i'm alive...but my blog is not!

here i am...giving some much needed cpr and electric shock treatment to my blog.  man, i have so many things i could have blogged over the last five (or more!) months...but life has been too busy.  the five minute version:

• in may we went to sunriver for a family wedding.  it was awesome...we always love to go and i see we have managed to make it every two years!  sunriver holds a lot of great memories for us - aa and i used to go there every year for a little getaway.  our first trip with kellen was shortly before he turned one and i remember that he learned to patty-cake there, including the "roll it" with his arms and he was so proud of himself!  that first trip we found a great tree stump along the bike paths to take a picture of kellen.  we have managed to find that same stump the last two times we've gone and now have a collection of photos of each of them on the same stump.  i hope that the collection continues to grow!  what a difference two years makes - look at my baby girl!

• a week after sunriver, the kids and i took a little trip to the beach with sarah (my sister in law) and the boys and jan (my mother in law).  we stayed two nights and it was really fun...but a little crazy (what do you expect with a 4, 3, 2 and 1 year old!).  between my sister's kids and these boys, bennett and sammy, my kids are rich in the cousin department and it's oh so fun to see them all together!

Sammy (1), Maya (2), Kellen (4) and Bennett (3)

•  for mother's day i woke up to breakfast made by aa and the kids...with two special leaves the kids had specifically picked out for my place setting! we then went on a nice 1 mile hike at the audoban society.  it was a perfect little loop with a duck pond at the beginning and end.  we stopped at the half way point and enjoyed some little treats we had gotten at elephants.  it would have been perfect, except maya decided to take too big of a bit and proceed to gag and then puke all over herself and the trail. yuck.  needless say we got out of there as quickly as possible after using the water from our bottle to clean as much as we could off of her and the trail.  we quickly forgot about it all when we decided to go to salt and straw, the best ice cream shop for a little four sample tasting board. yum.  the kids devoured it, crazy flavors and all. 



•  when you work backwards like this...some milestones are given away!  big ones, like first haircuts!!!  may 6, we finally took maya in to chop off her locks.  i'd actually been wanting to bob her hair for awhile and after seeing a picture that a friend posted of her looking like a wild cavewoman, i convinced her to go!  we'd been asking her for months if she wanted a haircut and she would always say no...when i suggested it that weekend she said yes, so i guess we were both really ready!  i do miss being able to put it up in cute pig tails, but the bob is so cute and so easy.  i actually think she looks more like a baby with the little short bob than with her wild head of hair, so that's a bonus too!  she was perfect - sat stoicly still and was thrilled to finally get a lollipop just like kellen gets when he gets a haircut!

nervously excited in her pink convertible chair!

first cut!  sniff sniff

the look on her face the entire time!

my sweet baby girl with her new do!



hooray for lollipops!



• our new(ish) house has three parks within walking distance - it's awesome.  here are some fun pics of the kids at the park.  kellen is in his pj's because he had a 24 hour bout of a stomach bug (we all actually caught it after him - LOTS of puking, ugh) and was finally feeling good enough to get outside, something we all needed! 

• i'll end tonight's five minute update on the tulip festival.  the kids and i met aaron's mom down at tulip festival on a beautiful sunny day in late april.  we stopped and got some picnic goods at whole foods and then went to enjoy the beautiful colors.  it was actually my first time there, so fun to see the fields of flowers and lots of fun activities for the kids.  here's a slew of pics from the day.

grandma and kellen in the cow train

miss thing thought she wanted to ride on her own...only to freak out at the last minute and climb in my cow!



i have to agree...it was way more fun with her on my lap!



pretty colors

this picture kills me...her sunglasses, the look on his face, his arm around her and their little hands.  i could die.

maya and grandma snuggling on the hay bales

sweet cheeks

tractor tire swing was a hit!

there are those pigtails i miss!

mama and her babies!

sniff

grandma helping with the rubber ducky races!



• any bets on how long it will take me until the next post?  that is the real question!!!

november catch up

just a had to share highlights from november...cause some good stuff happened!

maya moved from her mattress on the floor to her big girl bed (this may have happened at the very end of october...i can't remember)! it's been a seamless transition - she's yet to fall off the bed. i'm pretty sure since she spent the first two years of her life nestled in between aa and i, she was used to sleeping in one spot (meaning she never moved around in a crib all night long!). you can't see it here in this picture, but she actually uses her boppy as a pillow. i imagine she has lots of good association with that boppy and it also feels like she's being cradled in someone's arms (hooray for them not being mine all. night. long!).

in early november aa and i took a much needed weekend away sans kidlets. this would be our first time away from maya for more than one night (she had done that a few times when we moved and for our last anniversary). we hit the road mid day on friday so we could get down to the beach with enough time for a little happy hour at the salishan lodge, another beer at the salishack (a sweet, coasty dive bar) and then dinner at the side door (with our favorite pan fried oysters to start!). we basically did nothing the rest of the weekend but lounge, nap, catch up on magazines, watch movies or football (including an awesome duck win over stanford), snuggle on the couch and eat good food. oh and we did make it over to the lodge for a couple of swims/hot tubs. it was incredible to have some one on one time with each other (something that is SO hard to find with two kids...but SO important). the weekend was not quite as relaxing for the grandparents...sadly both kids slept terribly and were up multiple times in the night. much fun was had, but it might be awhile before we get another weekend away! :(

kellen and i raked (played in) a lot of leaves - the con to living in a neighborhood with LOTS of trees! truth be told, kellen and i rakes some leaves and aa raked a LOT of leaves! ;)

my gram was in town for a couple of visits and my kids had so much fun with "drammy". it brings me such joy to see my kids loving my gram so much. i can remember (and still do) loving my gram and grandpa so much that it hurt...literally, we'd SOB after leaving their house. i only wish my grandpa was still alive, cause i know they'd have so much fun with him and he'd love loving on them too.

kellen wrapped up about six months of semi-private swim lessons at the farber swim school. he grew so much in those six months and i was so proud to see how far he'd come. he's much more confident in the water now (although still doesn't love his face to go under water) and we're hopeful that when we start up again in the spring that he'll step right back where we left off. poor maya was demoted to playing in the hot tub...we couldn't seem to get a schedule with the instructor and our swimmate that aligned so we could do a mommy and me class while kellen did his lessons - hopefully that will also happen when we start up again in the spring!

maya potty trained this month! this girl was actually ready to potty train in july/august (going potty on the toilet 3-4 times a day without being asked), but with the pending move and because she wasn't even two i didn't think it was possible and was too afraid to make the plunge! after we settled into the house, she was no longer so eager...but during the first week of november, her interest peaked again and i took the opportunity to say goodbye to the diapers. she was diaper free for a week before spending the weekend at her grandparents (nov 12/13), but that wasn't really fair to ask someone else to forgoe diapers in her first week, so she wore diapers that weekend. once we got home that sunday, i packed up the diapers and we haven't looked back. she basically trained herself and is practically night trained as well. i can't tell you how happy we are to no longer change/wash diapers. now if we could just figure out how to get them to wipe themselves we'd really be set! btw, her favorite undies are these pink ones pictures - those are apples on them and she calls them her "undies apples". she'd wear those undies every day if she could! as soon as she takes them off she says "wash my undies apples please mama!". she also has "undies stripes", "undies flowers", and "undies swirls".

and this post is suddenly WAY too long and i haven't even hit on thanksgiving!  i think i'll end on potty training and come back for a little turkey and pumpkin pie.

wowee...

MAUI! i'm so late in posting about our maui vacation...what fun we had (no post would do it justice!). 11 days/10 nights in paradise. we have our friends the schmole's to thank for giving us the motivation to take the trip. ironically, we had been thinking about going to hawaii with the two babes before maya turned 2 (and thus required a paid plane ticket!) and after we they told us about how difficult their trip in december with their two babes we decided somewhere a little closer would probably be best. when they suggested we all go together, we were a little surprised (given their trip in december!)...but took little influencing to make it happen! another family friend of ours also met up with us in lahaina (after a week or so on kauai!) and stayed in the same condo complex as ours (they were next door, but quickly moved out of that crap hole and into a more updated unit!).

the first 7 nights we stayed in 3 bedroom condo in lahaina with our friends - who have 2 boys, each approximately 3 weeks younger than our kids. sure, it was hectic at times with two three year olds and two one year olds...but so, so fun to have playmates and another family who knew what to expect with vacationing with little ones! we had the perfect balance of hanging and exploring together and then downtime on our own. we even managed to pull off a night out for the six adults - thanks to an awesome sitter that we hired through an agency (brilliant idea, mandy and kari!). it was pretty great to be able to enjoy an amazing meal in the company of good friends with an incredible view and setting! if you are in maui, i highly recommend merriman's in kapalua - and get the pina colada...you won't be sorry!



after we said goodbye to our friends, we had 3 more nights. thanks to my old banfield job, i had some hotel points to use. unfortunately they were at two different resorts, but the savings was worth it! so we stayed 2 nights in wailea at the marriott and 1 night at the westin in kaanapali. after the first week in a condo, it was nice to be in a resort with the different pools and beautiful grounds. one afternoon aa and i each traded about an hour of alone time at the adult pool. we were both looking forward to it, but honestly i ended my time early because i was a little lonely and missing my peeps! aa ended up feeling the same! now if aa and i could have been alone together, i'm sure it would have been a different story...but unfortunately the sitter we had used earlier was not available.



some of the highlights of the trip:

• shave ice and ice cream in the afternoon with the kid




• ladies night out with the girls...including a stop at the local gelato shop




• a group "hike" at iao valley state park





• deciding to stop at airport beach after the kids had fallen asleep in the car and enjoying some snorkeling and quiet time on the beach while the kids napped under a beach umbrella (they BOTH stayed asleep while we transferred their sleeping selves from carseats to the beach!)




• the above mentioned parent's night out





• eating at some of our favorite spots from our last trip to maui - the fish market, honolua store, aloha mixed plate
  



• watching the little ones play together nicely (and sometimes not so nicely!)
  
  
  
  
  
  



• a couple hours to enjoy a happy hour/dinner alone thanks to mandy and filip watching our kids




• simple but delicious bbq dinners out on the lawn with our good friends

• lots of fresh pineapple and papaya (maybe mixed with a little coconut rum and ice!)




• exploring the little town of pa'ia after our plans of going to baby beach were foiled when the kids fell asleep in the 5 minutes it took to drive there




• hanging on black rock beach with everyone and watching k squeal with delight as he jumped the waves with his friends







• just being together (especially walking along the beach watching the sunset and hanging on the hammock in the evening!)- with young kids, life can be crazy and it's easy to not slow down and enjoy. i'm thankful for the ten days we had together as a family. i know the kids loved having aa for ten whole days...they have been missing him lots and have really been in a daddy mode (no mama...daddy! is something i hear often) upon our return
  
  
  
  

we've now been back for a month (make that over two months!) and i keep dreaming of our return, especially with this crappy portland summer...AGAIN! until then, i guess we have pictures and a sound machine set to ocean waves!