A southern Tiger Woods?

I think I mentioned in a previous post about one of the biggest hits in our house...a plastic set of golf clubs complete with matching plastic golf balls. I think I also mentioned that Linus now says "golf ball" with amazing regularity.

And with a hilarious southern accent.

I'm not exactly sure how he developed this southern twang, but it's definitely great entertainment.



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And since I have now discovered the joys of YouTube, I thought I would post a video of our trip to the Wild Animal Park this weekend. But, first let me answer a couple of questions that I'm sure you'll have:

1) No, we don't usually take our kids out in public in just their diapers. (But this is usually how we look at home).

2) Yes, we foolishly decided on a whim to let the kids play in the water park area while we were at the Animal Park.

3) No, we didn't think this through considering we didn't have any other clothes for them at the time.

4) No, we didn't make it to the petting zoo afterwards seeing that our kids were only wearing diapers. (We didn't think the deer would approve).

5) Yes, we all had fun anyways letting the kids dry off in the grass and then seeing them run full speed down the hill to tackle Brian.

6) Yes, I will be a better mother and remember a change of clothes to leave in the car in case of these types of water emergencies in the future.

Already missing Mitch, Katie, Ryan and Mac

The McHugh's left us today to go back to Texas and we were sad to see them leave. When everyone walked out the door, the kids looked around wondering who they were going to play with now. Apparently I just don't cut it after hanging out with Mitch, Katie, Ryan and Mac. (I really can't blame them either).

We had a great week! After the McHugh's recovered from the stomach flu that we gave them (which I'm sure will keep them from ever visiting us again...I am so sorry!!) we all had a great time hitting the beach and Legoland.


The funny thing is that the kids equally enjoyed playing with the box the McHugh's brought some stuff in. I guess it is all about the packaging.


Thanks, McHughs for a terrific time!

You are all welcome to visit us again anytime that you want, and I promise that we will fumigate the house before you come since apparently Clorox just doesn't cut it.

We are family

This has been a great week. This past weekend I covered every inch of our house in Clorox to make sure there is nothing left of the dreaded stomach flu virus. I have to say, our house has never been cleaner.

Then, on Tuesday the McHugh's came to visit. They left a day later to go to Disneyland, but we still managed to squeeze in a trip to the beach and to the aviation museum. This was the kids' first trip to the beach (pretty sad, I know) and they loved it. (As did the McHugh's I think).

(The last picture is everyone in front of the "Mitchell" military plane...very appropriate since there are 3 Mitchell's in the picture).

We had a great time and I felt like I was on vacation because Mitch, Katie, Ryan and Mac were all terrific with Sadie and Linus. While they were playing with them, I just sat back and actually managed a couple of adult conversations!

When they did leave to head north, it was really quiet and lonely in the house. (I never thought I would say that our house was quiet with the kids and 2 dogs, but it was). I was sad to see them leave us for a couple of days, but luckily they'll be back tomorrow so we can have more fun!

Gotta love family! Anyone else want to come visit us?

UCSD NICU picnic

Yesterday, we went to the annual NICU picnic for all of the "graduates". They have different games set up for the kids (ours were just a little bit too young for them though), a raffle, t-shirts, food...you know, picnic stuff. It was fun even though we didn't stay for too long since I just can't seem to get my energy back. (Actually I feel pretty much back to normal today, thank God).


At the picnic, there was also a police car and an ambulance that you could sit in. Of course, Linus was very excited to see this. That is until he was put in the back...

(And we thought Sadie was going to be the one to worry about).


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A couple of days ago, Sadie put two words together: "Out, please". OK, so it took a lot of cajoling but she did eventually say it. Granted, she has only said it one other time since (the "please" part, not the "out" part which she says all of the time), but she did say it again. So we're counting that as an official sentence.

Yesterday, Linus put two words together for the first time: "golf ball". He has said it a couple of times since then so we're taking it as a sign that he's going to be the next Tiger Woods. Don't worry, Brian has his training under control.

We're officially out of the house!

After almost a week and a half of being stuck inside, we have all managed to actually get out of the house! It is a very exciting time for us.

Our inaugural outing was to Brian's work where they were having their annual picnic. The highlight of which being Carolina BBQ. (No, not the real thing, but it still tasted pretty good).

We lasted about an hour. Most of the time the kids played with ice. In the stroller.
And then there was a little fun on the tricycles.

All in all a pretty good trip down to the coast.

Our wedding anniversary

Yesterday in 2001, Brian and I were happily married. (I wanted to post a picture of that wonderful day, but that would require that I actually take our brand new scanner out of the box and then figure out how to use it).

Also at this time in 2001, Brian was recovering from food poisoning. He was sick in bed for a couple of days, barely made it to the rehearsal but was OK enough to come to the wedding. The moral of the story is to beware of meatball subs.

Yesterday, on our 6th wedding anniversary, Brian was (is) sick with the stomach flu.

So was Sadie (again).

So was (is) Linus.

And I'm pretty sure I'm next...

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On a funnier note, Sadie has officially realized how terrible my singing is.

The kids are really into trucks/cars/buses. More specifically, they are into the wheels on trucks/cars/buses, so I am always singing them the "Wheels on the bus" song. They almost always will start dancing and we'll do it over and over. Lots of fun for about 20 verses and then I get a little tired of it.

Well, a couple of days ago, Sadie told me "No" when I started to sing. Linus was dancing so I kept singing and Sadie went from telling me "No" to yelling "No" to throwing herself on the floor in a tantrum until I stopped.

I thought she just didn't like the song anymore. Lo and behold Brian sang it for her today and she started dancing. So I sang it again and immediately she said "No".

Apparently even at this young age you can tell who has talent and who doesn't. I guess I don't.

The 4th that wasn't meant to be...

Happy 4th of July!

Today was supposed to be a very exciting day for all of us...We had grand plans of participating in a children's parade near the beach. We were going to take the wagon for the kids to ride in and I was going to decorate it with...something. (I hadn't thought that far ahead). And it turns out I didn't need to because Brian ended up working this morning so I took the kids to the Animal Park instead.

All in all a pretty good morning, even though it wasn't very festive. But, not to worry because we had plans of heading down to the beach for a BBQ with the kids decked out in their new red, white and blue outfits.

Then poor little Sadie woke up projectile vomiting, most of which occurred while Brian was holding her. Needless to say, Brian has taken 4 showers today and had a good rinse while in the pool with Linus.

I think she's starting to feel better now. She went to bed at her usual time and was able to keep a little water down so we'll see how she does through the night. Look at this poor sweetie:



Not to be left out, here is Linus' self-portrait:




(Sorry to be so lax on posting recently, but I am in the process of working on the kids' yearly video montage which has taken away all of my blogging time. I also just discovered that I'll be able to link it up to my blog...got to love technology! That should be ready to go around the kids' birthday).

Nature vs. Nurture

Ever since the kids were born, I have tried really hard to be gender indiscriminate. What I mean is that when we play, we all play with trucks, or with stuffed animals, or balls, or whatever. I have never worried about the fact that Linus sometimes wears pink or Sadie wears blue because that's all that happens to be clean. And I don't want them to worry about it either.

What I have noticed, however, is that there may be more to this genetics thing than I first thought.

I may have mentioned it before, but Sadie has been a little obsessed by dolls and miniature strollers at the moment. (That's all she wants to play with whenever we go to playgroup). But Linus is right there with her crying for his turn with the stroller too. I thought this was because of my stellar job at raising them, but I think I was wrong...

Here are Sadie and Linus playing with the new stroller and doll that we just got them. (Actually there are two dolls. They are a boy/girl set with blue eyes called "My First Twin Babies". Very appropriate, huh?).

Here is Sadie tenderly making sure each baby has had milk before she put them to bedAnd here is Linus after he delicately put one of the dolls into the stroller and checked to make sure the seat belt is on. Then he proceeded to push it into the wall at full speed, and then checked to see what damage has been done to the baby. Over and over again.

I think we discovered what his future career will be...crash testing.

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We had a great time at our friends' BBQ last night and I thought I would share a couple of pictures of the kids going nuts on the trampoline.

For almost an hour.

We tried to get all of the kids into the picture together, but it was much more challenging than it looks. Poor Jessie never made it, but here are Jacob, Fieldin, Sadie and Linus with Thomas the Dog.