Lesson 5 - Communication:The Small Stuff

In case you're new here, I've been doing a marriage series about what makes our marriage work. You can find other posts here. Go check them out, right now.

Okay now that you're back. I thought I would let you guys in on something that most people think is weird, but it totally works for us.

Are you ready, hold on to your seats and don't think we're completely crazy.

You sure you're ready?

As you know Mr. and I have been together for almost 10 years now, and since our very first date (that didn't involve a bar, haha), we have NEVER listened to the radio. Yep we drive in complete silence.

That time we drove from Washington D.C. to Vermont and back in a week (about 1200 miles), we didn't turn on the radio. Or the other time we went to Yosemite to Aptos and back home (about 1000 miles), no radio. If we don't have anything to talk about we sit in silence. Strange to most people I know. But it works for us, it forces us to communicate with each other and really enjoy each other's company. For whatever reason after 10 years, we still have stuff to talk about. I would probably say 40% of our drives are in silence (sometimes I sleep, so that accounts for probably 10%, hehe). We just enjoying the scenery we are passing, like the one time we passed a Zebra on the California Coast just grazing, we back tracked and took pictures.

Now when the radio is on, it seems strange and very loud that it's on in the car when we are both there, and we usually turn it off right away. There have been a handful of occasions when we do turn on the radio, like if a LA Dodger game is on or Chicago Bears game is on and we're driving and I'm sleeping Mr. will turn it on so he can listen while he drives, but mostly when I'm sleeping he just drives in silence.

So next time you're in the car with your honey, turn the music/talk radio off and see what happens. It might just surprise you!

Hair Cut

Someone got a haircut yesterday. Our nanny also cuts hair...what doesn't she do? Anyway, she said that she was using the buzz cut thingy, and he moved and well there went part of his hair, so almost shaved it is. But it's super cute, and makes him look more like a little boy instead of my baby, boo hoo!

Some Random Things:

Colton has this blankie and is seriously attached to it (seen just behind him, has dots on one side and solid on the other). Monday I had to wash it and I had to nearly tear it out of his hands to get it in the wash. As soon as it was done in the dryer, I told him let's go get blankie from the dryer, he screams out "I So HAPPY!!!" and goes running towards the dryer. We've learned to NEVER leave it at home while going anywhere, it's meltdown city. Good thing we've taught him blankie stays in the car. But everytime we get back to the car, he acts like he hasn't seen it for days, not just minutes. He says, "Oh blankie, love you" and kissed it, and then hugs it, a lot. He's the cutest.

If you are an email subscriber to My Publisher they are having a really awesome sale right now. But the catch is that you have to use it before mid-August, now I'm trying to rack my brain for something to put in 70 pages worth of photobook. I just bought a Shutterfly photo book, (through Living Social) that needs to be used before mid-July...I am going to be a busy bee for the next couple of months.

Nordstroms is having their half yearly sale, must find something to buy...hopefully I can score some good deals on maternity stuff. I need more work shirts to wear, I seem to be rotating through the same 5 shirts...need more choices!

Linking up with Shanna today.

4 Day Weekend!

I had Friday off, which made this weekend a 4 day weekend, awesome! First I'd like to thank all of those service members that gave their lives so that my family and I can enjoy 4 day weekends.

Friday was one of my off Fridays, Mr. decided to work from home, yay! Although he did actually work, but he did join us for some lunch in the backyard.

Can you tell who got lunch first? Mom's always last, right?

After Baby Fox work up from his nap, Mr. took this cute picture of him.

See any similarities?

Friday night went to a friends house for dinner, wish I would have gotten pictures of how cute Baby Fox was with our friends little girl, he was hugging and kissing her good night, too cute.

Saturday we were up and off to visit my grandma, trying to get in as much time with her as possible.

Baby Fox was showing Great Grandma the bear he found on her bookcase. Bear was giving her snuggles.

 Sunday we met up with my cousin and her kids, Baby Fox loves his older cousin, and always says "M my buddy" or "M sleep at my house" (we told him that they were coming to spend the weekend with us in a couple of months).

Lunch time! Note: Baby Fox and his girl cousin (on the left) are only 6 months apart

We went to see the fish just outside the restaurant we picked

We got one last visit with Great Grandma before we headed back home.

Baby Fox thought it would be funny to finish off dinner with a bowl on his head. Silly kid.

Ta-da!!!!

 After being in Chicago last weekend and my parents this weekend, Baby Fox's schedule has been crazy. He slept until 10am on Monday! Monday morning we walked down to our community park for their half marathon and they had Marines there showing off their tanks.

Baby Fox wasn't so sure about being on top of the tank

 Lunch outside again. Love eating outside!

For the record, I only ate half of that sandwich

After nap time, Ampa (aka Grandpa) and Nana came over for dinner. They filled up the water guns. Notice how Ampa has the orange water gun? Yep that one doesn't work, sneaky Baby Fox, or Daddy who told Baby Fox to give Ampa the orange gun.

All in all it was a great weekend, got to see a lot of my cousins at Great Grandma's and it's only a 4 day work week! Woo hoo!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Linking up with Sami and Faith, Sarah and Megan

Easy Butterfly Hand Project

It is our Nanny's birthday this weekend so we thought we would do a nice project with Colton to give to her. I thought a butterfly handprint would be fun.

This was a super easy project and really quick.

Here's what you'll need:

Paint - 2 colors
Paper
Pom Poms (I used the left over from this project)
Eyes (Left over from this project)
Glue

Step 1: Get kid to put two hand prints on paper. This can be tricky. I literally had to tackle Baby Fox's hands so that he wouldn't get more paint on the paper. We had to practice a few times, let him get out some painting first, before I even attempted it.

Step 2: Cut out body of butterfly, I folded a rectangle piece of paper in half, and drew half of the body, cut it to make the full body. That way I knew it was going to be symmetrical. Glue to paper.

Step 3: Place eyes and antennae, if you don't have the pom poms but have some pipe cleaners you can use those for the antennae.

Step 4: Personalize your butterfly, you can see that Baby Fox scribbled on the bottom. I always think it's nice to add the year so that when looking back you know exactly how old they were when doing the art project.

And that's it, super easy right? Took us about 30 minutes from start to finish, so go out and make a butterfly handprint!

Disneyland Recap

Here's our recap of our trip to Disneyland. Of course we had to pick the HOTTEST day in May to go...of course. It was probably 90°, so most of the pictures you are going to see are a hot sticky mess. You've been warned.

We're waiting for the tram, and we realize how hot it is, Baby Fox is already sweating, this is going to be a long day!

Tram ride, Baby Fox LOVED it!

Of course we had to take a picture just inside the gates, doesn't everyone do this?

First stop was the Dumbo ride, since that is Baby Fox's current obsession. They give all the passengers a magic feather, totally cute. (it's the first ride of the day, and he's already sweaty, he didn't seem to notice though)

Next up: Storybook, he wasn't too impressed.

Then we met up with some friends and hit up Pirates of the Caribbean. It was hot while waiting outside, I thought my hat would help shade Baby Fox, he preferred it backwards.

Then we hit up the Jungle Cruise - Poor Baby Fox is just drenched in sweat.

We decided to cool off a bit and hit up It's a Small World, it was a much needed break from the heat!

He got up and started to dance, he loved it!

Baby Fox really wanted to ride on the monorail, so while our friends went to try and get their kids to nap, we decided this would be a good time for the monorail. We thought it would be airconditioned...we were wrong...it was hot! But Baby Fox loved it, so we didn't care that much.

Then we hit up the train that goes around Disneyland, it was a nice 20 minute break, we were in the shade and there was somewhat of a breeze. Baby Fox likes to climb on EVERYTHING! We're waiting for the train here.

Yep it's still hot outside, but now we're on the train. BTW, we got in trouble for taking this picture. We were told that kids were NOT allowed to stand on the benches and that they had to sit down...

Our friends then called and said that kids were done napping and that we should meet up again. We made our way over the California Adventure. First up Mater's ride.

He was indifferent to this ride. He wanted to ride on Mater, but all he got were some tractors.

We got to see Tow Mater in person, Baby Fox was in awe

Then Lightening McQueen drove up...was our lucky day we got to see both. 

If you haven't been to Cars Land, you HAVE to go, it was seriously the cutest ever, it looked JUST like the movie. We were really impressed. Finally after a whole day of going everywhere, Baby Fox finally got tired and laid his head down. We asked him if wanted to go on more rides or go home. He of course said MORE RIDES! We went on the Toy Story ride, such a fun ride, you get to shoot paint balls at stuff on a screen. I beat Mr. by 100 points, heck yeah!

After that we waiting around for the water light show, Baby Fox, loved it, but it's a LONG show, so we ended up leaving after 15 minutes or so, try to beat some of the exiting people.

So we're at the car and I'm changing Baby Fox into his PJ's so we can just put him down when we get home, I know a sticky mess, my type A personality had problems with this, but he's a kid, they don't care about dirt and sweat. Anyway, the only flat surface in my car is the trunk, so I lay Baby Fox down in the trunk, I told him to stay there, while I got the diapers out. He looks around, looks at me and then suddenly says: "Oh NO! I in trunk!!!" He's such a crack up! The funny part, the next day, he told the Nanny and her son "Mama put me in trunk!" Good thing we had already told the Nanny the story, so she knew what he was talking about, silly kid!

All in all, I think it was a very successful trip and we can't wait to take him back. He was such a trooper and was not whinny the whole day, even after nap time came and went. He slept great, and was his normal self the next day.

When can we go again?!

Chicago!

Okay, so I haven't had time to get my pictures together, but I do have a couple to show you.

Picture of us just outside of Lincoln Park Zoo, wish we had more time to go on a picnic here, it was so pretty!

One of my favorite pictures, in front of the monkey cages, with my two monkeys.

 At the wedding. Didn't have time for one of the bride and groom, so here's us instead.

 

This is from after we got back, Colton is obessessed with Tomato Soup, so we got some from Corner Bakery on our way home from the airport. I don't think a kid could love it more then he did. (that's his cheese face). Who needs a spoon when you can just drink it?

Some random things:

Don't fly United...or maybe check in 24 hours in advance? Not sure which yet, bottom line, they separated the three of us on the plane, yep my 2 year old was in his own row...in the middle seat and no one cared or wanted to help fix the problem. Fun times...NOT!

We had a fantastic time in Chicago, it's so much fun traveling with family, most of my aunt, uncles and cousins were there, so it was fun to see everyone in a different city.

iPad was totally necessary accessory for the 4.5 hour plane ride...thank goodness we had one. Also, my kid likes to watch Dumbo with no sound, he watch the entire thing twice with no sound.

Linking up with Shanna for "Random Wednesday" and Faith, Sarah and Megan for "Mommy Moments"

Random Wednesday

I had the most fantastic family weekend ever! Mother's day was perfect in every way. Started out with church, some relaxing and swimming and after Baby Fox's nap time parents came over for a BBQ and more swimming. Then...Monday, on Monday we took Baby Fox to Disneyland for the first time! No work, and Disneyland? Yes please! I'll recap D-land later, but here's a picture of how hot we were the whole day, seriously where is this summer 90° weather coming from?

I was trying to shield Baby Fox from the sun, since he didn't want to wear his own hat, I thought my bigger hat would give him a little more air...but we were pretty much this sweaty the whole day. Luck for us, It's a Small World is wonderfully air conditioned and LONG. We went on it twice.

Random Things I've been Thinking:

Apparently I'm a monster when it comes to packing, or so says Mr. He says he doesn't like my packing mode. We're leaving for Chicago today! Well actually our flight isn't until tomorrow, but we're driving to my Aunt and Uncle to spend the night, so we can be a 10 minute drive to the airport instead of an hour drive. Did I mention our flight is at 6:45am? Wish us luck, seriously.

The first time around on It's A Small World I don't think I saw half of the rooms, I was so busy enjoying watching Colton enjoy seeing everything that when we went through it the second time, it was like I was seeing it for the first time. Taking your kid to Disneyland and seeing how much they love it, could be one of the best things EVER.

Yep my kid sucks the first two fingers on his left hand, has since he was 5 months old, and does it when he's not sure of something or just bored. I'm fairly certain he doesn't realize he's doing it half the time. I'm also sure that he doesn't get sick as much because he touches EVERYTHING and then sucks his fingers...I'll be really surprised if he doesn't get sick, he seriously touched every chain rope in every line.

Looking forward to Chicago...but I just want to be finished packing. I still have stuff to pick up after work today. Wish us luck with the flight and a 2 year old.

Linking up with Shanna today.