Sascha's Holiday Dance performance

Sascha loves to dance. She loves going to dance class, and she absolutely adores her teacher Ms. Jackie. We've never had to make her go, it's always been something that she looks forward to.

Twice a year Danceology puts on a Recital show. This was a Holiday show, and we of course had to participate. For some reason Sascha doesn't like dressing up. She doesn't get excited about the costumes, it makes her nervous. As soon as we picked up the costume, she told me a few times that she doesn't want to go up on stage, which made me question why we signed her up for the performance in the first place if she is not going to be excited about doing it. Of course she really enjoyed it last time she performed in June, but we did have a hard time convincing her to put her balerina dress on. This time around a similar thing happened at the dress rehearsal. She saw everyone in their costume, but refused to put hers on. Luckily I was not by myself, and daddy came to the rescue. He didn't really give her an option, and put the pretty blue dress on her and she was fine with it. She twirled and danced with her friend Sadie, plus other dancer friends, and had a great time. At the actual dress rehearsal she also did very well and followed all of Ms. Jackies moves so we were excited to see her perform!

On the actual day of the performance, she once again seemed nervous, but didn't fuss about putting on her dress, she seemed comfortable in it now. Baba, Deda, Grandpa, Aaron & Grisha all came to watch our little dancer. Unfortunately we didn't get there early enough to get good seats, so we were pretty far away, but the munchkin did very well. She was a bit hesitant when I dropped her off, she really didn't want me to leave, but when I picked her up she was so excited. She yelled "Mommy, I wasn't scared! I went up on Stage and I danced!" We all told her how proud of her we were, and how awesome she did! Cameron was a total trooper as usual sat thru all the performances. After the intermission, we were ready to watch the Nutcracker which Sascha was very excited about. She watched the whole thing sitting on grandpa's & mine laps and loved it. Cameron fell asleep in Deda's arms, half way into it ... it was nap time and he decided that he had seen enough dancing.

I hope her love for dance keeps growing. We really enjoy these special performances. Besides being super cute because of the little 4 year old kiddos that are in them, I hope they teach her confidence which will come in handy in years ahead.

You can see Sascha is a bit nervous and is biting her lip in a few of these... at least her hands aren't in her mouth. :)
Most of these were taken at the dance rehearsal, only the last one was on the day of the performance posing with Taylor. Her mom was actually the one who told me about this studio about a year ago when we met at the library. I am so glad I took Sascha to try it out.


Since we didn't get to take many photos on performance day, we took these once we got home. Sascha does have a little bit of blush, and blue eye shadow on... she actually let me put it on this time. Her lips are red because she enjoyed a lolipop right before we took these. :) No lipstick for her yet, I was too afraid that she would smear it all over her mouth.

Instagram Photo post... Nov & Dec overload

So instead of saying how busy we have been and how crazy our lives are (it's that time of the year again), I am just going to say we've been having a LOT of fun. So much fun that I have an abundance of pictures I have been taking and instagraming on my phone. I will be blogging more about the holidays later.

Recap:

Cameron w/a prince hat shopping at Michaels, Sascha practicing for her dance recital, Sarah & Sascha shopping at Costco before the big birthday bash, kids with their balloon animals after the birthday bash, Sascha playing with her new toys, Sarah feeding Cameron, Sarah & Jeromey went race car driving, Sascha making a turkey with Daddy for Thanksgiving, Sascha helping us clean up the back yard, Aaron & Sascha at the movies, kids reading.

Sascha & Kingston at the pond feeding the ducks.

Having a bit too much fun trying on some winter clothing while shopping with a friend. Sascha at the park with Sadie and a huge cookie exchange with work friends.

Recap #2:

Sascha on her Birthday. Decorating cookies & Singing holiday songs at a Holiday Party & Cookie exchange, Sascha helped us decorate the house this year (she was very much into it). She decorated the tree with Baba and the Banister garland with me. A few photos from my bday. My coworkers treated me to a cake, and J and I had a nice dinner out at Burlap in Del Mar and then a movie.

Sascha and I made snowflakes out of white paper. Cameron at bath time, in the crib and at a breakfast outing. He 's such a happy boy!

Recap #3
Daddy takes Sascha on Go Carts. Holiday party @ Hals with a downtown view. Daddy's Birthday cake & sushi. Making a ginger bread house on Christmas Eve. Christmas day at Grandpa's house.
Wall of holiday cards which I love receiving every year.




Sea World (with Santa & Snow Princess) Balboa Park, shopping, park and hanging out at home in our pjs and celebrating the New Year with ice cream and friends.

Sascha's 4th Birthday

My sweet baby girl turns 4! You have been talking about your birthday for days, may be even months. Seems like you were so excited to turn 4. On the day of, you showed everyone 4 fingers to let them know how old you are turning. We did have your birthday celebration 2 weeks early, so we celebrated big this year. On the actual day of, we got together at home, had dinner and dessert with family. Daddy was in New Orleans for business trip since he started his new job in Marketing, but he did his best to facetime us on the phone so that he was included in singing you a birthday song.
It all went by way too fast. 4 years! We happened to look through some videos of the last 2 years and I couldn't believe how little you were. How could I have forgotten those moments. Didn't they just happen? You are such a big girl now. I know I am going to keep repeating myself every year, but it's so true. You tell us you love us, every time we put you to bed. You give your little brother so many hugs and kisses that sometimes he can't handle them all. You are one loving and loved little girl.

Here are a few photos of you blowing out your candles on very bright flower cupcake sitting inside an apple turnover pie (Baba's idea... I don't know why we put your cupcake in it)
You are holding up my phone (that's daddy's face on it)



Opening your gifts... Cameron wanted to help


A few days after your birthday, we headed to preschool for a small birthday celebration. This is also something you were really looking forward to. We brought treats for the class and you had your special moment of holding the earth and walking around the sun 4 times representing the 4 years of your life. You seemed pretty excited about it and we watched in amazement how 24 kids all quietly sat in a circle together and watched without too much complaining.


You picked your little friend Sadie to help you pass out the bagels to the class.


We love you so much! There are so many things I wish for you, but most importantly I wish that you are healthy and happy! I hope you continue to grow into a confident smart and beautiful little lady.

xoxo,
-Mommy & Daddy

Holiday Card Tradition

Where did this come from? It's so American? I guess we started when Sascha was born, so here we are year after year trying keep our "Holiday Card" tradition going. I don't call it Christmas Card, I don't know why, but it makes me feel totally un-jewish if I call it Chrismas Card. Go figure.

Now each year I actually look forward to this tradition. I look forward to getting the cards from my friends and sending mine out as well. Yes, it becomes stressful, and I never have enough time to do what I really want to do, but at the end of the day I am glad we do it. It becomes a memory. Even the whole process of having the pictures taken, coordinating the outfits, shopping, and etc. I feel like I put more and more thought and work into it every year. And this year we even did our pictures early.

Lets face it... this whole family photo shoot is such hard work. Rushing around trying to get everyone dressed, looking good and ready! I felt like the dragon lady yelling and threatening, and you would think I would feel relief once we got in the car, but no... I knew the work had only began.

Of course the day we decided to do it, it's 80 degrees at the end of October so we are sweating, not to mention hiking in heeled boots is a ton of fun.

All for a perfect family photo! Or an adorable photo of the kids. I think I fixed Sascha's falling headband about 20 times and then finally gave up and took it off!

Not sure all the things we bribed Sascha wish to be on her best behaivior. She cooperated... sometimes, and sometimes not at all which made me even more frustrated. She wouldn't wear the shoes because she said they hurt her, luckily I anticipated it and brought another pair and then she wasn't too excited about posing with Cameron, and Cameron well he just didn't care too much for sitting, he wanted to crawl and get around, and eat leaves off the ground.

Yes this was hard work! The outcome... family photos... and Our holiday picture! To me, totally worth it.

Ideally I would have liked to have the family photo and then a photo of each one of the kids, but it didn't work out that way. I barely had enough time to send them out before the actual Holiday so I went with what we had.

I love their happy expressions here


A few more


The most challenging thing was to try and get a decent picture of these two together... here is Cameron receiving a kiss from Sascha.

Instagram photos post

Sascha thought it would be fun to wear mommys boots, beautiful clouds in the sky on my way to work, reading a book with a TAG - she loves those books by leap frog, Cameron on his 1st birthday decided he wanted to hold his own bottle, yummy cake, sea world for his bday. Cameron whipping up a meal in the kitchen & playing with Gills super fun bike toy.



Majority of these were taken at a park next to my parents house. It was later in the afternoon, and the light made everything glow, it was chilly but so beautiful. It really felt like Fall. The kids had a blast. Sascha is obsessed with the monkey bars and Cameron really enjoyed going down the slides for the first time. As soon as we put him back up to the top he would scoot down on his own and want to go. Such a fun afternoon!
Sascha put her animals under the blanket so that they can sleep. The hot air balloon was descending right next to their preschool when we happened to be there to pick Sascha up. The kids were beyond excited and all ran up to see it.

Hurry Hurry Step Right up - Big Birthday Bash for Sascha's 4th & Cameron's 1s Birthdays

To say that we have been looking forward to this Birthday party would be an understatement. We have been planning it for months!

Of course it looked like the weather was not going to cooperate with us, and I would check the forecast almost daily the week leading up to the big day. Finally the day before it still told us it would rain, and we started to think about plan B, but got super lucky. Although it was cold that day, the rain held out on us. It was only when we packed up the last car when it started to sprinkle. How awesome is that?

Daddy gets the credit for coordinating the catering which was delicious, and coming up with a Fall Fair/Carnival theme. We wanted something that would work for both girl and boy, so it was perfect. I knew we wanted to make it memorable with small details, so we started thinking of what kind of games we would want for entertainment, and it went on from there. It turns out I really do enjoy party planning. Yes it can be stressful and hectic, and I did get butterflies in my stomach on the day of, just like I used to when I was a little girl, and was looking forward to my own celebrations. This was so worth all the hard work!!! And I loved how everything turned out.

Here is the invitation I designed.

First off I could not have done it without the help of my family. Both my parents and sister were there the day off to either pick up food/cake, help set up, clean up, or babysit.

Jeromey of course helped with the ideas and games, but my biggest helper in planning was his awesome cousin Sarah. We love you!!! She just ran with it. I don't even think I mentioned that I needed the help (and boy did I!), she just stepped right in and did. She gave me so many great ideas and helped me put together just about every detail for the event. Also J's aunt Maria (Sarah's mom) put together the cutest matching shirts for Cameron and Sascha with the number 1 and 4 on them embroidered with their names and Sarah completed their outfits. The party would not have been the same without her there, and we so love and appreciate her coming all the way from Florida to be there to celebrate the kids birthdays, and spend time with us. She was also my designated "photographer" which was huge because now with all that said and done, I have some awesome photos to remember it by. It was so so special, and we will always look back on it with fond memories.

I won't go into too much more detail on everything that we did, and let the pictures speak for themselves.

The party was a big success, and most importantly I think everyone really enjoyed themselves, and had a great time. We had face painting, and balloon making, and carnival games. Sascha refused to get her face painted, not sure if she was just overwhelmed or trying to be difficult since she had her face painted last year for her 3rd birthday at Legoland. We didn't try to have Cameron's done, because I am not sure a 1 year old could sit still enough for it, but the balloons they loved and played with them for at least 2 weeks after the party. I have never seen such awesome balloon making especially from a kid, everyone was very impressed! Carnival games were a big hit, and every child got a little prize at the end. Sascha choose "Tramp" from the movie "Lady and the Tramp", and she also choose a little "Pooh bear" for Cameron. Sascha got her Rapunzel cake that she wanted (no it didn't go with the Carnival theme, but this is one thing she was very particular with and ask for multiple times... and I definitely didn't want to disappoint her). And Cameron got cupcakes with little carnival guys on top.

The look on Sascha's face was priceless when she walked into the room all decorated. Her mouth dropped open and she was in awe.

The photo booth was so much fun, and especially awesome since everyone was so willing to participate, and be silly. Also it was a great way to be able to get pictures of all the guests who came.

The Details.
Welcome sign was made by the very talented artist named Sarah, as well as all the labels and props. I made the Happy Birthday Banner. :) The table "center piece" was a popcorn cup with a windmill (I learned how to make them on You-Tube & and large loli pop) The goodie bags were stuffed with some Carnival toys and had a Thank you label on them.


Fun times and memorable moments





Being silly is way more fun than being serious! We love our friends and family. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for celebrating the birthdays of the 2 most important little people in our lives


Here is a big THANK YOU to everyone in attendence. I got an idea for this from one of the Family magazines a few months before and thought it would be really cool to try out. Sarah helped line up all the toys and gifts that the kids got after their party to spell out the words "Thank You" Later on, I had Sascha pose to make the letter Y and the easiest thing to do to include Cameron was to make him the bottom of the exclamation mark. Would have been cool to have it done without the magic of Photoshop, however who was I kidding ... Cameron would have never sat still with all those toys around!

Halloween

Finally a Halloween post, which really seems like forever ago now. I have almost forgotten all about it in the midst of birthdays and birthday parties and all sort of other things going on in our lives. So this will be a quicky and a total picture overload.

We had a great time going to the Smith's Halloween Party in our neigborhood. We have taken a photo of Kingston and Sascha dressed up on Halloween since they were small, and this is our 3rd year celebrating it together and it was bigger than ever. Lots of friends came over and played until it was time to go trick or treating. Sascha had picked out her costume long ago and requested to be Rapunzel from Tangled, so no surprise there. And I already wrote before about the costume she picked out for Cameron - Spiderman. He was an adorable Spiderman.

This year Carolyn & Angelina joined us with grandpa & Judy, so they got to go around the neigborhood together. Sascha had a great time going door to door asking for candy, looking at the decorations and getting spooked. We had a minor meltdown right in the beginning because she decided she didn't want to walk like everyone else, and wanted to get on the wagon which I took back, but once we got past that, it was a great time. Cameron stayed behind and hung out with me and the girls. When everyone got back, it was time to open some candy. Surprisingly Sascha didn't try to devour her whole bag, she took her time and after about 2 items we tried to cut her off. It wasn't very successful, and I think she had at least 2 or 3 more packages. Sugar overload!!! Especially since you refused to eat anything before hand!

Afterwards you were very aware of where your candy stash was and would ask for a treat for days! I took a lot of the candy out, but told you that if you are a good girl and eat your dinner, you will be able to have a treat. The bag is actually still there, and you remember about it from time to time.

It was a fun night. Her are a few photos:

Sascha's preschool also had a Halloween festival a few days before the holiday, so the kids got dressed up a few times and had a great time!

You also got to do a little trick or treating and dressing up when Grandpa & Grandma took you to Sea World. The same weekend as Disneyland! What a lucky girl!

Of course we did our annual pumpkin carving night at the house. It was a lot of fun this year. Sascha was not too interested in getting her hands dirty, but she helped me carve a few pieces out.

Happy 1st Birthday Sweet Baby Boy!

Oh how bitter sweet this day is to me. I love that you are growing and turning into a such an adorable little person. You have the sweetest little personality, that I just can't get enough of.

At the same time I get so sad and sentimental about you not being a little baby. The little bundle that I held so tightly at the hospital just 365 days ago. How is it that this year has flown by so fast!

Of course all the birthdays are special, but a 1st birthday is by far the one that I have always cried at. So many changes in those 12 months, and I try to remember and treasure every single special moment. My heart feels like it's swelling up with so much love, joy and happiness. I feel so special to be your mommy. How did we get so lucky to have this precious life in our lives?

You are so loved, and not just by your mommy and daddy and sister! I hope we never stop letting you know that!

So we didn't do a whole lot on your actual birthday (sorry about that), but it was still a great time. In the evening we just had cake with family and friends, of course we sang you a bday song and you enjoyed your first cake... Mmmm. You loved playing with it, and you even picked up a piece and put some in your mouth.

The day after we went to Sea World to celebrate and had a wonderful time! You loved watching the dolphins play, the bright fish in the aquarium, and you loved the turtles too. You sat on our lap and enjoyed the shamu show, pointing and talking. Then we let you run wild in the crawlers area. You were timid at first, but then took off crawling and didn't want to come back. We had Sascha redirect you every time you went the wrong way. Then we had dinner at our favorite Greek place and you loved Avgalomeno soup. Like father like son... We got a ton of comments from people sitting near us, how well behaved and adorable our kids are, and we left very satisfied. It was such a fun day for us all. I can't wait for your Big Birthday Party!!! (will have that in a post of it's own once I catch up)

On another note, we had your 1 year check up. You laughed and giggled on the drive there and was your usual smiley self. I felt so bad that you had no idea you were about to get 4 shots. The doctor loved your personality, you were such a happy little guy smiling at everyone. Up until you got your shots. You screamed pretty hard core after each one, brutal! I hated every minute of it. I picked you up right away to try to comfort you and gave you a pacifier, but you let me know you were mad! You would stop crying for a few seconds, and then start again, stop and start again. It was sad... and as soon as you got into the car seat you passed out. Hopefully you have forgotten all about that day!

What was surprising is your weight gain, or lack thereof. You only gained 1 lb in the last 3 months? I almost didn't believe it once I put you on the scale, and that was before I compared your weight with 9 months. In any case, you are a skinny tall little guy! I thought for sure you will go over the 20 lbs by your 1st Bday, but I guess not the case. I also checked and crazy enough Sascha also weighed 19 lbs and 10 oz at her 1st year appointment. Wow, same weight! Very strange, especially since you were always bigger in your previous check ups. I guess that's not the case anymore. I am really hoping you will put on some weight, although I know after a year it's usually not the case because kids get so active by then. You don't seem to have any issues eating. You don't eat a ton, but you try just about everything we put in front of you which is really great. Milk you are not a huge fan of, unless it's in the morning. You are very much interested in all the things we are eating, and now that you are a year I let you have just about everything we are having, and you seem to like it, even though you still only have 2 teeth. Yes, it looks like the top 4 are on the verge of poking through, but it's been that way for weeks now and still nothing. Foodwise, you are a lot more easy going than Sascha was, so I am hoping for a less picky eater.

Stats:

Weight: 19 lbs 10 oz - 9th%

Length: 31 inches - 86th%

Head Circ: 17.75 inches - 16th%

You are not walking yet, but have turned into a very efficient crawler. You pull up on everything and try cruising around tables and chairs. You are such a talker. You point at things and talk and talk like you really mean it. You hand us objects, try to stack rings on top of each other and you throw things off the high chair that you don't want (like milk in a sippy cup). You definitely let us know that you prefer your milk in a bottle. :) So far you have not tried to climb up the stairs but you are getting closer. You love putting everything in your mouth, and we try to put the small toys Sascha likes to play with away, however she often gets them down and sneaky little you pick them up and put them in your mouth. I have had to pry things out of your mouth a few times, which has been a little scary!I wonder what you will do to the Xmas tree once that goes up. I am pretty sure you will keep us on our toes. It's been a fun month with you turning one and we look forward to you starting to walk... but no hurry!

Happy Birthday little guy! We love you so much!

Here are a few pictures from your Birthday:

(this one our friend Vanessa took at the family session we had done a week before your bday) I just love your big beautiful blue eyes and the look you give in this photo

I took this picture with my phone of you on the morning of your Birthday and you gave me the sweetest smile

Enjoying your cake

Family photo

Sascha's blue mouth from a blue frosting cupcake. :)

Here are a few from our time at Sea World.

Instagram Photo post

Catching up on my Iphone photography... seems like I am always about 2 weeks behind. :)

Halloween pumpkins and pumpkin carving. My perfectly posing kiddos (this never happens!) so I will treasure this rare shot of both of them looking and smiling.

Cameron doing a squinty eye trick he learned a little while ago. Rainy weekends have made a come back... and I am not a big fan, but Sascha enjoys going outside with her umbrella and rain boots. Jeromey scoored some tickets to Chargers vs. Packers game, while we stayed at home, played outside until the rain came back, so we went inside to bake an apple pie from the apples that fall from our apple tree.

Instagram Photo post

Jeromey's cousin Josh was in San Diego for a visit and we got to spend 2 weekends with him which was a lot of fun. One of the days we went hiking at Torrey Pines (Sascha wasn't there because she was having way too much fun at Disneyland with Grandma, Grandpa and her cousins). Meanwhile we took full advantage of only having to take care of one kid. This was Cameron's first time in the backpack hiking and he loved it. The expression on his face once he was lifted up onto Jeromey's back was priceless. It was an ear to ear grin! I only wish I captured it. About 30 minutes into the hike he fell asleep, and once we got down to the beach he wanted out of the backpack. It was another 15 minute walk to the car, so I think he did pretty well.

The other few pictures are from our night out at Dave & Buster's celebrating our friend's birthday. Cameron loves the toy where you push the balls in, I was so surprised to see him able to actually locate the holes and push the balls in.

Here are a few more of the kids playing in the tent. It's Sascha's princess tent, and sometimes she wants Cameron in and is very inviting and other times she screams "No boys in the tent!"

Another picture of Sascha right before her first day at the Montessori school... which she seems to adjust well to. Ferris wheel from the Del Sur Festival... I took way too many photos of it with the sun going down. I just loved how cool it looked! Bath Time. Sascha patiently waiting to get her pictures taken at a Infantino shoot. Wonder if I will actually see any photos from it? It was a campaign called "Everybody plays" and I submitted her picture and a few weeks later she was part of the shoot. Kind of fun! Also I got to meet Kelle Hampton from Florida because she was the photographer. I love reading her blog, and actually found out about this shoot from her. Every time I think I don't have the time to update this blog or don't really have the motivation to do it, I read hers and it inspires me to update more often, to take more pictures, and to make more fun memories with my kids.

The next few are from the kids getting dressed up for Sebastian's Bday party. A little pre-Halloween dress up. Sascha was Rapunzel & Cameron was Spiderman (Halloween pictures coming soon...) Daddy with both kiddos in the morning (usually letting mommy sleep in on the weekend, which I am oh so thankful for). Daddy with Cameron out to breakfast. Mommy's night out. We went out downtown, dinner, dancing, drinking... lots of fun! It's been a while.

Cameron asleep in the car.

Pumpkin Patch and Del Sur Festival

We made it out to a pumpkin patch this year, and took a drive to Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center. It was once again a very hot day. Not sure why we always end up going there when it's super hot, since it kind of takes away from the whole feeling of being fall and starting to get cold. That's definitely not the case here in San Diego. We met up with the Bickel Family, and Sascha and Sadie had a fun day playing in the pumkin field, running through the hay maze, looking at the animals and even feeding a few goats themselves. Cameron had fun looking around and taking it all in. He took a nice nap in the stroller. I took a lot of pictures as usual!

Two weeks later we went to the annual Del Sur Festivale with the Slavin's, it was a lot bigger this year and Sascha had a blast. She decorated a pumpkin with Rachel, played a few carnival games that won her a ducky and went on 2 rides with daddy. She wasn't afraid of anything, she looked forward to the big Ferris Wheel and when they finally got on, she had the biggest smile on her face. Despite the fact that we were all getting cold, and her sweater was wet so we had to take it off, she decided that she really wanted to go on the rocking boat. Even daddy got a bit motion sick after that ride, but not her, she put her hands up and loved every minutes of it. Walking back to our car we watched some of the performers on stilts which was also pretty cool.

Phone pics

Recap: Sascha helping daddy wash his car, Ice cream social with Sadie at preschool, Cameron in a party hat at a birthday, exhausted baby falling asleep sitting, playing at UTC playground and riding the train,splashing by the pool, and hanging out with Sonya.

The UTC pictures were taken after we went to the doctors office for flu shots. We explained to her that she needs this shot so that she doesn't get sick. Sascha was super brave and got her shot first. She confirmed with us that she would get a lolipop after it. She sat there with a smile on her face, until she saw the needle, and even then she was quiet as a mouse, she hesitated and looked a bit scared, but not a peep. I wish I had my phone with me to take pictures there. Cameron was the next victim and of course he screamed. She rushed to him and said "it's ok baby brother, you're ok". It was such a sweet moment. I saw how sorry she felt for him as soon as she saw him cry, and all she wanted to do was comfort him.

Just catching up from the previous week: Daddy reading yet another princess story before bedtime, hanging out at balboa park and enjoying the koi lilly pond and the botanical garden with lots of pretty flowers, found Cameron messing up the book shelf and the "no girls allowed" book in his hands, Sascha reading in the car, Cameron excited to be on a jumpy

Cameron - 11 months

We are month away from your 1st birthday!!! So what have you been up to the last month? Well you are now crawling everywhere and attempting to pull up on things as well. You love feeding yourself, so I have started to leave some chopped up items on your tray and most of them end up in your mouth.

This month has be a bit rough on you because you had to get used to a new environment. Your nanny had some medical issues and we have been forced to put you into a back up daycare that our company subsadizes. The first few days were great, you were happy when I left and even thought I felt the mommy guilt of leaving you with a stranger in a new place, I saw that you were ok. On your first day there you were finger painting. :) But after the first 2 days, you learned that this is where I drop you off and leave, so you started crying as soon as I would put you down, and when I came to pick you up, you started to cry and crawl to me as soon as possile.

Aaah, I felt horrible for leaving you and had to take an extra day off to stay home with you last week. This week, you are only there for one day, so hopefully it will be ok. This has taken a toll on us all. You stopped sleeping well at night waking up in the middle of the night crying. I have no idea if it's because of this daily environment change or teething, or you still seem a bit congested from a cold you aquired a few weeks ago. The nanny is back tomorrow, and I am really hoping that things will get back to normal with you.

You are such a chatter box lately. Chatting up a storm while in your high chair or crawling around. You get very excited when you see us after we haven't been home. The person you get excited to see the most is Sascha. Your face lights up and you start smiling and almost giggling with joy when you see her come through the door. It is seriously the most precious thing to witness. She is usually very excited and receptive, she wants to hug you and kiss you. I have even noticed that when I say "Sascha" and if she is not in the room, you start looking around for her.

You are also very excited to see your mamma, a few days ago you started saying "Mummy", over and over. Of course it makes me melt inside, and all I want to do is pick you up and hold you all day long.

You have now been to your first Pumkin Patch (I will save the details for another post), you took a nice long nap while your sister ran around the maze and picked out pumkins. I remember this time last year very well. I was very pregnant with you, so I guess technically this is your 2nd Pumkin Patch, since you were almost ready to come out into the world at the one we went to last year.

Oh how I love your soft little blond curls. Your hair is really starting to grow fast and it's curling more and more. Just like Sascha's you have a lot more at the very top and since it doesn't lay flat it turns into an automatic little mow-hawk.

Here are a few cute photos I managed to take when we were home alone. It's definitely more challenging taking photos of the little guy now that he is on the move. Cameron was in a great mood, he just didn't appreciate the outfit changes and really had no interest in wearing a tie. I snapped a few, and he pulled it right off.

Playdates & other fun events

Once again I am a bit behind in posts.

You had a playdate with one of your friends from preschool, and even though this happened over the summer I still wanted to talk about it, because it was pretty cute. We met your friend Sadie at thee duck pond, wher you walked around feeding ducks and exploring. It was a fun playdate. You guys had a great time checking out the different ducks, swinging on the swings and walking along the water, even holding hands at one point. Sadie is one of your good friends from school and now you guys are in dance class together as well. You were in the same class last year and got to be in the same class this year at CMP, however both of our families weren't happy w/the new class and we actually decided to try out a new preschool. It's a Montessori school that another few of your friends go to as well. So next week you will be starting at the new school joining the same class as Sadie and Matty. We are excited for this new change and hoping that it's the best thing for you.

Around the same time as this playdate was your last swim lesson for the summer. We saw great improvement this year, however you are still not that excited about going swimming, in fact you usually refuse to go, which is a bummer. After about 20 minutes sitting on the side step you finally decide to go in and by then everyone else is usually getting out of the pool. I am not sure why you feel so comfortable going swimming at the swim school with Mr. Josh and really dislike going with daddy and I, but I hope it changes next year. Cameron on the other hand loves the water, he just splashes around and is super happy!

Another fun outing we had was a "Back yard campout" at the Smith's house. All the kids went on a scavenger hunt, a few late night hikes with flashlights, did a craft, planted some seeds in a pot, ate smores, and slept in the tent with daddy. What a blast! Mommy and Cameron ended up cheating and walking home late at night, but Sascha was already asleep by then. When she realized we weren't going home, she couldn't really understand why? Sascha didn't seem very excited about spending the night in the tent. She wanted your stars ladybug which we didn't bring. We distracted her with projecting thomas the train pictures from a toy projector and then she realized that this can be a lot of fun and stopped complaining.

Another outting we had was to an indoor playground called "Funbeleivable". We met up with your 2 cousins there as well as another few friends, and you had a great time. Even Cameron had a good time in the little toddler play area.

Remembering 9/11

I wrote this entry over a week ago, but but for some reason wasn't ready to post it just yet...

I am so grateful that every single day I am reminded about how amazing and precious life is. This just isn't something you think about all the time, and I think our kids are definitely a constant reminder of this. We go through our daily lives and emotions, and get busy and wrapped up in an every day chore. On my drive home from work, I often feel tired and sometimes overwhelmed by my "to do" list, but always try to think about the positives and look forward to spending the evening with my kids. I feel grateful to have this feeling every time I get home. I've been thinking about this a lot more this week because of 9/11. How quickly 10 years have passed. How much we realize now, and how much more appreciative we are for the gift of life. We have overcome this event, but it has changed everyone and everything. Everyone remembers this day, what they did, how they found out about the horrible events in NYC. I was 21, going to UCSD... still pretty naive. I didn't have school that day, but I was getting ready to go to work at the bank where I was a teller. I remember turning on the TV while getting ready, and watching in disbelief. I couldn't take my eyes off what I saw, I think I was even late to work and it usually took less than 5 minutes to get there. Once I got to work, my coworkers and I had the TV on in the tiny little break room where we sometimes ate lunch, I remember running into the break room every chance I got along with the other tellers, to keep watching for updates on what's going on. I don't think I understood the full gravity of the situation, but I knew things just wouldn't be the same.

Yes I look at the world differently now after having children. I think about how to raise them, are they safe, how will they survive in this crazy world? Those questions are always in the back of my mind, and I always have hope that things will work out, and that the world will be a better place for our kids.

I don't do many of these type of posts, but I felt like I wanted to remember this day. Write about what I was feeling at the moment. I couldn't begin to imagine what some of the people who have lost loved ones are feeling on this day. It makes me feel sad, angry and helpless when I think about all the lives that were lost that day. Humans are pretty resilient creatures, and are able to overcome a lot of things and still have hope. So on a day like this, I am glad to say that I still have hope.

A view of the Twin Towers Memorial that was opened on the 10th anniversary of 9/11

Cameron - 10 months

What an exciting month for you! For the last few weeks you have been tirelessly trying to crawl. You get on all fours, you rock back and forth, then sit back or get on your tummy and roll on your back. On September 10th, you actually moved. Yay! I remembere Sascha army crawled for about a week, but you didn't go through that. Although a few times I saw you inching backwards instead of forward. Also the day before you turned 10 months, I heard you say "Mama" for the first time, and now you say it non stop. Oh how long I have waited to hear you say "Mama". That made me even more happy! It also seems that you have learned how to say "oh - oh", at least that's what it sounds like. So now that you're on the move, we are on our way to babyproofing the house once again.

You are starting to pick up food with your hands. It doesn't quite make it to your mouth very easily but you are working on it. :) Generally you have been a pretty good eater, you like just about everything that you are given. Some things you definitely eat with more enthusiasm than others. Usually the veggie or soup mix you are not super excited about but you still eat them without too much fuss. You're really starting to love your sippy cup and drinking water out of it. Sometimes you just want to hold it and teeth on it. Speaking of teeth, you still only have one! I keep thinking another one is coming, but it hasn't made it's way out just yet, so we'll keep looking out for it.

I love your little face, your big round blue eyes, your face expressions, your giggles and smiles. You bring us so much happiness. Mommy and Daddy love you so so much!!!

On your 10 Month Birthday we happened to be out and about with our friends Erin & Abtin who we haven't seen in a while, and we ventured out to Old Town as well as Mount Soledad for sunset. It was a gorgeous day out, and we got to take a lot of pictures on the grass. We even got one of the 4 of us at the top.

Such a Happy little guy!

Just the 4 of us

Phone post update

It's been a busy few weeks. Sascha started another year of her preschool. Daddy and I celebrated our 6th year anniversary over Labor Day weekend. Once again he managed to totally surprise me with an amazing day at the Grand Del Mar. We had the most relaxing day at the Spa and dinner there. Funny how this place is actually less than 15 minutes away from our house and the whole time I was there, I felt like I was on an island someplace. It felt like a little get away, and just what we needed. How did I get this lucky? Daddy has got to be one of the most thoughtful husbands in the world!

We had a super fun night of camping in our friends back yard, although I cheated and walked home pushing a stroller with a sleeping baby in it in the middle of the night and actually slept in my own bed instead of the tent. Sascha however really enjoyed sleeping in a tent and daddy took one for the team and slept next to her. She had so much fun playing with her friends, planting, going on a scavenger hunt, hikes and of course eating smores.

The night before camping, we had one of the biggest blackouts in the city. All of San Diego lost its power for over 10 hours, and we braved the dark with our lantern, flashlights and candles. It was out of the norm, and actually pretty fun. The TV and the computer was off, our phones were dead, we just went outside without any distractions, had a BBQ and hung out with Baba & Deda. Good times!

Recap: Reading a book in a chair at a furniture store, eating raspberries off her fingers, wanting to drive, camping with his babies, hanging out with Erin, going to Funbelievable indoor playground, sporting an FSU onsie, listening to da BEATS, holding a flashlight during a blackout, bedtime, anniversary night & dessert, grand del mar pool and a moody baby

Phone posts

So I have taken a ton of photos on my phone, because lets face it I don't always have my camera on me. I don't usually end up doing anything with them, so I thought why not do a post every week or two where I put the pictures up from my phone. It will most likely capture things that I have forgotten to mention. Plus it makes me take more pictures and yes I am still addicted to modifying all of them with an app called Instagram. Without it, they just aren't as cool.

So here is my first one.

They don't need much commenting... just every day kind of stuff, with a few fun things in between

Bath Time, Beach Time, Playing in the back yard & Bed Time

End of Summer Fun & Play Dates

Where had the summer gone?

Well besides the weekend fun, just about every Friday we attempted to do something fun! We hosted a playgroup at home... sadly I have no pictures from it, I guess we were having way too much fun or I was way too busy to take any. We went to Kidding Around, The Zoo, The Wild Animal Park which they are now calling Safari Park, we went to friends houses for play dates, RB Swim & Tennis Club, Moonlight Beach and Sea World. Saturday mornings were spent going to Little Kickers soccer, followed by a trip to the 7-11 for a special treat. An ICE that had to be a specific color, whatever color favorite of the day - a request from Sascha. One weekend, we planned a play date with her good friend Sadie from preschool. We went to a pond to feed the ducks. Another weekend, while daddy stayed home with Cameron and had his football draft, Sascha and I had a date at Sea World. I have not been there for Summer nights where they have special night shows and fireworks. We had such a great time together! It was nice to have great company too since we met up with Marjeri and Kingston there. We tried to frequent the pool as well, and for some reason every single time Sascha wasn't thrilled about going, it would take her forever to finally get in (unless we just forced her in) and then finally after 20 minutes in the water she would actually swim and have fun. Of course by then she is usually shivering cold and we have to get out. This was pretty much the trend every time we went swimming. However when she gets a lesson at Floaties from Mr. Josh, she has no issues with the pool. Go figure!

We had a bunch of birthday parties to attend as well. Sascha is now very much aware of what "party" means. When I told her that we are going to stop by a work party before going to Sea World, she quickly posed the question : "Will there be a jumpie there?" I had to break the news to her and tell her that there was no jumpie at this party. :)

We have really been enjoying our back yard! Sascha is getting really good at swinging, she has masted the leg pumping, and gets up pretty high (almost dangerously high ... especially if Baba is watching). She loves her playground, water table, and all the different ways of transportation out there. She is starting to get much better on her princess bike, she's super fast on the plasma car. We often have races around the "track" - the small paved road that goes around the back yard! It started to get dark earlier, which is too bad, we got pretty used to playing out there after dinner till 8pm.

Sounds like a pretty fun summer doesn't it? Oh what I would do to be a kid again... why is it that I remember how badly I wanted to grow up when I was a child. I dreaded nap time, and now I would give anything for a quiet 20 minutes where I could put my head down and rest.

And that sums up our summer. Sure we both had to work. Sascha enjoyed going to preschool and having splash days every week, while Cameron was at home with the Nanny. But we really tried to make the most out of our time together. I only wish I would make a separate blog entry out of each outing we had, and if I had all the time in the world I certainly would. Instead it's going to be crammed into this one blog post. I also wish that I had more pictures with me in them. I am usually the one taking them, so pics of me with the kids are rare, and I feel like I should have more.

Saturday mornings - playing soccer

Our Beach outing - we only went a few times, but Cameron loved the sand. Sascha refused to go near the water, and played in the sand the whole time as well.

Zoo, Safari Park with Ethan, and a date with my baby girl to Sea World

Hanging out in the back yard. Sascha really enjoys pushing Cameron in the swing

On a train ride at Old Poway Park for Cillian's 3rd Birthday

Playing Dress up at home - this is a dress she wanted to wear ...something that you may see a Flamenco dancer wear, it was brought to you from Spain by Baba & Deda