Skills

The kids are growing and changing so fast! Elliot is sitting up on his own with the occasional topple. Will's photography skills are slowly but surely improving. Elliot's head is cut off, but at least he's in the center.

Will is also getting so good at reading! This stamp book says, "You need to watch TV and do fishie, and no clipping nails." In truth, he can recognize his name and some letters, but that's about it.
Elliot started eating food! He's doing a great job, but mixing my milk into the food probably helps a lot. So far he has eaten and enjoyed rice cereal, banana, apple, peas, spinach, and avocado.
I'm looking forward to making him some papaya, passion fruit, or some other tropical mush in Hawaii. It's only five days away now!

First Harvest

Our garden has produced the first harvest of the season! Lots and lots of fava beans. They were extremely easy to grow, and a free winter cover crop provided by the EV garden coordinator. Will helped me pick them, and then shell them too.
This morning I was annoyed when Will took out the sugar snap peas claiming he wanted to eat them for breakfast. I know this trick, but I fall for it every time. I always think, "Maybe he'll really eat them this time." But inevitably the pods are picked apart so he can find the peas inside, and there's a big mess all over the table and floor.
I finally realized this tendency is actually really useful! He had lots of practice tearing apart pods and finding the fat beans inside. And we sang silly songs together while we worked like "What's that noise? It's chocolate booty. What's that noise, chocolate booty." To the tune of smoke on the water. I sang him Primary songs too, but of course the only one he remembers is the chocolate booty song. Where do these songs come from? Crazy Britton.

Turning Japanese

Am I really doing the peace sign with a grown woman who is significantly shorter than me? Why yes. In order to survive with my Japanese companions during my mission, I tried to assimilate into the Japanese culture as much as possible. I ate rice and fermented soybeans for breakfast. And I liked it. I covered my mouth when laughing and chewing food. I fastidiously sorted the trash. When I saw a white person I thought, "What are they doing here?" Totally oblivious to the fact that everyone was thinking the same thing about me.
I try to hide it, but I am still trying to be Japanese. I love anything that reminds me of my life there. Lately I've been cooking more Japanese food thanks to a friend's mom's blog. FOODjimoto She's third generation Japanese American so I feel like her recipes are a lot more accessible than recipes by Japanese natives. It's not just Japanese food, there's a lot of Mexican, Italian, and Chinese cuisine in there too. Plus some really beautiful photography. And...cute stories at the end of each post.
I also found a Japanese grocery store nearby, Nijiya Market. I can get my mochi and melon pan fix there, and find ingredients not available most other places. I bought some o-nigiri there, and Will and I had a picnic lunch with them. It's a rice ball with a filling like tuna, and wrapped in seaweed. Guess what Will said. He tried a piece of seaweed without any suggestion by me, and with a surprised look on his face told me he liked it! Yay! I'm getting him ready for a Japanese mission already.
I also made some udon the other night for dinner, and Will tried his best to eat with chopsticks. There were many tears of frustration, but he wouldn't give up.
Elliot was mostly interested in eating his feet. I think I'll make him a seaweed puree. Muwa ha ha ha.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is long past, I know. But why only honor mothers once a year? That's my excuse for posting this one month late. I just want to extend the celebration...
Well, I had a fantastic start to my Mother's Day. Britton made me breakfast in bed, and it was brought to me by my favorite green-striped two year-old. I had crepes with a sampling of delicious toppings, a chewy, dino vitamin, hard-boiled egg, and an apple from Will just for good measure. Breakfast in bed takes time, especially when you have two boys to help you eat. We were a little late for church as were most people.
I also need to pay tribute to my own mom. I have benefited greatly from having such a thoughtful, kind, creative, and silly mom. She is scrupulous in remembering birthdays of each child and grandchild, as well as anniversaries, and holidays. She is without a doubt, one of the kindest people I know. She is constantly creating quilts, cards, decorations, and gifts for others. I'm understanding more and more the sacrifices she has made for her family, and the love she has for us.
I wish all these wonderful attributes have been passed down to me. I'm working on it alright... I have definitely inherited her love of chocolate. While I was looking for some pictures to share in this post I realized I have inherited some kind of silly dressing up trait from her too. I'm the short one in the front. Just getting into the dressing up groove.
I think I've shared this picture before. This kind of scene was fairly common for me during college. Most of that stuff is mine. Where did it all come from? More importantly...

Why do I still have it? To pass the fun on to the next generation apparently. Will was only somewhat interested in dressing up. The neighbor girls, however, were delighted and come over occasionally asking to dress up. I love it. I'll keep working on inheriting the other wonderful traits of my mother.

Happy 5 Months Elliot!

The Green Guy

Will has made it very clear lately that his favorite color is green. He likes frogs just because they're green. He wears green every day because his shoes are green, he has some green shirts, one pair of green pants, green pajamas, and a green hat.

He is still as obsessed as ever with Thomas the train. He forces us to make a train track for him as soon as he gets up in the morning. Trains come before breakfast. Trains accompany him everywhere we go whether he's in the car, stroller, bike trailer, or just walking. At last, he found a friend that is as obsessed with trains as he is. Turns out this friend has been living next door this whole time! They go outside every afternoon and play trains together on one of the picnic tables. It's very cute to hear them "talking Thomas" together. Things you only understand after watching HOURS of Thomas cartoons. Like, "Then Spencer buffers down the branch line and buffers up with the freight cars, but then there was trouble. Oh, no! Diesel 10 bashed the joby wood down the suspension bridge. Topham Hatt booms confusion and delay..." And it goes on like that forever.
We have to thank Thomas for motivating Will to finally ride a bike! He had absolutely no interest in riding a bike until one day by the dumpster... Yes, I couldn't believe my luck. I took out the trash and came back with a Thomas bike for Will! It was a bit broken, but Britton put his engineer skills to use and made this bike once again, really useful. I was amazed to watch Will's excitement at a Thomas bike, and then get on and try to ride it right away. He is now a very proud bike rider. He insisted on wearing his helmet on the playground. After arriving, he tells a girl, "I have a bike just like yours." She gets really offended and points out her bike is pink and his is blue. Will doesn't notice, but just keeps chattering on about how it's a Thomas bike and it goes really fast.
I would love Will to be able to attend preschool next year. I really want some thing close and affordable. I don't think either of those are really possible. I'll probably end up doing Joy school at my house or something. Whatever works. He already knows his ABC's and we're working on counting now. I love this guy. He is a ton of fun and charms everyone he meets. Unless he's talking about poop. Which happens a lot lately... I hoping it's just a phase he's going through, but it might be a long phase. His dad is still working on that phase.

The Newest

Elliot is growing so fast! He's already getting hosed by being the second child. He gets less attention than Will did at this age. We're hardly taking pictures of him. At no fault of his own! Look how cute he is. What more can he do? At least he has his own clothes thanks to his generous grandma and nana.
Elliot has been shorn. I tried trimming his hair when he was about a month old, but there were still some long stragglers. So long, in fact, that while Aunt Lori was holding him, she mistook it for her own hair. I cut it again a little while ago and he looks so much more mature. The long haired newborn look was so five months ago.
He's getting really strong. He can roll over, hold himself up with his hands, and even pivot around to look at different parts of the room. He just started working out daily in this exersaucer. He loves it! Each workout is followed by a mommy milkshake. He eats pretty well, but he's no Will...
His favorite people these days are Mommy, Will, followed by Dad. Mommy because of the milk factor. He thinks Will is just hilarious! Will can say and do just about anything and get a laugh out of Elliot. Daddy comes in at third place just because he's not around as much, and doesn't have the milk going for him. I know my place as the favorite is only short term. As soon as he figures out what's going on, he's going to appreciate what a crazy, silly, wonderful daddy he has.

Goodbye April

Here I am trying to summarize another month in my blog. It started with a wedding prep/conference weekend in Brentwood. Followed by a long wedding weekend in Brentwood. Congratulations D & V! It was a beautiful day for a beautiful wedding. I've never seen anyone look so extremely excited during the wedding ceremony than Derek. He tried to stop smiling but just couldn't. We took a weekend off after that and stayed here for a stroller walk that I organized for our courtyard peoples.

The next weekend was Six Flags weekend! We bought season passes with Britton's family and almost everyone took the day off on that Friday to make the most out of our passes. We were super excited for Will because we heard there was a "Thomas Town" area at the park! We told him all about it and he was so excited. Then we found out that they changed the rides to generic trains, helicopter, and buses because they didn't want to pay the royalty fees anymore. We didn't know how to break it to Will. He still loved it anyway. He still brought his trains with him. Here we are below enjoying the wanna be Harold the helicopter ride.

Besides the great rides at the park (and churros) there's lots of animals! We saw the whale show, saw some dolphins swimming in small tanks, and Will and cousins got to touch this elephant! Britton and I ran off to ride a rollercoaster during elephant time. It was awesome despite the lonnnnggg wait.

The next weekend was Easter weekend. I volunteered at the Stanford Easter egg hunt and roll sponsored by the Provost and his wife. They have a very nice, spacious lawn. We loved it despite the cheapness of the candy. Good thing Will doesn't know any better. I have turned into quite the chocolate snob lately.
All the volunteers had to wear these bunny ears so they would be easily recognized in case of emergency... Right. I didn't mind, and they looked very cute on my two little snuggle bunnies. It was nice to stay home that Sunday because...
The last Sunday of April we went out to Brentwood again for a birthday celebration for Britton's mom. In my family there's lots of birthdays in April. Plus all the birthdays in Britton's family. Happy birthday Mom, Sarah, Hailey, Korianne, Clare, Michael, Matthew, Thalia, and Margo!