Marina Easter Egg Hunt 2016
We go every year now to the Marina Easter Egg hunt. Kids love it. They got lots of eggs this year!
Happy Birthday Pop-pop! Hike to Toro, Soup and Birthday Cake
We took Pop-pop on a hike to Toro Park (or more like, he took us!) for his birthday on Saturday.
The grass was green and purple flowers were starting to bloom! Spring has sprung!
Melanie did great walking on the trail all by herself.
Vinny complained and wanted to be picked up! But he did great “jumping” the little stream we had to cross (forgot a pic!).
On Tuesday night i cooked some Italian Sausage Soup for dinner and brought it over. We also picked up a BR Ice Cream Cake!
I think this was the kids’ first ice cream cake. Needless to say it was a hit. They helped Pop-pop blow out the candles and each wanted seconds.
St. Patrick’s Day 2016
Melanie is 2 years old!
I cannot believe how much my baby girl has grown in the past several months! She talks a lot, understands almost everything, and has the most mischievous smile! She is definitely a “momma’s” girl no doubt about it. She cries whenever i leave the house. She is really SMART! It is amazing to me how much she talks and understands at 2 years old. Comparing her to Vinny, Vinny was a mute! He did not say anything or really communicate with us at all till around 3!
Currently obsessed with:
- Certain stuffed animals / dolls (Kitty, Frozen dolls, Pikachu)
- Wearing jackets (even if its not cold), hats/shoes (even sometimes to bed!)
- Watching Calliou (everyday)
- Playing in Sand / Stroller walks to Park
- Combing my hair
- Hide and seek
- Brushing her teeth
- Saying “I DID IT!” after she accomplishes something
- Drawing (crayons, chalk, dry erase, magnetic board)
- Pretending to talk on the phone
- Making sure she has everything the Vinny does (jealousy issues)
- Singing Frozen/Calliou Theme song, ABCs
- Bouncing on the bed
- Pretending to be a kitty/owl
- Wearing her Ballerina PJs
Carring around her entourange of stuff!
Her hat and jacket!
She loves to make art!
She is great and kicking balls!
Currently likes to eat (or shall is say, WILL eat… its a pretty short list!):
- Oatmeal
- Pancakes/Waffles/French Toast
- Breakfast sausage
- Fried Rice, Mexican Rice / Beans
- CORN DOGS
- Yogurt drink, Apple and Orange Juice
- Chips
- Fruit snacks
- Japanese Rice Crackers
- Chewy Bars
- Cake, Candy, Ice Cream
Current Routine:
- Goes to daycare full time
- Takes one 2-hr nap a day
- Still uses her pacifier (least on our watch) but we won’t let her take it out of the crib.
- Occasionally wants a bottle of milk before naptime, but other than that, she doesn’t drink milk (from us).
- Likes to eat her meals in front of the tv or “on the go” as we call it
VIDEOS
Hadn’t posted in a while, so some of these are a little old. This first one is from when she was 19 months old. She went through a phase of really being obsessed with her stuffed animal she calls “kitty”. Today she still loves kitty but it doesnt get dragged around quite as much… But she does get attached to certain things for a few days.
Here she is at 20 months, playing hide and seek. This is the first time i realized she knew the game, and said BOO! LOL!
She also is obsessed with combing my hair, but she hates it when you try to comb hers! (22 months old):
Dr. Checkup – she is underweight but besides that healthy!
Sibling Love
Melanie and Vinny have lots of fun together. Of course they always get jealous of each other but in general the get a long really well! It is funny to me when Vinny asks Melanie if he wants to play with her, and a lot of times Melanie will say “uhhh, no?” or not give him the right answer and he gets really upset. LOL. They love each other so much. They rough house a lot! Their favorite thing to do is jump and wrestle on the bed. They also love chasing each other. Vincent thinks Melanie is just a crack up.
Running in circle at the mall:
Melanie and Vinny acting silly:
BODYSHRED, MixxedFit, and BODYCOMBAT Trainings
The past few months have been busy with trainings for my “second job” as group fitness instructor.
In December, i completed a training for Jillian Michael’s BODYSHRED. This class is about H.I.I.T (High-intensity interval training) which is all the rage now. A 30 minute non-stop workout with a 3-min warm up, 4 circuits (each containing 3 min of resistance, 2 min of cardio, and 1 min of active recovery), and a 30-min cooldown. Doesn’t sound like much does it? Well, you should try it. Because its pretty darn effective! A great workout and makes you push yourself!
In January, Sandy and i wanted to try out a new dance fitness format we heard about called MixxedFit. It is a “people-inspired” dance class with explosive moves and boot camp toning. Basically, it reminded me more of Zumba because of its moves (a lot of booty shaking!), but they ONLY use english-worded music, instead of Latin music. I don’t think i will be teaching it, at least not anytime soon, because i have to audition in front of my boss and also get corporate appoval to add new format, and… i’m too busy doing,….
BODYCOMBAT! Which i just completed training for last weekend. This is LES MILLS mixed martial arts group fitness class. AND IT IS SO AWESOME. I’ve heard about it and been waiting for our gym to start offering it so i am so stoked to be able to have to opportunity to teach it. With LES MILLS you have to submit a video of you teaching an entire class to participants. Whew! I have to study, practice technique, coaching, choreo, etc! In-Shape plans to launch in this area in mid-April.
Meanwhile, i am still teaching U-JAM and R.I.P.P.E.D. — i still like these formats as well, and of course, BODYPUMP i love, but haven’t actually ever taught a class since i don’t have a class of my own in that format.
I’d love to teach MORE classes (currently i teach 4x a week – Mon, Wed, Thu, and Sat)… but with family life and full-time work i don’t know how its possible. I’d also love to just TAKE a person’s class, you know? Never really happens anymore. *sigh* Well, i do love all THREE of my jobs, — Mom, Designer, and Fitness Instructor. I lead a busy life but it’s my life and i’m happy!
Melanie’s 2nd Birthday Celebrations
Since we were in Yosemite for Melanie’s birthday, we didn’t do too much to celebrate on the actual day. My mom bought her a cake pop which she downed in 2 seconds!
When we got back, we had a little mini-celebration with Jeff’s parents as well. We ordered some Ginos’s pizza (one of her favorites) and a special Frozen cake (also… one of her favorites!)
We sang her happy birthday and she knew all about blowing out the candle. I am pretty sure she was trying to do it the whole time! SO cute!
She LOVES cake! Let me tell you! She masters the fork and everything! I don’t think i’ve ever seen her deny a piece of cake!
She was excited to open her presents.
I bought her Calliou figurines, a Sofia baseball cap and necklace, Frozen stickers and socks and a bunny winter hat.
Grandma bought her a lot of clothes, a baby doll with diaper/bottle, and a tea set.
Vinny was a bit jealous of the new toys,… he wanted to play with Calliou and the tea set in particular but Melanie is really bad at sharing. She screams NO! and will even hit Vinny in the face (working on teaching her to not do that!)
Daddy bought Melanie a couple of books – Princess Stories and a Frozen sing-along piano book.
Pop-pop and Oma also had a mini- pre-celebration before we left for Yosemite. Lucky girl, she got to celebrate like 3 times!
Yosemite Snow Trip for Melanie’s Birthday
This year i didn’t want to put in all the effort to throw a birthday party, and so decided to plan a weekend snow trip since Vincent kept asking during Christmas “when is it going to snow?” We normally drive up to Tahoe for snow/gambling, but figured maybe Yosemite might be closer (it is by a couple hours), and Jeff had not visited there before.
My parents and my sister from AU came up to visit. We stayed at Tenaya lodge which was beautiful and really kid-friendly.
The snow level at the hotel was not to great. When i planned the trip i was hoping that the kids could just play in the snow at the hotel (they had a sledding area), but since the weather was unseasonably warm the last week, most of it had melted off, despite getting a good amount the week prior. Our hotel room was on the sunnier side. The other side of the hotel did have a fair amount but not really “playable”.
That’s the biggest chunk we could see from our room! And it was gone by the time we left.
The kids had fun running around in the grass though, and my parents were in the room right next to us.
The first day we were there we drove to Badger Pass to play in the snow. Being President’s day/ Valentine’s day weekend, IT WAS SO BUSY. The sledding and kid activites were pretty much booked for the day since we got a late start (lucky we even got a parking spot i think we literally got the last one!)
But it ended up being fine, the kids just played in the mountain of snow, had enough, and we drove around the Valley a bit to take in the sights. Best of all, according to Vinny, is we went through a long TUNNEL!
Here are some photos of the snow play:
Melanie loved playing in the snow. She was so cute, and got really excited if we mentioned it or played with it.
We found a spot on the side of the road to play on the next day, and had the kids try sledding. They loved it!
After playing in the snow during the day, it was back to the hotel for food, and to chill. They had a good amount of activities to do like ice skating, to do though, like an ice skating rink, an indoor pool, arcade, flashlight nature walks (though Vinny was too young) and during the Christmas season, sleigh rides. Vincent, Jill and Jeff rented some skates. It was pretty shaky! I think he had a good time though.
Vinny after skating — “that was rough!”
The food at the restuarants there were really good! They had 3 different options, but we only tried 2 of them. The kids didn’t really eat too well, but whats new there? They actually did OK. Vincent liked the breakfast buffet! Melanie ate all her oatmeal when Aunty made it up for her, but didn’t like it from anyone else. In fact she really liked Aunty Jill. She didn’t want to go to Grandma really at all this whole trip. And she kept sticking her tongue out at Grandma! Funny girl.
Aunty Jill gave Vinny and Melanie stuffed animals. Vinny really liked his bear “Brownie”
The kids loved the arcade in the hotel, which was next to the indoor pool (too cold to play in though), and had billiards table.
LOL, melanie says “i did it!” and she’s in her favorite monkey ballerina PJs she is obsessed with (banena)
On the last night we made smores! Vincent’s first time. He had been asking for smores ever since he saw it on an episode of Calliou. He didn’t really eat the whole thing, though, surpringly – he just wanted the CRACKER! LOL!
I think we would like to make a “snow” trip an annual event. It would have been more fun if it were snowing/colder, for the “full effect” but at the same time it was pretty nice to just be in a long sleeve with no jacket playing in the snow!
Blue Apron, Meal Planning, Kids Don’t Eat
A few months ago i started using Blue Apron to help with my meal planning. At first it was really great. The food was good, the convenience was excellent. We did it for several months. I liked that you didn’t have to think about what you were going to make, what to shop for, etc. I also liked that Jeff was willing to help with making meals once all the ingredients were there, and the recipe and steps were clearly written visually on the recipe card.
But as the weeks went on, we got tired of eating the food. The recipes take a long time to make (45 min normally, sometimes more) and then, there isn’t much leftovers. They used the same ingredients, like if Kale was in season, EVERYTHING HAD FRIGGIN’ KALE IN IT. Or like Corn and Tomatoes during summer. Like really tiring.
So anyway,.. it was a good run, and i might go back on it later, but for now we’re taking a break, which means back to our same-old meals and slow cookers and frozen / pre-made stuff from Costco!
The other half of this post is a rant on how my children don’t eat anything…. It’s like torture to get them to eat anything. Why is that. Just freakin’ eat something. They 90% of the time don’t eat what we eat. They eat what kids eat like pizza, lasagna, corn dogs, hot dogs, fried rice. Vincent loves potstickers now, and “stars” (basically spaghetti O’s), and PB&J. He used to love beaners and weaners but they stopped making the brand he liked. Melanie seems to really like rice… and corn dogs, (she once ate two whole ones for dinner). I feel like a terrible parent because they don’t eat any vegetables. Sometimes Melanie will eat frozen veggies or corn something. Vincent loves fruit, so that’s good. The only solace i get is i know they eat good balanced meals at daycare. But once Vincent starts going to school next year, how will it be? I don’t imaging school lunch is nutritous… and then that means the only other option is i’m packing lunch, but then its the same crap that the cafeteria sells!
The Daily Grind, and Our Crazy Bedtime Routine
I’ll start of this post by that great saying ‘The days are long but the years short.” – that pretty much sums up my life as a parent to a preschooler and a toddler! Luckily, i spent most of my time at work, and not with my children. Wait, did i just say that? LOL. That could be construed the wrong way. But anyway, lets face it, i’m just being real. Parenting is tough and a full-time job you need to be fully committed to with no monetary pay. (though hugs, kisses, and ‘i love you’s’ are priceless of course!)
So – the Daily Grind … wake up, dress yourself, dress your kids, pack my lunch, back the kids’ bags, make a morning snack, drive to daycare, drop kids off, drive to work (i.e. practice choreography), work 8 hours (eat lunch at my desk), drive back to daycare, go home, cook dinner for adults, cook dinner for children (sometimes separate dinners for melanie and vincent, even), bathe the kids, do the bedtime routine, and on some nights i have to teach at the gym, so then i’m there until late in the night. PHEW! Repeat. The bedtime routine! It is always an evolving beast. So i wanted to catalog what it is at this point in time. I think the children really enjoy it, but it really is probably way too long of a routine.
First after dinner, on most nights we will do a “dance party” where we put on youtube on the tv and watch silly videos like stuff from Pancake Manor (Shake Break, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Happy and You Know it), Crazy Frog dance video, Happy by Pharell, … well here i’ll just link to our playlist!
Then it is bath time. Up until recently, this was father’s job. But as the routine got longer and longer, and i had to jet out of the house by 7:45 on work nights, i tasked Jeff to finish bedtime routine and i’d sneak out of the house at bath time. WELL my daughter is just way to smart and she figured this out, and didn’t like it one bit. So she started INSISTING that i give her a bath every night or total meltdown. So, now it’s my job to … basically do everything the house! SIGH! LOL, anyway i digress, Jeff helps out a lot of course 🙂 Back to the routine… so i wash both kids, dry off both kids, put on PJs, brush teeth, read books, play ring around the rosie, jump on mommy and daddy’s king size bed (we just bought a few months ago!), play horse race on mommy’s legs, play hide-and-go-seek, gather all the stuffed animals and sing a lullaby, say good night to daddy/vinny, turn out the lights, sing another song – now usually hoky-poky or thumb kin, tuck in all Melanie’s friends in her crib, get her all her blankies, her pacifier (yep still into that), and say GOODNIGHT.
At this time, Vincent’s probably playing 10 minutes of iPad and sometimes he will get read to… Pretty much Vinny gets tucked in by Jeff every night, so i’m not certain on the routine for him, but its pretty much just a battle of if he plays his iPad or which books he gets to read (if its his pick or daddy’s pick when he takes too long), and then, getting his piggy ice and cold water, and saying his “prayers” to all the people who love him.
That’s it! That’s the bedtime routine.
*EDIT Feb 27, 2016* Funny thing is it always evolves. When I originally drafted this post a month ago, and re-read it today, it’s changed. We now do a “shoulder ride” – i put Melanie on my shoulders, and then Dad puts Vinny on his shoulders and we go around the house. We also play “lion/dinosaur” with the themed towels and the kids go “peep” and eat worms. LOL. So weird. But the kids just love it.