Christmas

I'm a couple of weeks late, but just wanted to post some pictures of the kids at Christmas. Here is a picture of Dean when he opened Sir Topham Hatt's car (from Thomas train). It was at the top of his list to Santa and I heard about it for months.

Here are the kids on Christmas Eve.

This was Austin's favorite gift...Dance Star Mickey.

Disneyland

We just spent last week at Disneyland. We're not sure who enjoyed it more, Dean or Austin. Dean's favorite rides were the race cars, train, Buzz Lightyear and Jungle Cruise. I think Austin liked the Carousels and Jungle Cruise the most. Austin especially enjoyed all the characters and Kevin had to wait in line with him everytime he spotted one. Got some cute pictures of him with all of them. Dean enjoyed them from afar. They both also liked the parades. Hopefully it won't be too long before we visit Disney again...

Happy December!

Yes, I'm the worst blogger ever! I know I haven't posted anything for a while but we've been sick & busy traveling. We went to Chicago for a week for Thanksgiving and had Austin baptized there. It would have been a really nice ceremony but he was screaming the whole time. Should make for some nice pictures. I'm realizing that Austin is not a good traveler. Too bad since we're going away again next week to Disneyland. Hopefully it will go better since it's just a drive away instead of time changes and planes. Dean loves to travel so at least one of them is happy during the trip.

Just got the kids all dressed up for their Christmas Card picture. They were good sports considering they are sick.

Dean's Prayer

Here is a video of a prayer that Dean learned at school. We thought it was so cute, I ran to get the camera. In case you can't understand him, it goes like this "Tick Tock, here's the clock, now it's time to pray. God you are good, God you are great and this is what we say. Amen."

Some cute videos

It's been a while since I've uploaded some videos so I wanted to try to do that now. I realize I haven't been blogging too much. My friend Staci puts me to shame as she blogs frequently and is currently pregnant with her fourth child (she has 3 girls right now) so I don't know when she finds the time. I do appreciate reading her blog though! In fact, I am baking an apple cake right now that she put on her blog. Here is the recipe...hopefully she doesn't mind me sharing : )

Apple Cake

Mix together:2 C sugar3 C flour1 t baking soda1 t salt1 t cinnamon1 t vanilla1 C vegetable oilAdd 2 beaten eggs to mixture. Stir.

This will be thick!Stir in:3 C chopped, peeled apples1/2 C chopped pecans (opt)(by stir, in this step, it really means take off your rings and mix it with your hands - it's way too thick to actually handle with a spoon or spatula)Press into a 9x13, greased and floured pan.

Sprinkle the top liberally with brown sugar.Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.


Austin is big enough now to play with Dean so I've had to break up some fights between them over toys. Dean gets pretty upset when Austin messes up his train tracks. Lately he's been putting other toys in Austin's hands saying "here Austin you play with this" just so he doesn't touch Dean's trains. I can't leave them alone together for more than a few minutes these days as I know a fight will break out. Sometimes Austin just pulls Dean's hair for fun, but doesn't realize he's hurting him. This video is from Austin's birthday. Austin loves Dean so much and thinks he's so funny.

Happy Birthday Austin!

Austin turned 1 on August 31st. My mom was visiting so we celebrated the day of and then had a party with Kevin's parents the following weekend. Austin is now cruising all over the place and getting lots of bumps on his face and head on a daily basis. He's using his walkers to walk around the house and climbing the stairs at a very fast pace.

Dean started school last week. I love his school and his teachers and cannot wait until Dean is used to this new schedule and thrilled for me to leave him at school.

I'm finding myself spending much more time reading my friends' blogs than updating my own. Sorry about that.

Almost 1 year old...

Austin is turning 1 year old on Tuesday and just started walking around with his walker. I'll hopefully have a video to post soon.

Napa

We just took my mom and the kids to Napa last weekend. We went to a winery that was super kid friendly and Dean even got some grape juice and crayons to color pictures while we tasted wine. Dean was very excited about exploring the castle.

Strolling through the city

After going to NYC with Dean, it makes me feel bad that we moved from there when he thought it was so exciting. But how much would he miss his pool here in California?

Our Trip to NY

Dean loved NYC, I got a great picture of him so excited to see the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History. I have to say he loved all the little, less exciting things about NY as well. He loved the bus ride we took, all the taxis on the street and trucks. It was nice to see NYC from a 3 year old's perspective. Unfortunately Kevin had to work most of the time we were there, but luckily Dean had his grandparents and Aunt Kristen and Uncle Christian to keep him company. Not to mention a lot of our friends and their kids (Dean calls them "cousins"). Austin didn't take too well to the time change, the new people, new beds, new schedule and he was happy to come home. He is now standing in his crib like a big boy and just started crawling when we were in NY. It was such an exciting moment to watch him crawl for the first time. He just melts my heart with all the things he does. I love watching him crawl after his big brother and try to play with his toys.

Dancing up a storm

Dean just loves to dance to the music on the Lightning Mcqueen (Cars) DVD menu page. He doesn't even want us to restart the movie, but just wants to dance around to the music.

Summer Fun

Austin is almost 10 months now and loves being outside. He likes to swim too and is already blowing bubbles in the water without anyone telling him to.

Dean swims on his own with his swim vest so that way I can swim with both of them by myself. I have a feeling he won't need the vest much longer. He loves the water!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday to Dean!

Our big boy turned 3! It's amazing how much changes in a year. Dean loves loves loves doing puzzles and he's really good at it. He doesn't even need mommy's help so Austin and I can just watch him. We had Dean's friends over for a little birthday party. Dean found the presents that were hidden in the Dining Room and started opening them without anyone around. He showed up in the kitchen with an unwrapped Concrete mixer that Grandma and Grandpa had bought him. I told him he had to wait to open gifts and moved them to places around the house where he couldn't get to them. At least I thought he couldn't...about 15 minutes later Dean showed me the train set that Kevin and I bought him. I had put it on the pool table in the middle and I'm still not sure how he got that one.

It's nice outside...

so I haven't had much time on the computer. Sorry about that. But I'm going to try to upload some pics and videos before we leave for our trip to NY on Monday. I have lots to upload and blog about so I will make an effort in between swimming with the kids, doing laundry, packing and the usual.