true auntie love

means singing skinamarinkadink over and over again...for a 5 hour car drive with a toddler and a baby.
means helping out all week long with her nephews
means babysitting so mama can have a break
means taking care of baby boys while sister goes on an ocd unpacking/cleaning, haven't been home in a week frenzy.
means relaxing after a long week with the adults while little boys visit the sleeping fairy who seemed to be m.i.a. while we were in sc all week. 

caleb is serenading auntie lor in this video (just in case you thought those pretty green colored nail polish hands were mine (i don't wear green nail polish! totally not brave enough)

and he learned this song while on our 5 hour car drive home. lots of time to sing friends.

thanks lor! i'm so thankful for all the aunties! all four wonderful aunties that the boys have, even the great aunties! they sure are some blessed little boys to be so loved.

now have you noticed how much this boy loves to dance and sing? i am going to count this song as his first official song that he can sing with the correct words. usually it is one word over and over (his other favorite song he sings is 'lukie lukie, i love you' lukie....' but that isn't an officially 'real' song. he also has a ton of songs where he knows the hand motions and some of the words, but not all together. anyway...

last night, we walked over to nob hill and picked up a movie and some pizza.  caleb wore his green, frog, rain boots in true toddler style  (while riding his trike) and the whole way over and back he sang....
skinamarinkadinkadink skinamarinkadoooo i lovvvvvvvvvve youuuuuu!!! no prompting necessary.

we love you too caleb.

a week in sc

busy boy at work in nani's kindergarten classroom

so the boys and i are in santa clarita with my family for the week while hubby is away for business for work. the upside. lots and lots of extra helping hands this week and not having to be alone for three days while hubby is away. the other upside, is a date night (nursling along for the ride) in woodland hills at the hilton and cheesecake factory with hubby on his business trip. the downside. missing my hubby. but we've had a nice week. my sisters are living at home and going to school, so they have been home a lot and a huge help. my mom is home everyday at 3 and caleb's her little helper from then on. my dad has been enjoying his special movie time with caleb before bed (this is their special thing. ice cream and a little bit of movie time (lady and the tramp, and happy feet.) talk about getting spoiled down here! so i've posted some pics of the week.

 nice to have aunties around to help with naptime and bedtime ;)

our barnes and noble field trip (one of mom's favorite places!) they had a cute kid area set up that caleb went right over to.

 while aunties are sleeping, and nani and papa are working...mom and the boys have morning playtime :) lucas and caleb we were really into the beaded necklace (can ya tell lucas can't stop staring)

 lucas was all dressed up for our date with dad :) it was fun just having one on one time with our baby boy! he's very easy to take along and was a champ for the drive to see dad, our dinner date, and overnight hotel stay. caleb got special one-on-one time with nani and papa and auntie jen.

 still swaddled my friends...hoping to break this soon :) but he's just such a good swaddled sleeper!

 the boys getting their movie time on ( a very special treat) because this doesn't happen with mom and dad!

 a walk through the neighborhood

so tuckered out after a fun night with daddy! snoozing on the drive home :)

here is a video of caleb enjoying happy feet. i've never seen it and didn't realize how much dancing and music was in it. of course any type of music and dancing..and caleb's all over that! he really loves to get his groove on. my mom sent me this clip of him watching and dancing to the movie with papa. (this movie time and staying up a lil past bedtime is their special time together) he's not allowed to watch much tv with us. i'm pretty particular about that. his shows are reserved for certain times of the day if at all. so this is a special treat for him!

I almost forgot to mention the most exciting part for me about being down here! besides a lot of extra sister bonding time and some nice breaks ;) i was able to go to my mom's kindergarten classroom and get a lot of her extra school supplies (that she had and doesn't use anymore, after 30 years of teaching!) let me just say, i was seriously about to pee my pants with excitement. you know how people get excited about movie stars? chocolate? certain tv shows? dancing? etc.....children's books are my high in life among other things; swimming, hiking, camping, beach, date night with hubs, time with my family...etc. books. books. books! love them. i am a book worm. and when it comes to children's books! i. melt. and i just go balistic with excitement. anyway....beyond all that! back to my point. she has an entire library full of childrens' classics. great authors. my favorite books i read when i was little (i do remember all those wonderful classics she read us!) here are a few: dr. seuss, leo lioni, eric carle (a personal favorite), here are some titles: little miss spider (a few of these) some great counting books, alphabet books, books about colors, shapes, i could go on and go, you get the idea. we have a wonderful library of books at home, but i've been wanting to get my hands on some more books...cause i'm kind of a childrens' book addict. and now i have a bunch more! the best part is that i now have a felt board with pieces that go with these books. brown bear brown bear what do you see. polar bear polar bear... and miss spider's tea party. the very hungry Caterpillar. all have a complete set of felt pieces to do the story with! caleb's pretty excited about those, we've been doing it all week. we have some fun other things. some construction paper, some foam shapes to practice with, stickers. counting pieces, lots more! i'm just tickled pink i tell ya! now i am willing to share ;) for all those mamas out there! if you'd like to use any of the above, just let me know. i also have some fun craft ideas i'd like to do with some of these books, and i'm hoping to do some weekly/monthly themes with caleb and lucas. such as: ocean themes/with books and a fun craft. colors, shapes, counting, etc...spring themes, etc! and then i have a fun little set up for a calendar that includes days of the week, months, weather, and some other things. i'll be taking pictures of all this fun stuff soon ;) how can i not? i'mcaleb's at the age where he needs a little bit more...or maybe i do? i just am so excited about all this! and i just can't wait to post some pictures of all the great stuff i have my hands on now :)

p.s. i realize auntie jen's not in any of these pics from the week...but she does have her own post below featuring her quite amazing and talented dance moves ;) lol. so i don't feel too bad :)

happy almost friday!

dance dare

for all those ellen fans out there. has anyone seen her dance dare videos? my sister jenny is kind of an ellen addict. lol. anyway. this is what goes on behind the scenes when mom isn't around! lots of dancing with auntie. 

caleb's dance moves

ellen's dance dare (caleb has no idea jen's getting her dance groove on behind him)

what lucas thinks of all this crazy dancing going on around here!

a runner

am.not. can not. will not. so not a runner. can't run. will never run. these are all things i have always told my swimmer self.  all things i laughed about. marrying a land, track, runner/sprinter kinda guy. I'm a fish and that's how I'll always be. all these silly-self limiting things I've always said. And then-cuteness happened in the form of Lucas. And escape happened in the way of 5pm, daddy's home and mom's going to go hit the pavement hard with some feet and have some quiet time. And then one thing lead to the next, my neighbor runs. we started running together. what started out with 1 mile (I'm so proud i ran that without stopping! ha) turned into 3 miles (not far, i know, but for me. this girl that is not. can not. will never. run!) self, i was pretty happy. so now I've gone and done it. a suggestion from this very good running friend, and many runs later. and I've signed up for my very first run. ever. this swimmer girl. who thought she could not run. I'll be running 6 miles in June. 6 miles with a good friend, my good running friend, who casually mentioned that we should do this. run this. and i laughed and said. probably not. but-then. her words kept ringing run in my ear. just try it. won't be so bad. and so-i thought why not? why not try something new? step out of my little box and just try it. because actually- i. can. run.

who knows. maybe some day I'll even do a half marathon. Dave comes from a line of runners, they do half marathons and all that crazy stuff. I'm impressed. seriously impressed. you know what my dream  really is though?? my crazy dream? my bucket list...one day sort of thing is? to do a triathlon. but the running thing always hit me still. so maybe....maybe, it isn't such a distant dream anymore. i mean now that i actually can.run. I've realized, running really is sort of satisfyingly fun. but don't tell anyone i said that.

the best part? I'll have my Lil fan club cheering me on all the way. and there to greet me at the finish line.

so happy Friday friends. hope you'll be inspired to try something new this weekend too :)

from around the corner.

 we're so close to the weekend i can almost taste that sea ocean air. i think we've done a great job getting caleb all excited about the 'beach'. he loves the beach (more the sand than the water) but i'm hoping this summer we can bring him out to the warm santa monica waves. so that's where we will be this weekend. (are we ever anywhere else on the weekend? mostly. no)

have i mentioned how much i love my ergo. so much so that i'm trying to convince my hubby to let me get one more. because caleb loves it too and he actually can fit in it (holds 40 lbs) and it is just so comfy, easy, and ideal to use whenever and wherever!! lucas loves it too (he loves his world view and can doze in it so easily) love, love, love it. just about as much as i love our wombie swaddle for lucas (don't even get me started on that. yeah, he's still....swaddled....and we did try unswaddling him on monday, but...didn't go so well. I'll save that for another day. maybe the day we actually give up the swaddle all together) but for now, he is just too good a sleeper to give it up. we swaddle, we put in his binky, and we rock and pat his lil bum and he's out in 2 min. flat! only wakes up to nurse twice in a 12-14 hr stretch. and takes such great naps. sooo lovely. i admit. i am a wombie addict. any suggestions to give up my addiction would be appreciated!

caleb loves his garden boots, as you can see. he wears them in the stroller, to the park, on our walks, riding his bike, you get the idea.....

around 3 o'clock on any given day after naps this is us. toes crossed, hands held, legs entwined in a cuddle and a nestle. caleb is holding lucas' toes in this picture. he'll take whatever form of cuddle he can get. i hope his future wife really likes to hug and hold because i'm pretty sure he's a cuddler.for.life. kinda guy.

now for this sweet pea. (i tease) this is his very first taste of peas. i'm going to have to go ahead and say, he wasn't a fan. i thought he was choking but dave reassured me that he was simply gagging and trying to figure out how not to swallow the peas. it got to the point where just looking at the spoon caused him to gag. oh child. i will not give up on you yet. once again, he's proving to be a completely different child than his big brother! it is funny how you actually think you're children will be alike. well, i did at least. nope. truly complete opposites. so caleb was a food lover from the start. lucas, it is taking him a bit of time to warm up to the whole idea. i love it. i love that my boys are so different yet get along so good. they blend together so perfectly. i can't even imagine a more perfect fit. a more perfect brother for each one. it is so fun to have these two little personalities and to watch them grow and take in their world! so, so, fun.

so thanks lucas. you provided us with great laughs at lunch today. as did caleb, witnessing it all from his perch at the table.

happy almost friday!

a tissue and a laugh

http://lysaterkeurst.com/2009/02/my-letter-to-young-mom/

 this is a perfect reminder for young moms everywhere <3

sun kissed

and happy today. warm toes in the sun. garden boots in the dirt. baby boy in blue. morning walk in the cool. warm baked banana bread fresh from the oven. lunch time giggles. long afternoon nap for everyone. sunshine on my skin, birds singing through the window, calm breeze on the curtains,  fresh sheets on the beds, and peace in my heart today.

I know I've already mentioned this book, but I'm loving it. It's the kind of book you read and it makes you think and ponder. The kind of book you can read on warm summer days or cold winter nights and no matter what, you'll put it down and want to pick it up again, just for a little more. And a little more. You'll want to keep reading. You can pick it up in the middle or the beginning and get a little boost for the day. You read it and you become immersed in her words and a part of her heart. It's one of those life changing, heart lifting, soul inspiring, you'll want to read it over and over again kinda books. A good book to read for lent, a good book to read with the coming of spring. Hope and Joy. Her words bring peace to my heart. loving it right now.

Happy Wednesday Friends :)