Caleb's first words and Andrew's column

Esther and I had the great opportunity to go to CCD Women's Conference, a gathering of all sorts of women from Nazarene churches located throughout Central California. During my day and a half away, I received numerous text messages from my wonderful husband, documenting our younger son, Caleb's, progress learning the English language. These are a few of the short narratives I received:

"I asked Caleb 'do you have poo poo?' he patted his diaper and said 'pee pee'. Sure enough, only pee. He is learning."

"Caleb just patted his diaper and said poo poo. Guess what is what full of?"

Later on in the day, I received another text message regarding our older son, Andrew. Now, you've got to understand how Andrew sounds when he talks, the way he does things, and how he... is. Generally. Sometimes, he's just a regular kid. Other times, I swear he's got a 16 year old hidden away in that Ethiopian frame of his, one that lisps, skips and does combo spin-frog-jump-cartwheel maneuvers all of the carpet and sometimes even the walls. This is the texts message I got about our little Space Cadet:

"Asked Andrew if he and his friends talk about ben 10 (one of Andrew's new favoritest cartoons). He said yes. I asked if they talk about ben 10 ellien force (Jimmy spelled alien wrong on purpose, but that's another story). He said "that's part of the ben 10 column, dad."

I can just imagine his look of total disdain, entailing that we are supposed to know these kinds of things. I mean, gosh, we watch Ben 10 ALL the time. Duh. Sheesh.

Caleb rides his tricycle

Here is a video of Caleb riding his tricycle on a Friday afternoon.

Caleb riding his tricycle
Uploaded by hansonjrs. - Family events, birthdays and parenting videos.

Older Video of Caleb Attempting to Talk

This video is from when Caleb was only a few months old.

Caleb Talking
Uploaded by hansonjrs. - Discover videos of people, family and friends.

Another video post!!

This is a video of the first time that Andrew held Caleb (in the hospital, the day after he was born).

WARNING: I didn't upload this to YouTube. I uploaded it to Dailymotion, because they have a better video format and better quality. You must have a browser that supports HTML5 in order to view. This includes: Firefox 3.5 (or higher), Google Chrome 3.0.182.2 (or higher), or Opera. You can use Internet Explorer or older versions of Firefox with the VLC plugin.

Andrew Holds Caleb First Time
Uploaded by hansonjrs. - Explore more family videos.

More Videos

Here are a couple more videos of the kids.

Videos of the Kids

Here are some older videos of the kids.

Screaming from the bottom of my lungs

I'm writing this as a free-form rant from deep within the bowels of my frustration, but if you have anything useful to add, please don't hesitate. Why do I feel like I spend 3/4 of the day yelling at my kids? I never noticed what a super scream freak I was until about 2 years ago (naturally, it would start with the entry of another child into the Peanut Gallery). It seems like every other time I open my mouth, out tumbles, "Sssssh!!", "Quiet, please. QUIET!!!" or "Please stop.... !!!" These utterances are not born without remorse; the more I scream, the more I know it hurts my kids (and me) to continue doing so. The problem is, how do I stop being a screamer and how do I continue being a good mother?

Of all the drunks, rude customers and outright strange people I have dealt with in my previous years of food service, I've never been more frustrated or challenged than during the time I spend with the kids. Now, don't get me wrong; I love those little guys to pieces and then some. Ain't nothin' I wouldn't do for them. Also, I think it's safe to note that a lot of my friends, past and present, have always sworn that I'd be the crazy lady sitting at the park swinging her massive handbag (or lifebag, as one friend called it LOL) at the pigeons and passersby for fun. Oddly enough, God planned for this crazy lady to stay home with her rambunctious pair of pigeon-headed short people and they're both unintentionally pecking for the breadcrumbs of her sanity.

I do take comfort in a few aspects, though: I'm not the only mother in the world who has yelled at her kids a few (okay way) too many times. The fault is not theirs to own, as they are both wonderful, spirited children with sweet dispositions to boot. I just want to be nicer to my kids so that they know when they are doing something wrong, but they don't feel bad when they do. HELP!

Stove-top admiration

While I'm cleaning the stove today, Andrew (busy as ever building Lego Star Wars characters and "doing his business" on LegoClub.com and LegoShop.com) peers up from his reverie and exclaims quietly: "You're good!" I thank him sheepishly and continue on my crusade against cooked on gunk. A few moments later, he peers up again and states: "You're fast!" I laugh and ruffle his hair. No matter how hard I am on him, Andrew retains a sweetness and easy-going manner that just can't be beat. He's what I like to call a-good-husband-in-the-making!

"If you're not inspired by your kids, you need to spend more time with them!"

- Jackie's Vietnamese proverb

After I get done cleaning my lovely food-maker, I retreat to the Bat Cave (i.e. my room). Minutes following, Andrew clunks over to my door holding a large Sterilite container with a few handfuls of Legos. "The computer's all for you, Ma." he alerts me, signalling that he is done with Legoshop/Legoclub.com for the day. Harkens me back to the days when he first moved in and he told Alex with much grown-upness, one fine day on the phone, "Just a minute" as he balanced the horn between his shoulder and ear in order to free up his hands.

2009 Anniversary Trip

For our fourth anniversary, Jackie and I went to Cambria for the weekend. Cambria is a small vacation town on the Central Coast, between Morro Bay and Monterey. Our hotel room was only a few yards from the beach.

VBS in the insane Central Valley heat

This week, Andrew and I participated in the annual Vacation Bible School, hosted by Nancy, the head of the children's department for Hanford Church of the Nazarene. Our theme was "Custom Garage", so last Sunday, Nancy and I got together at her house and previewed some of the videos and music that were part of the daily lessons for the week ahead, conjurred up some crafting and food ideas (piggy banks out of recycled plastic bottles, doodling a la Ed Emberly style, hot dogs, smores, etc.) and going over things in general, although we couldn't really figure out what to do with our theme. Sadly, I wasn't able to help much besides that Sunday, Monday and Friday as someone short and chubby cannot miss his nappy time, but Andrew had a blast being with other people his age and size and energy level (ha ha!).

All week long, the kids worked hard at memorizing songs such as "Custom Built Heart" and versese such as Luke 4:1-3 and Mark 12:28-34. Initally, Andrew was a little bit of a wallflower, but he eventually blossomed with the other girls and boys, trully singing and following along with all the motions on the video. That was all good and fun, but the real fun was to be had at the end of each day when all 10 of the kids (count 'em!) got to cool off in Nancy's pool; a veritable chlorine stew arms and legs cooking in the dry 100 degree heat. I was pleasantly surprised at how much Andrew seemed to enjoy doing the activities, thriving on the interaction with the other kids. When all was said and done, everybody left VBS with awesome tans and God in their hearts.

This Sunday rolled around and although I was in charge of the nursery for the day, Jimmy came to see our son perform with his contemporaries. I'm sure it was a heart felt performance that brought the house down, a fun, new dimension to add to our already lively Sunday service. Don't have any pictures, but will have some to upload soon, so keep checkin' us out!

Teething in June

Tonight, Caleb woke up at around 11:15 crying his little eyes out. We waited about five minutes, as he sometimes wakes himself up but falls right back asleep after a while, but he didn't seem to want to give in. Jimmy warmed some milk and I went to pick him up. We took turns cuddling him as he fought sleep for the next fifteen minutes. Jimmy ended up having the Midas touch tonight, so he got to rock him toward sleep. It was all quiet and the little guy was having a thumb snack, rubbing his eyes, when all of a sudden he ripped a big fart! Jimmy and I glanced at each other, hardly able to hold back our laughter, and decided that he could out do any of us grown ups (and Andrew!) if ever challenged. The best part was that Caleb was unfazed by his gaseous offense and was drifting closer into the arms of sleep while Jimmy choked on the fumes. I am not a vengeful person, but if you can dish it out... (Jimmy!)

Today, I set up a little "supermarket" with a couple empty food containers and random objects around the house. Sort of another way of recycling without using a bin. After dinner, I told Andrew to gather a few "groceries" in his shopping basket (the basket off the front of my bicycle) that he would like to purchase using his real money. In the middle of shopping, I noticed that Caleb had a full diaper, so I went to undiaper and give him a bath. As I bathed his little brother, Andrew cleaned the toilet (per my instructions) and regaled me with a cute little story about his future family that went something like...

"My wife works at Savemart Supermarket. But she's over at the factory place. She does all the cleaning of things. I do all the cleaning at home so that she doesn't have to. I work at the toilet cleaning place."

"That must be hard work. It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Who does all the cooking?"

"We both do. How much does a baby book cost?"

"Oh, about $10. Do you guys have a baby?"

"We've got 2!"

"What are their names?"

"Um.... (makes that little looking to the left thinking face of his) we're still thinking of them."

Caleb pulls the plug and lets the water drain out, signaling the end of bath time. I gather his toys and wrap him in a towel, making an exit to his room. In parting I tell Andrew

"Tell your wife I said hi and that she needs to stop by and pick up some donuts (one of Andrew's wishful diet staples, of course)"

"Okay. Do you need to pick up donuts from Savemart?"

"No, silly! That's why I'm telling her to pick some up from my supermarket."

Done packaging Caleb up in his post bath diaper, we go out to the kitchen to finish up our shopping.

It's so cute to hear Andrew make up these kinds of stories. He's a bright, imaginative kid with a heart of gold.

Tiger Cub Graduation

Last week (Saturday, June 6), Andrew graduated from Tiger Cubs in Cub Scouts and moved on to Wolf Scouts. The graduation was at Adventure Park, and the boys raced their Raingutter Regattas before the graduation. Here are some pictures of the fun times they had.

Totoro

Last night, Andrew and Caleb were watching one of their favorite movies, "My Neighbor Totoro." I went into the room, and saw a picture-perfect moment to depict how "into" movies these boys get.

Something to Start With

In the past month, we have had some fun with Andrew's birthday, and Andrew's Cub Scout Night at Chukchansi Park, watching the Fresno Grizzlies play the Portland Beavers. Here are some pictures of the events.


We had Andrew's birthday party at the local park, and many of his friends came. He was happy to get a lot of Bakugan, Transformers, Lego, and Star Trek gifts.

The following week, Andrew's Cub Scout pack, as well as many others in the area, went to Chukchansi Park in Fresno to watch the Fresno Grizzlies beat the Portland Beavers 5-1.

Welcome

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Jimmy and Jackie's new blog page.

We will periodically be posting pictures and news of what is going on in our lives. and the lives of the kids, Andrew and Caleb.