Five Favorites Revisited

Well, three months have come and gone quickly, so an updated list on the kids' current favorites is due.

Paige's Five Favorites
Show: Max & Ruby, no change
Snack: cheese and crackers, no change
Book: Sleeping Beauty
Toy: Princess dress up dolls
Saying: "I don't want to..."

Nick's Five Favorites
Show: Curious George
Snack: grapes
Book: Goodnight Gorilla
Toy: any ball will do
Saying: "Dowwwwwnnn"

Day Trip

While Brian played golf with his buddies, my mom, the kids, and I headed up to Julian for a little day trip. We were curious to see if there was any snow left which turned out to be not very much at all. However, Paige was happily satisfied with the little bit of snow that was there, even though it had become more like a block of dirty ice. Nick also joined in on the action as well as many San Diego County residents. The little town was packed! The four of us hopped on a horse-drawn carriage for a quick fifteen minute historical tour of the town. We then walked around enjoying the fresh crisp air and low forty degree weather. And somehow, we did not end up bringing home a pie.

Christmas Day

Santa was good to the kids Christmas morning. Paige's Sleeping Beauty costume was lying on the chair while her scooter sat perfectly under the tree. Nick got a fire truck and a very large blue ball that he's been rolling around the house. They loved playing with their new toys. The grandparents and Uncle Kris came over to enjoy breakfast with us and then we enjoyed a quiet rainy afternoon.
Later that day, we headed over to Eric and Stefanie's place for Christmas dinner. They made an elegant dinner of lamb chops, asparagus, and corn. We enjoyed spending time together as a family that day, lots of good laughs and good fun.

Costume change: Snow White came from Nana. Cathy with her boys.

Michelle, Stefanie and I all dressed in green. This was not planned.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a great way to start our whirlwind of fun. We spent the morning finishing up all the little stuff: wrapping, baking, and prepping. We then made a stop at Brian's grandmother's house to visit Mumsy & Papa Cal. The kids made themselves right at home there while leaving sticky fingerprints all over their furniture and big screen tv. After that we headed to my parents' house for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and gifts. This year, my mom roasted a pork crown roast that was not only beautiful to look at, but tasted delicious. After dinner, the kids opened up their presents from Papa and Tita while we watched them enjoy themselves thoroughly. Unfortunately my brother had to work that night, so we weren't able to spend time with him, but Santa left gifts for him under the tree. We returned home to put the kids to bed, then Brian and I, aka Santa's helpers, finished putting everything together for the next morning. We had so much fun getting the place ready for the next day of joy.

Paige and Nick pose for me under our tree.

The kids loved how Tita decorated the playhouse.

Visit with Santa

Every year, Brian's company hosts a holiday pancake breakfast for employees and their families. Breakfast is complimentary as long as you bring an unwrapped gift for each guest which, in turn, is donated to children in need. Santa is always there to greet the families and it's the best time to get a picture with him. Nick was a very willing participant to sit in Santa's lap, but Paige wanted nothing to do with saying hello to ol' Kris Kringle. Instead, she watched from afar as her brother posed for the photo. Besides pancakes, we enjoyed decorating a sugar cookie, watching some of a holiday movie in the auditorium, and listening to the harpist.

Bull in a China Shop

In one week, Nick has managed to break a hurricane candle, snowglobe, and a bottle of red wine. He has also chipped a few of my Snow Village pieces. So you may be wondering, "Shouldn't all of this stuff be out of reach?" Well, yes. But, to my defense the kid is super quick and gets into trouble before I can get to him. It doesn't help that I also have two other distractions during the day, Paige and Nemo. Luckily, he has not sliced his hand or any other body part open. However, his arm showed up with a mysterious boo-boo that kind of looks like a burn. How that happened, I'll never know. I'm hoping we'll get through the rest of the holidays relatively unscathed.

Holiday Cheer

We had a really fun weekend. On Saturday, we got our tree and finished decorating the house. It's very festive now. That night we headed down to Balboa Park for their annual "December Nights". It draws a huge crowd, but worth going to if you are in need of Christmas cheer. It definitely gets you into the spirit. We love visiting the various countries and sampling some ethnic food. My favorite this year was the paella from Spain. Brian's was the bratwurst from Germany. Paige also got to see the big man himself, Santa Claus. She didn't want to sit with him or get her picture taken. She just wanted to make sure that he knew she wanted the Sleeping Beauty dress for Christmas. Eric and Stefanie joined us as well and the four adults to two kids ratio works out really well!

Keeping Busy

It's that time of year where I barely sit down for a break, have little post-it notes through out the house, and cannot go to bed without my mind whirling. Yep...the holidays are here. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but with Thanksgiving being on the late side this year, Christmas is sneaking up faster than anticipated. And some things I've brought upon myself. For example, I decided to make our Christmas cards this year. I've already started the first part to it, so that's good. But now Paige has fully given up her afternoon nap and "quiet time" was just not working out anymore. Saying "Mommy-Mommy-Mommy" over and over again was not my version of quiet time. And, it was preventing Nick from falling asleep for his nap, so I've given up. Thankfully, she's been really good about playing quietly or watching a movie while I can get some work done.

Today we met up with my dear friend, Linda, and her son, Joey, at the mall. I love how Paige and Joe get along so well. It probably helps that they are only six weeks apart in age. They have so much fun together and cookies always taste better with a friend.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was great this year. We got some much needed rain and awoke to a beautiful rainbow; we love the clean air and smells after a rain.

We had dinner at our house and the fare was bountiful and delicious, all paired with awesome wines, and the table was festive.

Appetizers

* Veggies and ranch dip

* Meatballs and 'Lil Smokies

* Feta cheese and Kalamata olives

* Champagne mimosa cocktail w/ pomegranate and Cointreau, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay

Salad

* Mixed greens with roasted golden and red beets, fried goat cheese fritters

Main Course

* Roast turkey and gravy

* Dressing - two types, Greek rice/chestnut style and bread style

* Mashed potatoes

* Yams

* Green bean casserole

* Broccoli gorgonzola casserole

* Spanikopita

* Crescent rolls and cranberry sauce

* Cabernet, pinot noir, zinfandel

Dessert

* Sweet potato cheesecake

* Pumpkin pie

* Coffee

We wrapped up with the family rocking the house on Guitar Hero.

Great day and a lot to be thankful for!

- Brian

The Return of Hiking

We broke down and got ourselves a backpack carrier for Nick. Brian found a great one on Craigslist today and we wasted no time in putting it to use. Shortly before sunset, we strapped him in, put some good walking shoes on Paige, and headed to Torrey Pines State Park for a little hike down to the beach. It has been so long since we've been out on a hike and we enjoyed every moment of it. Well, except for the scraped elbow Paige endured after slipping on a rock. She's okay, and yet still managed to give an Oscar winning performance in the wounded category. We look forward to more hiking adventures with our little tikes.

Our Gymnast

We enrolled Paige in a gymnastics class at our nearby rec center this fall. She has absolutely loved it! Every week, she learns and practices a new skill. She then comes home to show us her forward rolls, frog leaps, and "cartwheels". She's also been practicing her balance on the beam, hanging from the uneven bars, and jumping on the trampoline. She then sleeps like a rock those nights, tired from all her hard work.
I also had to throw in this picture of Nick. His new favorite sound to make is "shhhh..." with his finger to his lips. He is especially fond of doing this when Nemo or other neighbor dogs are barking.

Look Who's Walking

With each day, Nick's been taking more steps as his confidence grows. I got some footage of him this morning as he walked to me from the coffee table. He's still mostly crawling, but it's only a matter of time now before the scale tips. I find it interesting that Paige started walking at fourteen months too. Must be something in the genes.

The Unit Rocks Guitar Hero 4 World Tour!

The game that compelled me to purchase a Nintendo Wii this summer released in late October and we've been rocking out as a family with it ever since.

Guitar Hero 4, like Rock Band which was the only other game like this I've tried, enables up to 4 band members to play together on guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. Our band is named "Unit" of course, and we're shredding on medium level, which is VERY challenging (levels go easy-medium-hard-expert). All of the equipment works really well, the drums are force sensitive, and the storyline is fun as your band tours the world playing gigs and earning sponsorships and points while unlocking new songs.

The song list is excellent with favorites such as "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor, "Stanglehold" by The Nuge, "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" by the Beastie Boys, "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen, and recent hot tracks we just unlocked by Ozzy, Tool, Pat Benetar, Sting, and Jimi Hendrix.

Jen and I are a hot team with her on bass on me on guitar. My brother Eric, his wife Stefanie, my cousin Claire, and my aunt Maureen rocked with us on Halloween night and it was a blast.

The kids dig it too. Paige likes to play the drums, guitar, and sing (just pretend as the game is way too difficult for her age) and was recently heard asking me, "can we turn on the music game to rock?" And she asked her brother,"Nick, do you want to rock with me?"

Nick was in the family room when I was tearing up the guitar solo on Stranglehold and apparently he really likes the song because he went over to the stereo, cranked the volume WAY up, and started dancing until Jen could run over and turn the volume down before the pictures shook off the walls.
Rock on!

- Brian

Rock and Roll Wine and My Amazing Wife

Jen is the best.

She read in the Friday morning paper that the lead singer of my favorite band, Maynard James Keenan from Tool, is now into wine making and was going to be at the local Whole Foods market that afternoon signing wine bottles from his vinyards. So she took initiative to bolt down to the market with the kids at lunch time to pick up a number, 9, to hold a spot in line for later that day.

I was able to leave work a bit early and we took the kids down for the 5 pm start to the signing. It turns out that more than 550 numbers were taken by the time we arrived so the 9th slot came in handy as we were in and out in 45 minutes.

We purchased 6 bottles of wine, met Maynard and his wine business partner Eric Glmoski, and had the bottles signed. Maynard was quiet and reserved, usually shunning the spotlight, but it was a cool moment. He was particularly fond of Paige. Great memory, followed up by a nice family dinner out, a special night indeed.

I love my wife and appreciate her making that happen!

- Brian

For the Love of Pizza

Brian has become a pizza connoisseur . We always start with the ready made pizza dough from Trader Joe's. It's only $1.29 and can be split in half. What a steal! My personal favorite is the four cheese. After rolling the dough out, Brian drizzles the dough with olive oil and adds the quattro formaggio shredded cheese (once again from TJ's). This particular pizza was 1/2 four cheese and 1/2 spinach and goat cheese. I was in heaven! Brian believes that the key to pizza success is using a pizza stone (sprinkled with a little corn starch) and baking in a 500 degree oven. And you know what else is great? The kids love it too! Even the spinach.

Photography by PJ

Recently I uploaded photos from our camera and noticed quite a few of the fireplace and other parts of the family room. It didn't take me too long to find the culprit, Paige. So, we bought her a vtech digital kid friendly camera for her birthday. This is the best thing! It's durable, waterproof, and so easy to use. She loves taking pictures and she can even take video with it. I love looking through the photos and seeing what life looks like from her perspective.

She can put cool little frames around pictures while she takes them.

On a walk to the park.

In the car.

Disneyland

For Paige's third birthday, we took her to the happiest place on earth. And, that it was for sure. My mom, Cathy, Eric, and Stefanie joined us as well. We arrived right when it opened and stayed to watch the parade at 7pm. The kids were so good the entire time for they were in awe of everything around them. Paige's favorite rides were Winnie-the-Pooh, Autopia, and the Jungle Cruise. Nick also loved Winnie-the-Pooh. We attempted Pirates of the Caribbean, but Paige kept her eyes closed the whole time. She did enjoy that little drop in the beginning though. The highlights for Paige were meeting Sleeping Beauty, Little Mermaid, getting a hug from Mickey, and the parade. And Brian, Eric, Stef, and I got to ride Space Mountain which was so much fun. That ride is the best!

With Tita in Minnie's houseCathy and I on the Jungle CruiseNick and I enjoy King Triton's carousel.Eric and Brian had a little competition going when they rode the Matterhorn. They wanted to see who could get the best picture of the yeti during the ride. This is the shot Brian got. Waiting for the parade to start.

Halloween Birthday

Paige turned three yesterday. She enjoyed her birthday so much so, I thought she was going to burst with excitement. Then, let's not forget to add Halloween on top of that. Whoa, what a day it was. We had so much fun dressing up the kids in their costumes. Nick even wore his Peter Pan hat without a fuss. Trick-or-treating was great although Paige did get a little scared of the kids in spooky masks. Thankfully, Aunt Stef saved the day by giving Paige "fairy dust" to sprinkle as she walked. I'm sure our neighbors might not be quite as thrilled with glitter all over their sidewalks this morning. Now we have the rest of the weekend to rest, relax, and play with birthday gifts.

Ready to open her gift from Uncle Kris & Aunt Michelle.

Tinkerbell couldn't resist getting her fingers in frosting.