Lil' Golfer

Aaron loves his golf clubs from Papa & Kari. He insisted on walking them to the park with him. He often carries a club or 3 around the house with him or in the car. He also has stashed golf balls all over the house so he's never far from golf. And he has learned to recognize the golf course near our house so anytime we drive past it, he shouts "golf" with delight. 

Kyle singing in time-out

This was awesome. Today Kyle had to go to time-out. I don't remember now what it was for, but when I went up to check on him this is what I found:

Yes, he is singing Sound of Music in time-out. Hard to be mad at a kid singing Do a Deer while in time-out.

Balloon parade

In what's becoming an annual tradition, we biked downtown to watch the Bay Balloon Parade. This year, Aaron didn't have a nap at the same time so both he and Jeff got to enjoy it as well. The kids did great with the ride, enjoyed the balloons and had a good time. Afterwards, we biked into Little Italy for a good Italian lunch. Little Italy has such a great vibe and good food options, but we don't visit it nearly as much as we should. On the ride home, we ran into naptime so with about 1 mile to go, Aaron fell asleep in his bike seat - which is on the front of my bike - so it made for an interesting ride holding his head up while navigating our path. 

Sleepover weekend

This weekend, our neighbor Simon came over to play. Kyle, Emily & Aaron all love playing with Simon. One of the nights, Simon stayed over at our house for a slumber party - not so much a party because we still enforced a 8pm bedtime. The next night the kids had a sleepover at Simon's house. We put Aaron down to sleep over there with the kids so we (the adults) could hang out and play games and cards together and then we were just going to bring Aaron home when we went home. Aaron was sleeping so nicely with the other 3 kids that he got to stay the night at the sleepover. It was strange to wake up in our house without any kids waking us up. He relished getting to be just like the big kids and participate in a sleep over! 

Aaron loves Simon

Simon gave Aaron an Aaron sized hockey stick

Knock knock

Kyle sleeping

Kyle, Emily & Aaron have been sharing a room for the past week. Aaron is in his crib, and Kyle and Emily sleep sideways on a queen bed so they have enough space to not roll into one another. Well there is the smallest of spaces between the bed and Aaron's crib and Kyle managed to roll into it. And continued to sleep soundly. I noticed him when I went to check on them before going to bed myself and having a moment of panic when I couldn't find him. He sure does sleep like a rock. 

Haircuts

The boys needed haircuts so they went to their barber. Aaron typically sits on my lap while he gets his hair cut, refuses a cape and is bribed with a lollipop to sit still, but this time was different. He saw Jeff and Kyle getting their hair cut so he decided to do the same, sitting by himself with a cape for all but the last 30 seconds of his cut. And I didn't even have to bribe him with a lollipop to sit still. What a big boy! 

Christmas

We had a fun Christmas this year. We didn't have to travel and had minimal obligations so we pretty much stayed in our pajamas and relaxed together as much as we could. Christmas morning the kids woke up at 7am, which was only slightly early for our kids. Thankfully, they find the idea of some hour before 7am just awful. I remember the days of waking up at some dark hour of the morning and waking our parents after Santa's visit. Sorry Mom & Dad! 

Kyle loved playing with his cousin Ben's beyblades that he asked Santa for some too. 

Emily got a lap harp. She asked Santa for a real harp. 

Aaron and his marbles. He got a marble maze that you attach to a wall so you don't have to take it down. It is now in his room so he can do some marble runs before bed and upon waking. 

Aaron also got a woopie cushion. He was very conflicted. He is terrified (like shaking terrified) of balloons, but he laughs hysterically at toots. You can see his conflict here.

For Christmas dinner, we went over to our neighbors house. Kyle and Aaron helped them make their fresh pasta 2 days prior and they invited us to join them and their 30+ relatives who were sharing in their tradition of fresh pasta and a Christmas ball hunt and fun family festivities. The kids had a great time. Turns out they are related to a couple of kids they go to school with and Aaron made friends with their grandson who is the same age and one of their aunts who he just adored.

Afterwards, we went to see the lights on a popular, always decorated to the nines street in town. We hadn't seen them yet this year and wanted to make sure to get there before they went down.

Fun 2013 Christmas memories.  

Dancing to Christmas music

Aaron sure loves music. Whenever it is on, he struts around and starts dancing. Gotta love how kids can just get up and dance without worry about their moves or anything. 

Meet our new dog!!

Check him out! I know our deal was we'd get one when the 3rd one turns 3 so it's a bit early, but this was the perfect dog for us! 

Yes, that is the dog playing music. Aaron loves him. He calls him "Dog".

Carmex chin

For some reason, Aaron thinks Carmex goes on your chin. He has found a tub of Carmex for several days in a row now and he keeps putting it there. It's quite amusing because he comes to us all proud that he's put on Carmex. 

And the second day...

Marble run

Aaron is a marble hound. The kids LOVES his marbles. He has them stashed all over the house and is always asking to play with his ma-mas. Thankfully he doesn't put them in his mouth. He seemed to try once a while back, we told him never to do so and that was that. Here he is creating his own marble run. Clever kid, clever. 

Cookies

It's Christmas time so it's time to make cut-out cookies. This was something I did as a kid growing up each year. And we've been continuing that tradition with the next generation. Kyle was at tennis for the start of it, but we saved some cutting out and frosting and decorating for him. Emily's best friend came over to join in the festivities. Aaron loved it as well though he was more about the eating than decorating. 

Kyle playing tennis

Kyle loves playing tennis and is very lucky to play as much tennis as he does. Here is some footage from a tournament the played in. He took 2nd place this weekend. He took the kid who won to a tie breaker. Great work Kyle! He ended up being the overall winner for his division (by ability, age doesn't matter) for the fall. He is still almost always the youngest kid out there by 2 years. He has played one other 7 year old and the rest are 9+. He will test again in the winter season and hopefully move up a division or more. His goal is to move up 3 divisions. He has set some lofty goals, but he can do it! Good luck Kyle! 

Emily swims

Emily is doing swim lessons to get her strokes refined because she wants to join the swim team. Yes, it's December and this is an outdoor pool. She is doing a great job with her strokes and is a model student. She should be through stroke school in no time. Great work Emily!

Kyle tennis

Kyle played in a tennis tournament today and did a great job winning his matches 6-4 and 6-2 against a 9 year old. He is getting good experience playing these little tournaments to put all that he learns in his lessons together in a game. Great work today Kyle! Here is a short little video of Kyle playing. He is in the background serving and showing great strategy. 

Hot chocolate

Emily & Kyle had hot chocolate and song festivities at school on Friday. Parents were invited to join in on the fun. What was most heart warming to me was how Emily and Kyle chose to sit together during it. They both have their little groups of friends at school, but it was nice to see them choose one another. 

Mammoth

This past weekend, I went away for a few days to meet up with Spike in Mammoth for some skiing together. It was great to hang out and ski with Spike and company and to get away from the daily responsibilities. Spike got me skiing blue/black runs. The great thing about Mammoth was that for the most part, I could get down from almost any lift on a run of my level. I feel comfortable on blue runs and blue/black are a good and do-able challenge for me. I found several that I could do which was a big deal for me. 

Aaron with his girlfriend. He got to hang out with her one of the days while Jeff worked (he had different babysitters each day which was a new thing for him and he did well). Notice his I <3 coming="" day="" him="" home.="" i="" jeff="" mom="" nbsp="" on="" p="" put="" shirt="" that="" the="" was="">

Cool dude at zoo

Aaron and I took a quick, impromptu visit to the zoo to check out the monkeys. He had a good time watching them. Like Kyle, he had fun watching the capuchins skitter about and hang from the sides. There was one that seemed to come up the fence to say hi to Aaron and then hid in a little potato sack (or looked for food in there). 

Aaron Driving

Aaron had a field day chillin' in the front seat of the car and practicing his driving. All the buttons and levers to push and the wheel to turn... so much fun for him.

Zerbert

And Aaron discovers the hilariousness that is zerberts. Gotta love how he says zerbert.

Tree decorating

Today we went to get our Christmas tree. Given the lateness of Thanksgiving and how close we are now to Christmas, we went to Home Depot to be able to get it up and enjoy it. Kyle and Emily had a great time decorating the tree. Aaron saw how excited Kyle & Emily were to decorate that he eagerly joined in. 

This link is of the kids happily decorating. 

http://youtu.be/6urP4At2mRk

Daddy snuggles

Jeff's flight was cancelled so we got to hang out all day. The kids got some good Daddy snuggles in before we went out to get our Christmas tree.

Thanksgiving

We had a fun time visiting family for Thanksgiving. The kids saw all of their cousins between our families. 

Riding the bus to the rental car

Kyle playing pop-a-shot with Kari. Aaron had a good time with the basketball game too. He asked daily to go to the basement and play ba-ba. 

Aaron with Uncle Eric. Aaron has such an affinity to Eric. He's always been so smiley with Eric and just at ease with him. The smiles just capture it. 

Aaron's massage

I got a massage from Kari to help my neck and the kids wanted a massage too. Emily, Kyle & Aaron all had a massage too. And it was the longest I've seen Aaron sit still. 

At Papa's, Aaron would just go to the basement to play. I found him down there playing some pinball just like he's a big kid. 

Emily reading with Grandma

Aaron and Ethan hugs

Aaron at the kid table with Addy and Trevor

7 of the 10 kids at Grandmas' house doing the gumdrop tree

Ryan, Evan, Kyle & Emily getting clean

Everyone at Grandma's house

The kids having fun at the airport

Kyle tennis tournament

Kyle has been playing a lot of tennis these days. He is playing in some tournaments and having a good time. This particular one, he played quite well and even as the youngest player, he held his own and came out with the win. 

Kyle is in the far court playing against a 9 year old girl. He won 8-1.

Kyle is in the near court I think and is playing a 9 year old boy. Kyle won 8-1.

Kyle posing after his decisive victory. 

This is from another tournament this week (December 8, yes I am back posting) where he played well and came in 2nd by tie break. He actually beat the kid who took 1st and had the same record, but the second level for tiebreak put the other kid ahead. Pretty good nonetheless and especially so considering the kids all had at least 3 years on Kyle. Well done Kyle!

Aaron

Just some cute pictures of Aaron and some with his girlfriend.

Aaron and Alice at the monkeys at the zoo

Aaron and Alice at the library having a snack together

Surfing

Yesterday was such a great surfing day that we had to go back again today. And it was a ton of fun again. This time we went in the morning (school was off today) and had a lot of sunlight and happy kids. While I was out helping one of the kids surf, the other was boogie boarding and playing on the beach with Jeff and Aaron. 

Kyle riding a wave in

Hang ten Aaron!

Jeff's funny tide dance with the kids on the beach.