Merry Christmas!

more snow

and it snowed all night...

we woke up to find our house and  'bob' the snowman was buried halfway up...

there was about 10 - 12 inches of snow with about a quarter inch of ice on top.

 

a few inches more.

help

okay. enough already. snow was fun the first day, but this is ridiculous. it has been snowing ALL day. there is now about 5 inches out there and it is still falling. and as crazy as it is out there, it is even cah-razier in here. i am running out of things for the boys to do. i have pulled out all the stops. and these boys are driving me cuckoo!

our living room is now a camping ground, filled with tents and tunnels. 

and two little boys with lots of ants in their pants.

we baked christmas cookies. and a gingerbread house.

and i know that to most, this is simply called "a dusting".  

but i guess, i'm still just a california girl at heart. 

it's a beautiful day...

clear blue skies! yay! bundled the boys back up again and out we go. 

we even built ourselves a little snowman. 

mucus calls him bob. monkey calls him spiderman.

.

my boys.

finally had to get out of the house. took twenty minutes to bundle the boys up. spent four minutes outside. and it's snowing. again.

but at least i got a good picture out of it. 

Still snowing...

Let it Snow!

Our view out our front window...

two little monkeys...

...jumping on the bed

one fell down and bumped his head.

the momma grabbed her camera,

and then she said...

"look at the camera while jumping on the bed!"

remember how fun it was to jump on our parent's bed?

the coast.

just a quick one day trip out to the coast. had a very nice walk on the beach.  filled the boys' pockets with lots of shiny rocks. and no one ended up in the water this time, except the doggies. 

for cindy

sorry for the big bloggy break. haven't had much time to write and take pictures. actually haven't had much energy to. but i think that my break is over. 

so just for my friend cindy...

now get back to work!

the fun in things

 i really love fall. but i really hate raking up all the leaves. i've been dreading this chore for days. and today was the day to get it done. so, while one was napping, the other helped.  and as i was nearing the end of this dreaded chore, monkey came running and jumped into the big pile of leaves. 

fun, mommy this is fun!, he says.

it's funny how as we grow older, we seem to lose our ability to see the fun in things.

all hallow's eve

ghouls and goblins. scarecrows and monsters. they were all out and about on a perfect friday halloween night. not a single raindrop in sight. and everyone was in great spirits. our good friends drove all the way up from Salem to spend a wonderful evening with us.

but there are no scary monsters in this house. 

only cute, cuddly and c-r-a-z-y loud animals roaming around in the zoo we call our home.

a little bit of laughter...

a little bit of trick or treating...

a little bit of candy...

added up to a fun night with a whole lotta fun!

and some sleeping in the next day.

my new favorite picture. 

of my two favorite loud little boys. 

they are both smiling and looking at the camera. do you know how rare that is?

brotherly love

"gimme all your goldfish and don't tell mommy"

i know that's exactly what's going on here.

sad elmo

they say...don't start potty training until your child is ready. well, one night during bath time, monkey boy discovered he could pee on mucus. which naturally, brought out many laughs from us. and so the next night, he did it again. he's ready to start, yay! we went out and bought him his very own potty chair. he picked it out himself. and for the next few weeks, right before bath time, he would sit on his potty chair and pee.

then came big boy underpants. he picked out some elmo ones. and so we are on to the next step. this was about two months ago and we are s-l-o-w-l-y, but surely still potty training. i'd like to think that we are making progress. at least, that's what i like to tell myself. 

one day soon, it will all just click for him. but until then... 

don't pee on elmo, or he'll be sad.

his words, not mine.  

and hopefully today, elmo won't be as sad as he was yesterday.

plumper pumpkins

another clear, dry day. let's go to another pumpkin patch!

monkey boy humoring his mother for yet another picture.

gotta ride the tractors.

have a few laughs on the swings.

and pose for another picture. 

my poor boy. the mamarazzi is always around.

mucus playing with bama.

bama and her boys. don't mind her hair. it was pretty windy out there.

one year

what a difference a year makes.

a year ago...
...you couldn't sit up on your own.
...you still weren't sleeping through the night.
...you had no teeth.
...you couldn't eat cheerios.
...you didn't share clothes with your brother.



and baby, look at you now...

the great bottle hunt

the boys love to drink milk. they gulp down 2 gallons every 5 days. and since mobile mucus still drinks from his bottle, i am always on the hunt for the empty ones. usually he leaves them on his bed or in the vicinity of. sometimes, he places them on a table depending on which room he is in. but this morning, it wasn't in any of the usual places. 

when i ask him where's your bottle? 

he answers all done. 

where did you put it? 

chitchen, he says. so i look in the kitchen. nowhere to be found. 

monkey boy chimes in with mommy, it's in the fridge. 

i scratch my head and think i don't remember putting it in the fridge, maybe i did?

i look in and it's not in there. good, i'm not completely senile.

i ask again where is your bottle?

mommy, it's in the fridge. come here, lemme show you. 

as monkey boy pulls my hand towards their play kitchen.

oh...

 aha! there it is!

and mucus comes running in...mine!

not ready

i like halloween. i really loved it when i was younger. 

dressing up. going out trick or treating with my friends, even on a school night. 

and in california, it's warm enough not to have to wear a coat over your costume. 

going to knott's scary farm was one of my favorite things. being scared by freddy. ghosts jumping out from the bushes. and screaming. 

i love, love, loved it. 

however, my boys are not quite ready for scary. 

we will stick to cute. cuddly costumes. pumpkin patches. candy corn. 

we will stay away from costume stores with scary motion-activated monsters that spring up from the floor right next to the cute and cuddly toddler costumes. oh yes, both boys spot these elmo and shrek buckets and ran straight for them, setting off a skeleton to rise from it's grave. talk about two scared little boys.  it's difficult enough going to a store with no shopping carts and two toddlers, try carrying them out while shielding their eyes, shrieking and completely terrified.  

thank goodness for elmo and shrek. 

oh and yes, we did find some cute and cuddly costumes. a little preview...

i hope you guys stay cute and cuddly for a little while longer.

pumpkin patch

aaah...a trip to the pumpkin patch. 

this officially marks the arrival of fall. 

one of my favorite seasons since moving here to oregon. 

see in california, pumpkin patches are usually set up in a parking lot. 

it's usually about 90 degrees out. 

it's done a little bit differently here in oregon. 

cool, crisp morning. clear blue skies. 

a perfect day to visit roloff farm. 

and today was...beautiful.

mucus picked the first one he saw.

and another reason for visiting the pumpkin patch....

pictures, pictures, pictures. 

luckily, the boys were cooperating for the camera.

look at that beautiful, blue sky...

oh, and the boys are cute too...

especially this almost-one-year-old!

another photo opportunity.

aaawww...ain't we cute?