Spring school photo

Unfortunately Callie's school changed portrait companies again and so I get less photos now. Also we paid for a class photo and instead they gave us the same photo we ordered in black and white. Boo to the new photo company. But there is at least one nice photo to share with you all. Here she is looking way to old at 4 years old.

Happy Memorial Day

We celebrated Memorial Day yesterday with a BBQ and then just relaxed at home today. We said bye to Cole and Natasha until next time. Callie could play with Cole for days. She sure was tired after all the running around with him.

Today we stayed home and played on the playground. Diego wants to do everything that Callie does including climb up the slide. He's finally brave enough to go down alone but he doesn't have the strength to climb up the slide still. You'll notice Callies little ha ha you can't do it. Nice encouragement from big sister... I swear she really is generally very helpful and nice to him.

USS Midway

It's Memorial Day weekend so what better way to remember those who fought for our freedom than a trip to the USS Midway museum? I've never been before even though it's just downtown and has a beautiful view. Today we went with Natasha and Cole who came down from Monterey and PaPa KiKi, Eliana and Sean. It was really cool. I would have learned a lot more of the kids weren't with me but it was still very interesting and the airplanes and helicopters were extra cool. Callie participated in the crafts making a hat, flag and star wand. 

To all those who protect our freedom, thank you!

Ear Tubes are in!

Today was Callie's big day. She had surgery to put her ear tubes in. It's really the most minor procedure you could have. It took just 10 min and the entire time we were at the office was 2 hours. But to a 4 year old it's a big deal and she was very resistant and fearful. But today she was brave and didn't even cry or fuss once. She was a super patient and did an awesome job. The doctors and nurses were all wonderful and she even got to watch Frozen let it go while they gave her the gas mask. The procedure went smooth and they drained quite a bit of fluid from her right ear which was the one more affected.

Once we got home she's been fine and acting like a regular day. The best part was when we got in the car to go home and she said I can hear you better. It made it all worth it.

I'm glad it's over and now we can enjoy the weekend.

A new Boo?

This week we lost Boo (d's bear). It was awful. D cried for him and kept saying Boo where are you? And was most sad at nap and bedtime. He was lost for more than 24 hours before I discovered him shoved in the "trunk" of Diegos tricycle where he must have put him. So this led us to think we needed a second Boo. Have you ever heard the story of Boo? Well the original bear was a gift from my friends parents. Callie had it as a baby and we lost it on the plane to CT one trip and never got it back. In a panic trying to replace the bear I discovered it's a $50 bear from Austrailia! What?!

I ended up ordering Callie a used version of the bear on eBay to replace hers since waiting for a bear from Austrailia would take weeks. However in the time it took to get a new Boo we took her to the store and bought replacement babies. Which she still has to this day. Boo then became unimportant so I saved him for Diego who became very attached. Now we once again are in the predicament of finding a back up bear. Well to order it from Austrailia was $75! So I decided to see if I could make a replacement Boo. I mean it's a flat bear with no real eyes or anything.

So I did that tonight... Not too shabby huh? I made two, one of a very soft lighter brown fabric with satin back and one made from an old blanket that was used as LTs dog bed. Don't worry I washed it ;)

 I'll see what the real critic Diego thinks tomorrow morning. I even made a second set of pjs for this new boo which are also footie sneakers. A close second?? Hopefully one can stay at Grandmas and solve the lose the bear in transit between two houses. Or he will be like Calie and want to carry around both Boos at once.

And just for fun here's some bubble blowing photos from earlier in the week.

Playground complete!!

It's done! Juan and Enrique shoveled a huge mound of rocks today to complete the playground. It's perfect and the kids love it. Thank you thank you to everyone who gave the kids money towards the playground and an extra special thank you to PaPa KiKi who spent many many hours working on this... And having to deal with me at the same time.

Let play time begin! Who wants to come play at our house?

Playground pulley

Callie recently saw an episode of Sid the Science Kid where he needed a way to get heavy toys to his tree house. The solution was a pulley and he and his dad constructed one. After seeing it she really wanted one and I love to get her interested in anything science so I can teach a valuable lesson. So Monday off we went to get supplies for her very own playground pulley. And simple enough we had it set up in just 15 minutes and she loves it! She isn't actually lifting anything heavy but she thinks it's fun to do it anyways.

Also Callie noted that our window flower boxes needed flowers! She wanted real ones but the thought of watering them and dripping water and dirt all down the side of the new playground didn't go over too well with me. So instead I promised dollar store fake flowers. This is what we came up with. Beautiful!

Happy 12th Birthday Manny

It's hard to believe Manny is 12 years old! Poor guy but I almost forgot his birthday. Luckily the vet sends a happy birthday email.... So of course we needed to celebrate Manny.

We made him a carrot dog cake (from people food) that the kids shared with him. Took him for a long walk and even visited his doggy friend down the street. We brought his girlfriend Billie (a chihuahua daschund mix who is also 12) a piece of cake too!

He may not be a spoiled as he was before the two kids came along but he has a pretty good life full of love and attention. Happy Birthday Manny! We love you!

Playground update

After two very long days the playground is fully assembled and the playground border is in! The kids played while it was still being assembled even in the messy dirt. The edges are even in so all that's left is the weed fabric and the pebble rock that will fill the bottom. The rock won't arrive until Wednesday and it's a lot of rock to move from the front yard to the back since they can't drive the dump truck to our backyard. But one step closer and the kids don't mind playing on it just as it is.

Ice cream

how do you keep two kids distracted all day while you build a playground? Well one try is ice cream cones and before dinner! Yikes but it worked for a little while. Getting closer to being built.

Diego's First year collage

I am only a year too late but better late than never! I finally got around to getting Diego's first year collages done. I had the silver frame since before he was ever born, a matching gift from Nena just like Callie's. The other i bought matching so Diego could have a similar collage on my office wall. Of course time changes and I dont even work in an office that has space to hang such things anymore. Instead I have them up at home but love them still the same.
I loved the collages so much and had so many great photos of the two kids together that I also made a bigger collage of the brother and sister love together. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. I'm glad I finally got around to finishing them. Diego loved his photos and kept saying Diego baby. Adorable!

Breaking ground on the playground

Things have gotten started with the playground at our house. It was what they really wanted and with lot of contributions from their birthday it's going to be here soon. Juan and Enrique worked all day yesterday getting the ground ready. Callie wants the playground to show up with the wave of a majic wand and is not too patient for the process. In the meantime I let the kids play with the slide. It provides quite a bit of entertainment all on its own. But Callie says it's not enough without the whole playground so back to work!

Zoo with Tia Mari

We had a very fun last minute planning trip to the zoo with Tia Mari. It turned out to be a cloudy cool day which was great for walking the zoo. The penguin was super interested in the kids today and even tried to nibble on Callies Barbie through the glass. We even fed the giraffes today!

I can sing my abcs

Diego sings the abcs frequently these days. Unfortunately I never can get it on video. Today he sang the abcs and even though he gets distracted he goes back to singing. Then he even adds in hickory dickory dock. He LOVES songs and music. I'll try to get him singing Hakuna Matata from Lion King as that's his favorite song right now.

Callie and D swan today and D is finally grasping how to "swim" with his puddle jumper and keep his mouth out of the water. I didn't get any photos as I was swimming too! But after they had a blueberry picnic on their towel, and then later a snuggle fest on the couch. They are good friends and it will only get better as D gets a little bigger. Today Diego was playing Barbie dream house with Callie and put Boo the bear in the house. He doesn't much like the Barbies because of their hair.

Outside adventures

Our garden has really been growing. Today we added sweet potatoes which we grew plants from an old sweet potato.  We had more cucumbers growing and picked a second one. Unfortunately I was busy trying to snap photos instead of help Callie and she ripped the whole plant off at the base, oops! Now that's a dead cucumber plant. Luckily we have 3 more growing. Some things are growing really well and others much slower but either way we have lots of organic fruits and veggies on the way. :) the salad greens are looking tasty now so I think I'll make a salad for work tomorrow. Both kids eat the veggies right out of the garden, that's what I call success. I'm hoping we get sweet tomatoes and I can get them eating a few new veggies too.

After planting and picking from the garden we blew bubbles outside too. Diego blew his first bubble! Of course when I tried to recapture this on video it was a fail but you get a cute rendition of itsy bitsy spider instead!

Double hats

I forgot to post this photo of Doego yesterday. He couldn't decide between hats so he wore both!

Then tonight we had two kids wrestling on grandmas floor, dancing to Elsa Let it Go and running with blanket capes.