Addi's First Tennis Lesson

Addi decided to take a break from soccer for a little while and give tennis a try. She has been really into Wii tennis and going to our tennis court in our complex lately, so I knew she would like it.  Aside from her non-stop chatter on the court and she did really well.  She is so funny (maybe not to others though), giving commentary to everything happening on the court.  We had to have a talk with her after the lesson about how tennis is a quiet sport and it is impolite to talk while other people are trying to hit the ball.  The coach made several comments about her "enthusiasm," and how she was "so spirited," and needed "to be an actress."  We have our hands full with this one.    

Here's a shot of her.  Both balls she hit were in, I was so impressed.  Please ignore my obnoxious voice.  

Palm Springs and other happenings...

A few weeks ago, Ian and I had the opportunity to take a "work" trip to Palm Springs for the weekend.  My dad just retired this month, so my parents were already planning a trip down here that week, so we pawned the kids off on them and took off.  We stayed at one of my favorite places, the JW Marriot, and took full advantage.  

Friday and Saturday night we had tickets to the BNP Paribas Tennis Open.  It was amazing.  The first night we caught the tail end of Andy Roddicks match and then saw Rafael Nadal play.  I've always loved tennis, so it was incredible to see it in person.  Even Ian was also impressed.  Our tickets were only about 10 rows back both nights, so I actually got a little dizzy trying to keep up with the ball.  The second night we saw Maria Sharapova play and then saw Andy Murray, who is ranked 4th in the world, get beat by an unranked Garcia-Lopez.  It was unreal.  Enough about tennis...

While my parents were here, we took the kids fishing at Poway Lake.  The kids didn't last too long, but they had a good time.  

A couple of Addi's classmates just happened to be there fishing that day, so there actually wasn't much fishing going on, but rather playing in the dirt and running around.

My mom brought down a couple of my grandma's old recipe books.  It was fun to see how different food was when my grandma was cooking for her family.  The way it was organized reminded me of my "pinboards" I have on Pinterest, minus the technology.  I was able to photocopy recipes I remembered eating as kid.  

I always have a project for my dad when they come to visit.  Not that I can't do these projects myself, but it's just easier if he does them for me :).  And since Ian isn't handy like him, I just wait for him to come and do them.  So we started with two Ikea pine dressers that we got for $35 and turned them into this...

Excuse the mess in the background.  That is actually one of the cleaner part of my garage.  I got the idea from Pinterest, and it was really simple.  The hardest part was just figuring out what the best game plan would be for the stain to make it dark enough.  After buying and returning a few different things, we settled on a separate stain and polyurethane.  And then just painted the drawers white.  It turned out better than I expected.   

Alas, a belly shot.  I am now almost 24 weeks pregnant.  Luckily, other than being constantly tired and having a little cold this weekend, I have been feeling pretty good.  Good enough to keep up my gym routine, which has made such a huge difference this time around.  I'm still doing 4-5 classes a week and am able to keep up.  I'm always just happy to get through it.  

Von's First Soccer Game

Ever since Addi started soccer last summer, Von has been dying to play himself.  He finally became old enough to play this month.  Whenever soccer has come up in conversation the last few months, usually with Addi and random people, he always chimed in, "I get to play in March."  So there has been a lot of anticipation the last few months.   

His first game was last Friday.  He is the youngest on the team and is so clueless.  It was so funny to watch.  

During warm-ups with his team, he kept running back and forth down the field, kicking his soccer ball with no interest in what the rest of the team (who was all line up taking turns shooting at the goal) was doing.

When he is all by himself, with his ball, he looks really good!  Like he knows what he is doing.  But as soon as the other kids were on the field with him, he looked like a chicken with his head cut off, running around with no purpose.  It is pure entertainment.

He got to start the game and take the first kick.  This is coach trying to instruct him.  I wish I could have heard that conversation!

And then he had his chance at goalie.  Also entertaining.  We can't wait for the next game.  He had so much fun and was so proud of himself.

President's Week

Last week Addi had the whole week off of school.  This was after she missed 6 out of the 10 previous days of school due to the lice and an ear infection.  So, needless to say, I was burned out before the week even began.  One day, I took them straight from the gym daycare to the Ikea daycare just to get a break.  Which by the way, it was worth potty training Von just so I can drop him off at the Ikea daycare.  I see lots of meatballs in my future.  Here is Addi entertaining herself practicing her "planking."

We had one 80 degree day, so we hit up the pool.  We also hit up just about every park in PQ and the tennis court.  Addi is surprisingly good at tennis, probably from all of the Wii she has been playing.  We are going to sign her up for tennis lessons this spring and she is excited.

On Friday, we went out to Poway Lake to feed the ducks and hike around.  Von could have hiked forever.  Every time my pregnant whining self wanted to take the route back to the car, he refused.  And too tired to fight him, we just kept going and going.

Saturday, we went with Ian to the zoo.  We spent a couple of hours there and then went to Phil's BBQ for lunch.  Best BBQ I have ever had.  Hands down.  There will be many trips back.

And then after Phil's we went down to Belmont Park at Mission Beach.  The kids went on a few rides and played in the sand.  It was a great day.  It had been a long time since we had spent a whole day together as a family just having fun.

And then there is today.  Things are back to normal.  Von and I are back to our regular gym/umizoomi/nap routine while Addi is at school and it is so nice.  It was raining when we had to get Addi from school and the kids just can't resist the puddles.  I think it is time to invest in a new pair of boot for Von.  He has outgrown his and always ends up like this every time it rains.  I heart instagram, by the way.  It is rare that I have my camera with me to capture all of these moments, so it is so nice to be able to take and edit my photos on my phone.  The iPhone really is the greatest thing ever invented.

Family Pics 2012

Pictures by jennkingphoto.com.  Sorry it's a lot...

Lice

Friday night we put the kids to bed as usual and shortly after, Addi came out complaining of her head itching.  We dismissed it and told her to go back to bed.  A few minutes later, she came out again, this time crying about her head, so we told her to go ahead and get in the shower.  While she was in the shower, I just happened to check my e-mail and found an e-mail from her teacher saying there had been a lice outbreak in her class.  Ugh.  So I checked her scalp, and sure enough you could see the little bugs all over her hairline.

Ian ran right to Albertson's and bought lice shampoo.  Luckily, it is a pretty easy process.  You just have to apply the shampoo once and let it sit for 10 minutes.  The hard part then, was combing all of the lice out of her hair with a tiny comb.  And if you remember, my kids somehow have a TON of hair.  It took a whole half hour just to comb through her entire head.  Then the laundry began...you have to wash everything.  And Addi just so happens to sleep with 20+ stuffed animals.  And then we had to deep clean her room.  Needless to say these little bugs cause a lot of work.  Yesterday, as I was cleaning her room Addi surprised me with this...

Isn't it so sweet?  I cried.  I'm not quite sure what the last sentence means, but I'm sure in Addi's mind it meant something great.  So, if there is anything good that came out of this situations is that Addi was able to appreciate all that we had done for her this weekend.

Just when we think our kids are out of control...

They surprise us.

Monday, after a 5:30 am wake up of two crazy kids who are incapable of being quiet in the mornings, Ian and I were on the verge of crazy.  So that night, we took the kids to Chick-fil-a so they could play in their genius, almost sound proof play area.  The kids played and ate their kids meals and while they were eating, their was a little girl with her family at the table next to us.

The little girl asked her parents, "where is my toy from my kids meal?"

And her parents replied, "we didn't get a kids meal today, sorry."

Skip to Addi seconds later, staring at this girl and her family.  I asked her, "What are you doing?"

And she said to me, "I'm thinking about giving that girl my toy instead of trading it in for an ice cream (did you know you can do that at CFA, another reason why it is awesome)."

And I said, "You should."

So she walked her toy over to the little girl and said, "You can have mine."  It made her day.  Mine too.  I'm so glad our little girl is willing to put someone else's happiness above her own.

Then as I type, Addi is in our living room dusting!  A few minutes ago, she asked me for a wash cloth.  Not knowing or really caring why, I went and got her one.  She got it damp and started dusting away.  Our house really did need dusting and I am so glad, I no longer have to do it.  Although, I am cringing every time I hear her bang one of my Martha Stewart cake plates on something or my vintage milk glass dishes.  I'm just crossing my fingers nothing ends up broken.  On another note.  I have officially began nesting.  I have dug out 19 large tupperware containers from our garage full of baby/kid clothes and have began sorting and organizing.  Who knew two kids could accumulate so much stuff.  And I'm sure there are more containers hidden that I haven't found yet.  All I know, is that I am so excited to rid our garage of some of this stuff.  It seriously makes me claustrophobic.