Pennies In My Couch

October Beach Day

2012-02-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

(it was a warm day, but it was super windy at the end of the pier!)

Keeping His Eye On Anything But The Ball

2012-02-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

Jack has never been one for sports. He loves to play with sporting equipment, but he hardly ever uses the equipment for its intended purpose. Baseball bats become flutes, bowling pins become drumsticks (about which I just realized I never posted the video, so scroll to the bottom of this post to see it!), golf clubs become drive-shafts on train engines and/or railroad crossing arms. So when Jack pulled out his velcro "gloves" and ball and asked Dave to play with him, we were thrilled that he was actually showing in interest in using "sporting equipment" for it's intended purpose!

Of course, Jack being Jack, he was more excited about playing in the backyard with daddy and being silly than actually concentrating on what he was doing... that kid cracks us up!

(Below is the "bowling pins as drumsticks" video)

October Part One: A Few Preschool Events

2012-01-17T16:20:00.000-08:00

In October, Jack's preschool class took a field trip to the local fire station that my parents and I had taken the boys to this summer. The preschool director said that Sammy and I could tag along and also gave my mom and Luke permission to join us as well! We threw the babies in the stroller and followed the kids as they paired up to walk to the fire station. I was a little nervous about Jack walking while holding another child's hand, though. Since he is incredibly clumsy and has no awareness of how strong he actually is, he tends to accidentally knock/yank down kids when he holds their hand. I was pleased, though, when I saw who they paired him with! His teachers are so smart to pair the clumsiest child in the world with the most coordinated child in the world (seriously- you should see this little boy zipping around on a two-wheeler like he was born on one)! Jack fell down a couple times, but his little friend managed to keep his footing without letting go of Jack's hand even once!

Mr. David leading the kids in their stretches before they go on their walk

An example of how Jack usually ends up knocking kids down, and how impressive it was that his friend didn't fall down!

The kids had a great time at the fire station! They got to learn and do a lot of stuff. It was very apparent, though, that Jack is very comfortable in fire stations. During the tour, Jack answered a lot of the questions and then followed them up by giving his own quiz to the firefighters... finally they said to him "Maybe you should be leading the tour!" Yeah, I have that kid.

The kids lined up to take a group photo right before we left, but I had my close lens on so I couldn't get the whole group... this was the best I could do:

A few days after the firestation field trip was the Trike-A-Thon! Jack did a great job... I think the pressure was getting to him because when we got there to root him on (they were a little ahead of schedule so we didn't make it until after they started), I noticed that he looked a little bit stressed and like he was trying to hold back tears. As soon as he saw us, though, he perked right up! I sent Dave out onto the track to jog alongside him and make sure that everything was okay, and that helped to relax Jack even more and from that point the smile never left his face! Sam had a great time cheering Jack on, too! He loved chanting "Go, Jack Jack, Go!" every time Jack came around the track! I think Jack's favorite part, though, were the fans that were misting water to cool off the bike riders! After the Trike-A-Thon the kids got to enjoy some Jamba Juice (Dave and I each got one, too... we love Jamba Juice!) and/or Capri-Sun, and then we headed home to let Jack finish his day at preschool.

The third preschool event was a trip to the pumpkin patch! My mom was on vacation that week, so she wasn't able to join us with Luke... but Amy got to join us with Luke instead! Jack was pretty excited that Auntie Mimi got to come, and he was even more excited that we got to go to our favorite pumpkin patch for the third year in a row! I think the thing that he was most excited about, though, was the fact that we got to ride on a bus! He very excitedly told his teacher that this was his first time on a bus... and Sam and Luke were very excited about it, too!

The first thing we did when getting to the pumpkin patch and getting our tickets was head over to tractor for a ride over to the petting zoo! Of course, this was Sam's favorite part of the trip to the pumpkin patch... my little animal lover! He was very excitedly looking at all the goats, getting down to their level and talking to all of them like they could understand what he was talking about. He even picked up a piece of hay and tried to feed one of them. Jack had fun in there, too- he and his two little friends followed each other around and had a great time petting the animals.

Then we hopped back on the tractor and made our way back to the main part of the farm/patch to check out the corn maze! Of course we made it to the center with ease, the whole group of us, and made our way out again in much the same manner.

After that we took a bathroom break (lots of 3-4 year old bladders means a long bathroom break!), and we played on the hay bales while we were waiting. Sam of course wanted to join the rest of the kids, and the girls were thrilled that my "baby" wanted to join in! I think Sam is the most popular kid in Jack's class sometimes ;)

After the bathroom break we headed over to the veggie patch! I was really excited because this was something he hadn't gotten to do there before, and I was looking forward to Jack being able to pull the veggies right from the ground! The kids had specific instructions, there were four kinds of veggies, and they were to get four of each kind. Jack had his instructions memorized "I need four radishes and four green beans and four onions and four carrots, but I don't want to eat them so I will give them to daddy." First up were the radishes, and unfortunately, he didn't quite understand what I meant when I said that radishes grow under the ground. It was so funny to see him sit and stare at the plants and poke at the leaves and look around them, but not actually pull any radishes up. I saw him looking at the kids next to him, who were triumphantly holding their radishes in the air, and then he would look through the plants in front of him again with a disappointedly confused look on his face. Finally enough kids were done finding their radishes and had moved so I could come up next to him, where he told me "But mom, I just don't see any radishes!" I saw the light dawn when I moved aside the green plants and pointed to the red bulbs that were protruding very slightly from the ground and I loved the triumphant noise he made when he shouted "OH! They grow under the ground just like you said, mom!" He was thrilled to finally find them!

I told him that carrots would be the same way and onions would be the same way (boy did those onions smell good!), and he had a lot of fun picking those veggies along with his friends!

And then it was finally time to pick out a pumpkin! Jack found the one he wanted right away, and though he is quite strong and certainly would have been able to follow the rules of "the child must be able to carry his own pumpkin out the door", he decided to choose a smaller one when I showed him how far away the door actually was ;) I hadn't bought Sam a ticket to get any of the veggies, and he really didn't notice that he didn't get any. He was just having so much fun checking out the pumpkins and trying to pick up the big ones that I don't think it even occurred to him that he was the only kid that didn't get to keep one.

After the kids all picked out their pumpkins, we headed back to the bus to drop off the veggies and pick up their lunches. Jack took that opportunity to teach Sam about our bus

And then we headed back to have lunch on the hay bales!

Finally it was time to give Jack's allergies some relief and hop back on the bus for the ride home! Half the kids were so exhausted that they fell asleep (not Jack, of course, who hasn't napped since he was 2), and all of the adults were wishing they could fall asleep! It was a great day at the pumpkin patch!

September 2011 Nutshell

2012-01-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

I'm still in nutshell mode... seems to be working so I am just going to jump right into September!

Of course, September started out with one of our favorite things to do: swimming! Since we swim a lot and go to the lake and have a lot of water days in the backyard and just generally do a lot of things with water, I decided that I needed to get another camera.

Yes, it is a little surprising that I would get a point and shoot, but I really wanted a camera that could let me take shots like these:

and I wasn't willing to put my good camera at risk by buying an underwater housing for it! I love this camera! It does have some limited manual modes which do allow me a certain amount of control, even if it is a point and shoot, and it also takes video!

And of course, Sam and Luke had a lot of fun swimming, too!

I definitely am happy about my new camera :)

Our next September event is one of the MOST SIGNIFICANT events to happen all year! Jackson's FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!! I was so proud of him, he was so brave! I mean, he was obviously nervous, but he did a really good job telling exactly what he was worried about and was very willing to listen to my advice and to put it into practice as his 'game plan' (this is what we are working on as we try to figure out and deal with his OCD issues- I know him very well so thus far we haven't had many major issues, but my goal is to teach him how to handle his OCD issues so that he is equipped to deal with the unexpected even when I am not there. He has come so far in the last few months!).

My facebook status that morning says it best: After showing Jack how all the clocks say the same time & assuring him that the clocks at Pre K say the exact same time & thus there was no way I wouldn't know that it was time to come get him, I completed my very first Pre K drop-off. My baby is at SCHOOL! WithOUT me! He did great- a little nervous but very excited. I did great, too- very nervous but excited and proud, & I held it together! Now what to do for the next 3 hours while Sam & I wait to go pick up the rest of my heart from school...?

Pre- Dropoff pictures! Had to get one of my big boy by himself, and of course couldn't neglect to

include little brother in one, as well!

And the traditional Student-And-Teacher shot! Jack and one of his teachers, Mr. David, who according to Jack "has the same name as my daddy!"

And how did his first day go? Once again, it can be summed up by my facebook status that afternoon: Jack had a great first day! When I came in he was sitting in front next to his teacher while all the other kids were sitting on the rug facing them- he's not satisfied with being read to: he wanted to read over her shoulder! Teacher said great first day, Jack said "Well, I was just a LITTLE good. I was kind of cranky that I didn't get to finish my puzzle!" and also "when it was time to play outside, I pretended I was a train!" I love that my kid is honest when he doesn't think he was as good as he could have been, but more than that I love that he loves preschool!!! ;)

Our next September event was a last minute trip, but a pretty big event. September was the 10 year anniversary of September 11th, and we wanted to participate in the memorial somehow. Dave found out about an event that was going on at the Nixon Library, and so as soon as we picked Jack up from school on the 9th, we headed out there. On the way there we stopped at In N Out for lunch and had a talk with Jack about what we were going to see, what it meant, and how we expected him to behave. I was so proud of both of the boys' behavior and that Jack really seemed to understand the need to be respectful and quiet as we walked about the display!

After we saw the display, we decided that since we were already there we might as well go in and see the museum. Jack and Sam were still on their best behavior, and even though we didn't get to enjoy the museum as much as we would have liked since we had our Littles along we had a good time. There were plenty of interesting displays to entertain the kids while Dave and I read some of the plaques, and we had fun watching the fascination on Jack's face as we taught him a little bit of history. And then, when he got bored, we handed him my iTouch to keep him occupied!

Midway through September was my mom's birthday! My sister's family ended up going on vacation that weekend up in Big Bear and were gone on my mom's birthday, so instead of having them miss the party, we brought the party to them! We hooked up the boat and picked up my parents and headed up to Big Bear!
Because we had the boat, we decided that it would be best if we took the longer route to get there because it was less twisty and turny. Unfortunately, even though we took that route, we were still hit with the motion-sickness! And it wasn't me this time... it was Jack! My poor kid suddenly said from the back seat that he wasn't going to puke, and usually when he says he's not going to, that means he is! Dave quickly pulled over and my dad and I hopped out of the truck, I grabbed Jack and we walked a few steps while I explained to him what motion-sickness was and why the fresh air would help him. He puked, of course, but he felt just fine afterwards and we continued up the mountain! Once we got there we put the boat on the lake and headed over to a dock near my sister's campsite and picked up some more passengers! We had a lot of fun... Dave got to wakeboard (and broke yet another binding, this time beyond the point of being able to Mickey-Mouse it together), the boys got to play on the shore, Amy and her family got to ride on our boat for the first time, and I very smoothly and efficiently practiced my bringing-the-boat-to-the-dock skills (I totally rocked it!). I think my mom had a fun birthday ;)

And finally, our last event in September! Jack's school had a roller skating/bike party, and since we wanted to give Jack as many opportunities as possible to practice riding his bike before the Trike-A-Thon his class was having in October, we didn't want to miss it! The boys had a great time, and Jack really got the hang of riding that bike! Sam had a lot of fun on his trike, too. Until he discovered how fun it was to push the trike, though... once he tried that he didn't want to stop. Until he found the ice bucket that the drinks were in... that kid really likes ice so it was hard to tear him away from that. Until he discovered the hole in the brick walkway that is. Then I couldn't get him away from the hole! And then he wanted to push the trike again.

And that's September!

Our August 2011 Nutshell, Part II

2011-12-12T05:34:00.000-08:00

The second half of August started out with a great event... Luke's second birthday! My sister said that I could make Luke's cake and that he likes chocolate... so chocolate it was! I made a chocolate cake with chocolate chips filled with white chocolate cream cheese frosting and iced with chocolate cream cheese frosting and covered in M&M chocolate candies! The boys were so excited when they saw it, and they couldn't wait to eat it! First, though, we went over to my mom's for the birthday celebration! Luke loved his gifts, Sam had fun playing with Auntie Mimi, and Jack was a stinkerpants and blew out Luke's candle before Luke got a chance to!

Hey, who blew out my candles?!

It was Jack!!! That stinker!!!

Luke's birthday is Sammy's half-birthday, so he got to blow out a candle, too!

Here is a video of Sam having fun with Auntie Mimi

The next event is a continuation of that same night... Luke's first haircut! Scott had been wanting to have Luke's hair cut, but Amy held him off as long as possible (how could anyone want to cut those curls?!?!). Their deal, though, was that he would have his hair cut when he turned two. It was so sad saying goodbye to those curls, but as cute as he is with them, he was just as cute with his new big boy haircut!

"Before" shot

"During" shots

And the "after" shots... taken the next day.

Isn't he adorable?! And while we're on the subject... our next event was a trip to the beach! Mom and I took the boys to play in the sand, have lunch and put our feet in the water, and we even found a crab! We had a great time and the boys really enjoyed it too. Jack and Luke loved the water! Sam liked it too, until I put him down to take a picture of him... but I promise he liked it up until that point!

The next August even was that weekend: we went swimming in Auntie Mimi's pool! Luke got to wear his new PuddleJumper floatie that we got him for his birthday, we worked hard with Jack on actually jumping into the pool rather than leaning and plopping, and Sam had a blast counting to three on his fingers and then "jumping" into the pool!

Aaaaaand last but not least is our final August event!!! At the beginning of the summer we were asked if we'd like to host an end-of-summer picnic for the kids and parents of our church, and after a lot of consideration (at the time we were asked our house was a disaster due to our kitchen remodel and we weren't quite sure if we'd be ready by then), we decided to say yes! As entertainment one of the families brought over their inflatable bouncer/water slide for the kids, and we set out the boys' ball pit for the younger ones. All of the kids had a blast and the parents did, too!

Entertaining themselves while mommy and daddy get ready for the party

I have a TON of photos from that day... this will probably be long, but I want to try to include everyone!

So, yesterday my lovely four year old managed to download a virus onto the computer that I use for my photos, so that will throw a kink into my plans of catching up with my blog. I am pretty dumb when it comes to computer stuff like viruses and all that, so we'll see how long it takes me to figure it out. I have the worst luck with computers!!! Oh well, I'll get September up eventually ;)

Our August 2011 Nutshell

2011-12-10T09:39:00.000-08:00

I have 11 events to blog about in August, but as I am extremely far behind with my blog (which is essentially my family scrapbook and therefore I really don't want to miss anything!), I decided that I can squish a few of the events together. Of course, a few of the events warrant their own post, so I won't be able to squish all of August into one post, but three or four posts is much less than 10, right? We'll see how well I can do at this squishingeventstogether thing ;)

For the first week of August, Jack spent each morning at Vacation Bible School at my mom's church (where he'd be attending preschool starting the next month). He really enjoyed it, even though it was hard for him when his teacher, Princess, wasn't able to make it one of the days. Luckily, my Aunt Sandra (Auntie Nana to Jack) was teaching another Pre-K class so he got to go with her. His little OCD heart had a hard time with the transition at first, but we were blessed that Auntie Nana knows her little Jack and as soon as she found out that morning she called me so that I could start preparing him to expect something different that day. Thank God for Nana because it worked! He was initially upset, but since he had plenty of time to prepare for the change, he did fine! (By the way, he has since gotten much better with little changes like that... we've been working on it and we're coming a long way!).

While Jack was at VBS, Sam and I were having a lot of fun spending time together, just the two of us! One of the reasons I wanted to space my kids about 3 years apart was because I wanted to be able to have one-on-one time with each kid when they were little... I am so happy with that decision! I had plenty of time with just me and Jack when he was littler, and I have plenty of time with just me and Sam now that Jack is in school... it's perfect! The week that Jack was in VBS was our first taste of regular one-on-one time and even though both of our hearts ached with missing Jack (as we drove away that first day, Sam was grabbing at Jack's carseat and yelling "No bye bye Jack Jack!!!!" and I did not blame him one bit!), we made sure to keep each other busy! And one of the things that we did to keep ourselves occupied was to attend a playdate with our church friends! Our group's schedule for that week was playing in the water fountain! I was so sad that Jack had to miss the playdate, because I know this was something he would have loved, but we sucked it up and had fun with our friends anyway!

Jack didn't have to miss out on the fun entirely, though... we had to leave the playdate a little early in order to get back to pick him up in time from VBS. And, since we're never ready to stop having fun, we headed to the mall for lunch and we let the boys ride the train there! They were so excited, of course... my boys love trains!!! I hadn't let Sam ride the train up to this point because I felt that he was too little and because I hadn't ever remembered to bring my camera and I wanted a picture of his first ride. But, since I had my camera this time, I let him ride! He was so cute, he was saying "ChuggachuggaCHOOCHOO!!! All aboard!!!!" the entire time!!!!

At the end of Jack's VBS week, the kids put on a "concert" for their parents! We were so excited about it. We didn't stay for the concert last year after VBS since we left immediately after class for Las Vegas and my cousin's baby shower. But this time we made sure to get to go! Jack was a little confused... I don't think they practiced what they were going to do (besides learning the songs and hand motions) with the little kids. But still, he did a great job. Of course, my kid was the kid that fell at least 5 times while he was standing on the step, and at least twice took a couple kids down with him, but that was to be expected. I mean, it's Jack!

Here are a few pictures of the concert and a video. I had a lot of different videos but I chose to show this one because this was definitely his favorite song and when I was looking at them he said that he wanted to pick which one to show people and this was the one he chose. You'll notice midway through the video he starts yelling and waving... he had just seen his VBS teacher, Miss Princess, and he was trying to get her attention to say "hi". Remind me to remind him not to do that when he sings for the first time in church tomorrow!

Next is a video! I took this video because I wanted to document Sam's 'S' sound... he had a total lisp and I wanted to make sure that I got it on video before he outgrew it! He is 17 months old in this video.

Our next August event is definitely something huge that warrants its own post, but I'm going to include it here since I'm on a roll with the squishingeventstogether: Sammy's first haircut!!! And oh boy did he need one! His hair is as straight and fine as Jack's was thick and wavy, but since I was hoping that the length would encourage his hair to stop standing straight up on top, I had been delaying cutting it. Plus, I am just unfortunately out of luck when it comes to my boys' hairs obeying me with the whole standing-straight-up-no-matter-what-I-try thing.. It was fine on top, but it was getting so long on the bottom that, in combination with the texture of his hair he was starting to look like Hulk Hogan (according to Dave, who started calling Sam "Little Hulk") and John Denver (according to my sister). I knew it was only a matter of time before they would call him Billy Ray, so I had to do it! We had scheduled a photographer friend to take some family portraits, which meant I had a deadline, so one night when the boys were in the tub I grabbed my scissors, forced Dave to take the camera, and started snipping away! I did the best I could, but there will still some spots that needed to be cleaned up... still baby had a fancy new haircut!

A couple "before" pics

"During" photos

I don't have an official "after" photo from that night, but this was the closest I got

My official "after" photo wasn't taken until the next day at the park! We met up with Ang and the kids and my mom and Luke, and my mom helped me finish Sam's haircut while he sat in the swing and the other kids got to play! Here are a couple photos from our day at the park, as well as Sam's official "after" photo.

And the "after" photo:

Our next August event... we got a new (to us) slide! A friend of mine posted on facebook that they were ready to get rid of their play structure and it was free to whoever could come pick it up... so I did! I was so excited for the boys to see it. I knew that they would love it, and I was right! I left them home with Dave and I took my brother with me to help me pick up the structure... we snuck it into the backyard while they were eating lunch, and as soon as they were done I brought them out to see it! They were so surprised, and they wasted no time in breaking it in! They were all over it!

Aaaand I made it halfway through August! This is a good place to break up the post, since the next event is Luke's second birthday and I don't want to rush through it! Stay tuned...

My First Pinterest Creation!

2011-12-09T12:44:00.000-08:00

Near the end of July, I discovered Pinterest! It's amazing, I love it, and I have learned so much from it! There are so many great ideas, and since the first day that I joined and started pinning, my project list has been never ending... in the good way! The thing about Pinterest, though, is that it is so easy to pin all of the great ideas of things that you want to do, and then never actually get around to doing them. I wanted to make a point to DO the the fun things that I was discovering though, so I made sure to get my first project done as soon as I was able! And my first project? I was the most excited about the colored rice, so that was the first on my list! And it was super easy, too!

I had all three boys that day, so I waited until Sam and Luke were down for their naps and Jack was very excited to help me! I did it a little differently then the instructions I had pinned said to do it, but it was basically the same thing... I didn't really measure at all. I used ziplock bags, put enough coloring in it to touch each grain (I rolled the bag all around to make sure!), and once they were coated I put enough rubbing alcohol in them to coat each grain. After that we poured them on cookie sheets and trays and set them out in the sun to dry... Jack was so patient!

Jack and I played in the backyard while we waited for the sun to dry the rice... since it was a super warm day it didn't take very long at all! Then, we dumped the rice in the tub, grabbed a few random toys from our bag of sand toys, and got ready to play!

Jack was so excited when it was time to play! He immediately picked up the funnel, held it up to his mouth and announced "Do do do do do DOOOOO! Attention, everybody! The Rice Playground is now open!"

Sam and Luke also had LOT of fun with the rice playground, but I was so busy keeping the one-year-olds from eating the rice that I couldn't take any pictures. Still, they loved it! Since then we have done many more projects from Pinterest, and I am so glad to have found that site!!! It can be a time-sucker, but it's so worth it!!!

Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming...

2011-12-08T05:34:00.000-08:00

Two days after we got back from vacation, Jack started his swim classes! (I know, this post seems out of order. However, the photos I have are from both the first day and the second-to-the-last day and I only wanted to make one post so I decided to post the earlier pictures with the later pictures rather than the other way around. Because it makes more sense that way, obviously. Therefore, these photos aren't out of order and my CDO can relax!) He was soooo excited about his swim class, and I was, too! He's always loved water and has a great desire to learn how to swim on his own. I had been trying to teach him, but I am not the best person to teach someone to swim. Swimming comes pretty naturally to me, so I don't really know how to explain things in a way that someone who doesn't have that swimming-instinct would be able to easily understand. Plus, I tend to be pretty safety-conscious when it comes to things like that, and so I'm more likely to give Jack and hand to help him than wait for him to figure out how to take a breath on his own. But anyway, back to swim class!

I cannot begin to describe how much my heart ached to watch him follow the teacher back to the pool with all the other kids and then again when I got up to the parent's observation deck and watched as he put his towel down and followed the directions he was given to go sit on the edge of the pool to wait for an instructor to come test his abilities. I had so much anxiety on his behalf! What if he can't find his towel when he's done? What if they don't explain each and every action to the satisfaction of his little heart and he with his super-logical four-year-old brain stands there frozen as he tries to figure things out for himself? Good Lord, they put me up on the observation deck knowing that I was watching and that there was no way he would be able to hear me if I needed to yell instructions to him- I was powerless! Of course, as I try hard to make a point to let him learn how to deal in certain situations on his own I was also grateful that the decision whether or not to intercede when he needed help was taken out of my hands, but as every parent knows, that's not just your baby walking around out there... that's your heart!

So yeah, it was hard to watch and not be able to help, but it was good for me. And I did a good job even if I didn't really have a choice ;)

That first day was great! They had them each get in the water one-on-one with an instructor to have the instructor assess their abilities, then they had the kids get out and find their towels and bring them over to sit with an instructor that was assigned to their skill level along with three other kids that were on their same level. And yes, Jack had a little bit of a hard time remembering where he put his towel, but once he found it and found his teacher, Amber, everything was smooth sailing!

A few photos from his class that first day:

As you can see, he loved swim class! He talked about Amber all the time, and he told me all about how he learned about blowing bubbles and making "big scoops" with his arms. He has never been afraid of the water, and he really enjoyed getting to swim! He was also very proud of the stamp (or as he called it, "stant") he earned at the end of each class! (And Sam was always extremely happy to talk to Jack when the class was over, too!)

He had swim class every morning for 2 weeks, and he talked about swim class and Amber all day long! One day after swim class while we were walking to the car he said "Do you think Amber has a car? I don't think she lives at the pool!" Even though his classes were only 30 minutes, I could see how much he was learning and I was so proud of him! Granted, my child was definitely the least coordinated child in the pool, and his "swimming" probably looked more like drowning, but what he lacks in grace he definitely makes up for in enthusiasm!

Oh, and in case there was any question about whether or not his flailing is actually swimming... on the last day of his class Jack got to prove how much he had learned when he accidentally fell in to the deep end of the pool while the instructor was busy with another child!!! From up in my can't-do-anything-about-anything position on the observation deck my heart leapt up to my throat as I watched with pride while my baby was able to save himself! As I said, his flailing may look more like drowning than swimming, but it works! And he always emerges with a smile on his face!

Here are a few photos and video of him on his second-to-the-last day of class (Amber wasn't going to be there the last day so I wanted to document his last class with her rather than with the substitute). It's amazing how much further he has come since this class, now that I'm watching these again!

(the hiccup in this movie is my shutter- I snapped a picture while it was filming)

Oh, and notice how Jack doesn't jump into the pool so much as he leans and plops in? We worked on that and since then he has actually learned to jump into the pool ;)

And just for good measure, my sidekick! He was such a good boy while Jack was in his lessons, and he had a lot of fun watching him, too! (If you look closely in the second picture you can see Jack in the background!)

Zoo-ing It Again!

2011-12-05T16:08:00.000-08:00

About 1.5 weeks after we got back from vacation and got to hung out with our Las Vegas family, they came out here on their vacation! We were excited to get to see them again so soon, and since one of the places they wanted to go while they were out here was the LA Zoo, and since my mom and I have guest passes and could get them in for free, we joined them! We had a really good time showing them one of our favorite places! After lunch, Jack even got to go for a ride on my aunt's scooter (and he drove for a second, too... shhh!)! We had a blast with them!

Added bonus: we found the perfect boat hat for Jackson! Finally! Not he won't have to wear grandma's extra hat (which was mine from when I was a teenager).

When we got home from the zoo we picked up our missing family members (and paused to give the babies naps, of course!) and headed over to their hotel for dinner so that we could continue our visit. It was so fun! Jack's favorite part was that my Uncle Mark let him jump all over the bed, Sam and Luke liked playing peek-a-boo in the cupboard under the sink (which Sam was an old pro at), and Hudson had a blast showing off his new army-crawling skills!

Grammy's Great Garden

2011-12-04T15:52:00.000-08:00

This summer we had a very windy night during which Grammy's back fence blew down! She had been planning on getting a new one since that one was so old, and of course she decided that this was the perfect opportunity to get a vinyl fence. And, since we share an edge of our property with her, we got a new fence on one side, too! In addition to the fence, Grammy also got a new garden box in her yard! Every previous summer/fall (those are veggie season, right?) Jack would love to go to Grammy's backyard to "check to see if any tomatoes are ready", and as it turned out, Sam loves to check out Grammy's garden, too! And it's even easier now that her garden is at their level! Of course, I'm sure that their favorite part about checking on Grammy's garden is that it means they get to go see Grammy herself, but the garden is a little something extra to add to the excitement. My boys sure do love their Grammy!

Side-By-Side

2011-12-03T15:33:00.000-08:00

I have a system where I rotate my boys' toys so that they constantly have fresh toys. This summer I made a rotation and decided that at the same time, I'd clear out a bunch of the toys that my boys really don't need (even though when they see that I want to get rid of them they insist that those are the toys they've been looking for and they really really need to play with those ones). So one day I sent my boys to my mom's house and I spent a few hours rotating toys and putting outgrown toys in boxes to go into the garage. Of course, the clock isn't really my friend and decides that it needs to speed up whenever I get on a roll with being productive, and I had to leave the boxes of To-Get-Rid-Of toys in Jack's room when it was time to pick them up. And when the boys got home? Well, they of course noticed! Probably mostly because in order to clean I had cleaned up the track that was in the middle of the room. Immediately they begged me to build another track so, naturally, rather than getting back to work I got down on the floor and build a great one that I hoped would keep them entertained while I finished my work in another room (since there was no way they'd let me carry those boxes of toys out of the house while they watched)! While I was working in another room I poked my head in the hallway to look in Jack's room to check on them, and my heart melted at what I saw and heard. These boys love each other so much, which is such a blessing! And, in addition to that, they play together so well, also!!! I love that they are such good friends!

Of course, I also took a shot of the boxes that I packed, since I was so proud of all the work I did! Now if only we could get around to having a garage sale and get the boxes out of my garage! ;)

Serena's Silly Pants

2011-12-02T10:09:00.000-08:00

This year one of my sweet goddaughters turned 8, so we headed over to her house to celebrate her! We adore these girls, and Jack gets super excited when we get to hang out with them (which we really need to do more often!). They got a trampoline for Christmas last year, and this was our first opportunity to come play on it... as you can see, everyone enjoyed the trampoline! Plus, we all love our Serena, and we loved getting to share her special day with her!!!

What a great day and a great way to celebrate our girl!

Fried Kool-Aid

2011-11-30T22:53:00.000-08:00

We surprised the boys with a trip to the Orange County Fair, and once Jack figured out where we were going he was so excited! We made it there right at lunch time, and as the theme of the fair this year was Let's Eat! there was no shortage of choices! Lunch trucks are a huge "thing" in LA/OC, and they had a special area for the lunch trucks as well as a schedule of which trucks would be there on which days... Dave and I were pretty excited to get to check out the trucks!

But the boys were perfectly content with their hot dogs ;)

I made sure the boys were set and then I told Dave that I'd be right back... Duff was the special guest that day and I didn't want to miss him! He was freaking hilarious and was really interesting to listen to... there were a ton of people in there and he was so gracious and answered a million questions and it made me want to visit Charm City West and buy a cake just because I liked him so much (well, that and his cakes are pretty amazing!).

After lunch and Duff, we decided to check out the animals... on our way there, though, we found the display of giant bugs! Jack was fascinated, and Dave was afraid (in a very manly way, of course) of the enormous tarantula, so of course I decided that we just had to go in there!

(I had on my close lens and there wasn't much space in there so this was all I could get of the tarantula)

After the animals, we made our way to the pig pens. We walked in, Dave was overwhelmed by the odor, and we walked back out. But not before I was able to snap one photo.

Then we headed over to the rides! We ended up buying Jack an "unlimited ticket" bracelet and a card with about 40 tickets to split between Dave, Sam and I. There weren't many rides that Sam was big enough for (and he was content to watch), and there were a few rides that Jack needed an adult to ride with him, so we ended up with the perfect amount of tickets! Jack had so much fun and it was fun for me to watch Dave watch him, since Dave doesn't get to watch him on rides when we go to Knott's Berry Farm.

This slide was so tall and fast, and Dave and I warned him that it might be a little more than he expected, but he insisted that he wanted to ride it so up he went. He ended up loving it even though it did end up to be much faster than he anticipated... his face at the last bit says it all!

This thing had make-Bec-puke written all over it, so of course Dave was the one to take Jack on it. Not like I had a choice, though, since Jack insisted that daddy take him instead of mommy!

Then Dave got a beer...

... and it was back to riding rides!

After rides we went into the display hall... Jack saw this huge camera and got so excited! He told me to stand in front so that he could take my picture, and then I told him to let me take a picture of him taking a picture of me. He didn't like that though, and said "Mom, my camera is bigger than yours so you have to let me take a picture first!"

Then it was time to try some fried food! Last time we were at the fair we got fried oreos. This time? Fried Kool-Aid! We were a little leery at first, but it definitely tastes way better than it sounds! I recommend!!!

We were on our way out when we realized that we forgot to go see the other animals! Since Sam loves animals, I definitely wanted to go there! The boys loved it, so I was really glad that we did!

Such a fun day at the fair!

Wordless SammyWam-day!

2011-11-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

Those Rockstar Babies Of Mine

2011-11-17T05:00:00.000-08:00

My kids love music. Like, they seriously love music.
Some examples:
Exhibit A: The Baseball-Bat-Turned-Flute
Exhibit B: The Future Composer, and Naptime Symphony Conducting
Exhibit C: Sam, The Ukulele King.

He is very passionate about his music, isn't he? He and Dave have a lot of fun singing and playing their ukuleles together, and it is the cutest thing to see!

Our 2011 Summer Vacation- Part Six!

2011-11-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

You can find Part One here...
Part Two can be found here...
Part Three can be found here...
Part Four can be found here...
And Part Five can be found here.

On our last full day of vacation we decided to skip the lake. I remembered how much fun we had the summer before when my dad and I took the boys to Las Vegas for my cousin's baby shower. Jack had such a fun time, and I wanted to do it again now that Dave was with us! I knew that I wanted to end up on the tram like we had done before, but I wasn't sure what else I wanted to do and I didn't really wanted to spend an arm and a leg for it, so I googled free things to do in Las Vegas. One of the first things to come up was the aquarium in the Silverton (at least, I think it was called the Silverton!). So we loaded up the boys and drove to the Silverton and walked through the entire casino before we found their "aquarium". For the record, according to Webster, an aquarium can be defined as a container in which living aquatic animals or plants are kept... so, I guess technically one single tank is an aquarium. Fortunately, we knew it was free and so we weren't expecting much... plus we were able to walk the whole way around the circular tank, so it felt like more than one tank and the boys were entertained.

In the end, it didn't really matter that the aquarium was so small, because right next to the tank was the coolest store ever! The Bass Pro Shop! Okay, I know this makes us sound like a really dorky bunch, but seriously, have you ever been there? That place is cool!!! For example, this is what the entrance to the store looks like:

(taken from my mom's camera)

And they had tanks of giant sport fish in the store, as well as a ton of stuffed animals! Here are Jack and me being scared by a lion:

(also from my mom's camera)

We spent more time in that store than we did at the fish tank aquarium, that's for sure! After that we ate lunch and then made our way to the strip, where we revisited the tram system that runs between the hotels! Jack and Sam were so excited about it and we rode it six times!

After the train we made our way back to our hotel. I had promised the boys the day before that they could swim in the man-made beach-pool, so we put our swimsuits on and headed down there! Jack and grandpa had a blast playing in there and Sam alternated between having a blast playing in the sand with grandma and having a blast cuddling with mommy... he was beat from all the adventures we'd been having!

(from my mom's camera... I love this picture!)

Once we were done swimming we raced back to the hotel to get dressed so that we could meet up with some family for dinner. The last time we were in Vegas we were there for a baby shower for baby Hudson, and we were going to get to meet him this time! We we so excited! He is sooo cute, and it was great to see my aunt, uncle and cousins again! After dinner we went on another walk through the village with them, and Jack had a lot of fun telling them about the village and showing off for them. This time, though, he really did fall in the fountain. It was pretty funny ;)

Hudson and Samuel

The boys checking out the fountain (Jack was the only one who fell in)

Don't you just love his eyes?

Checking out the misters. He's loved those since he was a baby!

And my favorite picture of the entire vacation:

So, overall we had a great vacation! We weren't a fan of the lake itself, but we loved the village of Lake Las Vegas! And, despite the abundance of disasters that occurred the first day and trickled over into the rest of the vacation, we had a good time and the boys had a blast! A blast that continued when we got home, too! Jack is at the age now where he wants to help, and he's actually quite helpful! Thus, our obligatory end-of-vacation-cleanup photo:

2011 Summer Vacation, Part Five

2011-11-10T21:03:00.000-08:00

You can find Part One here...
Part Two can be found here...
Part Three can be found here...
and Part Four can be found here

Day five of vacation was another day on the lake!

We made it out early again and had some nice water for wakeboarding, skiing and tubing. And, true to the nature of our vacation thus far, we had another binding break! This time it was Dave's binding that broke... figures, huh? Anyway, since we did pretty much the same thing on the lake this time as the time before, I'll spare you the inundation of photos from that and will skip to what we did after we got back from the lake... went on another walk! How could we resist walking around a place like this?!

This time we decided to walk under that bridge to see what was downstream. I had wanted to find a beach beach for the boys to play at, and my dad had found a man-made beach-pool while he was running that morning so we all went to check it out! We passed a couple of beautiful waterfalls on the way, and the boys were so excited when we found the beach-pool! It was beautiful, and I promised Jack that we would come back the next day to play!

(I took this next one on my mom's camera so I snagged it to share)

I am almost done with these vacation posts! One more post and then we can move on to the rest of our incredibly busy and fun summer! Yay!

Best Big Brother Ever

2011-10-30T15:38:00.000-07:00

Alternatively titled: The Patience Of A Saint

Sam loves teasing Jack, and Jack is so patient with Sam's teasing! He sits there and lets Sam mess with him and just waits patiently until Sam tires of it. I love hearing them giggle together :)

Day Four of Summer Vacation, 2011

2011-10-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

You can find Part One here...
Part Two can be found here...
and Part Three can be found here.

When I posted about day three I forgot about another disaster! I was trying to catch the dock while Dave drove the boat in, and he was going so fast that I ended up with a bruise the size of a volleyball just below my knee! It hurt and started changing colors immediately... some skin even came off! It looked worse every day and was a constant reminder of the disasters that found us each day! Of course, it really could have been much worse... at least I could still walk (and wakeboard) on it!

Day four started off on a great note! Sam got up and immediately started searching for papa... he is such a papa's boy! It was so cute hearing him walk around the hotel suite calling "Papa, where are you?" and asking me "Where papa go?" And when my dad came back from his morning run, Sam was thrilled to get to spend some quality time with one of his favorite people!

And of course, he had some snuggles for grandma, too!

On day three we had taken time to explore the lake and we were pleasantly surprised by this view of the Hoover Dam:

I was especially excited, both because I had never seen the dam from that angle before, but also because I knew that Dave had never seen the dam at all before! I had already been considering spending a day sightseeing, but the view of the dam from the lake sealed it for me: we were going to spend day four of our vacation being tourists! So we packed our lunches, made sure to grab extra water, and piled in the truck to get a different view of the Hoover Dam! Jack did great walking on those stairs, Sam sat patiently and waited as we carried his chariot up and down, we made sure to stay hydrated, and had a great time checking out the view!

After our visit to the dam we found a park on our GPS and headed for it! The park was call Big Horn Park (or something like that) and when we pulled up we immediately found out why!

It was kind of gross, because there was a lot of sheep poop all over the cute little playground, but it was so fun to get to watch all the sheep come down and play while we ate!

The funniest sight ever was when I turned around to see my dad bent over at the waist reading a plaque that was in the ground with the biggest sheep behind him with his head aimed directly at my dad's derriere! I would have gotten a picture if I wasn't so afraid that the sheep was actually about to headbutt his butt!

After lunch we headed into Henderson and found our way to the Ethel M chocolate factory! I never forgot visiting there when I was a kid and I thought Jack would love it too. He was pretty fascinated by the assembly line, which was no surprise to me since he always wants to watch the people packing meat through the window at Costco! Of course, his favorite part, and Sam's too, was the piece of free chocolate at the end of the tour!

Jack was such a crack up at the chocolate factory! He was so entertaining that the store manager was laughing at him and told him that if it was okay with his mom she would give him another piece of chocolate! He thought that was awesome and as she was walking to the back of the store to get the candy he yelled after her "It can't have nuts in it! I'm allergic to nuts!" I saw her shoulders shaking with laughter as she grabbed the candy and as she came back and handed it to him he said again "Does it have nuts in it? I am allergic to nuts!" She assured him that it didn't have any nuts and then she asked me if it was okay if she gave him two pieces! He totally charmed the chocolate out of that lady!

After seeing the prices in that store and remembering that there was a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (my favorite!) in the village where we were staying, we decided not to buy any candy from there. Instead, we made our way outside and enjoyed a nice walk through the cactus garden.

(I scored this one off my mom's camera!)

When we were done at the chocolate factory/cactus garden we hopped back in the car to get back to the hotel in time to make dinner. Sam took the opportunity to take a nap...

... and after dinner we all took the opportunity to get a treat at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory!

And of course, we ended the day with a walk through the village, again! We loved that village!

This little stinker... Dave and I told him to be careful not to fall in the fountain if he was going to walk around it. If you know Jack, you know that he is, um, not the most coordinated kid in the world. And by "not the most coordinated", I mean he's pretty much the least coordinated. As in, he manages to walk into walls when he's standing still, and has quite often been known to answer "What did you trip over?!" with "The floor!"

So, of course I had my camera ready when Jack tried to step down this...

... because I knew it would lead to a picture like this!

He laughed and said "Good thing my daddy was there to catch me!" Such a silly kid! At least he knows how to laugh at himself, though. I love that he is able to see the humor in his klutziness!

Oh, and by the way, this was by far my favorite day of vacation ;)

Our 2011 Summer Vacation- Part Three

2011-10-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

You can find Part One here...
and Part Two can be found here.

We were so anxious to get on the lake bright and early since the first two days of vacation were not quite what we had planned. I made lunches the night before, and got everything ready so that all we had to do was get the boys dressed and breakfasted before throwing them in the car and getting the boat on the lake. And this time I didn't forget my camera!

Cutest flagger ever ;)

The disaster of Day three was simply that the clasp on the tie of my wakeboard bindings broke on my last run of the day. And that poor Sam was pretty miserable in his lifejacket most of the time.

Dave doesn't want me to post pictures of him on my blog any more (not like I have very many pictures of him to begin with though, right?), so I can't post some of the best ones. However, my dad insisted that I needed to post these on my blog! He had a great run on the water-ski... not bad for an old man, huh?

Since we had tried out a new boat ramp that day we had a hard time finding a good spot to beach the boat. Instead we ended up staying on the boat all day... I felt bad for poor Sam, who didn't get a break from his life jacket, but he ended up sucking it up and dealing with it. It helped, of course, that grandma was there to distract him!

After lunch we finally gave in to Jack's pleas of "Can I go on the tube now?!" and we gave grandpa and him a ride! He was having so much fun, and of course kept wanting to go faster!

It was so funny... the wind had really picked up by then, and it was blowing the wake all over the tubers! Jack was laughing so hard!!!

His smile was plastered to his face when it was time to come in... my little daredevil is so brave!

Since the wind had picked up and poor Sam had been in his life jacket all day, we packed the boat up and made our way back to the hotel. Jack wasn't done playing, though, so as soon as we got back up to the room we left Dave up there to make dinner and the rest of us headed back down...

... to the pool!

After swimming we went back up to the room for dinner, and then we all went for a walk around the village. We had so much fun exploring! It was such a great little village!!!

To be continued...

2011 Summer Vacation, Part Two

2011-10-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

If you read Part One of the story, then you probably wouldn't be surprised to hear that every day there was something that went wrong on our vacation. Nothing else that happened was anywhere near as difficult or disappointing as what happened that first day, and I probably would have forgotten all about them if it hadn't been for them occurring directly in the shadow of the disasters of day one.

The first part of the day didn't feel that much like a disaster since we were unsure of how our day would unfold to start with. Dave's plan was either to drop the rest of us off on the lake with the boat while he took the trailer in (sans boat) to be fixed- from there he would either meet us at the lake and we would pay to keep the boat on the lake overnight- or if it didn't take that long for the trailer to be fixed then we'd just drop him off again when we were done playing and have him go pick up the trailer and meet us at the boat launch. However, when he called me to check in from the trailer place (where he went second thing in the morning- first was the gym) and said that it would only be a couple hours, I told him to just get it fixed and we could wait to hit the lake until lunchtime. So, mom and I packed lunches and got the boys ready to go and as soon as Dave and my dad got back from getting the trailer and the light connections fixed we hit the road and finally got the boat on the lake!

We managed to get the boat off the trailer and into the water with no incidents. We were a little worried because that particular ramp had only recently been reopened due to shallow water and we had been warned to keep a sharp eye out... plus we had to put the trailer in at a very odd angle in order to get the boat deep enough. Still, it worked and we were thrilled and as soon as we pulled out of the cove I realized that I left my camera in the truck!!! I was soooo disappointed but there was no way that I was going to make Dave turn the boat around so I had to do without it. Luckily my mom had her camera!!!

Since we got such a late start we didn't get to do any wakeboarding or tubing that day. It was incredibly windy and choppy and we were very hungry, so after we satisfied Jack and Dave's need for speed (that kid is so his father's son!) we found a cove that was moderately protected from the wind and waves and beached the boat to feed the kids, swim and play on the beach. It was really fun!!!

Of course... since I didn't have my camera I have no idea what else happened that day except for this...

I really have to get better at remembering stuff ;)

To be continued, of course...

Who Knew?

2011-10-06T10:27:00.001-07:00

So, apparently people other than my mom and Ang actually DO read my blog! Since I’ve been taking a break from it I’ve gotten quite a few emails, texts, phone calls, instant messages and facebook messages asking when I was going to start it up again… I didn’t realize that so many people enjoyed my blog! I am humbled! What an honor it is that you all take the time to read my (usually super long and picture heavy!) posts and are interested in what my family has been up to! Thank you so much for the love and support, and I promise that I am ready to start it back up again and you will soon be reading about the amazing things my Jack Jack does and seeing the sweet face of my Sammy Wammy.

Of course, my OCD insists that I start back up where I left off: with Part Two of our trip to Lake Mead (you can read Part One, here, in case you missed it, or in case you just want to refresh your memory about the many disasters of day one). Coming soon, I promise!!!

In the meantime, if you’d like to receive my blog updates by email, you can enter your email address in the Subscription Widget to the right (for the directionally challenged, that’s this way ---> ). After you’ve done this you will receive an email to confirm and you need to click that link to start receiving the posts via email. Or you can just sign up via your RSS reader or use blogger’s dashboard feature if that works better for you. Of course, once my posts are published I post a link on Facebook (due to popular request), but who knows if Facebook will think it’s a popular enough story to actually share it with you (if you can’t tell, I really hate the new changes they made!).

I’ll be back with my next update as soon as I can get it together

A Disastrous Start To Our Summer Vacation

2011-08-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

Dave and I wanted to try out a new lake with the boat this year, so we made plans to go to Lake Mead! We booked a hotel suite in Lake Las Vegas, and (of course) invited my parents along with us. We were really looking forward to a vacation and to taking the boat out again! It was a lot of work to get ready, but we were excited!

As it turned out, we had a pretty crappy first day of vacation. And when I say it was crappy, you know it had to have sucked. It is funny to look back on it now, even though it’s more of a roll-your-eyes-and-shake-your-head-and-sigh-with-relief-that-that-day-is-over kind of funny… if that even qualifies as funny.

This post ~~may~~ will be long.

When we first bought the boat the previous owner asked me if there was anything that I was concerned about regarding being a new boat owner, and I answered honestly. “The only thing that I can think of is that I just remember growing up, whenever we would take the trailer, my dad would have such issues with the lights working. It was always a huge deal and caused a lot of stress… I’m afraid we’ll have issues with the lights, too!” He laughed and said not to worry and that he had us covered. Then he very generously gave us a connector that was a pretty foolproof way to plug those lights into the truck. It was awesome, and we never had a problem so I pretty much forgot all my trailer-lights anxiety.

So, on the morning of vacation we packed the boys in and got all set to go! Since rearfacing is safer, we still have Sam’s carseat facing backwards… however we decided to switch him to forward facing just for vacation. It is such a long drive and we needed to keep him entertained! I thought that he’d be thrilled. Apparently, he wasn’t. As soon as I put him in his seat he fuh-reaked out! I guess forward facing in daddy’s truck was too much for him? I managed to calm him down by explaining that he gets to ride just like a big boy and that riding in daddy’s truck was a very special treat… and then I handed him some breakfast. Small crisis averted. (Should we call that crisis #1?) Then I stepped back to take our first official vacation photo!

And then I immediately ran to the back of the trailer to do the routine trailer-light check.   It failed. We readjusted the plug and managed to get the right side working, but the left side was still out. We thought about our options- it was early Sunday morning and no shops would be open yet, and at least we had some lights, if not all- we decided to hit the road and stop at a place once the shops open. As we drove down the hallway we sent up a prayer of thanks that we had smartphones and I furiously Googled, and called around trying to find a place to stop to get the lights fixed. No luck. Apparently everyone who works on boat trailers is very religious, because no one was open on Sunday! Finally, after a few hours of very careful driving on Dave’s part and two very drained cell phone batteries, Dave had a brilliant idea to get a tow truck light kit so that we’d at least have some light on the left side! By that time Ang had hopped online and I IMed her a plea for help! She helped us find a place to stop in Barstow to pick up some lights and I sat in the car with the boys while Dave ran in to get them.

Sam had fallen asleep right before we pulled off the freeway, and I was hoping to get a great nap out of him- I gave Jack my iTouch to keep him occupied so he wouldn’t get bored and wake up Sam, and then stepped out to help Dave hook up the light kit. Right when we were almost done checking the lights I heard a scream from the car… have I ever mentioned that Jack is afraid of flies? Apparently a fly had gotten in and was bugging him… and there was no way that Sam could sleep through Jack’s fly-terror! Jack was screaming, Sam was screaming, and we couldn’t get the stupid fly out of the car, so we drove down the road with two screaming kids, two parents who were always one step behind the fly, and a boat trailer with tow-light-kits… that apparently don’t stick to a metal boat trailer very well! We pulled onto the highway and immediately had to pull back off again, as the lights were just about to fall off the trailer and hit the road and the cars around us! We didn’t have any way of getting them to stay, so we removed them. And, what do you know, but as we removed them the light suddenly started working again!!! Relieved, we hopped back on the freeway!

Not 10 minutes later, though (may have even been closer to 5!) we heard a bang and felt a jolt and Dave and I immediately checked our respective side mirrors… we had a flat on the left rear trailer tire. C.R.A.P.   We were about .75/mi away from the next offramp and there was no way that there was enough room to change it on the side of the freeway, so we limped along the shoulder to the exit.

I so wished I had taken a photo of the damage, but I really didn’t want to further irritate Dave. The rear tire had blown out in such a way that it shattered the tail-light that had just miraculously started working again, tore up the license plate, and bent the fender up inside in such a way that I was pretty sure we were completely screwed. Dave said he had never seen a tire blowout quite like that before. And it was freaking hot. Dave set about changing the tire, and since the boys had been cooped up for so long I decided it was a good time to stretch their legs so I let them out… except I could not find Sam’s shoe!!! I knew it was in there when we started our journey, and I knew that there was no way it could have fallen out without me noticing, but I FREAKING COULD NOT FIND HIS SHOE!!!! So, I had to hold Sam while Jack walked around and looked at the glass-and-trash-infested desert. And it was hot, and he was pissed that I wouldn’t let him get down, and I felt bad for Dave that he had to change that tire by himself, and it was approaching lunchtime, and I could not find that freaking shoe that I had spent so much time contemplating and focusing on when trying to find good lake vacation shoes for Sammy.   And poor Dave is magical and bent back that fender (I swear he has to be the strongest man on Earth and I mostly wish I had a picture of that bent fender not so that I can show how bad it was but so that I can show how amazing Dave is!) and changed that tire and I as soon as we all climbed back in the car I rewarded him with an ice cold water and a “You’re amazing” and he said “I want to go home.”

It was then that we had the following conversation:
Me: Well it could have been worse! I know it doesn’t feel like it, because this really sucks, but it’s true!
Dave: Are you kidding me?! How in the world could that have been worse?! What else could happen?!?!
Me: First of all it could have been worse because it could have been BOTH of the tires on that side and we wouldn’t have been able to limp to the off-ramp. Or it even could have caused us to crash! And second of all, NEVER ask what else could go wrong because that’s pretty much the same thing as ASKING something else to go wrong!!!

Turns out, I was too late in stopping Dave from asking what else could go wrong. Let me back up for a minute… a day before we left for vacation Dave was calling and searching around for a Tonneau Cover for the back of his truck so that we could protect our gear/luggage/food and whatnot from the elements as we were travelling. The one he had ordered was apparently on the Slowest Shipping Route known to man and didn’t make it in time for our vacation. He had no luck, so we left for vacation without one. Fast-forward back to the Disastrous First Day of vacation and the ominous clouds in the sky as we approached State Line. Right about the time we noticed the clouds and thunder and lightning in the distance I got a text from my mom (who, with my dad, was already in Las Vegas visiting family and was going to meet us at the hotel when we got there) asking if it was raining on us. I texted back “Not yet, but with the way this day is going I’d be surprised if it doesn’t rain on us!”

People, it didn’t rain. It poured. Our stuff got wet.

Sam wasn’t too fond of the rain, so to distract him from it (for some reason it gets really loud in Dave’s truck when the rain pounds on the roof… Dave thought it was hailing as it was so loud, but it didn’t look like any hail I’d seen before…?) I gave the boys some snacks. That turned out to be a great idea! The not great part of it, though, was the the only snacks that I could reach was super messy Cheetos!!! Sam loved it, but I had a lot of cheesey mess to clean up later! (But it was totally worth it )

I’m going to go ahead and skip the details about the hassle that check-in turned out to be. Dave was done so I handled that while he relaxed by chasing dragonflies in a cool (and by cool, I mean only 95 degrees), grassy area and then we went up to look at our hotel suite! We were so relieved to actually be there after that horrible travel day, and the boys and I explored our rooms and called my parents to let them know we were there and all checked in while Dave went down to unload the rest of the car.

My parents got to the hotel and ran into Dave at the truck, so they helped load the cart to take our stuff up. The kids were so happy to see grandma and papa, and they wasted no time... Jack immediately took grandma on a tour of the hotel rooms (and playing scare-the-grandma through the window) and Sam immediately started "helping" papa unload the cart!

And then, more disaster struck. Not even 5 minutes after my parents got up to the room the fire alarm started going off, and we heard a booming voice over the loudspeaker demanding that we evacuate the hotel. These things are usually false alarms, but as I always stress to my kids the importance of safety and obeying rules we knew we had to get out. So I grabbed a few snacks, water, and the stroller (not knowing how long we'd be kicked out of the room) and, still thinking that it was a false alarm, opened the door to the hall to lead my crew to the staircase. Imagine my shock when I opened the door to find smoke in the hallway! Imagine my dread when I realized that the smoke was pouring out of the hotel room next to ours! Of course my instinct was to lead the boys away from the smoke, but my lead-by-experience-and-not-just-instinct-since-he's-a-badass-firefighter hubby told me that I was going the wrong way and the stairs were just on the other side of the smokey hotel room. I gave my boys feeble instructions not to breathe as we passed the smoke (of course I knew there was no point in saying that, but it made me feel better to pretend they wouldn't inhale any smoke!) and we ran-walked to the staircase. My parents each had one of my boys so I was able to focus on making sure my hubby didn't play the hero (he kept going back in at each floor to check for people in the halls... I love that he's a rescuer, but it makes me nervous at the same time!) and kept reminding him that he was on vacation!

Once we got outside (we were on the fifth floor so it was a lot of stairs), the boys were so excited that they got to play in the fountain that we had passed on the way in- they were so sad earlier that they didn't get to play in it and I promised that we would when grandma and grandpa got there. They had a great time playing in that fountain, and that's where we were when the fire department showed up. Finally.

Right after I took this photo of Dave and my dad discussing strategy (or whatever it is that men talk about at times like these), this was the conversation we had:

Me: Hey Dave, this right here is a perfect example of why you never ever ask what else can go wrong! If you hadn't said that then this probably wouldn't have happened!

Dave: ...

Okay, so it wasn't so much a conversation as it was me (jokingly) winning the point! He knew I was joking though, and he smiled. And now that I think about it, he hasn't asked that since! Of course, if in the future he ever does ask what else could go wrong I will be ready to blame the next hotel fire on him ;)

As it turned out, the man in the room next to us had put popcorn in the microwave for five minutes and walked away. So, everything was okay. Everything stunk to high heaven, but it was okay. We finally made it back up to our room, and decided to de-stress by taking the boys swimming.

And finally we were having so much fun and actually felt like we were on vacation!!!

(my parents tell me that by the time I was Sam's age I was swimming like a fish all on my own... apparently Sam thinks that he is a fishie too, as he kept trying to get out of our arms! My kids are not afraid of the water at all!)

After the day we had, my mom volunteered to make dinner that night to give us a break. We were praying that the next day would be better!!!

To be continued...

Too Much Summer Fun!

2011-08-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the blog! As much as I love blogging and sharing all the fun things we’ve been up to, I love playing with and enjoying my kids more! We’ve been having too much fun together this summer- we’ve done activity after activity, backtobacktobacktoback and we are exhausted and happy! Okay, I am exhausted… the boys have tapped into some as-of-yet-undiscovered-by-parents energy source and are like little Energizer Bunnies that can keep going and going and going. I wish they’d let me in on their secret! Oh well. I actually have a ton more energy than I did last year since I’ve lost all that weight, so as long as Dave lets me sleep in once every few weeks or so I’m good ;)

Anyway, we’ve been so busy that I have about 2 dozen posts on my list which I will post as time allows. I mean, we have been super busy, but we’re still super busy so my To Be Blogged list will get longer before it gets any shorter! I love summer :)

And, since I have a moment, here is the first item on my list… a playdate at Kid Concepts! We really love that place (though I hate taking pictures in there), and we were so excited that it was on the list of pre-planned playdates with our church friends! I made a deal with Jack, though… he was not allowed to play at the train table until he played with everything else! I knew once he was there I wouldn’t be able to tear him away and I knew that he would have so much fun playing up in the hamster trails! And, since this year I was not pregnant and I didn’t have a 4 month old strapped to my chest, I was able to join him! It was so much fun! here is a hodgepodge of photos from our day at Kid Concepts:

Happy Birthday, America!

2011-07-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

I was so disappointed that our city had to cut our annual fireworks display thanks to city budget cuts (but so glad they hadn't had to cut out the Armed Forces day parade instead- great choice, city!) and we couldn't do the same thing we did last year and the year before for fireworks. We had been hoping that this year we'd be able to join Dave at his work on the Fourth of July, but unfortunately since he's stationed at Disney and the station is technically on Disney property, we weren't able to even visit him for a bit, let alone stay for Disney's fireworks. We did have other options, though, and we were blessed by three separate invitations! I was torn about which invitation to accept, but in the end I was really happy with my decision, even though we had to miss out on great fun with friends and even though we didn't end up getting home until 11pm.

Since I knew we were going to have a late night, I decided to keep the boys home all day and try to extend Sam's nap as late as possible so that he wouldn't freak out too badly later on. So we invited some family over to splash in the backyard! Grandma accepted the invitation, of course, and Grammy and grandpa both also stopped by for a while, and the boys were thrilled! We had a great time playing, and my plan worked well- Sam ended up taking an epic nap!

Then grandma started a water fight...

... and Jack had so much fun getting her back! I bet she regretted that! (You can really see how much Jack's body has changed lately- he's really thinned out and is starting to look so grown up!)

We took a break for lunch,

Then Jack decided to make a waterslide

Sam loved it, too!

So much so, that he pooped. Since it was almost naptime at that point I decided not to waste another diaper and just let him "swim" naked. He LOVED that! I have a video that I wish I could post, but there isn't really a way to put a modestly patch on a video, so you'll have to settle for photos ;)

Meanwhile, Jack and grandpa took over the water fight where grandma and Jack left off

As it turned out, my strategy worked a little too well- not only was Sam exhausted, but grandma, grandpa and Jack were, too! Jack hasn't napped in well over a year and he didn't that day, but he did need a nice rest! So grandma wrapped him up in a towel and they told stories (one of his very favorite things to do is tell stories!). Grandpa DID need a nap, though, which was no surprise to us since he is the King of naps!

While Sam slept, my parents ran back home to get ready for our outing that night and I made sure that the car was packed with all of the stuff we'd need that night, too! I called them as soon as Sam woke up from his nap and they came over to hitch a ride with us. We stopped at Subway to grab some sandwiches on our way to the beach to watch fireworks!!! We knew that we would be able to see two fireworks shows from there, so we threw Sam in teh wagon along with a bunch of other stuff to keep us busy while we waited for our friends, the "H" family, to join us!

And then our friends got there! Jack and Sadie played in the sand while Savannah and Serena played frisbee with their dad

And then Serena came to play in the sand while Savannah played with Sam

When the sun went down, Jack started going crazy with excitement! We were about a mile or two down the beach from the fireworks, and we had a great view! When they were over, though, we had a short intermission before the next show started... right in front of us! They shot the fireworks off of a barge in the water, and it was really cool! Jack and Sam LOVED the shows, and they stayed awake the whole time despite it being WAY past their bedtime!

Jack and Sam may have lasted through both fireworks shows, but Serena and Sadie didn't! Serena even fell asleep sitting up!

Yeah, I'd say we definitely had a great Fourth!

Trains With Daddy!

2011-07-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

When Dave finally came home from his most recent 96 hour shift, we were so excited to see him! To celebrate having our daddy back for a few hours (he had to work again the next three days!), we packed up a lunch and headed out to one of our favorite local parks... it just happened to be on the day that they were running the trains! Jack, of course, always asks if the trains are running when we drive by that park (or even when he thinks of it and we're nowhere near the park, which is quite often!), so of course that was how we chose to celebrate having daddy home!

We were so anxious to go that we got there before it even opened! We didn't have to wait very long, though, before they opened the gates to let us line up, and we ended up being on the first train! Jack and Dave got to sit up front right behind the steam engine and Sam and I ended up near the back of the train because Sam was too little to sit in the bucket seats. It was a bummer that we didn't get to sit next to each other, but at least I was able to get a couple pictures of Jack and Dave since I was far enough away from them!

Here you can see Jack and Dave and the two empty seats that Sam and I didn't get to ride on (I think he could have sat there just fine!)

It had been a few months since the last time we came to ride the trains, so we were very surprised and excited to see a few new train cars on the track... most notably this one, that we knew that grandma would love!

(my mom collects all things Campbell's Soup- her kitchen is decorated in Campbell's Soup stuff!)

We rode the train three times... the lines were moving very fast that day, despite one of the engines breaking down and us having to wait for them to clear the track. The kids did a great job waiting during that time, though- I think it helped that there were so many train things to look at, and not to mention that we had daddy to keep them entertained!

After our third ride it was lunch time, so we headed over to the picnic table to eat! The boys were so good and gobbled up their lunch in record time... they ate so fast, that we had time to ride the train two more times before it was time to go home for Sam's nap! We had such a fun day, and we were so glad to get to spend it with daddy!!!

Screaming For Sandwiches

2011-07-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

I Scream

You Scream

We All Scream

For

Ice Cream!

(and a video, too!)

My Little Running Man Pirate!

2011-07-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

One of the things we did to entertain ourselves while Dave was on his 96 hour shift last weekend was to go to Jack's first run! My dad signed him up for the kid's 1/2 mile run/walk at Kaiser, and so we put on our running shoes and headed on over! Before the race started we found lots of things to entertain us! There was a bounce house with a slide that Jack and grandpa had a blast in, and my mom and I even got free massages!

Then it was time to put on his number and head to the finish line! (But not before pausing to "climb" a tree first!)

Once we got to the starting line we did our stretches...

And then it was time to start the race! Jack was so excited when we took off, and I was surprised how quickly he was running! He did such a great job, and insisted on running the whole way. I knew he was tired and he stopped every now and again for water and I kept reminding him that it was okay to walk (in fact, I tried to convince him to walk!), but he was dead set on running the whole way!

He was so fast that I barely beat him to the finish line to take a picture of his first victory!!! He was so proud of himself and per grandpa's instructions he threw his arms up as he crossed the finish line!

Once he finished he got a new water bottle, a lei and a cheer from his baby brother!

After we spent the appropriate amount of time cooling off and celebrating Jack's successful first "race", we headed back to the booths for some more fun! We found the hula hoop booth and the boys played there for a very long time!

And that's when Auntie Mimi and Luke showed up!

While we were playing with the hula hoops, grandma was holding Jack's place in line at the face painting booth! He was so excited to have his first experience with face painting, and can you guess what he chose?

He was a pirate! He was so funny about having his face painted- he didn't look anything like himself and it was a little creepy- he got such a kick out of everyone's reactions to him!

We took the boys to the playground at that park, and as it happened there was a pirate ship there! Jack was so excited and he made sure that everyone knew that he was the captain because of his very appropriate makeup!

We had such a great time- I hope they have another run soon!

When We Miss Our Daddy

2011-07-09T05:45:00.000-07:00

Dave works a lot due to the nature of his job. His shifts are 24 hours, and he works a lot of over-times as well, so it is not uncommon for him to be working a 48 hour shift. Also, sometimes things line up that have him working a 72 hour shift, and he has worked as many as 120 hours in a row! We always miss him, to be sure, but when he was on his most recent 96 hour shift we just couldn't stand it and had to go visit him. The boys were thrilled to see him, of course! They were so excited to see daddy, in fact, that it took them a while to remember that we were at the fire station and that they could go exploring! But once they remembered where we were, they definitely took full advantage of it!

Can you spot Jack?

They also had a lot of fun checking out the exercise equipment at the fire station, too. The line of the day was "Mom, why do firemans have balls?" Took me a second to realize what he was asking and I had to laugh at that!

We had a really great visit! We always have a great time when we visit daddy at work, but we much prefer it when he's home with us! Still, we can't complain- he takes such good care of us and we are so extremely blessed to have him!!!

This Is His "Cheese" Pose

2011-07-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

When he sees the camera, he cheeses... complete with the arm pose. I don't know where the arms came from, but I love it!

(Pardon the nakedness- it was one of those moments that I couldn't not take pictures of, and it was a pose that I couldn't not post!)

Two Very Special Mommy-Daddy-And-JackJack Outings

2011-07-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

Every time a commercial for Cars 2 comes on, or we drive by a billboard or a bus stop that has the poster advertising Cars 2, Jack flips out. He loves the first movie so much, and Dave and I were certain that he'd love the new one also... so we planned to make Cars 2 be Jack's very first movie-in-the-theater! Before we could take him, though, we had the opportunity to check out the cars that would be at the premier! So, we left Sam with my mom and brought Jack out on a surprise "adventure"! He didn't know where we were going, but once he saw what his surprise was, he was thrilled!!!

We had to wait in line for our turn, so while Dave held our place in line, Jack and I explored a bit! We watched the water "dancing" at the water fountain, followed the tracks on the ground, and we even got to ride the trolley!

Then we rejoined Dave in line because it was almost our turn! Jack told daddy all about the trolley ride and then he took a second to pose before the Lightning McQueen poster before we got to take our turn at the cars!

Jack was thrilled! He did a great job smiling for my camera, but he didn't realize that there was also an "official" camera, so he didn't really smile for those. I was glad to have them, though, because we were able to get all three of us in a couple photos!

First up was Mater

Then was Lightning McQueen

And introducing, Finn McMissile!

When our turn was over, Jack was still on Cloud 9!

It was freaking hot that day, so we paused to sit in the shade and drink a lemonade...

And once again to check out the water fountain before heading home (well, to pick up Sam, and then home!)

A few days later we dropped Sam off with my mom again so that we could take Jack to the movie! He was so excited and he did so well! I was so proud of him! he was thrilled that he got to eat popcorn, and sat so quietly and still, and he remembered to whisper when he needed to say something. Right before the credits came on, Jack turned around and saw the projector, so when it was over I explained to him how the movie worked. When I was done explaining he said "That's cool, mom. Now I would like to take a closer look at the screen!" So I showed him how the projector made the movie on my hand and I lifted him up so that he could put his arms in the way and have the credits scroll on him! He thought it was great! I didn't bring my camera to the theater, but I did snap this with my cell phone to commemorate the occasion!

Back In The Gardens Again

2011-07-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite outings we had last summer was to the South Coast Botanic Gardens. Two weeks ago we were so excited to have another playdate there! Jack has such a great memory, and as soon as we walked in the gate he started asking about some of the fun things we did the last time we were there. First, though, we had to wait for the rest of our friends to get there! While we waited, we played in the Japanese Garden- complete with Koi pond! That's where we were when our friends showed up, and the kids had so much fun watching the fish together. Jack was thrilled that his friends were there!

After the Koi pond we headed to the children's garden. That garden is so fun! The kids loved it and we promised them that we could come back to it before we left for the day- there was a cool water pump that the boys were loving and we definitely wanted to come back to it! First, though, there was so much more to see- starting with the Rose Gardens, which were absolutely beautiful!

Jack's favorite part of the garden was the fountain, of course. He is such a sweet boy- I gave him a penny to make a wish and he announced "I wish that we could be best friends forever!" I so love that boy's heart!!!

Then we went to a gorgeous open field and Jack immediately announced that we needed to play Tag. It didn't work out that well since the only kids interested in playing with him were two one year olds, who seemed to think that playing tag was about giving hugs or just running away, and the only adult that felt like running around was grandma (she's always up for playing with her boys!), but he didn't seem to mind that and had a great time anyway!

Then Sammy found the gazebo, where McKenna was hanging out, and decided to play there! He loves flowers (always goes out of his way to say "hi" and "bye" to them!) and he had a lot of fun looking at the beautiful ones there, and he also had fun practicing keeping his balance going up and down that step. Just like a man, though, to be completely oblivious when a girl is flirting with him- McKenna kept poking him and giggling and he never even realized! Don't worry, her feelings weren't hurt by his inattention- she was having too much fun to feel anything other than completely victorious!

While I was taking pictures, my boys noticed that I was on the ground and their natural instincts kicked in and they did what they always do... dogpile on momma!!! This is why I have a very hard time working out when they are with me- imagine doing situps when you have 70 lbs of kid on you!

(photo courtesy of Ang, who also documented our day here)

Then it was time for lunch!

Isn't this face hilarious? This is his "fake laugh/I'm just too funny" face.

I tried to take pictures of everyone during lunch, but two of our friends finished too quickly! I did manage to catch them as they walked away, hand-in-hand... too cute! Sisterly love ;)

After lunch, our friends had to leave. We were still up for exploring, though, so we kept on going! We headed down to the lake to feed the ducks, check out the guppies, climb a tree, and we even found some plums!

And then we decided that it was time to head back to the children's garden for the boys to play! We had great timing, as the hordes of children that were there earlier had gone! The boys got full control over the water pump and cans, and they were able to freely explore the house and bridge as well!

We definitely love the Botanic Gardens! It is so beautiful there, and there is so much to entertain! The boys all had a blast and mom and I did, too!

The Day Of The Jellyfish

2011-07-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago my mom got her hands on a couple free tickets for The Aquarium Of The Pacific that had to be used before the end of June, so we packed up the boys and headed over there! Jack was really excited that he was going to get to see the giant whale again, and all of the boys enjoyed looking at the colorful fishies in the tanks. Sam perfected his fish-face, grandma perfected her whale call, we all (except Jack, of course) touched jellyfish (on the bell, only!) and Jack learned that the animal that he had been calling an "underwater porcupine" was actually a Sea Urchin and called it a "Sea-Urgent-I-mean-Sea-Urchin" from then on. Of course, we spent the most time staring at the jellyfish (grandma's favorite!) and at the touch tanks, but since we don't make it there that often we made sure to see everything!!!

(he said this coral looked like chicken...?)

(this machine taught about whale calls and allowed the kids to record their own calls and play them back... it played them back very loudly!)

And then, poor Luke did this:

Right when it was finally time to do this!

It was another great day at the aquarium!!! Of course, we made another trip to see the jellyfish before leaving the aquarium... Jack and grandma love those jellyfish! I am pretty sure I've heard the word jellyfish about a million times in a thousand different contexts since that day, and it was only two weeks ago!!! Did I mention the jellyfish? JELLYFISH!!!

He Who Loves Animals

2011-07-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

My baby is so brave! He adores animals, and the petting zoo at the LA Zoo is always a favorite. We make sure to hit that up every time we go now! Here is a video I took with my phone on our most recent zoo trip:

(Special thanks to the goat for being so patient with my boy. He's very good about being gentle and careful with animals, but it takes a special animal not to be wary of a 16 month old all up in its face.)

My Babies

2011-06-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

Jackson, busting out of his brand new jammies at 8 months old

Samuel, finally busting out of the same set of jammies at 16 months old

Amazing the size differences in these two! It's so funny, since Jack was absolutely massive, Sam seems so small to us even though he's actually slightly above average for his age. It is so nice to have a ~~small~~ normal baby for a change ;)

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

We Went For The Airplanes And Stayed For The Science

2011-06-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

My mom and I had been planning on taking the boys to the Air And Space Museum at the California Science Center for a few weeks. Finally last week I called her and said that we desperately needed to get out of the house, so we headed to the museum! We were so excited, since Jack had loved it the last time we went, and it had been a while (Jack was a little younger than Luke the last time)!

As excited as we were, you can imagine our surprise when we got there and discovered that they were tearing down the exhibits and we had made it on the very last day that they were open to the public! Apparently they were moving to a larger building... but hadn't felt the need to announce the move on their website! So, while it was really lame that we couldn't see many of the fun exhibits that were there the last time, we were so relieved that we hadn't come even one day later! And, though most the exhibits were torn down already, there were still a bunch there including the two that I was most looking forward to were still there: the Police Helicopter and the ~~paper~~ plastic airplane launcher!

(They are standing under a jetliner in that last one... those poles are the support, as the landing gear is not down. Not sure if you could see the tail above them.)

It didn't take long to see everything in that museum, so when we were done we had a picnic lunch...

And then we headed to the main museum at the science center. That place was so much fun! There was so much to explore and it was so much fun to watch Jack and the boys learn and discover and explore!

The kid's center

Learning about construction with sticks. Guess what Jack made.

These two exhibits were so cool- the boys loved them!

And then we found the Eco-System exhibit and spent the rest of the day there! We were so impressed with it- it was new since the last time we had been there and I still have a hard time believing that an exhibit as cool as that would be free! The whole time we were there I kept marveling at that and wishing my dad were there because I know he would have loved it!

Heat:

Ice:

Sea:

There was so much more to this exhibit, and if you ever have the chance to head over to the California Science Center, you totally should! Did I mention it's free?!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

Cool Dorks Dudes!

2011-06-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

When Jack was a baby he'd dance around in a circle singing "Cool, Dude! Cool, Dude!" whenever he had sunglasses on. Sam does the same thing. It's stinkin' adorable.

Jack, of course, needs to take his turn with the glasses too!

By the way, my kids are probably the only kids who think it's necessary to wear sunglasses when the sky looks like this:

(They must have learned that from their mother)

Dough, Dough, And More Dough!

2011-06-12T23:00:00.000-07:00

We recently went to a birthday party for one of Jack's friends, and as a game prize Jack won some Moon Dough! He was so excited about it, and this week we finally had time to play with it! Of course I set him up outside (moon dough is messy!), and he and Sam got to work! They had a great time and Sam only thought about eating the dough once- but that was really my fault as I forgot to tell him not to!

The Moon Dough really prompted Jack to want to play with the huge box of Play-Doh and (used) Play-Doh tools that we got them for Christmas, and the next day we busted it out! The first day, Jack sat out there for two straight hours playing peacefully with the Play-Doh, and we have played every day since! It's so messy, though, that my new(ish) back patio is splotched with colorful bits of crushed 'Doh! Messy, but pretty!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

First Unofficial, And Official, Dentist Visits

2011-06-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

Right after Jack turned 4 (and by right after, I mean the day after!), he tripped and fell at Knott's Berry Farm and nearly knocked out his front tooth.

I kept an eye on it and it seemed to be healing just fine! Unfortunately the tooth next to that one took us by surprise and became discolored after a few weeks... apparently the trauma to the first tooth was so obvious that the tooth that was actually damaged flew under the radar! When I realized that his other tooth had been injured I took him to the dentist to have it checked. It wasn't my plan to have Jack's first dentist visit be an emergency dentist visit, but it actually worked out pretty well! Jack was so nervous for the dentist, but once I got him to sit in the x-ray chair and let them take one x-ray, he did a great job! He was very relaxed when he was talking to the dentist, and I was so proud of him! And, as it turns out, Jack's tooth is fine- the trauma it sustained was permanent in that it will remain discolored (and actually it's not that badly discolored at all... sort of like a lightly bruised apple), but there was no fracture and we don't need to take any action other than to let nature take its course. The tooth is a baby tooth, so it should fall out in a year and his adult tooth behind it is just fine. So, Jack's first unofficial dentist visit was easy peasy, and it was a great prelude to Jack's first official dentist visit- full x-rays and cleaning- which I took him to last week!

Since he had just been to the dentist he wasn't nervous this time!

Jack and I had back-to-back appointments, so he got to watch me before it was his turn. This served two purposes. First, Jack was able to see that everything was okay because mommy was doing great. Second, mommy- who has had dentist anxiety since she was a young child and has never really been able to conquer her completely rational fear, and has been known to cry uncontrollably because she didn't like the taste of the nasty bubblegum flouride as well as lie to the dentist that she already had her turn in the chair, hoping to get away without a cleaning for another 6 months (though in her defense, she was 7- I think!)- was forced to suck it up and put on a brave front so that Jack would see that going to the dentist was no big deal.

There is nothing quite like having a little 4 year old voice piping in with "You're doing a really good job, momma, I am so proud of you!" to calm you down while you have 2 people leaning over you with dental instruments in your numb mouth as you start to ponder whether the numbness of your throat is because of the Novocaine or because your uvula got swallowed up by the spit-sucker.

But anyway...

Jack did a great job!!!

He was an old pro at the x-rays

I thought his x-rays were one of the coolest thing I've ever seen- I love that you can see his adult teeth coming in above his cute little baby teeth!

Jack was excited to sit in the cool chair that went "up and down and down and up!"

And he did an amazing job letting the dentist check out his teeth! I was so proud of him (if I had a penny for each time I've said that I could pay for his college already!)

Jack passed his exam with flying colors! I was so relieved- I don't want my kids to have even a fraction of the anxiety I have had about the dentist and Jack is on a great path so far! He was such a brave kid- much braver than I ever was!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

Another One With A Parade

2011-05-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the boys and I joined grandma and grandpa and some friends on the side of the road to watch the 52nd Annual Armed Forces Day Parade! Jack was so incredibly excited about it, as he remembered the parade from last year and was very ready to see those marching bands again! The boys' friend had a birthday party in the morning, so we grabbed lunch on our way to the parade and ate it while we watched the parade! The boys were so good and I was so proud of them- they were both completely absorbed in the parade and watched each and every exhibit! Even Sam paid attention to the whole thing, staring at each exhibit as it went by and every time one went past us he'd crane his neck to see what was coming next! Jack didn't sit through the whole thing, but only because he insisted that every time a big American flag came by he and grandma needed to stand up and place their hands over their hearts and wave their little American flags. He was cracking us up! I think we are definitely a parade family!

Thanks again, Shelly, for letting us join you at your parade spot!!!

Tanks, Helicopters, Rescue Boats, and Us!

2011-05-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was Torrance's 52nd Annual Armed Forces Day Parade, and we were so excited for it! We had such a great time last year, and this year Sam was old enough to enjoy it as well! The day before the parade we headed to the mall to check out the vehicles that were on display! Right before we left I told Jack where we were going and that he had to put on his pilot's costume (which barely fits him anymore!) so that he could fly the helicopter. He had a great time, and Sam did too! As long as we weren't trying to put him in a helicopter or jeep or on a sled or something like that.

Time for a Jack funny! He got so excited when he saw the medic-sled display. There was a little boy pulling (with the army medic's help) his brother and sister on the sled. Jack wanted to try it, so he asked grandpa to pull him...

When he was done he wanted to switch places and pull grandpa! So grandpa got on the sled and Jack pulled him- with the army medic's help.

Jack's a little too smart, though- he realized that the guy was helping him and when they got to the other side he said "Now I want to pull him by myself!" He was so bummed when he couldn't pull him, but it was better when grandpa got off the sled and Jack pulled that all by himself.

He wasn't satisfied with that, though. Thinking back to the kid that was pulling his siblings he said "Now I want to pull a little boy!" So I offered to have him pull Sam. Yeah, Sam so was not having that- Jack only got to pull him a short distance before Sam flipped out! After I pulled a screaming Sam off the sled a still less-than-satisfied Jack asked if he could pull a different little boy! We all laughed and I told him that enough was enough and it was time to move on.

They also had a display of all the creepy crawlies that are found in the deserts where our Armed Forces have been spending a lot of time. And when I say creepy, I mean CREEPY. Ew, yuck, and yikes!

We had such a great time! This is definitely one of my most favorite of the annual events we've attended!

Fire, Water, And... Wind?

2011-05-28T05:45:00.000-07:00

On May 14th the Torrance Fire Department was having an open house! Dave was off that day, but when I asked if he wanted to join us at our local fire station he said "I don't really want to go to a fire station on my day off!" He had a good point, and I had to laugh at that. So Sam, Jack and I picked up grandma and grandpa and headed over to one of the smaller stations.

One of the firefighters on duty happened to be the same one what was on duty the day we went to the City Yard's open house the year before, and amazingly enough he remembered us- or rather, he remembered Jack- despite the fact that our trip to the City Yard was 11 months ago! As for Jack, it was quickly apparent that he felt right at home in a fire station. He wasted no time pointing things out and telling us what things were called and what they were used for, and making one of the firefighters help him climb up into the seats to be a "real firefighter just like my daddy!"

We happened to be the only family there at the time, and as such we were given the undivided attention of the firefighters, which suited Jack just fine! And, as a special treat, rather than showing us their hose demonstration, they let Jack take part in it by being the one to actually man the hose (who, I am informed, is actually called the Hose Man- imagine that)!

He was so excited to be there, and he was absolutely hilarious! This kid loves to tease, and he definitely has his father's sense of humor! I should have immediately written down everything he said, but he definitely had the firefighters cracking up. The most famous of his lines, though, is unforgettable. Towards the end of our tour while we were checking out the station's TV room, Jack climbed into one of the lazy boy chairs while the adults were talking. Soon, he came back over and very excitedly exclaimed "Mom! I just tooted in the fire station!" Of course, we all died of laughter and the firefighter who had remembered Jack said "This kid has the best lines!" Then he knelt down to Jack and told him not to worry because he was pretty sure it wasn't the first time someone broke wind in those chairs!