Hats, Hats, Hats

Cameron is going through a big hat phase. I think it might be because I'm usually always wearing a baseball cap. She hated anything on her head as a baby but now she is always wearing different hats around the house. I pulled some of her hats out from when she was an infant and they still fit. Once she puts on a hat, she wears it almost all day...her favorite is taking my hat off my head and wearing it all around the house.

I can't remember what she was doing in this picture but I love how it looks like she is deep in prayer!

Fun in the Park

I thought I would post a few more photos of the kids in the park on Mother's Day. They had a good time at the fountain and chasing around all the little dogs!This is about as close to a family photo as we could get...the kids were way too distracted.

Timo chasing after all the dogs

I think Cameron looks very Korean in this photo.

Timo running into the mommy/daughter picture...he was all over the place that day.

Strawberries!

Last Saturday morning Young had a prayer meeting so I took the kids to the Farmer's Market with my friend Beth. It was pretty uneventful...if you don't count the Japanese tourist taking lots of pictures of our kids...and one even asked me to take of picture of her with them...odd. Anyway, we just got some coffee, strawberries and enjoyed the beautiful morning. Have I mentioned that Cameron LOVES strawberries? She will eat herself into a strawberry coma if I let her! We had to constantly keep feeding her strawberries while we strolled around or there was a huge fuss. Once we got back to the car, I asked Beth to take a few pictures of the kids covered in strawberry juice while I loaded all the bags in the car. She went a little crazy with my camera...

Beth is so funny...she snuck these pics in while I was loading Cameron in the car...two of about 10 she took!!

Tea For Two

One of the best things I did over Mother's Day weekend was Tea For Two at our church. It was a ladies only tea party and we had a fabulous time. The perfect mother/daughter outing. I hosted a table with the china that my Grandmother North (my mom's mom) has past down to me. (My mom had the china forever and then was given to me a few years ago.) And no, really, I'm not bitter about not winning "Best Table"...really, I'm not...well, maybe just a little...
We had about 75 ladies, all decked out in their hats, gloves and finest tea pots. There was live music, finger sandwiches, scones, petite fores and of course red velvet cake. Cameron enjoyed the chocolate tarts, eating tons of strawberries and just hanging out with her Mommy and girlfriends.

All the future Tea For Two ladies. And I love how Olivia just make herself comfortable by propping her feet up on the table...nice and relaxed.

I have to mention...because I hosted a table, I had to be there early. My fabulous husband got the kids up from their nap, dressed Cameron in her dress, tights, shoes and hair bow and brought her to the church. How wonderful is he?? And then Timo got Daddy all to himself!

Mother's Day '09

As I was sitting in church yesterday, I was thanking the Lord for blessing me to be a mother. It has been everything I had and had not expected and more! I had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday and have to give my hubby props for making it a special day. The kids wanted to start celebrating their mommy super early in the morning with a 5:30 wake up cry from Timo which then woke up his sister. Yeah, not pretty. Not sure what spooked him or woke him up but we decided to give them their morning milk in hopes they would go back to sleep...it worked and we got a little more sleep....Ahhh..

After opening cards and gifts from my kiddies we were off for an early morning stroll and coffee. We had late lunch/brunch reservations so we packed a little lunch to feed the kids after church. We knew they would fall asleep so we planned on doing a little scenic driving around SF while they napped in the car.(we have to travel with his monkey and her blanket when we know they will be napping in the car...)

We had hoped that the kids would be well rested for a nice brunch but I guess they had other ideas. It started out nice and neat but quickly spiraled downhill when Timo got it in his head he wanted down to walk around. Not a good idea in a nice restaurant with steps and fun table clothes hanging down to pull on. The kids had far more fun playing in the window of the restaurant, looking at the view!



We ended our day by playing in the park, an evening stroll and a yummy super fixed by my hubby. Even though Young did so much for me that day, I was exhausted at the end of the day and treated myself to a super early bedtime! What a wonderful Mother's Day!

Eating Habits

We've had a little problem with Timothy lately...he has taken to throwing his food. Most everything else he does that is a "no-no", a firm "NO" usually does the trick...except when eating. And he waits until I'm looking at him, just to make sure I see him, then he chucks a handful of mac-n-cheese on the floor. I started taking his meal away when he started throwing food but he was going days barely eating anything...so that wasn't working. After talking to some other moms, I realized it was his way of getting attention from me b/c most of my attention was on Cameron at meal time. (trying to make sure she is eating with the whole weight gain issue)

So...I decided to pay more attention to my little Timo, of course, and also give him a little more freedom at meal time...ie, start using a bowl and maybe a plate. OK, no plate yet, but the bowl seemed more manageable. They are both getting really good at using their forks and spoons so adding a bowl shouldn't be such a big deal, right? I guess that depends on what is in that bowl!

The kids love soup! I decided to start with cups to slurp soup out of and maybe stab a chunk or two with their forks. It didn't really go as planned. They drink bath water all the time out of the toy cups in the tub so I figured they could handle cup of soup. Oh well,as you can see, lesson learned.




But the bowl is going well. I put chunks of food in the bowl, something easy for the fork to jab into. They are so proud of themselves if they make it from bowl to mouth without dropping. And I'm happy to report Timo is doing much better with the food throwing. I also started giving them an animal cracker after each meal if he made it though without throwing food. We've only had one episode last week and I'm pretty sure that was b/c I was doing dishes while they ate...not giving him praises for feeding himself!

The Zoo!

The first Wednesday of every month is a free day at the zoo...we like that!! I decided that the kids might be old enough to take, considering it was free, even if it didn't really work out we wouldn't lose out on anything. We went with one of my friends from our twins club, Virginia, and her two little ones, Trevor and Alexandra (who are about the same age and Timo and Cameron) What a great time we all had! We spent almost all of the time over in the "children's zoo" area which is just a big petting zoo and a few nature trails. Add a few mud puddles to that and that's all the kids needed!! We've had about 4 solid days of rain here in SF, so the kids have been climbing the walls wanting to go outside.
The kids checking out the turkeys and discovering water puddles.

All the kids checking each other out...then Timo and Trevor worked on the stroller wheels.

Both my kids were obsessed with the ducks! It was all we could do to keep Timo out of the water! He was chasing the ducks all over the farm. Cameron just kept walking around saying "quack, quack, quack..."

Timo discovering the mud puddle until the zoo keeper came over and filled it with dry dirt...poor Timo. Cameron loved to quack at the geese in the pen.

The goats were just walking around everywhere. Cameron was a little shy but Timo walked right up them all to pet. As we were leaving, Cameron decided she wanted to touch one but was very cautious...

I love this picture...you can see how dirty/muddy Timo is. I stripped them down to their onies at the car for the drive home. Good thing daddy wasn't with us...the kids would have had to walk home!!!

Ball!

Here are the kids saying one of their favorite words...ball! Their favorite word is Duck but I can't seems to get that on video yet but I'll keep trying.

Nap Time? What Nap?

This is what Timo does now during his morning nap time. The kids are slowing growing out of two naps a day and moving to one longer nap...the only problem is Cameron is still sleeping for her morning nap...or at least until Timo's playfulness wakes her up.

Puttin' On My Shoes!

Cameron is such a smart little girl. She understands so much that I say to her. And, as I mentioned before, is super independent. She thinks, after watching you do it once or twice, she can do anything herself. Putting on her shoes is just one of the many examples of her thinking she can do it without any help. All I have to do it say "go get your shoes Cameron" and she knows which shoes are hers, knows they go on her feet and will sit for any length of time trying to put them on all by herself! We can finally leave after I lend a finger or two to help, but letting her do most of the work. ("let's eat", "bath time" and "story time" are a few other examples of her trotting off to do it without any assistance, so she thinks).

Here is a running monologue of Cameron trying to put her shoes on.

"Time to go? OK Mommy, I'll get my shoes on...I can do it myself. Um, but maybe I better sit down"

"That's better...no how does this shoe go on...strap in the front or the back?"

"Got it...if I press it hard enough it will stick to my foot!"

"Oh, silly me, I have it on backward...again...no really, I can do this..."

"OK, leme try the other foot, maybe that's the problem..."

"Uh, Mommy, I think I might need some help"