Graeme Graduation

I can't believe I almost forgot to write about this! Graeme graduated from his Pre-K class at Papillon Preschool this past June. While he doesn't technically leave Papillon right before he starts kindergarten on August 31, they held a graduation for his class that was so fun to watch. They showed off the things they've learned this past year - counting in Spanish and French, yoga poses, dancing, singing, etc. It was sooooo cool. At the end, there was a video presentation of photos by one of the kids' moms that was so touching and cool. It showed photos of the kids from baby to today and it was really amazing to realize how quickly they all have grown. Time flies to fast; I admit I got teary-eyed watching the video, but then again, I'm pretty sappy.

To see photos on Flickr of Graeme's big day, click here. We'll post more pictures of his first day of school as soon as those memories are created.

Rodney's 40th Birthday

The craziest thing about Rodney's birthday is that he's had to share it A LOT; his sister Terri's birthday is the day right after his. Little did he know that becoming part of my family would mean he would now have to also share it with our now 11-year old, Ethan, whose birthday is two days before his. This year, he not only had to share his birthday week with Ethan, but he also had to share his actual day with celebrating Graeme's graduation from preschool. Oh no!

We love celebrating Rodney so on the day of his birthday (June 26, for those of you not "in the know"), we made sure to celebrate by going out with family to dinner. Graeme (because it was his graduation day) got to pick the spot and he picked his latest dining obsession, Macaroni Grill. We had a great meal, got the waiters to sing for Rodney, and "showered" him with presents and love. If you are interested in seeing some photos from that night, click here. The next night, Rodney and I went out for a fancy dinner at Central Park Bistro in San Mateo and then ended up at the movies, seeing "The Hangover," which was a really funny movie.

Because turning 40 is no small feat (especially for someone who's looking as good as he is!), I wanted to get Rodney something extra special to let him know how awesome we think he is so I had a birthday journal made for him, complete with entries from friends and family. The journal was handmade by a really creative friend, Melissa Esplin, who I had the pleasure of meeting while working with her husband, Chris, at Cornerstone. She's got a really great website that showcases her talent and shares a lot of really neat ideas, at IS•LY (check it out!). It was actually one of her Father's Day ideas that led to the creation of this journal. The journal is made of leather and cork and touching it alone is sheer joy. But it is definitely the contents of the journal that make it extra special. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to it; without your words, the journal would not have been so wonderful.

Here are a couple of pictures of the journal - the photos really do not do it justice so make sure to ask to see it the next time you see us.

Ethan Turns 11

We celebrated E's 11th birthday yesterday. First he came to work with me and we took him for a nice lunch at Oak City Bar & Grill across the street from work. Then I put him on the train, on his first solo ride ever, back to San Mateo to meet his cousins to spend the rest of his birthday. Alison, Eva & Jude spoiled him with a big birthday banner and swimming all afternoon.

In the evening, we had family over for pizza and cake. It was us, plus the Concepcions, plus his dad, Grandad, Grand Mere, and Papa Don. And it's not even over since he and a few of his friends are going to get some laser tag action in this Saturday!

Ethan did mention that he enjoyed his birthday last year just a little better. I was home with him and got to spoil him all day then, starting with breakfast in bed. This tells me that I need to take more days off on their birthdays and give them my time on that special day. I'll do this from here on out. :)

Some photos on Flickr to enjoy; I will post more if we get more from Saturday's events... just click here.

Graeme Quote of the Day

When I picked Graeme up from school yesterday, I asked him (as I generally do) about his day at school. Obviously not in the mood to tell stories this day, he answered quite matter of factly, "I can't remember my day because my brain is making my hair sweat." Who could argue with that?

Guess Who's Walking???

He actually took his first two steps about a month or so ago, testing his land legs between mommy and daddy, but his walking is really taking off lately. He can stand off the floor on his own and then take a few steps with great balancing techniques. He can even pivot on one leg to turn around now. The only deterrent to him walking more, in my humble opinion, is the fact that he can crawl so fast that his walking holds him back. To have an idea of how fast this kid can crawl, I want to remind you of the scene in "Aliens" where the alien baby jumps out of that guy's belly and scurries across the lab floor. Yes, THAT fast! We aren't worried about the love of crawling, though. We are sure that, sooner rather than later, this kid will be running and I will be complaining about why we ever decided to teach him to walk - hahahaha!

How Time Flies...

Last Thursday, Ethan graduated from the 5th grade. Wasn't it just last year that I was dropping him off for his first day of Kindergarten? Time passes by way too quickly and it kind of freaks me out that Graeme's starting Kindergarten in the Fall. I just know I'll blink and he'll be at this same point with him too... Where does all the time go???? Ah, just another reminder to really cherish every day; our time with our kids is way too short.

A quick story about cheering... As Ethan sat waiting for his name to be called to collect his diploma, he caught my eye and was begging in his own version of sign language for me not to cheer as loud as I promised I would. I guess he doesn't know that that kind of thing just eggs me on. Hahahaha! So when Ethan's name was called, there were loud cheers and yelling of his name (by me, Rodney, E's dad, Uncle Manolete, and even a few of his friends). Much as he thought the whole thing would be embarrassing, I do think he enjoyed it at the end, especially since his friends were also cheering him on (because, you know, that makes it "cool").

We are so proud of Ethan and all he's accomplished at elementary school and can't wait to see how much more he grows in middle school. For graduation, Rodney and I finally got him the cell phone he's been asking for as his graduation gift (we held out as long as we could!). He seems pretty pleased with the phone we all picked out so that's always good. We also took him out to an Indian buffet lunch as an extra celebratory treat that day. It was a fun treat for us to be off work and just enjoy our time with Ethan without the other boys for the day. We hope Ethan felt the same way. :)

Our graduate...


Posing with Roni and Eva...

Stories of Graeme, Part 375

This kid provides us with a treasure trove of stories and things to laugh about, I can't wait til Xavier is old enough to regale us with the same craziness.

Two days ago, Graeme was hanging out with me, doing "homework," meaning he was practicing his letters, colouring, etc. After a few minutes at work, he declared that he needed glasses so he could see better. So he went to his room, collected his swim goggles, and put them on. Those apparently did the trick...

I love this boy!

Another Graeme Gem...

I guess he's just at that age... so precious!

This last weekend, we went to an early dinner with our friends Dina and Sam and got seated close to the front desk of the restaurant. After eating, Graeme decided he was going to stand up on his seat and chat the ladies of the reception up. One cute, blonde girl gave him attention and that's all he needed to throw down his pickup line: "I like the boom boom pow..." Of course, she (and the other ladies with her) were all tickled, which just encouraged our little Romeo. Thanks Black Eyed Peas, our son is now well-prepped for the teenage years and beyond!

Graeme Story of the Day

Not from today, but last week, actually... We were driving home from school, me and the boys, when I announced to Ethan that I had to stop at Costco to buy a "couple" of things. Knowing already that I tend to wander around that store too long, Ethan said to me, "Okay mom, just don't get carried away."

Almost immediately, we hear Graeme chime in from the back seat, "Yeah mom, don't get carried away or we're going to miss you!"

That kid just tugs at my heartstrings!

Here he is in his room, where we found him one day, tucked among his stuffed toys. And, yes, he did put himself in there.

A Story About Graeme

I should say that this is really a story about how Rodney is raising our kids. That's right, I'm blaming all this type of stuff on Rodney...

So anyway...one of Rodney's favourite jokes for when the kids say they smell something bad is to say, "Maybe it's your upper lip." I have to admit, the reaction is usually quite comical and we all have a good laugh when this happens.

Well, the other day, after arriving home from school, Graeme unbuckled himself from his seat and said to me, "Mommy, I smell something. Do you smell something?" I turned around and told him that, no, I didn't in fact smell anything funny at all to which he so flatly replied, "Oh, maybe it's my upper lip."

I just laughed and told him that, yes, maybe it was. Hahahahaha! Our poor kids.

Confessions of a Slacker

It's been so long since I've written and I can make up a million excuses, but I won't. Instead, I'll tell you what's been going on lately with the Grussing-Pike Tribe.

Ethan's winding up his last semester as a 5th grader. Next year, he'll be in middle school where he'll be among the 7th and 8th graders. I don't know if I'm ready for that so we'll see how we all transition. Here's a picture of him perfecting his Ripstick technique. We got him the Ripstick for Christmas and he said it was the best thing we got him. Yayyyyy!


Graeme is also winding up his Pre-K year and looking forward to starting Kindergarten in the fall. He is working on writing and numbers right now. He has nearly mastered the number patterns and can count to 100 with a little assistance. We do "homework" to strengthen his pincer grip and encourage good writing habits. He still (especially at school) writes with both hands, but we feel he is really and truly a lefty. Graeme's favourite things to do these days include playing with dinosaurs, making up silly names for Xavier, chasing Ethan around (and generally driving him nuts), and, of course, cooking. Every day, he puts on his apron and asks me if he can be my chef, to which I always reply, "Yes chef." He loves putting food in the pans and stirring. He understands the process of cooking and can probably walk you through cooking scrambled eggs, easy. Luckily, they've spent a lot of time at school cooking lately - here are photos of Graeme flipping his grilled cheese sammidge and frosting his V-Day cookies (notice the lefty action):


Xavier just passed the 9.5 month mark. He's been crawling like a fiend for a while now and really loves standing and cruising the furniture. The rooms in the house he's obsessed with are (1) the bathroom (because he knows he's banned from crawling around in there) and (2) the kitchen (where his main goal is to get to the cat's food bowl so he can pick it up and slowly drop it to the floor - I think he likes the sound it makes). He's also eating regular food with us a few times a week and loves to feed himself Cheerios. He LOVES bathtime, especially now that he gets to bathe in the big tub with Graeme. Graeme, of course, considers Xavier his personal plaything when in there. Evidence of this...


Finally, some really great news on the Rodney front - he recently was promoted to Head Graphics Honcho at work. Okay, that's not his official title, but he's now officially a manager. When I told Ethan about this, his first question was, "So he can tell people what to do now?" I assured him this has always been the case... hahahahaha! I kid. I kid. Congratulations sweetheart, you really really really deserve it.

What It's Like to Have 5 Kids

This last weekend, we were lucky enough to have our niece Eva and nephew Jude come stay with us for a couple of nights. I love when they come to stay with us because it gives us another excuse to do things like (a) skip out on the laundry and (b) let the dishes languish while we go (i) out to breakfast and (ii) do cool stuffs around town.

For this weekend, our big excursion was to the new California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. We recently bought an annual family membership and were able to get our money's worth by taking all five kids in one trip. Of course, Rodney's behemoth came in super handy as we could fit all 7 of us in one car. We even got sooooo lucky and found parking right outside so we didn't have to walk too far in the cold. :)

At the Academy of Sciences, we enjoyed the green display, where we read up on how much waste people produce and how much carbon offsets we need to purchase just to become carbon neutral. Truly interesting information and such a fun way to "brainwash" the kids about treating the Earth with kindness. Graeme's favourite part of this display was the T-Rex skeleton right next to all this green goodness.

We also checked out the new Steinhart Aquarium, where we got to see Ethan's favourite Leafy Sea Dragons, sea nettles, some really huge fish, and a huge display of Philippine coral reefs and fish (with loads of fish we'd never seen before). We also got to spend some time in the Rainforest display, where butterflies and birds flew freely, and where we got to see a ton of lizards, chameleons, and frogs. We didn't get a chance to check out penguins, the Planetarium, and a lot of other things so there will definitely have to be a follow up trip.

Some photos from the day...

Leafy Sea Dragon:

Ethan, Jude and Eva at the rainforest:

Graeme checking out some amphibians:


Xavier, Rodney, Jude, Eva, and Ethan outside the rainforest and surrounded by aquarium (NOTE: Graeme wouldn't join in any of the group photos - what a snob - hahahaha!):


The kids at a statue of Beethoven outside the Academy of Sciences:


Enjoying the sunset at the end of the day, at Sunset Beach in San Francisco:


So, what is it like having 5 kids? Well, we don't really know since we only had 5 kids for two days, but we do know that you need a bigger car and more cash to spend at the gift store. Besides that, though, there is a ton of laughter and silliness in between the times you are haranguing the kids and that makes it all so worth it.

Until next time...

The Xavier Update

So much happens when you are not paying attention...

Xavier's been in daycare for nearly four weeks now and has adjusted like a pro. Despite one super bad day where he only drank one ounce of milk and tortured his teachers with all-day tears and wailing, he is doing very well. Every day I get to pick up a super happy baby who is constantly nuzzling his teachers and smiling at the other babies. It's hard to not spend every waking moment with him, but it really makes me feel so much better knowing that he is so happy at Papillon.

New skills and things:

* Rolling Over: I am trying to not let this kid grow up too fast since he is our last baby, but he is growing up anyway despite my best efforts. :) At any rate, I busted him rolling over when I set him down on the floor at my dad's house when we were there on the 28th. Now we really can't leave the little bugger unguarded.

* Solid Food: I don't really know how anyone can call extremely ground up food "solid," but it is what it is. We started Xavier on rice cereal at 5 months and he took to it, finally. Then we moved on to green peas - wish I'd gotten on video the strange faces he was making. Last night, we tried sweet potatoes for the first time and he loved them so much that he ate two jars of it. Rodney, who abhors sweet potatoes, was a little disgusted. Hahahahaha!

* Brothers: Xavier is fascinated with his brothers and they are enthralled by him. I am glad that we are a family of silly people and we spend a lot of time laughing together. I hope this never ever changes.

Love to you all - can you believe Halloween is just around the corner?!

Graemesaurus Rex Turns 4

This past weekend, we celebrated Graeme's 4th birthday. All in all, he really had a great birthday this year, with celebrating that just seemed to go on and on and on - the joys of having your birthday on a Friday, I suppose. His main birthday theme was "Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs!" For some reason, however, we managed to get birthday cakes that had anything but... Funny how that works out sometimes. :)

On Friday, September 12, his actual birthday, we brought a cupcake cake with a dragon design into school for him and his friends at Papillon Preschool. The cake was a hit with all the kids, teachers, and even mommy (who couldn't help but have one - I mean, look at how yummy it looks!). Graeme also loved that he got the first piece - too cute!

We also went out to dinner that night, dining at the oh-so-fancy Red Robin. It was a stop we had to make because they are one of the restaurants that get all the waiters together to sing the birthday celebrant a long and racuous birthday song. In all our past visits to Red Robin, someone's always had a birthday and when the singing started, Graeme would always call to us to "clap your hands." He gets so excited and happy for birthday celebrations - even when they're not for him - he is so cool! For the dinner, Uncle Manolete, Aunt Alison, Eva, and Jude joined us, which was a real treat for Graeme, as these are nearly all of his favourite neighbours right now. When the time came for his birthday song to be sung, he was just so pleased!

Here is Graeme enjoying his birthday dessert, after getting serenaded for his birthday, and then opening up one of his birthday presents, a new "Little Einsteins" DVD.





On Saturday, we had Graeme's "real" birthday party, returning to Lemos Farm to celebrate with ponies, farm animals, trains, and bouncy houses. All the kids had a blast with the pony and train rides and trolling around the farm and Graeme had a blast being the center of attention with all his friends. For his birthday cake this time, he selected the "Madagascar" theme - this is one of his favourite movies of all time. :) All in all, it was a perfect day, with perfect weather, and a good time was had by all.

The New School Year

First day of school is always exciting - new clothes, new school supplies, old friends, and loads of catching up from summer vacation. Summer vacation rocked this year because I got to be home; Ethan didn't even need to go into summer camp at all and he just loved that. Now that summer is done, though, reality hits and this year we have three boys going into new classes.

- Ethan is in the 5th grade, the big man on campus, and he'll be going in to middle school next Fall;
- Graeme is in his last year of preschool, looking forward to graduation next August and starting kindergarten at "Ethan's school"; and
- Xavier is in his first year of daycare, just starting out his school career.

Some photos from all the firsts...

Graeme on his first day in the Pre-K class; like big brother Ethan at his school, he is also one of the big men on campus at Papillon Preschool. He is working on letters, numbers, and writing to get ready for kindergarten. He really loves school so much and now directs me daily about when to fetch him from school, which is "after snack and after playground" unless we have swimming lessons. It will be a sad, sad day when the time comes to move from Papillon. He loves it there so much! And just a quick update on swimming lessons, Graeme is really getting the hang of it and is even really enjoying going underwater. One last note about this photo -- notice the lump on Graeme's forehead. He fell into our wooden rocking chair, head first, and gave us a big scare and himself a bruise that lasted about 2 weeks. He's a total boy!

Ethan on his first day as a 5th grader at Foster City School. Jude and Eva are also in this photo - they all go to the same school. Aren't they all just too cool for school?! Ethan is continuing to take piano lessons and he has gotten SO good at playing and he can read music as though he's always known how to :). He's also taking Spanish classes right now, nothing he's too excited about, but he'll grow to appreciate learning a second language eventually. His hair continues to grow, but he's showing signs of wanting a change. He told me just recently that he's ready to cut about 2 inches off.

No photo of Xavier at school yet, but he's adjusted amazingly well for having been there for only 2 days. He is drinking out of the bottle like a pro and just having a happy time with his new teachers.

We've got amazing boys and we are so proud of them all!

Life with Ethan

I'm still amazed that Ethan is already 10 years old. It makes me proud because he's growing up to be such a great person. It also freaks me out, to tell the truth, because of how quickly these first 10 years have seemed to pass. I can almost feel the next 10 passing just as fast and I dread it. It makes me want to hold him and the other two boys so much closer, to memorize all the moments we share (even the seemingly inconsequential ones) so I can bring them to mind later on in life, to write everything down, to commit to memory all their expressions (facial and verbal), just to keep everything close to me so that I never forget any of it ever. I look at Graeme, who's turning 4 this Friday, and I know that him reaching 10 is going to get here just as quick. There is a happiness and a sadness to children growing up that just can't be helped, I guess. And I think that therein lies the reason for grandchildren. Hahahaha!

Some recent photos of Ethan on his trusty scooter at the park this past week I want to share. He's had his hair long for so long now that I can't really remember the last time he let us cut it short. It might be two years or so now. I wonder how long he'll let it get. I'm trying to convince him to grow it really long then to donate his locks to "Locks of Love" when he's ready for a shorter look.