2009: The Year in Review

January 2009: Josh got an award. Will had a very bad stomach virus. Will found his freckle on his foot and learned to say "hi". Kent and Bridget visited us. Will got his own "play shoot" hoop and has loved it ever since.

February 2009: Will turned 1.5 years old. He became an avid climber. We celebrated Valentine's Day. Will had his first dentist appointment. We spent some time hiking and visiting the beach.

March 2009: We did a lot of chores, including packing to move to our new apartment. Daddy taught Will how to cook like a man. We visited a lot of parks and played in a lot of sand boxes.

April 2009: We made our yearly trip to the flower fields in Carlsbad. Grammie and Grandpa visited for Easter and helped us move to our new place. We celebrated Jesse's first birthday with the family.

May 2009: Will learned how fun it is to "hey yaw" things with Daddy. We spent Mother's Day at Sea World. Will began talking a lot more. Will took a music class. Will started using the potty at 21 months.

June 2009: Josh got a 287 on his Physical Fitness Test (out of 300). We spent some days at the beach. Will took 6 swimming lessons and started swimming on his own. We spent Father's Day at the San Diego County Fair.

July 2009: Daddy spent most of the month aboard the ship. Mommy and Will managed to have some fun in the various water parks around. Our camera died and we got a new one. Daddy bought Will his first tee-ball set. We celebrated 4th of July with some friends.

August 2009: We got some exciting news that we are expecting. Josh bought Will a fish. Gram and Gramps visited for Will's 2nd birthday. We had an alligator birthday pool party.

September 2009: We said goodbye to Daddy. Will mastered the art of using the potty and wearing undies. We visited the USS Midway and Big Bear Lake.

October 2009: We visited many different pumpkin patches. Will learned to sing some songs. Josh crossed the equator and became a "Shellback". Joey turned 7. We filled our time with outings with friends. Will was an alligator for Halloween.

November 2009: Mommy got a new computer! Daddy rode an elephant in Thailand. Mommy had an ultrasound with a very uncooperative baby. We visited Connecticut and Massachusetts for two weeks. We went the whole month without hearing from Josh. Megan and Josh had their 4th anniversary. Will's love for Santa began and he became a true chatterbox.

December 2009: We sang Christmas songs and visited Santa many, many times. Will's search for Lady Ho-ho began, until she showed up for lunch one day. We found out that Kylie is joining us in April. We got a Christmas tree, decorated it, and celebrated Christmas. Daddy celebrated his birthday.

In 2010, we plan to have visitors in January and February. We're hoping for Daddy to make it home sometime in March. We are excited about Kylie's arrival in April, and we're moving to Virginia in June! Every year brings something new and exciting around here! Thanks for following and supporting us. Happy New Year!

Made with Love

Today was Daddy's birthday. We try to have traditions around here, but our timing sometimes doesn't work out. Still, we persevere. So, in the name of Josh's birthday, Mommy and Will made a cake for him anyway. Since it was mostly Will's project and for Will's sake (well, and Mommy's post-naptime sanity), he poured all of his love into this cake. Can you see it oozing out? I mean, really, you can SEE it coming out, right?

Will did all the decorating, most of the icing and all of the mixing. Cake, anyone?

Happy Birthday, Daddy...where ever you might be, we're thinking of you and we love you!

Merry Christmas

We had a pretty good Christmas, our last here in California and our last as a family of two/three. When Will woke up and discovered the sight under the tree, he immediately declared, "Woah! Santa sneak Will house!" Yes, indeed, Santa was a busy and sneaky guy under our tree.
After playing with the fire truck for a bit, Will opened a gift from Grammie and Grandpa and it happened to be a chainsaw. This came in handy as he continued to open the rest of his gifts. Pesky ribbon? Too much tape? Chainsaw!

As we made our way through the boxes and the batteries, the phone rang. Best Christmas present of all! Daddy called! It was relatively clear as far as deployment phone calls go, too, so, even though there was a time limit, Will got to say, "Hi Buddy Daddy. Merry Kissmas Daddy." Mommy got some tearful words in, too. Will was a bit confused why we had to say "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Birthday" to Daddy, but he went along with it like Mommy was insane for asking. Daddy said he probably won't get to call or email again for another month, so we had a lot to squeeze in to a little phone call. It was so nice to hear his voice and semi-share Christmas with him. He asked A LOT of questions about what we were doing and what things looked like and smelled like. Luckily, though, he got our mail yesterday (from Thanksgiving!) and it had videos of Will in it and CDs of pictures. That, plus packages he received from Leah and Great Nana brought a smile to his face for Christmas. Only 4 more months left until he's back and our family doubles in size!


Thank you to everyone who thought of us this holiday season, especially those who sent cards, gifts or messages. Your cards sure warmed up our hearts and our wall.

Will spent a very busy morning playing with all his toys. He used his new Dyson to vacuum up the mess we left behind and he built things with his new tools. We managed to get his new "fast green car" together and outside for a spin, thanks Unkie J! We even watched a bit of his new "All About Garbage Trucks" movie. A real hit.

After a lot of web-cam calls with the family and a nice Christmas meal (Will helped cook a turkey), bed time never sounded so good.

Santa Cookies

Forget reindeer and a sleigh, Santa can fly on these cookies alone!

After naptime, Will knew it was time to make Santa's cookies. We gathered the ingredients and set out to prepare some delicious-ness. First, we had to mix.

Then, we rolled the dough out on the table. Will was not impressed with the whole, keep the dough flat thing; he wanted a vol-can-O! Finally, we pressed some shapes into the cookies and got some in the oven while the boy created his "vol-can-O!"

Will really got into it. Really, really into it.

After dinner and another visit from the UPS man, it was time to put the icing, frosting and sprinkles on the cookies. Will went to TOWN. He sampled. He licked. He got INTO it.

When he felt he wasn't getting into his artwork enough, he became ONE with the frosting. He ate one of his creations.

In about ten minutes, he also became one with the shower.

After finding his "ho ho jammies", he said goodnight to the Christmas tree, and Merry Christmas to Daddy and Kylie and headed off for the visions of sugar plums dancing in his head. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Carillo Ranch on Christmas Eve Day

This morning, we met up with some friends to explore Carillo Ranch in Carlsbad. Neither of us moms had ever been there before, but we've heard it's a cool place to explore. It was definitely cool! Peacocks and peafowl roam the grounds everywhere. There are, according to one of the park keepers, about 95 of the wild birds roaming around. The kids had a great time exploring all the old ranch houses and barns and checking out the various courtyards. The birds, for the most part, ignored us and our children's attempts to touch them.

Rudolph, with your nose so bright

While Will was drawing on his easel this afternoon, he was singing along to himself. A normal occurrence. Until he said, "Ta-DA!" and came around the corner with his nose colored. When I asked him, "Will, what are you doing?" He answered, "Rudolph! Nose GLOWS! YEAH!"

Indeed. Meet Rudolph. I let him go to the store like this. He told everyone, "Drive Santa Sleigh." The kid loves Christmas. Can you blame him?

Put me in the Zoo

Today, we spent the whole morning at the San Diego Zoo with our friends, Jeff, Amy and Ben. Ben's cousins, Kaelan, McKenna and Stella also joined us for the day. Suddenly, Will's vocabulary is limitless. He ran from animal to animal, calling out their names like it was nothing. He knew the "rhino", "jaguar", "gorilla", "giraffe", "elephant", "hippo","polar bear" and so many more. I had no idea he knew these words, let alone could identify the animals they belonged to.

Will had a great day, even though he was exhausted by the time we got home. He walked/ran the whole time. On the way out of the zoo, Will's little ears overheard the Balboa Railroad Train. We headed over for one little ride. He was absolutely delighted to find the train decorated with Christmas lights and the conductor wearing a Santa hat. When the conductor called out, "all aboard!" Will almost exploded with happiness.

Lunch with Santa

Will is the luckiest kid ever! After having lunch with Lady Ho Ho only 3 days ago, he got to go to a little block party today after Stroller Strides and have lunch with Santa! The Stroller Strides moms set up a little potluck lunch in the cul-de-sac of our friends' street and as the kids played and ate, the faint sound of Jingy Bells could be heard from down the road. Will craned his neck to see if it was Santa. Sure enough, it was! He started frantically waving and as soon as Mom said, "Well, go say hi!", he was off and running to greet the big guy in red.

Santa had a gift for each child in his bag, plus he sang Christmas carols and did magic tricks. What a guy! Santa brought Will a "baby fire truck" which went nicely with the ambulance that Santa brought for Will's buddy, Mason. It was truly a magical afternoon for the kids and we are so lucky to be part of groups like Stroller Strides that allow us these adventures.