Shine, Baby, Shine

Sophie and I have had a rough go of it lately. She's the type of kid who wants to push every limit twice just to make sure I'm paying attention. I have to bring my A game with this kid everyday, but the bummed out part, I'm pretty sure I don't have an A game... most days I'm lucky to have an F game. So there is a lot of arguing and her trying to bargain and me losing my temper at about 7pm. This means that she spends a lot of time in time out or missing out on fun stuff because she still doesn't get that no means no. I know she'll figure it out, hopefully sooner rather than later.

It's not all bad, Sophie makes up for it in with her absolute joy in life. She lives and does it full out. I want to be more like her (except for the throwing herself on the ground tantrums, I might mess up my hair). Plus she is so sweet and loving when she's not trying to drive me insane. She loves to tell me, "Mama you are my best girl".

So onto the shiny part of my story. We went to the local County Fair and what did we manage to find? Pony rides. I kid you not pony rides. I don't remeber going to too many fairs so I'm not sure if it's de riguer to have pony rides, but man I was excited. Sophie has been asking to ride a horse for months. It just trips my trigger to be able to give Sophie something that I know she's going to love. You should have seen Sophie light up at the sight of these tiny horses. She about died and then promptly took a nap on my friend Jennifer's shoulder while we waited for our turn.

Then she bravely hopped up on the tiniest little pony and beamed bright enough to light up a night sky.

Then the two guys running the operation took a mental break (one guy started texting, who knew cowboys texted? and the other guy was doing something) so those ponies started to run or gallop or trot, you get my drift. I would have died of fright but Sophie started laughing like a loon.

She had so much fun and she was glowing she was so happy. Which made me happy.


Shine, Baby, Shine!

The Playroom

I just had shelves installed in the playroom. It's by no means done, but it's a lot closer. This is the view looking into the playroom from the hallway. The boards we used were originally Dave's Dad and they look great.
Here's looking at the shelves. The kids table was a Christmas present from my parents. The lowest shelf is at 2 feet. It's tall enough to be used as a table surface for the kids.

Here's the little kitchen that Santa brought Sophie when she was two and her easel.

Another view of the kitchen and the toys along that wall.

Here's the couch. I'd like to put some sort of shelving to the right of the couch where the wire shelves are now. I'd like something with a little more storage. I've been looking at craigslist for the perfect piece.
Sophie showing off her baby waffles. I love her little squinty eye thing she does when I tell her to smile.
Max reading in the tent in the playroom. His hair is getting long... and curly.

New Routine

We're slowly getting into the swing of things at our new home. Finding a new routine, new friends, and new activities has been a rough transition for Sophie and for me. We did take a quick break to hop on down to California to visit Dave's parents and check out Sea World. I'd like to draw everyone's attention to Dave's mustache. He's been telling me he loves it and is planning on keeping it. I told him he could plan on sleeping on the couch if that's his final decision.

Sophie kept trying to pull the starfish out of the water for a closer look. She didn't get the whole breathe underwater concept.

Max loves to play outside. He actually tells me "outside" when he's ready to go. We try to walk to the mailbox when the weather's nice.

Seriously the mustache is killing me.

Easter

We had quite an Easter this year. We had some new friends over for an egg hunt and Easter dinner. It was loads of fun.

Max's Easter basket

Sophie's Easter basket

My sweet friends from Hawaii made this Peter Rabbit banner for Max's baby shower and I thought it was perfect with my Easter decorations.

I have to tilt the dining room table crossways in the room to be able to fit both leaves and all 8 chairs.

Max's first Easter egg. I totally set this photo up. Setting the egg down, calling Max over, pointing to the egg. Begging him to pick it up.

Sophie didn't need any direction. This girl has candy radar and she was going to get as many eggs as possible.

Happy Easter!

The New Year - 2011

Here's some photos of our New Year's Eve festivities at my parent's house. Sorry they're a little out of order. I'm working on Dave's laptop and having technical difficulties. Oh the little joys of moving.

Sophie and Max - New Year's Day

Sophie and Dave with Sophie's first sparkler

Sophie protecting her hearing during one of Pop's firework displays.
Max's first sparkler. My dad, Lulu the dog, and me.

Max and Dave checking out the sparkler

Max and Dave on New Year's Eve 2010.

All in all we had a pretty fabulous 2010. We welcomed Max into the family, Sophie adjusted to being a big sister, and Dave found out he was going to a fantastic new job.

We already knew that 2011 would bring many exciting changes for our family. Dave will start back on sea tour this spring which means he won't be home as much as he has been the past two years. Don't worry we're getting a fancy new security system so the kids and I will feel safe.

We are buying a new home (very exciting) in our new city! Washington State here we come (do you think they're ready for us)? We're so happy to be going back to the Pacific Northwest. We really enjoyed living there several years ago and can't wait to see how things have changed.

Sophie is changing into a stubborn and hard headed little girl as opposed to the stubborn and hard headed toddler she's been. Her language is improving by leaps and bounds. She knows some of her letters by sight and we've been working on teaching her to write her name. She will start preschool next fall and has been begging me to go to ballet class.

Max is growing and will I'm sure be walking within the next couple months and talking soon after. He's already saying Mama and ball. His weight has steadied out at 23 pounds (pretty close to Sophie's weight) and he can really get around by crawling and cruising around on furniture. He's turned out to be just as laid back, happy, and easy going as I thought he would be (as long as he isn't teething and is well fed).

And I, well, I'm the glue that's holding it all together. Running a house, raising kids, being a wife, best job in the world if you can get it. I'm really looking forward to making new friends and reconnecting with some old ones when we move.

So if you're in our neck of the woods we have a guest room that's available and ready for company after March, although I'm not promising that I won't comandeer it as a craft room at some point.

Happy New Year!

Diamond Head Hike - January 2011

I'm going with the assumption that anyone who reads this blog knows me fairly well. So it will come as no surprise that I balked at hiking Diamond Head. I don't like exercise, sweat, or anything that involves me getting out of my pajamas and into tennis shoes. However my loving husband was SUPER excited about hiking Diamond Head. It was also brought to my attention that Dave's Grammy hiked Diamond Head the year Dave and I were married. So I reluctantly agreed to go with Dave and the kids on this difficult and demanding hike (only difficult and demanding because of the amount of Christmas cookies I ate in December).

This is about half-way up... I was DYING!

It's all worth it for the fabulous views. Sidenote: The nice guy taking our photo apparently didn't realize I had a 23 pound baby strapped to the front of me and took several photos where Max cannot be seen. I mean really?

This is Waikiki. Dave and I got engaged on that beach down there.

Hiking down the mountain was in fact just as bad as hiking up.

1. It was a fun hike
2. Now I can say I hiked Diamond Head
3. I never have to do it again.

Christmas Eve - 2010

We had grand plans for Christmas Eve this year. The kids, Dave, and I were gearing up to head over to my parents house for dinner and gift opening. Unfortunately Sophie woke up in the middle of the night with a fever so I decided we would instead have a relaxed evening at home. As relaxed as one can get with a three year old running a fever and hacking up a lung all over the house. I was sad that I didn't get to spend my last Christmas Eve (for awhile) in Hawaii with my parents but Dave and the kids and I all had fun at home.

Sophie and Max got to open one gift on Christmas Eve. It is always new (and now matching) pajamas in anticipation of photos on Christmas morning. I tried to convince Dave that we should all wear matching or coordinating pajamas but he said "No way!". At least I got to dress the kids up all matchy-matchy.

Sophie and Max hung out on the couch for a while. Sophie insisted on holding Max, which is when I realized that he might be bigger than she is, or at least close. Max isn't wearing any pants because he is quite the messy eater now.

Sophie and I getting ready to bake cookies for Santa Claus.

Dave's turn to help Sophie bake cookies.

Max wanted to help also. By help I mean eat raw cookie dough.

Waiting with bated breath for Santa Claus cookies.

Putting the final ornament on the Advent Tree that Missy gave us last year. It was Dave and Anne's when they were little.

We can't wait for Christmas morning!