Jack's Second Birthday

 Today my little Jay Bird turned two.  I am thankful that I didn't have the baby today, so they can each have their own special day.

Jack is losing all his baby-ness and totally turning into a little boy.  He's a ridiculously picky eater (eats practically nothing but breakfast and treats) and is stretching out into a long and skinny little thing instead of the squishy chubba he used to be.  Don't be alarmed, though.  He might be losing his squish, but he still cuddles just as much as ever.  (Perhaps my very favorite thing about him...)

He's a bit of a mischief maker.  He's not "naughty" or disobedient, but he is always on the patrol for something he can investigate that just happens to be off-limits and trouble-making.  Like climbing where he shouldn't and falling.  Or bringing me matches and wood glue he found in the back of a drawer.  Or applying my makeup if I leave my bag within reach.  Or never staying in bed unless we have a duct-taped child lock on the doorknob. 

Jack is starting to jabber, but a lot of what he says is still incoherent.  He's definitely moving beyond parroting words, though, and is trying to string together his own short sentences.  He loves to dance (twirl in circles) when music is on, and still loves to sing.  In fact, for the past week or so, Hazel and Jack have joined in with me when I sing their bedtime songs, and it's turning into a shout-out competition.  Hazel sings loudly to try to drown out Jack, and Jack shouts out the words because he thinks its a great game.  He loves to do anything that frustrates Hazel.  He's all about getting a reaction. 

He loves dogs, has for ages, so this year I made him a puppy cake.  I stole my inspiration from this picture.  All day he was bringing his little chair over to the counter to stare at it and steal little nibbles off of it.  I'm actually quite surprised it made it intact to the evening. 

He got Legos and a toy tool box, as well as his very own Ariel figurine (he is obsessed with her!). 

 Being that I'm only a couple days away from my due date and Todd had work today, I didn't have a lot of oomph to go and do much.  We did pick up lunch from Wendy's and eat it at the train transit center so Jack could watch the trains come and go.  There wasn't as much action as I was hoping for.  We probably should have gone earlier in the morning.  I bet the trains run much more frequently during commuting hours.  Then we went to a park for a bit and headed home for much-needed naps (and quiet time for Hazel). 

We had breakfast for dinner, because I couldn't think of anything else that I could confidently say Jack would eat.  So he had pancakes and sausage for breakfast, chicken nuggets, apples and fries for lunch, and cranberry muffins and strawberry shakes for dinner.  After dinner, we sang to him and brought out the puppy cake.  After he blew out the candles, he kept giving the puppy a hug over and over again, and picking off bites to eat in between.  It was pretty tricky getting the whole cake away from him and leaving him with just a slice! 

The kids played with their new mermaid dolls in the bath tonight, and we put them to bed bright and early.  Jack is still singing at the top of his lungs in bed 45 minutes later. 

Happy birthday, sweet guy!  We love you!

Christmas 2012

We had Christmas at home this year and loved it.  Jack and Hazel are at a wonderful age.  We were able to soak up the magic of the season looking at lights, decorating sugar cookies and gingerbread houses, talking about Jesus, and wondering about Santa. 

 

Hazel's preschool group learned a few Christmas songs to perform at a nursing home.  They made cards to give out to the cute grandmas and grandpas we went to visit. 

 On Christmas Eve I told the kids Santa had to wait until they were asleep before he could come bring their presents.  Hazel flung herself into bed and proclaimed as her head hit the pillow, "I'm already asleep!"  And, to my amazement, she and Jack really did go right to sleep without a peep. 

The big Christmas Morning Reveal: 

I love the look on Hazel's face!

 

 Hazel got a dollhouse.  A neighbor gave the house to us a couple of years ago and it's been in our garage ever since.  It was unpainted and had marker scribbles all over it.  We spent several nights fixing it up.  Todd painted it and put in real flooring (carpet and linoleum) and I mod podged scrapbook paper on the walls. 

 Jack got a train set.  He has set it up and played with it several times every single day for the past week. 

 I made a play tent for the kids, following this tutorial.  It was harder than it sounded and didn't turn out perfectly, but it works and the kids like it.  I wish we had enough space to have it set up all the time instead of having to store it when they're not using it. 

 We have enjoyed our Tree of All Trees so much.  We are hoping we'll have another Christmas with vaulted ceilings someday so we can repeat this year's magnificence. 

 We took the tree down today.  It was bittersweet.  We knew it had to happen sometime, and better before the baby comes than after, but no one wanted to say goodbye to it.  Our living room feels so empty now.  We got creative with the ornament removal, but had to finish the job with the tree laying on the floor. 

 

Todd's birthday was the day after Christmas.  He got his grandma's raspberry dessert instead of cake. 

 

We went to the Oakland Zoo on New Year's Eve.  It was fun to show the kids real animals we've been learning about through books and videos, like lions and tigers, hyenas, elephants, cockroaches, poisonous frogs, bats, and snakes.  

  

I'll leave you with a little Bonner family treasure.  Hazel saw Jungle Book for the first time a couple of months ago, and has been obsessed since with pretending to be Mowgli.  At least once a day, she starts laughing and throws all her clothes off except her panties.  Jack has also gotten into it the past couple of weeks and now comes up to me lifting his shirt up, asking me to take his clothes off so he can be "naked" or "Mowgli" as well.  Usually, Todd and I are Baghira or Ka, or perhaps Sher Khan.  There have been a couple of times that Todd has joined in with the madness and become a third Mowgli.  I think it's gut-busting hilarious. 

Happy Birthday Hazel!

 Hazel's fourth birthday was on Saturday, December 1st.  Todd had drill that weekend, and Hazel's savvy enough with a calendar by now that we couldn't get away with pretending December 1st was a different day.  After a lot of thought, we decided to explain our situation to her and suggest we celebrate her birthday the following Saturday instead.  She was all for it.  I love that she cared more about having her dad with her than she did about celebrating on the actual day she was born. 

We still took care to make the 1st a significant day.  I still called her "birthday girl" and gave her extra attention.  I made homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, per request. 

She went to a friend's birthday party, and I wasn't sure how she would take that.  Other than one sad revelation after the party that she had felt like her friend was opening all of her presents, she took it like a trooper, running and playing, eating cake and having a ball with all the kids.  It was a superhero party, and I let her wear her favorite dress-up dress along with her cape and mask.  She was pretty stoked about it. 

When we got home from the party, Hazel wanted to ride bikes, and I said she could.  That in itself is huge.  We haven't been biking much the last few weeks because we've had visitors and rain, and I'm so big it's uncomfortable for me to corral Jack on Hazel's path and try to keep up with them. 

That night, we got burgers for dinner and had a movie night at the house before bed.  And that's all it took to make this little firecracker feel extra loved even though her dad was gone. 

Yesterday (Saturday, December 8th) then became Hazel's "birthday."  Todd's sisters Laura and Beany were visiting for the weekend, and they made Hazel feel like they had come just for her. 

 

Hazel woke up to streamers and balloons at her door and a pile of presents on the table.  We had blueberry muffins and sausage for breakfast (and steak for dinner).  

 Hazel had her first birthday party and invited a handful of her best buddies.  We were so glad they could all come.  I was especially touched by the handmade cards several of the kids made to go along with their presents.  Lots of love! 

The party had a dress-up theme, since that is Hazel's top obsession.  I made capes and masks for the boys and tutus and necklaces for the girls.  They were on and off throughout the whole party, but everyone took theirs home.  Hazel never even put her tutu on, but I can't really blame her, as she's more of a gown girl anyway, and she had just received several new additions to her dress-up collection that she wanted to sport. 

 We did a few crafts (that only the girls were interested in) and played a few games: musical chairs; balloon hot potato; Duck, Duck, Goose; freeze dance; Simon Says.  Everyone was happy to just run free and play with our toys, which was a relief, because we finished our planned activities twenty minutes before the end of the party!  Times like these, man, they make me wish we had a backyard! 

 Everyone had sweet moves for freeze dance, but I've got to say Nova had the most heart. 

 The cake was ... a step down from last years'.  It was very child-driven, so maybe that's why it turned out soooo much less cute than I had imagined, but maybe Hazel will remember and love it more for that.  I tried to be fancy and add some purple swirly detailing to the frosting, and Hazel got excited and thought it made it look like water.  Hence, she insisted that her featured princesses were all swimming.  Face down. 

 Note the double dress-ups you can see in this picture.  New Nana dress on top of new Jasmine dress-up. 

 

Todd was an incredible party runner.  He led out in most of the games, played with the boys when all the girls were busy coloring, and had the entire crew entranced by his dramatic storybook reading.  (You should have heard the silly voice he used to sing Down By the Bay!)  

 Our major worry for the party was lighting.  We got notice about a week ahead that our power company was shutting down our electricity to work on the power lines right at the same time we were having the party.  We borrowed a camping lantern from Jefferson's family, and Aunt Erika brought one with her from Oakland.  The lights were on and off throughout the morning, so we didn't sit in darkness the whole time, but it did make for some interesting ambiance.  Actually, not a single kid mentioned it, so I don't think they even noticed, but the adults sure did! 

Erika

Julena

 The Aunts did a great job of loving on Jack so he didn't feel ignored or bored or left out.  He got lots of love this weekend. 

Laura

 We sure are thankful Hazel (aka the little fireball) is a part of our family.  She is wild and creative, smart, curious, imaginative, energetic, and funny.  We love you, Hazel! 

Thanksgiving and The Tree of All Trees

We had a very nice Thanksgiving this year.  Somehow we lucked out and became a hub, and two of Todd's sisters and their families came to us.  We loved it!

I made cranberry sauce from scratch and must say it was sooooo much better than the canned stuff (that nobody really eats).  And it was easy.  Dissolve one cup of sugar in one cup of orange juice, then add 12 ounces of fresh cranberries and stir on medium for 10-12 minutes.  Chill and serve.  Voila!  I was spreading this stuff on my rolls, it was so good!

Erika and Steve came down from Oakland and were gracious enough to hang out with the kids during dinner.

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Missy and Burke and their four girls drove out from Utah and stayed with us for the weekend.  We loved it!

Missy was disappointed that we didn't go Black Friday shopping the next morning, but we had a bigger fish to fry.  Tree hunting!  Todd has been talking for the past 12 months about this year's tree.  We've got vaulted ceilings and he wanted to use up every single inch of space possible.  I agreed, based on an understanding that the tree could be as tall as he wanted, but couldn't be so wide that it took up half our living room.  We went to the Four Winds tree farm with three measurements in mind: height (at least 14 feet), width from trunk to outer branches, and width of the trunk itself (to ensure it fit in our tree stand).

I am thrilled to report that we were most successful!  Our tree is amazing.  Final stats: 13'2", and it scratched the ceiling on the way up.  Todd had to stand on his toes on the top of a ladder to put lights and ornaments on the top portion.  It is the tree of all trees.

My kids loved having "the cousins" over to play.  I actually got lonely for Hazel.  She's usually my constant shadow, but while Missy's girls were here, I barely heard from her.  She loved constantly having a playmate and can't wait to see them again.  

movie night

Saturday we went to Half Moon Bay for some beach time.  We played in the sand for a while, and then headed over to the tide pools at low tide.  It was hands-down the warmest, sunniest day I've ever experienced at HMB.  It was perfect!

Hazel loved sticking her fingers in the sea anemone and feeling it suck on her.  

Jacko found a starfish.

We had fun staying up late with Missy and Burke every night, playing games and talking.  Burke challenged Todd to try to break an egg by pushing only on the ends.  Who knew eggs were actually terrifically strong?  Try it!

Pumpkin Patch 2012

Yesterday was a perfect October day.  We spent the morning searching for gorgeous pumpkins in Half Moon Bay.  It was a foggy, drizzly day on the coast.  That, combined with the Halloween music we listened to in the car, induced Hazel to tell spooky stories and Jack to make great "oooooo" ghost noises as he pointed at every decoration or dark patch of trees.

We snagged our lunch at Barbara's Fish Trap, which has the most delicious fresh fish and chips we've ever had.  Hazel's been asking to go to "the fish restaurant" for a while now. We were happy to oblige.

The kids both took nice, long naps when we got home, and woke up just in time to get ready for our church congregation's Halloween party.  Jack was a hit as "Mini Smee."  There's not a great view of it in the picture, but I love the super girly pink and purple, glitter covered dagger that our Peter Pan had tucked in her belt.

More and better pictures to come, we hope!  We've got a lot more costume activities to attend before the end of the month.