1st week back at school and the great blackout of 2011

     What a wild week it has been! We had 24 hours of rain and cool temps, which is really rare this time of year for El Cajon, followed by 3 days of above 100 degree temps, and it ended with the largest power outage ever experienced in San Diego County. The week started with a bithday party and ended with a birthday party. Oh, and Kurt has started working on a new shift at a new station. 
     We also had Keric's 1st day of preschool and Ryan's 1st day of Mommy and me preschool. Madness!

   

     Keric was really excited about going back to school. His teacher this year is Mrs. Furois. He was a little hesistant about leaving Mrs. Harres but he seemed to have a really good day. The following day we went to Ryan's 1st day at Mommy and Me preschool.  We all had fun in his class too. It was that afternoon, on a Thursday when the power went out.

   

We were at WalMart, again, when all the lights went out. The kids of course thought that was pretty entertaining until they realized we had to leave without all the yummy food in the grocery basket. Trying to leave the parking lot was like trying to leave a rock concert. This gave Keric plenty of time to ponder all the places we couldn't go because the power was out. No McDonald's. No train museum. No train station. No trolley rides...ad nauseum. We live about a minute, maybe 2, from WalMart, depending on lights. It took us about 15. I'm not complaining though. It took a lot of people hours to get home that day.

     After we got home we took stock of batteries, flashlights, candles, and glowsticks. : ) Our awesome neighbors let us put our food in their freezer since they had a little generator keeping things cool. We ended up having a little block party in their front yard with their kids and 2 other sets of neighbors. It was so good actually getting to talk with them instead of just the usual wave as we pass each other in our comings and goings.

     We have a gas stove so we were able to boil up some hotdogs and have a halfway decent meal even without power. After dinner we went out front to play a little longer before it got too dark. The two little girls from next door, Cameron and Jenna, came down with battery operated tealights for the boys for a nightlight. It was a super sweet thing for them to do.

     I decided to let the boys stay up late since it was way too hot to sleep. We all stripped down and went for a swim sans bathing suits but with glow sticks. The boys were completely exhausted by 9pm. Keric was falling asleep sitting up. It finally cooled off enough for bed and they slept like rocks. The power came back on at about 2am. I was really grateful that it only lasted long enough for the novelty to not wear off.

     Before we went to bed they announced that all the schools were closed. Sounded like a fine excuse for heading to the beach! We met our friends Miss Abbie, Ben, and Nate at Mission Beach. The boys had a great time looking for sand crabs and building sand castles. We took them to lunch at Belmont Park and watched all the rides for a little while. It is a treasure and a blessing to watch them all grow up together.

Well, now that this crazy week is almost over, I am packing for my 1st girl trip to VEGAS! Wahoo!

         

    

    

Granny's Visit August 2011

    Granny came to visit this month. She got to stay for about 12 days.  We tried to fit as much fun in the sun and relaxing into that short period of time as we could. We were also getting ready for my father-in-law's 80th birthday during that time so it was BUSY!

    We did make it to a few cool places. The San Diego Train Museum, of course, Balboa Park, and the Chula Vista Nature Center, Summer's Past Farm. Oh! and the beach. We took Granny to La Jolla Shores this time. We almost always go to Mission Beach so it was fun to take her somewhere new!  We also had a little pool party with some friends while she was here. We are so grateful that she can come and hang out with us!

    One night Granny and I even left the kids with Daddy while we went out to dinner. That was the 1st time we'd been out to eat without at least one of the kids in almost 5 years! Far too long!

    Mostly it was just awesome having her around. We, mostly she, peeled peaches from our tree. We made peach cobbler and peach jam. She and the kids played cards and had dinosaur wars. We sat around and drank coffee. Went swimming. It was very cool just hanging out doing all the simple things.

 
     It's always sad when it's time for Granny to leave but it is getting harder every time. Ryan just boohooed and boohooed when we left the airport. Then every morning for 3 or 4 days he would tear up and say, "I miss Granny." Heartbreaking. To the point that I can't help but start trying to plan our next trip home. : )
    

At the Chula Vista Nature Center

Christmas 2010

As is the tradition in my family, I put the tree up and started decorating the day after Thanksgiving. It was extra special this year because my Mom was here. It was the 1st time since I left home that my mom was at MY house to see it decorated for Christmas. Pretty cool.

Aunt Danni gave the boys a very cool present this year. The Elf on the Shelf! For those of you who don't know, the Elf on the Shelf is a little elf that goes back and forth to the North Pole to tell Santa whether you have been naughty or nice. The kids bought the idea hook, line, and sinker. Part of getting the Elf on the Shelf the first time is naming him. After I told Keric all about the elf I asked him what he wanted to name him. With a devlish little smile he said, "Pussy"....I was shocked, amused, trying not to laugh, trying to figure out why he said that...You name it...but mostly laughing on the inside.  After a little redirection he decided "Andy" would be a better name. Thank you Lord. : ) Thus started a new family tradition.

December 10th, Keric participated in his first Christmas show and on stage performance. He and his preschool class sang two songs, "The Stable Song" and "Tapping elf". It was so cute to see him up on that big stage with all his little buddies. The whole family went. Kurt was really proud to see Keric be such an outgoing little guy. He videotaped the whole thing. Kurt was a very proud Papa.

I have to mention also that we went Christmas caroling for the 2nd time this year. Our friend Angie invited a bunch of us over to make cookies and go sing. It was such a good time! Santa even paid us a visit!

     Christmas Eve we had the Alan, Lois, and Uncle Mike over to the house. Kurt smoked a turkey for the first time. I made the dressing, green beans, etc. Everything was really good. Uncle Mike brought the boys two big Hot Wheels sets. Grandma and Grandpa went overboard, of course. The kids got to open up lots of stuff from the folks. Somehow though we lost Grandma's present. Keric had picked her out a locket. I wrapped it up all super cute and, well,  we still don't know what happened to it. Best guess, Ryan threw it away. He had just discoverd the trash can and he loved playing around by the tree so, best we can figure, he was "cleaning up" and threw the present away. We'll make it up to her one of these days. Christmas Eve was lots of fun and will hopefully be  a tradition from now on to have it at our house.



Kurt and Alan preparing to carve the turkey. : )



Ryan giving Uncle Mike one of his presents.

 

Trying to catch up!

Oh my goodness, It has been a while.

My last update was Keric's 4th birthday. Since then we had Grandma's 75th birthday party, Granny came to visit, Thanksgiving, Keric's Christmas show,  and Christmas! That is a lot to cover but I've got to do it. : )

First off, Granny was supposed to come and visit about a month before she actually arrived. She made it as far as the Atlanta airport but had to go back home. Turns out she had pneumonia. We were all super bummed in California but glad that she was able to stay at home and get better. 



Soooo...Fast forward a couple of weeks to November 17th. West coast Grandma, Lois, turned 75! Kurt and I threw a dinner party for her at our  house. It was our first big "fancy" dinner party. It was  a lot of work but the food came out great and everybody had a good time. Kurt smoked a couple of tri tip roasts and I handled all the sides.  Lois was surrounded by lots of friends and family. Keric and Ryan went totally beserk because there were balloons everywhere. What is it with kids and balloons??? I think they thought it was their birthday! They were just running laps with balloons driving everybody crazy!



Lois celebrating her 75th Birthday













 

My Mother-in-Law, Lois, and her friends















Sometime between the party and Thanksgiving, Granny arrived! The boys loved having their Granny around. Especially Keric. When he saw Granny in the morning he would say, "Well Helloo Granny!" as if he hadn't seen her the night before. He would even ask Granny for "neck sugar". For those of you who don't know those are big ol' smooches on the neck. Keric is a fan. We went to the  San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld, and  Summer's Past Farm.

Granny and Keric at the zoo

Watching a movie with Granny

You name it. Except for the beach. The weather wasn't really cooperating for the beach but we'll go next time. I was so happy to have my Momma here to help me with Thanksgiving. We celebrated at the inlaw's house but we were in charge of the dressing and a homemade cherry pie. It's not the turkey or anything but I feel like the dressing is a big deal. I was really grateful to have my Momma here to show me how to do it right. Thanksgiving 2010 consisted of Kurt and I, Keric, Ryan, my Mom, Alan and Lois, and Uncle Mike. It was nice to have a fairly "quiet" family Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving 2010

I think I am going to save Christmas for another post. There was so much leading up to Christmas this year. With the boys being 2 and 4, Christmas is extra special.

Missing in Action

Wow! The last time I posted Keric had just turned 4. Truth be known, it just got so busy after that with my Mom visiting, Thanksgiving, quickly followed by Christmas that I got so far behind in posting that I quit.

Well, I'm back. Keric will be 5 in 3 months so I better get to typing. : ) I'm not going to try to fill in all the blanks from the last 9 months but I am going to do my best to post once a week from now on.

It is amazing to me how much both the boys have changed over the last year. They are both doing new, and amazing to me, things all the time now. They both just finished up VBS at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church. They both had a really good time. This is a picture taken of them there.

Making noodle necklaces at VBS

Anyhow, hopefully we won't be MIA anymore and will have lots of fun stories to share!

Keric's 4th Birthday

Seems hard to believe that 4 years ago we were in a hospital room in Bellingham, Washington but I guess we were. Now here we are in Southern California with our little blonde haired boy.
I am so proud of my little boy. I am so happy I get to spend this time with him. I am grateful everyday for the opportunity to be his Momma.

Keric blowing out his candles. I tried my hand at cake decorating this year. Thanks to my friend Karrie for the cake pan and to Miss Angela for her decorating tips!

  
He is a train loving boy so we knew his birthday would somehow revolve around trains. At first we planned on taking a train ride out of town but he actually didn’t seem to keen on that. I think he is still a little scared of the enormity of a big train. He said he wanted to go to the train museum and wouldn’t you know it, it’s closed on his birthday…Well, Plan C. Let’s just go downtown to the train station. He was elated.

When we arrived at the train station there was a Coaster departing and an Amtrak getting ready to leave. We were just wandering around chatting about the train when the engineer comes down from his booth, or whatever you call it, and says, “Hey, Wanna come up here and check out the driver’s seat?” His name is Mr. Jonathan and he made Keric’s day! We only got to hang out for a couple of minutes but he loved every second of it.

After we got off the train the engineer told us to cover our ears. They were about to leave and had to blow the horn. Keric totally lost his macho and jumped about 3 feet. It was fantastic. : )
Keric was up for going on a trolley ride so we got a couple of tickets and hopped on. The kids and I have done this a few times before but hubby has not. It was fun for everybody. I didn’t take any pictures because I had a squirming Ryan in my hands.



Cut to later that afternoon…The inlaws came over for dinner and birthday cake. I made the cake this year. It was my first time trying to frost anything besides a double layer cake. It was actually kind of fun. I need some practice but I didn’t think it came out half bad. Keric and Ryan definitely approved. Keric’s Granny and Papaw got him two trains, Edward and Emily, that he has been desperately wanting for a long time. His train track responds to them and says their names which he thinks is the coolest thing ever.

Grandma and Papa got him a big boy train for his garage train set. It was the 2^nd present he opened. When I asked him if he wanted to open some more he said, “No. I’m all done.” That lasted for about a minute but it was still sweet.

His buddy Miss Sasha got him a big Buzz Lightyear. He was absolutely ecstatic. Ryan was equally excited about this particular gift which led to big boohoo tears when he couldn’t play with it. Luckily Keric was distracted enough by other presents that Ryan got to play with him for a while. I’m sure there will be many fights to come over Buzz. Thank you Miss Sasha. : ) Keric is asleep with him now so I guess he wins today’s battle.


So happy to FINALLY have Buzz Lightyear!





Ryan is none too happy about Buzz Lightyear being Keric's toy.




He's MINE! ALL MINE! At least while Bubba is in the garage. : )









  




 

Halloween 2010

Wow! What a weekend!

     We started off Friday with my Mom’s Group 5^th annual Halloween party. With all the Moms and kids we had 55 people at the playground. All of the kids were so cute in their costumes. We had Transformers, princesses, ladybugs, Woody(s), Buzz(s), etc. Tons of good food and the kids got to practice trick or treating. This is my 4^th year of participating in the trick or treating…It is just controlled chaos. The kids love it and it’s fun for us mom’s too.

Saturday was the adult Halloween party. Hubby and I were a doctor and a nurse. Pretty lame against Lady Gaga and her paparazzi but we had fun. It was my friend Maria’s house. She does an incredible job of decorating and organizing every year. We had way too much fun and after I helped out with one karaoke song, it was time to go…

Sunday was Halloween of course. Some of our friends came over so the kids could trick or treat with their buddies. I made chili. My brother passed down his recipe to me and I have to say it came out great! Hubby smoked a tri tip roast. It must’ve been good because it was completely gone. Not one piece was left and I didn’t have a bite. Oh well, I get to have some almost every weekend so I suppose I’ll live. Everybody else brought over something scrumptious to eat. Especially Angela. She made an awesome chocolate éclair cake! Yummmmy!

The kids had a great time trick or treating. When the kids were done we came back to count up the loot and turned on a movie for them in the garage. It was so cute seeing them all sit still and get locked in to the movie together. That gave the grownups a chance to relax for at least a few minutes which is always a good thing.

You would think the weekend was over by now but NO! Keric’s birthday was today! I am going to save that story for another post but suffice to say we had a great fun filled weekend. The pictures I took on Halloween aren’t the best but hopefully they paint a pretty good picture of all the fun we had.