The party!

We celebrated Hannah's 3rd birthday today with all her friends and family! She seemed to have so much fun and she got lots of neat presents from everyone.

Hannah is 3!

Hannah celebrated her birthday today! She is so excited about it. She got dressed all by herself today. We opened presents this morning and she got Dora dominoes...so much fun! Who knew it would be the thing she likes the most? She also got a basket, grippers, and a bell for her bike (used to be Bens) from Daddy. Ben gave her some other Dora stuff and I bought her a big floor pad with markers (washable ones!) and now they can draw on the floor.
We went to the park today too. She loves to swing and so she got to swing for a long time today!

Here she is riding her bike. A quick video clip.


Dora Dominoes!
The Tigger movie!

Dora...

We have had a Dora and Diego explosion in our house! The kids are running around playing Dora and Diego (can you guess who is who?) They tell each other what to say while playing, like they are scripting out their play. They have quite a bit of toys and a few videos to watch but they love to play on their own the best. The problem we have found is that there isn't much in the way of Diego but tons of Dora...he'll become more popular because the boys are getting older and love his sense of adventure rescuing animals. "Bakpack, backpack..."

Rolling!

Noah rolled over from his back to his front today. He just gets over to his tummy and then grunts because he doesn't know what to do then. He is growing so fast. Just yesterday we discovered that his bottom 2 teeth had come in and now he's rolling over. Wow.

Mexico...

We went to Mexico today with Clarisa. It was her first time at the house. We had such a nice and relaxing day. Carol, Chris and Harry came along too. We hadn't seen each other in such a long time that it was nice to catch up. We discovered that Noah's bottom 2 middle teeth had erupted! No wonder he had been so crabby lately! Ben and Hannah had tons of fun playing with Marissa on the beach. It was so chilly and windy but they didn't care and had their pants off to play. They got all wet and sandy! They were busy with building a sand castle with a moat around it, sprinkling sand into the waves, running into and then away from the waves, and climbing on the rocks. Then they went and drank hot chocolate with Marissa while they watched some TV.

Snow in Julian..

It snowed a lot in the past couple of days and so much last night that we decided to go sledding in Julian this morning. We are so lucky that we didn't get caught in all the traffic that started as we were leaving. It looked like hours of waiting as we were leaving. So there were a lot of people doing the same thing we were but we got an early start! Sledding was so much fun but it didn't last long because the kids were tired. They made a little snowman with the sand toys that we brought and Bens favorite thing to do was eat the snow! He even brought a snowball back and put it in the freezer for later (just like what the kids in a storybook we have, did).

Babysitting...

Today we babysat for Heather (my sister) while she took a midterm exam. I had 4 children under the age of 4 years old for 3 hours! But...Ryan slept the entire time he was here! He woke up about 20 minutes before Heather got here. I thought I'd be crazy but it worked out in the end! What a nice little boy to sleep for his auntie!

Felicita Park...

We went up to Felicita Park today and went on a short hike together. It was such a beautiful walk. Ben and Hannah found a boulder and played "king of the mountain" for a couple minutes. We passed a wedding in the trees and found a playground for the kids to play at in the middle of the hike! They loved it. Noah just stayed in his carrier as content as can be.

Hiking...

Today we went on a small hike with the playgroup. A few other kids came and we had so much fun. We found some fuzzy caterpillars that could really move fast! I think it was because they had to get to their destination without being eaten by a bird or squashed into the dirt by a foot. The kids loved hunting for them.

sunflowers...

Well we started our gardening season today. We planted some sunflower seeds in some peat pots and set them in the sun. The kids love to plant seeds and watch them grow. We planted some wildflowers that Hannah picked out at the nursery. They will grow in a pot. When they are a couple of inches tall we are going to put them in the ground and they can grow wild on the hill of the front yard. The sunflowers are a type called Mammoth so they are going to grow huge!! Can't wait!

Snow!

We went to the local mountains today and played in the snow. It has been so cold and it actually snowed! So we packed the sleds and headed east. Noah slept almost the entire time but he did wake up almost in time for us to head home. Ben had so much fun jumping off a little snow jump with the sled and Hannah really enjoyed making a snowman and being pulled around in the sled. We brought our sand toys so we had shovels to dig. There was about 3-4 inches on the ground. We got to the snow, parked and went right to work having fun. It got pretty busy after a while so we headed home. It was a nice day after being so sick. Here are some pictures...

gardening...

It's time to think about the garden again! We are getting busy thinking about all the veggies and fruits that we are going to be planting this year. We got the starter soil out and we filled as many of the planters that we have. The kids are so excited about planting in the garden. It really is fun for them. We have to get more soil because we ran out right at the end. Hannah told Corey that he needed to get more "poil" then she corrected herself and said "dirt".

Noah's baptism...

Today we had Noah baptized at the Mission San Diego de Alcala. We were in the little chapel behind the main church. It was a beautiful ceremony. It was casual, Deacon Earnest didn't mind the children coming in and going out of the chapel. Noah wore the family dress as so many in our family have. He was the 114th baby to wear the dress.

Noah and his parents

Noah with his parents and Godparents

Blessings given by all who were invited

I baptize you...

Jen and Noah

No more training wheels!!

Ben spent the afternoon practicing riding his 2-wheel bike today. He went up and down the block, back and forth for a long time. Hannah joined him at one point on her tricycle. He loves it. He has a bigger bike and will be riding it without training wheels soon. He's just getting comfortable and used to it on his little one for now. He's so excited to go biking with his Daddy. Just like Daddy.

It's safe to say...

that Ben is potty trained!!! He still can't make it through the night being dry but during the day he's got it!! We can't be happier...well we will I guess when he is dry all night too, but we'll get there.

Happy birthday!

Noah is 3 months old today! Time is flying by so fast!! He cooes and talks, tries to giggle and squeals all day long (well, when he's not sleeping).

Dinner....

We had chicken burritos this evening for dinner served with all the fixings! I bought some guacamole from Trader Joe's as an extra. Ben loves avocado but didn't want any with his burrito. Hannah wanted to try some so she asked for it "I want some maca-moleee!!" Aaawww....

artist...

Maybe Hannah will be an artist. She asks to paint all the time. Today she was in tears when I told her that she needed to wait for me to get it ready. I guess she didn't understand that she could but I needed to do something beforehand. She loves it, and gets busy as soon as it's all set up. I think that we need a little paint corner for her so that she can do it any time she wants. I think she'd like that...but where to put it?

The cow...

We have a little gym that we put Noah under during the day. We also just put him on a blanket and read stories to him and have him do his exercises (lay on his tummy, grabbing toys...). We have a cloth book that was given to Ben when he was a baby and it has cows on the cover and inside throughout the pages. I think it's called something like Discover the Farm-or something like that. Noah is really interacting with us and cooing and 'talking' to us. Sometimes it looks like he's getting tickled and he crunches his legs up and rolls slightly to the side while smiling. When we show him this book he focuses on it and smiles and talks to the cows! Every time. It is so adorable. He loves the book so we read it to him often.

pop my eyes?

We went to Cuyamaca today and went on a little hike at Green Valley Falls with the kids. They had fun running around in circles close to the river. With every circle Corey and I nearly jumped out of our skin thinking they would slip into the rushing ice cold river and end up with hypothermia or a broken bone. They never fell in. On our hike we found acorns and holes in the ground. They wondered what types of animals lived inside the ground and decided that it had to be mice, not squirrels, rabbits or snakes.

We stopped at another campgroup area to see the snow that had fallen the night before. The kids and Corey had fun making snowballs with the little slushy snow on the ground and throwing them at Corey and I. Noah slept through the entire snowball fight in the car. When their littel fingers got too cold we got into the car and headed home...it was getting late.

While driving home the kids watched Finding Nemo on our little portable player. As we were driving down the mountain Ben said that he couldn't hear the movie. I tried to turn it up but the volume was already at it's highest. I figured the elevation loss was the problem and he needed to equalize his ears. I told him to try to yawn or chew. He looked at me with such innocence and said "to pop my eyes?"

New stuff!

We went to the Carlsbad outlet stores today (as we do every couple of months). Hannah is wearing a size 3T now and Ben needed new shoes. He really does a number on his shoes. We don't mind going up there. It's a nice drive and it's good to get out of the valley ;0) Anyway we found shoes for both of them and some clothes for all 3 of them! This time of the year is when all the great clearance sales are so we took full advantage! They even got some new sunglasses.

Sick-ey...

Ben had an eventful night of emptying his stomach so he didn't feel like doing much of anything today. Hannah on the other hand was more than excited about going to Nanny's by herself! I think it was the first time that she went alone. She had fun too. Nanny had a new toy that she could play with. Ben stayed here with us while we cleaned up that last bit of Christmas that was lying around the house. We also did a lot of cleaning of sheets and blankets from last night. Pretty un-eventful but we were still very busy!

Vomit...

Yep tonight we had a vomit episode. Benjamin complained that his tummy hurt a few times after dinner. He showed me that it was right under his belly button and we kept telling him that mabye it was because he had to go to the bathroom. He kept trying and telling us that he didn't need to go. He got ready and went to bed. Corey was lying between Ben and Hannah for a few minutes and all of a sudden there was a huge commotion and they went to the bathroom. He threw up all of dinner and some lunch. I know this because it was all over the bed, comforter and pillow. And it stunk!

He felt so much better and really liked the attention he got for it. He just wanted to "stay up all night" to see if he would have to throw up again. Hah!

Hiking

Today we went on a hike together. Corey had to go back to work today and I took all 3 kids on a hike. We went on what I thought would be a short loop for the kids, but it ended up being 1.4 miles! Yikes! We thought we wouldn't make it back to the car. It took 3 hours for us to walk that at a kids pace. We did stop a few times for a break and a snack. We found a big oak tree and they had more snack and water and loved to climb it. They were little monkeys! We had fun.

Happy New Year!!

Last night we went to the Lunas house in Coronado for a few hours. It was drizzling throughout the night and we didn't know if it was going to get any worse. We also didn't know how many people would show for the party. By the time we left it was getting to be a full house. Ben and Hannah dissapeared upstairs with the kids the second we got there and Noah fell asleep so afterwards. We left early and to bring in the new year at home. As we were leaving the kids were saying goodbye to everyone. Hannah didn't want to leave because they were just starting to get a game out (Cranium). I had to tell her that the game was for bigger kids, but that we would bring a game over for them all to play~like Candyland~or something that she could play.

She was brokenhearted!

She crawled up into my arms with sad teary eyes (no cries though) and said "OK". It was so sad, I thought I might cry. She wanted to play with the big kids and understood that the game wasn't for her...poor thing! We came home, she had forgotten all about it and we played Candyland tonight with them.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We had such a busy holiday! Last night we celebrated with our families and this morning we had to ourselves.

Santa came during the night and Ben and Hannah were so excited with what he left for them! As soon as they woke up (6:45am) Ben said "I wonder if Santa came" he peeked his head out of the room and said "He did!!!" because he could see some of the toys. He got up and tiptoed out with his hand on his mouth and eyes wide open. Hannah wanted to be carried out to see. Santa left their toys out this year without wrapping them so they started to play with them immediately. Hannah got a new pink stroller for her baby doll (exactly what she asked for) and Ben got a couple of Bob the Builder machines and a real tool set. He loves it!

After their naps we went to Grandma Rosalie's house for another wild present opening and wrapping paper fight (kinda like a snowball fight but with wrapping paper). The kids like going over there and get wild with the bigger cousins.

(This picture was taken at our hotel in Virginia after the funeral.)

Our trip home...

We enjoyed our trip to Virginia very much. The kids were sick most of the time and they couldn't shake the cough and stuffy noses. They were glad to hear that we were headed home. I think they were getting run down from all the travelling. They did good on their first official trip away from home. We have gone camping but we drive there and the car is familiar. This trip was far from home, the car was unfamiliar (the carseats were theirs-yes, we took everything!), it was cold out and they wanted to sleep in our big bed at home. The were tired of hotels. I am sure they will remember something of the trip...at least the airplane ride!!

The trip continues...

Tues., Dec. 20, 2005
We checked out of the hotel and headed to the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum. Benjamin is really into airplanes and spaceships these days so he LOVED it. He got to 'drive' an airplane and see rocketships, spaceships and helicopters... There were lots of things to see and do there, not enough time for everything because we were in a hurry to get to Williamsburg. Virginia has horrible traffic (like LA) and no one was kidding! It was horrible!! By the time we found the entrance to the carpool lane (HOV lane) Noah woke up and was shrieking so we had to stop for a bit. We had been following my parents and so at this point we split from them. We caught up with them at the hotel later that night after their dinner.
























Wed. Dec. 21, 2005
Colonial Williamsburg. We walked around for a little bit and did some shopping. What an incredible place! This is somewhere we will have to come back to when the kids are older and able to appreciate it more. This trip, however, they were a bit unimpressed with it. We did find some things that they enjoyed though.

Arlington, VA

Mon. Dec. 19, 2005
We went to Arlington National Cemetary for Grandpa's funeral (the reason for the trip) and what an awesome experience. It was a terrific way to say our last good-byes. He was buried with full military honors. Here is the link to his obituary. Here are some pictures of what we saw:

The chapel

Part of the eulogy by my Dad

The platoon awaiting outside after the ceremony

Horse-drawn carriage pulling the casket

Driving to the burial site:

21-gun salute

The Marine Corps band (in red):

Folding the flag



Presenting the flag to Kae

Our trip to Virginia...the first 2 days

Dec. 17, 2005
We went on the airplane to go to Virginia. It was Benjamin's second airplane ride and Hannah and Noah's first time! They had so much fun. We travelled with Marissa, Heather, Ryan (his 1st plane ride too) and Chris. They looked out the window and checked out everything on the plane within their reach. Here they are reading the airplane emergency pamphlet from the seat pocket:

When we got to Phoenix, AZ for our layover the kids ran around and around after we raced to the next terminal to catch the next plane. Our next flight was 4 hours long so they needed to get their energy out. We landed at Reagan National Airport that night and while we were waiting for Corey to find the rental car and pick us up Ben and Marissa went riding on the wheelchairs and Hannah and Noah fell asleep.

Sun, Dec. 18, 2005

We toured Washington DC today. We went by the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam and Korean Memorials and went for a brisk walk around! It was a beautiful day. Here they are near a bare tree on our way to the Lincoln Memorial.

We drove to see if we could see the White House and found 2 parking spots immediately! We got out and walked over and Ben and Marissa went right to work on a snowball fight while we all gazed at the White House! It seems that they were obllivious about the big white building next to them! After that they were freezing (notice Marissa in her t-shirt?!!! and Ben without gloves?!!!) as the sun was going down and it was getting cold quickly! We ran to the car and turned the heat on full blast!! Then we set on a search for hot chocolate but never found it. Instead we discovered that our rental minivan had a flat tire so we headed to the nearest gas station (which was NOT an easy thing to find in DC!!)!

Dentist appt...

Today was Hannah's first trip to the dentist. She has been before but she hasn't been the patient before. She loved it! She sat in the chair and opened her mouth for Kelly (the hygienist), she cleaned her teeth and had a conversation with her. All the while she was watching Blues Clues on the TV monitor on the ceiling, very cool. They handed her a bag of goodies (floss, new brush toothpaste) and an award that we taped to the wall. She had such a great experience today, I hope she remembers it forever!

Here she is!

Here is Ben, watching TV and waiting for Hannah to be done.

Dentist...

Today we went to the dentist. Ben is a pro at being a dental patient. He sits with his headphones on and opens his mouth. Our dentist has headphones for the TV that is on the ceiling! Hannah was a bit scared of the dentist and didn't want to go. Ben went first, Hannah watched and by the time he was done she was very comfortable with it. She got in the seat and opened her mouth. She didn't want the headphones. She didn't watch much TV but she was a very good dental patient! She loved it and is already talking about her next visit in six months!

Potty update...

Ben has been successful for several weeks with the potty!! He has occasional accidents but overall he has done very well!! I am crossing my fingers that there will be an end to the accidents soon. Today he ran to the toilet twice! And this is good because he had an upset tummy...and no accident!! Hooray!

Old Fashioned Christmas...

Well we went on a search for Santa tonight. We went to La Mesa's Old Fashioned Christmas. It has been something we do in December for about 4 years now. The kids love to go, there are so many things for them to do there! Ben and Marissa went on a huge slide that looked like a tsunami, Hannah wanted to do it too but got a little frightened at the last minute. Then we went looking for Santa...but found a puppet show, they watched for a bit and then off to find Santa again. We found another puppet show. When that was over we headed towards the llamas, the kids got to ride them last year and were excited about doing it again this year. Hannah decided that she didn't want to do it, but Ben and Marissa went riding on their llamas. They loved it. Then they found a jumper with a big llama on it, that was fun for a while. We were still looking for Santa when we realized that everyone was packing up for the night. They wanted to tell Santa what they want for Christmas and we had rehearsed the whole thing all day. They were really looking forward to it! We never found Santa, so sad. We'll have to find him somewhere else!

the cable guy...

We have been having such a hard time with our internet and cable system around the house that we finally got a call in to the cable people. The repairman came this morning. Benjamin is just fascinated with repairmen! He went to get his work belt on and put his tools into it (hammer, screwdriver, pliers~all plastic toys). He followed him around and kept asking him questions. He didn't know what a cable is and kept calling it a 'mable', so I took him to the back of the TV and showed him what it was. It cleared it in his head because he looked puzzled when the man went out back and worked under the house, then out front to the cable box, then to the back of the TV and then to work the remote to check out the channels. Then when he brought in a giant box full of cable, Benjamin was so excited he wanted to pull it all out and play. His mind is soaking up all the wonders of his world.

Hannah's bike ride...

Corey and Ben went for a bike ride together today. They took their bikes in the car so it was pretty nice for them to spend some time together. Hannah woke from her nap and wondered where they were. When I told her that they went for a bike ride she was upset and wanted to go on her own ride. So I put Noah in the stroller and she got her helmet on and off we went around the neighborhood for her own bike ride! She can ride pretty fast on her trike so it wasn't a leisurely walk for me but she was having so much fun! We went around 2 blocks and she wanted to keep going so we went around a couple more. I thought is was a pretty big bike ride for her but she still wanted to keep going! When we got home we didn't have to wait long for the guys to get home from their ride. Hannah was so excited to see them, she told them all about her bike ride in the neighborhood with me!

The Park...

We went to the park today. We were supposed to meet with our playgroup but only one other person showed up. That was OK because we got there late and it had been raining. We didn't expect too many people there anyway. Benjamin and Hannah got busy playing on the slides and climbers while Noah hung out in Daddy's arms. They always get hungry at the park and want to have snack. We brought some snack and they shared with their friend Van. Ben and Hannah also brought their bikes to the park and Van wanted to ride the trike around all over the place. Hannah doesn't mind sharing her things so Van took off with the trike and almost made it out of the park! Maybe we'll have more people come to the park next week!

First hike...

Today we went on a short hike with Noah. We went to Mission Trails. As we parked I spotted a car that I knew from our playgroup. We hiked around and found a hut, the kids played in it for a few minutes and then we kept walking. We found some sticks and they used them to poke the bushes, there were some flowers that looked like they were growing on a dead branch coming out of the ground...very cool stuff in the wilderness! As we got to the end of the hike we found the street and we also found our friends from the playgroup! They saw Benjamin first and then Corey with Noah and Hannah and I brought up the rear. Benjamin and Hannah were so happy to see Athena and Porter and their moms! What a treat! They stopped and had snack with us by the visitor center. Maybe we'll see them again tomorrow at the park!

Princess...

Hannah knows she's a princess. She wears her princess pj's and she puts dresses on and says "I'm a princess". She walks around knowing just what she wants and how she's going to get it. Today she put a tie-dye summer dress on and annouced that she was a princess, so cute! I think it is because the dress has a little bit of flare at the bottom and it poofed out when she twirled around. So cute! She is our princess and always will be.

Noah's growing!

We went to see Barbara (our midwife) today. We went to her office in Encinitas and got a tour of it. We really enjoyed it there! We talked about how things were going with the baby in the family, among other things. Then we weighed Noah...he was born at 8lbs and 8oz and now he is 10lbs and 3oz!!! Woah! He had a little shirt on with his diaper but still we figure he was probably around 10lbs if he had been naked! I am not surprised since all he seems to want to do is nurse and sleep.

Happy Birthday BEN!!

Today was Benjamin's 4th birthday. We had a party and everyone came over. Benjamin has been talking about his birthday for about 6 months! He has been asking about it and wondering when it was coming. He was so excited this week to know that it was very close! He knew it was getting close because the baby was born and Halloween came and went, he knew it was after those two events.

He had so much fun with all the kids and adults that came over. He got a giant red ball from a neighbor down the street and the kids (and even an uncle) took turns jumping and bouncing on it throughout the evening. They ran around with each other and had a good ole time.

He got so many nice presents from everyone who came too. He loves them all. There are many favorites, he keeps jumping from one thing to the next. He even got some money to put in his piggy bank! Ben loves birthday parties and can't wait for Hannah's to come around...next April!

Footprints and first bath...

Noah is 11 days old today and in our house that means that the person who does the First Impressions comes to our house and does a hand and foot print of our newest family member. Noah was sleeping and slept right through the footprint. When it came to the hand he just didn't want to be disturbed so he squeaked a bit but nothing serious. Benjamin and Hannah both got their done when they were 11 days old too. We can see the difference in sizes. Hannah is definitely the one with the biggest hands and feet! They are treasures to be kept forever.

Today we also gave Noah his first bath. He loved it! The water was nice and warm and relaxing for him. Benjamin and Hannah were so excited about it and wanted to see him get his bath. They didn't want to miss it. We set the tub up in the kitchen sink and filled it up with water and set Noah inside. The kids watched and were so happy to see that their baby brother can take a bath too. He didn't make a peep the whole time he was in it!

Pictures...

Here they are! T-Rex and Pink Kitty, Marissa was a Black Kitty and Noah was a little ghost. We went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood and they got lots of candy. After each person put some candy into Hannah's bucket, she inspected it to see what they dropped in. Then she looked up and said "Thank you, Happy Halloween!" and walked away. At one house Ben banged on the door a few times, and when the lady came to the door she said "You don't have to bang on the door, you could ring the doorbell" Ben looked around and said "I couldn't find it!" everyone got a little chuckle out of that. Granny watched Noah at the house while we walked around. His first time being babysat!

Halloween...

We'll be trick-or-treating tonight! Ben finally decided to be a T-Rex (he really wanted to be a crocodile-but couldn't muster it together) and Hannah is a pink kitty, Noah will be a little ghost. Pics are on the way!

Welcome Noah!!

We have been so busy these last few months that I haven't had the time to get to bloggin!

We welcomed Noah into our family on Sunday, October 23rd. He is such a doll. We love him so much. We can't wait to show him off!