Oden Adventures

We started off September with a fun trip to Newport Beach, on Patrick's last day before starting up fall classes.  Vianne really liked this big hole in the sand...

 ...as well as splashing around in the waves with Daddy...

 ...while Mama & Oliver hung out in the Shade Shack.

 This was little O's first time at the beach, and he seemed to be a fan, or at peace anyway...

 

 Daddy took Oliver so Mama could enjoy the waves a bit, too!

 

 

In the continuing category of Creative Diversions for a Two Year Old, I got this color-sorting idea from googling "activities for two year olds", and what a treasure it has been!  So far "the pom-poms", as Vianne calls this, have clocked hours on the Toddler Time-Occupier.  I got some Dollar Tree pom poms and saved up some toilet paper rolls and then wrapped each roll in colored paper to match the pom poms.  Then we tape the rolls to the wall and she puts the pom poms one by one into the matching tube and they land in a plastic bin that held salad from Costco.  Cheap thrills!

We've started doing my first official Mom Thing: going to story time at the San Dimas Library, which happens almost every Friday morning.  Vianne enjoys the stories & songs, but gets the most excited about the craft time.  This was the first one we went to when it was right before Grandparents' Day (that's a thing, I guess) so they were making cards for their grandparents.

Tut, tut, it looks like rain!  We are always on alert for chances to use our umbrellas 'round here. We had a couple of little tiny sprinkles in September...:::sigh:::...maybe October will do better?

 The Hsiehs sent this Doc McStuffins cell phone for Vianne along with a gift for Oliver and she was thrilled!  Made "calls" on it (and slept with it in her bed) for days!

 The following is not a very exciting picture, but it represents a new stage in V's life: the playing Kinect on Xbox with Daddy stage.  She's a little too distractable to be very good at it yet, but she still asks to play several times daily...

 Sibling snuggles

 I believe what was happening here was Curious George had to go to the "hopspull" (hospital - we're still talking a lot about the whole hospital adventure surrounding O's birth).  At least he gets a cushy bed, right?

 September continued to be very hot so we continued to do indoor air-conditioned things like bathtub finger painting...

 Oliver looked on (trying out the bouncy seat) either confused or horrified...

 One of V's pastimes continues to be taking coins out of the piggy bank & putting them back in

 "Earrings"

 First candy necklace & bracelets, from Cammie

 "Where's Vianne?"

 Mama needed some fresh air & nature so we headed slightly north to Horse Thief Canyon Park for a little break from the air conditioning.

 And to end the month on a high note, Vianne got a special gift from Daddy, a cowboy hat which she's been saying she "needs" for months now.  I took about 16 photos of her, trying to get a straight-on shot, but to no avail.  But I did get this hilarious pose!  She loves the hat and says, "You take it off and say, 'Yee-haw!'"

So, my birthday was a bit low-key this year.  We'd already had a pretty eventful end-of-summer with the arrival of my best gift of the year, Oliver, and 37 is kind of a blah number to celebrate and post-partum is kind of a hard time to plan anything or go out or feel like anything but a big blob that's covered in various body fluids.  

Don't get me wrong, I'm not ungrateful.  Quite the opposite.  I'm just storing up points for a bigger celebration for, say, my fortieth (holy cow, is that only three years away??!!).

Low-key, but sweet all the same.

Vianne & I prepared by making tissue paper flowers, thanks to the idea from Creative Galaxy :-).

My birthday was on a Tuesday (awkward!) and Patrick works all day Tuesdays, but has Monday off, so we did most of the celebrating on Monday.  We took a morning stroll down to Starbucks for some treats.  I got my favorite Raspberry Mocha and a pain au chocolat.  My girl look through the whole pastry display and insisted on the PINK cake pop.

That night we braved a restaurant with both kids, Pinnacle Peak's steakhouse, where I can always counted on a perfectly cooked medium-rare steak.  I don't eat steak when pregnant because I can't bear to have it well done (food snob since living in France, I confess) so this was a real treat!  My first steak after 9 months of pregnancy and since O's birth on July 31.

 Steak, ribs, and sauteed mushrooms - soooooo good!

 Thankfully, Oliver slept through most of it so I could really enjoy my dinner.

 Vianne enjoying the ice cream that comes with her kids meal..

 These two!  Can't have an unhappy birthday with such great gifts... :-)

 ...even if we couldn't get a decent shot all together.

 On my actual birthday, Patrick was at work so the kids & I did some errands, which included a(nother) trip to Starbucks because I realized I had a free birthday drink coming to me.  Vianne enjoyed an Icee...

 ...and I indulged in my (free!) grande mocha frappucino...

 ...while Oliver looked on.

Vianne serenaded me most of the day...so sweet!

 

A special delivery of flowers from sweet Rachelle!

Late afternoon, we went over to APU to show our cute kids to Patrick's afternoon class, then grabbed some Chick-Fil-A on the drive home to enjoy before presents and homemade cookies & cream ice cream that evening...and a few more attempts at a decent photo with my cuties.

 Snuggling with my sweet boy

The following Saturday, we celebrated with the Odens.  A bit scant on photos here, but we had a scrumptious Mexican meal from Casa del Rey and a to-die-for Tres Leches cake that I'd had my eye on at Costco for months for birthday dessert.

During Oliver's 9th week, he was starting to enjoy the play mat...Big Sister wanted to make sure he could see ALL the toys :-).

 Starting to get some great smiles & eye contact these days!

 Hanging out on the hammock

 "Hmmmm, I'm gonna have to think about that one, Vianne..."

 This pleading look cracks me up...

The rest of the week was spent in Oregon...which shall be chronicled in another post...

"Why, yes, I am awesome..."

 Meeting more friends: Andrea & Eli

 Getting to know Cammie

 8 weeks old!