Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Red Car

This has been one of the best toys and purchases ever! It was a birthday present from Craigslist that gets used almost every day! I have a feeling that Nathan is going to be into cars when he's older!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Illinois Vacation

Wow, I'm way behind, but I am determined to catch-up in here before the year is over!  This post is all about our vacation we took back in March.  We went to Illinois for Aunt Theresa's surprise 50th birthday party.  We all had a lot of fun and the boys especially loved all of Uncle Mike's cars!  We also got to spend time with the Brooks family and all of the other cousins.

I can't believe how much bigger the boys are in just six months!  

Anderson is trying to be like the big kids.  He definitely likes to copy the older ones!




Nathan LOVED the remote control car that Uncle Mike had.  The boys also loved the HUGE yard that they got to run around in!


I also need to mention that my boys are rockstar travelers!  They did a really excellent job flying there and back.  I am very grateful for that!

-Heather

p.s. I think that I have some cute boys :)

Saturday, June 9, 2012

I'm Waaaaaaay Behind! And Swimming!

I was doing so good at the beginning of the year keeping up on this blog, but then I fell behind because I'm not so good at posting videos on here (I usually have Christopher do it for me).  Then because the time lapsed this just fell to the wayside.  I hope to keep up on this more!

SWIMMING!
Anderson on his last day of class with the instructors

Nathan jumping off the diving board


We decided to try the boys out with some new swim lessons this year and we heard about the program called The Water Whisperer that we thought that we would try out.  I was originally only going to put Nathan in the classes, but I decided that we would give Anderson some lessons too.  It turns out that Anderson is the chillest baby ever when put in the water.  I think that it also helped that the water felt like a bathtub and was so relaxing!  We were doing the teacher training lessons, so all of the new swim instructors were learning how to teach this method with our kids (plus more that signed-up).  Anderson did awesome and never cried!  There were a lot of other kids that did cry.  He even fell asleep once while in the pool.  The instructors said that they wished all kids were as good as him in the pool.

Nathan was being Mr. Shy Guy, but he was still winning the instructors over.  It was a little frustrating for me because I knew that he could swim from his previous lessons, but because he was being shy he wasn't doing moves in the pool that I knew that he could.  The lessons are two weeks (M-F) for 20 minutes a day and it wasn't until the second week where he opened up and started really swimming.  By the end of the two week lessons I wasn't feeling good that he could swim by himself.  We were working on him taking breaths, but he just didn't get it.  I decided to enroll him in another set of 10 classes to further his swimming and that really helped!  By the end he was jumping off of the diving board and swimming to the side of the pool to get out.  He was diving for toys, with a little assistance from the instructors, he was swimming taking some breaths (we are still working on this at home), and he was floating on his back and doing some swimming on his back!  It was great to see this and I know that this summer is going to be a lot of fun with him in our pool (he's already doing so well with the little swimming that we've done so far).

If you would like to know prices and what my thoughts were on this program send me a message!

Here are some videos:

Nathan swimming backwards 


Nathan diving for some pool toys


Nathan swimming across the pool on his own!



That is it for this post!  I have to say that the way Blogger is set-up now is so much more user friendly then what it used to be!

-Heather

Friday, March 2, 2012

First Haircut

Anderson got his first haircut today. I'm a little sad about it because I know that once he got a haircut it was one more thing to make him look less like a baby. Anderson's hair in the front was getting too long & getting in his eyes, so I knew that he needed to get his hair cut. My intention was to get his bangs trimmed & keep the rest as is. That didn't end up happening because it looked funny, so I had her trim his whole hair :(. So long little curls and hello toddler!

Before his haircut


Giving him a lollipop made him sit still for the haircut! He loved the lollipop & hated when I took it away when he was done with the haircut!




The finished look!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Beach Day!

We had to make a trip down to Christopher's office and since it is so close to the beach we decided to stop & play awhile. The boys loved it and especially the water!!!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Museum Fun

We went to the Zimmer's Children's Museum and it was a ton of fun! The boys were having a blast & didn't want to leave. Nathan especially loved playing in the ambulance & "driving" it!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

The sweetest!

I was putting Nathan down for bed & I gave him a goodnight kiss and he tells me, "Mom, I smile when you give me kisses." I sure do love that kid!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

It's the Middle of Winter

And yet it was 85 today!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Fun Stuff

I don't have any pictures of what I am about to write about because it would have just looked like I have a messy house and I don't want to give that impression to anyone :)

Right now, there are very few toys that are around our house. This is because Nathan has a tendency to throw them when he gets angry. He particularly likes to throw them in Anderson's direction. The new rule in our house is that if a toy is thrown it goes away. Well, almost all of the toys are away. We could have given Nathan a chance to "win" back his toys, but he's been doing fine without them and I have read that less is better. With that said, the "game" that Nathan has been playing is called, "Selling Presents."

Nathan found where I keep all of my gift bags, tissue paper, and other gift giving related items. He knows that these are what Santa uses to sell gifts. Yes, I did write sell. Nathan is under the impression that Santa sells you gifts instead of giving them to you. We have told him that Santa doesn't sell them, but it never seems to stick :). Nathan will go and get a gift bag and load it up with whatever he finds around the house and then he will come and deliver it to Christopher, Anderson, or myself. I believe that he delivered over 20 presents to us! Anderson was also very excited about this game and would pick-up some presents and give them to Christopher or myself. Seeing Nathan come up with this game that required no toys (well, some of the gifts were toys) was awesome to see!

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Impromptu Day At The Park!

We needed to get out of the house so I decided to take a long walk to Jamba Juice to get me some of their steel-cut oatmeal (the best!) and after we were done I thought that it would be nice to take a detour to the park, so that the boys could have some fun playing around!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Dentist

Today the boys went to the dentist for the first time (I know, it's super late for Nathan to be going). They both did great and had a fun time! Nathan even asked to stay and play with the toys when he was done! We go back in six months & hopefully they'll do just as well! I should mention that Anderson is Mr. Teeth! He is 15 months and has 15 teeth, with the 16th ready to come out any day! Nathan was very late in getting his teeth.

Here are the boys playing in the waiting room.


This is Nathan getting ready for bed. He has to have a ton of cars sleeping with him!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Co-Pilot



Nathan went on a plane ride with Christopher today for the first time. Nathan did awesome and even fell asleep shortly after they took off. He also didn't wake up until after Christopher landed the plane. Christopher told me something along the lines of him being able to fly, land and take-off so smoothly that Nathan was able to sleep through it! He was trying to make me feel less apprehensive about flying with him, but I don't think it worked :). For the time that Nathan was awake he did awesome being a co-pilot and I see a future pilot!

Last Week

So far, so good with me updating this blog more often :)!

Last week Christopher took a work trip to the Philippines, or as Nathan likes to say "Vanilla" (for Manilla). While he was gone Aunt Karen came to LA to shop & help out. One of the days we spent in Malibu at the Getty Villa and the beach. Here are some pictures. The boys had a ton of fun with Aunt Karen, Aunt Sandra, Shawn, & me.

I should mention that the water was freezing cold, but Nathan didn't seem to mind at all!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Closing 2011

I've really neglected this blog and I am a little upset that I have because this blog is the journal for my kids. I really have high hopes that this year I get on the ball and keep it updated more (yes, I know that it is already the middle of January and I haven't been updating this!).

Let's finish up the 2011 year!

In September the family took a trip to Europe! Our really good friends Crystal and Sam were getting married in the Czech Republic (where they live) and of course we could not miss that! The boys were incredible travelers and I couldn't have asked for better kids. Every flight we would have people come up to us telling us how good the boys were. When we would sit down I could tell the people around us were not happy when they saw that they were seated by two kids, but I think that they were pleasantly surprised!

We were in Cesky Krumlov for a week and we stayed at the coolest place called Moletin. We had a bunch of friends staying with us, which was extra cool! There was also a lot of space for Nathan to run around, which was what he needed!




Crystal and Sam's place was amazing and made me wish I had as much property as they did. The wedding was a ton of fun and Crystal looked beautiful. Nathan also ended up being in the wedding because he could not be separated from his friend Ziah (he told me in December that he wanted to marry Ziah when I asked him if he wanted to get married when he was older!).



Anderson passed out from all of the fun!


Nathan and Ziah with the goat Crystal and Sam got as a gift :)


After the Czech Republic we went to Salzburg, Austria. We loved this city and I would love to go back. After Salzburg we headed to Ljubljana, Slovenia. This was the most beautiful train ride I have ever been on! Where we stayed wasn't the best part of town, but the Old Town was beautiful. After Slovenia it was back up to Austria, but to Vienna. By Vienna we were all tired of traveling (it is hard with two kids and all of the luggage!) and we decided to skip London and catch an earlier flight home, which worked out well for us! I do still want to go back to London one of these days.

October was all about Anderson! He turned one and I can't believe that a year passed by so quickly! Here are is stats:
Weight: 23lbs 3 oz (50-75th%)
Height: 30 1/4" (50-75th%)
Head Circumference: was in the 95th percentile. Kid has a big head!

My parents came down for his birthday and the week of his birthday we had a small little party for him. He never managed to eat his cake at his party and it was pretty funny watching him handle his cake before having a complete meltdown and not wanting it at all!



Anderson is Mr. Teeth! By the end of the year he had 14 teeth and one that came in on 1/1/12. Anderson also started walking at 13.5 months in November and has gotten very good at it! He started signing a lot more and knows, "eat," "more," "all gone," "water," "bye," "diaper change," and I can't think of what else, but a couple more. He says, "Ma" for Mom and Dad, which is pretty funny. He loves playing outside, especially in the dirt. He likes to eat chalk and I have to keep a close eye on him whenever he is by the chalk. He knows how to hit and throw things courtesy of Nathan. He is a pretty chill kid, but he is more adventurous than what Nathan was at this age.

Mr. Nathan is quite the handful! He went through a big growth spurt and looks so much taller and thinner than what he had looked like. I think that he also looks bigger because Anderson is smaller than him. He still has a hard time with Anderson and hits and throws things at him. Lately, there have been a lot more moments where Nathan is being nice to Anderson and it is so awesome to see! Nathan is still going to the Spanish Immersion preschool and is doing alright with it. He never likes to be dropped off, but at the same time he doesn't want to leave when we go to pick him up.

Right now all he ever says is, "Why?...Why?...Why?...Why?" I know that kids his age say this all of the time and they are just trying to figure things out, but boy does it get a little frustrating! He is also into time and asks us frequently, "What time does..." It cracks us up!



Back to the months: October: For Halloween Nathan was a Garbage Man and Anderson was a shark (Nathan's past costume). Nathan is obsessed with garbage trucks and when you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up he says, "A Garbage Man."





November we had Thanksgiving up in Sacramento and the drive there and back was one of the worst drives yet! Thanksgiving was fun and it was nice to see family. Like I mentioned before, Anderson started walking this month and did a lot of it during Thanksgiving.

December we went up to my Parent's for Christmas. This was the first Christmas with the boys where it didn't snow on Christmas and there was no snow around. Christopher and Nathan had to trek up into the mountains to find a little bit of snow. We really wished there was snow because Nathan was really looking forward to it. It was fun and I enjoy being up with my parents.

This was the first year that Nathan kind of understood Santa Claus and Christmas. The only thing Nathan wanted from Santa was a belt! Hopefully, his requests stay that simple :) Anderson visited Santa at the mall for the first time and he was not a happy camper :(.

I splurged on food and sweets in November and December and gained 2-3 pounds and decided that in January I needed to start eating better. I made some resolutions that I hope to stick to.

Christopher started a new job (I don't know if I wrote about this before) and he loves it. It seems like it is a great company and there is a lot of potential for him. Plus, they all seem to love him. He also finally finished his flying lessons and passed his flight tests and is now a private pilot! I just now have to get up the nerve to fly with him!



New Years I was sick so I was in bed by 8 and Christopher didn't stay up too late either. Overall, 2011 was a good year and I hope that 2012 will be just as good or better!

-Heather