Toby turned SEVEN (what? how?!), so we celebrated with an army themed party at our home. Now that we have a backyard, we thought a bounce house would be a fun way to keep the kids entertained. Boy did we get our money's worth! Toby and Asher were in the bounce house before, during, and after the party until it started to get too dark. They were two tired little soldiers the next day.
Where do they get all the energy? I tried it out for a few minutes and it is a workout!
The bounce house had a hoop in it, hence the balls Asher is carrying.
I LOVE this picture! Toby looks so happy and the kids were cute with their helmets on.
Army men decorated the cupcakes. I put a navy ship on the cake and Tim told me I was mixing up branches. Um...I don't think Toby cared. :)
Pinata time! We thought this tank pinata was pretty cool.
Since Halloween had just passed I filled it mostly with fruit roll-ups and fruit snacks, instead of candy. No one complained!
Who invited these yahoos? Just kidding! Wouldn't be a party without Deb and Andy!
Cora made the rounds at the party! These little green pants are the closest she had to camouflage!
Cora, my baby, is six months old, is getting close to sitting up on her own, and has started eating solid foods. For her "half birthday", on September 18th, she had her first taste of mashed bananas. She loved it more than her mommy loves cake! Cora continues to be super sweet, happy, and easy on me. (None of this crying for no apparent reason stuff.) Every month I have taken a picture of her in the brown tweed chair in her room and I thought I would share them with you.
Asher will be attending school two days a week at a great little preschool program that is part of Toby's school called Fun for Fours. Already on the school campus, he will be comfortable and familiar with the environment when he goes to Kindergarten next year.
Asher was really looking forward to the start of school! When I've picked him he shows all the signs of a kid who had a really good time. Yesterday he made a school bus out of graham crackers, yellow frosting, and tiny oreo cookies for the wheels. Who wouldn't love that? He talked about it the rest of the day! Besides the occasional sweet snack, it seems like a fantastic preschool program and it makes this mommy happy that Asher is enjoying it so much.
Toby is a boy who loves to learn, loves to be busy, loves to be around other people and who thrives in a structured school environment...so it is needless to say that I was looking forward to school starting back up for him!! He was very confident on the first day and already knew many of the kids from Kinder last year.
We are excited about his teacher, whom we had heard many positive things about from other teachers and parents. She is the mom of a 5th grader with red hair, so she told Toby she is partial to red heads. That made us all smile.
Asher woke up on the morning of his birthday saying, "I'm four!" His theme of choice for his special day was pirates. He was most excited about presents and cake, as any other four-year-old would be. We had a fun day enjoying our son, playing with new toys, and of course, eating cake!
A common conversation that I have with other moms is discussing which is more challenging, going from one child to two, or going from two to three. My response? Going from one to two was MUCH HARDER than going from two to three. Cora is a very easy baby, so that is part of it...and having two older children that can keep each other entertained is a major plus, but it is also about my attitude and the experience I've gained. It amazes to see how much my children have grown and changed over the years, but I'm also amazed at how I've grown and how much they have changed me.
Friday is Toby's last day of Kindergarten. I find it hard to believe that I will be the mom of a first grader! His teacher, Mrs. White, who he had for the majority of the year and is a phenomenal educator, advised us to encourage our kids to write often, but not to correct their spelling. I love reading Toby's writing and I have been wanting to include some excerpts on my blog. It isn't quite as cute when you can't see it in his own handwriting, but here it is just the same:
The ocean is very big. The ocean haev abowt amileyin difit cins of animls. The pusific ocean is the bigis ocean in the world. The bigis animl is a blou wayl.
I've lost five tethe. I sartid baseball. I love animls. I like socer. My favrit sesin is sumer. I am six years old. I haev dogs thet come to my yard behid the fens.
One day he asked if I could text daddy this message:
Dere Dad will you git me a dog on yor waye home from werc?
We have been so delighted to watch Asher in his new role as big brother. He is so tender and sweet with Cora and already protective of her. He loves to learn and completes pages in a workbook while Toby does his homework. In fact, he seems to like "homework time" much more than Toby does. Hope it lasts!
What can we say about Cora? She's perfect! She is almost 12 weeks old and is weighing 9 pounds, 8 ounces. She is small, but very healthy and happy. She is generous with her smiles and loves "face time", interacting with anyone who would care to have a little chat with her. She is the sugar coating that makes our lives extra sweet.
One thing that makes a mommy's heart glad is to watch her children interacting together (in a loving, peaceful way...the sibling rivalry type of interaction drive me nuts!). Here are a few pictures I took of the kids spending some precious time together:
Our baby girl, Cora Marydith Bundy, arrived via scheduled C-section on March 18th, weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces. We couldn't be happier. She is sweet as sweet can be. We are smitten.
We named her Cora, which means "girl" or "maiden". We also saw the word "heart" as one of the meanings for her name. To us she is, "the little girl who filled our hearts." Cora is also a nice combination of Tim's parents' names: Craig and Mora. (We can't wait for them to meet her! When are you coming????)
Marydith is my grandma's name on my dad's side. Mary is also my mom's name, so Cora's middle name is a tribute to my parents and my grandma. I can't describe what my grandma means to me. Every year, for twenty years, she made the long trip down to Guatemala or Ecuador to visit our family. I also lived with her for several summers during high school and college. Her home was a welcoming and comforting place for me when I was homesick, especially when I first moved back from Ecuador. My grandma has advanced Alzheimer's now and doesn't recognize us, but my mind is still filled with memories of the person she was, her funny sayings, and her warmth.
Doting on her, the boys are delighted with their sister. They often ask to hold her. Toby will stop every once in awhile and pat her head and Asher talks to her in a tender voice. They have both expressed to us many times how much they love her. Our family feels more complete with Cora here. We are so thankful.
Just had to document on my blog that we officially moved in to our new house on March 7th, 2010. We are excited that we were able to pull off the move before the arrival of our baby girl. Kristi Bundy, my incredible sister-in-law, was here helping us through the packing and move. She has a gift for organization and we just couldn't of done it without her...or at least we couldn't of done it as efficiently as we did with her awesome help!
My C-section is scheduled for this Thursday, the 18th! We are looking forward to meeting the little maiden who is going to help her mommy bring some balance to this male dominated household.
Toby had his second "First Day of Kindergarten" on Wednesday as we switched him to a school in our new community. He seems to be adjusting quickly to his new school and friends. His favorite recess pastime? Playing chase the girls. Except I hear sometimes the girls chase the boys at this new school. Good for them!!
Asher is hanging in there through all the transition. He is proud to be three-and-a-half. We celebrated his half birthday back in January, but I didn't get a chance to post a picture, so here it is:
Speaking of birthdays, Tim turns 34 tomorrow! Happy Birthday to the man of life! He is an incredible husband and daddy. He is the center of our family and we can all be pretty demanding of his time. I loved watching him play soccer outside with the boys this week in our new backyard. I feel so privileged to be Tim's wife and to be able to have a family and "do life" with him.
Asher is definitely exerting his power to make his own decisions, to be very particular about how things are done, to be stubborn, and independent. I can't say that I always keep my patience. A lot of his behavior is really, in fact, driving me CRAZY, but there is a cute side to it all.
For example, after a shower, even after he is in his pajamas, he likes to keep his hooded towel on his head and pretend it is a cape. He then turns in to his alter ego: EVERYTHING SUPERHERO! His motto is (and Asher proclaims it in a very serious, superhero-like voice), "I'm strong, I'm mighty and I can do EVERYTHING by myself!!"
It doesn't matter that his hooded towel has bunny ears on the hood and doesn't give the impression of a tough superhero. To him it is a mark of his incredible power to have things HIS WAY.
I can't really blame him for wanting to have control. Although he is not completely aware of all the changes to come, he is going to very soon have a baby sister and our family moving to a new house. The transitions will be a lot for the little guy to manage. We may be in for even more power struggles with Asher, when the world as he knows it begins to fall apart. Maybe I'll just keep his hooded towel handy so he can be reminded that Everything Superhero rules the world!
You gotta love three-year-olds. I sure love my resident Everything Superhero.
As my tummy gets rounder and my unborn baby's rolling around gets more pronounced, the reality of this little being that is going to join our family is setting in. Even as I type I feel the occasional kick or shifting as if baby is saying, "Hi, Mom!"
The plan is for baby to be born via c-section on March 18th. My last two births didn't go according to "plan", though, so I'm just trying to stay ready for anything. As the time draws nearer I am looking forward more and more to meeting this little girl. I wonder what her hair color will be... What her temperament will be like... Will she be a good sleeper?! (Oh, please, yes!)
FYI: The pictures below were taken in November. I am much bigger now, and not so sure I want to be photographed. :)
I am not much of a blogger anymore, but I still want to try to get at least one post up a month so I have a record of our quickly growing boys and their active lives.
Toby had a fun soccer season, which wrapped up in November. His team was full of talented and motivated players - a great group of kids! Toby scored goals almost every game. He loves the sport and is very driven when he is on the field. We loved watching him play.
We had a quiet Thanksgiving, just the four of us, but somehow that made it extra special. We are so thankful for our little clan. Asher flashed a huge smile for me AFTER his Thanksgiving program at preschool, but spent the actual program feeling shy and hiding his face behind his hands. (It was still cute.)
Matt, Sara and Bella visited the first week of December. Having a baby in the house was so fun for all of us and we all fell in love with Bella.
School Christmas programs (this time Asher sang confidently), parties, and shopping carried us through most of December. Toby got one of his Christmas gifts early: tickets to Disney on Ice from Uncle David and Auntie Kristi! It was neat to drive in to LA and go to a show at the Staples Center (where the LA Lakers play). The boys were captivated by the amazing performances, costumes, and music.
I love Christmas! So glad my parents could spend it with us!
We spent the morning of New Year's Day watching the Rose Parade, but not on TV! With Debbie living so close to the parade route and the boys being old enough to sit through it, I decided this was the year to be there in person. It was totally worth it! It was a beautiful day. Looking forward to 2010. Happy New Year!
