The Beach

Here are several pictures of my family at the beach. The matching pictures were taken the night we tried to get a family photo for the Christmas card this year. The real family photo needs some photo shopping before it can be displayed. Good thing there is a professional digital artist in the family! I love this picture of V. I can't figure out why it won't display right-side-up. I will work on it.

Disneyland

What to do? What to do? I find I have an hour of free time, meaning I have an hour free from entertaining/feeding/caring for my kids, and a list of things that needs to get done. Top on the list is clean the house. But also on the list is blog. It was a tough decision.

We went with my family to California in July. We took the kids to Disneyland and Newport Beach. It was a blast. The Prince was in heaven. Instead of driving my spacious new minivan, we did the socially responsible thing to do and drove the Camry Hybrid instead. We were a little crowded in the car, what with all the gear you must back when you have little kids, but we were happy to save the money on gas. It worked perfectly. I think on the whole trip we only used 3 tanks of gas. Pretty great.

There are so many stories from the trip, it is hard to narrow them down. We left on a Tuesday night and drove to Las Vegas. We got to our hotel around 2 a.m. It was brutal. Captain F was so tired. I was so sick. I could barely speak, but I had to stay awake and keep talking so Captain F wouldn't fall asleep. The kids were great, but their kids. It was slow traveling. When we got to our room, it turned out we had been upgraded to a suite. There were 6 flat screen TVs in the place. It was awesome and completely saved Captain F, who was delierious enough not to realize we had been upgraded. He thought all the rooms in the hotel were like that. We were actually able to sleep that night because there were two separate bedrooms. We were in no hurry to leave the room the next morning and didn't leave until noon. Then we drove on to Disneyland. Again, it was slow going. My favorite moment was when the Prince started squirming and said, "Owie. Poo. Owie poo." And who can blame him for not wanting to sit in that?

The Prince fell in love with Disneyland right from the start. We went to the park that night and first took both our kids on Pirates of the Carribbean. The Prince loved it. He loved everything about Disneyland except for the end of each ride. He was pure joy once we would get on a ride, and completely heartbroken when we had to get off. Even though his emotions were like a rollercoaster, we loved taking him to Disneyland. We got a three day pass and really enjoyed ourselves. His absolute favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear ride. He went on it 6 times.















































Next it was on to the beach. . . .

Fun at the Cabin

We have been up to the cabin lots this summer. The Prince loves it. But, really, what's not to love? You get to ride horses, have giant sleepovers, throw rocks in the river, play in the dirt, stay up too late, sing along with the guitar, and just generally run around. We have really had fun. The only sad part is that we miss Captain Fabuloso while he stays home and works. Oh, and the Prince has taken against my cousin's daughter, Lily, and now my niece, Butter. I can't get him to stop scratching their faces. I take comfort in the fact that my mom could never get me to stop scratching my cousin's, Hobie's, face when I was a toddler. If she failed, what chance do I have? She is much more scary than I am.

Daddy's Get All the Credit

A few weeks ago, I was home with the Prince. V was asleep. Senior had just stopped by. Captain F was still at work. It was around 5:30 in the evening. The Prince wanted a chocolate pudding. So, even though it was around dinner time, and he had not eaten, I decided to give him one anyway. I say that as though I actually make efforts not to feed him treats before dinner, but I don't. I am just grateful when he eats. He doesn't like to stop for food. Anyway, I sit down with him at the table and give him the pudding. He is so excited and starts yelling, "Daddy! Daaaadddddy! Daddy!" I say, "No, mommy gave you the pudding. Mommy" To which he replies, "Daddy!" So unfair. Which reminds me of a story about my mom. When my older brother, whose nickname is Little Brother, was in early elementary school, he was given the assignment to write one of his favorite things to do. He wrote all about how he loves to go horse-back-riding with his dad. My mom was furious. She was the one that took him horse-back-riding. Her family owned the horses. She claims my dad didn't take him once, and if so, certainly not without her. To this day for Father's Day my brother writes a card to my dad AND my mom.

A Bean in the Pool

We're going to try again with a video of the Bean going off the diving board. It is one of his favorite things to do at his "Boc's" (Grandpa Doc) house.

A Mix of photos

We have tried to upload a video of the Prince jumping into the pool, but it won't work. We will have to compress it. Until then, here are some photos to peruse.

We just sold my Honda. I owned it for 11 years! The Prince loved to play in it. One day, about 2 months ago, he was out in the car. I was carrying groceries inside and let him stay to play for a minute. When I came out to get him I noticed he had pulled out a pack of tiny batteries from the glove box. I asked where one of the batteries had gone. He pointed to the tape cassette deck. Sure enough, he had shoved a battery in. Luckily, it still worked, because there was no retrieving it.





I was busy one Sunday morning trying to get ready for church and this is what the Prince was up to:














He loves to mix things. He had carried all this from our kitchen to the living room.

Here Captain F is showing the Prince the fountains at The Gateway. He didn't like them too much, but he did love Ben and Jerry's ice cream. He ate almost the entire ice cream on his own and a mango smoothie, too. He wolfed them down. Mom and Dad barely got a taste.

















And here is a beautiful picture of little V (I think this is the blog name that will stick, but who knows?). She is darling. She is rolling over, which started May 17th. She is just a little sweatheart. We are so lucky, especially since the Prince is turning into a terror.

May is a busy time

I can't believe I never posted during May. It is such a crazy time. Our wedding anniversary is May 7th, then there is Mother's Day, my Birthday on the 17th, and then Memorial Day. All of those celebrations keep us pretty busy, but this year was particularly bad because I got sick the day before our anniversary, then it spread to the Prince, and then to Captain F. Luckily the baby didn't get it. It was a nasty cold that was very difficult to shake. We all felt horrible.

We did manage to have some fun in May. We went to Lagoon a couple of times. The Prince loved it. He likes to ride on the rides with his daddy. I think the cars are his favorite. It was so fun to take him there. We love having a season pass because then we can go for a couple of hours and leave without feeling guilty. As you can see, Lagoon wears the Prince out.




















Captain F took me to a great restaurant for our Anniversary called Log Haven in Milcreek canyon. I am sure most of you know about it. I had never been there before. It was much more gourmet than I was expecting. We had a great time even though it was a rainy day.

I got to go shopping with my mom and sister in Park City. I haven't done that in years. We brought the kids and really they were pretty good. I would've liked going to more stores, but I found some super cute things for the house and for me to wear. It was great. Which reminds me, I have lost 15 pounds so far on Weight Watchers. The Prince loves my diet blueberry banana shakes.

A Little Video

The Prince has watched this video dozens of times in the last ten minutes. (It's only 18 seconds.) He loves it and laughs and laughs at the ending. I can see I am going to have to take more videos of him.

Baby's Blessing

We blessed little Red on the 13th. It was a beautiful day and Captain Fabuloso gave a lovely blessing. Today I finally downloaded the pictures off of the camera to have a look. I laughed so hard I started to cry. I think these speak for themselves.







































































Then there is this series:































We had to have some pictures in the bonnet because it is just too funny with her chubby cheeks.


Captain F's dad came from Maryland for the blessing. He was so nice to come and we had a great visit with him, which was made even better because we got to watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs together. Go Capitals! (Captain Fabuloso and I subscribe to the NHL package so we won't miss a game). He was the only one that got a good picture with Red.
















PS--the Prince was napping when we took these pictures.

Milestones

#1 The little girl slept about 8 hours Saturday night. Hooray! We went to the doctor on Friday and she is in the 90% for height and the 50% for weight. Who would have guessed that she was so thin?
#2 We have started potty training the Prince . . . sort of. He is doing pretty well. After this we just have to get him off bottles, his soother, and sleeping in the toddler bed. Yikes!
#3 I started weight watchers last Saturday so I could get rid of this baby weight faster. I also had to cut out dairy from my diet to see if that will help clear up my little girl's congestion. I love cheese more than anything, so this has been extra hard.
#4 We bought a minivan. I am way excited because it is just so convenient. I love having remote key access and power doors. Yea.

Zoo and Easter

We all went to the zoo yesterday to look at the animals. Bean was a big fan of the monkeys, as always, and didn't mind having his picture taken with this gorilla.

One of the highlights, of course, was riding the train, even though you can't tell from the look on the Bean's face. It was impossible trying to get him off.

We also took a few pictures of red in her Easter outfit. We aren't settled on the name "red" yet, but Captain Mom says I'm not allowed to call her "cabbage" like I want.

Faces We See Alot

Here they are:
Maybe they will be more alike than we think?

Growing and Growing

The little girl is growing and growing. And by that I mean, getting fatter and fatter. She is so darling. She is such a good baby. She is sleeping for 5 hours at night before waking to nurse. It is heaven. But, she has a hard time going right back to sleep. We are usually up for an hour before she falls asleep again.

The big news is that I think her eyes are going to be blue! It is a miracle. Captain Fabuloso's family all have brown eyes. We just can't believe it.
































Last Thursday Captain F had a test and came directly home after it was done. It was so nice. We went shopping and then went to Shivers. It is a little hamburger joint in town. It is the first time we had gone to a restaurant that the Prince would enjoy. It was so fun. He had the best time. There was a model electric train that went around the ceiling. He would scream with delight every time he saw it go around. There was also a train built for kids to play on and eat at little tables. The Prince had a hot dog, root beer, fries, a sucker, and a shake. Captain F and I felt like parent's of the year. We had so much fun. It is always nice to have a success.

My days

Usually family blogs tell all the exciting things each family is doing, making every mom look like a superhero. Our blog isn't that kind of blog. (Of course it isn't because I am not that kind of mom, I just don't want to brag.) Instead of our accomplishments, I thought I would share one of our recent failures.

Last Friday I took The Prince and the little baby to Barnes and Noble. Boy was that a mistake. I just thought we would be in and out. I knew exactly what I wanted to buy--Persuasion. It wasn't going to take long. We could spend some time looking at children's books, too. What was I thinking? Can you go anywhere with a toddler and a newborn without it taking long? My big downfall was I failed to take into account the escalator factor. Let me set the scene: It was a beautiful day, but (mistake number 1) The Prince and I were wearing warm coats. We got out of the car and I carried the baby in the car seat and held The Prince's hand through the parking lot. I did not bring a stroller (mistake number 2). Yet, I managed to get us all into the store with little trouble. As soon as we got through the doors, The Prince bolts for the escalators. We did about 6 circuits up and down the escalator. It is a narrow escalator so I had to hold the baby the whole time and, for safety, I kept a hold of The Prince's hand. The car seat gets heavy very quickly. Luckily, Persuasion was on the rack directly between the up and down escalators. I grabbed it without missing a beat. Leaving was a major trial. The Prince didn't want to leave the escalators. Checking out was terrible. I had to hold The Prince under one arm. He started pulling my hair and everything. Navigating the parking lot was even worse. At first The Prince held my hand and all was going well. Then his coat falls off; mine is already off because I was getting too hot hauling the baby. Half way up the hill to the car The Prince decides he wants to go it alone. Of course, I won't let that happen. I grab him and try to carry him, while he is pushing and squirming and generally trying to hurt me, and the baby along with our two coats, my purse, and my purchase. To top it off, I am still wearing my maternity pants and, unfortunately, these are the ones that are constantly falling down. I don't know how low my pants got; I hope I didn't looked like a penguin. Everyone was watching me struggle, and finally another mother asked if she could help. At that point, I had made it to the car. I was so frustrated. I would love to hear some suggestions on how to discipline a toddler in public.

The Kids Together

Here is a photo of The Prince with the new baby.














I know everyone has been anxiously awaiting the return of the elephant photos, and I hate to disappoint, so here you are.














The Prince loves to sit on the chair with the baby. He won't let anyone else sit there. I don't know how much the baby likes it. The Prince is really cute with her, though. Here he is giving her a kiss.