Water Squirting

Both Dylan and Ryan needed to beat the heat in Eastlake area. It was 85 degrees after 5:30 P.M! So, we ended up deciding visiting Barnes and Noble Bookstore and eating our outdoor dinner at our nearby shopping center. It was really nice and relaxing evening for four of us.

However, both of our boys begged us to let them play with the Water Squirting. We eventually knew they would jump and splash into fun with water squirting all over their dry clothes. But we were surprised that at first, they ran around the circle of the water squirting. It was like they were cautious before getting them into completely soaked!

Once they got wet, they did the experiments by putting their feet on the top of the water squirting, letting the water goes through in their shirts, and watching their toy cars flipping over the water squirting. After an hour of playing, they started clenching their teeth. Unfortunately, they were completely soaked until we arrived home due to not bringing any extra dry clothes. The next time will do !

The next visit at our nearby shopping center, they have the choices: running toward the water squirts, using coloring chalks at the Chalk Garden, sitting in a front of a fireplace, or rolling it over the green grass. Without a doubt, we will bring extra clothes as a back-up.

Box Tops

Have you ever thought about how did the Box Tops created the donations for schools? Typical of me, I did some research about the Box Tops. It stated that it started back in 1998 through by putting it on the tops of the cereals such as Cheeritos, Total and other Family Favorites. Now, more than 10 years of using Box Tops, it had donated over than 175 million dollars! That is awful a lot of money. Don't you ever wish you could use it for home especially doing the remodeling, face lifted, getting new cars, or going out for family adventures??
Well since we are not able to use the money for ourselves, I, as an educator, find myself that the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in all ages; K-12 needs a boost from Box Tops. . I was thinking of collecting all the Box Tops to purchase a sign language book for every family in order to communicate with their deaf and hard of hearing child. Unfortunately, many of them do have little or no communication at home. It certainly affects to their knowledge in education because they spend 75 % of the times at home while the deaf and hard of hearing students received 25 of the times learning at school due to have a continuous communication. I know it is sad but that is the fact. That is main reason why so many deaf and hard of hearing students read below fourth grade level.

As an educator, I do have a big heart for my deaf and hard of hearing students from Elementary to High School Level. I hope you would have a heart for me by donating the Box Tops. This would be greatly appreciated.

Topless Writer

It's Dylan, who wanted to become a writer, decided to go out for a topless!

Actually, I found a huge pencil in his backpack after he came back from a field trip at San Diego County Fair aka Del Mar Fair. When I first saw it, I cracked myself up (dunno why I did this, but I thought it was funny because he LOVES to write.) Believe it or not, he even wrote comments on Ryan's and my high school picture, and School Program Book! It makes all senses that he likes to write anything he finds inside and outside of the house.

Perhaps that explains he thinks clearly when he goes out for a topless!

Ryan's Progress

Can you believe Ryan has graduated from pre-school? It is so hard to believe that he actually is going to Kindergarten this coming Fall. He has done remarkable well within one and a half year.

Both my husband and I have witnessed the positive changes in Ryan while he was in Pre-school. When he first started attending Pre-school, he would scream, shut his eyes, being so aloof, and threw things up in the air such as shoes and toys. It was extremely difficult for us to see our son having bad times, but we had a faith that he would make a room for an improvement.

During his first winter performance, he was shy and unable to sing. But this has changed to being able to sing the Winter/Spring songs, even “1, 2, 3 Flying Birds.” At his Pre-school graduation. he even could answer the teacher’s questions in a front of the ceremony, “ Tell me what is your name, What is your favorite thing about school? What do you want to be when you grow up?” (I’ve put in McClellan’s Media: Ryan’s Graduation Speech)

Between his first sixth month of school to now, Ryan started picking the words up by saying from two to eight words in a sentence. (Just remember he has Persuasive Development Disorder- Non- Known as Autism with 18 months of speech and language delay.) It is a slow progress but he does speak a lot more clearly lately. At most of the times, it is easy for people to understand if he speaks louder.

Few examples he would say:
1) I cut hair with scissors (He did a night before and he was very impressed with himself that he did.)

2) Thank you, Mrs. Morales for getting me my favorite corn.

3) Hey Ginger, do you want to watch Winnie the Pooh with me? (He grabbed her hands when they first greeted each other.)

4) It’s time to get up Tiggers. I want to see my Tiggers. (That’s the name of his class group. He wanted to wake them up from kids’ nap.)

5) Hey Mrs. Morales, Wake up, Lazybones! (She was pretending to take a nap)

His socialization has improved a lot. Just remember that last year, he only would play by himself almost all day. Now, he would sit and play with his classmates for a longer period of time. He even came up to a new student who was crying on his first day of school. Ryan took this new student's hands, “Come here. It is okay. You will be okay.” Isn’t that cute? He even applauded to the other students when playing basketball, “Good Job, that was great.” That was because he often hears from me, teachers, and his speech therapist.

His academic skills are incredibly good when it comes to a lot of visual pictures while he is weak on his logical concepts. As a proud parent, he is the only ones know how to spell the calendar months without looking at the calander, recognizes the numbers up to 100, and few other related academics.

It means a lot to us that the teachers at the Grey Rabbit Pre-School put a lot of their patience for my sons, Dylan and Ryan, who attended this school, especially Ryan. Thank you staff at The Grey Rabbit Pre-School. Salutation !

Frankly, David and I do not have any regrets for putting him in a small private school for the last one and a half year. That is my strongest philosophy to put him in a small mainstream classroom because it enhances a child's overall performance even with a slight disability. Without doubt, that makes BIG differences in his life: speech/language, socializing and interacting. That’s something we always are grateful that God has put it in our hands. We continue to believe that he would continue to make progresses through by my help, his future teachers and the people who love him.

Speech Therapy

Don’t ever think about going to speech therapy can be boring! Every time, I bring my younger son, Ryan to speech therapy lesson twice a week at Children’s Hospital, I find it interesting. He does enjoy going to speech therapy. He cooperates both in structure and play approaches very well.

Attending Speech Therapy has changed over decades. When I was young, I attended speech therapy twice a week, just like Ryan, and having speech lesson at home daily. It was ONLY structure approach. Boy, I felt SO BAD for my mom and the speech therapist that suffered with my temper tantrum by wiping the stuff off the table. (Mom, please forgive my bad manners.) Just image that I had to practice with my tongue in a front of a mirror, blowing with the feathers, using my fingers over my noses and neck. Using this structure method, I have attended speech therapy for the first thirteen years of my life. This old fashioned approach has paid it off. Look at my life right now ! I am able to communicate with others without relying on hearing adults or a sign language interpreter.

Currently, I am being paid back for doing the same thing for my younger son, Ryan because I wanted to see him able at least to communicate with others. However, his speech lesson is a lot better than in my time. In his first year, it was extremely difficult for Ryan to stay on task because his speech therapist was going through trial and errors by finding it out what is the best approach. In a very short time, she quickly discovered that he learns best through by both structure and play approaches in order to stay on task.

With his structure approach, he currently is working on his pronouns (He/She) by looking at the picture, preposition phrases (Behind/In a Front/Next) by doing hand-on activities and Verb Actions by saying it in a sentence such as “He is driving a car.” He is improving gradually by getting between 50 to 80 % accuracy during his Structure Approach. Of course, he likes getting “high five” praises. That is what I did at home. He often says, “High Five, Good Job, Great Job” to his peers at his school.

After he has accomplished at least 5 to 10 trials, then he can play for a minute. During one minute play, he can talk about the activities he is using (Farm Animals, Birthday Party, Trains, and few other activities.) When one-minute timer ticks, he goes straight back to his structure approaches. He repeats the same thing until the speech lesson has ended. His rewarding for doing the good work and behaving well was getting, guess what? It is Anti-Bacteria Hand Lotion! I know it may sound strange to you, but he loves the blue dots in Anti-Bacteria Hand Lotion.

Not only doing the lessons at Children’s Hospital, he does have mini lessons at home with me daily. He knows that he gets rewards if he has accomplished his task such as getting a small sticker, and Sugar-Free Icee that he loves.

That’s something I am not repentant myself putting him in a speech therapy lesson at Children’s Hospital. He is very fortunately to have an outstanding therapist who sees what he needs to improve. She also gives me several new ideas to work with him at home. For instance, if your child is able to answer your simple questions, always make comments because it will force a child to express a lot more. It is a lot harder for me not to ask him questions. Rather than forgetting not to ask him questions, I instead would say, “Tell me more about this.” This challenges me but this is an excellent experience for me as a mom, not as an educator.

Even attending both speech therapy and his private pre-school has made differences in his life, he is now speaking less jargons, speaking more clearly, interacting and communicating with others. Lately for a month, I have been getting positive reports from speech therapist, teachers and relatives that he is talking clearly, interacting and making more eye contacts. It felt so good to compare from a year ago to now—yet I will continue to assist him throughout Ryan’s life.

Summer Housewife

Yippie, summer is here ! Before I actually have a summer vacation, can you image the looks I had it on my face when my boss, the principal, telling me two days before the school was out that I had to pack everything in boxes?(It does not mean I'm fired from the job. It is just that I will not have a classroom this Fall, just floating it around from one classroom to another. Oh well, at least I have a job. Why should I complain? ) However from that moment, I made my mind up to clean, pack and throw the unnecessary stuff within a week. Guess what? I've accomplished my goal for cleaning my classroom out within two days. I guess my mind was on a fire because I desperately am looking forward to being a summer housewife.

As a summer housewife, I still have tons of things to do inside and outside of the house. My three main destinations for the summer while Dylan and Ryan are with me for an entire summer are:

1) Of course, spend the quality of times with my sons, Dylan and Ryan in both educated and unrelated education activities daily. I can't help with my minor role being a teacher. Also, don't get envy if we get tans from doing the activities.

2) Paint everything upstairs at night while the kids are in bed ( still in my bedroom.) You will have to bear with my dark circle eyes whenever we get together, or see pictures of me.

3) Organize things after throwing lots of old stuff around ( I already did quite a lot this week.) Any volunteer would be granted if you take our stuff :-)

Despite of getting lots of sweaty and smelly over the summer, it is so nice to be a summer housewife when I don't get paid :-) Why should I complain since I don't have to worry about getting up really early for work??? I would rather to have my sweethearts, Dylan and Ryan tucking their little hands and bodies by me.

So, I am playing tagging games. You will need to tell me what is your destination over this summer. Perhaps you can give me tips to speed my goals especially having kids around.

Cousins

My goodness, I don't know what to say when I first saw her walking in to greet us. She is so tall, especially is now taller than me (gulp!) It seems like yesterday as if she was a three years old girl when I first met her. Yet, it was GREAT seeing my beautiful niece, Katya.



Even though, we spent a few hours with Katya while she was in town, I did take an opportunity to take this wonderful pictures of them as cousins. Dylan and Ryan are in love with her with or without having make-up on her.

Nose Pickers

Would you ever believe one of the articles from Austrian doctor believe that "people who pick their noses with their fingers are healthier, happier, and more in tune with their bodies?" Boy, is it so gross to even think about this? I would not disagree with you.

That's what happened when we had visitors visiting at Cathy's place on Friday night. One person had a mischievous thoughts for the picture. It was not me this time. It was GINGER ! She encouraged Dylan, Ryan, Danae and her friend, Sami. Actually, they thought it was funny when I took a picture of them.

Copy Cat

Typically, any sibling would do anything to copy from either older or younger sibling. That's what Ryan did after he saw what I did to his brother, Dylan after accepting his grant.

While I was busy cleaning the kitchen, Ryan came up to me wanting me to paint...a pink nail polish on him ! Can you believe that???

Ryan came up to me, " I want pink nail polish."

Of course, I was stunned because I thought he wanted to join the boat with Dylan after I finished painting Dylan's toenails and fingernails. At first, he refused to accept my offer. But later, he had changed his mind.

At the end of the pictures taken by me, he kept saying, "turn the camera off." I guess he now realized he is embarrassed that I would be showing it off to my relatives and friends who read my blog.

Wish Granted

You wouldn't believe what Dylan had made one BIG wish. Truthfully, I had averse to his idea and was hoping he would forget his wish. But it didn't happen. A day after the school has ended, he remembered what I would give him the privilege his wish at the end of the school year. I couldn't find any valid excuse for saying, "NO" because the school is out for the summer. Can you guess what was his wish???

Thus, his wish was being granted....

180 Days

Friday, June 22nd was the last day of Kindergarten, the closing of one door and the opening of another. It is hard for me to believe that this school year has come to the end! Over the past 180 school days, Dylan has grown both socially and academically. He has gone from knowing a few letters and sounds to reading words, sentences and even books! He has also learned the social skills of sharing, caring and being responsible. Most of all I hope Dylan has learned to love school and learning and will look forward to next year with same enthusiasm I have seen this year !

Before Dylan's last day of school, he invited me to his Kindergarten Breakfast. Oh how sweet of him! While I was there, he and his classmates sang few songs: Each of Us is A Flower, Love Me For Who I Am, Silent E, Four Hugs a Day, and I Think You're Wonderful. Almost throughout the songs, I was surprised to see almost all of his classmates had learned few of the song signs. It was due that he had taught them during their practices. Isn't he a good teacher, huh? But at the end of the song, " I Think You're Wonderful," it actually brought me tears. (Of course, I had a sign language interpreter standing behind Dylan.)

At the breakfast, there was sliding shows and awards. Dylan received an Outstanding Reader award and Reading Incentive Award. He has never missed any Reading Log for the last 180 days of school. While standing next to his teacher, Ms. Goldman was telling the other students and parents, who were at the breakfast, that Dylan was always "correcting her if she signed wrong, or skipped the words from reading a book. He knew if she followed it through the Storytelling." (Ms. Goldman has experienced working with deaf students in the past, thus she knew few signs.) After the breakfast was over, she mentioned to me that she has learned a lot of more new signs through by Dylan.

He also received awards for Outstanding Reader, Reading Incentive Award and Principal's Honor Roll. What an honor ! He also got a free Golden Spoon Frozen Yogurt. Yummy! But can you image the teacher told the parents and students that she is looking forward to seeing the name of our child on the roster for the high school graduating class of 2019? It gave me a heart attack to think far ahead of having him leaving the nest.

Ding ! Ding !

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the four of us went on a Trolley for a Father's Day event. We started from La Mesa, near my work to Seaport Village.

If you were there, you should have seen the looks on their exciting faces to go on a trolley ride for the first time in their lives. Actually, they had pleaded to go on it for weeks until I finally convinced David. Once we were actually in our seats, they squealed a lot while looking at the window.

Dylan said, "Yeah, we are on a trolley. We are going to Seaport Village."

Ryan said, "Yeah, I see the Trolley goes faster and faster."

Once we got off the Trolley, we walked for a half-mile long to Seaport Village. From there, we had an early dinner and then went on Carousel Rides. Fortunately, spinning around did not affect my Vertigo this time.

Shortly before we headed back to the Trolley, we had a light snack, a small cup of ice cream. While eating our delicious snack, Ryan and Dylan chased the Pigeons. It was like they were running around as if they were in a horror movie, "The Birds" from Alfred Hitchcock. Fortunately for the people who sat near us were laughing even though the birds flew over them. Good grief, the "poops" did not hit any of us.

After had such as adventurous day for Father's Day, we headed back to the Trolley. Boy, we were all exhausted.

So far, the boys have been on an airplane, a boat, a bus, and for our next adventure we will be taking them a Nemo submarine ride at Disneyland.

San Diego County Fair

What has food, rides, prizes and other items? It is San Diego County Fair aka Del Mar Fair. David's parents joined us for a couple of hours.
On our way to the Ferris Wheels, the first thing on David and Richard's mind were FOOD! Believe it or not, they ordered: BBQ Corn on the Cob, Squeezed Orange Juice, Potato Chips and Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Dipped. It was not even lunch! Oh, that is so typical of men! You should have seen their faces as they acted like they were five years old.

As soon as we entered in a fair, Dylan suddenly made the decision to go on the Ferris Wheel. Well once Dylan and Cathy joined Ryan and I on the Ferris Wheel, they immediately wanted to get off after the first go round. Poor Dylan and Cathy were scared of the height, but Ryan and I remained throughout the ride. It was a beautiful sight to see the Del Mar Beach. I was blown away seeing the beauty of it!

Even though Dylan was frighten of height with the Ferris Wheel, Dylan was brave enough to have his face painted. Ryan was the one who refused to have his grandma (Cathy) pay for his face to be painted. He would go on daring rides instead.

While we were in the Fun Zone, the boys went on more rides before eating a lunch. The best part was going on the Hydro Rides (Log Rides.) I enjoyed seeing both boys wet their pants from the water as if they had wet their pants! Too bad, they didn't sit on Cathy's or Richard's lap. It would have been more fun seeing their pants wet, too. Bummer !

Another bummer was that I was unable to take a picture of Cathy with a smile on her face. She is camera shy. The only thing I could do is to sneak a picture of her ! However, you can decide on how she looks when she was leaning her head on David's shoulder. That is the best picture I could do.

On our late lunch, we sat under the shade with our BBQ lunch (Beef, Hot Dog.) You know the junk food they offer at the Fair. Besides eating the sweets, it was nice chatting under the shade.

Throughout the day, we did a lot of window shopping inside of the buildings. Cathy got a beautiful gold toe ring! I would have done the same, but it would not have been too beautiful since I have black and blue bruises on my big toe. (Dylan stepped on my toe the other day.)

After we were through with the window shopping, David encouraged me to let the boys to go on the Wave Swinger. Boy, I felt like as if my over-protectiveness was tested to be limited! I was worrying and freaking out until they returned safety to me ! Whew !

After staying for a few hours at the fair, we headed for back home. Dylan and Ryan were so tired. They fell asleep with their heads resting each other. Aren't they cute?

Raising Hearing Children

"Mother father deaf" is a phrase commonly used in the deaf community to identify a hearing child of deaf parents. Statistic shows that over 90 % of all deaf parents have hearing children referred to as CODA (Children of Deaf Adults.) Most of hearing of deaf parents have two bi-languages and bi-cultural: American Sign Language (ASL) and English, and Deaf and hearing cultures. It gives them the advantages and disadvantages on living both worlds.

The advantage parts are:

1) Able to use both languages: able to pick up a third or more different language easily

2) Able to accept other kinds of disabilities easily

3) custom of reading closed captioned and reading books at early ages

4) tend to have excellent relationships between the deaf parents and hearing children (Rienzi, B "Influences and Adaptability in Families with Deaf Parents and Hearing children.")

5) learn more "sounds" from the hearing children such as telling us the oven is ready (We have always look at the temperature before putting the food in it.)

The disadvantage parts are:

1) don't always interpret everything the insensitive remarks or comments made by a hearing person (Filer &Filer, "Practical Considerations for Counselors Working with Hearing Children of Deaf Parents')

2) become hyper vigilant, listening for that their parents could not hear such as "monsters," burglars, smoke alarms, and cracking sounds of the ceiling collapsing

3) Cannot hear any fights between the siblings' or friends' comments

4) worry a lot more when I take showers or wake up finding them out of the bed before me

However, David and I are very fortunately that we do keep our technology and research up. So that way our mischievous boys cannot trick us !

A Day At The Races

Nope, it is not about going out to watch the real “Nascar” car race.. David attended Ryan’s first Father’s Day event at his pre-school. This made Ryan feel very special while his brother; Dylan went out to spend a time with me.

The performance was short and quick. David was surprised yet pleased to see all of the teachers and children signing “I Love You." Shortly after the performance has ended, Ryan joined Father-Son’s dinner: hot dog, potato chips, punch, and a slice of watermelon, and of course, his all time favorite cookie, peanut butter.

As soon as he and his dad completed their dinner, Ryan immediately saw the exciting game: car race with a balloon. At first, he was struggling to blow the balloon and let it go on a table. In fact, the balloon broke three times. Providentially, the third time was a charm. He did it! Boy, he was exhilarating to see the car swift by. He jumped ups and downs as if he had won the race.

When the routine changed, he joined creating the picture frame for his dad. Of course, his soft-hearted dad assisted him through. There was a picture of Father- Son standing next to the real car race. The real car race driver gave Ryan a privilege to get the taste what it was like to be in a car race. He especially liked hearing the “ROAR” motor running. This stunned him hearing it for the first time, yet it gave him an enriching experience.

This was a special treat for both Ryan and his dad.

"Thank you for being there, Dad I love being with you," said Ryan.

Tribute Our Fathers

On both sides of our family, we have very few men. I would like to honor the men in our lives we so cherish.

Dad: Throughout my childhood experience, I appreciate you finding the time to play with me despite the long hours you worked. The first memory I have was when we played karate inside and outside of the karate class. It especially was fun when we were yelled at by mom for doing the karate in the house. Luckily, we didn't knock any furniture over! I enjoyed our midnight snacks like having cereal with chocolate syrup over it and sneaking out to Carl's Junior for our dinner. However, there was one huge embarrassment I tried to forget...all of the people looked at us while running the 5K.. Yep, your bare feet. Of course, it didn't stop me from running away from the spectator you caused ! There are so many memories we shared.

Richard: Since you entered Cathy's life, you have changed her, David, and Deby with all of the happiness you've given them. It meant a lot to see all of the love in the family. We really enjoy your sense of humor. David loves to share all of his memories of going to different sporting events with you ! What a legacy !


Bruce: We appreciate you spending the times with us: going out to scuba dive with David, playing with my active boys, meeting us at Mission Bay for a picnic. Going out to Lake Lopez camping with you for the weekend was a blast. Thank you so much !

Doug: Even though I seldom see you, I feel like I have known you all of my life. It is because David has shared his fun times with you such as going out to ride on a boat. He is very fortunately that he had an opportunity to spend time with you.

David: The most important of all, we can't forget that David is also dad. He has been wonderful to the boys. He gives Dylan and Ryan a lot of love, occasionally having them sleep with him, teaching them about computers (of course) and even cooking them a delicious meal. Besides spoiling them rotten by buying toys. He even took days off when the boys were ill. Thank you for being a loving and supportive husband and dad to Dylan and Ryan.

I have to say I am very fortunately each of you are in my life. I love each and everyone! Thank you so much ! Hope all of you had a wonderful Father's Day. Happy Father's Day with love Laura and the family.

Red, White, and Blue Day

Yep, it's Flag Day (June 14th)! Did you know that Flag Day was first observed in 1877 on the 100th anniversary of the Continental Congress' adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States? I didn't ! I decided to research the facts about Flag Day. Very Interesting. It is nothing new for me to research educational information. I Love it ! Another unexpected discovery was there I learned a Wisconsin schoolteacher named B.J. Cigrand, wanted June 14 to be known as "Flag Birthday." He first suggested the day of observance to the flag. However, the holiday was not officially recognized until 1949 when President Harry Truman signed the National Flag Day Bill. In 1996, President Bill Clinton made a proclamation about the Flag of the United States of America.

As American citizens, both Dylan and Ryan were all dressed in Red, White and Blue. They both were bragging to be Americans and were off to support their American schools!

GOOD NEWS!!!

I just got an email from the school district today that they found enough course from my transcript to qualify me for the Cultural Linguistic Acquistion Diversity (CLAD) Certficiate. What!?! It means I do not have to take any university classes !! YIIIPPPIIE!! This is one of the nicest end of the year gift I've ever gotten!

Too bad, my husband won't have an opportunity to dress like Mr. Mom!

Hitting The Books

Can you believe that I am one of the few teachers who receive a letter explaining that I have to complete the Cultural Language Acquisition Diversity (CLAD) graduate classes? Yep.. that's true! What it means is that I have to go back to school and take the required classes before the deadline-January 2008. Otherwise, I will be out of teaching job. No pressure.

In the meantime, my school district is going through my official university transcripts to see if I took any of the CLAD classes during my graduate program at California State University of Northridge. Fortunately, I was told that I already completed two classes out of six classes. That's better than starting from the scratch. However, one of the required classes is "Teaching and Testing English Second Language (ESL) Listening and Speaking skills." Humm.. Do you think I can bluff my way through this class? I doubt it ! There is no way I would be successful unless I can be an example for the graduate students to study me (winks.) Actually, I did make a request to waive this class. Please keep your fingers crossed.

While I am taking graduate classes, David will become Mr. Mom. Too bad, it is only temporary. I will be taking night classes at the University California of San Diego in La Jolla. Fun, huh? I will miss the boys and my dear husband, David. Perhaps, any of you are interested in loaning me an apron, size 9 1/2 high heels (any color will do) and make-up for David to be the real Mr. Mom?

Getting To Know You

There are so many of you that stop by and post on a regular basis, and I thought it would be fun to get to know you all a little better. So, I'll answer first, then you have to do is "copy and paste" the questions, and replace my answers with yours.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME: David
HOW TALL ARE YOU: 6' 0'
IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE: Royal Blue
FAVORITE FOOD: Lobster
FAVORITE CANDY:Chocolate Mint from S.F.
FAVORITE DRINK: Root Bear
YOUR WORST HABIT: Procrastinating
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON: Spring
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER: 7
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL: Huskie dog
WORD OF HABITS: "It's so rare "
WHAT ANIMAL ARE YOU THE MOST AFRAID OF: Scorpio
FAVORITE VACATION SPOT: Switzerland
FAVORITE PLACE TO GO(NOT VACATION): Go Under the Water (Ocean)
FAVORITE BOOK/MAG:MaxiumPC
FAVORITE MOVIE: Lord of Rings Triology
BEST MEMORIES:Traveling to Europe

WHAT IS YOUR NAME: Laura
HOW TALL ARE YOU: 5' 3"
IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE: Aqua Blue
FAVORITE FOOD: Lobster
FAVORITE CANDY: Soft Button Licorice
FAVORITE DRINK: Chai Tea
YOUR WORST HABIT: biting nails
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON: Spring
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER:21
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL: House Pet Cat
WORD OF HABITS: "Let's Go !"
WHAT ANIMAL ARE YOU THE MOST AFRAID OF: Any Snake
FAVORITE VACATION SPOT: Victoria, Canada
FAVORITE PLACE TO GO(NOT VACATION): Go to the pool
FAVORITE BOOK/MAG: Danielle Steele Books/Any Scrapbook Magazine
FAVORITE MOVIE: Bicentennial Man
BEST MEMORIES: Watched Deaf Olympic Games in Europe

WHAT IS YOUR NAME: Dylan
HOW TALL ARE YOU: 4'1"
IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE: Orange
FAVORITE FOOD: Taco
FAVORITE CANDY: Blueberry Lollipop
FAVORITE DRINK: Rootbeer
YOUR WORST HABIT: Sucking Fingers and playing with my hair at the same time
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON: Summer
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER:100
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL: Lion
WORD OF HABITS: "BUT"
WHAT ANIMAL ARE YOU THE MOST AFRAID OF: Shark
FAVORITE VACATION SPOT: Hawaii
FAVORITE PLACE TO GO(NOT VACATION): Go To The Park
FAVORITE BOOK/MAG: Ten Little Fish
FAVORITE MOVIE: Bambi

WHAT IS YOUR NAME: Ryan
HOW TALL ARE YOU: 3' 8"
IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE: Blue-Green
FAVORITE FOOD: Green Apple
FAVORITE CANDY: Chocolate M & M
FAVORITE DRINK: Chocolate Milk
YOUR WORST HABIT: biting toe nails
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON: Winter
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER:1
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL: Giraffe
WORD OF HABITS: "Why? "
WHAT ARE YOU THE MOST AFRAID OF: Spiders
FAVORITE VACATION SPOT: Hawaii
FAVORITE PLACE TO GO(NOT VACATION):McDonald's
FAVORITE BOOK/MAG: Today I will Fly (the current ones)
FAVORITE MOVIE: Henry and The Elephant

Okay, your turn! Tell us about yourself and have fun with your answers!

Coooook-ie Monsters

C is for cookie

That's good enough for me,
C is for cookie,
That's good enough for me, C is for cookie,
Oh Cookie, Cookie, Cookie starts with C !

What does that sound like to you? Yes, you are right! My sons made their own cookies on Monday afternoon with my mom and Bruce. My mom and Bruce let Dylan and Ryan create their own alphabet letters and numbers using cookie cutters. Of course, the boys were SOOO excited because they had a freedom of choice for the first time!

My mom asked Dylan and Ryan pick their favorite letters and numbers from the cookie cutters. I would have thought for sure they would have picked letters to spell: D-Y-L-A-N and R-Y-A-N, but did they? NO!!

After all of their hard work cutting and decorating the cookies with the sprinkles, I was feeling a bit impish (nothing new about me.) I decided to use the frosting to make the cookie look like they have blue hairy goatees. Even though I couldn't hear their squeals, what joy on their smiling little faces. My mom and Bruce never had such a fun snack!

Do you want to join my little Baker's in the next creative cookie session? It's guaranteed to be fun!