J's first sentence

"I need sippy."

All Mine

This weekend I got my kids all to myself.  It is a rare occurrence and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  On work days I only get a few hours with the kids before they head to bed and I have to share them with everyone else.  This weekend my parents were in the Eastern Sierras with my grandparents and Erik was away surfing.  I cleared my schedule and had no expectations for each day other than playing and enjoying my time with the kids.  By Sunday night I was tired and hoping for one more day of weekend, but we had a lot of fun.  Saturday was all about the beach.  Sunday was all about doing stuff together.  We played with toys, the kids helped me vacuum and dust, we danced around and made up silly songs, and we read books.  The day ended with everyone coming back and an impromptu pool party for the kids.

Jonah feeding his baby, then whacking it in the head with the bottle a few times.

I just loved this smile and he wouldn't stop doing it.

I couldn't decide which smiley picture I liked best, so I put them both up.

Helping Mommy dust. 

Chores: #1 Dust Beds.  Check.

Cairo helping remove the dust that sneaks under things.

Cairo really wanted me to see her "ballet." She insisted that I take pictures.

Jonah wanted in on the fun and tried to do the same move as his big sister.

... and here are the final poses.  I'm not sure if Jonah realized his final pose was something different than Cairo's, but he worked really hard at mimicking her.

Buns!

Little did Xander know, Cairo and Jonah snuck all the grapes off his plate and stuffed them into their mouths when he wasn't looking.

San Onofre

This past weekend Erik went and stayed with friends at the beach for a few days.  The kids and I headed to the coast on Saturday to meet up with them and a few other friends from out of town.  We spent the morning and early afternoon enjoying picture perfect weather at San Onofre State beach.  Erik went surfing and played ultimate frisbee with the guys and the kids and I camped out on the sand and shoreline with our friend Jaymee and her new little guy, Ben (he was so cute and perfect!).

Baby Ben (Sam and Jaymee's son) 1 1/2 months

I think Erik needs a new, larger hat... either the hat shrunk or his head grew.

The waves weren't large, but the company was good.

Playing ultimate.  Erik did I nice face dive into the sand a few moments later.

Jonah did his best to be one of the boys.  He checked out the girls and wanted to go and say hi (Mommy wouldn't let him).  He wanted to go play ultimate frisbee (Mommy wouldn't let him).  He wanted to race into the waves (Mommy wouldn't let him).  He wanted to walk around and drink a beer.  Though Mommy wouldn't let him drink it, I couldn't spoil all his fun... so, I let him walk around holding it.

 

The highlight for me?  Cairo got on a surfboard for the first time with her daddy.  The water was a little too cold for Cairo so it didn't last long.  Jonah is just itching to join them... in a few years.  He's too little still.







So, I am trying to figure out why we've been living in Southern California for over 5 years now and we don't go to the beach every weekend.  Well, technically, WE don't go to the beach every weekend, but Erik does.  After two weekends in a row of perfect beach weather on the beach and extremely happy kids, I am already making plans to go back next weekend.

Newport Beach

Erik gets to the beach to go surfing just about every weekend.  With the weather lately being so warm and tropical and the water temperature at a nice 69 degrees, we thought that it would be fun to take the kids to the beach, too.  The day was perfect.  The weather was cooler than it has been, but plenty warm enough to go around in a swimsuit.  Instead of having the hot sun beating down, we got a nice overcast sky.  The air was humid and the water was just warm enough to be inviting.  Cairo and Jonah enjoyed digging in the fine sand on the beach and splashing on the shoreline.  Our only regret- we didn't bring a surfboard.  The conditions would have been perfect to take Cairo out on her first ride.  Lunch and a walk on the pier wrapped up our morning at the beach nicely.  We made it home just in time for naps. 

Cairo's Artwork

Rainbow

Just when I was beginning to think that Cairo wouldn't be able to do anything but scribble, her drawing and coloring has started to develop.  Cairo's art box is becoming a permanent fixture on the dining room table.  Morning, noon, and night Cairo is asking us to draw-draw.  At preschool she gets to paint and do artwork everyday.  We are starting to get quite a collection.  Not all the artwork are keepers, but here are a few I like.

A family picture she drew at school.  It is hard to see everyone, so I took close up pictures of all her people.

Cairo drew a picture of Brobbey on the MagnaDoddle.

Cairo said that this was her when she was angry.

A pretty, pretty butterfly.

When Erik asked Cairo what this was she responded, "A striped dolphin treehouse." Of course that it what it is, duh.                          ???? Your guess is probably as good as mine as to what the heck that means??????

Views of Jonah

Erik and I each get very different views of Jonah.  The roles have switched.  My little boy, and the emphasis on MY, is no longer mine.  He could care less about me.  In fact, if I pick him up he just cries.  I try not to take it personally, but it does hurt my feelings a little and makes me feel a little guilty about having to desert him during the day to go to work.  Erik, on the other hand, has a new little shadow.  Jonah follows Erik everywhere and only wants his Dad-dy.  Daddy can do everything just right.

My constant view lately:

Erik's view:

NOT FAIR!!!

:o)

Cairo talking to Erik today:
"I want to go to my room all by myself... Can someone come with me?"