Holiday crafts

Again, this posting is a little late! The week of Christmas the kids worked on some plates for their Dad. I took some pictures because they were so into it (as well as the cat, as you will see!).

At long last, Trick and Treat!

We really did take pictures on Halloween this year - I even think they were uploaded within a few days of it - it just takes me some time to get to posting. She was a (like anyone is surprised) a princess. Aurora to be precise. Her dragon wore his hood on his costume while collecting treats but it was off the minute he came home.

He got dropped off early in the evening and helped me hand out candy. He loved it. Insisted on leaving the door open because "more kids coming, mama, door open!" It takes a lot of effort to change his mind so I gave up.

As I was thinking of a title of this entry, I decided that the nicknames Trick and Treat would have been great for these two. The names would have to be used interchangably, of course, because at any given time they can be one of both (tricks or treats). I am sure you can guess who is more tricky of the two of them (especially in these pictures!). I gues they will have to be okay with BooBoo and JBE - the nicknames that seem to be sticking so far.

The day after we went to Mickey's house and who doesn't love that! What we love even more is having a friend who offers to take us with his free passes that he gets from work. It was her first experience on some of the bigger rides - can you guess what this one was?

She said she wasn't even afraid of the "Yeti".

Meet the 5 Year Old

Today was her 5th birthday. Who knew time could go by in just a blink. She is convinced she is not only older but physically taller, too. These are the first 3 questions she asked today:
Is it a school day?
When do I turn 6?
Does this mean we get to eat that rainbow ice cream today?

The party was last weekend - quite an event with 22 kids there! Who knew that all but a very small handful would come? She loved her party, though, and talked about it almost everyday since. As parents we tried to discourage a big party this year since she had a good sized one last year but Grandpa couldn't let his only granddaughter go without...

Here are some pictures of the event.
Waiting for cake...

Believe it or not, he didn't touch the cake!

The birthday place sends a limo to pick up when you tell them you have a ton of people in your party.

Why didn't I think of that?

Today we were shopping in a large warehouse where you can be canola oil by the gallon and we decided to wander the Halloween costumes to see if anything sparked the interest of a super girly 4 (almost 5) year old. Sure enough she saw Sleeping Beauty. We asked her, "Do you want to go as something with your brother? Like he can be a football player and you can be a cheerleader?" Within about a minute she responded, "He can be a dragon. There's a dragon in Sleeping Beauty." And I'll be damned if there wasn't an adorable dragon costume in his size! I know I am biased but you have to admit, she had a genius idea! Tried them on and with a few sizing modifications they are going to look adorable.


Sorry no sneak peeks in this posting!

We Love Tamale Fest!

A few weeks ago we went to the annual Tamale Fest - it has become the tradition of one of Jeff's friends to make Tamales in August and then have friends over to eat up. This is a picture of us waiting for the Pinata to be busted open. Had a great time!

Baby Cousin Love

This week we got to spend too little time with the newest cousin in the family. She is just adorable (of course) and the kids couldn't get enough of her. He wanted to sit next to her and kiss her any chance he could. She wanted to do the same, but in a more contained manner than he did. They even had the chance to talk to Noam, who was home with dad, on the computer. Gotta love technology!

Funniest moment: He was sitting next to her, arms out, hands opening and closing, saying "hold it! hold it!" Hard to explain to a (almost) 2 year old gender differences.

We caught some pictures of it so here they are, ready to melt your heart.

Super excited!

Smothered with kisses

So sweet

Proud to be the "older" cousin

2 kids + 1 camera = show offs

Jumping off things that are low to the ground became a hobby about a month ago. Nothing too daring for him (believe it or not he can be kind of cautious!). She tends to be a little more daring but is willing to work at his level to not frustate him. Believe me, you don't want to frustrate this boy! He started jumping off our bottom step and letting us know how proud he was. And, of course, when the camera came on she had to join in the fun.

A bathroom story

This should be titled a missed bathroom story but it is a story worth telling (and retelling if you need a giggle). One of his bad habits is peeing during or directly following his bath. I would say it happens 50% of the time. Last night after bath he was running around naked as I was attempting to call him over to get dressed. When he finally emerged I asked, "Did you pee?" His answer was a definitive, "Yes." Not really believing him I asked him to show me where and sure enough he took me over to the spot on the carpet in my room where he relieved himself. In an effort to make some sort of teaching moment I asked, "where are you supposed to pee?" and he runs over to the bathroom and points to the toilet.
Shall I remind you that this boy isn't two until the end of the summer? What is it with my kids' early awareness of toileting despite my desire to keep them in diapers?

Good thing he is so cute...

Star of the Show

After 6 months in her new dance school she had her first performance. All 7 little dancers did great - not a pinch of stage fright! Here is a picture of her with her flowers and victory cookie.

With her proud mom and dad - the boy would have NEVER sat through the show...and we left at intermission!

Went to the LA zoo on Monday and hung out with some Gorillas.

I couldn't resist sharing this one - look at that face! He enjoyed the zoo from a backpack and this was right about naptime.

Look at those chompers!

I've decided not to take any more studio pictures anymore so this is the first attempt at having some more candid pictures of them outside. They came out amazing - too many to choose from(Thanks, KT!). Here are a few of my favorites. I found that he really likes to show off his teeth in pictures and she wants to pose every chance she gets.

Laughing at mom being a goofball

Dancing - I think it was the hula...

Swimming is easy with cool goggles

We had our first swimming adventure of the season a few weeks ago. She got some new goggles that covered her eyes AND nose so after a few hours of warm up she was ready for going completely under. These are from an underwater camera where she was practicing her "floating" and then a short video of her jumping in the water.

Hiking with Dad

This morning Jeff and Matt took the kids on a hike in the hills in Thousand Oaks. Here are a few pictures from our camera. I'll post more as soon as I get them. According to the hikers and confirmed by the pictures, the trail is beautiful - apparently used for scenes in old movies. Hard to believe it is only a 15 minute drive to the trailhead from our house; harder to believe we have lived here for this long and barely found it! I suppose we didn't really hike much before either.

Personality caught on camera

Seldom is there one day when I can get a picture of each kid that captures their personality. Today was one of the lucky days. We went to the most beautiful and relaxing wedding I think I have ever experienced today. It was an intimate crowd on the deck of a beach house. There were things ready for the kids to keep them busy and clam chowder bread bowls (does it get any better than that??). Congratulations to my friend for finding someone to make her so happy!

The kids were in heaven in the first 10 minutes we arrived - we walked on the beach and they waded in the freezing water. It was a great party and they were so comfortable that their personalities showed through as evidenced below.

Always acting like a princess

I got an email from my parents with the subject line "Little Lady". The message was, "Our little princess is such a photogenic little lady!" The picture below was the attached proof of that. I don't know if this is better or worse than the phase she went through where everytime you asked her to smile she gave the super big, cheesy grin.

Sibling love

These are 2 of my favorite pictures lately. Maybe it's because it reminds me of how much they just adore each other (most days). I have to remember that I have these in 10 years when they are driving each other crazy. He takes every chance he can to crawl into her bed (any bed, really) and get snuggled under the covers. And she bugs and bugs him for a kiss goodnight everynight and he gives in about every 3rd day. Then there are other days when they hold hands sitting next to each other in their car seats. It is really sweet. Again, things I will have to remember when they are older.

Saying goodbye to hair

About a week ago, she thought it would be a good idea to cut her own hair at school. She was overtaken by peer pressure and did as her friend did and cut some of each ponytail off. The next day I had to cut the rest to even it out. Now, her hair is short (like mine - and she didn't like mine) not outrageously short, just above her shoulders. It actually looks good, cleaner and easier to manage. Being inspired by this, I decided it was time for the boy's first real haircut. Not knowing how he would act with me, I gave the task to his dad. Here is the result. I am torn between liking the fact that it is cleaner looking, I can see his face and ears better and I won't have to tug at the tangles each morning and being sad that he looks more like a little boy than a baby. His dad was happy to say goodbye to the curls. Being tormented by curly hair himself he was not attached to them. I think he looks adorable but may need some product in his hair everyday to give it some style.
He did great during the haircut and we got the official certificate with the locks taped on for the baby book.

Singing Diva

For Christmas, she got an MP3 player from one of her favorite people (thanks, Katy!). She is obsessed with it and uses it as a forum for concerts almost everyday. It was already loaded with songs for her (again, thanks - you know me well enough to know it would have taken me a while on that one). This is one of them. She picked up on the words in a second (there are a lot of repeaters) and added her own influctions. If you notice at the end he tries to sing along with her and almost has the words.

I have a few more of these I am trying to edit since she is mostly solid on the chorus on other songs. Someday I might even manage to get some new pictures on here.

Excuse the crazy hair

I took some video the over the last week or so. This is a good one of both of them enjoying each other. It was at the end of the day so her hair was out of control! Enjoy!