Wednesday, August 29, 2012
H2O
In an attempt to stay busy during our stay in St. George and to give everyone a break, we've tried to find daily activities to keep us amused. When you're dealing with temps in the triple digits, our efforts usually involve water..............
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Breaking Routine
The boys and I were getting on each other's nerves this evening so I decided to mix things up a bit. We skipped bath time all together, bagged story time and went for a walk instead. I really should try and do stuff like this more often. Sometimes I think I'm too rigid with our "routine". I just love bedtime so much that I get wrapped up into putting the little gremlins to bed. I kick into auto pilot with a Take No Prisoners kind of attitude. It's Bedtime or Bust before Mama loses her mind.
Reality check: being so rigid makes me miss moments like this...........
Reality check: being so rigid makes me miss moments like this...........
Friday, August 17, 2012
Photo Shoot
Back in early July, when I booked our airline tickets to fly to Utah, I decided to try and book a photo session with the same photographer we used last summer. To my surprise, she had availability so I went for it.
The timing ended up working out perfectly. Our appointment was scheduled after things calmed down a bit so we decided not to cancel. The only draw back was the time of day. In order to beat the heat and hit the Magic Hour for lighting, our session wasn't until 7pm. This is smack dab during our normal bedtime battle but to my surprise, the boys managed to cooperate (for the most part). I owe much of that to the photographer. Chelsy is amazing and a natural with kids. It helps that she is a mom herself and understands the quick changing moods of antsy kiddos.
Back when I booked our session, my only request was that I wanted it to be outdoors again. I left it up to Chelsy on where that would be. To my delight, she chose Red Cliffs Recreation Area. A place very near and dear to my heart. This was the spot where Mark and I camped together for the first time. It was many moons ago when we were dating and I was trying to impress him :). That is a whole other blog post but let's just say that I almost severely injured both of us while showing off and trying to woo him. I think he learned then what he was getting himself into by sticking around with the likes of me. Luckily, the crazy guy chose not to leave me on a cliff and saved me from an early demise.
This is what that camping trip eventually produced over a decade later.
The timing ended up working out perfectly. Our appointment was scheduled after things calmed down a bit so we decided not to cancel. The only draw back was the time of day. In order to beat the heat and hit the Magic Hour for lighting, our session wasn't until 7pm. This is smack dab during our normal bedtime battle but to my surprise, the boys managed to cooperate (for the most part). I owe much of that to the photographer. Chelsy is amazing and a natural with kids. It helps that she is a mom herself and understands the quick changing moods of antsy kiddos.
Back when I booked our session, my only request was that I wanted it to be outdoors again. I left it up to Chelsy on where that would be. To my delight, she chose Red Cliffs Recreation Area. A place very near and dear to my heart. This was the spot where Mark and I camped together for the first time. It was many moons ago when we were dating and I was trying to impress him :). That is a whole other blog post but let's just say that I almost severely injured both of us while showing off and trying to woo him. I think he learned then what he was getting himself into by sticking around with the likes of me. Luckily, the crazy guy chose not to leave me on a cliff and saved me from an early demise.
This is what that camping trip eventually produced over a decade later.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
2!
It's been over a week since our littlest C turned 2! I decided I must take a moment to jot down a few things to remind us what it was like living with Cruz The Two Year Old........
~Cruz loves to dance and anyone who is around him for any time at all learns that pretty quickly. He really only has one signature move which involves slight movement from his waste up and a Night at The Roxbury Head Bob with an occasional head sway. He just recently started to move his feet a bit which can best be described as a white man's shuffle. He also makes the cutest little Dance Face which is an image I hope never escapes from my memory. Some of his favorite songs include; Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, The Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old McDonald (aka. E, I, E, I, Ooooooooohhhhh) and Move it!
~Cruz is a little parrot. He can pretty much repeat anything you ask him to which can be quite fun. I love his signature spin that he puts on words. We play the "word game" for entertainment and also as a distraction when needed. I love to make him say words like 'Mississippi', 'Hippopotamus' or 'Fibbety Floo'. The words don't even have to make sense. It just never gets old.
~Cruz has a new favorite question; 'What doing Mommy?'. He asks it all.the.time. I do my best to always answer him and include a 'what are you doing?' in return. For whatever reason, his answer always involves one of two people; Poopah (Cooper) or Bumpah (Grandpa). No matter what he happens to be doing it's a 50/50 shot of what his answer will be.
~Cruz knows how to count but only to 2. I realized this a couple of months ago and it donned on me that he was imitating the "threat" count that I do to Coop. Since my threat counting still seems to be working, I rarely make it to 3. Once I realized this, I've tried and tried to get him to count beyond 2. No such luck (yet).
~We've been working on colors with Cruz lately. For some time now, every color is yellow. In fact, I think to him the word "color" is yellow. When he wants to color, he asks to 'yewhoa'.
I could go on and on for days but that would make for a very long blog post. To sum it up, there is so much I hope I never forget about living with Cruz The Two Year Old.
There is one thing that I hope fades away soon. Almost to the day of his 2nd birthday, Cruz has learned to hit and throw (read: chuck) items at people. Time Out doesn't seem to work very well at all and he definitely doesn't understand the concept of consequences yet. It can be trying at times and I hope it doesn't get out of hand. I don't remember the issue of hitting being this bad with Coop at this age. This right here emphasizes the point of my entire post. We want to remember all the cute stuff but when it comes to the not so cute stuff.......ehhhhh, we can just forgot about all that.
It's a good thing the cute stuff outweighs the not so cute stuff.........This kid is pretty damn cute!
~Cruz loves to dance and anyone who is around him for any time at all learns that pretty quickly. He really only has one signature move which involves slight movement from his waste up and a Night at The Roxbury Head Bob with an occasional head sway. He just recently started to move his feet a bit which can best be described as a white man's shuffle. He also makes the cutest little Dance Face which is an image I hope never escapes from my memory. Some of his favorite songs include; Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, The Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old McDonald (aka. E, I, E, I, Ooooooooohhhhh) and Move it!
~Cruz is a little parrot. He can pretty much repeat anything you ask him to which can be quite fun. I love his signature spin that he puts on words. We play the "word game" for entertainment and also as a distraction when needed. I love to make him say words like 'Mississippi', 'Hippopotamus' or 'Fibbety Floo'. The words don't even have to make sense. It just never gets old.
~Cruz has a new favorite question; 'What doing Mommy?'. He asks it all.the.time. I do my best to always answer him and include a 'what are you doing?' in return. For whatever reason, his answer always involves one of two people; Poopah (Cooper) or Bumpah (Grandpa). No matter what he happens to be doing it's a 50/50 shot of what his answer will be.
~Cruz knows how to count but only to 2. I realized this a couple of months ago and it donned on me that he was imitating the "threat" count that I do to Coop. Since my threat counting still seems to be working, I rarely make it to 3. Once I realized this, I've tried and tried to get him to count beyond 2. No such luck (yet).
~We've been working on colors with Cruz lately. For some time now, every color is yellow. In fact, I think to him the word "color" is yellow. When he wants to color, he asks to 'yewhoa'.
I could go on and on for days but that would make for a very long blog post. To sum it up, there is so much I hope I never forget about living with Cruz The Two Year Old.
There is one thing that I hope fades away soon. Almost to the day of his 2nd birthday, Cruz has learned to hit and throw (read: chuck) items at people. Time Out doesn't seem to work very well at all and he definitely doesn't understand the concept of consequences yet. It can be trying at times and I hope it doesn't get out of hand. I don't remember the issue of hitting being this bad with Coop at this age. This right here emphasizes the point of my entire post. We want to remember all the cute stuff but when it comes to the not so cute stuff.......ehhhhh, we can just forgot about all that.
It's a good thing the cute stuff outweighs the not so cute stuff.........This kid is pretty damn cute!
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Fair (again)
The boys and I hit the Washington County Fair again this year. We saw a lot of the same stuff as last year but found a few new things to try as well. A couple of hours was all we could endure before we started to melt. It was HOT. My car thermometer read 106 when we slithered into the car to head home.
Highlights: baby chicks and Zorbing!!
Highlights: baby chicks and Zorbing!!
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Chasing Rainbows
The boys and I have continued last summer's evening routine of bath, golf cart ride, stories then bed.
Tonight's golf cart ride was pretty spectacular. We were able to chase a double rainbow. Cooper was so excited and informed me it was his first 'real live' rainbow sighting. He was pretty stoked about the whole thing.
Well folks, it gets even better....our golf cart ride always includes listening to Toddler Radio on Pandora. The station rotates many of the same songs but our rides are short enough that the repetition isn't that noticeable.
Pandora nailed their song choices tonight because a couple songs into our rainbow chasing it played Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole's version of 'Over the Rainbow'. It was as if I planned the whole thing.
I'm totally fine with the boys thinking I can magically coordinate our rainbow sightings to our own personal soundtrack. Let them think that their Mommy keeps rainbows in her pockets. Lord knows that wont always be the case.
As we traveled back home, I hollered 'thanks for the show, rainbow'. Coop added 'ya, thanks rainbow. I love your colors! You sure are beautiful.'
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Tonight's golf cart ride was pretty spectacular. We were able to chase a double rainbow. Cooper was so excited and informed me it was his first 'real live' rainbow sighting. He was pretty stoked about the whole thing.
Well folks, it gets even better....our golf cart ride always includes listening to Toddler Radio on Pandora. The station rotates many of the same songs but our rides are short enough that the repetition isn't that noticeable.
Pandora nailed their song choices tonight because a couple songs into our rainbow chasing it played Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole's version of 'Over the Rainbow'. It was as if I planned the whole thing.
I'm totally fine with the boys thinking I can magically coordinate our rainbow sightings to our own personal soundtrack. Let them think that their Mommy keeps rainbows in her pockets. Lord knows that wont always be the case.
As we traveled back home, I hollered 'thanks for the show, rainbow'. Coop added 'ya, thanks rainbow. I love your colors! You sure are beautiful.'
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Pirate Party
Yesterday we celebrated our first 2 years with Little C. I can't say enough about this little man. He makes us laugh and loves to love. I forgot just how much fun this age is. He truly is a joy to be around and the perfect addition to our family.
Our day was pretty low key but focused completely on making it all about Cruz. I think it worked and he truly noticed. He now knows how to sing Happy Birthday and passed Grandpa Pig's test of learning to say 'I'm 2!' when asked how old he is.
We were happy to celebrate with Gma Linda and Gpa Pig but sad that Daddy wasn't able to be with us. Luckily, Mark was reachable via Skype. We made sure to Skype when Cruz first woke up and later in the evening during cake and candles.
Thanks for all the warm birthday wishes and for helping us celebrate our little pirate!
Discovering a hidden balloon.............
Our day was pretty low key but focused completely on making it all about Cruz. I think it worked and he truly noticed. He now knows how to sing Happy Birthday and passed Grandpa Pig's test of learning to say 'I'm 2!' when asked how old he is.
We were happy to celebrate with Gma Linda and Gpa Pig but sad that Daddy wasn't able to be with us. Luckily, Mark was reachable via Skype. We made sure to Skype when Cruz first woke up and later in the evening during cake and candles.
Thanks for all the warm birthday wishes and for helping us celebrate our little pirate!
Discovering a hidden balloon.............
Friday, August 3, 2012
Time
Our family hit a rough patch three weeks ago. Many of you are aware of the situation and I can't thank you enough for all of the love and support you have given us. What I've learned the most over the last while is to share how you feel and let the ones you love know how you feel about them. I owe this all to my Dad.
I eluded to my Dad's health a couple of years ago on the ole blog but have chosen not to go into details out of respect to him. It's such a private thing. In time, the details will impact our lives tremendously and the topic may be more relevant in my posts. Who knows? As with anything in life, only time well tell.
What I do know is that three weeks ago today we hopped in the car and drove to UT. The boys and I already had plans to fly for a visit the following week but my Dad was sucker punched by his Cancer and was in the hospital. We knew we wanted to get there sooner. So we drove....
Fast forward to today (skipping over a lot of stuff in between)......Grandpa Pig is home and back to his witty self. His doctor is trying a new chemotherapy and my Dad has regained a tremendous amount of mobility. Also, his pain has dimished quite a bit. As I've known all along, my Dad is tough! The boys are learning that as well.
We've decided to stay in St. George awhile longer to enjoy our time. Precious time. This time we have is a gift that I will cherish forever. I have no doubt that Coop 'n Cruz appreciate this time as well.
I eluded to my Dad's health a couple of years ago on the ole blog but have chosen not to go into details out of respect to him. It's such a private thing. In time, the details will impact our lives tremendously and the topic may be more relevant in my posts. Who knows? As with anything in life, only time well tell.
What I do know is that three weeks ago today we hopped in the car and drove to UT. The boys and I already had plans to fly for a visit the following week but my Dad was sucker punched by his Cancer and was in the hospital. We knew we wanted to get there sooner. So we drove....
Fast forward to today (skipping over a lot of stuff in between)......Grandpa Pig is home and back to his witty self. His doctor is trying a new chemotherapy and my Dad has regained a tremendous amount of mobility. Also, his pain has dimished quite a bit. As I've known all along, my Dad is tough! The boys are learning that as well.
We've decided to stay in St. George awhile longer to enjoy our time. Precious time. This time we have is a gift that I will cherish forever. I have no doubt that Coop 'n Cruz appreciate this time as well.
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