The newest addition to our family

Meet Minnie, the newest addition to our family. We adopted Minnie from the Escondido animal shelter yesterday and we've been having so much fun with this lovable little girl. She is a 3 yr old kitty and she is very sweet and affectionate. She's been roaming around exploring the house the last couple of days and is becoming very acqainted with everything, including us. She seems to have warmed up to the kids very nicely and they absolutely adore her. She seems to have already found a favorite spot, inside of Avery's closet. We are very excited to have found our little Minnie.

Disneyland Pics

Avery and Callum got to enjoy a fun afternoon at the wonderful magic kingdom this past week. What better way to start off the new year right, then at their favorite place ever......Disneyland! :)

 Here is Avery and Mickey Mouse. We tried to get Cal in the picture too, but he was a little hesistant of Mickey that day. :)

Avery stood with Duffy bear for almost 5 minutes just giving him hugs. We weren't sure she'd ever leave him....it was very sweet!

Toy Story....one of their personal favorites!

26 Degrees in Murrieta

I think this morning has to be one of the coldest mornings we've had so far this winter. It is 26 degrees outside with ice all over our lawn. Avery and Callum took a second to step outside the front and this is what they discovered. Brrrr!!!!

                              They thought it was pretty neat to see ice all over the front lawn!

Letter to Santa

Avery and Callum are all ready for Santa Claus' visit tonight. They've written him a letter and have left out some milk and cookies. They are both very excited for the morning and can't wait to see how generous Santa has been to them this year! PS-Merry Christmas to everyone!

Callum likes Mommy's Boots

I caught Callum trying on my boots last night. He looked so cute walking around in them, I had to sneak a picture. Maybe I should get this little guy a pair of his own boots. =)

Happy Halloween

 

From, 

 Tinkerbell and Buzz Lightyear

Mommy and Me Art Class

Callum and I are taking a mommy and me art class every Thursday morning that he absolutely loves. This is our first mommy and me class that we've taken together, and we've been having so much fun! Each week they have different arts and crafts set up for the kids, and each week he has been making lots of wonderful, new pictures that we get to hang on our fridge. I was able to sneak in a few photos of him during class.

 They had a little station where the kids could fish for magnets. He had so much  fun with this one!

                  He had a blast with the shaving cream. It was super messy, which made it even better!

Avery's new favorite Toy

Avery picked a new jump rope out of the treasure box at school today...a princess one mind you. Her class has a reward system in which the kids get to pick a reward out of the box for being such a good listener for the day, but today they all got to choose something out of the box. The jump rope is now her new favorite toy and she's been practicing around the house all afternoon. She will soon be little jump rope champ of the house!

Our trip to Arnold

We recently took a vacation up to Arnold, which is located in a beautiful, scenic area of Calaveras County. We stayed in a cozy little cabin and relaxed to the sweet sounds of nature for almost a whole week. Aaaahhhh.....

Let's see, there were lot's of things that we enjoyed during our stay. We loved the cabin and had lots of fun sitting by the fire in the evening and making smores. Avery and Callum loved making smores! I think that was one of their favorite things to do.

                                                   Here is the cabin we stayed in

                                           Daddy and kiddos eating their yummy smores

One of the first days we were there, we hiked the trails of Calaveras Big Trees. Wow, there were some amazing trees to see....very big and thousands of years old. Pretty neat!

                                               Callum made a little friend during our hike

We did some shopping, mostly in the nearby communities of Murphy and Columbia, since Arnold doesn't have much shopping, or any for that matter. :) Apparently Murphy is known for the frog contests they have at Angels Camp, so you will see large statues of big, colorful frogs all over the town!

                                                     Here is Avery trying to kiss a frog

                                                Callum was intriqued by this one!

During our stay, we also decided to head up to Alpine Lake and do some fishing. Little did we know that we would end up catching 4 fish that day. We let one go, but had the other 3 for dinner. Deeelicious! Avery and Callum helped daddy reel in the fish that they caught. This was their first time fishing and they did awesome.

                                               I decided to get in there and do a little fishing myself

                                                       Daddy proud of his catch

                                            A picture of the fish later that night. It made for a delicious dinner!


We also enjoyed our trip to Mercer Caverns, where we got to see a cave that was three million years old. It had a guided tour through the cave where you could see all the crystal rock formations along the walls. I believe they were called "stalagtites" and "stalagmites". Avery and Callum were a little hesitant about this one at first, but once we got down in the cave, they seemed to really like it. I wouldn't reccomend this adventure to anyone who is even slightly clausterphobic though. I had gotten quite a work out carrying Callum up and down the narrow staircases inside the caves. Luckily we made it out without a scratch.

What fun we had on our trip to Arnold. A great bonding experience for us all, away from the hectic city life. We look forward to future vacations up in a cabin somewhere. Definately a little closer to home next time, possibly Big Bear or maybe Arrowhead!

Adjusting to our New Home

Well I have certainly been missing in action from the blogger world lately! A lot has been going on with us and the kids. We've recently moved out of our Ladera Ranch home, which most of you know, and we've found a nice home in the Murrieta area, right on the border of Temecula. It is actually located right near the Temecula wineries. The area is newer and the homes are all very nice out here, not to mention they have great school districts (major plus). They seem to have lots of shopping areas out here and the Promenade mall in Temecula is becoming one of our favorite spots.

We are settling in very nicely in the new home and the kids seem to have really taken a liking to the house. They are adjusting better than we had thought. I think they are happy that they have more room to run around in and are happy to finally not have to share a room anymore. I have pretty much finished getting their rooms set up, just working on last minute details. (Will share pictures once they are finished). Avery and Callum are excited about the garden that they started out in the backyard with daddy. They are in the process of growing tomatoes, carrots, peppers, squash, basil, oregano, and cilantro. Is that it? Oh, and Avery has her pretty sunflower growing back there as well.

We've been keeping busy with trips to the local parks, joining new mommy groups, and are beginning to make new friends. Avery will be starting preschool at the beginning of October where she'll be going twice a week. Her school looks like a lot of fun and they seem to offer a lot more activities than her last school. They even have a dress up classroom, where they have different costumes to choose from. I know she is going to have so much fun. Callum and I will be taking a mommy and me art class next month as well. I am going to be starting the potty training process very shortly and getting my little guy ready for preschool. I can't believe I will soon have two little ones in preschool. Where is the time going? I will be updating the blog frequently and new pictures are coming very soon!

Happy 4th Birthday Avery

Happy Birthday to my Avery who turned 4 last week! We celebrated with a trip to Disneyland for her birthday and a party over the weekend. She had a wonderful week filled with family, friends, and lots of fun presents. Happy Birthday Avery girl!!!

Trip to the Dentist

Avery had made her first trip to the dentist this past week. Luckily she's never had any problems with her teeth, but I figured she's a big girl now and was more than ready for a cleaning and routine check up. I was so glad I was able to take her in to see my dentist and not have to worry about taking her to see a pediatric dentist. All of the girls in the office are great and I've had nothing but positive experiences, so I didn't even think twice about it.

The dental assistant was great with her and talked her through the whole thing. Avery got to play with a little stuffed animal alligator with teeth, tried on a dental mask and gloves, and got to watch Sponge Bob square pants in her dental chair. Oh, they even took a couple pictures of her in the dental chair for me (see picture below). So sweet! I must say, they really made it a calm and pleasant experience for her. I don't ever remember getting this kind of treatment at the dentist as a kid. I was lucky to get a balloon or a new toothbrush and be on my way.

Once the dentist came in, she looked in Avery's mouth and spotted what I had feared. Yep, she has one nice little cavity in the back. Just one though, so it's not that bad. I've always practiced good dental hygiene with the kids, but I hear it's pretty normal for kids to have cavities at this age. It's inevitable!

Avery didn't leave without a goodie bag complete with a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, and mouth wash. Oh, and a certificate for doing a good job at brushing her teeth everyday. Every kid needs that, right? What can I say, it was a great first visit to the dentist. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the next visit will be surprisingly pleasant as well.

This is the picture they took of Avery in the dental chair. It came out really small, but it's sweet!