Mama's Day

A few pics I pulled up from Mother's Day three weeks ago.

A lazy Sunday morning in bed with my boys (the best time of the day!) Both boys are holding onto their dragons - so cute!

The boys were taking turns sitting in Logan's sofa chair - we decided it was probably time to buy one for Callum

See, this just can't be comfortable!  ;-)

My mom's birthday also happened to fall on Mother's Day this year so we met up with my parents and Zane for dinner in Palo Alto

All decked out in their Hawaiian gear (they just got back from a trip to Hawaii)

Callum was fascinated with the mirror (behind Jon)

Swords, lightsabers or eating utensils?  Hard to say.

Or perhaps drumsticks  :)

Callum getting comfy with Uncle Zane and Zabuton (while I scarf down my dinner!)

I think next year will be 50 years that they've been together.  A fantastic couple to model after.

Happy Birthday Mom! And, Happy Mother's Day to all the beautiful mothers out there!

Oh what fun it is to ride...

Yesterday I got this silly idea in my head to purchase last minute tickets to ride the Holiday Train of Lights through Niles Canyon today. I had heard about the event through the parents email alias at my work, and heard it was great fun for the kids but to act quick because it sells out super fast.

Luckily, they actually had a number of seats left for today's ride! I think partly because it just began (it starts the day after Thanksgiving) and partly because I chose the earlier (twilight) time. I'm actually glad we went on the earlier train - even though it wasn't dark enough to really feel the impact of all the pretty lights, they were still fun for Logan and honestly, the train ride was much more scenic for all of us since we could actually see the valley throughout the ride!

Also, since there weren't too many people on our train, we had plenty of room to spread out and Logan got his own seat (I didn't actually buy him a ticket, so technically he was supposed to be in one of our laps. mwahahahahaa!). It also meant we got a cozy indoor car instead of one of the outdoor cars, which was good since it was RAINING and COLD!!! Whew!

Brrrr!!!

Enjoying his own big boy seat

Hey this is a family site Kai!

Logan absolutely LOVED it. And the rest of us had a great time too! (My parents and brothers all joined us).

Logan was pretty much glued to the window the entire time - he wasn't even interested in Santa who came by for a quick snapshot. :) He enjoyed walking back and forth between cars but wasn't as crazy about going to the outside car (I think it was too cold, wet and "fast" for him being that close to the outdoors and tracks).

On our way back home, Logan commented to me, "This is the biggest train I've ever seen!" It was pretty cute.

If only you knew how hard a family pic is to get these days...

After the train ride, we all had dinner at a local Burmese restaurant (supporting our local business on Small Business Saturday!) and thankfully, both boys did fairly well, considering how tired they were and how late it already was.

All in all, a great rainy holiday Saturday with the family! :) For more pictures from the day, visit here.

Palace of the Legion of Honor

Callum and I are out with my parents to view the second half of the Impressionist exhibit (Impressionist Paris: City of Light). A fun day outing but MAN it is freezing in the city today!!

Visitors Galore

We continue to have visitors in and out of the house! Grover has found a new resting spot to keep an eye on the gaggle of humans invading his space ;-)


Friday, my Aunt Pammie drove down for a quick visit with me, the two boys (I kept Logan home from school), and my parents. We didn't take any pics or even hang out at the house - just grabbed lunch at a nearby delicious new spot my parents found, and caught up on family gossip. Still, it was great to see her and have her spend time with (mostly Logan) the kids! :)

After our visit, I headed back to the house for nap time. It was a FIGHT to get Logan down for a nap, but he finally succumbed, thank goodness. I then spent the afternoon hanging out with Callum and visiting with neighbors, enjoying the gorgeous weather on our front porch.

That evening the Children's Discovery Museum had a special "Members' Only Night" to showcase two new exhibits of theirs: Bob the Builder - Project: Build It and Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action. We invited my parents along to check it out and Logan absolutely LOVED it. We're going to have to return because these two exhibits were really up his alley. :)

Mix and match the tools!

"Watering" the plants with Zafu

Zabuton (with Callum), Daddy and Zafu looking on at all the craziness and fun (the place was PACKED!)....

Callum can't wait for his day to get in on all the action.

Practicing Downward Facing Dog.

Getting ready for the next boarding season! ;-)

Exploring out on the lawn in front of the museum.

Balancing and walking with Zabuton (I love this shot!).

BOO! He was playing a hide and seek game with me and my father (notice way down at the other end). He'd hide on one side of this wall and then peek out at the other end. I caught him here by surprise. :)

Suuuuuushi!

I don't know about this Mom....


Huh, not bad.


Hey, it's like spaghetti. Only, not really.


My dad's been wanting to try a Japanese restaurant out that's near our house, but we never get around to doing it. So, Thursday after our day up in the city, we drove back home to pick up Logan and decided to grab some dinner since Jon was going to have a late night at work anyway and I could use the help with the boys.

The food came out and let's just say I was shocked. As in S-H-O-C-K-E-D at how much Logan ate and how well he did!! We've tried feeding him Japanese food before, but without any luck. This time, he was all game and it was awesome. He ate a ton of edamame, two inari (sweet tofu and rice sushi), a tiny bite of agedashi tofu and then a bowl of udon noodle soup. WOOHOO! I'm hoping to go again really soon so he can remember everything he liked and ate and so we can keep up this trend. :)


As dinner was winding down, so were the boys. Throughout dinner I was sitting on one end of the table with Callum while Logan was at the other end, in between my parents. But, after our meal, Logan was really interested in sitting with me. So, because he'd done so well, we decided to swap kids - having Logan move over to my side of the table and me handing Callum over to my dad.

Logan immediately got upset! It turns out, apparently, he not only wanted to sit with Mommy, but he wanted to sit with his baby brother too! So, I took Callum back and held him while Logan - all on his own - wrapped his arm around Callum and leaned into me hugging us tight. My dad tried getting a few shots but they're all with my iPhone, so they aren't the clearest.


It's moments like these that I just love being a mom of two.

Birth of Impressionism

My parents and I headed up to the city today to check out the 'Birth of Impressionism' exhibit at the de Young Museum. Several masterpieces from the Musée d'Orsay in Paris are on special loan to de Young right now (debuting this Saturday), making for an AH-mazing (and rare) opportunity to see some fantastic works of art!

This was the only photo I took while up there, the back of my mom's head and her odd choice in hair accessories. :)

Peas in a Pod

I've been soooo lazy about blogging these days (case in point, I started this post several days ago and am just now getting around to publishing it!).

I have been walking every day and it's hot hot HOT out, which means when I get back to the house I'm totally worn out, sweaty, tired and just want to prop my feet up, drink an ice cold lemonade and catch up on all the TV I missed from the previous night when I passed out on the couch at the god awful hour of 9:00. *sigh*

SO ANYWAY :)

Last Friday night, a friend of ours was kind enough to extend his company's invitation to see Iron Man 2, on them! Who can pass up a free movie?! Not us.

My parents babysat both kids (actually the second time they've now babysat both boys for us - the first was a week prior, when Jon and I went out to a nice dinner and movie to celebrate our anniversary). We didn't make it out early enough to enjoy dinner with our friends, but we did find them at the theatre and were able to catch up on everyone's lives before taking in the flick. It was a really great movie that we both totally enjoyed. :)

Saturday morning, because Kai was in town, we had brunch with the family and then went back to our house so that Kai could get to spend some quality time with his new nephew.


Logan enjoyed seeing his Uncle Kai as well, demanding some 1:1 time with Kai, showing him how to water his plants. Again, it was precious. :)


Because Saturday was actually my mother's birthday (Happy Birthday Zafu!), we all met up again that evening, at a really fancy little Italian place in Burlingame.


As we were rounding the corner, about four different cars with tinted windows parked along the street in front of us. Out of each and every car stepped a pudgy old Italian man and his glitzy Italian done-up wife. It could have easily been a scene from The Sopranos. Jon was oblivious (as usual), instead asking me "Where the hell is this restaurant?"

I pointed to the mafia crew and said, I'm going to guess it's wherever those wiseguys are going.

And hey, whaddyaknow, I was right.


The restaurant was a farther drive than usual but totally worth it. Every dish was delish and we all stuffed ourselves silly.

A horrible pic of both Jon and Callum but it's the only one I got of Callum (he slept most of the night). So, just posting as proof that he was actually there with us. ;-)

As a birthday gift for my mom, I got her these really cute earrings (you may notice she's wearing them in a few of these pics). I told her the three pearls are for her three kick-ass awesome kids (not to toot my horn buuuuuuuut, we are pretty kick-ass and awesome). I actually got myself a pair as well, but with four pearls representing our now family of four. I just couldn't help it! :)


On Sunday, Zane met up with us for lunch since our buddy Eugene was in town visiting (from China). We had a blast hanging out and catching up. Then that afternoon, my Uncle Jim and Aunt Vickie came over to visit, meet Callum, etc. (they've been in town all week, visiting from New Mexico). Again, Logan demanded Uncle Jim's time out on the front porch to show him how to water plants (unfortunately I didn't get any pics to capture the preciousness, but it was still precious!).

And oh yeah, Sunday was also Mother's Day - how could I forget! ;-) My two beautiful boys: