Is it really February??

Wow... it's been a long time since I've blogged!
We had a very fun Christmas - we spent a week in Carlsbad and it was a very nice getaway. We took the boys to Legoland, San Diego, and had lots of down time which was very nice.

January was a blur - work has been very busy for both me and Derek... and somehow it's February.

Miles is four and a half years old and not a day goes by that I don't stop to think how big he has gotten. He's learning SO much at school - he's writing and learning how to read. And, we just registered him for Kindergarten in the fall. I am very excited for him, but it's bittersweet for sure. I do think he's ready and it will be good for him to be at a new school with new friends and faces. He's been at Layla's since he was 7 months old - almost 4 years! Layla has been amazing and we look forward to Oliver being there for a few more years until he starts kinder. :)

Little Oliver is getting bigger by the day and his speech is growing by the day too! Not only is he talking up a storm (and by that, I mean he literally talks ALL the time)... but he talks very passionately (a polite way of saying that he shouts often). Oliver is definitely not shy and I think he likes to be the funny one in the family - he's going to be interesting when he starts school. He's still a total daddy's boy (and recently starting calling him daddy-o) but at least he doesn't call him mamma anymore. He's very funny when we try to get him to try something new to eat. He says "I don't want that... it's too yummy!" LOL. I think he has the word yummy and yucky mixed up. LOL.

Some pics from the past few months...

Christmas tree jammies

Just a sweet pic of Miles and Oliver in their jammies next to the tree.

Looking back...

Awww.... such special memories... Miles's first Christmas, 2005.
Living in San Francisco on Oak Street.

This is ONE SAD LOOKING TREE... LOL
And, look at those cheeks on Miles!


Of course there is a story behind that tree... I sent Derek over to the tree lot in SF while Miles and I waited in the car... and that is what he came back with! I am sure you can imagine my SHOCK with that tiny, sad looking tree! LOL!

Even funnier... Miles' first babysitter, Wilma, came by our house to drop off a Christmas present and asked "Where is your Christmas tree?" and I had to move out of the way so she could see it. We were cracking up! Sad little tree.

Tis the season...

{Miles giving Santa a high five at the Los Gatos holiday parade}

{The house in lights}

{Christmas tree with a crooked star on top}

Sweet and sour

A few tales about Miles... sweet and sour

Sweet:
Miles has three stuffed dogs...

{Left to right: Little brother, big brother, nose doggy}

(1) Nose-doggy: his favorite dog. My friend Lara gave it to him before he was born and he really started to like nose-doggy when he was around 1 or so. We realized that when we took his pacifier away, he started sucking on nose-doggies nose at night... hence the name "nose doggy". (And due to said sucking, poor nose doggy has undergone some pretty bad sewing jobs by yours truly and he's just a sad looking guy.)

{A close up of nose doggy}

(2) Big brother: this is a bigger sized version of nose doggy which I ordered when we lose nose doggy and I figured we needed a back up. Well, he turned out being bigger than nose doggy... hence the name big brother.
(3) Little brother: another attempt to find a back up for nose doggy but he's not quite the same... and he was named little brother.

Now to the sweet part... up until a few weeks ago, Miles would sleep with all 3 dogs and a gigantic monkey that Uncle Kevin gave Oliver. And when he would get up in the morning, all 4 stuffed animals would go where ever Miles went. Well, Miles decided that I should sleep with big brother and little brother at night. At first, he said that I could sleep with them for 5 nights, but he's now decided that I get to sleep with them forever. It really warms my heart that he's sharing his little doggy friends with me. Nice guy.

Now to sour:
Yesterday, Derek picked the boys up from school/daycare and Layla said that Miles had a very bad day. She said he was very confrontational and was using the word "S-T-U-P-I-D" very often. Hmmmm... this is not my Miles. He's usually very well behaved, so I can only assume he was tired, not feeling well, or just testing some boundaries. Either way, I wanted to nip it in the bud. So, I told Miles that if I get another report like that from Layla, he is going to lose his Advent calendar (which has chocolates) for good. I know, kinda extreme... but he is obsessed with his Advent calendar right now. This morning, I reminded him about the consequence for any bad behavior at school. I said "you will lose your Advent calendar" And said "And Oliver too" (LOL) I pretty much said something along the lines of... Ummm... no buddy, Oliver is not going to lose his if YOU are bad. Nice try though.

Sad little gingerbread house

The boys went to a birthday party on Sunday night and for the party favor, they gave the kids Gingerbread House kits.

On Monday night, Miles asked if we could make one and we said sure!

Derek was in charge of making the royal icing - BIG MISTAKE! First, there wasn't enough water so I told him to add a 1/2 teaspoon of water at a time. He heard 1/2 tablespoon and the icing was way too runny. He tried adding more powdered sugar but it just wasn't quite right.

While he was making the icing, Miles dropped one of the pieces - which I tried to "glue" together with the icing.

We tried to put the house together but it was just a disaster. The icing just wasn't thick enough so the walls were just falling over.

We looked over at Oliver who was happily sitting on the floor with a roof piece in his hand -- with TWO BITES of the roof gone! LOL.

The pictures are telling... it was one sad gingerbread house. LOL.

{Nice crack in the roof that I tried to "glue" together!}

{Ummm, do you see the two bite marks in the roof? Nice work, Oliver. LOL}

{Starting to fall.. sad little gingerbread house}

{Timber.....}

Thanksgiving 2009

We had a really wonderful Thanksgiving weekend this year.

In the early afternoon on Thanksgiving, I drove up to San Francisco to meet Christina and Justin's new baby boy - baby Henry. He was so tiny and precious - I couldn't get enough of him! I think he liked me too! :)

For our Thanksgiving dinner, I decided that I didn't want to host/cook a big dinner this year, so I suggested that we go to San Francisco and eat out. It ended up being a great decision. We had a yummy dinner with Derek's mom, sister, brother, and a few other friends at the Park Chalet (which is a very kid-friendly restaurant). Both boys were very well behaved at dinner (a rarity) and the restaurant has a big backyard/park that they could run around in while we took turns eating. There was no prep, no cooking, no clean-up... just a nice dinner with family and friends in beautiful San Francisco! Of course, the only thing that would have made it a better day is if my side of the family could have been there with us.

On Saturday, we drove down to Santa Cruz/Seacliff in the afternoon to visit my good friend Michele (from college) and her adorable family (Mark, and her two girls - ages 1 and 2). They were up from LA and rented an amazing house right on the beach and it was such a treat for the boys. They had a great time playing in the sand while mommy and daddy drank wine with friends. :)