A 1st

Nix does everything, and Tino doesn't do much. But when Nix was 3 he didn't do much either. SO here the boys are cheering on Nix! They love their brother! And he loves them TOO!

Creating

I'll say it anyways... Cloth Diapers

Here is how I do it:

I have a squirt bottle with a solution of water, baby wash and baby oil. I have little wash cloths. I have pink diaper pins. I have 4 ugly plastic pants. And I have about 24 flat cloth diapers and 5 prefolds. I buy Tide, bleach, baking soda, and vinegar. I have an old wheat bucket with a handle and a lid. I fold all the diapers the way I want them after I wash and dry them. I fold one diaper in 4ths long ways and stick it on top of a prefold or diaper folded in half long ways. I have a boy so I put the thickest part of the diaper in the front. I keep them folded in a stack, easy to access and use when needed. I carry a plastic bag everywhere I go, if I think we won't have to deal with a poop, then I'll do cloth while we are out, but if I think we might have problems, or I don't want to deal with problems, he is in a disposable while we are out. We always use disposable wipes while we are out. He wears a disposable to bed at night, so I don't have to change him if he wakes up. And being wet in cloth is more uncomfortable than being wet in a disposable, I would THINK! Maybe he will potty train early. Having a washer and dryer makes this a lot easier then if I were missing one or the other. I tried not using bleach but it just makes things easier, however I think it is harder on the fabric when you use bleach. There is so much info about all this online so if you want to do it, find what works for you.

Burning Energy!

If the boys ever watch something on the television right before bed they become crazy super crazy, full of energy, can't wind down for bed. It's amazing! So one night I saw a need to get some of the energy out and I made it a game. "Nix, run up and down the stairs 5 times and I'll time you!" "OK" And off he ran. So this first one is Nix...

Then Daddy wanted in on the fun...

Nix felt rested and went for a second round...

Then sweet little Tino wanted a turn...

Then Nix wanted to try again jumping down as many stairs as he could.

Awww! Bed Time!

The Great Park

The boys started their day coloring on their faces with washable markers. I said the face coloring is going to have to stop after Halloween.

We decided to go to the Great Park today and ride the Jack-o-Lantern balloon after having lunch with daddy. We heard there were new things at the park. So we went and discovered a free merry-go-round, and a new playground with fun rocks to climb on. The boys absolutely loved it... by the time we went to the playground my cell phone battery died, so I didn't get any pictures of it. They have solar trash cans and we love the bathrooms there. If you get a chance to go, they are open Thur-Sun, they close at 3pm and open up again at 7pm for night rides on the balloon. I'm not sure when the Jack-O-Lantern face comes off.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

They both wanted to ride on a tiger, luckily there were two.

A First

Nix had his first cavities filled. He's holding the jump rope he picked out of the toy box, and a piece of gum from the reception desk.

Tino peed in the potty for the first time... after that he peed all over the house the rest of the day, but he had a first. Candy isn't motivating enough for him to go again, we'll have to wait a little bit before we try again.

Nix and Corbs playing video games together. They were both very much into it. Nix was playing Hot Wheels on the DS.

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Tino is on the lid for their lego box, pretending he's a pirate and is about to slid off the couch with his boat. He has a great imagination.

Cousin Treat

Sisi spent the day with us, and we had so much fun. She cut her pizza really small and wanted to take a silly picture with it and Nix. "What are they feeding us? Tiny food?" They crack me up! I would have her come stay here any day of the week for as long as she wants! Vanessa stayed the night with us the night before, with both her kids, and took Ash to Legoland while Sisi stayed to play. I think we had more fun!

Home

Home is where we love to be! Nix took this picture of Corbs after he put all of Tino's ties on him. I love my sweet boys.

Then I took a picture of Nix after he put a couple ties on himself.

Tino thinks he is Darth Vadar, well I guess it's cuz he looks like him here. Next year he will need to be something on the side of GOOD.

Tino can climb up and down from all the counters in our home. He climbed into the sink and washed the mirror and made himself nice and wet and doesn't mind walking around in sopping wet shorts.

Fever

Nix had a fever and was really tired, and lost all interest in swimming and riding his bike. I wasn't sure if he was sick or dehydrated... so I started making him drink lots of water. He didn't want to swim on Sunday. He kept asking me to watch movies while his cousins were outside playing and swimming. He had a 101˚F temperature during the day and at night 102˚F, but no other symptoms, a couple days later he was a little congested, but nothing serious. He was better today, the fever left yesterday. I think it was sun stroke and dehydration cuz no one else has been sick. It's been nice though, since we've been home the weather is cloudy and cold, so we've been playing inside and napping a lot. I'm glad whatever it was is gone, and I hope I can keep on top of hydrating my children! Still pregnant!

Painted Racetracks

Nix loves to paint, and he loves to draw racetracks, so when I pulled out the paint and this poster board, this is what he created.

We need to go back

Me and the boys had a busy day today. We covered a lot of ground. We headed up to the shuttle at our apartment office at about 10 am and headed to the LA County Arboretum. It was beautiful! The smells, the sounds, the sights were all as if we had hopped in a plane to 4 different countries in 3 hours. Every 3rd Tuesday is free day, and it didn't even feel like a free day because it wasn't overly crowded, well with 127 acres of botanical gardens and historical sites it shouldn't ever feel crowded. I can't express and my pictures can't show how beautiful The Arboretum is. I didn't bring a stroller, most people with kids there had strollers, but not really a necessity in my opinion, well my boys have proven to have quite a bit of endurance. Tino slept on the shuttle so he was rested, and they walked everywhere. My feet hurt when we arrived back at the shuttle. But we were not finished seeing everything we wanted to see. I never heard a complaint out of the boys either. Nix was throwing rocks into the lake and every time the koi fish popped up and tried to eat the rocks. The boys loved watching the big fish emerge from the lake with each rock thrown in. They also loved the prehistoric forest, and the big stick house, and the spiky plants. Nix was actually interested in the names of some of the plants. So fun!

Then I made bread and cookies when we got home. My house is a wreck!

Meet our Plum Tree

Well, this is just a branch. Hopefully plums are going to grow on it soon. That would make Nix happy. Tonight we found a blossom on it. The only thing that worries me is that in apartment complexes they spray for bugs too much, and having bees around is important.

We have a shoe basket

It's right by the front door, and the shoes are supposed to be in the basket, but I love my 1 year old more than what's going on here. If I ask him to help me clean up he most always will. Funny little basket.

Snow in Irvine

Funny snow day. There were so many people that it wasn't fun to be here, expressed here by Tino.

Should I wash everything again?

No way! They are just going to end up in the middle of the floor again. This is Tino's cupboard to do what he wants with. What he does is pulls out the cups, then he goes to the recycling trash and pulls out empty soda bottles and pretends to pour soda into the cups and then he pretends to drink the soda. It cracks me up.

It's all business

The OC Zoo

Here is a map of the OC Zoo.

It is a small zoo, but what do you expect for $2 a person, and $3 to park. It opens at 10 am and we arrived at 9 am so we found some other things to do at the park. There was a playground and a pond with many ducks and I saw 3 peacocks roaming around. There is a train ride, that we watched go by, but didn't ride on, for $4 a person I thought it was a rip off, especially since I would have to pay for Tino. Nix's favorite animals at the zoo were the snakes and the mountain lion cage. He says "All of them" are his favorites right now. The hi-light for sure were the goats. There was a quarter machine to get some feed, when the goats saw you at the machine there were about 6 of them sticking their heads out of the fence. The boys loved it, Nix fed them and Tino pet them. We were nasty with goat spit when we left, but they had a sink with soap and water when you exited the park.

There was a pack of coyotes behind Tino here.

This is the water wheel by the train track outside the zoo.

Nix brought his ostrich and camel back. Here is Tino with one of the peacocks roaming around by the pond in the park.