a tree redeemed?

Before & After:

 

It's a Christmas miracle! 

More After:

The kids had a great reaction when they discovered the tree the next morning. 

(They did a little decorating before bed and then Jared & I finished up.)

Isaac shows Bethany his new favorite hideout.

The tree-- and everything on it, especially the sparkly red bird-- 

is a strong stall tactic for tired girls before naptime.

I'm sure we would have enjoyed the tree no matter what, but, just like the man that I married for all the right reasons, looking good is just an added bonus. 

Merry Christmas!

lately - everything else

I've been a bit of a whiner lately, mostly in my head, although whenever I talk to anyone about what we're up to, I feel like it must sound like whining to them. It's absurd, because life is good, really good, but the number of things happening all at once-- even though they are mostly good things-- has been at an all-time high. And it's not just the big events, but all the little things that fill up every moment of our time. We've always been a GoGoGo kind of couple, but we are now busier than college, than dental school, than ortho residency, and maybe even busier than that year when Jared was traveling twice a month as a trustee for ASDA and I was working 60 hours a week and together we were pulling all nighters to apply for specialty schools. Busier than ever, it seems, which is also absurd.

So, I really hope it doesn't come across as complaining, but I feel the need to put it on the record some of the big stuff we've been up to these past few weeks or so, when we weren't starting a business...

* Suffering from major mommy guilt while being so busy with the business. And, letting them watch more TV than I care to put on record. I know it was just a phase, and it's already better than it was for a few weeks there. I don't know why it bothered me as much as it did, but it did. (That was the worst one on my list. It gets better.)

* Potty training Bethany! This needs more exclamation points!!!!! This big girl has been diaper free (even at night!) for about a month. She was a breeze to potty train, and I can share that without feeling bad because I know her brother will be a bear.

Guess who picked out her own undies?
Oh Dora, she holds a special place in our hearts and, well, now you know where else.

* More growing up. It feels like we held onto a few "baby" things longer than a lot of friends who are the same age. (Not to say that that's good or bad, just an observation. I know for us it was part not wanting or seeing a reason to push the kids to grow up too fast, and part convenience.) Isaac just recently weaned from his pacifier. Bethany doesn't know it but she is soon to follow-- before (or as soon as) she turns 3, says the Orthodontist. They successfully slept in big beds when we travelled in November, although at home they are reluctant to give up their cribs so we just removed one side of each crib. Over the summer they stopped using their booster seats at the dining table, which was a sad loss for us parents-- they used to sit and eat forever when they were strapped in. And now, they (we) are working on their table manners, saying May I please be excused? and bringing their dishes to the sink. Staying seated is the hardest one, but they're doing really well overall, and it's pretty adorable.

* Letting our Santa Barbara Zoo membership expire, but getting in one last trip. We will miss it, but we will be back.

* Spending pre-Thanksgiving week in Palm Springs with my husband's parents, but not my husband. He had to stay behind because of some major construction delays at the office. It was pretty heartbreaking. But we went anyway because these kids needed loads of play time and attention from Mom and their grandparents, and I needed to give it to them.

Frosting cookies with Grandma & Grandpa.

Sleeping together for the first time since they were 4 months old.

Just like old times in the womb.

* Deciding at the last minute to host Thanksgiving dinner at our house so we could be with Jared. For the second time in 11+ years, we used our wedding china. I had about 15 minutes to prepare the table, and thankfully Jared's parents had pre-ordered all the food to be picked up that day. Not a bad way to go.

When Isaac saw the candles, he said It's a party!!

* Building a float for the Santa Paula Christmas parade. This was my work project while we were in Palm Springs-- printing signs, and planning and purchasing decorations. My in-laws were a great help in pulling it all together and loaning us this gorgeous truck that belonged to Jared's Grandpa Lee! Our dental school friends the Houlbergs were visiting their family nearby and surprised Jared by showing up to be in our float.

* Fumigating. People say termites are just a part of living in Southern Cal. I say getting your house tented is a downscaled version of moving, which I've done a lot of in the past few years, and it is possibly my least favorite thing to do. We had to bag all our food, medicine, toothpaste... anything and everything ingestible, with a few extra things like soaps and lotions just to ease our paranoia. We also moved out the kids' mattresses and anything we felt was too valuable to leave in a vacant house with a gigantic "welcome" sign to burglars. (I could hardly believe it but they say it happens.)


Welcome to our lovely home. Unless you're a termite.

* Moving out for the week and going to Disneyland and San Diego as consolation. The fumigation was the same week as an ortho conference for Jared, so after the kids and I spent a few days with their grandparents (who live near Disney), we went to meet him in SD and to be with Great-Grandma Dot. Seeing Daddy made the kids even happier than the happiest place on earth.

At Disney they hand out driver's licenses to just anybody, can you believe it?

Look who's driving.

Great-grandma Dot is the coolest. How many 85 year-olds have iPads?

* Fixing stuff. Amidst all this we've had issues (big and small) with just about every appliance in the house. Just yesterday I was getting ready to take all our post-trip laundry to the laundromat, when I decided instead to watch a few youtube videos and take our dryer apart myself. Somehow it now works. I seriously have no idea what I did, haha.

* And, as of Monday night... Buying the ugliest Christmas tree on earth. It's funny how Christmas trees can look so different in your home than at the lot... and as soon as we got ours inside we realized we took tree misjudgment to a whole new level. One side is smushed way up, the other side hangs down too low, and the back side is too sparse. But, it is HUGE! Good thing we don't have any furniture in that room, although it might be nice to hide the bottom half of that sad tree. Oy vey.


It looks way better in the picture than in real life.

By now I'm not whining, I'm laughing.

We have just a couple weeks to bring a little more Christmas home (and send out Christmas cards, maybe?) before packing up again for time with Jared's family in Newport Beach. Christmas! Family! Newport Beach! Who would complain about that? Definitely not me.

lately - the SPO edition

There is one thing that has dominated this household lately, and nothing else should really be mentioned until this is sufficiently addressed...

SANTA

PAULA

ORTHO

Monday was the first day Jared saw his own patients in his own space! Jared has been working pretty much constantly-- when he's not at one of his 3 other orthodontist jobs, in 6 other locations (deep breath)-- he is working on his own practice. For the 3 months that it has been under construction, this guy has been texting his general contractor at all hours of the day and night, visiting the site almost daily, and making decisions on computer systems, alarm systems, HVAC, flooring, ceilings, staffing, insurance, and all sorts of things that certainly are not covered in dental school. He has been so tireless and selfless to work so hard for our family. I know it stresses him out-- he tries to hide it but the sudden patch of gray hairs on top of his head is totally blowing his cover. He says it will help his patients take him more seriously. Such an optimist.

Now that construction is 98% complete, he has a practice to run. He put it best Monday morning before leaving for work. He said it's like going through all the effort to make and grow and deliver a baby, and you are desperate for a moment to rest... but, now you have a baby. I laughed, because of all the inane comparisons a guy can make to having a baby, I can't dispute this one. Jared has earned the right to make that comment, and-- if it means anything-- that's coming from a girl who birthed twins.

I've been roped in as well, helping out with odds and ends because there are a billion of them, and it's kept me much busier than I thought I'd be as a mom who quit my job to be home with my kids. Jared's dad was a great help by coming to stay with us a few days each week for a month or so. He would work from home while the kids slept so I could go run errands. The kids absolutely loved having so much Grandpa time.

We tried to make Grandpa's visits worth his while.

More to come on SPO as the finishing touches (not that things like this are ever really "finished") come in, like when the granite on the reception desk is finally installed and all the pictures are hung. We're getting there. 

tractor museum

One of our favorite places to go in town is the Ventura County Agriculture Museum. It's only a year old, and we've been going since it opened so we have seen it fill up with great displays and interactive things for kids. It's the closest thing we have to a children's museum. The kids love going to the "tractor museum," which they named after the big green antique tractor that Isaac heads straight for every time we go. Anyone can climb right up, sit behind the wheel, and poke a button that makes sounds like the tractor is sputtering to a start. It's also missing a side panel so you can see into the engine. It's a little boy's dream come true. On our last visit, Isaac's questions started pouring in. I am really going to have to brush up on my tractor knowledge.

My favorite part, however, is the old wooden flooring throughout (some of it from the original warehouse that the building started out as in the late 1800s). Especially when it is graced by my little dancer.

Something new we tried on our last visit: the dress-ups. Someone hand him a pitchfork.

This pretty little farm girl has the classic stoic expression nailed. 

It's all part of embracing this life in the Southern California country.

Halloween!

With the kids just 2 months shy of 3 (I know-- I had to calculate that twice to make sure it was real), this was a super fun year for Halloween. The kids picked out their costumes a couple months ago, and I was amazed to see that they never went back on their choice. Isaac's pick to be a firefighter was no surprise-- he has been enamored for quite some time with everything related to fighting fires. Bethany, on the other hand, was in the thick of such a strong Dora-obsessed phase (which isn't necessarily over, it's just that she's entertaining other thoughts now too, like princesses and cuddly animals), that I was initially a little shocked when she said she wanted to be a pink kitty cat. It turns out the joke was on me, because I eventually learned what our friend Dora's Halloween costume was-- a little black kitty cat with pink ears. So when I described Dora's costume to Bethany in some detail, it was clear that Bethany did in fact want to be Dora for Halloween, for Halloween. Funny girl.


But you don't want to hear about their costumes from me, do you? Hear it from them.



Unlike other years when I've made their costumes, doing 90% of it on Halloween Eve, we had these kids ready weeks in advance. So that meant they got to try them on and play around in them a bit, but not too much, so that the excitement was still there. Right? You're excited... Right kids?!

Isaac was actually pretty psyched about his costume, but really not in the mood for posing.

Bethany was so cute when she realized her costume had a tail.

Isaac was later found reading his favorite book about fire engines.
Maybe he felt like he should brush up on his firefighter knowledge,
now that he was actually going to be one.

We didn't have many events to go to this year. Our ward's Primary is so small that they don't always do a trunk or treat, and with all the busy-ness of building Jared's practice we forgot about the town's Halloween parade down Main Street. I was bummed when I realized that, but knew it would have been tough to make it happen anyway. But it turned out to be just the right amount. Wednesday is storytelling day at the library, and our sweet-as-pumpkin-pie librarian/storyteller said the kids can come in costume and she would have a special treat for them, which turned out to be a (quiet) parade through the library that ended in a room full of cupcakes. Isaac of course chose one with black frosting that gave him a very firemanly beard, and that turned into a very firemanly 5 o'clock shadow because it was so hard to wash off.

On our way in to Storytelling at the Library.

Oinge cuckapes! | Blackbeard | Kitty with Mary Poppins (Ms. Ilene)

Our other Halloween event was a pre-trick-or-treating dinner party at a friend's house for all the families in the neighborhood. I love this idea and hope it becomes a tradition. Unfortunately, my handsome, hardworking husband was still at work when the dinner party started, but I did have my father-in-law with me. He wore Jared's astronaut helmet that you may remember from such hits as Halloween 2009, and we played the game of seeing how long it took for people to notice that he wasn't my husband. Not too long, but some were pretty confused for a minute! The real Mister caught up to us at the dinner.

As if Grandpa wasn't already at maximum coolness...
Isaac just about exploded when he saw that he was capable of space travel.

Trick or treating was one of those times when we realized, once again, how fun these kids are and how awesome this age is. The twins absolutely loved it, and everything about it. Running up to the doorstep, ringing the bell, saying Trick or treat!! Thank you!! and Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeeen!! a million times at every house. They could do it all by themselves and we just stood back and watched and laughed and ate our hearts out.

A firefighter, pirate, witch and pink kitty cat. No theme is the new theme.
(Thanks for the line, Miggy.)

We got home and the kids went straight to work on eating their candy. They would get so excited every time other trick or treaters came to our door, and as I gave out candy, Bethany would reach into her own bucket and give them her candy as well. It was ridiculously cute.

By the end of the night we had two kitty cats, eating candy off the floor
(but actually off of her lovey, on the floor, although I'm not sure that's much better).

Happy Halloweeeeeeeeen!

Zoo days

One of our favorite places to go around here is the Santa Barbara Zoo. We are so lucky that of all the zoos out there, this is the closest one to our house, just 40 minutes away. They (the SB Zoo people) like to brag that it is the world's most beautiful zoo, and if that's true, it's not hard to believe. It's basically a park, with rolling green hills, ocean views, places to have a picnic--or wedding, and oh, a bunch of exotic animals.

So when we go, I must admit that it's not all for the little ones-- I absolutely love going up there and soaking in what I can (the gorillas! and the lions! they're amazing!) while I chase down my own little animals. In addition to seeing the animals, there are some really fun things for kids to do. Here are some photos, from the past year that we've been going, of their favorite zoo things. (And woah, look at how much they've [she's] changed!)

The hill slide

The train

The eggs

I tried to get them to share an egg for old times' sake.

Can't say I blame them for not wanting to go back to those days.

Their friends

Guess which two were stopped and asked if they were twins?

Hint: not the actual twins. 

The Endeavor

Technically can't be categorized as an SB Zoo favorite, but the shuttle did fly right over our heads while we were there. I watched it go by and then took this pic of Isaac and Grandma, so the shuttle is too small to see in this photo. Isaac would have had an awesome view if only his telescope was pointed in the right direction!

And, a new favorite from our most recent visit with Grandma & Grandpa...

Feeding the Giraffes

Bet you can guess what we talked about at the dinner table for the following few weeks!

things they say

To state the obvious, I haven't been keeping up my blog. Summer break has turned into a 6 month sabbatical. No apologies or promises-- except that I promise not to apologize-- but I do find it regretful that I haven't kept it up better, when there is a daily cute-fest going on and there are grandparents on the opposite coast, and memories I don't want to forget. It makes me feel better that I have been tracking these kids in other ways-- a little journaling, notes on my phone, and tons of photos, videos, and Instagram. So I've got material. I'm never short on material. :)

With that I present the latest version of Things They Say-- just a few things I've written down over the last 2-3 months. What's cuter than what they say is how they say it-- like their tongues are way too big for their mouths, or their mouths are stuffed with Skittles and they're trying to keep them all in while telling you something exciting and amazing. Their enunciation is off but so adorable because they are trying so hard.

Isaac

We were at a pool and Jared had asked Isaac not to climb in the hot tub, so as not to disturb the relaxing people in it. Isaac's response: Hmm... (holding a finger to his lips) I know! I JUMP in the hot tub! (As opposed to climbing in? Nice try!)

One day a friend was visiting and he was doing a full inspection of the doors on her car. He held up that same finger again and said, I know how it works! Always trying to figure things out, this one.

He calls Bethany, Bethny.

Look = Wook

I was leaving the kids with a babysitter one evening. It has been a rough afternoon so I thought they might not let me go very easily. I tried to make it a quick-but-not-too-quick goodbye and said, Grace is going to play with you while I go to the store I'll be back soon I love you bye! Isaac comes up and says Mama Mama Mama while patting my hip. Yes Isaac? I say apprehensively. Buy pahsicles (popsicles).

Aw miss! (whenever he's playing basketball and misses the basket)

Whayoudoin? The perpetual question.

Helicopter = Hoppicopper

He jumps for joy, literally. When we ask if he wants ice cream, or if he likes basketball, or if he wants to see Grandpa, his whole body says Yeah!!

His current favorite book is Smash, Mash, Crash, There Goes the Trash! (Really cute book about trash day, which we love.) He's got the whole book memorized. (But won't let me catch it on video - sad face.) Jared & I just watch in wonder as he reads it to us.

I put his rain boots on for the first time in a while and wanted to check the fit, so I felt for his toes and said, Where are your toes? He said, In my boots!

After Isaac pulled the curtain rod out of the wall in his room when he was supposed to be napping, he cried really hard. I asked him if it was because he was hurt, he said no. I asked him if it was because he was scared, he said no. So I just asked him why he cried. He said, I wanted a Band-Aid. Ah, I've trained him well.

Bethany

Pink. It's an adjective, but not necessarily indicating the color of something so much as how much she likes it. For example, my pink airplane, my pink horsey, my pink Dora... whether it's actually pink or not. 

Pink is also a noun, but you have to use context to figure out what it means. One morning over pancakes, it was I want pink on my plate. Syrup. Of course.

On the way home one day I asked B what the best part about the pool was, purposely not asking for her favorite part because the answer to her favorite anything is always pink. She said, Pink best forever Mom! Favorite or best, I guess there is no need to ask anymore.

Prayer: HeavenlyFatherJesusChristAmen.

Me: What's your lion's name? B: Tiger.

Me: What's your bear's name? (my old Care Bear with a cupcake on the tummy) B: Tyrone.

Swimsuit = Swimzwoot

B: Mama, I upside down! Me: Yes you are! B: Yes I are!

She usually pronounces her name very well, but sometimes it comes out Beth-nay.

When I tell Isaac to say sorry or thank you, she usually does too. Or instead.

What's that mama? (holding her finger out). Me: (driving the car and reaching back to feel) I can't see it, what is it? B: I don't know, I pulled it out my nose.

Whenever we'd talk about her cousins (usually Anna and Scott), she would often say, ...and my cousin Daisy? She started talking about my cousin Daisy so much that I started thinking it was an imaginary friend, until one day I realized that Dora has a cousin Daisy, and it all made sense. This girl really loves her Dora.

Lately, instead of asking What are you doing? she asks, What are you doing about it?