Riding our big bikes...

We have reached a new realm in our household, no more trikes. Cody was able to upgrade his bike thanks to Uncle Tim and Aunt Danna. This made his old, little bike open for Tyler. After some convincing and lowering of the training wheels, Ty decided it was a good thing.

New NASCAR bike, he loves it.
We will be changing the decals very soon, no Jeff Gordon!

Very proud to be riding his big bike.

Look at them go!

Hitting the ice...

Today we had our February field trip with preschool, a trip to the ice rink in Roseville. This is the same rink we went to last year and we had another really great time.

Cody getting his skates on.

Skating around with his friends.

Here's Cody skating with his walker.

He spent a lot of time in the snow pit, making perfect snowballs and throwing them at the target.

Then he got brave.
He made a short little jaunt to and from the snow pit, without his walker.

After doing this a couple of times, I convinced him to go around the main rink with me.
Holding his knees to regain balance.

Off he goes...

Here's a short video of him without his walker, heading off for a break.

When it was time to go, he asked if we could come back tomorrow. YAY! So glad he had such a good time. Definatly going to go back for more fun.

Scroll down to read the rest of our Boise adventure...

Late Winter in Boise

Here's the rest of our week in Boise. We did a lot more than I thought we might!

While doing some shopping Monday we drove by a really neat looking park, so the boys made me promise that we would go back. Be true to my word, we did on Tues.

Cody couldn't get enough of this race track thing, I had to make him go run around a handful of times!

Another morning we had a chance to go to the library for story time. The story teller was The Best I've ever seen. The boys had a ton of fun. Tyler and I also went back on Fri morning to do a preschool art time. Once we got there I realized he was probably a little young, but he sat down, listened to the story, cut out paper pieces and glued them on just like the other kids in the room. All the time I was on the outside, peering in through the glass. He looked at me a couple of times and smiled a big smiled and waved.

Thursdays is 1/2 price day at the zoo, so with such nice weather, we took advantage.
Waiting outside to go in, I wish the brotherly love was always present!

They both took many turns down the giant giraffe slide.

I think this is the first time we've ever seen these guys out! You an also go through a tunnel and pop your head through to see them from inside their habitat.

I think the cranes are also new, so cool to see them on their long, skinny legs.

Thursday evening we went to dinner at my brother's house. The kids really enjoyed the time together. They watched most of Space Buddies (what a stupid movie), played outside and inside as well as with Sam the dog.

Friday night Cody and I went to a Steelhead's Hockey game with my brother and his family.
Cody and Cody watching the warm-ups.

Close to the action.

Disagreeing with the refs.

And the Steelheads won!
Sunday night, my brother and his family came over again to have some dinner. The kids had such a great time together, even though there is a bit of an age gap. I didn't get any pictures, didn't want to ruin the moments, but Tyler really had fun with his cousin Ashlee. She sat for a very long time, reading books and playing with him. So sweet.

We headed home early Monday morning and had a smooth trip, even with the sheets of rain that came down by Tahoe. Can't wait, next time we go up we get to fly, at least one way.

It's a slow life...

That pretty much sums it up for the time being. January and February are always slow around our house. The hustle and bustle of December come to a crashing halt and it takes me about that long to get back into things.

A sleeping giant. So full of energy, spit and vinegar finally slows down and sleeps. His crib is full of stuff, 5-6 animal friends 3-4 blankets and at least 2 pillows. By the time he falls asleep it's mostly gathered around his feet, with his trusty red blanket and Clifford by his side.
Both the boys had Valentine's parties on Friday. Cody passed around his Valentines, checking out the loot in all the bags has he went by.

He was excited to show me his bag that he made. "I put stamps on both sides so I would know it was mine, Mom." Note Ty in the background with his rain gear eating him up.

Tyler helped me pass out his Valentine's as well, very proud and did a great job. We also brought snack and snuck in some cookies for good measure.

After a long week of fun, we traveled to Boise on Sat. The trip went well. Trying to get out of California to Reno took us 5 hours because of the ridiculous chain controls on the mountain. But we made up time across Nevada and cruised into Boise by 9:30 that night.

The house is busy with family, but we're making it work. We hung around on Sunday, watching the NASCAR race.

Monday we ventured out for some fun. Stopping out to the outlet mall to score some deals on clothes for Cody for next fall. ( I never buy in season anymore, the random shirt maybe, but that's about it.) Then we attempted to go ice skating. The only problem was, they were all out of the ice walkers, so Cody had to hug the edge while I kept Ty between my legs with both hands. Not fun for any of us. So after one excruciatingly slow time around the rink, we were done and ready for lunch. But before we hit the ice I did get one picture to prove they had their skates on and we were aiming for fun!

More to come. Cody has a new bike to try out thanks to Uncle Tim, so that will probably be our Tues adventure.

TAG! You're it...

I'm bored and haven't posted anything in days so I'll play the tag game from Jen.

Make a list of things you can see without getting up: My computer in the office closet, the crafty corner screaming at me to get some use.

What were you like when you were five? I.don't.remember! Mom? I know I had a favorite dress I had to wear all the time.

What are you wearing now? A ratty long sleeve T, red vest, jeans and running shoes.

What story/book/novel have you read over and over again in your life? Harry Potter and the Bunch, for some reason they never get old.

What’s the last thing you read/are currently reading? Seduction in Death by J.D. Robb Thanks to the previous mentioned Jen, I'm hooked and can't get enough.

Do you nap a lot? No, but I should! I did fall asleep for a few minutes on the couch the other day, made me more cranky and disoriented.

Who was the last person you hugged? The boys.

What’s your current fandom/obsession/addiction? Panda

What was the last thing you ate today? Panda: half a bowl with fried rice and orange chicken.

What websites do you always visit when you go online? Hotmail, Blogger dashboard, Facebook, Ivillage messageboard, then a random array of other blogs and such.

What was the last thing you bought? Valentine puppies for the boys and a bunch of other regular groceries and household junk.

What are you listening to right now? Tyler playing in the toyroom. But have the Lady Ga Ga song in my head, "Just dance, it'll be okay, do do do, Just dance...."

What movie are (or were!) you most excited to show your kids? Umm...
We were all (still are) very excited about Cars!

If you could have any super power, what would it be? The power to read minds. I always want to know what people are thinking and I'm just that nosy.

What is your favorite weather, and why? Blue skies 75-80 degrees. Makes it nice to be outside without sweating too much.

What time do you usually get up? 7ish

What is your most challenging goal right now? To lose a crap load of weight. I really like the wrong foods too much!

Say something to the person who tagged you: Jen, Love ya Babe!

If you could have a house–totally paid for, fully furnished–anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be? On the beach somewhere, but only if we had friends and family nearby. Otherwise I don't know. Boise? Orangevale?

Favorite vacation spot? The beach, although I hear Disneyland is nice.

What is your favorite children’s book? Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, or maybe The BFG

Name one thing you just can’t resist no matter how bad it is for you: Panda or good Mexican Enchiladas

If you could meet anyone famous - Someone very chill, a country music star, Earnhardt JR, ???

If you could go back in time to any part of your life, when would you revisit? High School, live more in the moment and go to college right after.

If you're reading this, consider your ass tagged, sucka! Copy the questions, paste them in your blog and link back in my comments. Kisses!

Puzzling...

I've seriously been sitting on this post since Thursday, had it all written out in my head, but just couldn't seam to make to the computer. Lucky you, I'm finally here!


Last week I finally decided to tackle the puzzle mess in the toy room. Two year olds think it's hilarious to dump out puzzles all over the floor. Yeah, real funny. Usually when dumped, it's not just one but 2-5 at a time. So instead of putting them all away, I finally just dumped them into a grocery sack and stacked the boxes to the side. Probably a dumb thing to do, but I was tired of cleaning up the pieces.

So this was the scene Thursday night...

Luckily there's some good TV on that night and I was able to get them mostly sorted and put together to survey the missing piece factor. To my surprise, all the puzzles put together have every piece. YAY!
I'm almost done. There are 2 sets of puzzles that are not finished, the sets look almost identical even though they each have 2 puzzles. So that's still to come. My life is so exciting!

In other random news of the week:
Cody has decided that he can cross the monkey bars all by himself. Shocked the crap out of me last Tuesday when he reached over from the starting point and went across, one bar at a time to the other side and climbed down. He did it 4 more times! WOW!

Tyler can peddle his bike some now too. He did it a little bit at preschool on Fri, then again later over the weekend when we were walking to get our mail. He's not confident yet that it's him doing it, so more practice to come. This is exciting because I won't have to push him!

Music class is also starting to pay off for him. All year in school, he would just sit on my lap and listen to the songs we sang. Sometimes he would get excited over Old McDonald, but only if he had his favorite puppy by his side. This past Friday, he sang all the songs he knew and did all their motions, I was so happy! Now if we can get him to stand up in the morning roll call, he can catch up to the rest of the class.


Yep, that's our exciting life, I know you are all SO jealous! Off to music class and Mommy gets her quite time to jog/walk.

Young love and some nature...

Saturday, Keith took the boys to a pinewood derby held by the local Boy Scouts. We have some friends with older kids that are in the pack that was hosting, so it was fun. Cody saw a few friends from school, because they have older brothers, so he was over the moon.
Apparently, I don't have just one lover boy, but two on my hands. Cody is a lover. He latches on to the girls in his class, holds hands, gives hugs, probably bugs the crap out of most of them, but it's cute. Ty found a girlfriend at the derby. I have no clue who she is, but she was blond and cute from the sounds of things. They spent a bunch of time sitting on the mini stage, coloring and jumping off. At one point she had wondered off and found some chips, brought them back to where they were sitting and shared with Ty. Then the two of them decided that Ty needed his own bag and headed off on the journey to find some, because she knew where they were, but Keith stepped in and said no at this point. Yikes!

Sunday we headed off to Effie Yauw park for a walk along the nature trails and a puppet show, this was a family field trip that we were able to gain hours for preschool. It's open to all the children that attend the preschool, in any class, along with the other preschool site in the program. Being that it was one of the other teachers hosting the event, we were there with only one other person from our class. So Cody, being the lover that he is, decided they would hold hands and stick together. She went along willingly, so luckly there wasn't much issue there.

The trails wind down by the river, so there are always a lot of deer to see.

We also followed a gaggle of turkey around the place.

We headed over to the puppet show after a snack, then spent some time exploring the center.




Cody makes me laugh with his tendencies to go to the ladies, but it worries me for when we get Jr. High. The biggest thing we've been working on this year is personal space, and staying out of other peoples. It's definatly a work in progress.

Decluttering the Crafty...

The task of the day was decluttering the crafty corner in the office, it's been a mess, with new things arriving for Christmas, and my system not being all the great anyway. So I set out to be productive on this gloomy, rainy day.

Here's how it looked after just getting started this morning, a mess!

This is the finished product. I re-purposed bins and magazine folders I had around the house, then pulled out the label maker and went to town. I moved the small shelves to the other side of the desk to make room for my paper cart. Went through my pink scrappy tote and put all the embellishments (ribbons, buttons, brads, inks, etc.) into my small drawer cube. The things from the small cube were sorted and put into the stripy bins. Now the pink bag is just for cutting tools, pens, pencil and adhesives. The large cube was reorganized, staying much the same except for the paint drawer being put into a bin to make way for big spool ribbons. Cricut things were moved around and now have a safer home.

Shelves before...

After...

The guest bed area was a mess as well, so it was slightly overhauled.

I need to find a home for a memo board, picture and bulletin board (this will probably go in the toy room to start displaying some art. The pile of blue is fleece from an unfinished project that is working as a cover for a ton of pillows that will be worked into projects, hopefully sooner than later. I still have a box problem, but will probably take these out to the shed and let them live there for a while. Good boxes are hard to come by and I hate to let them all go!

So it was a busy day, including 4 loads of laundry, folded and put away, and general breaking up of fights and fussiness brought on by the rain. Maybe now I'll be inspired to work on some layouts I've been avoiding. I have a nice stack of pictures organized and waiting.