Celebration

I'm a blogging slacker! In my defense I still need a new laptop, I can't resize photos on this one. Since I last posted we went to Tahoe, celebrated my birthday, celebrated Easter, celebrated Patrick's birthday, and had a party for both kids. Next up is Molly's second birthday on Friday, then our wedding anniversary. Add in a few birthday parties for small friends and we have been busy! So click over to Flickr and you can see some pictures of what we've been up to, here are some previews! The first one is from today at the zoo. Molly is a tad obsessed with rhinoceroses right now, so we thought she would enjoy the chance to view one in person. Who knew they stunk so much? Molly was happy, but kept asking if the rhinoceros would bite. Hee!



And can you feel the birthday love here?











And in school news....Patrick got into both the public school and private schools we applied to. Last week we made the decision to send him to private. But I don't seem to be sitting well with it :( which makes me think we need to rethink it. I wish the future of public education in California didn't seem so bleak. Sigh.

Party Girl

Molly's birthday party was on Saturday, and I didn't even cry! It was a gorgeous day, and Molly seemed pretty excited to have all eyes on her for the day. The theme of the party was cupcakes, chosen from a moment of inspiration I had when my mom gave me a giant cupcake cake pan for Christmas. It looked easy enough to make. Boy was I wrong. I called my cousin Danielle in a complete panic last week because my cake was bad. Oh so very, very bad. Danielle helped me trouble shoot some of the problems I was having, and them being the total sweetie that she is, she offered to make the cake even though she was headed out of town. The cake turned out completely gorgeous, much better than anything I would have been able to do. Molly was very tentative with it, and mostly just mushed around the frosting. It was a great day!

Check out my party dress!



Uncle Nick taught us all cool party tricks to do with orange peels.



Molly with her Godparents



Getting ready for cake in her special birthday tee



Cake time!







And today was our 12th wedding anniversary :) It ends a 30 day period in which we celebrate my birthday, Patrick's birthday, Molly's birthday, and the birthdays of several small friends. Most years Easter in thrown in there too, we lucked out this year! This year it has been really bad because Tom had a huge project that he's been working on for 2 years go live this weekend. He went to work at 4 am the day of the party, came home for the party, then went back to work. He worked today as well, and will probably be getting into the hospital by 6 am every day this week. We are VERY much looking forward to vacation in 3 weeks!

Birthday Girl

Good golly, Miss Molly is 1 today!

It's so hard to believe she's already one. The last year has just zipped on by, it seems like yesterday I was anxiously awaiting our sweet baby girl. It still amazes me to think that we have a girl, I was so comfortable in my role as a boy mom. I still get a little squee inside when I take pretty little pink dresses out of the laundry and put bows in her hair. In the picture above, Molly is wearing a dress I bought long before I was ever pregnant with her. I thought it was so pretty, wand worth putting away just in case I ever had a baby girl. So I thought it was fitting that she wear it today.

Molly has just been a precious joy in our lives. She's so similar to Patrick in so many ways (inability to sleep through the night being at the top of that list!), and so different in others. Molly absolutely adores Patrick, she is never far from his side and he doesn't seem to mind one bit. When he plays with his Playmobil men of Legos at the dining room table she will sit on the sidelines and watch, content to just be near him. Just in the last week she has started saying "dada" and "mama" in the right context. She's definitely attached to us and wary of strangers. When Tom leaves for work in the mornings she cries. And when he comes home at night she crawls as fast as she can to the door, stopping to lift her arms up for a snuggle. She doesn't seem that interested in walking yet. It's OK, I'm enjoying every minute of babyness.

Molly has her 1 year visit at the pediatrician yesterday. She weighed in at 18 pounds, 10 ounces (25th percentile) and 30 inches long (85 or 90th percentile). Her head is finally measuring in close to Patrick's in the 90th percentile! The doctor declared her nice and healthy, and wasn't concerned about her weight. We started her on a little cows milk this week, she hasn't taken to it as quickly as Patrick did but it is nice to know that she has an option other than mom! We also got the green light to start her on a few more foods like eggs.

So a very happy birthday to my sweet baby girl! You are the icing on our cake, and we all love you very, very much.

Happy Birthday, My Little Sonny Boy

Little man turned 4 today.

It makes me both happy and sad. 4 seems so old. He's no longer a toddler. He's a little boy. I have to register him for kindergarten(!) in 10 months. Where did the time go? But on the other hand, it is so much fun seeing his personality develop. Patrick is really such a sweet little boy. He's polite, and a good friend, and loves his sister to death. He loves to tell jokes, his favorite being one he wrote himself, and is best repeated very loudly and very quickly... We go to school at 20 o'clock! Laugh hysterically. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

It's hard to believe I've been a mom for 4 years. It seems like just yesterday we were blessed with this amazing little baby boy. I was so scared about having a baby, let alone having a baby boy. What did I know about boys? I really and truly believe Patrick came into our lives to teach us. Patience, humility, understanding, unconditional love, faith... all things taught to me by my son. He's a blessing and a joy, and every day we are thankful to have him.

So how does a newly 4 year old boy roll? With a bowling party of course! Imagine 14 3 and 4 year old with 6 pound balls in matching shoes. It was a miracle no fingers were lost. It was a little chaotic, but the kids seemed to have a complete blast. They all seemed to have the most fun running in circles around the table after cake. Go figure.

Molly helped to keep score

The cake was from one of the very few Carvel's on the West Coast. Yummo!



Today, we let Patrick decide what he wanted to choose and he chose a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (surprise, surprise!). The weather has been absolutely gorgeous and summer like for the last few days and today was no exception. It was one of those rare 80 degree days at the beach, just perfect for a birthday celebration and some ice cream! Patrick even wore his new "Super Patrick" cape we gave him for his birthday.

Patrick with his seafood lunch. Seafood...see food...get it? I crack myself up. Now I know where he gets it from.

Baby It's Cold Outside

I'm a little late in posting this, but we spent a long weekend in Tahoe over my birthday. It had been a very long time since we'd been up there during the winter, and I've decided I am so not cut out for cold weather. Patrick loved it though. He was thrilled to be able to make snow angels and go sledding. Molly tolerated it for small periods. She absolutely hates having anything on her head right now (including my beloved bows) so she would throw a complete fit anytime we put a hat or a hood on her. I am really hoping this phase is short lived, Patrick went through a similar phase at about the same age. I took a bazillion pictures, more are posted on Flickr.





On the way home we stopped off in Fairfield to tour the Jelly Belly factory. It's one of those things I've always wanted to do but never had the chance. The factory only operates on weekdays so I was excited about seeing everything in action. Well wouldn't you know it, Monday was inventory day so the factory wasn't running. We saw a bunch of empty machines and half finished beans but Patrick loved it just the same. He brought home his paper Jelly Belly hat and has been wearing it for 3 days straight now, insisting that we play "jelly bean factory workers". I'll admit it, that one can get old really quickly.

Rock N Roll All Night

The other night Patrick decided he was a "rock star". I guess rock stars wear sunglasses and jammies :) He serenaded us with rocking renditions of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "The Alphabet Song". Never mind that his guitar is actually a ukulele.



Patrick has quite the active imagination. We spend a large chunk of every day playing out some role play that he has decided on. It usually involved pretending we are firemen, or pirates, or some version where I am the son and he is the dad (I'll admit that one gets a little old, especially when he insists on me calling him "Dad" when we are out in public).

Patrick's birthday is coming up in a few weeks and he has been very carefully planning his birthday party (warning friends: it involves bowling). He will happily tell anyone (even those who don't ask) that he is three and a HALF, and that his birthday is coming up. And he will be 4. And he is having a party. And would you like to come? And when is your birthday? And how old are you? And what is your name? And on and on. Luckily most people seem more charmed than annoyed by his outgoing personality.

Cut The Cake

Happy birthday Tom! Now you are as old as me ;)

Patrick was in muuuuuch better spirits today, we actually made it to the grocery store but then a potty emergency necessitated cutting the trip short and jamming back home. I'm so ready for Patrick's potty issues to ease up. Anyhoo, Tom wanted to go out to dinner so we made our way over to the very kid friendly Peninsula Creamery, except it hasn't been called that in 15 years or so and I honestly do not even know the new name. Patrick's been eating and feeling much better but will happily tell anyone he comes across about his barf-o-rama sessions. Such a boy thing, I am sure!

Tom got a store bought, but delicious, birthday cake.



And a sweet picture of Molly.



And now for something totally random. Some friends and I were talking a few weeks ago about the fact that Jell-O Pudding Pops were the bomb and why on earth did they stop making them? They came in a zillion flavors and they rocked, plus they were low fat and low calorie. So I started digging around online and it appears Popsicle brand brought them back but they aren't the same. So we decided to make our own and they were awesome. Patrick loved helping and the end result was almost as good as the original. I highly recommend picking up some popsicle molds and making your own. We're also used the molds to freeze juice and applesauce. Applesauce pops are surprisingly magically delicious.

Artist's Life

The other day Patrick was playing with watercolors on the deck (oh how I love the school supply sales at Target this month!). We had a very serious conversation before he started about how paint was only for the paper, not for the house (there was an unfortunate incident with crayons and stucco earlier this summer that did not end well). Patrick was outside playing around, I was in the family room with Molly. I went out after a few minutes to check on him and found this:

When I asked him what he had done he said "nothing". Lord help me.


And while I'm on the subject of art, just when I was starting to worry that Patrick missed out on those artistic genes, he started drawing recognizable things! Here's a happy face he drew on his Aquadoodle.




And last week Patrick went to his first birthday party at Pump It Up. It's like Chuck E. Cheese for the '00s (what do we call that?), but full of large inflatable jumpers and slides. The birthday girl was turning 3, and her friends seemed quite impressed with the place.



Here's Patrick with the birthday girl Skye and his friend Calvin. Moments after this picture was taken a small war broke out over who got to sit in the giant chair.

Blue Skies

My brother Nick is turning 30 tomorrow! I think that might make him a full fledged adult now ;) Nick's girlfriend Leah surprised him with a party today at the beach in Aptos. It was a perfect beach day (which seems rare in Northern California), there was no fog, the sun was shining, the food was plentiful and the company was great.

Patrick really loved playing in the water (today at least, he has a tendency to be a little fickle). Molly's been having a hard time sleeping anywhere other than home so she was a little cranky due to the lack of a good nap, but she was smiling and charming and got to meet a few relatives for the first time today.

I took over 200 photos, so I had a hard time picking ones to post here, there's more on Flickr.

Happy Birthday Nick! Welcome to adulthood!