October 18, 2013

This morning after Luke's OT appointment I had to return something to Home Depot.  We passed a Jamba Juice and it sounded really good to me.  I always make my own smoothies at home, but I decided I'd try Jamba today.  I asked Luke what kind he wanted and he said "green."  That's my boy!  Ha.  But they were out of green.  Huh?  So we went with a fruit & yellow veggie smoothie.  Makes me wonder what they are actually putting in there when they just call it "green veggie" and "yellow veggie."  Anyway, we sat outside by the fountain and enjoyed our yellow smoothie.

While we were at OT Luke's therapist Lis asked me if we were doing the Parent's Night Out tonight.  ICEC offers this every few months where a few staff members volunteer in the evening to watch children and parents can go out for a couple hours.  We did it a few times when Isaac was attending there but I hadn't even heard about it this time.  I checked at the front desk on our way out and coincidentally they had just had a cancellation so there were two spots open for Isaac & Luke.  Hooray!  I texted Charlie to see if he would be my date.

We went for sushi at Tokyo Table.  We went on a date here a few months ago and I remember it tasting sooo good to me.  Tonight's meal did not disappoint.  We shared tempura vegetables, bacon wrapped asparagus, a lobster dynamite appetizer, and three sushi rolls: the OMG roll (our least favorite - too creamy), a Rainbow roll, and a Citrus Salmon Summer roll (our favorite - super light and yummy).

Every time Charlie and I go on a date I am reminded of how fun it is and wonder why we don't do it more often.  But we do have a big week long date coming up soon, so I guess I can't complain too much.

I had to snap a photo to commemorate our evening.  Charlie thinks I am a nerd and teases me about my photo blog, but I know he secretly loves it.  He didn't love the super bright flash though.

October 17, 2013

Pumpkin patch round two!  Tonight was much better.  We met up with our friends Jason & Bridgette and their little guy Hudson.  The boys had a blast running from one activity to the next.  And I was snapping away with my nice camera until I finally looked down and realized that I had left the memory card in the computer at home.  Agh!  Jason took some nice ones for me with his camera so I am waiting for him to send those over.  For now, here are the blurry phone photos of the boys riding ponies.  Luke rode on Coco and Isaac rode the biggest horse Angel.  They both laughed and smiled the whole time and thought it was great fun.  At the end of the ride Angel let out some big guffaws which made both boys laugh hysterically.

October 16, 2013

Tonight Charlie had to go to a few stores to pick up some products for work.  First stop was Bed Bath & Beyond.  Isaac was in heaven checking out the gadget wall.  For reals, this kid loves kitchen gadgets.  Charlie has some info-mercial type videos on his iPad that demonstrate a few of the products he sells.  Isaac will sit and watch them all and then repeat them back to us verbatim to tell us how great the Zyliss products are.  It is super funny.  Tonight he was really fascinated by a meat ball maker that he found. 

Next stop Wal Mart.  Bleh.  But they had cheap pumpkins so we loaded up a few of them (we will still go back to the patch).  And Charlie got the stuff he needed.  Isaac thought he was really cool pushing the cart with Luke hanging on the side.  And Luke thought he was really cool hanging off the side like Isaac usually does.

October 15, 2013

Tonight we had planned to go to the pumpkin patch.  Both boys were so excited and looking forward to it all day.  The first thing they chose to do when we got there was to go in the big bounce house with the obstacle course and the slide.  But someone was having a little too much fun and didn't make it to the bathroom in time.  I wish I could say it was Luke.  We had to turn around and leave about 15 minutes after we got there.  Luke was not very understanding about the matter and cried the whole way home.  We'll go back later this week.

October 14, 2013

Isaac had another day off of school.  It's Columbus day but the district called it a furlough day.  Luke usually goes to his preschool on Mondays but they also had the day off.  I was planning to take them to the beach again since we had so much fun last week, but instead we are stuck home without a car.  Charlie's Audi started acting up while I was driving it to the airport (of course it happened while I was driving, so I feel terrible, but I really don't think I did anything to it).  Anyway, it is in the shop today and he took my car to work.  So change of plans.  I decided it would be a good day to clean and get a lot of stuff done around the house.  Except I forgot to factor in my two little loves who like to have my constant attention.  I didn't get quite as much done as I would have liked.  I tried enlisting their help for awhile but they mostly just chased each other in circles with the brooms.  

October 13, 2013

Today when I went to pick Luke up from nursery I found him sitting in a circle on the floor singing a song about bunnies and eating a Dum Dum sucker.  I'm not sure why they think it's okay to hand out junky candy full of food dyes, corn syrup, and artificial ingredients to a group of toddlers.  I wasn't really mad, just thought it was odd.  Luke sure loved it though and he got a good laugh when I showed him his bright blue tongue in the mirror.

October 12, 2013

This morning we drove up to LAX to pick Charlie up from his trip to Brazil and Chile.  We are SO glad to have him back!  When I talked to him a few nights ago he suggested that we go straight from the airport to the beach and I could run while he played with the boys.  This was so perfect and thoughtful.  I always look forward to my Saturday morning runs and he didn't want me to have to skip it.  We drove to Manhattan Beach and I ran down through Hermosa and into Redondo.  I don't think I'd ever been to these beaches before and it's always fun to have a change of scenery for a run.  Especially since I discovered that my iPod was out of batteries.  The boys were excited to be at the beach again.  When Charlie first got in the car at the airport Isaac told him "We have a surprise for you Dad, close your eyes until we get there!"  Little did he know that Charlie planned the surprise.   

Tonight Charlie and I were feeling brave and took the boys with us to South Coast Plaza to do a little shopping.  I got a new coat for our upcoming trip to Paris and he got a good pair of walking shoes.  We promised the boys a ride on the carousel if they were good.

October 11, 2013

The other day our neighbor knocked on the door to let me know that my tire was really low.  (This was also the day that Isaac had off of school.  I had gone to the gym and was just getting out of the shower when he knocked.  I told Isaac "DON'T OPEN THE DOOR!" but apparently he heard me wrong... or didn't hear me... or just didn't care what I said because he opened the door!  Cracker ran out barking and Luke followed behind him and poor Peter was standing on the doorstep looking bewildered while I hurried to throw some clothes on.)  Anyway, I tried getting air at the gas station but after two rounds of quarters it was still looking flat, so today I had AAA come and put the spare on.  He discovered a nail in my tire so hopefully that can just be patched.  The boys were both super excited about watching this procedure and Isaac even chimed in to give the guy instructions on how to change the tire.  So helpful, that kid.  

This afternoon we met up with more friends (Jodie and her kids Lincoln, Marshall, and Adeline) at Castle Park.  That makes three trips to our new favorite park this week.

We also went out shopping this evening looking for Halloween costume pieces.  Isaac wants to be Luke Skywalker and when we talked about this we were looking at a picture of Luke from A New Hope where he has the white top, tan pants, brown boots, and blue light saber.  I ordered some used brown UGGs for $10 off of EBay thinking they would be perfect but when they arrived Isaac burst into tears and told me "No Mom!  Not THAT Luke Skywalker!"  He clarified that he wants to be Luke from Return of the Jedi in the black outfit with the green light saber.  So I'm starting from square one again piecing together a costume.  Tonight we found some black boots and Luke was more than happy to stomp around in the unwanted brown boots.  

October 10, 2013

The police officer was back at Luke's school today but this time he brought the big SWAT truck.  Luke spotted it the second that we pulled into the parking lot and I believe his exact words were "Oh YEAH! A big truck!  I want that one.  It's awesome."  Some of the other kids were shy around the officers or nervous about being up high in the big truck, but not Luke.  He ran right over and wanted up in the driver's seat.  

 

When he was in the police car earlier this week he kept laying on the horn (like literally laying on it) and loved hearing the loud honk, so he kept doing the same thing in the SWAT truck.  But a few of the little kids would burst into tears every time, so I was trying my best to discourage him.  

Charlie is still in Brazil.  When I asked Isaac what he wanted for dinner tonight he requested little hamburgers (sliders that I make at home) but since I didn't have the ingredients handy we settled for In-N-Out.  Twice in one week.  Luke kept trying to play peek-a-boo with the family on the other side of the glass.  Except he says "peeky boo!" and it really is the cutest thing.

October 9, 2013

This morning while Isaac was at school Luke and I met up with my friend Erin and her little guy Dylan at the Spectrum.  She wanted to grab coffee so I got a hot chocolate.  We took the boys to play on the new pirate ship playground.  After my hot chocolate had already cooled off quite a bit Luke noticed that I had a drink and wanted to try some.  And that was the end of my hot chocolate.  He loved it and gulped down all of the rest.  

The boys eventually got bored with the pirate ship so we walked around a bit and ended up at the carousel.  It had probably been about a year since I'd taken Luke on a carousel because last time he went on one he was unimpressed and wanted to get off.  But today he loved it!  As soon as the horses started moving his face lit up and he grinned and giggled the whole time.  So adorable.  Looks like there will be many more carousels in our future.