Update

Since we didn't get together with my Dad for Father's Day, we invited my parents over for dinner the next night. Even though it wasn't on the day of, it was still a lot of fun and we got to celebrate one of the most important and influential people in my life.

Ethan was helping Gramps open his gift of nuts, jerky, and smoked sausage. Funny thing was, they brought us goodies from Hawaii which included Macadamia nuts and jerky. MMMmm - I'm a nut fan so it was soooOOO yummy. I have yet to write a thank you note - talk about being a slacker! I'm so behind in everything.... it's coming Mom and Dad!

We had our friends over for dinner the other night and their son is obsessed with our geckos. We really don't take them out too often, mostly because it's such a hassle to have to explain that if you grab them, they may let go of their tails (since children like grabbing things), but it went really well and the kids were really gentle. Once the geckos get warmed up, though, they want to escape and run everywhere - so they go back in their terrarium. Sad, huh? Then we ALL go wash our hands - another hassle. But, they all loved it.

We went to Ethan's baseball class (ok this was the one before last) and I took a picture of Austin rummaging through Ethan's backpack looking for food. This was taken without me looking at the screen so it was hard to get his face, but the double (almost triple) chin was cracking me up. He was determined. "Don't hide those ickats (fruit snacks) from me!!"

The other night there was this annoying "BZZZzzzzzz - tick!" coming from our window at about 2 am. It kept going and I was convinced there was a bee in our room. Of course I made Bryan get up and see what it was. Hee hee. He smacked something, said it was some kind of bug (mind you not killing it and throwing it away), and went back to bed. Bryan is SO not a morning person (or a fast getting out of bed person) so I didn't push it. After a few more bzzz's it died off (or so we thought). I was making the bed in the morning and there was this thing burying its head in the carpet and digging, so I picked it up and it was a June bug. There was my culprit. Immediately Austin was on it - grabbing it from me and holding it. He's so not afraid of anything crawly. Poor thing was dying and it had to be pinched by my 1 1/2 year old's hands. "Awwww"..... ok - enough sympathy. I woke up twice because of that thing....

In it went to the used up fish batter jar from Bass Pro Shops. (You knew we had to have something like that from BPS). Anyways, the poor thing suffered greatly since there's no air vents and every minute hands were going in there to "stroke" it?? Then we went outside and somehow he lost an outer wing. I threw him in the bushes and said "all gone" just so the poor thing could die in peace. Step on him an option? No - my thongs were thin and there'd be too much gut explosion - I can't handle that. Ugh...

On to drama #2. This Saturday Bryan and I were on a roll. Not only did we clean our living room carpet, but we gardened (***gasp*** - it happened!!!!) and I got behind the pond and cut back everything. I'm still amazed at myself. There were SO many better things to do with my time, but it was about time to get things done back there. Anyways, we were on such a roll that we decided now was the time to put Austin in his big boy bed. So Bryan disassembled the crib, assembled his bed, switched it with Ethan so Austin could have the side gates, and we rearranged the furniture. Fast forward to bed time. The picture above was him BEFORE pajamas and "light's out" time. "Oh so fun loving my bed and rolling alllllll around in it. Yaaaayyy - I LOVE my big boy bed..."

Lights go out. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHH - MOMMMMYYYY, Hold you!!!"

After a pure freak-out session, and half an hour of numerous attempts to calm him, lay by him in bed and tell him it was ok, this is where he ended up - in our bed while Bryan re-assembled the crib. **sigh** Now normally I'd say, "tough, get over it and we'll see you in the morning," but his purely torturous scream was more than a strong will. He was terrified. And we didn't even warn him. Poor guy. So we're letting him see his big boy bed in his room and work up to moving him there. I felt bad for poor Bryan as he's putting the crib back together. By the end of that day, we literally fell into bed we were so exhausted. But we got SO much accomplished!!! Yay!

Brotherly Love

Again, it's been a while since I've written - sorry about that. Time seems to run away from me lately and the motivation to even get on the computer these days has been nil. Evidence of this is the fact that these pictures were taken BEFORE we gave the boys their haircuts (about a week or more ago), but I had these in the computer and thought they were cute. Here's what's been going on in the Hill household lately... we finished our berry picking and the season is now over. Sad, that we can no longer pick treats at random outside in the backyard, but we do have the pomegranates ripening and our strawberries seem to get red at random times, also (that is, if I can catch them before the slugs and snails get to them).
Bryan is still in school getting his Masters, and traveling for weeks here and there for work training. Ethan is loving his baseball class on Saturdays and we're scrambling for shade during that hour so we don't melt into the sidelines. Last week was ok but the week before, we were miserable. Poor kids running out there in 100 degree weather at 10am!! Not fun.
I've been spending my free time (during kids' naps) watching shows and attempting to finish my cross stitch that I've been working on for literally 3 years. For being a finisher, it's hard to believe I've let it go that long! I have so many hobbies that it's hard to pick one to do for a couple hours. Plus I love to cook and bake things so that's not helping the waistline - not to mention all those hours I put in at the gym trying to BURN those calories.
Austin is not adjusting too well to the fact that we're wanting him to sleep in a big boy bed. So he's still in his crib for now...overlooking his big boy bed on the other side of the room. Someday?..?
So that's the overview.. here are the pics. The boys were just running around outside which explains their extremely red, sweaty faces.

We're watching our movie having a nice brotherly hug.

Austin not appreciating the "brotherly grip" that Ethan has around his neck.

So he moves away, notice all the while watching the movie on TV. Can't miss it!! You know how you think that the younger one always bothers the older one? While that IS true a lot of the times, there are definitely things Ethan does that just grate on Austin's nerves. Most of it is "invading" Austin's space or wrestling when Austin doesn't want to. Ahhh, brotherly love.

Dad's Angels Day

I know this is totally late in getting on the blog, but oh well - there were more important things to do, right? On Sunday, I had given Bryan 4 tickets to the Angels' baseball game. They were playing the Atlanta Braves and the game was perfectly timed for 5pm. Most of their games are either at 1pm (nap time) or 7pm (1 hr before bed) so 5 was perfect. Well, Bryan's parents came over and I had been debating whether to bring Austin or not, and Bryan's mom offered to watch him while we took his dad to the game. What a blessing! I didn't have to worry about him careening down the steep incline (see later pictures). Thanks Terri!

So here we are in front of the stadium getting ready to go in. Ethan wore his Angels t-shirt so he and I helped create the blinding "redness" in the stands. It's pretty red in there.

He was proud of his ticket and his backpack. We pulled that backpack out of the depths of the coat closet and he latched onto it. I used to use it to carry diapers and sippies for him at church, but this was perfect for his snacks and sippy for the game.

Ok you're not imagining it. Yes, the wall IS behind our heads - the TOP wall. I'm serious - when I bought the tickets online, they were the only tickets that I could get and I figured they were ok (though I had no idea how high they were). As we approached the second to last section of the stadium, we started ascending only to realize that row R was at the TOP of the stadium. Wow. I mean I could say we had a "headrest" except that the wall was like 150 degrees or hotter. I'm not kidding. The sun was setting on that side and you could literally partly cook an egg on that wall. It radiated heat!!! But at least we were in the shade.?..? I did feel a little lightheaded up there - there was so little oxygen to breath in. Not even the snack sellers ventured up there. And that look on Ethan's face you ask? Well, it was pretty much there from the start of the game till we left. Bryan and I figured he was just focusing?? That's a better thought than that he didn't want to be there.

I could just see the poor guy with these ice cream sandwiches looking at Bryan waving and thinking, "no, no, PLEASE don't make me go up THERE!!!" They honestly only came up to our spot if someone wanted something. I can't blame them. And not to be all calorie-counting, but this baby was almost 600 calories!!!!!! And 25g. of fat. Those couple bites were SOOO good, though. Bryan got it because Ethan said he wanted ice cream, then said he didn't want it. SO typical right now. And did I mention frustrating???

And here is our view. Notice the drop-off from our seats. No lie, folks. Can I say again that I'm SOOO glad we didn't take Austin? The Angels won, by the way. And halfway through the game Ethan wanted to go home and see Grammy. Isn't that like a 3 year old? I told him we're staying because this is a special occasion and we don't get to do it all that much. Of course he still said he wanted to see Grammy. It was a good game and we had a lot of fun munching on hot dogs and sipping our sodas. It's hard to focus on the game when you're there, though. There are so many other things to look at!! I get way too distracted.

We bought Ethan a real wooden bat after he saw someone that had one. He was in heaven and we only paid $4 for it. Ya - $4!!! Talk about a cheap souvenir. We were expecting to shell out around $8. We had to buy Austin one (fairness you know - and to keep fighting at bay) even though I cringed when I thought of a 1 1/2 year old wielding a real wooden bat. I should keep the doctor AND dentist's numbers handy. Yikes. It was a fun day and I think Bryan liked his Father's Day gift.

Relay For Life

Crafts and Baseball?

Yes, I guess one CAN do them both. When your mom is an artist into sports, and your dad is an athelete who has learned to appreciate art (over several years), you must be able to do them both (or at least attempt). We went to Joann's and I used my 40% off coupon on paintbrushes filled with paint for the boys. Astonishingly, I didn't have to get anything for myself (I use the term "have to" loosely). Ethan LOVED painting, Austin LOVED chewing. They had fun and it kept them occupied for a little while. Yay!

The two artists at work.

Last week we went over to our new friends' house, played in the pool, and had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and watermelon. All four of the kids had SUCH a good time and they were fully tired out by the time we got in the car to go home. It has been a blessing getting to know Sonja and her family. We had seen each other a long time ago at work, and ended up running into each other at Trader Joe's one day. We've started hanging out and it has been so fun getting to know each other and our families.

I guess in between pool time, we had bucket time. Whatever works! Just get tired - Veeeeery tired and sleepy! Austin wasn't so into the pool, but he did love their water table. He's not so sure about splashing yet. The swimsuit he was wearing hardly got a drop on it.

It begins. BASEBALL CLASS! I was so excited to go to Ethan's first baseball class for 3 1/2 - 4 year olds. It's called Tiny Hawks. The coaches were so awesome and his coach, Coach Casey, was so patient. You HAVE to be with that age. Here he is throwing Ethan some balls and letting him catch them and throw them back. Ethan did well, but he was really intimidated since there were so many kids and it was so new.

Sonja, David and family. Bryan had to go to his class, so it was going to be me and the boys. Sonja and her family came to support us and watch Austin for me so I could go take pictures. They even brought donuts!! They are so thoughtful and it was such a blessing to me! It was so fun to hang out before they had to go bring their kiddos to swimming class. That probably would have been cooler than an hour at the park! (Not to mention my radiator sprung a leak on the way TO the park). And no, it wasn't a hose, it was the actual radiator! I did manage to put more water in it (go Cara!!) and drive home afterwards without incident. This really nice dad next to my car was shocked, I think, to see a girl working on her car. So much so that he asked, "Are you having car trouble?" Actually, I like to open the hood now and then and look at the engine. j/k. No, it was nice of him. Now we're waiting on the new radiator we ordered from Pep Boys. Nice expensive day at the park! ha ha!

Ok so here's Ethan watching, yes WATCHING the other kids run the bases. He was too scared to run with the other kids so he stood at "home" and "observed." As much as I don't want to be the mom that is RIGHT THERE telling him what to do, here's me going, "Run, Ethan! I'll run with you - it's FUN!!" Ya, after one or two tries, I gave up. I let him stand there because he needs to observe before partaking in the activity. New things are hard. Notice the coach giving everyone high fives in the background? Ya. Then they all went to the infield and did stretches. Well, all but about 15 3 and 4 year olds. Ethan watched the coaches like they were crazy. However, by the end of the hour, Ethan was running the bases with the rest of the kids. He was finally comfortable and he did a wonderful job out there without me! I must say, though, it's a WHOLE new world out there on the ball field. There are some seasoned parents out there who KNOW what's going on and are watching like hawks so their kid can be "the next.....". No pun intended... Tiny Hawks? ha ha. Anyways...

And here's the other kids. Zechariah, Austin and Mackenzie scoping out the other players while eating their apples. In a couple years or less, both of mine will be out there. *sigh* What happens to the time??

Friend Fun

The Lakers FINALLY won a game in the Finals....*whew.* That was looking pretty grim. For the occasion, Bryan put the boys in their Laker t-shirts for the day. Maybe the players felt our support...ok, maybe not. We invited some good friends of ours (Craig also happens to be Bryan's old roommate in college) over for dinner and it had been TOO long since we'd seen them. They are special friends of ours and our friendship has gone from being newly married to each couple having two kids...my how time flies. We watched the game (in between feeding children and Rebekah and I talking) and somehow the Lakers managed to pull it off! We had a "man's" meal of ribs, garlic bread and pasta salad (ok, that's maybe girlie) and finished it off with berry cobbler, strawberries and pound cake, and blackberry-boysenberry sorbet (see previous post). I don't know why I felt you had to know that, but I've already typed it so it's staying. ha ha!

The boys in their Laker shirts. Can you tell how excited they were about having their picture taken? Austin's my little ham so he was trying to copy his brother who wasn't thrilled I was standing in front of his "Curious George" movie. It's not like we haven't watched it oodles of times...

Hannah smiling for the camera. Note how professionally and cleanly she ate the middle out of the bread. I was very impressed, I must say. It was fun to have a couple girls around and Ethan didn't wrestle her to the ground (I don't think). Amazing! They did play chase though. It begins..

This morning I had a couple friends of mine over with their kids. My friend Holly was in the area visiting, since she moved to Colorado with her family last year. She has two boys, Wendy has two boys, and I have two boys. Yes, 6 boys 4 and under. We almost had a whole basketball team in my backyard! Here they all are getting sludgy in our sandbox. For some reason we can't seem to keep the water out of it, even with a tarp! So it was like being at the beach...near the water line.

So then Austin EATS a handful of sand. You read it right. What is so appealing about sand...or anything in-edible for that matter? It seems he's putting everything in his mouth again. He'll be 2 in August and I thought he outgrew that. I guess I was wrong. The most disgusting thing was that he did it AGAIN after doing it a minute earlier. Honestly, after gritting it in his teeth he enjoyed it enough to repeat it?? Well, here he is realizing that it really doesn't taste good, but wondering how to get rid of it. *sigh*

Holly and her boys. It was so fun to see her but we all, of course, hardly talked since we were constantly running after children and keeping them from assaulting each other with golf clubs and fake guns. For most of them this morning the lesson we were trying to learn was how to share. Austin was having the hardest time with that one. Ethan would give Jake (the baby) a toy, and Austin would immediately take it away. Oh, the lessons we learn daily (and the amount of times we mothers have to verbalize these lessons).

Passing Away the Time

Ok so we go to this place called Victoria Gardens where there's this cool fountain that shoots up out of the ground sporadically. What do the boys do but "bat" the water..? Can we ever STOP playing sports?? Folks, be watching in the years to come because honestly, if Ethan doesn't play baseball or basketball or golf, I will be SHOCKED. Mind you, I won't force it on him, but it's almost like it's a part of his brain or something. Everything relates to sports... anyways.

So at first all Ethan was doing was jumping right next to where the water came out. Over and over. And over. Then he warmed up and finally got in there and splashed around. Ok so I was a little nervous that they'd get soaking since I hadn't brought a change of clothes, but this is a test of my, "just enjoy life, Cara" resolution. Who cares if I used the last diaper on Austin after this and at the end of the shopping day he does a smelly poop in his diaper after playing in another fountain and I have to remove all his clothes except for the diaper, of course, and drive him home naked? He lived...and took NO nap again. And yelled and talked upstairs for 2 hours. No biggy. Hey, at least I remembered the sippies. I just forgot to bring more than one diaper for the day.

Grammy and the boys. She went with me and we had fun shopping and eating. She is the one who dressed them similarly. I got several, "cute, twins" comments from passers-by. I mean I MIGHT see a similarity, but twins? Come on people. Although Riva and I got the question, "are you guys related?" So I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Today I decided that instead of freezing some of our fresh boysenberries (my favorite) and blackberries, I'd make some sorbet. I have not used my ice cream maker since Bryan and I were newly married and in our apartment. And we used it once. The thing is so darn noisy and cumbersome. Well, I pulled it out, dusted it off, and made a Blackberry Buttermilk Sorbet with the boys' help of course. I ACTUALLY used my splatter guard thing and poured the liquid through it to catch the seeds. Now THAT takes patience and time, I tell you! But the result was really yummy. Above, the boys are helping me put in ice around the container. I was pouring in the rock salt. Instead of putting in all the ice, Austin was eating the ice chips out of the bag. He was chowing them like they were ice cream. Hey, if it keeps him happy, I'm not complaining.

Look at that creamy goodness! I immediately had a small taste of it and it had a really nice flavor. I was glad since I had to improvise with the buttermilk thing. I put vinegar into milk to make the buttermilk. I'm sure it would probably have had a creamier, stronger taste if I'd used the real thing, but it still tastes pretty good. Cooking Light, baby! I love that magazine. I haven't made one thing from it I didn't like. So, I'm done with my week alone and Bryan will be home tonight. Yay!!! I made it.

Lee Day

I know I'm so far behind my sis, but here's some pictures from our day at the Discovery Zone with the Lee family. I met Riva there so we could have a day of fun at the museum together - all 7 of us. Wow is all I can say. I mean it's a cool place, but with all those kids running around and all the noise, it was almost more than I could take. Especially with my youngest who's oblivious to things and gets into just about everything.

You don't see these very often! A picture of me and Riva together. Usually we're facing the camera away from ourselves and onto our kids. I love her - she's the most awesome sister and person ever. She's got the most caring heart and she has gotten me through some tough times. This week has been a challenge and she was there to listen and encourage me - even when she was trying to make dinner and I was crying into her ear on the phone.

So onto museum pictures. Surprise, surprise, Ethan found an exhibit with balls in it. *sigh* It was in the Grossology exhibit and honestly I don't even know what this particular thing was about. This frog thing shot balls out of its nose....ok? I must say that you have to see that huge fly that Riva posted. I found it particularly gross. Ugh. But this is the one that Ethan and Austin fought over....(oh, but you couldn't see that in this picture)..... Let me just say that my almost 2 year old is very TRYING lately. And my 3 year old doesn't help matters with his "older brother bossiness" syndrome.

Awwww...cousin love. They are good buddies, even though they have different interests. I laughed because when we went to Riva's house, Mikayla was being so sweet and wanted to let the boys pick out what to watch on TV. Her one request was, "I just don't want to watch baseball. It's booooring." I laughed so hard (inside of course). What does Ethan request? "Baseball." What else? By the time we put on a cartoon, they were playing in the other room anyways. I had to laugh, though.

I had to include this picture because look at all of our faces. It looks like we're being "jolted" to sleep in the earthquake room. Are we having fun yet??? We look beat and it's not even barely 12:30 at this point. See what having kids does to you? I feel my stress level elevating every time I'm in an open place with a large group of people. You have to have eyes in the back of your head and patience that could move a mountain. Can patience move mountains - did that make sense? Oh well. It's 11pm. I'm allowed.

I thought it was interesting that Riva's kids are all smiles and looking at her camera. Where are mine looking? Anywhere but me...and avoiding smiling at the camera at all costs. I mean, at least they're cozy and comfortable??...

And the culmination of the day. After my kids not taking even a 5 minute nap (I'll pay for it tomorrow) and stress all around me at the museum, I got to endulge in Riva's Almond Tea. MMMmmmm is all I can say. Just look at that flaky topping and the inside is pure almond delight. She made it because I was coming over and I told her I wanted to try it. Thank you Riva! It was sooooooOOOOO good. Her pork chops were good, too and I was so spoiled that I was served dinner AND dessert. It seems I can't stop eating sweet stuff lately....better keep going to the gym to work it off. Too bad we didn't get a lot of talking time since there were always kids around us that needed attention.... but we had a really good time. Another day down and only a few more to go before I get relief from this single-mom routine.

Water! Water? Everywhere!

We ordered some Omaha Steaks a week ago, and they were delivered here yesterday. They had a really good deal going that we couldn't resist. The most fun part for the boys (and maybe even more so for me) is the dry ice that it's packed with. It's this huge block of dry ice that keeps it cool over the coolers' many mile voyage to our front door. The MOST fun is putting the thing in water and watching the "smoke" come off of it. Ethan didn't know what to think of it, but I kept having to stop him from reaching in and touching it. I got a little piece of it on my finger and now I know why it says "use gloves when handling." That stuff BURNS! So after spending money on steaks, potatoes and salmon, we enjoyed the part that came free right away! That stuff is too fun to play with, honestly. My sink was a "boiling cauldron."

Ethan feeling the cool stuff on his face.

Day 3 (technically Day 4 if you count Bryan being in school all day) of being a 'single mom' and I'm so desperate for things to do that I'm ACTUALLY blowing up the pool so the boys can play in it. I consider myself lazy when it comes to doing things like this because it requires so much preparation (not to mention major light-headedness). I mean you have to change the kids, get the towels, lather them in sunscreen, change the diaper, and then make sure you don't have to go to the bathroom in the middle of it for fear someone might drown in "2 inches of water" while you're taking a 2 minute bathroom break. I didn't mention making sure your 3 year old goes BEFORE entering the pool, did I? Ya - well literally a minute after entering the pool, Ethan says, "mommy, I have to go potty." I felt bad because I lectured him on going BEFORE entering the pool, but realized it was probably my fault for not asking him in the first place. Then I thought, "well, this one time it wouldn't be TOO bad to have him go on the lawn..." But, I gave in, dried him off, and marched him to the bathroom instead. The lawn would have been so much easier....but once I let him do it once, well, you know......enough said.

This is what they were doing while I was blowing the pool up for 10 minutes. WHEW. I'm serious I got majorly dizzy. But one thing encouraging was.... they were READING!!! And this is NOT a stage shot. No, my boys were reading BOOKS! Amazing, but so encouraging. ha ha!

Ethan splashing it up in the pool. He was having fun splashing water with the shovel onto Carmen's house (our next door neighbor). At least it dries.

And after slipping and landing on his rear in the pool, Austin decided something else was more fun...giving mommy a "haircut." He brought out his drill - yes that's right, drill - and "cut" my hair. This is common in our house, using power tools for other uses. And yes, it does spin and tend to rip out hairs every now and then. I actually prefer the saw. It gives a nice head massage.

What's a day at the pool without watermelon? We had made a run to the grocery store and got watermelon (wasn't on my list), along with other stuff (except stamps because I ALWAYS forget them) and ate a quarter of it. I, of course, got a McDonald's coffee before going to the grocery store and endulged in that. Riva got me hooked on those. It hit the spot on a nice overcast morning.

"Don't you dare touch my watermelon, you hear? I've been a picky eater over the last 4 days and I'm scarfing this down, man. It's what a cold does to you. That, and mommy says that I'm irritable, too."