Cabrillo

Today, the kids and I went up to Cabrillo to scout out some good places for their 3 year old pictures next week. We had a blast hiking on a little trail, checking out the ocean, playing with rocks and exploring the lighthouse. It's just beautiful up there. You can see out to the Pacific Ocean, which Emily proudly told me, "Mommy, that's the Pakific Ocean" and then on the other side, you can see downtown, Coronado and more of the Pacific Ocean. Just beautiful.

Emily climbing a little hill on the hike. She said, "Mommy, I'm climbing a mountain just like Dr. Spike!" Spike is on a trip right now to climb Mount Rainier! Go Spike! You are an inspiration!

This is facing the side with the city and Coronado in the background, which you can't see very well as these pictures were just taken with a phone camera.

Lollipop break!

And a little rest.

I just thought this was cute. Emily walked over to the bench to just relax and eat her lollipop.

Tony Packos Pickles

Grandma, the kids do like Tony Packo's pickles! Who would have thought they'd like spicy pickles! I guess they really do love pickles! They did need some milk afterward to counter the heat, but they liked them! (And yes, Kyle did have mac 'n cheese for breakfast and lunch today)

Backwards day

Today was a big day for Kyle. He got undressed from his jammies all by himself and got dressed into his clothes all by himself! Go Kyle! He was so proud! He ran into our room and exclaimed, "Look at me! I got dressed all by myself!!" Even though his shirt and shorts were on backwards, he got them on! But he did tell us that he wanted the train (that is the front of the shirt) to go in back. Socks and undies were successful! And we didn't turn the backwards items around. He was so proud!

And then for breakfast, he opened the fridge and said he wanted (leftover) macaroni and cheese (with peas) for breakfast and Emily chose a bagel. While mac 'n cheese with peas isn't your typical breakfast food, that also didn't need to be adjusted. He was just so happy with all his work and decisions even if his clothes and meals were backwards.

Bye bye kiddie gym

The kiddie gym is closing this week. Another victim of the economy. Such a bummer for the kids as they LOVED that place. We got in one last open play and the kids played to their hearts content.

Emily was very proud to hang all by herself with her feet up!

The ball pit has always been one of their favorites. They especially loved 'flipping' (falling in backwards) into the ball pit. And those are stickers on Emily's legs. As you know she loves to tattoo herself with stickers.

3rd birthday party

After the triathlon in the morning, we had the kids 3rd birthday party with their friends at MyGym in the afternoon. Quite the busy day! Just a few cute pictures of Kyle & Emily from the party and the group having fun.

SD International Tri

(I realize this post is nearly a year old, but I just got pictures now!)

Sunday was quite a busy day. To start the day bright and early, Tommy, Jeff and I did the San Diego International Triathlon which was super close to home. That certainly made the early morning a little less early. Jeff and I did the sprint distance and Tommy went for the International distance.

Jeff coming in on the bike

Tommy going out on the bike

Tommy, Mom & me after the race

Tommy & Colleen after the race

Us after the race

Jeff picking up his bike

Tommy picking up his bike

Grandma and Kyle & Emily. Grandma took care of Kyle & Emily during the race, moving them around the course to catch glimpses of us as we zoomed ;-) by.

Going home. Good morning workout.

Sweet boy Kyle

Kyle is such a sweet boy! Between his giant koala bear hugs and his sweet overtures, we're gonna have to watch out!

Kyle (last week, in the afternoon at lunch, really at ice cream break): Mommy, you are so beautiful! I wanna sit next to you.

Kyle (later that night, walking home from dinner): [Running through the promenade, spots a bench, stops]: I wanna hug on the bench.

Today, we went up to Cabrillo to scout out the location for the kids 3 year old pictures next week. After a nice long hike (pictures from that coming later), we walked up to the lighthouse and went through there. Then, Kyle decides he needs to sit down and take a rest, but asked Emily to join him sitting down on the ledge so they could do hugs. Such a sweet little boy!!

Corvette Diner

The new (relocated) Corvette Diner opened up last week in our neighborhood so we took the kids there with Uncle Tommy and Grandma. The kids liked it quite a bit (who doesn't like milkshakes and cherries with (for) lunch?!) but really loved having Grandma and Uncle Tommy visiting them.

Zoo with Grandma

Grandma came to visit last week and we all had a blast. On Wednesday, the kids and I went to the zoo with Grandma. It was great after we got past the gondola ride... I had always wanted to take the kids on it, but I typically take the kids to the zoo by myself and felt that such a ride would be better if we had a 1:1 adult to kid ratio. So Grandma got to 'enjoy' the gondola ride with us...

Emily settled down reasonably well and enjoyed the ride a little...

Kyle on the other hand, was upset while waiting in line and continued to be upset and get more upset on the ride. It was some pretty impressive screaming. Yes, his look says it all.

But both bounced back nicely and we had a great time seeing the polar bears and new Elephant Odyssey area.

Nap time...

This is what nap time sometimes looks like in our house lately... While the kids certainly still need a nap, they sometimes don't agree... at least they like to read... and eventually get to sleep!

And after this nap in particular, the following conversation ensued:
Jeff: Were you reading books?
Emily: Yea, a LOT of books!

We beed sneaky

Jeff recently bought a fantastic cookbook called "Cooking With All Things Trader Joes" and so we've been trying out the recipes since we have a TJ's in walking distance from our house and do the majority of our grocery shopping there b/c it is so accessible for us. The recipes are all reasonably simple and quite tasty so far. Tonight's menu was a bit of a hodgepodge, but sure was tasty - roasted red peppers stuffed with mushroom risotto (yes, it was mushroom and it was good!) and mozzarella (mix also had parmesan, provolone and probably some other pizza type cheese I'm forgetting) cheese on top; goat cheese medallions (sounds fancier than what it is - just goat cheese fried with almond meal / crumbs around little circles of cheese that I sliced with dental floss - not kidding); and a marscapone fruit tart. It sure was delicious and really quite simple! Kyle ate half of the fried goat cheese and would have eaten more if I had made more. And the tart, the kids certainly enjoyed. They got to have their first mixing beater to lick! I can't believe this is just their first, but they sure LOVED it! I gave it to them and they started licking away. Then while I had the pie sitting on the counter and Kyle had just licked his beater clean, he spied the pie and swiped his beater into the pie for some more filling (sugar, whipping cream, marscapone). I saw him do it and told him he was so sneaky! Then he promptly ran to Jeff and excitedly told him, "We beed sneaky!" as he continued to happily lick his beater.

Yummy beaters!

Our finished product. Doesn't quite look as nice as the one in the book, but tasted great!

Mr. Mom

This weekend I escaped home to Las Vegas with some mama girl friends. All our husbands got to play Mr. Mom for the weekend. It was nice to get away and have no responsibility, but was really nice to come home too. It was nice to be missed. The kids were just giddy when they picked me up, laughing hysterically when I playfully said "Hi goobers!" We went out to eattime afterwards and had some yummy tofu pad-c-u (or however you spell it). When we were leaving eattime, I put the kids in their car seats while Jeff was inside looking for Kyle's toy we couldn't find. Kyle sweetly says, " Mommy, don't go back to the airport." Emily adds, "We already played with Daddy. Now we play with you Mommy and our toys."

Anyhow, the kids had a GREAT weekend with Jeff going to Balboa Park and hiking Cabrillo. Jeff sure kept them going and they were all smiles telling me all about their awesome weekend with Daddy.


And a cute little story from tonight - after dinner tonight, Jeff was singing "I wanna hold your hand" from The Beatles. It went a little like this:

Jeff [singing]: I wanna hold your hand
Emily: I wanna hold your hand.
Jeff [singing]: I wanna hold your hand
Emily: But it's too small!!

Daddy, I told you not to talk with food in your mouth

So they really do hear what we are saying! 

Kyle reads Very Hungry Caterpillar

Last night (last month now that I can get it posted) the kids both read me books for bedtime. Emily read the Blankie book and Kyle read the Very Hungry Caterpillar book. It was priceless. I wish I could have gotten it on video. I tried tonight. Here is Kyle reading his book. The caterpillar does a LOT of eating on Friday in Kyle's rendition. They were getting too silly to try for a second video, of Emily reading the Blankie book. Tomorrow night for that one. Enjoy! (Oh and it's a long video - ~4 minutes).

Emily reads Wiggle

Emily loves the Wiggle book. Tonight (a few nights ago now that the video is actually uploading) she read along and danced along with the story. She knows that book quite well! Thank you to Uncle Eric, Aunt Stephanie and Jadon (and now Brennan!) for such a great book!

Emily's sense of humor

Emily is showing quite the sense of humor lately. Maybe it's that she's getting more and more creative, but whatever it is, she sure makes us laugh!

The other morning, she woke up, went potty, got dressed and was standing there brushing her teeth while I was doing her hair.
Emily: [tummy rumbles loudly]
Emily: Wow, that's my tummy! My tummy is growling!
Mommy: Sure is noisy!
Emily: [tummy rumbles again, louder and longer this time]
Emily: Woah! Motzie is in my tummy!!! (giggles)

As many of you know, the kids sometimes struggle with eating. Either they aren't that hungry or just being picky, but we sometimes do battle with "eattime". Lately, we've been telling them they need to eat their yummy meals so they can grow big and strong. That seems to have struck a cord with them because the other day Emily ate all of her lunch very nicely and when she finished she emphatically declared, "Look, I ate all my eattime! I ate so nicely! Now I'm big and strong. Can I please be excused?" I love how matter-of-fact she is about it! Kyle has also gotten in on the growing big and strong by eating his meals as he proudly tells us that when he eats nicely and grows bigger, he will "jump up and reach the black zip line" (at the kiddie gym).

And the other night, the kids were reading me some bedtime stories. Well they both read me "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". Kyle first and then Emily. (There will eventually be a video up of Kyle reading the book from weeks ago but I've been struggling to get it to post b/c of the size but hopefully tonight's the night!) But this past night was the first time that Emily has read me that book. So the following conversation ensued between Kyle and Emily as Emily was on the page where the caterpillar eats a whole bunch of stuff on Saturday ranging from a pickle and sausage to lollipops and cupcakes.

Emily: On Saturday he ate some chlocolate cake and ice cream cone and pickle and slice of cheese and salami and cherry pie and hot dog and cupcake and ...
Kyle: No Emmie, that's a sausage. It's not a hot dog!
Emily: One sausage, one cupcake ...
Kyle: Good Emmie! That's right! It's a sausage!
Emily: No, it's a hot dog.
Kyle: No, it's a sausage Emmie!
Emily: It's a sausage, but it looks like a hot dog! One hot dog, one cupcake and one piece of watermelon...

I'm sure writing this conversation down here doesn't quite capture just how funny it was, but I assure you it was quite amusing! They were both so serious and sure they were right!

million dollars

Today Kyle and Emily found the finger paint I had bought, but had left next to me on my desk. They woke up from their nap while I was in the middle of making / researching travel arrangements. They came to where I was working and were talking with me and going back and forth to their play area. Then Emily closed the door and not paying too much attention (shame on me) there was a LOT of giggling going on. Apparently they were taking the 4 bottles of finger paint with them each time. Being distracted I didn't notice it that much and if I did, I wasn't too worried because I knew there was a safety seal and cap on them... Well after enough giggling, we went to see them in the living room and there was a LOT of blue finger paint all over the coffee table - which I'll have you know isn't actually an adult coffee table, but a kid's table that looks like a coffee table but has these awesome drawers to store toys in and a giant roll of paper that goes over the top so they can color on it. Not only was the table splattered, so were their clothes, faces, hands and other toys on the table. Lovely... As upset as we were with the kids, really it was my fault for being distracted when I should have been paying attention to them. Shame on me! So anyhow I proceed to clean the mess and them up. And I will have you know that soaking in OxyClean and spraying their clothes with pet stain remover (no, we don't have any pets and no, I have no idea why we have this, but have had it for a long time) it all came out just fine. Crayola actually is washable!

So while the kids were stripped down, I told them to go pick out some clean clothes. They are very good at choosing their own clothes. Emily ALWAYS matches to a T. She is such a GIRL!! Kyle has a few favorite shirts that he wears over and over and over again - Kickball, which he calls his running shirt, his kiddie gym shirts which there are 2 of because they both got one when we signed up, and his striped Daddy shirt. Anyhow, Kyle was getting a bit upset because in the midst of the messy chaos, Jeff told him he couldn't hold Miko because he'd get paint all over him and then Miko would have to take a wash and Kyle isn't a fan of Miko taking a wash. Jeff having enough of the chaos (and really just needing to run some errands) left. So Kyle was on my case to get his Miko. I told him he couldn't have Miko until he was cleaned and dressed again. Not taking no for an answer and just losing it emotionally, the following very cute conversation ensued:

Kyle: I want my Miko.
Mommy: That's nice Kyle. You need to get dressed.
Kyle [whining more]: I waaaaaant my Miiiiikoooo!
Mommy: I want a million dollars.
Kyle [whining even more]: I waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant my Mikoooooooooooooo!
Mommy: Well, I want a million dollars.
Kyle [thinks]: Okay Mommy. I'll get you a million dollars............ in coins!!!!
[we have a coin jar in our room that the kids recently discovered and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE carrying around coins in their pockets]
[Kyle runs to our room]
Kyle: Here Mommy, I brought you a million dollars in coins! [hands me a handful of change]
Mommy: [trying not to laugh]. Thanks Kyle. This looks like a quarter million!
Kyle: Okay I will get you more!! [runs off for more coins]

And yes, he got dressed and got his Miko. It was absolutely adorable. And Emily was chilling wiht me while Kyle was running for coins and she was SO excited that Kyle was bringing us coins!!