Dentist

The boys took their first joint trip to the dentist today. Owen was his usual perfect patient. Adam was...not as easy.  No crying but a lot of protesting. He finally somewhat agreed to the hygienist using a manual toothbrush but there would be no real cleaning today!

Bringing Something That Starts With "A" For Show & Tell

And I didn't even tell him to do it!

Art Direction

I mentioned in a previous post how much Adam has been enjoying drawing and how he only wants us to draw Big Bird, Ernie and Bert.  I thought I'd post an example of our work as an illustration of what every piece of paper and every magnadoodle drawing ends up looking like.  This is Steve's rendition of the ensemble cast of Sesame Street.  We have the chosen 3, but he managed to add Elmo, Cookie and Oscar to the mix.  If you want to know what Adam is "in to" these days...You're looking at it.

Little Bam Discovers Inflatable Slides

Poor Adam,

He's always sort of having to do whatever Owen wants to do.  He's taking soccer lessons right now along side Owen and really doesn't seem to enjoy it...but since we have nothing better to do while Owen runs around at practice for an hour...we are doing it.

Today, Owen wanted to go to "The Jump Place" as our family outing.  Adam has hated the jump place in the past.  Too much trying to jump and walk on uneven and bouncy surfaces when he's just barely learned how to walk himself.  Add a bunch of older kids who are literally bouncing off the walls, and it's just not his jam.  Today we tried it again and he lasted about 20 minutes before he was completely done with the place.  As a last ditch effort, I let him try the big slides.  It's a little nerve wracking because adults aren't really supposed to accompany these kids on the structures.  I could have gone in to rescue him (of course), but I couldn't make it any more fun for him...that was up to him.  So, we put him in the bounce house and Owen directed him to the ladder.  After figuring out how to climb up an inflatable ladder that is moving and shaking because of other bouncing kids, he slid down.  Up and down all by himself.  Then he went again.  And again.  And again.  This was about the 6th or 7th out of 19 or 20 times.

Dang Cute

Silly Brothers

Sometimes having two kids is tough...Double the mess.  Double the noise.  Double the nail clippings.  Double the tantrums.  Double the fighting.  Double the early mornings.  Double the picky eaters.

But sometimes, it's double the cute.

Bronco Season!

My life revolves around my kids.  There is really nothing (except work) that I prioritize over my boys and the days are filled with their interest, toys, television shows and music.  My interests are reserved for working hours or after the kids' bedtimes.  I'm not claiming to be perfect...I can sneak in a few Facebook checks here and there, but nothing that requires any significant time or attention.

Last football season, I remember wanting to watch a few Bronco games but the kids would never let me watch for longer than 2 minutes.  This season, I have managed to watch the majority of a couple games and I'm LOVING IT. 

Then today, Owen took it to another level when he actually got into watching the game with me!  The day I get to sit down on the couch with my boys with a big pan of nachos and loud couch refereeing will be my nirvana.  But today, Owen got one step closer to that ultimate goal by getting fairly interested in the game.  He reminded me that he would prefer if I don't scream too loud and scare him.  He pretended to tackle his stuffed animals and ran around the room like a football player.  Then at one point, he disappeared into the garage and came back wearing his "football helmet" and carrying his football.  It made me so happy!  He's staring to "get it" but more importantly, like it!  He tossed the football around with Nana for awhile and then Nana tagged him in the face with the ball.  He looked a little dazed and then as any sport minded kid would do, he problem solved.  He decided to use Bunny as a face mask.  The obvious choice in this situation, right?  He had a helmet...but not a face mask.  He had a bunny...problem solved!

Showing & Telling Something Red, Blue or Yellow

Train Art

Owen made a little sculpture out of train set pieces the other day.  He actually had something a little different and I wasn't paying attention until he said..."Look, Mom.  I made a man."  Before I looked at it, I saw that he moved a couple pieces around and then said, "Ok, now it's you, Mom."

I'm not sure what he changed in order to make it "me" but I loved it!

I Love His Face In Glasses

My Best Staycation.

I can say without hesitation that I admire a woman who can stay at home with her kids full time.  I find it to be one of the hardest jobs in the world.  I also admire single moms who do it all without regular help because I imagine that to be nearly impossible.  I also admire full time working moms who have (in my opinion) a MUCH harder job than full time working dads.  So basically, being a mom is hard work regardless of what your situation is and I respect all of them.  Well, I respect all good moms.  :)

I feel incredibly lucky to have the job situation I have right now.  I work full time for a company that has been nothing but flexible with me over my almost 13 year career there.  They understand that telecommuting is a normal and viable way for employees to work in the day and age of WiFi, webinars and email on your phone.  So I work in the office 3 days a week and home 2 days.  This schedule allows me a massive amount of flexibility that some working moms do not have and I feel VERY lucky.  I can go grocery shopping during the week in the middle of the day and cut my time there in half because I'm not fighting the weekend crowds.  I can take my son and pick him up from preschool a couple days a week and more importantly, I can be there for his show and tell day with all the other parents who are invited to attend those days.  I gain 4 hours back with my kids because I don't have to make that 60 minute commute to and from Bellevue twice a week.  

Those are some of the benefits of my stay at home days.  Some of the benefits of my in office days are being able to interact with my co-workers on a regular basis face to face.  I get to dress up and put makeup on and wear high heels.  I get to go to board room meetings and hear adults argue back and forth instead of toddlers.  Sometimes, I even get to solve those adult fights and that makes me feel important.  I get to drink Starbucks while dorking out on Excel.  It's a whole different world and the combination of my work life and my home life makes me feel very fulfilled.

Since we have chosen to use a nanny as a childcare provider, we are at the whim of her availability.  I should probably find a few back-up childcare options but between Sommer, Steve and my mom -- we haven't ever really been in too much of a bind.  Probably the fact that Steve and I never go on vacation helps since I always have enough vacation to stay home with the kids if Sommer is unavailable.  I should work on taking more vacations too...

So, Sommer took a long vacation last week.  Timing wise, it was the same week that Steve was taking his ATP test which required his full attention and lots of time to study.  As we were planning the week, I started feeling frustrated that we couldn't use the week to take a family trip.  The thought of 10 days at home doing the same old thing over and over seemed like a big waste of an opportunity.  But I couldn't figure out where I could take the kids that made any sense traveling by myself and it was Owen's first week of preschool (I liked the idea of getting to be able to take him and pick him up all week.)  So I accepted the fact that I would be taking a 10 day "staycation" with my kiddos at home.  However, I'm not going to lie...I really expected the week to be hard.  

The 10 days were the most fun I've had with my kids in a long time.  We had so many "new" activities the days went by much quicker than some of the long summer days.  They went to their first soccer practice which was adorable.  Owen started preschool so we found our new morning routine eating waffles and getting our playtime in before school started.  Adam and I got some quality 1:1 time every afternoon which we've never regularly had.  I got to experience "nap time productivity" again which I haven't had since Owen dropped his naps over a year ago.  Preschool really agreed with Owen and he came home everyday in a great mood which led into happy and calm evenings.  The kids woke up happy, went to bed happy and were happy in between.  Which made me very happy.  Tomorrow, I go back to work again and I'm actually very sad about that.  I would like one or two more weeks - just like this one!

So I apologize to my kids for thinking the worst because you are the reason my staycation was the best vacation I've had in a long time.  I love you guys!!!

Just Your Average Mom n' Bubba Grocery Run

Big Boy? Bed

Well, we knew this day was coming.  We are now transitioning Adam to a big boy bed at 20ish months because he won't stay in his crib.  I used to hear about people putting their toddlers in a toddler bed and I thought they were nuts. Owen would have stayed in his crib until he was 18 if we would have let him.  He barely even tried to climb out and when he did, we convinced him that the crib was way too high for that type of daredevil move.  And he bought it.  Adam on the other hand...The crib is now officially just a large hurdle that he can leap over any time he chooses.

So because of this:

We have moved to this:

And actually, he is doing great!  We did our first "bootcamp" session on the same night as the new crib set up.  He was mad, but at least he wasn't leaping over a 4 foot high wall.  And at least when he was ready to go to sleep, he could climb back in his own bed!  Success!

Budding Artist

Adam has really developed a love for drawing.  He fought with his brother so much over the Magnadoodle (is that what it's called?) that Nana bought Owen a new one for his birthday this year.  Now Adam has taken it over as well.  He is actually very good at drawing little circles and mimics some of our easier drawings -- I draw a very rudimentary bottle with milk in it and he came very close to drawing the same one!  If he's not drawing, he's asking us to draw for him.  Not too shocking, but he asks for the same pictures every time.  Big Bird, Ernie and Bert.  Then he erases them.  Then we draw them.  Then he erases them.  Then we draw them.  Then he says "bye bye!" and erases them again.  I'm predicting Adam will have some artistry skills when he gets older!  (And maybe move beyond the Sesame Street characters?)

O's First Day of Pre-K

My little boy is in PRE-KINDERGARTEN.  Do you know what that means?  That means it's the year before Kindergarten.  I can't grasp it yet.

So Owen was in the "2's" program at his preschool last year and was the oldest in his class.  This year, he skipped the "3's" program and started in Pre-K.  Only one of his friends from last year is in his class again this year.  He is also now the youngest in his class.  Pre-K is definitely much more structured, it's 4 days a week vs 2, it's 30 minutes longer and it's in the afternoons vs the morning.  All reasons I wondered if I was making the right choice for him.  As usual, he made it extremely easy for me.

We have been talking about school all week and he's been very excited about it.  Last year, anytime I mentioned school he usually responded with, "I don't want to go to school."  So I took that as a good sign.  A couple days ago we worked on his first homework together!  Teacher Marion sent it in the mail...Half a heart that she told him to decorate (and she would have the other half waiting for him at school) and an "About Me" page that he would dictate the answers to and I would write them down.  I told him we were playing a game called Kindergarten and he got really into it.  Last night I told him that today would be school and he smiled.  Today, we all went out to lunch as sort of a celebratory meal before school.  Owen told me he'd rather just go to school and skip lunch.  I took that as another good sign.  Once we said goodbye to Steve and Adam and started driving to school, Owen finally asked the question I was waiting for and trying to avoid.  Here is how the conversation went.

Mom, are you going to leave me at school?

Yes, Bubba...remember last year?  I stay for 5 minutes and then I come and pick you up after school.

Well, I don't want you to leave me.  When you say you are going to leave, I'm going to say Don't Leave!

Hmmmm...Well, what am I going to say after that?

You are going to say, "But Bubba, I have to leave."

You're right!

Ok Mom.

Then we had a long discussion about how some kids might be sad and that it was his job to help them not feel sad.  He actually led most of the conversation telling me how these kids get sad because they don't know their moms are coming back later.  I couldn't believe how matter-of-fact he was talking about it.

We get to school and he walked by himself, wasn't nervous, let me take his picture, put his backpack in the right place, picked up his name tag (no photos on either this year -- he found by written name only) went potty, etc...Then when it was time to go into the actual classroom he bolted in never really looking back.  The kids there this year were HUGE!  I've never seen Owen as the youngest kid in a class before.  All the parents were talking about how much each of the kids had grown over the summer and I was like, HELLO??? Owen was in a group of kids a whole year younger - so these kids look like GIANTS!  Also, there are 16 kids in his class (vs 12 last year) and 3 teachers vs 2.  So the room just seemed very full!  I hope he stays as tall as he is now.  My mom wasn't joking when she said everyone looks way bigger than her August birthday son!

The room this year was different in that there were lots more activities out for the kids.  Manipulations that were not available to them last year for whatever reason (choking? too difficult?) and Owen really liked that. He was bouncing around the room checking everything out.  I really think he missed school.  Home can be so boring sometimes and especially in the afternoons when Adam is napping -- he's just bored!

After about 5 minutes, I left.  He protested a bit but only in a "watch me do this rubber band trick one more time...no one more time...no one more time."  I'm not sure if he didn't want me to leave or if he just wanted me to stay in order to watch him.  But I left, and there were no tears.  There actually wasn't really any crying except for the little girl who was in his class last year.  That was another change.  Last year, it was a symphony of crying.  This year, only one.

When I picked him up, I came early and watched him a bit in on the playground (Um, those kids are HUGE!) and tried to peek in the class during their last activity, show and tell.  Owen was sitting in a very difficult spot for me to spy on but I did see him sitting and paying attention.

When class was over, he came out beaming.  I snuck in to ask his teacher how he did.  She said he did great and that he was age appropriately adjusting to the beginning of a more structured class.  She said he was very verbal and that helps him be more appropriate when he's having a hard time.  She said the two examples were when he didn't want to transition right away from one activity to another and she gave him a choice of 5 minutes or 6 minutes and then he did fine...And at circle, he got a little wiggly and told her, "Teacher Marion, can you hurry circle time because I want to get up and play!"  She said she appreciated how he calmly told her what he wanted and she was able to talk to him about what was going to happen next.  I also met a parent of one of his classmates who told me she had noticed me at Parent Orientation last week when I said my child was skipping the 3's class.  She said she "could never have imagined" her child skipping over the 3's class but when she met Owen today and he introduced himself and chatted with her a bit she realized why it made sense.  Phew.  Mommy anxiety was calmed a little bit after hearing all that!

Logically though, hello...we're talking about 3 hours of preschool here.  There is no part of me that thinks Owen isn't ready for that - regardless of structure.  The kid loves being around his "friends" he loves having a ton of different activities to do and he loves learning AND he did great last year!  So it's not like I skipped grade school and started him directly in Harvard.  But still, when it's outside the norm even a little bit - I have to worry!

After school, we went to the store to buy yogurt covered raisins and tic tacs as a reward for a successful first day.  He told me a little bit about his day (he was not a fan last year of telling me anything about his day at school - I always had to trick him with weird questions to get any info out of him.)  This time, he was a little more forthcoming.  He told me that they did art, he liked Teacher Marion and Teacher Gretchen (he had a hard time pronouncing Gretchen until we practiced at the store -- "green...Gretchen...green...Gretchen.") He said he wanted Logan's toy but Logan didn't want to give it to him so Teacher Gretchen said that he could play with it and when he was done, he could give it to Owen.  He also told me that Ellie was crying at the beginning, "But Mom, I didn't go over and make her feel better because Teacher Gretchen was already helping her."

And the most telling thing...the rest of the day he was happy as a clam.  Happy, happy, happy, happy.  The day must have been pretty fun!

This year should be an interesting and fun one.  I can't wait to see what comes of it.  I know they are doing a festival of lights presentation, I know they are making volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar and I know there will be a real deal preschool graduation at the end of the year.  Get ready to watch Laura cry pretty much all year long.  This is all happening WAY too fast.

Namaste?

Owen's First Signature

First Trip To The Library?

I'm only slightly embarrassed that my kids have never seen the inside of a library.  And when I think about it, it's only because some parents talk about taking their kids to the library the same way they talk about organic baby food or dual language preschools.  Well, this is what my kids do at the library.  Proof they haven't been missing much (because they do the same thing at home.) Well, Owen does anyway.  Sommer told me that Adam was loving this so much that he would scream bloody murder every time she tried to take his headphones off.  SHHHHHHH.  You are at the LIBRARY.

This was actually a day they had planned to go to story hour, but we didn't realize that story hour was on summer break.  So we'll try again another day!

Adam, You're Such A Punk (Rocker)

Little Bam Strikes Again

Turn Down Your Volume...This Is My All Day, Every Day

First Shiner (Self Inflicted)

Owen gave himself his first official black eye.  It was the old "step on the bottom of the rake and the handle smashes your face" trick but instead of a rake, it was Adam's ball popper push toy.  Ouch.

Two Peas

First Grass Stained Knee (Of Many More, I'm Sure.)

Owen Found Lego Train Crash Videos on YouTube

Riverdancing?

Bubs Loves Mama

Owen Adam and I were on the way down to Tacoma to meet a friend for a play date at a water (spray) park.  Owen was doing his usual chattering about anything and everything and then I heard this:

“Mama, did you know that when you got married to Dada, you were a ballerina?”

I was confused at first and then I realized he was talking about our wedding pictures we have in our living room…He thinks my dress made me look like a ballerina.  I thought that was so cute.  Here was the rest of the conversation:

“Oh, Bubs…did you think I looked like a ballerina when I got married?”

“Yes.  But, uh, I didn’t see you then.  I didn’t come.”

“You didn’t come to the wedding?  You’re right, you weren’t there.”

“Do you know where I was?”
“Where?”

“At Nana’s.”

Later that evening, Steve was reading Owen his bedtime stories and I came in to listen after I put Adam down.  They were reading the Big Red Barn book and Owen has been very interested in birds lately.  He pretended he was a peacock at the zoo after he saw one walking around.  Did a great job too with putting his hands behind his back and bobbing his head when he walked.  He points out seagulls at the park, he likes pigeons because Burt likes pigeons.  So this book was about chickens and Owen likes chickens.

“I wish I were a chicken.”

“You do?  That would be cool.”

“I wish Mama were a chicken.”

“That would be funny.”

“No, wait…I wish Dada were a chicken.  I want Mama to stay like that.”

Awwwwwww

Another Santoki Holiday

It's Not A Tear...Just Playing In The Water

Afternoon At The Dog Park

As much as Charlie drives us crazy...she is a great dog and Owen loves her probably more than all of us.

First Year of Preschool...Done!

Owen's First Massage

So I'm trying to figure out a way to word this post without it sounding creepy.  I'm not sure I can, so I'm just going to tell you what happened tonight.

Owen has really dry skin.  I should take him to the doctor to find out if it's dry skin or eczema or what, but instead I just put lotion on it occasionally.  He has always liked getting his chest rubbed.  Even when he was a baby, we'd put Vicks Baby Rub on his chest when he was sick and he loved it.  He'd even ask for it before he could talk by handing us the jar and laying down in the "ready" position.

So the last few nights I've been putting lotion on his chest and it seems to be helping a little bit.  Tonight, I had him turn over on his tummy so I could put some on his back.  I sort of jokingly starting giving him a Swedish style massage.  His eyes rolled back in his head and THIRTY MINUTES LATER I called it off.  He let me rub his back, his head, his neck, his legs and his feet.  He was nearly falling asleep but he kept looking over his shoulder to see what I was doing.

Once I realized he actually liked it, I told him, "You know what this is called, Bubs?  A massage."  He replied, "Mommy?  Where do you GET a masssssssssaaagggggge?"  I couldn't really figure out what to say, so I said "Where Mommy gets her hair cut."

He would have seriously been game for a 60 to 90 minute massage.  Since it was 9pm, I had to cut it short...but next time I'm home when Adam is napping, I have big plans for another massage party!

Creepy, maybe.  Cute and noteworthy, nonetheless.

Someone Loves Watermelon

Love You

Brudderly Love

Hot Chocolate On The Deck

My Baby

Adam has been pretty sick lately and has been glued to me all day, every day.  I can't say that I mind too much.

Adam's 1st Impression

Oh, Adam...he is getting so cute!!!  He has definitely started to turn the corner from baby cute to toddler silly (which is totally cute.)  Here he is doing his Cookie Monster impersonation.  This is actually a terrible video.  He was really getting into the froggy voice before I got the camera out and of course, toned it down once I was recording.  But you can get the idea.

Cinco De Mayo - Something For Everyone

Hey, at least I celebrated.

 

Cupcake!

What Happens In Vegas

You know how kids can totally tell on you and bring light to what you would normally keep private?  For instance, the other day when Nana was babysitting, Owen offered up the fact that "Dada got mad and threw that toy and broke it yesterday."  Tattletale.

Well, it's times like these that make up for the embarrassing moments.  I've been making up lots of songs lately in order to keep me from going bananas when the kids won't listen.  Seems more productive than yelling.  I've been patting myself on the back because Owen has been making up songs a lot now too, which must mean I'm rubbing off a little on him.  Today this is the song he came up with...on his own.  The mama and the dada on the bus says "I love you."  Could have been worse...but I think I can buy myself a drink for this one.

The Spawn Of College Roommates

Sheena flew up for a girls weekend and we got all the kids together for a play date so she could see everyone.  We had my boys (2), Katie's boys (3), Meika's kids (2) and Allison's kids (2) so nine children all together.  You can see what 9 kids ages 1 through 5 looks and sounds like.  Next time we need to add Sheena's girls.  The count is up to 11 with one more arriving in December!

Now that I think about it...there isn't much difference between these kids now and our house when we all lived together when we were 18.  We were just taller.

Little Bam

For those of you who are familiar with the PBS documentary (ok, MTV reality television show) "Jackass," you would also be familiar with one of the main characters, Bam Margera.  I *might* have had a small crush on Bam (for no reason other than that we enjoyed the show and he seemed like the most attractive of the bunch) which Steve loves to tease me about.

Anyway, the whole concept of the show is that there are a group of men (boys) who just like to jump off of high things, smash their head into hard things, break lots of bones, and basically have no fear when others might raise at least an eyebrow.  Bam is one of the more "physical" guys in the bunch apparently, according to the Wiki article, received his nickname because he used to run into walls when he was 3 years old.

We call Adam, "Little Bam."  He will be getting stitches before Owen.  Mark my words.

Mom and Bub Errand Day

Next week, my good friend and old college roommate Sheena is coming to town!  We are doing a girls weekend and I'm SO excited to see her.  I needed to do some errands this weekend in order to get the house ready for her...just the usual errands...Costco, Target and the Grocery Store.  Owen asked to come with me and I hesitated for about a minute and then said, "Sure, Bubs...But we have to do a LOT of shopping so I need you to be a good boy!"  He promised he would so we went off together.  Ok, sure...these errands would have taken me about 1.5 to 2 hours to do if I went by myself.  With Owen, it took about 3 hours.  But he was GREAT the whole time.  Sometimes I need to remind myself that even errands can be quality time with your kids - if you make it fun.

The couple of highlights:  Owen REALLY wanted flip flops "like dad."  So I said we'd pick some out at Target.  He looked at the wall hanging with dozens of flip flops and picked out the most rainbow, sparkly and girly pair they sold.  I am not above letting my kid wear sparkly flip flops, but I did want to try and steer him toward a more gender appropriate pair.  So I explained to him that the ones he liked were supposed to be for girls and I showed him all the boy ones.  We found a cool pair of Shaun White brand black ones and he was satisfied (he doesn't know what a snowboard half pipe is, but someday he'll read this and know that his mom was "cool" for getting him the Shaun White ones.)  But as we were leaving the shoe area he spotted another pair of sparkly pink bedazzled flip flops for adults and he stops me and goes, "Mom!  LOOK!  I have an idea...we should get YOU a pair of flip flops too and YOU can wear pink ones because you're a girl!"  I said, "You're right!"  and he pointed to the ones he wanted me to buy and we walked out of there in our brand new cool shoes and did the rest of our grocery shopping in them.  My first present that Owen picked out just for me.

Later as we were cruising down the aisles at Target (because please tell me who can go into a Target and not go down every single aisle?  It's like shopping crack for me) Owen somehow realized if he stood on the side of the shopping cart he could pretend to be a garbage truck guy.  I protested at first because I thought he was going to pick up things off the aisle displays and throw them in the cart, but he said "No, Mom.  I'm just going to PRETEND."  So I said, ok and let him direct me in his garbage truck reenactment.  He said, "Stop!" at the end of every aisle...stepped off the cart...grabbed a pretend garbage can...pretended to dump it in the cart...put the pretend garbage can back on the pretend curb...and then climbed back on the cart where I drove to the next "stop."  You see why the errand took an extra hour now, right?  But I have to say...I'm pretty proud of this kid's imagination.  And we had fun and still finished everything we had to do before dinner.  Success!

Bonding Cousins

Owen and Audrey are starting to get to the age where they enjoy being around each other!  Not that they didn't before, but until age 3 or so, kids are just parallel players and who is with them is not quite as important as what they are doing.  Now, Owen asks about whether or not Audrey is coming to some of the events we do and when we say yes, he gets excited and looks forward to seeing her.  Some of the conversations they have are just too cute.

Here are some recent pics from a couple outings.  The one on top is at the Woodland Park Zoo where they spontaneously started holding hands after the merry go round ride.  The two below are from the Puyallup Spring Fair where they rode the rides together.  Ador. Able.

Owen Keeps Stealing My Phone

Big Boy Bike - Take 2

As you can see, it only took a few days for Owen to go from pedaling at a brisk pace around the park to hauling arse around the neighborhood and fighting dad for the bumps.

We received this bike from my dad and Ian as a hand me down, but Steve being the awesome dad that he is, took Owen to the store to pick out his very own bell that he added on as an "upgrade."  I won't mention here that the bells are located adjacent to the toys at the store and Owen was all gung ho about the bell until he saw a toy street sweeper and literally threw the bell down the aisle because he decided he'd rather have a street sweeper than a bell.  But once we told him that there was no trade deal on the table, he (reluctantly) left the store with the bell.  After dad installed the bell on the bike, it's probably his favorite feature.

A Couple Minutes In The Life

Here is pretty much an average evening with my kids right before bed.  This is the nightly, after dinner - after bath - run around the living room in our undies/diapers ritual.  I don't know why my kids are such night owls (oh wait, maybe it's because Steve and I are both night owls?) but their "on" time is right before bed.

If you get tired watching this, keep in mind this is only 2.5 minutes of my 720 minute day with these hyper hypos.

Nothing To Be Concerned About

A Traintastic Day

Bubba is so excited to teach his brother about all the things he loves.  Like trains!  Or, trains.  Or maybe, trains?  This is just another day on the rails for the Santokis.  Adam is starting to dig it.

Owen's First Big Boy Bike

The sun is starting to come out and the boys are about 6 months older than they were the last time we spent any real quality time outside.  I had assumed Adam would be surprising us with his new abilities - and he is!  He's sliding down slides by himself, climbing up stairs, walking over bridges and picking up every piece of trash he can find.

Owen decided today that he wanted to try out the big boy bike we've had stored in the garage for the past year (he was too little for it when we received it as a hand me down from Ian and Grandpa Steffen.)  He is a speed demon on his big wheels, but has never tried a real upright bike before.

We took it out and were prepared to give him an involved bike riding lesson and as usual, Owen needed much less direction and guidance than we expected.  He basically took to it like a fish to water and did about 5 laps around the park at breakneck speed -- even learning how to stop by pedaling backwards.

I have a feeling his first snowboard is right around the corner...

Owen Reading at 3 1/2

Baby Tazmanian Devil