Dinner in the Ball Room

Tonight we had our first official dinner in our dining room (aka the ball room). We have our old kitchen table still lying around, so we dressed it up a bit for dinner.


The best thing about being a twin is that you get double the friends. Elise & Dan's friends, Chris and Sarah, just moved up here from Santa Monica. They came over tonight and we had a lot of fun. The ball room was the perfect dining room because the little guys mostly kept themselves interested with all the toys and stairs and we got to lounge around at the table and chat.


The first course for the toddlers was strawberries and cheese. These little ones were both bottomless pits and enjoyed stealing each others cheese and berries and then coming and begging for more. While they ate, the adults made homemade pizza. The little guys attempted to eat their own pizza, but discovered that running around after each other was more fun.


Then we ate, while they colored, dumped out toys, and jumped around on our new comfy living room carpet.


Our first ball room dinner was a success!

My Cutie Pie

I couldn't get him to smile at me... but I loved his cute smile at his dad (with a mouth covered in Hershey's kisses).


I feel so blessed to have such a darling little boy!


I am so grateful I get to be his mom!

The Dinner Challenge

Those of you that know me well know that I mostly subsist on chocolate and potatoes. Obviously that isn't a healthy option for a growing almost 2 year-old... and his 30 year-old (gasp! almost 31 year-old) dad.

Although I love good meals, when 5 or 6pm rolls around, there's usually nothing very special on the table... especially since it's usually just me and Andrew eating.

Now that Kevin is actually home for dinner most nights, I am challenging myself to make good meals for a full week. I hope I survive. ;) They won't even be hard or too creative of meals... but they will be ready when Kevin gets home, they'll taste good, and we'll eat together.

This first week will consist of...
- Chili (we'll do a meaty version and a vegetarian version for me) and cornbread
- Mexican Manicotti
- Baked Ziti and corn
- Homemade pizza and salad
- Stuffed shells
and a night full of leftovers.

Don't laugh too hard. For many of you, this sort of thing is simple... for me... I'd rather spend the time playing, running, and crafting and then make a little pasta-roni and chicken nuggets when it is dinner time.

Wish me luck! If you have simple favorite things you make (emphasizing the word simple), pass them along... I need more ideas.

Why little boys need parents

My dad sent me a few of these today... I thought they were pretty funny... so here are a few pictures to brighten your day :)

Left Alone

Yesterday the ladies from church came to visit teach me. We tend to always chat for too long. They were here from 5:00-6:30pm. I asked Andrew if he wanted to play with his toys or watch a show. He chose playing. He kept himself quite entertained for most of the time.

These are two of his little games I discovered once the ladies left.

towers!

ball fight... kind of like the one we had earlier in the day when we were sorting


I must have a good kid. The things my sister and I did when we were little and left to ourselves were much crazier (eggs on floor, nivea creme all over the bathroom, make-up on the bed).

That being said, I did wake up this morning to discover the little guy in the buff in his crib doing a little sprinkler action around his room... so maybe I shouldn't speak to soon.

Oops!

The funniest part of our weekend occurred when we arrived at the Oakland Airport and discovered that in our rush to get out of the house, Andrew got put in his car seat without any shoes... and since we were packing light, there were none in our suitcase either.

At first we tried to carry him around the airport, but that didn't last long. The kid cannot be still.

After a fun afternoon at Jeff & Meredith's wedding, we had a good excuse to go shopping at Fashion island.


Fortunately he slept through most of our mall visit (including our lunch) and didn't try and run around in his socks (people really would've thought we were white trash).


We finally found Andrew some semi-ugly cheap shoes at Children's Place... cheap shoes aren't easy to find at Fashion Island... and then the little man enjoyed the rest of the afternoon running around in the sunshine.

This was his favorite spot

Wedding in Newport

This weekend we headed down south for the wedding of Jeff & Meredith

in the beautiful Newport Beach temple.

We were so glad to be there for their special day. They looked so incredibly happy and I cried through most of the ceremony... I am so excited that Jeff found such an incredible person to be with him through the eternities!

The reception was also fabulous and a lot of fun



Little man and Kevin had front row seats to the cake cutting



Andrew was mad when he couldn't stick his hand in the cake and smash it in someone's face like Meredith and Jeff did to each other.


The appetizer and dessert spread was delicious


and the music and dancing made our day.

Meredith's dad did a solo on the bagpipes


and when a Beatles song got played, Andrew gave us a little song and dance
(video footage to come).

We had a great time hanging out with friends and I had fun meeting some of Elise's buddies from L.A. (who thought I was her).

goofing around with Karren

Buskirk fam


As we got ready to leave, Andrew ran around and loaded himself up with tons of cake. The more we hurried him... the more cake he stuffed in his mouth. It was fun to watch.

Andrew also charmed all the single ladies at the party by ramming into them with his head and running circles around their little groups. By the end of the night, several of the single guys were commenting that they should have borrowed Andrew for the evening so that they could pick up girls.

rocking out to "I wanna hold your hand"
(ignore my awful singing)

We are so glad we got to celebrate this weekend with Jeff & Meredith! Congrats guys!!

Have I seen His hand in my life today?

I showed this video clip to the girls at church on Sunday when we talked about journal writing.




I challenged each of them to keep a little journal where they record evidence of the Savior's hand in their lives each day. It is amazing the beauty that can be found in each day when you are actively looking for it.

These are a few of my favorite moments from the week.

I love how he likes sleeping next to his "baby."

The three different rainbows we saw this week were also great reminders...

I am old

My body let me know that I am old today.

I did a workout video last night because I am so annoyed about not getting out running in the rain.

This is how my body felt all day today (definitely didn't look this good though).


All I did was a VHS workout tape and circuit training with Andrew. I think I only have one DVD workout video. The VHS one felt way more hard core though... and it had Cindy Crawford on it (back before she had all her kids and botox). :) My calves haven't hurt this bad in a long time and I didn't know I actually had triceps. Watching Cindy made me fee extra old.

Kevin will most likely need to carry me upstairs, or I might be on the couch all night.

I hope it stops raining soon or I might have to work out with Cindy again.

Tax Man

Check out the coordination



His dad taught him how to eat the mic like a pro :)

Andrew's Dream Come True

After all the organizing and unpacking, we decided we needed to have a little fun. We took Andrew to this cool place we heard about from my neighbor called Super Franks. It was like a little kid's paradise.

Cool ride on stuff everywhere



Grilled cheese kids meal


Train tables (Andrew's new favorite thing... will play without stopping for hours- seriously)


Music class taught by the "Taught-town director"


Parachute and story time


A huge blow up slide



After playing downstairs for 2 hours, we went upstairs for more fun








they even had an indoor bounce house



This place was also a parent's paradise. Supposedly it was "created by parents for parents." You can basically see your kid from wherever you sit and the kids can't really leave the rooms. There were comfy leather chairs to lounge on, delicious snacks to buy, free WiFi and magazines for the parent's to read, and the best part... each kid's wristband cost $7 for 3 hours of fun.


We will definitely be going back.