Not Your Average Super Hero

I think I have mentioned on the blog before about the movies we make with my nephews. It started with just the two oldest nephews at ages 7 and 5 or so. They helped me write a script about the first Thanksgiving and then we practiced and video taped it. Since then, we have created quite a few short videos....it's kind of become a tradition to do at least one "movie" a year. So when the boys came up for Easter, we knew it was about time for another movie! It's so funny - it takes us hours to plan and shoot and then the movies turn out to be only five to ten minutes long! Now, sit back, relax, and get ready for some giggles as Big Mig saves the day in our latest production!

A Triple (plus one) Birthday!!

On April 1 we celebrated the triplet's FIRST birthday! We also celebrated PopPop's birthday (who is our original April Fool!) It was so much fun! There was food, family, and all around cuteness! It was a Mickey Mouse theme and was adorable!

This was the Old Folk table. Dad Serna was very proud to be the baby of the bunch at 68 years young. These guys had as much fun as the rest of us, if not more!! It was so entertaining to hear them all together!

Mig and Papaw got some nice cuddle time! Boy was Mig squeezing! They both share a love of football, and Mig's middle name (Carlisle) is a family name from Papaw's side.



PopPop with Tali and my kiddos - all decked out in Mickey attire:

The three one year olds getting ready for lunch (from left to right: Charli Kate, Adrik and Tali)

Adrik and Charli Kate getting ready to dig in - it didn't take Adrik long until he was ready to get out of that high chair. 

Charli Kate thoroughly enjoyed her cake. She even went face first into it at one time!

Tali also had a good time with the cake! What a mess!!!

AND THEN....PopPop had to get into the fun, too! Just to fit in, he also removed his shirt and his "little" sister, Jackie gave him his cake with no fork.

When the party was over, we all said our good-bye's to our sweet Granny and Grandpa. They moved this week into a condo in Miami, Florida. Granny has been diagnosed with cancer and is under going some pretty extensive treatment. The move will help Jackie be better able to help them with the treatments. We are going to really miss having them just a drive down the interstate, but know it is the best. Gives us another reason to take a trip to Florida!!

This a picture of "us three girls" - my sisters and me with our sweet grandparents. (From left-to-right: Rachel, Granny, Amanda, Grandpa and me!)

Mowing the Lawn

Last week the grass was getting high again and the weather was nice, so after coming home from work and eating a semi-early dinner, Byron decided he would mow. Imagine Gabe's surprise when Daddy said that he needed Gabe's help! You should have seen Gabe's smile as he pushed the mower with Byron's guidance! It was such a sweet father/son moment that I just had to share!!

Of couse, Byron's thinking, "the sooner we get him started, the sooner he can take over!"

Poetry Time with Gabriel

Part of Gabriel's school work has been to memorize poetry. So, fix a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy some poetry recited by Gabriel!!



Kites and Flowers

For our art project this week we did a fun art/craft! Home-made paper bag kites! The kids had a blast with them and so I am going to do a how-to post.

Materials:

paper lunch bag

yarn

streamers

markers or crayons

tape or hole reinforcers

Step 1: Cut the bottom off of the lunch bag so that you have a sleeve (opening on top and bottom)

Step 2: Let the kiddos decorate the bag with crayons or markers:

Selah had me draw a butterfly on one side and a ladybug on the other, then she colored it in.

Gabe colored the entire bag and then drew Jedi Knights on it. He is very into Star Wars these days.

Step 3: Glue 3 streamers to the bottom inside of the bag (2ft-ish in length)

Step 4: On the top sides (where the bag folds in) place a piece of tape to strengthen the bag. Punch a hole through the tape and bag and loop a 18 inch piece of yarn through each hole. (Or you can just punch a hole in each side and then reinforce both sides of the hole with reinforcers).

Step 5: Take a much longer piece of yarn and tie it through each loop meeting them in the middle. We then added a short stick to roll up the extra yarn.

Here is our finished project:

Selah pretty much ran around in circles dragging her kite behind her. She looked like a mad woman but had so much fun!

Gabe actually caught wind quite a few times and had a blast flying his kite! 

And now - totally off topic - I thought I would do a little bragging on my hubby! Other than our kite flying session, Monday was a horrible day for me. Mig is teething and was clingy, grumpy and at times just plain mean! He didn't take much of a nap and tore the house up from top to bottom. I seriously felt like curling up in a corner and crying. It was just "one of those days".  My sweet husband sent me beautiful flowers the next day and let me know how much he appreciates what I do everyday for our family. SO SWEET!!

YEP - I'm a lucky girl!

Papa Serna Visits

We had a fun visit with Byron's dad (AKA Papa Serna) last weekend! We had a little St. Patrick's Day celebration while he was here with Irish Soda Bread sandwiches, Rainbow Sprite (Sprite poured over ice colored with food coloring) and Rainbow cupcakes. I had planned to make Shepherd's Pie, but had an eye appointment that morning and didn't quite get to it, but our lunch was still fun!

When we told the kids that Papa was going to be visiting they were very excited, but then Selah got kind of quiet and said, "But how will we get him upstairs to see my room?" (Everyone who comes over HAS to see her room). With the help of technology we got Papa "upstairs"! Byron face-timed my iPhone with the iPad and I he got a virtual tour!!

We spent a few hours talking, laughing and eating. It was a great visit!!

Papa came bearing gifts for everyone! He got Selah this outfit which she had to put on right away!

Enjoying Company

This past weekend we enjoyed an overnight visit from Jonathan, Jacob, JT and Byron's sister, Nicol. Jeremiah went to Disney World with the Belton High School Marching 100. 

We had a great time with the boys! They were introduced to Leonard the Lizard: 

We played board games:

 We were entertained by Mig:

And just had fun hanging out:

And spending time together!