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Thursday, December 3, 2009
Olivia's Thanksgiving

Olivia had to have a turkey for Thanksgiving... so here it is. An 11-pounder. My first ever. But everything turned out great. Only the pies were bad and I didn't make those! Yay!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Fun in the Fountain at Balboa Park
Last weekend, we went with a friend of Olivia's to Balboa Park to the puppet shows they have there. Then we walked around the International Houses (and ate some cookies) and walked up to the fountain outside the Reuben H. Fleet Science Museum. Olivia wanted to "wade" in the fountain, and of course, Jessie had to follow.



Yay! School is in Session!

Finally school has started. The month of August was really difficult for Olivia and next year we will definitely schedule more to do. She attended some camps, but they were all in July. Anyway... we were all ready. Jessie had no trouble getting used to her school again and has learned all the kids names' now. They are all the same kids from the spring and it's a great group. She also still has Zahra and Awaz and really loves them. Here is a photo of Olivia the morning she woke up at 5:00 am and got all ready for school. We told her to go back to bed for a while.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Spring Traditions
Jessie had her first trip to the strawberry picking at Victoria's Gardens in Lakeside. She really liked it too and had a hard time waiting to rinse the strawberries before we ate them. She also had her first pony ride. We watched the other kids ride the pony for a while, then when the 8 month old baby was riding the pony, we talked about that a bit and then she decided that she could ride the pony. And she liked it! She didn't scream bloody murder when it was time to get off like Olivia did her first time. Olivia didn't understand why the ride had to be over. Jessie was definitely ok with the ride being over. But she was very brave about it and had a good time.
The next day was the end of the year picnic at Jessie's school. It was really fun chatting with all the teachers, the directors and CD faculty. Jessie was hugging all her friends and hanging out with them. Olivia was honored as a returning "graduate" of the Child Development Center. There was a college freshman that was also a "graduate" of the CDC, so it was interesting to see the age difference. The CDC is 20 years old and the Infant Toddler program is only 10 years old, so I feel very lucky that I had the right job at the right time and that the kids have had such great experiences.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Fun in the New Year
At the Zoo

Jessie is Messy!

Olivia & the Daisies in the talent show

It's nice to have the holidays over. Still busy, but not crazy. Olivia's Daisy troop was in the school talent show in February singing "It's a Wonderful World". Jessica is getting all around and is a little obsessed with Elmo. We have 20 minute conversations about Elmo; how he looks, his personality, what he's doing. These "conversations are tough because they are a little one sided, with Jessica saying "momo" over and over and us trying to think up new things to say about Elmo as long as she wants to talk about him. We were pretty relieved last week when she started talking a about ducks. Yay! Something new.
I'm enjoying my days off with Jessica while Olivia is in school. We have gone to Sea World, Stein Farm and kept up with our playgroup. We try to include Olivia as much as possible. We went to Sea World after school one day with Olivia and visited the zoo with Olivia's friend Amanda. We've also been to A LOT of birthday parties lately, which is fine with me as long as I don't have to plan them. Yesterday, we went to Larell's birthday party. He is one of Jessie's school friends. It was an Elmo party and they had Elmo plastered everywhere. Jessie loved it and proceeded to point out every place she saw Elmo for the next two hours. Olivia was allowed to come to the party too and we had a great time.
Jessie is Messy!
Olivia & the Daisies in the talent show
It's nice to have the holidays over. Still busy, but not crazy. Olivia's Daisy troop was in the school talent show in February singing "It's a Wonderful World". Jessica is getting all around and is a little obsessed with Elmo. We have 20 minute conversations about Elmo; how he looks, his personality, what he's doing. These "conversations are tough because they are a little one sided, with Jessica saying "momo" over and over and us trying to think up new things to say about Elmo as long as she wants to talk about him. We were pretty relieved last week when she started talking a about ducks. Yay! Something new.
I'm enjoying my days off with Jessica while Olivia is in school. We have gone to Sea World, Stein Farm and kept up with our playgroup. We try to include Olivia as much as possible. We went to Sea World after school one day with Olivia and visited the zoo with Olivia's friend Amanda. We've also been to A LOT of birthday parties lately, which is fine with me as long as I don't have to plan them. Yesterday, we went to Larell's birthday party. He is one of Jessie's school friends. It was an Elmo party and they had Elmo plastered everywhere. Jessie loved it and proceeded to point out every place she saw Elmo for the next two hours. Olivia was allowed to come to the party too and we had a great time.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Christmas Activities
Glenn's Snow Dragon on Grandma Gay's front lawn
Olivia as a teletubby in the snow.
Jesse didn't know what to think of the snow and has never had so many clothes on in her life. Reminds me of that kid in A Christmas Story who couldn't put his arms down in his snow suit.
Van Houten family photo with Santa
Unfortunately, Jessie did not like Santa...
but Olivia LOVED Santa!
Olivia's Holiday concert
Jessie playing Peek a Boo while we set up the tree

Olivia as a teletubby in the snow.

Jesse didn't know what to think of the snow and has never had so many clothes on in her life. Reminds me of that kid in A Christmas Story who couldn't put his arms down in his snow suit.

Van Houten family photo with Santa

Unfortunately, Jessie did not like Santa...

but Olivia LOVED Santa!

Olivia's Holiday concert

Jessie playing Peek a Boo while we set up the tree

Thursday, January 15, 2009
Back to reality
December was a fun and crazy month, but we are recovering. We all took a trip to Utah, Olivia and I skiied one day. Everyone had fun in the snow and had fun visiting relatives. We're all back in school/work now, but Jesse has had an ear infection this week, so Glenn and I have been shifting off half days at work.
The biggest news and surprise Christmas present for December was that Glenn got a new truck. It seems that I had a little fender bender in Sandy, Utah. But we needed to get back to CA for Olivia's birthday party. There were no rental cars due to bad weather accidents and skiing vacations. So in the end, my brother Chris got us a great deal on Glenn's dream truck. I'm very excited and plan on doing A LOT of camping this summer. All in all, it worked out well because we really needed to just bite the bullet and get the new truck.
Jesse is walking now and is quite proud of herself. She walked holding someone's hand for the longest time, so we are proud of her too. She is now into everything, but still likes toilet paper and electrical outlets the best it seems. Since we got the new kitchen, I realized we are not as baby proofed as we were with Olivia when I saw Jesse walking through the kitchen carrying the dish detergent. Need to work on that I guess.
Olivia is doing really well at school. She reads full books for us at night, but still tries to con us into reading to her. We are easily conned. She is having fun with Spanish, Daisies, Ballet and this week starts her "Annie" class at SD Jr. Theater. She really likes the songs, so I think she'll have a good time.
The biggest news and surprise Christmas present for December was that Glenn got a new truck. It seems that I had a little fender bender in Sandy, Utah. But we needed to get back to CA for Olivia's birthday party. There were no rental cars due to bad weather accidents and skiing vacations. So in the end, my brother Chris got us a great deal on Glenn's dream truck. I'm very excited and plan on doing A LOT of camping this summer. All in all, it worked out well because we really needed to just bite the bullet and get the new truck.
Jesse is walking now and is quite proud of herself. She walked holding someone's hand for the longest time, so we are proud of her too. She is now into everything, but still likes toilet paper and electrical outlets the best it seems. Since we got the new kitchen, I realized we are not as baby proofed as we were with Olivia when I saw Jesse walking through the kitchen carrying the dish detergent. Need to work on that I guess.
Olivia is doing really well at school. She reads full books for us at night, but still tries to con us into reading to her. We are easily conned. She is having fun with Spanish, Daisies, Ballet and this week starts her "Annie" class at SD Jr. Theater. She really likes the songs, so I think she'll have a good time.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
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