Ole!

The Spanish-speaking group in our ward put on a fiesta for us a few weeks ago. The food was AMAZING! Please enjoy these pictures showing off our Spanishness.

Adios!

Stinky Bathroom Prayers and Other Stories

1. Cody is getting really good at saying meaningful prayers where he is asking or thanking for specific things all on his own. In his bedtime prayers he has been asking for help to stop his thumb-sucking habit. The other day he came downstairs and said, "Mom! When I went in the bathroom it was really stinky so I said a prayer and it didn't stink anymore!"

2. Cody has been funny lately with his "Just in Time" comments: When Uncle Bob comes out of the bathroom (yes! we are still not in our house yet!), Cody is right there. He'll say, "Just in time, Bob! I was just about to go in there!" OR today Cody was finishing his breakfast before school and I ran upstairs to get ready to go. When I came down a few minutes later he said, "Just in time, Mom! I just finished my breakfast!"

3. Cody got to go to a fun birthday party last Saturday where he got a load of candy! While in the car on the way home he took off his shoes after I asked him not to. When we got home I had to wait for him to put his shoes back on and then as he was getting out of the car he dropped his candy bag and candy went everywhere. I was already not happy with him for taking his shoes off and so he quickly said, "Sorry, mom! I didn't mean to!" He was so sweet about it and I felt bad for being annoyed so I said I was sorry. Then he sweetly said, "It's no matter." (Seriously! And I have no clue where he got that from.)

4. I asked Kylee to help me with something the other day and she said, "I can't! I have to check my email."

5. Cody and I still do "I love you more..." every night. The other night (and just like every night) he asked, "Mom, what do you love me more than?" I said, "I love you more than the giant Frankenstein and spider we saw at Lowe's today." Cody said, "And the big skeleton?" I said, "Oh, I didn't see the skeleton. Cool. OK, what do you love me more than?" Then Cody was about to tell me what he loved me more than but then suddenly stopped and said, "Oh wait! Do you love me more than the skeleton?" I said, "Oh yeah! Of course!" and then he went on...

I'm glad we clarified that one! :)

Cody's First Day of Kindergarten!

Cody's First Day of Kindergarten was today! We had a fun morning eating homemade pancakes and homemade syrup for breakfast, packing lunches and snacks, and Cody getting a blessing from Steve to start off the year right. Then, Kylee and I walked him to school after taking some pictures of him on Sara and Bob's porch (which is ours too until we move in to our house again....ah, the memories this porch will bring some day). I took a picture of Cody's new backpack that he got for his birthday from Grandpa Airplane and Grandma Tammy and captured his do-it-himself haircut all at the same time (see the baldspot above his ear??)

When Kylee and I dropped him off at school in the auditorium with the other kindergarteners he made me so proud. Cody was so brave. When it was time for his class to line up and head out he gave me a quick hug and kiss and then said, "bye!" without any hesitation. It made me so happy to see him that way.

While Cody was gone Kylee put on a smaller backpack we have and wore it around the house for a good part of the day.

And guess what? When Kylee (still wearing a backpack), Steve, and I picked him up 7 hours and 16 minutes later he was still in one piece. I was greeted with a big, happy hug.

He survived. And so did we.

And then of course I drilled him for information...

And here are some of the highlights of his comments about school:

"I sit by a girl named Kylee, but she spells it different than we do."

Cody: "I got to color my name tag." Then I asked, "What did you draw on it?"

Cody: "I totally can't remember."

"I wish I could ride the bus, but I live too close so I have to walk."

"There are a lot of black people in my class, but I don't know any of their names because they are hard to remember." :)

And tomorrow we have the day off and so we're going to the zoo. I love Rosh Hashana! :)

The Nail Polish Incident

While on vacation with my family in California we had what we like to call the Nail Polish Incident. Kylee was sleeping on the floor right next to my side of the bed. And since we had just moved out of our apartment and went straight to the hotel we had all of our stuff in our hotel bedroom...including my nail polish. Normally the nail polish is up high, but this was not a normal situation. Steve and I woke up at 6:30 am in a panic at the smell of nail polish only to find Kylee, her bed, and Roberta ("Berta") her pink rabbit covered in puddles of nail polish. Kylee sweetly said, "Mom, look I did it!" She was so proud that she had painted her nails (and Berta's) that there was no way we could be mad. She thought she was being such a big girl.

The amazing part was that a pillowcase was the only damaged item from the hotel and they didn't charge us for it. Because Berta was so stinky and stained we had to get a new one. But, we couldn't find a replica so we had to go with another animal. Steve and I chose a monkey and crossed our fingers that she would be OK with it.

Well, it was love at first sight. This little pink monkey is lovingly called "Monkey Berta" in memory of Roberta the Rabbit and all the sweet memories she brought.

Touring Cali With the Duncan Fam

After checking out of our apartment in Livermore we met my parents and siblings in Fremont where we stayed at a hotel for a week to do some vacationing. It also just happened to be Cody's birthday!!! Big 5!

The birthday boy had In-N-Out Burger at the very top of his birthday wish list.

Afterwards we played some birthday games back at the hotel. Brooke made a "Pin the Propellor on the Airplane" game to go along with Cody's other big birthday wish: to have a 747 Birthday. (That's what his Grandpa Airplane has been training to fly all summer.)

My kids cannot get enough of little Duncan.

On Sunday we went to church and then hung out at the hotel for a bit before heading out to the Oakland Temple.

The view of the city from the temple grounds is really cool. This is my parents with all the grandkids.

And here is the whole gang:
Top Row: Brooke, Steve, Bob, Sara, Cody
Bottom Row: Aubrey, Kylee, Dean, Ellen, Tiffany

Another view from the temple.

View of the Bay area from the temple.

The next day we went to Six Flags!!

Checking out the sharks.

Riding Thomas the Train. The first ride Cody went on.

Cody on Harold the Helicopter. The second and last ride Cody went on.

Hanging out in the Splash Zone to watch Shouka the Killer Whale.

Shouka was awesome. And when they say you "may get a little wet" you should take that to mean that a wall of water will crash on top of you multiple times. Getting splashed by the tail of a killer whale was definitely a highlight.

The next day we were off to our favorite beach: Rio Del Mar.

The super awesome castle. Steve sprained his ankle on his first go on the skim board so the rest of his beach time was devoted to making this.

Happy Beach bums

The next day we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. There was a lot of cool stuff to behold there.

Loved the jellyfish.

And the baby sea horses were cool too.

Hanging out in Cali was a lot of fun. It was a great way to end our summer in California. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Last of Livermore Pics

When we were moving out of our apartment in Livermore Steve turned on a movie in order to listen to the music, but the kids wanted to watch the movie. You can see them trying to watch the movie while the laptop lid is down. When we realized they wanted to watch the movie we lifted up the lid.

We borrowed a little bike for the summer from a family in the area thinking that Cody would enjoy it. He rode it once and then didn't want anything else to do with it. But Kylee thought it was really cool.

The kids are coloring at our card table/dining table. They put in a lot of hours coloring since they didn't have too many toys.

The Indoor Rainstorm

A few weeks before we were ready to head back home to PA we got the news that our place in Pittsburgh flooded from the top floor all the way to the basement. The giant white chunks in each picture is our fallen ceilings. We have been back in PA now for more than 2 weeks and we still have 3 more weeks before we can move back in. Luckily we have lots of people looking out for us. Thanks to everyone for all of your help in helping us sort everything out and giving us a place to stay. We are so blessed!

Las Vegas For Grandma's Birthday

At the end of June we took a quick weekend trip to Las Vegas for Grandma Tammy's birthday.

Cody's tortilla fangs. Grandma's house means quesadillas 24-7.

The Bleazard's and the Hess's made it down for the weekend too. So everyone but Grandpa Airplane was there since he was training in Florida.

Cody is in training to be a pilot too.

We made a paper chain countdown for Cody's birthday. It's tradition!

The kids love playing in the water outside to beat the Las Vegas heat. Kylee didn't even bother getting dressed before going out to play.

Hanging out with Grandma

Singing songs together.

Tyler and Lacey reading with Cody and Kylee before bed.

Kylee and Raquel hanging out in their jammies.

Beethoven Saves the Day!

I have a few little funny stories about things the kids have said lately. So here we go…

On the morning of Kylee’s birthday Cody walked out of his room all sleepy-eyed and said excitedly, “Is Kylee bigger?”

On Kylee’s birthday she just kept telling everyone, “I’m bigger.” If you asked her how old she was she would always say, “I don’t know…TWO!”

A family here in CA loaned us some Tinkertoys while we are here for the summer. One day Cody built a car out of them and was telling me about its cool features. He just kept saying that it was super, super old because “it was made in the 1980s” and then he would look at me waiting for some shock value like it couldn’t get any older than that. Finally I said, “Did you know that I was born in the 1980s?” He was instantly impressed. A little while later he asked, “If you were born in the 1980s was dad born in the 1480s?”

For the first few weeks that we were here in California Kylee was struggling to get to sleep. She had recently learned how to crawl out of our pack ’n’ play crib during our trip west. So we would lay her down, she would climb out a minute later, open the bedroom door, and walk out like she owned the place. Steve had had enough one evening and made a bed for her in our empty hall closet (since the door opens out he could put something in front of the door so she couldn’t get out and hopefully settle down and go to sleep). Well, the new bedroom only lasted one or two nights. The funny thing is that now if I ask her to go get her shoes or something out of her room she always goes to the hall closet instead of her REAL bedroom.

Last weekend we went to Las Vegas to see Steve’s mom for her birthday. While making the long drive home Cody was acting up so Steve took Harry (his bear) away and told him he couldn’t sleep with him that night (the ultimate punishment). A little while later it started getting dark and Cody was ready to go to sleep. He asked Steve if he could have Harry. Steve said, “if you can tell me who wrote this music that we’re listening to then you can have Harry” (a nice way of saying “no way”). Then Cody said, “Oh! …Beethoven*!” Steve and I looked at each other. Cody was right! We were totally shocked. Steve passed Harry to the back seat and told Cody, “Good job!” and then added quickly, “you still need to be nice though!”

*Steve had barely mentioned to me that he wanted to switch the music to Beethoven 10 or 15 minutes earlier. We were both in the front seat and I have absolutely no clue how Cody even picked up on it. All I can say is watch what you say around Cody!

Adventures in San Francisco

A couple of weeks after we got to California we got to go to San Francisco with our new brother in law, Brady and his family. Since they live in the area we figured they would make great tour guides and we were right!

First stop: Golden Gate Bridge

Kylee, Grandma Tammy, Tif, Steve, Cody, Raquel, and Brady

Cody pushing Kylee in the stroller

The bridge is totally cool.

Raquel and Cody

Then we went to Pier 39 and ate at Boudin's and then got a bucket of heavenly donuts.

The bucket went fast and then we got another.

Cody didn't want a single sugar crystal to go to waste. That is not dandruff on his shoulders - it's SUGAR!

Here we are checking out the stinky sea lions.

Look at all that blubber!

Then Kylee pushed Cody in the stroller. They were so good the whole time.

Brady is on Kylee's favorite list.

Grandma Tammy, Cody, and Kylee walking to Ghirardelli Square

Our last stop on the way home was Lombard Street

Crazy and crooked.

San Francisco is one busy place. It was so fun to check out the city!