Sunday

Went down to Monterey and mixed it up this time.

Our first stop was Dennis the Menace playground. This sign welcomed us, which gave us pause. We countinued on. Good thing we did, because this is a fun playground!


The conveyor belt slide is totally awesome. DT could have gone all day.


We followed this with the aquarium and lunch in the cafe there.

Final stop was the site of Sea Kelp Round-up from almost exactly one year ago. LT was happy to get another game of this in and we all had fun on the beach.

LT and a found treasure.

DT in the midst of a rock throwing game.

Where's Waldo(s)?

Shell nose!

Return of the Beaver

I was pretty excited to see an old friend when I gathered up LT's pictures after school today. It's the Beaver from Beaver Pictures. Only this time he's back for revenge. Evil laugh here.



Some other fun pictures of late.
Eating human soup.

Three headed dragon, but of course, you could see that.

Can you recognize everything? Puffer fish, electric eel, stingray, and lots of hungry sharks!

Xīn Nián Kuài Lè

We celebrated Chinese New Year at the art musuem. They had crafts, lion dancers, tae kwon do, Chinese music... all sorts of things. Fun!

Happy Year of the Tiger!

A serious artist embellishes his Tangram

Another artist shows off his Dancing Tiger

I call this "Two Boys, Six Palms"

Now just one boy

That's becuase the other one is busy doing this:

Our photographer, ahem Daddy, was able to capture this rare stopped moment


And, Happy Valentine's Day, too! We didn't celebrate too much, but the boys enjoyed opening their valentines from Gma & Gpa A this morning. How did Gma pick just the right valentie for LT?

Musical Me

The Kindergarten at LT's school put on a musical event last Thursday. It was super cute. Each class sang 2 sonds and they all joined together for the finale.

See if you can spot LT! His BFF is in the top row, 3rd from the left.


Here's a video of their performance.


It's a bit long, so here's where the other songs start, if you want to skip ahead.
1:38 Singing in the Rain
4:40 Battle Hymn of the Republic

DT is expressing his artistic tendencies, too. He draws spirals - lots of them!

Valentine Factory

The Valentines are all made! Poor LT will have to fill out all 29 of the to/from labels for his class this weekend. That's a lot of writing. I'll help DT with his.

I saw this idea (with a lollipop) on a message board, but I think the poster had blog-lifted it, so whoever's blog it was from: Thank you!

Steps:
First, I got approval from LT on the plan. Very important. He wanted to do the heart crayons again. This was much easier, so I'm glad he liked it. He did want to make sure there would be hearts involved. Got the boys to hold the pose, one slightly better than the other, while taking the pictures. Then, we did a little photo-shopping after the boys went to bed and sent the finished product on over to Costco. Picked up the pictures and some pencils and labels at lunch. Printed out the labels while putting DT to bed. Assembled after the kids went to bed.

Not bad execution on an idea. Total time, ~90 minutes, not including Costco/Target runs.

Just a Typical Weekday

This time captured in Toy Camera special effect camera phone.

I planned on doing this from the night before, but when we woke up, it turned out it was not a typical day. We have been (we being DT) waking up at 5:30 or so and having leisurely mornings. This morning he didn't wake up until 6:45, so we started off behind.

First things first, look for toys

Then wake up big brother

Play kitchen

Play pirateship

Bro wants to play beanie babies

Move on to wind up boxing match

A very non typical breakfast of toast and yogurt and Bakugan. Usually we're all there, but I was getting ready.

And also making lunch of PB&J, cheese stick, applesauce & juice, plus freeze dried fruit for snack. End of day tally, only 1/2 PB&J, applesauce & juice consumed. Boy is living on air.

And making dinner, salsa chicken

Time to brush teeth!

And/or floss

Now into the car! Note, LT got a booster seat this weekend and DT has been promoted to LT's old seat. The car needs to be leaving at 7:54 to be on time for the 8:00 bell. We have it down to a Science. 7:56, you will still be on time, but will be walking up as the bell rings.

Kindergarten line up craziness

Last kid on the playground

Trying to get into Mommy's car

Oh wait, Daddy takes me to daycare! TT comes over to the school and picks up DT and I head to work.

Peace, quiet & coffee at work. Artwork is a few years old! During the day, I hang out in my cube, email & IM, work, work, work, go to meetings, go to lunch with friends, go down and get free fruit and drinks.

Usually, I pick up both boys, but today I was running late and didn't leave until 5:10, so it would have been tight to pick up both, so TT picked up LT for me. I have to leave at 5 sharp to make both pickups by 6, or really rush DT into his carseat.
There was a birthday at DT's daycare, so he brought home baloons, which both boys really enjoyed.


Then DT wanted to play a little piano ...

so LT had to turn down the volume

Chicken burritos for dinner

Or for pushing around your plate

Followed by cupcakes (made a dozen on Sunday, will finally finish them up tomorrow!)

And a bath

Coming full circle back to where we were in the morning

And then, yes, I'll admit it, one Pokemon as the video is due back on Saturday. First we did the sight word flashcards and I'd already checked that Home Fun was completed correctly at after care, so I think it was okay.

Followed by book and bed by 8:30!

Phew, I'm tired! We also took pictures for their Valentines, so I worked on those and sent them off to be printed. Will post back with those assumming the result is a sucess!

And now time for bed. Phew! I am tired.