Hair cut

I took the Chase and Cody for a hair cut on Friday. Their hair was really getting long and indeed time for a haircut. We go to the Kids Salon. Chase just sits and gets his hair cut perfectly. Cody doesn't' really like it, but after he gets in the chair he is fine and does very well. They look so cute after a hair cut.

I couple of pictures afterwards that I took at the park -trying to show off the cuts. It took about 15 pictures just for Cody to look at me and the camera.

Books and Books

I am so torn on what to do with my very little time these days.
I have started to read books again. Something I do love to do. I like to read romance type books.
It all started on vacation and I read two books by Debbie Macomber. The first Dakota Home was a great book and of course a series of three books this one being the second of the series. Also on vacation I read Country Brides also by Debbie Macomber. Very good book also. So I was hooked on reading again.
But do I spend my free time about an hour in the evenings after to boys go to bed reading or blogging. Such a difficult decision. I like to do both. So I find myself thinking, okay if I can blog and read all the blogs that I keep up with in about a half an hour then I will have another half an hour to read before I need to go to bed.

So now that my half an hour is up to blog I am going to go and read. I will keep you posted on what I am reading. What do you like to read?

Saturday Night

Steve and I had a wonderful anniversary dinner at Tom Ham's Lighthouse on Harbor Island. Our view from our table was awesome. Dinner was very good. I had a special of Swordfish and grilled vegetables. I ate all the swordfish that's how good it was. Melt in your mouth very good. Steve had a regular of his, prime rib and lobster tail. He said it was about the best he had ever tasted. Now that saying something.

After dinner we went out to a fundraiser for a little 6 year old Carlie. Carlie was born with 11 admoralities and wasn't suspose to live past her birth, but here she is just started kindergarden. She is a very special girl and we went to show our support for her and her family. They had a casino night, alchol, and a lot of raffles. I actually won a thing from the raffle - a tiki statue. It it very heavy and maybe that is what we will design our backyard around. You never know! But considering we left the fundraiser at 1am I think it was a full night.

Chase and Cody had just as much fun playing with their cousin Tatum, grandma, and granda. They had went to dinner also with Aunt Shannon, Uncle Daniel, Grammy and Pop. They had so much fun. Thanks to Dennis and Nancy for watching them while we had fun!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 5th Anniversary to my Honey!

We have come along ways from that first date at my cousins wedding 7 years ago! Thanks for being such a great husband and father. I can't wait to spend at least the next 45 years with you!

We are spending our day with each other and going out to a nice dinner. Grandpa and Grandma are going to keep the boys for us.

My Ten Names

My Ten Names

1. YOUR REAL NAME: Monica

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle.): Monizzle

3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color and favorite animal): Blue Dog

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME:( your middle name and street you live on/or neighborhood if it's a number): Lynn Rising

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name): Jonmo

6. YOUR SUPERHERO/CRIMINAL NAME: (Your 2nd favorite color, and favorite drink): Purple Squirt

7. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your last name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden name, 3rd letter of your dads name, 1st letter of a siblings first name, and last letterof your moms first name):ONJERAE (This was hard to do!)

8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parents middle names): Elaine Paul

9. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets): Black Diesel

10. Your porn star name: (name of your first pet and name of the street you grew up on). Barney Proctor

Way Back When-sday

On Thursday... I was very busy yesterday and I couldn't post my picture!




Here they are at a week old. I had a photographer come to the house (a friend of my aunts) and she took all kinds of very cute pictures. I think I love this one the best.

Cody on the right and Chase on the left.

Remember to check the host of Way Back When-sday Cheryl's blog.

Wonderful Weekend

For my birthday weekend, we go camping at the San Diego Bay Fair. It is the Thunderboats and a lot of boat racing. A bunch of fun. It always happens to fall on my birthday or somewhere in the middle. We have camping spots right on the San Diego Bay at Ski Beach. We park on the grass that no one else can park on throughout the year, so we think we are pretty special to have these spots. The weather was absolutely perfect. Nice and sunny during the day time and a little cooler at night.

We camp with 4 other best friends and a bunch of other people stop in and hang out for a while throughout the weekend. We had 8 kids all under 3 years old with us and they all got along exceptionally well. We played in the sand,

played with play-doh,

colored, and rode bikes all weekend. The BBQ was always working and all we did was eat it seemed like. We had some good food also from Brats to Carne Asada to chips and dip everything was delicious.

The kids were all very tired every night and they all slept good at night. We can't wait to do this again next year. Every year we have improved our campsite and next year we will I am sure have another wonderful time!

Scooters

The boys have just taken to riding their scooters. They got them from grandma Nancy and Grandpa Dennis for Easter. Cody was trying to ride his but Chase couldn't really figure it out until now. This was about 2 weeks ago.

Cody riding his scooter.

Chase riding his scooter.

Happy Birthday to Me

As entainment, I thought I would post a baby picture of me. Here I am at 3 months old. Many years ago!!

I plan on having a good day at work with no plans tonight. We are camping this weekend.

Sleeping

The last two nights, Chase and Cody haven't been sleeping very sound. Monday night they each woke up at 4:30am. They had decided that it was morning time and just started to play. I tried to explain to them that they could still sleep another hour and a half before waking up to go to school. No luck. So here we are up at 4:30am playing, wrestling, running around and screaming. I guess at school they slept so good at naptime that they had go in and wake them up. Of course they were exhausted by then!

Last night they went to sleep good, still sleeping on the floor. Neither one will sleep in their actual bed. They both woke up at 2am and were awake between the two of them a hour and half. They did finally go back to sleep, but I am wondering if it has something to do with the moon being a full moon. I think I have heard something about that could affect your sleep. I am going to have to see the next time we have a full moon and see how they sleep.

So this is how I found them this morning snuggled up together sleeping.

Way back when-sday

Chase 10 months

Cody 10 months

I love looking back at the old pictures and seeing how much the boys have changed! Enjoy!

Don't forget to check in with Cheryl's blog to see her way back when-sday!

Backyard

We have started our backyard makeover. This weekend we cleared the brush, which is also good because fire season is coming and the brush was getting thick. Thanks to Jeff who lets us borrow and also drove the Skid Steer for us. Our next step, we will move some dirt and level off the backyard. We would like to eventually have a pool and a nice family type backyard. We are talking a few years before this project is complete.

So here are some before and after pictures.

Before:

After:

We still have to actually remove the brush but at least it is in piles and easy for the tree service guys to come in and chop up and remove. I will keep you posted on progress.

Thank you...Thank you

The new look of my blog is courtesy of my cousin Amy. She gave me the new look for my birthday. I LOVE it. I am so excited. Thank you very much.

Updates

Wanted to update on the new school front. They *love* it and walk right in and this is only the 3rd day. This morning Chase walked in put his lunch box away in his cubby, without being told to do it and he walked over to the markers and started to color. Cody forgot to put his lunchbox away but then remembered a few minutes later turned and put his lunchbox in his cubby and got out his blankie. He also went over and started to color. They could of cared less that I left them they were having so much fun. Yesterday, I guess they stood up in circle time, during singing and started to sing the alphabet song. No, they don't know the whole song or all the letters in the correct order but they have to melody down. The teachers are not fighting over them saying they want them in there classroom next year! So I am so proud of them, they are getting so big! I still never got pictures of them in there classroom, maybe I will remember tonight when I pick them up, but I doubt it.

Another update also on Cody's finger/fingernail. His fingernail is hanging on by one side. It started to left up, so I quickly cut off that part. I am worried that he will get dirt in it and it will get infected. It doesn't look good and he is sensitive about it. So I might end up at the doctor's tomorrow. We will see how it looks today.

Way Back When-sday

Taking us back to 9 months old. Cody in the stripes and Chase in the solid. They did love that ball pit.

Cheryl at Twinfatuation started Way Back When-sday, check out her blog.

New School Today

Chase and Cody started a new school today. They did very well when I dropped them off this morning. Cody had a small pouty lip and Chase at first didn't want to walk in to the classroom. As I started to leave, Cody pouty lip got a little bit more but the teacher, Ms. Teri, took right over and started to read books and such. I think the boys are going to be great here and learn a bunch. By the way, they are the talk of the school that the Jonas Brothers are there. All the teachers and kids couldn't wait to meet the Jonas Brothers.

I actually received a phone call from the teachers aide telling me that they have settled in nicely and they stopped crying soon after I left. She said that they are all smiles and very happy kids.

I didn't take any pictures this morning with all the stuff that we were bringing with us, I forgot (I know not a good mom, am I?). Maybe I can do second day pictures. It would be the same right?

Zoo

On Saturday we (Nancy, Grammy, the boys and myself) went to the Zoo. Our zoo is so big that we only walked around maybe a quarter of it and we spent 5 hours there. The weather was very hot also for the zoo. We were walking around in 85-90 degree weather. The good thing about it was there really wasn't that many people. This was the boys first time going and they were looking forward to seeing animals. The first thing we did was ride the tour bus. This is Chase and Cody waiting in line for the bus. We weren't really impressed with the amount of animals that we saw on the bus.

This otter was in the children's zoo and it kept doing somersaults in the water and chasing its tail. The boys really thought that was funny.

In the petting zoo, Chase and Cody got to pet a goat and rabbits. They both thought that was pretty cool.

We were able to see panda bears out and looking at the crowds gathered around them. This is the mother panda and here sleeping 18month old baby was sleeping in the tree above her. The baby was at the end of the branch and had been sleeping there for 4 1/4 hours.

Baby sleeping in the tree very close to us as we walked by but higher in the tree.

Crocodile looking not real. It was but it never moved other than the blinking of his eyes.

The Orangutan's were very active today. There was one sitting right by the glass where we sat and watched. Then a older orangutan came and sat down beside him. There were others in the cage swinging around and chasing each other. It was very cool to see.

I had a character drawing made of Chase and Cody. It turned out really cute. I think I am going to hang it in thier bedroom after a change in from baby to big boy sometime later this year. Cody is on the left and Chase is on the right.

We hope to make it back to the zoo real soon. We all enjoyed it so much.

Smashed Finger

At the hotel, the Sunday before we came home Cody was hanging on a table- that he was not suspose to and before I could get him off it tipped over on him. He was fine other than a little scared but he did smash his index finger on his left hand. So we have been watching his finger nail turn blue and then black. Now in the last few days it has started to lift off. It hasn't bothered him at all. He will show you that he has a boo-boo. They are not the greatest pictures. But you can kind of tell that his fingernail is a different color.

This picture taken on Sunday 9/7

Here is picture I took today of him and his glasses. He always wears his sunglasses upside down and his bill of his hats to the side. He is thinking that he is the coolest kid on the block right now!

Grandparents & Great - Grandparents

Happy Grandparents Day!!



I wanted to honor the great grandparents and the grandparents of our lives. Without them our lives would not be the same. Thank you for everything that you do for us and the countless advice that you have given to us throughout the years. I can't wait for the years to come for more great memories like these ones.


Grandpa and Chase on the boat at the river.


Grandma enjoying her three younger grandchildren Cody, Tatum and Chase.
Great-Grammy and Great-Pop and Chase and Cody.


Grandma with Chase and Cody on a Trolly in Kauii.


Grandpa riding in a boat with Chase in Hawaii


Great Papa with Chase in the swings

Great-Grandma and Great-Papa sitting on the porch with Chase

Grandparents and grandchildren,

Together they create a chain of love

Linking the past,

With the future.

The chain may lengthen,

But it will never part.

-Author Unknown

The Last Days of Vacation

On Thursday we arrived in Nawillwill, Kauai at about 8am. Very pretty island called the "Garden Isle".

We went to the beach today. The beach that we went to was Kalapaki Beach about a 10 minute walk from the ships terminal. What a beautiful place. The water was warm and very clear again.

Chase and Cody played in the sand and a little bit of the water. They did go in the water with dad after getting used to it and they even went for a little dunk under water. It was a warm day but perfect for playing a digging in the sand!!

Thursday night we went to a official Luau. The entertainment was very good. The fire throwers and all the dancers were very good.

Chase and Cody slept through the majority of the Luau. They music and dancing woke them up, but this is what they looked like sleeping through dinner (which was not so good).

On Friday, Shannon and I took the boys back by the beach. We had a really good hamburger and fries from a little local restruant. Chase and Cody shared a vanilla shake. As we walked back we bought some souvieners and looked around in some shops. It was a perfectly relaxing day.

We left Kauai at 2pm. Going away from the island this is what you see. It is called something but I can't remember, but it is pretty.

We debarked the ship on Saturday and spent another day hanging out at the hotel before our plane left on Sunday morning for home. We sure all had a good time. It was great spending time with family.