Tomi and I can’t believe that Dylan is already 4 years old. He is growing so fast and everyday he makes me laugh about something totally new. The way he sees the world right now is so cool, and I feel I’m learning from him as he sees things for the first time. Hes always had a great love and interest in ocean life and I hope to make this fourth year of his life the one where we can really begin totake advantage of where we live and help him explore the California coast.
His Birthday was on 01/20 and he decided this year that instead of doing a big party like he has in the past, he wanted to either do Disneyland or Monterey with the Family (looks like we are going to Disneyland later this month), with the one condition that he got to spend his birthday with his friends Nate and Braden. So that night Shelby, Dustin and the boys came over after everyone got home from work. Tomi and I made bean and cheese burritos at Dylans request.
But Dylan, Nate and Braden were so excited to get back to their wii nobody really ate anything. After many sword fights, table tennis battles, and a few frames of bowling we were able to lure them back to the table with an Ice Cream Birthday Cake from Doc Burnstein’s, always delicious. Wii wasn’t enough to pull them away from the table now. With Dylan turning four there was the perfect amount of candles to be licked by the three boys and Aubri. After making sure that every last bit of ice cream was off the candles they finished of the pieces of cake. Dylan has made great friends here and was very happy to share his birthday with them.You can see more pics from the “party” here.
This morning my mom and I took the kids down to the ocean to look for seashells. I made sure the kids were bundled up warm, but it actually ended up being really beautiful down there. It was cool but nice and sunny and we all really enjoyed ourselves. I haven’t had a chance to go through the bags yet to see what all was collected but I am sure there will be a few interesting things in there. Dylan said he put half a crab in one of the bags to give to Grandma so she could “play with it and stuff”. Please click here to see more photos.
Tomi and Idelle took the kids to go see Santa at Santas Village by the mission in San Luis Obispo. As soon as Aubri got a glimpse of Santa she was done with the whole thing. She started crying and wouldn’t take her eyes off of him, they couldn’t even get her in the building. Dylan has been cool with Santa since the first year. He wasn’t very sure about telling Santa what he wanted thought so maybe he won’t get anything this year. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
We got our tree a little later then we normally like to this year. With me getting a new job, all the things the kids have going on and then getting a new cat we have been a little busy. But we finally did get it and are really happy with the one we picked out. It’s almost like Stewie knew he was the kids Christmas gift this year and parked himself right under the tree where all the other presents will be going. It gave Tomi a good opportunity to get our first real shots of him in his new home. So here is the newest member of the family…
Wes Anderson probably ranks a very close second to the Coen brothers when it comes to my favorite film makers. So a few months ago when I found out that he had made a children’s film, I was so stoked that I would be able to take the kids to see a movie that I knew they would enjoy but would also have some of the craziness that is Wes Anderson that I would love also. We saw it today and I think he pulled it off very well. He took a Roald Dahl book, the guy who wrote Charlie and Chocolate Factory, and made it his own. I have never read the book but from what I have read about this film he stayed pretty close to the original while adding his trademarks to it; great sound track, almost uncomfortable dialogue, perfectly framed shots, etc… The stop motion animation was nowhere near as polished as what you see with Tim Burton movies but it gave the movie an almost vintage feel that I think added to the whole vibe of the movie. When we left everyone said they enjoyed it, which to me is the perfect kids movie. Dylan enjoyed it for the cute furry animals that talked, and Tomi and I really enjoyed all aspects of the movie. I know not everyone loves Wes Anderson, hes kind of an acquired taste, but I think this is the one film of his that everyone will really enjoy. So go check it out.
The other day while Dylan was at school, he got to play in Mr. Rob’s (he is the teachers husband) van while it was being washed. Dylan came home so excited to tell us about how they were inside the van and the water was shooting at them. I am so glad that they had the camera out so that they were able to capture some of the fun. Then, when the newsletter for his school came out this month, there were the pictures of the kids in the bus having a great time. I though I would just put up the because I thought they were great and you can totally see the joy in all of the kids faces.
We absolutely love Dylan’s preschool and we don’t feel like we could have found a better place for him to be at. He gets to do such amazing things there and he always comes home with a smile on his face and he can’t wait to jump out of the car in the morning to get there. Aubri can not wait until she is allowed to stay at school also. Every morning when we drop Dylan off she gets to go and play with the kids for a while and I feel horrible for having to drag her away from playing in the dirt and chasing the chickens. I know it won’t be too long before it is her turn to stay and that makes me happy but also a little sad at the same time.
Today while I was doing dishes, Dylan and Aubri were plaing together with the magnets on the fridge and Dylan was singing while Aubri was kind of humming along. He was making up such cute songs that I wanted to catch a few on video. He agreed to sing a few so I could videotape them. So, here is a short video of a few of Dylan’s songs.
On Halloween morning we decided to carve our pumpkins so they would be ready to be put out for decoration on Halloween night. It took a little while before Dylan warmed up to the idea of sticking his hands inside the pumpkin to pull out the guts, but after he realized it wasn’t going to hurt him he seemed to have fun cleaning out his pumpkin. Aubri on the other hand never seemed to get the hang of cleaning her pumpkin out and she preferred for someone else to do it for her.
Dylan really wanted to carve a “face” on his so that it would look like a Jack-o-Lantern. He gave it his best shot of trying to carve it on his own, but really the knife just ended up going up and down in one spot. He didn’t seem to realize that he wasn’t doing any carving though and really had a good time. Mike ended up finishing carving his face for him and he just pulled out the pieces as Mike cut them free. Aubri chose the cat for her pumpkin to be carved into, and I think they both ended up turning out great. Dylan couldn’t wait to get to put the candle in his so that it would light up. He was quite proud of his pumpkin and pointed out all of the pumpkins that had a face like his while we were out trick-or-treating. The next day Grams roasted up all of the pumpkin seeds with a little bit of garlic and everyone thinks they are delicious. Click here to see more pick of the kids carving pumpkins.
When we got to Disneyland the first thing Dylan wanted to do was go on the Buzz Lightyear ride. So we headed there first. He ended up getting a little freaked out by some of the things you see while the line winds around so he actually didn’t participate in the shooting of evil. But he sat with me and watched as I saved the world only to find out that both Tomi and Idelle did way better than I did. When the ride was over he wanted to go again, but we never made it for a second round. Im sure evil alien beings will still be trying to take over the world the next time we make a trip to the happiest place on Earth, and Dylan can see if his trigger finger is faster than mine.