"Hello, I'm Jesus!"

NJ chose another cookie cutter for a sandwich shape. He pulled out the cross while I was making his pb&j. He puts the cross up to the bread and says, "Hello, I'm Jesus!" 

First jumbled group of puzzles. There were nine of them. Five of them were thrown in the same box. He sorted all of them and put them together to make sure all the pieces were still there. 

Next box to tackle. We didn't know how many puzzles were in this one until he sorted them and put them all together. Turns out there were eight. 

One of the puzzles had Pooh and Tigger as the picture. He asked me, "Who are they?"
How does he not know Pooh and Tigger? Well I told him, "It's Pooh and Tigger."
"Poo? His name is Poo? Eeeeww! That's yucky."
"It's not P-O-O, it's P-O-O-H."
"Huh?"
I guess it didn't seem all that different to him. It really isn't, it's just one letter. 

This one was the hardest, the pieces were small with only about four major color tones. I helped him a little with this one. 

NJ made us so proud. He put together a total of seventeen puzzles, no pictures, practically no help, and he wanted to do it! I asked him to sort them, but I didn't think he'd finish it in one morning. He was diligent and he didn't give up even when a couple of them were a bit harder. I'm kind of glad they were all jumbled, I got to see how good he is! They got new homes in labeled sandwich bags.

Some much needed relaxation time painting. I even got to paint with company! My cousin came so we could paint together. I find it so relaxing and soothing. We just painted and talked. I really miss it! It worked out great too because Baba took NJ to visit Ah-ma and go to a judo event. 

Teddy Bear Picnic

NJ loves his neon bear that Baba won for him. And I didn't realize until he needed to bring a bear to school that this is his only stuffed bear. He has plenty of dogs, monkeys, a duck, tiger, dragon...  It was cute with the head sticking out. It was too big to zip up. 

How cute, I love how girly some of the bears are. 

NJ's whole class did their opening this morning. They sang Itsy Bitsy Spider. He has his little spider hat on. 

I joined them for their afternoon teddy bear picnic. They were all too cute with their teddy bears eating snacks and doing crafts together. It makes me happy to be able to do little things like this. 

NJ wanted to look through his monthly kids magazine and do the activities from it. 

I love how he puckers his mouth when he uses scissors concentrating on cutting. 

Scarecrow! It's his mouth, but it looks like it needs a shave.
Today's the third day he's come home completely cranky, upset, lots of attitude, complaining, crying... It hasn't been fun. After his time out we've had some good calm talks as a family meeting. We finally found out that what he's been so upset about at school. Poor guy, he just needs to learn how to deal with it better than how  he has been. At the end of the day when we did his chart, he only got three magnets (out of 18). When he only counted three he says, "That's so sad." I'm glad he thinks so too. 

"I pledge allegiance..."

NJ led the school in the pledge of allegiance this morning. It was cute and made us proud. We're also glad that he had no fear. 

Great job, son! :)

Yummy coffee at home, such happiness!!

Our first coffees together. Baba blames me for also getting him into coffee. He's never been much of a coffee drinker. It actually makes him sleepy, go figure. If anything he gets ice blendeds. I told him he couldn't blame me for being a casualty of my addiction. Thank goodness I no longer have such crazy stomach and esophageal problems. I thank God for my new and healthy liver so I can enjoy a simple pleasure like coffee. 

It was a challenging day with this guy, his behavior was very trying. We still went to meet friends at the farmer's market, but I'm not sure it was a very good idea. I felt so bad for being extremely short with him. By the end of the day we had it with him already, not really knowing how to deal with it. I'm sure our friends think we're the worst parents ever with the way that we interacted that night. It's the rough days that we need the most grace. Good thing tomorrow is a new day and our wonderful son is a sweet and forgiving one. 

NJ did today's song which was, The B-I-B-L-E. 

Happily eating his after school snack as always. On the days he doesn't finish his lunch, he's good about listening to me and finishing it first before getting a snack. 

Not the best position to be playing with the guitar, but ok. 

We had a crazy ant problem today. NJ was the one to point it out because he didn't even want to step in the kitchen. When I looked down it was almost like the floor was moving there were so many ants. Eeeww. We sprayed quite a bit of the house so we ate dinner on NJ's little table together.

NJ helped Baba with bringing dishes and watched him wash. He said he'd take it on as his job. Sounds good to me! 

I spent the last few days completely reorganizing and cleaning our closet. Then this happens, after all my work! Turns out the whole thing was only nailed into the dry wall and not any studs. It's a wonder how it's held up all this time. Now we have to empty it to fix it and re-organize. Oh well. 

I asked NJ not to touch all my bottle caps that I had laid out on the table. I told him it was an important project. He wanted to help. Of coarse, he always does! I love that about him. There wasn't anything he could help with. Only someone like me will keep things like this. I've had these since college, for at least thirteen years. This is what happens when you're pumped with creativity, have lack of sleep, long classes, and access to a large supply of Aquafinas. Everyday I'd draw eyes on the bottle caps since I thought it already looked like a smiley face (minus the eyes). I had a huge collection, some even had dates on them. And guest artists like my classmates. I've held on to them for too long, so I gathered them and took a photo and tossed them. I'm learning to let go and focus on more important things. So far so good. :) 

Free Adventure

I guess we didn't come early enough! Tons of people! Hope we're in the first 2,500 at least.

Me and my sad little coffee maker. It's been a good one though. I'm sure I've had it at least nine or ten years. I've used it for so many parties and house guests staying with us. It's provided me just what I've needed for my tired, coffee loving self. But it's time to say goodbye for something newer and better. 

Had to get a pic of the Coffee Bean truck in front of the Angels sign.

Beautiful sunrise that we enjoyed as we dragged our chairs along with our coffee makers. 

Yay, refreshments while we wait! This oj was really good! 

Muffin? Yes please!

Chocolate croissant? How can I say no?!

CBTL's Trade Up Your Cup. I love my coffee, but I'm too cheap to go out and get a fancy machine. But I'll certainly wait in line for one! Call us crazy, but we like doing stuff like this. Plus I'm a fan of Coffee Bean. We made some new friends too with the fun people around us. 

We missed the green wrist bands which would also get you a free frother or something. 

Now to get into another line...

Water? Yes, thank you. 

Coffee Bean mascot. 

Wouldn't be a coffee event without free coffee! We were getting to the front of the line so I ended up having to down it, but it was so good! 

Time to give up the coffee maker.

Finally! We're out of here! 

Our free CBTL Americano Machine! So excited and can't wait to try it. I better make some room on our kitchen counter for it. :)