Spring Training - In Winter

The players aren't even thinking about reporting for Spring Training yet, but Daddy's preparing Drew for the upcoming Baseball season already.

You see, Santa knew something about this family when he made some MLB flashcards for Drew. When he first played with them on Christmas Day, he knew a total of 2 teams... The Yankees & Dodgers.

Here's a little clip from last night:



He now knows 23 of the 30 teams - in less than a week.

A Little Bit of Minnesota Comes to California

This past weekend a little piece of Minnesota came out here to California - perhaps it was in the form of weather, but I was talking about my Uncle Mike. He came out on an impromptu visit to see my Grandma for Christmas.

Here's Mother, Son & Daughter otherwise known as Grammy, Uncle Mike & GG. We met up with the group on Saturday for dinner at my parents house, before Uncle Mike had to catch a red eye flight out.

Cousin Kady was there too, and offered Drew plenty of entertainment. Now that Kady's walking, Drew happily chases after her and was so interested in imitating everything she did/said.


Both kids gave me quite a workout! Kady doesn't like to be put down - and as I mentioned, Drew was into copying everything she was doing.


A few months ago, Drew and Kady weighed about the same. Now I have to admit my kid is a porker compared to her! I bet he has about 4+ pounds on her!

Eventually we had to say goodbye to Uncle Mike, but it was really great to see him despite the short visit. Hopefully he can come back this spring and bring my cousins too! Here's a parting shot of the boys (plus Kady).

Christmas Recap

My apologies for not blogging yesterday - for anyone who noticed anyway :). We were having our carpets cleaned and so Sunday was spent moving all our furniture out and yesterday was spent moving the furniture back in... oh and sifting through all the stuff we've accumulated. To make it up to you - this blog will have MANY pictures!

This Christmas was very special - Tata & Abuela made the drive north. For anyone who knows Tata's driving, this is a big deal! A trip that takes 6 hours for most of us, takes him 9 - granted there was extra traffic on the drive from LA this time around.


It was great seeing them when they arrived late in the afternoon on Christmas Eve! Drew went right up to both of them and gave them hugs and kisses - which from a fiesty 2-year old is a major deal.

I made dinner and then I went to church while Dave stayed home with the family. Wouldn't you know it - Santa arrived shortly after I got home from church. Before I left, Drew picked out two cookies to leave out for Santa.

The next morning was priceless. Around 6am, Drew came out and I showed him the cookies Santa ate - Santa left a few bites of each cookie... you know he needs to be able to fit out of our chimney again....

So what did Drew do? Finished eating the cookie! The rest of the morning was spent opening gifts and later another formal dinner. It was a great visit. Here are some pictures from the Holiday.

Family game time


Checking out his stocking for the first time - notice Santa's Leftovers in his hand?


Look what Santa Left our Good Boy


Opening presents

Annual "throw Drew into the wrapping paper" shot


Movie time
Drawing for Abuela

Saying Goodbye to Tata & Abuela

Chrstimas Blessings

What a fantastic Christmas! I'll have the full story early next week, but I wanted to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas. Ours is filled with family and loved ones.

Here's a few pictures to hold you through until next week. Right now we're happily enjoying our time with Dave's Dad & Stepmom - Tata & Abuela.


And the view of our front yard - yes Dave Drew those a few years ago - Woodstock was added last year.


We hope you have had a Blessed Christmas as well!

Merry Christmas Eve - The Answers

Merry Christmas Eve from our family to yours!


If you were lucky enough to get a Christmas letter from us, you realize we did something a little unique this year. Since our life is an open blog, what fun is it to catch you up on our year in a letter? You've already read about it.

So we did a crossword puzzle. Here are the answers if you couldn't figure it out for yourself.... (CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)


And here were the questions - (remember to Click on the image to enlarge).


I have to admit, this was rather fun. Perhaps this will be a new annual tradition? What did you all think? Too hard? (Dave had a hard time with a few of them...)

And if you made it through the "homework" card.... here's a little caroling for you:

Movie Night!

We had our first family movie night on Saturday! Well Drew wasn't so interested in the holiday flick we chose ("Four Christmases"), but he watched "Elephant" (otherwise known as Baby Einstein's "Baby Noah").

The highlight of Drew's night - his own popcorn bucket!


While this is far from his first time getting popcorn, it is always a treat when he gets to chow on it. And he hasn't had a big bucket for a while. It's always nice to have some family time.

Oh, and we have it set up so Drew watches his little portable movie player which rests on the fireplace, while we get the "big TV". He has had this set-up since he was walking... and he's not the wiser, so don't clue him in that he "could' watch movies on the big TV!

Christmas Pageant

Drew attended his first Christmas Pageant this weekend. The star of the night - his little friend Mason (Ms. Stephanie's oldest son who just turned 4). It was a big night and we started the festivities when we picked Drew up - with pizza.

Then we headed over to the preschool/church where Mason attends (and where Troy will go soon, and where they suggest Drew to go as well). Drew was enamored with the the fact Mason was able to go on stage, so before the kids came out, we let him get his 15 minutes of fame...



















Drew's little buddy (Ms. Stephanie's nearly 3 year old son) was hamming it up himself as Super Troy.


Then the preschoolers came out, and sang their carols. It was so awesome to see them all dressed in white angel robes and their little halos. I managed to grab a few shots of Mason before all the kids filled in - and had a shot of him looking forward. He was mesmerized by the big screen shot of the Manger. It was like a big TV and he couldn't take his eyes off of it.

(Mason is on the far left). Drew loved watching all the kids and listening to the carols they were singing.

It's hard to believe that it could be one year from now and we'll be watching DREW on that stage....

We all had a fantastic time and we're really lucky that Ms. Stephanie let us tag along. Drew was so enthralled with all the kids - oh and the cookies and juice afterward.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Last Thursday Dave had his company's holiday party - this year families were invited. It was held at the ValPak office in Concord.

When we arrived, Drew wasn't so sure about all the people who kept coming up to him telling him how adorable he was, or "your Daddy talks about you all the time". Drew's response: "I go bye-bye" repeated over and over.

After a few moments, Drew started to warm up and was interested in the 4-year old son of Dave's boss. While the little boy wanted nothing to do with Drew, Drew was infatuated. It was about then that the jolly old man arrived (one of Dave's managers in costume). Drew on the other hand was on the opposite side of the room... not so sure about this scene.

Then he realized Santa was handing out candy cane filled M&M's, and he wanted one. Since Mommy wouldn't come to his rescue, he had to go up to Santa on his own and ask for one...

He was a very happy camper once he had his candy treats. That's when the kids sat down with Santa and began telling him how good they've been this year and all the toys they want for Christmas.

Drew has been TERRIFIED of Santa all year, of course admiring him at a distance is perfectly acceptable. On this given evening he surprised us!

(That's Drew's little buddy on the other side of Santa). While he went to Santa at our pleading here - notice while he's not so sure, he's not screaming either. Well, we didn't catch it on camera (Daddy was too busy socializing), but Drew went back to sit on Santa's lap - all on his own! I was floored, I didn't know what to make of it.

I'm not sure what the difference was with this Santa - but he loved him! So Merry Christmas!

Eating Veggies?

For more than a year now, it's a struggle to get Drew to eat much of anything other than chicken and french fries. The other night for dinner, we stumbled into Applebees, where we proceeded to order him a grilled cheese with fries.

Typically everything we're eating looks very appetizing to Drew - until he tastes it. Well this time he kept at one of our menu items...


Onion Rings. He loved them! Who knew? So does this count as eating his veggies?

I'm kidding of course. Now if we could only get him to eat something nutritious.

Christmas with Friends

It's a tradition dating way back... ok so technically only three years, but it's a tradition nonetheless. Since Drew was born, we've started having a Christmas dinner with my best friend and her family and with their cousin's family (who is in fact our day care provider).

Year 1 - started out with dinner and presents at Brian and Stephanie's house. The kids exchange presents together. Drew was about 3 months old, so he wasn't exactly "into it". My friend Lisa and I think it was her son Trevor (who would've been 5 at the time) missed out on the fun because he spiked a fever.

Year 2 - the three families traveled to Lake Tahoe to enjoy some R&R and again dinner (or several meals) and presents. Here's a recap of that trip on my old blog here. Oh, I should add that trip started with Drew throwing up on the way up there and a few poo-throughs once we arrived.

Now for the story about year three....

I went despite being MISERABLE with a sinus infection and UTI. So I figured I'd really be the "life" of the party this year. Heck I was happy the moments I could breathe or stop hacking. My evening was spent yelling at Drew to stay away from Ms. Stephanie's rotating tree, touching the ornaments, and presents. He doesn't do this at home, but for some reason this particular night he was being a stinker....

The kids - all 5 of them - were all having a really good time together, running round and round the house, screaming every step of the way. There were only two casualties... Mason (4) got a bloody nose when his brother (nearly 3) accidentally pummeled him... and Drew when he got smacked by another.

We had a glorious dinner, which due to illness I couldn't taste - but everyone else really enjoyed it thoroughly. Of course at this point we've been there a few hours and the older kids (ranging in age from 7-2) were antsy to open gifts. Here's a brief glimpse at the chaos....


Yes the kids were frantically opening their gifts and wrapping paper and tissue was flying everywhere! Drew was equally excited about his gifts...


here he's inspecting his new Elmo movie.

After the chaos, we put Drew into a pair of his new jammies that Troy and Mason gave him. Troy was donning his new PJ's, while Mason was sporting a unique ensemble of Thomas and Transformers that can only come from the mind of a 4 year old.... and we posed them for the traditional couch shot.

Troy is making faces, Mason is in the middle, and Drew - well he has the "Home Alone" impersonation thing going on. It turned out to be a remarkable evening, and what's even more remarkable is that Drew was as good as he was despite not getting a nap and staying up well past 10pm!

It's always a great time when we all get together. Now if only we can work to get EVERYONE healthy for next year's shindig....

The Difference Between Boys & Girls

Drew's becoming rather... shall we say, observant... these days. I was told about this little story when I picked him up at day care earlier this week.

The Characters:

• Drew
• Ms Stephanie
• Ms. Celeste - the 9 month old who started coming about a month ago (not pictured - and mind you she's the only girl Ms. Stephanie watches). Oh and Drew added the Ms. in front of Celeste's name, and it has stuck with everyone.

The Story:

So Ms. Stephanie is changing Ms. Celeste's diaper, when Drew comes over and is very intently watching what's going on. After a moment he looks at Ms. Stephanie and asks, "Where is Ms. Celeste's ookiepook?" (that's what Dave grew up calling the male organ, and he's passed it on to Drew)

Through her laughter, Ms. Stephanie explains to my son that girls don't have an ookiepook. Drew makes a few faces tries to digest this new piece of information as Steph finishes up with the diaper change.

Meanwhile, one of the other moms is witness to the entire exchange as she picks up her son, and through her laughter tells Drew, "You learn something new everyday don't you Drew".

So yes, my son is now aware that boys have an ookiepook and girls do not. The game in our house that night was "does Mommy have an ookiepook? Does Daddy have an ookiepook". Ahhhhh, I see many embarrassing comments in my future as Drew goes through this game in a very quiet, fully occupied, public restroom.

And The Winner Is....

So we have a winner... but before I get to the exiting drawing, I wanted to remind you what this was all about.

My friend Helen opened up her own business from home - it's a kind of a bakery if you will. This mother of identical triplet boys is the proud owner of Giggling Sweets, an online shop for her delicious treats. She's always wowing us with all the wonderful smells coming from her kitchen, and how her cuties devour every last morsel - of course we always ask her to send them our way.

Well now she can! All the desserts you see on her website are on sale through Friday, and your orders will arrive in time for Christmas!

OK, Drumroll please...

"I Made Water"

"I made water" - those were Drew's words last night when he reached another major milestone. He went potty in his big boy potty for the first time! Here's how it all went down...

I was in the kitchen making dinner, so Daddy went to go change Drew's diaper and get him in his PJ's. Apparently during the diaper change, Drew started to squirt, so Daddy said "Why don't you hold it and we'll go on your big potty".

So he carried a naked Drew into the bathroom and sat him on the potty. Drew looked around and Daddy tried to sit on the big potty to "show him how to do it" when suddenly he was - peeing.

In the process, Drew looks between his legs and says "I make water"!

I of course hear all the excitement from the kitchen, but didn't want to come into the picture too soon, less I prevent the "water from flowing". Needless to say, Drew received a lot of kudos and a handful of M&Ms. Time will tell if this was a fluke or if we're finally on to something.

These are a few of Drew's Favorite Things

Remember you have until 3pm PT today to enter to win some free holiday treats for you or someone special. Go HERE to find out how to enter....

An early Christmas arrived at our house, as I mentioned last week, we celebrated the holidays with my family on the 5th. That means Drew now has a plethora of new stuff we still need to find a home for. But he LOVES playing with his new stuff.

Since I'm still under the weather, and obviously late in posting this blog I figured I'd share this year's hits right now (that we've opened - there's still a lot of toys, bikes, scooters that we haven't opened due to weather, space etc.)

The big hits are:
Seriously he's addicted to these two games! We have to play them ALL THE TIME and talk about a flashback. I can't remember the last time I played either of them. While he's not quite proficient in picking the card/Spinning the spinner AND moving his piece, he does pick the card, spin the wheel and we move his piece for him. He does tell us what he has, and we try and make him count colors/squares. But I think that's a few months from grasping completely. One thing is sure - he LOVES games.

The other hit so far:

And this Fix the Mix toy, is another great gift. While we're only on level 1, Drew loves to try and figure out where 1-5 are and how to finish the "wash your hands" song. You have to find where the numbers are, and then start over if you make a mistake. Again, we have to help him to start over when that happens (he just wants to keep going and then will get mad when the completion song doesn't come on).

So there you have it. The hit toys through the eyes of a 2-year old. We'll see what other favorites are when we start unboxing them and putting them together.

Holiday Spirit Week - Feeling like the Grinch

OK so I had a totally different blog idea for today - however due to illness it will not post (I'll try and do it next week). You see I'm feeling a little like the Grinch today since I can barely breathe and sleeping - forget about it.

I went to the doctor yesterday (which if you know me, is a major deal) because I nearly passed out in the shower yesterday morning trying to get ready for work. No - I'm not pregnant! It turns out I have two infections - one of which is my sinuses.... and the fluid/pressure was so bad in my right ear, it caused the near fainting spells.

So rather than bore you with my illness sob story, I'm going to encourage you to participate in my holiday giveaway - which ends on Monday!

Come on folks - there isn't much competition yet, so your chances are really good! Who doesn't want to send some holiday cheer to your neighbor, a family member far away, work colleagues, or even someone who just needs some holiday cheer season. Of course you can win for yourself as well!

Click HERE to get all the details about how to enter! Lets go folks! Free desserts - who's not into that?

Holiday Spirit Week - Christmas Comes Early

Remember you have until Monday December 14th to enter in the holiday giveaway! For more information and how to enter click here.

Christmas came early this year for our family - that's because the actual holiday is with Dave's family. So mine decided to push it up a few weeks (as we do on our off year), only this time it was especially early due to work schedules for my brother and sister.

It was great to get everyone together... as you can see we grow more and more every year.

It was great to spend some quality time with everyone - and despite the lack of naps the kids were all pretty good. They even played quite well together.

Cousin Kady & Drew

Adrina & Drew

As we've done for the past few Christmases, we have to get pictures of Drew in front of the presents - as you can see Drew was pretty much done with the picture taking at this point....

and getting two toddlers to cooperate isn't much easier....

It was a fantastic evening and we had so much fun, just celebrating, talking and enjoying each others company. Of course the kids were super spoiled, but that's what happens when you go to Grammy & GrampC's house.

Holiday Spirit Week - Bah Humbug

It's almost Christmas, so I'm helping you get into the holiday spirit with a Christmas themed blog every day this week.

What's on tap today? Saturday Morning's Bah Humbug 5K race. I've run this three times in the last four years. And the past two years I had my own cheering section:

My last race, I had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction (if you missed that story you can catch up here). This time, no wardrobe issues, but rather an iPod malfunction. I turned it on just as I hit the starting line, but I paused it while they were talking and trying to pump us up. When it came time to start running - it crashed! (I'm hoping there was some glitch. I haven't tried it again).

Here I am crossing the finish - I'm #240 in green (you know the red faced chick).

My official time - 32:21! Only 8 seconds slower than my personal best reached at the race in October. Not bad for only running 3 times in the week before the race (I had taken about a 1 month hiatus from running). I'm happy with those results.

Tomorrow be sure to check back for a look at the Koch family Christmas.

Holiday Spirit Week - Christmas Cookie Giveaway

A bonus blog for you on my Holiday Spirit Week .... it's my gift to you.... a giveaway!

As I mentioned last week on my blog - it's an annual tradition for the ladies in my family to bake Christmas Cookies. If you missed the original post, I showed the plethora of cookies we made this year here.

Now I know not everyone is a baker, but who doesn't enjoy some holiday sweets? Especially treats that look as scrumptious as this:


To share my holiday spirit with you - I'm giving you a chance to win a treat of your choice (cookies or whoopie pies) - and the best part.. you don't have to do the baking!

Just look at all the tempting treats you have to choose from courtesy of my friend Helen who just opened her own online sweet shop (click on the button below for a sampling).

In honor of her Grand Opening - she's offering one of my lucky readers a batch of cookies or a batch of woopie pies (sorry no combos). You can eat these holiday treats yourself or have them sent to someone else - a free Christmas present! I have confirmed that your order will arrive before Christmas.

How to Enter to Win:
You have a chance to get up to four entries - leave separate comments on this blog for each item (if I don't already have your email address - please be sure to leave it in your comments, so I can contact you if you win. Failing to do so means I select an alternate winner). NOTE: The Comments must be left directly on this blog - not via email, Facebook Comments etc.

1. Go to Giggling Sweets and leave a comment here telling me which dessert you think looks the most tempting.
2. Leave a comment about your annual holiday baking traditions, or what you wish you did.
   
3. Post about the giveaway on Facebook and include a link to this post.
4. Become a follower or subscriber of this blog (or tell me if you already are a follower).

Contest IS CLOSED!

By the way you don't have to wait to send your holiday baking gifts either - everything on Giggling Sweets is on sale until December 18th!

Holiday Spirit Week - Party Like a 2 Year Old

It's the happiest time of the year, so I am continuing on my Holiday Spirit Theme Week with another look at some recent Christmas festivities.

Today's surprise - is a wonderland of kids courtesy a Day Care Holiday Party hosted by Ms. Stephanie on Friday night. This was our chance to mingle with all the Mommies and Daddies of the kids Drew hangs out with on a daily basis.

In all fairness, we kind of know most of them - whether it be birthday bashes at Ms. Stephanie's house or the fact that Dave plays softball with most of the Daddies.... but hey it's a reason to celebrate and spend time with parents and kids Drew's age.

After we arrived the older boys - Drew and Ms. Stephanie's 2 kids (ages 4 and nearly 3) - started dancing to the Christmas music. Then a short time later we were asking them to "come out of the closet".


Yes... I mean literally! Then we had an awesome dinner (Drew managed to eat the bread at least) and then it was off to the traditional couch photo shoot....

These are almost all of the kids Ms. Stephanie watches during the week. Not everyone is full-time, and the third child in (the older one) is a sibling, and we're missing the latest edition - the one and only girl of the clan. But doesn't this look like a big enough handful on a daily basis?

After we tortured all the kids with some photos... we moved on to the fun stuff... SANTA! OK the older kids LOVED this part of the night. My son on the other hand....

Did I mention that DAVE was playing Santa?! Yeah, obviously Drew didn't figure that one out.

Santa was happy to have Ms. Stephanie sit on his lap - at least there was one person who didn't scream in his ear.

Ms Stephanie was nice enough to give all the kids a gift and even one for the parents. I knew there's a reason we use her... hehe.


One of the other parents gave the kids a sucker - and it was apparently delicious! All of the boys had it all over their face, and were reluctant to give them up when it was time to go home.

Thanks for a wonderful time Ms. Stephanie! It was a memorable evening.