This is the mini concert I mentioned in an earlier post that all the parents got to attend in the Kindergarten class. This is about 3 songs out of 7 that we got sung to us. It's so lovely and cute. Watch!

Kindergarten Christmas Songs from Susan on Vimeo.

After Christmas...

Christmas is over, the afterglow is still there, left behind in toys. I asked the boys what their favorite gift was this Christmas, and the answers are in:

Aiden- drum set, complete with bass, snare, tom and symbol.
Liam- VTech VSmile "computer" with Handy Manny game.

I haven't got what I think will be my favorite gift yet: a Kodak Zi8 video camcorder. I am really excited to start using it and get some video up of the boys that is a little bit better quality.

Christmas went off without a hitch. Calm (probably because we were sick) and not too much junk was given. Instead, we got pretty useful and long life toys.

We are all getting better, less coughing, less snot, better sleeping. We decided to head to the G.G.'s and give them their presents. We kept our distance so as not to get them sick, but it was great to see them. The boys played with Andy, Libbie, Bonnie and Chris. They love seeing them after a while and getting new energy and attention directed at them- Mom and Dad get boring after a while.

Soon I will post pictures from Christmas morning and the unwrapping of the presents. Hope everyone had an awesome Holiday, full of family, love and laughter.

Chickens...

Since the last post we have acquired 3 chickens. The boys really like them, especially Aiden. They both are kind of scared of them, but they like collecting eggs and they like watching them from outside their coop. We average about 3 eggs a day. I don't know if production slows down in Winter, but it is sometimes less than 3 and sometimes more, it just depends when you check. We are kind of swimming in eggs now too. For some odd reason we went and bought a carton of eggs, then my mom bought a carton, then we got the chickens. Currently we have 2 dozen eggs in the fridge and close to a dozen hard-boiled eggs. All our farts are gonna stink like eggs and the boys are going to be eating them everyday in their school lunches.

Since I have been working on a wreath fundraiser for Caspar Children's Garden I have been out on the property taking clippings for the wreaths. The boys like to wander around with me and we end up making it into a game. We played spy scientists while we were collecting. I would take a "sample" of a tree and the boys would take "samples" of pinecones, mushrooms and sticks. We would then put them all into our bucket for further viewing later. We had a lot of fun. This picture of Liam is him with his "spy glass". It is a magnifying glass and we was having so much fun using it during our game.

The rain has come and it's been nice. We had friends over for dinner and after dinner we went outside and roasted marshmallows in a huge fire that Lucas made. We finally got all these old logs that have sat for 10 years pushed together into a fire. We went outside and had fun watching the fire and climbing on some of the outer logs.

Liam has also been having a ball splashing in all the puddles. His rainboots don't do him any good, but it doesn't matter anyway. He is so happy in the moment, splashing around, then when he is all soaked we take him in strip him down and warm him up with blankets and new clothes.

Also, our house is looking quite festive. I really went all out with decorations this year. I felt like this year would be full of homemade gifts and not as much stuff. Stuff piles up so what we all really need is love, family, friendship and celebration. I wanted to be happy about the coming of Winter and to celebrate Christmas more with being together and less with stuff. Here are some pictures of things we have up around the house.

Some of the goings on over the last week...

This first picture was down in Mendocino at the Recreation Center's playground/park. It recently got new sand and woodchips and is kind of revived because of it. It has been needing it for a long time, so the kids really enjoy it more now.

We also went to the tree lighting ceremony in Mendocino on December 4th. It was a lot of fun and something I have never done myself, let alone with the kids. I had no expectations and it turned out to be grweat. We left the house around 5:15 and went to the Kelly House. When we got there there was already a good amount of people and we started talking with our friends and the kids started running down the grassy hill with their friends. Soon the carolers started singing and Liam and I were swaying to the Christmas songs. After they finished we counted down for the "tree" to be lit. The "tree" at this tree lighting ceremony is actually just strands of christmas lights strung in the shape of a triangle from a water tower with a big star on top. It was fun anyway. Better for the Earth and less expensive! After that Santa came in the fire truck and went inside for all the "good" boys and girls to talk to him and get a small gift. There were also cookies donated that were scrumdiddlyumcious. We headed over to the Mendocino Cafe to get dinner and hoped that Santa would still be there when we were done. We ended up just missing him, but his elves were still there to give the boys a present. Liam got a Santa that can hang on the tree or crumples when you push the bottom up. Aiden got a glittery ball (that we actually already had at home), but he was glad anyway. The boys always fight over balls, so who doesn't need another ball.

Today I cut Liam's hair. He has been screaming in the bath during hair washing time. It was getting tiring and ridiculous. So why not nip it in the bud and just cut off the thing that is starting all this screaming- his hair. I know, I know- baby hair, the cutest, softest, blondest, sweetest stuff ever. Really though, do you wanna wash it all the time. I got a little crazy with the buzzers and before I knew it he had an Aiden haircut. It's a little longer on top and he likes it and that's all that matters, right? I miss his old look a little, but atleast we get less screaming and more play time now. Here are some pictures of his new haircut!

We also went and watched the sunset this evening, but it was windy and freezing and the boys were over it. Well, Liam was over it. He was tired from having no midday nap for the last three days and those extra two hours that he usually gets finally caught up with him. He fell asleep in the car on the way back home despite our best efforts to keep him awake and he slept for about 3 and a half hours. Now we get to deal with him until we go to bed. I guess there is not rest for the weary, right?

Turning 25...

While taking a break from the blog and coming back to tell you about my birthday seems a little, well, selfish, it is a blog about my experiences in the face of living life the way that I live it- with two, well, three boys and us all growing up together.

So my birthday was perfect. A small group of friends sharing laughter and wine together at our house. Calm, yet crazy (we all have kids after all). Settling into the darker days, with a roaring fire and a cup of vino to warm us up. I am not a drinker by any means, in fact, I often lecture people on drinking too much because of my past experiences. I must say though, that it is nice to get a little tipsy and enjoy all that life has given me. I am learning more and more as I get older that I need to relax. Kids have made me more relaxed, taught me to really look at what is important- choose what it is I need to get done, buy, say, love- versus what I want to get done, buy, say, love.

Nothing reminds me of all these things more than my birthday. I reflect {which I love doing by the way} on all that I have been given. Both the good and the bad have made me the parent, person, girlfriend, that I am today. I am thankful more and more for all the people that have impacted me, big and small, to make me who I am. So here is a toast to turning twenty five. Thanks for all of the people that have helped me celebrate the last 24 years- and here's to the twenty fifth.

In terms of the blog, I will try harder to bring more pictures and info about what we are up to this Winter. I know that I need to keep chronicaling our life, it just gets to be a little too much sometimes. I think that I will bring more pictures and less words sometimes- which everyone likes better anyway.

Music Together...

Today was our first Music Together class. Liam and I took the Summer off and we are back into the swing of things. Liam had been back and forth about wanting and not wanting to go. He has been in these classes since he was six months old, so two years. He was a little tired of them- so was I. It was nice to have Summer off, but Liam is so musically inclined that I felt a little guilty about possibly not taking the class. It is also a 10 week class and he will have heart surgery in October so we will miss some of it. It is also expensive, so I wasn't sure if, in this economy, it was worth. The fact is that I will do anything for my kids, even if it means scrimping somewhere else so that they can reap the benefits of some class. Liam is so vocal and, although this was the first day, still tries to "sing" to the songs, whether he knows them or not {which we don't know 95% of them yet}. The class was a success, he really loved it.

After his class ended we ate some food and had to go pick up Aiden from school. Then we were off to GG's house. Reminding me how much he loved his class he was singing "A Ram Sam Sam" pretty loudly, not necessarily to anyone, just singing as children do, mindlessly. The thing is that all the adults noticed. GG Alice commented on how he was singing a new song and I explained that we had our first class of Music Together today.

We went huckleberry/blackberry (mmmmmhh) picking and then cut up some apples and made a yummy {and healthy} crisp. The kids ate some for 4 pm snack time.

That's about it for our day..more later...

Grandparents day...and more...

This morning we went to Pancake Breakfast with the boys. We haven't gone for 6 months and it sounded fun. Afterward, we went to a spot that you can take a fantastic picture of Mendocino. I haven't ever really took pictures of the town (well, village really). I got pictures of the boys sitting with the town in the background and pictures of just the town and the beach. The boys really like seeing this "new" little spot and wanted to do some other things that they have never seen or done while living in Mendo. We decided to go down to Big River Beach, but instead of going on the river side we went down the steps and stayed on the ocean side {eww, so new and exciting, right?}. There was a new log that was HUGE and so smooth and fun to walk on. Aiden was being so daredevilish and even jumped from 6 FEET!! Even I {albeit, I confess, I am not a daredevil} would be a little scared of that. I am a wuss when it comes to heights {maybe it was all the jumps I saw my father do that really got me scared}. Anyway, Aiden was leaping to his little hearts content. After that shiny newness wore off we went to a little "pond" as the kids called it. In reality it was just nasty saltwater that has been cutoff from the ocean and is now stagnate. They threw sand "asteroids" in for a while and splashed around. Aiden was walking around when he found this fish, on its back, in really shallow water. He was like, "whoa, look at this it's really cool." I was looking at it and then noticed that its gills were moving. I was like, "oh my gosh it's still alive." I flipped it over and grabbed it and slipped it into the water. I think that it was fine. It swam to the bottom and when we checked on it a little later it was gone from the spot that it was relaxing in. I wish i would have taken a picture before I picked it up. My split reaction was that it was going to die so it needed water ASAP. We played for a while longer, making an island for each of the boys. Finally we got home.

We had plans to meet up with friends at their house to have a late lunch, and so that i could bring over some baby stuff for her. The boys really enjoyed hanging out with them and getting to know them better {they are newer friends}.

When we got home we invited Lucas's parents over because it was Grandparents Day. We bought them flowers and made a card and had a really nice dinner with them. They left just before brushing time.

The rain today was a welcome surprise and made everything look all new and shiny. Looking forward to more rain and Fall to arrive. Shorter days, fires, tea and hot chocolate, splashing in puddles and snuggling inside all sound so nice.

These are a couple of random pictures from an earlier time.... they were too cute not to include.

Brothers bumping around...

I JUST took these and immediately loaded them onto my computer because they are so cute. While I was in the house uploading them Liam got his toe ran over and the fun was over. Aiden went on to something else and Liam soon returned to the car after a few tears and a nose wiping. He is back laughing outside with Grammy Mona on the porch. So here they are...enjoy.

Catheterization...

Here are the photos from our trip to San Francisco. We had lots of fun with cousins and going to the Aquarium of the bay and the Exploritorium. We also walked around San Francisco and found some nice parks for the kids to play in. After all the fun came the hard part. Liam had his cardiac catheterization and while he did do just fine, we are always worried and, come on, how fun can a hospital really be? So enjoy the pics of family and fun, and some that aren't much fun. Also, the video that I described on the post before this is on this post, for those of you that were confused.