Thanksgiving

This year we had Thanksgiving at our house with Tyler's parents and his brother. I had been CRAZY busy that week with photo shoots and editing and we tried to coordinate the different dishes for Thanksgiving dinner, but it ended up that I did most of the cooking -- which was actually pretty nice!! Because I've been so insanely busy with photography I had barely time to cook anything in the last few months. So even though it was a lot of work, it was actually a blessing. I got to relax and cook and make a wonderful meal and sit down and eat with family and play with my kids. It was pretty great!



We also learned of Lia's new obsession -- Cory. She is seriously in love with her Uncle Cory. Since he's left she's asked about him almost every day. She asks us when we can go see him, when he's coming to visit, where he lives, why he isn't sleeping on our couch, etc. She LOVES Cory!





It was so nice to have everyone visit with us. The kids made a gingerbread house with Grammie and read books with Papa. It was a pretty great weekend! The boys even got some beach and tennis time in, while Brooke and I did some Black Friday shopping (next year we will NOT stay out until 5:30am).
















Lia also got to open her birthday presents from Grammie and Papa that included a Bitty Baby just for her!

Art

Max is a great little artist. He's very attentive to detail, even going as far as to "test" each color crayon or marker in the corner of a page to see if it's the right color. His favorite things to draw right now are Thomas the Train and anything super hero related. I seriously love his drawings. I think he's a great little artist.

This one is Thomas the Train. He asked me how to spell Thomas and wrote it all by himself on the paper. Pretty good, no?



And this one is a rocket ship he drew on my phone. His little mind is constantly churning out ideas and fun things to play or draw. I love it!!

A Day in the Life...

Here is a typical day for us:



7am the kids wake up. Almost exactly at seven. It's kind of scary. We get up, eat breakfast (usually Max has a waffle and Lia has a bowl of Crispix).

8am Max has school 3 days a week so Tyler usually rushes him across the parking lot to his preschool with Lia in tow.

9am I usually am ready to go run errands with Lia (or with both kids, depending on the day). We usually do a Target run or head to a park or a museum. We definitely get out of the house everyday, or we all get cranky. Sometimes the day starts later because I'm cleaning or straightening.



12pm I'm either picking Max up from school or we're starting lunch. Lunch can take a while. Our kids eat painfully slow. Most of the time we're yelling at them to EAT or CHEW or HURRY UP. I kind of dread meal time.

1pm is nap time. Oh glorious nap time!! Both kids still nap in the afternoon. Max is on his way out of naps, he'll usually sleep 3 out of 7 days in a week but he still stays in our room for quiet time for at least 2 hours, without complaint. If he whined I wouldn't make him stay, but so far he doesn't say a thing. Lia will sleep a good 3 hours if I let her!

3-4pm is wake up time. Play time. Snack time. Movie time. Outside play time if it's light enough.



5-6pm is usually dinner time. Tyler is just coming in the door and the kids are definitely hungry and ready to see their dad.

7pm is bath time. Bath, book, bed. That's our nighttime routine.



And then we wake up and do it all over again! It's not a perfect life, but it's our life and it works for us. We have a roof over our heads and lots of love and although we have our crazy days we're happy and busy and loving life!

Science Center

Like I've said before, we love living in San Diego and taking advantage of all the things it has to offer. We recently bought passes (for dirt cheap) to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park. The kids love it. They have lots of neat exhibits to play around with and an entire room for kids 5 and under to play around in. We like to go there on HOT days or rainy days. It's the best!

Happy Birthday Lia!!

Our sweet little baby girl turned 2. Already. She's 2. Its pretty shocking! Okay, I guess not that shocking. But still. We're amazed by this sassy little thing every day. She's a happy little girl who refuses to be outdone by her brother! Her vocabulary is just as good as Max's (who is 4) and she can communicate like a 3 or 4 year old. She's got just as much energy as Max and is just a bit more care free than him.



She always wakes up happy and smiling with a "good morning!!" as soon as you pick her up. She teases Max a lot, but loves her brother unfailingly (and it's mutual). She's constantly telling us that she loves us, who she loves, why she loves them. Not a day goes by that I don't get a dozen hugs from her! She's still very much a daddy's girl. She prefers him almost exclusively. I'm pretty sure when I'm home with her she feels like she's just settling for me.

She LOVES her wrappie (her pink blanket) and will usually be found snuggled on the couch with a paci in her mouth and her wrappie right up under her nose. From the time she was a tiny baby (maybe a month old?) she has pulled her wrappie right up under her nose like that. Must be extra comforting to her!



She loves Wonder Pets, Elmo and anything pink. Her new obsession is her Hello Kitty (or as she says "Hello Kitty Cat"). She loves green beans from a can. Like seriously loves them. She can eat a whole can in one sitting and then ask for more. She's much more adventurous with food -- willing to try most things she sees Tyler or me eating. She is very independent and most times will want to do everything on her own. She's pretty sassy and will make jokes to try to make us all laugh. She usually succeeds.

This year we got to have Lia's birthday party on her actual birthday. Tyler and I decorated the house with pink and set out her presents. We wanted to have a small party for her, just the Bakers and Rockwoods and their kids (pretty much the ones she plays with most). It was perfect!







Her two big presents were the doll cradle and high chair. These two things are pretty special because they were mine when I was a kid. Both handmade and both lovely. It really special that I get to pass them down to her. I have distinct memories of playing with my baby dolls and placing them in that cradle and feeding them in that high chair.



The birthday girl of course woke up bright and happy! (The t-shirt over her jammies is to prevent her from taking her jammies off in the middle of the night and either freezing or messing with her diaper).



She went crazy over her presents! She's kind of obsessed with baby dolls, too.



We had an Elmo pinata for the kids that we ended up having to whack inside because it rained.

(Elmo ready for battle)




We sang happy birthday and opened presents. I think her favorite was the little purse Danielle gave her. She carries it pretty much everywhere.







Lunch was catered by Porkyland, delicious mexican food, and her request for birthday dinner was McDonald's. So we got happy meals and sat and ate.



It really was a great day! The party was low stress and the she just loved all the attention. Now let's slow down just a bit. I'm not ready for her to be 3!

Mimi Boxes

The kids LOVE getting mail. Anything and everything. My mom (Mimi) sends them packages a lot. And it doesn't matter what's inside, it's the best day ever when they get one! Here are a few of the latest ones:

A ballerina and a superhero.




And a few Halloween things.

Playing with our food

Sometimes we like to let loose a little and play with our food. We make trains and cars out of pasta and heart shapes out of potato chips.







And sometimes we drink milk with silly straws.



It's a downright mad house in here!

Magic Crown of Protection

I love his imagination. I'm always fascinated by the things he comes up with. Cute smart boy!

Fun With the Bakers

Yes, one of our favorite things to do is hang out with the Bakers. Brooke and I have done a few field trips with the kids lately.

We braved the drizzle and spent one morning at the Quail Botanical Gardens in Encinitas taking advantage of their free Tuesdays.



Another day we used our zoo passes (by far the best thing we're able to buy down here in San Diego) and went to the World Famous San Diego Zoo! The giraffes and elephants (my favorites) were pretty active that day.













Why she's my best friend:



Another day we decided to take advantage of the free museum Tuesdays at Balboa Park. We went to the Natural History museum. Chloe refused to get close enough to the dinosaur skeleton to be in the picture.



Another day we decided to decorate cookies (I believe this was right before Halloween). The kids mostly downed the frosting and sprinkles without worrying about the cookies. But it was still fun!!



We totally love living in San Diego. We get to take advantage of all this awesome stuff on a regular basis. And although it's always a challenge when Brooke and I team up to take all 4 kids out together, we usually end the day by getting pizza and suddenly all is right with the world.