Jordan lost a tooth! She was so happy and so proud. Finally catching up to her big brother.

We escaped to Carmel and Monterey before school started. We drove 17 mile drive, had a fantastic dinner on Ocean Ave and went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium the next day. The kids loved it! The jellyfish are always a favorite.

First Day of School!!!

Jordan couldn't be happier or more ready. After the first day of school I picked her up and this was our conversation:

Mom: Jordan, how was your first day of school!

Jordan: (thinking for a moment) It was the boringest day ever.

Mom: What!?!?!

Jordan: It was too short, I thought it was going to be longer. I wanted more projects and we didn't get any homework!

Then on the 3rd day of school she marches out of class after the end of school and announces to me and all the parents there for pick-up, "still no homework!" in a very dejected and matter-of-fact way. I'm happy to say that she does have homework now. If only we could get her to let us comb her hair and get to school on time :)

Jack had a fairly nonchalant attitude, being the big brother and the big man on campus (maybe not the oldest, but one of the biggest. He's in the navy hoodie in the picture below)

On the Farm - July 2012

This was one happy boy, shooting a bb gun for the first time. What I didn't post was the picture of Jack and his cousins killing chicken who had been banished from the coup.

Ryan LOVED riding in the tractor. We had to get a picture of our little city slicker family on the farm. Oh, my poor kids. They need to spend more time out there and move a handline or hoe some weeds so they don't become totally city-fied.

On the fourth we loaded up the boat and drove down the river to Burley to watch the fireworks. Highlights included an amazing sunset, Ryan falling asleep and then waking up during the "boom" of the fireworks, probably fearing for his life and crying that it was "too scary," pumping the music in the boat and me and Ashley having a little dance off, and the wild ride home in the dark with fireworks shooting off, spray hitting us in the face, and all the men standing at the helm with the spotlight guiding us home.

A few highlights:

 Life doesn't get much better than this for Jack...scootering with best friends Nate and Ben.  Santa
brought them all the same scooter!  What a surprise :)

Jordan's good friend Sally.  She lived in our apartment building for about one year before moving back to Bejing.  It was incredible to see how quickly Sally learned English.  We'll miss this sweet girl. 

Train fun down the slide at Bol Park.

American Girl Doll store with cousin Brooke in Denver.

Snow caving in Grandma and Grandpa's yard over Christmas break.

sledding!  We couldn't have lucked out more with the weather on our Denver trip over Christmas.  It snowed like 12 inches the day before we left and then was sunny and 50 degrees the rest of the week.

A giant beater of whip cream....that was one happy boy.

Sorry this is all random, I just wanted to get a few pictures on here before I move on to more current stuff.

Ryan's Two!

O.K. so by now, you can see that I'm always about two months behind in my posting.  Ryan turned two back in January, but to me it feels like just yesterday that this brown eyed boy was born.

 I think I wanted this Thomas Roundhouse more than Ryan :)  I've wanted to add it to our collection ever since Jack was this age. 

Celebrating with friends Emmy, Sophie, Ryan, Nate, Ben, Emily and Adam.

Jordan's Birthday!

Jordan's is FINALLY 5!!!
I've never met a kid that wants to be older as much as Jordan.  She'll always ask, "how old will I be when Jack is 10, or how old will I be when Jack is 16, or how old will I be when Jack is 34." 

We celebrated on the Saturday before since we were flying out to Denver on the actual day of her birthday.  We had a fun day together as a family opening presents, playing barbies, making her birthday cake and trying out her new scooter. 

 She was dying to try out these fake nails.  I reluctantly gave in and bought her some.  They lasted about 10 minutes before Jordan pulled them all off. 

 This is my weak attempt at trying to sastify yet another last minute birthday wish of having an American Girl Doll cake.  How do you make an American Girl Doll cake?!?!?  My favorite line of the day came while decorating our little dolls.  I was giving Jordan a few pointers and ideas and she stops and looks at me and says in a very matter of fact tone, "you know I have my own ideas mom."

 Finally!  Her own scooter. 

Honey!  This was the hit of the day.  We ran to Costco and who knew, but they sell American Girl Doll pets and this little dog, named Honey became the love of her life.  I think she was pretty confident that Santa would bring her an actual doll, so getting Honey was just in preparation for that. 

On the actual day of her birthday Jordan got a pretty special gift.  When the plane landed in Denver and while we were taxing up to our gate, the flight attendant asked everyone on the plane to push their "call" button.  It was dark outside, so it made the inside of the cabin light up.  Then she had everyone on the plane sing happy birthday to Jordan and then after the song was over, she said to Jordan, "now make a wish" and then everybody turnded off their lights (like they were candles she was blowing out)  Jordan was so cute.  Her cheeks were flush and I could tell she felt really special. 

We love this giggley, fun, energetic, passionate, and independent little girl!

Lands End Hike

What's this you say?  Two posts in one week?  I know, I know.  Don't start getting all excited and your hopes up.  It's January and I always feel more motivated in the new year.  Plus, my friend Janet is inspiring me with her 5 posts a month goal.  I think my goal is one post a month, so I'm really outdoing myself :) I will admit that there is a part of me that is very turned off and resisting the whole idea of social media.  Even though facebook's headquarters are just a couple of blocks from my house and the house where it was launched in Palo Alto is a block from Jack's school I will confess I'm not a fan.  But, like many things in my life, maybe I just don't like it because I haven't given it a fair chance.  I am also convinced that I don't have time for it.  I should be a better friend, sister, daughter, granddaughter, mother and wife, but I think there are a myriad of better ways to do that than to facebook.  Sorry for the speech, but for now one of my smalls efforts of improving a few of those relationships will be to blog once a month.  You heard it here...now let's see if I can do it. 

Now, on to the show:

January 2nd: Lands End Hike (near the Cliff House and Sutro Baths)

 Whenever we have a Monday where Kent's not working, I'm not working, and the kids don't have school, we feel compelled to hit the road for some kind of adventure.  Thanks to Janet for letting us in on this great secret.  The views of the Golden Gate are fabulous from this vantage point.  

 We took a short detour off the trail that led us to the perfect beach. Small tide pools and the discovery of starfish after starfish and anemones kept everybody entertained. 

 Kent caught me having a "soaking it all in" moment. 

We finished off our great day by eating at In and Out.  Jack will now snarf down a double double with no problem.  By the way...I post these pictures hoping it will motivate some of my family to want to come visit. (hint, hint :)  Don't the waters call your name?  Our awesome apartment awaits you!

Catch-up

Jack played "after school hoops" during the fall.  He loved it and felt grown-up because he got to play with all the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. (he's in 1st)  Not that he's that good, he's just that big :)  On a more recent note, I had a good laugh watching him react to the recent 49ers win over the Saints.  He watched every second of that game.  He was cheering, coaching, calling plays, shouting, yelling, and commenting about everything.  I heard him yell, "come on, that was PI (pass interference)!"  He got SO in to it.  Needless to say, there were tears of sadness when the Saints scored with a minute thirty to go in the game.  Then tears of pure joy when Alex Smith and niners pulled out the win.  This kid loves sports.

 Jordan's first attempt at doing her hair all by herself.  I was actually pretty impressed, so I just let her keep it in and go to preschool.  If there is any word to describe my little miss Jordan it is "independent." 

 "Come on mom," "Let's go," are Ryan's favorite phrases these days.  He'll grab any pair of shoes he can find and head to the door.  Who cares if I'm just in a onsie :)  Ryan is also saying, "No, that way!" while we are driving.  Like he has Jack's internal GPS built in and he knows when we are going to the store and not to his friends house. 

 I swear, I did not teach her how to pose like this or the pose on our Christmas card.  This girl does not lack any spunk or personality at all. 

 We seem to not be able to get enough beach shots while living here in CA.  I'm beginning to wonder if I can ever leave it now that it feels such a part of me.

 Jumping waves never gets old. 

 My kids were not supposed to get wet on the this trip (we were there to have a picnic and take family pictures)  As you can see that didn't go as planned.  Also, not planned was Kent leaving all of the kids clothes on top of the minivan on the ride home.  Needless to say they weren't there when we got home.  Kent miraculously found them all later that night when he drove back and retraced the path we took home with emergency lights on, and driving on the shoulder...all because he loves me :)

 The breathtaking sunset we caught at Half Moon Bay back in October. 

 I know, I know, this was ages ago in the blogging world, but I had to get a few shots of the kids' Halloween costumes on here.  I'll admit, I had to pat myself on the back for making Ryan's owl costume.  The kids got plenty of chances to wear their costumes to school parties, the ward trunk-or-treat, a Harry Potter party at the city library, visiting a nursing home, and of course the actual night of Halloween.