Thanksgiving

Can't believe it's the end of Thanksgiving weekend already. Seriously this is getting beyond life going quickly and on to some kind of crazy time-lapse photography existence where everything seems to blurr past. I find I need to just get comfortable with the idea that I'm always behind and quit trying to really catch up. Instead I am now focused on survival.

Anyway enough complaining. I should be showing the wonderful things we have to be thankful for. Of course top on the list this weekend should be the wonderful dinner we had with family on thursday. Not only was this my turn to cook (first time in something like five years as I've been pushing off my turn for reasons named Ashton and Jacqueline). Well maybe its old-timers setting in but I really do believe that this was the most beautiful turkey I have ever done. It tasted pretty good too. Sadly in the rush to get everything on the table I didn't take a photo myself. Suzie did though and if I get a copy I'll post it so you can see for yourself. I did take a photo of the table though.



We started out the weekend with the Thanksgiving dessert at Pre-school. Jacqueline was thrilled as she got to go to "school" for the party. The rest of the weekend involved Suzie and the girls coming over on wednesday night to help with the preparations, a wonderful feast on Thursday, a bike ride on Friday, a trip to the movies for Mom & Ashton on Sat (The Bee Movie -- Bob and Jaq went to the gym) and a christmas card photo shoot for the girls on Sunday.


We didn't get the tree this weekend but we did put up some lights and decorations out front. Next weekend we'll have to finish that up. Guess that means we have another pre-christmas post or two coming. I also ordered the Christmas photos and decided to use the blog for the holiday letter. This will at least keep me from being quite so late getting the cards out since stuffing envelopes is a lot quicker without a letter.

Disney Princess Extravaganza

I know I know -- its taken me a very long time to write up this trip summary. I apologize and I'm sure I have a good reason but somehow I can't remember what it is. Something about kids being sick and us being busy I'm sure.

Anyway I do appreciate your patience so here it is our report of the Bear's Vacation at Wally World, oops Disney.

The trip was really just a long weekend, arriving on Sat and flying home on Tuesday. The girls were wonderful ages for the park and Suzie and Cuong were there to help with the adult-to-kid ratio (I would consider 1.5:1 the minimum requirement for a Disney trip). Otherwise the lack of naps would require serious upper body strength to survive. Thankfully, Baby decided to nap on Auntie Suzie for a bit ;-)



We started out with the idea that we would have matching tinker bell outfits on Saturday but Jacqueline didn't make it out of the hotel, seems that two is a much more practical age preferring comfort to style.



Ashton, on the other hand, made it most of the day in her Tinkerbell costume. She was especially happy when Crush talked to her in his show calling her "the girl with the shiny shell". He called her "Awesome Ashton" when she introduced herself. He called on her since she had her hand up to ask him a question (How did you learn how to swim?). When Crush asked her what she had on her noggin (sunglasses) she didn't understand him and she said "My Tinkerbell costume". Then Crush put some sunglasses on and said "look at my Tinkerbell costume" to the delight of the whole audience. It was very cute.



Throughout the trip the girls were beside themselves with glee. Especially Ashton, who seriously could have been an advertisement for the place with the total joy she was oozing out of her very pores.

The highlight of the trip was the princess lunch which got several photo-ops with each of the princess characters who came by the table to see the kids. It was a big hit.



Both the girls loved all the rides. Even baby who was pretty tired the whole trip refusing to nap (and as we found out later coming down with something). Turns out we were there at the same time as the SoCal wildfires and the winds at the park were really strong making air quality pretty poor.

On day three Bob, Meg and Jacqueline got a real-life e-ticket ride via an ambulence to the ER to get Jacqueline a "Breathing treatment" (we also got her a shot of antibiotic, some tylenol, some additional medication to help her breathing). Not exactly the trip end we were expecting, but the Disney help was great, they even picked us up from the ER and took us back to the hotel and got us a humidifier for the tough night.

Luckily, Ashton got to stay at the park with Auntie Suzie so at least one of the Bear's had a fun last day.



Thankfully baby bounced back a bit for the flight home which was a relief and in a few days was back to normal. Mom and Dad however, were very tired and ready for a relaxing trip back to work.

The run-up to Halloween

Its getting close to Halloween and that means a frenzy of costumes, pumpkins, bounce houses and various other fun activities.

I know the suspense was killing you but we have chosen our costumes this year. For Ashton the theme is Barbie's Island Princess, for Jacqueline it's a cheerleader (go team!).

Of course we have to not only have a costume for Halloween but we also need to practice several times by watching the movie, doing the dancing, etc.


We are all very excited I can assure you. Today we took them to one of the very fake "pumpkin patches" which is really just an empty lot that has a bounce house, some bails of hay a large inflatable slide and a pile of pumpkins to "pick". Of course Jacqueline had to go on the slide as well. Which then meant that I had to go up with her and let me tell you -- I was feeling a bit high up after that climb (she on the other hand was thrilled and only smashed her face one time coming down).



On the home front we are mostly getting ready for our big Disney adventure next weekend. We are also hoping to recover from our various electronic plagues which this week include our washing machine having fried the electronics and our TV often deciding to die after 10 minutes of use (everyone knows you need 22 minutes of use to watch any kids show so this is a problem!)



We are also attempting to adjust to a nap schedule with a mobile 2 year old (no more crib). We've had some interesting stories with a few occasions of a nap on the floor, a few occasions with a request to actually sleep (I need to sleep) and one occasion of her getting "stuck" inside her cooking stove by taking off the top and climbing in.

The last one happened yesterday with the dialog going something like this -- [door closed and somehow not opening for her (turns out it wasn't the door she was messing with after all but I didn't realize that until later)].

Jaq: I need to get out
Meg: go to sleep -- its time to sleep
Jaq: Daddy -- I need to get out (tears)
Meg: You need to go to bed
Jaq: Mommy -- tears, I need to get out
Meg: Jaq go to bed now
Jaq:... tears
Jaq: ... tears.. Mommy I stuck
Meg: [finally going into the room].....ohmygod! How the heck did you get in there?!

All kinds of fun!

I get out [of] my bed

Yup, our baby is two and there is a lot to update everyone about. First lets get the vital stats out of the way. She had her dr. apt today and weighed in at 27lbs and 34.5 inches, that's 50% weight and 75% height. This is a good improvement over the 25% weight she was at 18months. I attribute this to less sick days vs. any significant improvement in appetite to be honest. In general she was looking good with excellent showing off of verbal skills and (of course) more fluid in her ears.

Which brings me to the next topic -- her ENT (ear-nose-throat) dr. consultation this week. I had gone in suspecting she would be getting ear tubes and left a bit unclear. The dr. didn't mention tubes but instead said her tonsils and adenoids were infected/enlarged. She has to go back for a hearing test week after next (after a round of antibiotics to clear up the current infection) and then I guess we will see where we go from there. Of course through all of these dr. apts and 2 shots she was an excellent sport only really crying when they tried to get her to lay down vs. when they gave her a shot.


The birthday party was an excellent family event, with gifts being of specific interest this year (to both her and Ashton) and the bounce house being a big plus for both girls. As you can see there was a lot of bouncing and even the kids push car had to be ridden by the big sister.

And lastly we must discuss the big transition to the "big girl bed". Now those of you who know me well realize that I'm in no rush to get them out of the crib. I'm a HUGE fan of a cage that they cannot escape from (only in a good way I assure you). But alas our girl decided that a great two year old accomplishment would be the climb out of my crib trick. Yup, so just like she took her first steps exactly at age one, she decided she was done with a crib exactly at age 2. Good thing I had bought the conversion kit for her crib a few months ago. Bad thing was that we had to work out a temporary solution on the birthday night which I will forever remember as the over-bounced-over-caked-under-napped-terror-kids event where both she and her sister decided to freak out and make me wonder why we had them. Anyway we all survived that and now we have a toddler bed. We have even gotten one nap out of her in the bed (but only one out of about 6 tries, the rest of the time you really would have to call it a "bedroom party" vs a nap.

Which of course gives us the quote for this blog entry. Monday morning (first morning of the toddler bed) she came into the bathroom where I was getting ready and announced that "I get out my bed" with much glee. Sadly, Tuesday morning she decided to instead fall out of bed with a big THUMP. So we are all adjusting. For the record I still plan to continue to call her "baby" though out this year as she is still my baby and I'm in absolutely no hurry to have her grow up.

Congratulations Driscolls

A hot day, a wonderful wedding.


Appropriate envy on the part of the little sister who also had to wear a princess outfit. Special thanks to Justine for getting the Tinkerbell outfit for Ashton a few years back -- did just the trick!



A near meltdown on the part of the flower girl and a wonderful recovery on the part of Shannon, who turned tears into glee and even got a few rings of the bell along the way. Ashton was very grateful for the last minute [second] change of plans that gave her a friendly hand to hold down the aisle.




A cute photo op trying on the veil with Heather just to see how it would look.



And, of course, a photo of the cute couple was also in order. Both Mother and Father of the bride held up and looked great too.

As [my] dad would say... a good time was had by all. Couldn't have thought of a better summary myself!

Thanks for letting us share Heather and Aaron. It was a great anniversary party!

10 years of Wedded Bliss

Decided to create a post to honor our wedding anniversary, even though Ashton has expressed disappointment several times at not being invited to the event (!?).






Anyway, just got wedding photos scanned so decided I should post a few. Yes I think we look exactly the same today and anyone who wants to suggest otherwise will do so at their peril. We miss you mom & dad Bear.

Those silly things kids say

I know everyone who is around children has their stories about things that child says that are either a) funny or b) odd or c) profound or d) all of the above. We all know that kids are both smarter then we give them credit for and more observent then we are.

Anyway here is one of those stories to share.



Ashton -- 4.5 years old
"Mom what are we going to do about the candles? All our princess dresses are flammable."

Now, this is/was a completely legitimate question. There was an entire table of girls in princess costumes [which are, indeed, highly flammable due to the vast amount of tulle]. Birthday cake was on its way and candles would be involved, for singing and wish making. Essentially a scene from any 4 year old [girl] birthday party, trust me, I'm becoming the expert on the topic.

Of course, the mother standing next to me at the party asked "Did she just say that the dresses were flammable?" (!). To this I had to sigh and say "yes".

I also know exactly how Ashton came to know about the risk of flammable princess dresses and birthday candles concern -- yup its all my fault.

In my defense, I was not being a paraniod mother, nor was I planning to make my child sound like someone in an old folks home. It happened the same way that all conversations happen with Ashton, very innocently and normally until such point as you somehow jump off the cliff and end up explaining something she doesn't need to know for years and years.

I am pretty sure the discussion was several months ago, since I do remember it but can't place exactly which birthday it was. The conversation went something like this:


Meg: Scoot back a bit honey[from the table/birthday cake]
Ashton: Why ?
Meg: because there is a candle there
Ashton: Why do I need to scoot back when there is a candle there?
Meg: Well, you are wearing a princess dress and its a bit close to the flame [in fact the dress is almost in contact with the flame]
Ashton: Why can't my princess dress be close to the flame?
Meg: because Princess dresses are flammable.
Ashton: what does that mean?
Meg: it means they could catch fire easily and that might not be a very fun thing for a birthday party

Of course, I realize where I went wrong with the whole discussion now, but honestly you never expect that they are listening to you anyway, let alone planning to quote you around other 4 year olds!

Somehow, you think that if you just answer matter of factly, with some specific detail, it will make the questions stop. Anway, there you have it, I have a 4 year old who would fit right in any senior citizen's club, I guess that is something.