Our Christmas

Aiden's 1st School Performance. He was one of maybe 3 that just stood there. He's 2nd from the left on the bottom row.Joe & I went on an overnighter in Sonoma. We hit a movie, dinner, great breakfast place, a real toy store and a farmer's market before coming home.
Aiden helping me make peppermint bark.Christmas Eve morning at my parents. My sister and her family came. Drew wore an old outfit of Joe's.Christmas Eve at Joe's Uncle's. Smaller crowd this year and I had the only kids there. They loved watching Noni play the accordian and listen to all of us sing.Christmas Morning 6:30am had to wake the boys up to do presents really quick before Joe had to be at work.

The 26th we left for Long Beach to have a belated Christmas with Joe's dad and brother's fam.

Grandpa treated us all to Knott's Berry Farm where the kids wore the shirts I had made for them.

Aiden's first sleepover with Peyton. It didn't end well though. Peyton got sick around 2am and threw up the rest of the night and morning.

We had flown done to LB but tried to pass Drew off as an under 2yr old because when we bought the tickets he was 1 and neither of us thought anything of it. Well, they gave us a big hassle and we would have had to ship a bunch of stuff up anyway so we rented a car and drove home yesterday.

Drew had his 2yr check up this morning. We're a month and a half late, but at least it's done. Only 1 shot so that was nice. He's 26lbs and 37inches. He had a big growth spurt since last time and finally up to almost 30% for weight having never been above 12% before. He's very spirited still, but becoming easier. Sitting at the dinner table the other night I dive into my pasta as I was starved and he's just sitting there with his hands folded looking at me and then says, "mom, pray first!" He is such a little man now and I love hearing the conversations between the two of them. They are pretty sweet to each other at this point.

We had Joe's work Christmas party tonight and the boys had fun minus a few bumps for Drew (fell out of the firetruck) and Santa for Aiden who has cried every year when Santa comes. The firehouse looked great and the food was good and there were so many kids there that the boys were entertained the entire night. The KidsAiden & BeckyDrew ready to partyAnd...our Christmas tree. It's been up since my birthday but couldn't get this picture to download till today.

Thanksgiving for us was spread over the entire weekend and jam packed. Thursday Joe worked so I took the boys over to Auntie Renee & Uncle Rick's house for a wonderful dinner where 3 little boys playing hide & seek managed to shatter a shower door. Friday morning we met Joe in San Mateo where he and most of the cousins played football and then we headed back to Rick & Renee's for leftovers and then back home to cook for my family at our house. My brother and nephew were in town so it was great to see them. Saturday was more relaxed with only family pictures (30 of us) at the Hyatt in Burlingame. Sunday was my 30th birthday and we went and got our Christmas tree, I went shopping with my mom and then my parents took us all out to dinner for my annual Lobster dinner at Horatio's. It was a wonderful weekend.

Joe surprised me with an early birthday present last night. A limo, dinner in Sausalito, drinks in the city and our closest family and friends. It was a special night to celebrate my "20's" instead of dwelling on the fact that I'm going to be 30 in a week. I have to say he's getting more romantic all the time. I love you babe.

Andrew's party went great. It was fun seeing all the little ones dressed up (including some adults). We got a face painter for an hour and that was fun.We signed Aiden up for basketball and he loved it. He's gotten much better at dribbling and knows how to jump stop, where the base line is and how to make a "bank shot." He was probably one of the slowest, as he wants to do everything right, but first to do what the coach says.
The boys enjoyed their first Tri-Tip sandwich last night so I had to take a picture. It's hard to get Aiden to try anything new, unless it's meat. He likes it all.

We ventured out to Half Moon Bay last weekend with some friends to visit the pumpkin patches and it was horrible. The only thing we bought was parking. It was raining, it took 2 hours to get there and the kids just wanted to ride the ponies that cost $12. so they weren't very happy to hear "no." We managed to get a couple smiles.

Aiden is branching out a little with his drawings. They now include feet and fingers.

Aiden's 2nd cleaning. He did great. They even gave him cool glasses to wear. He enjoys going (so far).

Andrew received some birthday money, so we got a new bedding set for him. We need a couple things but it's almost complete. He loves his new bed.

I've been playing with their food. It seems they (meaning Aiden) eat more if it looks silly. Drew eats anything.

We went to the picture people to take some pictures of the boys. For some reason Drew listened to the photographer and did everything he asked and it went great. I was pleasantly surprised. The photographer looked exactly like Uncle John. Tall, dark, handsome, crooked nose, talked like him and everything. I think that helped.

My little monkey. Driving us crazy but making us laugh at the same time.

We had the privilege of going to the Brad Paisley concert with family & friends and had a blast!

Aiden & Drew have started gym class and are loving it.

My very best friend came to visit for a week from Ohio and the boys really enjoyed meeting her and having her here. Danica and I have been friends since I was 4 years old. We're really more like sisters as we're very different but have stayed close for so long.

Aiden was trying to get the smoothie out of his cup and it all fell out at once. He was about to cry but we were all laughing so hard that he just had to laugh too.

Aiden had his first day of preschool today at First Baptist in Castro Valley. He's been so excited about it and a little nervous. I was prepared for a tearful good by, but as we walked in he was so excited to see kids painting and playing with play-doh (2 forbidden things in our house) that he just wanted to jump right in! He gave me a kiss, said "By Mom," and that was it. When I picked him up he couldn't stop talking about the dinosaur book he found and that the slide shocked him and that a few boys were crying and he painted a picture for me. I wish I constantly record him talking because he has been saying the sweetest things. Last night I let him sleep with me because Joe was gone and I wasn't feeling good, so it was just easier to crawl into bed together and he looks at me and says, "mom, you're so pretty are ya?" He ends all his sentences with an "are ya," or "is it?" I think it's pretty adorable. And then at the dinner table I got him to try a spicy tamale and he told me it was good but it made his "teeth itchy."