Family Fun

We've had a lot of fun as a family since we've been here. It's been so nice have Scott home for an extra day every week! Here's what we've done this week:

We've been playing outside a lot (when it's not too cold) - Parker and Landon both love to blow bubbles.

This week we even got to help out the recycling truck!

We introduced the boys to cloud watching, but Landon wasn't a huge fan of laying on the concrete. Maybe we'll try grass next time.

And these pictures are just for those of you who can't get enough of Parker's Tigger sweater. So cute!

We've also been having fun with our new camera. Scott and I both had some extra Christmas money, so we pooled it together to get a Nikon and it's so much fun!

We've been having fun with Brad and Lisa again now that the plague of last week seems to have finally left our household! Everyone was so sick - it's nice to be able to have dinner together again and hang out after the kids have gone to bed.

We had a family movie night yesterday and the kids loved it. I think they ate this whole bowl of popcorn themselves! Scott helped a bit, I guess...

And, lastly, we've been playing with Princesses! Landon borrowed these lovely gals from a friend of ours and he takes them all over the house. Now, before you make any rash judgements on Landon's manliness quotient, scroll down...

....to see that the Princesses were gathered to witness the "squishing" of the train conductor (a.k.a. Prince Charming). I guess I don't really have that much to worry about right?

Landon and Parker Quotes

Yes, I have to add Parker to the title now - he's talking up a storm these days! Ok, here are my favorites this week:

L: Awww, crap!
(I don't know where that one came from...)

M: Landon, it's time to go home so we're not going up the slide again.
L: Mommy, I'm just going to go up ONE more time.
M: Landon, you already got to go up one more time and now it's time to go home.
(Landon runs towards the slide)
M: Landon, I've asked you to come with me - are you going to obey or disobey?
L: DISOBEY!!!
M: Ok, then you're going to have a consequence.
L: (happily) ok!!
M: Are you ready for your consequence?
L: Yes!
M: Since you're choosing to disobey, you don't get to play foozeball with Daddy tonight.
L: Ok!.......Wait, no Mommy! I want to play Foozeball!!!
(the pleading and sobbing continued all the way home, but he's now informed me that he will choose to obey tomorrow. Yes!)

P: WaaaaEeeeee! (Wall-E figure that he saw in the store. Who knew!?)

P: Ooooh! Baby ba-ba! (he saw a baby drinking a bottle and thought it was pretty funny)

P: Mommeeeeeee! (He's graduated from Mama to Mommy! I hear this about 80 times an hour!)

Yesterday Brad walked in the door from work and was greeted by:

L: Hi Brad! Were you a worker man today?

Landon told me that he wants to be a worker man someday too :)

Ducks and Date

Last weekend we went over to UNM to feed the ducks. We had heard that there were a lot of ducks, but really. There were a LOT of ducks! As soon as we opened up our bag of bread we started to see them all flocking towards us.

After we'd been feeding them for a few minutes, one started to get really aggressive. This one snatched bread straight from both the boys hands. Parker laughed and Landon just slowly backed away - I guess that's pretty telling!

The UNM campus is really pretty. It actually reminds me of the U of C campus - older buildings, but with big beautiful trees.

Landon got a bit chilly, so he decided to hang out in the stroller.
And then this happened:

Ok, so that was our attempt at recreating what actually happened: I (being the really smart and conscientious Mom that I am) parked our stroller at the top of a hill without putting the brake on. Then, I put Landon in the stroller and turned around to take a few pictures of Parker. Well, apparently when you add weight to a precariously placed stroller, it tends to NOT stay put. The stroller started down the hill and was really picking up speed when Scott spotted it and started yelling. I figured that Landon was just trying to get out or something...until I saw Scott running full out towards the duck pond. I turned around to see Scott catch the stroller literally 6 inches or so before the front tire plunged into duck filth. Scott and I laughed nervously for a long time after that - seriously, can you imagine how bad that would have been!? The stroller would have been trashed and disgusting and Landon would have been thrown into freezing water - filled with duck poop - on a chilly morning. Horrible! Thank goodness Scott is fast!

After escaping disaster, we went home and I took Landon on his first date to the movie theatre. They have a dollar theatre here (hallelujah!), so we went to see Madagascar 2. Landon was SO excited about the big screen, the loud volume and the darkness, but mostly about the M&M's and skittles he got to snack on. He zonked out in the car about 2 seconds after the movie ended (right after he said "Mommy, I like dates. Can we go again another day?"). Success!

Our New Years - slightly delayed :)

After our Christmas holiday we got to spend some time with Scott's side of the family. We actually met up with Whitney's family in Berkeley on our way out of town. We got to eat at Barney's one last time :). Landon was SO excited to see his cousins!

We drove down to Southern California and stayed overnight at a hotel, which the kids thought was so cool. Then we drove to Scottsdale the next day. We stayed with Mama Kit and Papa Len and had a really great time! The boys obviously love their grandparents and it was nice for Scott and me to decompress for a few days. We even got to go on a New Years date!

These are Landon's "faces". He really gets a kick out of showing me the different emotions (as you'll see in the video at the end of this post). This is his scared face:
and his happy face:

And this is Parker's applesauce face. He pretty much looks like this after every meal. Ok, not quite this bad, but seriously! He's a messy eater! Landon still hates spilling or getting dirty at meal time, but apparently Parker quite likes it.


Landon and Parker were being puppies one morning. They really like to pretend and play together. Parker usually just follows Landon around. Landon's convinced that this blanket = puppy ears.


Here's a video of them playing:




As we were getting ready to make the drive to Albuquerque, we stopped at a park to play with the cousins.




Rebecca is really great at playing with younger kids. Landon keeps asking to go see Becca again!


It was really fun to see everyone and we can't WAIT to spend more time together during this next rotation. We've never had family close since the boys have been born and I know we are all going to love having grandparents and cousins near!



Here's Landon's face video. It's pretty cute!

It's a Beautiful World

Coming out here has made me realize that there really is so much beauty in every single place that we've lived or visited. Of course we miss the green of the bay area, but check out what Albuquerque has to offer!

These pictures were taken the other night just out our back window:

Last weekend we tried to explore a little bit, so we went on the train that goes through the Biopark. It was a bit chilly, but so cool to see more of this city (and, of course, it was a train, so the boys loved it!).

We had fun chatting with the other people on the train - they were able to give us some good info. since they were born and raised in New Mexico. Scott realized about half way through the train ride that he actually examined this guys eyes last week!

Over Christmas, Parker decided that he is now only going to eat if he gets to feed himself. WITH a fork or a spoon. He's LOVING the freedom and I'm trying to find humor in the messes he makes (which isn't too hard since they are pretty funny).

I know Brad and Lisa are probably going to kill me for posting this picture, but I wanted you all to see who we're staying with! They have been wonderful - we're so grateful to have a place to stay, but more importantly, to be able to spend some time with good friends! They both teach early morning seminary, so I think we've been tiring them out :)

This week has been infinitely better than last - we've made some new friends, gotten involved in some groups at church and in the community and we've been able to explore a little more. We found a park here that's just a short walk/run from our house and this morning we went to ABQ Jump. It's a big warehouse with tons of bouncy houses to play in! The kids loved it!

We met some new friends at our local library - this is Landon and Sam "playing" the arcade game. They had so much fun together! Me and Jackie (Sam's Mom) were just trying to figure out what they kept whispering to eachother - so cute.

Landon couldn't get enough of this ladder and slide, but Parker was pretty tuckered out after an hour or so. We'll just have to go back again!

Albuquerque

We've been in New Mexico for a week now and we're really loving it! When we first moved to Berkeley, we knew we were going to be there for awhile, so we didn't really jump in and try to learn a lot about the area right away. Because of that, it took us a lot longer to really love the area (which we do - we miss it!). Lesson learned. Since we're only here for a few months, we are trying to do as much as possible and get to know the wonderful people here. Everyone has been so friendly. The people at church have been so helpful and welcoming - they've lent us things that we've needed and have already started inviting me and the kids over to play. Landon's so excited to have some time with kids again! Even people that we've seen at the aquarium or on the train here have been so open and fun to talk to. The area itself is beautiful and it reminds me so much of Alberta. The Sandia mountains are gorgeous and so close to the city, the sky turns pale pink, yellow and blue before sunset and the land is just so open. I forgot how much I really love that. Our surrogate family (Brad and Lisa) have been wonderful too. It's been wonderful having friends to watch movies with - on an amazing home theater big screen I might add - and play games with. We can't wait to soak up the next 9 weeks - thanks guys!! I can't help but feel like this time is going to fly by, so even though the kids have been ornary and not sleeping as well as usual, we're going to try to really enjoy it to the fullest!

Ok, that said, here are our last pictures from Christmas - ABQ pictures are soon to follow!

Parker loved his presnets!

Landon opening his gifts from Santa.

The Reindeer definitely loved their food!

We had ice cream cake for my birthday - Landon helped me blow out the candle! Stacey 'tatoe head :)

This was Parker's favorite game with my Mom. She invented it :)

One of our last nights there we went to Bolero's in Calgary. It's a Brazilian BBQ place - so yummy! Landon loved it and we finally realized that Parker should be feeding himself. This is him chewing on a lamb bone which he then dipped in mashed potatoes. So funny!