October 8, 2013

Isaac's school is having parent teacher conferences this week and the kids had today off of school.  We had nothing scheduled so I decided to take the boys to the beach for a few hours.  We stopped at the donut shop on the way.  The boys are really loving donuts lately.  And I'm not gonna lie - I do too.  They didn't have Isaac's favorite chocolate cake w/ chocolate frosting donut and he was pretty bummed.  He settled for a chocolate bar.

We normally play at the playground off of 15th Street on the Peninsula, but it is actually a school playground (what lucky kids to grow up going to school on the beach, right?) and Newport district was still in session today so we drove a little further down and went to Peninsula Park instead.  The boys both had fun climbing this big rope structure and swinging around like Tarzan.

Eventually I coaxed them away from the playground and down towards the water to eat some lunch and dig in the sand.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the beach was nearly empty.  I was tempted to stay the whole day but since we had plans for later on I figured it was best to go home for nap time.  

We met up with Sherri and her kids at Castle Park.  Daniel & Isaac had fun ruling the castle while Sherri and I stayed with the little ones on the swings and the playgrounds.  Luke is fascinated by public restrooms and really liked this sink because the water came out in a spray like a shower.  He said his hands were taking a shower.  Next we all headed to Super Mex for dinner.  Our table was chaos.

October 7, 2013

This morning at Luke's pre-school one of the teachers had her police officer husband come to show the kids his police car.  I told Luke about this last night and he was so excited.  The first thing he said when he got up this morning was "I sit in the drivers seat!  Beep horn!  Lights!  Me!  I wanna go!"  He could not wait.  When we pulled into the parking lot he immediately spotted the police car with it's flashing lights and ran right over to climb into the drivers seat.  The officer let Luke talk into his two-way radio and he got to push all of the buttons to make the sirens and lights go and beeped the horn.  He loved it and did not want to get out to take photos with the other kids on the hood of the car.

After school and lunch we drove out to Sandy's house for the afternoon.  We haven't been there in awhile and all of the kids were excited to play together.  Sandy had to go to a parent teacher conference so I was in charge for awhile.  It was a little chaotic with all of these little monkeys together in one room, but they do have loads of fun together.  They are blurry in the photo because they don't stop moving.

Here they are watching the shrinky dinks in the oven.

October 6, 2013

Since today was General Conference we were at home all day long.  I got to watch some of it while Luke was napping and the rest tonight after the boys were in bed.  During Luke's nap I even got Isaac to come and sit with me for a bit.  I know he was listening, at least for a few minutes, because he started asking lots of questions about Jeffrey R. Holland's talk on mental illness.

My friend Christy and her baby came over between sessions since her husband and older son are out of town.  But by 4:00 when Luke was up from his nap and we hadn't left the house all day, the boys were starting to get a little crazy.  Isaac especially was so wound up and literally bouncing off the furniture.  I knew we had to get out, so we went on a walk and ended up at the elementary school where we played on the playground for a long time.  

On the walk home Luke got running too fast and fell face first when the sidewalk dipped down for a driveway entrance.  He scratched up both of his knees pretty bad.  I eventually got him calmed down at home, but he insisted that he did not want bandaids and every few minutes would start whimpering again about his knees hurting.  So sad.  He went and got his googin (blanket) and laid it on his leg and then told me that it was all better.  So I tied the blanket around his knee for him and he thought that was really funny.  

October 5, 2013

Charlie left today for Brazil and Chile.  He'll be gone for a full week.  Boo.  He flew out of LAX, and even though he could have just as easily parked a car, we decided to all drive up together.  We wanted to take the boys to the In N Out on Sepulveda right next to the airport where you can watch all of the planes landing.  We had an early lunch and sat outside to get the best view of the planes.  The first few that went by had Luke screaming with excitement.

Here's a quick video clip, though I missed some of Luke's best reactions.  

It was hot and sunny and Isaac insisted that he needed Charlie's sunglasses.  I love these photos of him. He looks like Mr. Cool California dude.

After Luke's nap (and trying to watch part of General Conference while Isaac was asking me 1,000 questions) I suggested that we go to the park.  I was thinking of a nearby Woodbridge park but Isaac was begging to go to the "castle park" that he had seen on the other side of town.  I obliged and the boys both had fun running everywhere and exploring.  Isaac found some college age kids with this cool remote control car and they let him take a turn driving it.  It is now on his Christmas list.

We grabbed a quick fast food dinner and the boys got these nerdy Shrek costumes in their kids meals.

October 4, 2013

We have SO many toys.  Way too many.  I need to do a major clean-out but it is hard for me.  I am a bit of a hoarder and toys are one of my weaknesses.  Today Isaac pulled out his Diego train set, which hasn't been played with in months, and set up the track to go across the hall from Luke's room to his.  He said it was going "all around the whole world!"  He and Luke took turns loading and unloading all of the Lego guys into one of the train cars and then sending it back and forth across the hall to each others rooms.  They played nicely together for quite awhile before the inevitable fighting began and I had to step in to referee.

Luke had a tough evening.  Charlie took the boys out for a walk but turned around and came home 10 minutes later.  Today was super windy and Luke is absolutely terrified of leaves.  Leaves floating in pools have always freaked him out for some reason.  Tonight the wind is blowing dry leaves all over the place and that didn't go over well with Luke.  He was still super upset when they got home.  Then while I was using the bathroom Luke came to my door and told me that he had to go, but 30 seconds later when I came out he had already had an accident.  That made him cry even more, poor thing.  I couldn't seem to get him calmed down so Charlie gave in and handed over the googin and pacifier and he was instantly calm.  He laid and watched the train go around and round until it was time for bed.

October 3, 2013

Here is my one and only, blurry photo from today.  We went to Costco this evening and they have all of their holiday decorations out as well as the Christmas toys.  Isaac was super excited about this Hexbug Nano V2 set.  I got him some for his birthday and I had no idea they would be such a hit.  The regular Hexbugs just run around on flat surfaces, but the V2 are made to climb vertically and upside down inside special tracks.  Isaac LOVES them.  He has told me several times that all he wants for Christmas is a bunch of new Hexbugs.  So he was pretty delighted when he found this giant display of them tonight.

October 2, 2013

Potty Training Day Two.  Luke did awesome today!  He woke up dry this morning.  I couldn't believe it!  He was dry after nap too.  He went on the potty 19 times and only had 1 accident.  And instead of me having to take him or remind him, he was the one telling me that he had to go.  I am SO proud of him.  And tonight he finally earned his very coveted trash truck.  Hooray!  Isaac was a little over three before we potty trained, and it was somewhat difficult.  I can hardly believe that Luke is so easy.

October 1, 2013

Potty Training Day One.  I never thought that I would try and potty train Luke at such a young age (he is about 28 months) but he was showing pretty obvious signs that he was ready for it.  Most of all, he wanted to be like Isaac and wear underwear and sit on the potty.  (We'll work on standing when he gets a little taller.)  So I scheduled a few days where we could stay close to home and then made a trip to Target for all of the necessities:  big boy underwear, candy, poop prizes, a poster board, and some fun drinks.  Today Luke peed in the potty 18 times and was rewarded with a fruit snack and a sticker for his chart each time.  (He also had Skittles and M&Ms to choose from, but he chose a fruit snack every single time.)  He also had 11 accidents.  I was feeling a little discouraged and thinking that maybe he wasn't quite ready because he was going so often (29 times!!!).  He did drink an awful lot, which was part of the plan, but at some points he was having to go to the potty every 5 minutes.  I googled it and it seems to be normal.  I was also pleasantly surprised to see that he woke up dry from his nap (I put him in a precautionary pull-up).  No poop today.  Though it was quite funny watching him try so hard to go.  He really really wanted the trash truck that I put in his prize jar.  Hopefully tomorrow.

September 30, 2013

Charlie has been taking the boys on lots of "runs" in the evenings lately.  Sometimes I go with them.  Isaac & Luke both like to hold flashlights.  Luke has pretty incredible stamina and literally runs for about 3/4 of the first mile.  Then he slows down a bit for the rest, but he insists on walking the entire 2 miles himself.  Tonight as we were passing the tennis courts he noticed the dozens of bright green balls alongside the fence.  I'm sure his little heart did a pitter patter as he has always had a thing for balls.  Unfortunately there was a really tall fence standing in his way.  Then we went home and ate homemade donuts for dessert.  Yum.

September 29, 2013

This evening we had some friends over for dinner.  Charlie worked with Jason in Toledo years ago.  He and his wife Bridgette moved to California about 5 years ago when Jason came to work at Bradshaw with Charlie (but Charlie left there a few years ago).  Whenever we get together Charlie & Jason inevitably end up talking about cookware.  And Bridgette and I usually talk about our kids.  Tonight's menu was "Paris" chicken, potato gratin, kale, homemade bread, and a salad.  I love this beautiful Nambe salad bowl that my mother in law gave me.  Thanks Janelle!