August 2014

Our group of girls from high school numbers 9, plus our spouses, and add in our growing bunch of babies = 17.5 kids (Sarah has one on the way, hence the .5!).  Its always fun to get everyone together, and here are two shots of the majority of the bunch.  Just a few weren't able to make it to our bbq.

(v:3, jp:2, jw:2, cs:1, mh:2, lk:2, ae:3, sg:2.5)

We have lived in our house for almost six years and this is the first time someone has organized a block party - it was a great time!  The boys loved playing with their neighbor buddy, Jacob, and the two older kids down the street.  We enjoyed getting to know and talk with our neighbors more than just the usual "Hi, how's it going?"  Fun time, and hopefully it will be the start of a new tradition.

A beautiful surprise!  A neighbor left us several potted plants when they moved out last year, but since it was winter they were all dormant and we didn't know what any of them were.  I have been watering them all Spring and summer, and around mid-August I went out to water and noticed this beautiful bloom!  Still don't know what kind of flower it is, but it sure was pretty and nice to finally see a bloom on the plant that had only had green leaves all summer.

The boys loved getting dunked under the water! Up and down, up and down, up and down!

Caleb did an amazing job at his first official dentist appointment and cleaning this month.  He willingly did everything he was asked. The only bad part were the cavities that he has, eeek. This picture was after his first fillings when his lips were still numb and not able to form a proper pucker.  We had fun laughing about how it looked and felt to try to give a kiss like this.

Enjoying watching the neighbor's huge train set and making human bridges for it to drive under.

As an investment for the long term and looking forward to lots of memories with our boys, Jimmy went in with a group of guys on some season tickets for the 49ers.  Here he is in the seats they got, SO excited, at the first game in the new stadium (pre-season game).  We (Jimmy and I, David and Dana, and Joey and Lindsey) also gave our dad and grandpa a brick in the main entrance of the new stadium as a Christmas gift last year.  Jimmy found it when he was at the game :)

This month Landon started preschool!  We intended to wait until January, after his 3rd birthday and after the holidays were done, but it happened to work out that the preschool was looking for someone to fill half of a spot - one day a week - since the other half is occupied by Teacher Debi's grandson, Max.  It was perfect for them and for us - a nice intro for Landon since he is on the young side to be starting preschool, a nice time for me to hang out one morning a week just with Caleb, and Landon couldn't be happier about it!  He LOVES going to school and talks all the time about "I already went to school this week", and "I go to teacher Amanda's class?"  

On the same morning as Landon's first day of school, we had a belated birthday breakfast date with Amy and Caleb Elson.  The boys had fun being silly at the table during breakfast, and were so excited to ride to the park in the same car after we ate!

Imagine him with long hair?  Haha, Caleb wearing swim cover-up dress of mine.  

New for Landon this month:
 - Saying "Yeah, sure." in a sweet little voice
 - Counting:  He mastered the 1-10 a while ago, but lately he has been continuing higher, adding       in "eleven, twelve, fourteen, sixteen..."  always in that order, and always missing the same numbers between them.   He has also started counting down : "4-3-2-1!" he says.  We figure he must have learned that in a song at church or at school...
- Earlier this summer he learned to hold up two fingers to show his age, and he has just added to that holding up '3' - good practice for his upcoming birthday. :)

Lots of Lego building going on in our house these days... both the Duplo (medium size) and the small kind, too.  This day the boys worked together (!) to build this cool house, complete with chairs, sirens, and a pool.  Legos are so fun, and we love to see what kinds of creative things they think of!

At the end of the month, Jimmy and I got to have a second grown-up weekend away in one month's time (normally unheard of for us!).  We were able to coordinate with three other couples, all without our kids, and hang out in Las Vegas (my first time there).  We had nothing on the agenda - just pool time, dinner and evenings out, and it was a great time!  

When I first got there and checked the temp on my phone this is where it said I was...

Kristy, Deanna, Shana, and I

College Roommates: Luke, Jimmy, Mike, and Tameem - so happy to all be together!

I didn't see this picture until after we returned home, but our friend Mike saw this guy and had to have a picture with him.  That's not a sign behind him - its his MOHAWK!  

It turned out to be a fun and busy summer, and the last of the grown-up events was Mona Mardini's wedding (sister of Jimmy's best friend, Tameem).  I had so much fun getting dressed up, and as with any arab wedding, we had a ton of fun dancing the night away!  

The Rest of July 2014

Landon the eater... Here he is taking bites (plural)  out of MY lunch, which he does often to any plate within his reach.

Impromptu outing to Tower Park on 4th of July weekend to see some boats and get an ice cream was a fun time, and we saw this super-red-and-tan 49er boat (with logos and all).

This year we made it to the the annual family reunion for Jimmy's mom's side of the family.  It is always the second weekend in July, which is when we are usually celebrating Caleb's birthday, but this year it finally worked out to go!  We had a nice time, and the boys liked getting wet in a river (new for them I think), although next time we will come better prepared with some floaties and maybe flip flops because Caleb did not like walking on the rocks and sliminess of the riverbed. 

Our neighbor, Jacob, got a new bike for his birthday in June, and in July Mary decided they wanted to give his old bike to Landon - the perfect size for Landon!  He loves it, and switches back and forth between this 'new' red bike and his blue balance bike, which he flies on!  If I can ever figure out how to upload iphone videos to YouTube maybe I can share a video of him riding...

Landon:
- "That makes me happy", and "That not make me happy"... he regularly lets us know when he is happy or unhappy with something in this way.  It took me a bit until I realized how it is that Landon started saying this.  I have found myself telling him that certain behavior makes me happy or not happy with him, and he has started using it to say he likes or doesn't like something.

- "When I grow up I want to be a.... " - His recent answers have been: "horsie"; "racecar"; "Superboy"

- For the past few months, he has consistently been calling red, 'pink' - does make me wonder if he might have some of my dad's colorblindness, or maybe he is just still figuring his colors out.

Making their own pizzas

The boys are now both able to make it all the way to Nonni and Papa's house on their bikes (with one of us, of course).  The way home after swimming is still tough for Landon, but he makes it. 

Been having some napping frustrations with Landon lately... Awake in his room for 1-1.5 hours, sometimes leaving it looking as you see below, and finally falling asleep around 2:30 with the shades wide open and sunlight pouring in.  Silly boy.  Hoping this trend will be ending soon and that its not the beginning of the end (of napping).

At the end of July Jimmy and I had the opportunity to get away for an entire weekend together, just us - first time being gone for more than one night together since Landon was born.  It was SOOOO nice having three whole days to ourselves!  It was a great reminder of why it is so important for relationships to have time away from children periodically.  

We had a wedding to attend in Los Angeles, and took a scenic detour to get to SoCal - on Friday we did some wine tasting in the Paso Robles / Edna Valley areas, stayed the night with gracious hosts in Arroyo Grande, and made our way down at a leisurely pace to L.A. for the wedding, stopping at a few random places along the way just because we could.  A fun and refreshing time away!

The following Monday after our trip was Caleb's first day of Pre-K (4-yr-old preschool).  He was excited to go back to school, and Landon and I headed out to Philips' Farms to cut some fresh flowers.  Landon had fun helping me in between eating his snack, and on our way back in he wanted to climb the big tree. 

 Landon was totally ready for his first day of school, too, and for the first week, kept asking "I go to school too?  I go to my class?"  (More to come on that soon...) 

He wanted his picture taken like Caleb with the sign.  

My little helper :)
$2 for all these flowers

It doesn't cease to amaze me how things just suddenly click for kids when they pass the developmental thresholds, so to speak.  What I mean is there are often frustrations with wanting our kids to try a certain thing, or accomplish a specific milestone, and we get frustrated when they aren't interested or just aren't ready yet, and then one day they just are.  I have seen this happen overnight with Caleb - I always remember how the very first Sunday after he turned 3 he walked into Sunday school without batting an eye and said goodbye to me, when every drop-off prior had been full of tears, clinging limbs, and screaming.  Something clicked when he turned three, literally.  More recent occurrences include Caleb being done with night diapers (our house is now 100% diaper free!), Caleb having an interest in practicing writing his letters, and we're still waiting on the training wheels one.  Its nothing revolutionary that this happens, and everyone experiences it I'm sure, but its just amazing to me to see the difference once they are ready for something just how effortless and enjoyable it can be for it to happen!

Somewhere on this paper are all the letters to spell out 'Happy Birthday' and his name signed 'Caleb'.  I showed him how to do each letter and he watched and copied it to make this card for a friend.  Two months ago he wanted nothing to do with writing letters.

Thought this was cute as his drawing are becoming more recognizable.  Its a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Caleb's 4th Birthday

On July 8th Caleb excitedly awoke and dressed himself for the day.  I hung balloons in the entrance of his room, which I think for him was the first time I had done it...  Caleb's reaction to the balloons when he woke up, still a little groggy:  "Mommy why are there balloons in my doorway?"  The boys always have fun playing with the balloons all morning :)

Showing off his new shorts, new Paw Patrol pup, his favorite color green balloon from his room, and wearing mommy's headband.

Showing his serious side, as he waits for us to finish singing happy birthday...

Our neighbor, Katy, sometimes wears a tie-died shirt, and apparently Caleb must have either told her he liked it or that he wanted one, too, because for his birthday the neighbors got him this shirt, which he was very excited to wear!

Our old neighbors, Ron and Yvonne, who used to live across the street came by in Ron's corvette.  We thought Caleb might enjoy taking a little drive down the street in it since it sounds like the engine of a race car.  Turns out he only wanted to sit in the front seat, but we were able to snap a quick shot of him at least!