Doing some blog CPR!

So it's only been about 10 months since my last post and I don't even have an excuse. No new baby, no full time job, no reason at all not to be blogging my heart away. So my pre New Years resolution for 2012 will be to get back in the blogging world :)



The most eventful part of summer was the boys 4th birthday. That's right the big 4! I'm so proud of the young men they are becoming! I did have a slight anxiety attack when I went into Target this past spring and realized that I couldn't buy anything in the baby section. No sippy cups, no clothes (too babyish for the most part), and way past the diaper stage! Where does the time go??? They are really into being independent as well. They get dressed by themselves, pour their own milk, and even get their own snacks if I'm busy.


We have been living in Las Vegas since January and are feeling like this is home. I was excited for the move and then spent the first 6 months here missing all our friends :( My boys had made some great friends in the SLO area and we missed everyone terribly. I think I went home about once a month for the first 6 months. I'm sure it didn't help that we are renting an apartment too. The apartment has been fine but it's just reminder that you don't have a permanent place. We have moved quite a bit since the boys were born and I'm looking forward to putting down some roots now. We are currently house hunting and hope to be all moved in by Christmas. Just in time for Josh to climb on the roof and hang Christmas lights :)



The boys started preschool at the YMCA this fall. They go M, W, and Fri from 9-12. They have made some good friends at school and even went to a birthday party for one of their classmates last weekend. They have 2 other boys that they are best buds with and we get together once a week now. (4) four year boys running crazy together makes me happy I only have (2) four year old boys :)



This past June we headed to Legoland, the San Diego Zoo, and the San Diego Wild Animal park to celebrate the boys 4th birthday. SO MUCH FUN is all I can say! The boys were able to do almost all the rides at Legoland and liked the fast roller coasters the best. The zoo and wild animal park were amazing as well. This was our first major amusement park trip and the boys did great. No meltdowns, just lots of smiles and laughing.

Happy New Year!!

So I just checked and my last post was April. WOW!! I will try and catch you up. We moved back from Rochester in December (how I sooo miss it still) and stayed with my mother in law through April. In May we moved back to Atascadero and have been here ever since. The boys started preschool in June at a UMCC in San Luis Obispo (best preschool EVER for those looking for a preschool).They loved going to school and made friends with all of their class and kids in other classes as well. I had originally enrolled them for 9-12 Tues and Thurs thinking that would be plenty but I was wrong. They begged me to let them stay longer most days so I started to let them stay part of the afternoon one day a week. What I loved most about their school were the teachers. They embraced my strong, opinionated Ralph and just loved Blake to pieces! I'm really sad to have to look for a new school for them (we are moving soon, stay tuned):( I went back to work in August part time 3 evenings a week and loved it! It was really like I never left and so good to catch up with all my old friends.



In October Josh and I took a trip to St. George, Utah. We had driven through there on our way to Rochester and always wanted to go back. We had begun saving to buy a new house but even with housing prices being low, it would take several years to save up enough to buy a another house here in CA. We looked at housing in Saint George and found it to be substantially cheaper. On the way back from Saint George we took a detour through North Las Vegas and were pleasantly surprised by the area. Since we still own the candy stores, Josh thought being within a days drive back to California would be important if we relocated. We were fortunate enough that Josh's employer was able to expand their company into Las Vegas as well. I had imagined that we would relocate somewhere around fall 2011 but never this soon! I just had gone back to work and the boys were loving preschool so the timing was not ideal. We started house hunting in Las Vegas and put an offer on a house at the end of October. The house ended up falling through so we are now moving into an apartment this weekend to begin our new house hunt. The last couple months have been a whirlwind!! I had to quit my job at the beginning of November (thought escrow on the new house would close around then) so I have been back home with the boys. We are looking forward to getting out there and getting settled!! I feel like the last month we have just been waiting in limbo so finally getting out there will be good. So happy packing to us again!! The boys have been helping me pack the last couple of days. I have found many suprises in the boxes when I go to tape them up!




So the pictures on this post are from my attempted Christmas card photo shoot. It was a disaster! It was impossible to get both boys to look at the camera and have a nice, pleasant smile! I must admit they are quite funny to me now :)

Is it really October, YIKES!!

Just sitting at my computer and daydreaming about fall in New York. I looooved it!! The leaves changing, crisp nights, and getting ready for Halloween. I'm going to start blogging again after a loooong blogging vacation. I have so much to update everyone on!! But before the blogging begins, I need everyone to send me their email address. I have noticed I'm getting a lot of odd comments on my postings so I have decided to make my blog private. If you can send me your email address that would be awesome. My email is skgpo3@gmail.com. Hope everyone had a good summer and I can't wait to share what we have been up to!

Santa Barbara Zoo

So I must say that having twins has never made me afraid to leave the house. I admit it takes some planning and getting up early on my part, but something about being outside makes me feel energized. So last month, the boys and I took a day trip to the SB Zoo. I really like the SB Zoo. They have a little train that circles the park perimeter, lots of animals, and it's beautifully located next to the beach. We spent the morning checking out animals and then had a picnic lunch. Ralph was very traumatized when a seagull dove down and swiped 1/2 of his PB & J sandwich. He was soooo sad that a bird took his lunch. So sad, that a nice zoo employee offered to replace his lunch for him. I explained that we had brought our lunch and I wouldn't feel right taking a meal from them. After lunch was the train ride and the playground. The zoo has a "fake" grass hill in the playground and the boys had a blast sliding down it on cardboard. I think that was the highlight of the trip! We then fed the goats and sheep and then headed home. What a fun day! Blake

RJ

Goat feeding time! Blake was scared of the goats. He threw all his food through the fence on the ground. Check out that grimace as the goat approaches!!

Changes, Changes, Changes.....

OK, I've returned from my blogging vacation. PS-I have no excuses as to why I haven't made any posts. Just a lot of fun stuff going on! The biggest change is that the boys quit napping in December. We found if they napped they would be up way to late (10 or 11pm) and bedtime was starting to be a battle. They now sleep from about 8:30am-8:30pm. I do miss they midday break but it is much more manageable now that they go to bed early and relatively painlessly. We started potty training the first couple weeks in January.......and it was a success!!!! I still think I'm the one who is mostly potty trained. I watch for the potty dance and don't stray to far from restrooms when we are out. Blake has been dry at night for awhile and Ralph is getting there. We still have occasional accidents but to be done with diapers is quite nice. We have been living in Oceano with my mother in law for about 3 months now. She is very nice and more than accommodating but we should be finding our own place soon. Yippee!! My boys have managed to break several things in her house and misplace about a hundred more. On the plus side we live super close to the beach and a park and go there often. I was bummed to leave New York but being able to play outside year round is sure nice. I have lots of pictures and blogging to catch up on so hope I can stick with it!!

So I was bribing the boys with M&M's during the first few days of potty training. RJ found the mother load and helped himself when I left the room. Hmmm, wonder how many he shoved in his mouth before I busted him???

Christmas Recap

Leaving cookies for Santa

OK, back to blogging! Christmas was amazing. The boys got the whole Santa Claus thing and would say to each other "You better (share, be kind, etc) or Santa is going to put you on the naughty list and you won't get any presents". Eventually the one misbehaving would say "I don't like presents". The boys got lots of new toys which is really good since we sold almost everything prior to moving back. The train table, Handy Manny Tool Workshop and police/fire rescue station now occupy a good portion of the living room. They loved waking up to a house full of goodies. Ralph woke up the day after Christmas and said "I'm ready to open more presents". Oops, guess we forgot to explain it's only once a year! We are deep in the trenches of potty training. They wear regular underpants now but still occasionally have accidents. Their reward for potty training was they get to go to school so we now attend a parent participation program one day a week. They get to do art projects, circle time and play with other kids so they think "school"is really fun. I can't believe they are growing up so fast. I'm slightly sad they are out of the baby phase but more excited about all the stuff they get to do as big kids now. Here are some Xmas pictures to enjoy.

Playing with the new toys and Christmas morning family photo

We made it!!

We arrived back to California on Saturday. We are happy to spend the holidays close to our friends and family. The boys were great on the long trip. We found a hotel with an indoor heated pool almost every night and they loved it. They are becoming quite the little tadpoles. I will have some new pictures next post but to tired to post them tonight. Happy Holiday to everyone!!

Moving

Packing, cleaning, raw fingers, sleep deprivation, lifting, 56 dumpster runs, driving to Target everyday for more bubble wrap, no food in the house, no toys, bored kids......I think I officially hate moving!! We are mostly packed and hope to head off tomorrow. Hoping for good weather and happy boys! Should take us about 7 days so I won't be blogging for a while. Wish us luck!!!

The above picture is from Thanksgiving. Food was amazing and time with my husband and the boys even better! Josh was kind enough to point out the gigantic plate of food I had made myself when he saw this photo. Seriously, what was I thinking?For some reason I think turkey is only available once a year and feel the need to eat a triple portion!!

"Have you seen my kid"? and other random thoughts

I still chuckle when I hear the following:

"Mom, I can't find my kid"!

"Where's my kid"?

close up of the kid

"Kid" refers to an Astro Boy McDonald's happy meal toy. Seriously, that happy meal toy entertained my two boys for an entire afternoon and then some. Unfortunately, the "kid" gets misplaced from time to time. That is when I hear Ralph or Blake say "Have you seen my kid"?

The boys with their kids

Well our house was in a chaotic state for a while. First Josh had the flu. That horrible fever, cough and body ache flu. He had a day to stay home and then was forced to work out of town with it for the rest of the week. He was home for a day and then I came down with it. He had to go to work so I curled up on the couch and let my boys watch a ridiculous amount of TV until I could function later in the day. The boys seem to be OK. They both had the two flu (reg & swine) mists so I'm hoping they never get it.

I'm so excited for Thanksgiving!!! This is the first year I'm going to cook. I made Easter once (5+ years ago) and my rolls turned out like hockey pucks. I never used to really cook until the boys started eating solids. Now I'm really into it! I make dinner every night. I have a couple of standard recipes and then I always try to find some new ones too (Food Network rocks!). I'm not a gourmet cook by any means but I can follow a recipe pretty well. So... I have printed my recipes, bought the food and now I just need to cook it all. We will still be in NY so it will just be Josh, the boys and I. Can't wait!!!!

Trick or Treat

Too bad Halloween only comes once a year! I always ask the boys want they want to do for the day in the morning as I'm getting them dressed. The answers are usually park, bounce house, zoo......But not anymore. The new answer is "Trick or Treating"!! I then have to explain it only comes once a year and we won't be able to go for a really long time. This is followed by sad looks, "Oh No", and the occasional "I am so sad". Hope we can last the 300+ days until next Halloween!

Josh and I took them to a little housing development not far from our house. We only walked to around 6 houses but that was plenty of candy and cold for us. Blake decided one house was "too spooky" but eventually rang the door bell with Josh's reassurance. They loved looking at all the decorations and carved pumpkins. They mastered saying "Trick or Treat" at the end but Ralph was asking "Can I have some stuff" at the beginning. They were both dragons in case your wondering. I had a limited choice of warm costumes.

This years pumpkins. Mine is the haunted house, Blake's is the frown, Ralph's has the giant teeth, and Josh's is in the back. He tried to use these light up pegs you poke into the pumpkin. Didn't really work so well.

Time to bundle up, fall is here!!

It's fall!!! We are spending our afternoons running through huge piles of leaves at the park. The fall season out here is simply gorgeous! Orange, Crimson, Yellow, Green, it's like waking up to a postcard every morning. I took the boys to Letchworth State Park to check out the waterfalls and trees. They were mildly interested until they spotted.......

A Water Fountain!!

I think every mom on the planet hates water fountains. Why has no one invented a plastic flip top cover for them yet? My boys instantly run over and try to put their little hands in the fountain basin to splash in the water that has been SPIT out of someones mouth!! Disgusting!! I try to them them it's not working but they are too smart for that now. I could have a nice cold bottled water for them but the water fountain always wins. I'm hoping it will become less interesting as they near 3. Ha ha, I know I'm dreaming!! Oh well, they are only little once.

Punkin Patch

Two weekends ago we ventured out in the cold to hand pick our pumpkins for Halloween. The little boys had been sooo excited and asking us for days if we could go to the "punkin patch". It was a nice 45 degree day but that didn't stop us. We went to a farm complete with pumpkins, chickens, apple picking, hay ride, mini train, and bounce pillow. The boys had a blast. After chasing chickens for a while we took a hay ride. I think they are slightly over rated (mud, endless rows of dead corn) but the boys had to ride on the trailer. Ralph was bossing around the other passengers telling them to sit down. After the hay ride it was off to jump on the giant bounce pillow. They love to jump on the inflatable bounce houses so this was right up their ally. Next they rode a mini train. They are finally getting old enough to go by themselves. Good thing because Josh and I get motion sick whipping around a little track 10 times! After that it was off to pick out our pumpkins. Josh and I scoured the rows picking out our perfectly round pumpkins. The boys could care a less about the pumpkins and instead fought over who's turn it was to pull the wagon.

We finally took control of the wagon and forced them to pick out a pumpkin. And yep, they grabbed the first lopsided, ugly, deformed pumpkin in front of them just to satisfy our request. Then back to yelling "my turn" with the wagon. Overall we had a blast! I will show you how the carving turned out soon.

Tapa, Big Water, and Canada

Tapa and Grandma with the boys

Well the boys dream came true in the beginning of September.....Tapa came back to visit!! He brought Gawma (Josh's mom Cathy) and Aunt Waragh (Aunt Laura). The arrived on Friday and stayed until Tuesday. They came bearing lots of gifts the little boys loved!! It's sort of like a vacation (for Josh and I) when Tapa comes to visit. He immediately becomes the "go to person" and Josh and I get a break. Of course grandma is right up there too. She always sends little care packages full of treasures for the boys. They love opening their "own" mail. Plus, she seems to have an endless supply of breath mint which are equivalent to candy in our house. This was Aunt Laura's first trip to visit us in on the east coast. She is a delight to have and we wish she lived closer. She took over our living room and got woken up every morning by two boys jumping on her bed. So thanks Laura for being a trooper!!

Aunt Laura and us



Saturday we just hung out at home. We left early Sunday for Niagara falls. It was truly magnificent. We drove over to the Canadian side and were not disappointed. The amount of water going over the falls per second is mind boggling. They have the whole perimeter fenced and I was still nervous standing near the top of the falls. The boys kept saying "WOW, look at that big water".


The falls with a "Maid of the Mist" boat



After Niagara is was off to Toronto. Art had lived there for awhile so we had our own tour guide. We stayed downtown for the night and then headed to the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) the next day. We walked the grounds and checked out all the amazing exhibits and animals. By mid afternoon we were getting pretty tired and decided to head home. They had blocked off some on ramps to control traffic so getting on the freeway was a bit of a challenge. The Toronto traffic was the only downside of our weekend adventure. The city it self was really hip and vibrant. Looks like a really cool place to live. Monday we just recovered from our busy weekend and then it was goodbyes on Tuesday. Long weekend but we had sooooo much fun. Hopefully we didn't exhaust our guests on their vacation :)

Zoo and NY State Fair

We decided to venture out to Buffalo to check out the zoo. There is a great zoo here but were lured by the expectation of bigger, more ferocious animals. It didn't disappoint! They had at least 3 varieties of bears, lions, apes (as big as me), a cool children's petting zoo, vampire bats, and the list goes on and on. It took us a couple hours to walk the whole thing. Blake has recently decided he's afraid of elephants (his favorite animal). He cried if we got too close to the exhibit but that was the worst of the day. I think Blake liked the baby giraffe the best. Ralph was too busy dancing around that day so I'm not sure what his favorites were.

The next weekend it was off the the NY state fair. It was in Syracuse which is about a one hour drive from Rochester. It was HUGE comapre to our local fair. We hit up the food court first. Once we loaded up on chicken strips and fries it was off to the train exhibit. We walked through an old train with passenger cars from different eras. We let the boys ride a mini train after that and then headed to check out the animals. Upstate NY is known for it's dairy farms so there was a huge barn just full of dairy cows. They were the biggest cows I had ever seen!! We watched a milking demonstration and then off to check out the bunnies and chickens in a separate barn. The boys loved the bunnies!! They walked slowly past every bunny cage and couldn't stop smiling. I have a feeling they will be asking for rabbits when they get older. The chickens and ducks were a hit too. After that we checked out some horses and then headed home. There is so much to do for young families here. We are really enjoying our stay.

Crazy Busy!!!

I just saw my last post was Aug. 25th, so I will start there. That was my 31st birthday!! I don't feel too old to mention how old I am but I'm noticing wrinkles and gray hair. Ugh! I'm going to blame it on the boys (all 3)! Aside from that....I had a wonderful birthday. The boys are obsessed with singing the "Happy Birthday" song and ask to blow out candles at least twice a week. They were beyond excited!! Josh had to relight my candles several times because the boys blew them out before the singing was over. We had take out that night (delicious and no dishes) followed by ice cream cake.

The best part of the day was just hearing my boys tell me "Happy Birthday Mommy". The little voices..... Oh how they make me laugh... Here's the latest funny sayings.

I decided to turn up my music in the car today and sing a song along with the radio. Here's what Ralph said: "Mommy, I don't like it. That's too noisy!"

Blake: "That's my mom".

He tells this to everyone he meets. Starbucks staff, other moms at the park, and homeless people. He usually says "Hi" followed by "That's my mom".

So my blog was titled "Crazy Busy". Here's what we have been up too. I will try to cover it all on my next couple of blogs.

-Buffalo Zoo

-NY State fair

-Toronto

-Niagara Falls

-Tapa, Gawma and Aunt Waruh (Laura)

Stay tuned......

"Little Pool"

What do you do when the pool is shut down on the hottest day Rochester has seen this whole summer?? Go to the "little pool" of course. The little pool is an empty storage bin located on on patio. Ralph and Blake couldn't quite process the fact the pool was shut down so.... I had to get creative. We got all dressed for a day of swimming only to find out the lifeguard had to leave due to a family emergency and the pool had been locked. After some tears on the way home they ended up having just as much fun in the storage bin. Now I get lots of requests for the "little pool" as they call it.

It's Potty Time!!

So for months now we have been going over using the potty. They sit on, sing on it, swing their legs on it........then get off. That was up until yesterday. Last night little Blake peed on the potty!! Not who you expected? Me either. Ralph has hit every milestone before Blake up until this point. Blake is more than happy to hang back and let his brother take the lead.

I was gone at Sam's club and Josh was giving the boys a bath. He said Blake kept saying "potty, potty". So he put him on it and he peed. Josh gave him a hug and said what a big boy he was. He then said "I have a treat for you". He ran to the cabinet where luckily, grandma had just sent us some Pez dispensers. I guess Blake got the biggest smile when daddy handed him his new Big Rig Pez dispenser. He got in the bath washed his hair and wanted to get right out to admire his new candy filled toy. Ralph on the other hand wasn't so happy for his little brother. He started slamming his fists in the bathtub water yelling "Own truck, I need own truck". Several meltdowns followed after that. Blake being the sweet little boy that he is, was more than happy to share so eventually Ralph's jealously subsided. I don't expect that they will be potty trained for awhile but it's great to know they get it. Or at least one of them does!!

PS: Got my camera charger so I will post new pics soon :)

Pictureless Post

You will notice my last two postings are lacking pictures of the boys. That would be because I lost my camera charger. Well, maybe I didn't lose it. It could be cleverly stowed away in one of my many boxes of stuff :) Josh ordered a new one so we should have pictures up next week.

Last week Josh and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! Yeah!! It's been a pretty crazy last couple of years. Two kids, two candy stores and a cross country move. We are planning a little anniversary celebration when our babysitter returns from vacation. We are looking forward to the next big milestone, 10years!

Bug update....The ant farm is still going strong. We've had a couple of casualties but the colony is still building tunnels. Josh continues to check on them about 5 times a day. They get food and water on a regular basis. We had 4 butterflies hatch on Friday. I say "had" because I had Josh and the boys set them free today. They only live for about 2-4 weeks so I figured they needed to experience some real flowers and sunshine.

Water park! Took the boys to a water park this past weekend. They both loved it!! We've determined that it has to be over about 85 degrees in order for Blake to really enjoy himself. He tends to get cold and and shiver like he has hypothermia if not. We had a couple of shivering episodes and "I need my towel" requests but overall it went well. Ralph was an animal. He was jumping in all the sprinklers and going down the kiddie slides with no fear. We took them on our laps down a couple of large slides too. Blake was having fun until his daddy capsized the raft they were riding on (accidentally). Oops! No more slides after that. The worst part is everyone at the bottom of the slide was saying "Oh how cute" referring to Blake riding on Josh's lap. Then everyone gasp in horror as the raft suddenly flips and they both go under. Blake held his breath like a big boy but erupted in tears once he exited the pool at the bottom of the slide. I just ducked and pretended I didn't know them!

Funny quotes:

Ralph: "Are you kidding me".

Blake: "I need my OWN milk". (refuses to share with Ralph these days)

Ralph: "I need eat McDonald's". I jog past it everyday. He asks me everyday if we can eat there.

Creepy, Crawling BUGS!!

First off let me say that I have spent the last 30 years of my life keeping bugs OUT of my house. I try not to kill them and usually catch them in a cup and put them outside. They can flourish outside while I enjoy my clean bug free house! Well today, we have a small ant colony on my breakfast bar and 5 caterpillars on top my kitchen cabinets. The really sad part is I paid money for them. Yes, my boys love bugs!! In order to support their interests we recently got a butterfly house and an ant farm. The bugs we ordered for them finally arrived. The caterpillars arrived in the beginning of the week and they have already made themselves into cocoons. They are Painted Lady butterfly larvae. Josh and I are pretty convinced they are actually clothes moths by the pictures that accompanied them. They came in self contained habitat. We put them in a safe spot and they hung themselves from the top of the cup. We will transfer them to their "house" tomorrow. The "house" is basically a small enclosure made out of netting and currently hanging in the boys room. In case your wondering the boys can't get to them. They were swinging swords as we were hanging it, so it's nice and high!!

The ants, ugh, I hate ants. They arrived today. Not the small black ones I usually find roaming outside. These are big red ants with jaws of steel. Josh had a couple escape while transferring them to their farm and I almost had a seizure. Well, they happily made it in their new home and are excavating as we speak. Josh loves them!! He was ever so careful when transferring them making sure none got injured. He has even given them their first "dinner" of cookie crumbs.


So....here's to our new house guests. May they have a long and fulfilling life living in MY house!!

Favorites

Ralph's anwsers in Red

Blake's in Blue

Favorite Book The "Hot" Book 100 Trucks

Favorite TV Show Wonder Pets Wonder Pets

Favorite Food Strawberries Avocado

Favorite Toy Plastic Tool Set Train Set

Favorite Person Mom Dad

Favorite Sport Basketball Soccer

Favorite Animal Rhino Elephant

Favorite Treat "Pop" aka lollipop "Pop"

Favorite saying Mommy pick up Lili* Not nice bubby

Favorite Game Wrestling Chase (us chasing him)

So here's a look at RJ and Blake's favorite things. They share a couple similarities but are pretty different for the most part. In spite of their differences, they are the best of friends. They play well and share a passion of exploring and discovering. They can count to 10 and know their colors. ABC's are still a work in progress. I'm loving this age. They communicate so much better and I love to see them learn. I wouldn't consider us at the terrible two's yet. We do have meltdowns but nothing out of the ordinary. Josh and I love being parents and feel so blessed we have 2 little guys!!



*Lili is Ralph's nickname. It stemmed from Lion (he used to have a crazy hair that looked like a lions mane)

Ralph (Left) and Blake (Right) 11 months. Check out that crazy hair!!!