Pulham's Paradise

giggles

2012-02-15T12:13:00.000-08:00

I took out my camera to record him smiling, and I caught his first giggle!

Sorry about the bad camera angle and the lack of editing, we need a new video camera and I just used our regular camera. If you want to skip right to the giggle skip to about second 30.

Party! at 3 months

2012-02-08T13:49:00.001-08:00

This weekend we went up to Bakersfield to celebrate my nephews' birthdays (Trevor 7 is on the left and Gavin 2 is on the right).

Jack didn't get to go on any of the bouncy houses, but he got lots of snuggles.

The girls had loads of fun!

Cake and ice cream was a big hit. At the end of the day I asked Ali what she liked best, and she couldn't decide which she liked better, the cake or the bounce houses. I think she just wanted to sit on the birthday throne!

Jack turned 3 months old today! He is such a sweetie boy.

I told him to smile, and already he is sticking his tongue at me!

What's in a name?

2012-01-25T10:03:00.000-08:00

Since I had Jack, I have been trying to enjoy every minute of his new babyness. I know that he is changing so fast that I try to hold on to each moment, and yet he still seems to be growing so fast. Because I have been so focused on his growing over the last 2 months, I have overlooked one important little girl. This little one is also growing so fast, and today she just reminded me of that fact. I came into her room after she had been playing quietly by herself (which is almost always a bad thing), and found her writing on her white board. Apparently she can write her own name. I wonder how long that has been going on.

I immediately got my camera and when I held it up to take the picture she told me she wanted to do a funny picture. She is so spunky.

On a related note, Jack is starting to hold up his head. He is not a super fan of tummy time, but at least he doesn't scream the whole time like Ali did.

Also my mom visited me for a week and a half! It was so great to have her here. She never let my sink get full of dirty dishes, and she probably read about an hundred books while she was here. The girls and I miss her already (Nick was on night shift for almost all of her visit, so it was especially nice to have her here). For some reason the only picture that I took with her and the baby was when my dad also visited (he visited for about 5 minutes on his way to a conference).

Last, random poll question. What color are these eyes? Try to ignore the blue shirt as a bias. If you look at the tummy time picture you can also see his eyes.

A Blessing

2012-01-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

I named this post, because not only did we have Jack blessed this last week, but he truly is a blessing to us. He is a good baby! He sleeps all the time, and through the night, and he is snugly and content most of the day. I really couldn't ask for more.

Nick's family was able to come for the blessing, which was also a blessing! Jack is the one in the blessing gown. The cute chunker in Nick's arms is Dominic, Jack's twin cousin. Can you believe they are only a week apart!?!

There is something about a bowtie on a baby that is just too adorable. I was worried about boy clothes being ugly, but I am really having such fun dressing him.

Today Jack turned 2 months old! I can hardly believe it. It seems like he has been in our family forever, yet at the same time just yesterday he was born.

Also this week he started to smile. I have yet to get a good picture of it, but here he is about to smile, so you kinda get the idea. His smile is adorable!

A little bit of everything

2011-12-31T21:03:00.001-08:00

To start I want to announce the birth of my little boy. On November 8th at 12:45pm I gave birth to this beautiful boy. 7lbs. 8oz and 20 inches. This boy makes my heart melt every time I look at him.

We got some professional pictures taken of him.

He is such a sweet boy, and my favorite part is that he is already sleeping through the night. (most nights anyway)

A photographer friend of mine was amazing enough to come over a week after he was born to take some family pictures. Isn't she amazing?

I know I shouldn't put up a million pictures, but I just can't get enough of this guy.

The girls are equally in love with him, athough Ali informed me that even though she loves him and he is cute, he is boring because all he does is open his eyes.

Surprise, surprise, this is one super proud daddy.
More things happened while I have been blog-shy.

Ali was star of the week.

She played a brick wall in the "Three Piggy Opera"

Jack turned one month old.

And of course... Christmas!

Christmas season started this year with a wonderful present of a gingerbread house from our (mostly Alicia's if you ask her) dear friend Jim.

A few days before Christmas we headed out to spend a little time with family. Abuelita and Abuelito had some big fans.

While there we managed to find a mountain with some snow on it. Ali, showing her Boston roots, loved the snow and never wanted to leave.

All three little cousins loved playing, but Jack stayed snuggled in the Bjorn.

Nick turned 32 while we were there, and so we had a little cake to celebrate.

Maybe too much cake. Is it worth it to clean your child's face if 2 seconds later some other Christmas treat messes it up?

Christmas morning was full of family and presents.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-04T10:36:00.001-07:00

I really do have THE cutest girls in the world, but dressing them up makes them even CUTER! Here is our little Strawberry Shortcake, and Plex (from Yo-Gabba-Gabba)

They loved Trick-or-Treating, and both were old enough to really get into it.

After a few blocks we were joined by Dez! That scary dinosaur. This picture is kind of fuzzy, but hey! they are all looking the same way, so I can't complain too much.

Halloween weekend we were also SUPER lucky to have some fun visitors. My little sister, Melissa, visited from Utah, and spent the entire 3 days playing with toddler toys. Nadean and Philippi were able to visit us too! This picture looks like they are not having too much fun, but in reality they were having so much fun I was lucky to get them looking at the camera at all.

Here the girls are showing how much they LOVE their cousin, (or their picture being taken). I don't think they even notice that Philippi is trying to run out of the picture.

Sneak Peak for Halloween

2011-10-28T19:29:00.001-07:00

Because we really have the cutest Strawberry Shortcake, I had to do a little sneak peak of what is to come for Halloween. Ali had a costume parade at school, and (I know I am biased) she was definitely the hit of the parade!

Here she is with the rest of her class. The lighting is kind of bad.

She really did have fun, despite the lack of smile. She was so excited about this parade that she woke up last night at 1am, then 2am, then 3 am... Help me!

Prancing and Ponies

2011-10-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

We have been especially lucky this last few months to have Nick home each weekend (This last week was the last weekend with Nick for awhile). We decided to make it a good one, so we headed out to Griffith Park, where I have been wanting to go for awhile. The girls rode ponies and we all hopped aboard a mini train around the park.

Me and Kat. She only let me hold her for this picture. One second after this she "had" to sit by herself. I guess it is good that I am having a new baby, because my old baby is getting too old.

The ponies were a huge hit (no surprise). Kat got to go first in the line of kids and so she thought she was queen of the track.

I think Ali was most excited because she got to pick out which of the ponies to ride. According to her, this one is definitely the fastest one.

After they were done they didn't want to get off the ponies. They probably could have spent all day riding.
Last: Kat and Dez started a little dance class

Kat had to dress the part, and when I told them to pose for the camera, this was their response.

Random assortment of our month

2011-10-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

This month has been kind of calm. Since Ali has started school it has been days full of drop-offs and pick-ups, but there have been a few photo worthy moments.

For labor day we spent the 3 day weekend in San Diego. For the girls that means Abuelita's house! They love that they have all different toys there. Plus this little rocking chair (along with lots of different books) is a big favorite.

We went to Sea World, which the girls loved... until Daddy sat us in the wet zone of Shamu's show. I should have gotten a picture of all of us soaked, but there were NO smiles involved.
I had to add this picture because it has Nick in it. A rare occurrence, I know, Nick has had decent rotations this month, and every weekend work-free!

Alicia lost yet another tooth! Here she is showing me her "hole."

Kat started gymnastics!

She is in the same class as Ali, so of course they have to hold hands most of the time.

This is just a picture of Ali that I liked.

For Ramona, here I am at 33 weeks! With my super itchiness, I am hoping that this baby comes early.

This is a picture for Jen, cause she always says that I am pushing out my belly in normal pictures, so this is me really pushing out my belly.

First day of school! First day of school!

2011-08-31T08:40:00.000-07:00

Ali is growing up! Today she had her first day of school! Not pre-school, but real bonifide Kindergarten!

Here she is on the ramp to her school. Very excited.

This is in front of her classroom. Terrible picture, sorry. But you can see her cute first day of school outfit. Thanks Abuelita!

Some kids were close to tears, but not Ali. She would have pushed me out the door if she had the choice.

This is her teacher, Ms. Sanders. She has been a teacher at this school for 13 years, so we feel lucky to have her.

excessive or nutritious?

2011-08-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

By the time I have this child I think I will be probably be huge because I eat much more than I did with either girls. Ali agrees with me because for the last week, every picture that she has drawn of me has me eating food.

The figure (reported to be me) on the bottom right has a "plate with a tomato on it"

Here I apparently couldn't help myself because I have a huge stack of food on my plate.

This is what Ali said when I asked her what this picture is, "Me swinging on the swings, and daddy pushing me, and mommy eating"

Also here is a video of my girls/princesses dancing. I thought it was pretty funny, and I know it is a bit long, but hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Haircut!

2011-07-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

Ali finally let me get her hair cut! I have been trying to get her to cut her hair for the last 2 years. But ever since she got into princesses she refused (princesses all have long hair). Yesterday, however, she had a playdate with her friend who donated to locks of love. While Ali's hair is not long enough, she was still excited to cut her hair. Only provision being that we go to a hair cutting place. (Apparently she doesn't like me cutting her hair)

This is Ali pre-haircut. She was so excited to be at the "salon" aka supercuts, that she was giggling the entire time we waited for them to call her name.

Not sure why she is holding Kat's foot here, but she insisted on taking a picture with Kat's foot. This is her "long look."

She even had a hard time sitting still while the haircut was in process, because she kept wanting to look in the mirror and touch the falling hair.

Not only did she get a super cute haircut, she got a lollipop too! She told me, "Mommy, I LOVE my new haircut!" What do you think?

Birthday!

2011-07-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

Three year ago today, a sweet little girl was born into our lives. She has brought us joy and lots of love. Happy Birthday Kat!

2 days old and already she was a great sleeper.
While Ali may not have been initially happy to welcome the newcomer, she eventually came around, and now they really are the best of friends. Whenever you ask Kat who her best friend is, she will always respond, "Ali!"

Enough sappy stuff, here is her birthday party, along with the newest member of our family, Charlie.

Kat has been to enough parties by now to be a pro at pinata-whacking. Look at that focus!

I just liked this picture because I told them to look at me, and they all looked, but I guess I didn't specify that their eyes needed to be open.

mmm, pizza! Do mermaids eat pizza?

For sure they eat cake!

Don't worry mom, I know how to do this.

.... And this is Charlie!

He is a marbled dwarf hamster, and so far the girls have been super gentle with him, but it has only been a day. We bought a fun tunnel filled cage, and a ball to roam the house.

Now to find out how long it takes before one of the girls lets him out and we have to search our house for a missing rodent! Any bets?

summer begins

2011-06-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

Warning: Before reading this post know that it will be long, with lots of pictures! Oh and it won't be in proper sequential order.

I will start with Jasmine and Benjamin's birthday party! Summer can officially begin when the girls can put on swimsuits. My sister Rachael (with the help of 2 kids' birthdays) had a hand in throwing a huge water bash.

Kat loved these water guns. Philippi is about to get a face full of water :)

Despite her eyes closed and the look of terror on her face, Ali LOVED this water slide.

Kat...not so much. I could only get her to go with Uncle Nick and he probably still has the claw marks in his leg to prove how much she loved this slide.

Pinatas are always a hit!

A super cool Tron cake AND fairies, definitely a winner.

It is Kat's turn to take swimming classes. She was pretty excited before getting in the water.

The teacher had her put her head in the water.

And then she was a little less excited. Here she was saying, "No more thank you!"

I probably should have put this post first, since no swimsuits were actually involved, but I love it. Kat and Ali filled up the pool with cushions. Kat then ran downstairs to get some goggles. Then they hopped in.

We took a trip to the library which was lots of fun. Now that I know I am having a boy, I have been noticing more differences between girls and boys. This picture at the library exemplifies this. Kat and Ali peacefully reading while Dez is jumping over furniture.

Outside the library there is a little park where the kids love to ride and scoot and run.

Who wore it better? This helmet was a present from Grandma a few years ago, and now it fits Kat.

Try not to put too much on the fact that Ali's outfit is outrageous. Her fashion sense was/is a bit eclectic.

Skills!

2011-06-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

This is Kat showing off for the camera. I probably should have picked a cleaner spot in my house to film... oh well. Enjoy!

Plus, just because it is such a great memory (I would say it is a great picture, but my photo skills leave a lot to be desired), Abuelita came to visit the other day and brought a new book. All the little ones piled in close to listen. They were all so attentive, a new book PLUS Abuelita, and you can't go wrong..

Cornicopia of events

2011-05-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

I have not posted for awhile, but I have a great excuse. For the last 3 months I have had this parasite! It doesn't like when I walk. It doesn't like when I sleep, and it especially doesn't like when I eat anything. But don't worry too much, November 24th the parasite should be out. So while I have been trying to survive these last three months a LOT has happened. First, Ali finally filled up her piggy bank, and as a result, she got a new bike.

This is her emptying he bank. She was quite proud of how much she had saved.

Daddy helped put the bike together while she impatiently waited. She did pause in her pacing to take a picture of how happy she was.

Once it was all put together, Ali went out for a ride. She loves her bike!

This next picture is not super easy to understand, but anyone who has parked at a theme park would understand my excitement. We went to Disneyland, and parked right in front of the elevators. Our parking spot was right next to the handicap parking, and it was on a day that the park was packed, which made the victory all that much more sweet.

Next, I put both Kat and Dez in an art class. They LOVE it. How could they not? All they do all class is paint, mold and color! Here both of them are working on their masterpieces.

They are masters at clay.

Here are some of Kat's artwork pieces. We hang them on the refrigerator and she is so proud of her talents.

For those millions of my blog followers, here is the update everyone has been waiting for, my avocado plant!

Plus we took a trip to the store and picked up some more plants to add to my already enormous tomato plant. We have cucumbers, flowers, and...

Strawberries!

A visit from friends

2011-04-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

This week I was super excited to get to see my friend Megan from Boston. She and I used to go swimming with our little ones. We started swimming together when Ali was about 3 months old, and her son about 9 months old. When she moved away from Boston I was super sad because, lets face it, she is awesome! Luckily, this week she got to visit me, and I think in honor of our swimming, (and maybe because I live right by the beach) we went to the beach. Ali was a bit shy around Ezra, and it made me sad that she didn't remember them. It was a beautiful day, and I think we had loads of fun.

Only crazy thing is I didn't get an actual picture of Megan, just her cute kids. Well, I did get a corner of her face. And this is her new little girl who is so full of energy!

Oh, and there is her back! Here is Ezra, it is amazing how fast they grow up. Next to him is Travis, his little brother.

Here are my girls, and Dez, making sand castles.

Lastly, this doesn't have to do with Megan, but for Ali's birthday we bought a water table for the girls and Dez to play with once it gets hot. Well it has gotten warm outside, so the girls had tons of fun playing, but I am not sure they get the point of the water table. Maybe we should have gotten a pool instead.

Little girl to Big girl

2011-03-14T19:12:00.001-07:00

What does a little girl need to grow up to be a big girl? This post will give 3 of the many things needed for Ali to go from little girl to big girl.

#1 She needs to get a manicure. Preferably one with pink flowers.

#2 She need to get a pedicure. It is not necessary to actually reach the water :)

It is not necessary, but it is extremely pleasant to do this specific task with Abuelita, Tita, AND Tia Gaby (plus Mommy of course)

#3 She needs to learn to braid. I know some people may call this very un-feminist, but every girl needs to learn to braid to become a big girl, and this week, with Rapunzel Barbie's help, Ali learned to braid. She did this braid all by herself!

In conclusion, Ali still has lots more steps that she needs to take to become a big girl, but she can now cross the first three off her list.

Alicia is 5! Happy Birthday Ali!

2011-03-11T09:33:00.000-08:00

Ali turned 5 March 2nd! This year we celebrated 2 ways. On Ali's actual birthday we went to Disneyland and let her open some of the presents that she got in the mail.

Jim sent her a package packed full of fun things. I had never seen one of these books, but they are really cool. You color it with water, and then it dries and you can recolor it again and agian. Ali loved it. He also got her this t-shirt with guitar/musical gear on it and Ali wears it and says she is a guitarist. I wish just wearing a t-shirt would give us the skills.

My brother Lutie, and SiL Falina got Ali loads of Tangled gear. Can you tell they want a girl? Tower, barbies and a BIG doll. She is really in heaven.

Nope, that isn't a new sister, it is a life-sized Rapunzel doll! Ali carries it around and dances with it and hugs it, and calls it her little sister. If I had known she would have stopped asking for a brother if she got this doll, then I would have gotten it for her myself a long while ago.

On Saturday we had a birthday party at AdventurePlex, an indoor playground near us. Ali and her friends had lots of fun.

It has a ball pit, which is always a winner.

Ali, Kelly, and Kailey. Three amigas.

We were lucky to have BOTH Abuelita and Tita come up to the party. Especially Abuelita, since it was her birthday the day before. Happy Birthday Abuelita!

Valentine and a party

2011-02-24T14:26:00.000-08:00

5 reasons why my Valentine is the best one out there.
#5. He can sleep anywhere anytime (even while standing up during a surgery holding some guys guts open). Don't ask me why I love that about him, because it is a skill that rarely, if ever, benefits me, but I really do love it.
#4. Despite the fact that he hates most kids, he LOVES ours and is literally the best dad out there.
#3. Even though we agreed (mutually) that we would never buy each other Valentine's gifts, EVERY year for the last 8 years he has bought me a box of chocolates, while I hold to the agreement.
#2. When he gets home before 5, he always cooks dinner. This may not seem like too much, but he even cooks for me if he has just finished a 30 hour shift. Plus he is a really good cook.
AND THE # 1 REASON...
Whenever he walks into a room he makes me smile. No matter what.

And now for the party, which has nothing to do with Valentine's Day.
Trevor turned 6!!!! Happy birthday!!! (For those who are on the other side of the family, Trevor is my brother Lutie's son.)

It was loads of fun. Balloon animals.

Limbo. Yes he is definitely cheating, but hey it is his birthday.

And cake! Followed by lots of fun and games.

Kicks and punches

2011-02-08T14:26:00.001-08:00

Ali started Karate last week. She is so girly when she does her karate that I try not to laugh the whole time. Plus you can see she is doing exactly what the teacher is telling her.

Look at those pointed toes! Maybe Ballet would have been a better choice. Nick wanted her in Karate to help counter all the girlish activities. Do you think it is helping?

Mid- January, Upper 70s

2011-01-23T15:38:00.000-08:00

I love Boston. We lived there for only 4 years, but for some reason I just love it. I miss it like crazy for most of the year. This week was an exception. Even the best and most outlandish weather in the forecast would have been temps in the 40s. This week it hit the 80s. Multiple days. This is Kat at a nearby park on Friday, Jan 21st.

I know some of you are thinking, "Come on, no more plants, I don't care about your plants!" But too bad. This is my blog too and the girls cannot monopolize it. Since it has been so warm, a couple of dormant seeds popped up and in my empty pot of soil I now have a tomato plant, I think it helped that I have not watered or touched it. :)

This is the plant I am most proud of! My tree is HUGE!!! In reality it is only huge in the fact that it is growing. For those who follow my blog, I started this a while ago. For how long it has taken to germinate, it is growing fast. In just this one week of warmth, it got 3 new leaves.
Okay, okay, now for the part of my blog that people really care about. WE WENT TO DISNEYLAND!!!!!
The Pulham's got us season tickets for Christmas this year, and yesterday was the perfect day to start our season.

Ali wore her Tinkerbell outfit, and flew through the park most of the time.

Our traditional first ride, the jungle tour was lots of fun. Kat was worried about the fake animals eating us, and Ali was trying to reassure herself and Kat that they were in fact, fake.

Lots of time was spent in the princess area, where there was a live interactive princess show. The girls got to dance with Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Cinderella. But do we get pictures of that? No, we get a picture of Kat running from a Mickey Mouse piano... go figure. She still looks great in her mermaid outfit that she insisted on wearing once she saw Ali in Tinkerbell's.

Right on time

2011-01-09T19:57:00.000-08:00

Christmas was great this year, (or last year actually). It started out about a week early when Ali got a present from our good friend Jim. Ali wouldn't put these stuffed animals down for most of Christmas break.

They sat next to her while she opened each present. (The squirrel at her feet is one of about 5 that are on her lap)

Christmas Eve the whole fam headed out to Olvera Street in Downtown LA, for Las Posadas.

Abuelita got the girls and Dez some adorable outfits. I am glad these little ones love each other so much!

Christmas morning the whole gang headed over to our house for some presents. There were so many it made our tree look tiny!

Kat really cleaned up this year, her pile of presents was HUGE! And this year she was old enough to really enjoy the whole thing.

And Ali of course, loved this whole time of year. When she opened this particular gift she said, "This is EXACTLY what I wanted for Christmas!" It was pretty funny. Now she is always "Tangled" even though we constantly tell her that the name is actually Rapunzel, to which she responds, "Yeah I already know that." All in all, I would say that this is the best Christmas we've had, but I think that it is because the girls are getting older and can really enjoy it. We put out cookies this year and Ali was excited in the morning when they were gone. She loved decorating the tree and putting up lights. If this year was the best because of how much the girls loved it I can look forward to next year when both girls will be older and even more into the season. I can hardly wait for next year!

New camera

2011-01-09T18:36:00.000-08:00

Nick's Birthday this year was awesome because his whole family was able to get together. His parents got him a great camera as a present, which I was not allowed to touch for a week. This was the day after his birthday when we got together and the battery was charged. Nick had fun messing with the camera, and the girls had fun posing.
Ali even stopped reading her book for a picture.
Kat was less sure about posing at first.

But later she showed some of her winking skills.

Abuelito had a huge fan base!

Then we all headed out to a nearby fountain where the girls and Dez had a great time splashing and jumping in the water.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2010-12-17T16:26:00.000-08:00

Six reasons it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas:

#1. We had to wait all night in order to see a Santa on a sleigh
#2 Ali told Santa all the presents that she wanted (girl guitar and Tangled dress) and Kat of course, screamed.

#3 Ali helped decorate the tree.

#4 Kat undecorated the tree!

#5 Nick got our yulelog burning.

And last, but not least, we got this wonderful and anonymous (Thanks Jim!!!) gingerbread house in the mail. Since Ali stole Jim's heart 3 years ago we have mysteriously gotten a gingerbread house every year for Christmas, and clearly the girls are over the moon.

Grand Canyon

2010-12-11T16:31:00.001-08:00

Nick's 2 week vacation started on Friday, so we took off to the Grand Canyon. Neither Nick nor I had been there since we were much younger, and I think as an adult it is much easier to appreciate the beauty found there. When I was ten my family backpacked across the Grand Canyon, but we did it the easier way and stayed in a hotel.

This is all of us about 2 switchbacks down the South rim, where Ali said her legs hurt so we couldn't make it any further. I think she needs to workout more.

We did make it to this fun tunnel that both girls thought was really cool. Here is Kat in the tunnel.

Ali really thought this tunnel was cool. Even though she was the one compaining about sore legs, she really wanted to get to the bottom of the Canyon. I think she was mad that we weren't already at the bottom after the 1/4 mile we hiked. She does not have much patience.

This picture is to show how cool it was that my hair matched the canyon. This was not expressly on purpose, but after stripping my hair, and dying it 4 times, I had to give it a week break before fixing it again, or it would have all fallen out. Moral of story: don't try to drastically change your hair before a big trip where you know you are going to be taking lots of pictures.

This picture of Kat is cute, but it has a small story.
The only real hiking we could do was along the rim, where we could bring our stroller. So most of the time we were hiking right on the edge of cliffs. I have never been a great fan of heights, but I don't have any phobias either. Well on this trip we discovered that Nick does have a slight phobia. And by slight, I mean a HUGE phobia. The whole time we were hiking Nick would freak out if the girls got too near the edge. (there were rails and such, but that was a moot point in his phobia). When we got to this one really pretty overlook with nice flat rocks I took each of the girls out to the edge where I sat down and took their picture. (This picture to be exact) I kind of wish I had a small video of Nick while I was taking this picture, because if I did you would see what a heart attack looks like.

Ali LOVED the cliff edge, which probably didn't help with how anxious Nick became. She kept trying to get to every edge she could so she could "see the bottom." I admit, sometimes she scared me. This girl has NO fear of heights at all.

This is a cliff where I got Nick to climb out. Apparently his phobia only extends to the girls. In order to take this picture we had to strap both girls in the stroller.

In the Grand Canyon there is a tall tower called the watch tower. Since Ali is obsessed with "Tangled" (despite never having seen the movie) we called it Tangled's tower. I am not sure how it happened but we never got a picture of the outside, so you will have to trust me that it looks like Rapunzel's tower, or you can google it. Don't ask about the bunny, I am not sure why she has it or why she is showing it, but this is a picture of her inside Tangled's tower.

One of the best things about our trip was the chance for the girls to just have fun. Ali loves to climb trees, and the Grand Canyon is FULL of fallen trees to climb.

She would have never seen the canyon if we didn't force her to "get off that tree and keep walking."

Even Kat ventured up a few trees, though this tree is only a foot from the ground.

Seeds and Halloween

2010-11-16T09:57:00.000-08:00

It has been almost a year since I last posted about my avocado seed. You can see the post here. I know it hasn't done the best, but at least it isn't dead! :)

In case you cannot tell, it is growing. The root system grew so much that I decided to put it in dirt. Well, it has taken a long while, but look at the wildly growing leaves. That stem is enormous!
I guess it might help if I took the toothpick out, but I didn't want to take any chances, since it hasn't died with them in. Plus the toothpick gives you a good size comparison.

Halloween! I know it is wicked late posting these, but my girls were so cute that I figured people would want to see them even if it is late.

In case there are people out there who have no costume recognizing skills, Kat is Dorothy and Ali is Glenda the good witch from Wizard of Oz. Oh, and I am the Wicked witch of East

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A trip and more

2010-10-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

This little one broke my camera, so for the next few months until we get a new camera, get used to fuzzy pictures. I managed to make it so that I can get my camera to take reasonable okay pictures if I zoom in exactly the right amount, but it is still not good pictures, so excuse them for now, and enjoy the fact that at least there is some evidence as to who broke the camera in the first place.

(This happened a few days before we left on our trip)

Last week I got the chance to take my 2 girls and meet up with a few family members in the Outer Banks. For people like me, it was on the coast somewhere in North Carolina. We had loads of fun. My sister rented this huge house and we all just crashed her vacation, so thanks Jen, but mostly thanks Chris (her husband, who I am sure could have done with a vacation alone).

This is all of us a a famous lighthouse. I was there and I am still not exactly sure why it is so famous, but it is, so we took a picture in front of the sign near it.

The house was right off the beach, so that is naturally where we spent most of our time. Here Ali and Kat are making sand birthday cakes.

We got to fly some kites. This is my niece Madeline flying a kite. If you look very closely you can see the small kite very far away.

Ty conquered the kite, but he had to use all his muscle, because it was very windy.

Ali did NOT want to fly it at all... she is great at pouting.

The part of the trip I was most worried about was the flight. Uncle Nick got on the same flight as us with his son Philippi. That made the trip wonderful for Ali.

Kat had no problem on any of the flights. I brought the car seat and she slept almost all the way there and back. But if you look closely you can also see that I brought the binky back for the trip. I am paying for it now, but it was a lifesaver on the flight.

Ali also started gymnastics. Well she started a few months ago, but I finally remembered to bring the camera (now that it is broken I remember...go figure)

Big jump! That jump rope is literally 3 inches off the ground.

Balance beam! Go Ali! She loves this class. The teachers don't push too much, and Ali has so much fun the whole time. They have to be 3 to get in the class, so Kat is always on the sidelines mimicking what they are doing in the class. She will be ready when it is her turn.

I know that this post is already way too long, but I have to add this one in. Gaby and Paul took a little trip away and I got to watch Dez. He got sick the next day. Maybe because he missed them so much. For those who know Dez, they know he is ALWAYS moving, so to see him all cuddled up on the couch and lethargic was so sad. Poor boy, but he will be running this house and his again by tomorrow.

Scholastic achiever!

2010-10-04T12:54:00.001-07:00

When I was younger I loved school. I loved that there were loads of new boys to kiss each year, and I loved recess, and I loved to do math and English. I loved to have TV time once a week where we watched "Reading Rainbow." But one of the things that I loved more than most people would think is reasonable is the scholastic book catalog. My sister, Adele, and I would pore over each catalog once it came out, and then we would beg (thinking back my mom was probably really annoyed by the begging) to be able to get the book that we wanted. She would usually only order about one for each of us, but I LOVED it. For some reason it was an even better place to get books than a book store, perhaps because of all the pictures.
When Ali started school, I knew that she would like it. She had a bit of a shaky start because most kids in her class were together last year. But of course, she made a few friends and now she loves school. One thing I hadn't counted on was the Scholastic catalog. When we got it, I didn't even let my girls read over it before I had. I love that thing. Even now that I am way too old I still love that catalog, and it brings back such good memories of all the wonderful books I got to read as a child. I am such a nerd...

Here is our first order.

PS I dyed my hair black, what do you think?

For Paul

2010-09-29T12:44:00.000-07:00

For Paul, because what father wouldn't be proud of this.

Back story for this picture : I was busy making lunch and the 3 kiddos were playing. I heard Dez laughing, and as I have wanted to catch him and Kat in their fun, I snatched my camera and ran around the sofa. This is the image I caught. Kat was no where in sight, and Dez was cracking up about his find. This is actually Kat's "special" toy. I think that he was very proud that he had managed to get her toy without her snatching it back and so that is why he was laughing.

I have been meaning to post this picture for awhile, well since the last post at least. I wanted to post a pic of Ali with her new friend. My brother Lutie got this for her at Sea World.

Random Assortment

2010-09-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

This week I have found out that Ali has some pretty good fashion sense. She still will sometimes put stripes with stripes, and polka dots with other, different color/size polka dots, but in general she has found her groove. Maybe it is because she has to dress herself every morning for school.

I look back at earlier pictures of Ali, and I wonder how this girl...

has become this girl. Though the smile seems the same. Here she is totally posing. I wish I could put in all the different poses that she did, but everyone would hate me, or just stop reading after 6 or so.

But I had to put at least one more in. Plus in this picture you can see the toddler bed that we have set up for Kat. Since I never posted about it, this picture speaks for me.

We went to Sea world for Philippi's birthday, and I should have done an entire post about this too, but since I didn't, here is a picture of the fun we had. There is a huge Orca whale about 5 ft from the kids. But, of course, everyone knows flashes don't work well through tanks...
Also Ali got a HUGE stuffed Shamu from my brother, (thanks Lutie) and now she has to sleep with it, which is funny since it is almost the same size as her.

I had to put this picture in because I thought it was so funny. Why is it that every picture I take with any of my nieces or nephews and Kat inevitably has Kat crying? If you zoom in you can see the tear that can't quite fall due to such large cheeks.

These next series of pictures has a short background story. I usually wake up to my girls jumping on me to wake up, but this morning, I woke up to quiet whispers and giggles coming from upstairs. Any and all mothers know this as a bad sign, so as any mother would do, I ran upstairs expecting the worse... turns out Ali had just figured out how to work our camera. Do you think she will make a good photographer?

her foot

Our bunny, through the screen because it was too cold to go outside.

Close-up of her little sister.

There were about 25-30 pictures by the time I got to them. Some are better, and some are worse, but at least nothing was broken, spilled, cut up, or bleeding. All in all, not bad, especially since this morning I had an extra 15 min of sleep.

First day of school

2010-09-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

Today was Ali's first day of school.

Abuelita got her this great outfit, and Tia Gaby contributed the stylish jacket to match. Thanks! I think Kat is wondering where her backpack is because at this point, when we left the house, she thought she was going to go to school too.

Ali right outside the classroom. She was ready for me to leave here.

Instead I took loads of pictures and helped her put her things into her cubby.

Even after I left, I was still taking pictures. Not that Ali even noticed.

New earrings

2010-08-24T20:29:00.000-07:00

Malena got the girls these adorable new earrings, and the girls had a blast showing them off.

Her curls are coming back!!!!! I know that is a lot of exclamation points, but I love them curls!

Sweet Ali.

Skirts and tomatoes

2010-08-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

My dad got the girls these really cute skirts, and they just couldn't help spinning with them. Do you think you could resist a spin if you put on one? Side note: Ali picked out both her own, and Kat's outfit.

I GOT TOMATOES!!!! I grew these from seeds!!! I know that it a lot of exclamation points, but in my defense, it is a HUGE deal that I was able to grow these. As a huge benefit, they actually taste really yummy. Side update: My avocado plant is still not a plant. It is just a seed with a small root system. Maybe I am doing something wrong there, but at least I succeeded with one plant.

I dyed my hair; what do you think?

Another look, plus a really cute picture of Dez.

For Gaby

2010-08-13T11:32:00.000-07:00

This is for Gaby, because I still don't know how to email video that is over 10mb.

Party and more

2010-08-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

We had a birthday party for Kat at the San Diego zoo last weekend. It was a great success!

Kat got lots of presents. Thanks everyone!

Ali got to be the big sister and boss Kat around all day. And there was family and friends around to laugh with me.

Some people were sent to the little kids table :)

Who is this?

Just kidding! I love Auntie Misa!
Here is the "more" part of the post.

Dez' hair was just so crazy I had to take a picture. This is some serious bed head!

And last, but not least. Ali is so smart, though we all knew that. She wrote out her whole alphabet, so I had to share it. I think I have a genius on my hands!

Just because you have to see it

2010-07-20T20:58:00.001-07:00

I know that I already did my post for the day, but I have to post this because it is just too funny. Moral of the story, don't turn your back on a baby in front of a birthday cake!

Birthday post

2010-07-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

I know that I have been terrible at posting, and I will try to do better, so here are 3 posts in one. I will start off with the fact that due to some really random scheduling and some real luck on our part, Nick got 3 weeks off of work. We decided to have some fun during that time. We started by taking a trip down to San Diego. We have season passes to the zoo and the wild animal park, so we used them.

The San Diego zoo is HUGE!!! And by huge I mean so big that we had never gone to the elephant exhibit before, so we decided to go. I recommend it! The girls loved these realistic statues that are meant to be climbed on.

Kat was a fan of this specific goat at the ever-a-winner petting zoo.

I know these pictures are super cheezy to put in blogs, but it took me about 10 pictures before I got one where they were looking the same direction, so I had to put it in.
After our trip south, Nick's mom, Malena came and stayed with the girls for 4 whole days while Nick and I took a cruise to Ensanada.

Here is me in the main part of the boat.

Here is Nick in one of our favorite parts of the boat.

Gettin' some sun!

We did a shore excursion to La Bufadora, which is a blow hole on the tip of Baja Cali. I didn't just want to look at the blow hole, so we decided to Kayak up to it. Here we are in our wet suits getting ready to head out. We didn't get any pictures while out there because our camera is not waterproof, but we had loads of fun and it was amazing to get so close to La Bufadora. (Link is wiki site of blow hole)
After the fun on the cruise we all headed up to Fresno for my niece and nephew's birthday party.

Here is Jasmine and Benjamin with their cake. There is Ali, planning which piece she is going to get. Every picture I took of this scene has her looking exactly like this one. Every other child is running around or looking different ways, but not Ali. She knows exactly which piece she wants and she is NOT going to look away and let another kid get it.

Me helping Kat hit that scary pinata. Maybe we will wait another year to have a pinata for Kat.
Right before Nick went back to work Ali had her first swimming lesson, EVER!!! (unless you count mommy and me, which I don't)

She was so brave the entire time. I think this girl should have been born a fish!

Here she is learning to float on her back. Just put your hands behind your head and chill!
Most of Nick's vacation took place amidst the terrors of June gloom, but the day before Nick had to head back to work the sun came out, so we did too.

We headed to the beach where Ali finally let Nick bury her. In this picture you can see her impatience to get out. You can even see the sand cracking in front of her where she had her arms out one second later. But I cannot believe she consented to even that. Just a few weeks before I would have had to bribe her an arm and a leg just to bury her feet. Anything for Daddy!
Last but definitely not least, Kat's birthday is today!!! Nick has been back to work for a week now, but he was able to skip clinic this morning to spend a few extra hours with us and watch Kat open presents.

Nick got her a candy bracelet which she refused to put on her wrist, but didn't want to put down either, so her mouth is where it stayed.

Until she found out about Pez!

Dez liked this present of Kat's the best! But maybe because we didn't let him try the Pez.

At last

2010-06-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

Here is the video I have been promising. Keep in mind while watching it that our flip video camera is not meant to be used in the dark. This is the group dance. Hopefully you can find Ali. If you cannot make out which one she is, look for the girl that spins a little more than the rest of them. Or you can find the girl who likes to put her little bum in the air at the end.

This dance is called teddy bear picnic. It has some serious choreography, so hopefully you can keep up!

This is her solo dance, it is a bit shorter, but at least you can tell it is her. We were so proud of her getting up there and dancing all by herself. She really has grown up so much since we moved away from Boston. If we move back now, will she stop growing?

Just because she is so cute!

Kat found my earrings and had to try them on. She looked so cute I had to snap a few pics!

2 theme parks and a small dancer

2010-06-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

Ali had her dance recital! I think it was really cute and all the children did great. Ali was amazing!

In the beginning they had to sit with their class in the designated "dancer" seats.

Then they got up and danced as a class. Ali was so great in this dance. I can hardly believe she got up and performed in front of the whole audience. After the group dance each girl got to dance a small solo, which is apparently what she had been practicing at home. I have a video of the solo which I will post in the next post.

Nick had a few weeks off to study for the boards, and once he finished with the test we decided to blow our life savings. First we went to Knott's Berry Farm.

Camp Snoopy was the children's part of the park. They were excited to see him, despite the lack of enthusiasm shown in the picture

Knott's has this amazing Carousel with all handmade animals. The girls both had to have the exact animal they wanted. Ali chose the Jackrabbit, and Kat had the giraffe(not shown).

I will post some video of the girls on some rides later, but for now, just know that they played too long and too hard.

We went to Disneyland!!!! The girls loved all the characters and most of the rides. Small world was a big hit. Who knew such a long and boring ride could be so loved by two little girls who LOVE stuffed animals?

Both Ali and Kat love the princesses. We had to wait almost 2 hours to see them, but at least while we were waiting Ali conned her way into getting Nick to buy her a princess dress.

Ali was super excited to see Cinderella, for the next hour all we heard her talking about was the ball that she got to go to, where all the princesses get to dress up in beautiful dresses.

Kat just wanted to hug them.

Kat loved Mickey! I know it is hard to tell in this picture, since she doesn't like to smile when a camera is pulled out, but when it was time to let someone else have a turn with Mickey she didn't want to share.

Hair Cut

2010-06-02T19:02:00.001-07:00

Every little girl comes to the point where her mullets just isn't cute anymore...Kat has finally reached that point.

This is her from the back with her long hair.

Pre-hair cut smile.

This is the back of her hair. Notice my tears at the lack of her cute curls.

Post hair cut smile, or at least she looked toward the camera before running really fast away!

Worth the money

2010-05-18T17:12:00.000-07:00

Ali started a new dance class. I think she likes it because she is super excited to go each week, and she tells me that she loves it. I do not know, however, how she dances during the class because it is a drop off your child, don't watch kind of class. There is a dance recital in a week and a half, and because of that Ali is supposed to "practice" at home. Now I am not sure there is any type of routine or anything like that because I think the class is a free-spirit type of dance class, so I am not sure exactly what she is supposed to practice. Well when it was practice time, I took out the video camera.

Background for this video, I told Ali to practice her dance moves that she is supposed to learn, and this is what she did. So did I get my moneys worth, is my child hopeless, or does she have moves? What do you think?

Repeats

2010-05-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

I know most mothers can understand the sentiments behind some clothes. I once posted an entire entry about one shirt. Well one great thing about having another girl is that clothes get to have a repeat cycle! I am not sure if the purple shirt will be Kat's favorite, but when I took it out of the 2T bag I almost started to cry.

Here is the original in the purple shirt and dress outfit. She was 2 years and one month old at this time.

Doesn't she look so cute!?! I cannot believe that she is big enough to wear this. Kat is only 22 months, but I think the multiple times in the dryer might have had a hand in this.

Another shirt that almost brought me to tears was the spiderman shirt. This is Ali (also when she is 2) wearing her "piderman" shirt.

Kat had to accessorize to make it a little more her style. If you look closely the fading on the shirt is obvious, and it might be slightly smaller, but there is something wonderful about being able to repeat some wonderful memories by adding new ones to old clothes.

Why Crawl?

2010-04-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

Why crawl when you can roll?

I apologize for my daughter's interference. She does not seem to share the same camera shyness that Ali used to suffer.

Ali can Read!

2010-04-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

This week one of my friends was talking about how nice it is now that her daughter can read. Her daughter is only 6 months older than Ali, and she knows how to read. I figured MY Ali is WAY smarter than her daughter. (I am not competitive at all!) So I decided to start teaching Ali to read. I have been teaching her letters and their sounds for a long time, so she knows her sounds and letters, but I have never made the attempt to actually teach her to read. On Wednesday I spent about 4 hours reading with her (not in one sitting) and now she is on her way to reading.

This is the second book she can read all by herself. There are a few words that trip her up, but all in all, for 2 days of reading it isn't too bad. Also, I didn't put the whole video of her reading it because it would have been way too long (in case you are trying to follow the story she is reading). Also, pardon the terrible sound, they decided to start the construction outside just as I started taping.

Birthday trip

2010-04-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was my birthday, and since Nick had a golden weekend this weekend, we decided to go down to San Diego to celebrate. We went down after nick got home from call on Friday and on Saturday we went to the Wild Animal Park. The girls loved it! For my birthday Nick got me a flip video camera, so here is its debut.

The petting zoo was really fun. I have never been to a petting zoo where the only animals were deer, but Kat loved it.

Ali just loved to go in all the tunnels and caves that they had there. But later she admitted that she liked the giraffes.

Birthday Party!

2010-03-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

It has been too long since I last posted. Long enough to realize that I missed posting Ali's birthday party, which I really should not have done. We had lots of family drive far to make it; some came from San Diego and some from Bakersfield. I think it was a success, but maybe it was because it was my little girl who turned 4!

Does every 4 year old have this much attitude!?! She wanted to just go play, not stand here and just take a picture.

We had her party in this great indoor play space. Ali is up there at the top climbing her heart out.

Then she took a dip in the balls with her new boyfriend Calder, whom she informed us she is going to marry.

Then we had a little pizza, with some flirting!

Not everyone wanted to eat their pizza on the table.

And some didn't like the pizza much at all.

Then it was on to cake, Littlest Pet Shop, of course!
(Alicia did not like being the center of attention, especially when she had to blow out the candles, but she loved the cake.)

Then presents, all the kids crowded around for every present, it was kind of CRAZY how excited kids can be over these toys.

Post would not be complete without Ali's best friend, Kellie. And crazy thing is she really is Ali's best friend. It is pretty loco how much Ali loves her friend, (maybe the downturned eyes full of love may show a bit of how much she loves her.) I really believe that Kellie has made the transition from Boston to Manhattan Beach easy on Ali. She had lots of friends in Boston that she loved to play with and it was hard to leave, but Kellie made all that better. Plus she gave Ali a BARBIE!!!! How much better of a friend can you get?

Thanks Jim!

2010-03-05T19:38:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday! Ali is 4 and this was her birthday package from a good friend Jim!

Ali loved everything in it. Jim ALWAYS seems to know exactly what Ali loves. Her party is tomorrow, and I promise to post some fun pics of the day.

Question for your thoughts

2010-02-27T15:59:00.000-08:00

My question....

How much brownie batter does it take to make a 3 year-old sick?

Or an 18 month-old?

Dez

2010-02-19T16:23:00.000-08:00

I think Gaby got my message about the clothes, because now Dez is always wearing properly fitting clothes. Gaby told me that she was upset because the clothes that were in that post were not especially cute, (fyi, the onesie in that post was a back-up from a blowout diaper that he had earlier). I think to make up for that he has been wearing especially cute things to my house each day. Or perhaps she is just making sure that in case I post pics of him, he will be in a cute outfit. Well, today he was dressed super cute!

And LOOK the knee pads are at his KNEES!!!! Plus look at his chubby, chubby, edible feet!

What a happy boy!

It is never too late for...

2010-02-16T16:51:00.000-08:00

Cupcakes!!! In the beginning of July I bought a cupcake kit for Independence day. Like many people with a million things to do and little time, I failed to make the cupcakes before July 4th. Well, more than 6 months later and I finally made them. Luckily the kit had a long shelf life.

Dez was a big help licking the spoon. Since he is a bit young for raw batter we gave him a clean spoon, and he thought it was great!

Ali mixing up the batter. She hardly spilled any, which is a big step!

Kat helped frost!

And then she added some sprinkles! (notice there are already a few bites taken from the cake!)

End result. (Well to be totally honest these are the ones that I frosted, I was not fast enough to take a finished result of either of the girls' cupcakes).

Too small?

2010-02-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

I have been extremely lucky in that I have been able to watch my nephew Desmond for the last couple of months since my sister-in-law went back to work. This is their first child and he is extremely cute and cuddly. Anyone who sees those cheeks has the desire to kiss them he is so cuddly. But he is NOT small. He may have been small at one time in his life. Maybe for about 2 weeks after his birth, but since then, no. He is a big boy, and I don't mean that he is obese or anything, he is just big (maybe because his dad is about 6'5"). Well anyway, on to explaining the purpose of my post...
Gaby has been bringing him to my house in the mornings and I always comment on how big he is getting and how his clothes are not quite fitting him properly. I don't think she is getting the message. Now I understand the love of an outfit. I even dedicated an entire post to one of Ali's shirts, which was extremely hard for me to put away long after she had outgrown it. Some of the times that I tell my S-i-L that things are too small she complains that it is the first time he has gotten to wear the outfit, but that is NO excuse! Give it two years and he will still be wearing clothes that are 2 sizes too small because he has to catch up on the new outfits. I really was just giving her a hard time in the beginning because the outfits that he was wearing were just slightly too small on him, but now it is just getting funny. Below is the onesie for today.

Notice the tightness of the onesie as a whole as well as the "muscles" bulging out of his arms. If he moves to the side you can even see a little cleavage!

The buttons are barely able to come together. One slight movement and...Pop!

This outfit had me laughing so hard when I took him out of his carseat. I know it doesn't look too small on first inspection, but those round circles on his upper thighs are knee pads. Notice the crotch buttons are again being pushed past their limits.
Anyway, even if the clothes are too small, he seems pretty happy in them!

New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-19T10:48:00.000-08:00

I know I am very late in posting my New Year's resolutions, but, in my defense, getting my posts out on time is NOT one of my resolutions. So this year I wanted to keep it simple so that I might actually have a chance at completing my goals. My first resolution is to limit my exaggerations. Now for those who know me or my family (The Thompsons), you may have noticed that exaggerations are just a part of who we are. You get a group of Thompsons together and stories just blow up. This year I plan on limiting how much I exaggerate, and by limit I mean I want to not exaggerate at all. Easier said than done with how much I am prone to naturally exaggerate. My second goal and one that should be easier to accomplish is to not kill plants. Now of the two goals that I set for myself the second should be far easier, but alas, 1 day into January and I killed my first plant.

For Christmas my sister gave me an avocado tree (I think she felt pity that my seed still isn't growing). Although if she saw my earlier post she would have been more wary of giving me anything resembling a plant. New Year's eve I put a crate too close to the table where the plant was set, and over night our bunny jumped up from the crate and destroyed the plant. Above is the remnants of what might have been a great avocado tree.

For those who are wondering how my seed is doing, here it is, rotting away.

My sister also gave me a lemon tree. The bunny got to all the lower branches and destroyed them, but luckily this tree was taller than the 1 1/2 ft the avocado tree had been.

This picture is just a small side note. I think that having a green thumb may skip a generation. My mother and my mother-in-law are both excellent with plants. I posted earlier about my 1$ Christmas tree. Well, I loved it so much that I went out and bought Ali her own plant (distiguished with the "A"). I let her do it all by herself, and she floods the thing constantly and she (according to me) planted the seeds too shallow. And yet her plant is thriving! Where did she get that skill. To be fair to me, her plant is not a christmas tree, hers is some type of flower, and maybe they are easier to grow. That is my story and I am sticking to it!

Vacation

2010-01-18T20:07:00.000-08:00

Nick has had the last 2 weeks off, and it has been great! We have done lots of fun things!

We went bowling, this was lots of fun since Ali is finally old enough to make it down the alley about 3/4 of the time.

We went down to San Diego to visit Abuelita. At the outlets they have a small train that Ali loved.

At the outlets they also had tons of the little coin operated cars and rides. My girls don't care about the coins, they just want to play on them. I told Kat to get out because it was time to move on. That is her classic dirty look. I hate it when they learn things from me.

We went to the SD zoo, it was a beautiful day; one of those days that makes me glad I don't live in Boston anymore.

At the zoo they have sky trams that are fun, and high, but Ali was brave.

We couldn't ride together so we spent most of the time taking pictures of each other.

A nice trip to the Natural History museum was so much fun. Kat LOVED this polar bear.

Once Ali realized Kat loved the bear she had to get in on the action too.

We also had a nice trip to seaport village in San Diego. I love the sun!

And last, Ali woke up early this morning and played while we slept. She got into the hair bow box, and now she looks "beautiful." It was so cute I had to add this.

Dez

2010-01-04T13:58:00.000-08:00

I get to watch Dez M-F now and we have loads of fun. Here he is growling at his playtop giraffe.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-28T16:41:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas
I hope everyone had as great a Christmas as we did. To start off a great Christmas week, we celebrated Nick's birthday at Benihana's with Nick's folks and the girls.

We all love Benihana's! Last time we came here Kat was too little to eat anything, but this time she got to sample all the tasty things.

We spent Christmas with Nick's fam this year. It was a special treat because it was baby Dez' first Christmas.

We got a 2 gingerbread houses this year. One that Tia Gaby helped Ali make, and this one that our good friend Jim sent to the girls. Ali thinks it is all hers. If you look you can see Kat's hand trying to get a piece, and Ali's response to that hand.

I told Ali that if she shared with Kat then she gets to eat as much of it as she wants. This was the look she gave me.

A picture of all of us.

Thanksgiving (right on time)

2009-12-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

This year we had a great Thanksgiving at Tia Gaby and St. Paul's house. I know that I am way late posting this, but we had a great time so I had to say something about it. Tita, Gil, Gibi, Tio and Beba were all there (Nick's aunt, uncle, cousin, uncle and aunt, respectively). Gaby and Paul hosted in there newly redone backyard and it was great. The food was good and the company was better. Nick was even able to be there, but being that he was post-call, I am not sure how much of him was there.

The girls hadn't seen him for 2 days, so naturally they didn't let him eat very much.

For some reason, (probably that I was too busy eating!) I never got a picture of us all eating or pre-eating. This is after we were all done. It was so great to see everyone, it makes me really grateful to be so close to family.

Surgery and a Sister

2009-12-07T09:48:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago I had a minor surgery to repair a umbilical hernia (picture at bottom of this post) I got during my pregnancies. I was lucky to have my sister Adele visit, and I was even more lucky was that she loves to bake.

She was surprised by our lack of cooking equipment. Most notably, she was upset that we don't own a rolling pin. We have always used this glass cup that is flat and straight. I think there is not much difference, as I have never owned a rolling pin, but she thinks that we ought to invest in one.

She took Ali out for a ride on her horse. Ali was in heaven. I am scared because I know one day she will ask me to get her a horse... thanks Adele!

She was loved the entire time on the horse, and when I told her it was time to get off she said that she never ever wants to get down.

It is very small for the amount of pain it caused. I never realized how often I get hit/kicked/pushed/punched in the stomach until now.

Christmas begins

2009-12-07T09:32:00.000-08:00

This year is a unique Christmas for our family because we are staying home. Nick and I have been married for 7 1/2 years. In all that time we have never gotten a Christmas tree until this year! Here are some pictures of us setting up our first tree.

The girls LOVED to help put up ornaments!

Ali helped daddy put the star on top.

After a very short time we had to hold Kat to keep her from "helping" too much.

I think she didn't want the ornaments to stay on the tree, because putting them on was so fun. Since we have very few ornaments, she "had" to take them off so she could put more on the tree.

Ali had been looking forward to seeing Santa for the first time in her life. She had a mission, which was to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas. "A blue spiky ball with lots of colors." Anyone have any advice where such a ball might exist?

Kat was not as big a fan.

The Millers joined us for Desmond's first trip to Santa.

My plants and I

2009-11-14T16:20:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to blog about my planting adventures, but have not really gotten around to it lately, but today both girls went down for a nice nap...at the same time!

I have a black thumb, and for those who wonder what that is, I say it is the opposite of a green thumb. I kill plants. I don't discriminate, I kill them all. My mother-in-law (who definitely has a green thumb) bought me some nice potted flowers and said that in order to keep it alive all I have to do is water it every once in a while and to simply cut off the flowers once they die. Perhaps she shouldn't have said simply because 2 weeks later when all the flowers died and I had cut off the flowers all I had left was sticks. Those quickly died.

When we moved here to Los Angeles I thought I would take advantage of the nice weather and a big patio and grow some things. Most people who read this blog have seen my failed attempts at an avocado tree, but I have not talked about my tomatos. We bought the seeds in June. The big selling point was "Get ripe tomatos in just 2 weeks!" Well I haven't killed them and they did grow, but it is mid-November and I still have only 5 green tomatoes that refuse to ripen. I am not sure what more I could have done. Well I am terrible at raising plants, so when I went to target and they had "Grow your own Christmas tree" for only 1 dollar, I thought I might be wasting my dollar, but why not? I bought the small kit. Much to my surprise only 3 days later this is what I have:

It is a very small pot, only about 2 inches tall, but there is SOMETHING GROWING!!!! Now we will see if it really is a spruce tree.

Small update on my avocado adventure....nothing....not a single change.

My error of the day

2009-11-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

Just because they are playing nice and quiet outside on our patio does NOT mean they are playing nice!

I should not talk to my sisters on the phone for so long. Here is my proof:

Kat decided that this pot (full of soil for my avocado tree) was her new sand pit.

Third try, or is this the fourth?

2009-11-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

I am again trying to grow an avocado. This time I am going to give it even more sun and warmth. Lets see how it turns out.

This is what I have on my windowsill with the most light. If anyone sees anything wrong or has any opinion on growing avocado trees from seeds let me know.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T20:33:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween, most of these pictures need no explanation, so enjoy!

We went to a pumpkin patch with cousin baby Dez.

In front of our house.

Nick might have had something to do with that Yankee sign.

Ali's pumpkin carved into a pumpkin. The idea was hers, but the sharp knife was wielded by Momma.

Treats even before we started trick-or-treating. Tia Gaby spoils my girls!

Super-Millers!

Yummy candy!

I think that is all she wanted all night. She was definitely not old enough to understand the idea of mass candy.

Just for fun Ali pee'd her pants/costume as we were walking home. With rain boots, you can imagine it wasn't pretty! She almost never pees her pants anymore, but she really did NOT want to stop trick-or-treating, so she didn't even tell me she had to go until the puddles inside her boots became uncomfortable to walk in.

Bunny

2009-10-17T16:13:00.000-07:00

Meet the newest member of our family. This is Robbie, or Kelly. We have only had her a couple of hours and already her name has changed 2 times. I am sure one name will stick, I am just not sure what it is yet.

Ali loves her. She is only about 2 months old and she is a very calm rabbit. Kat has already picked her up by the ears, and no scratches or bites. Hopefully my girls won't be too rough with her; if you notice in the picture, she is cornered.

Ballet class, and a new hairband

2009-10-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

Brand new headband that I HAD to get.

Ali actually posing for a picture. I think she doesn't like Kat getting all the attention.

This is Ali in her ballet class. I don't think she learns a single thing in this class, but she loves it. I know the video is bad, colors are a bit yellow, and the teacher is TOTALLY blocking the shot, but since we have to look from behind a glass window, it isn't too bad. Enjoy

First comes walking then comes...dancing?

2009-09-27T15:40:00.001-07:00

The next day (September 15) after my last post about Kat walking Nick got home from 30 hour call. I had to show him Kat's new skill since he could only view it from his iphone in between visiting patients. We sat down and Nick asked Kat to walk to me. Her vacuum was blocking her so she leaned down to move it out of the way, and it started to make music. Below is the result.

WALKING!!!!!

2009-09-14T17:55:00.000-07:00

I know it has been too long since I posted some pics of the girls. So, here is a big one... a video of Kat walking!

Isn't she just the cutest walker ever!?!? Sorry it is so dark in the room, I should have turned on a few lights.

Ali just finished her gymnastics class,

and started ballet. Girls in ballet clothes are really just adorable!

Her first day of school with her pencil box, though it is only once a week for 2 hours (co-op style).

Abuelita got her this little house from Costco. Ali LOVES it. She gets to decorate it and bring in only her favorite things. (Recent presents from Abuelito, and of course her "Jim Pyramid")

Oh and Kat is allowed too I guess!

2nd time is NOT a charm

2009-09-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

So I wanted to keep everyone updated on my sweet avo-project by posting pictures of my avo-tree as it grew from a seed. I might as well just re post the last picture because my seed looks EXACTLY the same, except maybe a little bit of mold on the outside of the seed. What am i doing wrong?????

2nd times a charm!

2009-08-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

Awhile back I posted about my soon-to-be avocado tree and I am sure everyone who read that post is anxiously wondering what became of my little attempt at horticulture. Well you need wait no longer. IT FAILED! I wanted to post a picture of my failure, but decided that a rotten seed is not that cool. The seed split, so I thought it was going to grow, but then after a month of nothing it finally fell apart due to mold and rot. Now I have another chance! This seed is my second attempt and I am sure this one will work. It is smaller, much smaller (that is a 4oz baby food container), but I am sure the avocados will be tastier than the other ones would have been anyway!

Just because I thought it was cute. Here is Ty holding Ali up to pick that non-ripe orange. I let her eat it later and she finally understood what not ripe means!

Ali with her Uncle Jason who is leaving back to BYU today. Bye Jason!

I wanted to post this picture because it shows the enormity of Kat's cheeks. Note: there is nothing in her mouth.

Black beans are yummy, but they are messy!

Instead of one

2009-08-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

Instead of one long post I decided to split it into 2, so....

We have a new addition to our family, leather sofas! Kat is in there for size comparison. They are huge. I really love them.

Kat approves. I really think she just loves to walk along them. Too much empty space did not suit her well. It is too easy to be naughty with open space, and she loves to be naughty.

My sister-in-law, Gaby is about to have a baby boy! so we went to her baby shower in San Diego. Here is Ali being such a great big sister. She had been with her Abuelita for almost a week without Kat and when she saw Kat she was pretty excited. Kat was almost equally excited. I am glad my girls love each other so much!

This was just a pretty picture! I wish the window had been clean, or I was better at photoshop.

Family!

2009-08-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

I hate when I take too long to blog because then I feel like I have to catch up on things that have happened since I last blog. And, when I have to catch up my blogs end up being 10 pages long. But I can't just not share these cute things!

We got Kat this walking toy, and she is finally starting to use it. Maybe one of these days she might actually walk.

My sister got married this past Saturday, so we have been lucky to have family come visit. We have been especially lucky since none are staying with us. :) This is us having such fun at a fountain near our house. Doesn't Jen look like she is having SO MUCH FUN!?!?!?!

We went to the beach and though it seemed almost impossible I got everyone in the picture; wait where am I?

Why is it that a picture of a baby eating sand is just so cute?

Here are all (well a few are missing ie Jasmine, Benjamin and Trevor) Ali's cousins: This is her with Elias.

This was such a good picture of him I had to add it too!

This is Philippi. (Nick don't hate me if I spelled his name wrong!)

Kiki!

Madeline. Yummy applesauce.

Ty; Look at me Ty, no this way, no don't close your eyes...oh well at least he is in the picture.

Because this is my blog, and I love this picture, here is another of Kat!

Death of a pinata

2009-07-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

We had a fun party at a nearby park. Nick's mom, sister and Aunt were able to come which was nice. My family came too, but for some reason we did not get a picture with them.

We helped Kat open presents. This toy in particular she did not want to put down. It was a phone that had lots of sounds and lights. Thanks Gibi!

We had Cake. This cake is inspired by my sister Jen, and decorated by Ali. Sorry for the bad picture. For some reason we never really got a good picture of the cake.

Kat liked the cake!

Then we had a pinata. First we hit it...

Then we punched it...

Then we stabbed it...

Then we kicked it...

Ahhh finally we got candy. I think that thing was made of iron.
And just because I could not let this post end without adding this,

Here is a picture of my mom punching the pinata. Sorry for the blurry picture, she was moving SO FAST!

Home

2009-07-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

Since we moved Ali and Kat have been... what is the right word... emotional. At the sound of a "No" from either me or Nick and Ali would throw a tantrum. Kat would always want to be close to me, which is very unusual for her. But this last week the girls seemed to finally settle. I think that we can now call this place home. Since we moved into this building Ali has called this apartment, "our house with the blue gate," but now she calls it "home." For instance, when she says, "I want to go home," Manhattan Beach is the place to which she is referring. I know this because she doesn't start breaking down when we pull up to our new place anymore.

I think that a huge motivation in her feeling more at home here has been that we discovered the library. When we walked in she went straight for the books as if she had known the place her whole life. I think we can move anywhere with a library and Ali would eventually be okay.

Kat finally wanted to get in the pool with Ali and so we got out her swimsuit. She was so cute in it I had to take a picture.

Yummy water! Notice how Ali's head is dry while Kat is soaked from head to toe. Big thanks to all the big sisters out there who know how that could happen.

Kat started to do this blinking thing. I am not sure why she does it, but when she is happy she blinks her eyes, and I managed to get it on film.

OKAY OKAY, here is a bit of our trip

2009-06-29T15:33:00.000-07:00

For the OVERWHELMING requests, here are a few pictures of our road trip.

No, this is not trick photography, there really is NOTHING in Minnesota.

Once we hit South Dakota things picked up pretty fast. We saw the world's largest bull head. I am not sure how tall it was, but it was pretty massive. Sorry about the blurry picture, going 80 mph is not great for taking pictures.

The one and only corn palace. I think that Nick wants to move to Mitchell, SD solely for the ability to go to the corn palace whenever he wants.

The real reason we took the northern route, despite the awesomeness of the corn palace, was to go and see Mount Rushmore. I could not believe how big it is. All pictures, including these ones minimalize its size, but it is huge.

Just one of the little one in front of the big ones.

This is the only picture that shows how truly large these things are.

Once we were done with ALL the cool things in South Dakota we headed south to the four corners area. As my undergrad degree was in Anthropology I could have stayed there forever. This is Mesa Verde. It is an entire city set in cliffs.

We took a guided tour through the ruins; some spaces were tight.

And some were below ground.

And just because, this is a picture of our new swimming pool! In case anyone was wondering why she is standing so funny, she is dog paddling/swimming. Maybe we ought to get her some lessons.

New project

2009-06-21T23:10:00.000-07:00

I was telling one of my friends in Boston about the amazing avocados we had growing up in California, so when we were leaving she suggested that I plant an organic avocado tree. This is the beginning of that adventure. I bought the biggest one in the basket. Plus, it was delicious. I plan on documenting the growth of my "tree" on this blog, so every month I will post a picture of its progress.

One more olive

2009-06-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

PLEASE DON"T SCROLL DOWN UNTIL YOU ARE DONE WITH THE STORY

WARNING: This is a "Nick-Post," so it might be a little bit inappropriate, proceed at your own risk.

I haven't started residency yet, so I have spent a great deal of time with my 2 girls. I don't think I ever realized how extreme these girls can be. They are either extremely hilarious or extremely, well, let's just use the word tired. Let me share a hilarious moment that happened last night.

Since Ali was about 1 year old, she has loved olives. We can often bribe her into doing things with the temptation of olives. She has even been known to turn down candy or ice cream for olives. She especially enjoys black, pitted olives. She carefully places them one by one on her fingers, until she runs out of fingers or olives. Last night, she was especially good and was rewarded by a bowl full of olives. Steph and I turned to our night chores while Ali proceeded to make her olive glove. A couple of minutes later, I heard "Daddy look I only have one olive left." I turned around and this is what I saw:

I'm thinking of making this our Christmas card. I'm gonna miss these moments.

-Nick

Short story and a bit of thought

2009-06-16T22:32:00.000-07:00

The short story of these long 3 weeks is that we made it here safely. It was a long road trip and a long time setting up our apartment but we are done. Our new address is:
861 Manhattan Beach Blvd #1
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

I also want to say a goodbye to Boston, which really has treated us well. Most people do a pros and cons sort of deal where they elaborate on the good and bad of their experience, but the one thing, and the big thing that I will miss in Boston is the good people. The world has lots of good people in it, but I think that Boston in particular has an unproportionally large quantity of such people. To all those good friends, we miss you all already.

Graduation

2009-05-18T15:13:00.001-07:00

Well it finally happened. Somehow I got my M.D. I'm currently in the sweet spot of post-medical school but pre-residency, so I'm not going to take a lot of time on this blog. Instead, I'm going to stuff it with sweet pictures.

Here is me sitting in all my Harry Potter glory waiting for my name to be called:

Here is the obligatory picture of the diploma with dean. It was the first time I heard "Dr. Pulham" that wasn't in reference to my dad:

This is me with my enormous diploma:

This is the crew that came out to support me:

Sweet family picture (Kat and I are looking at my parents camera):

Concluding picture that perfectly summarizes the evening in Ali's expression:

Princess and the Pea

2009-05-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

Just a short clip of her eating peas.

Her hair is just long enough for a small flower pot.

New Haircut

2009-05-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

Alicia's hair always gets in her face. I blame it on the cowlick inherited from her daddy that causes her hair to go directly forward. In order to try to help minimize the amount of time I have to spend on her hair each day, I decided to cut her hair. I saw a girl with really cute bangs at our park, so I tried to copy it. What do you think?

A close-up.

I love this one because Kat is just so cute in the background. She looks like she is holding that spray bottle like a weapon at her holster. And yes, Ali is wearing a rainbow striped shirt under Hello Kitty, could someone please try to explain fashion sense to this child.

I think Alicia looks more like my niece Jasmine now that she got her haircut, but Nick thinks she looks more like Tia Gaby. That statement might mean more to those who know my niece and my sister-in-law.

Just because.

Ode to the purple shirt

2009-04-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

I was going to try my hand at a small poem to say goodbye to this well-loved purple shirt, but in order to save the readers from the pain I will abstain. This purple shirt is soft and in Ali's words, "comfy." It is stretchy and so it fit her for longer than it really should have. Plus it was a very versatile shirt; it was an undershirt, a t-shirt, and a layered shirt. It really went with all of her pants, so when she picked it out to wear the day after I did laundry EVERY time for about 4 monts, I was okay with that.

This is how the shirt was meant to be worn, as an undershirt for this baby doll dress.

As a t-shirt it was just as nice.

While apple-picking, just adding a vest gave it a bit more warmth.
I was thinking about adding a picture of her trying to wear the shirt now, despite its being too small, but decided to focus on the greatness of this wonderful shirt that has given us so many wonderful memories.

A growl says a thousand words

2009-04-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

Kat loves to growl. She growls when she is happy, she growls when she wants things, but she will rarely growl for the camera. It is a dancing frog syndrome, but I finally got her to growl once for me. Now take this small growl and do it a hundred times all day long and that is what fills my days.

Here are some pics of the girls in their Easter dresses.

If you take out Nick's hands holding Kat up, you can just see how much Kat was dancing in this picture.

A week of fun

2009-04-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

Because the exciting things that I posted about for the last couple of weeks, I felt I had nothing to talk about. Match Day, Brazil and Niagara Falls are all cool places, so I thought that pictures of this week's trip to the aquarium would be anti-climatic. Well they might be, but then I realized the reason for our trip. For the first time, Alicia slept through the night without wetting her bed. When she woke up she was pretty excited that she had accomplished this seemingly impossible feat, so I asked her where she wanted to go to celebrate.

Can't you just feel the excitement on that face? They have a touch and feel tide pool, which is one of Ali's favorite parts. This time she was even brave enough to touch the crab, but not quite brave enough to do it without my help, so I only got a picture of the starfish.

Kat just got her first 2 teeth. If you look closely you can see those little chompers!

Our little baby is growing up so fast. Now she is wearing 12 month clothes and it kind of saddens me how fast she has grown. She is getting into everything. Anyone have some kind of pill to keep them from getting mischievous?

Niagara

2009-03-31T06:04:00.000-07:00

Since we are going back to the West Coast, we decided to take a trip up to Niagara Falls.

Being that it is the end of a very cold winter, Ice covered huge portions of the falls. The boats and the tours were all closed for the season, but we still got to walk around and see Niagara. This is the view from the US side of the falls. The mist in the farthest part of the picture is from Horseshoe section of the falls.

This is the Horseshoe Falls from the US side. It is pretty unspectacular compared to the view from Canada, but it was still amazing.

This is the view from the Canadian side. The sun was really bright, and with the sun gleaming off of the mist it was hard to get a good picture.

This is what happens when we ask a fellow tourist to take our picture. I think they left out a huge portion of what we wanted in the picture. Where are the falls? If you are touring somewhere that has significance and someone asks you to take their picture, please try to get the important background INTO the picture!

This last picture was just cute and funny. We went to the zoo after I got back from Brazil, and Ali got kind of grumpy and tired quickly, but when we came to these cut-outs she just HAD to put her head through, so Nick snapped a couple photos.

Brazil Part 2

2009-03-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

Once we picked up my sister, we went to an island and enjoyed one more day of the beach. It was a large island that we drove to, and it was pretty beautiful.

We went out to the water and found that the water was PACKED with jellyfish. Luckily they didn't sting us, and it was fun to be able to hold one. Not sure if you can see it too well, but it is the clear blob in my hand.

One great part of Brazil was the food. There were lots of things that I had never tried or even heard of, but the beans were particularly amazing. My sister took us to some member's houses and it was hard to not stuff my face. Luckily they encouraged us to eat about 4 helpings.

My sister took us to the interior of Brazil where we saw some waterfalls. We actually convinced my mom to go into one, which is a pretty big deal.

This is all 5 of us at the bottom of one of the waterfalls.

In Recife the crossing guards dress up like clowns. I am not sure exactly why they do it, but we had to take a picture with them.

Brazil Part 1

2009-03-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know, I had the opportunity to go to Brazil to pick up my sister who is serving a mission in Recife. Since Nick's mom was so wonderful to stay with the girls so Nick wouldn't have to take off, I went for 10 days! My sister, Lynette, was going to be sent home on the 18th, so two of my sisters and I decided to spend a couple of days at the beach before going to pick her up. We stayed in a small beach town called Porto de Galinhas. We just had lots of fun and got some much needed sun.

This is a picture of my two sisters and me on our way out one morning.

We rented a surf board and this is me showing off my skills. Just for Caleb's sake, I won't show the picture of Jen surfing, (she is 3 months pregnant).

Galinhas means chicken, and there were these wooden sculptures of chickens everywhere.

We went on a banana boat, which was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. We got thrown every couple of minutes, and I think I drank more salt water than is healthy for any human.

The beaches there in Brazil are just so beautiful. People there would ask me if I missed my girls, and while I admit that by the end I did, places like this just make me forget that I have any other responsibilities but to get tan and warm.

CALIFORNIA HERE I COME!!!!

2009-03-23T08:03:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Brazil, and I had a wonderful trip. Since Nick is not prone to posts, he waited for me to tell everyone the news. We are going back to California, and I am really excited! Warmth and sun, and the beach! Why did I ever leave?

The beginning, hopefully

2009-03-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

Now that Ali is 3 years old she seems to be so mature. In reality she looks the same, but for some reason now that she knows she is 3, she is trying to be a big girl. When I try to explain things to her she actually TRIES to understand. She also doesn't whine nearly as much, nor does she throw tantrums as often. It is great! I hope it lasts, at least until her teenage years.

Here are a few picture of this week. This is a picture of her clay creation. In case you cannot tell what it is, I will tell you. It is Mickey Mouse. You can see the BIG blue eyes and the long legs, clear characteristics of Mickey.

Tia Gaby got her this baby and me outfit that Ali loves to wear.

This is Kat's version of early crawling.

A Birthday! and more

2009-03-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

Alicia turned three today. It seems like just yesterday she was our little baby. This is her one day old.

On Saturday we had some friends come over and help us celebrate. Ali is a bit shy, so for the first hour she was clingy and withdrawn. By the end of the party when it was time to open presents she was having much more fun. The cake was somewhere in the middle. Being the center of attention is NOT one of her comfort zones. She must have just been over the moon with excitement since she actually blew out candles and sat without being held by someone.

The little girl next to Alicia is a friend named Abby. She was obviously very happy for Ali, plus candles are just so much fun to blow out that who wouldn't celebrate the success of such a mission.

One of Ali's favorite presents (Thanks to Abuelita and Abuelito). It could be that it was the biggest present, or that she loves to paint, who knows. She clearly loves to write A's.

This was from today. I just had to post this picture because I love it. Alicia is concentrating so hard on playing and Kat looks like she is mischievously going to "get" Ali.

Just a cute picture to show how chubby and big our baby is getting.

Not Quite a Crawler

2009-02-17T14:43:00.000-08:00

She is not quite crawling but she is still moving. I really love this age. At 7 months she is just so much fun. She is starting to play with toys, and have preferences for some toys over others. It is just great. Is it wrong to hope she stays exactly like this?
On President's day we decided to do a little historical site-seeing. Unfortunately it was so cold that it was hard to stay outside. This is the famous Plymouth Rock.

Believe it or not, this is the site of Mayflower II. Due to the chance of it freezing in the waters, it is taken out of the water at Christmas time... we of course knew that before we took the drive out there.

My Cute girls being Cute

2009-02-15T17:45:00.000-08:00

Abuelita sent some yummy candy and a fun hat for Valentine's day. Ali loved both (although I really think that the candy won out). She loves lollipops and I think it is because they last longer than other types of candy, so she thinks that she is getting more candy. I HATE lollipops because, as you can see, they are a sticky mess. That is a sticky hand she is showing me. Ah... what I sacrifice for my girls!

So funny story, like most kids, Ali gets really quiet when she is naughty. More than that though, when she really wants to get into mischief she closes doors. Yesterday while I was doing something I heard the door to my room close. I gave her about 1 minute and then followed her in to see what she was doing. Turns out she has an aching for video games. Perhaps we just need to get her some new books.

This picture is cute and I would add it even if it didn't have a story, but it too has a story. When Ali was little we had a little toy box out in her play area. Like most kids she would immediately dump it out if she even got close to it. She started to dump it out at about 6 months old. Kat on the other hand has never been interested in dumping stuff. She did however learn to tip it. As you can see, she was quite pleased with the results. As a side note, this week Kat learned to throw things. I thought that at first it was an accident. She frantically shakes things until it "accidentally" goes flying. It has since occurred to me, since she repeats the actions (especially when she doesn't want something), that she really is able to throw. I guess kids just do things at different times. Ali didn't learn to throw until she was about 18 months old. (She was a pro at dropping things though).

Who wore it better?

2009-02-04T08:55:00.000-08:00

Tia Gaby got this sweater for Ali last christmas. Due to a small amount of shrinkage, it now fits Kat. Who do you think wears it better?

Random stuff

2009-01-31T18:55:00.000-08:00

The last two weeks have been pretty uneventful. It has been cold and snowy so we really haven't gone out too much.

We've had some fun in the snow and we tried to build a snowman. For my family, you must excuse our tiny attempt at a snowman (especially after Jen's) but really the snow has been just fluffy stuff so really this is quite an accomplishment. Actually, it is more of a snow mound, so maybe it is not an accomplishment, but Ali was still proud of it.

Their little cold faces are just so cute. Even if I feel bad for her, I do love the pink cheeks.

Ali has become a great big sister. For awhile I thought she was going to start hating her little sister because she had kind of been ignoring her and pretending she was an only child again, but within the last couple weeks she has become a loving and protective big sister.

Kat is starting to MOVE! Luckily she does not yet crawl, but moves in a way that only 6 month old babies can. Once I figure out how she gets from point A to point B I will let you know, but for now it is an unanswered question.

This picture may seem like an odd one to add to the blog, but I had to add it. For Christmas Ali got these pajamas (Thanks Tio and Beba). It is her first dress pajamas; all her other pajamas are the traditional footsie-like ones. Well when we got them I thought she might not like them because she is used to wearing the pants, but she LOVES them. Each time she puts it on she dances around and says, "OOOO my pretty Dora dress jammies." Most of the pictures I took were blurry because she was moving too fast.

Why do they grow so fast?

2009-01-16T06:47:00.000-08:00

I think the movie speaks for itself.

If you look close, you can see that Ali wrote her name. It may look like she wrote it upside down, but really I just turned the board around so that her name could be seen in the shot. This is not the first time that she has written her name, but it was the first time her name is recognizable.

A little taste, or a big one

2009-01-09T16:34:00.000-08:00

Looking over our Christmas photos, I realized that unless I am going to make an album, I cannot post all the pictures that I would like to post. I decided that the best thing to do instead, post a hint of the fun we had.

It started with some decorating at my parent's house.

Then we went to San Diego for a great party!

We had some fun with Papi Lalo.

This picture is especially special. It is the first time Ali actually asked to have her picture taken (even if she doesn't look happy). I think she was just smitten by Papi Lalo.

And, of course, we visited the Hotel Del Coronado. They have a beautiful tree every year, and this year it was amazing.

We also went to a puppet show, only memorable by its lameness.

The Grinch, however, was amazing. Abuelita got the tickets and the dress, and we all loved it!

Another first, Kat learned how to put her foot in her mouth, which she likes to do now at every possible moment.

Since we were in San Diego, we had to see Seaport Village, I think Ali thought she was the queen there. This is the girls with Abuelito.

Lastly a romp with a cousin up in LA. The girls had fun playing with Philippi, whom Ali nicknamed accordion (not sure why).

Needless to say, we had fun. But now we are all tired!

Rubies, Are they forever too?

2009-01-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

Christmas has been a great adventure for our family. We have been in California since mid-December. Lots of fun stuff has happened that I can't wait to blog about, but for now, since I am still not even home, I will give a sneak peak. On Nick's birthday, the 23rd, we got Kat's ears pierced. Nick didn't like "disfiguring" her on his birthday, but he admits they look cute. In this picture, she had not quite realized what was going to happen. She only cried for a minute though, and she has since never messed with them.

Isn't she so cute? Her earrings are rubies, her birthstone.

Just because, here is Ali showing off one of the many presents she got for Christmas. She loves the outfit because not only is it comfy and warm, but it has kitties on it.

Playtime

2008-12-14T17:37:00.001-08:00

I know most of you were probably holding your breath waiting for me to post a picture of Ali's new doll house. Well you need not wait any longer. My sister and I were talking about some of the differences between our daughters, meaning Ali versus Madeline.One of the differences we discovered was in the way they play. Madeline enjoys things to be pretty orderly and even. She would never have, say, a Mr. Potato head in the dinning room. She most certainly would never let the "Loving Family" mother sleep in a shoe. If you click on the picture to enlarge there are a whole assortment of random toys thrown in with her Loving Family (which is the name of the doll brand that actually goes with the house). I guess in her mind, her Farmer Joe (of Little People) could do just fine feeding the elephant (baby toy) and kitty and it doesn't matter size or shape because everyone is welcome. Moral of the story, she just has a BIG imagination.

Temple trip

2008-12-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

Ali and I are both feeling better today, so thanks to all those who wished us good health. Since we are feeling better I decided to share an extra post. Nick and I took the girls to the temple here in Boston with our friend Matt and his little boy Emmett. The kids had a lot of fun exploring the grounds, and we felt good introducing the girls to such a beautiful place. If you look closely you can see the new hat and gloves set we got for Ali. For some reason the gloves were made for a teenager and the hat was made for a two-year old.

Kat tried to smile for the picture, but the wind was blowing in her face. I have a feeling that her cheeks will be pink in most pictures for the next few months. She did enjoy watching the older kids running around.

Here are my two beautiful girls together. I had to bribe Ali to get her to sit next to Kat. Her love for her sister is slowly wearing out except when she want to maul her with the "binky," which she does with enthusiasm.

LOOK AT ME!!!!

2008-12-11T16:03:00.000-08:00

Both Ali and I have been sick this last week, but our little one is making up for our lack of activity by learning how to do cool things like roll over. She did it for the first time today and the second time I caught it on camera. Enjoy

First Snow

2008-12-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

The first snow fell here in Boston yesterday, but since I was sick we did not go outside to play in it. It was just as well because the snow did not stick on the ground. Alicia did, however, get her first playing in the snow experience this season. In Rochester it was neither too warm or too dry to snow, so we sent her out to play and we took pictures from the window.

I did venture out after about an hour when her hands were freezing and I told her to come inside. She did not want to go in, but when she felt how warm the house was, she changed her mind.

Kat stayed bundled up, and the only way you can tell we were outside is by the pink in her cheeks.