My new motto when people ask me for something

Kids...
Husbands...
Mother...
Co-workers...
Friends....



And Oliver has one too... for when Miles bugs him...

5 years

Derek and I celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary yesterday - yay! We both look back at our wedding day so fondly - we had a great celebration with our family and friends.

We had a wonderful dinner last night at The Plumed Horse in Saratoga. My amazing and very generous parents surprised us by paying for our dinner! At the end of the meal, the waiter came over and said "Your dinner has been paid for by John P. Ramstetter (my dad)" and we couldn't believe it. I started crying and Derek said "Stop crying, people are going to think I am breaking up with you!" LOL

Thank you mom and dad! You are way too good to us.

Happy Anniversary, Derek. I love you.

Steven Curtis Chapman

I am not sure if you've been following the Steven Curtis Chapman story about the loss of his youngest adopted daughter (http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/). There was an article/interview in People magazine this past week and it's just so tragic and sad. (Click here for an excerpt). He seems like an amazing man, father, husband, and song writer. I especially love his song Cinderella.

Here's a great interview of him about why he wrote the song Cinderella:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhDDzbA8unA&feature=related

Here's the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLYxtuC0oRk&feature=related

Great message, one that I need to remember.

Check ups at the doctor

Today we took the boys for their 3-year and 9 month check-ups... it was a family affair. :) We love our pediatrician, Dr. Lan... he's a very nice Asian (young) man and he just loves kids (I guess this is a given if you are going to work with sick kids all day long, but I have met some grumpy pediatricians). He's very patient and kind. We talk about how we'd love to set him up with Goo Goo, but that will never happen.

Miles is 34 pounds and 39 inches
Oliver is 22.6 pounds and 30 inches (pretty tall for a 9 month old!)

Knock on wood - they both are in great health.

Dr. Lan got out a book to test Miles on his objects and when he got to a computer he asked "What is this Miles?" and Miles said "It's a computer." And Dr. Lan then asked, "What do you do with it?" And he said "You check your e-mail." LOL. That's our tech savvy 3 year old. Too funny.

Our first family vacation - Lake Tahoe

We took our first family vacation (as a family of 4) this past weekend to Lake Tahoe and we had a really great time. We spent the weekend with Christina and Justin who were so much fun, very patient with us, and very helpful with the boys. We wonder if they still want kids after spending a weekend with us! LOL.

A few (of many) highlights of the trip:
- Oliver crawled for the first time!
- Tractors were everywhere which means Miles was in heaven
- Great wine, champagne, food and great friends
- Miles and Oliver did great on the 4 hour car ride there and back
- The boys slept great

The not so fun parts of the trip:
- Miles having a meltdown while I was carrying Oliver in the Ergo and me having to "carry" both of them (seriously, see the picture below)
- Not bringing a lime juicer for our margaritas :(

Derek with the boys and his margarita (hand squeezed limes)


Tractor heaven


Are you kidding me?

Old man

Derek celebrated his 35th birthday today and he said that for the first time, he feels like 35 sounds old. I said that I wouldn't know... since I am still the young age of 34! LOL.

We had a very fun birthday weekend... we went to San Francisco last night for a very yummy dinner and then I planned a surprise party at a wine bar, which was a lot of fun! Derek was very surprised and loved celebrating his birthday with his family and friends. :)



Today, we took the boys to the beach in Capitola and spent the day there and it was such a fun family day. No complaints here (other than being hung over from last night!)