Ballet

Three...

Look who's three, where did the time go!?!
This year we were lucky enough to spend her birthday - for the first time with her Grandparents, Great Grandma, cousins and our close friends. It was a very impromtu party, with a bit of chaos, but I think the kids enjoyed it! Mommy was a bit fried but I guess that is to be expected!

Had to have the princess balloon for the Princess Party!Nana helping Sarah on her new bike
Pin the tail on the donkey
Daddy coaching Sarah on her swing before the main event!
Taking a swing at her tiara pinata
This was the pinata that wouldn't die - a man had to step in!
The princess is ready for her cupcakes!
But not ready to blow out the candles! (Cupcakes were made by Jakob and Daddy and were great!)

Present time...
First dress up shoes! Thanks' s Auntie Ang!


Sarah, my Birthday wish for you is that you keep your desire to be independent, in your style, thoughts, actions etc., it does make your parents job a 100 times harder, but it will serve you well as a woman!!

Fun weekend with old friends!

The Sula-Goff family came down for a visit this weekend. We figured out that we have known eachother for about 16 years, and our friendship is just as strong now, even after being away for 6 years. Feels so right being back here with them, even better that our kiddos all mesh together as if they've known eachother for that long too.

The whole crazy gang at La Jolla cove, up close and personal with the seals.
Emilie (4) and Sarah, a sweet and silly pair - here they turned away from me and said "Cheese" to the seals!

Our first trip to the SD zoo, and wouldn't you know it, a camel walked right by us! Sarah LOVES camels, she hopped out of her stroller and had a grin from ear to ear, and then yelled, "Hey look at that camel's silly bum!" That's my girl!
Jakob is serious about animal watching! I don't have any pics of his favorite part of the day - watching a Condor eat a rabbit and an eagle eat a rodent - nature at it's best.
Ezra (20 months). Jakob loves Ezra, he told Mark, "I want a little brother, just like this one!" Jakob had Ezra laughing hysterically last night, can't wait to see their friendship grow.
Emilie and Sarah, at the zoo
Had a ton of fun, can't wait until the next time!

Sightseeing in San Diego

Starting to see the sights around us, and they are fantastic!

Wild Animal Park...
Our own Great Ape, sizes up his competition.

Petting area, Sarah was all over this deer, it was too cute.


The Harbor at Mission Bay

Oh the excitement...

Christmas finally came and it went by like a whirlwind. We had a great time with family and friends. It was a bit overwhelming compared to our last few Christmas' at home with just a small family, but it was super fun to see everyone! We spent Xmas eve with Mark's side of the family, opened gifts, hung out and tried to get home at a decent hour to watch the Polar Express and drink hot chocolate, that was successful but the kids were so amped up after that! We checked NORAD for Santa's position, found that he was still 2 hours away - expected landing was about 11:30 pm, so the kids headed to bed, with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads. Jakob was sure he was going to stay awake until Santa got here, and was actually adament that he had stayed awake until 2 am, but what really happened was of course, he fell sound asleep and then woke me up at 2 am with a whispering shriek, "SANTA WAS HERE, c'mon!!" I couldn't send him to bed without opening anything, but didn't want him to wake Sarah so I watched him open 1 gift (a dinosaur egg that he can excavate a fossil from), then I layed with him for about an hour until he fell back to sleep. I'm pretty sure Mark and his evil twin Sarah, were snoring during all of this!!
Jakob wanted to know how many minutes it was until 7 am, when he normally gets up, when I explained that it was HOURS until then, he finally relented!

He and Sarah got up about 6:30 am, Sarah was just as excited about opening presents this year.

They both were excited about their treasures. Jakob didn't get one thing that he really wanted b/c Santa spoke with Nana and Papa about spreading the wealth, so I think he was a bit sad but was so kind about it, "I didn't get the Lego fireboat I asked for, but I got these Legos that I like too." He is the best! You should have heard his gasp when he opened the fireboat at Nana and Papa's house - priceless!!

We spent the day of Xmas driving to my parents, then opening gifts and just enjoying a relaxing day. The next day we spent with 18 other people, it was so nuts but so fun. I wish I had more time to catch up with everyone. I remember going to my Grandma's for Christmas and LOVING it, all the cousins would play, we'd have more gifts to open and just lots of laughter - that's what the kids got this year at Christmas too! So thankful for that, and of course for my Mom and Don for hosting everyone!

At the Dangvu's, the kids all got bubble guns from Grandma Kathy - provided some serious fun!

Here's Sarah trying her hand at it! Oh and Sarah was dressed in a Christmas outfit, until she opened this up from Grandma!
Bubble guns!
The kids table, plus one, "Snoopy", Sarah's newest pal from the Dangvu family!
Hoping to sneak a peek of Santa!
Sleeping with "Snoopy"!
Here is Jakob opening up his 1 gift at 2:15 a.m.!
Christmas morning!
Santa brought Jakob the wetsuit he asked for - we should all be able to see him in the water!
2 happy kiddos at Nana and Papa's house - they are sporting some of their favorite gifts!
Nana and Sarah doing ballet! Sarah has had an outfit change here - it's leotard time!
2 1/2 hours, Lego fire boat done, with a bit of help from the men folk!
2 cutie pie princesses - Sarah and her 2nd cousin Isliana!

Here is the exciting mayhem I was talking about that I remember as a kid, Uncle Paul playing with the kids - he did this when I was a kiddo! Notice Jakob, being caught in the act of doing something, maybe he shouldn't be! Mayhem!

It's starting to feel like Christmas

The weather is cold, windy and rainy, makes you want to stay inside and drink hot cocoa and munch on all the goodies in sight!
Nana and Papa visited this weekend, which was fantastic but the goodies they left and baked while here - not that fantastic - well not for my waistline!

Here is the family on a cool, Winter evening, walking on the pier

Nana and her girl
The kids made the annual gum drop tree, I helped finish it - they had enough of it about 10 minutes into it, and I think they ate just enough to make them sick! :)
Jakob, getting creative!
Uh huh, caught ya!
The finished product!

Winter?

I know it's December, but it sure doesn't feel like it. Our bodies are just now defrosting and getting used to this warm thing in the sky, called the sun! I do have to admit that I miss the rain, snow and cold, I like dressing in boots and a rain coat, but the sun is so wonderful.

I know our long lost friends are getting drenched in record rain right now, I am glad we moved when we did. We are thoroughly appreciating this spectacular weather, that I'm pretty sure I didn't appreciate this much, when we lived here without children! We can now just go to the park whenever, pop out to the beach whenever and just go for a walk without gearing up - makes parents lives so much easier! But, it's been ingrained in me to take full advantage of the sun, I guess because we didn't see it too often in Portland, so I feel like we need to do as much as possible in a day. Then I have to step back and remember that it will be sunny and nice here, most of the year - duh - so just slow down and enjoy - but this is hard to do!

Here we are taking full advantage of the warm weather over the last week or so.

La Jolla Coves, looking at the seals (last weekend). The kids loved watching the seals swim, Sarah had to find all the "BAAAABY SEEEALS!"



Shell beach



Birch Aquarium, the kids were able to watch the sharks getting fed, so exciting! Jakob really liked the aquarium, totally into learning all about each fish, if they are tropical or not etc. There is a little tide pool area where the kids could touch things like anemones, sea cucumbers, crabs etc, they both really enjoyed that.

The beach today, Mark and his board.
Just enjoying the view today!