Change is in the Air...

And not just with our newly elected President. The boys are growing and changing so fast. A year ago, I still had a baby. And Michael was not very sassy.... all that has changed.

I admit, the news, over-all is hard to watch, day after day. So much to repair and think about. For this entry, and for practically all my blog entries, I will focus on more of the fun elements of our life. I feel like I am drowning in doom and gloom.

January is almost over. It has been a very busy month!

Here is a list of some of the highlights of the month.

--Henry is 100% potty trained.
--Henry was moved out of his crib, into a bed.
--Henry has 1 binky left... and once it is lost, it will be lost forever.
-- Henry started tennis, and is doing great!!!
--Both boys started soccer class, Michael continuing from last Fall, and Henry starting. Michael is finally understanding the point of the game, so he is having a bit more fun. Henry is very eager to kick the ball.
--Both boys had their parent/teacher conference, and both are doing very well!
--Michael is doing adding and subtracting now, as well as having spelling tests with various 4 letter words, like 'desk'.
--The boys school had a big celebration of the Chinese New Year, where I was part of a dragon. The kids loved it, for the most part. Some kids were scared... not my boys though. They thought it was great!
--Mr. Valentine visited the boys classes. He brings all sort of critters for them to hold, pet and learn about. A friend sent me pictures from Henry's class, that I will post below. I have none, sadly from Michael's class. My boys have no fear of animals. I do not care to EVER have a snake, lizard, etc., in my house. So I am happy Mr. Valentine visits them.
--Last Sunday (Jan. 25th), we got a sitter for Henry and took Michael to the private school he is testing for in a week. It was a time to see the school again, meet other parents, and meet the teachers. We all had a very, very nice time.
--Michael will be testing for this school on February 7th, and will find out if he is accepted mid to late March, which seems like forever.
--My mom turned 70 years old at the beginning of January. She will hate that I mentioned this here, but I think it is great!
--I will run my first 5K race February 1, which is also my sisters birthday.
-- This is random, but Michael asked for a puppy last week. I said no.
--Michael is reading really well! He reads to me every night now!

Here are a few pictures of Henry with various slimy things.

Happy New Year!

Christmas has come and gone, and here we are in 2009 already.

We had a nice Christmas, spending the holiday win NYC with John's side of the family. Traveling with a 2 and 5 year old is not easy, but we managed to make the flight, get our luggage, and adjust to East coast time. The fist day we a bit hard, due to the time change. I think everyone was grumpy. I know i was. It was a rough day.... but we had a lovely night, going over to John's parents for dinner, where my children magically turned into angels.

Here are a few pictures from the first day. The are from Riverside Park and the grandparents.





Needless to say, there was alot of eating on this trip.... all good, I might add. So thankful that we walked everywhere. It was also chilly, especially compared to Southern California. Such a nice change for us. Bundling up in coats with mittens, stopping to get cocoa. Such fun, since it is just not the norm for us.

Michael and Henry loved spending time with the family. I am not sure who he wanted to spend more time with... he was thrilled to be with everyone. It was really nice to see. I miss not having family closer to us. We get a hint of what life might be like if we lived closer.

Here are a few more, sort of random pictures from our visit. The eating pictures are from one of our favorite breakfast spots on the West side called SaraBeth's. Everyone ate, which was initially a problem for us on this trip. A few more shots are of Michael and his cousins putting a puzzle he received from his Granny, together. And finally, there is the cocoa, coffee stop for us. It was chilly... need I say more.






The flight back was so long... I mean 6 hours on a plane with 2 kids.... john and I were not seated together, and the movie projector was broken. Painfully long. I should not complain, because the boys both fell asleep right as the plane took off, and slept for 3 hours. But still, it was looooooooong.

We were happy to be home, in our own bed. Waiting for the luggage was again, a long wait. But John kept the boys entretained by carting them around on this.



Santa had visited out house, of course, so we came home, to open presents and see what surprises were in the stockings. The boys were thrilled that Santa had not forgotten them, which I had assured them would not happen.

Our new years was nice. We met friends out to dinner, whose son happens to be Michael' best friend from school. The boys ate, then ran around outside for a good hour. We were home by 8 pm. and the house was asleep by 10 pm. I do not think I have seen a new year actually happen in years.

Hoping 2009 is a good year for everyone!