4 Big Ones

Last Wednesday Peter turned a whopping 4 years old. 

Where have the years gone?! They fly, I tell ya.

Sadly, Travis had to be out of town the week of Peter's birthday so I tried to make it extra special for him.

This is what his door looked like when he woke up Wednesday morning.

Only he refused to run through the streamers like a normal kid so they remained taped up on his door until I whacked my arm on his doorknob while bending over to get into his room. 

I still have a humongous bruise on my arm from it.

Peter asked for more Legos and a 'motorcycle that I can ride.' So we got him a motocycle Lego set. 

 The cake -- guess who helped me add the sprinkles?

Travis got home Friday and so we all went as a family to Chuck E. Cheese. All three of my boys were in heaven. Peter probably would have spent all of his tokens on this train 'game' while Benji ate his body weight in pizza crust.

Whereas Travis simply reverted to a child-like state of glee and overstimulation due to all the flashing lights and sugary soda.

Happy Birthday Peter!!

Cruising

This video is specifically for the Grandparents in which I prove that Benji will not hold still for more than a couple seconds at a time. He crawls, he cruises along the furniture -- that kid is always going.

M is for..

And once again we're back with the letter M! This week we played Roll a Mouse,

 pin the Mustache on the Man (while sporting their own mustaches),

 read Curious George, did a Maze, sorted out M&Ms (the kids favorites),

made a M out of Marshmallows, played 'Hide the Monkey' and some other Monkey counting games. 

Whew. 

 You get all that? I'm just excited for another few weeks off...

I'm sure they will hate this post one day

But really, what else are Moms for?

Ring the Dinner Bell

Last night Peter and Travis got back from running errands around 5:30pm -- which also happens to be our usual dinner time. I guess he's pretty set in his schedule since he ran in the door and immediately yelled to me: "Momma, did you eat dinner already?"

I told him no. By that point he had rounded the corner, moving towards the table, when he pulls up short and clearly perplexed, demands "Well, why isn't the table set?"

I promise I'm not raising a misogynist. Just a constantly hungry boy.

Hiking Switzer Falls

One of the joys of living in California is enjoying the fabulous weather all year long. 

Seriously.

The forecast for New Years Eve was a sunny 70 degrees so we decided to go hiking up Switzer Falls with some of Trav's co-workers. 

Here we are at the outset of the hike -- me and my handsome boys.

It was a bit chilly starting off but by the time we got going we were down to t-shirts. Man I love Cali.

And even though it was almost a five mile hike, Peter went most of the way on his own. 

But all that hard work was rewarded with this beautiful view.

 And then we made it to the falls itself. Which were just so pretty.

 Trav even went for a little dip in the pool below.

It was a bit nippy.

 And check out this pretty view from the top of the falls.

 Benji even fell asleep on the way back. 

What a perfect way to get ready for the new year. 

Happy New Year to you all!