The Final Fiesta

Finally! We are done! Our last birthday party was on Friday. We were a little poor after our Disneyland trip so the theme for the party was homemade fun. We made two pinatas out of old cereal boxes, decorated two cakes, played a game with buckets and sponges called, "Fill the Cup" and a hide and seek game called "find the three and five" (which were hand drawn numbers on scratch paper.) The kids didn't notice that it wasn't a state-of-the-art birthday party and we all had a great time. There were 14 kids, mostly boys. It was a lot, but all their moms and dads came too so it was kind of like an adult party as well. The kids scored on gifts as usual and have way too much. Most of the pictures are on my friend Toshia's camera which she was kind enough to offer since mine in being difficult.
Those are my pinatas behind the cake. Don't laugh now! The kids had fun making them with me. Cambria wanted to have two because she was afraid the boys would hit too hard and bust one open before she got a chance to hit(it happened once before). It worked out just fine. We decorated one with a "C" and one with a "K" and all the kids got a chance to hit. I was really glad because I wasn't sure how the cereal boxes would hold up.
As for the cakes the girls each picked out the design the wanted from our cake book and then we frosted them together. I don't know if you can tell because my camera is so crappy, but Kiera's, the pink one, has a tiara on it.

Earlier in the wee one of my fun college roommates came to visit me with her kids. She lives in MA, but her family is in Vegas. Sometimes I look at her mild mannered appearance, and find it hard to believe that she was once such a wild and crazy girl. In a fun way of course. We both have two girls and a boy. My girls had so much fun playing with Noelyn and Jaina. Kiera even wanted to go home with them.

Erin brought Arby's with her for lunch and we had a nice picnic outside.
Finally, we come to the story of Squiby. You might find yourself able to relate to a toddler who often says, "what" or "why." I find that I repeat myself over and over giving the same explanation. Do they ask "what" or "why" over and over for fun or simply because they don't understand the concept. I am not sure as to the answer of this question, but I do know that after I answer a question logically (several times in a row) and it does not satisfy, sometimes a nonsensical answer does the trick. For example, Kiera was asking me why a certain rock was in Grammy's front yard. I gave her several answers, that did not satisfy. The rock is part of the garden. The rock looks nice by the flowers. The rock was there when Grammy and Papa moved in. Rocks are found outside. None of these answers would suffice. Finally I said, "that rock is your Uncle Ryan's pet." She replied by saying, "oh, what's it's name?" I said, "Squiby, (of course)." She accepted that answer without further comment and it ended our conversation. She later told her uncle that she really liked his pet Squiby and of course he had no idea what she was talking out. After I quickly clued him in, he was happy playing along. Kiera begged to take Squiby home with us. To tell you the truth, Squiby has become my most favorite pet. He requires no care what so ever and Kiera enjoys him just the same.

Here's to you Squiby. Best Pet Ever!

Easter, B-days and Disneyland!

Warning: You are about to see loads of photos and a lot of journaling from a very fun week that started in Nevada and ended in California. :)

Easter time is usually synonymous with birthday time for us. So along with dying eggs and the more spiritual side of Easter , we also plan party, after party, after party. The Saturday before Easter Kai's mom and Dad planned a big Easter/birthday extravaganza. We colored eggs had an Easter egg hunt, had birthday cake and opened presents. The kids had a great time. We also had a birthday party while we were in Cali and we will be having our last one tomorrow. Crazy, I know. It drives Kai nuts. Oh, below are some pictures that Cambria and Kiera made.


This is Cambria with sparkle glue that they put on their eggs. They turned out so pretty.
This picture is out of order. It is some of the cousins after the Easter Egg hunt. I was so focused on trying to see if the babies were smiling I didn't even notice that Trey had snuck in the picture.He was feeling grumpy that he didn't get enough eggs and didn't want to be in the picture at first. I feel bad that I cut off his head.

They hid an egg up on the fence. Kai was kind enough to lend Cambria his back.
Bubba and Uncle Ian.
This is out of order too. Its the egg dying of course.
We actually did the se eggs at our house for FHE with some of our close friends.
Next stop Disneyland. This was a great adventure. We went for three days and tried to get there as soon as the park opened everyday. We only stayed until 1 or 2 because that was when the crowds got to be too much. We went with Miexia and Netty Ah Loy on one of the days and saw Matt and Kat Fritter on another. We also found out that Erin Burch Campbell was there on another day that we were, but we didn't see them. (My camera started to malfunction towards the end of our stay. It started taking foggy pictures. I guess I'll have to get a new one.) Isn't that the happiest face?!

Notice these cute backpacks the have on. They are actually leashes. I got them at Target. The funny thing is, I dated this guy once who was strongly opposed to putting leashes (like this) On kids because it classified them with animals. I didn't have an opinion on them at the time, but as I looked at these in the store his objection kept running through my mind and I wondered if I was somehow treating my children less than human. In the end though I was much more concerned about losing my little tots. Besides, Cambria thought it was a dream come true to be on a leash as she often pretends to be a dog (complete with a homemade leash- usually a jump rope around here waist.)
The hats that my girls are wearing demonstrate yet another difference between my girls. Cambria wanted the pretty princess ears and Kiera wanted the Goofy hat.

Bubba was such a trooper. He really did so well. He was in the stroller a lot and he hardly complained. Too bad he won't remember this fun trip.

Maybe this is why Kiera wanted the goofy hat- curse my dang foggy camera.

It was much more fun to wait in the long lines with the Ah Loy family. My kids just love their kids and call them their "Hawaii friends." Here we are in line for the jungle cruise. It actually scared these kids to death. It was really funny! You know how the tour guide tries to be all funny and tells really dumb jokes (which Miexia laughed very loudly at) Well at one point the guide told everyone to hit the deck because the natives were mad and shooting. Cambria, Kiera and Natalia Ah Loy hit the floor of the boat so fast and their eyes were filled with terror. Here I thought it would be a nice little friendly ride that the baby could go on with us!

This is a picture of them before they dropped to the floor in terror.
This is a picture of Cambria driving a car at Autopia! It was so funny because she was a horrible driver and we were being thrown in every direction. Great memories!
My girls have never seen Star wars, but the desperately wanted to be chosen to train as a padowan in the live show. Cambria was picked and poor little Kiera was not. I think the leader was going to choose her because he kept looking at her (there weren't that many kids) but every time he looked Kiera would turn to me and say, "I want to go up there" and I think the leader mistook that for disinterest. I think he thought I was just trying to be a pushy parent trying to get her kid up there. But when the show started there were tears. Kiera was devastated. I told he we could keep coming back until she got chosen, but she changed her mind as soon as the Sith (sp?) Lord came out. He was pretty scary. It was such a cool production. There were storm troopers and Darth Vader came out of a stage that rose from the ground. It was awesome. Cambria got to fight Darth Vader and she was so cute! Maybe I'll try to put the video clip on later.

Not surprisingly we spent a lot of time in the princess end of the park. The girls were in heaven. The got to take a picture with Snow White. Cambria was so scared, but Snow White was so nice and took a lot of time to talk to them. She was really sweet. When we left Snow White, Cambria was a smiles as she said, "I didn't have to be scared after all!" I wish I could write Snow White a thank you letter.


Uncle Caca got to come with us on one of the days. It was great for the girls to be with him before he leaves on his mission. We also got to be at his farewell which was on Easter Sunday, and I was able to go with him when he went through the temple for the first time. It was very cool.
We also got to spend some quality time with Gigi. I was always very close with my Grandma growing up, My mom and my brother Sean and I actually lived with her and my Grandpa for awhile. So I am very happy that my girls get to continue on in what I consider to be a very special relationship. This is the second time we have gotten to play with clay at her house. The girls thin kit is a lot of fun.

Cambria made a snake and Kiera made an octopus:)

I know what you are thinking, I should make my family rich using my artistic skills to support us. Gigi made the bunny. Cambria made the blue foot with the yellow toes for my pink girls in the back. I also take credit for the blue man. Don't be jealous of my skills, its a gift.:)
Lastly, while we were at the neighbor hood park visiting with the Fritters, this crazy truck comes zooming down the railroad track then crashes through the fence park. It got high centered and the driver couldn't get it to budge. Kai called the police to come help and when the fuzz showed up the driver and passenger took off running. The cops found evidence of pot and crystal meth in the truck. Is nothing sacred anymore! I am just glad the kids weren't near the fence playing!

Well, if you have read all this I commend you! Thank you for sharing in our journey! We had a great vacation!

PS: A big Happy Birthday to my 5 year old Cambria! She is the sweetest girls. She is my first born and I have always felt like she is my little buddy. She is so creative and tender, smart and funny. She helps me so much and I am going to miss her terribly when she goes to school next year. Happy Birthday Nani!

Happy Birthday Kiera!

My little girl is three! Though, if you ask here she'll say she is 5. Kiera is very disappointed that Cambria gets to go tho school next year without her. She has decided to lie about her age to solve the problem. I can't believe how the time has flown. Today I have a 4 year old a 3 year old and a 6 month old. Does that mean I am old?!
It is so hard to get a good picture of her because she is always on the move. Kiera is a sweet and sassy spirit. She loves girly-girl things and "boy toys" as she calls them, quite equally. One minute she acts like a dainty princess and the next the "evilest girl" bad-guy. She likes to think she is tough and has big muscles. She has an amazing imagination a very sweet heart and a very quick mind. She loves to quote movies and is constantly surprising me in many ways. I can't imagine life with out this girl in it.

So far she has had two birthday celebrations as well as a quite celebration with just us as pictured above. We had a bowl of ice cream with a sparkler put inside of it. You can see Cambria maintaining a safe distance in the background.

Pictured above was our first b-day celebration at Kai's mom and dad's house. We celebrated all the March and April b-days as well as Easter. Below is a pretty bad picture of the celebration at my parents hose. I think Kiera is scolding Cambria for blowing out her candle. We had to relight it three times.
Happy Birthday Kiera! We love you so much!

I have so much more to tell. I have stories about Easter, California, Disneyland, more about birthdays, etc, but alas the hour is late and I am exhausted from our trip, so I think I will continue tomorrow. Stay tuned because there will be more good stuff to come!

The darndest things

Kids really do say some funny things. For example, I was putting Kiera down for a nap and she began picking her nose. I tried to explain to her that it was kind of gross to do such a thing and that she really should ask for a Kleenex. She simply said "sometimes boogers get stuck and I have to pick them with my finger or else they won't get out." And for a split second, before I handed her a tissue, I thought, well, how do you argue with that logic?
As Kiera was sleeping, Cambria was complaining. She didn't feel well and she was really cold. I made her a cozy little bed on the couch and tucked her up in a blanket and tried to do my workout video. She kept making soft little moaning noises, so I pushed pause and sat by her. I ran my fingers through her hair, then pressed my palm to her brow to check for a fever. She said to me in such a sweet little pitiful voice, "Mom, do I have a beaver?" It was all I could do to keep a straight face. I know a smile or a snicker of any kind would have hurt her feelings. I said I thought she might have a fever and I would get the thermometer to check as soon as Brother woke up. (It was in his room, he was sleeping, and his door is really squeaky.) She seemed to feel better after a little rest on the couch because she got up to finish my workout with me. By the way, Cambria picked out this outfit all on her own. Yep even the shoes and socks. She's free spirit. We'll work on the outfit selection. (She is being a shark swimming in the water. Its related to the comment below.)
Finally, Kai has been doing A LOT of yard work this week. His brother Ke'ala came over to help him take a load of junk down to the dump. Ke'ala also wanted to take some dirt from a huge pile that we have to make a garden at his Mom's house. When we went into the back yard, this is what we saw.
Its not a great close up picture, but if you look really close you'll notice that Ke'ala is wearing swim goggles. I guess the dust flying in the air from shoveling was too much for him. He began doing the swim dance, so Cambria decided to be a shark in the water (picture above).
Okay, so this is a new binky. Its kind of big, but he likes it. I wish he didn't. The picture below I thought was pretty darn cute, even though there is no fancy story to go with it, except that Bubba is now eating rice cereal.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This tiny little guy was the source of much joy and much sorrow in our house today. Kai is on Spring break this week and is doing A LOT of much needed yard work. While Cambria was out helping him, she came across a caterpillar. Being animal/bug lover she immediately took to it. She came in the house, got a cup, plastic wrap and some tape and went to work on making him a home. She completed his new apartment with a few leaves and a stick. She carried him around ALL day. At dinner, she took him out (I was not home) to play with right by her dinner plate. Just in case you are wondering, no, she did not accidentally (or purposely) eat him. She did, however, leave him next to her plate on the Dora table while she ran outside to jump on the trampoline. She came back and the caterpillar was gone. This is when I walked in the door. She was devastatingly sad. We looked high and low. I knew he couldn't have gotten far. But we had no luck. Cambria said between sobs that she would miss him so much. Kai said a prayer with her. Well he asked her if she wanted to say it but she said, "No, Dad, I can't but I will smile." After the prayer Kai lifted up her dinner plate, and low and behold, their he was, crawling around the inside ridge. He is back in his cup now. Safe and sound. We said he could spend the night there but that we should release him in our backyard tomorrow. This brought on a new flood of tears and she said, "I will miss him so much. I will never see him again." It was very sad. You'd think she'd been through some kind of recent trauma.
We took a picture of Cambria and the caterpillar because we told her that even though she couldn't keep it forever, she could keep a picture of it forever. That seemed to make her feel better. Kiera wanted her picture too and she wanted to pose with the blue sippie cup in her mouth.
In other news, Happy St. Paddy's day! We celebrated it with friends dying Easter eggs in our backyard. This was our "green" picture. The girls' wanted to say "hi-ya" and throw punches for the picture. They were a little sad that Kai wasn't wearing green. He told them that his undies were green, but I know better. . . they're white.

Did you let your kids have pacifiers? I hate them. Malachi is my only child who ever wanted/needed one. Sometimes I feel like I may never see his whole face again.

Growing Pains and Disneyland

These two little monkeys have had trouble jumping on their bed. I like to call it the curse of the bunk bed. I hate their bunk bed. Its too big and bulky and my girls are too daring for their own good. Cambria often jumps from the top bunk to the bed below. Very common, I know, I used to do it myself. Well, the other night after her jump she somehow ran into Kiera and sprained her wrist and hit her head pretty hard. So hard in fact that her nose began gushing blood. Kai ran her to the toilet to let it drip while he called for me to get a wash cloth. It was pretty nasty and Kiera had nightmares about it. She has a cold too and it really wasn't a good combo for a nose bleed but I'll spare you the details. Then the very next night, Kiera was upset that her Dad was laying with her and not me. So while having a tantrum she had meant to do a dead man's drop to her pillow , but she dropped and hit her head on the bed frame. She hit her head so hard that she threw up and was left with a large purple goose egg on her temple. I guess we won't be getting her three year old pictures anytime soon.

Malachi is 6 months old now. Where has the time gone? Well I can't tell ya. It seems like I was just posting a comment that said he 3 months old. He is still as sweet as can be. He loves his big sister Cambria. He pretty much thinks she is a comedian and starts laughing as soon as he sees her because he knows what ever she has got to say is gonna be good. He isn't really sitting up for more than a few seconds. I had to catch him a soon as I snapped this shot. He sure loves playing with his toes when he is in the position. I was surprised he looked up for the picture. He has been pretty sick lately. I have to suction his nose before every feeding and he coughs like a smoker. I'll be happy to have him healthy again.

The countdown is on. We will soon be embarking on our first family trip to Disneyland. We have planned this to celebrate out two little girls' birthdays. The last time Kai and I went together we were single and we went with our friends Jill and Stuart. Our children have never been and they are very excited even though they don't know what to expect. It figures that we are going now. I have held on to my California license longer than legal all because I wanted to be able to get in at a cheaper rate than the unfortunate out-of-state tourist. Well, I had to let go of my Cali license in October and trade it for a crappy Nevada license. When Kai first got his Nevada license in 1999, it was still a laminated document. Even our BYUH student ID cards looked more professional. At any rate we are all very excited. To add to our delight, we will be able to stand in the long lines with our good friends Miexia and Netty Ah Loy and possibly see Cherisse and Austin Dyer while we're there. Any other Californians interested in joining us? I hesitate to put the dates, so just give us a call!

Ramblings of A Stay At Home Mom

Last week Kai had a basket ball tournament so my family came to keep me company. I love to have them visit. They were only here for one day, but that was enough for Chris and Ryan to reek havoc on our quiet little town of Mesquite. The girls were dying to take them to lunch at Del Taco (I know, Del Taco, its really sad, but remember we live in a small town) so we went there for lunch. Since there really isn't room on the play place for a 6'5" 20 year old and a 6'2" 17 year old, they did the next best thing. They emptied the vending machine of flaming skull tattoos. They went to the bathroom to put them all over various places on their bodies. While Chris was rubbing a skull tat on Ryan's chest, an old man happened to walk into the small bathroom. i think he got scared, because he turned around and walked out. Mesquite is not used to such friendly relationships between men I guess. We then headed up the road to the local Walmart (remember- small town). We separated to get different things and a short while later I see a shopping cart rounding the corner carrying a load of a 6'5" big blond boy with long legs sticking out. It was being pushed quite fast by a the 6'2" boy. If I hadn't known them, i think I would have been scarred. My mom told me we should quickly walk away so we wouldn't be near when some poor store clerk who chose the short straw had to ask these tall muscly boys to kindly knock it off. Its always and adventure with them and I wish they could have stayed longer.

So this is where the rambling comes in. I used to be really, really good at soccer. I feel like I can say this without feeling cocky because its really like I am complimenting someone else since I can't even run around the block without getting winded now. I probably wouldn't even be able to score a goal in a wide open, un-manned net. Kai was at another tournament this weekend and so my mother-in-law invited me to a charity soccer tournament that thee of my brother-in-laws were playing in. It was really fun. The girls had a great time running around and coaching from the side lines, Bubba was enjoying the fresh air, it was just simply a beautiful day. Watching the game made me want to play again so badly. It might have been just the motivation I needed to get active again. Or my new motivation could be this: My daughter's comments about my belly. You know, things like, " wow, mom, your tummy is really squishy. Can I touch it?" I usually lose weight much faster after child birth and still have some pounds to shed, obviously. But I did just move to a smaller pant size. So while my weight loss efforts are slow, it is happening. I really hope it happens by swim suit season. As soon as basket ball season is over, I will leave the girls and Bubba with Kai and hit the gym with a renewed passion.

In other news, these are a few of the conversations that have taken place this week:

Scene: Me putting Kiera down for a nap.

Me: Kiera, close your eyes.

Kiera: I am mom, but my eyes are playing hop scotch.

Scene: Lunch time prayer by Cambria. We had just watched our neighbor being taken away by ambulance. I thought this was cute because it was completely unprompted.

" . . .and please bless Dan's Daddy to get well and please make sure your are with him at the hospital."

Scene: During the same lunch, Kiera stepped out the back door and the following words were said:

Kiera: " Mom. I'm painting!" Me: not worried because this often happens on the wall with a pretend paintbrush, Oh, good . . . wait, stop!" It wasn't a pretend paintbrush it was a hot dog with ketchup paint going onto the wall of our house.

And lastly, Since going to enrichment this last week I have discovered that many women in our ward think that I am from Hawaii. (It must be because I look so exotic:)) I think this is funny, and I like the assumption and so I reluctantly correct them. "No, I'm from California, but I lived in Hawaii for 7 years. Its where Kai and I met."

I wonder, If you had the chance, would you pick up your family and all your own and move to Hawaii. There really is a lot to think about when considering this move. Would you do it?

Number two

Love this little face. Wish it didn't have the pizza smeared all over it, but what's a mom to do. We have been trying to potty train Miss Kiera. I realized I was way behind a couple of weeks ago. Cambria was well trained by the time her 3rd birthday came around, I hope that will be the case with Kiera. I have until March 30th. She really is doing pretty well. She can do number one just fine. She still prefers to wear her diapers, but she usually lets me know when she's gotta go. We rip those diapies off and sit on the pot. The problem has been number two. She hasn't been able to figure out how to do "that" while sitting. She i s quite a regular girl and quickly became constipated. It was awful. Well, tonight we had a victory. Of course it was as we were laying down for the night when she told me she had to "go".I thought it was only number one but to my surprise we got a little more. To my even greater surprise we were in el bano for 30 minutes while she worked on squeezing it all out. She was very proud of herself - so hopefully we've go this problem, solved. When she is older, I am sure she will be horrified to learn that I wrote about this little experience.

In other news, my animal rights activist daughter, Cambria heard the nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice" in the form of a song. She was very concerned about the farmer's wife cutting off the mice's tails with a carving knife. She kept asking me, "what did that say?" What was up with those nursery rhymes anyway? Like "rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub . . ." What kind of message is that trying to send?

For Katrina

I've been tagged by my friend Katrina:
This was a hard one,

Six Little Known Facts About Me:

1. I never finished a book/novel until my senior year in college. Now it is a rare day when I do not have a book in my hand.

2. I almost swallowed Draino as a kid. I spit it out because it burned so bad. Big time hospital trip. Moms- keep that stuff out of reach!

3. I am half Spanish. Or Mexican. The Carrillo side of the family can't really agree. I have one uncle who says we must be Mexican because his skin is brown. They can argue about it for hours. I guess it all comes down to this . . . Carrillo is of Spanish origin.

4. I write songs and play them on my guitar. Poorly.

5. I lost the use of my right hand for a year in 5Th grade after suffering a compound fracture to my humorous bone. It was nasty. My arm actually bent the wrong way, as if my elbow was on the other side.

6. I am a horrible speller. I constantly have to ask my hubby how to spell things and he constantly reminds me that he is a former spelling bee champ.