It's A.....

BOY!!!!

Yep, baby #3 is another boy. Bring on the madness! Love my boys and can't wait to add another!

Come fly with me

Back at Christmastime my parents gave both Nathan and my brother-in-law Burke a gift certificate for a flight lesson. I think it was a huge surprise for both of them and something that I know they have been itching to do for a while now. The lesson included a night class on a Friday and then a Saturday lesson. It had to be scheduled out of course, and the first date that worked for everyone involved was at the end of April. This was a looooong four months to wait not only for Nathan and Burke who were like two little kids looking forward to a trip to Disneyland, but a looooong four months for Jenn and I who had to hear about all the fun they would soon be having. Since my parents obviously couldn't be here for the lesson itself, this post is mostly for them so that they could see all of the pictures and hear about the Pandora's box their gift so easily opened....

So yes, the big day finally came. I was in San Francisco for a girls’ day with Kathleen and Kimmie, so I wasn’t able to go watch, but I heard all about it. Nathan was practically buzzing with excitement when I got home. Heck, for that matter, since the little boys had gone to watch, they were buzzing too.

The class Friday night was a lot of logistics on how planes work and fly. Fun stuff, but not the good stuff. The good stuff came on Saturday. Since students were taken up two at a time, naturally, Burke and Nathan decided to go up together. Each of them got to take off, fly a pattern, and land twice. On the last landing, they switched with each other and did it all over again.(I was surprised they were able to do so much for a first lesson). They of course, were giddy about it. Seriously, giddy. It was just ridiculous. :)

Anyway, Nathan had thought since the actual flight lesson was only an hour long, that Drew and Collin might have some fun going to the airport to watch. Auntie Jenn was a trooper because since I was gone for the day, she was on duty for going along in my place. (I’d like to think she had a bit of fun too though…after all, she got to watch the man of her dreams fly a plane. And what girl wouldn't like that, really?). Well it turned out that since Nathan and Burke’s lesson was the last of the day, when it was all said and done, the littles were not only able to come and watch Daddy fly, they also got a first hand look at the plane (and a few others around the airport)! Do you see now why all of my boys were buzzing when I got home from San Francisco?? It seems unnecessary to say that this lesson was a major highlight for the guys.

...And thank you so much Mom and Dad, because like I mentioned earlier, this has certainly opened Pandora's box! Nathan came back and promptly looked into just how much it would take to continue flying and also very clearly informed me that his flight instructor also teaches helicopter lessons. He’s oh, so subtle with his hints. ;)

 This is what happens when I send the guys with the camera and tell them to take pictures. I was hoping for a picture of them in front of the plane, or turning around with ear to ear grins from the cockpit, but nope. This was my one and only picture of Nathan actually flying. (That is Nathan on the left if you couldn't tell. His flight instructor is on the right). Apparently the act of flying took precedence over taking pictures. Shocking, I know.

The private planes are kept at a much smaller airport than Fresno's main airport, so the little boys were able to watch the guys take off practically from the runway itself.

Uncle Burkie's turn! Check out how tiny this plane was...look how close their shoulders were!

Fresno....

...Oh beautiful Fresno

Hope these pictures do justice (at least in portion) for the fun day the guys had. Dad, since we're already hearing about the "next time", you and Ty Ty should come down and join the guys for a weekend. Maybe for those helicopter lessons?? :)

Three Things

Three things (and a bonus!) about...

DREW:

1. Just turned FOUR!

2. Is obsessed with getting bigger. He'll measure himself not only on our growth chart and tell us how much he's grown, but will also stand next to Collin, a chair, table, bed, etc. and compare himself with what he was yesterday, last week, or an hour ago height-wise to that same item and exclaim how big he is getting. He has typically grown a few inches within a matter of hours.
3. Only wants another little brother. I still think this new baby is a girl (really, what are the chances of having three boys??), so he may be in for a shock. We'll see on the 24th of this month...
4. Requests a band aid for every scrape, bruise, cut, freckle, on his body. Just picture him covered in multi-colored, mutli-character band aids from head to toe and you've pretty much got it.

COLLIN:

1. Has figured out how to climb out of his crib (!!). Bright and early one morning a few weeks ago, he showed up at the side of our bed giggling and grinning ear to ear. He was so proud that he had let himself out of his room all on his own. This was something we never dealt with with Drew. Right after Drew's second birthday we switched him to a big kid bed before he ever learned to escape the crib. Collin won't be two until the end of July and has already figured this out. Really it shouldn't surprise me, he has always been my climber. Big kid bed here we come!
2.  Since he now escapes the crib, we have also had to periodically gate his doorway at bedtime when he won't stay in bed and go to sleep. Funny, he will willingly climb over his crib railing, but the smaller doorway gate will keep him in. It's resulted in him falling asleep on the floor quite a few times....
3. Asks "Whathat?", aka "What's that?" to everything. When you give him an answer (and it doesn't matter if the answer is a valid one or not), he responds with "OOOOooooh." This is asked often right now....driving in the car, looking out a window, in response to a sound he hears, something Drew has done, you get the idea.
4. Loves to give "squeezes". He readily gives the best full on bear hugs right now. Usually followed by a sloppy kiss where his lips are smashed into your cheek. So sweet, and something I can't get enough of.

Oregon Trip

Well, it's been a wee bit longer than the weekly posts I previously had promised. I try really hard not to sit in front of a computer while the boys are awake, so that limits my blogging time to after bedtime and during nap time. Lately, it seems there have been plenty of other things on the list of "needs to be done" that have taken precedence over blogging in those free times. Excuses, excuses.

Anyway, we headed up to visit my parents this month for my Dad's birthday on the 14th. Loved being up there, and loved the time we got to spend with them. It's never long enough. The boys (or should I say, my little screaming banshee named Collin) did much better on this car trip than previous trips, which made the 12 hour drive at least more bearable. It also didn't hurt to have Auntie Jenn along. She  entertained, changed movies, found snackies (and drinks), entertained some more, and found the many thrown paci's Collin had hurled throughout the car. Auntie Jenn Jenn...we owe you one!

It was also fun this time around to spend some time in Portland. Christi and Tyler have lived up there since they were married in August, but it was my first trip up since then, so it was fun to be able to see and spend a night at their house (which was so cute!). Poor Ty Ty and Christi though. Their beautiful, very un-child proofed home was invaded by a almost 4 and almost 2 year old who made sure to show them each and every area that will need to be child proofed or changed whenever they decide to have babies. *wink*

While we were there, we also made a trip to the Portland Children's Museum. We had been once before when Collin was a baby, but it was fun to have both boys be able to enjoy it this time around. Some hightlights:

-The light up Peg Board:

All of those lights were little colored pegs that could be taken in and out of the board. The boys thought they were pretty neat.

-The light up board with magnetic blocks:

Collin and Poppi

 -The Face Painting Station:

I wasn't sure the boys would be into this, but Drew ate it up!

 -The Dig Pit:

-The "Veterinarian's Office":

This was new since our last visit and was probably Collin's favorite room. Each of the stuffed animals had a collar and leash. He found this little dog and drug it all over the "office". He had and ear to ear grin the entire time. Can you say child after his Momma's heart?? :)

-The Grocery Store:

The fake food in the store looked and felt real..so real in fact, that I struggled to keep it out of Collin's chompers! Every time I turned around he had a different piece of food in his mouth. And of course, I just kept imagining how many other kids' hands had touched all of that. Thank goodness for hardy immune systems!

Make note, this is where the boys' fascination with shopping carts started...

-And of course, the Water Room:

Collin and Lala 

This was only a small portion of the water room. They had so many cool things! Drew was willing to wear the smocks they provide, so he ended up a little drier than Collin, who of course, refused one.

The rest of our time we spent at Lala and Poppi's house playing and hanging out. Although we did seek to go a few places, the boys are honestly the most happy just getting to hang out at my parents' house where they play all day and night with Lala, Poppi and Auntie Kell.

So remember that shopping cart fascination I mentioned earlier? Apparently all of the shopping cart shenanagins at the children's museum kick started some sort of shopping cart lovin' for our boys. My parents have always had this little shopping cart at their house, but aside from occasionally filling it with toys, the boys haven't given it much time. This time however, they figured out how to race around the house with one of them in it (BIG fun!). Collin would climb into the basket and sit whining, getting louder and louder, until eventually Drew would hear him and come to his rescue and the fun would begin! At least once a day, they spent time squealing and racing up and down the hallway and throughout the rest of the house like little maniacs. (I should have grabbed a picture of this mid-action, but unfortunately the only one I got, they look pretty mellow). It screamed "accident waiting to happen", but the trade off was pure little kid bliss for the boys. Fortunately for me, both of them came out unscathed.

Like I said, the whole point of the trip was to visit for my Dad's birthday, so Friday night we had a big birthday shindig with plenty of food, friends, and of course, German Chocolate Cake!

Happy Birthday to the best Poppi!! And yay for a good excuse to eat cake!!

And of course, if there are candles to be blown out, Drew is more than willing to help out!

Since the weather was way warmer than I had expected it to be while we were visiting, the boys found plenty of time to dig in my parent's planter beds, run around naked in the backyard, soak in the sun, and play in the water as well. 

Although they claimed they were "helping" my Dad with his garden, the boys managed to convince him to turn the hose on so they could play in the water. The water was cold, but the boys never care. They played with the hose until the patio area and ground cover were flooded and Poppi shut the water off. Even then, they had him fill up big buckets with water and then continued to play in those. They were both drenched when it was all said and done. Drenched, happy campers!

Anyway, like I said. Tons of fun while we were there! Thanks Lala and Poppi! We love you and miss you already!

Aaaaand we're back. Again.

Well, I had good intentions of starting where I left off and posting all of the things we've been doing between when the great laptop disaster occurred and now, but the reality of that is there are a million pictures that have been taken in that time period and sorting through them all to get them ready to post is a daunting task. Daunting. As in, will probably be something that occurs sporadically between current posts for the next few months.

Be that what it may, this week we enjoyed the huge treat of my grandma, Nammy, coming to visit us. I cannot emphasize enough how excited I was to have her here and be able to spend some time with her! She brought all sorts of books and Easter goodies for the boys (which they loved), and two kinds of "Nammy Tapioca" for me and Jenn. Now the Tapioca might not seem like such a big deal to any of you....but you've never had "Nammy Tapioca". I'm telling you, there is magic in her little baking fingers because it doesn't matter what the rest of us do to make it the way she does, it never, ever, turns out the same. Her Tapioca is slumber parties, play dates, and well loved time spent at Nammy and Grampy's house served up in a bowl. Such nostalgia. I loved that she took the time not only to make it, but to put it on ice and drive it all the way up here. It's just one of the many, many reasons why we happen to think she is the best! Anyway, I don't get to visit with her as often as I would like since she lives in San Diego, so it was nice to be able to spend two full and uninterrupted days together here.

The boys have been asking to go to the Zoo a lot recently and we originally had planned to spend the morning there on the day that Nammy was driving up to our house. We ended up having a slow morning and decided to instead visit the Zoo the following day with Nammy and I'm so glad we did! The boys had all sorts of fun dragging Nammy here, there, and everywhere around the Zoo to show her all of their favorites exhibits (plus some!), and I dare say that Nammy enjoyed herself too. :)

We have visited our little Zoo enough times that we could probably navigate our way through it with our eyes closed. However, Drew still insists on having a map to show us where to go each and every time we visit.

Checking out the Sea Lions. They are getting a new exhibit to live in pretty soon and we're anxious to see it!

We almost always stop to feed the giraffes if we're in the Zoo at the times they allow you to feed them. The boys definitely love it, but secretly us big kids love it too!

The not-so-little baby giraffe

The petting Zoo with Nammy

Auntie Jenn and the world's ugliest sheep

Collin's favorite exhibit

This little guy was a Burrowing Owl (Nammy, correct me if I'm not remembering that right). I thought it was a baby, but the lady told me that it was actually full grown at that size.

Auntie Jenn, Drewski and Nammy looking at the owl.

Checking out the crocodile....Drew's favorite exhibit

This little tractor sits by the construction site for the new Sea Lions exhibit. The boys love this thing....as in they both make a beeline for it every time we even remotely pass that area.

Life is rough when you're one and a half. Jenn happened to catch this one with her phone and I can't help but giggle when I see it. Look at that pouty lip!

On a totally different note, Nathan's parents gave me tickets to go see Lady Antebellum for my birthday back in January. They came into town last week and Nathan and I were spoiled not only with a date night, but also with great seats and a two other artists that I didn't realize would be there (Thompson Square and Darius Rucker). 

Lady A

Lady Antebellum and Thompson Square together

Thank you so much Doug and Kathleen, we had such a fun time!

Ok, so now that I've resolved myself to catching up slowly over time instead of all at once, you should be hearing from us more often (weekly again, I hope)!

Tragedy

So my last post was January 22. JANUARY 22! You may think this little hiatus was planned, but rest assured it was not. Alas, my little helpers were lovingly "helping" me make dinner a few days after my last blog post was written when tragedy struck. Ok, maybe tragedy is a tad bit too strong (us MacLaggan girls are known for our "MacLaggan exaggeration" skills--Nathan would be the very first to verify this little factoid, should you choose to question it). Anyway, it felt like tragedy to me, in the full sense of the word.

I often use my laptop for recipes and whatnot during dinner hour and the night the boys were helping me was no exception. So there I am cooking away, when I hear, "Uh oh! Uh oh! Mom, I spilled some water". I think to myself, "No big deal, water spills in our house all the time". But when I turn around....what to my wondering eyes should appear? A glass...and a very full glass at that...of water that had been tipped perfectly over the keyboard of my Mac laptop. Have I mentioned that this is my very favorite electronic toy (or more like my only electronic toy)? I don't often have a love affair with electronics. Actually, before this, I don't think it has ever happened. I just don't relate. Nathan on the other hand, loves all things electronic. Truly. In his hierarchy of life it's me and the boys, and then the latest and greatest electronic gizmo. My love for this little laptop of mine is the closest I have ever been to understanding Nathan's obsession. Anyway, this little laptop is the very same laptop I received a year ago (only a year! ONE year ago!) for Christmas that started this blog. With its user friendly-speak-the-language-of-non-techno-Lauren everything, it only seemed natural (and easy!) to start a blog and keep my family in the loop on life at the Sloan house.

But I digress. Anyway, cooking away, I hear the boys, turn around, water. all. over. beloved. laptop. It took all my effort not to cry. Instead I took that lovely deep breath that I think you inherit the moment you become a mom, reassured Drew that it was just an accident and that it was ok (it was ok! it was ok! it was ok! Things like this dry out when you put them in rice, right? Isn't that what all those things on the internet say??). I grabbed the nearest dishtowel, mopped up what I could and turned my computer off as quickly as possible in hopes of saving whatever I could. I then called that little electronic loving husband of mine at work (surely, he would know what to do!) only to find out he was in a meeting. Panic! I need some electronic wisdom here! Insert next phone call to little electronic loving brother-in-law at work. Yep, both at work. I was desperate. Burke did some research for me, told me what to do, and for a good two weeks I let my computer sit, drying out upside down, in hopes that when I turned it back on things would magically be running correctly again. Water can't be that bad, right? Right??

Well, a month and a half later the new keyboard Nathan ordered for me finally (!!) arrived from the slow boat from China (Hong Kong to be exact). Nathan sat down that night, plugged into the grounder in the wall (literally, he was plugged in by a bracelet to a wall outlet. Wish I had taken a picture), to replace my keyboard since we knew for sure it was a goner. Two hours and a million microscopic keyboard screws later (seriously! have you ever seen those tiny things?? Similar to the screws that hold the hinges of eyeglasses together but smaller), my new keyboard was in and it was time for the make it or break it moment. He turned it on and I think I honestly held my breathe hoping, hoping, all would be well. The screen blinked on and for point two seconds I thought we were in the clear. For point. two. seconds. Then, like I said before, tragedy. Random written explanations of what we were doing with the mouse written out on the screen (some option that was obviously available buried deep in the controls of my computer...and also something I most definitely did not turn on), number keys adjusting volume and brightness and other such shennanagins they shouldn't have been controlling, programs randomly opening. Problem. Big, big, problem. Needless to say, we shut the computer back down as quickly as possible to save whatever was on it (like my photos!) and made an appointment with those "geniuses" at Apple.

The next day I packed the boys in the car and hoped that if I shed enough tears with my cute boys batting their big brown eyes, that some poor soul might feel sorry for me and fix my computer for free. Dream on. I sat down with my lovely genius, who plugged a cord into my computer and told me my dreaded Macbook fate. In the world of Macs, there are 5 tiers of damage: tier 1, fairly minor to tier 5...so much damage they send it back to you and say just start over, it'll be cheaper. Water damage is an automatic entry into tier 4. (I'm an adult, this is an electronic device. Hold yourself together!). Ok, tell me my damages. So they guy explains to me that it is going to cost just shy of what we payed to buy it new in order to fix it. I told him at that price point I would rather upgrade. He told me to backup my computer while it was still living because the corrosion would spread and I may wake up to it not working one day. And I packed up my lost love, headed home to tuck it away in the office, and dusted off the good old PC to use while I think out what I want to do with all of this info.

So here I sit. On a PC that is painful...honest to goodnessly PAIN. FULL. to use after getting so used to a Mac. So I'm sorry for the major delay in blogging, but I had just been hoping for a happier ending, you know? More of a "Hey, sorry it's been so long, the craziest thing happened, but it's all fine now and we can go back to our regularly scheduled programming" sort of a story. No such luck. So tomorrow Nathan has a date with my laptop to download all of my photos and whatnot, so that hopefully the next post will at least have pictures once again.

On a much happier note, the boys will be getting a new baby brother or sister somewhere around October 7, 2012! I'm 11 weeks along...