All about that bride-to-be

Christi texted me last night at 11:30 to make sure that I knew it was Thursday, "as in the day you update your blog?....". Oh right. That Thursday. Apparently with only a half an hour left in the day, she had given up hope on an updated blog post. Who knew I had such a demanding audience?? I promised her that this post would more than make up for its delay in appearance, because this week it's all about her (and her cute nephews), and really, what could be better than that? ;)

So this weekend was a totally fun one for me as I got to fly up to Eugene, Oregon for a girls weekend of wedding dress shopping with Christi. Since trying to keep an almost three year old entertained and sitting still through multiple dress appointments would be a near impossible task, Drew stayed home with Nathan. I didn't want to tell him that I was going to Lala and Poppi's house since I knew he'd be upset he couldn't go, so I merely told him that I was going wedding dress shopping when he asked. He seemed ok with the idea and didn't ask anything further. I think his excitement about hanging out with Grandma for the day on Friday and having Daddy all to himself over the weekend overshadowed any further curiosity. When Friday came, Drew and Grandma dropped me off at the airport and I didn't think much else of his question. Well, come to find out when I got back, Drew was wholeheartedly under the impression that I had gone dress shopping in the actual airport for two days. Oye. Next time I'll have to be more specific. Silly boy.

Anyway, I flew in Friday night, and flew out Sunday night and the short time in between was scheduled with nothing but hunting down that perfect dress for our little bride to be. We had appointments booked for two solid days of dress shopping, starting in Portland and making our way back down towards my parents' house. I was crossing my fingers that our two days would result in us actually buying a dress, but I wasn't sure this would be a reality. Out of all of my sisters, I thought for sure that Christi would be the pickiest when it came to finding the dress (after all, she is the one who has been planning her wedding since she was sixteen--ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but only slight). Well, not only did we find an absolutely perfect dress, we found it in the very first shop (granted, it was after trying on a bazillion dresses, but still!). Christi seriously was the best bride-to-be! She was sooooo easy going with all of it! The girl would look beautiful in a paper sack, so of course it helped that every dress she tried on looked good. The dress she actually chose though is absolutely gorgeous on her, but because it's no fun if everyone knows what the bride is going to look like on her big day, that's all I'm going to say about that. I do have a ton of cute pictures from our day, but most have Christi in her dress in them, so I'll save those for a later date.

Auntie Christi, Collin and Auntie Jenn Jenn

Girls Day, plus one :)

Dress shopping apparently wasn't very exciting for sweet Coll-brother

When I scheduled my flight out, I had tried to make it for as late as possible on Sunday so that we would have plenty of time to shop if we needed to. Since we found Christi's dress on Saturday, we had the entire day Sunday to just hang out. I really wanted to see the vineyard where Christi and Ty Ty are getting married, so despite it being rainy, we headed up to Sweet Cheeks Winery on the outskirts of Eugene. All of their vines are bare right now because it's winter, but the drive up to the winery and the winery itself is gorgeous! I can't wait to see everything in the summertime when it will be green!

Part of the patio. Aren't the views amazing?

Look at how wet poor Tyler's jacket is! They were good sports to take me when it was pouring rain!

Ok, so we decided that not only does Drew have a "say cheese" face (you know, the face you get when you're looking for someone to smile?), so does my dad. This is his version of the "say cheese" face. ;)

Part of the vineyard. All of the hills around are the winery are rolling hills covered with vines. It will be so pretty in the summer!

Uncle Burkie and Auntie Jenn Jenn. They were the only smart ones who stayed under the patio cover until it stopped raining.

Love the sisters!

Say cheese dad! ;)

As usual, the time in Eugene went by way too fast! I'm excited for Christi and Tyler and looking forward to our trip back up in August!

All things fun

The boys and I joined up with some friends this week and spent one fun morning cruising around Fresno's Chaffee Zoo. Just past the monkeys and right before the seals, we found them. The giraffes. Not only did we find them, thanks to a recommendation by Drew's little buddy Noah, we decided to feed them this time as well. We were the very first group to go, so the giraffes were eager to munch up the goodies we offered. I thought Drew might be a little intimidated and end up wanting to let me feed while he watched, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Drew not only loved watching his friends feed the giraffes, he loved feeding them himself! I had to hold him so that he would be tall enough for the giraffes to reach and he literally squealed with delight each time the giraffes reached down to grab their food. It was hilarious. Unfortunately because I was holding him, I didn't get any pictures of Drew, but I did get some cute pictures of everyone else.

The "little" Giraffe

Tangie and Jackson 

Noah and his sweet Auntie Michelle. (Check out that tongue!! A little trivia for you? Giraffes can clean their own ears with that 18-21 inch long tongue!)

Although if you were to ask Drew about his day at the zoo, he might only mention the giraffes, we did have fun seeing the other animals as well. 

Drew and Jackson checking out the elephants

Collin. Love those chubby cheeks!

Looking at the seals

Noah and Drew. (Don't you love Drew's latest "say cheese" face??)

Another thing I've been meaning to blog about for a while is Little Gym. About a year ago, Nathan's mom started taking Drew to The Little Gym each week as a sort of Grandma and Drew date day. Drew looks forward to it every week because he gets to swing on bars, sing fun songs, run around like a maniac, play with other kids, and have an hour or so of Grandma all to himself. I love it because he comes home exhausted!! This week I stopped by during his class to sneak in and grab a few pictures. 

At the end of every class the kids get to play with a huge bucket of balls (Drew loves this part)....

....and they get to play with the bubbles. They all want the bubbles blown onto their bellies, and as you can see, Drew is front and center for this part every time!

At the end of class they also get a few stamps on their hands. This week his teacher Miss Mariel was handing out stickers as well. No wonder Drew loves this place!!

Grandma and Drew having fun

And last, but not least, something for Poppi:

Guess who loves blueberries??  :)

The Box

We recently got a new dishwasher for the kitchen. Nathan and I were really (REALLY) excited about the dishwasher, and Drew was really (REALLY) excited about the box!

Once the dishwasher had been installed, Nathan gave the box to Drew and cut a door, a skylight and a small window (because what fun is a box to hide in if everyone can see in??).

Drew watched movies in it....

He ate snacks (and offered to share some) in it.....

He crammed plenty of toys in it, and for the most part, played in the box the entire day.

This is how it all started.

Well, somewhere halfway through the week, Drew started sprucing it up. It started with a few color marks on one side and the top of the box, and eventually led into this:

It was sort of like the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie". I asked him one morning if he wanted me to make him a sign with his name for the box, to which he said yes, but he only wanted a "D". Well, this led into adding some shapes to the sides since that's what we're working on right now, which led into adding some fun monster stickies I had stowed away in a craft box, which led to lots and lots more scribbles. Then, on Tuesday, Nathan's mom brought by a helium balloon kit she had leftover from a baby shower she had thrown over the weekend. She figured Drew would have some fun with the balloons, and she was right. Drew loved them! We've had balloons floating all over the house since Kathleen left, and of course, some made it to the box.

Pretty fun, right? Drew thinks so too. :)

While Drew has been busy playing away in the box, this is what Collin's been up to:

Trying out some bananas in one of those icky soft foods feeders. There's got to be a better way to not have to puree banana.

He is rolling all over the place now! He can also get into the crawling position, but won't move forward yet. I am SO not ready to have another mover!

We have finally had a break in the fog and have been enjoying some clear, sunny afternoons outside as well. This has been MUCH needed for Drew, especially after last week when we were all sick and cooped up inside.

Wrigley and Collin both watching Drew dig.

Wrigley LOVES the boys, and Collin has been so patient with how much Wrigley wants to love on him.  Wrigley translates the small pats that Coll gives him as big gestures of affection and thus, never leaves him alone. :)

Oh so glamorous....

Thanks to my two sick munchkins, I've been wearing someone else's snot on my shirt for the better part of this past week (oh the joys of being a momma!). Needless to say, we haven't been out much. I did manage to snag a few pictures at the beginning of the week though, so until next week, enjoy!

3 Things and a Bonus!

3 Things about....

Drew:
1.  He loves to "read". Even better if there's an audience. Surprisingly, he remembers most of the storylines of the books we read most often.

2. He now asks "What time o'clock?" (What time is it?) 5 million times a day. 

3. He pronounces the word "coyote" as cay-lotey. It's one of my favorite things he mispronounces.

Collin:

1. He now sits on his own like a champ!

2. He LOVES the bathtub.

3. He's starting to move! We place him in one spot and inevitably he ends up in another. He's definitely not crawling yet, but the army wiggle is a go!

Bonus!

There's a miniature golf course here in town that you can see from the freeway. We pass it often and for weeks now, each time that we do, we end up talking about the sandcastle and the windmill that are on the course for the rest of the day. So, one night after dinner we decided to surprise Drew and take him mini golfing for the first time. We didn't tell him what we were up to until we were in the parking lot and by his reaction, you'd think we had just pulled up at Disneyland.

The first hole.

Thank goodness for the Ergo pack! Collin was a warm, happy little camper!

The windmill.

The gaudy pink "sandcastle". Notice the little red blob on the ground near the door. Drew had to go see where his ball went, here and on every other hole. :)

The inevitable. Tears on the last hole. We ended up letting him keep his ball as a souvenir and pacifier for a tearless car ride home. Baaaaaaaad parents, I know.

Another year bites the dust.

So half of you reading this will probably laugh, but it finally happened. As of January 7th, I reached the age that I had always had set in my mind as "old". Yep, 27. I know what you're thinking. What??!! Believe me, now that it's here, that's what I'm thinking too!  For most people, I think this marker is 30, but to me twenty seven was it. The age when you had it all together; grown up job, grown up house, grown up things...old. Comical, right? As of now, I refuse to call 27 old. These days my marker on old is that handsome guy I call my husband. Thanks to the three and a half years between us, I will forever be young (or at least younger) and he will always be old. (Kidding hun! In any case, you're the best looking "old" person I know! xoxo.).

Aside from the trauma of turning 27, my actual birthday was fun. Drew and I made cinnamon rolls for the weekly playgroup we have at our house, and the boys and I spent the morning hanging out with good friends. Nathan ended up stopping by halfway through playgroup and surprised me with flowers. Small gestures like this are his specialty!

Drew's just starting to create imaginary stories. This time, he and his pal Brayden were hunting monsters under Collin's crib. I love that they each needed a flashlight to see the beasties they were hunting!

Our anniversary was this week too. The day after my birthday. 6 years. (Remember that thing about us getting old?). I'm incredibly thankful for the man I married. He's a great dad, and a constant friend. It's fun doing life together.

Quack!

We were spoiled this week and had Nathan home with us Friday and Monday for New Year's. We all love extra Daddy time! Our New Year's eve was pretty uneventful as we celebrated in true old people fashion and just watched movies at home. Nathan and I both managed to stay up just long enough to watch the ball drop, and then off to bed we went. I laughed when my sister Jenn sent me a text in the morning that said, "You guys actually stayed up?!". Jeez, are we that bad? Guess having an infant who's still up at night will do that to you.

The boys, surprise, surprise, spent New Year's eve sleeping! Auntie Kim and Uncle Dana had given Drew a "Cars" sleeping bag for Christmas and on New Year's he asked to sleep in it. Notice that the covers had to be pushed away. Originally he had asked me to take the covers off his bed entirely. Good try kiddo, but those lovely side rails make re-making a bed a huge pain. Even with the covers just pushed aside, he was pretty happy.

And just in case you didn't know, the Tostitos BCS Championship is coming up and the Ducks are playing. Nathan's been subtly reminding us for days...