New Year's Eve

I want to wish everyone a wonderful New Year. I don't know who actually reads this blog cause we never get any comments in our comment section but if there's ANYONE out there (crickets chirping in the background) have a great new year. The end of our 2008 has been absolutely wonderful in every way and I hope our good fortunes will carry on to 2009!

This will be Jimmie and I at midnight, no make that 10:30pm. LOL!

**Macy's**

We love Macy's! The boys did a shoot for them about a month ago now. Bryan's will run in the President's Day Sale ad and Wesley's will be in the February 1 Day Sale. They both went last week for another audition and there were a TON of babies there. (there are not many retailers left hiring for child models right now) Bryan looked so cute in the outfit but was in a pretty ugly mood really didn't want to smile. I got one little smirk out of him. Wesley fitted 6 different outfits. Their agent called yesterday and they both booked their jobs! These will be for the Macy's Children's Easter Catalog and maybe part of the April 1 day Sale. I will find out more on the ad placement on their shoot date, next Tuesday the 30th. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Bryan will cooperate. He's been VERY camera shy the past month and it seems to be getting worse! Hopefully he will show them his stuff!

Aerials Christmas Show

Last night Wesley participated in his very first Christmas Show (first anything show) at his gymnastics center. There were about 100 girls and there were 7 boys that signed up for the show. Wesley and the boys did their tricks on the tumble track and some little tricks, somersaults and cartwheels on the floor. I was happy that he had a good time and didn't get stage fright or anything like that!

Marine World Thanksgiving/Christmas

Thanks to our wonderful neighbor we were able to go to the Marine World theme park last Friday evening. (she gave us free passes to get in and free parking passes!) Anyhow, it was the first night of their "Christmas themed" season and the kids were able to play in a small area of snow and go sledding down a very small, horribly constructed hill. It was still nice to be out at the park and around all of the Christmas lights an all. Wesley got to ride all of the big rides that he missed out on a couple of years ago because at that time he could only go on the tot rides. Poor Bryan was still sick so he stayed at grandma's house.

Bunchies of Huggies

I guess it has been over a month since I've updated our blog posting (sorry and thanks for the heads up Kay! LOL!) Wesley is finally getting better from his sickness and Bryan is just catching it. We're doing all we can to keep it at bay now.
Well, the only exciting new thing we did this past month was a quick turn around trip to Hollywood. Bryan had an audition for a national Huggies diapers commercial last week and we hopped on a plane stayed overnight and came back the next day. We were just going to fly out that morning and not stay in the hotel but the flight that got there at the time of his audition left at 8am and we would have had to have been up at 5:30am. Bryan likes to sleep in until about 8:30 so I figured it would be a waste of money to go down there if he was all cranky and fussy for the audition. Anyhow, we got there ok and I was told he did an "excellent job." This was his first audition without mommy in the room and he handled it like a pro (more than I can say for a few other babies that were there doing the "mommy pull" and scream!) He took the woman's hand and walked into the room and played with all the bubbles and fun stuff. I was so proud of him. Now, we're just doing the waiting game again...it's enough to make you go mad, or maybe just me! ;)

A Day Of Halloween Events!

It was a day of Halloween fun! This morning we went to the Annual Halloween parade at the Jelly Belly Factory. The kids got to walk through a small haunted area and collect goodies on their parade route through the factory. When they were done they entered a coloring contest, had faces painted and played games with Kelly the Clown. This year Wesley is "bumblebee" the transformer (he hates the mask!) and Bryan is a dalmation, not to be mistaken for a leopard. Wesley's buddy Brooke sported a Princess Jasmine costume and looked as cute as ever! They made quite a bunch and had a fun time today.

This evening we went to Sears to take our Halloween photos. They were running behind so our 5:30 appointment turned into a 6:30 appointment. Great fun keeping a 1 and 4 year old entertained and then to be happy and smiley for their portraits? They found some hotwheel cars on the floor and played with them. Bryan wouldn't put his down so we have his portraits with cars in them. You're probably wondering about the tucan costume. Well, Wesley's preschool required them to be a rainforest animal this year and grandma made him this costume so I figured a tucan would go better with a dalmation than a transformer. Thanks to grandma for making both of the boys' costumes this year!

Silveyville Pumpkin Patch

On Thursday we went to the Silveyville Pumpkin Patch up in Dixon (which happens to be a Christmas Tree Farm as well) with one of Wesley's classmates, Ethan. They constructed a huge Tee-Pee that had a dark hay maze with flashing monster eyes. They also had a bunch of hay bails in a rectangle which had a matress inside of it and the kids could bounce around on it. The kids had a good time running around the land as well as a good game of hide-and-go-seek in the thousands of Christmas Trees they had. Bryan's favorite was to pull around the pumpkin wagons. He's such a little worker bee!

Homemade Playdough

Wesley's been home from school all week sick with a cold. (it's already started!) Yesterday we were getting restless from being homebound so I decided that we would make homemade playdough from a recipe that my mom used to use when I was a kid. It literally takes 3 minutes to make it and we already had all of the ingredients at home. We were trying to make it purple (mixed blue and red) and it came out a funny greyish blue color. It's nice to play with right when it comes out of the pot b/c it's still warm. It's a lot more soft than the store brand! Here's the recipe if anyone's feeling creative! http://www.kinderplanet.com/playdo.htm

Failure to Take Naps...

We've been pretty busy recently which has resulted in Bryan's naps getting disturbed. We've continually had to leave when he's just been sleeping for a few minutes which entails me waking him up to go, because he won't stay asleep during the "transfer" from bed to car. The other night we were eating dinner (yeah for pizza night!) and he was sitting in his high chair drinking from his sippy cup. His eyes were getting heavier and heavier and soon enough he was passed out with his food sitting in front of him... I thought it was cute because none of the boys had EVER fallen asleep eating before...

Thank God He's Ok...

My climbing baby Bryan took a big fall this morning. It ended with his first trip to the emergency room. We were getting ready to take Wesley to school this morning and just about to walk out of the front door and I heard a massive crash and Bryan crying hysterically. I ran into his room where he was playing and found him face up pinned under his 5 foot tall chest of drawers, which happens to weigh in excess of 100 pounds. His face was above the dresser and his chest and body were smashed under it. I quickly pulled it off of him and the drawers that were also on him and he seemed to look ok. There were no visible injuries. I decided to take him to the ER anyhow just to make sure nothing was crushed or broken in his chest, rib, lung area. They took his vitals for about 30 mins and checked him out and turned out he's ok. Very lucky guy today...

MANCHESTER BEACH

We went camping this past weekend at Manchester Beach, which is on the northern coast, up in Mendocino County. The campgrounds turned out to be beautiful with a lot of trees and also had a lot of activities for the kids to do, including a hay ride to the beach, 2 playgrounds and nightly ice cream socials. The first night we spent in our tent out on the campgrounds and were raided by a racoon that ate Wesley's Hershey Bar he had to make smores! The second night we had a cabin which had bunk beds, a full bed and the best part, a heater!

Wesley loved the freedom he had to ride around on his bike and launch down dirt hills on his bike without having to worry about cars coming and people being around. Bryan had a good time being outside but developed an odd fear of the sand. When we went to the beach he refused to move off of the single towel we brought for 1 1/2 hours. He was quite content on that towel watching the birds!

My favorite part of the trip was our drive through the redwoods on the way home. The sun was at the perfect point and the water was crystal clear. The redwoods were very pretty.

An Eventful Weekend!

We were quite busy this weekend! Friday, Wesley went to school and swimming lessons. Saturday we drove down to San Jose where we attended my Aunt Jill's surprise 60th birthday party. Sunday we went to the air show at Travis where we met up with my cousin Kim and husband Herb and their son, and, Wesley's little buddy Jagger. After the air show we feasted at the Olive Garden for dinner. (yum) And today, Monday, we drove down to Benicia to Lake Herman. Wesley and Jimmie rode the lake trail on bikes and Bryan and I walked it. They ended up doing the full ride, 5 miles and Bryan and I walked about 3.5 of the 5. It was just too hot for us! =)

Back To School!

Well summer is over, at least, according to the Travis Unified School district! Wesley started his pre-kindergarten year this past Monday. He has adjusted fine this year since he is going to the same preschool and he already knew his teachers from their occasional subbing last year. He will now be sharing his classroom with 19 other children instead of 9. He is happy to be back and excited to see all of his friends he met last year!

Teether

Bryan is rapidly getting all of his teeth. In the past month he has been cutting 4 teeth at one time, including two lower molars and two upper canines.

They are all on their way out right now. I was trying to get a good shot of him yesterday in the yard for his ZED cards and got this funny shot of him in the middle of a shreak. You can really see his lower molars coming in!

LEAP FROG!!!

We're so excited right now! Wesley did a box cover for Leap Frog Toys last year, I think it was in October. We've been searching for the toys and haven't been able to find it for months. I was strolling through Target this evening and there it was right on the shelf! Three sides of the box he is on...I brought it home and he said "OH MY GOD!" He was very happy to see it and ran to our neighbors house to show himself off. LOL He is also on the Leap Frog site because his face is inside the phone:

http://www.target.com/LeapFrog-New-Fridge-Recorder/dp/B00134V4NE/sr=1-5/qid=1218058475/ref=sr_1_5/601-9813277-7168962?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Aleapfrog%20fridge&page=1

FASHION SHOW PHOTOS

We were sent some photos of Wesley at the fashion show he just did in Southern California...wanted to put them up!

Hooray for Hollywood!

Grandma and the boys at the "airtel" (hotel)

Our hotel

We took a road trip. A very quick one indeed. My little man did his first runway fashion show in Hollywood. We left on Friday to drive down and came back up on Saturday afternoon when the show was over. Our proud grandma came along with us for our mini-trip.
Wesley took the stage 3 times and sported outfits from 3 different designers. I was very proud of him that he came out of his shell and held it together for the show. It was a lot of driving and I was happy that both boys did so well in the car as well!

Look mom...no training wheels!

Wesley has been asking us for about 3 weeks now to remove his training wheels. Jimmie has been too nervous to remove them. Tonight I asked Wesley if he was ready and I went ahead and padded him up and took the training wheels off. He took off up the block and never turned back. LOL He rode his bike without the trainers on for about an hour tonight and did surprisingly very well. He was so cute with a little smirk on his face the entire time. It was a proud mommy moment!

Hot!

Bryan AWAY from the water




Yesterday was a HOT day. It was in the mid 90's. We went to Target in the morning and Wesley saw this little disney mat that shoots water when you hook it to the hose. I thought it would be cute for the boys. Wesley had fun with it but Bryan wants NOTHING to do with the water. He doesn't like it on his face, just like Wesley was. He was FAR away from the water scene! My goodness, it looks like I need a new camera!

Preschool Graduation

Wesley and Ava in his classroom
Wesley and Katie
Wesley and Jake

Wesley and his teacher Miss Stacey

Graduation Ceremony

Wesley graduated from his first year of preschool on Tuesday evening. The kids marched through the chapel to the theme song from Star Wars, played on the piano. It was really cute. The 5 year olds wore grad caps and received certificates. The 4 year old classes sang about 6 different songs, I think my favorite (well the funniest) song was "I eat 5 a day."

Wesley was sad to see his "little lady" Katie have to go. She left the next day for South Carolina, her dad is military. This is one bad thing about living in this area. 5 children that he made friends with in his class this year had to move b/c of military...

I was really surprised by the gift that the teachers made for the parents. (you can probably see them in one of the pics above on the table)

They made each child their own binder from the whole year. It is about 15 pages. They took photos of the kids in the classes and made a scrapbook full of items, some of their craft projects, with little notes, like what they had wanted for Christmas, and what their favorite things to do at school were. They made handprints and footprints of the kids with paint. I really liked the photos because you can see how your child interacted in the classroom and what they played with and who. It was very special!

Wild Geese Chasing Us!

We went to the Pena Adobe park in Vacaville a couple days ago and we took some pics of wild geese chasing us. (not at high speeds) There were about 80 of them on the lawn, plus a handful of ducks, and we walked passed them and they decided to all follow us. It was like something out of a movie the way that the hords of them came at us all at once! One guy came up within 2 feet of Bryan (pic'd above) and scared him a bit. A white goose was standing alone so Wesley tried to approach him. He screamed in Wesley's face and turned to walk away so Wesley followed him and was making his "screaming noise" back to him. It was a pretty funny interaction.

Macy's Ad

Wesley should be in the Macy's ad this week. We're looking forward to seeing him in the paper! Keep your eye out, he will be posing with a fake daddy. Probably in the Sunday paper. It runs nationwide! I'll post a copy on the Blog when it comes out.

Earthquake!

We just had an earthquake, centered about 20 miles from our house. It was the boys' first earthquake. Wesley asked why we didn't get under the table. I told him "by the time we figured out we were having an earthquake it was over!"

Dancing Boys

The boys were dancing to the VH1 top 20 countdown this morning when I was cooking breakfast. I thought they were cute trying to dance like each other.

San Diego

Mrs. Squirrel watching the waves and the sun set up high on a rock


Wesley throwing rocks into the ocean

Bryan at the Children's Museum in a dress-up cape

Wesley painting a car at the Children's Museum

Spiderman and his brother

Wesley with Thomas the Tank Engine at LegoLand

Bryan on the KC JR Train at Disneyland

Bryan in line for the Carousel at Disneyland

Well, we made it back from vacation on Monday evening. I will say that we made the most of our time last week, we went to Disneyland, LegoLand, San Diego Children's Museum and of course to the beach, the pool and to the activites that the resort had to offer, not to forget the "dog beach." Story of the dog beach, 2 years ago we went down to Del Mar Beach (it's close to where we stayed in Carlsbad) the sunsets were beautiful, there were hot air balloons behind us on the beach and it turned out to be a lot of fun because there were dogs there. LOTS of dogs there. All of them happened to be purebread with their swanky owners toting them along. Wesley had fun running around with them so we decided that we would hang out there one evening this trip to let the boys have fun. There were about 15 dogs and maybe about 10 humans. Apparently they go there every evening and can remain off leashes until Memorial Day. A little baby poodle ended up chasing Wesley around and a massive 10-month old Bernese Mountain Dog was trying to run Bryan over every chance he got. The kids had fun and we enjoyed the ONE day of sun that we got the whole time we were there. The overcast skys were nice at the theme parks though, we never had to wait more than 5 minutes for a ride at Disneyland. That was GREAT!