celebration of life

It is a little bitter sweet posting this, but while my family was all together this summer we had a celebration of life for my dad. He has obviously had some rough struggles this past year, but we are all grateful he is still with us.

Recently, we got word his cancer is back. He is up for more chemo treatments and a bone marrow transplant. It has been more scary this time around. For one, we are all more aware of what this entails and two, this narrows down his future treatment options and is quite possibly his last treatment option. It is hard thinking of someone who has always been there, to not being there anymore. It is hard to simply think about and very difficult to comprehend. I am so glad he is willing to fight again and as he says, "beat this thing." So, here is to my beautiful parents, there love and devotion to one another and to a God we all trust.
 

kite flying

There is a big field we love right by our house. In the evenings we like to head over there and run and sometimes when the wind is just right we bring our kite. Who knew a big grassy field could be so fun?

 Tank is always pretty interested in that kite.

envy

Little Bug adores her tricycle and loves riding around. Of course, Tank is always watching with much longing. We use to stick him in our snap n' go stroller and push him along side with Bug, but as you can see that stopped being effective. He has taken a more active bike-getting approach. When Bug is not looking he makes a mad dash and climbs up on the trike. He is always pretty pleased sitting on that thing.

yakima

My mother is from Yakima, WA. Every summer growing up, my family would pile into our car and take the 12 hour drive up to visit my grandparents. I have many fond memories of lazy summer days spent in that small city. And every summer there we would walk to the local cemetery with bread in hand and feed the swans.

When my parents were in town a few weeks back, my mom and I decided to take the kids to Yakima and fed the swans. There are a lot of ducks there now and only one swan left, but it brought back some memories for me and put a big smile on my face watching Bug and Tank feed the swans.

first cut

You would think that with my child being almost 4 that this would have happened already or that I would be ok with Bug cutting her hair. Apparently, I am very attached to my daughter's hair. Now I understand what my mom's deal was whenever I cut my hair growing up. However, with all the summer days we have spent in the outdoor pool, I could not even deny it was time. I am sure she needed a bunch of inches to come off, but I made sure the hair dresser only took off an inch. As evidenced by the picture, Little Bug did not share my same sentiment and loved the pampering.

family reunion take 2

A few weeks after our first family reunion, we moved. Two weeks after that, we had another family reunion in the East Bay. Although, we were tired from the move and subsequent construction projects, we had a great time. It did not take long for us to forget about the mess at home.

Being with family was the best. Of all the activities we did together we think the highlight was ifly, an indoor skydiving place. We prepped Little Bug beforehand and she was excited. I was sure once she saw the vertical wind tunnel she would be jumping into, she would change her mind. Her excitement remained. Then I was sure the jumpsuit, helmet, ear plugs, and goggles would deter her. But no, every step of the way Little Bug simply got more excited. I was shocked when without hesitation this little girl jumped right on in that wind. It was quite fun. We all had a blast and I will forever remember Bug's enthusiasm and courage...and how tiny she looked in that tube.

We also had great fun at Marine World, Rock City, Stinson Beach, and simply lounging.



Just fyi, Rock City by Mount Diablo is a real rock climbing outdoor state park. Not an indoor rock climbing wall. I was completely misinformed. I wore sandals and a skirt thinking I would just watch. Little Bug must have loved it because she came home with holes in her pants from sliding down all the rocks.

I hope it does not take too long for us to have another reunion.

home

We bought a house! We love it. At the moment we are having fun tearing down a wall, redoing all our flooring, and painting the majority of the house. We are really happy and really tired. 

oceanside, california

We had a great time in Oceanside at our family reunion! Minus the fact the kids did not get up any later than 5:45am and one night Tank decided to be up from 3-6am. We will never know what happened there. Now 6:30am feels like sleeping in (Bug's usually wake up time). Sometimes it is nice when things are put into perspective for you.

Tanks first take in the ocean. He kept crawling towards it, so he must have enjoyed it.

Little Bug was so excited to be at the beach house. She had been counting down for weeks for the event. Her expectations were not let down. After our first night there she asked if she was going to have to go home now. Good thing we were there all week.

The pier. I could still go for one of those milkshakes.

Many a hours were spent in the sand by all.

Thanks for documenting our trip Hannah.

family portraits

We recently got back from a family reunion in Oceanside, California. I am still getting over the fact I forgot my camera and missed out on taking tons of beach shots. However, while there, we did get our family picture taken. It is always nice having updated family photos.

Tank turns ONE

First the bad.

Although I am feeling quite nostalgic about Tank's first year coming to a close, I just spent the last hour of my life cleaning up the biggest mess up to date on my journey in motherhood. It all started with me leaving Tank naked while getting a diaper and ended with him and many of his surroundings covered head to toe in poop. No joke, head to toe in poop. Whatever you are imagining, that is what is was.

Perhaps the kicker was after he was all cleaned up and smelling relatively normal, I stepped in the wet spot on the carpet that was still drying from him throwing up the night before at his birthday party. (Apparently, the cousins were sneaking him mass amounts of gummy bears). Or the kicker could be, when I was tucking Little Bug in for her nap she discovered her beloved blanky was covered in her baby brother's poop. Glad she noticed it, but gross.  Needless to say, Tank is not too popular over here at the moment.

Now the good.

We do love just about everything about this little guy. At the moment, he can say 'dada' and 'num num (food)' and he is getting pretty good at telling us 'no.' Especially when it comes to diaper changes. He is also really into waving 'hi' and 'bye bye' to just about everyone...unless, you come to close. He is also thinking about walking, but he not quite there yet.

Onto his big day!

This is the mess Little Bug created while I was making the pies for Tank's birthday party. Although it was not fun scrapping it off the counter top, flour and water can entertain this girl for hours.
 

This is the mess Tank created while I was making pies for his birthday. It is pretty hard to be productive sometimes...

Our happy birthday sign I am loving.

Tank could not stop looking at it, despite all the silly noises I was letting Little Bug make behind me.

Just a pic of our yummy desserts that we all, in particular Tank, enjoyed a little too much of.

I was commenting to Andrew right before family started coming over, that first birthday's seem to be really for the parents. However, I stand to be proven somewhat wrong. This was pretty much the reaction we got from every one of his presents. He loved them all and was genuinely pleased.

Overall, I would say he had a pretty good first birthday. And that evening when all was quiet and clean, I was feeding Tank his last bottle and he fell asleep peacefully in my arms (he has not done that in months). It was one of those perfect moments that makes up for all the 'other' moments. Happy first birthday to a very special little boy.