Happy Birthday to Dad

We had a weekend full of birthday celebration for Darin. Started off on Friday night with party at Jenn & Craig's. Then Saturday night, we had Darin's siblings over for a more intimate gathering at our house. What a fun night it was. Christened our new firepit that Darin built and enjoyed the wonderful evening. Sunday was the first nice day we had in a long time, and we enjoyed it in our backyard, kids playing, horseshoes for adults and I gardened all day. We topped it off with an impromptu dinner with the Lefferts & Seteras who came over to enjoy the backyard with us. It was a very busy weekend but a very fun one. We appreciated everyone joining us in celebrating Darin's birthday.

 

Enjoying the firepit

Kids goofing off during dinner

The adults table

Beach for Easter weekend

It's became one of our yearly traditions now to spend Easter weekend at the beach. The best part of that is that we are usually surrounded by dear friends. We had an awesome time - the weather was perfect, which always helps! Lots of play time at the beach, hiking the dune, tide pools, and late night with friends.

Aden loving the fact that we were able to get up to our "fish bowl":

Alicia enjoying the view - the best part about hiking the dune:

Sydney & Kadence:



Singers

This is what happens a lot in the car - the best entertainment I can possibly ask for. My favorite thing about this video is Gizmo. Can you tell that he could care less about all that singing?!

Easter 2011

Easter was a big hit at our house this year - the kids had a lot of fun dyeing eggs and decorating easter cookies. The egg dyeing was a little bit of a patience test for me - a few broken eggs, dye everywhere and the MESS! At one point, I just gave myself a reality check and told myself that I'm trying to create memories for the kids, and even though things don't go as how I planned or wished, I don't want the kids to remember it as mom being so uptight and stressed out. I want it to be happy memories. Plus Aden, with all his wisdom, told me while dyeing eggs that "you know you're having fun when your hands are messy". Gotta love that boy!

Decorating cookies with dad - I made him join in on the stress fun:

 

This smile says it all:

 

We love that monkey...

I thought Aden was the biggest George fanatic until his sister came along...

Another use for the ear phones

These kids find a lot of use for the ear phones - not only handy for the concerts but also for that loud vaccum!

No training wheels!

I took these videos back in March when Aden decided that he wants to ride his bike with no training wheels. He practiced with his smaller bike.Darin decided it's easier if he straps on his roller blades instead of running right next to Aden. That worked so well, it took Aden literally a couple of afternoons, and he built up enough confidence to say goodbye to his training wheels. He is now a bike-riding machine and he takes every opportunity he gets to ride his bike, even if it means he rides up and down our sidewalk, while we're working on the yard.

He is now riding his big boy bike and he can ride as fast as I can on my bike. We are so happy that he loves bike riding as much as we do and it's definitely something we will be doing often!





Playing Catch-up

It's been a long time since I've posted something...I can't believe my last post was last February! We have been extremely busy with the kids' classes, library trips and I've been working a lot of hours since January. Every free moment I've had has been taken up by work.  There's also been a few exciting stuff that's happened: we bought a new car (finally!!), Aden started riding his bike with NO training wheels, and Darin had hernia surgery. Other than that, it's been pretty quiet here, except for the frequent trips to the beach!

Kadence is 2

How can it be 2 years already? I am having a hard time accepting how fast time has flown by and that my baby is not a baby anymore. This little girl has been such a great joy to us and truly made our family complete. She is the sweetest girl, but at the same time she is as tough as nails. She is loud, and I mean L-O-U-D. She adores her brother but also has the need to compete with him and do everything that he does. She is very polite - since she started talking, she knows when to say her please and thank you without having to really ask her to say it. I knew from birth that she will always try to get way when she foiled my plan and decided she needed to be born 2 days before my scheduled c-section. And since then, she has given new meaning to the word PATIENCE for me. She can be very trying at times, but she can also prove to me in an instant that she is the best little girl I can ever ask for. She lives up to her name - this girl can dance and sing like no other! Sometimes it brings tears to my eyes when I hear her sing all the songs she sings and there are countless times when D & I just laugh each night when we hear her sing herself to sleep. We all love her to pieces and I am looking forward to all the excitement she will bring to our lives. 

Party for the Miss

We celebrated Kadence's birthday the weekend before her actual birthday. Although it was a hectic time for us since we just got home from Mexico 4 days before the party, we still really wanted to see our friends and have the kids help us celebrate K turning 2. We've been asking K what she want for her birthday and each time, she says "CAKE!". I think that is all she remembers from Aden's birthday. So, I obliged and made her a cake. I think the look on her face says it all! Thank you to all who came and helped us celebrate our baby's birthday!

She loves this matching outfit - thanks Jenn!

Trading fashion tips...

They really do like each other...and they're trouble

Now you see it, now you don't

Two weeks ago, Aden just got done with his swim class and told me about his loose tooth. I thought he was just messing around with me about it when I asked him to show me. Sure enough, one of his bottom tooth is very loose. I was quite freaked out about it - he just turned 5! I've always thought kids don't start losing their baby teeth until they are 7. One of the moms from swim class assured me that it's quite normal, that her son also lost his first tooth at 5. So, I acted excited for Aden since he is quite happy about it and constantly wiggled the tooth lose. Inside, I was still quite freaked out - it's another sign of how big he's gotten and all the changes that are ahead of us. 

Loose Tooth

Three days later, while eating breakfast, I saw him took something out from his mouth and put it on his plate. I thought it was weird and maybe it was his tooth, but Aden didn't say anything about it, so I thought maybe it was a berry seed or something. An hour later, he was talking to me when I realized his tooth was gone. I looked at his plate and sure enough, the tooth was on the side of the plate, the one he took out of his mouth. He was shocked for a while and didn't want to believe me when I had him look in the mirror. It took him a while to really get into it and the fact that his tooth is gone. We talked about the tooth fairy coming and that got him excited. I was so proud that it was such a painless experience for him and that he actually worked on that tooth and never got freaked out about losing it. Another indication of how big my boy is getting. 

No tooth

That night, we put his tooth in an envelope and he wrote "Aden's tooth" on it so the tooth fairy knows who it's from. A few minutes after we tucked him in, he came back out of his room and said that his tooth is gone. Turns out, he was messing with the envelope and the tooth fell out. He must have looked for it for a while before he told us. We tried to search for that tooth for almost a 1/2 hour until we said it's too dark and too late to look for it. He was quite devastated and worried that the tooth is gone. I promised him we will find it in the morning and that the tooth fairy just won't come until the next day. Sure enough, after we took apart his bed, we found the tooth under the bed hidden by some of his toys under it. That night, he knew not to mess with that tooth and he was happy to see that the tooth fairy visited him that night and left him quarters for his piggy bank.

Mexico Trip

We decided to go on a short trip to Mexico for a min-vacation and also to take advantage of K's free fare before she turns 2. We got a good deal at a great hotel in Puerto Vallarta and we spent 5 days of fun in the sun. The kids enjoyed doing nothing but eat and swim in the pool. They didn't even want to hang out on the beach - apparently they get to do that at home quite frequently. It was nice to not have any agenda and it's amazing how much both kids were content just swimming and lounging by the pool. Aden literally spent 5 hours straight just swimming. He puts on his lifejacket and all we have to do is keep an eye on him while I knitted pool side. Although it's not Fiji (as my husband said a few times during the trip), it was a nice break from our hectic lives. Our kids truly LOVES travelling and they both appreciate the adventure! There was a little stressful moment when the president of Mexico decided to spend one night at our hotel (long story) but other than that, we had a fun vacation and loved every moment of it. Aden's already planning our next trip! 



Playing Catch-up

We've been quite busy the last couple of months, hence the lack of blog postings. Both Darin and I have been working crazy hours and it seems that this schedule might go on for a few more months. No complaints here, I'm still lucky that I get to work from home and even though it makes my nights very long and sleep can be very scarce for me, I am very thankful that I get to set my schedule around the kids' needs. The holidays was a blur; it went way too fast and we didn't get to enjoy a lot of outings due to sickness in our house. It seems that we keep catching a bug one after another. 2010 was a good year for us, lots of fun outings, great memories and many many things to be thankful for. Here's some pics from the last couple of months..

My trip to Seattle with Beth to see Dave & Tim - what a memorable time!

Fun time during the holidays:




Decorating the tree!

 


Hugs after they opened gifts for each other




The Nogs joined us for Xmas morning - Aden took this pic!



Aden enjoying the festivities with his shot of fresh OJ!

Dinner with friends

Party with Friends

Aden is so fortunate to have such close friends that he has grown up with. We had them over for a little party to celebrate his birthday. It was so nice to see all the kiddos and it was also nice for us to have hang time with their parents.

I also have to give props to my amazing husband who took it upon himself to create an amazing train cake for his son. Aden requested it and he delivered (actually did it 2x, for both of Aden's party - the other one with my side of the family). I think he missed his calling, he is definitely the talented one in this family. I helped, but he did most of the decorations. Aden loved it and all the kids too - the decorations were off the cake within 5 minutes! It was tough to see it taken apart after staying up until 2:30 in the morning to put it together, but that is what it is for and it was all worth the effort!

This is sweetness...

I am so glad I was able to capture this moment, thanks to my blackberry. This is also the first time I've heard Kadence say Aden, instead of "A". She's called him "A" since she started talking and we've started calling him "A", so it's almost bittersweet that she is starting to say his name...

Train engineer

One very happy boy & his trains, courtesy of Grandma Tess.