two bunks.

i told this story to some of my mom friends, and they totally thought i was a nerd for being sad about it! but i am. not like, sobbing sad.. just my heart ached a bit to see my boys so clearly start a new chapter of their life, kinda sad.

here goes..

matt built chet and holden a bunk bed a couple years ago. it was back when tad was about to be born, and we needed to get creative with our whole 2 bedroom house + 5 people living in house situation. (which we are still dealing with, just in a different house, by the way!) anyways, matt built a snazzy twin bunk bed for the boys and, about 1 week into them using it, they always just wanted to share the top bunk instead of sleeping alone. for a few weeks, we only allowed them to share a bed on weekends. but, after that, they started sharing it every single night. and we ended up taking out the bottom bunk entirely, to create more floor space in their room to play and store toys on. the bed has been that way for 2+ years now... until about 10 days ago.

chet and holden are besties. seriously. bestest of friends. we have thoroughly enjoyed listening in on the baby monitor to their late night, and early morning, conversations. they are hilarious. and our boys STILL don't know that they can get out of their bed without our consent! haha. it's insane, but we don't really see any reason to let them know otherwise. (don't worry.. we have explained what to do in case of a fire, or other disastrous situation). so they just stay in bed and talk about who-knows-what until we tell them to stop, or come get them up in the morning.

lately, they have been talking way too late into the night. we would go in and warn them to stop talking but they often ignored our un-intimidating threats, and then they were tired come morning. so we decided that we would throw out a big threat. we told them that if they didn't stop talking so late into the night, we would have to put the bottom bunk back together and they would sleep alone.

well.. that threat didn't go as planned!

they were so excited at the idea of having two bunks again, and begged us to do it that night. and we did. and that was that. they have slept in their own beds for about 10 days now. and, although i know they were getting way too big to be sharing a twin bed, i was sad to see that chapter in their relationship end. it was a special one. i loved checking on them after they fell asleep, and seeing how snuggly they were. 

holden goes to sleep so fast now! like, instantly. and he sleeps like a log. i am sure he needs that, being in kindergarten and all. chet has had a little more trouble adjusting - he says he gets lonely in the night. and i don't blame him.. i hate sleeping alone too! but he really likes having his own little space where he can hoard lots of books and stuffed animals under his pillow!

we are lucky to have 3 sweet boys, who love each other so much! and i love watching them grow up together. i am guessing that it will only be more fun to see, as they get older. 

little picture dump.

 riding trikes, at the kidspace museum.

apparently chet is quite comfortable making himself at home at the library these days!

in a neat tree.

aunt sara sent down some canadian candy, and it reminded me how lame american chocolate is. haha but for reals. 

just looking super handsome for school one morning so - even though we didn't really have time to stop and take a picture - i made them stop and take a picture!

holden was so excited to show us his classroom at back to school night!

and he was beaming when he saw that his homework was one of the great examples. (me too!)

tad was feeling pretty special, sitting between the big boys for a saturday morning movie.

looking JUST like his big brothers used to.

matty is 32.

every occasion that requires the boys and i to come up with a gift idea for matt (i.e. birthday, fathers day, christmas) the boys suggest things that don't really seem as great to me, as they do to them. for example, one time they really wanted to get him one of those little at home cotton candy makers. super fun idea... just not exactly what i think matt wants. (or what i want to find room to store in our kitchen!). for his birthday this year though, they suggested a nerf gun. and matt has actually been joking that he wants one of those, so that he could battle with boys when they bring out theirs. so we went for it!

the boys did a lovely job of wrapping it up - with way too much paper and waaaay too much tape - and left it on our front step with a note that said 'open before entering'. and then inside the house, we set up an epic nerf gun battle zone. we moved around tables and chairs and our ginormous bean bag (yes, we still own that dang thing) to make lots of good places to hide while loading your gun. and then we waited for matt to come home. the boys were so giddy!

when matt pulled up, chet and holden grabbed their guns, and the 3 boys hid behind a barricade to wait for matt to enter. but he was taking a while. and holden got antsy. (not shocking..) so holden started walking towards the front door. and, just as he did, matt threw it open and took a random shot... that just so happened to be point blank at holden's face!

#typicaldadmove

that put a bit of damper on our great nerf battle for a minute. but then they were back at it. and it was pretty crazy! i hid in the kitchen, getting a delicious steak dinner ready, while the boys all got uber sweaty. but i loved listening to it all go down. they were hilarious. and in the end there were nerf darts EVERYWHERE.

don't worry, we did get matt another normal gift to go with his $10 nerf gun from target. but the boys were definitely on point this year with their gift idea!

happy birthday to my #1 guy. he is my favorite.

our summer calendar

we made a rad summer calendar this year.

it started when school got out at the beginning of june, and finished off when we headed back to school in august. it was a fun way for the boys to see what was coming up (and not forget all the fun things we had done!). in the end, when we looked back on the calendar, we were all pretty pleased with the special summer we had. it was one for the books!

at the bottom of our calendar is our summer wishlist. we worked together to come up with that.

some of the items were simple (get a slurpee) and others were more involved (camping). the only things we didn't get done were a trip to catalina island (because we didn't realize how expensive that was when we added it to our list!) and a lemonade stand (because i am way too bashful to host one of those, and we ran out of days when matt was home to do it!). other then that, we checked it all off.  

note: any day that has a blue squiggly wave line on it, the boys had swim lessons. no wonder they are little fishys now!

tad is two! (and some pics)

trying to get a staged picture!

there have been too many big milestones this summer, to help remind me how fast time passes, for my heart to handle (holden's 5th birthday, 1 year anniversary of moving back to california, 10 year wedding anniversary, first day of kindergarten and second grade, tad's 2nd birthday). don't get me wrong, they have all been exciting milestones - and ones that we have loved celebrating - but i have just never been a big fan of change and the last few months have been so kind as to remind my that change is never-ending.

tad turning 2 blows my mind! he is our baby.. and he sure isn't much of a baby anymore. he is this handsome, independent, smart, fearless, silly, stinker of a boy. in some ways, he is exactly like his big brothers and, in others, he couldn't be more opposite.

when tad is in a sweet mood, he is seriously the sweetest boy ever. he can also be a total turd! but, in his defense, i have always felt like any and all of tad's nasty traits are a direct product of his environment. he is a 'third child', no doubt. he has been toted all over the place on behalf of his brothers. his meals, naps, diaper changes, play times have all been dictated by the schedules of his big brothers. he has learned how to be flexible and easy-going, but he has also learned how to speak his mind and to be more independent then i am ready for at this age! i am very excited to have the next couple years to give him all the undivided love and attention he hasn't had the chance of yet, while his big brothers are off at school. it has only been 3 weeks since school started up, but we have already had some super fun mom and tad dates. we went to an indoor trampoline place, met friends for an afternoon at the park, went to story time, the zoo, went to a kids concert at the americana where we rode a trolley, an indoor playground, we have baked, and then of course all the usually playing and walks. it has been special for both of us. (and can i just say how much cheaper it is to take one kid to these paid activities, as opposed to 3?!)

we didn't throw a big bash for tad's birthday this year, but it was still a very full day of fun. after we dropped the big boys off at school, tad and i went to the LA zoo. it was such a hot to be visiting the zoo.. but we did it anyways! we saw lots of animals and tad was in a very happy mood. after school, we headed over to victory park for donuts and signing in honor of tad annnnd our friend, delphine. and after dinner, our next door neighbors, ron and kamilla, came over to watch tad opened his gifts and to eat cake with us. tad had a special day full of people who adore him.

here are a few tad facts:

- tad had his 2 year check up this week. he is 50th percentile for height and weight. matt and i were both so surprised by that number. we have always thought he was a big 2 year old but, apparently, he is totally average.

- tad has a great little vocabulary these days. i especially like when he says 'stinky', 'two', the name of anyone in our family, and 'steve' (the name of his stuffed animal dog). he has finally learned how to say 'please'. hallelujah! and he can put together several 2-3 word phrases. ie. 'i need water'. he always says 'bye' in a very low, slow voice. (think, the narwhale on the movie, elf. "byyyyye buddy, hope you find your dad.")

- he takes his stuffy, steve, everywhere these days. and, although, it's kind of gross to take a plush toy in most public places, i also find it kinda cute. (if you are wondering why our child has a stuffy names steve, please know that chet was hell bent on naming tad 'steve' when he was born. much to his dismay, we shut down his idea, but said he could name tad's first stuffy steve. and he did.)

- tad loves to be helpful.

- when he is excited, he runs on his tippy toes, with high knees. when he is sad, he loves to snuggle. when he is mad, he screams. loud. when he hears music, he claps.

- he makes great sound effects for cars, trucks in reverse, sirens, dogs, cats and birds. and then most other animals get a growling sound.

- he is insanely fast on a plasma car! we have had 2 plasma cars for a while but, ever since tad learned how to ride them, 2 has not been nearly enough! so we ended up giving him his very own plasma car for his birthday (literally, the only gift we got him). he scoots up and down the sidewalk on that thing so fast. i have had him practicing his strider bike this summer, and i am stressed that i may never be able to catch him once he figures that thing out..

- i should almost start grooming him now to be a pitcher/quarterback/javelin thrower because he throws ev-ry-thing. and he has a really great arm! he throws straight and far. thankfully, he hasn't thrown our phones yet. annnd that we have a dog to pick up all the food he throws at meal time. (insert eyeroll emoji)

- he is an excellent sleeper at night, and likes to take a nap in the afternoon. he is also a great eater.

- tad loves to play in water. he loves pools, the beach, and baths. i hope to do some swim lessons with him soon.

- tad loves to walk tank, feed tank, play fetch with tank, sit on tank. annnd tank, hates it all.

- tad has unique eye color. it is blue on the outer edge and hazel on the inner.

- tad is a climber. he has basically no fear. therefore, he falls a lot.

- funny story: the other morning, tad could hear the garbage trucks on our street so he got himself up in our front window sill to watch. unfortunately, he leaned a little too hard on our screen, and the whole thing popped out and he landed on his back in our spider-y flower bed. he was so surprised! and sad. and has learned his lesson.. i think.

- tad is 110% a daddy's boy. you should see how thrilled he is when he hears matt pull up in the driveway. i know matt would sometimes rather not be so.. 'adored', but he is. and their special bond makes me so happy!

- we got to move him to a forward facing seat on his 2nd birthday and he grinned every time we drove for the first few days!

adding a third child to our family hasn't been easy for me. for some reason, i feel like 3 kids is so much more then 2. we will definitely not be adding a number 4! but tad really is such a delight, and our family would not be nearly as fun, or spunky, or sweet, or cute without him. every day he turns into more of a little person, rather then a baby, and it is so neat to see his personalty come out. it's crazy how we raise all our boys in the same home, with the same rules, and the same love, and 3 very different little people have emerged. we are lucky to have them all, and can't wait to see the great things they will do as they grow.

now, bring on the terrible twos!

our zoo date.

tad fed this giraffe!

this is tad after.. out cold with his zoo map!

and a couple randoms, for kicks..

(this is when he fell out the front screen, while watching the garbage trucks..)

so many beach days

give me all the beach days.

i love the beach.

LOVE it.

we have gone to the beach a lot this summer.

it has been a dream!

i thought this was the epitome of california pictures - at the beach, a plane flies over the palm trees, pulling a sign that reads 'orcas suffer at seaworld. don't go!'.

back to school 2017

chet and holden started back to school on august 14. it was such a fun summer break, so we were all quite sad for it to end. but it ended, and school started, and we are back in a good routine. and, although summer is madly missed, i see the benefit of more structure and less party in our lives! we shall embrace the school life for now, and look forward to our next summer break.

chet has always been excited for school, and has always been such a great student, so i wasn't worried about him getting back into the swing of things. he ended up in class with his favorite friends (ruby, ethan, joaquin, kai), and has the most coveted second grade teacher in our school (mrs. caldwell), so we couldn't ask for much more. i can hardly believe he is a second grader though! how?! why?! 

holden, on other hand, i was super worried about. i cried a lot, in the days weeks leading up to school! holden is a kind, smart, sensitive boy, who we are so proud of. and i knew he would do so well at school, once he got the hang of it. but it is super common for kids to be enrolled in programs before kindergarten here. like, suuuper common. which is great! but it is just not what i am used to, so we have never chosen to enroll our kids in any official pre-kindergarten programs. i have always considered kindergarten to be the year where you ease into school. but that is not at all how it is here. kindergarten is a full 5 day/week program. and kids generally go to pre-school for a couple years, and then TK (transitional kindergarten), and then kindergarten. so i was stressing over the fact that holden would be thrown in to class with all these 'experienced' kindergarteners, and just couldn't stand the thought of him feeling like he wasn't as smart as them. but, honestly, he fits right in! he is right on par with all his classmates. and i feel silly for ever questioning if he would be! but kindergarten has still been really tough for him to adjust to emotionally. he isn't used to be away from home all day. and many tears have been shed by both of us, as we get used to this new schedule. dang, i miss him being home. like, a LOT. and he misses being home, too. our goodbyes in the morning have been very sappy, and make my heart hurt. is there anything harder then sending your kid away when they are crying?! he was actually quite brave the first week. but, once he figured out that school was a permanent thing, the next 2 weeks were hard for his sweet little heart. his teacher, mrs. debbie, described how he would tear up several times a day, saying that he missed being home. mrs. debbie is the sweetest person, and i know she takes such good care of him, but it was hard for me to know he was sad when i wasn't there to help him. thankfully, i think we are just about at the end of our teary-eyed stage. holden is getting used to the kindergarten routine, and has found himself a best buddy (dylan). holden has officially begun his loooong educational career! 

now it is just taddy and me during the week days. and it has been really special! i will treasure these next couple years that we get to spend together. :)

holden's very first time sitting in class!

i like this picture from our back to school shopping..

and this is our celebratory 'you finished your first week of school!' donut breakfast party..