Merry Christmas!!!

Hard to believe Christmas has already come and gone! I admit to having had a case of the Christmas Eve blues this year. The warm, un-Christmassy climate, missing friends and family and the cumulative fatigue of the day-in, day-outness of it all had me kinda bummed out. But there is nothing like little kids to jolt you back into the merriment of the season.

Christmas Eve-Day we took a trip to Legoland where Kai rode his first ever roller coaster! He had to be a bit persistent as we had more than a few reservations about strapping him into the speeding ride and hoping for the best. But he was pretty sure that he wanted to so Daddy and Kai waited in line and rode the "Coastersaurus" while I distracted Teia (who does not like to miss out on anything) with stuffed lions at the nearby toy store. The verdict: big smiles and thumbs up! Maybe it was my Christmas Eve moodiness but I got a bit emotional about our little man's first roller coaster ride. I think he is now an official "big boy!" (As an aside he has been telling us his toddler bed is too small lately, but I think it is a ruse so he can continue to sleep in his cardboard lifeguard station on the floor!)

Once it got dark and felt a little more Christmas eve like we partook of our Fennell Family Christmas Eve traditions - mulligatawny soup and chocolate fondue. That was after we drove 10 miles to see an advertised Thomas the Train light display that was decidedly underwhelming. 

This year Kai has been a bit apprehensive about Santa. When you think about it, a big fat guy with a white beard wearing a red suit who comes into your house at night when you're sleeping is sort of creepy. It took us awhile to figure out what he was worried about but insistent comments and questions about what happens while he was sleeping tipped us off. Christmas morning all the little Fennells slept in and Kai stayed in his room with his sheets over his head and wasn't sure he wanted to look at the Christmas tree at first. But when he heard the sound of toy trains he couldn't resist anymore and quickly got into Christmas morning. 

Present opening took a loooooooong time but was considerably quicker than the 6 or so days it usually takes. The kids were ripping and tearing from about 8 am until about 8 pm with a break in the middle to pick up Granddad at the airport and for Teia to take a nap. Kai has never been much of a gift opener but this year was a completely different story. He was rippin' and tearin' with the best of them. He made no bones about his favorite gift: his new toy ambulance complete with "bandaid boxes."

He was also pretty excited to open up a brand new big boy scooter from the NJ Fennells. He immediately put it together and scooted barefoot up and down our walkway. 

Teia's favorite gift was....well...everything. She played with each wonderful present she opened for as long as she could until we moved her onto the next one. While it did make present opening take a long time, I hope she hangs onto this tendency year after year. She truly treasured and appreciated everything she opened.

She loved her new baby from Grandma C and especially loved changing its new outfits. 

Her Zoo from Grandma Barbie and Poppa Mike was another big hit. In fact, Teia was so excited to play with her zoo that she started trying to put it together herself while Daddy was occupied with assembling one of Kai's toys. 

Daddy dressed Teia up in her Christmas dress with red sparkly shoes for the trip to the airport to pick up Granddad Dave. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of her looking dapper. Daddy did put the dress on backward but it still looked really cute. Teia rode her trike and Kai rode his scooter all the way from the parking lot into the airport to pick up Granddad. 

We had a lovely Christmas dinner, cozy fire and tucked everyone into bed. Greg and I found that we were slightly less exhausted than last year and even a little less than the year before (when we scarcely had a chance to exchange gifts!) so we're hoping that next year we might even get to experience a little of that Christmas holiday relaxation feeling! (And maybe a little skiing too!)

Here is Kai drinking his "fizzy juice" for Christmas dinner in a pint sized wine glass

Looks like summer weather has returned to San Diego these last few days so we'll be back to post some photos of Christmas summer holiday with Granddad!

Getting Ready for Christmas

We're working on feeling Christmassy around here but I admit, I do always struggle a bit with feeling like Christmas in the warmer climes. "It's beginning to look alot like Chris-mas" just doesn't have the same ring when every day the sky is a cloudless blue and the predominant environmental shades are yellow/brown/green or blue if you're looking oceanward.

Today we actually had cold rain and I thought to myself, now this is more like it and probably the December weather that most of the rest of the country is experiencing. The Christmas lights glow a little bit brighter when its dark and chilly outside!

We took advantage of it and had a little fire tonight. Looks pretty festive eh? You'd never think San Diego!

As I'm writing this, Greg just informed me that he is ordering a parka for work so I guess it does get a little colder in San Diego than we anticipated. But seriously, a parka???? 

We've been getting into the spirit with some baking and decorating. Kai loves decorating gingerbread houses and remembers very well the one we did last year. This was Teia's first time and they were both very focused artistes!

This is T's side. Note the strategically placed snowman on the roof. 

And this is Budsy's. He was primarily responsible for the top of the roof decor as well as the green icing. I helped a little with the candy cane framed door way :).

Teia looking a wee bit sugared up!

And here is Kai getting his sugar on during our yearly Nanaimo Bar bake-fest. Kai has demonstrated that he is as proficient at cleaning a bowl as a dishwasher. These Nanamio Bars were particularly special because we made them for Kai's gym teacher Mr. Jeff, someone Kai has grown very fond of. He referred to them as "Mr. Jeff's Nanaimo Bars" but I was able to steal a few for his other teachers. 

Teia got in on the Nanaimo Bar-making-fest as well. She is not one to be left out of anything these days, particularly "helping."

Today Kai and I whipped up a batch of Breakaway Cookies, another seasonal favorite at the Fennell house ever since Auntie Laina shared the recipe. He did a stellar job of laying out the Ritz cracker rows.  

Check these out! Done by a 4 year old! They are much neater than I could have managed! He was also keen to whip up the toffee part on the stove! The little man loves his baking!

So even though we have 0 chance of a white Christmas this year, it'll still smell and taste Christmassy at the 'pool house!'

Kids say the darndest things...

I haven't had much time to relax and blog lately but my mom reminded me how recording the funny and cute things the kids say and do is pretty important so here are a few quick gems from K & T. Teia seems to be coming out with zingers almost every time she opens her mouth lately!

Yesterday while driving Kai to school Teia did not like my choice in music "Mommy, Elmo pwease, not jazz!"

Then she proclaimed "perfect!" after I helped her put her slippers on! It so funny when she talks like a grown up!

Tonight we had a grown up friend visiting named Aimee. She was sitting in the little kid chair that Teia likes to sit in, so she asked Miss Aimee to move. After Teia settled into her seat she praised Aimee like a little teacher "Good job sharing chair Aimee."

This morning on the change table she looked up at her Mavis sticker on the wall (Mavis is a female diesel engine on thomas the train and the only thomas sticker Kai would relinquish to Teia's bedroom walls). We had the following exchange:
Teia - "Mommy, wook Mavis!" "Open mouth Mavis; Mavis is hungry!"
Me -  "what does Mavis like to eat?"
Teia - "stwawbewwies, Mavis wikes stwabewwies."
Me - "Teia likes strawberries too."
Teia - "No, Teia wikes tookies."
Teia to meow - "Meow, do you like tookies?"
Meow nods head vigorously
Teia - "Mommy Meow wikes tookies too!"

Earlier today Teia dumped out the contents of a  Gingerbread house box, spilling bags of candies all over the table. She sighed happily and said to the candies "I missed you!!"

The other day we hosted a playgroup and a bunch of little boys about Teia's age descended on Teia's house and Teia's toys. Teia wasn't sure she liked this at all. But at one point she surveyed the boys playing and said to me happily "Mommy, I have awot of fwiends!"

One of my favorite Teia words these days is Banamana. This is how Teia ate her banamana this morning:

She is generally just a crazy little peanut. Just this morning she entertained herself for 10 minutes sorting a pack of dinosaur cards into "scary" and "fun." I am not sure what she was basing her decisions on!

The idea of being scared has come up a fair bit in our house lately. We learned the hard way that Rudolph is NOT an appropriate show for a 2 year old when Teia ran screaming from our living room as the Bumble threatened the eat the little baby Rudolph and Clarice by waving them around in his claws. Oops. Since then Teia has been commenting alot on things that are "scawey." Seeing as I was pretty much terrified of the Grinch until I was about TWELVE my kids will definitely NOT be seeing that Christmas show. Kai has been letting us know what scares him too lately in his quiet way. He has been asking to go outside every time Teia wants to watch Finding Nemo (which I think in this new phase is becoming too scary for Teia too). He told me that he needs to go outside when Nemo is on b/c he doesn't like the fish crying. 

Speaking of scared, Kai has a pretty long standing fear of vacuum cleaners (our excuse for a dirty carpet!) The other night much of the couscous intended for the kids' bellies ended up on the floor so I mentioned to Greg that we'd have to get out the vacuum cleaner. Kai looked a little concerned but then suggested that we zip him into a suitcase so he wouldn't hear the vacuum cleaner when we used it!!!! Now that is a creative solution!

Kai has had a few frights lately. Just last week our neighbor's German Shepherd ambled into our house bright and early as we were getting ready to leave for school. I found Kai shrieking in the kitchen and standing on the table with the dog sniffing around the kitchen! He now proudly tells the story and it is the doggie who was scared!!! We also had another lizard visitor the other day and Mommy modeled some lovely calm, collected behavior. Daddy tried to catch it causing it to lose its tail which Kai found pretty fascinating. Now he thinks that all scared lizards lose their tails. We think he mastered these somewhat frightening and unexpected experiences pretty well, but he has been quite intent on locking the doors to our house lately to keep wayward dogs and lizards out.

Speaking of cute Kai statements, yesterday he was perusing his  treat box (filled with little candies and toys for rewards). There was a box of boring crayons in there. Kai showed what he thought of crayons as a treat when he picked up the box and said hopefully "I think Teia would like this treat. " He really is getting the hang of working this big brother thing!

Teiaspeak

I've mentioned before Second Child Syndrome. This is characterized by a cluster of symptoms including fewer photos and videos and a pretty empty baby book. I hear its very common. But at least we have this blog where we find some time to record some important stuff. As I was changing Teia's diaper this morning I realized how fast she is growing up and that I better record some of the stuff she says before she is not saying it anymore..... :-(

I just love toddler-talk and Teia is pretty good at it:

Pooty = poopy

Mommy, I tootied! (giggle, giggle) I tootied again = usually said while passing gas as her diaper is being changed.

Watch out Puppy and Meow, zippas coming! = also said on the change table as I am about to zip up her jammies, with Puppy and Meow raised safely over her head.

Wook Mommy/Daddy/Kai!!!! = said while enthusiastically pointing.

Wha's disa guy? = Teia's version of "what's that?"

Sowwy Mommy/Daddy/Kai = for some reason, she apologizes all of the time (part of her Canadian blood).

Ipad, Ipad, Ipad, IPAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! = this is usually followed by flinging herself dramatically to the ground if the Ipad doesn't appear (another symptom of Second Child Syndrome).

Peabop!! I saw Peabop at the zoo!!!! = Love this one. Said the other night while looking at her animal book. She really enjoyed watching the free roaming peacocks (just in case you weren't sure what a peabop was).

Meow, wanna feep with Puppy? = this is followed by Meow vigorously nodding his head and Teia and Meow are placed into her crib to nap with Puppy who is already there.

Teia did it!!! = accompanied by huge smiles over whatever feat she just accomplished.

Here ya go Mommy = usually said as she places rejected foodstuffs on my plate, sometimes pre-chewed.

Open mouth! = sung to us whenever she wishes to feed us. It is sweet but beware what she proffers.

Daddy/Mommy, I funny!

Too woud! (loud)

Mommy where did the baby wyan (lion) go? =everything is a baby and a mommy or  daddy, even big trees and small trees are mommy and baby trees.

And particularly endearing - today at lunchtime she looks across the table and says "Mommy, I wike dinosaurs and puppy tails." After I acknowledged what she said, she added "Mommy wike dinosaurs and puppy tails?"

Tonight as I'm leaving her bedroom "feep tight Mommy!" Awwwwww......

Funny Kids!

Lately our kids are just cracking us up. Which is a good thing. Otherwise we might be tempted to sell them ;-) Teia is developing the distinctly female habit of having strong clothing preferences from a young age. We're not dealing with pink, froufy tutus yet but we did have fleece pants, rain boots, and mom's running hat the other day for a trip to the beach when it was pretty warm out. Note also the Thomas the Train sticker placed just so on her hand. 

We've actually had a bit of rain lately which is fairly anomalous for San Diego. The kids were intrigued, having forgotten what rain was (well, not exactly) and wanted to go out to jump in the puddles. So they trudged outside in their jammies, rain boots and backpacks. Not sure what the backpacks were for but when one does something, the other follows suite. 

And here they go, trudging back inside after being a little disappointed with the puddle quality on our street. 

 And here is our bouncing bean, full of energy early in the morning launching herself from bosu ball to bean bag.

 She is a very talented little woman. Here she demonstrates her skill at levitation.

Here you see the Head Lifeguard peeking out from his Lifeguard station to watch the Wiggles. Budsy has decided that Lifeguards and their Lifeguard towers are pretty cool and really likes the lifeguard station daddy made for him. Teia has been named the Assistant Lifeguard but she actually isn't allowed in there too much. Our Head Lifeguard is quite good at applying band aids to our injuries but mostly he enjoys surveying the "beach" from inside his station.

I'm actually hoping this lifeguard thing sticks b/c I think a lifeguard costume will be much easier to pull off for Hallowe'en next year than another sky tower! That is, unless he decides he'd like to be the lifeguard tower...

Belated Birthday wishes for our Peach Cobbler

Greg here.  After a long sabbatical from blog-writing, its high time I continue some contributions and give our journeyman blogger, Louise, a wee rest.

I promised to write a blog for Teia's birthday (or I was threatened, depending on one's point of view) then Big T's big day came and went and my blog entry was still left wanting.  Our trip to Banff/Calgary/Sky Tower was a blur of little blondies running around and giving us little time to enjoy the mountains, cool air, grizzlies, and mountain bike trails the Canadian Rockies are so famous for, let alone giving me time to whip up a blog worthy of our T-ster.

Peach started out as 'Peach' due to her peachy-fuzz 'do in her earlier days.  Unless you're reading this blog on a Crackberry, you'll notice that her hair is more golden-fleecy than peach-fuzzy these days, but the name has stuck.  Her love of peaches hasn't hurt either (tho if love of a food item was the main criteria for nicknames, mine would be Nutella, Louise's would be Chocolate, and Kai's would probably be Clif-bah).

T-bar has become quite the ruler of the roost in the last few months.  All the hard work, discipline, and standards that were applied to turn Kai into the good little soldier he is has gone completely out the window, down the rain gutter, into the Pacific ocean, and down the GI tract of some surly little fish.  In other words, we have lost complete control of this child.  In the morning, she stands up in the crib, cries till one of us arrives, and immediately demands what DVD is expected on the TV.  And whoa be to the body who doesn't get that DVD purring post-haste!  To complicate matters, multiple DVDs have the same call sign (e.g. "Thomas") so some quick Eject/Loads are sometimes required before we can leave the area.  T-bar then takes up her perch on the chase to watch the DVD.  During this time, we are expected to get her milk warmed and ready for the next word she speaks "Mulk!"   Every now & then, she may wander into the kitchen, demand 'mulk' before its warm, take a few unsatisfying slurps, and thrust the bottle back at us: "Too cold!", with a furrowed brow to boot for emphasis.

Speaking of furrowed brows, T-bone is the queen of facial expressions.  From a brow that can practically cast a shadow over her whole body, to squinty eyes of silliness, big "O" looks of surprise and pleasure, or sideway glances that would put a rabid Doberman back in its place, T-bone hardly needs words to make her motives and thoughts known in no-uncertain terms.

Meal times are moments of great family conversation, as long as the conversation centers around Teia's proximity to her chair:  "Teia, get back in your seat", "Teia, sit down please", "Teia, don't drop food on the floor", etc.  Kai is no great sitter in our dining room either, tho he's a champ on the bar stools in the kitchen.  After 5-10 bites of 1/4 of her plate, Teia will exclaim "All done." If she's in a high-chair and we don't immediately acknowledge, this becomes "Allllll Donnnnee!", then "Mommy, all done!  Daddy, all done!", then temper tantrum.  If she's not in a high chair, no acknowledgements are required: she's all done and she's going to restart the DVD, damnit!  Bribes and promises of dessert may or may not coerce her back to the seat.

Since the wedding, T-dawg has really enjoyed dancing, mostly with Dad, I'm proud to say!  Dancing usually consists of us holding hands and her flailing about wildly until I can't hold on much longer and allow her to plop to the ground, giggling wildly.  Occasionally, its a solo affair, full of raised elbows, circular running, and body gyrations that would also work if she were an alligator swimming through the water.  Kai's world-famous 'Gordon Dance' is occasionally imitated too (tho never duplicated!)

I must admit I didn't believe Louise 2+ years ago when she claimed Tay-tay would be a feisty one (a very prescient prediction 36 hours after she was born!)  But we've been eating our words ever since; Tay-tay's got some real piss & vinegar coursing through them little veins (but fortunately not ALL the time....)

Project SkyTower

So this year Kai was pretty sure of what he wanted to be for Hallowe'en: the SkyTower at SeaWorld. Given his current love of Thomas the Train, we figured that would be a sure bet for this year's costume. But when I mentioned it, he turned up his nose at a simple Thomas costume I could buy at a store and told me in no uncertain terms that he was to be the SkyTower.

Now my mom was always able to whip up a unique and crafty costume but I lack a) a sewing machine, and b) any crafty skills whatsoever. Greg and I pow-wowed on this costume and we really weren't sure how we were going to pull it off. Somewhere along the way we came up with the idea of using a collapsible laundry hamper and the rest is history. We somehow managed to turn this:

Into this:

If you haven't seen the SeaWorld SkyTower you'll see the similarities below:

Kai proudly wore his costume all around SeaWorld, including on the SkyTower itself and on the Sky Ride over the Bay. He was also happy to tell anyone who asked, what he was. We have never seen him talk to so many strangers! Teia, on the other hand was a more reluctant Dolphin. Until we went to visit the Dolphins that is, then she sported her costume happily. 

By Hallowe'en night itself, Teia had had enough Dolphin and she decided to be Tigger. Here she is making sure her germs are on all of the Hallowe'en kazoos we had in our treat bowl. In fact, if she had her way she would have cleaned out our treat bowl herself before we even left the house. This picture is blurry but I had to add it anyway as it shows our two rascals filling their pumpkins with our treats before we even headed out!

Teia provided a fair bit of entertainment on Hallowe'en night. First of all she was quite terrified of her own Daddy. I can't imagine why...

But once she got the hang of the whole deal, she sprinted b/tw houses giggling madly like a little Hallowe'en banshee. Daddy and Kai had to sprint to keep up (I am still gimp so got to take the pics). 

Then she practically vibrated with excitement to eat her first ever "wally pop." Back at home we had a few trick or treaters stop by and the kids got to try their hand at being candy givers. It was interesting to watch. Kai was savvy and very carefully plucked only the plastic toys (spider rings, kazoos etc) out of our bowl for hand outs. Teia was a bit more generous and did dole out a few chocolate bars. Greg, on the other hand, was scoffing Kit Kats from the bowl and piling them in the kitchen. I will have to keep that man away from the kids' candy loot! 

Tonight Greg and I were discussing the various ways we've heard of parents managing their kids' candy these days: taking it to a homeless shelter, throwing it out, having the kids pick out only a certain number and then giving the rest away (you can give to dentists for money!) Back in the day there were no candy controls, other than checking for those ominous apples with razor blades inside, you know the really shiny red ones. I remember keeping my stash in a pillow case in my bedroom! But those were crazy times, back then. 

I had to add this photo b/c I married a very artistically talented man - seriously! Guess who?

Warm weather will do a number on a thomas-o-lantern. By Hallowe'en night our little pumpkin engine was sporting some pretty serious mold and leaking some pretty nasty I don't know what. One poor little kid walked by Thomas Pumpkin and said to his dad "THAT is a scary pumpkin!"

Kai has already chosen his costume for next year - a tram. At least we've got some time to figure that one out!

Happy Birthday Teia!

Teia turned 2 on October 18th and its been driving me nuts that we have not yet posted to commemorate that. 2nd children really do get ripped off. I'm afraid it is going to be November before I make a photo montage like I did for Kai's birthday or Greg finally writes up a post about her birthday activities. So I just had to hop on here while the kids sleep in and I have a sec to say


HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE PEACH! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!! (and its not that we don't honor and cherish your birthday, we're just so stinkin' busy!!!!!!) - stinkin' eh? I'm turning American. Yikes!

More fun up north

I am going to make a concerted effort to get caught up on our blog, if for no other reason than I don't want Teia to think we forgot to blog about her birthday (which was last Tuesday) or that we didn't blog about her birthday until November (when she is older and reads all of these b/c I am sure she will ;-). The task of commemorating her big day has been assigned to Daddy who has  been MIA from our blog for far too long. He likes to spend his 2 or 3 free minutes per day keeping up with what is going on in the world, whereas I tend to focus on the small details like blogging about the kids and uploading photos. Blame it on gender difference. But I'll get him on here soon enough....

The kids had alot of fun on our trip to Banff/Calgary. It is amazing to watch them have new experiences. It really reminds me how important little things are to little kids (and should be to all of us). Being able to toss things down from the loft in our vacation condo was a major highlight to Kai and I will never forget him saying to me urgently "I need underpants!" after being told firmly that he was not to throw anything that was big or heavy; underpants however, were acceptable projectiles. (Greg and I were just musing about where he picked up the term under-pants; we're pretty sure we don't use it!)

Like most little boys, Kai likes things that are mechanical and things that go. He is particularly enamored with the two sky trams we ride regularly in San Diego. So when he found out that Banff had a gondola that went all the way up a mountain, well he was keen to give it a try!

Both he and Teia made it to the very top of Sulphur Mountain under their own power. There was hike of many, many stairs leading to the top. Kai pretty much sprinted all the way. The altitude didn't slow that boy down! Teia was also amazing, walking all the way to the top and then pretty much jumping all the way down. Let's just say, it took awhile.

This is looking back at the gondola house from the top so you can see it was quite a walk for little people. Kai actually did the top portion twice, he got tired of waiting for the rest of us (my excuse is the roboboot).  On the ride down Greg and I got to see what it might be like to have 4 kids and we rode down with our 2 plus Allie and Emily. 

Once in Calgary Kai's choice of activity was the Calgary Tower. He was pretty stoked to ride a gondola and find a big tower on the same trip (two of his favorite things). I haven't been up the Calgary Tower since 1994 so it was a new experience for me too. That glass floor sure made me woozy. But not the kids, they couldn't get enough of it. 

While we were up there some folks were rappelling down the Tower. Standing there on that glass floor I couldn't think of anything I would rather do less than rappel down that Tower. Kai's comment: "that is a dwiffwent way to get down the Calgary Tower." 

Still kinda post-vacation bummin' so I 'm sure I'll be on here again to post some more photos and stories. It was a really great trip!