It's Raining (Finally!!!)

Today we woke up to Rain!! We really need it to wash away all of the ash from the fire that is still lingering around and to give much needed water to the trees and animals. I took Ronan to the mall for a little Christmas shopping before we picked up Ian and he just loved looking at all of the decorations and he got to see Santa. Maybe we'll take him to see Santa soon and see if he'll take a picture with him (I doubt he'll sit on his lap which is totally fine with me). Matthew came home early which was a really nice suprise. His company is moving into a new building so he just had to pack up and was able to leave when he was done. So, Ronan took a nap and Ian had "Daddy time" and I got some rest. It was a great Rainy day but I hope it stops tomorrow so that I can go to the Farmer's Market.

Love to you all,

Shelly

Lantern Walk

Monday we went on a Lantern Walk and looked at some of the Christmas Decorations around the neighborhood. Ian made a Lantern in his preschool and I made one for Ronan (wasn't as good, but now I know how to make a better one). Ronan is really into all of the decorations right now and absolutely loves Santa. We bought some Christmas music recently and he always asks if that is Santa singing. Cutie pies!!
Love, Shelly

Setting up the Christmas Tree!!

Yesterday we decided to set up our fake Christmas Tree and the boys had so much fun decorating the tree. Ronan is really into Santanow and loves the stuffed Santa and snowman dolls. The boys kept saying how beautiful the tree looked and how they loved it. It was really cute. Ian also helped Matthew put up the lights outside. I really want to start shopping early and get all my presents in the next 2 weeks.

Love to you all, Shelly

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Cindy & Dezi (10 months) Joanne and Dezi

Cindy, Rob, & Dezi

Joanne, Mike, Dean & Dezi

The Finn Family

Ian & Ronan playing crochey

Dad & Uncle Bill

The boys love playing cards now (Ian was playing with Auntie Debbie) - I started playing cards when I was really little too (playing "31")

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! We went to my Mom and Dad's house for Thanksgiving and had a great time. The boys and I have a terrible cold and we weren't going to go but I decided last minute that we would go anyway. This cold has been really terrible and I don't know why I got it in the first place and why it's been so awful. Anyway, we went to the party and enjoyed seeing the family. I brought a big fruit salad, green salad, minestrone soup and some bread. I ate the fruit salad and the green salad and they boys enjoyed with the fruit salad, the soup and bread. I will try to just make all raw for Christmas...I need to figure out some new recipes. I've been eating all raw and low-fat this past week or so and I'm going to continue it for awhile and see how I feel. I've been reading a lot of information about how low-fat is the way to go and when you eat all raw, you tend to eat lots of fat which isn't good. So, I'm going to stick with it for a few months and see how I do.

I'm very thankful for my entire family. Michael came home from the army to spend a few days with the family and it was really great to see him (he's been gone since June of this year). Busia and Dziadz came too and they looked so great (they are 89 & 90). Uncle Bill, Auntie Debbie, Lyndsey, Dylan and his girlfriend Kelsey came too. I missed seeing Tom and Dawn and hope next year will be different.

Love to you all, Shelly

Things we've been doing over the week

Wow, it's been another week and I haven't blogged a single bit. I've been too tired at night to write and the boys haven't really been napping, so my days have been busy and tiring. I know I would have way more energy if they would just sleep all night (sometimes I'm waken up by the kids and sometimes by Matthew coming home late from work). I will try to be better at writing, but forgive me if I don't do it everyday.

Last week was great and we did lots of fun things...let me remember.....

On Monday we had the Toddler in the Garden class at O'Neil Regional Park and had a great time. Jodi, the teacher, talked about the acorns and how they fall on the ground this time of year and how they turn into oak trees. She let the kids open up the acorns and see the nut or the insects that were eating the nut. She also brought out a bird book and the kids got to listen to the sounds of different kinds of birds (Ian really loved it). She pointed out that the Acorn Woodpecker loves acorns!! We then went on a short hike and planted some of the acorns along the trail and the kids had a great time exploring. Jodi is a fantastic teacher and I'm so fortunate to be able to take my kids to her classes.

On Tuesday we did yoga with Blythe (http://www.itsybitsyyoga.com/) and the kids had a lot of fun. This is the second session we've taken with Blythe and Ronan seems to be doing better this time...I think it's because he's older now and because Ian is in the class too. They like doing the poses and like making up their own, like different superhero poses. Here's an article written about the yoga class that we went too (http://www.ocregister.com/news/yoga-berube-baby-1917991-itsy-bitsy) The boys were playing so nicely after yoga and I just had to take a picture of the boys playing with the big T-Rex puppet. On Wednesday we went to Laguna Beach with Jane and Jakey and had a wonderful time. The boys played at the playground first and then we played on the sand for a little bit. The beginning of the week was so hot and the beach was so nice and not crowded. This is why we live in Southern California. :) It's the middle of November and we are at the beach in shorts and a tanktop and it's hot enough for sunscreen. Ahhhh, we love this weather! On Thursday Ronan and I went to Whole Foods while Ian was in preschool. I just love Whole Foods and ended up buying lots of yummy food. We had to hurry and get home to put away the groceries and then pick up Ian. I picked up the rugs for the front room and hallway and then Amber helped me roll them out. The rug we got for the front room is much bigger, softer and is beige-ish and it's the same color for the hallway. I'm hoping this will help with the noise in the house and making it warmer on our feet in the winter.

I also got to go out tonight and listen to Richard Louv, the author of the book, "Last Child in the Woods" (http://www.cnaturenet.org/book/) He talked about how children really need to spend lots of time in nature, unstructured, just playing and having fun. So many children are becoming obese by not sleeping enough, not having energy to play, not having time to play due to homework or other activities and not eating well. As a child, I played outside all day and played all kinds of games with my brother and neighbors. We used to love going to the eucalyptus grove and hanging out there, fishing for crawdads, messing around. We didn't play in playgrounds much and just invented games to play. Now the kids are in so many organized activities, like gymboree, dance, day care, etc that they don't just get out in nature. I'm really determined to expose my children to as much nature as possible by doing weekend hikes, camping, continuing the toddler in the garden classes and just getting out as much as we can.

Friday we met Jane and Jakey at Laguna Niguel Regional Park and played for a few hours. Ronan was feeding the ducks and geese wild bird food that I bought and he was so brave and fed one of the geese with his hands. He was so proud of himself. They boys just loved running around and Ronan enjoyed finding pinecones and throwing them in the little stream. Also, the boys were so cute climbing on the rocks. Jakey was following Ronan's path on the rocks and they were talking to each other (picture two 2 year olds following each other on the rocks and having a little conversation). I filmed them and will try to post it if I can.

Saturday we went to O'Neil Regional Park for the Family Hike led by Jodi and Mark. I wasn't feeling well and didn't want to go, but I'm glad I did and I had fun. There was about 5 other families there and we learned about making string from the yucca plant (Mark demonstrated the string making) and Jodi showed us some more acorns and some leather pouches and moccasins. Then we went on a little adventure and the kids were free to walk around the dry river bed. Ian found a rusted door thingy and he had fun bouncing up and down like a tramboline. We found some deer tracks and followed them to a little swamp/pond. The kids enjoyed throwing rocks in the water. Then one parent found a deer skeleton and Jodi and Mark gave a little talk about the bones and how we have ribs just like a deer. They think a Mountain Lion probably killed the deer and then probably a coyote ate it. The head and legs were missing but the torso and verterbrae were still intact. The boys had so much fun playing with the other kids and I got to talk with the other moms and we all had a great time.

(the picture above is the 10,000th photo we have taken on our digital camera...Wow!!!)

Today (Sunday), we had a lazy morning because the boys were up last night (I thought they would sleep like a log since they were so active), but no. Ronan had a nightmare about bunnies and then that woke up Ian. Then Ian couldn't fall asleep and ended up in our bed for about 30 minutes and then he went back to his bed. I couldn't fall alseep because I had horrible post nasal drip and was coughing which was keeping up everyone. Ugh!!!

Anyway, Tom and Dawn came to visit and we went to the Farmer's Market. They wanted to check out our market. We then went back home and the kids had a great time playing with them. They have so much fun playing with them...I just love it!! Thanks so much for coming over Tom and Dawn!!

Matthew went to the nursery and bought a loquat tree for the hill and a shade tree for the back of the hill and a dragon fruit cactus for the corner back hill. We have such an empty space on the hill that we needed to fill it in. I hope everything grows quickly and we'll have amazing fruit next Spring/Summer. We planted the dragon fruit cactus at the very top/corner of the hill so the kids couldn't get hurt on it. We'll see how it goes.

Well, that's about it. They boys are wanting dinner.

Love to you all,

Shelly

over the weekend

Wow, I can't believe it's already been a week since I posted. This week just flew by!
Lets see, what did we do over the weekend. On Saturday I went to Pilates and the boys played at the park. Then we went to Home Depot to buy some things for the house - the boys loved looking at the Christmas Decorations (can you believe there are Christmas Decorations already??!!). Matthew had the boys all afternoon and I went to my massage and then visited Emily. It was a great day!!
On Sunday I went to the Farmer's Market and the boys went back to Home Depot to get another part that we needed (Matthew was replacing the screen mesh on the screen in the front room). Then we went to my grandparent's house and had a little visit with them. We saw all of the damage the fire caused and couldn't believe how close it got to so many houses. Thank you so much firefighters!!! Then we went to my parent's house and played there for the rest of the evening. Dezirae is walking now and is so cute to watch her getting around (she's 10 months old). The boys were playing so well together and having so much fun. I forgot my camera so I didn't take any pictures (sorry!).

Toddler in the Garden class- Tidepooling!

Monday we went to Laguna Beach for the Toddler in the Garden class. We looked at the tidepools and found lots of hermit crabs, small fish, barnacles, sea anenomes, and lots of shells. Ronan was more interested in throwing shells and rocks in the ocean and Ian was very interested in looking for the animals, listening to Miss Jodi, and climbing all over the rocks. It was a beautiful way to start the week and the weather was perfect. I can't wait to do this again!!

We had a very busy weekend!

Over the weekend we went to a Autumn Festival at Journey School, a Birthday Party, and a Fundraiser. The Autumn Festival was so much fun and the boys really enjoyed it. They had a puppet show and it was the story of "Puff the Magic Dragon". It was just 2 people doing all of the puppets (marionnettes) and singing/telling the story. The boys really liked it!! I bought some really yummy raw chocolates and put my name in for some raffles, but I didn't win any. The boys checked out the kindergarten room which they loved and played in the playground. I really hope the boys can get in this school. The application process starts in February (Journey School is a free charter Waldorf School).

Sunday I went to the Farmer's Market, then we went to Kayla's 2 year birthday party and we all had fun. They had a music teacher come in and do a music class with the kids and everyone loved it. The pictures are from Kayla's party. Also we took home some pomegranantes, limes and apples from Jen's tree (thanks Jen!!). I'm going to make some Pomegranant juice today.

The apples we picked from Jen's tree are called Pink Pearl apples...they are yellow-green on the outside and have pink flesh. They were kind of tart and sweet but good. The kids did some cool crafts and then we left to go to Christofer's Fundraiser in Laguna Beach. Christofer is a 3 year old boy that used to be in Ian's preschool class and he has an inoperable brain tumor. So, this fundraiser is a way to raise money for the alternative therapies they are using to try and heal him. It is so very sad but they are trying to stay positive and are hoping for a miracle. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Happy Halloween!~~

Happy Halloween!! Ian was a dragon/dinosaur and Ronan was spiderman. They put on their costumes in the morning and Ian pretty much wore it all day. We went to the library for storytime and they both took naps!! We went to Matthew's work for trick-or-treating and the boys had a great time collecting candies for the Halloween witch in exchange for a toy. I will try to do this every year to avoid them consuming the candy. After we had fun with Daddy, we went to Jen and Kayla's house for a Halloween party. She was so nice to put this together and have all of us over. The boys had a great time and were definitely ready for bed when we got home.

Last Tuesday-Park day

(I'm catching up for the past week!) Last Tuesday we went to Bluebird Park in Laguna Beach and had a wonderful time. We met some of our friends there and the day couldn't have been better. It was the 1st park day since the fires and the air was much cleaner there than by our house. Riley, Steven and Jakey met us there and all the boys had a great time. One of the picture is of Ronan and Jakey playing on this big rocket ship at the park. It's really high up and has a couple of slides. Ronan didn't want to go down the slides (I think he's going through a phase where he's getting a little bit scared of things that he normally wouldn't be scared of). Ian just wants to climb everything and his getting braver every time. It was so nice to get out and enjoy fresh air. I will try not to take for granted the fresh air again...man, it was so hard being cooped up in the house all week.