A 4 Year Old!

Happy birthday to DT! He had been planning his birthday party for months and months, changing his plan every few days. We finally nailed down the idea of "Lego Hero Factory." We gave each kid a hero to assemble and I made some cupcake toppers of the logo. We had DT's favorite food - Blue Rock BBQ, of course! DT really enjoyed himself. It was a special day for him!

The Hero Factory he desperately wanted! And yes it does say ages 9-16.

DT has already started planning next years party! Currently in the lead is a Skylanders party, followed by the exact same party as this year.

Hawaii 2012

We had a wonderful family vacation to Maui for Spring Break. It was just awesome.We had a good mix of relaxing and adventuring. I even managed to read 4-1/2 grown up(ish) books. I think we would like to go back again!

The kids loved the pool, of course.

Nakelele blow hole

 Lahaina Banyan Tree

Whale watching, I promise we were all very happy!

TT's advertising shot for the other boat

 Our own private waterfall

 And another waterfall...

 The beautiful beach

And because I know you'll want to look at more pictures (Momsie gene), here's a link: Maui 2012

Egg Hunt 2012

Time for the annual Hunt on the Beach! We had the place to ourselves again this year.




LT requested harder hiding spaces. Maybe they were a little too hard?


Family picture!


A new friend


It was such a beautiful day, I decided to go on in ...


Meanwhile, the boys were having some fun

Snow!

One month ago, we made a foray to "the snow", as people say around here. We rented a cabin for the weekend and went up with our neighbors to Bear Valley. There wasn't that much snow, but it was a lot for our kids! They all had a blast.

Day in the SF

On President's Day, we drove up to SF to see the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. The reviews said it wasn't that good for kids, but really we all enjoyed it. Then we walked over to Chrissy Field. It was beautiful! We couldn't stop taking pictures with the bridge.




Action shot


Family photo, do you see everyone?

My First Piano Post

LT has been taking piano lessons at the community center. He did 4 before Christmas and is now halfway through an 8 week session. Not too bad! I didn't realize we were taking the repeat on the second song. Oops!

Valentines, 2012 edition

This year's valentines are done and in the bag! Thank you Family Fun magazine for your inspiration.

DT went with animal toys tied on to a card.

Complete with corny sayings!

LT did Mad Libs (Dear Valentines edition) tied with a bow.

Also with corny sayings.

Ready for school on Tuesday!

Wake Up Every Day

DT, it turns out, is a bit of a singer/songwriter. Here he is performing his hit single, "Wake Up Every Day."



The lyrics are:
When the sun is rising/I wake up every day
When the sun is down/I sleep every night
When it gets scary and strange/I go to my mom's room

That last line is my favorite.

A New Cousin!

The boys were so excited to meet a new, to them, cousin. Since he's 9, I don't think he can be really classfied as "new". TT's aunt & uncle came on a visit from China and brought with them their grandson. He and the boys quickly (in the span of a car ride) became fast friends. They took a day off and went to Santa Cruz together. They had so much fun! A bit like the three stoodges...








Their cousin lives part time in New York and part time in Beijing, Hopefully we can visit him again sometime!

Now that it's 2012, Christmas 2011

Have to ring in the New Year with the requisite Christmas catch up. Christmas was good. LT proclaimed it "the best Christmas ever" and I'm pretty sure that kids' opinions are the most important, so, I guess, indeed it was. We took more video, so we only have actual pictures of 2 presents being opened, both very successful!



They really loved all their gifts this year from everyone.*

Then we drove down to San Diego for some Christmas with the family. Many rounds of Wits & Wagers were played. Good food, silly kids, Sea World, all the usual... Here is the family picture round up.




The trip back was very long with a lot of traffic. We wanted to make a detour to the Griffith Observatory, but so did everyone else, so we were detoured and just had a hillside stop instead. Still nice. Then more driving and more traffic. We left San Diego at 10 and got home about 10-11.




*We did end up making one change post Christmas. LT's big gift was a Lego Harry Potter castle. When we got back from San Diego, he hadn't opened it and wasn't that interested in opening it, it seemed, despite really wanting it for several months. We talked about it and he decided to return it for something smaller and more manageable. He picked two small lego sets and a DS game instead (total for 1/2 the cost of the big lego set) and was quite pleased. He got a smaller one from Grandma and it turned out that satisfied his Harry Potter Lego needs.

Bathroom Remodel: Check

The bathroom remodel is in the can. Ok, sorry couldn't resist. And really, it's ALMOST done. The outside wall still needs to be painted, but otherwise it's done! It is so nice. I love it.

Before:


And, after!




I can't fit in all the pictures. Instead, you can click through to our Picasa album and follow the whole process.

Christmas is Coming!

It turns out time keeps going forward whether or not you are prepared for it. So, Christmas has snuck up on us. Last weekend we ventured out to find our tree.
Santa & the elves starting off on the search

Found it!

Traditional picture of TT with tree for a head


Last night we went to see the neighborhood Santa. DT wasn't sure, so I had to fill in for Mrs. Claus


And we even managed some decoration at the house! I had two very eager ornament hangers this year.



Merry Early Christmas!