Catching up, Vol. 3 - The Condensed Version

So once again I am lagging behind in updating...still haven't updated everything that has happened in the past 2 months. It's been such a whirlwind. So in an effort to move forward, I'm going to give a lightning round update here. Buckle your seatbelts!

March 29 - During Will's concert, our packed cars (cats included) wait in the parking lot of the school. As soon as he's done singing his little heart out, we hit the road enroute to sunny California (by way of Nebraska). We take a few days, with mercifully little traffic or weather issues, and hit Nebraska over the weekend. We get to hang out with family for a few days (lots of fun playing with cousins!) before we follow the Erb clan to Colorado for even more family fun. Our time in CO gets cut short (due to the delivery of our household goods in CA) so we hit the road a day early and cover the rest of the ground to San Diego! We were SO relieved to finally get here. Our Easter weekend was spent unpacking in our new place; we actually hunted for eggs amongst the boxes. An Easter to remember!

In the wake of all of this moving, Keith and/or I attended 3 weddings on the East Coast. We like to keep busy...ha! A week after we arrived in CA, Keith flew back to Virginia Beach for his friend Gregg's weddding. I wish I could have been there, or that we could have moved after Gregg and Johanna's wedding, but it just wasn't possible. A few short weeks later Keith and I boarded a plane to fly back to the East Coast for Jill and Matt's wedding. Grandma Gigi and Aunt Donna were nice enough to come watch the boys so we could enjoy a weekend kid-free. Yippee! The wedding went off without a hitch (okay, one minor hitch of rain right before the ceremony so we had to move things inside) but everything else was great. It was a beautiful ceremony and fun reception. A good time was had by all on both coasts. And Archer picked up a new term of endearment, "Nene". I thought it was a mix of Gigi and Donna at first but he uses it for all females. Creative little chap! A big thank you to the 2 originial Nenes for allowing us to get away! After the Hicks/Zvolenski, we were back in town for a few weeks once again. Then this past weekend I boarded a plane for my friend Sarah's wedding in Massachusetts. I was so happy to be able to be there while she and Dave got married. It was a great day! Here is a pic of Jill and Matt getting their pic taken on the big day!

In the meantime, Keith started work and settled in to his new routines at VRC-30. He will be doing a RimPac this summer so he'll miss most of our "free" time. Bummer. With that in mind, I orchestrated Will's schedule to keep hiim semi-entertained over the summer with camps, etc. Archer and I plan to stay busy by looking at lots of "Gucks" and "Choo choos" and fighting with random kids over the slide at the park. :) We'll stay busy, I'm sure. That's it, in a nutshell. I know I'm missing stuff...can't seem to locate our pics with the Erbs, Grandpa Heyen or Grandma Charma and Aunt Rach. I'll fill those in when I find them. In the meantime, here are some odds and ends:

Update on the Littles

I've been *trying* (really, I have!) to get my pictures from our move organized so I can finally update everything and move on. But it's proving harder than expected; time is short with 2 little people hanging around so much. So I thought I'd provide an update on the boys in the meantime. We've been in Coronado for almost a month and we're starting to feel settled (or at least I am). Keith is definitely settled; he's back flying and doing his thing at work. Will started preschool at his new school a few weeks ago. He's attending Resurrection Preschool and so far, it's good. I have to admit, at first I was a little nervous. I forgot how much more laid back everything is on the West Coast. When I took him for his orientation, I was thinking "whoa, hippie school!" And that may be a tad bit true but he seems to like it and I'm adjusting to the more "play" centered way of learning. Every day when I pick him up, he's smiling and laughing so I guess that's something. I'm hoping we can make some playmates to keep us company over the summer before school lets out! Below is Will on his first day of preschool at Resurrection!

Archer and I have been keeping ourselves busy by going to the park every day. We also take long walks around the island. It's great to be able to be outside so much. Both boys are enjoying the sunshine and mild temps. Spreckles Park, the main park in Coronado, has quickly become a favorite. Will loves to climb and jump and throw things down the slides. He also loves to play Lego Ninjas, which I'm sure leaves every other parent wondering why that kid is running around and yelling and kicking at random objects. To each his own... Archer and I were lucky enough to meet a new friend, Shahana, and her son, Haas, while playing at Spreckles. So far the little boys don't really play together but I'm hoping with time they'll become friends. Archer's current MO is standing on a piece of playground equipment and screeching anytime another kid tries to get on with him. Oye! He also has a great little "arm bar" bit that he does by throwing his arm out to stop "intruders". He's a real joy at the park, let me tell you! Hopefully this phase will end quickly.

So it seems sharing is not Archer's strong suit. Luckily he's making up for it by picking up all kinds of new words lately. "Whoa" is Will. "Guck" is truck, sock, duck, sometimes shoe. "Da da" is Keith but also airplane. There are many other sounds for things like motorcycle, boat, etc. "Bup" remains as up and "ease" is please. Oh and while Grandma Gigi and Aunt Donna were here watching the boys while Keith and I went to Jill and Matt's wedding, Archer decided to call them both "Nini". Not sure if that's a combo of Gigi and Donna or a term of endearment but it's sweet. After they left, he walked around the house looking for them, calling "Nini? Nini?" He's a ways off from actual back and forth communication but we're slowly getting there. When I can actually figure out what he's trying to say and do what he wants BEFORE he melts down, I feel like I've won a little victory!

All in all, life in sunny Southern California is not bad at all. Check back...I reall will update soon!

Catching Up, Vol. 2 - The Concert

We were supposed to leave Virginia on March 28th and head west. Only one thing could keep us there an extra day: Will's patriotic music concert at school. We had figured out "the plan" to get from VA to CA, leaving on the 28th as soon as our stuff was loaded up...and then Will comes home and tells me that his program is the NEXT morning (29th). When I said that he couldn't go because of our move, he was devastated. So, change of plans! I figured that since we were making him leave all of his friends and his school and home, the least we could do was let him sing with his class one last time. The concert was great. They sang the sounds of Americana, from "You're a Grand Old Flag" to James Brown's "Living in America". Will gave quite a performance, complete with hand gestures! I've seen several school concerts in the past years and he really sang his heart out this time. I was so glad we got to stay one more day. As soon as the concert was over, I grabbed Will from his class. It just about broke my heart to watch Will's classmates tell him goodbye and say how much they were going to miss him. I cried and cried and his teachers joined in. We have so many good memories from Great Bridge Preschool. And with that we loaded the kids into the already-packed van (complete with 2 cats!) and headed out. The adventure was underway!

Catching Up, Vol 1 - Haircut

It has been a LONG time and a lot has happened since my last update. To say we've been busy is an understatement! We are now semi-settled in California. We still don't have much on the walls but we're getting there. The move across the country was good...lots of pictures to come but I'll save those for another post. First I have to go way back to Virginia to catch up on all that happened there before we left! This is volume 1 of several...so check back!

On our last Friday in Virginia, Archer got his first haircut (just above is the "before" picture). Oh man, he's growing up. We took him to Pigtails and Crewcuts in Virginia Beach, which is the same place Will got his first hair cut. Archer chose to sit in the police car and held on to two "choo choos" the entire time. He didn't seem too interested in the actual haircut itself; there was plenty to distract him. It was a quick process and $16 later we had ourselves a cleaned-up little boy. No baby left there! It's now been almost a month since his first haircut and he's in need again. I think I need to learn how to cut hair; I could save a fortune on these boys and then spend it on myself! Here he is in the middle of the action:

Here's the handsome guy afterward:

One down, many more to go!

Storm, as in talking

I'm so pleased that Archer is picking up more words. All sorts of things are coming out of his mouth lately, including a lot of vomit...but I'll get to that later! He has been practicing more and more words; it seems like he's coming up with new words daily. Some new ones are: up (which actually sounds like bup), brush teeth, choo choo (actually doo doo but it's close!), mine, no, and the occasional mama. Before he'd only say mama on accident or if heavily coerced. Now he says it when I pick him up from the childcare at the Y, which incidentally he has decided he hates. He used to go willingly and now wails and wails when I drop him off. Luckily it only lasts a few minutes and then he happily plays. And as a bonus for me, he's so excited when I pick him up that he runs over yelling "mama mama!" I'll take it. However, he still holds a special place for dad (and always will)...here is he trying to fill Keith's shoes,literally.

Archer's current fascinations are with brushing his teeth, washing his hands, and trains. Hmmmm...maybe he's going to be an OCD conductor some day? He also really likes clementines. He climbs into the fridge to get one and if I don't peel it quickly enough, he'll try to eat it with the peel on. (He must get that from the Heyen side.) And, as mentioned before, he also had the stomach bug this week. He managed to throw up all over himself, all over me, and (most frustratingly) all over my freshly mopped floors. Ugh. It was a mess. So far Will and I have managed to avoid getting sick (knock on wood...for real!) but Will is now complaining that his stomach hurts. As you can see, they like to play in tight quarters. Looks like I'm in for another round. Oh and where is Keith you ask? Florida. No where near the land of vomit.

With all that, we continue to prepare for our move. We're hoping to get on the road on March 29th. We were planning to leave early in the morning but found out that's the day of Will's spring concert at school. Of course it is! He was so upset when I told him that he'd have to miss it that I told him he could go and we'd just leave a few hours later. I'm such a sucker! It will be a great way to end our time in Virginia.

Snow fun

So it actually snowed last weekend...we got an entire half inch of the white stuff. Yippee! I've been hoping it would snow a lot this winter since it's our last in a "snowy" area. Alas, we're having more of a typical Southern VA winter, in that we may get one more dusting but that's about it. Regardless, the boys (well, actually Will...Archer by proxy) were thrilled and we headed outside to play in the white wonderland (we had to use our imaginations) as soon as we got up. Unless my memory is wrong (happens all the time), this was Archer's first time playing in actual snow. Fun! So we bundled ourselves up to face the mid-20s temps and played for roughly 10 minutes before we were frozen solid. And by "played", I mean Will ran around making tracks in the snow and Archer stood there looking bewildered. Our play came to an abrupt halt when Archer took a face plant into a pile of snow that had accumulated on a beach ball left outside (hey, we live in a beachy area!) Still not sure if it was intentional or not. But he had a face covered in snow, which didn't go over well. We warmed up inside with hot chocolate and a TV show (this is all before 8am, mind you). Since we knew the snow wouldn't last, we then headed back out for a second round once Keith got up. He's much better at snow play than I am. They boys (all 3 of them) had a great time. And the good news is that the weather man on the local news said it may snow more tonight. Yippee!

Archer before venturing out...he's ready to go!

Ready to Read

I had a total Proud Mommy Moment today when I picked Will up from school. He had gone to the "stay and play" extended care at school because I had an appointment. Stay and play is less structured; the kids just hang out, read books, play, etc. When I picked him up his teacher, Miss Janeen, told me that he had been looking at books and she noticed that he could read several (in some cases all) words in them. She asked Will if he had books at home that he could read all the words in and he said yes. So she invited him to bring one to school tomorrow and read it in front of his classmates! We went right home and picked out a book...I Like Bugs by Margaret Wise Brown. It really is a little thing but Will is so proud of himself that he is able to read and that he gets to show off his skills to his friends. Miss Janeen said that there are only a few readers in the class and Will is one of them! I'm so glad I've been harping on this...kidding! I'm just glad he likes to read and I hope he continues to enjoy it. There is nothing I'd rather do than pick up a good book. I think it may be time for Will to get his own library card when we move! Such a big boy!