thanksgiving weekend

whew!  we made it.  not only to thanksgiving but through jason working weekends since september!  we are so glad to have daddy/husband back at home on the weekends.  it feels more normal.  thanksgiving this year was much different from last year.  last year we didn't have family over...didn't have family to visit.  cashel was sick...again. it was warm.  it was just weird.  this year we hosted our first thanksgiving!  we had a modest crowd of us, nana, uncle brian, and our friends nick, danielle and bill.

 

here is my first turkey!  it's brined and was delicious!

 

cashel and daddy rocking out

cashel and uncle brian playing wii

i put cashel to bed around 9 pm and fell asleep with him.  jason comes in around 9:45 to wake me and get my help with the kitchen.  it looked like an explosion had occurred after we had cooked.

santa barbara zoo

the next day we took a day trip to santa barbara.  we ate lunch at an italian restaurant that was awesomely family friendly with unexpectedly huge portions then headed to the santa barbara zoo.  we all had a great time!

do you see that?  where else can you see a giraffe with the ocean in the background?  lucky giraffe.

cutie pie

 after the zoo we headed to the pier before our drive home.

one of my favorite shots from this wonderful family day

the happiest place on earth

we did it. we took cashel to disney...land....not world...that's too far away for us...but, fortunately, disneyland is only about 45 minutes away!  yahoo!  i was a little concerned about how a 2 year old would react to the eye candy that is disney.  i thought it would be too overwhelming, creating more of a little monster who would be to stimulated, to overtired after it all to console...leaving exhausted parents more exhausted...but...it was great!  jason was really the advocate of the trip (as usual).  he's thinking it would be a great tradition that would someday lead to cashel inviting a friend or two along the way to celebrate his birthday.  in hindsight we treated this like a business trip.  what's the parking situation like, how overwhelming will it be, the food, etc.  although jason and i had both been there once each, separately, him - before i rocked his world and me - 4 years ago for a science teacher conference (cue the dork comments here).  we were there for only about 4 hours (expensive, yes, but we got a deal - call me for details).

bottom line - cashel l - o - v - e - d it!  i mean, he didn't run up to the characters or anything...as you can see....he was still a bit nervous about them, but he loved the eye candy that is disney.  we rode only one ride (the casey train) while we were there for a couple of reasons.  1.  i was told which ones to avoid for his age which really limited us and 2.  the lines were ridiculously long and we weren't about to wait in a line for even 20 minutes with a 2 year old!  next time we'll be more prepared.  it was a ton of fun for all of us.  there's nothing like seeing disney through your child's eyes. 

warning:  $7.00 balloons pop just as easily as much, much, much cheaper ones...

one last note...part of the reason we left after only about 4 hours is because it was cashel's nap and anyone who knows me knows how nutso i am about his nap.  so...it was his nap time...we succeeded in getting him to stay in his stroller and strolled around and after a chat decided to head home.  cashel wakes up as we are putting him in the car and proceeds to scream "more!  more!  more!"  he is obviously upset we have taken him from his new bff, disney, and proceeds to scream this for about 30 minutes.  

in the background you see the $7.00 balloon that cashel popped as soon as we got home.

all in all, a great day...

stuff my mom says

i love my mom with all my heart but can't resist making fun of her.  lately she has sent me some texts that are just hilarious. 

"hope your thanksgiving's going well.  just wanted u to know that i just found a used diaper of cashel's under your bed.  love u."

"dad and i were in walmart last evening and a fight broke out in the vegetable area."

keep 'em coming mama - they make me smile!

we just can't believe it

everyone says it. everyone says, robin, this time is going to go by so fast you'd better enjoy it.  and they're right.  we cannot believe that our boy turned 2 almost a month ago!  it makes me happy...it makes me sad.  he's 27 pounds.  i don't think i'll be able to carry him around when he's 3 and i'm going to miss that.  the baby that he was.  but i'm excited for the awesome boy he is and will be.  the one comfort is that i hear so many people say, every stage was my favorite.  it gets harder but better all at the same time.  i don't see how it could be any other way.  yea for us!  and yea for him!

so...ON cashel's birthday he had a party at school. The best part was that all of the kids were super excited about getting to go to a "party" and eat cupcakes, but no one was sure who's birthday it was.  i kept asking cashel, "who's birthday is it?" and he would say, "claire" or "ethan."  anyone of his school friends' names but never his own!

jason was home for dinner that night and we had cashel's favorite - salmon!  afterwards we had his second favorite - cupcake!  

 

the saturday after his birthday we had a playdate with two of his friends from school - brendan and charlie.  before the party nana came over and gave cashel one of his favorite toys - a lego farm - he loves it and plays with it everyday.

and i made a basketball cake!

they all had such a great time.

and...this would be one of our favorite pictures.  it says so much about how happy cashel was to have brendan at his house.

we tried to get a picture with charlie but charlie wasn't up to it.  so a couple of weeks later i snapped this shot at school.

 happy 2nd birthday baby boy!

monkeys

we don't know what it is but cashel has this thing with monkeys

he either loves this or hates them depending on his mood

when he loves them he says "monkeys!"

when he hates them he clamps on to me or jason and says "no monkey's in trees?" 
he's super afraid! 

it's arbitrary. 

it's funny. 

it's cute. 

as usual. 

drawring

so...a little out of order here but lately, cashel has been insisting that i draw.  if you know me, you know me not to be a person who can draw.  with my conceptual physics class the kids have been conditioned not to laugh at my drawings unless they want their grade to go down...just kidding...(not really)...

anyhoo....cashel is hilarious with his requests.  it started out like this:

cashel: draw a man...draw an hoop...draw a ball

lately, it has become this:

cashel:  mama...draw a tree...draw a man...a ladder...a ball...a hoop

cashel: mama...draw a baby...crying...two babies...crying...a tree...a hoop...a koala..

me:  a koala?

cashel:  no, a koala

me:  a koala?

cashel:  no, a koala?

me: a koala?

cashel:  no!  a koala?

me:  oh!  you want a gorilla!

cashel:  yea! a gorilla!

so i draw a gorilla in a tree, then it has to open the door and knock on the door and walk

he thinks i'm a cartoonist....

obviousely, i'm not...

no mom, i'm not eating dirt

seriously, i'm not eating dirt...i promise...

halloween

halloween.  i don't really know the history.  i suppose i could pretend by saying something about back in the day people trying to ward off spirits by dressing up  like spirits themselves or something like that but i don't really know and i'm too busy to wiki it.  so, anyways, cashel was the flash.  he (i) don't really know who the flash is.  i probably saw it when i was little, i know jason did, but the bottom line is this...he thought he was spiderman.  he kept saying, i'm spiderman.  ok, actually before that happened, he wanted nothing to do with his costume really.  jason got it on him once and he was super excited but then wanted it off.  i would get it on him for about a minute before he would say "off!  off!"  we thought that with his daycare he would be more amenable, and he was...for a while...here are the pictures to prove it:

cashel knows his stories at "circle time" so well, he gets very excited and runs up, front and center, to help tell the story

 then...on the day of halloween we were at nana's.  she really wanted to see him in his outfit.  here we go:

 then...on the way home from nana's, here i am thinking, oh, we'll just go home, but at 4:30, cashel starts saying, "trick or treat?"  well, i have his costume in the car and explain to him that he'll have to wear his outfit and he totally goes for it:

proud and ready...of course he has to have a ball...

he got a blue blow pop at the first house that would open the door (it was 5:15..a little early i suppose)

his latest?  looking at himself in the mirror...a prius will do

happy halloween!

get ready y'all

i'm 'bout to post lots of stuff that's been backed up in my brain and on my iphoto.  it's been a busy time since i last posted with jason working weekends (not anymore - yea!) and with grades and comments being due at school followed by cashel's birthday and thanksgiving.  oh yea, it's also that jason loves me enough to give me night to myself!  i'm so excited i can't stand it.  don't get me wrong, i love my boys, but a night to myself is just what i ordered.  thank you sweetie - i love you too!

i'll start with this juicy bit that jason called and told me about tonight.  he called and said:

robin, we were at lowe's with my mom and we talked to a black man (i don't know who talked to who really, maybe he worked there?  i don't know but the part that he's black is important)...anyhoo...robin, we were at lowe's with my mom and we talked to a black man and cashel looked up at him and said, "michael jordan."  jason says he doesn't know if the man heard him or not but that's funny!

also...as they were leaving, cashel was batting his eyes at a high school girl.  literally batting his eyes.  just like his dad - this is trouble.

punkim festival

that scratch on cashel's eye?  he fell out of the bed a couple of nights before.  good thing he heals like a super hero.  cashel was loved little campbell and was giving out hugs, as usual

one rainy sunday in october cashel and i headed out to one of his favorite spots, underwood family farm.  each year they have a harvest festival during the month of october, each weekend with a different theme - this weekend? tractors!

we went with cashel's bff, brenden and his family, jane (the mom), rob (the dad) and campbell (the cutie patootie baby girl).  jason was still working weekends (boooooo) so he couldn't go.

first of all, cashel was just so excited about being with brendan outside of kids klub.  after brendan woke up (we was awake, just not awake, you know - he was grumpy for a while) they/we had a blast.  it wasn't the same without jason, but it was still super fun.

they had a huge punkim patch! the second picture down in the middle and the top right is cashel and brendan's 30 minute hollering salute to the tractors as they passed by

san fantastic

doing a little catching up here. we went to san francisco over labor day this year. it was our first trip and we loved it! we flew into san jose and drove up. the flight was amazing. short, 45 minutes, but that wasn't the amazing part. the amazing part was that we were flying over the clouds and it looked like we were flying over pillows. when we were driving the clouds looked like they were hovering half way down the surrounding mountains - like the mountains were wearing a cloud hoola hoop! it was beautiful. the first place we went was an amazing science museum. cashel had a blast. we spent about half an hour after the museum picking out a great painting for cashel's room and eating yummy waffles. we stayed at the hyatt in the heart of san francisco. after cashel's nap (and mine!) we rode a trolley (san francisco treat!) to fisherman's warf where it was super chilly but we saw alcatraz - it was super creepy. we rode a bus back to the hotel. cashel loved the trolley and bus. jason went out to grab some food from a place called nan king that a friend recommended. cashel had room service - grilled cheese and mac and cheese. he barely touched it. eating away from home is not his strong suit.

the next day we drove out to a Redwood forest - Muir Woods. i have always, always, always wanted to see Redwood Trees. it was a great little park with a beautiful drive up. the forest was quite manicured - wooden planks from the info cabin into the woods. from there the path was quite clear and wide. I'm not complaining - it was great. the trees were huge and amazing. i felt like I had to whisper the whole time - out of respect for the old trees. after we had gone on about an hour walk (with cashel in the ergo sleeping for most of it) we drove down the pch for a while. cashel wasn't so jazzed about this drive - probably super boring to him but it was
b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l!
i do have to admit that on the way back up the pch i got a little car sick. after making our way back to civilization we ate at......wait for it....outback! yes! outback steakhouse!
it was delicious. i don't know the last time we ate at a chain restaurant like that (besides in-n-out) but it was delicious and kid friendly and empty! afterwards we had our daily nap in the hotel. for the life of me i can't remember what we did after this. i think we just walked around for a while? this night we ate at a diner right around the corner from the hotel. it was decorated 1950's and was delicious, kid friendly, not empty, but not crowded either. cashel still didn't eat much so he ended up eating a whole apple before bed. we have video of it. i'll have to post that.

on sunday we were a little lost about what to do. we had until 5pm for our flight. we ended up doing another trolley ride which cashel loved then got in the car and headed out of town. we went to see stanford university. there were horse stables and horses there so cashel was in heaven. before going to the airport we went to a children's museum that was actually pretty great in san jose.

we almost missed our flight.

lessons of this trip:
1. san francisco is awesome
2. getting cashel to eat out is tough - he gets very distracted - so have lots of yogurt and fruit in the hotel
3. early flights home are still the best

he sings now

tonight you...

said goodnight to michael jordan

gave me so many kisses someone might call the cops

funny and amazing cashel

1. he is so into books these days. he's been into books for quite a while now but wakes up wanting to read. "mama read it?" "daddy read it?" "game?" (book about basketball)

2. monday night the power went out. the next morning cashel woke earlier than normal (a little after 6am) and it was still dark. he said "lights on" and jason and i explained that the power was out. that afternoon when i picked him from daycare the first thing he said to me once we got in the car was "power on?" dang that kid is smart.

3. lately when we read books he points to pictures and says "whas that?" then he proceeds to say what it is. when i point to something and ask "what's that cashel?" the very first thing he says is "i don't know..." then "ball" (or whatever it is)...but its pretty cute - the very first thing he says is "i don know" and shrugs! love it!

4. nana has this one book that has a cow on one page then a chicken on the next, etc. cashel can tell you what animal is coming next.

5. he thinks squirrels eat pancakes

6. one silly sunday cashel decided he wanted me to put 4 shirts on him and 5 pairs of pajama pants.  he wouldn't let me take them off until after his nap when i had to change his diaper.  the pictures are below.  silly cashel.

things i've learned

1. don't put off til tomorrow what you can do today
*really - close to the end of last school year i kept saying, "oh, i'll do that during summer break (doctors appointments, cleaning out this or that cabinet, etc). it made me feel like i spend my whole summer break completing a to do list rather than getting any relaxing done. i know there's not a whole lot of relaxing to be had with a toddler, but i could've tried!

2. a mother deserves a slow drive through malibu - jason! really, i know it's the pch and all but driving slower to take in the scenery, especially for someone's first time is important

3. being a second year teacher (even for the 5th time) is so much better than being a first year teacher! i can't even explain this. it's just awesome.

i know i've learned a lot more but these were the things itching in my brain lately. i'll write more when i remember them.

just some random thoughts...

well...school has started and the leaves are falling on the ground. scratch that....do over....school has started and the weather was 113 degrees on monday, 98 Tuesday, 92 Wednesday and 92 today. what?! well...this is southern california. these, my friends, are not complaints. i love the heat. i choose heat over cold any day. granted, i don't really choose 110 degree weather but if forced to choose i choose heat. this week i've been playing polytechnic school lower school librarian. while it's been really fun reading to kindergarteners through fifth graders i would never want to be a lower school teacher! it's just way too much for me. i would rather teach the electron configuration and newton's laws that i'll be teaching to my chemistry and physics kids next week any day. any day! a couple of funny things from this week though:

kindergartner: what's your name?
me: mrs. barnes
same kindergartner: is ms. callero (the librarian i'm subbing in for) on a date?

4th grader: where are you from?
me: guess
4th graders (guess in this order): texas! england!

england? really? i take that as a compliment - i work on my british accent all the time.

why we don't go out to dinner with him

this video says it all.  this is why we don't go out to dinner with cashel.  but beyond all that take a listen, especially cashel's cousins.  listen up.

papa's birthday

papa was here during his birthday this year!  so, of course we had to celebrate.  cashel, however, probably had more fun than anyone else and we let him.  he didn't enjoy his first birthday cake, but as you'll see, he really enjoyed papa's!

the birthday boy.  he makes 29 look good...again...

we (mama and i) refuse to actually make him fried chicken but that didh't stop us from buying it for him.  everyone else ate mexican.

the cake...don't make fun...i worked hard to make it look just like that.

cashel is either surprised that papa can blow out the candles or he thinks the blowing caused the cake to fall.

yes...i'll have some of that.  the pictures above show just how much!