Pach's Joy School Graduation

Pach officially is done with Joy School (co-op pre-school). He graduated on May 24th and did an OK job. He stood in front of everyone and during one of the songs he even waved the little pep flag he had. I think school will be great for him. Hopefully it'll bring him out of his shell a little bit.

Although he is difficult for me when I host Joy School, I have seen him grow. He knows and can even write some of his numbers and alphabet. He colors better and is a great drawer, especially if he is drawing monsters. He interacts much better with the other kids and does talk more. He colors better, glues better and can still cut paper like nobody's business! He loves that he has his own "zachapack". That's what he calls his backpack. And he LOVES LOVES LOVES his pink crayon box. 

This year the kids all made their own "I AM UNIQUE" book and he did a great job. He even decided when he grew up he wants to be a "bomb maker and blow things up." I think it's more "blow things up" than "bomb maker". He has many engineery habits and I can see him becoming a demolition expert. I don't know that he'll actually end up doing that but I think he would be good at it and enjoy it. Last year he didn't want to be anything when he grew up. I thought actually picking something was a huge improvement.

Here are some pictures from his graduation, including the cake that I made. Tim was supposed to make it but dates got changed and he had a concert to go to, so I made it. I think it turned out alright. The frosting was homemade strawberry cream cheese so at least it tasted good.

Pach and his graduation cake.

In his cap and gown, with
his hands showing.

In his cap and gown, without his hands showing.
He really wanted me to take this picture.

His Joy School class. He's in the back row,
3 one from the left. Such a cutie!! 

Getting his award:
The Best Monster Drawer

Pach and his diploma.

Organization 101: Bathroom Closet

Our bathroom closet was pretty organized but still a little cluttered. I had everything grouped together and some stuff in boxes but it still lacked the "WOW" factor or the "it's so beautiful it makes me cry" factor. While at a friends house a few weeks ago, she showed me her newly organized bathroom closet and I LOVED IT!!! So, I copied her. Thanks Debbie for the idea!

Here are a few pictures.

This is the before picture. Not too bad.

In the middle of organization.

Done! How it looks now!!

This is what I got rid of. The left is the recycling. The garbage can is full
from the closet but the charmin bag is only part full with stuff .

Most of the stuff I got rid of was expired medicine. I think the best thing was taking stuff out of weird shaped or bulky boxes and putting them in containers, which cut down on wasted space. And all the small stuff piled around on the shelves work much better in a container too.

This was the following conversation between Tim and myself when I was done:

Me: "How do you like our bathroom closet?"
Tim: "I don't."
Me: "Really? Look at it."
Tim: "I don't li......(he finally looked) I like it!"

Me: "It does look nice doesn't it."
Tim (sarcastically): "It's so beautiful it brings a tear to my eye!" (then seriously) he said, "I mean look at the labels, the containers. Ahhh, beautiful!"

Me: "This is how Debbie organized her closet. I loved it, so I copied her."
Tim: "This is how I organized the shed! Just like this! Labels, containers and everything! Have you not 

         looked at the shed?"  

Me: "Well, that's the shed. The house is a totally different thing, so I didn't think about how you organized 

        the shed when I did this."

Tim: (silently gave me an exasperated look) and then said, "I'd like to do that to the whole house! Especially   

        the kitchen!"
Me: "Ya, I don't know if it would work in the kitchen...... Anyway, glad you like it."

I didn't get much else done today but I'll say it was worth it. I love our new bathroom closet!!

Pics of the Boys

Grandparents have been bugging us for more recent pictures of the boys. So to oblige them, here are some random pictures of the boys.

All playing quite happily together with .....
LEGOS!
The toy that brings brothers together!

Bacon sleeping.

Bacon makes this face A LOT! I've tried numerous
times to get a good shot. This is one of the best.
Usually he hams it up and smiles when I pull
the camera out.

We don't actually have any type of pool......

Pach and one of his monsters.
He LOVES to draw them.

My happy little baby. He adores the camera!

L to R: Pach, Aunt Hannah, Bacon, Pickle and Uncle Matt.
(Emily's sister and husband)

L to R: Pach, Uncle Sam, Bacon and Pickle. Not sure
what sign Pach is making or where he picked it up.
(Emily's brother)

I just love the faces in this one.

Mean old pirate No. 1!

Mean old pirate No. 2!

I think he was cold but I'm not sure. We were
in UT and it was about 30 degrees out.

My happy little baby!!! Ok, happy big baby (for us)!
He weighs more at 9 mo than Pach did at 18 mo!!!

I just really like this face too!

Nothing, I mean nothing slows him down.
He does everything on the go!

Bacon had so much fun playing in it,
Pickle had to try it out too.

Pach and his beloved Dino.
Yes, Dino has a shirt on. He got it for Christmas.

We were taking silly pictures.

Sometimes I'm not really sure how they actually
get any sleep......

Maybe it's easier to sleep cramped up
surrounded by pillows, blankets and animals
in long pajamas in 80 degree weather?

Another picture of his look. He looks slightly
amused to me. Normally he doesn't.
Usually his face is all business and no fun.

Stuff

We've done a lot since I last posted about their bathroom. I did make some curtains and put them up in their bathroom. I have plans for the garbage can just haven't gotten to that yet.

They really like the new curtains.

We went to the zoo a couple times and even managed to see more than one of the new elephants! The boys always love going to the zoo, even Bacon.

Mostly we've just hung out and played. Here are some pictures to enjoy. 

He LOVES the water!

We left them alone for a few minutes after Tim had put
water in the container. This is how we found them.

Killing two birds with one stone. 

Pach likes the boat too.

We joke the vacuum is his best friend. In truth,
 he does love it! If it's out, he's playing with it.

Eating an ice cream cone. It's a green one and
he loved it!

Putting the stickers on paper that Grandparents Parker
sent them. It kept them busy for a few hours.

I was in the house and Tim yelled, "I need help!" I ran out to this!
We can no longer let him play outside alone! Or so I thought.
The bench is now somewhere he can't get too!! Hahahaha!

All enjoying an evening playing in the sandbox. 

And Pickle sharing his pink ice cream cone with Bacon. It was so sweet and I didn't even prompt it!

Mother's Day

I guess I should blog about Mother's Day. Tim got me season 1 of "The Lucy Show" and the boys got me flowers. I also got a chocolate bar with a specially made Mother's Day wrapper on it at church. Cadbury Chocolate Bar with toasted almonds. Tim brought me home another one with caramel inside.

1st bouquet of flowers. I liked them but a
 lot were wilted, bent and fell apart. I was pretty upset.

The note from the boys.

The 2nd bouquet of flowers. I called about the horrible
condition of the first one and this got sent out.

The Boys Bathroom

A conversation between Tim and myself a couple weeks ago:
Me: "I want to redo the boys bathroom."
Tim (with a VERY concerned look on his face): "What do you mean REDO?"
Me: "I thought I would get a new shower curtain, rug and a couple other things."
Tim: "That's it? No paint?"
Me: "Yep, that's it."
Tim (with a much more pleasant look on his face): "That's not a redo that's just changing the shower curtain."
Me: "OK. I want to change the shower curtain, rug and maybe get a couple other things that all match."
Tim: "Fine."

I think the boys will really like it. I did everything after they went to bed. I'm just wondering when we'll hear screams of joy and delight. If one of them goes potty or gets a drink and is awake enough, we'll definitely hear something tonight. One will probably get woken up out of delight. If not tonight, I'm not sure when. They don't always go to the bathroom upstairs when they get up. Both seem to prefer the downstairs bathroom.

Anywho, I picked a CARS theme and here are the before and after pictures. I don't think I'm done. I have to decide if I want to get the toothbrush holder, soap dispenser and trash can. I think the boys would LOVE that but I haven't decided yet. What do you think?

We've had this shower curtain since we moved
to Tucson in May 2005. The plastic rings too.

It was in our apartment, townhouse and
this house. It's been around.

L to R: Mater, McQueen, Francesco and Max.
Not seen: Raoul and Shu.

This shower curtain is about 4 in. longer
than the last one. And I would say a lot
more fun!

The McQueen rug. I was going to put it in front of the sink
but since there are stools there, McQueen was hidden.