no more formula!

this is monumental:

i scooped up my last spoonful of formula this past weekend!

tad has completely transitioned over to whole milk, and we will never buy formula again!

{insert evil laugh}

and, since we are on the topic of taddy, here are 2 pictures of his sweet self.

1. his first attempt at finger painting.

2. he loooves to throw everything out of the bath and then check out his mess. stinker!

manhattan beach.

last weekend we tried out manhattan beach.

lots of people had told us it is a good one and, after checking it out, we've got to agree.

we enjoyed picnicking on the beach, building sand castles, and walking the pier.

i am always up for a beach day :)

a lot of our pictures look like this!.. thanks boys.

family bike ride.

we like to go out on family bike rides.

here are some pictures from our most recent one!

tad crawling video

click here to see tad crawling for a chocolate chip!

we're in trouble now..

sleepy tad

i was so good at keeping chet on a nap schedule.

i literally planned my days around his naps, and would turn down any invites to fun things that landed in those nap time slots.

i did not take his napping lightly!

i loved the chance to have some time to myself and a chance for him to re-charge.

and you know what? my nap scheduling skills totally paid off..

chet was an awesome sleeper, and he continued to take a couple naps/week right up until he started kindergarten!

it. was. awesome.

but, once chet stopped napping, it got tricky to put holden down for a nap.

he didn't think it was fair.

i could swindle a nap out of him when chet was at school, but that was about it.

so his naps stopped much sooner then i would have liked.

(his little self could still really benefit from daily naps, but that so does not happen!)

holden stopped napping when he was just a few months past 3.

tad...

well, his naps are seriously all over the place!

it seems impossible to keep him on a tight schedule when i have 2 other kids to think about.

poor taddy.

#thirdchildproblems

he is a good sport about it and is willing to take naps on the go, take short naps, take noisy naps.

but, when he does get the chance to have a long, cool, quiet nap in his own cozy bed, he will sleep forever!

thanks for being the sweetest baby, tad.

and thanks for being so dang cute when you sleep!

and here are some other pictures of tad.

messy tad.

tanned legs tad.

(everyone comments on his tanned legs! haha i blame it on all the walks we go on - his legs stick out the front of the stroller and soak up all the rays.)

tad and our neighobor dog, rita.

happy tad.

photo dump/catch up

this post is looong.

it is starting with a big photo dump.

holden just so happens to be in like 95% of these pictures.. 

waiting for the school bell to ring.

chet's classroom.

story time craft.

victory park - we go there A LOT. like, at least once a day!

as much as tank drives me nuts at times, i like that our boys have a dog.

cooling off.

umm costco? what the heck is this?!

there is this strategically placed treat vendor right across from chet's school. chet is always asking to buy something, and i am always lame and say no. he was thrilled when grandma let him pick whatever he wanted for an after school snack!

swim lessons.

grandma was a good sport and played in the kiddie pool.

tad and grandpa are almost as tight as holden and grandpa ;)

afters ice cream was delicious. and oh so messy!

the fashion district in downtown LA makes you feel like you are no longer in america!

the birthday boy with his birthday shake.

chet
as of today, chet has been in first grade for 4 whole weeks!
 he is loving it, and doing so well in it.
i am very proud of him.
he gets along well with lots of kids in his class and his teacher, mrs. glenn, is so kind to him.

we did the impossible and taught chet the pledge of allegiance!
he was kinda stubborn about it at first, but now he knows every word, even 'indivisible'!

chet gets about 30 minutes of homework every weeknight (something we never really had much of last year) and it has been a learning curve for us to figure out when is the best time to get that done.
he is ready for a break when he gets home, but if we don't get it out of the way right away it often means for a late bedtime. oops.
either way, i actually really enjoy sitting down and working through his homework with him!
it has been neat to watch him learn new things each week.
he is getting better at reading each day, and is learning how to do simple addition.
we have been working especially hard at learning his sight words for his spelling tests on fridays.
last night, i literally teared up when he got a perfect score on our practice one! haha i am such a nerd.
but, honestly, it is so much fun to watch your kids figure out something tricky and feel so proud of themselves.
i know homework will get old (especially when i have 3 kids doing it  and none of them want to be doing it!) but, for now, it's pretty neat.

chet is definitely learning to appreciate the weekends, now that he is a full time school-goer!
i don't blame him.. they sure keep those kids busy all day.

holden
i get asked almost daily if holden is in preschool.
apparently that is just what you do here in california so we are the odd ones, for sure!
sometimes i feel kinda bad for not putting him in preschool but, honestly, i like having him home.
it's nice to have this one on one (plus tad) time with him this year - i think he deserves it after having to share the attention with chet his entire life.
i can tell that he likes it too.
next year, when he starts kindergarten, he goes 5 full days/week so we are taking it easy this year and enjoying his last year of freedom.
holden is really good at playing on his own, and playing with his brothers, and playing with matt and i, and playing with kids at the library or park that he has never met before! he can do it all. he just loves to play.

holden finished up a round of swim lessons at the rose bowl aquatic center this week, and we are starting right back up next week.
he is getting braver every class and responds so well to his instructor.
don't misread this though.. he will absolutely not be entering any sort of swim league any time soon!
but he's improving a lot. and that is so nice to see, as a mother of 2 water chickens.

tad
tad is crawling!
it is super cute. and super bad!
he finally figured it out 1 week after his first birthday.
and i have to give the credit to my dad for being the one to help him do it.
it happened when my parents and i took the boys to the library for story time.
my mom and i went into the story time room with holden, and my dad stayed out in the common area with tad, and when story time was over  tad was crawling!
he still isn't very quick, but he can make his way around the house. 
now he likes to play with electrical cords, drawers that squish his fingers, and small pieces of furniture that tip over on him. ;)

fun tad fact: tad believes in diaper equality.
he never leaves a diaper un-pooped in.
so thoughtful!

matt
matt turned 31 yesterday.
i feel like he just turned 30.. where did this year go?!
i felt kinda guilty that we didn't have any big plans to celebrate, but matt didn't seem to mind.
at work, he got taken out for lunch and got a cake that was decked out in american flags.
and, when he got home, we fulfilled his birthday wish of getting chik-fil-a milkshakes instead of cake!
we all made him cards, gave him a little gift, and sang him happy birthday. and that was that!

the project that matt is working on right now is a professional soccer arena for the LAFC (los angeles football club).
his specialty on this project is demolition and abatement, which is a busy job right now as they tear down an old arena to build the new one.
the other week was the official ground breaking ceremony.
there are a bunch of big name investors on the project, but the only 2 we actually know are will ferrel and magic johnson.

matt got to meet them both at the groundbreaking, and even gave magic johnson a fist bump! haha.

matt is a hard worker. 

pam
i feel like my days fly by lately!
i don't know what it is exactly, but our days are go go go.
they are full of good things, so i am not complaining.
a usual day goes like this:

wake up.
make matt's lunch and send him out the door.
run/workout.
get ready.
wake up kids and get them ready.
drop chet at school.
take other boys to the park for a breakfast picnic and a play.
do whatever activity is on the agenda for that day (swimming, library, playdate)
lunch.
errands/housework/work on our shop.
pick up chet.
homework.
play/relax time.
get dinner ready and eat dinner. (worst past of the day).
matt finally gets home!
play with kids.
kid bedtime.
hang with matt.
our bedtime.
-repeat-

i have been working on getting our little online shop up and running.
it has been hard work, but it has been fun to try new things, push myself to do things that seem scary, and have things on my plate that have nothing to do with being a mother!
things are slowly picking up and i am optimistic about the future of it all!