Happy Father's Day 2012

This Father's Day was super packed with family fun! On Saturday, we packed up and went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Apple Valley. It was pretty warm so the kids got in the pool with Grandma....she was a good sport, lol!  They had a blast and we all enjoyed the yummy meal Grandma made for us! 

Here is Grandpa enjoying his family and opening gifts. I love the "Grandpa" hat he got from Frankie.  We gave him a framed picture of the boys.  

 Of course Grandma loved playing with Aiden, Leo, and Frankie. Here she is with Aidy after getting out of the pool. Aidy's cheeks were rosy form the warm weather but he LOVES being outside so he was having a great time! We all enjoyed being with the Giacalone side of the family! Love you guys!

On Sunday, we went out to Oceanside for a family get together at Uncle Jeff and Aunt Donna's house....the weather was gorgeous and we got there early so we decided to drive down to the water and walk on the pier before the party. Here is Leo and daddy......Leo was so afraid that he would fall into the water because he could see the ocean between the planks on the pier!!

Looking at the sand and water.....

Gorgeous California day!!!

Daddy and Leo

After we pulled ourselves away form the beach, we finally got to Uncle Jeff's to celebrate Father's Day with the Holden/Pidgeon side of the fam. I, of course had no time to take a bunch of pictures because I was too busy keeping my kids away from the edge of the pool or changing swim suits, clothes, and diapers for both boys. But I got a few shots!

Here's Papa and Aidy...they were buds! There really wasn't anywhere to put Aiden out in the backyard, so he hung out in his stroller, he was a happy camper. 

Mr. Man was ALL ABOUT the pool!! He could't wait to get in and he was in it pretty much the entire time. Auntie Lin was gracious enough to go in with him and Aunt Donna did too. He had a blast in this red boat that Aunt Donna let us use. He was in his glory!! :)

Daddy went in with Leo and they had a ball together!!! Daddy has the sunburn to prove it :)

Thank goodness for Daddies....they are fun and teach you cool things. I'm so happy that my boys have such a loving daddy that spends time with them, holds their hands, is patient with them, and loves them unconditionally!!! Daddies rock!!!! 

Thank you to all of our family for such a wonderful weekend! We are truly blessed. 

Happy Fathers' Day!!! xoxox

Staying at Home

Sometimes it's fun to just chill out and stay home. Yesterday I decided that we were going to eat and play at home. I rummaged through my pantry and fridge and found a bunch of things I have had on hand and never made anything with. I started with Oatmeal Cranberry cookies...I just followed the Quaker Oats recipe on the lid and added cranberries and walnuts......they came out quiet yummy and Leo even helped me.                                

He also ate Trix cereal while I baked....

 Then, I started looking for things to make dinner with. I found all of this and decided to make Lemon-Gralic Pasta. That pasta is a spinach pasta that I picked up on the organic aisle. It was DELISH!! The dinner was very yummy! 

  Here is Leo helping with the cookies.....he was in charge of flour.

 He LOVEd this and I liked teaching him all about measuring things out for baking. 

 Aiden was still  napping, so we decided to have a picnic in the family room and watch Toy Story 3. 

 After lunch and Aidy was wake we went out in the front yard for some fun in the sun!

 Leo just started riding his bike A LOT! He was always disinterested in it until a few weeks ago. Now he is a riding fool!

 Aiden was happy just sitting in the stroller and watching.

 It was very warm outside and we were tired afterwards, so we had Otter Pops in the garage. IT was Leo's nap time, so we went in and he had no problem laying down to rest. 

 However............isn't this face to die for!!!!

 Aiden was not ready for his afternoon nap yet, so he wanted to crawl up and down the stairs....his new favorite thing to do that is so frustrating and causes constant panic in my heart! I thought I would follow him and tire him out......it worked.

After about 5 times going up and down the stairs, he was ready for his nap and I was ready for a break!!! (i.e. take a shower, fold the laundry, clean up the dishes that we dirtied this morning and blog!)

It was a fun day at home with the kids! We all enjoyed it. Now, off to make another lunch...maybe we'll have a picnic again :)

Ciao!!!

Brothers Photo Shoot

Since I am off work now until August.........WOO HOO........let the good times roll! 

Anyway, I really want to get back into my blog and try to capture some moments with my boys! Time is just flying by and it makes me sad to think how big Leo and Aiden are getting right before my eyes! So last week I wanted to get some shots of them together since Father's Day is coming up and I just love when they are cooperating and will sit together for a picture. They seemed like they were in the mood that day, so I grabbed the camera......and I am so glad I did!

 Leo is now 3 &1/2 and Aiden is 11 months!!! They are able to play together and laugh at each other. As you can see, on this day they had a ball while I just kept shooting the pics. Aidy is such a happy baby! 

I think he was trying to grab Leo's nose here....?

 This one really cracks me up because Aiden was laughing so hard!

 Silly boys!

 Oh brother, you crack me up!!!

 Ok, we are almost bored with this Mom! We are going to scream and stick our tongues out!

 This last one, turned out pretty good, at least nobody's eyes were closed and Leo was smiling. I'm happy with this photo shoot! On to the next thing.....maybe the park or backyard shots, we'll see  :) 

Until next time, Happy Summer Break to me!!!

Ciao!

Rainy Day=No Pumpkin Patch & Tootsie Roll Spiders

Well, it was a rainy morning and Mrs. Kim had to cancel our trip to the pumpkin patch :(

I know, it was a bummer since Leo and all the kids were really excited to go. So, since Aiden was at Gammy's I decided to stay at Mrs. Kim's for a while and help the kids do a Halloween craft.

This little spider is so cute and fun to make. I ran to Wal-Mart and picked up the suckers and black pipe cleaners. Mrs. Kim had the googly eyes and glue.

We wrapped the pipe cleaners around the suckers and bent the legs to look spiderey....

Then, we glued the little eyes on the body.

They came out really cute and all the kids get to take one home today. It was fun to stay with Leo and help at his day care. I will have to remember this little craft for my students next October.

Pumpkin Patch

Well, it never fails that we pick the hottest day in October to visit the pumpkin patch!! But, it was Saturday and Daddy was home so we decided to head out to Tom's Farms for some family fun! They really have a pretty little patch that is perfect for little kids. It was a gorgeous day even though it was HOT!

We tried to get Leo to sit here to get a picture but he is scared of everything these days and thought the scarecrow was a monster....so this childless picture will have to do....sigh. It would have been so cute!

Anyway, back to the pumpkins.....Leo LOVES anything to do with pumpkins right now. He is almost 3 and so excited for Halloween and Trick-Or-Treating!! He is going to be Buzz Lightyear this year and Aiden is going to be Woody. We watch Toy Story probably 2-3 times a week. We like Disney movies. They keep him occupied. Don't judge me......Anyway.....This is the pumpkin he picked out and that was fine with us because it was easy to carry and it was $1. He loves this little pumpkin and wanted to sleep with it for his nap that day, lol! But he settled for putting it on his dresser where he could see it while he was in bed. He's such a cutie! He just got his hair cute the day before too.

Poor Aiden was tired! He was a good boy though! He hung in there with us and smiled the whole time! I dressed him in overalls since we were going to the pumpkin patch and he looked the part! He is such a love!!!!

Another picture attempt.......

And another melt down because he didn't want his picture taken.

He was also afraid of more "monters", lol!!! Again...he's almost 3!

Leo is quite impressed by spiders these days so I had to get a picture of this harry fella that greeted us when we walked in.

After we got our lil' pumpkin, we walked around. It was so pretty there. We had to go see the water and the merry-go-round.

We didn't ride the merry-go-round but Leo and Daddy rode the choo choo train, of course. Leo plays choo choos every day , all day! Aiden was getting fussy so I took him to find a shady area and rest. The boys had fun on the train!

Little brother finally fell asleep and we were all hungry for lunch. So.....

We ended up here! We love Chick-Fil-A! It's good, it's clean, and the employees are super nice! Oh yeah, and they have Coke Zero (my fav)!!! We enjoyed our lunch and let Leo play in the play area for a while. It was a good day!

Of course this is just our first trip to the pumpkin patch this year. We are going with Mrs. Kim and the kids from day care in a few days! Stay tuned for that post. This is such a fun time in our lives! Happy Halloween everyone!!!!