Happy new year from the wigglers!

This was the best I could get of these wigglers for the last brothers pic of 2011.

Milkshake

Milkshake with lunch at The Counter

Having fun at Kinecta Hollywood

The play house at Kinecta, Daddy's work (or as Austin refers to it, "Kinecta Hollywood")

Park shirt

Austin was deciding what to wear this morning and since we were going to the park he asked, "do I have a shirt with a park on it?" Thanks to auntie Allison, he does! He was very happy. :)


Picknicing after a play date at Polliwog Park

Fun at the park, sliding with brother

Fun times at Polliwog Park

Shiner-Day 3

This guy leaned for something out of his reach and fell right out of my lap on Christmas eve and ended up with a shiner from the floor.


The purpley color is moving clockwise around his eye

Merry Christmas

Austin's snowman

Merry Christmas eve!

I promised Austin hot chocolate on Christmas eve. Austin said it looks like, "Hot chocolate coffee ice cream shave ice sugar sugar bugs. It's sugar with sugar bugs. " So true Austin, so true..

I love brother's toys

Jackson loves to hold two things in one hand (He's holding two prizes that Austin chose at his dentist appointments, an army guy and a power ranger looking guy).

Fun at trader joe's

Austin playing while I was checking out. He lined up a whole bunch of letters in a random order on the board and told me, "Look what i spelled! I need you to read the words." (sadly, I didn't get a pic of his "words.")


Did you have any doubt that he'd pick the blue chair to sit in?

Under the Sea

Playing with Dylan at Under the Sea

Nom nom nom

Nom, nom, nom.. This Christmas card from Nanny is delicious!

Gingerbread house

Austin's second gingerbread house. He mostly just wanted to put the candy around the house for snow.

Santa Pic

Santa pic was an easy success this year!

Just plain silly

Holiday Show

Yesterday was Austin and Jackson's holiday show. It was Austin's very last and Jackson's very first. Showtime was 4:00pm. I checked the weather and the forecast said pm showers starting at 4:00pm. Uh oh!

I arrived just after 3:00pm and was excited to get a parking space in the parking lot. Unfortunately, I was too late to get a seat front and center so I picked the second row center aisle. Sadly, I once again picked the wrong seat and had a video camera in my way. :(

The show starts with the Dolphin classes (the oldest kids). There are two Dolphin classes this year and they each performed separately. The Blanche Dolphins went first and sang "The 12 Days of Christmas." It was very impressive that the kids remembered just about the whole song. But, it was a long song and they were just seated on the stage the whole time. I'm sure it was exciting for the parents of those kids, but for me it was a little long.

Austin's class, the Bell Dolphins, went next and performed "Feliz Navidad (Dora version)." Being a parent from that class, I thought it was awesome and I loved their costumes. Sadly, the music was extremely loud and the kids on either side of Austin got scared and cried and the girl right in the middle had her hands over her ears the whole time. (Ironically, the two kids who cried are two of the oldest and tallest kids in the class). But, Austin and the other three kids in the class did a great job shaking their maracas. As I watch the video, I can't help but laugh at the sheer cuteness of their performance. :)



By the time Jackson's class came out it had started raining and the babies came out quickly for "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth," then went back inside.



Austin's Webby Dance song was the last performance of the show. It was raining big heavy drops by then. But, I wasn't deterred, I stayed in the rain to watch and take pictures. The Bell Dolphins came out and I heard some "I'm wet," or "It's wet," but they obediently stayed on stage until they were told they could go back inside. Unfortunately, they didn't really sing much of the song so the Webby teacher gave up and cut it short. But, it was still cute and I saw Austin do a few of the hand motions. And, it was a great show despite the rain. :)


Austin apparently wanted to keep wearing his mustache

Jackson had missed his afternoon nap and Austin only had a short nap so they were both extremely tired. Jackson fell asleep in his carseat before we left and slept for two hours. Austin got extremely fussy, wasn't listening and had a few meltdowns that led to an early bedtime. Hopefully, he will give us an encore performance of his songs over the weekend.

Jackson at 10 months

• He loves to eat
• Loves to eat fingerfoods, but sometimes puts food in his mouth only to pop it out before popping it back in his mouth
• Pushes your hand out of the way if he doesn't want you holding his arm or putting something in his mouth
• Pulls himself up to stand
• Creeps along furniture, little by little, more every day
  
• Knows to switch hands when he's holding a toy and I need his hand to put on or take off a sleeve
• Switches hands even if I just say "switch hands"
• Catches on quickly - show him something once, like putting a ball in the helicopter, and he goes back to put the ball in the helicopter
  
• Watches everything and immediately rushes to checkout something new
• Loves to see what Austin is doing, whips his head around to see what's going on if he hears any noise
• Crawls out of his socks and pants
  
• Likes to shove things under the couch or search for things under the couch
• Drops things on the floor from his table
  
• Gives big 'ol open mouth kisses on my face
• Loves banging things
• Puts everything in his mouth and goes after shoes, slippers, paper, pieces of food dropped on the floor, toys, etc.
  
  I'm now working on trying to teach him to go down stairs with his legs first

Big laughs

Jackson was having a great time trying to make me laugh.

Jackson's first Christmas present

Silly boy

Austin and his bike

He's sporting his new star wars light-up shoes and getting better at pedaling himself along.

Holiday Get-together

We headed to King's Hawaiian with the Barretts, Kaos, Chengs and Jamie and Scott for our annual holiday gathering. It's so amazing to see how this group has grown. It started out as an annual holiday gathering for the five ladies, then the kiddos came along and we are now a group of 17!




Gary, Tamiya & Dawn


Jackson, Willis & Austin (Of course, I forgot to get a family pic of our family)


Scott & Jamie


Katie, Kelly, Ashley, Joe & Michael


Janice, Evangeline & Vince


Secret Santa gift opening

Hurricane Jackson

Hurricane Jackson overturning trucks and leaving a trail of debris all over Austin's room.

9 mo checkup

Meeting brother at the gate

Good morning

Our Year - 2011 Update

Our 2011 was filled with many memorable moments. Austin became a big brother when we welcomed baby Jackson in February. We settled into life as a family of four and enjoyed a nice warm summer in Southern California. In September, Austin turned four and we celebrated with a big, blowout birthday party. Jackson has had so many firsts, including holding his head up, sitting up, rolling over, crawling, pulling up, holding his own bottle, eating solid foods, and many first trips when we traveled to Hawaii, Las Vegas and Carlsbad. Austin loves his friends and his school and continues his interest in learning new things. He also loves drawing, writing, coloring, painting, sports, games, tv, splashing with his rain boots and, of course, running and playing. Austin is a great big brother and loves to play and share with his little brother. We have been blessed and look forward to another year of fun and excitement with our growing boys.