Summer vacations

 

Colorado and LA 

 

 

One of our close friends got married this past August in Colorado. Dan was a part of the wedding party so we made the sacrafice of taking a little trip to one of our favorite places (the mountains) to support them! Did I mention we left the kids here with family?!

It was a much needed trip for the just the 2 of us.

We ended up driving to Colorado and it worked out really well. We dropped the kids off after dinner adn drove to Amarillo, where we had a small scare becuase the first 4 hotels I called were all full! The next morning we made the rest of the trek to Keystone. The whole drive from our house to there was 12ish hours. It was great for us just to have that time to talk and we did have my laptop to watch some movies. The drive up the mountains was beautiful. I actually think I preferred driving to flying this time around. We were able to load all our stuff (hiking and fishing gear) without worrying about weight limits and checked bags.

We stayed in a ski resort condo where the Jelly Belly cycling team was staying! I bumped into one of the riders twice, each time in the morning while I was going out for a run!

 

 

 We were able to go for a nice hike the day of the wedding. It was straight up for awhile then we tried to take a short cut back and ended up hiking down some ski run. That part was'nt very fun b/c we were not in the woods anymore and we were having to avoid all the mountain bikers on the trail.

 We had a spectacular view from on our hike. I seriously have no idea why I live in hot, flat Texas (Oh yea, our specialized jobs and family) I mean, look at that view and the weather was amazing. It was 45 degrees in the morning and about 72 degrees in the afternoon...that is my perfect weather dream!

 That evening we took the gondola to the wedding site. IT was beautifully decorated and we were able to enjoy the sunset from the mountain top.

 The next morning, Dan got up at 5am to go fishing and I went for a nice run in the cool weather. I was running alongside a road and noticed a car stopped. It made me stop, I run so much alone adn at varying times of day I get a little wary if something seems unusual to me. Anyways, when I stopped all of a sudden a moose ran in front of me! He was probably only 50 feet or so away from me. At least I know why the car had pulled over! I tried to get a little closer to him and I proceeded until he gave me a warning snort, then I knew it was time for me to be on my way!! I lvoe being able to experience God's creation like that!

 After we both returned from our seperate activites we decided to go on another hike together. We had a little trouble finding the trail head to this particular hike, but it was worth the extra time spent trying to find it. It was a wonderful hike. the first hour up was in the wooded area, much like one for our Alaska hikes, then it opened up. We went for several miles until my dumb hiking boot rubbed my heel to a bleeding blister...booo. I have never have had issues with those boots, not sure why I did this time around. Nevertheless, we had a great hike!

 We had to leave very early the next morning as we planned to drive straight through to home. The drive home was not as exciting as the drive up.

A few weeks later my mom and I took the kids to LA to visit my brother and his family. We wanted to fly one more time before Amber turned 2 so she could still be a lap infant. It will be a smidge more expensive now that we have to pay for both kids to fly!

 Nathan was so excited to see his cousin and to ride in the back of Uncle Joseph's care (he talks about that all the time).

 

 Our first day was Friday and my brother had some work to do so he dropped my mom, 3 of the kids and myself off at the park. We were planning on playing for a few hours until he could come pick us up. Well, we did not anticipate it being blazing hot by 10:30am (it was in the high 90's the whole weekend we were there, go figure) and we drained all the water we had brought by that time. We were in trouble. So we decided to take the kids and try and walk to the zoo or Autry Museum, which some bystanders told us was less than a mile away. Needless to say it did not go smoothly. First, we had no stroller with us and we had 3 kids under 3 1/2years old who were hot, tired and hungry. We took turns carrying them and at one point I was carrying both girls while my mom had Nathan.
It was rough. We did make it to the zoo, but it was going to cost us over $50 to get in and it was almost 11:30, so we decided to walk over to the museum and eat lunch in a little cafe. That was a very smart decsion. THe kids were much better after getting hydrated and fed!
 That evening we ordered pizza and the kids played on the slip-n-slide in the backyard.

 On Saturday we went to Griffith park to ride the horses and trains as is becoming tradition for when we visit.

 Amber was brave and rode a horse with Gram-E walking next to her.

 After naptime the kids had some popscicles to help wake up and to cool off! I love the cousin popscicle picture, I feel like most people have a picture, as kids, with their cousins, while eating ice cream or popscicles!

On Sunday we went to the beach. I was not able to take any pictures as I was with Nathan in the ocean the whole time. The boy loves water but can't be trusted in it alone! He and I had so much fun jumping in the waves and running down the beach into the water! The 2 girls, my mom and Joseph all played in the sand. Amber sure loves sand!
   I will say that being in a house with 4 kids all under 3 1/2 years old is chaotic. Truly chaotic. It helps reinforce that 2 kids is a good number for us!!
As always, it was so good to see them and let the cousins spend time together.

Fun moments over last few months

Life the last few months

 

I am so behind on documenting on trips and birthdays, that is seems silly to back post from February. Therefore,  I will just move forward with time and try and do better about current posting!

 

Life just seems full and busy most days. I am sure it will feel this way until the kids have moved out of the house! They both are still in "school" 1 day a week while I volunteer at a Pregnancy Center. I am still working part-time and Dan full-time, which works out great for us. It is alot of driving the kids around to our families, who are gracious enough to watch them for us. We spend our days, off of work, doing various activities such as the library, going to Target (Nathan loves to just play with the soccer cones and balls there), the splash pad park, the duck feeding park, swinging in the backyard, playing in the kids pool, reading books, doing some crafts (I am not so crafty, so we keep our crafts simple, unless Dan is around (he is Mr. crafty), going to the Arboretum, zoo and aquarium.

I am not much of a stay at home mom, so I like to at least go somewhere once a day, even if it is a short jaunt to the local grocery store!

Nathan's favorite craft is gluing shapes onto paper. I know it is the thrill of the glue stick but he is so cute to watch!

 

Some big happenings have been Amber losing a front tooth.

 She was pushed at school and fell onto the corner of a sturdy wooden toy. Her teacher called me and told me her lip was cut. I came to evaluate her, she was covered in blood, and when I held her she opened her mouth and there was only 1 front tooth. I asked if they saw she had lost a tooth and they had not. Her poor teachers where very upset by the whole situation. I was able to get her right in to our pediatrician, who sent us to a pediatric dentist right away. They took an xray and the tooth had been pushed up into her gum. We were told it should grow back down and then needs to be removed. It has not grown back down yet, but it is starting too re-emerge.

I will be honest, I was upset at first, mostly because of the thought that she will be toothless in all pictures until she is 7 or 8, when the new tooth grows in. However, after a few days I was over it and she is just as cute with 1 front tooth. She was a trooper the whole time. It took her less than a day to be back to herself and not seem to be hurting at all.

 

Another big event was Nathan's birthday party. Yes, I know, his birthday was in March but we had to cancel his party due to rain. Because of the all the weekends we have to work, May was the first weekend we both had off together to reschedule his party.

We rented a Mickey Mouse bounce house for the backyard, then had some friends and family over.
The kids had more fun with the bounce house in the evening, after the party and nap time. I think there was just too much going on at the party so they both just wanted to swing (of course). However, that evening they played in it for 2 hours! (Dan and I did too!)

Nathan was excited to blow the candle out on his cupcake, but did not want to try it (he has never really liked sweets, or if he does, it has to be on his terms!) But that did not stop his sister from devouring a cupcake.

I think she thought it was her party!

 





 

Fun times at the arboreteum

There were some workers trimming some trees and Nathan was intently watching them.

 

The best part is the splash pad and kid area!

The past 2 weeks we have had the kids in swimming lessons. Nathan is in a class with 2 other kids and 1 teacher and then Amber is in a parent class with either Dan or myself. Nathan loves it and has made improvements each day. Now he can just jump in by himself without holding his teachers hands. He can put his face under on command.
Amber did "OK". She did much better being in the water with Dan than with me. However on the last day of class she was more cooperative. The scary part with her is she just copies ANYTHING Nathan does and I do mean anything! If he says something, she repeats it. If he has a drink, she wants one. If he is crying, she starts to pretend cry. If he is being silly she starts acting silly. At the pool he jumped into the water to me and she did the same, only I was catching Nathan so she promptly went under the water, luckily a lady pulled her up for me!


They are at fun age right now, albeit challenging, and are really starting to interact with each other more. Nathan is much sweeter to Amber than just a few months ago. He used to just say "No sister" all the time and now he is more caring towards her (sharing a toy, handing her a drink or her lovie, asking about where she is). Amber is talking in 3+ word sentences now (what a difference compare to him at this age!) There is not a word she will not at least attempt to say. She is really into "No" right now and we have been correcting her to say "No thank you" which she will do but she has to be punished every time for saying "No" first. I guess all that to say, she is not as receptive to punishment as Nathan is. There little personalities are so different!



18 months

 18 Month Old Red Head

 

I love this face so much  more each day! Each new word, smile and hug are mending the roughness of her first several months of life!

She had her 18 month old check up a few days ago and she is growing VERY well. Her height is the 91st percentile (shocker) at 33.5inchs. Her weight is in the 86th % at 25.8 pounds. She is developing and passing new milestones all the time.

She has started saying a ton of words. She will imitate most words we say. Her favorite words right now are "mommy", "daddy", "bruder" (brother), "yesh"(yes), "pees" (please) "wuvie" (lovie)"burd"(bird), "tweet-tweet", "cookie", "taint-u" (thank you) "wa-wa" (quinoa), "bites" (yogurt bites), "sock" and the list goes on, but those are some of my favorites.
She understands almost everything we say and is pretty good about following directions and obeying, however we have had to implement time-out with her in the last few months.
She and brother are starting to play to together better.  His favorite saying is still "no sister", but it is starting to lessen!
She is quite the little climber and has taken several bad tumbles. We also think she will be an artist as we call her the "chalk artist"! We keep the sidewalk chalk in the garage and so every time we get her out of the car she goes straight for the chalk ("caulk") and colors everywhere except the sidewalk. Grrr.....However, in her defense, we have an aggregate driveway and sidewalk and you can't see the chalk when you write. She has managed to color all over the garage doors and snuck it inside and got it all over the back of the couch! Yikes!  I am going to have to put it out of reach, I guess.
She loves to run and does whatever her brother is doing, which annoys him but I think it is so sweet. She just wants to be around him, but he does not understand that yet.
She likes to "help" me around the house with sweeping and vacuuming and she loves to push her lawn mower while daddy is mowing.
 

I am asked if she is a mommy's girl or a daddy's girl. I would say a mommy's girl until about 2 months ago. Now she just wants both of us! IF I am home with her and Dan is at work she asks for daddy and vice-versa. She still lets me take naps with her in the after noon and that is one of my favorite things to do. We just snuggle up in her glider and we both pass out!! I am going to be so sad when that phase is over.

She is an overall happy toddler and fun to be around. That being said, she has a little temper to her. IF she does not get her way or is mad she does this whole body shake and screams (not loud, thank goodness). She has been getting time-outs for that!  

 



 I love this little face and body! I look forward to watching her grow and learn.

Family trip

Our visit to LA

 

We went to LA the 2nd week in February to visit Uncle Joseph, Aunt Lorianne, Cousin Maeva and baby cousin Austin. My mom, Auntie Cheryl, Lisa, Jenna and Ryan all went too! It was a fun family trip, and especially fun to meet baby cousin Austin for the 1st time

 A little make shift dinner table with an excellent view of airplanes!

The kids did so much better than expected on the plane. They have both flown several times before, but at their ages you just never know what kind of "moods" they might be in. We took an evening flight and stayed in a hotel near LAX. This worked out good, so we did not have to stress about driving in LA traffic with 2 sleepy kiddos. The next morning we rented a car and drove to my brother's house.

 We took all the kids (except baby Austin) to Griffith park ( we love going there each time we visit). They got to ride the ponies, which Nathan and Amber love to do, Amber was not a fan!

 Amber cried the whole time she was on the pony. She has really been having separation anxiety when she is not around me or Dan (especially me) for the past few weeks. So I am not sure if she just didn't like riding a pony or if it was because some strange man took her away from me and put her on a pony. Poor baby, not such a great idea.

 After the pony ride, Amber was super clingy! But that worked out, because we went to ride the trains! Maeva sat with Gram-E, Nathan with Dan and Amber with me. During the train ride AMeva turned around to Nathan and said "Nathan, are you having a fun time" to which he replied "Oh yes I am"!  Listening to the 2 of them over the course of the trip was my favorite thing! The way they interact with each other is precious, especially since they don't see each other very often. I think they have a sense that they are family.

 The above picture was another adorable interaction. Maeva was pointing her finger and telling Nathan the plan at the park. Nathan the responds "That sounds like a great idea Maeva!". Melt my heart.

 My mom and I took the kids to ride the ponies 1 more time while Dan and Amber rode the train. I love the picture of the 2 of them!

 After nap time we went to another park to play. It was a fabulous park. It had a giant sand area, tons of playground equipment. The kids really enjoyed the teeter totter, with a little help from Gram-E.

 After the teeter-totter, Maeva and Gram-E went to swing. Maeva kept begging Nathan to swing with her, but he just wanted to play in the sand.

 That boy would live in the sand if I let him. He got a smidgen sandy, but had a blast.

On Saturday, we went to a birthday party for cousin Maeva and her friend, Ana, who were both turning 3. The party was at Ana's house and was complete with face painter's and a balloon artist! The balloon artist made the adorable hair balloon flowers for Amber and they matched her outfit exactly!

Side note about the party. My sister-in-law informed me that the new "in" thing in LA is to give your children no processed, refined foods or sugars. So, they had to order a cake that was gluten free, nut free, dairy free, and processed sugar free. I was kinda making fun of this quite a bit! Lorianne went on to say that there would be some kids at the party that had never had sugar before.....EVER. Wow. (don't worry my daughter ate enough of the sugary cake to make up for all those poor children who have to eat agave sweetened foods!!!!!) All of that to say, the cake was actually pretty good. I am not sure what it was made out of, but it was tasty. They also had a normal cake too!

 

My mom is always taking pictures of the kids and never gets any of her with them. This was the best I could do. Some one (hint: the boy not looking at the camera) was NOT very cooperative!



 Oh the balloon artist: Nathan has had a phobia about balloons popping for a while. Several months ago I gave him a balloon and it popped. He wailed like someone had died and every time we went outside to the scene of the accident he would cry and talk about how the balloon popped. We have had several other incidents too, so we try and keep balloons away from him. Then, on the day we were to fly out to LA he got a balloon at school (for valentines day) and it accidentally blew out of the car and way up into the clouds. IT was very traumatic for him and he sobbed for a long time and kept talking about how the balloon was gone. I even stopped at CVS and bought him another one (it was kinda my fault his blew away...oops) but he said it wasn't the same balloon and kept crying. He is a sensitive child I appreciate that characteristic of his personality, however when I heard there was going to be a balloon artist at the party I was nervous. When we first got to Cousin Maeva's house on Friday she had a big balloon in her room my brother had given her and we had to hide it in the closet because it upset Nathan so much. It was a huge helium balloon and it was up by her fan he was upset that the fan was going to pop the balloon (and the party was going to be all about balloons...yikes)

 

 



The minute we walked into the party and he saw the balloons he started crying so I took him outside and talked to him and he calmed down. He stayed outside for most of the party. However he did ask for a balloon from the "balloon man". I took him inside and he was very excited b/c the man was going to make him an airplane. He was smiling and all was going well until one of the balloons popped while the man was blowing it up. Bring on the tears. However,he did recover and got his balloon plane!

I am sure it is more the loud noise with balloons that bothers him so much. He has always been sensitive to loud noises (but i am too).

 



Auntie Cheryl holding baby Austin! Baby Austin got passed around by all of us and spoiled rotten with holding!

 



My daughter liked the birthday cake (the 1 with all the processed sugar!) ALOT. She definitely has her daddy's sweet tooth! The thing with her at the party was she would pick up random peoples cups and plates and just drink or eat whatever was on them...it's a no wonder she is sick all the time.

 



Cousin Maeva took her face painting very seriously!

 



In the backyard of the party, there were some stairs in the corner. Nathan found a toy truck and played on the stairs for the longest time. He is so much like me...not as social, likes the quiet and calmness, gets stressed in chaos. I am glad he found a place to play that made him happy.

 

 



Baby Austin and Gram-E

 



The next day we drove out to the ocean and took whale watching tour. Being out on the ocean in the cool breeze felt heavenly! Amber fell asleep with the wind in her hair, up against my chest, with the smooth rocking of the boat....it's a good thing I stayed awake!

We got to see more dolphins than whales, but we had such a fun time. I enjoy boats and being on the water. It was pretty choppy going out and there were lots of people on the boat that had weak stomachs!

My siblings and mom

 



That evening we went out to eat dinner at a Mexican restaurant. MAeva and Nathan sat next to each other and entertained each other. The above picture is Nathan feeding Maeva a chip!

Love this picture! Oh how I wish they lived closer (notice I said they lived closer, not us living closer to them! I have zero interest in living in California!)

Nathan was giving Uncle Joseph a hug for his dinner. I am very proud of Nathan for doing so well with his manners.

They were looking and talking about something under the table, but I didn't quite understand what they were saying.

 

Baby Austin says don't forget about me

The girls riding home in the wagon

 

We had such a fun trip and the kids did great on the flight home. Amber and I took a nap (big surprise) but Nathan never fell asleep. He and Dan watched a few Veggie tales and read some books.

It was nice just ot get away for a few days and see my brother and sister again.