Shakey Monster

Well, it finally happened. I experienced my first big earthquake after living in California (south and north including Bay Area) for over 10 years. It happened on Easter Sunday in the afternoon after the kids had gone down for naps. I yelled at Tyler to stop shaking the whole apartment (which is something he usually does) but he insisted it wasn't him and that it must be an earthquake. And then it kept shaking and shaking and getting louder and longer... it seriously went on forever!! It lasted so long that I had time to have a conversation with Tyler about what the heck to do -- stand under a doorway, get under the table, grab the kids -- to which he replied "I don't know" and shrugged his shoulders. Um, yeah, so much for feeling safer married to a native Californian who felt the big San Francisco quake way back when.

Anyway, it kept shaking and getting harder. It was a rolling quake that left our apartment swaying back and forth for a little while after. Only a few things fell off our walls in the kitchen, no damage at all, but I was pretty shook up and Max was really shook up. I heard him screaming in the bedroom and I thought for sure something had fallen on him. I opened the bedroom door and he was sitting in his bed saying there was a "HUGE SHAKEY MONSTER UNDER THE BED" and to get him out of there right now. After trying not to bust out laughing, I picked him up and we explained to him about earthquakes. Lia just slept right through it.

The next day Max learned all about them in school too, including what to do when they happen (apparently standing under a doorway is what you should NOT do and will most certainly kill you). Now Max is really interested in earthquakes, which is a good thing seeing as how we've had like 600 aftershocks since then!

Still Building

Max is still quite the builder. He might not be all that interested in books or coloring or sitting and watching a movie on the couch, but this kid loves to build stuff. And he has such a vivid imagination. These are pictures of a pirate ship, a canon (or as he says, a "candon") and a motor, and a bat drinking milk. Not sure how the last one fits in there, but there you go.

Bed Head

Here's bed-head Lia. You never know what she'll look like when she wakes up from her naps. Sometimes she's curly, sometimes she's straight, sometimes she's pretty wild and sticking up all over.



You'll also notice "Goodnight Gorilla" which is her particular favorite right now. Along with "Goodnight Moon." She really is all about going to bed. She asks to go for her naps and cries at night if we wait to long to put her down.

Bathtime FUN!

When Lia starts going it's hard for everyone to not bust up laughing. This girl loves to laugh.

The Many Quirks of Max

Our boy Max is quite the quirky little kid. It might be his slight OCD tendencies that make him more so, but I like to think he gets a little bit of it from me. Anyway... here are a few examples of his quirkiness.


Yes, those are bunny ears AND a pirate costume. You'll often find a sword or two sticking out of his belt, too. And once we found him wearing a pair of wings with this ensemble.


Yes, that's Max sitting on the floor watching TV inside a laundry bin. He sat there for about half an hour.


This one is quite the common site. I labeled the different quirks for reference.

A. Big giant green bouncy ball Max has named "Louis" who has his own voice and everything.

B. Tiny little bird feather he found outside that he made me glue to the top of his pirate hat.

C. Said pirate hat often worn with his pirate costume. Or with just a pair of underwear, depending on the day.

D. Vintage 80's broken video game that he pretends to play all the time. I think it belonged to his Uncle Cory.

E. Boxer briefs, or what he calls, "Big underwear." This is one of his usual uniforms.

F. The original beanie baby bunny that he was obsessed with when he was a baby. It has recently resurfaced as one of his favorites.

G. His "bean brag."

H. His "wrappie" that goes everywhere with him. Even in the car. Which is fine with me. But he can't live without it.

I. "Teddy." This is actually an Oski beanie baby that must sleep with him for every nap and every bedtime. It's his favorite.



And as quirky as he is I wouldn't have it any other way. He insists on wearing his superman pajamas to gymnastics class. He likes to wear his bunny ears out to the store with a pair of rain boots that he calls his "Prince boots." He likes to wear his Robin Hood hat outside to play but insists on taking it off in the car so it doesn't ruin his feather. He's an amazingly smart beautiful little kid and he only gets better and better the older he gets.

Banana Bread

While I was away shooting a wedding in San Francisco last weekend Tyler and Max made banana bread together. Max LOVES banana bread and muffins so it was the perfect thing to make together. And Max really enjoys baking things with Tyler.


Smooshing the bananas.




Eating walnuts? Not sure. Tyler snapped these.







Pretty yummy looking!

And here's a few pictures of Lia while I was gone. Cute little thing! I'm impressed on Tyler's outfit choice, too.



I think in this one she's trying to feed her dog some cheese. Cute thing.

Just a Few

Here are a few pictures of the kids I've shot lately. Just random ones while we've been outside playing. I thought they were cute and didn't have a story to go with them, only that I liked them.

Easter-ing

This Easter was a pretty fun one for the kids. Max was very excited about the Easter Bunny coming and leaving him candy. He insisted on leaving a plate of carrots and mini peppers for him along with a note handwritten by Max himself. But both kids were in to it this year. Last year Lia didn't get it at all; this year she was all over it!



The Easter Bunny couldn't find the regular Easter baskets this year so he brought some beach buckets instead that were even better.





Since it was kind of drizzly and wet outside the Easter Bunny decided to hide all the eggs inside. Didn't matter to Max and Lia who ran around like crazy kids looking for them. He hid the real dyed ones and ones filled with candy and prizes. I'm not sure what the Easter Bunny was thinking when he/she bought ALL that candy. Um, yeah, WAY too much. Eggs were certainly rationed for the days following.



That Bunny even remembered to throw in a pair of sunglasses for each of them.



Eventually too much sugar was consumed and naps had to be taken. Here Max looks as though his Easter bucket threw up on him as he's clearly in a sugar slump.


And who knows how much candy Tyler had eaten. Enough to do this:



But, no worries! After a morning of watching General Conference with Max and remembering what this holiday is truly about (not some silly rabbit with a serious sweet tooth) we took naps, ate a delicious lunch, hyped up on MORE sugar (seriously what were we thinking) and headed out to La Jolla Cove with Danielle.





Max had fun looking through the tide pools with Danielle for hermit crabs.



And Tyler tried very hard to not let Lia jump to her death from the rocks no matter how hard she tried.





All in all it was a great Easter Sunday. We learned a valuable lesson in sugar consumption and what it does to our kids (seriously, they were insane) and spent the day together having fun and enjoying the great Southern California coast.