Two recessives must make a dominant

Well it must be true cause its happened twice now. Both our parents say CJ and I were both mellow, relaxed, and rather calm children. So all i can figure is the stubborn, aggressive gene in both of us was passed on to our children and because they got both recessive that made it a dominant trait our kiddos. Does that make since? Don't know, but its all i can figure.
Until now, I just thought Lizzy was going to be our independent, opinionated, determined child, but as Caleb develops his personality- He is giving Lizzy a run for that title. Some days i just can't believe how adamant and stubborn they can be.
Tonight we ate dinner at Grandma Mary's and after Caleb was done he whined, so we got him out of the highchair and then he just stared crying and pointing back to his chair, after trying to put him back in, give him food, drink, nothing worked, Finally Gma said last night when she was watching him he wanted to do it himself. So sure enough i took off the tray and he stopped crying and crawled down HIMSELF. Seriously! really!
Then we got home and since they both fell asleep in the car on the way home, we carried them in, I took Lizzy to the bathroom, where she whined and cried the whole time, that she wanted to put the sticker on the window, and she was so tired, etc.....(who knows what else) I went to get some pj's for her. When i came back she kicked and said noooooo those ones are too hot, so i had to go back in the other room and get more. Then after getting her dressed, she was cold and wanted a warm blanket, I put what she believes are cold blankets (non-fleece) on and she kicked in off and started crying. (Ironic that the first jammies were fleece and she didn't want to wear them.) Then i refused to scratch her back and she through another fit. Not that this was such a bad night, but that this happens all the time. It is so wearing and i get sooooooo frustrated.
Anyway I love my kids of course and so grateful for the times they are loving and cuddling even though if one is on my lap the other throws a fit and pinches, or hits the one on my lap. Or just cries till i make the one on my lap give their sibling a turn. Caleb is just at the age where he will take things from Lizzy on purpose just cause she has something, or he wants attention from her or me. I really do love this stage in life for sooooo many reasons, but also i NEVER knew being a mom was some mentally draining. The moods, the bribes, the trickery, the attitudes (which Lizzy has a major sassy, she calls joking, attitude right now.), etc. etc.
-Okay i just had to write that down, so i don't forget someday what life is like with these little ones. and i needed to vent a little too.

So here are a couple pics of my dear sweet kids.......
Lizzy actually has been very creative lately, she thought of this idea on her own and got some paper towels, took a hair ribbon and then colored eyes and a mouth to make ghosts.
















Calebs favorite spot for the month of October was here, taking the arms out of our Pumpkin witch.

My mom came to visit and it was sooooo nice to have her here. My kids just adore her and it is so fun to see them taking to their grandma, even when they don't see her much.

While she was her, my sister, me and her went an a girls retreat. MUCH NEEDED! We just drove down to mission bay (in san diego) and stayed 2 nights at a hotel, slept in, and went on a 4 hour bike ride around mission bay. Perfect weather and great company. We had a great time.



Out to breakfast on my mom's birthday!














Riding around Mission Bay!

I just can't figure my kids out

Well this one tops the cake, as of lately at least. Caleb has been very adamant about when he wants to go to bed. He used to be a perfect angel and would willingly lay his head on my shoulder as i sang,"i am a child of God" then he would let me lay him down and he would go to bed with out a peep (usually) well that ship sailed, but I pray it will come back soon. So lately he has been screaming and pointing to the door and using every muscle in his little body to try to get away from me and out the door. Tonight we went through the same process of kicking and screaming, finally i put him in bed to hear him scream for 30 mins, so i went in thinking he'd lay his head on my shoulder and let me sing to him. But he squirmed and bolted for the door. Went out on the couch and sat down, then patted the cushion next to him as my que to sit by him. Then he just sat and stared, rubbed his eyes, his head bobbed a few times and within 10 mins he collapsed in half and was out. So i took the picture and picked him up to take to bed. The second i put him down he starts screaming and jumping up, so i rocked a little and luckily he was out well enough this time to let me put him down and escape.
Things i will never understand about kids......Why do you fight sleep so much. I don't know if all kids hate to sleep or if i was blessed with two extreme cases of hating sleep and fighting with every ounce of my body to not give in.
While i'm at it,
*I'll have to comment of a couple other things caleb is up to, or In to is more like it.
About a week ago he learned how to open doors, which is not good, but i have locks on certain doors from the outside, like the garage and bathrooms. But not to worry cause today Caleb learned to unlock the door to. Just put his two little fingers up and turned the little lock. Guess i'll be going to get some baby proof locks tomorrow. Cause caleb's favorite thing is to get into a bathroom while i'm not looking and either play in the toilet bowl or turn the sink on and sit in it.
*He has also started to terrorize his sister, with pulling hair, biting, hitting, and taking everything out of her arms, Not that she is the perfect angel either, but i do feel bad for her cause he has her number for sure. But there are those moments where the hug or kiss and are so sweet together.
*Which is another trademark of Caleb, he loves to kiss and zerbert. He is a great cuddler and loves to give kisses, nice wet ones, but the best is he'll come over lift my shirt off my belly and give me a zerbert. He just cracks himself up about it. And its not just one, he has to do at least 4 or 5 of them.
*Caleb also has a lot of personality that shows through in his facial expressions. He isn't talking besides dadda and momma, but he grunts, moans, points, pushes my leg if he has to to get me to move or come where he wants.
*Very dramatic and emotional little boy. He either learned from lizzy or is trying to compete with her. Somewhere i heard little boys are not dramatic, not so. Caleb has no problem flopping down and wailing over every little thing, i know its a toddler thing, but believe me he pushes the envelope on it.
*He is very quick to laugh, usually even in the middle of a melt down, or through tears I can get him to smile or laugh. And he always is trying to get a laugh from us. (with his dance moves, or zerberts)
Besides the fact that i'm exhausted and often can't wait for some of these stages to pass, I love this little guy and wouldn't change him for anything (i may change a few of his behaviors) Anyway I'm blessed to have my two kids and just so grateful they love me too. We definetly have our ups and downs but when i get those hugs, kisses, and zerberts too it is just priceless. And above all i tell myself daily 'joy in the journey'
So i love you Caleb and all the time we get to spend together!

Our family vacation!

As most people were going back to school, but finally got our family vacation in. We went to Sedona, Az. Which is AMAZING! if you haven't been there i highly recommend it!. it is beautiful. if many not be the most kid friendly vacation spot, but it was georgeous and so fun. There are tons of hikes, we only did two small ones because we had the kids. My parents went too, which was great having grandma and grandpa there.

Sedona is just surrounded in huge red rock formations! Just beautiful. This was on the only hike we took the kids, i had to carry caleb the whole mile, which seems a lot longer when you're hiking and lizzy asked are we there yet? 50 times or more. But it was still beautiful.

We went to Montezuma's castle, which is indian ruins in the side of the mountain, she became a junior ranger there.

Caleb and I trying to stay cool in the shade.

We found an amazing Kaleidoscope store in the ghost town of Jerome and you could take a picture through the scope. pretty cool

One day we went to the Grand Canyon, and i thought for sure it would be sooooooo hot in August, we were actually cold. But this is a stop on the way home at Bedrock City. We actually were too tired to go in the run down playground, but this care was out front, so the kids had fun in it.

Living on the edge..... the Grand Canyon

Just a few pics of my growing kids!

Lizzy finished her first year of preschool, she LOVED it! this was the last day of school.

I remember when Lizzy used to do this know Caleb is taking over.

Caleb was loving this corn on the cob, and was going to town with it.

What can i say.... I AM SO BLESSED!

Not the best pic, but still makes me smile

Time passes too quickly, but here is an update

CJ and I are celebrating our 7th anniversary this year and we took a trip to Ventura, Ca to celebrate, and a little get away. We stayed at a quaint and very historic hotel called the pierpont inn in Ventura. They were celebrating their 100 yr anniversary so we got a great deal! We decided to spend more time and money doing something fun...Like the Channel Islands. We took a ferry across to the Santa Cruz island and went kayaking in sea caves. It was a lot of fun, a bit overcast, cold, and a bigger swell then desirable, but we had a blast anyway. the sun even peaked out at the end of the day. It was so nice to be out getting some exercise, being with my hubby, who i am so grateful and blessed to have! We also saw the movie Inception and ate out a bunch, i actually had one of the best meals i've ever had eating out. Eric's on the ventura pier! We also rented bikes and rode along the beach strand. Went to the hot tub and SLEPT IN! What a fun getaway, just wish it could happen more. But of course we missed our little ones too much!!!





Do you see the elephant in the rock? and marge Simpson in the space between the rocks.

this actually happened a couple weeks ago. the kids pushed this box against the couch and had the time of their lives sliding down it! Kids are awesome! they can be so easily entertained sometimes. Caleb's laugh was priceless!

Easter -simply Fun

Holidays are so much more fun with kids.... They are so easily excited to see and do... We dyed easter eggs with cousins, had an easter egg hunt at home on saturday and then at Grandma Mary's with all the extented family on Sunday. How fun is it to find an egg with candy or money in it!!!!

A Birthday BOY

WOW talk about crazy, my little baby turned one last week. i can't believe it. This year has flown by. Caleb has just been so fun to have around. The first 8 months he was my angel baby. Happy, smiling, go with the flow, content. Then he hit the crawling age and a bit attached to mom (i mean a lot, the second i walk away from him he screams bloody murder, but at least he likes me right!) So the last 5 months have not been quite as easy going as the first 8, but stages right. It is so fun to see Lizzy and Caleb interact together. They wrestle, play, and already fight just like siblings should, but they also show a ton of love to each other. Those of course are the priceless moments. So caleb has shown some signs of strong will and opinionated just like his sister. He will let us know with a shriek, or sad pouty face, he has perfected, and when he cries it is instant tears, he doesn't have to work up to it at all, the first cry, his tears flow like a river. So we didn't do anything too big for his first bday, i guess cause i was in denial he was turning one and because i didn't want to give him sugar! aka cake. but i did, however no frosting, i know i'm no fun, but i didn't really want to clean him up either.

Ready to dig in, the cake was actually made by my sister in law Erika, for her twins bday, but we celebrated together! it was a really cute cupcake cake.

This was his pouty face when the cake was gone, and him trying to figure how to get the last few crumbs in... (don't worry he shrieked too, for more... but being the first sugar, i wasn't about to over do it)


A Happy Birthday Boy, with his cake. Too bad now he knows................


A few of Caleb's favoites at age 1. He loves to lay on this footstool and rock back and forth:

He LOVES to empty draws, and lately has found the joy in sitting or standing in them, i turn my back for a minute and he is in this drawer.
One of his favorite spots, cause he can crawl up on the fireplace and hang out, or get into things i don't want him too.
We actually went to the beach the day before his birthday and the weather was great, I let him crawl around, he loved it, and didn't even put too much in his mouth. Maybe we're leaving that stage...hopefully
Of course sissy was with us too, she wanted me to take this picture as a joke up close, but it turned out being really cute!
AND Sadly he got his first black eye, i'm sure it won't be his last, but it was really sad... He pulled a step ladder over on top of him, luckily he got over it fairly quickly and doesn't seem too bothered by it. But oh so sad.

Having an older sister....

A package arrived the other day..... it was an older sister, or a doggy, or whatever santa wanted to bring. (Lizzy's favorite game of the last two days... is you go to sleep and wake up to have a present from santa, look in the box and see what he brought you.) She really has had a ton of fun with this box. which is driving me crazy cause i have to be the one to put her in and out and make sure she doesn't fall on her face. But the smile is priceless!


This about says it all! Lizzy is very loving of her brother, but also has been smothering him. Either a tad jealous of the time he gets with mom, or doesn't quite remember he is still a baby, or just overly excited to give loves!???


Caleb has just been moving up in the world (literally too) he is crawling everywhere and anyday will be walking i'm sure. he has conquered crawling up on anything he can. tonight he crawled on the box (lizzy's fun box) and then onto this chair and just was sooooo happy and proud that HE DID IT himself! He also has a priceless smile, as well as some other faces he does on cue. i'll have to find a pic a post it soon! He has quite the personality and besides the biting is just as fun as can be. (unless mom walks out of the room... Definetly a momma's boy, which lizzy is not fond of cause she had the momma's girl thing going for quite some time before this guy came along. Now they have to share and neither like that much. Sometimes i just hold them both as they cry that they want to be held. oh well at least i know they love me!
Lizzy just loves and adores Caleb, for the most part. She is either doing his hair in bows and playing baby with him, or her favorite is puppy. I honestly won't be surprised when caleb thinks his real name is puppy. She follows him around the house saying," here puppy, or fetch puppy" as she throws something for him. the great thing is he really is just like a puppy, he bits, drools, fetches, makes a mess of everything, and loves to be held and petted! We get a good laugh out of it at least.

So, do boys do this, if you have an older boy what does he do to his little sister???





Lizzy has hit another stage... a testy one. For the most part she is so fun, very creative, and full of life. But a little firecracker, one wrong move and its an emotional breakdown. She is so sensitive, that its hard to 'correct behavior' w/o getting a huge meltdown. it may be contributed to the fact that she is still having trouble sleeping all night in her bed...or that may be my reason for emotional meltdowns. Anyway.. she is loving preschool and learning and growing in sooooo many ways. She can write her name, and learning other letters. She surprises me with songs all the time that she knows from school. It really is so fun to see her learning new things. One of the best things is her prayers. they are so tender to hear her talking to her father in heaven. When she prays that she is glad we can be together(as a family) forever. And when she tells me, "mommy, i love you so much" it is the reward and what its all for. I just love her and know she is a strong, but sweet spirit that i am blessed to have in my family. And even when its challenging, I'm so grateful she is mine and my best friend! (as she often says)

Snow in San Diego!

Well living in San Diego, we are very blessed to normally have great weather and even when its bad, some rain or cold, its no where near what many parts of the country are going through. However, this past week we had probably the worst and longest storm i have experienced while here. I have to admit, i do love the sound of rain on my roof. Maybe because i'm from Oregon and the rain reminds me of home. and there is some enjoyment to see a storm outside as long as i have a warm place inside. This first picture is of the ravine behind our house. Usually very dry even after some rain, but we actually had two fast streams going. So, after a week of watching the rain fall, our bathroom roof leak, Cj finishing our crown molding he started 7 months ago, and even buying a new car we were ready to get out of the house for an adventure, and we had to break in the pathfinder!

So our adventure only took an hour drive to Palomar Mountain. The storm ended, and the conditions were near perfect. The sun was breaking through, roads clear, unfortunately lots of people, and a tad cold, but then again we were in the SNOW!


Most of you probably live in snow, but I have not been in show since 2000. Its been ten years, that is hard to believe. Well lizzy heard or saw pictures of snow and has been asking to play in it, so i decided this was the best day to go, before it got old or melted. So we packed snacks and took off. Besides not having proper snow attire. Luckily Lizzy's cousin , whom she gets all her hand me downs from had a nice coast with gloves attached and boots. Caleb we just kept up and out of the snow, but i felt bad his little nose was red. (But thanks to our new car, we were able to open the back and the kids could crawl around and eat, and stay warm.
Lizzy kept saying "look frozen milk." We finally had her taste it and she loved it!
Of course you can't buy a sled in san diego, unless you want to spend $30 for a round saucer at the store on the mountain. So we took our boogie board and it was awesome! It slid fast. Totally took me back to the days i went in the snow as a kid. I couldn't help but laugh and smile to myself cause no one was there to watch, CJ and i took turns cause the kids wanted to stay in the car. Next time we are gonna go with someone else so we can go sled together.
It was such an awesome Day! Just able to get away and enjoy each other and introduce Lizzy and Caleb to snow, even though i wouldn't let caleb touch it cause his hands were already cold enough. But i did go down on a sled a couple times with him and he just loved it, he would laugh and smile! So, apparently the thing to do at the mountain was people would fill up there truck beds or the roof of their car with snow and drive home. Don't know if they just wanted to show it off, or see how long till it melted, but there were tons of people doing it. I couldn't help but laugh that only here would that happen, no where else would people want to take the snow home with them.