Fun Fathers Day

Today...Jeff got to sleep in (normally, he gets up with Max usually...around 5:45, 6ish...) When Max and I went to wake him up, he was given his first father's day present, made especially by Max. A My Dad Rocks man (max painted the rocks all by himself...) It was cute to see Jeff half awake trying to figure out why Max was handing him rocks...When he came out of the bedroom, he saw this set-up on the table... D-A-D with the kids pictures in it... and a new-to-him beach cruiser that Max, Ivy and I got at the Goldenwest Swap meet on Saturday morning...in the rain...for soooo cheap! We went to church where he got some caramel and chocolate covered pretzels...and the most adorable Max coming out of Moonbeams (pre-sunbeams) with a huge MnM bow tie---I was ticked that Jeff had already eaten most of the MnM's by the time I got to the car to take a picture of how cute Max looked...so I'll have to replicate how cute max looked! Amber Pitt...you're amazing!

After church and grilled cheese sammies with Jeff's fav cheese, A 3 hour nap was scheduled. He woke up at 4...just in time for us to head out to play outside and have our surprise neighborhood barbeque for all the daddies. I bought us Filet Mignon and Corn on the Cob-ski that Jeff fixed up like a pro...

and we brought Frogs Eye Salad to share (Jeff's favorite)
here's the spread...minus the BYOB

Followed by these hand-made corn on the cob cupcakes for all the daddys! So cute, huh?

After cleaning up the spread, Jeff was itching to take his new cruiser our for a spin...and so was everyone else, so we went on a fun, and quick bike ride with the kids...and some of our neighbors that were still around.

Don't be alarmed...This looks like cruel and unusual punishment for Ivy, but we had to insure that there would be no head wobble-age and no big brother elbow-age. Jeff likes his bike! woo hoo. Hope Jeffer had a fun-filled Father's Day packed with things just the way he likes them. We love you, babe!

To Our Daddy

Dear Daddy...We love every minute we get with you! We love bouncing on you, climbing on you, playing baseball with you, chasing you, wrestling with you, swimming with you, digging with you, snuggling with you, jumping with you. Seeing the zoo with you, hiking with you, helping you, playing with you, going to the beach with you, playing trucks with you, getting donuts with you, riding in your car with you, pretending with you, reading with you, and doing anything with you.
Thanks for being such a great example for us and being with us as much as you can... you make us so happy! We can't wait to make our 'with you' list longer and longer!
You're our favorite daddy, and we love you all the time!

Happy Father's Day!
love max and ivy

The San Diego Zoo...and the bumbo

Now that the draft is over, we get to spend a little more time with Daddy! This week, or family adventure took us to the San Diego Zoo... a place where neither Jeff or I have been for YEARS. We were so excited to go! It was such a fabulous day in San Diego...Barely overcast (my personal favorite)...the perfect day for the hugest zoo ever!
We couldn't wait to see the Polar Bears. We jokingly call Jeff a polar bear because he's big and white and toasty. The Phx zoo doesn't have polar bears, and we were particularly excited to see them with the kids.

I couldn't resist taking this picture of Jeff and the Elephants pa-toot..hee hee

Ivy was zonking while we looked at the fun new elephant exhibit: it was huge and up close!

The elephants have always been Max's favorite at the zoo.

I'm always the one with the camera, and usually have to ask for Jeff to take a picture of me and the kiddos... but Jeff was frisky and actually took some pictures himself... good job, jeffer!

After we came home, we were getting ready for our friends to come over for dinner. Poor Ivy had been in the stroller and her car seat all the live long day, so I thought we'd try out her new bumbo that Steve and Becky bought us. We didn't have a bumbo for Max...so I was anxious to see how it worked, and how Ivy liked it...

how fun is that! she can stinkin's sit and she's only 11 weeks old! Thanks S & B...we love it!

...our little dolly...

We had such a fun day with our family!

The Lagoon!

We had such a fun day today playing with our friends the Westovers! We always do fun things with them. Today it was our turn to go to their neck of the woods and see their new house. (of course, it's so cute) They took us to a pool by their house called the lagoon...zero entry pool all the way around-- and it was huge--and the pool doesn't get deeper than three feet! Dare I say it's better than the beach--no waves to worry about, and warmer water! Max was able to run in and out of the water and had so much fun with Kali and Tatum!
max and tatum

and, yet again, Ives, chillin' poolside--such an amazing baby!

Lucky Us!

Jeffs family already saw these pics, but I lOvEd them so much, I wanted them on my blog. There was a really fun old chevy parked out in front of our apartment the other day when we went out for a run. It looked like Flo, from the movie cars, on steroids. I am in love with this color, and am a little obsessed with everything this color...that's another post. Anyway, so sad that when I got back it was gone, and I couldn't take Max out and take pics next to it. Lucky us, the next day, it was back, and I was able to ask the owner if we could do a quick photo shoot. Isn't my little stud-man cute?

Outside with friends

We got the shark pool out again today and had a bunch of kids over to play!
Berkleigh making a splash

Max playing with Corban

Ivy chillin' pool-side

MLB Draft 2009

Jeff's first draft as a full-time scout has come and gone, and the Diamondbacks drafted 4 guys from Jeff's area! That's freaking awesome!! He's getting each of them to sign a major league baseball so he has a collection, which I think was a fun idea. Keep your eyes and ears open for these up and coming big leaguers: Matt Davidson (3B from Yucaipa HS)

drafted 35th overall. (35 is Jeff's magic number: he wore number 35 for BYU, ASU, the Twins; was drafted in the 35th round to the Twins and now got his first guy drafted 35th overall...so fun!)

David Nick (2B from Cypress HS)

Drafted in the 4th round,

Brad Wilson (RHP from Cal Poly Pomona) drafted in the 33rd round,

and woo hoo Beau Amaral...son of former MLB infielder for the Mariners, amongst others, Rich Amaral (CF from Huntington Beach HS--get 'em oilers) drafted in the 45th round. All of Jeff's hard work paid off...Good Job, Jeffer!!!

Hallelujah!!

Can you hear those angels singing?

Ivy slept through the night last night for the first time...

...and has been sharing a room with Max for 2 weeks with absolutely no problems!

amazing baby!

A Day at the 'Zeum

Max, Ivy and I met up with our friends Amanda, Kali and Tatum at the Children't Museum at La Habra today. It was the most fun place for our kids to play! Kali is 3 and Max and Tatum are both 2 and they had sOsoOsOoO much fun! There were a gazillion different stations, which I tried to take pictures of, but carrying ivy in one arm and my purse in another, holding the cameral and chasing crazy Max didn't work out so well for my photography hopes...but here are a couple of the fun things they had there:

A real city bus for the kids to drive and ride in...it didn't move, but they could push buttons and steer, etc.
Here's bus driver Max

There was a little mini carousel that the kids can ride themselves (just their size) that went every 15 minutes or so...

There was a bone digging site complete with brushes to carefully uncover the bones with.

There was a room full of taxidermy animals that they could pet...and the room was packed full of them! There was a dress up room with a stage, and microphone. There was a grocery store with grocery carts, and tons of food (Max loved that!), there was a tree house, 4-5 trains sets to watch, we got a tour of a real caboose...sooo many things to do! I would go back in a heartbeat! Max had so much fun...unfortunately, I didn't get to talk to Amanda much--but I know they had fun, too! Can't wait to hang out with the girls again next week!

weird-o

I'm always anxious to see what Max is doing when I come in to lay Ivy down for the night. Most nights, he's awake and just hanging out with his feet where his head goes. He's always out of his covers, and never how I left him. Remember back in April when we kept finding him in Grandma's bed? (After Hours post)
Well, tonight...this is how I found him. What a weird-o! At lease he stays in his room after we put him down, but seriously, how do you fall asleep like that? just like his dad.

i is for Ivy

Ivy had her first trip to Disneyland and California Adventure...she rode the Monsters, inc ride, heimlich's chew chew train, the spinning lady bugs, and Buzz lightyear...and didn't make a peep the entire time...so fun to have a pass and be able to go to disneyland for a couple hours without feeling guilty. Thanks for taking us, daddy!

All about Ivy @ 9 1/2 weeks

Ivy has been the most fabulous baby ever!!! She sleeps so well, going to bed at 8:30 ish, and waking up at 3AM...and then at 7 ish. Holy amazing. She is quick to smile, especially when you tickle her nose, or make goofy faces at her.

She doesn't mind being in the car, or the stroller, or the baby bjorn, or outside...she just is always so content, she's amazing!

She loves her big brother and loves it when he kisses her. She likes to watch him play trucks outside.

She has the most toots I have ever heard...constant bubbles, and very loud (it cracks Max up).

She's learning how to coo, she's so good at tummy time and will stay on her tummy until mommy gets bored. :) She's got a double chin and a toothless grin and is the most beautiful little girl ever.

All about Max @ 2 3/4

The other day, we were eating dinner and as we were wrapping up eating, Max says 'Daddy, I wanna play tatch.' I have never seen Jeff move so fast as he hopped out of his chair and ran out the door with their gloves before Max was even done chewing. It cracked me up how enthused Jeff was to do anything baseball with Maxer. I know Jeff can't wait for Max to be a little T-baller...(we only miss it by 2 months!)

Here are some things that Max loves to do...:Play baseball...He is the catcher!!! (he'll tell you) He gathers all of his baseball necessities out of his "ball box" (chest protector, bat, ball, little mini diamondbacks helmet, sometimes his little T) and prepares to go out in the field. He loves to throw his ball up and hit it with his bat one handed...and holy he is really good at it!

check out the follow-through...he really is amazing at hitting the stinkin' ball.
He loves to play in the dirt. He loves to dig, he loves to load dirt and pine needles and flowers in the back of his dump truck and dump them out in random places. (grrr) He loves to hunt for bugs and wormies and snails in the dirt, and overturns every brick and rock in the complex looking for little treasures.

He likes to climb trees. especially this tree, and luckily he can't get very high, but he is constantly climbing up there and trying to get back down.

and he loves to show off his muscles (like every guy)...He is getting bigger and bigger every day and I love to watch him grow, and hear the new things he does and says.

...and here is me taking a lesson from my friend Kim and putting a little more talk (journaling) and a little less action(pictures)...I want to document what my kids are doing.

From the time Max was one, Max could tell you when he saw a dig-dump (a construction truck). His first word was tractor, and could spot them a mile away.

Now, it's so fun to listen to him as we drive, or look through his truck books because he can tell you what each kind of truck is...Excavator, Backhoe, bulldozer, cement truck, paver, grader, steam roller...anything. And he corrects me if I think it's something else...

He can identify so many different bugs, it cracks me up from a common house fly (that's what he calls it) to a praying mantis, to a black widow.

He can spot any "do not enter" sign as you drive by, and has some sort of a photographic memory...He knows if we are at Sams Club, or driving by Yogurtland, or Taco bell, or when we're driving by the bread outlet. Yesterday, we were driving on the freeway in a place we rarely drive pass....and all of a sudden, Max shouts: "It's the taco bell building!" I'm like, whatever dude, there are nothing but skyscraper-type builings around here...and then sure enough...there was the taco bell logo way up there at the top of one of the sky scrapers...I've never even seen that building, let alone shown him...how does he know that stuff???

Some things Max says on a regular basis:

...smells nice in here.

...yes, I think so.

...Look, I'm shakin' my tail feather!

...pretty nice!

...Come say her hi...(that means come say hi to her)

...Hi pretty dirl. (every time he sees Ivy)

...I wanna hold you.

...Let me get that for ya. (not you)

Recycling Freak!

So in California, in order to recycle you have to drive somewhere and drop off your goods, rather than having them just picked up for you on the side of the road. They do give you money, but when we first moved here, I thought it sounded like too much of a hassle, with a very small reward. So no recycling for us...Until my genius neighbor moved in, and we found out that she recycles, and the money they give her, she puts in her daughter's savings account....Ba-RillIaNt!!! I wish I was so cool to be able to think up such fantastic ideas, seriously! So, recycling is my new favorite hobby. I'm a little bit white trash about it, I'll admit...(ie, when at a birthday party Max was invited to, we carried home our empty pop cans and water bottles...Jeff said I was ghetto.) I'm a little homeless about it...(ie, I'm tempted to pull water bottles out of the garbage at Albertsons when I walk by...just tempted, I didn't actually do it). And, I'm a little obsessed about it (ie, every night when Jeff gets home from work, I ask where his water bottles from the day are). Even Jeff's mom saved up a large bag for us from Arizona, and Jeff brought it back to add to our collection!

(any other arizonan's are invited to join in and save their loot, as we will be coming to arizona shortly :))

Anyway: so excited about this new project!

So, it's been about a month or so, since I've resolved to refund-recycle(unfortunately I'm not green, just greedy). Our stash grew in our garage, and since Jeff was home this afternoon, I thought today should be the day to try it out...We headed on over to Orange Coast Community College and 2 minutes later, left with some serious cash...hee hee. I was giddy driving home. Here's to the start of Max and Ivy's college education fund, one can of Diet Coke at a time...oh, and the random beer can that I found on my walk the other day. sad.

$9.37...better than a kick in the bum! I

can't wait to go to the bank and put it in their accounts!

A coupla things

Here are a coupla things I've been doing lately...

a ruffle butt (pardon my french...hee hee, but that's what they called it...and it cracks me up. ruffle bum just isn't as funny) for Ivy on one of her onesies...I got the idea from my favorite blog to look at:Ucreate, and the tutorial is here...I just used zebra (of course) ribbon instead of fabric (because I had scraps!)

A wet bag for the beach that holds wet swimming suits, etc...The lining is vinyl-covered fabric (scraps from some chairs I covered a while ago), and the outside is sturdy canvas. The neighbor girls did this project during nap time, and I didn't have a zipper, so I had to make mine solo, but it was my first time sewing a zipper...hmmm. not as bad as I thought, but not my favorite thing to sew...I actually think it was the vinyl (which stuck to my sewing machine as I sewed) that made it not so fun. I'll have to have a real lesson in how to sew a zipper from the expert (my MIL) later. Anyways, the tutorial for the wet bag is found at Little Birdie Secrets. here

Jeff just got home from a quick trip to AZ, and brought me back my hanging flower baskets...which I loved back in the desert. So, we went to Walmart, and got some cute little pink vincas (cheapest thing there) to put in them to pretty up our place. They make me happy when I look out the window! grow babies, grow!

Lastly...I thought I was done with this stage for a while, but fluffernutter, which is now Max's all-time favorite sandwich (and we're almost out of fluff) is just too fun to lick off of his fingers. grrr...it is the stickiest mess I have ever seen. Whatever, dude.

Birthday Pics

Got some pictures of my birthday eve kidnapping...Such fun friends!

How'd you do?

1--a curve ball breaks, a changeup is an off-speed fastball
2--full count is 2 strikes and 3 balls...stress!!
3--90 feet between First and Home
4--a glove has fingers...and a mitt doesn't. Just like winter clothes! (the mormon minor girls better have gotten that right!)
5--DH: Designated Hitter...which means the guy who hits for a designated fielder
6--American league uses a DH. In the National league, the pitchers hit.
7--Randy Johnson...holy awesome pitcher, used to play for the Mariners, and the DBax, then the Yankees....now I have no idea who he p;ays for...
8--Barry Bonds...
9--Seventh inning stretch!!
10--the rubber
11--7...there are only 2 mitts: a catchers mitt, and a first baseman's mitt, all the rest are gloves
12--This is a freebie---Home, the Plate and the Dish...if you got 2/3 right, you win
13--Back in T-ball days...it was the position immediately behind 2nd base...random
14--Batting Practice
15--based on batting average, the 3rd person in the lineup is the best hitter...the 4th is the power hitter...woo-doggy!

How Good are you?
Big Leaguer: 12-15 correct
Minor Leaguer: 9-11 correct
Little Leaguer: 4-8 correct
0-3 correct, you better pick a different hobby, sorry.

Two Months Stats

Ivy's doing sooo good, growing like a weed!

We had her 2 month Dr's visit today, which went great until the shots came, but you all know how that goes. Poor thing...5 pokes and a drink; she did great, considering.

Here are her stats:

Height: 23"--75th percentile

Weight: 11lbs 6 oz--75th percentile

Head Circ.: 39 1/2 cm--just barely under 75th percentile.

...a well rounded individual. :)

Doc says she's perfect, but we already knew that.