Crystal Cove Cottage Adventure

I am learning to roll with the unexpected and try not to get upset when things don't go as planned. Take this trip for example. I booked us a cottage 6 months ago for Dave and I to celebrate our 9 year wedding anniversary. It was just one night away from the kids. I thought that would be easy enough (Side note--we very rarely leave our kids overnight. I think the last time we did was a year ago when we were in Hawaii.) On Tuesday Archie was coughing and running a fever. A trip to the doctor assured us it was just a cold virus. Thursday morning (day of our trip) Carter woke up with a fever. I considered cancelling our room but it was too late to get a refund. So we dropped the boys off with Grandpa and headed to our cottage. Both boys looked a bit miserable but they were just tired and at that moment fever-free. Here's the happy part of the story. Dave and I stayed in cottage #45, which is at the start of the historical district. It was the old Soda Shack. It was absolutely charming and adorable. There are no TVs or phones. Just an old-timey radio and some really cool books. I pretended we were in Boardwalk Empire (think of season 1 when everything is still happy.) We watched the sunset and ate a very decadent dinner at the Beachcomber.

Our kitchen table... so cute, right?

After dinner, we called to check on the boys and Carter's fever returned at over 103 degrees and he did not sound well. I felt terrible. We packed up some stuff and hiked to the top of the hill where we had to park our car. We gave him Motrin and took the boys home and put them to bed. Friday morning we had to go back to get the rest of our things and checkout. It must have been the refreshing ocean air and the excitement of being on the beach because the boys seemed to have a blast for a few hours. We managed to grab a late breakfast at the Shake Shack but by that time the boys seemed to remember that they felt miserable. So our fun weekend is now being spent watching movies and wearing pajamas. But hey, we did manage to have a few hours of fun and Crystal Cove is my new favorite beach and we are planning on returning as soon as we can!

Our cottage had a private back deck overlooking the creek.

Archie hates the water. Carter begged the whole time to go swimming.

Daddy teaching the boys how to skip rocks.

My three favorite people.

Family selfie. Archie makes goofy faces when he can see himself in the camera.

Beautiful January morning.

Breakfast!

Holiday Highlights

We are now in 2015 and I guess I will start the year off posting about all the lovely holiday events that happened last year. For anyone who didn't receive our Christmas card, here are some updated family photos taken by my friend Lauren who is not a photographer but really should be. (She also made their superhero bow ties!)

We will be celebrating 9 years of marriage this week!

2014 was pretty much the best Christmas we have had together as a family. It was the first time that both boys were really excited about Christmas and Archie was old enough to understand the whole "Santa" story. Last year he came downstairs on Christmas morning, ignored the presents, and sat and ate what was left of Santa's cookies! This year, practically every single morning in December, the boys raced downstairs to see if Santa had come. I had to show them the calendar every day as we not-so-patiently counted down each day. Our beloved Elf, Lloyd Christmas, returned this year and the boys loved searching for him each morning to find out what trouble he had gotten himself into!

Carter had two weeks off school and we really made the most of every day! Archie was thrilled to have Carter home all the time and the boys loved decorating the house, going to see Christmas lights, baking cookies and treats, and singing lots of Christmas carols. On Christmas Eve, we had dinner with Dave's family and all the grandkids received new pajamas. It was so cute to see them all together.

Christmas day was perfection. Carter was up first, around 6:30am but we made him wait till 7:00 to wake up Archie. The first thing Archie said when he came downstairs was, "Where's Santa?!" I think he expected Santa to be waiting for him. They were so excited to open their presents... lots of Legos this year! I made breakfast burritos and my mom and brother came over to join us. We watched White Christmas and built Legos all day. Dave even managed to take a three hour long nap! We wore our pajamas all day. It was glorious.

Santa's cookies and reindeer's carrots

Dave bought me a heated blanket--these two love it!

Loving their Legos!

* Video should be titled 2014 but I just realized that and am too tired to fix it!*

After Christmas we went to my Dad's house and continued the Christmas celebrations. The boys got some really fun Captain America weapons and loved chasing after Phred.

We hope your Christmas was as merry as ours! New Years proved to be equally awesome in that it actually SNOWED in Orange County. Dave headed out for work in the morning and called me and said, "There is so much snow on the mountains I am sure if you drive up the street you will find some." That was all I needed to hear. I put jackets on the boys, loaded them in the car, and we went on a "snow hunt." It didn't take long! Just a few miles down the street we found snow! It was absolutely freezing cold and windy but we were so excited!

Our Disneyland passes expire next month and we have been trying to make the most of them. I think we are going to wait to renew until Archie is tall enough to ride most of the rides. I will definitely be sad to say good bye to Disneyland as we have been having so many wonderful adventures there!

These two are still best friends... really hoping it lasts forever!

School starts up again tomorrow and we are back into the routine of things. I'm not ready! We have truly enjoyed sleeping in and staying up late. Carter and Archie are growing up so much and so quickly... I am trying hard to track these moments as best as I can, through blogs and photos, so that the boys will be able to look back at these some day and hopefully remember some of these wonderful times. We are incredibly blessed as a family. I am so in love with all three of the boys in my life and try very hard to not take things for granted. Our home is comfortable and secure and (most of the time!) is a place of peace, joy, and laughter. All is full of love!

Birthday Boys are 3 and 5!

Cute birthday shirts made by Aunt Jackie!

Time really does zoom by... I am still wrapping my head around the fact that my boys just turned 3 and 5. No longer babies, no longer toddlers, no longer "little" ones... These handsome young gentlemen are fun-loving, creative, inquisitive, and energetic. They love each other so much and the bond they share amazes me. They still seem to love sharing a birthday so that makes my life easy--one party per year! 

Carter Francis...this kid touches our hearts daily. All of the obstacles he overcame early in life seem such a thing of the past. He loves being in T-K, has made so many friends, and while he doesn't seem to be shy or timid at all anymore, he has managed to retain his sensitive and sweet spirit that charms Dave and I to the point of tears. He is thoughtful and generous and despite turning 5, still loves a good cuddle with his parents. He loves playing video games (Super Mario World being his favorite) and is now so good that he doesn't even like playing with me... "Sigh... Mama! You keep dying too much! Ugh!" He loves roller coasters and is finally tall enough to ride most of them. The faster, the better! He is adventurous and creative and is definitely a "think outside the box" kind of kid. I volunteer in his classroom once a week and the class was playing "Simon Says." Each kid would get up and say things like, "Simon says stand on one foot. Jump up and down. Put your hands in the air, etc." Carter gets up to be Simon and says, "Simon says catch a butterfly!" And then demonstrates what "catching a butterfly" should look like. His next command: "Simon says drink chocolate milk!" And proceeds to pretend to slurp chocolate milk up a straw. His teacher and I could not help but laugh at how cute he is! And lastly, one of the most important traits Carter shows is the role of big brother. He sets a great example for Archie to follow and is protective, kind, and loving to his little brother.

Archer Anderson...this fiery, power-packed little stinker keeps me on my toes. He is so mature for a 3 year old. He is sweet and kind like his big brother but pairs it with endless excitement and energy. This boy is always on the go and has developed an obsession with Star Wars that surpasses his big brother. Archie knows EVERYTHING about Star Wars... from detailed plot points to the names of every character and every planet and every ship. He memorizes everything! I am blown away by his vocabulary and the things he comes up with at age 3. He is incredibly bright and I am so excited to see where his capacity for knowledge will take him. At dinner tonight we were watching "Cosmos" and Archie exclaimed, "What is this guy talkin' about!?" We laughed so hard because that show is beyond my comprehension at times and I didn't even know how to explain it but he was totally intrigued. Maybe he will grow up to be an astrophysicist! He loves to pretend to be different people. He will run into the room and say, "Mama, can I be Luke Skywalker?" All I have to do is say "Yes!" and he is transformed instantaneously into Luke and is pretending to be training with Yoda on Dagobah. Unlike Carter, who could play for hours alone, Archie needs a partner in crime. He begs for Dave and I to play legos with him or to have light saber battles or to play Star Wars guys. His imagination is always working overtime. Despite being 3, we still can't get enough of his chubby baby cheeks and try to kiss him all the time!

Carter went to school on his birthday and Dave took the day off work. We picked him up and all went out to lunch and spent some time visiting Grayson at the cemetery. Being at the cemetery is never sad... it honestly brings me a sense of completeness and peace but this year, the kids understood more about Grayson and what had happened and sigh... those were some hard conversations to have. The next day when we went to pick Carter up from school, Archie said, "I want to pick up Grayson from school today." That was definitely a hard moment for me. I am working really hard at coming to terms with Grayson's death but I never really thought much about how it will affect my children as the years go on. That being said, our trip to the cemetery was beautiful and seeing my boys talk lovingly about their brother or having Carter practice reading the words on the gravestone... was all very touching.

Chocolate donuts for birthday breakfast!

Birthday lunch at Wahoos, of course!

I made a Captain America cake

This weekend the boys had a big birthday bash at Scooter's Jungle. It was a huge success and despite my very frantic morning baking cupcakes and making sandwiches and racing against the clock, we arrived and got everything set up and it was so much fun! We bounced and played air hockey and slid down the huge slide as many times as we could. It was the perfect day and everyone (adults included!) enjoyed it!

Crafty Aunt Jackie made these superhero masks!

The zip line was a big hit!

Superhero Cupcakes!

Great minds think alike!

Captain America and Iron Man!

Delicious!

I had to try out the zip line!

Even Archie tried it!

Opening presents with the cousins

My favorite picture from the day... this was captured during the Happy Birthday song.

This is what bedtime looked like after the birthday party and the boys got new light sabers!