Birthday Part 2

Dear Kate and Riley,

For Zach's actual b-day we kept it pretty low key. We went to the park with some friends and fulfilled Zach's only birthday request-- CHOO CHOO CAKE! He was so excited about the cake, he had a hard time waiting until the afternoon at the park. It was a rough birthday morning.

It was a chilly day at the park but the kids had fun and Zach got to blow out his candles-- actually he blew them out like five times, I kept lighting them and he kept blowing them out before we could finish singing! He even asked to light the candles again that night when dad got home. The funny thing was that he didn't care much about the actual cake, I don't even know if he ate more than a bite!

So I think that birthday #2 was a success, choo choo set, choo choo cake, it was a good one.

The "choo-choo" cake

blowing out the candles (probably for the 3rd or 4th time)

I thought this was a little miraculous-- 4 two year olds all looking in my general direction. And Nicole, the good mom who was helping all of them!

Thanking Addie for Mr. Potato Head with loves. They were hugging for so long we actually had to tell them to let go! Maybe we're in trouble with these two!

Love,
mom

Zach's 2nd B-day Part 1

He hated the birthday hat, he kept saying "hurt me, hurt me!"

Dear Kate and Riley,

So, this year Zach's birthday is going to have to take up a few posts. This spoiled boy is getting another birthday week, well more like TWO weeks!

The day before the visiting Hansens left we celebrated Zach's birthday a week early. We had one of his favorite meals (Japanese curry over rice) and had a cake and opened some presents. Dad and I were excited to have an excuse to give him his presents early since we had been SO anxious to give them to him ever since we got them the week before.

With Zach being old enough to understand the concept of gifts and to get really excited about getting them, it made this birthday about 1,000 times more fun than last year (when he couldn't have cared less!). Seeing him get so excited about trains and cars is just about the best feeling in the world. I can't wait for Christmas this year!

Summer was ready to party!

So much progress in a year, he blew out his candles (it did take him two tries)

and no frosting mess this year, he ate with a fork! What happened to my baby!?

Megan made me realize I really didn't take many pictures of the adults. Here's one with Grandma Janice (who was flattered at the beach when someone called Grandpa Ross her dad!--not sure how Grandpa Ross felt about that)

Zach's new train set (I scored it on craigslist). He hasn't stopped playing with it since and insists on sleeping with some of the trains every night.

Since we won't be together for Christmas this year, the kids got Halloween pj's instead. Even though they're older, I still can't get them to all look at me!

And sadly, the only one of Grandpa Ross and you can't even see his face. Listening to him read Dr. Seuss sure brought back memories for me!

Here's a video of Zach blowing out his candles, I tried to cut out my horrid singing as much as possible but you might want to turn the volume down...

Here he is opening his trains. I wish the video was better so you could actually see how excited he was, he was shaking when he opened them! So fun!


Thanks Hansen family for really giving the birthday week a jump start!

Love,
Mom

Hansen Family Visit-- Newport Beach

Dear Kate and Riley,

Last week we got such a fun treat and had some of the Hansen family out to visit. Grandpa Ross and Grandma Janice along with Uncle Clint, Aunt Kelli and Summer and Ali all came out for the week. We all stayed up in Newport Coast together which was really fun.

We lucked out and got a few really nice warm days and got to hit up the beach and the pool a few times. Then it cooled down and we had a fun park day and museum day. We even got a chance to celebrate Zach's birthday a week early while everyone was here, it was so much fun! I took well over a hundred pictures and there were so many cute ones with three cute kiddos that this is going to be long!

Beach Day 2-- Salt Creek

Zach loved Summer and Ali's wagon

Grandpa Ross dug a big hole for the kids

Clint got injured!

The tide had been really high that day and left this big "puddle" type thing. It was kind of gross but the kids LOVED it and played in it all day. The dads took the kids for rides on the boogie board. So fun!

Kissin' Cousins

Possibly inappropriate, Zach loved kissing summer and Ali through the glass table, it was really cute

Park Day

On Sunday between trying to watch conference on the computer and over the chaos of three 2 year olds, we went to the park. It was nice and cool, a perfect park day

Even Dad got in on the fun

Zach and Summer on the swings

I love this picture of cute Ali


The kids were lucky to have so many adults to play with them! Clint, Grandma Janice and Grandpa Ross all pushed them on this probably until they were ready to barf

Children's Museum (Pretend City) and Irvine Spectrum

on Monday we checked out the new children's museum called Pretend City. It was a lot of fun! Then we had lunch at the Spectrum and introduced the cousins to our favorite activity-- playing on the splash pad. The Utah cousins were not scared that it was a little chilly!

At pretend city the kids got to--- pump gas

garden

perform on stage

dance their hearts out

and even pick fruit!

Summer and Ali were a little nervous at first but it didn't take them long to realize that the splash pad was a LOT of fun (even if it was a little chilly). It was nice to be the only ones there!

We'll save Zach's b-day celebration for another post.

Love,
Mom

It's a...

Dear Kate and Riley,
Well it looks like you are officially getting..

Another BROTHER!

Great, now I do fancy font and I can't make it go back!
Anyway, we had our 20 week ultrasound today and baby brother was looking good even if he was a little camera shy. We are excited for Zach to have a brother to be crazy with! All I keep thinking of is how crazy Zach is and what it will be like to have two little crazies around here. That saying Mothers of Little Boys work from Son up 'til Son Down keeps running through my head. We are really excited.

Love,
Mom

Hands over his face, maybe he'll be more shy like dad!

Still shy!

The only time we got him to move his hands a little

Staycationing

Dear Kate and Riley,

We are about to have some big changes around here. A few months ago Dad started working some extra hours at a small firm just in the evenings for a little extra cash. Well, I guess he did too good of a job because they offered him a full time job a few weeks ago. So with MUCH sadness (at least on my part!) Dad said goodbye to Sunstone (and the Marriott discount--sob!) and will head back in to the world of public accounting, starting Monday! I know he's excited but I'm a little scared.

To help make the sting of switching jobs a little less, Dad took off this week before he starts at the new job. We debated going somewhere but decided to stay local. We "staycationed" at home for the first half of the week and spent the second half of the week close by in San Diego (hey that Marriott card is good until the end of the year so I have a few trips left!). Our WONDERFUL friends, the Bowens, took Zach for the last few days so Dad and I could have some alone time, it was great!

We went to Disneyland twice, the beach once, the pool a few times and to Sea World! Then Dad and I got to spend some alone time at the pool and got to see my favorite Neil Diamond cover band, Superdiamond! It was lots of fun. We were spoiled all week to have Dad around so much and it will be hard to give him back!

We already went to Disneyland on the rainiest day of the year, I think we may have also hit the hottest day of the year!

Zach was a trooper, with no nap he still lasted until 10:30 that night! He fell asleep for a bit in his stroller but was awake (and relatively happy) for the most part. He LOVES Dumbo.

The beach with Dad is so much more fun. He digs big holes to sit in.

Our first night down in Coronado. We went for pizza with a great view.

View of San Diego from Coronado

Sea World
So how is it that my kid who gags on juice downed almost this entire thing of frozen lemonade!? Next thing I know its going to be diet coke. Heaven help us. This is before the dolphin show where we got SOAKED!

Of COURSE the splash pad was his favorite part

Zach and Addie loved the little kid playland too. No big kids allowed. They would set up the soft blocks...

and then knock them over. Apparently it was really fun!

Megan took Zach home from Sea World for the rest of the weekend so Dad and I were on our own. We went to a sweet breakfast place in Hillcrest called Hash House a Go Go. Look at that pancake! It was banana brown sugar and it was delicious! (and no I didn't finish it)

Superdiamond was giving a free concert after the races on Friday so we caught the last couple horse races before the concert. I'm making such a lovely face in this one.

Love,
Mom

Aunt Jenny

Dear Kate and Riley,

I have a lot of stuff to catch up on but not a lot of energy to actually write about it all. I'm going to just hit the big ones.

A few weeks ago, we got to have Aunt Jenny come to visit. It was so much fun (for us, not so sure that Jenny had fun!). Zach LOVED Jenny (je-je) and did whatever she wanted him to and followed her around all day. We went to the beach a couple of times, the water park, and the Spectrum. I thought that my life was pretty fun until I realized that for someone without kids getting to sit at a table and drink a diet coke while watching Zach play in a fountain was not exactly the most thrilling thing on earth. Funny how quickly things change! Jenny, someday you will RELISH the day you can sit at a table for 2 hours with nothing to do!

I was sad when Jenny left because it was really nice having an extra set of hands around and nice having someone that Zach would actually listen to! But we decided if Jenny actually lived here Zach would eventually stop listening to her too.

Beach with Jenny

Look how happy he was!

At Wild Rivers. Zach loved the little slides that were just his size.

Besides Aunt Jenny, Zach's true best friend is Jack. Jack is a year older than him which apparently makes him MUCH cooler. He LOVES Jack and copies everything he does. And yes, my kid is eating cheetoes. Don't judge.

Of course at Wild Rivers Zach loved the splash pad the best.

Can you tell these pictures were all taken with my crappy camera? I'm no photographer but I can sure tell the difference between these and my good camera!

Love,
Mom