From the Kadish Family

My Second Job...The New House!!!

2010-10-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

One of the things (other than the two kids) that seems to be occupying all of my "free" time lately is the new house. Although I am very excited and thankful that we are able to build our new house, I am so ready for the whole process to be over!!

During the past few months Victor and I have dedicated so much time to the new house, I think we are truly ready for a break. I personally am tired of making decisions, doubting those decisions, mulling over them at night and literally driving myself crazy up until the point that I visually get to see what my decision looks like (and I can't turn around). Very stressful. And, that's just how I'm feeling, so you can only imagine how stressed Victor must be about this whole process!

But, I keep telling myself to keep our end goal in sight, and it IS getting closer, I think. We are supposed to close on December 1st so that we can get in and situated before Christmas, but at this point it's going to be tight, so please keep your fingers crossed for us.

So far I think it's looking pretty good. Of course there are already things we would've done different could we do them over again, or if we were on an unlimited budget, but all in all, so far so good. The outside is pretty much complete and the inside is on it's way...sheetrock and texture is complete, cabinets are delivered (but not all installed:/), trim work has begun, and some interior doors hung. But there's A LOT to get done still inside, definitely going to be tight until the end.

Anyways, here's a few pictures of the progression of the house from the beginning until now. I'll post more pics of the inside as it comes along!

Poring the slab - June 23

Framing begins - July 10

Still framing (lots of rain!) - July 21

Looking like a house - July 25

Getting some detail inside - August 10

Front doors are here - August 13

Sheetrock, tape and float - September 11

Working on the outside - September 24

Outside pretty much complete - October 3

Oh So Silly!

2010-09-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

Seems like Tristan is always up to something silly these days!!!!

Elefun game nets or hats?? hhmmmm...

In between the toes is a good place for quarters, right?

Future Longhorns!!!

2010-09-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

Just a few shots of my two future Longhorns! We hit up yet another birthday party this past Saturday and since it was game day for Texas, the kids decided to sport their new "football shirts" (aka jerseys).

It took me a few trips back and forth to WalMart and Target to make sure I had the right sizes (who knew Parker needed a 5T?) and the right numbers on the jersey (Tristan had to have the number 3 because that's how old he is...lucked out on that one), but finally everyone was happy. They were both dying to wear them but I was able to convince them to wait until Saturday and this will now be their regular Saturday apparel for the next two months!

Hook 'Em Horns!

Woohoo, MDO Has Begun!

2010-09-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

Last week BOTH boys started Mother's Day Out. This is Tristan's 3rd year to go, but Parker's first, and he definitely had a case of the first day jitters, or maybe I should call them the "first day screams"!

Both boys were up early Tuesday morning and I made them each their favorite breakfasts, TRistan had cinnamon rolls and Parker had waffles. The boys got dressed, Parker of course had to pick out his own clothes but at least it was two solid colored items so it wasn't a fashion disaster and Tristan let me pick his out (whew!). They then got their backpacks and lunch boxes and took the traditional first day of school pictures by the front door.

As you can see, both kids were all smiles at home posing by the door...and they both actually listened and allowed me to take all the pictures I wanted to!

But, only one child stayed all smiles once we got to school! Tristan went straight in to school and to his classroom...he couldn't wait to get there and see his buddy Peyton. He walked into his classroom, scanned the room looking for Peyton, didn't find him and looked at me and asked "where's Peyton?" He couldn't have cared less about me or the fact that I was leaving him...guess we are past that stage. I snapped a few pictures of him with his teachers, got my hug and kiss and headed out the door to take Parker to his classroom. As we were walking away I heard Tristan yell from the door "Bye Mommy, see ya later, love you"...yep, defintely over the fear of separation phase!

So, on to the child who has not got over the fear of separation phase,my little baby Parker! He was not happy at all about going to school once we got there. He loves his lunch box and carrying it in to school, but that's about the extent of it. I knew it was going to be rough for him. Long story short, he cried for an hour after I left him Tuesday morning until finally one of Tristan's old teachers came into the room and took him to her class (the other 2 year old class), where he finally calmed down and now has been moved to permanently.

He doesn't like to be left in unfamiliar places or with unfamiliar people so I think he was a little more comfortable in the other room with the other teachers since he was used to dropping and off and picking up Tristan from that room all last year. He was all happy when I picked him up that afternoon and even took pictures with his teachers. He still gave them a pretty hard time when I dropped him off on Thursday, but I have hope each week will get easier!

Maybe by kindergarten I will have BOTH kids happy to go to school!!!!

Parker's First Ride on the "Big Giant Shamu Coaster"

2010-09-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

Not only do the boys like the simulated roller coasters at Chuck E Cheese, they are pretty big fans of the real deal! Tristan has been riding the Shamu roller coaster at Sea World for some time now but Parker just recently reached the height requirement and he couldn't have been more excited about it!

Usually, Victor or I have to wait with him while the other one takes Tristan on the ride, and as a way to appease Parker for not getting to ride, we end up spending 5 or 10 dollars letting him play a game and win yet another Shamu stuffed animal (we have quite the collection), but not this time. And I think we were all excited about that!

And now a tleast once a week Parker says he wants to go to Sea World and ride the "big, giant Shamu coaster"! I'm looking forward to Sea World in October...cooler weather and more days open for Howl-O-Scream, and of course the "big giant Shamu coaster!

Daddy and Parker ready to ride!

Tristan also ready to go for a spin

The best "action" shot I could get with my little camera...darn delay!

Crashed on the way home...too much excitement

For Tristan too!

The Time Between the End of Summer and the Beginning of School

2010-09-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

The end of summer around here officially comes when all the public schools go back in session because everything shuts down even though it's still blazing hot and my kids always have at least two weeks before they start their Mother's Day Out "school". So that leaves me looking for activities to keep us busy during that in-between time. Good thing we've had a bazillion birthday parties lately (10 within 5 weeks to be exact) that have helped me out in that area!

I only managed to remember my camera to one of the said birthday parties and I didn't get many pictures that weren't fuzzy since it was at a jumpy place and thekids were moving FAST down those slides! But, we've been entertained a jumpy places, the bowling alley (a few times), Kiddie Park, the Children's Museum, and the list goes on!

In addition to all the parties, we've hit up Chuck E Cheese to play LOTS of games. Oh and I have figured out the best (and cheapest) way to go there is to feed the kids BEFORE you go (so they actually eat and you avoid any noon time crowds), then just buy tokens (and maybe a drink for mom) and use the internet coupon for extra tokens. I can spend $15 and get a ton of tokens that last us a good 2 hours and usually still have some leftover for the next visit!

The kids love the simulated roller coasters, air hockey tables, basketball and really any other game there that involves, hitting, throwing, shooting something!

We've also visited our local Children's Museum quite a few times recently. I went ahead and renewed our season pass and am really glad I did. It's such a great place to take the kids for an hour or two, it's super clean and well maintained, and best of all it's air conditioned! Tristan and Parker always beeline for the train area and then usually head over to the space area...their two favorite spots, at least for the moment! Oh and the building section that has magnetic tiles gets a lot of use from my boys as well!

Fishing for Catfish

2010-09-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we decided to take the kids fishing but wanted to go somewhere we'd actually catch some fish...we've taken the kids down to the park a few times but never had any luck there. After a little surfing on the internet I found a catfish fishing place in Canyon Lake, so we all hopped in the truck and headed out there.

And, we definitely caught some fish! There is no catch and release there, so if you catch it, it's yours and you're paying for it, by the pound! It was an expensive little outing but the kids had fun catching their fish, and I think Daddy and Mommy had fun too! There is a certain amount of excitement whent he reel tips down and you know you have one on the hook...reminded me a lot of the multiple fishing trips Victor and I made down to the coast pre-kids! Maybe one day we'll have a boat again and the whole family will make those weekend fishing trips, especially since Parker really seemed to enjoy the whole fishing experience!

Parker showing off the first catch of the day!

Watching Daddy get the stinky catfish bait ready!

Tristan waiting to catch his first fish

Still waiting

Tired of waiting so he posed for me

Taking a snack break

Showing that he's #1

Oh wait a minute, I think he thinks he's #1

Trying to cast it himself

Turning the reel

Reeling in a big one

Parker posing with his catch

And Tristan too

Daddy and Parker afterwards at Olive Garden

Tristan and Mommy

Mini Golf...Every Week

2010-08-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

Mini golf has kind of become a Sunday ritual here at the Kadish house...and I'm not sure how I feel about that!

For some time now, at least all summer, both boys have been infatuated with mini golf and insisted we "go there" (as Parker says) every time we pass a mini golf course. Unfortunately for me, we have to pass by one on the way to the highway so I hear a lot of mini golf requests, but I seem to have the boys convinced that we can only go there with Daddy. And that means Sunday, and only once a week. Whew!!!!!

Don't get me wrong, I like(d) mini golf, but not so much in 100 degree heat and with a certain 3 year old Type A personality who lives in our household. Yep, Tristan, our routine driven perfectionist who likes his ball to go perfectly down the green the same way each time he goes to the hole, and also wants everyone else playing to do the same...and when this doesn't happen, there is one frustrated 3 year old on the course, who likes to voice his frustration, not exactly "fun". But when his ball cooperates with what his head had in mind for it, his face lights up with sheer joy and excitement, so that part I like!

Tristan plays mini golf true to form. He lines up his ball at the tee, stands back, gets the correct golf grip (that Victor showed him a long time ago) and swings. His little brother on the other hand, now he's a different story.

Definitely more right-brained than Tristan, and NEVER needs anyone to show him how to hold that golf club, Parker sometimes hits from the tee, but most of the time picks up his ball and puts it about 3 inches from the hole and hits from there. And even though it's inches from the hole, he doesn't always make it in, but he's always happy with his end result. Oh, and I'm not sure if he has ever been consistent in how he hold the club...he pushes it more like a broom, but at least he hits it with the club side!

But he has his quirks too about the precious mini golf game...everyone has a particular color ball they must have and he decided that for us. Tristan is dark blue, Victor is dark green, he is yellow (his favorite color) and I'm either red or pink. It's actually really funny because he now associates each of us with those colors as soon as he hears the words "mini golf"...he starts rambling "Mommy pink, Daddy dark green, etc...". Pretty cute, but I pray we don't ever got to a course where all those colors aren't available!

Here's a few pics I snapped one Sunday, enjoy!

Tristan perfecting his stance

Parker and his 3 inches from the hole...

Practicing on the putting green

Yes, this is how Parker smiles, lol!

My little golfer!

Ready for his pro debut!

Hmmnn, not sure about those faces!

Love that baby's smile

Daddy and his boys waiting on the next hole

The Final "Summer of Swim" - Schlitterbahn!!!!!

2010-08-24T11:53:00.000-07:00

Our main water activity this summer has been multiple trips to Schlitterbahn, which we absolutely loved! I feel very fortunate to live in a town that is home to one of the biggest and best waterparks in the United States, and even more fortunate that we have season passes! We can literally hop in our car and be at the waterpark within 5 - 10 minutes, season pass in hand, ready to play and stay cool in the water!

We spent at least one day a week, and sometimes up to three times a week, at the waterpark! The best part is you can bring your own cooler in the park, so I'd pack lunch and drinks for the kids and me and we'd spend the morning playing, eat lunch , play some more until 1 or 2, head home, and 9 times out of 10 BOTH kids would fall asleep, resulting in some much enjoyed quiet time for Mommy!

A couple of our friends also had season passes, so we would regularly meet up with them. The kid areas at Schlitterbahn really are amazing for young kids...not just one little section like some places, there are lots of areas designed just for little ones and they are all over the parks. I seemed to forget my camera most of the summer but did manage to take some pics the last few times we went. Naturally, I have a lot of pictures posted below but they barely give a glimpse of all the cool stuff the kids got to explore this summer at Schlitterbahn. We will definitely be getting passes next summer!

More Summer of Swim - Sea World

2010-08-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

We've only ventured out to Sea World a few times this summer because honestly, it has just been TOO HOT! But about 2 weeks ago my friend and I decided we really should suffer through the heat and take the kids...but not all of them! We knew the only way we were going to make it through a day at Sea World in the blistering 100 degree heat was to hit up the water rides and the waterpark, and since the "little kids" (i.e. Parker and her two year old) aren't quite tall enough to go on most of the rides, we decided to leave them at home and have a special day with the "big kids"!

We had a lot of fun and the boys definitely enjoyed their special day without their little brothers, even though I thought we were all going to melt from the heat! The waterpark felt awesome that day!

Side note - my friend Melissa and I used to take Tristan and Kaeson to Sea World all the time when they were babies, before the second round of babies came, and I think this is the first time we have taken just the two of them together since the summer of 2007...crazy how time flies! Click here to see an old post from one of the times we took them that summer.

Tristan and Kaeson waiting in line for Shamu's roller coaster

The only way to ride, of course!

Okay, so Kaeson acutally kept his hands up...I think Tristan decided the rail was a better place for his!

Kaeson a little unsure about the Journey to Atlantis ride

Enjoying some lunch

Kaeson too

Posing with the shark

Snacking on some beloved Sea World popcorn after hitting up the waterpark

Summer of Swim Continued - Our Annual Beach Trip

2010-08-18T13:34:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that we have spent a LOT of time in the water this summer (and who wouldn't when you live in South Texas!)...a few weeks ago we opted to take a break from the chlorinated pool water and made our annual trip down to the Texas coast to get wet in some salt water!

We only go once a summer to the coast and we only stay two days, but we try to make the most of the time we have and the kids were SUPER EXCITED to go. We talked about the beach the whole week before we left and pulled out all the beach toys. Parker found a shovel he wouldn't part with and carried it around everywhere the entire week, including to his bed at night. Finally the day came for us to leave and we packed up the car with clothes, toys, snacks, the kids and of course, Parker's shovel!

Parker ready to hit the road

Tristan excited to go

It's a good thing the coast is only about 2 1/2 - 3 hours away from us because I might have gone crazy otherwise! Actually, the kids were pretty good the first 2/3 of the way down, but that last 1/3 of the way was enough to drive anyone crazy! We left around 6:30 after Victor got off of work so by the time we were getting close to Corpus it was already dark and I was starting to fall asleep but Parker had other plans for me. Every 2 seconds he would say "Mommy", and if I didn't answer him he would just repeat himself, getting louder each time. After I answered him, he would just keep telling me "BEACH", very excitedly. Yes, this sounds cute, but when you are just about to fall asleep, and a yelling "mommy" sound wakes you up every minute to which you reply and just get the word "beach" in return, it will drive you insane! Needless to say, I ended up not sleeping!

But we got to our hotel within the hour and got ourselves settled and off to bed since we had a big day out on the beach the next day. The kids woke up bright eyed and bushy-tailed..even Tristan! They were ready to go and already in the normal playing mood...

Yep, this is how boys play!

We got the two of them off of each other long enough to get them in their "swim clothes", as they call it, and headed down to the beach. We spent all day outside and they loved it, although it did take them a little while to get used to the sand on their feet. Parker loved walking up and down the beach, digging in the sand and chasing birds, while Tristan thought jumping the waves was the cat's meow.

We ate our lunch under the canopy and Parker even took an afternoon snooze with Daddy before we headed back to our hotel to clean up before going to dinner.

We had a great time, and stayed cool in the water...can't wait for next year's trip!

Summer of Swim!

2010-08-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

According to the scorching 100 degree temperatures we are enduring EVERY DAY, I wouldn't dare say summer is coming to an end, but based on all the back-to-school commercials, backpacks and school supplies I see everywhere, I fear that is the case! The kids and I have spent a LOT of time in the water this summer, but Tristan has probably spent the most due to his twice a week swim lessons. Even though he missed a couple of times due to his tonsil surgery and crazy Texas weather (i.e. random downpours of rain at exactly his lesson time), he learned so much this summer and I can't believe what a little fish he is!

He took private lessons again with our friend, Ms. Shelly, and she is truly an amazing swim instructor. I wasn't sure how much he would retain from his lessons last year, but he really seemed to pick up right where he left off and just took off from there. He absolutely LOVED going to swim lessons and would hop right into the pool with no hesitation. And the plus side for me was that he usually took a nap afterwards! Not sure if it was the heat, the working hard swimming or that we were in the car driving home at about 3 o'clock, but I didn't care, he learned to swim and I got some peace and quiet afterwards...winner all around!

This week was his last two days of lessons, so I braved the heat with Parker by my side to video Tristan showing off some of the skills he mastered this summer...we usually sit inside the house while lessons are going on which is not Parker's idea of a good time, but he'll get his turn to swim next year! Check out these clips to see Tristan in action.

So, can you believe it? This boy can swim! I can't wait to see how much more he can do by the end of next summer!

Tristan giving Ms Shelly a big hug

And Tristan, Ms Shelly and his ice pop!

I Miss Blogging!!!!

2010-08-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, here it is August of 2010 and I have 13 posts for the year...PATHETIC!!!! I guess this could mean two different things: 1) we haven't been doing anything and have absolutely nothing going on in our lives and thus I have nothing to say (fat chance) or 2) we have been so busy that I can't find the time to blog about all our happeneings...hhmmmnn, sounds a little more on the money!

But, I'm officially back! I was looking at my blog the other day and it made me sad that I couldn't pull it up and look back over the last few months and see pictures of the kiddos and read about what I was thinking, or we were doing at the time:( I've also noticed that I seemed to remind myself more to take pictures of all the little things when I was consistently blogging...I have been a bad picture-taker this summer, can you believe it?

So, with these things as my motivation, I am re-commiting myself to my blog. I am going to start with current posts and go forward from there. As far as the first half of 2010 goes, my hope is to put together some posts that sum it up behind the newer posts so if you are interested in seeing those, then you'll have to scroll dow past the new stuff. This is more for my own record-keeping, so it may take me awhile since my main goal will be to stay current. Wish me luck!

Check back for a post, with video, about Tristan's swim lessons!

Wrapping Up December, Finally!!!!!

2010-05-10T06:48:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, last part of December....hhmmmnnnn, what do I remember? Oh yeah, it was really COLD!!!!! The last week or so of December was pretty chilly (at least for us down here, we consider it cold), so the kids were nicely bundled up every time we ventured out that week.

On most of the colder winter days, you wouldn't catch Tristan out and about without his trusty blue hat. I bought this hat for him because it was similar to a baseball cap and I figured it would be the best shot at getting him to wear a hat during winter, and I was RIGHT, he loved his hat! Plus, it had flaps to cover up his ears...although it did kind of make him look like a lumberjack, but hey, who cares, right? He was nice and toasty on those cold days!

And of course Parker had a favorite hat too, and naturally his was more of a discussion piece. He went with the more "traditional baby hat"...you know, chin strap, pointed up, ball on top, and some pretty blue stripes to "cap" it off. He looked so darn cute every time he had it on, because he just looked like this giant baby walking around with this cutesy hat on, LOVE IT!

And of course they both wore their hats when they were out cruising the Jeep. At least it was sunny a couple of those cold days because driving the Jeep was all these two kids wanted to do!

Ready to put it in reverse and hit the road

Attempting to climb up the mountain (the pool construction at the old house provided for some good rugged terrain)

Woohoo, they were having a good time

The smiles kept coming

Getting a few driving reminders from Daddy

Always look back before going into reverse...

Hhmmmnnn, Parker looks a little worried!

Didn't last too long, he's having a blast now

And they were off

Making sure Mommy was watching

It usually helps if someone is looking ahead...

Looking for some good tunes on the radio

Oh yeah, and Parker did take a break from riding in the Jeep in order to create a masterpiece...and since drawing on paper is just not exciting enough for him, he decided his own skin really is the ultimate drawing canvas!

And do I consider myself lucky on this...I had already taken his shirt off (knowing that something like this was about 99% sure to happen) and I caught him early in the act, otherwise he would have been covered in purple marker from head to toe. Always an adventure with this one!

So, that offically wraps up December of 2009! Woohoo, on to 2010!

Stay tuned for a few more monthly summaries!

Oh Wow, Where Has The Time Gone???

2010-05-04T12:01:00.000-07:00

So, yes I realize I have officially been the worst blogger ever, and I was reminded of my blogging absence recently (Hi Amy!!!). Anyways, life seems to be moving in overdrive lately and I find myself barely able to capture the wonderful memories my kids are making, much less getting around to documenting them! (And here comes the "but"!)

BUT, I am really going to try to get back on track! I can't seem to let myself just skip over the past 4 months and start from where we're at now, even though I know this would be the easiest way to go and probably what I should do. Unfortunately I can't seem to let myself do that...

And since I'm not in the mood at the moment to start working on the tedious catch up task that lies ahead of me, I thought I'd start by sharing a tidbit of a recent event with you, Parker's 2nd birthday party!!! Yes, I realize I will now be all out of order on my events (which really drives me crazy by the way), but maybe getting this post up will drive out my inner blogger!!!!

Enjoy! More posts to come "soon"!

Christmas Day

2010-04-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

Yay! I think this is my final post about Christmas...about time, huh???

Anyhow, Santa was REALLY good to the kids this year and left them each a huge present when he stopped by for his annual visit on Christmas Eve...of course we were sleeping, but we knew he came because he ate the cookies and milk the kids left out and how could you miss the presents he left!

All for Tristan!

Just for Parker

All gone!

Victor and I were woke up that morning by Parker's voice blaring through the monitor (he's our early bird) and we immediately checked out the tree and to no surprise Santa had come. We got Parker out of his crib and rushed him past the tree so he wouldn't dive straight into opening presents without his brother. After a little spent in Mommy and Daddy's room, he decided it was time to wake up big brother. And Mommy and Daddy went with him, video camera in hand!

I had to break the video into 5 different clips because it was about 10 minutes long, but definitely take a look if you can becasue it's hilarious...Tristan is NOT a morning person, even on Christmas morning!!!!

As you saw, once Tristan snapped out of his morning funk, he was more than excited about his gift from Santa, even if he still wasn't happy that Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk! I guess the Jeep made up for it. And Parker, well, Santa, just should have kept that car at the North Pole for some other kid because it was only cool for the first two minutes before he spotted his brother's Jeep. And FYI, he's only got in that car a handful of times since Christmas! Oh well, Santa REALLY tried!

After playing int he Jeep for a few minutes, we finally persuaded the kids to go check out their stockings to see if Santa left anything else.

Parker loved his new slippers

He just couldn't walk that great in them!

And he was pretty excited about more cars!!!!

But, they were both drawn back to the "motorcycle" Tristan got from GiGi and PawPaw!

At least, that is until we told them they could get dressed, in warm clothes, (yes, it was actually pretty cold here on Christmas Day!) and go drive the Jeep. Intially Tristan started off without a passenger, but Parker soon decided to join him and now he has a permanent spot in the passenger seat!

Tristan's parking spot he made himself (at the old house)

Here's a little video of the two of them cruising around the neighborhood, had to break this one in 2 parts...

After a morning of Jeep filled driving we got the kids cleaned up and into some Christmas attire so we could have Christmas lunch with our families. TiTi and TiTi Lizzie made it in from Dallas after braving some bad weather and lo and behold it was present opening time again!

And I guess it is true...kids like the boxes that toys come in just as much as the actual toy!!

The kids spent the rest of the day playing and playing and playing! We haven't really bought any new toys since Christmas and they're still amused, so I guess Christmas 2009 was a success!!!! Thanks to all our friends and family for spending the holiday season with us and we can't wait to celebrate next year...hopefully in our new house!!!

Christmas Eve

2010-03-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

Woohoo, it was Christmas Eve in our household....about 3 months ago!!! Tristan was excited for Santa to come that night, I think this was the first year he really grasped the Santa and presents concept. As for Parker, he was just along for the ride!

We started the day out by sporting some Christmas-themed apparel and making cookies to put out for Santa that night. This was the first year we actaully set out milk and cookies for Santa and I don't think we'll be skipping this tradition in the years to come because Tristan loved it and pretty much has the idea ingrained in his head!

He's kind of been on a baking/cooking spree with Mommy lately, but this particular time he got to bake with Daddy while Mommy played the part of photographer!

Spatula in hand, ready to get started

Anxiously awaiting to stir

And he's off

Daddy "supervising"

Got bored with stirring and decided to get his M&Ms ready

Lining up his M&Ms...those of you who know Tristan well, won't be surprised at this, everything in order and exactly lined up!

Adding his special ingredient...red and green M&Ms

Ready for the oven!

After the cookies were made, we spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for our families to come over that evening. For the last few years we have opened presents from each other on Christmas Eve and opened presents from Santa on Christmas morning, and we continued the tradition this year. Santa seems to typically bring one big gift each for the kids so it is nice to break it up into two days, so that they are really excited Christmas morning to see what Santa brought.

But Christmas Eve was filled with lots and lots of presents from our loving family and the kids were TOTALLY SPOILED, once again! We had a great time spending time with our families and the kids enjoyed opening presents, especially Tristan!

The tree with a gazillion presents

Tristan and Parker checking out the "goods"

Tristan and GiGi showing off some smiles

Oh my, look at that face!

Tristan and Parker...he doesn't quite smile on demand...yet!

Another one of Tristan and GiGi...I took advantage of this photo time since he was willingly participating in picture-taking!

Even more presents added...can I say SPOILED ROTTEN?

Tristan bring the presents into the living room

Parker pushing Mommy's camera out of his face...no more paparazzi!!!

Mommy and Parker...still working on that smiling thing:)

Oh definitely not a smile here...the paparazzi are really making him mad!

Tristan with all his presents lined up...do you see the trend, first the M&Ms, now the presents!

While his brother was tearing into his presents, Parker decided he needed a little snack..no surprise here!

Present opening time...he was REALLY into it this year!

We finally tore Parker away from his snack long enough to get him going with his presents

But, it was short-lived, he was back at the snack...I think next year he will really be into the whole present thing!

Every 3 year old needs Chutes & Ladders!

Parker finally found a present that got his attention...he loves books and absolutely adores animals so this was a winner for him!

Opening his present from GiGi and PawPaw

Practicing on his new drums from Alla

Woohoo, an Elmo laptop, what more could a kid ask for?

Drums from Alla

Kissing his brand new beloved "baby"

Another Elmo toy!

Getting squeezed by Alla, and "baby" got some love too...this dog now sleeps with Parker every night...Mommy and Daddy got this present right!!!

Making a tower

And some help from big brother

Getting taller!

Playing Parker's drums

Playing airplane with GiGi, just like Mommy used to!

Tristan showing PawPaw some live

Love for Alla too!

Parker attempting to take over one of Tristan's presents

Tristan riding his new SmartCycle for GiGi and PawPaw

Doing what he does best...making a mess!

Parker loving his pegboard toy from Alla...Lakeshore Learning is the best!!!

Serious concentration

Hhmmmnnn!

Wow, intense

Attacking the camera!

Just the boys...ready for bed, Christmas jammies and all

Mommy and her two babies

Mommy and Tristan before bed

The tree and milk & cookies waiting for Santa's arrival

Just for Santa

Up next: Christmas Day, complete with video footage from Christmas morning!!!

Because I Needed Yet Another Reason to Avoid Packing...

2010-03-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

Like I didn't have enough to do in December with the holidays and getting ready to move, I decided to add on another little project or two here and there...namely creating Christmas cards and birthday invitations for a few friends, and myself!

Of course I wanted to create our own Christmas card using our family portraits so it all started there...

Our Christmas Card 2009

The back

Then I offered to create a card for a friend of mine using some family pictures she had taken.

Herget Christmas Card Front

Back

Then I ended up making her sister's card too

Jacobsmeyer Card Front

Back

And the other sister too!

LeBlanc Card

And of course I volunteered to make Tristan's friends Kinsley's birthday invites.

And then her little sister's birthday was right around the corner, so I whipped those out too!

Leah Invite Front

Leah Invite Back

Of course, I probably shouldn't have spent the time on the computer making these when I should have been packing, but I did/do enjoy it and I get to slowly teach myself Photoshop!!!

December - A Month of Christmas Filled Fun

2010-03-06T14:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's going to be a long one...this is my attempt to summarize most of December all into one post!!! I did leave out Christmas Eve and Day since I figured those days deserved a special post all of their own!

We naturally kicked off December by decorating for Christmas. We put up our tree and indoor holiday decorations but sadly we opted to forgo the outdoor lights:( As much as I know the kids would have loved the lights we just couldn't manage to fit that in with all of the other stuff we had going on. And, I don't think the kids even realized!

Tristan had a lot of fun helping Mommy decorate the tree this year. After I got the giant tree put up and the 40 billion strands of lights strung (next year we will be buying a new pre-lit tree!), he helped put on the ornaments. We only broke a few ornamants this year, and I think it was mostly done by Parker, who was napping most of the time while we decorating (and yes I did this intentionally...next year will be his year!).

Somehow, all of Tristan's ornaments ended up together in one place on the tree. I guess when you're only about 3 and 1/2 feet tall there's only so much space to work with!

After a lot of work by Mommy and a little more help by Tristan, we finally finished and ta-dah, we had one gorgeoous tree!

I also decorated the dining room table in accordance with the Christmas style! Don't you love the Santa plates? Got them from HEB for $1.50 a piece...can't beat that can ya???

Once the house got all decorated with red and Christmas themed stuff, it was Tristan's turn! Some time in the second week of December Tristan participated in his very first Christmas program at school. His class last year did not participate since they were still a little too young so this was a breand new experience for him, and let me say, it was too cute!

I got him dressed that morning in a "Christmas-y" outfit and we talked about how he was going to sing songs in the Christmas program that day at school and Mommy and Daddy and Parker were going to come watch him. Needless to say, he was excited and running around the house like a maniac!

I dropped him off at school that morning and we all headed back up there a few short hours later. I was very curious to see how he actually "performed" since he is such a ham most of the time, but he has to be comfortable in the situation. If he's not comfortable or if something is new, then he tends to get shy. His teachers had told me the week before that if he did what he does during music class then he would steal the show, but I had a feeling he would end up being shy.

And, I was half right. When he first came out to sit down, he was scanning the crowd looking for us and his teacher helped him find us, then he started to settle in to the music and songs. He did most of the hand movements and sang some, but not how he would have if he was in a more normal situation, but it was adorbale nonetheless! Can't wait to see how it goes next year when he's got one year under his belt!!

After the program, we headed back to the classroom to gather up his backpack and I was able to snap a picture of him with his teachers...he just loves Ms.Tina (on the right)!

And of course, Parker wanted his turn for a picture with Tristan's teachers...he just can't be left out these days, if Tristan does it, then so does he!

The following week we had some of Tristan and Parker's friends over for a little Christmas baking. Oh boy, a bunch of 3 year olds and few one year olds and sugar cookies, icing, sprinkles, and M&Ms...enough said!

The kids had a blast and all in all, it wasn't "too" messy! We used brushes to "paint" the icing and that seemed to work really well and most of the candy decorations made it on to the cookies, but some ended up in some hungry 3 year olds' mouths, lol!

Some of the kid-decorated cookies.

And some of the mom-decorated cookies!

The kids cookie baking/decorating was one of my favorite things we did during the holiday season, so much so we did it again for Valentine's (a whole other post!)!

Tristan ended up taking some of his and my decorated cookies to his teachers that week for their Christmas party and we also made up some yummy candy filled goodie bags for his friends at school.

You would think I would have had my fill of Christmas baking after the kids, but oh no...I went ahead that weekend with my annual Christmas baking! I must have been out of my mind.

Every year, only once a year, and you will see why only once a year, I do some major baking. I make cookies, fudge, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered oreos, truffles, and so much more to hand out to our friends and family as a little token of our appreciation for them. To sya the least, it is a lot of work and I ALWAYS regret it once I am halfway through but LOVE it at the end and keep doing it every year. And every year, I tell myself that I need to take some pictures of all the goodies, and every year I get so cuaght up inthe moment that I forget, but this year I managed to snap a couple of shots. BEWARE, you might suddenly crave something sweet in about a minute...Courtney, stop reading right now!

4 different types of fudge

White chocolate with almond fudge up front, rocky road back left and dark cholcate with nuts on the right ("snickers" fudge not pictured)

Chocolate covered Oreos with white chocolate drizzle...oh so yummy!

Chocolate covered sourdough pretzels with red and white chocolate drizzle

3 different types of truffles with various toppings

White chocolate covered Oreos and pretzel with green and red white chocolate drizzle

One finished platter with an assortment of goodies

Decorated sugar cookies and peanut butter kiss cookies

One platter all packaged up and ready to go

And another

Okay, so now you are probably hungry for something sweet, huh? You wouldn't believe how much sweet stuff I intake during those couple of Christmas baking days...it seriously sabotages the perpetual "diet" I am always on, lol! But, I truly do love to do it and Christmas is such a fun time of year to go all out on things...good thing it only comes once a year, because I couldn't handle more than that!

And speaking of someone who comes around once a year, I couldn't write a post about Christmas fun in December without including our trip to see Santa. We have visited the same Santa for the last 3 years, ever since Tristan was born (click these links to see past pics xmas '07, xmas '08), and we continued the traditon this year.

Patiently waiting his turn to see Santa

Neither kid was all too sure about Santa!

But they warmed up

Even Tristan

So much so that he showed Santa his funny face!

And gave him a high-five

And even finally posed for a picture with him, woo hoo!

Tristan even got to be a bit of a celebrity this year since his first picture with Santa was up on the digital sign at Daddy's work to advertise Santa's visit to Bluebonnet!

Well, hope you enjoyed a peek at what kept us so busy during December..next up, Christmas Eve! And, at this rate, I might jut be caught up to date by Easter!

Thanksgiving 2009

2010-03-05T13:45:00.000-08:00

Alrighty, I feel a little weird posting about Thanksgiving in March, but oh well, here goes...

We spent Thanksgiving over at Victor's mom's house with her, his aunt and cousin and my parents. The kids had a great time playing in the back yard and being the center of attention! Naturally Tristan disn't want to eat any of the yummy Thanksgiving food and instead opted for cookies, and Parker partook in rice and turkey, with ketchup, of course!!!

The food and company was great! TiTi Lizzie was in charge this year and did a fabulous job on the turkey and trimmings while the rest of us just chipped in with a side dish here and there. Maybe, just maybe, we will be in our new house by Thanksgiving next year and I'll do the turkey!

Enjoy the pics from the day.

Tristan riding a car he is way too big for!

Going after my camera

Silly face

Mommy and Tristan, hiding from the camera

Parker, partaking in one of his favorite outdoor activities, the swing

So grown up

Here comes Parker

Aaaww, Tristan about to give TiTi a kiss

Or maybe a lick!

Parker, and his milk...

And with a golf club

And now a toy...always with something in his hands

TiTi and TiTi Lizzie

Mommy and her baby!

Fall 2009 Happenings

2010-02-22T05:00:00.000-08:00

In additon to Disney, family pictures and checkups we stayed pretty busy this past fall. The holidays (posts forthcoming), packing up the old house, working on new house plans and actually moving took up quite a bit of our time, but try explaining that to a 3 and 1 year old! So, we continued on in our normal day-to-day, and I tried to snap a few pictures along the way!

Parker spent the rest of 2009 enjoying popcorn balls! Long story short, he ate a popcorn ball at a Halloween party and fell in love with this new food. He's always liked popcorn, but these balls had a sweet coating on them and came in the perfect hand-held size for him. So naturally, the day after Halloween I headed over to WalMart and bought two big cases (50% off) for him and he enjoyed them throughout the end of the year!

We also spent some time outside painting with our favorite gal-pals, Kinsley and her little sister Leah, and their great Mommy, Melissa! Tristan and Kinsley go to Mom's Day Out together and have been friends since they were about 6/7 months old (we met in Water Babies swim class). Kinsley is a tad bit more reserved (it's a girl thing) than Tristan, but he loves to hang out with her and I think she likes playing with him too, lol! The funniest thing about them is that Kinsley is the ONLY person that Tristan has never hit/kicked/punched...I don't know what it is, he's always so sweet to her! And, he's pretty good with her little sister Leah, always giving her sweet kisses...I'll have to remember to get a picture of that next time!

All 4 kids LOVED the painting and it actually kept their attention for quite some time. Tristan and Parker mostly worked on one masterpiece together while Kinsley created her own, and little Leah watched and crawled over to the paints as fast as she could, but she couldn't quite get there before Mommy! I saved Tristan and Parker's masterpeice and am thinking about framing it to put up in the playroom at the new house...

Please excuse Tristan's "plumber crack", lol!

Of course we had to get some sleep in between all that was going on in the fall and I couldn't resist taking a few quick shots of my very own "sleeping beauties".

Oh, what can I really say about this picture??

Now this picture, one word: SWEET!

Parker got creative with his toys since we seemed to be stuck at home a lot, working on this or that. He kind of has an obsession about putting any and everything on his head and then looking at you and saying "hat"...seriosuly, forks, cups, anything is a "hat" to him!

Tristan and Parker also got pretty close over the last few months and LOVE To play together. They chase ach other around the house, on foot and on their cars, until one of them poops out and needs a break. There are plenty of fights over toys that Mommy gets to break up, but they are pretty good in general and seems to like having each other as a playmate!

And finally, Parker spent some time in the refrigerator!

He actually decided to try out a new foods, specifically waffles! Which have now become a favorite breakfast food ! He refused to eat them until some time in early December and now he wants them all the time.

I started out one morning by asking him if he wanted to help make waffles and got him the stepstool to stand on at the kitchen island...he was quite excited! We made the batter and put them in waffle iron and voila, he decided to give it a little taste, but not without being complicated! There was a lot of clapping and cheering after bites, by me and him. And, he had to have two plates, one with a plain waffle to take bites from and another with a waffle with syrup to stick his fingers in lick from...this waffle was not eaten, it was simply used for dipping fingers into. He has just recently decided he can eat the one with syrup and now only needs one plate of waffles, and he lets me cut it up now! Silly boy!

Well, those were a few of the "other" things that kept us busy, next up, some holiday posts. Guess I am slowly getting back on track!

Checkups

2010-02-18T16:00:00.000-08:00

The day after we returned from Disney we had family pics and then the day after that, we had checkups! So, yes, I tortured my children with pictures and shots after a week full of fun at "Mickey's house"!

Both of their check-ups went great and both kids are growing like weeds, and full of energy. They were all over the doctor's office and into everything...I swear they are worse when they are together. Individually they really aren't too bad, but together, oh boy, let me tell you, they are a handful, to say the least!

I really couldn't believe I was taking Tristan in for his 3 year check-up, he has grown up so much...no more baby or toddler, he is definitely a little boy now, 100 percent! He has so much energy, all the time and is so animated in his facial expressions, actions and words. Everything is an exciting story to him and he acts out all his emotions...he has quite the dramatic talent! He's on the go 24/7 and I feel like he never sleeps since he doesn't nap and then still fights bedtime at 10 p.m. During the checkup he was up and down, pretending to hit and kick, throwing balls and any other thing you can think of to get some energy out! The doctor even asked if we have looked into sports for him so that he can get some of that energy out. And yes, I've just been waiting for him to be old enough, which now he is...just signed him up for spring soccer!

He's really thinned out...maybe because in addition to never sleeping, he never eats either...somedays I think he'd be satisfied with just one meal and if I didn't force him he probably wouldn't even eat that! But I guess he's getting what he needs because he's growing taller. Hopefully, it's just a phase!

Verbally and comprehensively he is doing fantastic. He speaks in sentences now and his words are super clear. His memory is amazing and he understands so much of what I tell him...it so much easier to reason with him and explain what and why we have to do things a certain way. Now, I don't kid myself, there are a lot of times he doesn't like my explanation and let's me know he doesn't, but to me it still seems easier than the screaming, temper-tantrum throwing toddler who was just beginning to learn to communicate (because I am reminded daily of that stage since I have one of those too!).

Tristan's 3 year stats were as follows:

Weight: 36.6 pounds - 89th percentile (yes, this is slightly LESS than he weighed at 2!)
Height: right under 40 inches - 92nd percentile
Head: 19.5 inches

As far Parker, my "mischievious one", as he is lovingly referred to around our house, he's is getting SO BIG! The pediatrician was quite surprised how big Parker had gotten since she last saw him. And I think he's grown a ton more in the last 3 months since his checkup (wow, I am truly 3 months behind!).

He doesn't have a lot of "friends" around his age, most are older or younger, so I don't have a good comparison for him, but he seems really tall to me, and heavy! He still LOVES to eat, but has become picky about his foods...he wants to eat what he wants to eat and thats it, nothing else. He loves his beef, chicken and fish, which are the main staple of his diet since a lot of other things are off limits due to his allergies. But he is a huge snacker...crackers, cereal, popcorn and certain cookies are some of his favorites. For awhile all he wanted to eat was eauther oatmeal or soy yogurt for breakfast (he has only recently accepted a few other breakfast foods). I actually brought him instant oatmeal for our trip to Disney and made sure we had a microwave in the room so he could have his oatmeal every morning for breakfast!

In addition to eating, he's started talking a lot. Around 18 months and during our Disney trip it seemed like his vocabulary really took off. On our first day at Magic Kingdom we were pointing out the castle to Tristan and Parker started saying "castle"...ever since then he has been repeating words left and right, but just like the eating thing he would only say them when he wanted to, not on cue from me or Victor! He's definitely in the beginning stages of learning to fully communicate but the words he has down really make a difference and have reduced the number of crying and pointing fits where I am running around trying to figure out what he wants. Can't wait until I have two fully communicating children!

He's also become more interactive and tries so hard to keep up with his big brother. He runs all over the house following Tristan and loves to copy whatever big brother does. And he is a major jumping bean...he jumps all the time, and high, and gets both feet off the gound and back on the ground. I guess we have another very coordinated child...still don't know where that comes from!

A big accomplishment he hit at around 18 months was that he *started* to do a little better with me leaving him...for quite some time he was pretty attached to me, but he is starting to get a lot better and is accepting staying with others a little better. He still has his crying, flailing himself around fits when he's left but they are much more short-lived and he accepts it and starts to play. This is much easier for Mommy to handle!!!

His 18 month stats were as follows (although he seems to have sprouted once again in the past 3 months!)

Weight: 32 pounds - 97th percentile
Height: 34 inches - 90th persentile
Head: 19 inches - 63rd percentile

Since this post is about 3 months overdue, I know both kids have grown even more since November, but I wanted to make sure and record this stage. I can't believe in a little less than 3 more months, Parker will be 2 and Tristan 3 1/2!

2009 Family Pics

2010-02-17T05:00:00.000-08:00

Now that it is February of 2010, I am finally going to post our 2009 family pictures we took back in November! We actually took them the day after we got back from Disney...maybe not the brightest idea in retrospect, but hey, I had to work with schedules and that was the day that worked!

Once again, I chose to use the photographer we used for our family pics last year and I think the pics came out great, even though the boys refused to wear the super-cute and carefully planned ties my Mom made for them...the ties were supposed to add a little color to our black clothed, urban look! Oh well, maybe the ties will work out next year!

Our Disney Vacay - Days 6, 7 & 8

2010-02-10T14:05:00.000-08:00

Alright, here it is...the LAST post from our Disney vacation, a mere three months later!!!!

Day 6 of our trip we headed over to Epsot to spend the day. We had been there twice already, but only to eat at the character dining, so we really hadn't been able to see what else Epcot had to offer.

A large portion of the park is dedicated to celebrating the many cultures around the globe and each area/culture has a section unique to it with the cuisine of that country, music and arts and entertainment. Sinc eour kids are still pretty little we decided to forgo most of that and visit the more kid-friendly areas. We hit up Innoventions, which saw a little of on our first night of the trip.

Instead of playing the piggy game right off the bat, we played a "trash game" which focuses on how to reduce, reuse and recycle! The kids got to push around a mini-trash truck to each station and play the games at each station, all about how to reduce waste. Yea, may not sound interesting, but the interactive games they have at each station are pretty fun, for kids and adults! We even got to come up with a name for our team, "Tristan's Trash Troop"

And we got a certificate of completion at the end!

Aftr the trash game, I think we did hit up the piggy game a few more times, but also managed to explore a couple of other areas too! Tristan and Parker both really liked this game where you are preparing for a big storm/hurricane by getting all the essentials you need and putting them in the correct spots on the table. At first Tristan was the only one doing it and then Parker decided he needed to get out of the stroller and join in...he actually did really well!

We spent some more time checking out all the other neat stuff Innoventions had to offer and then headed out of the building to journey into the park. While we were outside, an employee from the ice cream stand came up and asked me if he could make my son's day magical by giving him a free ice cream! Now, that sure is one way to make a three year old's day, wouldn't you say!

We rode a couple of rides, including Test Track, a race car that journeys through the whole pre-testing safety part of building a car and gets up to 60 mph! We got the Parent Pass for this ride so that we could both go with Tristan since Parker was too little for this ride and Tristan had no problem riding twice, he loved it! We also rdoe the space ride that goes all the way up and throughout the Epcot ball (or teh ginat gofl ball as Tristan called) and a couple of other rides.

But, my favorite part of the day was the character greeting. At Epcot they had one character spot where you could get in line and meet all the characters (or at least of the major ones!). It was awesome and the line wasn't even that long.

The funniest part was Parker. By this point in the trip, he had the character greeting down to an exact science...he would take his autograph book up to the character, get it signed, turn around and fling the book at us and then back up into the character's arms, smile and say cheese! It was absolutely hilarious. So, as we approached the front of the line and Parker got a glimpse of the first character he started screaming and yelling. Everyone around us thought he was scared, but he was just so excited he could hardly contain himself. I had to physically restrain him before meeting each character, while he was screaming and throwing his arms around, unwil it was his turn. And as soon as it was his turn, I'd let him go and he'd dart off to start off his routine. PRICELESS!

Although Tristan and Parker love all the Disney characters, I think they had the most fun with Donald that day. He ran behind the backdrop partition to hide from the boys,a nd naturally they chased him. He even held their autogrpah books just out of reach so they'd have to jump to get them...such a little character that Donald was!

That pretty much summed up our day at Epcot. We went back to the hotel, ate some dinner and settled in for a good night's rest since we were going to spend our last full day at Magic Kingdom.

We decided our last day on vacation we would hang out all day at Magic Kingdom and hit up all of the boys' favorite rides...Big Thunder Railroad, Goofy's Barnstormer, Mickey's House, the horse carousel, It's a Small World, race cars, etc. We stayed the whole day, ate dinner at the park and watched the fireworks one last time.

I didn't snap many pictures that day since we'd already been there two days and I just wanted to enjoy the time with kids. I tried to get a few that evening before leaving the park but It hink the kids were just exhausted and ready to head back at this point! The day was great and was wonderful just riding rides all day with no pressure to see as much as you can...definitely one of my favorite days of the Disney trip!

After we got back to the hotelt hat evening we stopped at the food court for a little nightime snack. Parker got a hold of a Mickey mouse shaped rice krispie treat (EVERYTHING is Mickey shaped) and went to town on that! Then we headed off to bed for the last time.

We got up the next morning, got packed, ate some breakfast and headed to check out. We had a little time to kill before our bus was leaving for the airport so Victor and Tristan went on a little boat ride at the hotel. Afterall, we were staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort, so there were little beaches and and "ocean" (more of a lake, but who's really paying attention?).

Parker was not the least bit excited that he didn't get to go on the boat ride and he made his point known!

After the boat ride, we caught our bus and headed to the airport to go back to reality. Just like the trip to Disney the kids most the made of their time in the airport...afterall, it was just one big playground to them! They both kept lining up next to the metal walls to "measure up", something they had to do the whole trip to see if they were tall enough to ride.

We boarded the plane, and both kids slept most of the flight, as did Mommy and Daddy. It was a nice to be going home to our own beds, but sad too. The time really flew by while we were there and it was definitely a lot of work to go with a just turned 3 year old and 18 month old, but most definitely worth it! Tristan still talks about the trip today (3 months later!) and thinks most planes he spots are going to Mickey's house! I can't wait to go back, hopefully for Parker's 3rd birthday!

I Promise...

2010-02-05T11:47:00.001-08:00

Hello Blogger World!

I promise to get back to my regular blogging...I am actually downloading my memory card as I type this and there are somwhere around 700 pictures on there!

But for now, take a look at this great giveaway sponsored by a really cool blog about home improvement/decorating! You could win a $200 Pottery Barn gift card!

http://www.thestylishhouse.net/

Our Disney Vacay - Days 4 & 5

2010-01-09T20:59:00.000-08:00

Alright, so here I am again, more determined than ever to get back "with it"...seriously, I don't know what has happened lately but I can't seem to find the time to even breathe. I have so many posts thought up in my head and so many pictures to share from the holidays (and yes, I am talking about Thanksgiving too!), but I feel like I still need to finish sharing about all the things that have gone on before and inbetween the holidays...like, possibly finishing up telling you about our Disney trip! Maybe if I can get Disney finished up I can get back on track...we shall see. This should be my second to last post about Disney so at least I am nearing the end!

We spent Day 4 of our trip at Disney's Animal Kingdom...somewhere Victor had been looking forward to taking the kids the whole trip. He woke up early that morning, got showered and dressed and was ready to go. Unfortunately, it's hardto motivate and 3 year old and 1 year quite as easily, but eventually we were all dressed, ate breakfast and sitting at the bus stop waiting for the Animal Kingdom bus to come pick us up!

Waiting for the buses ended up being one of Tristan's favorite things about Disney. Actually, he and Parker LOVED riding the "white bus", as Tristan referred to them. Now, Daddy was not their biggest fan since he had to fold up the gigantic double stroller and hold onto it the whole bus ride, but at least the buses got us where we needed to go, and were pretty quick and efficient.

Waiting for the Animal Kingdom bus

Once we got on our bus, we were on our way to Animal Kingdom, with our gameplan prety well mapped out. There were a couple of big attractions we wanted to make sure and enjoy while we were there so we got our FastPasses for the biggest one, the Kilamanjaro Safari Tour, when we first got there. Then we headed out to see some of the other attractions until it was time for our safari ride.

We walked through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail where we got to see a lot of animals, including a little area with lots of mice and snakes and such...the kids were pretty fascinated with this section! We also saw some hippo skulls bigger than Tristan!

Afterwards we hopped on an open-sided train that took us over to a separate "island" devoted to animal conservation. We checked out the place, visited the animal petting area, met Jiminy Cricket.

Tristan once again was interested in one of the animal skulls and decided he need to use Mommy's camera and take some of his own pictures. Don't ask me what some of the pictures are of, but he was sure proud of them!

After seeing all that the Conservation Station had to offer, we headed back to the main area to go on our Jungle Safari ride...this was the attraction that Victor had been waiting for all day! After waiting in the relatively short line (thanks to FastPasses, once again!), we boarded our safari vehicle. Unfortunately, poor Parker fell asleep in my arms while we waited in line, and somehow he managed to stay asleep in my arms throughout the whole ride...I guess all the bumps and jumps didn't phase him a bit!

The safari ride was really cool, and Disney did a pretty good job creating a safari land. Vicrtor had the camera so the pictures below are what he captured, including the last one of the elephant's behind...couldn't resist posting it!

After our safari we walked over to another zoo-type area and let Parker finish p his nap in the stroller. He woke up just in time as Tristan was finishing up his Mickey shaped ice cream and we headed to see the afternoon Jungle Jammin parade. Both kids absolutely loved the parade this time and I would have to say that this was the best parade watching experience we had at Disney! The kids were so excited everytime a new float came around with the Disney characters they recognized and loved to dance to the music.

After the parade we stopped to meet some more characters...Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger! Neither Tristan nor Parker are actually too familiar with these characters, but it didn't seem to bother them, they still wanted their pictures taken and their autograph books signed.

At this point in the trip, Parker was starting to really get the hang of the whole character greetings. So much so, that he was having a hard time waiting his turn! He couldn't wait to run up to the charcters, book in hand, and take his picture. And both of them were giving out plenty of kisses!

After Winnie and his buddies, we got to see Safari Mickey and Minnie, a definite hit!

And our final character stop of the night was to see Lilo and Stitch. Neither kid had any idea who either character was and were less than enthusiastic about meeting them. Parker gave it a little try but was quick to turn around run and Tristan wouldn't even go near them!!! I guess we will have to watch lilo and Stitch a few times before our next Disney vacation!

Our last area of Animal Kingdom to check out was Dinoland, which we figured would be a sure hit!

We rode a couple of rides, one of which Tristan probably shouldn't have gone on! Apparently, it was pretty darn scary, but I wouldn't know for sure because after he rode it once with Daddy, he didn't want to go on it again with Mommy! We asked him multiple times if he wanted to ride it again and each time he gave us an empahtic "no" and "the dinosaur tried to eat me!" Must have been some ride for him to not want to go again!

We walked aorund a bit and then headed out of Dinoland to make our way to the bus stop. On our way out we stopped to see the last showing of the night for It's a Bug's Life 4D movie, but we didn't make it through the show. Once the giant spiders dropped from the ceiling a certain 3 year old was DONE with that show! We ended up leaving and headed back tot he hotel to hit the hay!

The next day we woke up, ready to spend the day at Hollywood Studios. Once again, we had a plan on which shows and rides we wanted to do that day. We boarded our bus and headed out for the day.

We got there and immediately headed over tot he Indiana Jones stunt show which was awesome but the intemrissions between setups did nto keep the kids entertained! They were completely happy during the stunts full of fire, planes, sword fighting and crashes, but the intermissions were killer!

After Indiana Jones we headed to a Muppets 3D movie and then high-tailed it over to the Lights, Motor Action extreme car stunt show. This is one of the shows Tristan is still talking about today. Once again there were intermissions between stunt set-ups like Indian Jones, but only Parker was restless this time, I guess Tristan was so excited to see the next stunt he decided the wait was worth it.

He loved, loved, loved the little black stunt cars chansing the red stunt car all over the set, through the fire, over the 18 wheeler, going backwards, going forwards...just about everything you would imagine seeing in an action packed car chase scene of a movie!

As we left the stunt show, Lightning McQueen and Mater were waiting for photo ops, so of course we stopped for ours! We actually got one picture with Parker sitting on McQueen before they told us not to sit on the cars, oops!

We stopped to eat some lunch and let the kids stretch their legs a bit in the movie scene area. I even managed to get a picture of Parker and the face he likes ot make as he says "cheese"...the face he makes is so ugly, that it is so cute, I love it!!!!!!

With our tummies full of pizza and Mickey rice krispie treats, we were off for some more fun. We hit up The Great Movie Ride which was a ride through the staged areas of some of the biggest Disney movies with live characters popping out every once in awhile. Really cool, but no pictures...I think by this point my picture taking was starting to decline!

We also rode the Star Wars Thrill ride a couple of times with Tristan, which is another ride he's still talking about. He now loves C3PO!

By this time, Parker was ready for his daily stroller nap, so Daddy and Tristan headed out ont he Studio Backlot Tour that took them on a quided tram ride for a backstage look at how movies are made. Mommy and Parker strolled around and snapped a few quick pictures!

After the Backlot Tour we were pretty much done for the day at Hollywood Studios...the only thing we didn't get to see was the giant Honey I Shrunk The Kids playland which I hear is awesome, so are just going to make that a priority for the next trip!

Instead of going back to the hotel for dinner, we decided at the last minute to take a chance and head over to Epcot to see if we could squeeze in dinner at the Garden Grille again since the kids loved dining with characters so much. Luckily we were able to get in and we had anothe rgreat dinner!

The kids and us had so much fun those two days and were looking forward to relishing our time over the next 2 or 3 days before we had to head back to reality! Stay tuned for the conclusion of Disney trip posts. Hopefully, it won't take me so long in between posts this time!

Our Disney Vacay - Day 3

2009-12-17T21:58:00.000-08:00

With one full day of Disney experience under our belts, we woke up Thursday ready to do it again! So after baths, breakfast and waiting to catch the Disney bus, we were back at Magic Kingdom for another fun-filled day.

We headed to Mickey's Toontown Fair, where I guess if you were a 3 year-old would probably be one of the favorite parts of your trip! This is the part of Magic Kingdom that really showcases the Disney characters and their "lifestyles". We got to see Mickey and Minnie's houses, meet the Mr and Missus in person and ride Goofy's Barnstormer roller coaster.

We walked through Mickey and Minnie's houses, which were really neat. Tristan's favorite room at Mickey's house was the game room...no surpirse there, he kept wanting to go in and play the games! He also loved Mickey's workshop where al of Mickey's giant tools were hung on the wall and there was a model of his house. The whole place was really neat and the Mickey's garden even had life-size cactus statues of his friends...bet you wish you had that at your house huh?

Tristan absolutely LOVED meeting Mickey and Minnie and actually got to do it twice that day. The first time I took him by myself since Parker was asleep in the stroller and he was grinning from ear to ear with excitement, he could hardly contain himself. As we waited in line, he kept looking up at me and grinning, then he'd start jumping up and down. And as our turn approached to go into the area where Mickey and Minnie were, he got more and more excited. Then the door opened for us to go in, and he saw them and told me "Look Mommy, there's Mickey!", all with a huge grin! Then he got their autographs, a bunch of hugs, and of course some pictures, one or two which Mommy got to be in too!!

After visiting with Mickey and Minnie, we headed back over to Frontierland so Tristan and Mommy could ride the big roller coaster one more time (we had picked up our FastPasses when we first got to the park that day). Once again, hardly any wait in the Fast Pass line and Tristan absolutely LOVED the ride (and so did Mommy!), and asked for more when it was over!

If you enlarge the picture, you can see my head and the top of Tristan's head behind the lady in the nright green shirt near the front

After the roller coaster and some lunch, and an awake Parker we headed to the last area of Magic Kingdom, Tomorrowland, where we encountered some of Tristan's favorite rides at the park. Tomorrowland seemed to have quite a few rides, which is what our kids like to do, so it made for a great afternoon/evening.

We rode every ride we could, but Tristan's favorite ride was Buzz Lightyear's "Shoot-Shoot" game...it was actually pretty darn cool, and I must admit Victor and I had a pretty good time on that one. We each sat with one of the kids in cart/coaster thing and each person had a gun to shoot targets as you were moved through the Buzz's outer space and the cart kept score for each person. It was a lot of fun, but since I was so busy shooting and racking up my score, I didn't take any pictures of that one!

Everyone also liked the rocketship ride way up high in the air...we took an elevator way up top, and got to get on little rocketships that went around in a circle. Parker liked this one a lot!

Another favorite was of course the race cars. Although, I will tell you I am 100% sure I don't need to ever drive with either one of kids behind the wheel again...they were horrible drivers, lol!!!!! But, they had lots of fun!

After riding lots of rides and eating some yummy Disney popcorn (amusement parks always have the best popcorn, maybe it's all that butter!), we stood in a really short line and got to meet Buzz Lightyear himself! Ever since the trip, Buzz has become a favorite character of Tristan's.

At that point, it was starting to get dark and the crowd was dwindling, so we decided to go back over to Toontown so Parker could meet Mickey and Minnie. We got into Mickey and Minnie in no time and Parker was ecstatic....I think he might have been more excited that Tristan was. He took them his book to get signed and loved taking pictures with them...in the next few days, he became quite the pro at picture-taking with the characters.

Since we still had some time before the park closed, and we were in Toontown, Tristan got to ride Goofy's Barnstormer roller coaster a *few* more times. Actually, he rode like 7 times in a row! Since it was nearing closing time, most people had headed up to secure a place near the castle to watch the fireworks, so practically no one was out in the park which meant no line for us! This was heaven for Tristan, for like 4 times in a row he didn't even have to get off the ride and get back inline, he just got to keep going, and with Disney's Parnet Pass, Victor and I could switch off who was riding with him while the other one stayed with Parker. Unfortunately, Parker was about an inch under the minimum height requirement for that ride and I once again we were having too much fun riding the roller coaster we didn't snap and pics:(

So, after a ton of turns on the roller coaster and an official goofy's Barnstomer Frequent Flyer card, we hit up a gift shop to pick up a souvenior or two and started to head out of the park for the day.

Day 2 of Magic Kingdom was great...we had our bearings down and we got to finish seeing the whole park. And we even managed to get a family picture somewhat in front of the castle, and everyone was looking at the camera!!!!

Stay tuned for the next post all about Animal Kingdom!

Our Disney Vacay - Days 1 & 2

2009-12-14T22:48:00.000-08:00

As promised, I am FINALLY getting around to posting about our vacation to Disney...I guess we just had so much fun there that we have been trying to stay as busy as possible since we returned so we don't have to think about how much we wish we were still at "The Happiest Place on Earth"!

Seriously, we had a wonderful time and Disney truly does a great job at making your trip "magical"! Now, don't let me fool you, it wasn't all roses. Traveling with 2 young children and staying in a hotel for 7 nights is no "magical experience"...we had out share of temper tantrums, fights, and disagreements, and I'm not just talking about the kids! BUT, despite all those "fun" family dynamics we had a wonderful time and can't wait to plan out our next trip to "Mickey's house" (Tristan's name for Disney)...hopefully for Parker's 3rd birthday!

And since I took so many pictures (I know, you're shocked, right?), I have decided to break our trip into 3 posts, so as not to inundate you with pictures! Although, I may not have achieved that goal since I just finished uploading all the pictures for just this post and I think it's somewhere near 100...major picture overload ahead! So if you are ready to see a lot of pictures and read all about our trip to Disney, then go ahead and keep reading, and scrolling down!!!!

We woke up at the crack of dawn that Tuesday morning to start off our vacation, and to our surprise the kids were both very pleasant that morning...it may have been that we woke them up after we were already dressed, everything was packed, their clothes were picked out and all we had to do was get them dressed and hop in the car so that they didn't have time to think that they were getting up 3 hours before their normal wake up time, but I'dlike to believe that they were just excited about heading off to Mickey's house!

We got to the airport, got checked in and went to our gate, all with perfect timing....not too much of wait to board but not running late, perfect! Tristan was super excited about getting on a plane, he hasn't been on a plane since he was about 9 months, so in his eyes this was his first plane ride and he couldn't wait to take off. Since we flew Southwest we got to board pretty early with the family boarding and could pick out a seat close to the airplane wing. Tristan was excited. So, off we flew to Houston where we had a 2 hour layover...which actually turned out to be the best thing ever! The kids were able to wake up that morning, take a short plane ride, arrive in the Houston terminal and burn some energy off there running around the place, all so they could sleep on the longer flight to Orlando!

Both kids slept almost the whole flight to Orlando, which was absolutely wonderful! We used Disney's Magical Express Service to get transported to our hotel (totally recommend it if planning a trip). After we got checked in to the hotel, we freshened up a tad bit and headed over to Epcot where we had reservations at The Garden Grille for Tristan's birthday dinner. We had a little time to kill before our reservations so we checked out the Innoventions area of Epcot which are two big buildings with lots of different games and experiences that showcase new technologies that the kids can see and touch.

Tristan encountered his first of many "favorite" gamesat Epcot, the Piggy Game! The game is probably geared towards kids a little older that Tristan since it helps to teach you about saving money for the future by learning about saving and investing and inflation and deflation (just might be a tad bit over a 3 year old's head), but he didn't care! He loved to take the piggy bank that you get at the beginning of the course and put it in each "game" of the course...we heard about the Piggy Game every single day from then on out!

So after a couple of rounds of the Piggy Game we headed over to the Garden Grille for our dinner reservations...Victor booked them back when we bought the trip since we wanted to make sure we got to dine with the characters on Tristan's actual birthday. And it was well worth it, it was a huge hit and is another of my recommendations...we found out it was one sure-fire way to have a pleasant meal with two small children! Both kids were so excited to see Mickey, Pluto and Chip & Dale that there was no arguments about eating or fits because they were ready to go. The excitement on both of their faces as the characters came around and personally visited with them at the table was absolutely priceless. Tristan could could hardly contain himself he was so excited and Parker loved the characters and especially giving them hugs and high fives. Both kids quickly learned to hand over their autograph books to get them signed...it was like getting a huge star's autograph for them!

Tristan even got a little pirate treasure chest birthday cake with a candle for his birthday. So, of course, we sang to him, which he loved! And Chip and Dale and Pluto made one more pass by our table to wish our little boy a happy birthday! One funny thign about Chip & Dale is that we couldn't tell them apart and I guess Tristan couldn't either, or maybe he didn't even no there are two different chipmunks because the whole time he just called every chipmunk "ChipnDale"!!!

So after a very successful, and fun, dinner, we left the restaurant with two very happy children to go see a little of Epcot and watch some of the nightly fireworks before heading to the room for some shut eye!

The next day was our first full day at Disney and we of course decided to spend it at Magic Kingdom...I might have forgot to mention that we had park hopper passes so we were able to visit all the parks while we there.

We got to Magic Kingdom just in time to see most of the daily parade that comes down Main Street. Victor and I both totally thought Tristan would LOVE the parade, which he did later, but I think he was completely overwhelmed at first. I guess if I was a 3 year old and just walked into a huge amusement park and giant floats with music and characters were parading before my eyes with tons of people standing to watch them, I might have been a little scared too!

After the parade ended we headed on into the park and of course, stopped for a traditional picture in front of the castle...as you can see Tristan still wasn't completely warmed up to the whole idea yet!

And since we were right by the castle we happened to catch the Mickey and Friends stage show that goes on throughout the day. It was a great little 20 minute show that showcased a ton ofthe characters complete with a little fireworks display and smoke at the end! Tristan was till not being his normal excited self and decided he'd rather watch the show from afar but Parker stayed right up front and LOVED the show.

Afterwards, we headed over to Adventureland and Tristan got back into his normal groove. We rode a bunch of rides, inlcuding a safari boat ride, Aladdin's Magic Carpets, Pirates of the Caribbean and so much more. This was definitely right up the kid's alley. And Disney makes almost everything accessible for the little kids...Parker was able to ride a good majority of the rides, and he loved it all!!!!

After adventuring through Adventureland we moved on to Frontierland where Mommy and Tristan got to ride some of the big kid rides while Daddy (who is not a fan of rollercoasters and such) stayed with Parker, who take a little nap in the stroller. Disney has a great system called FastPass set up where you can swipe you admission card and get a ticket for a ride that gives you a time to come back between and you don't have to wait in line. It is the best thing ever dreamed up! Not all rides have a FastPass option but on the ones that do, it is so worth it, it was amazing walking down a separate aisle passing tons of people in line for rides...I still to this day, don't know why they just didn't get FastPasses!!!

The rides were great and Tristan was just tall enough to meet the minimum height requirement for most of the big kid rides! He got to ride the biggest roller coaster he's been on yet, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. He LOVED it and when we stopped, he said "I want more"...we didn't ride it again that day but got FastPasses to ride it again the next day. We also rode Splash Mountain and got drenched...one piece of advice, don't sit in the front on that ride, unless you want to get wet! My hair was nice and straight prior to that ride and afterwards, not so pretty!

(We're in the front row)

After going on our thrill rides for the day we rejoined Daddy and Parker, who woke up, to take the train all the way around Magic Kingdom and headed over to Fantasyland to get on some of the more traditional Disney rides. Oh, and Tristan passed out for a little while in the stroller...the only day of the whole vacation that he napped.

The sun started to set as we toured around Fantasyland and the castle lit up in preparation for the nighttime fireworks. We took the boys on the ride everybody knows, It's a Small World, and they were both mesmerized. Since it was getting later in the day, the lines really dwindled down and we got to ride it a couple of times and didn't have to wait a bit. We also saw Mickey's 4D Philharmagic movie, which was amazing and puts all other 4D movies to shame and then we took a couple spins around on the carousel, which was by far Parker's favorite ride. For the rest of the trip if we passed by the carousel, or even got within eyesight of it, Parker immediately started pointing and screaming. Needless to say, we took a lot of turns on that carousel ride!

After we rode as many rides as we could (with no waiting!) we headed up to Main Street to catch the fireworks show and spotted Mickey and Minnie. They were part of a special event that was going on and as I was snapping a few pictures, I recognized Samantha Brown fromthe travel channel (she's the woman in the green dress in the picture below) and realized they were filming something for the show. As hard as I tried we didn't get to be on TV...just kidding, I just took some pics because I was being a total tourist!

We watched the fireworks show and then headed back to the hotel to get our first of many late night bedtimes...I don't think the kids went to bed before 10 p.m. any night we were there, and that was after being out all day! But it was well worth it!

So, that completes the first installment of our Disney vacation, hopefully I you are not on picture overload because I still have 5 more days to go! And, yes, I really did narrow down the pictures from the amount I actually took...but don't worry, as each day went on I took fewer and fewer pictures!

12 Days of Christmas

2009-12-13T20:05:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh I really can't believe there's less than 2 weeks until Christmas, where in the world does time go??? I don't know about ya'lls households, but it seems like the days from Halloween until the end of the year just fly by. So, since we are counting down the days until the 25th around here, I thought I'd do a little countdown here on my blog...starting tomorrow I will be putting up a post every day until Christmas! Now, this seems like a lofty goal in and of itself but even more so since I haven't been able to get a post up in weeks, but now I am committed! And now it is your repsonsibility to keep me on track!!!

So on the eve of the 12th day before Christmas I will leave you with a few old pictures of the boys from October!!!!!

Seriously...

2009-12-04T20:17:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know, I am SERIOSULY behind! And, I'm not even going to make an excuse this time, I'm just behind!!!!! I really am working on new posts and pictures, just thought I'd let everyone know we didn't fall off the face of the earth and I will be posting new stuff *soon*!!!!

Hope you are all enjoying the holiday season and staying warm!

Tristan's Birthday Party

2009-11-23T21:03:00.000-08:00

I am feeling like a really bad Mommy at the moment, not to mention a bad blogger, since here it is, November 23rd, and I still haven't posted about Tristan's 3rd birthday party...which happened to take place oh let's go ahead and say it...a month ago!!!!!!!! Oh well, better late then never...and at least I am just late on the actual posting about the party, not the party itself!

So, anyhow, I'll get right to it. This year we had Tristan's party at the local gymnastics place, which happens to be one of his favorite play places, so he was super excited about his party. And, since we were going to to be going to Disney for his birthday I decided only a Mickey Mouse themed party would do, which only made him even more excited. The two things he happens to like most at this point in his life, both together all in one day...he was in heaven!! Not to mention a cake with candles he got to blow out, all his friends, and presents too!!!!!!!!

I think this was really the first year he understood and knew enough about birthdays. Last year he was still a little too young and started to understand the concept a few months after his 2nd birthday...too little too late for his 2nd birthday and a long time to wait until his third! But, he made it and he reveled inthe anticipation. We talked about his party for a few weeks before and he got to check out all the Mickey party supplies. He was dying with anticpation to blow out his candles and hear the "Happy Birthday" song...that song makes him smile every time!

Needless to say, by the day of his actual party, he was ready to get out of the house and head to J&R (gymnastics place). We got there a few minutes early to set up and then his buddies started to show up and off he went to play. The whole party only lasted an hour and a half which was an hour of free play time and 30 minutes in the party room for happy birthday song and cake and ice cream, but it as perfect. And I must say, is definitely the way to go when it comes to kids' birthday parties...no more at our house any time soon!

Tristan had such a wonderful time running, jumping and playing with all his friends and family and we were so happy to have everyone there. A big thanks to everyone who was able to celebrate our big boys' 3rd birthday with us that day!

The birthday invitation I made

The Mickey cupcake cake

Tristan and his buddy Isaiah

Landon stopping for a quick picture

A very determined Isaiah running down the trampoline

Masyn waiting for her turn

Isaiah and Knox climbing the kids climb

Isaiah, Kaeson and Emma, all on the climb!

Daddy helping both boys down the beam

Tristan "dismounting"

About to go down the little beam

And now the mat slide

Parker oh so happy...this lasted for about half the party then he turned into Mr. Clingy!

Hanging from the rings, and loving it

Well, loving it until this happened...maybe that's when his mood changed!

Masyn, holidng on a little better than Parker did

Maveranee stoping to give a quick smile

And Gracie too

Baby Kolby

I think if Parker could talk he would have been saying "She did it!"

Landon jumping on the trampoline

Mommy and Tristan in the middle of it all

Isaiah out on the rope swing

Parker about to go down the slide into the pit

BUBBLES!!!!!!

A group shot...Tristan is 3rd from the right

Close up...he's waving!

The kids ready for some cake and ice cream

Little Miss Emma...Tristan's current love

Still waiting on cake!

So excited about Happy Birthday song, cake and candles

Blowing out his candles

Just stuck his finger in the cake...of course!

Tasting the cake...verdict: it was yummy!

Tristan enjoying some yummy cake and ice cream

Daddy and Parker...during his clingy time!

My sister and nephew

Tristan and Emma in their normal picture pose

At home ready to open some presents

Tristan modeling his personalized super hero costume

Both kids loved this car

Very excited about a "Wubby" movie

Tristan fascinated with one of his new power tools

Parker coming after my camera, bottle in hand

Mommy and Parker after all the present opening excitement

Hope you enjoyed the post and all the pictures. Next up: Disney vacation!

I Promise...

2009-11-17T21:52:00.000-08:00

Really, I do promise, I am sooooo trying to get up the pictures from Tristan's party and our vacation to Disney...it just seems that every time I sit down at the computer something else more pressing comes up. I promise you will see lots and lots of pictures and read all about the party and our trip by this weekend, but for now, here's two two quick shots of us with everyone's favorite mouse and and his missus!

Working On Pictures and Posts

2009-11-12T21:25:00.000-08:00

So we made it back home Tuesday night and we were totally worn out! I have a billion pictures from our Disney trip (which I haven't even downloaded yet) and a ton more from Tristan's birthday party that I am working on uploading on here. Keep an eye out in the coming days for some very "picture heavy" posts...until then, here's a few sneak peeks!

Tristan's Mickey Mouse cupcake cake

Blowing out the candles at his party

Showing off the finger he stuck in his cake...it was his birthday afterall!

Enjoying some of his yummy cake and ice cream

Tristan got to be an "honorary pilot" for a few minutes on our flight out of San Antonio!

Our first day at Magic Kingdom

And We're Off...

2009-11-02T22:06:00.001-08:00

We are headed out the door early tomorrow morning for Disney!!! It is Tristan's actual birthday and we are going to dine with Mickey tomorrow evening to celebrate the special occassion. I'm sure I will have plenty of pictures to post once we return and hopefully I can get caught up on a few other posts then too!

"See" you guys next week!

Halloween '09

2009-10-31T21:55:00.001-07:00

Oh boy, Halloween has come and gone, and we had a great one!!! For the past month or so we have been talking about and reading fun books about Halloween, getting dressed up in our costumes, pumpkins, and trick or treating, so don't you know that my boys were ready for today!

Tristan has been extrememly interested in all things scary and has his own name for any scary looking item, "joke". Here's the background where the word "joke" came from: Not too long after Michael Jackson died, Victor and I were watching a clip on the internet with Larry King walking through MJ's house and MJ's supposed ghost appears in the background. And as you are staring trying to see the ghost, a big scary looking skeleton/monster thing pops up on the screen. Well, what we didn't realize when we were watching this was that Tristan was standing right behind us when the scary thing popped up! Naturally, it scared him to death, so much so that he was trembling, and of course we immediately told him it was just a joke, thus where he gets his word "joke" from.

Since that moment , he has been interested in "jokes" and is constantly telling us he sees jokes in his room or the hallway or wants to go see them at the stores int he Halloween section. But it truly depends on his mood as to how close he wants to get to them. Some days he's all about touching them and other days he steers clear! Nevertheless, the interest has been there every day!

And of course, he has parlayed this interest onto Parker, who has now learned the word "joke" and spent most of tonight's trick or treating running towards skeletons, ghosts and goblins pointing and saying "joke". It was actually quite cute!

But before we went out trick or treating, we finally hit up a pumpkin patch at 3:30 this afternoon...I was lucky they still had a few pumpkins left and a cute picture-taking spot. We have been so busy lately that we hadn't made it out to one of the really fun, activity filled pumpkin patches and since we missed it last year too, I was bound and determined to get a few pictures of the boys, even if it meant getting them dressed up in their costumes and taking them by myself on Halloween (Victor was at work). And I must say, for being by myself with 2 active, never-stop-moving boys I was able to get some semi-decent pictures.

Tristan showing his best policeman pose next to the scarecrow

Okay, that's more of a Tristan pose!

Parker pointing...I think he thought this was a "joke" too!

I think the policeman is supposed to be chasing the convict, but hey, whatever works!

Telling Mommy to head towards the pumpkins

Still really fascinated with the "joke"

Best picture I could get of the the two of them...it really is hard!

Sitting on the bench like a big boy

Oh gee, he's showing off those Kadish lips

The best one of Parker

Tristan and his "Mommy is making me sit here and smile" look

That's a good one

So after the pumpkin patch, we headed over to my hairdresser's salon sinc ethey were participating in the downtown trick or treat festivites for the kids. Susan, who has cut my hair forever, absolutely LOVES Halloween, so she and the two other haridresser's there went all out and were standing out front flaggin cars down to stop. Ther location is a little off of the downtown square so not truly within walking distance for most of the tick or treaters, but they were working pretty hard to get cars to stop, and they looked awesome. We, of course, stopped by!

The 3 Bling-A-Tiers working hard to pull traffic in!

The 3 Bling-A-Tiers

Tristan and Parker were less than interested in the Bling-a-tiers and preferred to find rocks to throw

My attempt to get Tristan to sit on the front steps and take a picture..best I could get

After visiting the Bling-A-Tiers, we ran by Daddy's work (no pictures of that) and then headed to some friend's house to go trick or treating and hit up their neighborhood Halloween party. Tristan and Parker had a great time trick or treating, although Tristan was quite lazy about the whole thing. He had no problem running up to houses, spitting out the words "trick or treat" and then "thank you" after receiving candy, but then he immediately ran back to the sidewalk to get in the stroller to be pushed to the next house. It was all quite ridiculous...he would have made it to the next house faster if he would have just run straight there!

Parker, on the other hand, wanted to run free. But, he kept running back to any "joke" decoration within eyesight! Once we got him distracted from the big "jokes" he trick or treated pretty well with big boys, but I don't think he totally got the concept down...he kept giving his candy back to the people at the doors. Who knows, maybe he did know what he was doing, he doesn't really like candy afterall. Although, he did discover tonight that he really likes popcorn balls and grape lollipops, he held on tight to those!

Tristan's friend, Knox, posing with his front yard decor

Heading out to the first house

Knox and Tristan loading up on candy

Parker following his big brother

Tristan and Knox patiently waiting

Yep, Parker was fascinated with this "joke" and kept trying to return to it!

Parker catching up to the big boys

Daddy and Parker

One of the last houses

The last one...that's all the candy for the cowboy and policeman!

After trick or treating and spending some time playing with the neighborhood kids, we tookt he kiddos over to Victor's mom's house to trick or treat, which is where Parker discovered his love of the grape loillipop, and Tristan got to eat 3 or 4 pieces of candy within 2 seconds!

Parker and his sucker!

Parker and Daddy

Well, that was our Halloween in a nutshell, hope everyone had as much fun as we did!

Bad Blogger

2009-10-26T21:50:00.000-07:00

I know, I have been a bad blogger lately...just can't seem to get caught up, ever!!! We have had so much going on lately with selling the house, looking for a new house/plans, Tristan's birthday party, getting ready for Halloween and our trip to Disney, not to mention all the day to day things that go on around here...

Parker is growing like a weed and is truly a toddler now, no more little baby, although he still acts like it! He is so stuck like glue on me it is hard to get anything done because he won't go to anyone else other than Victor, who is at work most of the time. He has started to become more picky about his foods and is not so receptive to trying new things...oh joy, another picky kid. But, along with the little things that he does that driv eme absolutely insane, he has developed quite a few lovable new habits, like saying "hi" with a big grin when I walk into his room in the morning, making silly faces and laughing at himself, showing off his belly button, head, ears, and eyes when asked, giving hugs and kisses (he is not as an affectionate of a child as Tristan), and so much more!

Tristan has also been growing...such a big boy now, and definitely acting like it! His speech and vocabulary are tremendous and there's pretty much nothing he can't say, or won't! He's 100% potty trained, even at night (of course we have a couple of daytime accidents here and there). He loves school, and comes hom every week with a new song to sing, some of his favorites include "Wheels on the Bus", "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "If You're Happy and You Know It". All the he has his occasional meltdowns, is sometimes aggressive play, and other things that put more gray hair on my head, he really has been a good little guy lately...he understand so much mroe and the whole being able to communicate back and forth seems to have made life so much easier, for him and me!

I will be posting pictures from Tristan's birthday party we had yesterday sometime this week, but I'll leave you with these random pictures to tide you over till then!

Tristan showing off his excitement after hopping into his new bed!

Shpwing Daddy some love for putting together his "big boy" bed...no more toddler bed!

Fireman hat, underwear and a guitar = a future rock star!

Posing in his new shirt wear for western day at school

Playing at school

At Daddy's work

Parker, getting into mischief, as always...

Trying to get himself out

Tristan at the Comal County Fair

He loved this ride!

And this one

Hehehehe, too cute

Parker on the other hand, was not as amused by his stroller "ride"

Parker, always imitating Tristan

I catch him quite often doing this

Tristan giving Shamu a huge hug!

Family picture minus Daddy

Family picture minus Mommy...one of has to be the one taking the pictures!

Hook 'Em Horns!!!

2009-10-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

Another win for Texas against OU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Next year I'm watching the game in person!!!!!!