Random fun Days...

When playing catch up on my blog, I am looking back at the amount of photos I have taken and I realize, "Dang, I take a lot of photos that have nothing to do with each other!!!" So, I guess it is only fitting to compile them all into one blog post, so that you see that we don't only do HUGE trips or birthdays.  We do the pretty normal everyday activities that most people do... the park, the zoo, swimming, Children's Museum, etc.The above picture is use just watching cartoons in the morning. Jacob has been really into Miles, PAW patrol, and of course Peppa. Whereas Brayden could really care less about TV; the most he'll watch is some Sesame Street. And even then he just yells ELMO at the screen the whole time.

We have had many days of just visiting with our favorite people. My dad comes up a lot, so the boys absolutely love that!! Also Deb and Dayton moved up here, so we get to see them a lot more. As Jacob will tell you, "My Noni's new house is so close we can see her everyday!" That will be another blog for another day, but their house is amazing and we LOVE hanging out there!!

The Children's Museum has become a hit again,  now that Brayden is older.  They love going!! Brayden doesn't quite have the painting down, he really likes to be an abstract painter and paints his hands and clothes mostly. However, it is a great place for the boys to spend energy on really hot days!

Of course there has been loads of trips to the park!! We have about 5 different parks that we go too. Jacob absolutely loves the "Acorn Park" which has a lot of acorns that he can throw into the stream. this summer we hope to discover more parks in our area! Can't wait!!

Brayden has been really into hats lately, which has been so funny to watch.  He has this hunter looking hat that he absolutely LOVES to wear!! And he usually pairs it with some Winnie the Pooh slippers and no pants.  So it makes for an amazing photo op that we just haven't done yet, so just visualize PLOL! He is just about as cute as you can get!!

So I have to include the Cozy Coop (although this photo is from school). We have some of Noni and Grandpa Dayton's toys at our house, so now we have two cozy coops!! Which the boys have been racing in the backyard. Now Jacob has been watching a show called Blaze and the Monster trucks (or something like that) which teaches him a lot about cars. So the start of races usually begins like this...

J: Mommy you have to say start your engines!
Me: Ok START YOUR ENGINES!!
J: Wait Mommy! I have to put gas into my gas tank and my turbo booster so I can win the race!!

(Grandpa Eddie would be so proud!)

And last but definitely not least... we have made multiple and multiple trips to the ever so famous PANCAKE HOUSE!!! There is a woman there that does balloon animals and both our boys always want swords (boys!!!). We have had some epic sword fights in front of PCH, all while entertaining some very old people! LOL They find these boys to be the cutest things, and I would have to agree. So, some of you may know Brayden and his eating habits, but this kid can put down a a meal... the come eat your food. So, we now order him a whole dutch baby, sausage to split with Jacob, and scrambled eggs when we go to this place. I can't imagine what our grocery bill will be when they are teenagers!! AHHHH!!!!

Valentines Day!!

Well we finally made it to a holiday in February!!! So Valentines Day was a little more special this year in the fact that we could actually teach the boys about it...well Jacob anyways. We had a plan to do Valentines Day cards to each other with little mail boxes I bought from Target, but alas that failed to happen! LOL We pretty much just took photos and made Valentines Day cards for Jacob's class... for how busy  things have been, I am pretty proud we got all the cards done for his class! Thanks to Gabby, we got all these awesome photos!!

We also got some photos of the youngest siblings, of the Wood/Adams family, budding romance. As cute as they look, they were actually fighting over who would be sitting on the platform, LOL.  I love that Brayden and Tessie are so close in age and so are Melo and Jacob. It makes for funny conversations. I just got a text the other day from Gabby that said the following...
 "Melodie and I were just talking about when she grows up. She was very disappointed that she can't marry Jason. The it was decided "When he's big, I want Jacob to drive his car over to our house. Then we'll get married, And then he can go home to his house." LOL!!!! I love the ideas of three year olds!! I can only hope that Tessie and Brayden are as good as friends. But I think we are off to a good start...

These two boys, plus their daddy are definitely the loves of my life. I am such a lucky mom and wife!

A Not so Snowy Winter

For those of you who live in California know that this was one of the driest winters in our history, which makes me sad on multiple fronts. However, the biggest disappointment for this winter was that we live just over an hour from the mountains and we only went 3 times!!! As mentioned in prior blogs, Jacob absolutely LOVES the snow!!!The picture above is a great representation of this winter... totally adorable boys in their snow clothes, without much snow around them! However, the snow may have been limited but the fun definitely was not!!! Jacob learned how to ski!!! Brayden and Jacob both ice skated (very loose term there) and Everett liked to slide down the snow.

So Jacob is more of the skier (LOL obviously by the above photo). Brayden loved it once he got his giant helmet off, LOL. Which made this PICU nurse slightly nervous! The boys had a blast and the adults backs all started killing them!!! Thank goodness we had almost all their aunties and uncles there to rotate through!!

All these photos weren't from the same trip, which is noticeable by the amount of snow. The best snow was Jacob's birthday weekend, which was a total surprise!! We lucked out so much that weekend!!! That morning Jacob woke up and said "Look mommy!! It snowed just for my birthday!!" Gotta love the ego centrism of a 3 year old!

Here are some videos of Jacob skiing... I could not be more proud of this kid!! He normally acts so scared to try new things, but when it came to skiing he just jumped on and went for it!! He only decided to stop when he said "Mommy my legs hurt!" LOL which in the video you'll see why, because he is so stiff! LOL

I can't wait for next winter already!! I mean beyond the fact of having green grass again and water on our lakes... but the skiing next year is going to be so fun with both Brayden and Jacob!!!

Jacob Turns 3!!!

It is crazy to think that I am a mother of a three year old!!! I feel like I was just three!!! (Is that weird?!?!) We had Brayden's huge first birthday bash and with how busy our December was, we just could not bring ourselves to throw another party. So, we decided to make an escape to Tahoe!!! Living in Rocklin, bodes well for our family and my grandma's cabin. We love going there!!! And honestly no one loves it quite as much as Jacob. He absolutely LOVES the snow!!! He is a kid that is pretty cautious on most things, but the snow just isn't one of them.  That will be a later post though. For his birthday, we got the cousins together... and they had a blast!!! As you can see in the above picture, the baby rave went really well! LOL Mike has a new addiction to the dollar store, but I fully support it because it has produced some really fun times.

Jacob has been super into Peppa Pig these days, so much so that he has developed an English accent. Which could be the cutest thing in the world. So, naturally we did a Peppa Pig Themed party. However, it is really hard to find Peppa Pig party favors or really anything for that matter!! So we got creative and just placed the toys he already had on top of the cake that Noni made him. He loved it!

Probably one of the cutest things that Jacob has ever said happened the morning after we arrived. For those of you who do not live in California, we are in the midst of a horrible drought!! Any moisture seems like it is from the grace of God. SO, we went to Tahoe knowing that there would be no snow. However we woke up the morning after our arrival to the most perfect snow storm. There was already about a foot of snow on the ground and it was still falling from the sky. No wind and not that icy cold when it snows usually, it was literally powder falling. Jacob woke up and looked out the window and said "Look!! It snowed for my birthday!!" All our responses were, yes absolutely it did!! He had so much fun in the snow!!! He didn't want to come inside, he literally would just fall into the snow!!! Everett enjoyed himself, but was definitely cautious about the cold. And Brayden... let's just say he is a water baby not a frozen water baby.

This crazy little man just blows my mind daily!!! He is so sweet and so intelligent (sometimes scary intelligent). He is also really caring. There are times that Brayden drives him crazy, but for the most part he always wants Brayden around and wants him to be happy.  He is learning more and more Spanish and his verbal language is become insane. The other day he asked Brayden "do you want to see something really incredible?" LOL who says that? Let alone a three year old? Sometimes his language makes it really hard to be a parent because we end up laughing when we shouldn't. Anyways, happy birthday to my eldest!!! Mommy and Daddy love you so much and are so proud of you!!!

A December Surprise!!

Wow!!! December was a busy month!!! I promise while I am playing catch up on this blog that we did not do as much in the last 4 months! LOL!!! Anyways, December was extra special this year because we found out that I am pregnant!!! Baby number three... which just happens to be boy number three will be arriving August 28th 2015!!! WE are great at making boys!!! This little boy will be named Jordan... although we love this name; Jacob is hands down the most excited about it. So, we can't even change it if we wanted too! I think there is a part of Jacob that thinks/hopes that this little baby will be Michael Jordan.

We are so beyond thrilled to become a family of FIVE!!! Holy smokes!!! I can't believe it's actually happening!!! I can't imagine how much crazier our lives will be, but I know that it is going to be so much more fun and filled with so much love!!! I know Brayden will probably have the most adjusting to do when baby Jordan will come home, but I know he will be a great big brother. He already kisses my tummy and pulls up his shirt and says "baby". He is slightly confused obviously LOL!! Jacob talks about baby Jordan ALL the time!!! The other night he was in the bath tub and with out any prompting he looks at me and says...
"When baby Jordan is here I will ask him baby Jordan what is your name? And he will say my same is baby Jordan!"

I have found that announcing that your pregnant by baby number three poses a challenge. You can't repeat anything that you have done in the past and you kind of want to surprise your husband. So, I held my secret in for 4 whole days!!! And gave Mike his Christmas present... I video taped it.

There is something so special about announcing your pregnant!! And I always dreamed of doing a Christmas announcement! I think he was slightly happy!! Best Christmas present ever!!

Mommy Vacation!!!

So as I was blogging about the month of December, I almost forgot to mention that Kimmy and I went on a major vacation BY OURSELVES!!! Thanks to multiple people making it possible, we were able to celebrate my 30th birthday in style at Harry Potter World and Disney World!!! I have to give a special shout out to Mikey who balanced both kids, daycare, work, and sickness for 5 days with out me. He is truly an amazing daddy and husband!

So we flew out on a Thursday... the rainiest day of the year!!! It has been a horrible drought this year and of course the one day we fly mother nature was actually pouring buckets on us!! Despite the delay because the pilots got stuck in traffic LOL!!! It was a great start to our trip! We spent the first day at Disney World! Kimmy tried to tell me we should only do one of the four parks there, but I knew the fireworks in Epcot would sell her :0) So we did three parks in one day!!! Mad skills right there!!! We started at 8 am and left at midnight!! My legs felt like they were going to fall off but the magic kept me going!! We did absolutely everything we wanted and saw everything we wanted!! Although Disneyland is my first and true love, Disney World was super impressive!!! I can't believe the size of that place!!! We literally took four modes of transportation there!!! We ate amazing food!! Our Moroccan dinner was perfect!!! I can't wait to be able to take the boys there!!! They will LOVE it!!!

I can honestly say, I was most excited about Harry Potter World on this trip than Disney World. I was so nervous that it wouldn't live up to my expectations... but oh my goodness it did not disappoint!! I was literally like diving into the pages of the book!! The designers of this park literally thought of everything!!! Everything from Hogsmead, to Hogwarts, to Moaning Mertle in the bathroom!! It was so impressive!!! What made it even more special was we were able to meet our friends Clint and Laura there!!! It was so great to hang out with our East Coast friends!!! Kimmy made us all amazing sweatshirts before we left... so we wouldn't get lost?!?!? LOL it was just fun to dress the same. We ate at the Three Broomsticks, had butter beer (amazing!!!), and tried different potions. It was so fun being a wizard for a day!!

I think the Hogwarts Express was one of my favorites. It's how you travel between two parks (yes you have to pay for two parks to see all of Harry Potter World, these park designers are no dummies!) But there were different scenes going there and back, which just showed even more detail!! I just can't say enough about this park!! Matt told Kim before we left that "If you buy a wand there, you cannot  come home." Granted we didn't buy one, but I think we came as close as possible too...

The wands actually did magic tricks through out the park!!! Seriously the coolest thing ever!!! WE did another long day at this park, we were actually the last ones to leave LOL!!! Walking through Jurassic Park at night without any people is slightly creepy. Here is our before and after shot...

Obviously we were both a little tired... But I do love that scarf!!! I'm like a real Griffindor member! 

LOL

So, believe it or not, we actually went to Florida for a wedding! Kimmy's cousin got married and it was beautiful!!! I got to meet so many people from her family!! We had a great time!!

I'm thinking a mommy's trip should be an annual event?!?!

The Holidays....

It seems that the end of the year is our family's busiest time of year. Everyone's birthday falls within a four month period AND Christmas!!! Whew!!! It just flew by!!! It was quite exciting that I had this Christmas off, because it was a Christmas that both boys could really enjoy.  We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Pleasanton with family. It was so awesome this year because Jacob really got into it... he would constantly talk about how Santa Clause is his best friend. It's now May and he still wants to read Christmas books!!! Above is our attempt at a family photo, for a card... for those of you who got that Christmas card, I apologize. LOL For those of you that didn't... here is what you missed...

Story of having two kids... one was happy, one was not! Or they were both insane... (I guess I should be happy that we got one of the four of us looking at the camera!

 One thing that they both loved was decorating the Christmas tree. Jacob really liked to put the ornaments on nicely, whereas Brayden liked to throw the ornaments at the tree and hope they stuck. Again, another difference in their personality! But one thing they have in common is they are both completely adorable!!!

 And we did our annual Christmas tree hunting!!! The boys had a great time, but as I recall Everett and Jacob both had breakdowns, but Brayden was all smiles. It was mostly dirt so he was happy!

We saw tons of family and it was great for all the boys to hang out!!! They really make the best of friends!! And of course all our little boys looked so cute all dressed up for the Christmas Eve festivities!!! They are just so dang cute!!! All THREE of them!!! We could not be more blessed...

The best thing about the holidays hands down was watching the boys have all the fun!! They got bikes and toys and clothes.  Spoiled rotten of course, but as Jacob would tell you, "It's because Santa is my best friend and he loves me!"

Favorite picture of the holidays!!!