Monkey Mural

My mother in law Sue got me this monkey mural kit several months ago (I know I'm a slacker) to go in the kids bathroom since it is monkey themed. Well, this week I finally got around to buying all the supplies for it and got to work. The real reason why it took me so long to do it is because painting things make me nervous. But after painting the wall in Easton's room about a month ago with my sister I finally got enough courage to finally tackle this project.

Finished project. It is kind of hard to see.

First step was deciding where to put it. It is made to go next to the door (meaning the picture just randomly cuts off) but there really isn't a wall next to the door in the bathroom. I was going to put it next to the bath tub but the tile doesn't go up high enough so I thought it would look funny. I just decided to put it in the middle of the wall and see how it looked.

The kit came with carbon paper so you put the carbon paper behind the pattern and start tracing the picture on the wall. That was easy enough. I then started painting but once I got most of the leaves painted on the tree I realized I didn't like that the picture randomly cut off in the middle of the wall (I should have taken a picture of it). It looked really funny so the only solution I had was to free hand what I thought the rest of the picture should look like. Overall I'm pretty happy with the results. It was a relatively easy project but VERY time consuming. I'm glad I'm finally done!

Top part of the picture.

Bottom part of the picture.

You can't see it in the picture but the middle monkey has a bow in her hair. I thought it would be fun to have each of the monkeys represent my little monkeys. Easton's not totally satisfied because he wants me to draw a daddy monkey. I'm a little offended that he doesn't want a mommy monkey on there too.

Hike

Since Monday was a holiday Nathan luckily got off work early so we decided to take a hike to a local lake/park. The kids had fun watching the dogs run around the little doggie park and the geese/ducks hanging around the lake. Unfortunately we forgot to grab the kids' coats from the car so once the sun started going down they were both pretty cold for the walk back to the car.

Blair excited to get out of the stroller and walk.

Nathan with the empty stroller.

Cute little Easton.

The little park. It only had a slide and this car thing to play on. Both the kids were pretty excited to drive the car.

Easton

Blair

The geese. They basically attack/stalk you when they see you coming towards them because they think you have food to give them.
It was a little scary. Luckily I was holding Blair because I'm sure she would have been traumatized if she was walking and they ran up to her.

Easton wanted his picture taken with the geese.

Random video of the geese:
They are loud and kind of mean.

Watching the geese from a safe distance.

Random picture of the cows on the hill. We have cows all over the place which makes sense since Vacaville means cow town.

After our hike we decided to go to Cultive (our new favorite place to get frozen yogurt-so much so that we are almost averaging two times a week. I know its bad). Easton was hungry and since it was dinner time we decided to hit up McDonald's along the way.

What a great day:
-hanging out with my favorite people.
-nice hike.
-not making dinner.
-Cultive frozen yogurt!

Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Oh, and happy 6 1/2 years of marriage to Nate and I! I didn't actually realize that Valentine's Day was our 1/2 anniversary until our 1st year of marriage. I think it is kind of neat and I actually really like it. We ended up celebrating on Saturday since that was Nathan's only day off last week and he for sure had to work all day today. My day started off with breakfast in bed (heart shaped french toast, bacon, and strawberries). In the evening we went to this really cool restaurant in San Francisco called Opaque. Once we stepped into the restaurant this is what we saw:

That's right it was completely dark. It's called dining in the dark and they weren't kidding. You couldn't see a thing. It was a little strange at first but once you got used to it, it was actually really fun. I especially liked the fact that there really weren't any distractions like watching other people (you couldn't even see your hand if you held it in front of your face), hearing other people's conversations (i think we were the only ones in the restaurant for most of our dinner), loud music or television. Basically it was just Nathan and I (well and our waitress when she brought us our food) and it was nice to sit back and have a great conversation with my handsome. Another cool thing was all the waitresses/waiters are all visually impaired so its not weird/creepy like that one movie where they could see you but you couldn't see them. We had a great time and the chicken and cake I got was amazing! Too bad it was pretty expensive because I'm definitely craving that cake right now. Thanks for the wonderful day Handsome! I love you!

Ballerina Blair

Blair's new pajamas. She absolutely loves them and basically doesn't stop dancing when they are on. She does this really cute/funny dance but for some reason every time I bring out the camera to hopefully get it on tape she stops doing it. Why do kids do this? Anyways, here's a few pictures and a video of Blair spinning with her baby.

Video of Blair spinning:

Easton and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

The first Saturday of February every year they have free museum day in Sacramento. The zoo is included in this deal so I thought it would be fun to bring the kids. Across from the zoo is fairy tale town (that was free as well) so I thought if we had time after the zoo we would head over there. With the weather being nice (75 degrees) and everything being free, everyone and their mom had the same idea. It was insane! Here are some of the highlights from this zoo trip (I'm being sarcastic by the way)...

• Stuck in traffic for almost an hour just a mile away from the zoo.
• Having to parallel park since there was no other parking available (lets just say that I haven't paralleled parked without help (and that was only once with Nathan) since I took my drivers test over 9 years ago. It was scary but I didn't hit any cars and I got it the second time : )

Yes, I took a pic of my parking.

• Standing in line for about 1/2 hour just to get into the zoo.
• Easton freaking out not once, not twice, but three times because he didn't want to move on until he saw the animal that was hiding away and probably sleeping.
• Worst tantrum in the history of ever for Easton when I tried leaving the snow leopard without him seeing it. Full on screaming bloody murder for at least 10 minutes all the while kicking and hitting me uncontrollably. I put him in a timeout and stood on the other side of the sidewalk so that he couldn't hit or kick me anymore. He was crying and hyperventilating the whole timeout (which lasted at least 5 minutes-not his normal 3) and there were several people who passed by and thought that he was lost.
• Going back to see the snow leopard. Easton took one glance at it and was completely satisfied (can we say little stinker?-I'm sure I had other words running through my mind but we will just stick with stinker).
• Throwing another fit because he wanted to see the red river hog. Luckily we came out of that one relatively easy (compared to the other ones) once I wrestled him into the stroller, handed him a snack, and told him we were going to see the river otters (which back fired on me).
• No river otters so you guessed it...another tantrum. Since I was tired, there was a bench not occupied, and everyone was hungry I figured we could hang out for a while and eat while we waited for the river otters. Thankfully one came out but Easton wouldn't leave until the otter went into the water. I was worried that would never happen but finally it took a quick dip and we were ready to leave the zoo.

I generally love the zoo but after this experience I'm not sure I ever want to go back or at least not for a really long time. I need time to forget about this zoo experience.

Okay and if you thought my day couldn't get any worse, you would be wrong. Here are some more highlights from the rest of the day...

• Going to Costco to grab some roses for my lesson on Sunday turned into Easton throwing a fit because he wanted to watch the movies on the TVs. I had Blair asleep on my shoulder so it was a little difficult to get Easton to move along in the direction I needed him to go. Then Easton wanted a brownie sample. I caved in so that hopefully I could look at roses in peace. Unfortunately the brownie was extremely hot so instead of peace I had an annoying three year old begging, then crying, and then screaming for the brownie. This woke Blair up so she was crying too. I gave up and walked out of the store with a crying one year old and a screaming/crying three year old running behind me. It was embarrassing and I'm sure people were looking at me thinking, "and she's having another one?"
• At home Easton clogs the toliet using a whole roll of toilet paper AGAIN!!!
• Easton along with Blair (they are partners in crime these days) soaked Easton's sheets with water.

Both kids were definitely in bed early that night.

Blair's latest is to take her pajamas off.

Easton's latest is to sleep on the floor. I'm tempted to move his bed into Blair's room since he doesn't seem to use it anymore. I'm guessing he doesn't use it because it gets very crowded in there will all the pillows and blankets he claims he has to have.

Partners in crime. Easton and Blair got into my makeup today right after their bath. Blair got mascara all over her face and Easton put eye shadow all over my floor.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

We took a family trip down to Monterey to see the aquarium. I think everyone had a great time but we were all very tired by the end of the day. We brought the double stroller but I almost think it was a waste because both kids walked almost the entire time we were there. Both the kids were amazed each time they saw something new.

Checking out the Sea Otters

Blair wearing my sunglasses.

Dad and Easton launching their mission into the water.

Crazy looking eel.

They had a "splash zone" for the kids to play. It had games for the kids to play, tunnels to walk through to see some fish, a play area, two water areas (one for babies/toddlers) and one for older kids.

Blair playing in the baby/toddler area. She refused to put on the vest to help keep you dry.

Easton in the older kid water area.

Blair chilling out in the clam.

Blair in the play area.


Touching the star fish and plants.

Dad and Blair looking at the sea creatures.

Dad and Easton touching the sea creatures.

Jelly fish

Blair being cute!

Pink Flamingos

Penguins

There were a bunch of sharks, fish, octopus, etc. but for some reason either I didn't take any pictures of them or the pictures didn't turn out that well.

There was a station where you pledge to give something up to help the environment. Easton wanted to do it so he picked something (not even sure what it was) and after you pick something it takes your picture. Afterwards it posts your picture on this huge screen. I thought Easton's picture was really funny so I had to take a picture of it when it came up on the screen.

After the aquarium we grabbed some pizza and headed to Pebble Beach (known for it's famous golf course). After chilling out at one of the look outs and eating our pizza we drove around the 17 mile scenic route. We of course had to stop and enjoy the sunset.

Overlook

Sunset

Dad and kids at sunset.
I was hoping this picture would turn out better but oh well.

Side note: If you want to see Blair's new hair cut check it out in the last post.

Blair's First Haircut

I finally decided to cut Blair's hair. The ends were starting to bug me and I figured it would look thicker once it was cut. I think it looks better than what she had before but I think I cut it a little too short. I was pleased for my first attempt at cutting #1 girls hair and #2 Blair's hair since she doesn't like to hold still for nothing. Nathan caught me later in the day fixing some pieces of hair that needed trimmed in the back (it looked like Blair had a rat tail back there...I know Aunt Kaity would have been proud of the rat tail but it just had to go). Anyways, Nathan told me, "you're just like your mom!" My mom always cuts our hair and is known to follow us around the house at least the same day we got our hair cut (sometimes days after) with a pair of scissors fixing the pieces of hair sticking out. I told him to give me a break that it was my first time cutting a girl's hair and I had no idea what I was doing. But to be honest I probably will be just like my mom and follow my kids around especially if I find something that needs to be fixed. It was how I was raised okay?

Before:

After:

Just this last week we decided to move Blair into her new room so she could get used to sleeping in there and get used to sleeping on a toddler bed (we don't have a bed yet so she is just sleeping on the mattress on the floor. I wish I could say that her room is all decked out and as cute as can be, but it's not. I haven't found any bedding that I like yet so her room is as plain as can be. Poor girl. Hopefully in the next month or two it will be super cute. This was how I found her the first night in her new room. Right next to the gate at her door. I like how she is cuddling her baby.