CAMPING WITH DAD!!!

Friday, May 6 - Saturday, May 7

Here are my boys getting ready to go on their first Fathers and Sons Campout.  

Matt and Tanner had an amazing time. 

They built a campfire,

roasted marshmallows,

fed muffins to creepy beetles,

and made a pretty nifty air-mattress slumber chamber in the back of our Expedition.  

Apparently, Tanner was having too much fun to sleep. He stayed up until nearly midnight, then was wide awake at 4:30am, happily chatting with a groggy Matt saying, "Oh, I love you Daddy." "I love camping." "Daddy, we're camping together." "Look at the deer!" "I love our matt-r-ess." 

. . . Nonstop, like an energizer bunny. 

My boys returned home dirty and tired, but oh so happy.

Tanimator the Robot

Monday, May 2, 2011

So, I found a huge pile of these cardboard tube things lying next to my dumpster . . . and considering I have a father who creates elaborate forts from styrofoam and screws, winding wind tunnels from fans and sheets, and backyard water parks in the summer and skating rinks in the winter from nothing but tarp and duct tape, I knew I had to use these tubes for something.

Hence, the birth of Tanimator the Robot.

Tanner wore his tubular Robot motif all day long. And would have slept with it if I didn't make him take it off. Good times. 

BEST. DAY. EVER.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

If there are two things my boys love, it's Jeeps and Airplanes.

So, the last Saturday in April, we decided to have a fun-filled day of both. What better way to end Matt's birthday month than with jeepin' and flyin'. (Ummm, can you believe how gorgeous that Jeep looks?! Matt put a ton of time and effort into fixing it up--and it is seriously stunning).

Here are our little men getting wind swept in the back of the Jeep--and loving every minute of it.

Tanner couldn't wait to get inside the airplane and "fly up high in the sky."

Tanner was so excited to hear Matt's voice in the headset. And Kaden was just excited to have something to chew on.

"Cessna 2-9er to traffic control, ready for take-off"

We flew along the coast and above the Malibu hills. We had planned to have lunch at a random airport restaurant that serves peanut butter bacon burgers, but the wind was too rough to land. So, we just flew around for a while then headed back to Santa Monica airport. 

But not before both of our little men fell fast asleep. 

As soon as we landed, Kaden woke up and had the biggest grin ever. He must have been dreaming about Jeeps and Airplanes.

After our flight, I had the bright idea to hit up our old Malibu stomping ground for lunch. But Hello!! It was a sunny Saturday afternoon!! Worst. Idea. Ever! After driving around Cross Creek forever, trying to find a parking spot, we ended up bagging the whole idea and heading into Calabasas--where we lived our first year of law school. We had a delicious Italian lunch and then headed home.

What an awesome day!

HAPPY EASTER

April 24, 2011

We had some pretty good Easter festivities this year. We decorated Easter Eggs during the week. They turned out pretty cool and Tanner had fun. I kind of think decorating Easter Eggs is the coolest thing ever, so I'm glad Tanner enjoyed it too.

The Friday before Easter, we put on an easter egg hunt at a nearby park with a group of our friends. It was a crazy egg-finding fest. Quite fun. Tanner was a bit confused about the race aspect of the hunt and ended up with only a few eggs. Thankfully he has nice friends who shared with him. 

I think Tanner was more interested in flirting with the ladies than he was with gathering Easter eggs.

In Tanner's world, pulling faces at girls equates a pretty successful flirt session.

 On Saturday, the Easter Bunny left a trail of candy around the house for the kids to follow . . . 

It led them to this.  

I really have to improvise in finding a different hiding spot each year in the living room of our 2-bedroom apartment. I have hidden the basket in the washer/dryer closet, our big round blanket basket, and now the coat closet. I think we're going to have to move before next Easter . . . otherwise, I'll have no new place to hide the Easter surprise!!

This was Kaden's first Easter and he was so excited about the little candies all over the floor. I had to quarantine him until I could clean up all the candy. But he definitely got his fast little fingers on some delicious pieces of sugar. 

 Later that morning, our apartment complex hosted an Easter Egg Hunt - and had the Easter Bunny come! They even organized a little round of the Bunny Hop! It was seriously awesome. 

There were a ton of kids there and no rules about little ones starting before older kids, so I told Matt to pick up Tanner and run to the faraway eggs as soon as they said, "Go!" Tanner was lucky to get about 5 eggs. It was madness. 

From the moment Tanner laid eyes on the Easter Bunny, he was pretty much oblivious to anything else going on around him. He didn't even notice that we gave away some of his eggs to his friend.

Tanner and the Easter Bunny were pretty much inseparable.

Tanner's buddy-buddy relationship with the bunny may have been his way of getting first dibs on the balloon animals. Of course, Tanner was busy purposely popping his 3rd little poodle balloon before I realized that other kids hadn't yet gotten their balloon animals . . . Whoops! Sorry!!

HAPPY EASTER!

Happy 31st Matt!

April 15, 2011

For Matt's 31st, I surprised him with lessons from a golf instructor. 

I sneakily packed a bag for him with all his golf essentials, and I hid the golf clubs in the back of our Expedition. I told Matt to just wear shorts and flip-flops for his birthday surprise, then we headed up to Pasadena. I navigated him to the golf course and I could tell he was a bit confused when we arrived. (He told me later that he thought I had organized all his friends to meet up for a round of golf . . . and he was thinking, "I could have totally scheduled my own round of gold with my friends!") Ha! Boy did I have him fooled. 

When we walked onto the course, I introduced Matt to his instructor. And Matt got this great big grin on his face. He has always enjoyed golfing, but is never content with his scores. He even watches those golf tip features that pop up on tv every once in a while. (Boring!!! . . . Okay, okay, to be honest, as boring as golf tips may be to me, I'm always very impressed with Matt's drive to better himself. So, props to him.)

While Matt was busy improving his swing, the boys and I played some miniature golf, chased lizards, marveled at the plumpness of the creepily tame squirrels, had a very poor photo shoot attempt, and got hot hot hot in the Pasadena sun.

After golf, we all had brunch together at a delicious grilled cheese place nearby. Their Muenster cheese and apple slice sandwich was a hit. Mmmm. You'd better believe our panini grill has been seeing a lot of that combo since then. 

I love you Matt! 

Thanks for being such an amazing husband and father!

Hope you had a wonderful 31st Birthday!!

Riverside Air Show

March 26, 2011

Matt's brother Brandon and his wife Lindsay and their son Mason came out to visit us the last weekend in March. The trip was strategically planned - by the ladies - to coincide with the ever-exciting, end-of-the-month sample sales in downtown LA. After shopping our little hearts out on Friday, we decided to hit up Riverside on Saturday for their annual air show. It was pretty sweet. Especially since we've got a few airplane fans in the family. 

I like to call this next grouping of pictures simply, "Wipe off the drool, boys!" 

(Oh how I wish I could see their faces in these pictures.)

 This place was man heaven. 

And all the men (little and large) had a blast!

"Oh my goss!!"

"Look at the cool red airplane Aunt Lindsay!!"

 Us women-folk had a pretty good time too. 

Here are some of the cool things the boys were drooling over.

We had a great time in airplane heaven . . . Riverside did not disappoint.