The last 7 days of 2012

Get ready - this is a long post. We've had a busy last 7 days of 2012...

Merry Christmas morning! The boys woke up at the usual time and half-forgot that it was Christmas morning. I prompted them with, "Did Santa come last night?" They both went running into the living room and the day got started! (Colin isn't sure if Santa is real, but fully believes in elves. Justin doesn't ask any questions about Santa or elves - he just asks to open presents.)

Santa brought a magic set and the boys have been treating us to their magic shows ever since.

Our tree was full of gifts from family and friends and the boys had a blast ripping through the paper and discovering their new gifts. Thank you everyone!

 We had a few friends over to celebrate Christmas dinner. Dad put together his amazing appetizer dish. And mom was lead chef for dinner. She cooked a 10lb rib roast to perfection.

 I was preoccupied with the good food that I didn't manage a group photo of our entire dinner party. A couple shots...

 

 Later in the week, Nick & Tami stopped by for a Christmas lunch. Good family fun!

  

We enjoyed a double date night with my parents and headed out to Chagrin Falls for an afternoon. My mom said, "now I know that there is a real reason for scarves. In SF, it's for style. In Ohio, you need it for warmth." haha.

Then it was birthday celebration time.  My birthday was low-key and relaxed. I started off my 32nd year of life with a slow morning spent in bed wrestling with my boys, quiet time with a book, Colin giving me cuddles on demand and Justin telling me, "you're so pretty" all day. I'm hoping that this was an indication for the pace of this next year. Slow and relaxed!

We headed over to Grandma's house and the boys took over my cake.  Justin was upset that the bigger boys blew out the candles before he could, so we did it all over again for the younger kiddos. Double win for me = happy birthday song twice! And let me tell you, there's nothing sweeter than a 2 year old singing happy birthday to you. If you didn't know, birthdays are best when you can go home with your own container of fudge. Thank you!!! =)

Justin and Ana were cute as ever together. Justin was nap-less that day and mostly grumpy, but it's no surprise that he gave up good smiles for his favorite Ana.

The big present this year was our new mudroom closet. My parents gifted us with all of the materials and Jack & my dad went about their work to build our custom-made built-in. Hours of planning, executing, and beer drinking. There's no way we could have done this without them here. Dad's hours of work to design and build it and Mom's hours of work to help with the kids and house. THANK YOU! So, here it is. Construction is done, paint and final detailing to go. Amazing, right?




My parents went to Toledo for a weekend getaway (Toledo = casino + restaurants). They returned well rested and we spent New Year's Eve with a zoo trip and dim sum. This pic of my dad with the elephant makes me smile. =)

 

 Random pictures of us washing our legos. It was quite the process, but needed to be done! (we searched youtube for solutions on how to do this. Lots of ideas. I settled on the hot water, soap, stir, rinse, repeat method.)

With the unexpected (but lucky) purchase of our current home, we've been busy beyond belief in 2012 with work on this house. So for 2013, I guarantee we will not be purchasing anymore homes.  I imagine a slower and more relaxed 2013. Little travel. Lots of backyard fun. Good dinner parties. Growing boys. Relaxed and running (yes, we'll start working out again) parents. Happy and content.

From the bottom of our hearts, we wish you a 2013 filled with love and happiness. Happy new year!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Early Celebrations

If you ask me, Christmas came early this year...my parents arrived last week! They brought a bucket load of legos, lots of energy and good spirits.

Lunch at Lola's. (right before we hit up the casino - and all 3 of us won!!)

Early Christmas celebrations continued when Leela came over and we did our xmas ornament exchange.

And Emily came over for fun playtime. Colin & Emily spent a good amount of time creating "the biggest boat ever." And I would be safe to say that Legos have been the theme of the week thus far...

My mom and Justin playing cards...

And then Alexis & Andy came over and treated the boys to their first ever treasure hunt. Instructions, 5 stops with maps and prizes at each stop and a final present!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We went to Chuck-e-Cheese once for a birthday, and the kids have not forgotten. They requested another trip and they loved it even more! Justin was a huge fan of this simulation roller coaster.

And Colin loved this snowmobile virtual game.

I downloaded pics from my mom's camera and found about 10 pics of deer in our backyard. haha.

The elf is still around and we have been spicing things up...

And our Justin is growing up everyday. He talks the most during dinner and sometimes ends sentences with "actually." As in, "I want the blue one, actually." or "Colin is sharing, actually." We often find him talking with both hands on his hips, just like this...

Let the festivities continue... Merry Christmas eve everybody!

Week Updates...

We had quite the week. 
Dinner Date #1: A reunion with the Oakdale boys. Here's one of the very first pics I have of Colin and Evan. (Justin and Drew were too little to be roaming around at the time) Crazy how time flies and how much these boys have grown.

Dinner Date #2: At Sophie's house. The school sends us daily pictures of the kids and Justin & Sophie are side by side most of the day. No pictures of the dinner, but some of my favorite moments from dinner included Justin's dinner table conversation about wanting to sleep over at Sophie's house, and Justin & Sophie sitting in a sofa chair telling everyone that they were "just taking a little rest." Justin loves his Sophie time and Colin was a great big brother who stayed out of the 3 year olds' way!

Dinner Date #3: Weekly dinner date with Leela. By this day, I was exhausted and there's nowhere I'd rather be than with Aarti and Leela. Lots of fun, tent-making and christmas ornament exchanging.

Jack spent most of the weekend prepping the rentals, so the boys and I kept busy with errands and cleaning. But we did take a break to make some gingerbread graham cracker houses. First time I made the icing from scratch - easy and so good!

In other home updates: our elf doesn't move everyday, but when he does move, it's always fun for the kids to find him in a new spot. This was my favorite thus far.

Guess who's parking in the garage?! Me, me, me!! We finally cleaned up the garage a bit and Jack built his workbench. Just a bit more tidying up and we'll be able to get Jack's truck in too.

The boys testing out the guest room (with a newly set up TV).

Their new favorite movie is Free Willy. And scenes from the homeless kids to the whale catchers to the whale training has sparked a ton of new questions. 

Colin: (after watching the homeless kids try to find food on their own) "If you guys die, I'll take care of Justin. Then when we get older, we can split up.

me: Do you think something will happen to mommy and daddy?

Colin: I said "IF" you guys die.

me: oh.

Colin: IF means that it might not happen. 

me: Well. IF that happens, then there are other adults who love you.

Colin: I don't have their phone numbers. How will I call them to take care of us?

Justin: (the police car chasing scene) Mom, can you hold my hand?

me: sure.

Justin: i don't want a police car to chase me. that's scary. I just like to look at them when they're not chasing.

me: me too.

Sugar Weekend + Updates

We started off our weekend with some Christmas cookie making. Grandma spoils us silly by saving all of the sprinkle cookie making for when we are there. Seriously, she does all of the hard work, and literally creates stations for the kid-friendly part of cookie making. Justin is crazy about sprinkles. Can you find his masterpiece?

 

 Then, I had a surprise waiting for me. Grandma saved this special pretzel bark recipe for me. Oh. My. Goodness! Not only did she make it for me, but she sent me home with the WHOLE pan!! I've been storing it in the garage refrigerator so it takes one extra step to break off a piece. Amazingness.

 The weekend of sugar continued when we finally cashed in on Colin's "listening coupon" from school. Good listening when the rest of the class is crazy = free ice cream coupon! Yes, he shared with his brother. And yes, bear bear and eeyore are still around.

 After our sugar-filled, wonderful day, I decided that we needed to run off some of that goodness. So off we went to the zoo. We walked the ENTIRE zoo and rainforest. No stroller. Just walked (with a few spurts of Justin being carried) and walked and walked.

Family Updates:

The house: Attic update - new paint (thank you Lori), new carpet + lighting. In about 5 years, this space will be the boys' den, but for now, it's a playroom and a guest bedroom (two rooms separated by a door.)

The other huge development is window treatments. Our before and after. When we bought the house, the windows had the roll up shades and they were old and started to rip. Finally, our new blinds arrived! Love.

And for our living and dining areas, we finally settled on curtains. They need an iron and hem to complete the look. =)

We're also trying to get a bit more settled in other "design" areas of the house. My sister renovated some old frames with paint and Hawaiian sea glass (no lie - she flew sea glass out here for her visit). And we finally cleaned up the dining built-ins to be a bit more festive. Honestly, we have no idea what we are supposed to put on these shelves. Any other ideas?

  

Kid updates:

• The boys make up their own words. And "Choo-Kee-Nah" is one of their favorites. When they're being silly, they call each other this. When you ask them a question, they answer with this. Whatever you say, you may hear "chookeenah" plus some giggles in response.  Silly fun.
• Colin: He is enjoying being 5. He is busy with 5 year old toys now: Snap Circuits Jr., Legos, Puzzles, paper airplanes, stickers and books. He loves to build and create new things. He's a great big brother and often helps Justin by reading to him or helping him with things. He is inquisitive and we need to call Jichan often for answers to questions. "What makes the sky orange at night? why only some nights? why not the whole sky?"
• Justin: He loves everything colorful and big. If we give him a choice, he'll always choose anything with the most color and the biggest of everything. He loves elephants and giraffes. He loves Spiderman and jumping. He whispers in my ear, "mama, you're so pretty." When he's excited, he'll say "oh my gosh. that is so cool!"  He rotates between 4 of his favorite t-shirts and often will pull them out of the laundry basket to wear if they are all dirty. He still plays Baby Lucas when he wants extra cuddle time. He's a good little brother and will often create new games for the two of them to play. If you ask him to share something, he will usually respond, "yes, in 2 minutes." He's in the middle of potty training and we'll all be so thrilled when it's complete. =) Picture: THE favorite green tractor shirt + Elephant = Justin happiness.

Adult updates:

• Jack is still vegan (95% of the time). One of our tenants moved out so he was busy with tenant turnover tasks all weekend. Repairs, cleaning, marketing, renting. He admits that he hasn't been back out running since Lori was here, so hopefully he'll start up again this week.
• Jamie is not vegan...and never will be. I gave up brie cheese twice in my life (for pregnancies), but never again! haha. In other news, a huge decision was made. The original plan was to keep the tmill in the garage. But since I have zero motivation to workout, we decided to temporarily move the tmill into the office. No excuses. Once I get in a routine again, we'll move the monstrosity into the (cold) garage again. For now, let the running commence. Yes, that tmill sure is looking dusty in this picture.