Evan 1 & 2

Where has the past month gone? Where has the past year gone for that matter? Evan turned two on Nov. 29th and I realized that I had forgotten to post his first birthday party. It must be because his birthday falls right before the craziness of the holidays. So here you get both, and it is quite fun to see the difference a year makes.

#1-Pancake Party at the Pier

A little party in the mud with Amelia. Evan knows how to have a good time.

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#2-Pizza and a Movie Night

Evan loves movie night. Almost daily, he says, "Movie night, popcorn, and the beast." He is referring to his favorite movie, The Sandlot. Here he enjoys a few big bowls of popcorn with Tavi, Sam and Teo.

Motorcycle Guy Cake...his choice and Sam had the idea of the guy crashing into the mud.

Grandma Sue came into town for the celebration. Here they are making birthday hats.

Evan you are my little nugget! We all love you so much!

Mammoth Mountain

Mammoth is a spectacular mountain. We stayed right at the main lodge which is at 9000 ft. From there the top of the mountain is at 11,000 ft., and that isn't even the whole mountain. We spent most of our time (weather permitting) on the bunny hill teaching Sam how to ski. He took right to it turning, stopping, crashing, and even going off a few jumps. Evan enjoyed the fun from Joe's back, but I think he probably would've liked to ski as well if the wind wasn't blowing 40-60mph. Here we are taking a ride up and down the gondola on our first day. As I mentioned the weather was burly, very cold and the snow was blowing sideways.

Luckily on our last day the storm let up and it was a blue sky powder day. Joe and I took turns skiing on our own and then hanging in the lodge with the kids. Evan napped and Sam loved playing quarter football with dad. Next time a grandma or grandpa might have to come along for the fun.

Trike-a-thon & Camping

Sam's school has an annual fundraiser that helps get the kids involved in the earning. Family and friends sponsor $ for each lap that the child rides. Sam loved decorating his bike for the fun event. Evan had to get in on the action as well, decorating and riding with the big kids. He doesn't seem to notice that he is any smaller.

Love his confidence.

After the Trike-a-thon, we loaded up the van and headed to SanO for some camping on the beach with our friends and their kiddos. The only time we can make it out camping here is during the off season and typically when someone invites us to join their spot. Almost all coastal camping you have to reserve a year in advance and growing up in Idaho, we are not used to such regulations. Actually this particular spot is owned by the military so our friend's grandpa, a former marine, hooked us up with the reservation.

Sam and Kai

Evan and Kahili

Love this look.

And love this hair. If you click on this photo you might be able to see the serious bonk Evan has on his forehead. The kids were doing a lot of wrestling and just as the mama warned, somebody did get hurt.

You might be wondering...why the furniture? Well we have neccessities when we camp. Who doesn't enjoy a nice snugglefest in a loveseat while you watch the sunset behind the ocean? Actually the grandpa brought it by hoping someone would like to take it home. I think we left it for the next camper.

p.s. This post actually happened before the hair incident, so I will post some new shots of Sam's new look soon.

Scissors!

On Saturday I gave both of the boys haircuts. Sam looked so cute with his still long, wavy trimmed up locks. On Sunday he found the scissors that I had left out and decided to give himself a haircut (it seems like all kids do this at some point). Today he got to go to school with his bang mullet. It might be time for a buzz cut.

Super "E" & Super "S"

I actually got a little crafty this Halloween and made the boys super hero capes. You'll have to excuse the photo quality below, I couldn't get them to hold still for even a few seconds.

Trick-or-Treating with Amelia the witch

Evan's Keepin' Up

Evan loves to hang out with the big boys. He thinks he is a big boy. Here he is below eating hot dogs with Sam and Tavi at San Onofre Beach. As you'll see from the video, he has also gotten quite fast on the balance bike.

I also wanted to share a couple of memorable things the boys said recently:

When Joe asked Sam, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Sam replied, "An Aweean."

"An Alien!!"

"Yes, I want to be an Aweean."

Here's a couple on Evan:

When asked how old he is, Evan consistently and confidently answers, "Eight!"

He also loves to exclaim "I did it!" after picking up his toys, getting into the car seat by himself, taking his shoes off, reaching for his water bottle in the van, etc. etc.

October (so far)

Evan and Teo. Teo is Tavi's little brother who gets to play at our house while the big boys are at school.

Evan with his friend Amelia at the Santa Ana Zoo.

Still at the Zoo driving the Safari Jeep.

We actually made it to Disneyland! Luckily we got in free because the rain was pouring and the boys were scared. FYI: The Buzz Lightyear ride is a little much for four year olds and way too much for two year olds.

Sam flying high on the only ride that didn't make him nervous.

Keep it simple....right! This is at a park across from the hotel we were staying at in Ventura. Joe got to take the family along for a surfing event he was covering there for SUP Magazine. The boys love to stay at hotels. Sam calls our hotel room, "Our little house." And of course the boys are fascinated with the t.v., the pool, and the breakfast buffet (this hotel had Lucky Charms:).

This is a beautiful and gigantic Fig Tree from Australia planted in the 1800's. The boys had fun climbing on the roots. While playing, we had to watch out for falling figs.

As you may have already noticed from the photos we have had a lot of grey, marine layer days here on the coast in So Cal. A lot for here that is. This last shot is one overlooking what we could see of the Ventura coastline.

Ok sisters (Summer not included)....I am ready to see some more posts! Get back on the blogwagon please. Emily you should start one as well so that we can see a little glimpse of life in Seattle. Love and miss you all!

Brooks

About a month ago Sam exclaimed that he no longer liked his name and he wanted everyone to call him Tavi. Tavi is his school/neighborhood friend who shares a similar liking for make believe. Above you'll find them painting their "guy transporting rocket ship". This name changing business continued even on the first day of school when Sam saw his teacher and told her that he changed his name to Tavi. Here Sam or shall I say Tavi is with Evan heading off to his first day of three days a week preschool. While Sam is away Evan is constantly asking, "Where's Nammy?". Evan may have missed the name changing memo.





More recently Sam has decided that his name is Brooks, another friend who lives around the corner and happens to have a playroom as big as our whole place. Brooks , the real Brooks that is happens to love playing in our play closet. Anyways let me divert a little to somehow pull all of this together.



A couple of days ago Joe helped Sam catch a little lizard which they made a new home for in a jar with holes poked in the lid. After encouragement from myself and Grandpa Jim, the boys agreed to let the lizard free in our back patio. Of course the lizard is nowhere to be seen and Sam is anxious for a pet. He told me he wants a turtle that he can take care of in a little cage. Well this mama is not ready for a turtle just yet. So we agreed we would start with a fish.







It is my pleasure to introduce our very first pet fish named................................................Brooks. Yes I am sure you probably guessed the name and I am hoping that Sam will put the name changing business to rest for now.







Sam giving Brooks a hug. I told him he shouldn't put his hands in the fish bowl if he wants Brooks to live for more than a week. I'll keep you posted!

Get Ready.....

These busy boys are excited to see you!!!!!

Our pizza making project turned into snowboard jumping lego guys.

And now meet Sam as his own version of a Star Wars Storm Trooper:

Also as Spiderman, face-painted at his school carnival:

p.s. Evan's favorite word lately is bum-bum, thanks to the preschool vocabulary of Sammy. Coincidentally it is also his favorite word to call his big brother.