A Merry Christmas - 2010

We had a very special winter holiday season this year. With friends, we kicked off the season at the Folsom Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in old-town Folsom. We hunted for our Christmas tree in Apple Hill, walking through the trees on a blanket of white snow. After we found our tree, we drank hot apple cider and took a train ride around a pretty pond. Some of Owen & Tucker's pals (and their fun parents) came over to decorate Christmas cookies and play way past bed time. Kris and I had a date night out for his second annual Winter Party and danced the night away at the Sacramento Convention Center. Okay, we only danced a little, but we closed the night out with a terrible attempt at a swing dance - it was VERY fun until Kris almost dropped me for the dip!

Our baby learned to walk and our nephew came for a visit. Santa's helper and his friends made a stop on our street to pick up canned food for charity and gave candy to the kids in the neighborhood. One night, we had an impromptu pot pie dinner with friends while my sister was visiting. I spent a long lunch with a good friend decorating a Christmas tree at the Folsom Zoo for the first annual Zoo Lights celebration (unfortunately we missed the night time festivities due to bad colds and chilly weather). As a family, we baked yummy coffee cakes and made a new batch of homemade hot chocolate mix. Owen had a holiday extravaganza gymnastics show with two of his pals and Tucker was able to play on the gym floor and loved it! We went to four very fun birthday parties!! We watched a dance movie and watched Owen do incredible dance moves!

We had two very special Christmas parties on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - where we spent time with our families and watched the kids open way too many presents thanks to our families' generosity. We took lots of pictures and ate yummy food and relaxed as we visited. Luckily, for us, our Elf (Elf on the Shelf) magically came with us to Grandma & Grandpas and we're pretty sure he told Santa that the boys were very good, since Santa brought the boys a bunch of great gifts there!

Later tonight, we are set to close out the holiday season and the year at a New Year's Eve Party, where we will give thanks for an incredible year and make wishes for this upcoming year. What a season!! Happy Holidays!!

Many of the memories from these fun outings and special days were captured by others on their cameras, but we still have a hodgepodge of photos to share:

cookie decorating party

Owen & Morgan at Tricks Winter Extravaganza 2010

Tucker going down the gym slide at Trick 2010

in front of our tree

our two boys in their new matching sweat suits

2nd annual Winter party

Folsom Sanctuary tree decorated in front of the bear exhibit

Mommy & Tucker Christmas morning

checking out the stocking stuffers

Tuckered out after the big morning

Happy New Year 2011

Happy New Year! Today is New Year's Eve. 2010 has been such a special year. Our family has grown in the most spectacular way with the addition of Tucker. Owen continued to blossom and has relished his new big brother role. We have watched our babies grow into little boys and we couldn't feel more blessed or happy. We have had so many memories and great moments with family and friends. Thanks to all who helped to make this year extraordinary.

Here is the main photo I wanted to send out as part of our annual holiday card. It didn't happen. Instead I sent an email. I figured it was better than nothing. I know I missed at least a few friends and family, so here it is... our two boys - laughing. We took this picture during our family vacation to visit Kris' family in Roanoke. The boys were playing in the middle of the photo shoot, and the photographers captured this special moment.

We hope this next year brings many more laughs and smiles to all. As great as this year has been, we are looking forward to this next year and all that it may bring!!

Happy New Year! Cheers!!

An unexpected question

Today, as I was driving the boys back from school, Owen asked me how the earth was made. Lately, he's been asking a lot of questions like this, such as "where does corn bread come from?" or "where do flowers come from?". I have to admit, this one threw me for a second. I paused and started to tell him that there are a couple of theories that exist. Luckily, before I had to explain in detail, he continued to tell me that that the earth goes in circles around the sun and at the same time he started to make circles with his fingers in the air. Then he explained that earth moves around the sun and makes morning and night. A second later, as we were pulling into our neighborhood, he happily switched topics to start telling me about what house and neighborhood he thinks his friend lives in. I just shook my head and marveled. Just weeks (okay days) ago we were immersed in poop talk. Now, we are on evolution? God, help me.

Happy 11 Month Birthday Tucker!

Happy 11 Month Birthday Tucker!

Tucker,

In the past month, you have really started to transform from a baby to a little toddler. Two weeks ago, you took your first steps and last night you really started to get the hang of walking!! You can now stand up from a sitting position and walk all on your own! Your record to date is about eighteen steps! You love to climb onto chairs, so much so that we have to watch you closely as you enjoy climbing from the chair to the table top! You haven’t had any more teeth come in but you are eating more and more finger foods. So far, you have taken to peas, carrots, corn, green beans, and cheerios and you appear to like chili and corn bread and spaghetti or macaroni n cheese most of the time. You absolutely LOVE to dance to music. Since you were a teeny tiny baby, music has soothed you, and now as you change into a little boy, music continues to hold your attention and make you smile.

We have to keep a close eye on you when we’re downstairs because if we accidentally leave a door open, you dart for it immediately. You also are sneaky and will quietly crawl your way into the bathroom or find your way up the stairs. Such an explorer! It’s hard for us to decide what your favorite activity is, but we have it narrowed down to the following: riding on the tricycle with big bro, playing on the cardboard slide, playing in the toy kitchen, or crawling up the stairs and onto chairs.

Tucker, you bring us so much joy. Your big brother loves you and regularly says, “ohhhh, him’s so cute” or “ohhhh, Tucker I love you” or “Tucker, come here” and you go! We love to watch you play with Owen. You are always happier when he’s in the room with you, well, that is as long as he’s not trying to play on top of you!

We are looking forward to our first Christmas with you, Tucker, and we can’t wait to take you up into the snow. We’ll be sledding with you in no time.

We love you baby boy!

Thanksgiving 2010

Because we just returned from Virginia and because we're going to spend Christmas with my family, we decided to stay home this Thanksgiving. We had a lovely afternoon with friends at the Gulbrandsen's with a delicious feast and football galore. Dinner really was a feast; we enjoyed a perfectly cooked turkey, a green bean casserole, a broccoli and cheese casserole, sweet potatoes, cornbread stuffing, mash potatoes, mac and cheese, fruit, rolls, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin bread! Yummy!! Owen had a blast playing with the kids and Tucker did great considering we had to contain him to the high chair or in our arms throughout the evening. A few days ago, he came down with a funky virus known as "hand, foot, and mouth" which is a mild bug, or at least it was for him and most of his pals, with fever and rash symptoms. We have our fingers crossed that we did in fact contain the germs and that none of the other kids, or adults for that matter, end up with it. We are grateful that the bug is so minor and that really we have such healthy children.

We have so much to be thankful and grateful for in our lives. We feel so blessed to have supportive and loving families and wonderful friends. This is our first thanksgiving with both Owen and Tucker, and we couldn't feel luckier or happier.

Virgina 2010 Vacation

We timed our trip to Virginia perfectly this year. We went back to meet our new niece Olivia and new nephew Peyton and to give Kris' extended family a chance to meet Tucker. Luckily for us, the babies made it home from the hospital about one week before we arrived so we were able to hug and dote on them all week long.

Highlights from our trip:

• Crisp sunny fall days with beautiful fall foilage surrounding us everywhere we went
• Giant piles of leaves for the boys to play in for hours at a time
• a big family party at Great Grandma's which included a full afternoon of trampoline jumping with cousins, petting goats, looking at the beautiful horses, a ride in the back of a pick up truck, almost petting a buffalo and a cow, and yummy food and great company.
• Owen and Tucker playing with Jenkins and Onyx
• a trip to Build a Bear with Auntie Kyndal
• a trip to the toy store with Nana
• a visit with Robert & Jenny and their sweet baby Abby
• a delicious Thanksgiving feast with Robert and his pals at his Smith Mountain Lake cabin
• first park trip with Auntie Kyndal and her beautiful babies
• a family photo shoot
• lots of relaxing and watching movies in the evenings
• yummy meals at home with the family
• Aunt Jackie's AWESOME sugar cookies

can you believe this color on the maple tree?

could they be any sweeter?

A visit with friends

A few weekends ago, our good friends, the Okzresiks, came out to visit from Ohio. They used to live in Folsom, but moved to the Midwest to be closer to family a few years ago. We miss them terribly and were so happy to see them and meet their son Colin for the first time.

We had a really nice time hanging out with them and a bunch of other friends at the Berry's house for a relaxing Saturday afternoon BBQ. When we first started to hang out with everybody, we had just graduated from college. Now, most of us have little ones. What a difference a few years makes.

Welcome to the world Oliva & Peyton!

On September 10, my sister in law Kyndal went into early labor and delivered her two twin babies, Olivia and Peyton two months before their due date. The babies were very tiny, both less than four pounds, but they were oh so cute. They spent the first seven weeks in the NICU, growing stronger and bigger, developing at impressive rates. Kyndal and her husband Tracy, were finally able to bring the babies home a week before our scheduled vacation to meet the twins and visit with family and friends.

During our Virginia trip a few weeks ago, they had a check up on November 10 which can in some ways be considered their Day 1 for milestone tracking. Peyton weighed almost the same as Tucker did at birth (1 oz heavier) and Olivia weighed almost the same as Owen at birth (2 oz lighter). It was especially sweet for me to hug and kiss my new niece and nephew and to also be reminded of how itty bitty my babies were such a short time ago. The size difference between Tucker and the twins is remarkable.

Owen treated the babies so carefully and lovingly, it was adorable. Here is a picture of the four grandkids. Kris' parents went from one grandchild to four in 1 year!!

Playmates

Owen and Tucker have a new favorite game. We love watching them play together.

Potty Training

This post is long overdue. It feels like we have been potty training for months, and well, that's because we have. There are so many stories on the internet, from friends, and in books that describe potty training as something simple if the timing and tactics are right. I have no doubt that's true for many folks, but we have not been so lucky.

We officially started our first potty training session back in May, but with our influx of family visitors over the summer, potty training got complicated and never stuck. I'm sure a number of things we did impacted our mission. I personally hesitated to train him earlier in the year because it is a hard thing to do with a newborn in tow, especially in public. Even at home it was difficult; if the need for Owen hit while I was feeding Tucker, it was extremely difficult to rush Owen to the bathroom and help. So, we waited until early summer and when that failed, we waited a few more weeks and then started again and then again. We tried different tactics like bribes, prizes, charts, candy, loud supportive cheering, and anything else under the sun we could imagine. Finally, shortly after Owen's third birthday, something clicked and he decided he was ready to go to Ms. Kim's 3s class and that was that. We had a bag full of prizes and made a huge deal of every success and every attempt and pretty much over night, he was potty trained. It wasn't perfect, but after a few days and a long, messy week in his twos class, the next Monday, he was enrolled in the 3s class and very aware that he was potty trained. We couldn't have been happier. We were anxious for this milestone because we really wanted Owen to move up to the preschool class and he couldn't move up until he met this prerequisite.

Now, we've reached November and overall Owen is potty trained. We have just experienced one long week where he started to have a few accidents again. We realize we need to stay on top of the prize bag and bribing and mainly we need to continue to emphasize the new routines and habits.

For the record, we do bribe with TV shows. It works and it can't last forever. It just can't.

Happy 10th Month Birthday Tucker!

Happy 10th month birthday, Tucker!

This past month has been a big one for you, Tucker! Your first two teeth came in last week, just a couple of days apart. You have started to eat more and more finger foods and so far you really like bread, eggs, and sausage. You often make loud sounds when you want cheerios, puffs, or teething biscuits and you have started to sign for "more". You have become a cruising fool and love, love, love to stand up on your own. You walk around with whatever push toy you can find and often crawl to areas you really don't need to be in, like the bathroom. Two of your new favorite games are crawling upstairs and sitting in big boy chairs. Every time music is on, you start to dance and bounce, you are so cute!! We love to watch you play peek a boo - where you hide behind the blanket and then move it quickly and laugh when you see our faces. And our neighbors and your teachers really get a kick out of your newly developed waving skill. You are growing so fast, Tucker! We love watching you become a little boy.

Halloween - Adult Party time!

This year, we were invited to a fantastic Halloween party. It's an annual event, infamous among our friends' crowd. Now we understand why! The costumes were amazing. The reigning champs came as the Jamaican Bobsled Team - and if you can believe it, they came with a home made, working bobsled that also had a built-in bar! Incredible. Everybody in attendance brought their "A" game. One couple decorated their car and dressed up in Dukes of Hazzard get-up, one guy was a decked out Predator, Mary Poppins and Bert-the Chimney sweep joined the fun, and Lady Gaga appeared with 3 costume changes, just to name a few.

We joined in with our friends to be the Peanuts Gang!

The party was lots of fun. The Peanuts Gang even took a ride in the bobsled!! To quote the fun hosts, "it was an epic night".

Happy Halloween 2010

We busted out our super hero costumes for a quick trick or treating trip around the neighborhood tonight. We visited with a few neighbors and passed out a bunch of candy. Our stroll through the neighborhood was short, but it was fun to see the spooky decorations and the kids in their costumes.

A police officer stopped by to meet the kids and pass out candy. Owen loved her visit.

Trunk or Treat 2010

Last night was our annual Trunk or Treat event at Owen and Tucker's school. As usual, the event was great fun. We were dressed as super-heros this year. We built our theme around Owen's Halloween costume choice, Spiderman. Tucker was Super-man, Kris was Batman, and I was Mrs. Incredible. Our trunk theme was Gotham City. Fun! A bunch of our friends attended and they all had great themed costumes and trunks. It was a pretty impressive showing! Owen spent most of the night running around and dancing with his pals. It's so cute to see them all dressed up, playing and dancing. Tucker slept most of the time in the stroller, but he woke up towards the later part of the evening, in time to join the big kids in the dance area. He loved it!

Owen with his 3 best buds: Colton, Morgan, & Ricky

Owen with some of his good pals

dance party

Happy 9th Month Birthday Tucker!

Happy 9th Month Birthday Tucker!

Today we had Tucker's 9 month appointment and Owen's 3 year well visit and we received healthy reports for both boys. They each had their blood drawn for blood counts and anemia and they both received a flu vaccine. Owen had the nose mist and Tucker had the shot.

Owen also tested his eye sight and hearing. He passed the hearing test with flying colors but froze on the 2nd half of the eye test, so he'll be tested again at year 4. The doc says that's very normal. He weighs in at 27 lbs 7 oz and is 35 3/4 inches tall.

Tucker has had a big month. He's officially crawling all over the place now on his hands and knees. He has started eating puffs and cherrios and will soon be practicing with more finger foods. He can sit up from any position and pulls himself up and continues to cruise all over; he's even taken a couple of steps as he is pushing the high chair. According to his doctor, Tucker has healthy stranger anxiety and is on track with his sounds. He's now regularly saying "ma ma" "da da" and "na na". Kris is convinced is second word is daddy! He still doesn't have any teeth, but two are bothering him and we expect they'll come in soon. He is still a big boy at 20 lbs 2 oz, but at this age, that's is just 50th percentile! We've had a few rough nights this month with some teething pain, but he is usually very happy. Like his big brother, his happiness is definitely correlated with food and good naps. Just the other day, his morning nap was 2 1/2 hours. I had to wake him up for his lunch time breastfeeding session!

Tucker's stats:

Height: 27 3/4 inches (Owen 26 3/4 inches)

Weight: 20 lbs 2 oz (Owen 18lbs 12 oz)

Head: 18 inches (Owen 17.7 inches)

We love you so much Owen and Tucker!!! You make us so happy.

so precious