Fun in the Tub

You know what they say. Don't bother buying toys because they are just as happy in a box. Or a plastic bin :)

Quack and Buzz

Ah Halloween. The best holiday ever! This was probably the first year Jordan got super excited about Halloween-running from house to house in search of more (and even more) candy. I don't even want to talk about how much candy we have in our house right now. I'm just thankful I'm not pregnant again and addicted to Sour Patch Kids.

Anyway, I digress. Two days late is better than never. Pics from our wet but fun Halloween. Quack and Buzz.

I really tried my best!

Tonight Jordan's elementary school, The Gregory School, had a social function at the ice skating rink. Now, for those of you who don't know me, I'm not the best on wheels, much less blades for that matter. Learned to bike ride at 21. Yes, you read that right. Roller skated when I was a kid by hanging onto other kids. Ice skated once at 20 where I fell on the rink and was brought into the ER so they could drain my knees of fluid. I'm just not the best on balancing of any sort. Running marathons? Climbing? Flying through the air on a zipline unthinkable heights? I'm your girl. Balancing? Not so much.

I had thrown the idea of ice skating at William a week ago. He was like SURE no problem-I'll do it. But once he got his legs into the skates, he was like NO WAY AM I GOING THROUGH WITH THIS! I looked at Jordy who was like HELP ME MOMMY-DON'T LET ME OUT ON THE RINK ALONE! So me being the guilty mom, thought I'd give it one more shot on the rink.

So, Jordan, I really did try my BEST tonight as I hung to the side of the rink like a scared two year old. And I know I was of no help to you at all. But, thanks to my dear friends Mark and Adria who fearlessly brought him around and made him feel like sort-of-a-typical kid :)

Kindergarten!

So I haven't posted about Jordan's Kindergarten yet...

I'm somewhat mixed with the curriculum. First week I was told they would be learning colors. Colors? Really? O Boy I thought. Are there really kids that don't know their colors yet? But, as it turns out, they learned how to spell and write the colors which I suppose is better than just learning what green looks like. Hmph.

Each day Jordan comes home with a report of whose name was on the chalkboard for "misbehavior." Now, as far as he's told me, Jordan's name has NOT been put on the board yet. I did ask his teacher Mrs. Mace how he was adjusting and she told me for the first few days he was silly. I can only imagine what that means. In fact I know what it means because she told me he was hiding behind her. I think as soon as she introduced the "I'm in charge" speech he settled down and decided to only be silly after 3:13pm. Lucky me :)

Here's a pic from the first day...yeah yeah...I know 2 weeks late. I never said I was perfect :)

Happy New Year! Happy Kindergarten! Happy New House!

Happy Craziness from the Amayas! That's what I wanted to send out this year as a NewYear card from us! All great stuff, but we've been super busy with all the changes going on here!

We've been in our new house for about 2 weeks now, and as you can imagine, pretty busy trying to unpack and get "settled" with 2 kids in tow. We also were very excited to see Jordan start Kindergarten at the Gregory School!

We went to SouthJersey on Saturday to celebrate the New Year, and because of all the new changes with everyone, we decided to go out for dinner rather than do it at home. I have to say it was a load of fun. Everyone was very relaxed, we all ordered whatever we wanted (Jordan got a hot dog AND pancakes) and all in all the kids were happy and not too silly. We got some great pictures of Bubbee and Zayda with the kids so I'm posting them here. We did however, miss Samala and Mike in the festivities.

PS. I'm not posting any of William because Sadie decided to play hairdresser with him and the poor guy-well let's just say his hair was a big ole mess.

Welcome Little Liam!

Welcome little Liam! Sister Nicky had her second baby on Sunday!

Born August 16 at 8 lbs 12 oz! We can't wait to meet you little cousin!

5 year olds CAN be helpful

We've been super busy packing here as-yes-we are finally moving to our new house in a week. Yes, one week!

William worked this past weekend and so I was doing double duty taking care of the boys and Jordan, upon hearing his little brother cry, decided to help out. On his own. No chocolate bribing at all :)

Gotta love these 5 year olds!!

Justin's 6 months stats. A week late.

Justin's 6 month stats. Let's just say that Jordan better watch out :)

weight: 18 lbs 1 oz

height" 26 1/2"

big noggin

And in true Amaya style we got a birthday cake to celebrate the occasion. Justin got a little taste as well but surprisingly he still ate green beans the next day.

Jumpy jumpy

Life is a little different when you have an older brother :)

It gets a little wild I suppose.

Pillsbury Dough Boy Visits

That's right folks. My youngest is the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

This past weekend we had the Pillsbury Dough Boy and his helper visit our home.

My mom bought this outfits for the boys when Justin was born and we wrangled the boys into them this weekend. Justin was hysterical laughing I think because we were laughing so hard.

Unfortunately Jordan's didn't come with a hat :)

Legos and Maps of Playdoh

If you've been wondering why I haven't been able to blog lately, well, I suppose part of my excuse would be because I can't quite make it out of my room without becoming entangled in some sort of a Lego sculpture. That's right folks, I've been taken over. Jordan has made some pretty amazing pieces all in all.

This is after a week when we had, as Jordan described it to me, the United States, made out of playdoh, in the center of our kitchen table. For those of you who know me well I am definitely bordering on OCD and the fact that we had to eat dinner around this map of playdoh with coins, buttons and parcheesi pieces sticking out of it nearly drove me off the edge. It sat there for 12 meals, yes 4 days until we encouraged Jordan to remove it. Which he did. Hallelujah.

On the Justin side, he's started eating cereal and, most recently, carrots. Here is a pretty funny video of Zayda being a human chair for Justin while I fed him carrots. Enjoy!

Bubbee & the boys

Trains and playdates

We had a good week and weekend over here at the Amaya home. 

First off, I don't know how it happened, but Jordan graduated pre-school at the JCC last Thursday. My how the time does fly. They had a nice ceremony for all the parents and siblings and the kids sang onstage with their classes. Jordan's head kept popping up to see us because he happened to be on the left hand side of the stage and we were on the right side of the audience and it was tough to see him. Yes, in this picture Jordan SHOULD be singing, but instead he's being silly and I think he was talking to someone in the midst of a song. The drawing he is holding is of our home and family. I think i'm the one with the green legs :)

Here's a few photos from the ceremony and in Jordan's class afterwards (I think Justin was getting a little mad towards the end):

Due to inclement weather, our weekend was kind of touch and go really just running errands and such on Saturday. William took some nice shots of the boys while I was out which I thought were adorable. Justin looks like he's trying to figure out how he can get a bottle of milk without waiting for feeding time.

On Sunday we went to awesome Verona Park, which besides the fact that nothing else is near us, Verona Park happens to be an 8 minute run from our house (that would be me running sans children and strollers). It's a beautiful park, loaded with hills, lots of grassy areas, paddle boats, and even a place where you can get yummy food. So we headed over there on sunday to see our friends Danielle and Mike and their daughter Anna who is 2 months older than Justin. She was ALL OVER Justin. I asked her what her intentions were with my son. I just got some sort of drool answer. Way to get flirty on the playdate Anna :)-

Enjoy!

Rice and Beans

I took Justin in for his 4 month appointment this past Monday. As I was undressing him to be weighed the doctor was smiling.

"Are you sure you're just feeding him formula? You're not sneaking in rice and beans are you?" 

In Colombia, at the age of 4 months, kids are already eating real table food. Obviously it's pureed to some form, but I'm sure that William had his share of rice and beans before six months of age.

I suppose I understand why the doctor was skeptical of Justin's eating habits. See his cheeks below. This was pre-mealtime.

Stats:

16 pounds

25 1/2 inches

big noggin (forgot to write measurement, but the comment was "big noggin" from the nurse :)-

I told Jordan if he didn't keep eating a lot Justin might just catch up to him soon!

The Footsies

In typical Amaya fashion, I’m FINALLY starting a blog when my eldest son, Jordan, is 5 years old and my newborn (not so, anymore), Justin, is 4 months today. If it makes it any better, I really have been thinking about it for about 3 years now. It’s just taken me a while to pull it altogether.  

The boys and I had a lovely weekend in West Orange and were lucky enough to visit the local pool in our complex. You can see here how excited they really were to hit the waters! Justin even got lucky enough to be coddled by a bunch of local grandparents while I took Jordan in the water. He seemed quite content, and honestly, I was fearful that they wouldn’t give him back! Oh, and by the way, this is Jordan's new face in nearly every photo taken. It's some sort of Spidey/Superhero face.

We are really looking forward to a sun-filled summer with Bubbee and Grandpa, or Yoda as Sadie likes to refer to him, down in Margate, NJ at the beach. Jordan is at this fantastic age where literally all you need to do is plop him on the beach with some tools and he’s set for the day. Of course, William is often busy building sand castles and tunnels but it keeps us busy.  

On a last note, here’s a funny video of the boys from this weekend. Jordan has a favorite song based on “Comin’ Around the Mountain’, but he calls it ‘Comin Around the Footsies.’ Generally he races around the house singing this as fast as he can, but since Justin can't race quite yet, he’s using Justin’s feet as props. Enjoy!