting Christian needs special consideration.  I've got some teacher friends I'm going to ask for suggestions from.

Meet Miss Ruby Red!

 

Miss Ruby Red, a 2014 Ford Explorer, has joined our family!  Isn't she pretty?!

 

With two children (who travel in two very large car seats), we simply outgrew our awesome Saturn VUE.  Also, the VUE only had air vents in the front, so the backseat was just too hot.  Miss Ruby has vents galore and the backseat is nice and cool.

 

She also has third-row seating, so we can technically fit up to seven people, which is NICE!  My mom just moved here from Washington and it is great that we can fit all of us!

 

Miss Ruby Red is a computer on wheels!  There is so much she does, it's crazy!  We're still trying to figure it all out.  Ford even sent a person to our home to show us everything. One of our favorite features is a rear-view camera that activates when the vehicle is in reverse.  It shows up on the screen in the center console.

 

We also have a navigation screen, which is a permanent feature, rather than a trial feature.

 

 

 

And we can talk to the car, too!  We can tell her what radio station we want to listen to, or the temperature/fan speed we desire, etc.

 

This Explorer was the only red one at the dealership, and she happened to come with leather seats (which was high on my desire list - but having fabric seats wasn't a deal breaker, either).  I know it seems crazy to have leather seats in Phoenix, but they have not been too hot to sit on ... and I don't wear shorts, so I'm not sticking to the seats.  

 

I liked the idea of leather for easy cleanup.  And we were quickly shown we made the right decision when Christian gave Scarlett an unopened container of BBQ sauce from his Happy Meal and she squeezed it open.  Sauce all over her, and her car seat and some onto the leather seats.  But it cleaned up nicely!  WHEW!!!

The funniest part of the new car story is all the back-and-forth texting that took place between the sales guy and myself over the course of several days, working out details, pricing, trade-in value for the VUE, etc.  Doing it that way enabled me to be much more bold than I could have been in person.

In the end, we're good with the trade-in amount we got, and are good with the price of Miss Ruby Red!

 

Christian's Third Day of Kindergarten

Ah, this kiddo of mine!  He makes me laugh.

 

Today at drop-off, HE stopped ME at the sidewalk and said,

 

"Now, Mommy.  Stop right here, take my picture and I will go in by myself."

 

And that is exactly what happened. :)

 

 

Christian's Second Day of Kindergarten

School starts at 7:30am and is a bit of a drive for us.  Yesterday, Jonathan and I tag-teamed and got everybody out the door on time.  Today, it was just me and I am happy to report I got him to school early today.  GO TEAM MOM!!

 

We are encouraged to let our kiddos walk to the classroom by themselves, so I stopped at the sidewalk at his room, took some pictures and to the door he walked.   He stopped and hesitated at the door, and I walked in and pointed out his teacher was inside.   And then he was okay.

 

 

Christian's First Day of Kindergarten

The big day finally arrived: 

Christian is a kindergartener!

 

 

Lately, he's got a thing for sticking is tongue out for pictures.

He's such a little boy these days.

Standing in front of his school, excited for the day to start!

 

Checking out his new classroom.

 

He asked if he wanted to color, and he actually did! 

(Sister wants to be in kindergarten, too!)

Saying goodbye!

They had a "Boo Hoo Brunch" in the gym and Scarlett found a ball to kick around.

Pickup after school.  We parents must stand outside the gate and hold up a card with our kiddo's name, and then they release the child to us.  Reminds me of an auction!

 

 

Kindergarten at this school is only a 1/2 day, Monday - Thursday (actually, all grades at this school are Monday - Thursday.  No Friday classes for anybody - ever).   Though he didn't have much to say about his first day, we know he had a good time.  He was all smiles when we picked him up!

Technology ... Technology ...

These two are obsessed with my iPad.  Obsessed.  I have to hide it from them.  If either kiddo even catches of a glimpse of it, they ask for it non-stop.

 

Let's Go for a Walk!

The mornings are cooling down just a wee bit.  Jonathan happened to be home today, so we decided it was a good morning for a family walk!

 

The Third Tooth

And just like that, tooth #3 has left the building!

 

As you can see, he's already got one tooth coming in where the first two teeth fell out.  If three teeth will be replacing the three lost teeth, I'm not sure where they will all fit!

 

Once again, Christian was more delighted in a personal note from the tooth fairy than the money within the note. 

 

I was reading an article about the going rate for Tooth Fairy money.  It said that the first tooth is special and should get $10.00.  TEN DOLLARS???  And subsequent teeth can cost $5.00.  FIVE DOLLARS?

 

I guess our Tooth Fairy went to the School of Financial Reality.  She brings $1.00 per tooth.

 

If I were a betting woman, I'd say the next teeth to come out are his two front teeth.  They are wiggling a bit.

 

 

 

My First Cookie Decorating Class

Tonight Liz and I took "Cookie Boot Camp" to learn how to decorate cookies with "Royal Icing."  We had a really great time!

 

I'm really inspired by the woman who taught the class.  She is a stay-at-home mom with five kiddos.  Her husband lost her job, so she was looking for something to do to bring in extra money.  She now sells her creative, beautiful custom decorated cookies locally and on www.etsy.com/shop/SugarbeeGoodies.   Her husband has a job now, but she's continued with her cookie business.

 

And it is my good fortune that she also teaches these classes to whomever else wants to learn how to decorate cookies. 

 

Check her out at www.SugarbeeGoodies.com.

 

Maybe Santa will bring me an awesome Kitchen-Aid mixer for Christmas (Santa, do you read my blog?).

 

I even made a shark cookie for Christian (lower right corner).  I had limited decorations, so it was the best I could do - a silver fin coming out of water.  But, Christian LOVED IT! :)

 

Christian Loses His Second Tooth

Christian has lost his second tooth!

 

It was loose, and he proudly kept wiggling it.  When I dropped him off at school I told him that if it fell out during class, he should give it to Miss Andrea.

 

I arrived to pick it up and Miss Andrea told me the story about how she noticed it was gone and asked him where it was.  For some reason, he SWALLOWED it.    Awwwwwwwwwwww!!!  I wanted to save it for his scrapbook that I will make one day. He can't explain why he swallowed it ... I guess it shall remain a mystery.

 

That's okay ... these things happen.  And he'll still get a note and a dollar from the Tooth Fairy! :)

 

He's now got another bottom tooth that is getting more loose ... stay tuned!

 

 

Christian Becomes an Octopus!

We are so proud to share that today, Christian was promoted to the next level of swimming lessons! He is now an Octopus!!

During today's lesson, I noticed the admin guy watching Christian swim the length of the pool, and write some things down. He then went to his station and wrote more down ... and I was getting excited!

A few minutes later, he came out to tell me Christian had been promoted. He is still working on one of his skills, but his instructor didn't want to hold him back. So next week, he starts with a new person ... this time, his instructor is a man. He's only had a male instructor one other time - when he was taking a makeup class a while back. And Christian did really well with him, so we'll see ... maybe it is even the same guy!

One of the things he'll learn as an Octopus is how to swim and simply move his head to the side to take a breath, rather than completely rolling onto his back as he has been taught.

We're so excited!!!

Hononring the Granite Mountain Hotshots

 

Today, along with Auntie Liz, we made our way to the procession for the 19 fallen Granite Mountain Hotshots.  It was a hot day, and the procession was delayed for quite some time.  But we felt it was important to honor these amazing heroes and take the opportunity to talk to Christian about the importance of fire fighters and the importance hope and believing in Jesus.

 

 

The procession route was long and up Interstate 17.  As we drove to our location along the route, we saw people starting to take their respective places along the route.  People were gathering along the side of the interstate, and on top of overpasses.  It choked me up a bit each time I saw somebody waving a flag or holding purple balloons (purple is the color of fallen fire fighters).

 

 

Our location was where the procession left Interstate 17 and headed west towards Prescott.  There were a lot of people where we were and it was so heartwarming to see all these people wanting to honor our heroes.

 

Auntie and Christian

Lone Fire Fighter Boot

 

Thankfully, Miss Scarlett slept in the air conditioned car for most of our wait.  It was much too hot for her to be outside with us.

 

As the procession arrived at our location, I was teary but made sure to hide it, as Christian gets very upset when Mommy is upset.  I took a few pics and then prayed with Christian, thanking God for these brave firefighters.  Christian understands the need for prayer and seems to find comfort from it when he's feeling frightened or uncertain.

A Visit to the Natural History Museum

A visit to the Natural History Museum was in order for the Lucero family on this hot, hot day.

 

We were greeted by a huge Megaladon shark jaw, one of Christian's all-time favorite sharks!

 

Touching an actual Megaladon tooth!