They never cease to amaze me

Here's where I found my kids a few moments ago:



Huddled around my phone.  They have two televisions, their computer, Xbox, and this is the screen they must watch a show on!

Goofballs.

Off to a good start

Woke up today without a hangover, that's a great start to the new year for sure!  The boys made it till about 10:30 last night before deciding bed was a good idea.  Thank goodness.  Eric and I had promised to let them stay up until midnight but we were fading and falling asleep on the couch.  We had a fun night watching movies and drinking Shirley Temples with the kids.  Eric and I had some wine, but didn't even pop our fancy Prosceco.





This morning Eric and I woke up late around 8 (the kids had been up for a while.)  And went to Laguna Beach for a hike.

View from our trail


The boys -


Here comes trouble...


Sarah!


Sarah hates the camera


Favorite shot of the day


We stopped at our new favorite casual place Active Culture for some healthy Buddha bowls, then came home and watched Phatom of the Opera.  Well Eric and I did, the boys played Xbox and Sarah played Minecraft.

My resolutions this year are fun and attainable I think - a few are a stretch for sure:

Host a dinner party
Trips to Hawaii and Washington
Spin 3x per week
Make 5 photo albums
Enter 5 photo contests
Complete a 365 photo project
Read 50 books
Watch 25 classic movies
Blog every day (I'm totally counting posting a photo).
Learn enough French to get around France for a future family trip
Sell 1 photo

So far I've skipped spin, and posted to the blog.  Sounds about right.

What are you planning for 2013?

Selfies

These crack me up!

This one has been an angel lately.  I think he is filled with the Christmas Spirit and/or scared to death that Santa is going to put him on the naughty list.  I don't care why he's being so helpful lately, I'll take it!







I'll also take some photography lessons from him, look at those clear, focused eyes!!

Middle child

Owen has been surprising me in so many ways lately.  He is exceeding all my hopes for him in Kindergarten.  He's a thoughtful and attentive child in class, a total athlete on the playground and has many friends.  Scholastically he's doing great, even getting challenge problems in math.

But outside school, this little guy is glued to my hip.  The maturity he displays at school isn't mirrored at home.  He seems to need lots of extra attention especially at bed time.  The whining is at epic levels. And he's been prone to mega-tantrums when he doesn't get his way.  (Like we thought he was having a psychotic-break when we left the church carnival too soon for his liking).

As the anxious and overprotective mom that I am, I scour our days for evidence of why he needs so much attention.   What isn't he getting? Enough time with me? Enough dad time? The two moves in 6 months? Being a middle child? His wacky 3 hour day? All of the above?








All in all he is doing awesome, and I just hope he outgrows the whininess and tantrums soon.  This mama's bag of tricks is empty.

No reason to skip the pool because its December and rainy!

After basketball on Sunday, we headed straight to the pool.  Andrew had a lesson (which ended up not happening), but Andrew got a dad lesson (finally got the flip turn!),  and Owen and Sarah hung out in the hot tub.

Soaking up the dad-time


Still riding high after his game


Loving the water as usual