Talkin' Tustin!

If it weren't the holiday season, and the fact that we love to sing around the house.... I would have told you about Tustin's longest phrase to date.... Which would have been something funny he said today: "Go away brother Keegan!" Which he said when Keegan was buggin' him today! However, since it is the holiday season, our little man has mastered the beginning of a Christmas song: "Ingle Bells, Ingle Bells, Ignle Ahhh-way, Hay!" And if you prompt him on the "Dashing through the snow" part, he'll keep on going with it!!

The drive to Auburn took almost 10 hours, door to door. We stopped for potty breaks, lunch, gas, the usual. The drive home from Auburn was a grooling 12-hour day! Still the usual stops, but the last 4 hours of our drive was pretty solid traffic! What a day. You would think we'd all be excited to curl up in our own beds after not being home for a week (well, most of us were). But Keegan only wanted to sleep in his new dinosaur sleeping bag that Santa brought him, pretty much right there on the hard wood floor! Ouch!

More Fun Christmas Photos

Here is Santa Jack, and his little elf, Baby Rose. Cousins Gavin & Suzie-- welcome back from England, we all missed you dearly! Beautiful Kaya, Adorable little Mason (with whom Keegan loved to play), and my Mom and her first-born's baby girl Rose!

Christmas in Auburn

A whirl-wind week, Dec. 20-27, 2007. A very fun and BUSY time we had. Whether we were making gingerbread houses, driving up to play in the snow, or just sitting around the house relaxing (ha, ha, ha), there were always anywhere from 2 to 6 little ones to chase around! We had a wonderful Christmas. As our (once very small) family grows (very rapidly), it just brings more excitement into the world!! Christmas day was pure mania: kids running, wrappers flying, toys moving, dogs barking, eyes rolling... you name it! It was great! A special thanks to Aunt Sylvia & Uncle Ted-- we hope the four of us didn't destroy your house (and peace) too terribly! AND, what do you know, the DAY after we left town, cousins Ian & Julie welcome baby Logan to the world. Congratulations to the newest member of our family. And I hear, from a little birdy, that snow also fell in Auburn the DAY after we left town!

"Christmas" No. 3

We had our third Christmas of the season this year with Nana & Papa Sullivan, Auntie Peggy, and Great Nana, on December 9th. By this time, the boys were pros-- ripping off the paper so very quickly! Tustin's favorite phrase: "Presents, open!" We had a wonderful Christmas dinner and most excellent dessert! Thank you to all!

"Christmas" No. 2

This morning we had Christmas with Grammie & Grampy Tibbetts (Chris's dad and step-mom), as well as the Tateosians (Chris's step-sister and her family). Well, they were here in spirit, and will get to view it all when I send them the video! We opened all of their gifts this morning that they sent to us. We send our Thank Yous to the east coast, as the kids, and Mommy & Daddy, loved their presents!

"Christmas" No. 1

We had a Christmas celebration last night with Grammie & Dan-Pa (Chris's Mom and step-dad). The boys were very excited about opening gifts, but something about Georgie's kennel caught their attention!! They had a blast. Thank you Grammie & Dan-Pa!

Mr. Dinosaur

Okay-- I like the video feature!
I'm sure our family back east, and in NoCal will too, since they rarely get to see the kids!
This is just a short clip of the vast array of knowledge in which Mr. Keegan possesses regarding dinosaurs.

Fire Storms of 2007

I am trying out the video feature with my blog. This is not a recent video, as in THERE ARE NO CURRENT FIRES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA! But, this is a video clip of the fires we experienced in October of this year, just about a month and a half ago. This film was taken 2 hours before we voluntarily evacuated... when we left the house at 3:00 a.m., I didn't pull out my video camera again. In this video, the fire was still a good 3 miles away probably. Prior to it changing directions, it got to less than a mile from our house, but no homes in our neighborhood were destroyed, as the burn area was a large mountain, and a large open field near a water reservoir. Whew.

Keeganism...

When Keegan has questions about anything, and Mommy's "I don't know" doesn't quite answer him thoroughly enough... we Google it! Yesterday we were Googling lightening, because he had questions about the rain, the storm coming through town, and he was asking about the "crack and the boom," aka lightening and thunder. So, after looking at numerous pictures of lightening bolts, Keegan said: "So, how does it work?" Of course, all I could say was "It has to do with the right kind of weather honey, the rain, and the temperatures..." Keegan said: "So, is there a big huge light bulb up there or something?"

December Nights!

We spent a few hours tonight at Balboa Park for "December Nights!" We had a great time. We all rode the little train, we looked at the big koi in the pond at the botanical gardens, and we were all blessed with a show. A show presented by our very own boys! There was a little stage in the Art Village where exhibitors were showing their work, music was playing and cocoa was being served. Keegan jumped up on the little stage and stared playing his harmonica! He put on quite a show for everyone, at one point, waiving people toward him saying "Come over here everyone, I'm making music!" It was adorable. Tustin wanted in, so we boosted him up on to the little stage, where he proceeded to dance to Keegan's music. Keegan got a dollar from one on-looker for his teddy-bear-bank, and another lady offered the boys Christmas cookies for their entertainment. One of those times when I wish I had my video camera-- it was great! (And then it started to rain, we cut the performance short, thanked everyone, and ran to the car!)

Wake up Call

You may think it's an easy decision when your husband says to you, at 6 o'clock in the morning, "Oh honey, I'll get up with the kids... YOU sleep in today!" Don't you just want to roll over, get cozy and sleep for a couple of more hours? Well... THIS may be what you have to wake up to, and then guess what you'll be doing for the next couple of hours!! The dog even looks bewildered at what possibly could have occurred in this nice, quiet little house in a matter of an hour.

What is really happening when your boys are too quiet? Much better news than I thought, that's for sure! The first time, I found Keegan "reading" to Tustin behind the chair in Tustin's room. It was so cute... Tustin said "T-Rex," and Keegan ran out into the living room, returned with another book, and said "Okay Tustin, this one has a T-Rex in it for you." THEN, I found Keegan playing doctor with Tustin. He put on his pretend stethescope (sp?), and even brought out the "tray" with the prickers on it, to give Tustin his shots! And finally, I found them working with their tools. Whew, it's not always this pleasant when things get too quiet for comfort!

Keeganism...

Just the other day, Keegan said to me, "Mommy, why do some swordfish have teeth on their swords, and some don't?" I tried to explain that maybe it was another kind of fish, like a "sawfish," (if there is such a thing). I asked him what he thought they did with their swords that have teeth on them.... and he explained it all to me: "They catch their food, take it down to the bottom, and cut it up, like how we use a knife." And then he added, as if I was clueless, "Mommy, they can't use plates while they are floating around in the ocean!"

Here is my favorite photo of the holiday season so far! I have it on my bulletin board at work, and I just laugh every time I look at it. Tustin wasn't sad at all, he was putting on a show for the camera. Too funny!

Grand Opening of the Tibbetts Family Update Blog!

This will be a trial run for our upcoming Blog! I'm not much of a computer nerd, so a friend just told me today about how a "blog" would be pretty easy for me to keep family and friends updated on the happenings of our busy lives here in the Tibbetts' household.

So, here it goes!