Red Sox Junkies

Well, you've got to teach your kids while they're young who the proper teams are to root for. 
Trey's a big fan of thumping his chest with a fist a couple of times then saying "peace out" every morning before I leave for class. I'll take credit for that one!
"There is an awful imbalance to our relationship with athletes, as if we are looking through a one-way mirror. We know them, love them, dress like them and some how believe our actions, however trivial, alter the outcome of theirs, all while they know only that we are there but cannot really see us." I read that in an old Sports Illustrated a few years ago and couldn't help but laugh because it's so true. I never realized how true it was until I saw Trey yelling, well not really yelling, but interacting with the TV during a golf tournament as a player was putting. He was doing exactly what I did trying to coerce the ball into the hole while sitting on the couch going "Uh-uh-uh-uh-Oh!" It's something to behold watching a three year old imitate his dad. Baseball season has finally begun and now I have something other than family and school to occupy my time, as if my time wasn't taken enough already.  But the Sox look to have a promising year, and of course I feel the need to baptize Trey in to Red Sox Nation! Every year we've lived in California we've made it to a Sox/A's game and it looks like this could be the year we don't make it because of time. I will say though, every one of the games we've attended the Red Sox have been whooped, so maybe we should stay home! I guess that only gives more credence to the above quote, but hey if my staying home rather than going to the game helps them win I'm all for it. It's pretty cute to see Trey running around with his little Sox hat on, and it certainly makes this Papa proud. We of course had throw Kaden in to the mix since he's almost as big as Trey anyway. These boys are a tremendous joy to come home to every day after a grueling class schedule. Julie in every way brings me sanity just by being here, and for that I love her. She does everything for our family and takes little credit for it.  I only hope that I can be the support to her that she is for me. While our lives are hectic, we are learning much. We feel it a blessing to be working hard for something that will make life better for us in the long run, even if it takes us a while to get there. We live in a choice little town, we're happy...not to mention healthy, and almost half way done with school! So while I'm 20 pounds heavier with a little less hair on my head than when school started I could not be happier with where we're at as a family right now. 

Disclaimer: Trey is NOT flipping off the camera in the last picture!

Candy Thief!

In trying to capture an Easter photo of Kaden we set Trey's basket in front of him just to see what he would do. It's almost like you can tell what he is thinking from each photo...

#1..."Um, I wonder why Trey left his Easter basket sitting here with all this candy in it"

#2..."do I want the jelly beans or the peeps?"

#3..."I think I'll take the jelly beans cause it such a big bag."

#4..."SUCKER!!"

Kaden is not Kaden unless his tongue is sticking out. He also got another little Easter treat when his first tooth broke through! 

Happy Easter!

Easter turned out to be a 2 day holiday for us which Trey loved. Saturday there was a little community egg hunt in the morning we went to and then that night we got together with 7 or 8 families in our ward and had dinner and another egg hunt at the park. Trey was so excited about every egg and candy it was really cute to watch him run so fast.  By Sunday morning we were lucky enough to make it to church on time so we decided to have our family hunt after church. We took a little walk to the park and when we got home Trey's Easter basket was sitting outside with a note saying there was an Easter surprise waiting inside for him. We had hunt #3 which was not as fun as the first or second, although he got some fun bubbles and a Thomas book which he loved!! It was a great holiday for us mostly because Trey had so much fun. 

Little (or big) Rollie Pollie

Number of rolls on Kaden's arms.........3

Number of rolls on Kaden's thighs.......6

Kaden finally rolling over.......Priceless

That's right Kaden finally rolled over and has not stopped since. He has figured out that it really gets him places and he loves it. He is laughing and babbling so much, he is truly a joy in our home. 

Continuing the theme of Trey's sleeping habits...this one occured late in the afternoon one day after Trey had played at the park. He was playing "Elmo Games" on the computer when I turned around not even 5 minutes later and he had curled up on the chair sound asleep! He didn't wake up until 5:30, yup that was a late night. The one on top was a Sunday afternoon when we were watching a movie after church. Trey is never one to just crawl up on to our lap and just sit there. That's exactly what he did and he was asleep within minutes. If we could just get him to stay in his bed more consistently we'd be making progress!

Fun in SF

We had an awesome visit with Peter this week. After a few days of relaxing and seeing our new area while Jeff was in school we were ready for day in San Francisco. We started out by taking Peter to see China Town so here's a "shout out" to Laura, Deah and Kelly, we took him to 56 Ross Alley which is a hole in the wall Fortune Cookie place where you get to watch them make the cookies and eat lot's of samples. We also made the traditional stop at Fisherman's Warf / Pier 39 and had lunch at In -N-Out Burger and then headed to the Bay Area Aquarium. We have never been there before so it was a first for us and Trey loved it. We saw huge fish and sharks that are all right from the bay area so it was a good reminder to play at the beach instead of in the water!! Trey's favorite part was at the end where they had open pools for you to touch Leopard Sharks and Starfish. At first he didn't want to touch anything but once he did we couldn't get his hands out of the water until his fingers started turning blue. Trey was so excited that he was running every where from that point on, and the first time we got him to stop was when he road on Jeff's shoulders and he fell straight to sleep. We wanted to make sure Peter got the full San Francisco feel so we stopped at Ghirardelli Square for ice cream and then took him to Haight/Ashbury district of the city, which was the nucleus of the 60's movement, where we had dinner at our favorite hole in the wall Mexican restaurant. We didn't think Peter would like it but he said it was the best burrito he has ever had!! Altogether it was a great day, a wonderful weekend, and so much fun to spend time with Peter. 

Disclaimer: Calories consumed during this day were not counted!! 

The Boys and their Gram

We love Southwest "Ding" fares because that means Gram gets to come out for a visit. Fortunately for us, her timing coincided with our move and she could not have been a bigger help. Trey adores his Gram and it's incredibly fun to watch the two of them interact, as parents we take an automatic back seat when she comes, and that's alright with us because she returns love. This was taken outside of our new "pad." Mom we love you and can't thank you enough for how much you helped. The weather lately has been incredible, and Jeff never complains about being able to wear shorts to class in February. It has rained a fair bit this winter, but that only means the hills around the Walnut Creek/Lafayette area are that much greener. Late winter and early spring is the best time of year in the bay area with the weather so nice. This is a fantastic place to call home for now, and we feel incredibly lucky to be experiencing life on the West Coast. Oh, and the blue shirt that Kaden is wearing is one that Trey wore when he was a year and a half. What a little fatty!

A tubby in the tubby!

Kaden is no little boy, weighing in at 23 lbs at 6 months old. He loves playing in the tub. We have to admit this is the only time we ever put him in his tub chair...his thighs are a little too BIG!

Play Time!

We all know Trey loves trains...is obsessed with trains, luckily his friend Oliver likes them too!! With the two of them together it is all trains all the time. Every now and again we have our friend Bennett over and he and Trey became two little stinkers!!  The dirt picture is in our new "backyard." All of these boxes are left over from our recent move to Lafayette that we hadn't yet gotten around to getting rid of.

Finally, we are persuading Trey to use the "big boy" potty. However, it does mean that we have to cater to his needs sometimes. On this occasion he was cold and needed a blanket. I wasn't about to argue if it kept him on the toilet, and hey it worked.