Tito Burrito from Sausalito...

...officially turned 4 today.

There's something about my "baby" (shhh, don't tell him I said that ;) turning 4 that makes me suddenly want time to stand still.

Maybe it's the way he plays 20 questions and is always thinking of a caterpillar.
Or maybe it's when he yells, "Look Mom, it's "Carl's Nick Jr.!"
Or maybe it's the way he asks me if I'm going to eat "dog food cereal for adults" in the morning.
Or maybe it's the fact that he will still run to the doorway of his classroom to yell, "I love you, Mom!".

I told Tito the other day that he was, and will always be, my favorite boy in the whole wide world.  He then told me, "The universe, Mom.  The universe is the biggest."

Yep, my baby boy is growing up.  I better get in every squeeze-smooch-and I love you that I can...

To help celebrate this momentous occasion

(with Nana's famous "everything-you-can-carry-you-can-get" shopping trip :),

we made our way to a neighboring mall.

Why, hello Mr. Lego-man. :)

Big decisions to make.

Still thinking...

Trying to pick up everything at one time.

Almost there...

Whew! You made it!

Dear Tito,

We can't believe you are already 4 and are so thankful for each day we've had with you.  You make us laugh, remember to say "I Love You" and think Legos and Star Wars are the coolest!  We pray that your 4th year will be the best!

You are for sure our favorite boy in the entire universe!

Love,

Dad, Mom, Gwen and Kennedy

Recycling...

Now before you deem our lives so boring that we have to document a trip to our local recycling center, let me tell you of a few benefits of recycling...

Like...

For every ton of paper that is recycled, 17 trees are saved.
Or the energy we save when we recycle one glass bottle is enough to light a light bulb for four hours.
Or recycling creates 1.1 million U.S. jobs, $236 billion in gross annual sales and $37 billion in annual payrolls.

Or saving water bottles, soda cans and glass bottles for ~6 months for the Lesiws and ~3 weeks for the Garates meant that 126 kids could eat lunch in Uganda today.

A few months ago, my dear friend, Wendy, directed me to the blog of my "new" dear friend, Katie who is in the midst of doing some mind-boggling work.  You see, she feeds the hungry (and cares for the sick, loves the orphans, the list goes on and on) in Uganda and challenges the complacent (enter me) in America to act...now.

And while Katie will most likely never know that I exist, I have thanked God repeatedly that she does.  Her sacrificial lifestyle and urgency in calling all of us to do the most that we can with our time here on Earth has drastically changed my thinking.

Case in point, I now collect cans and turn them in for money. ;)

Tito.

Someone had to take all the cans to the car. :)

The car...

The kids...

The Recycling Place...

The reminder that kids really don't need toys in order to play.

(Don't worry, I hosed them off immediately upon returning home ;)

For 42 cents, 3 hungry kids can have lunch.

So don't be surprised if I come knocking on your door,

asking for all your recyclable products.  ;)

Heard over the back fence...

This has been quite the insightful morning...

As we were taking Ty to school, I asked told (let's be honest here ;) Kennedy and Ty to stop arguing.

Kennedy then informed me: Well, that's what we're giving you for your birthday.
Me:  Really? You're going to stop arguing for my birthday?
Kennedy: Yeah. 'Cause we don't have any toys to give you.

This is going to be the best birthday ever... :)

And then Kennedy let me in on some of the latest kindergarten gossip... Apparently, Ryan told Kennedy that a boy had told Isabelle that he loved her and then she said she loved him back and then they kissed.  To which I promptly replied, "Eww, that's sooo gross".

But in my head, I'm thinking it's kinda like People magazine, except for 5 year olds.  And it's hilarious, well as long as it doesn't include my 5 year old... ;)

All you need to know you learned in Kindergarten...

...like how to have a rockin' Harvest Party. ;)

As Kennedy is our second child to enjoy Stoneridge's

Kindergarten Harvest Party,

we were anxiously awaiting this great day.

5 Kindergarten teachers + many parent volunteers =

14 stations and 90 very happy Kindergarteners :)

First, you find a few friends.

Then you try your luck at the "pencil walk".

(That's a result of the "ban" of the traditional
(yet too sugary) "cake walk")

You get your face painted.

(And make sure that this artistically challenged momma is assigned a different station :)

And finally snag a donut from the "donut on a string" station that you didn't have time to do.

Back in the classroom,

attempting the silly pic.

I'd say half the class got it,

and the other half were starting in on their sugar induced comas. ;)

Partyin', 2nd grade style...

And then it was time for Gwen to party it up.

Yep, she was ready. ;)

I got to run the "Blind Grab Bag" station.

(The station where you try to freak kids out with regular household items.

However, whoever thought I could keep "ice" in a brown lunch sack, hmmm... ;)

Gwen and her group ready to play...

...literally. ;)

And while the kids also got to decorate bags so they could trick-or-treat at their friends' desks

and make 3D construction paper pumpkins,

their favorite station by far was the "mummy wrap".

Gwen's "before"

Gwen's "after"

Even Mrs. O joined in on the fun. ;)

Throw in some festive Halloween cupcakes,

and a partial showing of the original

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory",

and you've got a happy little group of 2nd graders.

Yes, it was a good day.

A very good day, indeed. ;)

Twin Day

Yesterday, the girls had "Twin Day" at school to help celebrate

"Red Ribbon Week".

(I agree, it's a great way to reinforce the point that we should say no to drugs. ;)

Regardless, the girls had fun...

and we began to wonder if perhaps they were separated at birth. ;)

KDiddy and her bff Sammie

Gigglin' as usual

Gwen and soccer pal Tulsi

Hmmm, I want to have a "twin day",

perhaps I can talk Big Poppa into it... ;)

Introducing...

"Recycle-bot"

The robot who recycles.

Revolutionary, I know. ;)

So, a little over 2 weeks ago Gwen received an assignment to create her own robot (magical powers and all) using only "good junk" from home.

2 thoughts instantly ran through my mind.

A. Great. Where was I going to find some good junk?!? I started to evaluate all our family trash to try and find something that could create something other than "Toilet Paper Roll Robot" or "Egg Carton Guy"...

B. I sooo need to send a written apology to the countless families to whom I (as a teacher) so enthusiastically assigned the same exact types of projects... asap.

So, in true "Garate form", on the 13th of the 14 days we had to complete the assignment, we gathered all the supplies we had saved and pooled together any and all ideas...

The best trash we could find. ;)

Tito's job was to "cut squares",

aka: keep his hands off the glue gun

Our end result.

The water bottle's there to show what she does.

Recycle. ;)

Gwen was pretty happy with her work.

Recycle-bot even had "a little bit of flair for her hair". ;)

And of course, KDiddy and Tito couldn't contain their excitement.

And all this creativity got me thinking.

Which normally leads to some grand ideas.

Which will result in an almost complete overhaul of my home.

I can't wait.

And Ben is thrilled beyond words. ;)

But no worries,

there are some things that will stay exactly where they are. :)

Bringing a tear to Ben's eye...

Every father has certain ideals, principles or traditions they passionately work to instill in their children.

So does every mother.

In this case, the father won. ;)

Perhaps there's a little "Raider" in all of us...

Ahhh, there's the boy I love...

even if he's in that filthy shirt. ;)

Coming soon to Etsy...

"Doodles by K'noodles"

This morning as I was trying to gain consciousness (stayed up too late catching up on "my shows" :), I kept hearing little scratching noises outside my bedroom. Little did I know it was just Kennedy's creative juices a'flowin... :)

For those of you who love signs (you know who you are ;),

Ms. K'noodles can customize anything for you.

That is, as long as it doesn't have b's or d's in it. :)

And who couldn't use another purse?

As you can see, it's large enough to fit one 5 year old hand,

or 7 Polly Pockets and 3 Lego humans.

Again, Ms. K'noodles can personalize your purse,

and even add your name in "mirror" form. ;)

So, get your orders in now, before we run out of paper and staples and I have to make yet another run to Target... ;)

It's good to be in Kindergarten...

...when it's your birthday.

It's actually, for all intents and purposes, like being a real rock star. And not just like Chris Martin, but, well... I'll let you fill in the blank. :)

One of my favorite parts of the day, was when Kennedy passed out her goodie bags to all her new "best friends" in her Kindergarten class. I loved hearing each kid say "Happy Birthday Kennedy!" and I especially loved watching all the cute 4-5-6 year olds give their best hugs.

Buuut, I'm pretty sure my favorite hug, was the "sumo-style" hug that Kenneth ("we-have-3-kids-in-our-class-whose-names-start-with-k-e-n" Kenneth- yeah that one ;) gave to my baby girl. Kennedy and I were both pretty sure he was about to pop her head off.

But it didn't stop there. Once you don that classic "school birthday crown", you reach celebrity status. Now, everyone wishes you happy birthday. Random kids you pass automatically yell out "Happy Birthday". All the teachers wish you happy birthday. Parents... Gwen (she leaves for lunch when Kennedy's dismissed for the day)... Gwen's friends. You name it - they say it.

In fact, I think I know exactly where I'm going to spend my birthday this year. ;)

But then this already amazing day got even better when Kennedy got home... and the gifts started rolling in...

A little lovin' from Grandpa Ben and Grandma Judy!

Kennedy, ready for winter- Colorado style...

Nana's Edible Arrangement.

Yeah, we Garates love our food! ;)

Once we found a home for our goods and cleaned up the remains of our feast,

it was time to head off to the land of bouncing.

For a pajama bounce party...

Kennedy ~ at the top of the spider cage.

It's a lot harder than you think...

Our Masters' girls 2nd generation pic.

(All you TMC grads-can you guess the parents? ;)

Tito.

And clearly a contender for the best pic of the evening... :0

Ben and Josh...

yeah...

Socks.

We heart socks.

'Cause you can't bounce w/out 'em. ;)

All our "bouncers"...

...and the traditional "silly pic".

"Max"

winner of the "world's best party host/worst occupation in history" prize

"This was the most awesome day of my life!"

(x's a million times that day)

~Kennedy Garate

Kennedy,

We are so glad you loved your birthday. We love you more than you could ever imagine and thank God for you every single day. Happy 5th birthday!

Love- Dad, Mom, Gwen and Tito

And then there were none...

...at home on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9:15 am - 12:35 pm. :)

Yes, my boy-o started preschool. In wanting to shatter all the "3rd child" stereotypes, I "encouraged" Ben to be there for our son's monumental first day of his educational career.

So, we found the Superman backpack, stocked it full of "good friends", pulled out the camera and began documenting and documenting and documenting away. ;)

We pulled up to the school as a family (minus the 2nd grader who was already engrossed in full steam academia), began to separate by the time we reached the front door and finally yelled our "Good bye-we love you's!" as Tito bolted through the gate onto the playground equipment.

As we walked out the door, and I pushed back the desire to get a little sentimental, Ben gave me a look like, I rearranged my schedule for this?

Yes, because even though Ty may not realize it, it meant the world to him. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. ;)

Mr. Tito-Burrito-who-loves-his-Cheetos.

Getting a few last minute giggles in before starting the big day.

Woah. The "promised land"...

I believe the look says, "This is lame, Mom"... ;)

The last pic I got of Ty before he dashed off to the land of "growing up".

When his teacher had to ask him if he wanted to tell his mom good-bye,

I was pretty sure he was going to be okay. );

***Last week Ty's class did a unit on the postal service, letter writing, etc. Each student dictated a letter to his momma and this is what I received...

Dear Mom,

I want to play Mario Kart. I love you a lot! You're the best Mom EVER!

Love,

Ty

Ty, in his purest form. :)

Princess party pics for Auntie Ashley... :)

Last weekend Princess Gwen and Princess Kennedy were invited to Birthday Princess Charity's castle, to celebrate her 7th birthday.

All the fuss we took in getting ready (even a past flower girl dress and my bridal headband? were called into action), must have made Kennedy believe her royal lineage to be true; as she made the following announcement en route to our party (warning! the word "poop" is used repeatedly-don't say I didn't give fair warning ;)...

K: I almost went poop, but it went back in.

Mom: Wait. What?! Kennedy, do you need to go to the bathroom? We're passing Starbucks right now...

K: No, I don't have to go. Plus, princesses don't go poop.

Mom: Huh? Where did you hear that?

K: Well, you never hear of princesses going poop in the stories.

Mom: Oh Kennedy, of course princesses go potty. They just don't say it in the stories, cause it would kinda ruin the story. You know, like "So Cinderella met the Prince, but then she had to go potty." That would sound funny. But trust me, even Cinderella has to use the bathroom.

G: Or like, "So Jasmine and Aladdin were going to get married, but then Jasmine had to go poop."

Way to bring it all home, Gwen. Way to bring it all home. ;)

Now, here's a more civil representation of our outing...

All the princesses in their finest.

Miss G and Bday Girl Charity

K Diddy's signature "look" as of late...

...and princesses eat lollipops...

...and get their nails done...

...and enjoy rootbeer/strawberry floats!

And most importantly...

...know how to have a good time. :)

One of my favs.

Gwen was actually telling Prince Thomas to guard the castle...

I gotta admit, my favorite two princesses of the bunch. ;)

Happy Birthday Charity!

We love you!

No stew for me, thank you... :)

So the Wii still holds a lot of clout around here, in Ty-land (cute, eh? ;).

It is the ultimate prize for a job well done and the measuring stick of "how big" a certain boy is. For instance, since everyone knows that only big boys can play the Wii, then it only makes sense that one must do things that "big boys" do in order to hang with Mario and Luigi.

Case in point, getting dressed. Big boys dress themselves; therefore Ty must dress himself in order to enter the promised land. I was pretty sure Tito understood the concept, and had my hunches confirmed this morning.

"Mom, I don't want to play Mario Kart today, so will you get me dressed?"

What?!? Ty's willing to give up his right to that heavenly goodness, just so he doesn't have to put on his own pair of shorts? To save himself 4.8 seconds of labor?

And then I got to thinking about Esau selling his birthright (and yes, the Wii is nearly equal in value) for a bowl of stew. A bowl of stew or a pair of shorts. Both seem equally shortsighted.

But then I had to wonder, what's my "stew"?!? What source of gratification is worth trading in what I value the most (in this case, time in the Word or with my family)? Watching tv? Vegging? Blog hopping/facebooking? (not that any of these are bad in and of themselves, of course... :)

I'm still compiling my list, but I think I'm just going to eat a popsicle while I think... ;)

What day is it?

It's the day when I say, "I don't usually think of myself as a sentimental person, but today I couldn't help but feel a little teary..." :)

And it's the day when my kids get ready to face the world head on.

It's the day when I watch the clock, thinking only 3... 2... 1 more hour until I get to pick up Kennedy.

And the day when I love watching my kids faces as they tell me their animated versions of all the fun "things" they did.

It's the day when I learn to let go just a little bit more.

It's the first day of school. :)

Garate girls; ready for action.

For some reason I feel like this pic represents Gwen.

She's moving on, looking towards the "next thing"...

...whether I'm ready or not. :)

Mrs. Oxenham.

(Oh, and she had to do cross walk duty today.

So, no, that orange vest was not part of her ensemble. ;)

For some reason, I love this pic...

Miss K

...and Mrs. A.

It's a "Where's Waldo" of sorts.

Only you're looking for Kennedy.

Or just look for the "only kid not wearing tennis shoes".

Kennedy made that realization just seconds before she left for the classroom.

And yes, Kennedy will be wearing tennis shoes tomorrow. ;)

Nothing feels more grand, than holding Daddy's hand...

Gettin' one last good squeeze in...

And verification that I was indeed there for the first day of school. ;)

Hope your 1st day was great!

Everybody's doing it...

It must just be "that time of year".

School's starting, so as usual, we begin the hunt for good school supplies. And the hunt for a good first day of school outfit. And of course, the hunt for a good "first day of school" hair style. ;)

Here are the tales of my 3 very different children...

Kennedy's Story...

Now, Kennedy's dream has been to have bangs. And since I did learn from my last hair cutting debacle, I had no intention of trying to cut her bangs. (Well... maybe I could just put the front of her hair into a pony tail and... ;)

So, we hop into the car and head to the local tattoo parlor...

...which is right next to the hair salon of one of the best hair stylists ever.

(disclaimer: Rachel referred me to Jilliann and agrees w/ my sentiment.

So, it's all good. ;)

Kennedy's "before"...

Aaaand, Kennedy's "after".

Bangs. Some dreams do come true... :)

Yeah. Jilliann pretty much rocks.

My out-of-focus-but-still-a-pretty-cool-shot photo.

Gwen's Story...

Now somewhere between Maui, Portland and home again, Gwen got in her mind that the coolest hair style ever, would be to have braids all over her head w/ beads on the end. And me, attempting to be the coolest mom on the planet, said, "Sure. I'll do it for you, honey". (Laughing a sinister cackle, while thinking in my head, I can't wait to show her these pics when she's in her teens... ;)

Gwen's "before".

All good hair styles take the right "products".

The "she's really gonna let me do it" photo... :)

Aaaaand, Gwen's "after".

Gwen wore her hair proudly to church this morning.

We were pretty sure she was convinced that everyone wanted to be her today.

Now, we need you to cast your vote...

Do we really become the coolest parents ever and let her keep it in for the first day of school?!?

Ty's Story...

He's still that same crazy kid we can't seem to get enough of.

The end. ;)

Ty's "before".

Ty's "during"...

Ty's "after"...

Hope you've all found the perfect "hair" for your first day... ;)