First Crush

On Saturday, while we were visiting at my parent's house, I mentioned to Logan that it was Zabuton's birthday tomorrow. 

My Dad asked Logan, "Do you know how old I'm going to be?"

Logan thought long and hard for a minute, and then said,

Eighteen!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night, we went out to dinner for my Dad's birthday (Happy Birthday Zabuton!) with my parents, my brother Zane and his girlfriend Norma.  At the end of the evening, Logan got very excited telling Norma all about the latest iPad games he is addicted to (Angry Birds, Where's My Water?, Fruit Ninja and Cover Orange).  He asked Norma and Zane several times if they wanted to come over to our house to play with him, but we said it was too late and they'd have to come visit another time.

So, Logan asked about Norma all morning today.  I finally texted Zane to see if they'd come over - Zane replied that he'd check with Norma.  I told Logan this, to which he said,

I think she'll say yes.  Because I like her, and she's beautiful.

And THEN he says,

But don't tell anyone Mom, because it's a secret!

Awwww.  His first crush!  :)

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.

Loganism(s) of the day

I'm finding that swim days are good days to capture "Loganisms" - probably since I have a chunk of time where there are no (Callum) distractions and it's just Mommy and Logan time. ;-)

1) After swim class:

I want to go in the boys room.

Mommy can't go in there.

Why not?

Because I'm not a boy.

But I'm a boy.


2) In the changing room:

What are those? (pointing to my boobs)

Those are Mommy's boobies.

Oh! Mommy's boobies are big. Logan's boobies are small.


3) Out to dinner with my family: my brother Zane took Logan to the bathroom when he said he needed to go potty. Upon returning, about 10 feet away from our table, Logan does a big fist pump in the air and yells to us at the top of his lungs:

I WENT POOP!

He sat down, turned to me and quietly said:

Mommy, I feel better.

And then, a couple of minutes later, he follows with another fist pump and:

GO SHARKS!

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:

Milk Drunk

Awesome onesie, courtesy of Uncle Zane. :)

Easter Weekend

Last Friday night the Easter activities began. I had bought several Easter egg decorating supplies, boiled about 2 dozen eggs that afternoon and invited the Jodoins over that night so that Robert and Logan could do a bit of Easter egg coloring. I had set everything out prior to picking Logan up from school that day, so when we got home, and he saw the array of arts and crafts on the table, he immediately put on his smock (informing me he was SUPER MAN MOMMY!), ready for some action. I had to distract him for awhile, telling him we couldn't start until Robert showed up, so he was raring to go by the time the Jodoins arrived. :)


The boys had a terrific time - we only had one casualty with the colored water (poor yellow, was mostly spilled on the table, before we could use it to paint many of the eggs). We had a couple eggs that were cracked since the boys weren't as delicate with them as we would have liked. But overall, I think it was a successful evening.

After the egg coloring activity, we all ate dinner and then the boys played and screamed and yelled and chased each other around the house until they were tuckered out. We put all the kids (Logan, Robert, Connor) down for the evening and then played a game of Alhambra, yet another new game Jon has roped us all into. It was tons of fun, I won! And Jenn came in a verrrrry close 2nd (although, she reports in her blog that she won so who the heck knows now). The important thing is, we totally left the guys in the dust. ;-)


I realized this weekend that I never posted about Easter last year and what a bummer! Because, it was our first experience of Campbell's Eggstravaganza that was a crazy experience. Logan had just learned to walk a few months prior, so he was still a bit unsure on his footing, especially when compared to the savvy 2 year old running machines or worse, their parents.

Jon and I were aghast and totally blown away by the fact that the parents just picked up their children and RAN out to the center of the circles, collecting eggs on behalf of their kids, and leaving smaller children (like ours) to stand alone, bewildered and empty handed. Luckily, Logan ran into a very nice girl who shared an egg or two with him, and it couldn't have made him happier.

(Enter memory lane with a few pics from last year's event)


So, this year we were PREPARED. We brought BACKUP. Enter Tia Catherine.


While Jon parked, Catherine, Logan and I staked out a nice little spot near the edge of the 2 yr old ring, getting ready to let loose. I warned Catherine of the madness that would ensue. How kids and parents alike would be RACING to grab any and all eggs they saw. She must not have believed me. When the flag was raised and all kids were allowed in the ring, Catherine and Logan took their sweet time finding the perfect little egg or two, only to be beaten out by the other eager parents clamoring to fill their precious son or daughter's baskets with eggs.

Somewhere in all that madness are Catherine and Logan!

Tia Catherine wised up quickly though, and competed with the best of them. She found a group of unclaimed eggs which she quickly set Logan down to, "roping off" the area with her arms and pushing other kids and parents out. Their goal was 5 eggs. Logan scored 4. Good job Cat! ;-)


After the Campbell egg hunt, we had a delicious lunch at Hobbee's before meeting up with a number of our friends at Sky High Sports, a warehouse sized trampoline center, to partake in a day's worth of activities celebrating Nathan's birthday (Happy Birthday Nathan!).

Logan likes to jump, but is still learning and the bouncy houses intimidate him a little I think. His reaction to the trampolines was similar - he was very cautious but seemed to pick up interest as time passed, since Daddy and Tia Catherine were bouncing all over the place with him, not to mention Robert (and Jenn), Jamie (and Julie), and Kim. :) I think he was enjoying his time by the end of the session.


Jon split with "the boys" to wait in line at the Apple store, for their reserved iPads, while Catherine and I headed back home to put Logan down for a nap. Jon actually got home just about the same time that Logan was falling asleep, so he snuck in and laid down with Logan, showing him the fun new glossy toy he had just scored. Jon had just downloaded a simple "Trucks" flashcard app on the iPad, so they ran through that before Logan finally fell asleep. :)

While Logan napped, I rested and Jon and Catherine played a round of Alhambra (where this time, Catherine whipped Jon's butt, noticing a pattern?!?!). We then filled up several (and I mean SEVERAL) plastic eggs full of chocolate candies and Catherine did a KICKASS job at hiding them all around the front yard while I distracted Logan once he woke from his nap.

He had a BLAST during his own personal egg hunt in the front yard - yelling and pointing "THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!" every time he saw another neon green or pink or blue egg peeking out of a bush or tree or corner. It was awesome and we all had a really fun time.


After Catherine took off, we packed up the car and headed over to the Hickson's house to continue visiting with friends and enjoying Nathan's birthday festivities. We were all pretty tired from such a long day we ended up going home rather than staying over, so that we could put Logan down at home. I was noticing his cough more and more and a few more sniffles and runny nose (and, based on Monday, I'm glad we did come home early!).

Sunday morning we headed over to my parent's house for EVEN MORE Easter fun. My dad whipped up a DEEEEEEE-licious batch of homemade pancakes. Logan helped prep the batter but wasn't as interested in flipping the hot cakes this time around. By then he was getting pretty hungry (and finally climbed into his booster seat asking me for some pancakes), and I think he was also starting to feel more out of sorts from his cold. :( Still, we had a great breakfast and enjoyed everyone's company.


While Logan napped, I coaxed my brother, Zane, into hiding all the eggs (it's great what you can get the Aunts and Uncles to do!) around the house, so Logan could do another hunt when he woke up from his nap. It had been raining most of the day so we decided to do the egg hunt inside the house this time, rather than outside. Which made for a more challenging hunt since there are LOTS more places to hide eggs! Zane did a great job at creating some really cool hiding places. :)


After everything was set up, we decided to break out Alhambra once more, this time with my mom and dad. I did SO TERRIBLE, coming in the very last last spot. But the surprise of the day was MY MOM! who totally killed all of us in her winnings. Poor Jon, batting three for three now in the loss department. I wonder how many more times he'll play before returning to one of the other games he excels in? ;-)

Logan had a blast with his third, and final, Easter egg hunt after nap time. I was afraid he might not find some of Zane's more challenging hiding spots but he did great! And of course, absolutely loved the game. Afterward (and just like the day before with the hunt at home), he spent a good 20-30 minutes carefully taking apart each and every egg, collecting his winnings. He quickly learned he could shake the egg to know instantly if it was "worth" opening.

Those with M&Ms were worth opening. Those with stickers/tattoos were, sadly, not.


As you can tell from this post - we were busy busy bodies and had a lot going on. It was definitely an exhausting weekend - but oh so much fun!! :)

(Click on any of the pics above to get to the larger album of all Easter pics taken)