More Santa Barbara Fun

I will finish posting about our visit, even if it is nearly a month later. 

So, Claire and Beau were giggling in the kitchen making some blondie brownies.  We asked if they were doubling the recipe - they sneakily answered yes.  But as the process unfolded, and there was too much batter to fit into their gigantic KitchenAid mixer, we soon learned that while they had in fact double the recipe, they may have actually doubled the double recipe.  It's still not clear whether or not Claire and Beau made a quadruple recipe or more - but one thing is for sure, there were a LOT of brownies. And they were delicious!

Some may or may not have been consumed for breakfast the next day.

Remember Tommy the Blue Jay?  Well Gabriela has always been a fan, and now it is safe to say that Easton is too.  He quickly learned right where the peanut drawer was, helped himself, and signed "more" so he could feed the birdie more.  Easton was so brave and Tommy actually took a peanut right out of Easton's hand.

The mamas got out for some kid free time on several occasions that weekend. Once, we went up to a quilting store where I bought the cutest, cutest fabric. Right now, I have no idea what project I will make with it, but I just couldn't pass it up. We also went thrifting another day. I scored big time in the kids' books department and even got myself some clothes too!

We had a bbq with the Hortons, dear friends of Ian and Adie.  Their boys are such sweethearts, it's no wonder Gabriela loves them all. Easton had a great time with them too.

Since Ian cranked up the heat in the pool, the kids were sure to make use of it every single day of our visit.  Gabriela was so brave, swimming (with her life vest) around the entire pool, and even jumping in.  I think it's so cute how she just plugs her nose like that.

Hanging out with the big girls!

We had such a fun cousin trip. As usual, we hardly saw Gabriela for the entire weekend because she was too busy playing with her cousins and being a big girl.  Easton was so easy going, and they both were excellent travelers on the drives up and down. 

16 months old

Easton's new signs: popcorn, apple, alligator, and a sign he made up for color

new words: bubbles, diaper, Papa,

new skills: throwing. Easton is very proud of this one. He throws food, books, utensils, and of course, balls.  He's got quite an arm.  Easton can make sounds for snakes, owls, sheep, and elephants now too.  He regularly recognizes Nana in pictures and on video chats, and says her name regularly. We have to get down to visit soon so he can show off in person.

Easton really enjoys our family circle time. On days when Gabriela doesn't have preschool, we have family circle time with a candle, we sign songs and read a story and say rhymes.  Easton is getting the hang of it.  The other day when I lit our candle, he went right to his spot on the rug, and started doing the hand motions for some of our songs and rhymes.  He loves Ring around the Rosie and always signs for more.

Favorite pastimes: doing the dishes.  Seriously, this kid gets mad when we go and try to do dishes without him.  He races to find the step stool, places it precisely in front of the sink, and gets to work sloshing the water around, squeezing the sponge, and just doing his best to help out.

Easton has been holding a pencil correctly for the past few months.  He can sit happily for quite a while with a jar of colored pencils and a piece of paper.  He sticks the pencils in and out of the jar, usually one at a time. He colors with purpose, picks up his paper, and either shows his masterpiece to us, or turns the paper over to color on the other side. Sometimes he points to the art supplies or asks to sit on a chair and does his sign for color to let us know he's ready to do some art.

Our little boy loves his stories.  He does his sign for book and sits contentedly through story after story. His favorites are Brown Bear, Brown Bear, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Time for Bed.  He will go to his section of board books and bring us book after book to read during the day, and when he wakes up in the morning, he will climb out of bed, grab some books from the side of the bed, and ask to get back in the bed for morning story time.

Santa Barbara Fun

We headed down to Santa Barbara over President's Day weekend. It was kind of funny because Meliss and I both asked the Santa Barbara Grovers within a day of each other if we could visit that same weekend, so we all headed down for some super cousin fun. 

We didn't leave until 8pm or so for our 5 hour drive, and it went quite smoothly, with both kids falling asleep right away.

As soon as the kids woke up to seeing each other, they got busy playing and picking up where they left off. The weather was gorgeous, as usual. So much so that we packed up and headed to the beach in the morning. 

Gabriela and Natalie were buddies and played in the water together the whole time.

Claire and Beau got right to work digging a gigantic hole.  These smartie pants enlisted the help of the dog to do a bunch of digging for them! Chaney stayed busy running with the dogs at the beach.

Cousins playing at the beach

Easton loved the ocean.  We would bring him close so his toes would touch the water and run from the waves as the came toward us. Every time we whisked Easton away he signed, "more water". Definitely a fan.

I can't believe how much these kids are growing, right before my very eyes!

And check out this supreme awesomeness

For real, guys! Claire wasn't even born yet when Lane and I got married.  And now look at her!!  Such a beautiful young lady

I guess Natalie and Gabriela were too busy running around for me to sneak any pictures of them.

After the beach, the kiddos jumped in the pool back at Uncle Ian's house. And this is one of the great things about living in California!  Ian had prepared for our visit by cranking up his pool heater so the pool could have been mistaken for a bath tub.  The kids really appreciated it.

That night was pizza and movie night while us grown ups stayed up and talked.  Good times. 

January Catch Up

We were pretty busy in January so here's a photo recap.  We visited the Bay Area Children's Discovery Museum in Sausalito. It was extra fun visiting over the weekend with Daddy.

Gabriela especially enjoyed the fairy tale exhibit, and who better to share it with than Hello Kitty???

Easton loves the fishies.  Here he is doing his fish sign, which has morphed into a sign very similar to water, which is only natural, since that is where fish live.

One Friday after school we hopped over to Fairyland and caught the puppet show.

 Gabriela dressed like a princess and enjoyed sliding down the hill on cardboard.  Mommy showed her how to go down on her feet, but there are no photos of that.

 Easton was happy to come along for the ride, as usual.

 

And Gabriela climbed up the pirate ship, as usual.

 Another January weekend we hopped over to Berkeley to check out the Lawrence Hall of Science.  Gabriela and Daddy had lots of fun climbing on the giant whale out front.

 So many Eastons

 One of the fun parts about Easton being older is that he actually explores and has lots of fun at museums, but the down side is that Lane and I usually have to split up, each following one of the kiddos around.  But here they are together.

 The view is pretty spectacular at the Lawrence Hall of Science.

 And so is the viewer.

 We spent nearly the entire afternoon in the animal room.  Every 15 minutes the staff person brought out a new animal for the kids to watch closely and pet, and sometimes even hold.  This was Gabriela's favorite. We watched a salamander swim, a chinchilla get a dust bath, Gabriela touched a giant snake, and held the dove.  There were lots of other animals, and if I had blogged about it earlier in the month, I would have remembered more.

 Easton is still a fan of the fishies.

Another Friday after school we headed over to the Oakland Zoo for the afternoon.

 Gabriela likes to run around in the open areas there.

 And go on the rides. 

Sometimes I have to remind her that we don't go to the zoo to go on the rides, but that it's an extra fun thing we get to enjoy.

We also watched the Inauguration.  Gabriela is excited by anything Washington DC, and I of course have a special place in my heart for most things Washington DC. I really miss our life there, all the fun and friends we had there. It was exciting to watch, knowing exactly where every one was, that I had been to all those places before.

Regardless of who won the election, it was an important day for our country. I was excited to watch with Gabriela and to explain to her how our president was promising to take care of our country for the next four years.  

She picked an excellent viewing partner.

 Easton watched too.  His favorite parts were whenever a choir would perform, and he would start waving his arms around like the choral conductors do.  Meanwhile, Gabriela would point out people by name. I think her favorite parts were seeing Sasha and Malia.