I have nothing to say, but I really wanted to title this, my kids are cuter than your kids. Which of course I don't really mean, but come on, a little bit.  And yes, I totally did dress them alike on purpose.

Me: Why were you in time out?  (A: for not listening, for hitting e.g.)
Bobby: Because you put me here
Me: ...

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, a photo by sld78 on Flickr.

We had a nice day; we went down to the harbor for the Turkey Trot, it was a ridiculously gorgeous day. Then we rested before dinner. Rick worked all day until we went to Judys for a big meal. Random bunch of folks, but very nice and glad I didn't have to cook. I missed the rest of the family though. Rick worked Friday, Saturday and then flew to Jacksonville this morning.  Bobby and I pulled the Christmas boxes down and are pretty excited for the next month!

YAY. Done and it's still November

Well it wasn't easy finding time to sit at the computer and actually get it done, but I did it.  I stayed up way too late to get work done before the coupon codes expired, but I got a lot of photo projects done and it barely cost anything.  Next I am working on more calendars and another project. So, come on groupons!  Sorry to spoil the surprise of it arriving in the mail. And Shutterfly partners with Tiny Prints, so even more reason to like them both. Plus the way more affordable cards are on Shutterfly and just as cute. Enjoy.

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Full disclosure: I really did order a bunch of projects on my own initiative, but I am sharing this now to get a $10 discount on the next round of projects I am doing.  (I'm such a real blogger now eh)

November

Moving right along here. Holidays are so much better with kids. Halloween to New Years is just full of events, baking, crafts and fun stuff to do. Bobby is great usually. Typically, he is a three year old. Generally good, but doesn't always listen, definitely knows how to push buttons, but is really smart and learning so much and never shuts up.  Jack is great, happy, easy going, doesn't know how to fall asleep on his own, loves watching his brother.  He does like to be held a lot, but he's at the age where being held is not enough.  He is going after everything with his hands. And then into his mouth. He can definitely do a lean forward sitting thing.

I feel like my whole life will be trying to get them both to smile at me at the same time. Whenever Bobby gets near this chair, he wants to sit down and makes me take a picture of them.

Not exactly Christmas Card material

What's happening?!

Somebody look at me

If only I could focus

I kiss him

And he kisses me

New (to us) comfy cute jammies (thanks Grammy)

Our Petco is a good one with dogs!

Helping cook breakfast

Enjoying a nature walk

Hiker guy in a pith helmet

Watching an intense game of Go Fish

Four Months

Bobby directed this photo be taken

Jack is four months old, time is flying by. He is the best baby. I don't remember Bobby being this happy and he was a good baby. He was cracking up as the doctor was examining him, she wasn't even touching him so it wasn't tickling, but he was smiling so big - and I had just woken him up since he fell asleep in the car on the way there.

He was 15 and a half pounds at his check up, everything right along the 50th percentile, head a little bigger. He got 3 vaccinations without batting an eye and then he took a nap while we went on a run. 

He has been sleeping in his crib, albeit poorly.  I am determined to make a good sleeper out of him earlier rather than later.  This includes not falling asleep in my arms and not eating every time he wakes overnight. (I actually think he might be hungry since I have watery milk and he doesn't eat for very long at a time) Also, it's time for structured naps, but I don't know how feasible that is with Bobby, but we're going to try.

October 12th

Childrens Museum

We explored Pretend City - the childrens museum in Irvine this week. It is basically like every other childrens museum, but that doesn't make it any less fun.  It is done really nicely and since we went in the afternoon, it wasn't very crowded.  AND, I had a groupon like deal so instead of $11 tickets, I got them for $5. YAY.

Good thing I was hungry

We are still hoping to go to Caliornia Adventure at Disneyland, so our guest room is open.  Also on tap this winter perhaps - Legoland and the SD Zoo Safari Park! Gotta get the first round of exploring out of the way while Jack is still free.

Newport Harbor

I feel a little bad bragging about this with all that happened to New Jersey, but damn, our weather is nice.  It was about 90 on Monday, so after preschool, we drove up the coast to Newport Beach and took a boat tour around the harbor.  It was very cool and mellow.  We saw the most ridiculous real estate, learned some interesting OC facts, saw some celebrity houses and Bobbys favorite part was seeing the sea lions. There were no crowds like there would have been on the weekend and it was a lovely little event for my guests and not too active to have the kids out for.

Cruising Baby

Finger sucking

The tubs didn't do much to stop them

Don't worry Jack was shaded every other second

He actually slept through most of it 

Richard Bransons catamaran for his submarine

Cracking up at his Grammy

Now you're all caught up (if you read in reverse order) Rick is a good bit bummed about the election, but he still has the World Series. Bobby was in fact on the cruise, he and Grandma just chose to stay downstairs.  

He has nailed counting and sorting though.  He has been counting forever, but now he can correctly count items.  Which means stopping when you reach the right number of things.  He also can say some of the Pledge of Allegiance and the Our Father. He counts backwards from 5. But you really have to catch him at the right time in a cooperative mood for him to exhibit any of these skills.

Jack loves watching Bobby and Bobby can make him laugh so much.

Baptism

What's Up Y'all?

November 4th - we baptised baby Jack at St. Edward just shy of him being four months old.  The Vanos' came down from Northern California, but godmother Colleen is on bedrest in Virginia at 7 months pregnant.

Both Grandmas were here again, and Bonus Grandma Judy came.  It was a quick ceremony with six other families or so and Father Mario performed it. Jack was a great little baby as usual. Once we went to the font, the priest said, "Remind me of her name again." Jack made a funny face when the water went on his head, a very shocked look, but no crying.  I had that stupid bib/burp cloth on him to protect us all from spit up, but now it's in all the photos. Oops. I guess I should do laundry more often and could have used one of the more white ones. The ceremony was very simple and nice then we came back to our house for some snacks and drinks and cake.  When their naps were over, Bobbys friends came over to play and have a little dinner.

Our party was not as large as some

Getting his stinky oil on

Fell asleep once his part was done

Bobby, Troy and Liam

Disneyland

Bobby is almost 3.5 so he has earned his trip to Disneyland from Grammy. YAY.  We had a lot of fun and as it's only about 20 miles away, were able to make a day trip without hotels, airfare or food costs! Just the crazy ticket prices and parking.  Since we went the day after Halloween (i.e. a late night) we had a casual morning and got there a bit before 11am (they open at 10).

We took it casually and luckily most of the rides are very chill and Jack could go on a lot of them.  It was also a great weather day for it and even better, there were no lines on pretty much everything. The worst wait was the jungle cruise, so I took that time to feed Jack and skip waiting in line.  

Bobby loved driving dumbo and the rocket ships up and down.  He spun the teacups fast. Liked the Pirates and Haunted House (even though those rides have changed so much!) But he went on the Buzz Lightyear one three times! in a row.  It was the gun shooting blaster part. He was one inch too short for Splash Mountain, which was fine b/c you have to sit in your own seat for that and I wasn't comfortable with that. It's a Small World was closed which was a bummer and they were putting up Christmas decorations on the castle.

Loved the Go Merry Round

Faster!

Had ZERO desire to get his picture taken with any characters.  Which is good because they were damn hard to find. We saw Goofy and Pluto in the front square, one when we came in and one on the way out when he was super tired. Aladdin and the genie were in a little hut and Bobby went nowhere near them.  We spied Mickey in a corner with a tiny line right before the nightly parade and Bobby was cranky by that point and adamant about not waiting, but Jack and I wanted a picture and by the time we got to the front of the line, Bobby decided to join us luckily.

From the ride in Tomorrowland

Shooting Zurg

On Mark Twains boat

All Bobby asked for all day was a balloon and it was right at the very end, but we kept on walking and he got sad about that. We left around 6:15 I think, so it was a full day but we definitely couldn't stretch it into the 7pm parade. 

THANK YOU GRAMMY. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! WE ARE SO LUCKY.