The Party

For their birthday party we just had a pool party in our backyard. The only catch was that there is a rule in the kindergarten that if you are going to pass out invitations at school you have to give one to everyone. I didn't know any of the parents of the girls' school friends and the only way to get invites to them was to pass out invitations at school. But our experience at other parties was that only 4 or 5 kids from the class would show up. But my girls are in separate classes so that meant handing out 45 invitations and hoping less than half of that would show up. All in all, we had about 20 kids show up. Plus several of the parents stayed to help which I really appreciated. We just got watermelon and little ceasers pizza and had cake and ice cream. All the kids just played in the pool, ate and played some more. Jake, Jono, and I took turns life guarding, plus several parents got in the pool and we had adult friends that came and swam too. It turned out really well. It was a fairly simple but really fun party.
We also realized how awesomely set up our backyard is for parties. In the hottest part of the day the playground is in the shade and the pool is in full sun and the whole concrete area is shaded. So we set up tables all under the big pine tree and it just worked out perfect. Kids could go back and forth from playing in the pool to playing on the swingset. It also made me grateful for tile floors throughout the house! These are just a few shots of people eating and hanging out at the party:




This is the Mortenson group. I thought it was funny that all the kids from Lyla's class were hanging out together by the fence like the cool crowd.



They got a lot of presents, next year I want to someway make it so that people only bring a present for either Lyla or Mckayla, it was just a lot of stuff. The kids all ended up having at it with whomever was left (we didn't do present opening as part of the party), but we didn't unbox everything. They get to choose a new thing here and there so we can make the newness last. I just felt like it was too much for them to have all at once. So we have a toys-r-us in their closet right now.
This is the cake I made. I am not a crafty or artistic person, but I do want food to taste good. I did a red velvet cake and made a raspberry filling for it and did a cream cheese frosting. Only I couldn't keep the filling from oozing out, so it really became a raspberry-cream cheese frosting. It was good though.

The Actual Birthday

To start the girls off right on their birthday we first made a really good breakfast with bacon, eggs, and doughnuts. You can guess what they were most excited about... the bacon. Yep. We don't usually get to have bacon except for the weekends. Both Mckayla and Lyla are born carnivores.


Then towards the end of the school day I brought cupcakes to each of their classes. Mckayla wanted to have pink cupcakes with sprinkles and a cherry on top. Above is Mckayla when her class was singing to her. Lyla wanted to have chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles and gummy bears on top. Below is Lyla eating cupcakes with her class.



We did a little party with just our family and the people who are staying with us. We first made them go on a scavenger hunt to find their big present from mom and dad.


It eventually led to the shed, but they had figured out what I was up to because there was a little sign on that door that they made saying "I can not see my prise."

Aside from painting their room, (which is still a work in progress), we got them each their own desk and chair for their birthday. They both love to draw and do art projects and their work is frequently covering our dining table and dining room. It is kindof a present for me too, because we are moving all of the art supplies to their room so the mess can be in there, and so it is out of Jaxon's reach. Here is Lyla showing off her desk and chair:

They also got a present from uncle Jono of jewelry and crowns and here is Mckayla showing off her crown:

Here they are in cute summer outfits from Grandma Benita:
After presents we went back in for some key lime pie. They love key lime yogurt from yoplait, so when I asked what they wanted for dessert they both requested key lime pie. I cheated and just got a frozen one though. Here are cute pictures from the rest of the evening:

Happy Birthday girls!!! We love you!!!

Happy Birthday Girls!!!

I am pretty late in getting a post done for their birthday. We have had a busy last week. I had decided that for their birthday I would be decorating their bedroom. Everytime we are painting walls in the house they ask when we will get to paint their walls. So that was the plan for their birthday. I wanted to do something creative and have fun with their room. We looked at decorating books together and I asked them what kindof room they would want. After much debate and thought my extremely tom-boyish girls decided that they wanted "a pink and purple princess room." So we began work on it... two weeks ago. Everything is still not moved back into their room and it has been a bit more complicated than I had previously imagined. I will post pictures when we are done. But I wanted to show a slideshow of my girls through the years.
I love them both so much and I am so proud of all of their accomplishments. They are both doing very well in school and work so hard to help me around the house. They are great big sisters and it has been so wonderful to watch them grow up. I can't believe that they are already 6 years old! Anyways, enjoy a look back at my girls growing up!

Some cute Kailey Pics

At almost 2 months old Kailey is already starting to lose her newborn-ness and is looking like a little baby. She has started to fill out a bit more and is cuter every day.

I caught Jono asleep with here and I thought it was so cute that I had to share. I hope he doesn't mind....

Jake caught her in a smile!!! This is a rare occurance, so I had to put it up. Usually as soon as the camera is out her smiles are gone.

Feliz Cinco De Mayo!

Ever since Jake went to Chipotle in Tucson with his friends they have wanted to have a "Chipotle Night" so we thought that Tuesday (Cinco De Mayo) would be a great dya to do that. We ended up turning it into a full-out Mexican Fiesta complete with decorations, a pinata, and of course, Margaritas! For those of you who haven't ever been to Chipotle, it is just like a subway for burritos. We grilled steaks to put in the burritos and I made real mexican beans, plus we had fresh salsa, guacamole, and rice. It was really good, but a lot of work. We really like Mexican food, but to make it right it takes a couple of days to prepare one meal!


Jake had gotten Jaxon this outfit from a little stand a while back at the carnival. He wasn't too interested in the pinata.

After 2 legs and the head had been knocked off this pinata we couldn't hang it anymore so we let the girls have at it until it finally broke.

This is a Tres Leches cake I made. It tasted great even though I am not much of a decorator.

Here's some Jake, Ashley, Joey and Jono enjoying their burritos and margaritas. The girls did all of the decor and had fun with it.

Here's Mckayla showing off the sign she and Lyla made for the occasion. This was a lot of fun, we might just have to make it a tradition.

School Changes

Though this blog is named 'diapers and politics;' the diapers side has obviously overshadowed politics quite a bit. The same is true in my life as well. But I thought I'd throw one in here just for fun.
I made a goal last year to become more involved in my community. I would like to find ways to volunteer and also to become involved in the politics that help shape our city. I am sick of always complaining about stupid things that are done and never doing anything about it. The only thing I have done so far is to join the PTSO. So it is school issues that take the forefront in my mind. I always thought of the PTSO as just planning school activities and fundraisers but we do some much more than that. We talk about issues facing the school at every meeting and we bring complaints to the Board and the city council.
Last November members campaigned (not officially as a group because that is illegal) for the school budget override. We were unsuccessful. Now our school district is facing many many changes. Right now they have a separate teacher and class for music, art, and PE. For next year they are taking away those three classes in all of the elementary schools and putting that responsibility on the core teachers. Since that is taking away teacher prep time that they had during the specialty class, school is getting out earlier. We also have to share our librarian, nurse, and counselor with other schools. This means that a lot of teachers in our district are getting fired this summer. It is sad. I think that in Kindergarten and younger grades it is okay for the teachers to teach the 3 other subjects, but it is the older grades that suffer. We had a 5th grade band and the whole school did a big music program twice a year. There was also a school track team that went to track meets that we won't have next year. Things like that don't seem important, but I think it makes a big difference. I am sure that the core teachers will be able to incorporate a little bit of those subjects into their curriculum, but the kids aren't going to learn nearly as much in those areas.
Other ideas for cutting spending include:
*A 4-day school week - Jake grew up only going to school on Monday through Thursday and he is a big fan. People complain because they don't want to have to find childcare for one day a week, I don't think that is a good reason. I would want to really find out if it makes a difference in the quality of education.
*Half-day kindergarten - Though the girls struggled at the beginning of the year to get used to a full day at school, they are fine now. I can't believe how far they have come. There was a state senator who went on and on in the legislature about how kindegarten was just a day care. I know that he is completely wrong about that. My girls are reading, writing, adding, and subtracting. I can't believe the transformation. The question is: would half-day kindergarten be as effective?
*Shorter school year- I don't know if a few weeks off of the school year would make a big difference, but it almost seems unfair to place the whole burden of this on top of the teachers. They still expect the teachers to be able to teach just as much and to be just as effective.
Who's Responsible?
I don't really know, but I have my theories. Sierra Vista is largely composed of retired people. In fact, we have several age-restricted communities. I don't like that they have so much control over our politics. I do blame them for the failing of the budget override. I think that once you don't have kids in school, you don't care as much anymore. I could be wrong. Also the owner of the Schlotsky's Deli here was a big contributor to the anti-schools campaign slandering it as a tax increase (which it wasn't). We personally don't patronize that establishment anymore.
What are your thoughts? What do you think of having no art, music, or PE until junior high? 4-day school week? Half-day kindergarten? Shorter school year?
What can we do about it?

Best Parent Award

I think I have found the answer to the age old question: Are girls or boys harder to raise? I would say at 1 1/2 years old that boys are way harder. Maybe I am not remembering correctly or have forgotten, but I don't remember my girls causing as much trouble at this age as Jaxon it. You think he would have figured out by now thadoes. My girls made messes and got into things, but they seemed to be much more cautious. Here's a few examples of Jaxon's recent attempts on his own life that would not make me a candidate for the best parent award:
If he gets really mad (usually when told not to do something), he will get on all fours and head-butt our stone tile floors. ON PURPOSE! We have to grab his head to keep him from doing it hurts to head-butt the tile. The floor wins every time.
On the playground I have to follow him like a hawk because not only has he tried to walk down the tallest slide there, but he frequently goes to the openings for ladders and monkey bars attempting to use them.
He is getting more creative in finding ways to get out of the house. We like to leave the front door open and just have the screen shut to let in breezes. He has figured out how to open it and has sneaked out. Also if the side gate is accidentally left open he bee-lines to the front, down the driveway and down the street. The other day we were so embarrassed when a neighbor that we didn't know brought him to our front door. She was very condecending to Jake and made us both feel very bad (as if we didn't feel bad enough already), she had found Jaxon walking down the sidewalk on his own. We thought he was in the backyard playing with his sisters. We had checked the side gates to make sure they were closed. They were closed, the front door was closed and we couldn't figure out how he got out. But only a few minutes after we had gotten him back he went to the screenless window in the dining room that was open a crack and hurled himself out!! I didn't even think he would be able to fit through there!
He has discovered the art of pushing dining chairs all over to reach things he wants to get to. The other day I caught him attempting to climb on top of the refridgerator! He had pulled a chair up to the counter and flipped over a pot on top of the counter and was on that trying to get up to the top. I gotta hand it to him though, he is pretty clever.
Though he can barely reach the doorknob, yesterday Jaxon managed to lock himself inside my bedroom. I felt so bad because he was in there crying for quite awhile while Jono and I tried many different attempts at lockpicking and getting through the open bathroom window. After all attempts failed I had to call a locksmith to come open the door for me. I am grateful that he came immediately. When we got in Jaxon had strung toilet paper all over my room, emptied the bathroom cabinets, there was water everywhere, and his eyes were poofy and red from crying. I felt so bad.
Anyways, fearing a call to CPS now from making my great parenting skills known, I have to say that boys are harder. We love our boy though and he is a lot of fun to watch at this age because he is always discovering new things. Though he doesn't talk hardly at all he seems to understand everything we say and is very good at communicating his needs with yes and no and grunts and pointing without having to cry much anymore. YAY for boys! I am hoping that my sister Katie will have a boy soon!