Christmas Tree Farm

Steve found out this year that there is a Christmas tree farm 10 minutes from our house. Who knew?? I would never have guessed there'd be something like that down here with the hot weather. We decided to go and check it out.

As I mentioned before, I was really on top of things this year and had things planned out. I really should have posted this before the xmas picture post. This was a VERY busy Saturday. Steve got home from work, I fed the kids, got them dressed and we headed out the door. We must have walked around for an hour before we found a tree we could agree upon. Many of the ones we liked were already sold. the cool thing about this place is that you can go earlier, pick out your tree and then come back and pick it up. This is what we will be doing next year.

We took the kids' reindeer ears with us. They lasted through the picture I took of them at the entrance of the tree farm. I didn't want to carry them around in addition to trying to carry a child. I put one set on my head and gave the other set to Steve. He was a sport and put them on. From then on out, everyone who walked past us called us the "Reindeer Family." Guess we could be called worse.

We finally found the perfect tree for us. Steve and Kyle went back to get someone to cut it down. He was a young college kid. He was really good with the kids. He asked them if they wanted to help cut down the tree. Of course it took Brooke about a nano second to fly under the tree with this guy. He had her put her hand on the saw and she got to help. He carried it back to where the car was, they wrapped it up and they put it on the car.

Once we had the tree home and up, it filled the house with that wonderful tree smell. A few bugs too but hey! This was such a great place. What a great way to get in the seaon.

Christmas Pictures

I was soooo on top of things this year. I planned out our Santa picture and the kids' photo. We took our Santa picture the night before Thanksgiving and that Saturday, I had made an appointment for our Christmas picture. I decided to put Steve and I in it this year. I again armed myself with my favorite bribery tool of fruit chews and we headed out the door. We were so proud of the kids. They did so well and it wasn't like last year when Kyle was afraid of the set. We went to Kiddie Kandids and they do such a great job with the kids.

I again told Kyle that if was a good boy and smiled, I would give him some fruit chews. Worked like a charm. Bad mommy!! We got some really good pictures. The family picture turned into our Christmas card.

Steve and I still can't believe how old the kids look. With Kyle standing the way he is next to Brooke with his arm resting on the chair, he is just so much older looking. He just cracks me up. The poor guy did a GREAT job for a kid who hadn't pooped in a few days and was backed up like NO tomorrow. We worried for not. Our little flirty ham did a great job and Brooke is actually smiling more for pictures.

Santa

Well, Christmas is finally upon us. Where has this year gone??? I didn't help the issue by taking the kids to see Santa the night before Thanksgiving. It was much easier since there is NO line. We just walk right up and they can take lots of time with us since no one is behind us. Perhaps I shouldn't be posting this idea online.

So, we got home from the beach, unloaded the motorhome, and put the kids down for a nap. I ran around to get the last minute outfit accessories for the picture. Once they were up, we fed them and raced up to Santa. Of course, I brought the bribery again. Yes, I have stooped to that level to get a good picture. I shoved some fruit chews in my purse and off we went.

The kids were all dressed in their Christmas outfits and just looked adorable. We walked up and the first thing Kyle says is, "no want to." I then told him that if he went to sit on Santa's lap and didn't cry, I would give him some fruit chews. Worked like a charm. He also gave Santa a hug at the end. Well, perhaps Santa helped by giving him a sucker. Kyle should have a shirt that says, "WILL WORK FOR FOOD."

The kids are looking so much older. I just can't believe it. We took them over to have some pictures taken in front of the tree but getting them to both look at the camera is like hearding cats. I felt lucky to get this cute Santa pix. Although, the Easter picture with Kyle screaming is actually pretty funny. My girlfriend put it in a frame at her cabin in Arrowhead.

Hope everyone is catching the spirit of the Season!!

Sesame Street Live

Steve finally made it home yesterday around 2pm and we were able to make it to the Sesame Street Live show. It was right down the street at the Citizens Bank Arena which is across from Ontario Mills mall. We got their early not knowing what to expect. I was so excited for the kids to see it. I was also very excited to be out as a family again.

We pulled in, got a pretty good parking spot and walked up to will call to get our tickets. I had just purchased them online hours beforehand. Kyle was very fascinated with the lights that were going on. We got the tickets and were on our way in. In my mind, I was thinking we are here early enough, I want to find some T-shirts or mementos for the kids. Steve is talking to me and all of a sudden I see the booth. I have a one track mind at this point and Steve just looks at me and says, "FOCUS!" Oops. He wanted to know where we were supposed to go for seats. yeah, yeah, yeah! Section 109. We ended up getting the kids these Elmo light things and some T-shirts. Once those were purchased, we got to our seats.

Once we got to our seats, we changed the kids into their shirts. Here are some pictures:
You can see from the picture the little light up Elmo stick we bought for them. These are the only pictures that we got. I figured it would be like any concert where you can't take your camera in. NOPE! Everyone had cameras. Guess the next time I will bring it. I just thought they would make me take it out once they checked the diaper bag. Silly mommy.

Once the show started, the kids were in total awe of the entire thing. Kyle was really good about clapping and singing along. Brooke just sort of stared at the show. She and Kyle both always want to touch everything. I asked her who was on stage and she said Bert. Then she asked, "can I touch him." I told her we couldn't and she was OK with it. The show lasted for about an hour and a half. They did really good lasting almost an hour past their bedtime. I had so much fun watching them watch the show. It was such a great family night out. Something that just really gives you warm fuzzies and makes you appreciate how much you love your family.

So, the night ended wonderfully. We only had a 10 minute drive home and the kids had a great time. Can't wait for the next one which by the way is in February with a Thomas show. Can you guess who'll be bringing their camera???!!!

Daddy & Kyle flying a kite

When were up in Oregon this past summer on the coast, I went to a kite shop and bought this HUGE airplane kite since Kyle loves airplanes so much. Of course, we went to the beach and there was NO breeze. It was gorgeous for us but not so good for the kite flying. We ended up not flying that darn thing at all while in Oregon. We went to Huntington Beach a few weeks ago and we took the kite. I had previously asked the guy at the kite store if I was going to need an engineer degree to fly the thing. He said, "nope! just chuck it up in the air." Well, he was right. It was pretty easy. Here are some pictures:

However, I must admit that the wind decided to change a bit and the airplane kite decided to nose dive into the sand. We tried to get it back up but it kept nose diving into the sand. Poor Brooke was standing there and it almost hit her so of course she wanted nothing to do with the kite after that. She just kept telling me, "no like it mommy." She wanted to $2 Thomas kite. We knew that one would not stand up to the heavy wind though. It was fun. I always enjoy family time at the beach. Can't wait until we go again next week.

California Wildfires

Well, California is once again on fire. I think they are now finally out but last Saturday morning, things were a bit crazy here in the southland. Steve was recalled Thursday night and we have not seen him since. We were able to go down and visit with him one night for a few hours. All the guys were so exhausted. The kids and I miss him like crazy. When we went down there, Brooke who is usually a mommy's girl, was definitely a daddy's girl that night. She only wanted him to hold her hand. We ended up taking the kids to the Rainforest Cafe and they loved it. We were a little worried about Kyle being afraid but he did great. We took off about 8pm and Steve was able to go back to a hotel and sleep in a real bed. We are hoping he can come home sometime later on tonight. We were supposed to take the kids to see Sesame Street Live tonight but I was able to cancel the tickets and get a refund. We wanted to do it as a family. I got us some great tickets to see Thomas the Engine in February.

I am on the countdown to Thanksgiving. For the first time since starting with my district 14 years ago, we have the entire week of Thanksgiving off. We made plans back in August to go out to the beach for 4 of those days. We are now going for 3 since Steve took a shift on Thanksgiving so a guy would work his Christmas Eve. The kids and I are going to go to Auntie Janets house. It'll be better than the mac n cheese we had last year. I am in charge of sweet potatoes for 32 people. YIKES!!

Hope everyone is doing great. I can't believe the holidays are upon us. I am curious to see how much the kids understand this year.

1st Pony Ride

We went to the Pomona Fairgrounds the other day to the RV show and they had a free pony ride station. Steve had gone off to look at something so I decided to see if the kids would ride the horses. Of course Brooke walks right up to the place and wants on...Kyle, he stands back and tells me, "no like it mommy." So, Brooke got on and rode the horse and Kyle stood back with me.

It was sort of funny afterwards. I was trying to put the monkey "leash" back on Brooke and all of a sudden, the horse starts to go pee pee. Well, it was splattering since the horses were on cement. I grabbed Brooke and told her to move back since the horsey was going pee pee. Well, I regret telling her that. The rest of the afternoon was spent by her telling me what the horse had done. We were walking through a motorhome with a sales guy and she looks at me and tells me, "horsey go pee pee mommy." After about the 100th time, I decided to ignore her to see if she would stop staying it. She finally did. However, it did come up the next day in conversation...somehow....who knows! Gotta love what kids remember!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Well, life has just been sort of humming along. I can't believe today is already Halloween. The house is all decorated and we are ready to scare the neighborhood kids. I really don't know how our kids are going to do. Kyle is not really sure about all of this Halloween stuff and is always telling me it's scarey. I have been telling Brooke that it's fake and not real so she will turn around and tell me, "it's fake mommy." Anyhow, we got their costumes awhile ago and Brooke is going to be an elephant and Kyle is going to be a dragon. We were having a hard time getting Kyle to actually try on a costume. He refused to do it. I bought him a costume with green on it since it's his favorite color. He liked it and they both actually put them on the other night and had their pictures taken at Sears.
It turned out really cute. I didn't know if Kyle was going to put the costume on or not so I brought an arsenal of "treats" with me to bribe him. I have never done this before but I really wanted the picture. Bad mommy! Anyhow, I only gave them fruit chews since they were soooo good. I was so happy and couldn't stop telling Kyle how proud of him I was. Hopefully tonight will go well and they will have fun and not have the crap scared out of the.

Diva in Training!

Well, we all think it's really funny now but like the title stated, I swear Brooke is going to be a Diva. Especially if Auntie Janet has anything to say about it. Here is a picture of her at Auntie J's house in her bathing suit that she got for her birthday and her sunglasses. I'm surprised she didn't want her purse and cellphone! She's a pretty smart cookie though. I was putting watermelon in her bowl tonight after dinner and she counted the pieces as I placed them in her bowl. She went all the way to 10 all by herself with no help from mommy or Kyle. Pretty good for a kid who just turned 2 a few months ago. Kyle is a smarty pants too. Before he was even 2, he knew about half of the alphabet. I would have to venture to guess now that he has about 3/4 of it down now. Whenever we are out somewhere, he always points out all of the letters that he sees. I love it when he can give me the letter AND the color! What can I say....I'm a proud momma!

Kites

I have to post this funny story about Kyle. At the beginning of the month, we had the carpets cleaned so we moved all of the furniture out of the family room so the carpet guy could clean that entire room. Well, Kyle got up early that morning as usual. He is sitting on the carpet in the middle of the room with himself and this airplane kite that I bought him when we were on the Oregon coast. From the picture, you can tell that it's not small. When I bought the darn thing, I asked the guy if we had to be an engineer to fly the darn thing. Anyhow, I am trying to get out the door to go to work and Steve is just arriving home from work. What I didn't realize

was that the cat was in there trying to play with the tail on this kite. This was upsetting Kyle and making him cry. I told Kyle to tell the kitty cat NO. So I would hear him tell the cat no. Well, all of a sudden, the cat comes running out from wherever, grabs ahold of the tail of this kite in his mouth and takes of with the kite. Kyle is hysterical. The cat runs to the kitchen with the kite, the kite gets stuck between the highchairs and the sofa that has been moved in there because of the carpets being cleaned. I am trying my best not to laugh all the while Kyle is yelling NO to the cat and telling me that the kite is broken. Thank God. The kite is no broken. Good thing as we haven't even be able to get that thing in the air yet. Whole nother story there! Thought I would pass that along. Kids! Gotta love 'em!

Thomas the Train

OK, so we are now ALL about Thomas the Train in our household. Kyle is officially obsessed with the trains. He wakes up in the morning and says, "Kyle play choo choo." He would play with it all day if we let him. It's cute too, this morning, Brooke went by the train table and said, "Choo night night." It was a great investement and I'm glad we got it. Mommy already wants to build another track for the kids. Perhaps I like it as much as they do! I already have plans for what I want to get them for Christmas! Trains of course!!!
Kyle has also figured out that if he brings the ball over to the table, he can sit on it and he will be chest high to the table. Smart kid! The kids are too funny on what they come up with.

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All Aboard!!

This weekend has been ALL about trains! The kids and I went up to Victoria Gardens on Saturday to ride on the train up there. When we got there at 10:45am, it wasn't there yet. So, mommy had to tell a white lie and tell the kids that the train was still sleeping and he would be here in a little bit. We used out time wisely and Auntie Janet would be proud. We went to the Brighton store. The kids did great as the woman there gave them a cookie. Everyone was happy!! So, back to the train weekend. We went back to the train and it was there. I was really nervous that we would get up there and Kyle wouldn't want to go on the darn thing. He was a bit nervous at first but once I picked him up and we got in the car toghther, he was fine. It goes around this little area twice. We had a good time.
After the train right we decided to go up to the Thomas the Train store. We played in there until it was naptime AND of course, Kyle stunk up the place with his diaper. We headed home for our nap and while the kids were sleeping, I decided to get online and start looking at Thomas the train stuff. My mind was made up! We were going to head down to the store after naptime and get a Thomas table. So after about an hour in the Thomas isle and speaking to a very nice lady and her family, we were out the store with $$$ worth of Thomas the Train stuff! YUP! I will officially say it! The kids are spoiled! I had a lot of fun doing this with them.

As of this morning, Kyle has been playing with this Thomas the Train since about 8:30am and it is now almost 11am!!! He loves it! I am so glad that I got it. Brooke likes it too it's just her attention span is much shorter than his! We have officially entered the world of Thomas!

1st Ferry Boat Ride

While in Seattle, we decided to take a ferry boat ride up to the San Juan Islands. We drove to Anacortes which is about 1.5 hrs from Bellevue. From there, we walked on to the boat and took an hour ride up to Friday Harbor. We packed a picnic lunch and ate on the boat. The kids did really well. I love the fact that we can throw anything at them and they just go with the flow. Our entire plan, entirely thought up by Pop Pop, was to go up and get an ice cream cone in Friday Harbor and then come back. The weather was awesome and we could have stayed longer but the next ferry wasn't for 4 hours. Friday Harbor is a very cute quaint town but to walk around for 4 hours, too much especially with 2 2yr olds. We decided after our ice cream to walk over to the docks. We were over by where they sell fish and there was a harbor seal. Poor thing was missing an eye. The kids were waving to him. He was definitely not hurting for food. he must have weighed a ton.I wanna say his name was Seymour. We didn't stay long and it was time to head back to the boat. It was a short stay but we decided we would come back and have more time and stay for the weekend.

A Day at the Lake

The weather was so nice in Seattle. At times it was even too hot! It was the humidity. My parent live about 10 minutes from Idylwild park which is right on Lake Sammamish. Steve and I went down there after the kids got up from their nap. Grammy and Pop Pop took aunt Kaye to the airport and met us there. What a great time!

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All that great weather makes me want to move up there tomorrow. I would however have to have air conditioning. Global warming is making that place HOT!

Happy 4th of July

I am behind and Lord! don't I know it. What else is new?!! Anyhow, the 4th of July was spent up in Seattle at my parents house. we were not having a huge party but by the way we decorated, you would've thought we were having a ton of people over. At one point during the day, Steve asked if this was all of the people coming. YUP! It was fun. Mom and I went hog wild at Party City buying decorations and we started hanging them days before. The guys just shook their heads! I brought up my red, white and blue lights from home and we had the backyard lit up like a runway. The poor hummingbirds didn't know what to think. Here we are decorating:
We didn't stop there....oh no! Mom and I had gone to Kohl's and we bought MORE stuff. We got Pop Pop a shirt for the 4th. Much to the boys' surprise...they had the SAME shirt. The were cool about it. i almost went totally overboard, drove out there again and bought uncle jared the same shirt. I think they would have killed me. So the house was decorated, everyone had on their 4th outfits..we were set to go! I even pulled out my Betty Crocker apron and made a 4th cake.It wasn't perfect but it tasted OK. I was the total Nazi that day. Pop Pop wanted to make bratwurst. HELLO! On the 4th of July. Nope! We had hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, potato chips, baked beans and you guessed it...apple pie and my cake for desert! ALL American! I am a dork! I loved doing all of this especially now that I am a mom. These are the things I want to pass down to the kids! Traditions and family fun!

I want to also add how smart my son is. When I came downstairs that morning after my wonderful husband let me sleep in, everyone was in the kitchen. Apparently, Kyle went through the ENTIRE 4th of July sign and was able to tell daddy every letter and number. He just turned TWO! Although he has had almost half the alphabet down since before that.

We had a great day playing in the backyard. Uncle Jared and Daddy had too much fun with the t-ball set for the kids. I think they were having more fun than the kids. You'll see the expression of Steve's face from the photos. A few of the balls met their death with the "big kids" playing with them. Side note here, I called the company and they are sending me 5 more balls for FREE. I didn't tell her how they broke. You're all set to go Jared. However, I think I will buy you your own set for Christmas!!

We wound down the day with some cocktails on the back patio. I love my parents backyard. I appreciate it now that I live in CA on a postage stamp lot. It was all lit up and it was a great way to end a great day. Now those of you looking at the picture might think that we turned in at 8pm. Nope! The great thing about Seattle is that it stay light outside pretty late. I would say this picture was taken around 9:30pm. If we could move tomorrow, we would.
More pictures from the day!
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Emerald City

We are now up in Seattle/Bellevue at my parents' house. Steve and I have actually returned from a 6 day trip to Hawaii. It was really great to get away, sleep in, have some cocktails, and eat a meal without having to be a circus clown. We missed them like crazy and called everyday and actually took the laptop so we could video conference with them. The kids had a great week with Grammy and Pop Pop. They had 2 different playdates set up with 2 different kids, have been to the park and the lake. WOW! The kids are popular. Anyhow, they went to the lake on one playdate and they loved it. Brooke apparently did a face plant in the water as she was trying to run out into it. They have had a great time spending some quality time with their grandparents and also their aunt and uncle. Kim and Jared took the kids on Saturday to the Zoo and let them go all day. It makes me very happy that the kids will know them and have fun with them.

The weather here has been really great. My girlfriend Erin and her family came over yesterday to play with the kids. We took the sprinkler out and let the kids run through it naked. It was really cute. Kim and Jared came over and we had a little BBQ. It was a really great day and I went to bed to with warm fuzzies. I would love to live here with family and friends. Hopefully one day in the near future we will.

I will have to upload some more photos of our trip here. The naked sprinkler pixs are too cute.

Lake Shasta

Here we are at Lake Shasta. The first picture is of Brooke after I told her that it was time to get into her bathing suit and go on the boat. She had her sunglasses that Auntie Janet got for her and her Elmo hat on. She couldn't get out of her PJ's fast enough. The other is Kyle with daddy on the boat learning how to drive. The one with Brooke and I was when we were on our raft out in the water. She resisted at first and then really liked it. The other picture is of the kids on the boat with their lifejackets on. They really liked it but the water was colder than they would have liked. We had to dip them in the water to cool them off. Brooke actually did jump from the boat once but she did not like how cold it was. She did better on the raft when only her legs got wet.

We had a great couple of days there. The kids actually took naps on the boat. Kyle was so tired at one point that he feel asleep next to Steve while he was driving. We had a fun filled 2 days on the boat with the kids. At one point, I was in the back of the boat and just watching the kids play and tickle each other. It almost made me cry. These were the days that I have always waited for...the family times spent with the kids.

Schools Out for SUMMER!

Summer vacation is finally here. As of June 9th, I was done with the regular school year. I decided to do the first 3 weeks of summer school in order to finish up with the master schedule. I had about a week off before summer school started. Steve's parents came in for his niece's graduation and stayed with us for a few days. Steve also brought the motorhome to sit in front of the house so I had 3 days to pack before we left for a month. We have plans to go to Lake Shasta for a few days and rent a boat. After that, our plans are to head to my parents house and then take off to Hawaii just the 2 of us. After that, we are planning on heading down to Oregon to stay at the beach in Newport. WOW! Sounds like the summer is already over and I will have to go back to work.

Father's Day came and the kids and I went to the fire station to be with daddy and have a BBQ with the other families. I got some shirts for Steve and the kids got him a book that I had made online. It was pictures of just Steve and the kids and I put some quotes in there. I was really happy with the way that it turned out.I figure I can continue my love for scrapbooking but do it online after the kids go to bed. It would be something as opposed to what I am doing now which is nothing!

So it's off for summer and some real good times with the kids.

Airplanes!!!!

Kyle LOVES airplanes and helicopters. Wherever we are, if he hears one, he will stop what he is doing and yell...AIRPLANE! Since the park is next to a medical place that has helicopters, they fly over the park so he now knows that as well. He can be in the middle of eating, will hear it and yell.

We decided on my day off since we were all home to head down near the Ontario airport and watch the planes come in. We parked in an area where they were pretty low so he could get a good look at them. Here are some pictures from the day:

Happy 2nd Birthday Kyle

OMG! Kyle is 2 today. I can not believe our "little peanut" is now 2 and he is not our little peanut anymore. He is our chubber whubber sumo wrestler. I can definitely wait until he's 16 since I know he will be eating us out of house and home. He is a tank when it comes to eating!!!

We did the same thing with him tonight that we did with Brooke. I cooked dinner and we had dessert after dinner and sang him happy birthday. He really loved the fact that there was CAKE in the house. He was so fascinated with the candles. He wasn't so sure about blowing them out. I like the fact that we are setting traditions here that I hope will continue on and when they get a bit older, will really come to treasure them.

Here is some video of us singing to our little "boo bear:"

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As you can tell from the video, once I leaned the cake in, it wasn't like it took more than a nano second for Kyle to figure out he could open his mouth and sink right in to the cake. We have found his weakness. Cake, cookies and sweets.

Finger Painting

We spent a week here in California where the weather wasn't so great. It was raining and cold. It was sort of funny. The nanny came and sort of looked at me and said, "all day in the house with the kids." She had this look of doom. All I could think was, "have fun....better you than me...gotta get out the door to work." Oh how mean of me. I decided I would try to get some crafts for the kids so on days like this, they don't have this strong desire to rip the house apart.

We took a fieldtrip down to Michael's and we bought some finger paints. How messy can you get?? We painted some pictures that night and it wasn't too bad. It's totally washable so the clean up wasn't bad. Kyle only tried to eat it once and I was very glad Brooke didn't put her hands in her hair. Here are some pictures from the evening of crafts:
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I also took some video:

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The kids are really getting to a super cute stage. They come up with the funniest things. Right now, Brooke's saying is, "Ernie poo poo, Elmo poo poo" and then we go through everyone in the family to see if they have poo poo'd.

Our New Trampoline

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