Park Fun

Park Fun-- but ending up being a little too warm!

We left for the park around 4pm, but it was still close to 90. So, we didn't stay too long before we decided to go for our Sunday afternoon Fro-Yo trip. (The make the best frozen yogurt these days-- fat free AND sugar free, and you'd think it was ice cream! The boys do anyway!)

Puzzles...

Keegan and Papa sat down together today to work on a great big dinosaur puzzle. And then they gave their best smiles, and their best dinosaur faces!

ELMO Live!

Tustin and Mommy, and friends Lisa and Dylan, went to see "ELMO Live" today. Tustin carried around a stuffed Cookie Monster that I had as a child. And the two boys excitedly watched Elmo and friends on stage. Several times at the beginning, Tustin started waiving and yelling, "HI GROVER!" "HI COOCOO MONSTA! And then he would just bust out laughing other times! It was great fun, and great bonding time for mommy and Tustin!

Keeganism...

Keegan had a bit of a non-listening day. On the way home in the car this evening, he said "Mom, am I getting on your nerves?" (I could not tell a lie) "Yes," I said. He paused, thought for a moment, and said "I have nerves too sometimes, you know Mommy!" Not sure exactly what he was meaning by that-- perhaps mommy gets on his nerves too... but it was pretty darn funny!

New Neighbors...

Let's see who the spin of the roulette wheel brings in this time! We've had the constantly barking dogs (I mean, ALL NIGHT LONG barking dogs); we've had the throw random parties in the middle of the week until wee hours of the night neighbors; we had the I don't care if my puppies get out and get hit by cars neighbors (which sadly did end up happening); and this last batch, although they were the quietest-- it's most likely because they were teenage boys and they were stoned all the time!

So, the "For Rent" sign was taken down today. I was thinking it would take longer than a couple of weeks to rent out ($2200 a month for a little house in our neighborhood is not a great deal), but I guess it's rented! Oh, wish us luck! And that's the news for now, have a great weekend! Tustin and I are going to see ELMO- Live on Saturday, should be fun!

Another Successful Day

Keegan had his 2nd day of his new preschool today, and loved it just as much as Monday! Didn't even phase him when I walked in to pick him up today. He was eating his snack and quickly said "Mom, I don't want to leave yet please, I still need to play some more after my snack!" Tustin asked the teacher sitting by Keegan, "May I peese have water too peese?" And he asked for a snack too, and said "Thank you" so politely, she couldn't refuse. So, we stayed and "hung out" for a while. I asked Keegan if any of the kids there at that time were in his class room today, he said no, but pointed to the teacher and said, "Her, Miss Narrator." It was SO funny-- he hasn't learned her name yet, and saw hear reading a book to another kid, and heard her giving directions earlier, so he came up with his own name for her! The best part, when I told him he gets to come back tomorrow-- he said "YEAH!" with such excitement. OH I'M SO HAPPY!! :-)

I MADE IT!!!

Oh, I mean, KEEGAN made it

-- through his first day at his new preschool! NO TEARS! It was wonderful. I dropped him off this morning, got all of his things in their proper places, read him a book (there was only one other kid there at 7am), and said good bye. He usually watches me walk away until he physically can't see me anymore. Not this morning. He leaned out the door, waved, caught the kiss I blew at him, said "Bye Mommy, have a good day," and walked right into the class room! I was so proud of him!

In the morning, all of the kids gather in a different room than his usual classroom, with some of the teachers who arrive early, until all the other kids and teachers start showing up. So, he didn't really even know those teachers. But, no problem at all. One of Keegan's teachers arrived about 10 minutes after I left. She called me on my cell phone to let me know that she had gotten to work, and than Keegan was doing great! That was nice of her to call!

I picked him up after work, and he was so busy playing with toys, and the other kids, he didn't come running over to me like he usually does at the end of a preshool day. He said, "Mom, I'm having so much fun, I'm not ready to go yet!" The teachers said he did great, that he was very sweet, very polite, he listened well, followed directions, participated in all the activities, etc. And the best part, he spent the next 25 minutes on the drive home telling me EVERYTHING he did during his day at preschool. He told me the whole story of the book they read, explained a couple of games that they played, etc. (His old response, after a day at his old preschool, was "I don't want to talk about it." Or I'd ask him what you did today, "Just played," he'd say with no details.)

SUCCESS!!

Splish-Splash!

A little fun at the spray park today. It was a very hot 106 degrees the last couple of days; and a cool 98 today! So, we decided to go have a little water fun.

Keegan is starting his new preschool tomorrow. So, while the boys are napping, I'm labeling everything! Blankets, sheets, undies, shirts, shorts, shoes, sunscreen, backpack, backup clothing, towels, etc... They will be doing water sports every day during the summer program, so he should be a nicely tanned little blondie by the end of the summer!

Cutie Patooties!

A Day at the San Diego County Fair aka The Del Mar Fair. The boys had fun, got dirty, and made it until 2:45 before they fell asleep- in the car when we left. Best of all, we took our big wagon with a cooler on the back; brought our own lunches, snacks, water and sodas, and didn't have to spend crazy amounts of money for fattening, greasy fair food (but, I must admit... I do so love the greasy fair food!). There's always next year.

Lots and Lots of Rides!

They loved the motorcycle ride, the big-rig ride, and Tutty used our last 3 tickets on this cute little boat ride. We went on the carousel, and Keegs went on a pirate adventure ride. I took Tustin on a big spinning boat ride-- and the entire time, he just kept laughing, looking around, and saying "That's SILLY!" "That's Silly!" It was so funny, I couldn't stop laughing.

More Rides!

This picture of Keegan on the big slide cracks me up. Every photo we took-- this same freaked out face. The second he got off, he started begging to go on again, which he did. This was one of his favorite things to do, but his face never showed it! We went on a spinning dragon, the boys went on swings, which they also really loved. They did an obstacle course, with a monkey bridge and a jumpy, and a huge slide on it. Tustin is exactly 36 inches, so that freed him up for most of the rides this year!

Elephant Rides

They boys got to ride "Toothbrush" the elephant. (Toothbrush is the name of an elephant from Zaboomafoo, that's his nick-name. We didn't ride THE Toothbrush, from the show, but that's what they called him.) When the boys got off the ride, Tustin came running over, "I went on Toothbrush! I got to ride Toothbrush!"

[I'm sitting at the computer, waiting for my photos to download while I'm posting this blog, and the boys are in the living room, having a conversation with each other about how some jellyfish sting, and how some don't. Tustin is trying to tell Keegan that they all sting, and Keegan is trying to calmly explain to Tustin that there are some that do NOT sting. It's pretty funny!]

Time for the Del Mar Fair!

Yes, June means that time of year: the carnival rides, hot 90-degrees at the coast, the creepy carnies, and TOO MUCH FUN!! We had a blast at the fair today, the four of us, and Nonny. The adults had just as much fun as the kids!

Funny Boys!

Keegan wanted his drum, to play music along with D-O-G (from Word World). I gave him his drum, and he ran into the living room saying "I've got gooder rhythm than dog does!" --who cares about the grammar at age 3, where did he learn "rhythm?!" It was cute; he was so serious about drumming.

Tustin's nap excuse today was "I have an owie Mommy... I have an owie!" I went in there, asked him where his owie was. "On my finger..." So I asked him to show me where his owie was, and he said "I don't know..." I said, "You don't know? What do you mean? Where is your owie Tustin?" He looked around, held up his hands and shrugged, "It's somewhere, I put it somewhere!"

Keeganism...

Okay, this is a weird one... Keegan got out of bed this evening to go potty. I went in there to check on him, and hustle him back to bed, and I said "Oh, good, you pooped." He said, "Ya, I had to get my man-eggs out." The ONLY think I can think of, where this could have possibly come from, is a cartoon he saw once, where a chicken was shooting millions of eggs out his bum, and Keegan was very inquisitive about how eggs came out of the chicken. So, guess it makes sense to call his poops man-eggs. I don't know!

Tut Talk!

Yesterday in the car (of course... why does it seem that every time my kids come up with something witty to say, it's always in the car?!), I asked Tustin what he was looking at out his window. He said "the moon, I see the moon." So I said, yes you are right, there's the moon. He said "a whole moon." So I told him "Not quite, it's almost a whole moon, but not a whole moon yet." He said, in his new stuttering voice, "Wwwwwwwww-when it grow up, it be a whole moon! A BIG moon!" Oh, it was too cute!

Keegan's Harmonica

He's been "playing" the harmonica for over a year now. Time to share!

Tustin's ABCs

He "perfected" them about a month ago, right around turning 2. Figure I should share his ABCs with family and friends!

Tustin's First (Professional) Haircut!

Well, after two years of difficulties at Mom's Hair Salon (aka, out back), I decided to let someone else do it! And wouldn't you know, he was an angel for it all! She had a little toy box to choose from, including his favorite-- Thomas the Train. One little incident when the hair got on this fingers, and he didn't like it, but as you can see in the photo, she quickly blew it off for him! It was a fun haircut day for the boys! I'll have to update this with the AFTER pictures when I get a chance.

Hair Cut Time!

There are SO many things, in the direction in which Keegan was looking, that could have put this frightening look on his face. But I'll leave THAT up to your imagination! He was a good boy for his haircut. This is his 2nd professional cut (the first was at 14 months, in Mass.). He's an easy one for me to cut, but I figured if I was taking Tustin in, I may as well have both of then done.

NO nuts!

Keegan is in for an eye-opener when he starts his new preschool in a couple of weeks. I have recently found out that his new preschool is a "nut-free zone," meaning, "no nut products of ANY kind." Know what I put in his lunch box every day he goes to preschool right now? A peaNUT butter and jelly sandwich, and a serving of cashews on the side! AAARGH!

The Cousins... except my two boys.

Here are 5 of the 7 cousins. They all live near each other in Northern CA, which makes family gatherings a bit easier. So... let's see, picture my climbing-Keegan balancing on top of the swing back, and roley poley Tustin popping his head out from underneath somewhere! (Kaya, Jack, Logan, Rose, and Mason)

Gone Fishin'!

Keegan is out today for some good ole'-fashioned male bonding time with daddy and grandpa! They went fishing today... and Keegan was so excited this morning! (Again with the neck tie and binoculars!) When I last spoke with Chris, Keegan had caught two fish, and was having way more fun playing with the worms.

Interesting Attire for the Zoo...

Promoting independence. Sometimes you gotta take what they bring! Keegan pulled out his warmest winter hat for the Zoo yesterday-- in our 80-degree weather. AND, he insisted on having his tie clipped on to his t-shirt (not sure how well you can see that in the photo though). The fell in love with binoculars while at the zoo, so that just adds to the outfit!

Inflatable World!

Summer is finally here, which means the opening of Inflatable World! Keegan has been asking about it ever since it closed for the season last October. He said "That's why we don't always go on highway 8, Mommy. Because highway 8 goes to Inflatable World, and we don't always get to go to Inflatable World!" The boys love it-- more than Disneyland I think. Tustin just screams in excitement while running from one slide or jumpy to the next!