Remembering Memorial Day 2009

* This is going to be a lame post because Blogger is being retarded and not letting me post pictures correctly. So unfortunately, what little pictures I have are all you're gonna get!*

So wasn't Memorial Day just last week? Oh...

Anyway, time flies when you're having fun!

We spent the morning at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma, taking pictures and letting the boys run run R U N ! ! ! It was so funny to see them use all of that square footage! (Grandma & Grandpa Harrison decided to come with us, which we loved. It was great to hang out with them and get extra help with kids!)

They were into the gravestones, the grass, and Einstein especially loved the water in the flower vases. ??? I have no idea, but it was the coolest thing to him! The view of the bay was absolutely gorgeous, and Grandpa Harrison (I always have to refer to him as that around my kids since both Bryan's and my dad are named "Michael". We couldn't have planned it any more confusing for our and Nate & Lisa's kids. What? Double cousins? WHAT? Two Grandpa Mike's??? Crazy!) didn't dissappoint with his stories of jets zooming overhead when he worked in San Diego.


After puttering around for a bit longer, we decided we wanted to go to Cabrillo National Monument. We didn't really end up doing too much there; we went to tour a lighthouse, but that ended up being really boring and the kids were getting tired, so we didn't stay longer than half an hour. It was funny to see Einstein so excited to get up there (he walked everywhere all by himself; no stroller for him!), then once we went in, he lost total interest. He was way more interested in the wildlife! Curly was just happy to be around people, and flash his million dollar baby smile to everyone that would give him an opportunity. Kid celebrity, anyone? :)
It was a great day to get our kids' wiggles out, and for daddy to be around. Did I mention I LOVE holidays from school? It was SO great having Bryan for the ENTIRE day! I really look forward to future weekends, when he doesn't have to work, when he's not doing homework, and we can go do FUN things together!
(On that good note, however, I think it's best to not take his advice on the subject of whether or not to take strollers. On this little trip, we opted (he suggested) to not take our stroller. Granted, we wouldn't have used it at some places, but it sure would have come in handy on some of those long trails! We were lucky to have his parents with us, or my arms would have been totally shot by the end of the day!)

It finally happened.

Original Post: 5/3/09

I finally allowed Curly's hair to be cut.

It really was getting ratty and poofy, and I stalled as much as I could. But Bryan finally got his wish, and buzz cut my baby's hair! He's been wanting to shave (yes, SHAVE) his head for months. ??? It must be some weird rite of passage thingy with boys and their daddies. Or maybe it's just my pseudo-eccentric-at-times husband. At any rate, it was the chopping block for those luscious curls! :(
It got to the point where I could put Curly's hair into a little pig tail, so I knew the time was coming for a trim. But who can ever trim a baby's hair??? They are so wiggly it's almost impossible. So... out came the hair clippers, and Au revoir beautiful hair! Now he looks like a mini-businessman to me. But he's still so cute, I could kiss him all day!

I sure got the stink-eye for putting his loooong hair in barrettes!

Einstein has informed me that ponytails are called "hair-tails'. So funny!

Sheesh, kid! You have some long locks!

For months, I had put my foot down that "Absolutely NOT" Curly's hair was going to get cut, let alone buzzed! So we came to a happy compromise and he got a short trim. I was silently hoping and praying that Bryan wouldn't 'slip' and be 'forced' to cut all of Curly's adorable hair.

But Curly did exceptionally well with his first haircut! He hardly squirmed at all, and wasn't afraid of the buzzing noise from the clippers. Kudos to you, little man. Even with the ticklish, wispy baby hair, he did really well. That also meant no bald baby. Only a few spots needed to be touched up, and Bryan didn't 'mess up' with a baby's head trying to make a quick getaway (you all know what I'm talking about), so he was able to keep a little length.

Did you notice Einstein sitting so quietly in the background? I think he was in awe that someone else gets their hair cut around here!

Look at all that hair... GONE!

Gone (with the trim) are the reddish highlights he once had. Now he is a fully BLONDE kid. He looks like a mini-surfer with intensely blue eyes and very beach-blonde hair! People were so shocked to not even recognize him for a minute. I just hope that his curls eventually do come back... I hope, I hope!

Isn't he such a cute little kid? I love it! :)

UPDATE: It's been a few weeks since his haircut, and his curls are in fact growing back. Big sigh of relief for me on that one! :)

I'm a big kid now

*Original Post: 5/5/09*

Today Einstein got a real BIG BOY BED!!! I've been waiting for this day for quite some time, probably more excited than him! He's been sleeping on a crib mattress on the floor ever since he could climb out of the crib (over a year, people! I'm really on top of things...). My brother Jared and his awesome bride Jennie donated the bed and frame and sheets! Thanks guys! It's seriously the comfiest bed a big kid could ever hope for!

Anyway, J&J live in St. George, so they hauled all this stuff with them in their little Element (tight fit!) for about 6 hours. Talk about family love! :) When they came to set it up, Einstein was SOOOO excited and talking a mile a minute. JRAD was so awesome to set up the frame and even put the sheets on while Jennie and I got caught up a wee bit and entertained Einstein for a few minutes. And once the bed was up, the jumping commenced! He wanted everyone to jump with him, especially Jared (who is 6'4"ish)! It was super cute to see the pure joy on his face.

Thanks again Jared & Jennie! You two are awesome! The sheets even matched perfectly the boys' room colors... I guess great minds think alike! :) You know now that every time you two visit, Einstein will force you to jump on his bed!

Feeling lazy?

I just posted something really cool on my exercise blog, Svelte. Go check it out!

Just wanted to say...

Thank you for all of your prayers, thoughts and well wishes. I felt so much strength from all of you during my not-so-great week. I felt incredibly uplifted through my grief. Now it's back to the daily grind, and I am so fortunate to share it with friends like you! Thank you!