Rita's Birthday Party

The boys were invited to a school mate's birthday party.  They were excited because there was going to be a bounce house and everyone knows that the Gonzalez Boys love a good bounce house.  When they got there, they were even more surprised to see the super cool cake.  It wasn't a standard birthday cake.  It wasn't a cupcake birthday cake.  No, it was an ICE CREAM SANDWICH BIRTHDAY CAKE!!  That is a super cool idea.

They also came home with quite a few goodies from the party.  THey have little white boxes full of bouncy toys and Lemon Heads.  And, they were kind enough to bring home some of the really tasty chicken from Vallarta that was served.  John really liked the chicken and asked if he could share mine.  If Nicholas were to do that, I think I'd cry tears of joy.

Haircuts with Vic

It had been a while since we'd paid The Yellow Balloon a visit, so we stopped in on Saturday morning.  I dread going there with Nicholas because he tends to shriek the entire time Vic cuts his hair, so I was ready to be as mortified as always.

John was first in the chair and he stood still and had a nice conversation with Vic about going to Mami and Papi's house to play after our stop at the Yellow Balloon.  He was quite happy to get a small bag of popcorn after his cut as his treat.  Next up, Nicholas sat down and oddly enough, he was VERY calm and didn't freak out.  I was so proud of our little OCD nightmare.  Vic even complemented him on his behavior.

As a special treat, we headed acroos the street to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to get some baked goods and milk.  Since I had a bit of a sore throat, I ordered a hot chocolate.  Two minutes after I ordered my drink, Eddie Murphy ordered his coffee.  Sure enough, there was a slight confusion when our orders were finished.  The barrista said, "Order for Ed" and Mr. Murphy made a move for it before he realized that it wasn't his coffee.  It was just one of those things.

Pepito Came for a Weekend Visit

The day I had been dreading since I first found out about it two weeks ago is upon us.  Maureen signed us up to take Nicholas' class guinea pig, Pepito, home for the weekend.  The boys are quite excited to have a new pet.  I think they may have lost interest in Blue.

Anywho, I came home a little early since I'm feeling a tad under the weather and I saw Maureen and the boys huddled next to a giant cage on our table.  Apparently, the boys set up a play area with their blocks and wanted to let Pepito loose to play in it.  Maureen was scared to death to let him go, so she waited until I got home.  Pepito did like his play area and even knocked down one of the walls.  Maureen's reaction is priceless.

On the Rebound

Both little monkeys are feeling much better than they have in the last week.  After much whining, sneezing, and coughing, they seem to be on the road to recovery.  Today was the first day that either had much energy to do anything.  Today was the first day that either of them really ate anything.  Nicholas asked for a glow stick dance party.  At first, I said no because they really needed to get some sleep, but then, I relented because they had been really good today with the medicine.

Caterpillars

Last July, John's classmate, Chloe, gave him one of those grow your own butterfly kits which we sort of forgot about until a couple of weeks ago.  John asked when we could get the caterpillars and I told him we just had to pay for the shipping charge.  They arrived last week, but both boys were feeling quite ill with a nasty ear infection.  We picked them up from Grammy's house and are now waiting for the caterpillars to go to the top of the cup.  At that point, we'll transfer them to the butterfly net and wait for the wonders of metamorphosis to occur.

Sleeping Last Night

Our two princes and their ear infections slept in our bed last night which meant I was relegated to their bedroom again.  Actually, I slept on the floor next to Nicholas on his toddler bed mattress in case he fell out of bed in the middle of the night.  That boy rolls around like nobody's business when he sleeps.  Anywho, he didn't fall out, but I still felt good about my decision to sleep on the floor.  Anyway, they slept much better than they had all week, so the Amoxicilin is working out quite well.  Thank you Cedars Sinai Urgent Care Doctors!  These boys are on the mend and should be back to normal shortly.

Sick Boys Update

It seems like the Amoxicilin is doing the job on Nicholas.  He hasn't been a coughy cougherson this morning. As I type this, he's resting on his old matress and taking a nap.  Just as I typed that, he woke up and started coughing.  He's falling back asleep.

So, just when we thought John had turned a corner, he redeveloped his nasty cough and a high fever.  He kept on saying that he needed to go to Urgent Care to get pink medicine like Nicholas.  Sure enough, he has a raging ear infection and will be getting his pink medicine.

To top if off, Maureen has the flu and pink eye.  Everyone, aside from me, has an ailment of some sort.  I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I come down with something God awful.

Happy Valentimes Day

Last year, John was unable to attend the "Valentimes" day party at school because Maureen had an appointment to take care of.  We knew that he had to be there this year if it was the last thing we did.  Nicholas was so excited that he just kept talking about "Valentimes" day for the preceding week.  Sadly, they both came down with a raging fever at the start of the week.  It was touch and go for a while with John, but he was able to go to school.  Poor Nicholas was unable to go because he just couldn't shake his fever which turned out to be an ear infection.

They both worked hard on their cards for the classmates.

Sick Boys

It's been a while since the boys have felt 100% healthy.  About a month ago, they both came down with a really nasty cold that just seemed to linger for a while.  It started with me and transitioned to them.  A week later, Maureen got it.  Just when we thought that we were clear, it reared it's ugly head again.  John came down with a fever and a cough on Saturday evening.  Nicholas followed suit on Monday morning.  It was Maureen's turn to start feeling it on Thursday.  If things progress like last time, I'll have it next week.

Anyway, John's doing better, but our Nicholas just can't shake it.  Maureen took him to the doctor since his fever had lingered for about 5 days.  Sure enough, the little man has an ear infection.  It was so bad the doctor said his ear drum was on the verge of rupturing.  Never once did that boy complain about his ear.  He just coughed and sneezed, but he toughed it out.  Had it been John, he would have been HOWLING.  He's a bit delicate like that.

The Bubble Patch Kids

It seems that Maureen used quite a bit of body wash on the boys this evening while giving them a batch because it sure looked like they were taking a bubble bath when I got home this evening.   Nicholas assured me it wasn't a bubble bath, but he did say that he liked being in the Bubble Patch.  John even got in on the act and created his own bubble patch.  The especially liked getting out to the tub with bubbles all over their lower torsos.

Dinner with Annabelle

Annabelle came over to play on Sunday afternoon with the boys.  They wanted to play mommy, daddy, and brother.  Apparently, Annabelle and John were the mommy and daddy of John's Baby Daisy and Nicholas was the brother.  The best part of the whole scene was that they both decided that they had to go back to work after Daisy was born.  John went to his garage workshop and Annabelle went to the railroad.  Between the two of them, they shared a tiny cell phone.  Why share the cell phone?  They needed to call the grandparents to make sure they could watch Baby Daisy while they were at work.

After some play, we made some homemade pizza.  Nicholas made a quite interesting pizza with just dough and tomato sauce.  Annabelle used parmesan cheese as the base cheese for hers.  John was a bit more cautious and used the parmesan very sparingly.  Since it was a special "date night", I decided to make ice cream milk shakes. I'd say they liked their meals quite well.   I know that I would really love that dinner if it were mine.

Two Cute Boys

Someone Want To Wear Something New

Our Nicholas has decided that it might be time for him to start wearing underware.  Let's just say it hasn't gone well.  He doesn't quite understand the concept of using his orange potty just yet.  On his first day, he had an accident with number one.  Maureen changed his underware and then he made both number one and number two.  I'm sure he'll eventually get it especially since we're bribing him with Hershey's Kisses and Hot Wheels if he uses his potty properly.  It might take some time, but he'll get there.  At least, I hope he'll get there.

Baseball Comes Early to Park La Brea

John seems to like baseball.  Every so often, he'd ask if he could watch a baseball game and I'd put it on.  He'd watch for a bit and then move on.  On one trip to the 99 Cent Store, we picked up a wiffle ball and bat for both boys.  John took to it quite well last summer/fall.  He would connect about 15% of the time that we'd pitch the ball to him.  Nicholas just like to spin around in circle with his bat.

Last week, I picked up a batting tee and a couple of plastic bats at Target for the boys.  They were very excited when they saw the tee and immediately asked me to build it.  They were so excited that they wanted to take a couple of swings in the apartment.  Guess who's head John accidentally hit with the barrel of his bat?  Thankfully, it was not hard and Nicholas just laughed it off.

Anywho, I took them out yesterday to take some swings in the courtyard behind our building.  Like a good student, John paid attention and kept his eye on the ball.  Nicholas just wanted to twirl around and play with his orange bat and ball.  There were certain times where I had to sit the boys down because they were not behaving.  Nicholas had to sit in Calm Down Corner 3 times because he didn't listen with his listening ears.  John only sat down in Calm Down Corner once.  All in all, I'd say they were very good and may have promising careers as a hitter and a twirler.

When She Gets Bored

Maureen likes to have fun with the boys at bedtime.  In this photo, she decided to have John pose next to Nicholas as he slept in his bed.  As you can see, John decided to jazz up the pose a bit.  He's quite the male model like that.  Thankfully, Nicholas slept through the shenanigans like a champ.  If only he'd learn to sleep in until 7 AM on weekends, things would be so much better.  He can be a bit of an early bird and it would be nice to not here him come in to the bedroom and say, "Mama, I see light outside and the blue sky.  That means it's morning."  Yes, we know that little man.  We know it.

Daddy's Day To Play

Maureen is going to Santa Barbara to do some wine tasting with some friends today, so it looks like I am having a Boys Day with John and Nicholas.  As you can see from the photo, they had a lovely mid-morning snack of ice cream and blue icee.  John wants Pringles for lunch and Nicholas will probably want donuts or chocolate of some sort.  For dinner, we're having a pizza party from Rocco's whilst watching Jonny Quest and I think Nicholas may actually eat that.  If not, I can give him some chocolate ice cream.

Don't worry, they'll actually get outside to run around.  We're going to play baseball downstairs.  They are very excited to try out their batting tee.