A Boy and A Stage

I just came across this video of Kaden busting out some sweet dance moves in down town Monterey. We're outside of Bubba Gumps with Jennie (yes, from the movie Forest Gump) and the restaurant has these wooden crates that the boys have adopted as their own personal stage whenever we're down there. Anyways, this is what you get when you cross Kaden with a chance to perform! :) He gets all his talent from his parents...who also can't dance! :)

  And just in case anyone was wondering what' on the schedule for this weekend....it's Costco again! :) Somehow, I always end up grocery shopping on the weekends. However, I do hope to get in a walk along the coast and some family time...can't spend all my time at Costco you know! :) Hope everyone has a good weekend. Jesus loves you!

What Mommies Are Good For

Quote from Kaden this morning..."Mommies are good for goodnight kisses and making breakfast!"

Sunday night rambling

I'm not sure what Caleb's pointing to I just like the expression on his face :)
Sitting by the fountain...it's the only place we could get them to sit and take a picture since it was in the shade

Ok, we found on more shady place to take a picture
Pointing out the lemons in the lemon tree
I love this one that Matt took of the dew drop on the flower
  Not much going on just felt the need to say hello to everyone. Spent a quiet and semi-productive weekend spending time with the Van Hook boys and organizing baby clothes. It astounds me how much stuff we've accumulated since having children! We've been very blessed and I'm excited it's our turn to share the blessing! :) 

  Matt's finishing up some homework (I do NOT miss homework) for the start of another week. Not sure what we'll be up to this next week...probably more organizing and purging...This nesting syndrome is driving me crazy but at least it helps me be productive. 

  As for the pictures, we took these last weekend when we visited a local mission in Carmel. Matt's having fun and getting really good with his new camera so thought I'd share and brag on him a bit. This weekend was not so sunny...in fact it's rained for the last four days...but I'm not complaining rain is still better then snow! :) 

  Hope you all have a great start to your week. Jesus loves you. 

  

What are you doing?

I'm headed to Cosco (grocery warehouse) on this fine Saturday. What are you up too? :)

Boys day out vs. Moms day in

Just thought I'd share a quick Kaden quip with you.  To be fair, I do like cleaning and some may say I'm slightly obsessed with it :) that being said here is the following conversation:

  Kaden: " Caleb wouldn't it be fun to go fishing! We can't go fishing in the ocean because we're to small and the fishes will pull us in, but we can go fishing in the lake, and that would be fun." Turning to me..."Mom, someday Dad is going to take us fishing for a fun boys day out, and you...you can stay home and catch up on laundry! Won't that be fun!" :)

  

Date Day

Kaden's shot of the model blimp

Kaden's favorite ship in the museum
My little Fireman checking out the bay
Posing on the huge ship anchor
Kaden telling mommy to "pose"
My Fireman turned Pirate got to hold a real bird down on the warf...he wan't real thrilled but did it long enough for me to get a picture. 

Kaden and I got to go on a date Sunday, his choice as to activity. We had a special day down by Fisherman's warf. He wanted to spend it first at the Maritime museum where we looked at all the old model ships, played with the horns of the lighthouse, and watched a short movie on the blimp. Then we walked down Fisherman's warf and looked in the pirate store and wandered with the people. At the end of the warf there was a man with about 11 birds for people to meet and hold. We left the warf and headed to Target (where else) for Kaden to spend some of his Christmas money. I was so proud, he's turning out to be a bargain hunter just like me! :) We had a great time just being together, and I loved getting to see and hear about the world from my little man.

 Hope everyone had a good Monday. Jesus loves you!

January 17, 2009

View of the Pacific
A random blimp flying over Pebble Beach
Happy face on the beach
Drums....
...or hat
You decide

Just wanted to send all of you in the frozen part of the country a glimpse of what January is looking like in California! :)

San Francisco

View of San Francisco from the Full House hill top! ( the opening scene of Full House)
The crookedest street in the world...Lambard street

City of San Francisco
View of the bay from Pier 39 (Golden Gate in the background)
Kaden on the carasol (sp) on Pier 39...definitely the highlight of the day for the boys (couldn't get a picture of Caleb where he was riding)
Brothers at the Palace of the Fine Arts
Jennie and Michelle
Highlight of the trip for Jennie...this place is from her favorite movie Heart and Souls
Matt got a great picture of the MOON rising above the city just as the sun was going down on the other side of the Golden Gate! It was huge and we later found out it was the biggest moon of the year.
Highlight of the day for Kaden. At first glimpse of the Golden Gate he exclaimed, "This is the FIRST time I've seen it in my WHOLE LIFE!!!!" 
Kaden by a cross section of one of the cables that hold up the bridge
Beautiful night and beautiful girl

Our big trip with Jennie was up to San Francisco. It was a long day but we had a blast and thanks to Matt's exceptional driving skills and ability to navigate we not only survived the driving and the city but go to see so many parts...weird, beautiful, scenic, and well...it is San Francisco so you can imagine all that we got to see! :) 

First few days

Amazing 
Caleb was not so thrilled with the forest. 
Walking the trail...one of the few moments Caleb was walking...can you see the baby belly!
Kaden on the forest trail. He LOVED running through the forest and exploring, a true adventurer at heart.
Inside a Redwood! 
On the Boardwalk...yes, the boardwalk from the song.
Chatting on the beach

Finally getting around to posting some pictures from the first few days Jennie has been in California...actually these pictures are all from one day but you get the idea. We took a trip up to Big Basin up in the Redwood forest. It is indescribable how amazing and awe inspiring these trees can be. Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world and it's just astounding to see their height and width and to realize how long ago God made these trees and all they have lived through. There is a cross section of one of the trees up by the lodge that shows all the rings and that tree has been there since like 200 A.D.!!! Incredible. Needless to say we were all impressed...well not all of us. Caleb was actually terrified the entire time we were there. When we first stepped on the trail, Kaden innocently said something about spiders in the tree and not wanting to get to close. Next thing we knew, Caleb was screaming in terror...and didn't stop for about 30 min. Best we could figure between sobs was that he thought the ground (which was damp and covered with pine needles and leaves) looked like worms and spiders and he was afraid to walk on it. Needless to say, the serenity of the forest was broken but it was still enjoyable and once he calmed down we coaxed a few smiles from him and he eventually even touched a tree! :)

  After the redwoods we headed to the beach and showed Jennie the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. It was shut down for the winter but still fun to walk through. Since then we've done shopping days, the aquarium, Big Sur, Carmel, and San Francisco! Fun times. We've got some great pictures thanks to Matt's new camera so I'll get those uploaded sometime this week. He's getting really good at photography! We're just going to enjoy every minute we have until Jennie has to head home!

  Hope you all are have a great start to your week. Jesus loves you.

First Post of 2009

Mommy and Caleb on the beach ( I love his little red nose!)
We celebrated new year's eve with an amazing spread, sparkling cider, amazing friends, worship, a good movie, and party hats...what more could you want...and I even stayed awake until 12!
Matt with his boys on the "dog stature" that he used to go to as a small boy when he visited his grandparents. 
  Four days into the new year and I thought it was time to stop in and say hello! :) We've had a fun and blessed whirlwind of the last couple of weeks. We enjoyed every unplanned moment of the last week with our dear friends (yes, we did all the "normal" Van Hook sight seeing tour stops such as the aquarium, Big Sur, Lovers Point, Fisherman's Warf...but added in Jack's Peak and San Mateo)  and just feel so blessed to love and be loved in return. That being said, we've spent the last couple of days taking Christmas down, cleaning the house, running errands, and preping for our next guest...Ms. Jennie! We are so excited that Jennie is coming to spend the next week with us. She is one of our daughters from Del Rio (from the youth group) and I can't wait to show off California to her and her to California. 

  Kaden is excited to head back to school tomorrow...Matt is not as excited to head back on Wednesday. That leaves Caleb and I without school but I'm sure we'll be busy as we pick up the routine and mommy starts nesting! I have the unquenchable desire to purge, organize, and clean...hmmm must mean we're in the second trimester! :) 

  Hope everyone's New Year is off to a blessed start...no matter what the circumstances may you know that God is on His throne and this world is just a shadow of things to come! 

It's Still Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Just wanted to post a quick blog to wish everyone a Merry CHRISTmas. We drove home last night from Southern California where we spent the week and Christmas day. We left at 10 p.m. last night and got home at 5 this morning! It was a long night ( I love coffee) but so nice as the boys slept the whole way and we didn't hit any traffic. We got home slept for 2 hours, had family Christmas and spent the rest of the morning putting everything away and getting organized and ready for our Dear Friends who are coming any moment to spend the next week with us! :) So it's still Christmas at our house as we have at least one more round of celebration today...and that's what it's really all about celebrating Jesus each and every day. Merry Christmas.

Just Relaxing

We're in Southern California and just enjoying some time not doing much of anything. So nice to slow down for a bit. We left at 2 a.m. Saturday morning and had a fabulous drive down here...I even got to see the Hollywood sign for the first time (it was light by then). Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend before Christmas and have had a moment to reflect on the baby on the manger who was and is the creator and sustainer of the universe ...amazing.

Still Recovering

I think I'm still recovering from the shock of seeing a GIRL on the ultrasound. My emotions are all over the place. One minute I'm really excited and awed at the thought of having a daughter and then the next minute I'm weepy over never dressing a little boy in blue. Oh, how I love hormones! :)  Matt, on the other hand, is a VERY excited daddy. Thanks everyone for your excitement for us. We are just resting in God's hands and know that He will keep us through all the ups and downs. 

   We are getting ready to head to Matt' s family (Southern California) for Christmas. We're excited to spend Christmas with them since we've only done it once in the 8 years that we've been married! :) Still have a few things to get done before we go clean the house, pack, organize the gifts, make sure last minute shopping is done, finish the baking, send out one more package, and label, stamp, stuff, and send out all the Christmas cards! I love leaving things to the last minute! :) 

 I hope your Christmas season is full of God's love and to bring you a little cheer here's the following conversation between Kaden and Caleb...

  Scene: gathered around the nativity calender to unwrap the figure of the night

 Kaden: "Caleb, why are you putting the camel in the sky?"

 Caleb: With a look of total confidence in his face, "Because it's a reindeer!"

   Hmmmm....maybe we need to work on keeping our Christmas stories strait! Although, Caleb is just a bit confused all over since every time he sees Santa he calls him Noah! :)

NOT TO BE!!!

To Be or Not To Be

Well...tomorrow is the day. Matt and I are headed to the doctor to have our ultrasound. The last two babies we've chosen to be pleasantly surprised at birth as to which sex God blessed us with...but the third time around we've opted to find out early! One if it is a girl I get to dream in pink, and two if it's another little boy then I have time to mentally prepare for three boys! :) I'm 99% sure it's a boy based on the heart beat we heard last week and maternal instinct, but tomorrow we should now if we are to be a family of all boys or not to be...

My Knight in Shining ummmm Fabric Armor

Clearing the hall of Bad Guys


Strike a pose 

For his birthday Matt and I got Kaden a Knight costume! ( ok, honestly it's a halloween costume I got like 50% off. I just love a bargain!) Kaden makes a great hero. He has the heart of a knight always caring for the fair maiden, rescuing those in need, and learning to be a true gentleman. I'm so proud of the little man God is molding him into!

Christmas Cookies

Pirate Cookies..I mean a pirate making cookies
Where Caleb spent most of his time while we were making cookies...poor baby. 
The finished project!

We got out Christmas Sugar Cookies made today! And in the words of Caleb, "Mmmmmm! That's good in my mouth!" :) Caleb ran a fever most of the day, so he did help some but asked to go lay down on the couch (so sweet) so Kaden and I took over most of the cookie making. Kaden is getting to be a great help with the cookies and it's fun to spend the time together...even it the mess does drive mommy crazy! :) 

  Ok and now a message from the little boy sitting on my lap..

  rb tbhubv r77890ududdjdcjcjcjvjv  jududuud duuigigri rgerlge

New Look

Just wanted to say THANK YOU to Julie for helping me to get a new look on the blog! Seriously, this has been like a 3 day process...I'm that computer illiterate! :) Not much new or exciting to post. Caleb was running a fever this afternoon so the plan for tomorrow is to stay home with the boys and make Christmas sugar cookies! We're very excited! I'll try to get some good pictures of the mess...I mean cookies! 

Street of Bethlehem

The first scene
Kaden couldn't decide if he loved or was terrified of the Roman soldiers. 
Mary and Joseph making their entrance
Think Tinkerbell/Angel. The angel was pulled up behind the stable so that she looked like she was flying. Very exciting. 

  Friday night, Matt and I took the boys to walk through the Street of Bethlehem. This is something that my daddy used to take us to do each Christmas...only 10 years ago it wasn't nearly as big as it is today. A local church in Salinas puts on this amazing production every year that allows you to walk through what Bethlehem would have been like at the time Christ was born. They have Roman soldiers with real swords (Kaden was very impressed that they were real) riding horses and managing the crowd, donkeys (of course), goats, sheep, horses, bunnies (none of these were great for my allergies but the boys LOVED them.) and the church members are all dressed like they are from Biblical times, and they even had flying Angels! 

   Let me start off by saying, we had a very hard time finding parking even though we attempted to follow the posted parking signs. In our defense the sign that we followed had an arrow pointing right into a lot full of cars which we assumed meant we were supposed to park there. However, we quickly found out that we were not at the place where the buses were picking people up and driving them to Bethlehem. Faced with the choice of reparking the car or walking we opted for walking....bad idea. We started huffing it down this street (mind you it's cold, we're pushing Caleb but Kaden is walking, it's very dark, we have no idea where we are, and Salinas is NOT the safest place to wander. ) We head about 10 blocks or more from where we parked as we see buses turning on that street...the buses were turning there to go back to the parking what we didn't know was that after leaving Bethlehem the buses drove about 4 blocks north and then turned around to head to where they needed to be. We figured that out once we'd walked about another 10 blocks up from the other direction and ended up on a street that was close to where we needed to be not accessible...so we backed tracked and finally wound our way to Bethlehem (in reality we were close to where we parked and had we stopped and figured that out we would've saved a lot of time and grief! :) We tried to keep a positive attitude and explain to Kaden and to ourselves that this is what Mary and Joseph must have felt like...discouraged and tired! 

  Once we got there, I realized how big this thing had grown. You know at Six Flags when you're waiting for a ride and you have to wind in and out of all the turns to get to the actual ride....it was just like that! There were like 20 or more turns to go through before you could even get in! There were easily a thousand people waiting and they would let maybe 200 in at a time. The first scene was the wise men coming to visit the governor to find out where the new King was born. Then they let you pass into Bethlehem (the whole time the Roman soldiers are very rude and treat you like your there to pay taxes) and walk through the booths. They have booths that show how they made yarn, pottery, bread, tools, cloth, toys, incense etc. It's really neat but very overwhelming as it is so crowded. Next you pass through these gates and watch Mary and Joseph come into Bethlehem looking for a place to stay. Everyone is invited back to the stable and as you walk through the next opening there's a mountain scene where the shepherds are. The do a dancing/singing angle routine and then you finally see Baby Jesus with Mary and Joseph. The dramatic climax is when the angel flies into the air in celebration of his birth. The church does a good job talking about why Jesus was born and on the way out of the church they have 3 crosses set up as a reminder of why Jesus came. It was fun to go to as a family (once we got there) and a neat experience for the boys.

     My favorite quotes of the night...Kaden: "What is that SMELL" Mommy, "That's a donkey."

  Kaden upon hearing Mary ask, "Is there no one compassionate in this town that will help us tonight?"    "I WILL!!!!"

   Caleb while watching Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus, "Yeah for Babies, Yeah for Jesus, Yeah for Babies!"