Wheels on the Bus

For people who love my kids enough to want to see them doing toddler hand motions to the Wheels on the Bus. Really cute according to their mama. :-)


Another thing from this weekend - their nanny Debbi made a cake but it was too late at night for them to eat cake, so I told them they could have a piece the next day. I woke up the next morning to both of them in their cribs saying "Debbi cake! Debbi cake! Debbi CAKE!" Apparently they knew it was the "next day". After thinking about it for about three seconds I realized having cake for breakfast isn't that much different than having donuts for breakfast, which Americans do all the time, so why not? So we had cake for breakfast. Pretty fun way to start the day for two kids with a normally health-nut mom.

Summer Randoms

We are loving this unseasonably cool summer and spending as much time outdoors as possible....here are the simple things we have been enjoying

 

We bake something every weekend. Last weekend was chocolate-cranberry muffins. This is Miss Maia's response to "Smile!" She smiles with her bottom teeth and I totally love it. :-)

On our daily walk to get the mail. Which is a couple of hunderd yards awaya but sometimes takes 20 minutes to get to, because we have to, for example, play on the stairs for 5 minutes on the way there, 5 minutes on the way back. Love these monkeys.

We can walk to the bagel place which is fantastic on Saturday mornings. Bagels and orange juice please....note that Maia is feeding her baby doll a bagel. She takes caring for that baby pretty seriously.

 

Throwing their trash away after breakfast. I totally wish I could look this cute in leggings with a big pink heart on my butt. (Yes, both kids are still in their pajamas. We wanted bagels and a walk and didn't want to get dressed.....it's Saturday, anything goes.)

At the circus inside the OC Fair.....Grammy treated us to an awesome Friday night at the fair.

My 2 year old put together a 100-piece puzzle by herself.

 

Just kidding. I helped a lot....but she does really love puzzles. She has little 12-piece puzzles she can put together like a pro.

Guess what else is in walking distance of our house? Cold Stone and a really awesome fountain. We go play at the fountain at least once per weekend, sometimes mulitple times. Yes, I have had to stop them from swimming.

Our own personal pool on our super fun front patio.

with aunt Shannon at the SJC mission. Maia saw a picture of her aunt recently, pointed and said "Nan-non!" Too cute. We have 4 aunts - Aunt Kay-Kay, Aunt Owie (Alli), Aunt Jen and Aunt Nan-Non.

Super happy about the fireworks on the 4th of July.

Had a great time at our friends the Franklin's block party - bounce house included.

Street hockey with the big boys? Don't mind if I do!

Owning the game




He spends like two minutes prepping for this really big jump into the pool

My coworker had 2-year birthday party for our friend Ziva at this great park (new to us) off of Crown Valley. So much fun exploring.



AZ

We headed out to the great state of AZ for some outdoor R&R with the family.....I posted all these plus more on Facebook but want a few permanently so here are my favorites

JD loved digging in the rocks with this awesome construction toy

Both kids loved the tire swing

Maia and Debbi (and paci and baby)

So many fun toys, so little time

Playing on the real tractor

 

"I do! I do!" Little Miss Independent

Mama's boy

 

All 3 story chimneys should double as rock climbing walls

4 Generations of Fabulous Ladies. My mom and grandma are both incredible woman and I am so glad Maia hs such a rich legacy of female role models :-)

Happy happy camper

 

JD loves Grandpa....and Grandpa definitely loves JD!

The lake of Lakeside.

Zipline - that's JD on there with me

 

Maia of course wanted Mama to get down so she could try it by herself. Not without her purple paci, of course.

Making silly faces with Grandpa

How do we turn this thing on?

 

Playing with Grandpa and Grandma

Lyon Air Museum

JD loves all things airplanes so after picking Kimber up from the airport we decided to check out the Lyon Air Museum. Both kids had a great time but JD particularly thought he had died and gone to heaven:

Wandering around in awe of the huge planes. The way he says airplane sounds like "Ar-bee" (only a mother could interpret it I think) and he just kept walking around saying "Ar-bee! Ar-bee! Ar-bee! Ar-bee! MORE ar-bee! MORE ar-bee!"

 

 

Getting a view from underneath

 

This kid loves Jeeps. When we went out for ice cream last night he was more interested in the Jeep in the parking lot than the ice cream. He totally knew this was a Jeep and was pretty excited.

 

Watching the planes take off

 

The Air museum was a hit with Maia too. There was this little doorway where we had a front seat view to the runway.

 

Making sure Mr Stinky isn't missing the planes

 

non-containing crib

Mainly for my mom and dad - this is how he climbs out of his crib....even with socks on now. He pretty much does the splits and then hoists himself up and over. Strong kid. :-)

My Baking Buddies

JD and Maia are getting super busy so on the weekends I try and have a bunch of activities to hold their interest. One of their newer favorites is baking. We've made a few batches of waffles together and cupcakes. Today we made banana bread - JD stirred the wet ingredients and Maia the dry, then they both took a turn with the electric mixer and then helped me push the batter into the pan with their spoons. So cute. They love eating whatever they make of course.

 

 

Perhaps this is her way of keeping her hands clean? Or she is like her mama and would rather lick the frosting off and leave the cake....

 

 

Love those big eyes

 

The chocolate chip banana bread we made tonight.....took a bath while it was baking and then smeared chocolate all over our faces and bellies of course:

10 Days

I have not had internet and have had limited phone connectivity for the past 10 days. As of tonight at 9 pm we are back on the grid. Here is my recap.

Worst part of the last 10 days - moving
Best part of the last 10 days - moving

Moving is such a huge pain (moving with two toddlers amplifies the pain) and carries so many emotions but we are very happy to be settled into our  new place a half mile from my work. My commute is awesome and Debbi even brought the kids to eat lunch with me at my office today. :-) Pictures later of the new place.

The kids got more fast food during the move than the rest of their entire lives combined.

Most painful part of the last 10 days - colds, bacterial-based cough, virus-based cough, ear infections, pink eye (all of us) and one sinus infection. CAN WE PLEASE GET A BREAK?!?!? Everyone within 100 yard radius of my family please use lots of Purell. No pictures, use your imagination. If you have ever held a 2-year-old with a cold, cough, runnynose, ear infection and pink eye at the same time (read: lots of gross bodily fluids), you know why we spent a few days doing lots of laundry. Luckily we have become good friends with the pharmacist at the CVS down the road and have doctors who have prescribed a variety of drugs for our whole family. Some even by phone without having to visit again and again and again. We are on the mend.

 

 

Most fun part of the last 10 days - a 5-day visit from my dear friend Jen. I miss you! We had a great time together and the kids loved their time with Jen. I am a pretty lucky lady to have so many friends and family that love me and give me tons of support including visits. I just wish everyone could live a lot closer!

Other visiting excitement: Getting to meet 6 members of Debbi's family in the past 10 days. No wonder she is such an awesome young woman - she has an awesome family! Even her 2 1/2 year old sister, Thalia, came to visit. JD & Maia had a great time playing with their new friend and have logged some serious beach time with all their new friends lately. I am really jealous of their beautiful tans that  make me look very very white.

Saddest part of the past 10 days: I have been "Mama" since the kids started talking and Maia has decided I am now "MOM". The more I try to get her to say Mama the more she insists on MOM. We sound like teenage girls fighting: Maia: "MOM!" Me: "Mama" Maia: "MOM!" Me: 'My name is Mama. MAMA." Maia: "MOM! MOM! MOM!" Me: "Mama. Please?" Maia with big grin on face: "M-O-MMMMMM."