You know those little metal clicker frogs you can get for your keychain?
How annoying they are
click-a,
click-a,
click-a
clicka!clicka!clicka!clicka!clicka!clicka!clicka!clicka!clicka!clicka!

Well
Julia makes that noise now, and we'll do it back and forth to one another.
Like our own little annoying clicker frog family.
And it's so cute when she does it!

To the zoo, zoo, zoo....

We met up with some friends today and went to the zoo.
I'll tell you, the family annual pass is the thing to have!

We hung out at the kids section for a long time.
While Antonio and my friend's daughter played all over the place, we were able to chill with the baby and catch up with each other.

They had face painters.
Her daughter came back with a cute little dolphin on her cheek.
Antonio came back as this:



And exclaimed, "I'm a beaver!"*

Next we went to the aquarium. Julia was entranced by the fish. She was so happy to just sit and watch them for the rest of the afternoon, it seemed.
Down at the shark tank display, she stood at the wall and yelled at them and the tuna as they swam by.



And, because no zoo visit would be complete without 'nature happening'
I'll share with you this....



he had no shame.

And that, was it for our zoo visit. No dragging burnt out children through another exhibit. Just those 3 and we took the still happy kids out to lunch.



*we may or may not have snickered inappropriately

This SATURDAY!

SATURDAY!

SATURDAY!

We were driving HOOMMMMEEE!
and out of the corner of my eye I saw a

M O T O R C Y C L E


Flying through the airrrrrr.

We drove over to check it out and the show had just finished, but there was another one starting about an hour and a half later.

You bet we were there!
Invited the neighbor along too.








Antonio was stoked!
We were right in front, next to the landing ramp*




One of the guys even did flips,
here's one of him either going into or coming out of one.





Antonio's review:






*not so close as to risk being mashed by any falling motorcyles

Poor Julia has thrush.
The medicine makes her look like a Goth baby though....

Hey, remember those cute little daisies I planted last year along the back of the house?

They say 'hi' and promise not to try and eat the child until you get home to negotiate.

Aahhh vacation.
I took this week off to hang out and try and relax some with the kids

The weather has cooperated some, and we've been spending time out in the yard.
Antonio is Lord of the Sprinkler



Julia has been enjoying the water too
Antonio played in this same mixing bowl when he was little too.
He tried to tell me he'd still fit, what do you think?





Antonio has also been into mousetrap.
I think it's more the challenge of putting it together.
Julia is a big help with that.

We had company this week.

My girlfriend and her daughter were in our part of the state and came over for a few days.

Here are two of the kids having a rare quiet moment watching cartoons




Even though it was a little bit drizzly, we loaded everyone up to go to the park to see if there were any hungry ducks.





Today there were no ducks to be seen, but the tide was out and there were all kinds of neat things to look at. A bajillion tiny crabs, clams, and starfish. Antonio was brave enough to touch one, only because we told him it was Patrick's brother, so it was a friendly starfish.



Then we went out to this great little Mexican restaurant for lunch. The kids were pretty good, so we decided to take them out for a treat




Antonio is more in to biker chic than I thought




And no fieldtrip is complete without a learning opportunity

Today we went to Central Market & picked up sushi, Antonio picked California rolls for himself.

Then went in search for ducks to feed. We stopped by the lake on base & there were ducks happy to lighten our bread load.



Julia sat with me and ate rice bites and then had her own avocado roll. See that wad in her hand?
That's it.




After our picnic with ducks, Antonio ran off yah~yahs...

Happy Father's Day!!!





Julia made you something.....





Love,

Antonio & Julia

Today we added Basil to the garden, both sweet and Thai
Julia likes to pick the flowers from the oragano plant




She's also pulling herself up on everything she possibly can



Oh, and Antonio wanted me to take a picture of his car to show you...

You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em...

Yesterday afternoon, as soon as we got home, Antonio asked if he could watch cartoons. I told him after I did a few chores. He lounged out on the couch to wait.

As soon as I finished, I told him he could put the TV on, and he didn't respond with his usual lunge to the television. I checked if he was on the couch still, which he was, but he had fallen asleep.
I cannot tell you the last time he took a nap, other than when he was sick a few months ago. I tried a little to wake him, and since he didn't respond I figured he needed the rest.


An hour passed, no wakey Antonio.
So, I had a choice, try really really hard to wake him up
or let him sleep & there's a chance he'd just stay out all night.

....I made dinner....not even a twitch.
Julia happily sat with me and had many kinds of bites.
avocado, mango, pasta, and I'm sure some O's as well.

Check out the teeth!




At 7:30, I moved him to his bed and put some jammies on him.

At 7:35, he got up.

After a sandwich, and some TV time with Julia and I



We did some yoga together
I picked up a kid yoga mat last week & a video, but the VCR isn't hooked up & it would take more brain power than I had last night to set that puppy up. I have a CD that I've been yoga-ing to, and he followed what I did.
He's pretty good at the stretchier things, not so great with balance, just yet.
Julia happily crawled around us and played with Matchbox cars.

As we finished I realized it was 9:50 (!) and had to scoot everyone off to bed. Antonio only got to hear 2 Shel Silverstein poems, his favorite right now. Julia was quite snuggly and settled down to sleep without a fuss.

sushi monsters

Saturday Gramma came to visit.
She arrived at lunchtime & we decided to go out to this great little sushi restaurant my neighbor got me hooked on.

Antonio is getting so good with chopsticks! He was able to pick up his rolls with no problem. His favorite are tuna ones, but will eat the other kind when given 'the look' by mama, (heyyy..I want some too!)

Julia adores rice, and we noticed that sticky rice is great for little kids. It doesn't fall on the floor as much as adhere all over them until they look like some kind of mutated sushi beast.

After lunch, we checked out the Asian grocery store next door. To Antonio's delight they had Hello Panda. Hello Panda is a cookie like biscuit shaped like a panda head and stamped with some kind of panda in an activity with chocolate or strawberry filling. They're about the size of a quarter, and so good.

Julia spent the evening attempting to pull herself up to stand on various scary pieces of furniture. The glass coffee table will be retired to the garage soon.

This morning we all headed over to the nursery to look at all things plant-y and beautiful. I also wanted to get a truck load of bark, and mom was kind enough to drive a truck full of kids while I drove the pickup.
Antonio rode with me on the way back, so he could watch the tractor dump the load in.

Soon after, Grandma left and the kids and I hung out some, then I got to work shoveling the bark out while Antonio played with the neighbor boys and Julia supervised.

Hi Julia, you're 8 months old today

This month you mastered the art of army crawling.
With your sites on a cat, mom, Antonio or some random speck on the floor, you put your head down and gooooo! Sometimes, if you're wearing the right outfit, it seems that you're gliding and only using one arm to maneuver.

You've begun to crawl, but you still spend most of the time up on all fours rocking like mad. Then, if you must you will start crawl but end up back at your ever so fast scoot to the finish line.
I see you in 'downward dog' pose a lot, it's like you're trying to figure out exactly what the heck those legs of yours are supposed to do.

Even though I wanted to hold back on feeding you solids, you have other plans.
You tolerated me spooning you food for a little while, but much prefer little bites of things on your tray to feed yourself. Choices are good too, a little tofu, a little carrot, a little mango & a sprinkling of organic O's to finish the meal (and keep you occupied while I do dishes) There really isn't anything you don't like.
You, Antonio and I have been having some great meals around the table lately.

You laugh and laugh and laugh at Antonio. Of course is your court jester, and is more than happy to amuse you.
You wake up most every morning with a smile & jumpy kicks. You also, ever so patiently let me put your hair up in power pigtails each morning. No protests as long as you have a comb or small toy to hold.

You're sleeping great, as you always have. Sometimes you want to stay up late with me, but most nights you're asleep by 8pm. In the past week, you've stopped taking a nap when we get home in the afternoons. So, it surprises me you're able to stay up so late.

Tigger has become your pal, he will come over & lay by you and let you pull on his fur and pat him. He'll leave you with handfuls of fur when he's had enough. Could you do me one favor & please stop eating the fur? It's yuccy.

You are such a joy & we are so happy to have you in our family.
You have the sunniest disposition & always have a smile to share.

Oh waving! You still throw up your arm to greet, but have added opening & closing your little hand too.

Bed hedgehogs

I woke up this morning to my alarm and after allowing a wee little foot to push me the rest of the way out of bed, I looked back and wondered, how the hell I fit in there.






I sleep next to Julia who sleeps towards the middle of the bed. Antonio is usually in his own bed, but has been commando-ing in lately, odd dreams have been waking him up.*

Notice that the location of her foot is so very close to the edge of the bed. Between the bottom of her firmly planted foot in my back & the edge is where I teetered.







I have a queen sized bed!


*First question of the day on Monday, as he sat right up in bed when I walked in his room to wake him, "Did you know that sharks barked?" Right out of a dream he just woke up from.

Kids today.

Antonio played with Julia today while I did a few chores this afternoon.
He's really so sweet to her. If she comes over to where he's playing & what he has isn't safe or a good toy for her, he goes and picks out one of hers & brings it to her. She gets a toy & be next to brother.




Here's Julia's "Enough with the pictures already Mommy, pick me up." face

We're doing a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share at a local farm this year.

I thought it would be a great learning opportunity for Antonio to see how a farm works, how different foods grow and at what times of year they become available They have ducks and chickens & we can get eggs as well as beautiful flowers and herbs.

They're pretty much organic farmers, so it's also nice to have fresh healthy things to eat & for Julia to try out. I also like supporting a farmer in my community.

Every week, on Tuesdays we head over to the farm on the way to swim lessons & pick up our bag of produce & some eggs. We don't really know what to expect & it's fun planning meals around what we recieve.


I'd like to think I can figure out any kind of vegetable, no matter how odd looking.
But I need help this week...can anyone tell me what the heck this is?



It looks pretty alien & even though he's brave, I know Antonio won't touch it unless I can come up with a reasonable explanation.