These kid's have turned into such the little copycats. Not only what we say, which is more of a mimic, but our actions. Verona was being sassy last night, so to tease her I put my hands on my hips. She turned around, and looked at me, put her hands on her hips, and said "No you don't!" Whoa!!
If I say something, she and Trent copy it. It's like that kid in school that says everthing you say just to drive you crazy.
But what I find astounding is their memory. Yesterday I called my BFF Jenn so we could face time. We talked for a long time, and kids got to see her dog, and make Jenn laugh.
Last night, I wanted to see what Verona remembered from the conversation. I mean, she's 2, she will cry about a toy, get distracted and go on to something else. When Andy came home, I had her tell him about the call.
Me: V, who did we talk to today?
V: Genn (Jenn)
Me; Does Jenn have a dog?
V; Yes, Lucy the doggie.
Me: Was Lucy awake or sleeping when you saw her?
V: She was sleeping, ahhh, Lucy sleepy
She remembered Jenn's name, the dog's name, and that Lucy was sleeping. I was pretty impressed, considering the conversation had been over 6 hours before hand.
Today, we were leaving the grocery store, which is across the street from Costco. And this interaction happend:
V: Oh mommy, we get hot dogs and gas at Costco?
What?!?! She knows this is where we get gas, and we get hotdogs? Crazy memory!!
Kitty Corner-ish from us is Andy's BFF Rick and his wife Steph. We hang out with them quite a lot. They have a Maltese named Kingston. Verona was afraid of Kingston until this year. Now, when we drive by their house (which we have to in order to leave the neighborhood) She says "We go to doggie's house?" Once in a great while she will say "Oh that Rick's house", or "Steph home?"
Trent's language is really blossoming. But lately he has started this "I want I want I want" which goes for everything from food, to your shoes, to bath, to books. And whenever he accomplishes something, he ALWAYS says "Yeh, we did it!" with such enthusiasm and a huge smile, you can't help but laugh and smile with him.
They are two very polite kids as well. My friend Shannon has 4 boys, and they are the most polite children you will ever meet. Andy and I have worked hard to make sure they say Please, Thank you, no Thank you. I even got them a manner's book 6 months ago and it has helped.
Example: Verona, would you like some more peas?
V: No thank you, I am fine.
Trent, would you like some milk?
T; More More (with the sign) Milk yes please!
We have been working on saying excuse me when they burp. Trent laughs and it usually ends with him being indignant and refusing to say excuse me. That doesn't fly with us. We also won't let them use their hands to eat with. This has backfired when they keep their hands to their sides, bend their heads forward and try to eat like a dog. Oops.
And I may have accidentally potty trained Verona today. Not sure. She has been going #1 at least 2-3 times a day and getting stickers. But before nap today, she refused to put on her diaper and only wanted big girl panties(gerber training pants with the plastic cover over them). Will have to see how this turns out. I let her know that we don't' pee in the big girl panties, and if she does, she will need to wear a diaper. Probably not a pro way of going at it, but I HAVE to have diapers in the house because Trent is no where even close to potty training. I mean, the kid still stands out in the open, holds on to the table, and goes all red in the face for #2.
The good news is I have her bed all set up. On her mattress is a cover, then I have a large piece of PUL fabric with a sheet over it. Then I have a re-usable waterproof bed pad (like the kind from a medical supply store) with a sheet over that. This way, it is quick to change her bed and put her back in it.
Potty training scares the crap out of me. I mean, when you have been relying on diapers for over 2.5 years, it can get difficult. But the thought of not having to buy more diapers, is amazing. Will let you know how it goes!
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
Santa Barbara
I was so crazy yesterday that I totally forgot we went to Santa Barbara the day before we left Solvang. SB is only 38 miles,and I had never been there before. I was super excited. The drive there was nice, a little curvy for my liking, but it was beautiful. I think it was the kiddo's first time seeing the open ocean.
We walked around the main drag in down town. We stopped at Pinkberry. Oh my gosh. I have heard about Pinkberry,from celebrities and in magazines. It was amazing. We got watermelon and peach. They kids devoured it. Most Fro Yo has an iciness to it. This was creamy and cold, just like yogurt. I want a Pinkberry in Chico now.
We met Diana, Terri and Andy's dad at this awesome fish and chip's place, Mac's They were so nice there, and the fish and chips were out of this world. We decided to walk down to the wharf/pier and check it out. It was sunny and hot, but the nice wind off the water cooled you down instantly. We didn't spend a ton of time in SB, but a new hours was nice. I would love to go back, just Andy and I and spend more time looking around. It was very beautiful!
We met Diana, Terri and Andy's dad at this awesome fish and chip's place, Mac's They were so nice there, and the fish and chips were out of this world. We decided to walk down to the wharf/pier and check it out. It was sunny and hot, but the nice wind off the water cooled you down instantly. We didn't spend a ton of time in SB, but a new hours was nice. I would love to go back, just Andy and I and spend more time looking around. It was very beautiful!
Awkward................
Before I get to my forgotten post, I came across this tumblr site via Awakward Family Photo's. There is something I find endearing about not only mine, but other's awkward school photo's. It tells a story of how we were feeling, not just looking that day. This tumblr site is awesome. Sure it gives a photo of someone when they were not looking their best, but they tell a story about that time in their lives.
For me, I never felt awkward, that may sound strange, but I also am never embarrassed. When ever I have been in a group activity and am asked, what is your most embarrassing moment, I struggle, because I don't' have one. I don't care. When I have said stupid things that most people would get red in the face about and shrink in their chair I just say, yup I did that. I own it. I am proud of the silly things I have said and done. That is what made me who I am. And those awkward pictures. Those are the best.
One could say my "awkward" stage started in 6th grade. To quote the great writer, Britney Spears, "I'm not a girl, not yet a woman' rings pretty true. I had unruly curly hair, a mom that loves scarves, and a pension for button up sweaters. Thus, my Flight Attendant school picture. For years I would get ragged on for that. But I owned it. And you know why? Everyone remembered me and what I wore that day, but they couldn't' tell me what they wore that day because they didn't take a risk.
Towards the end of 7th grade going into 8th grade I had graduated to hippie/tomboy status. I was wearing my dead grandmother's clothes and shoes. (She died in 1992), this was 1992/93/94. I loved her clothes. Polyester pants suits, bring colored sandals. I wore bell bottom's, and yin/yang necklaces, had a perm (why, because my curly hair wasn't curly enough). In 9th grade I cut my hair and wore a pony tail every single day. I wore my grandmother's bright plastic yellow flowered button up shirt for school pictures. My parents didn't care, they knew I was being true to me. People laughed, I didn't care.
In 10th grade I would wear this dress my mom wore in the 70's to school .It was long, and flowy and oh so comfortable. And very hippie. I loved it. People commented, I didn't care. I slowly got some style, thanks to MTV's The Grind and my older cousin Sarah's sense of fashion. I am still not fashionable, my bff Jenn has a wardrobe that I would die for. She is always so put together. And Steph my friend and neighbor, always looks amazing. I didn't start plucking/waxing/threading my crazy eyebrows until I was 23! Yeh. 23! I once had an ex-bf say to me" even your eyebrows are naturally curly" yet I wasn't embarrassed, I just said " some girls are lucky"
So next time you see a friend or family member with an awkward photo, ask them to tell you what they were feeling like at the time. There maybe a surprise story in there for you to hear.
For me, I never felt awkward, that may sound strange, but I also am never embarrassed. When ever I have been in a group activity and am asked, what is your most embarrassing moment, I struggle, because I don't' have one. I don't care. When I have said stupid things that most people would get red in the face about and shrink in their chair I just say, yup I did that. I own it. I am proud of the silly things I have said and done. That is what made me who I am. And those awkward pictures. Those are the best.
One could say my "awkward" stage started in 6th grade. To quote the great writer, Britney Spears, "I'm not a girl, not yet a woman' rings pretty true. I had unruly curly hair, a mom that loves scarves, and a pension for button up sweaters. Thus, my Flight Attendant school picture. For years I would get ragged on for that. But I owned it. And you know why? Everyone remembered me and what I wore that day, but they couldn't' tell me what they wore that day because they didn't take a risk.
Towards the end of 7th grade going into 8th grade I had graduated to hippie/tomboy status. I was wearing my dead grandmother's clothes and shoes. (She died in 1992), this was 1992/93/94. I loved her clothes. Polyester pants suits, bring colored sandals. I wore bell bottom's, and yin/yang necklaces, had a perm (why, because my curly hair wasn't curly enough). In 9th grade I cut my hair and wore a pony tail every single day. I wore my grandmother's bright plastic yellow flowered button up shirt for school pictures. My parents didn't care, they knew I was being true to me. People laughed, I didn't care.
In 10th grade I would wear this dress my mom wore in the 70's to school .It was long, and flowy and oh so comfortable. And very hippie. I loved it. People commented, I didn't care. I slowly got some style, thanks to MTV's The Grind and my older cousin Sarah's sense of fashion. I am still not fashionable, my bff Jenn has a wardrobe that I would die for. She is always so put together. And Steph my friend and neighbor, always looks amazing. I didn't start plucking/waxing/threading my crazy eyebrows until I was 23! Yeh. 23! I once had an ex-bf say to me" even your eyebrows are naturally curly" yet I wasn't embarrassed, I just said " some girls are lucky"
So next time you see a friend or family member with an awkward photo, ask them to tell you what they were feeling like at the time. There maybe a surprise story in there for you to hear.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
McDonald's............ugh
We got up at 1:30 to leave and my stomach wasn't feeling top notch. I pushed through and we left. We were needing a place to feed the kids and change them so we stopped at a McDonald's, I don't even know where because I was so sick to my stomach I didn't even care. We don't' eat at McDonald's. I read Fast Food Nation 10 years ago and was turned off. Blech. But we stopped. And we let the kids eat there. Lest you think I am going to allow them to put whatever junk in them you are wrong. They had oatmeal. And they sorta liked it, except it was too watery. I was feeling better and against my better judgement, Andy had won a free breakfast sandwhich (Monopoly was going on) so I got a Sausage Biscuit with Egg. It was free. Oh man, my body hated me.
For the rest of the drive home all I could do was moan, shut my eyes, and hope that I wouldn't' puke. I wanted to so bad, but we were driving and I knew it would slow us down. I kept putting Sesame Street on for the kids to watch and feeding them animal crackers and what ever else I had to make them be quiet since I was feeling so sick. We got home around 10:40 and I went straight to bed after bring a kid inside. I don't even know what kid I brought in, that's how sick I was. Andy was amazing, and un packed the car, fed the kids, played with them while I wallowed in bed, finally getting sick. I felt much better.
But Saturday rolled around, and then Andy was sick and throwing up. Then Verona. I had forgotten that one night in Solvang Trent had thrown up. But he was fine so I didn't think anything of it. What ever came through our house was terrible. Andy and I put Mary Poppins on and hoped the kids could make their own dinner and survive.
We were bummed about getting sick. We had all these awesome plans for the weekend since we had gotten home so early on a Friday. We had to miss a bbq with Rick and Steph, yard work, (our lawn hasn't been mowed in 2-3 weeks, I lost count), pool time with the kids, you name it.
It took me until Monday night to start feeling back to normal. Then there was a mountain of laundry to do and the house was a mess. Being sick sucks.
So the lesson was, if you don't feel good, DO NOT EAT McDonald's!!!!!
Here are the kids all chipper and happy, while mom and dad were down for the count in our bed.
For the rest of the drive home all I could do was moan, shut my eyes, and hope that I wouldn't' puke. I wanted to so bad, but we were driving and I knew it would slow us down. I kept putting Sesame Street on for the kids to watch and feeding them animal crackers and what ever else I had to make them be quiet since I was feeling so sick. We got home around 10:40 and I went straight to bed after bring a kid inside. I don't even know what kid I brought in, that's how sick I was. Andy was amazing, and un packed the car, fed the kids, played with them while I wallowed in bed, finally getting sick. I felt much better.
But Saturday rolled around, and then Andy was sick and throwing up. Then Verona. I had forgotten that one night in Solvang Trent had thrown up. But he was fine so I didn't think anything of it. What ever came through our house was terrible. Andy and I put Mary Poppins on and hoped the kids could make their own dinner and survive.
We were bummed about getting sick. We had all these awesome plans for the weekend since we had gotten home so early on a Friday. We had to miss a bbq with Rick and Steph, yard work, (our lawn hasn't been mowed in 2-3 weeks, I lost count), pool time with the kids, you name it.
It took me until Monday night to start feeling back to normal. Then there was a mountain of laundry to do and the house was a mess. Being sick sucks.
So the lesson was, if you don't feel good, DO NOT EAT McDonald's!!!!!
Here are the kids all chipper and happy, while mom and dad were down for the count in our bed.
3rd Road Trip
Phew! After Uncle Paul left on Thursday it was time for me to do some more laundry and pack us all up for our 3rd and final major road trip of the summer, Solvang, California.
Andy's mom and his Aunt Terri co-own a time share. Back at Thanksgiving(?) we picked out Solvang for a summer trip. Solvang is made to look just like a Danish town. It was the inspiration behind Leavenworth, Washington, which is made to look like a Bavarian town.
We were going to take 101 down, but last minute chose I5. I5 is probably the most boring road in all of California. Between Sacramento and Los Angeles it is a wasteland. You have to get off on a side highway to get to any nice town. When we took our little highway, it was nothing. And then all of a sudden we found ourselves on the exact stretch of road that James Dean died on. Crazy!?!?! I was looking for a place for breakfast and found a place and all these reviews kept talking about James Dean so I googled it and sure enough, we passed right by where he died in his car accident. Eerie.
We made it to Solvang around 10:30ish, and met up with Diana and Terri. The time share was really nice. It wasn't super large like the last one we stayed in, which was nice. We had a ground floor, our own patio with hedges and we were in the back of the complex so it was very quiet. We got lucky and had a hot tub right by our room so that was convenient! We put the kid's down for nap and then Andy and I went to explore the town. Andy had gotten sick with a sinus cold so he wasn't top notch.
The town is uber adorable! The attention to detail was amazing. It was so cute! Andy's dad got in around 6:30 and we all made dinner. Which is another nice thing, a full kitchen so we all brought tons of food so we could make our meals.
The next day we took the kids to this awesome park in town.
It is all Danish looking. The kids went crazy! Running all over the place, they had a gingerbread house that Verona loved to sit inside, a Dragon Boat to "drive". We went to the park twice while we were there. That's how awesome it was!
The timeshare also had a wading pool. It was barely heated so it was perfect for the warm weather.
We went downtown all of us and walked around.
V wearing Aunt Terri's sunglasses I believe.
Andy and I got a date night and we went to The Hitching Post II This is where a few scenes from "Sideways" was filmed. We had to go. Merlot, not even, we had Pinot Noir which is what the area is known for. The wine was delicious. The food was pretty good, the service was meh.
I found these signs inside a store and they made me laugh.
Andy's mom and his Aunt Terri co-own a time share. Back at Thanksgiving(?) we picked out Solvang for a summer trip. Solvang is made to look just like a Danish town. It was the inspiration behind Leavenworth, Washington, which is made to look like a Bavarian town.
We were going to take 101 down, but last minute chose I5. I5 is probably the most boring road in all of California. Between Sacramento and Los Angeles it is a wasteland. You have to get off on a side highway to get to any nice town. When we took our little highway, it was nothing. And then all of a sudden we found ourselves on the exact stretch of road that James Dean died on. Crazy!?!?! I was looking for a place for breakfast and found a place and all these reviews kept talking about James Dean so I googled it and sure enough, we passed right by where he died in his car accident. Eerie.
We made it to Solvang around 10:30ish, and met up with Diana and Terri. The time share was really nice. It wasn't super large like the last one we stayed in, which was nice. We had a ground floor, our own patio with hedges and we were in the back of the complex so it was very quiet. We got lucky and had a hot tub right by our room so that was convenient! We put the kid's down for nap and then Andy and I went to explore the town. Andy had gotten sick with a sinus cold so he wasn't top notch.
The town is uber adorable! The attention to detail was amazing. It was so cute! Andy's dad got in around 6:30 and we all made dinner. Which is another nice thing, a full kitchen so we all brought tons of food so we could make our meals.
The next day we took the kids to this awesome park in town.
The timeshare also had a wading pool. It was barely heated so it was perfect for the warm weather.
I mean, isn't this town just super cool?!?
We also hung out at the timeshare.
Andy and I got a date night and we went to The Hitching Post II This is where a few scenes from "Sideways" was filmed. We had to go. Merlot, not even, we had Pinot Noir which is what the area is known for. The wine was delicious. The food was pretty good, the service was meh.
I found these signs inside a store and they made me laugh.
With football season starting up this just seemed appropriate.
Overall, we had a great time in Solvang spending it with Diana, Terri and Andy's dad, Andy.
However, the day we left was another adventure.............
Uncle Paul!!
Andy's youngest brother, Paul, came out to visit for almost 2 weeks. We got lucky, because we got to spend time with him at the reunion, THEN he came and stayed with us for 5 days! From Saturday night when we got back, until Thursday Uncle Pauly was at the house and the twins loved it. They way they say Paul, is like a little New Jersey kid. Uncle Pwalie. He got them their first Lego's (Duplo) and helped them put it together, a bubble gun that was very desired by all under 4 feet tall, and he even let Verona play with his camera.
I don't have a lot of pictures for some reason. On Tuesday night, we drove up to Paradise and went out to dinner with Andy and Paul's Dad, Grandpa, and Andy's mom drove up from Stockton and we had pizza then went to Baskin Robbins for the first time. We let the kids have sherbet and they lvoed it.
Thursday, Paul and Diana headed out and we said good bye to Paul. We will hopefully see him at Christmas. He and his girlfriend, Diana (DeeAnna) are in St. Louis and the kiddo's miss their Aunt Didi and Uncle Pwalie. I took this pic of the 3 brothers.
I don't have a lot of pictures for some reason. On Tuesday night, we drove up to Paradise and went out to dinner with Andy and Paul's Dad, Grandpa, and Andy's mom drove up from Stockton and we had pizza then went to Baskin Robbins for the first time. We let the kids have sherbet and they lvoed it.
Thursday, Paul and Diana headed out and we said good bye to Paul. We will hopefully see him at Christmas. He and his girlfriend, Diana (DeeAnna) are in St. Louis and the kiddo's miss their Aunt Didi and Uncle Pwalie. I took this pic of the 3 brothers.
Andy, Paul, and Matt
I like the faces they are making. And we couldn't' have a pic with out our Oakland A's Flag flying proudly.
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