Merry Christmas

I know I haven't updated anything about the new place, but maybe sometime after Christmas (but before Christmas next year!!) Here are 2 short video highlights of Ben and Amelia's squeals of joy as they discovered their Christmas surprises.
We had a great time celebrating in the Lassen tradition last night and are off to enjoy a bright and clear SoCal Christmas at the beach today.
Hope everyone has had a nice Christmas.





Also, Mitchell has double dogged dared Phil to get in the ocean like they did last year (the ocean and my pool) so more video proof to come!! It's on my blog, he can't back out now.

Passed

Philip is officially a lawyer!!!
(not passed away as someone thought and responded, "wow that is GREAT!!)

Halloween

Here is a collage to sum up our Halloween festivities. Amelia was Olivia the pig and Ben was her little bother, Ian. These are characters from the Olivia books by Ian Falconer and later turned into an animated show on Nickelodeon (you can look it up if you still don't know) Amelia's snout got ditched pretty quick and I had a feeling Ben wouldn't last with the ears, so his alternate costume was a soccer boy. We went to the zoo and right when Amelia stepped out of the car a little kid immediately yelled out that she was Olivia. Success!! She came up with the costume idea ears, snout, crown, tutu and all and I had to bring her vision to life and wasn't sure if people would know who she was, but thanks I think to the TV series, she was well recognized and it made her beam. We have loads of candy to last...1....2.....maybe.........we'll see!!! Hope everyone had a good Halloween.

I guess Amelia's Birthday too

I guess I better acknowledge Amelia's birthday too. She had her 4th birthday and her first birthday party with friends. She had a blast. If you can't tell the theme is Fancy Nancy. I scored almost everything a few years ago late one night at Target. I was looking for who knows what and turned around and found an entire end cap full of Fancy Nancy party supplies on total clearance and I knew it was meant to be for Amelia. She has loved Fancy Nancy since she was 1 or even less. Amelia was so excited to finally use them and not just have them taunting her in the cabinet. Amelia loves Fancy Nancy and after the party was done she asked, "how many days until my next birthday?" Here are some pics. Yep, I made the cake, but the pics didn't really turn out and I realized this after it was already half eaten. And I guess we didn't take any pics of her real birthday just with the family, just videos so maybe one day I will get around to putting one of those up. And this pic is to show that Ben had a good time too!! Thanks for everyone who made it a great birthday for Amelia.

gone and back and my highlights

Went to the cabin, drove to ND and came back in the last 8 weeks. While I was gone, Ben turned 2 and we had an all out Toy Story party. He loves his Toy Story guys. We started with seeing Toy Story 3 in 3d with all his cousins and aunt (and he wore the glasses the entire time and loved it) then a pizza party with these Toy Story cupcakes. I loved making them with Spencer, Eliza and Naomi. Ben was so happy to see his Buzz and Woody toys on his cupcakes. For those who like this kind of stuff you can zoom in and see the characters. It was a lot of fun making them but mostly seeing his face is the best. We did all sorts of stuff, but if you know me, you know all that stuff already so I don't need to blog it. maybe videos next time.

Done

Philip graduated from law school today!! Here is my picture collage in honor of the day. 4 years of going to class year round and still working 30 hours a week, making Dean's list, being on the school newspaper and having 2 kids and a wife!!! I am pretty impressed. Thanks to all Philip's family who came from great distances to be here and who helped make this day easy and fun (and very delicious!!!) And thanks to all who couldn't be here but were here in spirit by supporting him and letting him know he could do this. We are so proud of him.

The giddiness

I think this picture shows exactly how everyone should feel after watching a loved one graduate!!!

Sometimes it comes back to bite you

Teaching your kids sounds great until they use it on you to call you out. For example, today Amelia told me that, "MOM, chips and chocolate milk is not OK for a lunch. Those are treats and you have no vegetables". I asked her if I added some grapes to my plate if that would be OK. She was not impressed. I guess I have Amelia to thank for watching my vegetable intake now.

mmmm...my words taste good

I always say I am done blogging and then I post something. I guess I just mean I am done consistently blogging. But these pics are too funny and require little info.
Amelia's favorite imaginary play is to take her doll or this horse she named Edwin that she pretends is really a cat and play allergic. Here she is with Edwin "throwing up in a bucket and has princess ice on his back to make him feel better". Notice how she is lovingly pushing his head in the bucket so the throw up doesn't get anywhere. If Edwin doesn't get better soon she is going to have to take him to the hospital and "you don't want to go to the hospital". It's kind of embarrassing what kids reenact. Glad she's home with me to catch it.











This next one is Ben's haircut this month or quarter. I've only done it 3 times. He hates the clippers and so I had Phil hold him, but needed to trim his sideburns and his neck which required him to hold real still. This was my solution. A lollipop. Phil was less than excited because of the big hairy, wet sticky mess it made. Click and see the close up. The gross part is he ate it all!!! I threw out the onesie. Not worth my time to wash. And this is Ben showing us his hair. It also is his "dirty look" he gives when he's mad at someone. Mainly Amelia.