Happy Birthday, Kyle!!!!

Kyle turned 4 today! First thing in the morning, he ran out to wake up his Auntie Michelle (who stayed the night for a sleepover just for him)!

After opening presents we walked to "the pancake store" and had some yummy breakfast. 

Instead of a party this year, Kyle invited a couple of his closest friends to Frogg's Bounce House!! The boys had so much fun! 

Even the little brothers enjoyed themselves. :)

Blowing out his candles in his bread stick...

...then again in his cupcake! ;)

Nate and Kyle

My parents and sister joined us for dinner. We walked down the street to an Italian restaurant. Kyle loved eating on the "special plate."

More presents back home.

 At last, Kyle got to blow out his last set of candles on his Ferris-wheel birthday cake.

 Each bucket had pictures of our family members (IL and CA).

We love you, Kyle! Happy 4th Birthday!!!

"I miss that train!"

Kyle frequently talks about how much he misses the big train and wants to go back on "that train." One of our summer fun, to-do outings was to take a family trip on the train. So, we revisited a favorite route and stopped at the San Clemente Pier and then hopped back on the train to go to lunch in San Juan Capistrano before heading back home. We had a lot of fun and most of all enjoyed our time together with Grandpa, Grammie, and Auntie Michelle.

Silly Kyle can hardly contain his excitement!!

Daddy love.

"I see the train!!!!"

We hopped on the train in waves, from 3 different stations; first my parents, then us, and finally Auntie came on board.

Gavin and his Auntie Michelle at the San Clemente Pier. Sweet love and giggles.

Back on the train to go home and Gavin was out like a light!

Getting ready to say good-bye to Auntie at her stop.

So sad to say good-bye. "I never want to get off this train!!"

Back at home, and Kyle says (repeatedly), "I miss that train!"

The Pretend City (a few years later...)

It's amazing what a difference a few years make. Kyle enjoyed his previous visit to The Pretend City with my mom, sister, and I, but this time I couldn't have held Kyle back if I tried! He ran from place to place trying everything on and playing make-believe. Here were some of his favorites: 

The stoplight. Yes, we stood here while repeatedly waiting for the walk sign to come on in order to cross the street. 

Checking out books at the library.

Building like "Bob the Builder."

Even Gavin enjoyed the building project.

They also had a whole room filled with climbing sponge shapes for babies/toddlers. Gavin loved it. (Yes, he was wearing his jammies as we came straight from his nap.)

Playing doctor. Kyle gets really into it and we do this at home nearly every day. It was super cool here with all the extra, real-like stuff to play with.

Firefighters to the rescue!!

And he loved stamping letters to people and mailing them at the post office.

Every part of the city has a punch card for these working kids to log their hours. After punching out and hitting up the "grocery store," we headed home. :) 

Gavin - 10 months

Gavin likes to "walk" with his firetruck!

A silly Gav.

Our baby, aka Gav-man, Gavie, Guero, Baby G, Shabu, Brother, Zzzz, Zizzer is 10 months old today!! Though he's still super easy-going and happy almost every second of the day, he's now starting to really assert himself and express his wants and dislikes! He's very vocal and isn't afraid to tell ya exactly what's on his mind. He thinks many things are funny and loves to giggle. Our little guy is a charmer and likes to be in the center of all the action. He may be "easy" but he's not to be underestimated!! :)

At 10 months, Gavin:

• weighs 17 lbs 4.7 ounces
• has 4 teeth
• is getting some hair (it's hard to see, but it's there!!!)
• cruises around and pulls up on absolutely everything 
• is quite verbal (and starting to say Dada - we've heard Dada and Mamamama but not consistently yet)
• beginning to sign "All done!"
• waves hello/good-bye and claps his hands

Gavin likes:

• his brother (he really, really wants to be with Kyle and smiles whenever he hears or sees him!)
• wrestling (really!!)
• playing with his toys (can entertain himself very well!)
• chewing on anything
• to feed himself and eat big people food (forget that spoon and cereal!)
• loves pickles, bananas, and Plum Organics "Little Cremes" (kale, apple, & sweet potato) made with rice milk 
• music (especially from his little Leap Frog animal, Scout)
• jumping/bouncing
• being outside and riding in his little red car
• holding/chewing matchbox cars
• swimming in the pool
• when Daddy comes home!!!
• also, seems super fond of his mommy, I must say! :)

Gavin dislikes:

• car rides!!!
• when Daddy goes to work
• being left behind/out of the action

Rudy and I look at this little person who is growing and changing so much and comment to each other (repeatedly) how blessed we are to have this special little guy. It's been a very happy (though tiring!) 10 months! ;)

Smiles, Giggles, Hugs and Squeals

That's what the boys experience when GG comes!! Kyle beams with happiness whenever GG is around. And Gavin caught on pretty quickly while watching them play/squeal/laugh/and run around the house. A favorite is picking her up from the airport. Airports are great places, you know, they take us to Chicago and bring GG and other IL family to us! 

Kyle unstrapped himself from the car seat lickety split and ran into his GG's arms.

 Smiles, smiles, and more smiles!

 Kyle got an early birthday meal and trip to the store of his choice for a birthday present.

After dinner at our place and a trip out for frozen yogurt, GG sang the boys to sleep. She's here and gone so quickly...and Kyle and (soon Gavin) will be asking and asking for her return until we see her again!!

Thanks, GG!!!!!!!

Enjoying Knott's Berry Farm

We've been getting great use out of our annual membership. I never really paid attention to Camp Snoopy prior to a few months ago but let me tell ya, I'm so glad we jumped on this train. Knott's is easy to do. With only a fraction of the crowd Disneyland draws, free parking (under 3 hours), and a quick entrance/walk to dozens of rides perfectly suited for small children, Knott's has quickly become the place to be (for us, anyways)! The fact that we get to go with two other family-friends makes this outing a win-win for the mommies and their kids.

Elsie, Nate, and Kyle (with 4 little brothers looking on from their strollers).

Riding the balloons (with Cherie and Kari and kids in the other two balloons).

Happy kids = a happy mom!

And we all enjoy getting to see Daddy on his lunch break!

I believe this will go down as a highlight of 2013! :)

...when pigs fly!!

The Martins made a memory this past weekend! Oh yes we did. We were headed up to the Malibu area for my cousin's son's birthday party and the chance to meet our new cousin, Luke! We planned out our drive so that Gavin would take a nap on the way up and Kyle would happily watch a video on our portable DVD player. That was the plan, anyway. What should have taken just over an hour turned into a half-day saga we will not forget!!

Our first sign (to turn the car around) was when we were just a couple of miles from home and saw an accident from a random air tank rolling around on the fwy. It exploded and caused big delays, mostly from looky-loos. After we navigated through that we stumbled upon a plane crash on the side of the fwy. Yes, a plane. Here's a picture to prove it!  

You don't see that every day. Neither did all the other drivers who crept by at a snail's pace in order to get a picture... oh wait, that'd be me, too. We spent almost an hour trying to get past that one. Gavin had been crying this whole time just trying to fall asleep, but by then he was beyond tired and losing it. With Kyle yelling at Gavin to stop crying (and therefore preventing Gav from sleeping even more) we decided to exit the fwy and help bring the sanity back to our little car. It was a nice idea, but nothing worked for long. We contemplated turning around but by this time, the traffic going the other direction was all backed up looking at that plane. So, we charged forward with two crying, over-tired kids. Do you see where this is going?! We didn't. Still believing the roads would finally be nice to us and Gav would take his much needed nap, we kept the course. Not 5 minutes into the drive we hit another big pile-up. So we crept along, stopping frequently...and the slow pace meant Gavin couldn't fall asleep. :( Still, we continued on believing that the drive couldn't get any worse and the accidents would surely stop. Ha! Somehow we found every single accident that occurred in Southern California that day! (Okay, probably a slight exaggeration!) We passed not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, but SEVEN accidents!! We inched by all of these with crying kids and frustrated/irritated parents! Fun times.

When we finally saw LA's skyline, we decided to pull over and try once again to help Gavin get to sleep. It worked!!! We put a sleeping Gavin in the car and decided to ditch the 405 (that was still backed up and inching along!) and head west to PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). Uuuuunfortunately, the lack of movement from the long stop lights and stop-n-go progress to get to the coast woke Gavin up. Not kidding. Once again, we had two crying kids, two tired/irritated/arguing parents, but a beautiful ocean to look at along the drive. Ya know, looking on the bright side. We passed a looooong line of cars going the opposite direction and thought to ourselves, "Whew, at least we're not going that way!" Then, just a few minutes before we could turn up into the hills and head to my cousin's house, we stopped. We didn't move for 30 minutes. Finally, we saw people walking by who informed us that there was a MAJOR accident up ahead. The people were trapped in their cars, the jaws-of-life were coming out, and "you may as well turn your car around!" So we did, right along with everyone else. Within a few seconds we found ourselves in that big, long line of cars we had so gleefully passed just minutes prior! :( We needed a break.

Since we were in beautiful Malibu, we decided to pull over and enjoy the scenery. After 20 minutes of randomness, we saw a street that we thought would take us up and over the hills and get us to the 405 (ya know, the one we ditched over an hour ago). I sat in between the boys (having given up on the idea of a nap for Gav!) and we zig zagged up, up the hills... and zig zagged down, down the hills. Basically back tracking to (almost) where we'd started from in L.A. It was on this crazy, windy road that we saw this...

... after laughing so hard we (I) cried and wondering if our trip could get any more insane, Ru said, "We'll get there...when pigs fly!!" Perfect.

We finally did reach our destination. Surprised?! We were. We totally missed the party but my family and cousin's wife's family were all still hanging out. Since we didn't know what the traffic would be like on the way home, and we had no desire to hop right back into our car and head home, we decided to make a fun memory out of the craziness and stay the night at a hotel! Kyle LOVES hotels. Ever since our road trip to Oregon he's been infatuated with hotels/motels. The kid isn't picky. So when we announced our plan to this little guy, he was ecstatic! He's so adorable about it, that my family followed us over just to watch his excitement. He said and did all the "Kyle" things we'd expected and his enthusiasm was contagious. 

Though we didn't have any suitcases/bags or much to bring in, we made lots of trips in and out of the room so Kyle could swipe his key.

After a leisurely breakfast we'd brought back to the hotel so Kyle could enjoy every second in that place, we headed home. Driving away, Kyle said, "I wish we could live in the hotel!!" :)

Our return trip? Wouldn't you know it, Gav slept from door to door and we made it in exactly 1 hour!! Kyle learned the definition of "polar opposite" this weekend. That, and what happens when pigs fly...

A Proud Mommy Moment :)

I had a moment the other day where I thought my heart would burst. It was one of the "firsts" that only happen when your child is big and it reminds you of your own childhood experience. I was that mom sitting standing on the sidelines cheering on her BIG boy as he repeatedly jumped off the diving board during his first swim class. Without skipping a beat, Kyle walked straight to the edge and leaped into the air. I remembered my own swim lessons and doing this very same thing and all of a sudden I realized that my son is growing up. He's been growing in his independence for a long time now (that is what growing up is all about, right?!), but seeing this caught me off-guard and took my breath away. It was like having an out-of-body experience...like, that's MY son?!? How did he get this old, this fast?!

I didn't care what anyone around me thought, I couldn't have stopped beaming if I tried. Gavin and I stood there, staring/cheering/smiling/picture taking while I kept muttering to myself over the fact that my son was old enough to be doing this!

Perhaps this is only a mom moment to me. After all, he's been jumping into our pool at home for forever. For some reason this was different. This was me standing back watching my son grow up before my very eyes. 

Happy Birthday, America!!

Happy 4th of July!! Kyle was counting down the days, so excited to use his fireworks. And what a day we had.

We started getting into the spirit of things the night before with a neighborhood bike decorating party/kids parade. After taping streamers and flags to their bikes, the kids rode around the block listening to patriotic music from a boom box. Neighbors came out from up and down the streets and cheered. It was too cute. 

Gavin rode with Sam in the caboose.

The morning of, we went to Huntington Beach's parade with our friends, the Hutchens. It's extremely popular, so friends of theirs slept in their car the night before to save our spot. Madness.We definitely appreciated their effort and how easy it was to park in our friends' parents' driveway and walk over.

 Kyle loved watching his (first?) parade!!

 Gav says, "How you doin' ladies?"

After over TWO hours of parading, Gav had the right idea. (And we finally got a picture of how he enjoys going to sleep. Ru bounces him on his legs and Gav sings himself to sleep. It's so bizarre, but it works like a charm.)

After swimming and a BBQ at our friends' parents' house, we headed home for our street's FUN firework show (that lasts over 4 hours!!). Kyle and I made "Happy Birthday America" cupcakes and shared with the neighbors. Since he's so into blowing out candles, he was all in for doing the honors (in America's place).

Grammie and Grandpa came and after watching a bit they went inside while Gavin slept so we could enjoy being out with Kyle. (Thank you!!!)

What a fun-filled day. Love celebrating holidays with my kids and seeing their wonder and excitement!!

Kyle says, "When's it going to be the 4th again?!?!?!"