Two Very Special Reasons to Celebrate

Deep in the midst of the holidays falls both of our sweet boys' birthdays. But, despite the craziness that is the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, our California friends and family, plus some our favorite New Mexican's, came to help us celebrate two very special birthday milestones.
And what a celebration it was.
Food and cupcakes and presents galore

Those eyes... they melt my heart! 

Special friends and cousins who we are so glad to have become close with.

And some very special grandparents who I'm sure were just as excited to cherish in these moments with our sweet boys as we were. 

Not to mention we had a special appearance from Jay's cousin, Jeff Griggs, the celebrity, who killed it on NCIS, Los Angeles the following night :0). 

It was THE best. 

But you know what else was the best?.. Disneyland. Which was the second stop on the birthday train of fun for our little guys. 

We decided, instead of more gifts, since they got more than enough stuff at their party and Christmas was just a week and a half away, that we would take them to THE happiest place on earth and give them a whole day of fun that hopefully (at least for Vincent) they will cherish as one great birthday memory. 

The castle all decked out for Christmas. An entrancing ride on It's a Small World. Dumbo. Tea Cups and the Mickey Mouse Christmas parade. It was amazing. Vincent was most definitely overwhelmed with excitement the entire time. But the highlight, you ask? It was this. 

Sylas was Terrified. I've never felt him hold on so tightly before. Those giant ears must have really put him over the edge. But that smile never left Vincent's face. It was like a boy meeting his very best friend and my heart practically exploded from watching him. That in itself made the whole day. Which was good, because oh how quickly we learned that Disneyland on a Saturday before Christmas is INSANE. And even that is an understatement. Luckily we hit all of the highlights that a three year old should experience his first time around. And luckily (times two), we live close enough that heading back again soon may not be too much of a stretch for his Disney loving parents ;0). Next time though, I think California Adventure may be on the agenda.

Overall, we couldn't feel more blessed than to have been able to celebrate our boys in such a way. So thank you to everyone that helped make this years celebrations so incredibly special. And thank you, Mickey, for blowing the top off our three year olds' big day. Can't wait for next year! … (or is that this year?.. Maybe I should catch up on these blogs more often - doy!) 

T-H-R-E-E

Three?...What?! 

Vincent, you are three!

Three and so much much more.
You're three and smart! Extremely smart. You surprise me every day with the things you pick up on your own and the things you already know - you amaze me, constantly. Colors, shapes, animals, you know them all. Numbers and the alphabet are what's on the learning agenda next. And recently you have started singing along to the alphabet song (thanks to Elmo) and those 26 letters couldn't sound any sweeter coming out of your mouth.

You're three and funny! Hilarious actually. The things that come out of your mouth, I swear, you sure do say the darndeset things. Your silliness brings upon some serious laughing daily. The timing, the context, the things you say - you are THE silliest. And it's the best.

You're three and STRONG. Strong willed, strong minded, strong in every sense of the word. It's what keeps your Dad and I adjusting our parenting methods every single day. It's what defines those "terrible two's three's" moments. It's what makes me proud of who you're becoming, when you don't back down for something that's actually important. It's what I love and battle with you over constantly, but i'll take it. You're sharing your feelings through these strong and frustrating and empowering moments that show me you're comfortable expressing yourself to us. And though sometimes we may not know just how to handle them, they're moments we would never trade. They're just bringing us one step closer to figuring you out ;0). 

So, you're three. You're so so smart, hilarious and strong. You're caring and compassionate. You snuggle and say "I love you" and melt our hearts with your random yet incredibly sweet tendencies. You're independent. You know what you like and don't like (i.e. milk - that still hasn't changed). And you're curious and eager to try and do new things (on your own terms, of course). You evolve into a bigger, older, wiser version of yourself every single day. You can play by yourself or with other kids. You can do so without your parents and that's huge. Your dad and I are beginning to think about pre-school and kindergarten and we can't believe that that is not far off these days. Every day is a blessing with you in our lives and every day I feel a little more proud of who you're becoming. Your dad and I are so in love with you and love that you're ours. Something that most definitely will never change. 

We love you, bud! xoxo!!

Life in California

Hi there! Remember me?... I know, it's been awhile. But as an attempt to catch you up, I thought I would share with you some pictures from a few fun weekends Jay and I had with the boys. Since we're new to California and all, we've designated Sunday as our one day out of the week where we try to check out a new place or experience something fun, so here's what we've been up to!

Our first weekend here we REALLY wanted to go to the Griffith Park Observatory. We quickly found out though, that that is not a place you really go on a whim when you've got two young boys. It's more of a plan in advance, get your tickets online and get there early type of place. Otherwise you're parking 1-2 miles away and hiking up the hill just to get in. Didn't sound like fun to us, so we bailed and drove around the hollywood hills in attempt to catch a glimpse of the Hollywood sign for ourselves. And personally, I think this was probably more fun. Especially once we found it in a place where we could get out and take pictures. I'm sure the people who lived in this neighborhood didn't mind much ;0).

We had lunch in the city at some amazing little Italian restaurant we found nearby and felt a little bit like a local for the first time since we got here. It was the best day. 

The next weekend was just for the girls! My sweet sweet cousin took me out for a night on the town. The first since Sylas was born, if I might add, and we had such a great time. Universal Studios is always fun but add a few more drinks and it becomes a blast! Howl at the Moon is a dueling piano bar where we spent most of our time. Can't wait to take Jay here, it was some of the best entertainment yet. 

Next up was the weekend we went to Lombardi Ranch to have a little October fun with the family. From pumpkin picking to corn maze walking to petting the goats, it really helped it feel a little more like Fall than it has so far. Except that it was almost 90 degrees. We're definitely not used to this kind of Fall weather but I'll take it over being cold any day. 

Last weekend we decided to head to the beach for the first time since we got here. Ventura isn't that far so we decided that would be perfect! The weather was beautiful so it truly made for one of the best days to go. As per the locals, sometimes the beach weather is better in the Spring and the Fall than it is in the summer - weird, huh? So glad we got to take advantage of one of those amazing weather days in order to spend some quality time together. First, lunch at a taco hut on the pier and then lots of fun in the surf. And for Vincent, having a jungle gym at the beach was probably on his top ten list of most amazing things ever. His smile made the whole weekend. 

Poor Sylas did not love the cold water on his feet. But luckily playing in the sand made up for it :0)

Vincent on the other hand surprisingly loved it.

He practically submerged himself at one point and cried when we had to leave. Could not be happier that he loves these simple things in life like spending time together near the ocean. 

Finally, after researching free things to do with your kids in L.A. we decided to check out the Travel Town Museum down near Griffith Park. And let me just say, this deserves two thumbs up for sure. In fact I think it's probably one of the coolest free things i've ever been to. It's a "railroad petting zoo" of sorts where people can climb up and walk around old trains and railroad memorabilia. There's a little train that kids can ride around the whole thing and lots of cute photo opportunities for moms and dad's like us. Not the biggest of places we've been to but just enough to keep an easily distracted guy interested and having fun. 

So much fun for big and small. 

Absolutely love adventuring in this city with my sweet little family. My heart could not be happier here.