A HomeZone Summer

During the school year, Anna has been going to the YMCA once a week for a program called HomeZone.  She did art, sports, and swimming lessons.  It was a great group and there were 5 girls all about the same age and 2 with brothers about Matthew's age.  The moms got together and decided that we would continue to meet at each others houses for the summer.  It's been lots of fun!

Not only has Anna become close friends with the girls, I've gotten to know some other homeschooling moms well.  Anna and Matthew have gotten to try out some new things like rollerblading and ice skating.  We've also played in the water and ground our own wheat. We've had lots of fun.  Now, we're thinking of starting a Brownie troop for just our girls!

Random Moments

Here are a few pictures from the past month.  One set comes from a visit with our neighbors, the Ranges, to a nearby splash pad.  The other set are from a visit to my Mom and Dad's to see Uncle Travis.

Nature Walks

I've been trying to get us out more and walking around in nature.  My goal is for the kids and me to get to know an area well enough that we can start to really feel and experience the changes that occur with the seasons.  We have a nearby nature park called Wallace Swamp Creek Park.  It's got a nice paved walking trail and several primitive trails.  Best of all is the creek.  There's a nice bridge crossing it in one spot, a large pond area, and several spots to stop and throw rocks.  We love to spend time along the creek's banks.  Below are a few pictures of some of our trips to Wallace Swamp Creek Park.

Juanita Park

Our ward has a park group that meets every Tuesday.  We go to different parks in the area and let the kids play while the moms chat.  On this day, we went to Juanita park in Kirkland.  It's on Lake Washington and has a little beach and swimming area.

Anna and Matthew had so much fun there.  We dug in the sand and messed with the seaweed.  Anna thought the best things was to smear herself with sand and then rinse off in the lake.  She thought it was hilarious.  Matthew was very brave and splashed around and even sat down in the lake.

Tacoma Children's Museum

I took the kids to the Tacoma Children's Museum.  What a trip!  I'm not all that sure of where I'm going and got a little lost at the end trying to find a parking spot.  The nice thing about this museum is that there is no entrance fee, they just asked if I wanted to make a donation.  I did, of $5.

We spent a lot of time there and there was a lot to do.  Art projects, a lot of dress up, a ball and tunnel set.  The kids had a ball, but there were a few problems.  First, there were a ton of people there!  It was so crowded that it was hard for the kids to settle into a particular piece of play- just too much sensory overload.  The other problem was that the entire area was one long room and I was trying to watch two kids go in two different directions.  I lost Matthew a couple of times.  He kept running for the front door!  I was afraid he was going to just walk out with a group of people.

The kids had a lot of fun, but I don't know if we'll go back.

Matthew's 2nd Birthday

Wow!  Matthew is 2 already.  Matthew has the cutest dimples and is such a happy boy.  He is a little ham and we love having him as a part of our family.

Matthew wanted a blue cake.  Luckily, we were planning on getting him a Thomas train for his birthday so I colored some marzipan blue and drew a train track across the top and set Thomas on it.  It made me think of the Strawberry Shortcake cake my mom made for me when I was little.  He also requested chocolate ice cream cones, though we got other flavors for those who don't like chocolate.

Matthew was so excited for the Thomas and even more excited for the train tracks that he got, too.  His other presents included a card with money from Nana & Pop, books from Grandma & Grandpa, and his very own pillow.

During the whole dinner and dessert, Matthew either sat on Grandpa's lap or held Grandpa's hand.  He loves his grandpa!

Random Pictures

Here are a few more random pictures from August.

"Mom!  This would make a great picture!"

Anna found every blanket to make a pile.

Matthew's serious face.

Teaching Anna to play Uno.

Breakfast Outfit

FHE obstacle course activity.

Ride 'em, Cowgirl!

Typical messy breakfast face.

Dentist Visit

I took Anna and Matthew to the dentist.  It was Matthew's second visit and Anna's been several times.  But, they just look so cute and they both did such a good job getting their teeth looked at.  There were no cavities and they (meaning me) are doing a good job flossing and brushing.

This and That

I usually have a file of miscellaneous pictures that I take throughout the month.  They usually show what we are like typically, rather than our big celebrations or excursions.  Here are a few pictures that I've taken this August.
 

We caught one of the big spiders that seem to love our house.  We tried to look it up on the internet, but I got a creeped out looking at all the pictures of the spiders.

When we came home from the cabin, I discovered a lizard sitting on the planter box in the living room.  We knew we had a couple of lizards living in the wall of our garage but we didn't realize that they could get from there into the house.  The lizard disappeared into the box, but we reappeared the next evening when we were able to shoo it out the door.

I came in to get Matthew up from his nap and he was so sound asleep that I was able to put his laundry away, stash a bunch of diapers in the basket under the changing table, and take a few pictures.  I don't have many of him sleeping.  He's such a doll.

In the mornings, I get the kids up at 7.  First, I stop at Anna's room and turn off the fan and give her a kiss.  Then I go get Matthew.  By the time I get back to my room with Matthew, Anna has transported herself to my bed.  This is what she usually looks like.  It takes her a bit to come out of her cocoon.  Definitely not a morning person.

As soon as Matthew gets onto my bed, he heads for Anna and starts hugging whatever body part is closest.  He's so sweet saying "Anna, Anna" the whole time he's hugging her.

Summer Cabin Visit

On Thursday evening, Steve looked at me and said, "You want to go to the cabin this weekend?  I don't have to go into the office on Monday or Tuesday."  So, I took Friday to plan, shop, and pack for our trip.  We left Saturday morning right after breakfast.  The kids look forward to these trips because they get to watch movies in the car.  It's our family rule that the TVs only come out when the trip will be longer than an hour duration.  Needless to say, they don't come out very often.  The kids loved watching Max and Ruby for all 3 hours of the trip.

We did make two stops.  One at a farm stand to pick up watermelon, nectarines, pluots, and grapes for the weekend and another at ColdStone Creamery in Oakdale.  We always stop and get some ice cream.

Our stay at the cabin was great.  We relaxed the remainder of the day, Saturday.  Anna and Matthew played with the toys.  Anna's favorite was the doll house.  Matthew really enjoyed the lobster that you pull around and it snaps its claws.  Anna also spent some time painting.

Sunday saw us taking a couple of walks around area, going to church down in Sonora, and taking naps.  Steve and Anna had a rousing game of air hockey at the table.

Monday was our biggest day.  After breakfast, we got in our swimsuits and headed to Pincrest lake.  It was a great day for it.  It had sprinkled a little in the morning, so there weren't very many people out and the weather was warm but not hot.  Steve headed to the marina and rented a kayak to do an hour's worth of exploring on the lake.  Matthew, Anna, and I headed to a bench on the beach.  I was surprised at how willing Matthew was to get into the lake.  He walked right in!  Anna was a little more cautious.  First, she went in up the her calves, then her knees, then thighs, and finally almost up to her waist.

We spent time wading, annoying the Canada geese, and throwing rocks.  Anna built a 'tide pool'.  Basically a hole with a bunch of rocks in it.  She kept saying we just had to wait until the tide came in to fill it.  Little did she know that the water was never going to come up.

That evening we had a Family Home Evening about the priesthood.  Steve gave the lesson and I made homemade mint ice cream for refreshments.  Unfortunately, the ice cream didn't go over very well.  Matthew and I were the only ones that liked it.

Anna was in charge of the activity and she chose to visit the area's playground.  She and Matthew went on the swings and down the slides.  It was a fun evening.

Tuesday morning was spent picking up and cleaning the rooms we had used.  We headed home around 10:30am.  It was so nice to get away for a little while and spend time together.  Yay for the cabin!

Easter

Easter was a little crazy around here because of the move.  Trying to find the stuff to dye eggs and put together an Easter basket amidst the chaos was a little daunting.  But, we prevailed!

On Saturday, Matthew and Anna dyed some eggs.  This year we decided to write on the eggs with crayon before dunking them in the dye.  Anna thought it was so cool.  She was very patient and careful in drawing her designs on the eggs.  Matthew, on the other hand, was bored a couple of minutes and and just wanted to eat the eggs.  He actually bit one so hard, he cracked the shell so we gave it to him.  I love the colors we get when we dye the brown eggs.

Easter morning started with the kids looking for the eggs hidden in the family room.  Matthew really liked this part.  He liked the chocolate bunny and jelly beans even more.

I couldn't get Matthew to sit still long enough for a good Easter picture.  You can see his outfit in the pictures.  I got one good picture of Anna, then she hammed it up for the rest of them.  She's such a silly.

We had deviled eggs and ham for our dinner.  I was a little worried about whether or not my ham would fit in our teeny oven, but it just made it with all but the bottom-most rack removed.  Happy Easter!

January 2014

Here's a recap of our major life happenings in January:

After spending Christmas in Morgan Hill, we headed up to the cabin to visit Grandma and Grandpa.  We were hoping for some snow, but were out of luck.  Instead of sledding, we took lots of walks and sat by the wood burning stove.

We did head out to Cover's Apple Ranch.  It's a favorite place of Grandma's and Melissa and the kids hadn't been before.  There's a little barn and corral for the kids to see some farm animals.  They had sheep, pigs, cows, horses, a goat, and some geese.  There was also a small train that you could ride around the ranch on.  That was the funnest part.

My 37th birthday came soon thereafter.  It was a nice day.  I got some books and nice slippers.  Steve bought me a German chocolate cake, my favorite.

Matthew's first birthday was this month, too.  We decided to go with a Hungry Caterpillar theme.  For dinner, we ate many of the things the hungry caterpillar did.  Sausages, fruit salad of all the fruits, lollipops, pickles, cupcakes, ice cream.

Matthew really liked the cake and made a big dent in his cake, plus he ate a cupcake.

He is such a happy, smiley boy.  He love cuddles and tickles.  We love having him as a part of our family.  Happy birthday, Buh-boo!

Time for Some Catching Up!

Well, I'm back with my usual excuse for why I haven't posted anything in a while.  Life is just busy!  The holiday season especially.  So...hopefully...expect a few posts in the next several days.  First up,  Halloween.

We had several activities available for Halloween this year.  The San Jose ward was having a Trunk or Treat and Google was having a family Googleween party, plus there was the day itself.  We decided to skip the ward party and go to the Googleween.  What a crowd!

The kids dressed up and we got to the campus maybe and hour after it started.  There were so many people!  Anna got right in the first game and played that, but the other activities had lines that stretched for miles!  I really didn't want to stand in line for 20-30 minutes so we could shoot darts at inflatable aliens.  Anna did a few activities without lines and then we left about an hour later.  There were just too many people.

Ready to Trick or Treat!

First door

On our way!

The haul

 Anna had fun Halloween night.  Steve took the kids door to door in the neighborhood while I stayed home for the trick or treaters.  I didn't get a single knock during the 45 minutes they were gone.  Steve and I then switched.  He stayed home and I took Anna.  We went down our block, but only 5 houses were available.  Kind of a dud, but Anna had fun.  Steve didn't have any trick or treaters either.  By the end of the night I think we had a total of 2 dozen kids come to the door.

Standing

Here are a couple of pictures of Matthew standing up in his crib.  When I come to get him in the morning, he's usually standing up shaking the bars back and forth.  Let me out!  Let me out!

Murdock Park

I wanted to share a post about one of our favorite places here in San Jose.  It's Murdock Park and it's
just down the road from Steve's parents' house.

The kids and I go there at least once a week during the day.  We go with Steve about twice a month in the evenings.  It's such a nice park.  There are a lot of trees and a big field for running around in.  There are picnic benches, a barbeque area, and even bathrooms!  There are also 3 different play-areas, each designed for a particular age group.  We often go to the toddler area, but Anna is also starting to gravitate to the older kid spot, too.

Sometimes I push the kids on the swings, but often, I just spread out a blanket for Matthew in the grass and do a little sewing while we watch Anna run around.  She loves going to play and for scoping out possible playmates.  We bring the sand toys for
playing in the sand and Anna's balance bike for riding around
the play areas.

It's such a peaceful park.  We hear birds and see squirrels.  On Tuesdays, there's a group of Asian people that gather and do Tai Ji.  We love Murdock Park and will miss it terriblely when we move.

(Key to pictures- Top: Matthew & Anna at the top of the slide; Lefthand from top to bottom: M&A swinging together, Happy Anna, Anna trying to go UP the slide;  Righthand from top to bottom: Matthew's first swing, Anna crawling through the tunnel, Matthew exploring a magnolia leaf)