I was in the kitchen cleaning when I hear perfect chord progressions coming from the living room. What!? I thought. Vince playing chord progressions?! When I peeked in the living room, I saw Vince plinking around one-fingeredly on the piano… somehow he had activated a “chord” function on the keyboard. And here I thought he was some kind of child prodigy. Nope, just my sweet little Vince enjoying himself. But that’s prodigy enough for me.
While in UT we got to visit with some of our very good friends! We were able to see the Torres family (Will, Maria, Cadence, and their new little one Kylee), the Rosello family (Becca, Jorge, and their little ones Bella and Alessa), and the Coynes (Josh, Emily, and their little ones Guy and Leo). We loved visiting with all of you! And we can’t wait to be back in UT permanently (well, at least for the next several years).
These pictures I took while we were visiting the Power family in WVC. We miss you guys SO much!! Three months!! 8-o
Another post with just a bunch of pictures. We went to UT for Thanksgiving. Saw family (Loved it!!), saw friends, had a great time, drove home. That just about sums it up
Joseline loving on Grandma Shirley (Russ’ mom)
Joseline trying to grab anything and everything on the table, and looking adorable doing it!
Russ’ older sister Renae and her daughter, Annie
Russ, probably smiling at the kids, or his siblings, or just smiling because sometimes he does that :)
Russ’ little brother, Jordan and their nephew, Connor, in timeout (put there by Grandma Shirley (Jordan’s mom, Connor’s grandma) after they were fighting over some toy or being overly rambunctious, or something). Pretty hilarious.
Samuel, Russ’ little sister Sara’s son. His birthday was on Thanksgiving, so we had a little family party for him after the huge Rowley thing in WVC. These were the little John Deere tractors we got him. He also got a big Woody and Buzz from Toy Story. He said “My Woody!” and “My Buzz!” when he opened them. It was pretty great.
Vincente giving Aunt Heather (Russ’ youngest sister) a hug during our family photo shoot… ha ha, that is a story that all of us will always remember.
Vince playing with some grass at the photo shoot
Sara’s youngest, Emma.
Well this post is going to be mostly pictures because I didn’t realize how many I had! Here in Monterey is one of the best aquariums in the US (probably in the world). It is HUGE and is located right on the bay, so the water in all the tanks is actually bay water. The bay water is pumped in and filtered during the day (so visitors can see all the animals) and then unfiltered after closing so the animals get to bask in real unadulterated ocean water all night. Pretty awesome.
The libraries and the aquarium in Monterey have a program called “Shelf to Shore” where the aquarium offers free admission to low income families who hold library cards. The idea is that if you show kids all these really cool marine creatures, they will be more eco-conscious and bigger defenders of natural life. I couldn’t agree more! Vince LOVES the penguins, whales, seahorses, seals, sea otters, and more that he learns about at the aquarium.
One of the best parts about the aquarium is all the fun things for kids to do. There are two different “kid zones” – one is the “flippers and flukes” section where kids get to learn about all the mammals that live in the ocean – because, after all, humans are mammals, too! The other section is the “splash zone” with all these cool water exhibits and dress up and Nemo exhibits for the kids to see. Well, the exhibits don’t say “Nemo” but they have all the fish from the movie, so Vince points out Nemo and Dory every time he sees the tank. There is even a baby section that is gated with baby’s own splashing pool and a water bed! Joseline was freaked out the first time we put her on the water bed, but now she loves it, and loves slapping it and feeling the waves!
The other really cool exhibit that Vince LOVES is the “Outer Bay” – it’s almost a completely contained eco-system with sharks, sting rays, tuna, mackerel, and other fish. Vince loves seeing the sharks in the Outer Bay. And don’t you love the he wears his shark t-shirt to the aquarium? I think he’s worn that shark shirt most of the times we’ve been.
I love the mission of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I love getting free passes each month and being able to take Vince to see all the marine life. It feels good to educate him about thing. I love him to see things hands on (you can touch hermit crabs, star fish, sea cucumbers, sea kelp, and more!). It really is a great place. I’ve been really grateful for that blessing.
… but not very happy about it.
A few days ago I heard Joseline fussing in her crib. Which is what she normally does when she thinks we’re not coming to get her fast enough. But I was in the middle of something with Vince, so I called to her that I would come get her. Then her crying started getting more and more frustrated, and eventually she was having a total meltdown. I went in there to check out what was going on, and there she was, standing in her crib! The only problem was that I don’t think she knew how she got there. And I think she didn’t really know how to get down. Poor little girl. And I just stood there taking pictures. :)
Found this piece of metal (along with three other pieces) here (I think we paid $3 for all four pieces) and made a magnet board for Vince. I was going to frame it, but it’s been sitting out in the garage for too many weeks, so framing it will have to wait (probably until we move, since I have 100 other things to do before then). It had some holes already in the metal, so I just bent the corners (to get rid of the sharp edges) and screwed the whole thing on to the wall. Voila!
And man am I glad to get the magnets out from underfoot in the kitchen!
This week, we made this box …
… to contain all of the toys that make their way to the living room from Vince’s bedroom. Some day we will have a play room, and all the toys will live in that room. Until then, they kind of live everywhere, although I do my best to keep them contained.
We’ve been through a number of containing devices in the living room.
The first was a basket:
Need I say more?
So the basket was retired to the garbage can after being horribly mutilated by the two year old destructo. Next came a rubbermaid container without the lid. That worked well. Until Vince decided that it was highly entertaining to throw the thing around on the hardwood. The corner cracked. But I wasn’t read to give up on the rubbermaid, so we continued using it. Until Vince and his friend Ethan stood on it. I heard a huge CRACK sound coming from the living room… there, in the corner of the living room, stood two little boys, sheepishly standing in the remains of my rubbermaid container. It was shattered. Ah well.
Anyway, so we had the wood slats from a neighbor’s old IKEA furniture, and then a few ends of wood I bought to repair our bed frame, and out of the scraps was born the idea for a much sturdier box. It can be sat in, stood on, and fortunately is too heavy for Vince to lift, so throwing it around won’t be a problem. It holds more toys that it will ever need to (hopefully) and fits perfectly between the window and the couch. (this picture is actually before I sawed off the tips of the corner pieces… they were sticking out a little much, so we just chopped them off after we got the sides and bottom together).
