San Diego Pics

As I promised in a post from a few weeks ago, here are some pics from my trip with Ashley to visit Carrie and Kasey in San Diego. Can't wait to do it again!!!

Ashley looking like such a big girl!

Kasey and Ashley. They are BFF's already!!

Have I wrote in here lately how much I LOVE having Carrie in my life? She is such a special friend to me and I truly don't know what I would do without her. This trip was such a great way to catch up and enjoy some serious girl time!!

I finally did it!!

We have SUCCESS!! On Sunday, after church I made a decision that it was bottle bootcamp time. I tried giving her the bottle first and Ashley absolutely flipped out. Any time I would get it even near her she would just cry even harder. This went on for about 2 hours. Finally I put her down for a nap where she slept for a good amount of time. When she woke up I made another bottle, handed her and the bottle to Daddy and she just went for it and drank the entire thing! Since then it has not been an issue at all and she is now actually getting excited when she sees me shaking the bottle up for her.

I really did not think that it would end up being that easy but am SO glad that it was! Now I can go to Chicago at the end of May with an easy mind. :) Lookout Moosejulie girls, here I come!!

School Conference

It is still weird to me that I am attending school conferences, even if it is just preschool. Seriously, where did my baby go? He grew up into a little boy...crazy!! Last week I had my observation and meeting for Alec. His school starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 11:30 a.m. For the observation and conference Mrs. Lindsay had me arrive around 10:00 and I got to sit in a closet off of Alec's classroom and watch the kids through a two way mirror. It was so interesting watching Alec in his school element without him knowing I was there. He is a very smart guy and a rule follower. The one thing that happened that made me laugh was when they were all sitting down for snack. All the kids were washing their hands and finding their seats and Alec was one of the last to sit down. As he turned around to find a seat for himself I hear a little girl say, "Alec, sit here!" and so my little guy of course goes and does what the little girl asks and sits down next to her. I am thinking he does not mind being bossed around by the girls! In my husbands family they would call that a "muckracuckus"...meaning a "wet chicken."

After observing for a while Mrs. Lindsay came in to chat with me. She had done a kindergarten assessment on him and went over the results with me. What she said is that according to her test he is "probably" ready for kindergarten and would do okay if we were to put him next year. She did also say, however, that if we did decide to keep him back one year that he would really soar. That to me is a no brainer, I want my kid to soar. We had already decided that we were going to hold Alec one more year but it was good to hear one more opinion of his progress to make us feel like we made the right decision.

Alec got very good reviews from Mrs. Lindsay. She commented that she loves the interesting and insightful conversations that she has with him. The one area that she did have a critique in was with music and movement. She said that for some reason Alec absolutely does not want to participate in music and movement AT ALL. She said it is not defiance on his part, he just does not want to do it. This really did not surprise me but it was certainly still amusing to hear.

I am so proud of Alec and the progress that he is making this year at school. We have signed him up for the 5 mornings class next year at the preschool. Hopefully this extra year will just give him the extra time he needs to refine is fine motor skills and maturity so that by the time he gets to kindergarten he will, as Mrs. Lindsay put it, SOAR!!

Jedi dog...

Have I ever posted about our dog? Well, we happen to have the best dog in the entire world. Not only is he amazing with the kids, never really barks, and entertains us to no end with his howling when a siren drives down the street, but he is also a true Jedi dog. When he is hungry, thirsty or has to go to the bathroom he does not bark at you or at the door like a normal dog. He just simply comes over to you and stares at you and sends you dog Jedi messages. I swear, he looks at you and you know EXACTLY what he needs. It is so weird!

So the other day after putting the kids to bed and cleaning up their toys I came to spend a little time on the computer. When I went back out to the family room I found Obi like this...

I swear I did not pose him...he was truly laying like this. I guess he truly IS a Jedi!

Angels Baseball is BACK!

One of our favorite things about the month of April is that it is the return of baseball season! We are huge Angels fans around our house so we like to go to at least one game a month. Adam and I were able to get pretty good seats for the home opener. Adam got off work a bit early and we went to the stadium in time to see some batting practice and have some yummy food before the game started. Big Ashley and her parents were also at the game in their season ticket seats so we were able to spend part of the game with her. Even though the Angels got killed that night it was still lots of fun. We look forward to many more Angels date nights over the next 6 months!

Ad and I right before the game started. This was the view from our seats which was pretty good.

Two huge Angels fans!

The flag for opening day ceremonies. Kenny G. played the National Anthem which was quite interesting...

This was the view from Ashley's parents seats...MUCH better! When they left in the 8th inning we went down and used their seats that were right behind the Angels dugout. They also did fireworks that night so we had a wonderful view for that show as well.

FINALLY park weather!!

It is FINALLY park weather. I know, all you back east might be thinking what a WIMP I am. I know I live in California where it does not snow or even rain much...but for a Cali native like me, 60 degrees is just WAY too cold to go outside and play. Now that it is consistently in the 70's or above it is much nice to be able to get back to our regular Wednesday afternoon park dates with my preschool mom friends!

Aaron swinging.

Ashley on one of her first rides on the swing. She LOVES to be pushed hard and then grunts against the baby g-forces. Maybe she might actually go on a roller coaster with me someday since my boys all will not!!

Alec park self portrait. He is quite the photographer!

Playing in the jungle

When we bought our new house a couple years ago there were two things that really needed to be done to it...the kitchen and the backyard. Neither of those have come into our financial realm of possibilities yet so we are just simply making the best of what we have. Alec and Aaron don't really seem to mind about the back yard at all! We have a slope going up the back that is covered in different vegetation that grows pretty quickly. Al and Air have found in that slope their own private jungle...and they LOVE IT!!!

Alec peeking through his jungle bushes

Al following the paths.

The jungle slope with St. Francis watching over all the lizards and spiders that live in it!

Get together

Before Oma and Opa went back to New York we were able to have them, Steve and Jeannie, and all our friends over for dinner. Opa made a DELICIOUS lasanga and cheesecake for everyone. We all sat around and stuffed our faces until we were about to burst! With everyone's lives so busy it is so hard for us all to get together these days. It was nice to have a Sunday afternoon to just relax and enjoy eachother!

From left...Chris, Janet and Chris Jr., Adam and I, Jason, Kelly and Aliyah, Phil, Natalie and Rihanna.

6 months old...

I can hardly believe it, but Ashley is 6 months old! While starting out as a surprise for us, she filled a previously unknown void in our house and has completed our family like I never knew it could be. I know I have posted about this before, but the boys are just enthralled with her. They are so kind to her! Alec is always trying to make her laugh and Aaron never hesitates to bring over his favorite toy and put it on her as she is upset or even just when she is nursing. Yes, I said nursing. Ashley absolutely refuses to take a bottle. As much as I love certain aspects of this, it sure would be nice to be able to leave for more than 4 hours at a time without wondering if she is screaming her head off for whoever takes her. This is going to change in about two weeks when we go through bottle boot camp. I hate to do it, but I have some trips coming up that she will not be going with me on so it is going to have to happen! Pray for her and me around the first of May!

Ashley did very well at her 6 month doctor's appointment. Dr. Marino said she is in excellent health and is measuring in the 90th percentile for height and around 50th for weight. She was not crazy about her shots, but what else can be expected.

This month Ashley learned to sit up by herself, scoot backwards while on her back, and just yesterday waved at Aunt Baba for the very first time. Thankfully she is not even close to crawling yet. I am not ready to deal with that one yet!! Ash is growing up right before my very eyes and I am loving every second of it. I could not imagine my life without her!

cutting corners

With the economy coming what it is, as well as trying to figure out how we are going to pay for two boys to be in school next year, Ad and I are looking at different ways to save a bit. I went through our finances and realized that we were paying $36.00 a month on haircuts for the boys. We went to Costco and they had a hair cutting system for just $25.00. Let's do the math...that's right, saves us a bundle. We bought the system and went to town on the kids hair. It was actually quite fun, although the boys did not seem to happy with it. I like the financial aspect of it as well as the ease of doing their hair in the mornings. Adam just really likes the buzz cuts!

Alec before...look at that MOP of hair! It was crazy long!! Can you tell how excited he was about getting this done?

Once the actual haircutting was over he was happy but it was not a good experience during. I am always amazed at how blonde Alec's hair is when it is cut very short!

Aaron had quite a bit of hair going as well. It was just starting to turn from fine baby hair into course boy hair. The long bangs in the front would fluff up during the day and look so strange during the day. There was just NO controlling it so off it went!

My little peanut guy!! Such a cutie!!

Disneyland fun!

I had to share this pic! The day after Easter all of us, including Carrie, Brian and Kasey went to Disneyland. Yeah, BIG mistake. Can you say CRAZY?!? Spring break is NOT a good time to go to d-land! Thankfully we went pretty early and only stayed through nap time. In the short time we were there we certainly had a great time. Here are all the kids just outside of the Winnie the Pooh ride.

Easter at the Hawley's

After my parents house, we headed over to Adam's parents house for dinner and yet another Easter egg hunt. That makes 4 total. Wow! Lucky kids! We had a great time hanging out with Oma and Opa who were in town from February thru mid April.

Aaron with his stash of Easter eggs.

Alec was a absolute PRO at this by now!

Oma and Opa with Ashley. You can tell she is tired because she is sucking her thumb and grabbing her ear. Too much fun for one day!

4 generations...Oma, Jeannie, me, and Ashley.

Easter at the Young's

After church we headed over to my parents house to have a quick brunch bite to eat and enjoy a Easter egg hunt for the kids.

Super shopper that Allie is, she found the most ADORABLE dresses for Brooklyn and Ashley to wear on Easter! We even managed to get a bow into Ash's hair...just don't blow on it, it will fall right out!

My Easter kiddo's all dressed up!

Alec hunting for Easter eggs in Grammie and Papa's back yard.

Grammie and Papa with all the grandkids.

Easter Mass

We managed to pull ourselves out of our sugar coma and make it to 10:00 a.m. mass on Easter morning...even stopping for doughnuts on the way there. We get doughnuts every week on the way to church but on Easter they provided for a distraction for the boys so that they would sit outside and eat them while we waited for mass to start. On major holidays, if you don't get to church 45 minutes early or more, you won't get a seat. The mass was very nice and the boys both did VERY well. Alec is used to sitting through mass, but Aaron spends his Sunday mornings in the nursery so it is always a challenge for him!

By the way...if you happen to click on the picture, that is not Aaron's tongue hanging out of his mouth, it is a pretzel. Looks kinda weird so I had to clarify!!

Happy Easter!!

Well, would you believe it? The Easter bunny came!! From left to right, Ashley got some baby food, a princess book and hair bows. Aaron got Darth Vader, a new light saber, curious george book and some snacks. Alec got the same as Aaron but with Yoda and a star wars book instead. The gifts behind the baskets were from Uncle John and Aunt Anne Marie in New York. They are always SO generous with the kids!

The "loot"

Alec and Aaron exploring their baskets. Aaron was excited but Alec was not as surprised. He just said that he knew the Easter bunny was going to bring him that. Um, ok.

Ash seemed to like hers!!

The boys checking out their goodies inside the eggs that the Easter bunny hid around the room. What fun!!

Twas the night before easter...

Oh wait, that is not how the story goes. Oh well, close enough! We had a family day on the Saturday before Easter, ending in egg coloring and putting out Easter baskets. The boys LOVED doing the egg coloring and Ashley and I LOVED watching!

Adam taught the boys how to write and color on their egg with a crayon and then to put it in the different color dyes. Ashley was supervising from her bumbo.

The girls watching the boys.

When we were done coloring eggs the kids all put out their Easter baskets on the fireplace hearth for the Easter bunny to come and fill. It is amazing how easy it is to get kids to cooperatively go to bed when the promise of candy and presents is looming!

A BIG....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Grammie today!! We love you SSSSOOOO much!!!

My little farmers

On the Friday before Easter (yes, good friday, we were bad) my group of friends from Alec's preschool went down to Irvine to visit Tanaka Farms. We had such a wonderful time going on the tour of the farm, tasting the organic veggies that came straight out of the ground and then best of all, the strawberry picking! Each of the kids got their own basket to fill and were able to eat as many strawberries as they wanted. I think my boys ate their weight in berries!! They both LOVE strawberries!

Aaron picking his berries. He was not concerned AT ALL if there was any dirt on them. He was picking them and eating them just as fast as he could!!

Alec was a bit more careful about the strawberries that he picked. He was very good about choosing just the ones that were all red and ripe.

From the left...Ian, Alec, Aaron, and Cormac in the tractor on the farm tour.

Ashley enjoying the ride in the tractor in the warm spring sun. We were lucky enough to have Grammie joined us that day as well!

Now and then...

Now...

Hello my few but faithful readers! It has been a busy few weeks, as always, but that makes for interesting blogs...if I ever get caught up with them, that is!! Adam was out of town last week in San Diego for a training class so I was single mom-ing it again for part of the week. On Thursday I dropped the boys off at Grandma and Grandpa's house to spend a few days with them and Oma and Opa. Ashley and I headed down to San Diego to hang out with Carrie, Brian, Kasey and Adam. Since Adam's training was in northern San Diego I decided to spend the night with at Casa Day instead of going back up to the hotel. I got to Carrie's house around 2:00 on Thursday and the fun began! Carrie and I sat down on the couch and did not move for a few hours and just caught up on things. Neither of us are big phone people so we have our best quality friend chat time when we get to actually see each other. I love Carrie DEARLY and treasure all the times we can spend together. I also had the opportunity to spend some quality time with Kasey. It is hard most of the time to get to play with her because the boys are usually with me. I LOVED being able to play with her and give her individual attention. She is the sweetest little girl!!

On Friday Carrie, myself, and the little girls got ready and we headed out to La Jolla. We enjoyed walking around, window shopping and a little real shopping also. By the time it was lunch Adam was done with his training he came up and joined us for some delicious sandwiches. We headed back to Carrie and Brian's house and all took some much needed naps (well, the adults did, the girls decided against napping that day.) Once Brian was off work we all headed off to PF Chang's for dinner. We enjoyed a casual dinner while enjoying each others company immensely. Adam and I feel so blessed to have Carrie and Brian as our best friends!

Then...
I did take some pics of our San Diego trip but of course they are not downloaded yet. Instead I am going to continue catching up on some old events that I never got around to posting. Here are some pics from our San Antonio Mom's Club Easter party. We put it on every year and it is so much fun!

The kids with the scary Easter bunny. Aaron was NOT happy about taking this picture. I actually can't even believe that he would stand this close. He was totally freaked out. Alec just kept saying that the Easter Bunny looks like a ghost. Good observation. I have to say, I understand pictures with Santa Clause, but the Easter bunny I never understood. He is just creepy no matter how good the costume is!!

Alec and Aaron outside at the Easter egg hunt. My cutie boys!

Grammie came to the party as well and enjoyed doing crafts with Alec and Aaron. Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE having her retired??

Me and my sweet girl.

quick one...

No catch up posts today...this one is actually from today!! Amazing!

I often take a shower and then switch out with Alec and Aaron so that they can play in the shower and we all avoid the nightmare that can be bath time. This morning I was doing the switch out and Alec says to me, "Mommy, your tummy is getting fat! Do you have another baby in there?" Lovely. Guess I am going to be hitting the gym twice as much from now on!!

Also...a quick shout out to my friend Giselle who gave birth to her third child, a beautiful baby boy, Michael Paul, very early this morning. You make BEAUTIFUL kids Giselle! Congratulations!

Pismo Pics

Yes, I realize I already did a Pismo Beach blog, but I have not been putting up any pics and have been trying to catch up so here we go! We had such a lovely week!

Asher and Daddy by the beach outside our hotel.

Ash and I hanging out by the pool. This lasted for all of about 10 minutes before Ash became WAY too fussy so we went back to the hotel room for a nap. Good thing we did because I was just about to turn into a lobster!

Me and Ash at the famous pool at Hurst Castle. The weather was BEAUTIFUL the entire time we were up there...EXCEPT for the day we drove up the coast to see Hurst Castle. It was so socked in with fog that you could not even see across the property!

LOOK! The girls are actually outnumbering the boys in this picture!! Here we are by the indoor pool on the tour. It was lots of fun and wonderful to get to spend time with just Ashley, but we certainly missed the crazy boys!