Christmas is coming

I love the holiday season. I don't mind the crowds, I love the lights, I love the music, I love the cozy weather. Love it all. I especially love it since we have a 2 1/2 year old in our house who is thrilled by all things Christmas this year. It's the best. 

Up to this point, we've had a countertop-size Christmas tree every year. But last year on the day after Christmas, I was on a mission to find a clearance Christmas tree that we would be able to use once we moved back to San Diego. Well, the tree was found for $20 at Big Lots, and our first Christmas in SD is upon us. I am loving our 7 foot, slightly skinny, but beautiful Christmas tree!

Parker has loved decorating (and undecorating) the tree. 

 I love our new Pottery Barn Kids stockings.

 Poor Santa baby being taken down by the cowboy.

 Santa bum. The best!

 A quick pic of our last night with Jeff and Marina. Miss them already!

A quote to make you smile...

Parker and I were sitting next to each other on the couch watching "Elf". Out of nowhere, Parker looks to me and says, "Phew... mom, you're doing great. And I'm doing really great too!"

Sometimes, you just need a child around to remind you of how awesome you are.

We are trying to help Parker learn to empathize more with others in order to help him to be more careful in his play. For example he lovingly knocks Austin over about 100 times a day. While Parker finds this rough housing fun, Austin does not. So I ask him to look at his face and tell me if Austin looks happy. Sometimes Parker is adamant that Austin does like being knocked over, no matter the tears streaming down his face. But sometimes he sees that he's hurt or scared him. So now when I am not pleased and Parker knows it he says, "Mom let me see your face." hahah. I will look at him stearnly and he'll say, "No mom, look like this." And then he'll smile with the cheesiest of grins! It's hard to stay mad at such a cute face.

I am so excited that he is so excited by all things Christmas this year. One thing I am especially excited about is introducing him to all the Christmas movies. I watched Shrek the Halls with him yesterday and he really enjoyed it. Later when in the car with my mom, he said, "I watched Shrek and that made mama really happy!" Apparently he does things just to appease me.

Ham and white bean soup

I was leery that a recipe with so few ingredients could be any good. Well, my friends, if you have the right 5 ingredients, this is magical. And the crock pot does all the work. This is also a great soup for a crowd. Grandma Joyce was coming for dinner, and little did I know this is one of her favorite soups. When I heard that I got nervous given this was a new recipe, but she gave it her seal of approval. The ham I used was leftover from Thanksgiving. I chopped up a little more than a cup of ham and then put the remaining ham still on the bone in the crock pot. I then put in a package of DRY northern white beans, some diced onion, 2 tsp onion powder, 6 cups of water, and a little sprinkle of brown sugar. Stir it up, set it on low in the crock pot and 8 hours later.. voila! Note for the beans... I rinsed them in a strainer first but didn't soak them. And we ate it with cornbread. Fabulous.

*** Stacie... even Rob will like this soup, if he likes ham. It's a hearty one:)

The last few days...

It's been a busy week for us. On Tuesday we went to the zoo with Carter and Abigail. The boys had a great time running from animal to animal. 

 While the babies rode contentedly in their strollers.

 Thanksgiving was a blast. They'll be plenty of pictures in a post of its own, but here is pete enjoying his requested turkey leg.

 I didn't have a game plan for Black Friday, but I do love the spirit of going out and shopping early in the morning. Austin woke up at 6am, so I figured, let's hit the mall. Thanks to my little shopping buddy, we got a front row parking spot in a family parking spot. It was very crowded but none of the lines were very long (or at least they had plenty of checkers). We had a great time and Austin was perfectly content people watching. We got a few things, but nothing huge. I am just so happy the holiday season is upon us. Let the fun begin!

 I also made a felt tree for Parker to decorate and un-decorate to his heart's content. Will that keep him from messing with our real tree? That's the goal, but I doubt it. I am pleased with how all the cute ornaments turned out. Parker thought it was cool, but he was even more excited by the small tree I put in his bedroom. He LOVES the lights on it.

Happy baby

Austin is 8 1/2 months old. My how the time has flown by. This week we've seen a lot of development in his movement abilities. He has gone from a stationary baby to a crawler! Things are changed forever from now on. It's so cute. I especially love that when he falls over, he is now able to sit himself back up. It gives him so much more control. He loves to bounce up and down excitedly, and dance to music. He is also chattering a lot more and doing a cute little spitting trick, that is only cute on an 8 month old. What a cutie. 

He LOVED the sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving. He's going to have a hard time going back to plain old baby food, after tasting it with all that brown sugar:)

Meal planning week 3

Roaster chicken from Costco and veggies and rice.

BBQ chicken pizza: We shred the extra chicken from roaster chicken and coat it in BBQ sauce. Then use a premade canned pizza crust by Pillsbury, bake it plan on a cookie sheet for about 8 minutes, then take it out to add toppings. (Keeps it from getting mushy). Coat lightly in bbq sauce, mozzarella, parm, and chicken. Cook through (5-8 more minutes). A few pineapple chunks on it are yummy too.

Shredded beef tacos or flautas: I either cook a roast and shred it myself or use the pre-cooked and shredded beef from the fridge section in Costco. Easy peasy.

Crockpot Santa Fe chicken and rice: Never tried it but looks hard to mess up.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are so grateful for so many blessings that we have in our life. Pete having a good job, healthy boys, and wonderful family are among our most special gifts. And we are doubly blessed not just to have these things, but to know they are given to us by our Father in Heaven. To know he is looking out for us and mindful of our needs, makes every little obstacle or uncertainty conquerable. I am so thankful to have this knowledge in my life. 

This is our first Thanksgiving at home with family in several years. So excited for today!

Here's a few family pics from our holiday photo shoot. Thanks to Aunt Denise for her photo skills and amazing camera. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I hope you spent time with those you love and ate some yummy food!

Grateful Day 3

I'm thankful for my boys. They are so much fun and bring so much excitement to every aspect of my life. Parker is smart, funny, and spirited, while Austin is calm, cuddly, and engaging. They both possess different and wonderful qualities that make them special. Some days I take their health and awesomeness for granted, but I hope I can be more thankful for them each day. 

 Here he is pretending to the be "the bush-man", a homeless guy that jumps out and scares people on the streets of San Francisco, as he pops out from behind his leafy prop. Hey, what can I say? Some children want to be a fireman or astronaut when they get older. My boy wants to be a Bush-MAN! Dream big kid!

I am also incredibly grateful for my parents and their willingness to give us a place to call home for the last 6 months. They also continue to be so generous with their time, babysitting, and Costco purchases:) I love the relationship my boys have with their Grammy and Papa. They're the best!

Grateful Day 2

We are grateful for friends and cousins to play with. These bonds are priceless.

Carter and Parker during a jammie/breakfast play date. 

 Cousins. We love getting together often, playing together, eating together... it's the best!

Grateful Day 1

I wanted to highlight some of the things I am most thankful for this year, so I'll break it up day by day until Thanksgiving. 

The first thing I am especially grateful for, is to FINALLY be living in San Diego. We are so thankful to be around family again and to be able to spend time outside in November! Parker loves going on Sunday bike rides with his daddy. 

 And going to explore animals at the zoo is a priceless gift.

We love it here and I'm so thankful that all the stars aligned to bring us back home:)

Thankful

Pete passed the California Bar. He is officially an attorney. He not someone just working at a law firm, he's an attorney. I'm married to an attorney. I've been married to a student for our whole marriage so pardon me as I repeat one more time, I am married to an attorney:)

He worked really hard to achieve this goal and we're thankful that he passed. The four months he had to wait to find out the results was treacherous. He didn't overly stress and probably there were days when he didn't think about it... but always in the back of our minds was that darn test. The final hurdle. Now he can go into work confidently on Monday as a member of the Bar community. Pretty exciting. He has been pretty calm about it all and mainly feels relief... but I am the one who is jumping up and down excited!

So far work has been going well for him. He had a week long training in the Bay Area which was fun for him. Stayed at a nice hotel, had a hefty meal stipend, and enjoyed chatting with his colleagues. He has a nice office and likes the people he works with. He has already had a little bit of work to do (he gets work on an assignment basis), but overall things are still slow, so it's been nice to ease into what will soon become a very demanding work schedule. We're very proud of him.

Parker said something funny. He loves to engage with other kids and the other day he asked a little girl what her name was. She didn't respond. He turned to me and said, "Mama she don't talk. She doesn't have a tongue." :)

Tonight at dinner he got a little bowl of ice cream, which ended up falling on the ground. On the ride home he brought up his spilled ice cream. "My ice cream falled down. That was very, very terrible."

Meal planning week 2

Taco stuffed shells: Never had these before, but I'm giving it a shot.

Chicken pillows and parmesan sauce: Never tried making these myself before, but have loved them when other people make them for me:)

Chili and cornbread: I use the McCormick's spice packet and add all kinds of beans and corn.

Fettuskinny alfredo: I saw this in a cookbook years ago and it is now one of our almost weekly staples. Cook fettucine noodles as directed. Saute bite size pieces of chicken in a little olive oil and salt and pepper. Then remove chicken (leaving some of the juices in the pan), and add 1 1/4 cup of fat free half and half, 3/4 tsp garlic powder, some salt, and 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese. Stir until cheese melts and sauce thickens. Then add 2 Tbl of margarine or butter. Then combine everything. I also like to add sauteed zucchini when I have it.

Happy moments

Austin Glen loves his namesake, Papa. 

 It got a little chilly last night. Good thing we lived in Michigan so we have the appropriate gear to weather the southern California chill:)

 Brothers help brothers...

A "Friends" moment

I love hearing Parker learn new words. For his age, he has very good diction and is able to mimic most any word he hears. But sometimes, he'll try and repeat a word and he won't get even close. It reminds me of the Friends episode where Phoeboe is teaching Joey how to speak french. She'll say something and he'll repeat back something that sounds nothing like what she said. Here's a clip.

So Parker and I were on a walk and we were hopping on and off of curbs. When we had a big jump to do, I'd say, "COWABUNGA!" Then Parker would try. He sounded just like the Friends clip. Not even close! Here I am interviewing him and asking him to repeat cowabunga later in the day.

Visit with Gran and Grandaddy

We went to Yorba Linda to celebrate Gran's birthday last weekend. It was a nice surprise visit from the boys, so that was fun. 

 Not sure how to get these un-sideways!?!?!

Such a fun day!