Carson's Kindergarten Graduation

Carson holding up his Chinese calligraphy he did in his class. That sign means love.Carson did NOT want to get his picture taken with me, hence the look on his face. So sad, my boy is already "too cool" for his Mama. ;)He had NO problem getting a picture with his sister...Or with his teachers, rude! I still love you buddy! Here he is with his teachers Mrs. Piper (Blonde in back), Ms. Ding, & Miss Stephanie (Mrs. Piper's assistant). All three were wonderful & all said what a sweet boy Carson is. 1st Grade, here we come!

My Baby Girl is 3!

On Tes' actual birthday, we picked up a little Chick-fil-a & went to the Castle Park & played & played.

Tes & Daddy exploring in the nearby "woods" behind the park.

My almost 1st grader!!!

Tes at her Rapunzel party. We had a family dinner with Harm, Josh, Cannon, Grandma Lanie, Grandma Mary, Aunt Deborah, & Uncle David. Following dinner, we had a few of the neighbors come over for a little cake & Tillamook ice cream! The girls on our street are all older than Tes, but they all like to come play with her & are so good with her! We have such a great neighborhood.

I went with the good 'ole Costco cake this time. The cake making process seems to just stress me out because I have great visions on what they should look like & I'm always disappointed with the end result. I did make some cake pops however & I am still in the experimental phase with those so hopefully they will improve with time. Not that we necessarily needed more cake, but I think they're cute & add to the decor. :)

Tes with Grandma Lanie

Tes & Mama

Trampoline fun!

The Men at the grill.

The princesses (& Cannon) all "Tangled" in Rapunzel's hair.

Grandma Mary, Harm (& baby Hayzel), Me, & Deborah. What a great party it turned out to be. We missed all those who are either out of town or who couldn't make it! We love you Tessa Cupcake!

Yay for Spring!

Feeding the ducks! We've been LOVING the early, warm Spring we've been having.

Cousin, Cannon. Sorry Harm & Josh, he insisted on wearing Tes' Rapunzel necklace. :)

Easter egg hunt at our friends/neighbors Nick & Jodie's house.

Grandpa Ed came to town last minute to get some dental work done. It was fun having him here! Tes was attached to him all weekend long. We wished Grandma Liz & Uncle Bry could've come too.

Happy Easter! Tes was not in the mood for pictures & Carson was a bit squirly, but this was taken after church so who could blame them.

See what I mean? :)

I saw Tes' dress online at Nordstrom and couldn't resist! I just wish I'd found a white cardigan that fit her better.

No longer Missing in Action

So I know I've been MIA on the blog and any FB pictures for forever so here's a whirlwind of the past few months here in Smolkaville. I finally feel like I need to come out of my shell/cave, whatever you want to call it. For those of you who don't know, I miscarried...once again in February. :( It was another quick one, like in October where I found out I was pregnant and then miscarried a week later. I've had a lot of issues with bitterness and anger and had kind of shut out the world for a while. I've gone through several blood tests with my Dr. and there appears to be nothing wrong with me. As of right now, she's guessing that my progesterone levels have dropped since getting older so I will start on progesterone the day I get another positive pregnancy test...if that day comes again that is. Anyway, enough of the sob story, just thought I'd update ya'll on why I haven't really been around the past few months. The pictures include the happier times over that past several weeks. If all else fails, Tim and I do have two perfect little munchkins whom we adore. If that is all the Lord decides to bless our family with, we will be perfectly happy.
Tes and her BFF Woody. The hat actually belongs to Carson, but Tes has officially taken it and has claimed it as her own.Sorry Tes for the lack of privacy here, but I just had to post that my baby girl is officially potty trained for the past 6-8 weeks or so (the pic was taken in Feb). :) I kept asking her daily if she wanted to go in the potty and she kept saying no, that is until I bought her some cute new princess and minnie mouse undies. That was apparantly enough motivation for my sweet pea. She was pretty much trained within a week. Now if only we could get rid of her "be bas" (binkies) that easily. This girl is going to have serious dental issues if we don't get rid of those things soon!
Pure joy! We took the kids bowling during my birthday weekend & Tes had a blast! She kept saying, "This is so exciting!" It had been a while since we had gone.Carson started basketball this year and loved it! He scored his first game basket during his final game of the season, woo hoo!
Carson ready to celebrate the Chinese New Year with his class! He has LOVED the Chinese Immersion program.
Here's our POST Christmas snow storm. The weather can't seem to get it right that we love the stuff for Christmas, but after Christmas it can go. Tes loved it!Carson ready to test out a neighbors mini sledding hill!
Lastly, here are a FEW of our December highlights. (Yes I know it's now almost APRIL!!!)
Christmas Eve and the kids' new PJs!

Carson turns 6!

Carson wanted an Angry Birds party this year. The boys started off "turning into angry birds" by making their angry bird hats. We then played a game of throwing darts at some green "hog" balloons. After cake and ice cream we played one last game of "Dodge the Hog". It was dodge ball, but with Carson and Tessa's plush angry bird hogs and birds instead of balls that Tim and I threw at the 9 wild boys. It was a riot! Happy birthday Buddy, we love you!
Carson and his hog cake.This was my first attempt at cake pops...don't laugh. So I couldn't find any RED melting chocolate (in December go figure) so I went with the white. Who knew that adding red icing coloring would make it purple? These were supposed to be RED angry birds. Carson was sweet, he said, "Mom it's okay if they're kind of purple."Look out for these Angry Birds!!!

Tes Singing her Favorite Song

"At Last I see the Light..." Tes LOVES Tangled and singing this song. She'll sometimes even carry a microphone around and sing the same line over and over. American Idol contestants watch out!

Carson's Kindergarten Picture

I just realized that I never posted Carson's school picture, so here it is. My big, Chinese speaking Kindergartner.

Happy Halloween!

The pumpkin carving is complete.
The kiddos in their costumes. Carson was Anakin Skywalker and is photogenic as usual and Tes was Minnie Mouse and would NOT let me draw a nose on her. This girl is VERY particular...I wonder where she gets it from? ;) I told her to take out her binky and smile and this was what I got, silly girl. I REALLY should've gotten rid of those binkies or "bee ba's" as she calls them when she was one, she is more attached than ever!
Sweet peas one and two.Yes more shots of the kids on the front stairs. I guess that was my only photo spot this Halloween.
Trick or treating at Daddy's office. Carson didn't want to stand for the picture and Tes is a stinker in front of the camera so she refuses to look at it and smile, most of the time anyway. I was a vampire, if you couldn't tell from those obnoxious fangs. I wanted the single fang, but they were sold out of them so I went with these ones which were a little too much for my liking. At least you could tell what my costume was with them in.Daddy and Cars, ready to get after it! Happy Halloween everyone!

DISNEYLAND!

After having a rotten weekend a few weeks ago (rotten=flood in newly finished basement & miscarriage numero 3), an opportunity came up for Tim to actually use up some of his vacation time so we packed up and went to Disneyland for a few days. We decided to go on Thursday so I got online and found a place to stay through Get Away Today and two days later we were on the road to Cali. It was a quick trip and despite us all being sick with sour stomachs & nasty coughs while we were there, we had a great time! Here are a few of our highlights...
Made it! The kids did very well in the long car ride. We made it to Barstow & then Tes started saying, "I want out!" so we let the kids run around McDonald's for a few before we got on the road for the last few hours. We took two luggage racks up to our room. One with the luggage on it and the other with the kiddos, they thought it was the coolest thing ever.The boys building a sand castle at Laguna Beach. We'd never been so we thought we'd check it out. It was a little more quiet than Huntington or Santa Monica, kind of a nice change though. Its always fun to see something new.The waves were really big the day we went & Tes did not care for them. She kept saying, "Don't get me!" She was worried the waves were going to get her. She loved the Oregon coast last time we were there so I think the larger waves made her uneasy this time.Disneyland, here we come. Tes was excited riding the tram to the park, even more so than she was on some of the rides.Halloween time at Disneyland. Carson didn't feel like taking ANOTHER picture so he sat this one out.
Carson in his Anakin Skywalker costume. He only lasted in it for about 5 minutes, just long enough for us to get a picture by Star Tours. He was able to go on all of the big rides this time. He of course loved Star Tours, but some of his other favorites were The Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones, Thunder Mountain Railroad, & Space Mountain. Splash Mountain & Tower of Terror kind of "freaked him out".
Tes in part of her Minnie Mouse costume. She wouldn't let me put her ears on, not even for one picture. She loved playing around in Fantasyland by the miniature houses/doors over by Alice in Wonderland. She would go up to the door and say, "Knock knock" & "Open this Door!" (like they say on Tangled). I had to keep telling her that it wasn't a real door.Tessa's favorite ride was the Carousel of all things. She loved riding "the horsies" & "Maximus". She also loved the Teacups, Dumbo, & the Jungle Cruise.
Uncle Vic joined us on our 2nd day. It was fun having him with us.Mmmm, churro time. By the end of Day two we were all exhausted. It was a fast and furious trip, but great memories were made and we can't wait to go back...only next time we want to stay for a whole week!