Grand Finale Fifth Birthday Party

Will had a great fifth birthday party at Jump Street. He invited a couple of his friends from his pre-school class, Grandma and Grandpa Pack, Brooke's friend across the street that he also considers his friend ( Natalie ) and Austin and Alaina, some friends that he has regular play-dates with.

The most sweet  thing about Will's party was when he and I made his ice-cream cake. Will requested my signature ice-cream cake yet again, only this time we sprayed it red and made blue frosting for the Spider-Man theme. The entire time that we made his cake ( mostly me ) , he told me about a birthday party that he was going to throw for my next birthday. He even started planning games, and asked me who I wanted to invite. He said, " Since you love books, your party will be you and your friends seeing who can stare at the wall longest...whoever wins...gets the prize of a book!"

The most sad thing about Will's party was when this cake that he and I made, melted on our way to the party place.

I guess we forgot we were in Texas, even though I remind Will everyday as he says, " I am soaking wet " , that it is because we live in Texas...

The whole way to the jump place, I kept telling Kevin to speed up his driving. Will sadly said, " Mommy, we can't go faster or we will go to jail and I can't have my birthday party in jail. "

                      Susan Welch is a newer, but wonderful and special friend of mine :) Will just loves to play with her son Austin, and daugther Alaina...

Fearless Five and Fun!

Fast, full of energy, almost frighteningly smart....Will is finally five-years old!

            Will had his long awaited birthday this past Tuesday. Although Will has received many gifts from the Turano's at his pre-party; Grandma and Grandpa Pack  at his day of  celebration party; he hasn't had enough! He will have his grande finale with friends this coming Saturday, for his last five-year old birthday party......

             Will gave me a gift this night that I hope to never forget. 

 Will said, " Mommy, I am really excited for my next birthday party with my friends, because I am going to get more toys!" 

I said, " But Will, aren't you happy with the toys Grandma and Grandpa Pack gave you already? You don't need to have more to be happy. " 

Will responded, " I am happy about my toys here." 

I said, " Good, you should be so happy you got so many new toys!" 

Will was silent for a few moments while he climbed on my lap with his toothbrush that he had prepared for me to help brush his teeth. He  sat for a moment just thinking.....

His silence broke and Will said, " Even ways, I am happiest about our family."

What a sweet little son my Will is. I was beaming to hear the feelings of his heart that his family is what makes him happiest, and then only a few minutes later in Will's and my separate scripture study- just him and I....Will bore his testimony to me. 

Will said, " Mommy, I love all the prophets in the scriptures, but I love God the most. " 

I responded, " I am so thankful that you know that God is the one who leads the prophets."

Will wasn't finished...He said, " I just wish that I could touch the real golden plates someday." 

I was so pleased, all I could think was, " well, maybe someday Will can? "

So, I said exactly what I thought..." Maybe you can someday? " 

Then Will quickly corrected me as he said, " I can't touch the plates because they are the scriptures now Mommy." 

I said, " I know, you are right." 

He said, " There was only one golden plates, and it's gone because we needed lots of scriptures." 

I have told him this at least a year ago! I just couldn't believe he remembered and how deeply he took it to heart. 

                          Happy Birthday to my son whom lastly told me this night....

That he " loves the scriptures! " and that his favorite song is, " Nephi was commanded to build a boat." 

             Will....I am so glad that you enjoy all the joys of my heart that I am so thankful that I can give you.

It pleases my soul that you also receive joy and comfort in the peace that the spirit brings as we study and ponder the scriptures and our God whom is also our Father. 

Will loves to go fishing at our neighborhood lake! The fun thing about fishing on our dock is that the fish practically swim up to you when you throw bread in the water!

                               Catching turtles in our neighborhood lake is not abnormal at all! 

End Of 3rd Grade

Every year I ask Brooke's Home Room Teacher to write a message to her in the Dr. Suess book,
" The Places You'll Go ".

Mrs. Cartwright obviously got to know Brooke just as well as a family member! I was not surprised to read what she wrote about Brooke in her book at the end of the year.

Mrs.Cartwright wrote:

Brooke,
I am so thankful that you landed in my class this year! You are such a sweet and kind person. I will always remember you for your loving heart. You are such a hard worker and I know you will be successful at anything that you set your mind to!

                                                                                2014-2015
                                                                                3rd Grade


Brooke hasn't let her kind and loving actions slow down just because she doesn't have a class room full of friends to show love to each day.

Only last week Brooke and I were at my friend Anne Marie's house for a play date with her daughter.

As Anne Marie took her daughter to a doctor appointment, and we stayed a bit longer after they left...
Brooke ran up to me so happily and informed me that she had made all of the children's beds in the house as a surprise for them when they returned home! I was so proud of her for showing love and service to even the boys in the house hold that she didn't play with!

                                                       
                                                             Brooke and Mrs.Cartwright
                                           

                                                  Izzy- Brooke's Best Friend In Her Class

Grandma Turano and The Carnival

                      Grandma Turano and Brooke have lots in common because they both love books. I do too, but not fictional. Grandma Turano and Brooke always enjoy talking about their reading together. Brooke loves to help Grandma set the table and Grandma Turano's meatballs are her most favorite food ever!

                                   Grandma Turano took us to a carnival while we were visiting!

                          Kevin and Grandma thought Will would be turned down to go on the bumper cars because he was too short...I pulled my magic out and Will got on with no problems ;)
                                        This was Will's first time ever to ride in bumper cars!!!

                                   Brooke surprised us all, as she dared go down this slide!
     

         I am the adult that can stomach spinning rides...and if you see the picture after the ride, you will probably notice that I am not doing so well anymore ;) haha....I spinned those children as fast as I possibly could!
                                     

Aunt Doreen

We celebrated the beginning of summer with a visit to Kansas City, MO where the Turano side of the family lives. We were so glad to go visit as we often miss out on so many family functions that the Turano's do together.

Aunt Doreen, ( Daddy's sister ) has been suffering from Breast Cancer. She is so strong through the recent loss of her father, her mother's diagnosis with Breast Cancer and treatments, only to follow  her own Breast Cancer diagnosis and treatments. Not to mention that she is on her own, as her husband of her two daughters passed away when they were just babies themselves.

Aunt Doreen is such a loving and nurturing individual. This is one reason that she is a nurse. Aunt Doreen lives in pain from her back, and now her recent double mastectomy, and yet, she is always thinking of how she can help others feel better.

Will has really bad eczema.

She gave Will quite the massages while we were visiting. Aunt Doreen makes her own home-made lotion straight from Aloe Vera,( in it's most natural state ) and other ingredients she orders in the raw online.

Will could have sat there all day getting a massage from his special aunt. Slowly more and more of Will's clothes started coming off as she asked, " Are you still itchy? "

Doreen is always very sympathetic to Will's eczema and she hates that he is itching all of the time.

We love you Aunt Doreen! And thank you Grandma Turano for raising such a strong and caring daughter.

                                   Aunt Doreen gave Will a toy that she remembered playing with his Dad when they were young. It brought back memories for Doreen and Kevin ;)

How We got Our Bunny Back

My Mother's Day this year started out terrible.

It was the day that we lost our bunny. It had been pouring down rain since 4 am..........

Except on the nights that it stormed, the bunny had been sleeping outside in the children's playhouse.

If you know me, you know that I can sleep through anything. I don't take any sleeping medication, yet I will literally sleep through my house alarm going off , and Kevin banging outside my bedroom window as he returns home from being out with friends.

I did mumble something to the effect of, " Kevin, we have to go get the bunny. " As the thunder surprisingly awoke me, but I didn't stay awake long enough to follow through.

In the morning, the bunny was gone and the house was full of little children tears and sadness. Not a good Mother's Day surprise...

If you know me, you know that I do not easily give up on things. I don't even give up on things when I probably should........

I did not care that I was still in my pajamas, or that I was getting soaking wet, I looked for that bunny outside, in pouring down rain for at least an hour and a half. Kevin helped me for a good portion of that time.

The neighbors must have thought we were very strange as Kevin carried a big fishing net, up to the gardens of their houses and pushed away the bushes to take a peek inside.

We would be chasing a bunny, only to look a few feet over and see another bunny, that suddenly looked more like ours than the first one that we were chasing.

We chased no less than ten bunnies that morning. After all, the reason we bought the bunny, is because Kevin couldn't catch the wild ones in our yard.

We ended our bunny hunt by telling Brooke that our bunny must have wanted a family, so she left us.

Brooke as mature as she is came to the point that she decided if the bunny wasn't happy with us, she didn't want to keep her anyways...

Well.....I guess I am more immature and selfish than Brooke, because I didn't handle it quite as nicely as she did. For the next two weeks I suddenly became a bunny crazy...I was seeing bunnies everywhere! I would pull my car over at the site of a rabbit in someone's yard and I would stare long and hard. The neighbors were probably wondering why I was staring at the front of their house.

I literally was looking for rabbits in my neighborhood by foot and in my car, multiple times a day from Mother's Day on....

Every time that I would come home from dropping someone off, I would see a bunny in a bush and literally get out of my car and chase it down...only to realize again that I was not going to find or catch our bunny...and was it even our bunny, I didn't know? But one thing was for certain...

I have troubles giving up sometimes ;)

Two weeks after Mother's Day Kevin got a call from his good friend across the street. Ryan said, " So, is your bunny still missing? I found a bunny in my garage and I picked it right up. I took it out of town with me and my kids. The kids have been holding it. It's been licking them, We have been feeding it by hand, and suddenly it dawned on me that this bunny is not wild and this was not normal. Is this your bunny? "

Kevin said, " Duh! I have been trying to catch bunnies for weeks that are wild and you can't just pick them up! That is our bunny! "

His friend said, " Well, do you still want it? Because my Kids like this bunny."

What I proceeded to do was unlike me, as I did not straight away give others exactly what they want....

I told Kevin, " That's my bunny! I have been searching the whole neighborhood daily for it! Please let me get it back. This is a bunny miracle and a gift!"

Kevin told his friend that Brooke and Will needed their bunny back ;)

It was a great reunion, and this bunny is not a normal bunny....It's special...Kevin claims it might be mentally "special " too????

Bunny lets the kids treat it like a doll!

We are taking extra precautions...we have a leash for it now...

Kevin and Will  built it a cage.....

Kevin and I quickly realized that day that we had chased all those bunnies...we weren't even close to chasing ours...Ours would have hidden and will let you pick it straight up. She also never would have made it to well in the wild. She is afraid to jump off the couch as you set her on it! She hesitates and acts scared!

 Will builds a house for the bunny with blocks. The bunny sits wherever he puts it!!!!

 Brooke feeds the bunny from a bottle often. Why play dolls when you can play with a baby bunny and really feed it! ;) She loves to drink apple juice ;)

                           Bunny doesn't mind outfit changes...she sits patiently in Brooke's lap.

Sorry American Dolls....Bunny has taken your bed, closet and clothes! The other day I found Brooke and her friend in Brooke's room with a sign at the door that said, " Bunny Fashion Show "

This is what the " Bunny Fashion Show " looked like..............