Why does my son have to be sooooo cool??

Sneaky Little Girl

When I need to get a sitter during the day for the kids, I typically will have them come during their nap time...thinking it's the easiest time. The kids are usually in really good moods when they wake up as opposed to cranky before their nap. The sitter usually comes just before I put them down so the kids can see that someone else is here and they aren't so shocked when they wake up. But now, somehow, Cameron has figured out when the sitter shows up, she doesn't have to nap. I've come home on a few occasions to find Cameron asleep in places other than her bed because she was causing trouble and the sitter wasn't sure what to do with her. So they walk her around a while until she falls asleep...just as Cameron hoped they would...sneaky(and smart)little girl.

And poor Timo is just trying to get a little peace and quiet from her shenanigans. Our sitter took this picture the other day when she walked in to take a crying Cameron out of the bedroom.

Visiting An Old (young) Friend

I love how, after not seeing a friend for 10+ years, you can fall right back into your friendship like no time has passed at all! One of my best friends from high school moved to Monterey last year and we just got together for the first time a few days ago. Melanie and I were joined at the hip most of our junior/senior year, both running cross country, track and playing in the marching band.

After collage I had trouble keeping in touch with her because she and her husband joined the army and were moving all around the country. We caught up at our 10 high school reunion but lost track again. They have been stationed in Monterey for the next year which makes her only 2hr away! This past week her husband was out of town and so was Young...so we thought it was a great time to get together. She has 3 children, 2 in school, so I loaded up the twins and headed down to her.

We took the kids to the Children's Museum the first day and they loved it. The kids just played and played while Mel and I got a chance to catch up. These are a few pics from their time there but that's all the pictures I have of the whole visit. Once we got back to her house that day and the twins met her other children (Zach, 11 & Ally, 9) we didn't see them much...it's so nice that the twins are old enough to play with all age groups now!

Timo loved this ambulance. It was all I could do to get him away from it so he could see other parts of the museum. At one point, all three kids were playing together in the boat area and I turned around and didn't see Timo anywhere. The first place I went to look was the ambulance and there he was...

They kids really liked the farm area. I think I have some future farmers on my hands (I hope). They were loading up the "fruit" in baskets and sorting it like pros. Cameron knew what to do picking the veggies in the garden and Timo was right at home on the tractor...


Are you sensing a theme yet...Anything with tires and a steering wheel...
We finally wrapped up our time with a few rounds of golf...the kids were much better farmers than golfers...

Cookout!

We had a little cookout this weekend to break in our backyard! Not much to say except we are really enjoying having the space. It was fun to get the grill going and relax in the sunny weather we are having! We had one little accident of tug-a-war over the bubbles...that ended with the bubbles being dumped all over Cameron's pants...but other than that, we had a great family cookout!

Hummm....

...I just don't understand why Timo sleeps half on/half off his bed? What in the world is he going to do when we move him into a bed that is actually up off the floor???

Getting So Smart!

Timo was riding his bike around the kitchen the other morning and wanted his Papi to ride with him. I helped position Papi so he could ride along and they both had a blast going around and around the kitchen. I didn't really notice when Timo picked the camera off the table (he is getting so tall, he can reach anything now) and turned it on. He then brought the camera to me and said "mommy, take picture Timo and Papi." And then he flashed his best "cheese" smile. Just like that, he was asking me to take a picture and smiling for the camera!

And Cameron's newest buzz words are "all by self", meaning I want to do it all by myself. Everything now is "all by self!" and you just have to let her do it until she asks for help. We were dressing yesterday and she insisted on putting her shoes on by herself...even before she was dressed. And she did it! She put her shoes on all by herself, just on the wrong feet. Then she wanted me to take a picture...only she doesn't get the concept that someone else has to take the picture of her...good thing we have more than one camera!
But seriously...when did these little babies turn into little talking smart people??? Someone stop the growing up right now!!

Backyard Renovations...Part. 3

We are ALMOST finished with the back yard!! With the exception of a few planting, lighting and bricking the remaining perimeter, we are basically done...woot woot!!

The last few days of landscaping continued to be a source of entertainment for the kids. Timo thought the mounds of dirt needed to be moved over just a little so he headed out with his shovel and bucket. Cameron thought they just needed to be leveled out so she grabbed the rake.

Then we had to take a little break from all the hard work...

Then the big day arrived...the grass! The kids were in awe of the workers unloading all the rolls of sod. They were just itching to get outside, see Carlos (talking to Young), and lend a hand. I always have trouble getting them out of their PJs but not on days Carlos showed up...they would bring me their clothes to get dressed and go outside.

And Ta-Da! We have grass!! We can't really play on the grass for another week or so, it needs time to take root but we are enjoying just looking at it. And as I said, there is still a lot of planting and little maintenance items to finish but all in all...we are very happy with our new back yard!

The More Things Change...

The more they stay the same. The kids still LOVE their little ride on cars. I thought they would have moved up and off of them by now...but nope. They are almost too big for them too but they just keep moving right along...

Rainy Day Toys

I felt the kids got an over load of toys for Christmas so I put some of them away to pull out for a rainy day. We've had plenty of rainy days since then but their birthday fell a few months after Christmas so we were able to restock our toy pile with out bringing out the "rainy day toys". Well, this past week we had a few rainy days and I had to pull out the back stock...the art easel!

I knew it would be a big hit but didn't really know how big, especially with Cameron. She always at the easel "drawing" something. And typically when Timo see her there, he'll run over, grab his stool too and off they go coloring and fighting over crayons.




Another toy I pulled out was this Gone Fishin' game. Cameron was getting so frustrated trying to catch the fish but just kept on trying. She even was trying to hold the mouth open to get the fishing line in...poor girl, she just wanted to catch a fish! (note her southern accent too)

Daddy's Big Adventure without Mom - Muir Woods

So I've been meaning to post this for a while. Being the great husband that I am, I realized that Sara was in desperate need of a much needed break. So I told her to pack up and head down to sunny San Diego for the weekend. My treat. Coincidentally the weekend was also a good friend's baby shower.

So I was in charge of the monkeys. Would they be okay? Would they survive without mom? Would dad survive without mom? The plan was to keep them busy and on-the-go; too busy to know something was amiss.

Early morning, we got ready and headed north of San Francisco to the Muir Woods. It's been a while since I've been there and of course the kids' first time. The drive was a breeze as it was early in the morning and so was parking.

As soon as we entered the park, Timo and Cameron were so amazed they started running down the walkway. There were so many new things for them to see. They loved running over a bridge and couldn't stop pointing and shouting; too bad dad isn't as well versed as mom in toddler talk.



We walked on the path along the stream for a while until they realized they could pick up stones and throw them into the stream... 30 minutes later, we were still throwing rocks into the stream. Had to bribe them with snacks to finally get them moving.

After snacks, we hung out at the main entry way for a very very very long time as the kids went up and down and up and down and up and down these wooden stairs. 30 minutes later... and some Japanese tourists taking pictures of Timo and Cameron (like I didn't notice them), I was finally able to herd the cats to the car and back home.

We didn't get to see all that the park had to offer and can't wait to go back... with mom next time.

Backyard Renovations...Part. 2

We've had a lot of work done on the backyard in a week and things are starting to come together. One day it was raining a little and we couldn't go out bbut Timo still had to say hi to Carlos. I opened a window so he could shout out a "hi Carlos" to him.

Once they got all the rock in the patio, they leveled it out with soil and got it ready to lay the brick. The kiddies practiced their balance beam routine while the brick was being laid.

Our patio is finally taking shape and we're already enjoying it! We were hanging out the other night with our neighbors designing what kind of flowers and veggies we're gonna plant. The landscaper also loaded the yard with top soil getting ready for the grass!

stay tuned...

Being Silly!

Just thought this was a funny picture of the kids being silly...bath time with Daddy.

BIG Milestone!

We hit another big milestone this past weekend with the kids...moving from cribs to beds! Just another sign that they are growing up...sniff, sniff.

We made the decision to take their cribs down because Timo's crib was literally "coming apart at the seams." His crib is a 3rd generation baby crib, passed down from Monique, my best friend. She used it for her son Jake and daughter, Sidney (now 8 & 6). Timo discovered how to shake and rattle the side so much that the screws were coming loose. Each time we tightened them, he would jump and shake it again to get it to rattle. It was getting to the point that some of the screw holes were getting stripped and the screws wouldn't tighten back in. Thinking it was just an accident waiting to happen, we made the leap out of the cribs. And the kids were so funny while we took them down...Timo ran out to his work bench to get his screwdrivers to "help Daddy".
Then they wanted to "help" take the cribs downstairs and "help" move their mattresses into place.
As soon as we had the mattresses in place, Cameron ran around picking up all her bed belongings and sat right down on her bed!
As you can see, their mattresses are on the floor...you might remember, we have a house guest staying with us and is currently using the twin beds that will soon become Timo and Cameron's beds. I just couldn't see buying toddler beds for just 2 more months but I really didn't think Timo's crib was going to last 2 more months...so we compromised and went old school style with mattresses on the floor!! And now, for some strange reason, the kids fall asleep half on/half off their beds...go figure.

So now for an update on how the sleeping is actually going...all I can say is UGH! Boy, oh boy are they enjoying their new found freedom! It's like a slumber party in there every night. Each night it's taken about 2 hours to settle them down and get to sleep and each naptime has taken about an hour...not counting no nap yesterday! Once they are asleep, they sleep without a peep but getting them to sleep is problematic. I finally resorted to taking every toy out of the room but they still manage to get into EVERYTHING. All of a sudden pulling diapers out is fun, the rocking chair is fun, turning the noise maker on and off is fun and lifting the window shades and banging on the windows is an absolute blast! All these things they never cared about before. Our final warning/threat of taking away their monkey and blankie has seems to work. Timo got his monkey taken away last night and he cried and cried. I brought it back in and didn't hear another peep...and nap time today was even better. Let's hope it sticks!