Santa!

Our visit to Santa this year was super easy. I went on a random afternoon - there were only two kids in front of us so it was a quick line - there was a clown there making balloons so the kids were all into what balloon animal they wanted - and then walah! It was our turn.

Wyatt ran directly to Santa and gave him a high-5. Teagan stared him up and down trying to determine if it was the 'real' Santa. Then they climbed into his lap and we took about 15 different shots to get this one - it was the very last one we took!

All is good - our visit to Santa is complete for 2011.

Wahoo! Cabo San Lucas

OK - wow - it has been a while since I posted. How better to get you up to speed than a recent vacation to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to say Hi and yes, Mommy is not blogging nearly enough!

We recently took a trip to Cabo with the entire family: My parents, Travis' Mom and my sister and her family. Such a great time. The kids absolutely loved the ocean and the beach. They would spend 4 hours straight in the water and on the beach. The first few days we were there it was quiet - but then the cruise ships came in and it was crowded. The last day we were there - 3 curise ships were in port. That makes for one crazy beach scene!

Had loads of fun - and I am already plotting: where can we go next?!

Cabo San Lucas 2011

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I gotta remember...

The kids have done some pretty funny things in the last week that I just had to get on the blog to remember.

The other day I was sitting in the office working while Teagan and Wyatt were in their rooms happily playing together (a rare moment indeed!) I heard Wyatt going to the bathroom - I actually heard him pee'ing in the toilet. Then I hear him holler at Teagan:

"teeg - we are out of toilet paper"

To which Teagan replies:

"I know. Just shake. It will be OK."

I swear to god she sounded just like me. It was hysterical.

One night last week Teagan had actually taken a nap during the day (neither kids nap at all anymore...which makes for a long day for Mommy!) so we knew she would be up till at least 10:00 pm. There is no sense fighting her to go to bed because she will simply not go to sleep until she is ready. Period. End of discussion. So after we get Wyatt to sleep I ask if she wants to come out and spend some time with Mommy and Daddy. She happily accepts. With all her Care Bears in tow (Cheer and Share are her favorites), her blankie and her Bubba (bunny rabbit) she comes into watch TV with Travis and I. It happens to be Survivor. My favorite show to watch will snacking on popcorn as they are all starving of hunger. (I have a dark sense of humor - I know) I ask Teagan if she wants to share some popcorn with Mommy - and she is thrilled. You see popcorn is like one of her all time favorites next to strawberries. The girl has literally all of my DNA and none of Trav's. We all snuggle in to watch Survivor and munch popcorn.

All of a sudden Teagan jumps off the couch and runs to the bathroom to go potty - then she runs back in and says:

"I have to go potty - can you pause it for a second?!"

Travis and I look at each other and bust out laughing. Then of course, we paused Survivor until our 3 year old was done going potty!

Gymnastics Class

We signed the kids up for gymnastics class at a local gym called Tricks. They have been going every week since January. They LOVE it. It is a highlight for them each week. Their teacher is Miss Youlee - you can see her in the blue t-shirt. Each week they do several new obstacle courses and learn new skills. It is very fun to watch them and their athletic ability grow.

Wyatt doing the jungle swing.

Teagan doing the jungle swing.

Teagan is very diligent about listening to Miss Youlee and takes it very seriously. In fact several of the other girls had leotards and one week Teagan asked for one...which is the first girly thing she has ever asked for. So of course that is what she got for Valentines day.

By the way Wyatt wanted a leotard too. We explained to him that leotards are for little girls...and he sort of didn't really get that. We have actually begun to hear "It's not fair!" in our house these days. Which immediately triggers something in the back of my head and I hear my Dad's voice saying to me "Life isn't fair." I guess now I sort of empathize with my parents a little more...

So we got him some Scooby Doo pajamas which he loves! Fair trade I thought!

February Shenanigans

I guess the month of February is making up for all the beautiful weather we had in January! It has been a rough couple of weeks with heavy rain and even a hailstorm.

Wyatt had left a pair of his shoes outside and when he woke up in the morning they were sitting in a puddle of rain water. So he decided to go outside and "save" his shoes.

The kids had a Valentine's Party at school. It was super cute. They got to decorate a cookie with frosting and sprinkles.

As you can see - Teagan goes for straight frosting! Who needs a cookie?! And by the way - she has my Dad's gorgeous blue eyes. She looks more and more like me - and like I did as a little girl - every day.

Wyatt is still just such a funny little kid. He also has the most amazing blue eyes with these long 'ol eyelashes. Why do boys get the eyelashes?!

These are the Valentines bags they each decorated. They got lots of fun stuff and some candy...that Mommylet them have over the course of the day. Then suddenly it disappeared...?! But actually it was OK because these guys are not that big into candy. If it is out of sight - it is out of mind. Teagan is more of a sweets eater than Wyatt. He doesn't care too much for desert/cake/chocolate. He will have a bite or two then be done. I wonder if that will change as he gets older?

This was another picnic for the Care Bears. This time the ingredients were: water and ice. Wyatt is tall enough so now he can have free access to the water/ice feature on the refrigerator. So he filled up the big bowl with water, then the small bowls with ice. And walah! you have a picnic.

This was a shot of them after they decided it was time to pack up and go to the beach! We were out at Folsom Lake last weekend on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. It was pretty warm - like 70 degrees - and we went to the lake to have a picnic. After our picnic we walked down to the lake. Travis was like: "Don't let them take off their shoes - because then they will go in..." To which I replied: "They are going to go in with or without shoes. They are 3 1/2 years old and they love water!" The kids immediately went straight into the water and got themselves completely wet.

So ever since that day they keep asking to go back to the beach!

January Fun

I would say the theme for January was creativity. There was a nice respite in weather - it turned into a mini spring for a couple of weeks in January so the kids were outside terrorizing the backyard. On this particular day they decided to create Birthday Cakes with sprinkles Wyatt had gotten out of the cupboard in their rain boots and my gardening bucket. It was fun for Mommy to try and get Wyatt's rain boots clean after this cooking endeavor.

The other theme for the past few weeks has been picnics. I have recently gotten a part time job and so I am quite busy during the days trying to get stuff done in our office...which leaves a lot of free time on the hands of 3 1/2 year old twins. Not a good combo let me tell you. I spend 10 minutes in the office on the phone and come out to find a full on picnic in their soccer goal with my dishes. Every single fig newton out of the container - on a plate for a particular Care Bear. You see it is all about the Care Bears in our house right now. So everyone has their assigned Care Bear: Teagan is Cheer, Wyatt is Funshine, Mommy is Share, and Daddy is Oopsie. Oh - and Delux the dog is TenderFoot.

And this is also a result of Mommy needing to get something done quickly - like getting dressed. I get them set up with poster paints on the kitchen table - then head off to get dressed - and this is what I come back to. Since this was right after MC weekend where the girls showed Teagan (and Wyatt) make up - I think that is where this is coming from. Teagan is particularly interested in make up these days. She watches me put it on - then grabs something out of my make up tray and tries to put it on herself.

Needless to say I need to get more help watching these kids so I can work...or else it is 10 minutes for me to do something and 20 minutes of clean-up!!

Almost 6 Months Later

This is a picture of the kids this morning at school... And this was them almost 6 months ago when they started school the first week of September.

Off To A Good Start!

Well, so far, 2011 is off to a better start than last year. Which isn't saying much - but it could be a lot worse - so again I keep trying to find the positive!

We started off the year celebrating with a group of longtime friends in Sonoma for the weekend. Eleven adults and 9 kids. Wow - that is a busy house! This year marked the 10 year anniversary of this gathering - and we were all amazed by how quickly time goes by and so much changes...yet stays the same.

The beginning of this year saw a two week period of extreme cold here at home. The low would be 35 and the high would only be 42. That is cold for us, it is not normally that cold. And there was a constant layer of fog that settled into the valley. Creating a very cold and wet outside world that made us want to stay inside! Our heater was running constantly throughout the day and night trying to keep the house and its occupants warm enough.

And sure enough we all caught colds (except Travis) and have been sick for a couple of weeks now. Teagan seems to have gotten over it - she has the ability to get over colds without it turning into something else. But Wyatt - oh Wyatt - he does not have the same ability. Wyatt got tubes put in last September then got an ear infection at the end of November and just got another ear infection in the middle of this month. So that is 2 ear infections within 60 days and the kid has tubes! Geesh! I want to go back in to see his ENT Dr. because I am worried about his hearing at this point. Oh and I have a nasty sinus infection that I am not able to shake even being on anti-biotics for the last 10 days. But there is a warming trend in the forecast so I am hopefull that it will help us all feel better.

We got all the Christmas decorations down and stored away for next year. Wow - that is a lot of work for three weeks! It was also a fun challenge for me to find a place to put all their new toys in their rooms...like a giant puzzle: this can go here - oh and that can go there....

We are busy with school, work, and birthday parties. This weekend we had back to back birthday parties, I think that is the way we will be spending a lot of weekends in the coming years. The kids are LOVING school and are learning so much. They are starting to learn the alphabet - they can generally pick out letters - they are learning numbers and can count up to about 12 or 13 before they lose it. It is so cute to hear one thru ten...then eleven, twelve, sixthteen, thirteen, eleven, twelve, fourthteen. You see whenever they get off count they throw in a "th" in the number almost as if they know they are off and they are trying to just make their version of the number make it work! LOL

And the best news of the year so far: The Goodrich Family has an iPad. Yeah!! The kids love it, Daddy has become obsessed with "Angry Birds" and Mommy loves to Google every health ailment anyone in the house has. It is pretty cool to see our kids growing up with this amazing technology. Our kids can figure out an app probably just as fast as Mommy can. Pretty impressive how quickly this new generation takes to technology.

Travis is desperately trying to gear up for his British Columbia bike race in July this year by starting to ride. This is a picture of him braving the 40 degree temperatures to go ride 40 miles that morning! Doesn't it look like such fun?!

Holidays and Disneyland Trip

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