Quick Update

Just wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and happy new year. We had a great Christmas and I will post more later.

We are enjoying some much needed vacation time with Daddy. We are getting ready to spend a few days at Disneyland before he leaves. My car is finally fixed!! Lauren is now walking like crazy and talking up a storm. Unfortunately, she is also having some issues with separation anxiety and diaper rash. Poor baby. Hopefully this phase will pass quickly.

Aaron had so much fun on Xmas. I wish we could have captures some of those great moments. I do have some pics to post later on. He was shaking with excitement over his spider man jet (AKA the spaceship). He is having so much fun building with his train table, playing Thomas memory, and taking some great pictures with his own camera. Lauren loves pushing her little doll in the stroller and her new Winnie the pooh book.

I just want to thank everyone for helping make this such a memorable Xmas. We are all so lucky to have such great friends and family. Will write more soon!

Dear Santa

Here is Aaron's letter to Santa.

And yes, that is a Walmart sticker he insisted on putting on it!

We have a walker!

Favorite Game

Santa!

This is last year. Aaron was not too sure about Santa. He would not sit on his lap, but decided it was OK to sit next to him.

This year, a whole different ball game. We attended the Kids Christmas Party on Kyle's ship. After decorating some cookies and playing with some blocks, we heard an announcement, "Santa has just landed on the flight deck." Aaron was so excited. Santa came in and sat down to pass out presents. Aaron patiently waited to hear his name. He kept saying he was just going to sit next to Santa again, and then he heard his name.

He took off running and jumped into Santa's arm and gave him the biggest hug. He sat on his lap and gave him another hug and then posed for a picture with his present. The whole room let out a collective sigh. It was one of those moments you look back on, wishing you had the video camera handy. But it is a memory Kyle and I will cherish over the years.

Lauren was not in a very "jolly" mood when it came her turn. We now have a classic screaming infant with Santa picture.

Aaron is at that age when everything about Christmas is magic. Though I think he is a little too smart sometimes. As I sat down to write this, he was studying last year's picture and asked me why Santa looked different. I said something about his beard being longer. For now, that was good enough for him. He was so happy with his present, a little OScar the Grouch building set. Especially since he had asked Santa for something to build with!

Zoo time

We met up with our friends Ashley, Jayda and Dallyn for a fun morning at the zoo. We had a great time checking out all the animals, going to the petting zoo and seeing some snakes. But the highlight of the day was getting to see the Mommy Koala and her baby. Last visit, we were able to see them snuggled up sleeping in the tree, but this time Mommy woke up and took the baby around for a little walk. It was so great! We have been to the zoo more times than I can count and every visit there is always something new and amazing to see.

Posing for the camera.

Checking out the sheep.

Just hanging out with our friends!

Busy week

Sorry we haven't posted all week. We had a great visit with Nana and I took advantage of some much needed quiet moments!

Our first outing was to Sea World. Aaron had a lot of fun getting to play on all the cool stuff. He was finally tall enough to go in the bounce thing. I swear just last week I had to roll up his pants and now they look like he is getting ready for a flood! Luckily Nana did not take any pictures of Mommy trying to climb up the rope at the top of the nets. They should really put a warning at the bottom! Aaron got a hand up and a push, so he couldn't understand why I was so tired and didn't want to go up again.

I love a parade

This afternoon I got this crazy idea to go to the Chula Vista Starlight Parade with both the kids by myself. So we headed out, got stuck in traffic, eventually found a spot to park, realized the line for food was way too long, and then sat next to a really nice family. Thankfully we had lots of snacks and Lauren had her own supper.

We had to wait about an hour for the fun to start, so I bought Aaron one of those light up swords, yes the one I promised myself I would never buy. It was the best $6 I spent this week. He had a great time playing with the sword and his new friend next to us.

We had a great time watching the parade. I think I might be the only person in the entire world who gets emotional at a parade. It never fails to make me teary eyed. I think it must remind me of growing up in a small town, where the Memorial Day Parade was the highlight of our marching band career. I just remember looking for my mom and grandparents along the way and seeing all those familiar faces cheering us on. I could measure each year of my life not by my age or grade in school, but by what group I marched with in the parade.

This parade was interesting. Half of it was some type of youth group like boy scouts, girl scouts, the safety patrols from all the schools. Some nice marching bands, lots of old cars all decorated for Xmas. Then there was the battle of the radio stations. I have never seen anything like it. It was like 30 minutes of back to back truck/buses with speakers blaring for a lot of different stations. It was kind of weird.

But the best part of the entire night was Aaron bringing his letter out into the parade for the mailman to put in the box for Santa. It was so cute and emotional. I just happened to read the website for the parade and saw the info on bringing a letter and then the post person would collect it and if you included a return address, the kids would receive a response. So I had Aaron draw another picture, because there is no way I am parting with the original. (I will blog about that another day). I cried watching him go out into the street to bring it to them. It was so cute. It just showed me how much he has grown. I think I heard a collective sigh out of the onlookers watching him too.

Sorry I don't have any pictures, I had my hands full as it was. But just picture Aaron all sticky from the candy cane he ate, waving a blue light up sword and you've got the idea.

Full Diaper...

So this is actually not a story about poop, I know you are all surprised! We took a much needed break this AM and enjoyed story time and the playground with some friends. Aaron had a lot of fun running around and collecting sticks! But Lauren had loads of fun playing in the wood chips. She kept flinging them all over the place and managed to fill up her hood. But nothing compared to the surprise I got when we went home and changed her diaper!

This is just what I shook out of her diaper.

Finally, some fun in the sun!

This weekend was just beautiful here so we got out and enjoyed every minute of it. On Sunday, the ENTIRE family headed down to the beach for a much deserved doggie walk and some fresh air. Poor Nika isn't allowed near the salt water after a horrifying, gross 3 hour ordeal after dog beach. But she had fun walking, sniffing, seeing other dogs and chasing the birds.

The kids had so much fun on the beach. Lauren loves the sand and was practicing standing on her own. Aaron got so many rocks and seashells that Mommy and Daddy kept purging the bucket when he wasn't looking. He loved playing chase with the waves. We had one surprise wave that would have washed Lauren away, but Daddy shouted just in time for Mommy to swoop her up. Enjoy all the pics!

"I'm going to do it Mom!" "Look at what I did, crunch!"

So much dirt, so little time...

My new favorite picture!

Thanksgiving

I decided to take a quiet moment, if those even exist anymore, to just give thanks to all of you. Thank you for coming and reading about all of us. Thanks for helping me navigate this journey. Thank you for the support and love that gets us through each day.

I am thankful for way too many things to make a list. But I thought I could have some fun with this too.

So here is my serious list. I am thankful for:

1. healthy and happy husband, kids, family and friends.
2. a roof over our heads, food on the table and never wanting.
3. being another year closer to Kyle's retirement!
4. being loved.
5. Freedom and those who protect it.
6. being able to stay home with my kids and enjoy all the craziness that brings.

My not so serious list. I am thankful for:

1. Aaron using the big potty so I don't have to clean that nasty little one out.
2. naps.
3. Lauren eating real food, even peas.
4. On demand PBS shows.
5. playgrounds that are fenced in.
6. 8 PM.

Where is Lauren Chapter 2

So you would think I could not lose my child in a 8x8 section of the house. But I did. I had to go take care of Aaron in the bathroom, I was gone maybe a minute. Lauren had been happily playing with the fort. I came around the corner and she was gone. I could not see her anywhere. She was not making any noise. Where could she have gone in that short amount of time? Then I heard a little rustling coming from the computer. I think I am going to have a lot more chapters to this story.....

Fun in the Sun??

I mentioned something this morning about going to the beach to take some pics of the kids. Last time I took Aaron, I was pregnant with Lauren and let's just say it was not a very successful trip. But he woke up from his nap and that was all he wanted to do. He even gave up going to the playground, so I knew he was serious. At 345 we headed over to Imperial Beach. When we got off the highway, we noticed something was missing ..... the sun. It was super foggy and cold. But we made the most of what we had. Poor Lauren was shivering until I wrapped her up in her coat and mine. But all she really wanted was to crawl around and chase the birds. Aaron had a great time collecting shells. He asked all the way home when we could go back. I promised him next time we would stay as long as the SUN was out!

This is the only decent shot I got of them together.

Aaron was moving way too fast to catch him!

Until he stopped to show me all of his shells.

Lauren signing "bird".

She sure isn't afraid to get dirty!

Off exploring

In deep thought about all those birds.

One year later

Here are some pics of Aaron at the water fountain a little over a year ago.

This is him yesterday. Nothing baby or toddler about him now. He has little muscles and little boy hair. And NO swim diaper.

Great Friends=Great Cupcakes!

We had a great time helping our friend Kaia celebrate her birthday today. Aaron had lots of fun playing with his friends, bouncing in the jump house and of course, eating cupcakes! Lauren sat in the highchair for a very long time eating a pizza crust! Aaron enjoyed his cupcake a lot. He did great today. He picked out some undies to wear and was proud to shown them to his friends. We had an accident free day!