A day at the park

Daddy and Lukie at the park.

Pirates at the Beach

Today, we drove to Long Beach and met Nana and Uncle Jimmy for breakfast. We ate at a restaurant called the Black Bear Diner and the food was huge!

Uncle Jimmy and Daddy

After breakfast, we drove to Belmont Pier and discovered pirates everywhere. It was Pirate Invasion 2013 and there were jumpies, cannons, and all kinds of craziness.

More than Lukie's feet got wet.

Gracie and Lucas asked if they could put their feet in the water at the beach. So I let them walk down to the sand and take their shoes off. After a few minutes someone named Lucas fell into the water accidentally on purpose. He was very wet, but that didn't stop him from having more fun. 

Playing in the water.

Gracie and Lucas with their feet in the water.

We walked up along the pier and saw lots and lots of pirates everywhere. We even saw a real parrot! Lucas got a tooth necklace and Gracie got a pirate scarf.

Uncle Jimmy, Nana, Lucas, Daddy, and Gracie at Belmont Pier

Afterward, we got in our car and drove around to see different parts of Lakewood and Long Beach. It was a great day because we got to spend it with Nana and Uncle Jimmy and be at the beach at the same time.

Next time, Gracie would like to build a sandcastle.

Climbing a giant tree at the pier.

Our First Trip to Disneyland!

Thanks to Mommy's friend from college, we got to go to Disneyland!  We did not tell Gracie and Lucas until this morning that we were going to Disneyland.  They went to  bed and thought they were going to school.  But, when we woke them up, we surprised them with the news that we were going to Disneyland.  Mommy made them both new hats for the day (it was chilly in the morning, thank goodness!).

Surprise!  We are going to Disneyland!

Erika met us at the front gates and took us inside for our first trip to the Magical Kingdom. She was so excited to meet Gracie and Lukie and Mommy was very happy to see her.  Thank you, Erika!

Gracie, Erika, and Lukie

We rode lots of rides.  The first, of course, was the Disneyland Tram.  Lukie asked Mommy if we were on a roller coaster.

Our first ride: The Disneyland Tram wearing the hats Mommy made for us!

Once inside, we started with Small World (Lukie was nervous about the boat).  We also road on Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain (times 2!), the Tea Cups (for Gracie), the train, Star Tours, Roger Rabbit, and Buzz Lightyear. Then, we made our way over to California Adventure and rode the Mater ride, hung out in Bugs World (and rode lots of things twice), rode the Little Mermaid ride.

Even though we did not get to ride everything, we did enough to create lots of fun memories.  One thing Mommy wants to remember forever is to thank Abue Rosi for Gracie and Lukie's gift cards.  Each card had $50 on them and Gracie and Lucas were able to spend their own money without actually carrying money!  Super Fun times!

Gracie -3 Lukie -1!

Today was the big day! Lucas and Gracie started t-ball. They were very excited for today. We surprised them by having donuts for breakfast. While we were driving Lucas all of a sudden let out a strange sound and said "Mommy, look!" when I turned around, I discovered that Lucas's tooth had fallen out. Finally, after a long time of waiting, Lukie's first tooth has fallen out!

Look!  Lukie is missing a tooth!

We stayed for opening ceremonies and had a lot of fun with new friends. Later in the afternoon, it was our very first t-ball game. It was so much fun, that Mommy and Daddy had to keep their mouths covered so that no one would see how hard they were laughing. It was a fantastic day! Gracie and Lucas are playing for the Granada Hills Blue Jays.  They each have new mitts and bats (Gracie's is Hello Kitty).  Lucas even has a bat that Bianca gave him.  He calls it his Fire Bat.

Blue Jays!

Later that night, the Tooth Fairy came and brought Lucas $5 for his first tooth. He was very excited to see what she has left him the next morning.

Lucas - Star of the Week - 2013

Lucas was sick the entire week he was scheduled to be Star of the Week.  He stayed home with Daddy and Abue Rosi.  He simply wasn't feeling well.  Luckily, Mrs. Flores rescheduled his Star of the Week for March 1.  Lukie helped me to design his poster, but he wasn't as picky as Gracie was

Lukie's favorite things include:

Spaghetti and Meatballs

The Chicago Bears

Swimming 

His bike

His sister

Gracie started the presentation with him, but since she could not hold the poster high enough, Mrs. Flores took over.

Lukie with Gracie holding his poster

Lukie presenting his poster

Gracie - Star of the Week - 2013

At Gracie and Lukie's school, each Kindergartner gets to be Star of the Week.  They create a poster of their favorite things, pictures of them at different ages, and then they get to present it to the class and lead the class in the recitation of the months of the year, days of the week, and the dates on the calendar.

February 1 was Gracie's big day.  She worked with me to go through pictures and find all the right ones to tell her story.

Here are some of the highlights:
Her favorite food - bacon
Her favorite number -16
Her favorite book - Pete the Cat
Her favorite color - pink
Her favorite princess - Ariel

Gracie presenting her poster with Mrs. Flores

 Even though I could not be there, Daddy and Tio Freddy did go.  They reported that Gracie did a great job!

Gracie with Tio Freddy (he came to see her presentation)

Gracie - 3, Lukie - 0

In August, Gracie and Lukie met the dentist for the very first time.  He was very nice and patient with them.  They had lots of fun and they think the dentist is a nice man with dolphins on his walls.  He told us then that Gracie was getting ready to start losing teeth.  Two of them would need to be pulled because she had an extra baby tooth that was crowding the others, but on the bottom, she actually had adult teeth starting to push the baby teeth away. For a moment or so, I was petrified by the idea of teeth being lost.  I mean, these are my five year olds!  They can't possibly be old enough to lose teeth!  But they were so excited about getting their "Mommy" and "Daddy" teeth, that I could not help but be excited for them.  Alas, I forgot about the Tooth Fairy.

I did not really think about how the whole Tooth Fairy thing would go.  I mean, there are some crazy parents out there.  They "glitterize" their money before they put it under the pillow or they do elaborate scavenger hunts for kids to find their treasure.  Me?  When Gracie lost her first two teeth (to the dentist), I was not prepared.  After I panicked for a few minutes, I realized that I could do something on our own and the Tooth Fairy letter was invented.  I downloaded a pretty picture of a tooth fairy and typed up letters that were left with the money under the pillow.  Gracie and Lukie get so excited when they see a letter from the Tooth Fairy.  I'm so glad I did something that worked for us.

Since Gracie's surgery, she lost a tooth at school (The envelope holding it was lost again in extended care.  Luckily, someone found it.) and she lost another one a few days ago.  Daddy has been joking with her that she has windows in her mouth.  He will play with her and say she has little Whos living in the windows of her teeth. She always giggles when he says that.

It has been a couple of days since Gracie lost the latest tooth and already, those adult teeth are pushing higher and higher in her mouth.  The gap on top, the one from her surgery, is still quite glaring, but it is getting better as it heals.

Lukie wants to know when he will start losing his teeth.  He will not be comforted by the reassurance that it will be soon.  He thinks of himself as the bigger and stronger twin and he wants to do things first.  Unfortunately for him, Gracie seems to do most things first, but he is never far behind!

The Dollar

Tonight, Daddy and the Twinsies went to Starbucks to surprise me with a drink. While they waited in the drive thru line, a man approached the driver's side window and asked Eddie for a quarter. Eddie told him that he did not have any cash and could not help. From the back seat, Lukie asked Eddie what the man wanted. When he told Lukie, he was very worried. "Daddy, he can have my dollar. Call him back, please."

So Eddie called the man back and offered him Lukie's dollar. At first, the man did not want to take it when he heard it came from Lukie, but Eddie insisted Lukie wanted him to have it. After the man left with the dollar, my amazing children talked about how there are people who need our help. They don't have homes. They don't have clothes. They don't have food. We need to help them because it is the right thing to do when you have a home, clothes, and food.

Every day, I talk with Gracie and Lukie about things like this and, most times, I think they forget about it the minute their attention is taken away. Apparently not. Tonight, I hugged Lukie when he told me about the man. It wasn't just that I felt proud of him. It touched my heart that my little guy saw someone in need and did not ignore them. He embraced them in the only way he knew how. ♥

From the other room

Somewhere, in Gracie and Lukie's room, Optimus Prime keeps randomly making his battle noises. Not long enough for me to find him and make him stop. Just long enough to freak me out.

Gymnastics!

Let me start by saying that I failed in the picture department.  I wish I had them, but there were too many kids and I only had my phone.

Gracie and Lukie had their first gymnastics class today and they had so much fun!  The teacher is great with little ones and he kept them active and giggling the entire time.  They ran backward, forward, made tables out of their bodies, made bridges!, and walked on the balance beam. The class ended in the giant foam pit.  Lukie's favorite part.

They did very well for the first half of the class, but about 30 minutes in, the class became more individual and, as I expected, they started acting up.  We had had a talk about behavior before class, and we had to have another at the end.

What made me happy was their absolute joy in the class.  They loved every moment and I will never forget them trying to do the splits.  It was fantastic!  We have 3 more weeks of classes before we decide whether or not to renew.  I have a feeling I will be saving up our money to allow them to continue.

Can we get a big sister?

Among the conversations we have had in the car is one about siblings.  Gracie and Lukie are fascinated by the idea of more than two children in a family.  They are still trying to grasp the idea of siblings not necessarily being twins.  I've had to explain, more than once, about two babies in a mommy's tummy versus one.

We've also had discussions about other ways for children to come to a family.  We found our way into a conversation about adoption last week and about foster families.  They were very sad about the idea that some children don't have mommies and daddies.  They asked a lot of questions about foster families and the children.  They were very concerned about homeless children and about them having a place to sleep.

They started asking me a few days ago if they could have a sibling.  Specifically, a big sister.  I stared at them for a few minutes and then asked why they wanted one.  Here's what they said:

"Mommy, we were thinking that we could ask one of the homeless children to come be our big sister.  That way, she would have a place to live and we could take care of her and she would have food to eat.  She could also take us to the park."

"Mommy, do you think one of the homeless children that does not have a mommy or daddy would like to come live with us?"

Can your heart break while it is swelling with love?