10.10.10 - Alaina's 2nd birthday

Wow Alaina is two years old! I still remember Hana turning two. I really feel like the 2nd kid ages way faster than the first. I thought of Alaina as a 1 yr old for so long and then it hit me so suddenly that she is actually two. Which also means breaking her of such habits like bottles at nap/bedtime and her pacifier (and before you judge me, I want to point out that she doesn't wear diapers during the day - a clear sign of which battles I've picked!) We enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner at Half Moon Bay Brewery the day before Alaina's actual birthday and ordered the girls sundaes. Alaina was SO embarrassed when we started to sing 'Happy Birthday' to her and told us to stop. But did we? Nope, I am an annoying mom and made us sing it again just to see her embarrassed, annoyed reactions!
Her actual 2nd birthday was 10.10.10!! How very cool. Like Kevin, she has a birthday where her birth month and day are the same. He turned 26 on 04.04.04 but I don't remember thinking of the significance but do remember that we celebrated in Tahoe which was fun. We learned that the parish nurse at my church shares the same birthday as Alaina. She had a birthday luncheon after church to celebrate her 65th birthday and we joined in and shared that it was Alaina's birthday too. How very special!

I opted not to throw Alaina a birthday party but instead we had my parents and one of my brothers over for a delicious meal that I cooked and served on my fine china (that I still love!) I served corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and some amazing roasted rib-eyes that were cooked to perfection. Hana & Alaina absolutely love some good steak!

And then we ended the feast with our favorite cake, the Derby cake from Mazetti's Bakery. Vanilla and chocolate cake with banana and strawberry in the middle and covered in real whipped cream. I don't eat sweets but know that this cake is just perfect.

While digesting our amazing meal and delicious cake, we asked Alaina how old she was and she held up two fingers while we joined in.

Happy Birthday gorgeous girl!!

Indian Summer

We have had some amazing weather this month and what better place to spend it than at the beach?! Our beach days have been SO much fun. We made friends with another family that loves the beach as much as we do and have enjoyed a handful of beach days in just two weeks. They are the best days ever! We start off with Hana and Ava riding their bikes on the paths while Alaina and Travis roll around in the wagon. That is followed up with hours of wave chasing & sand playing.

The BEST part is that these kids get along perfectly! How often do you get a 1 yr, 2yr, 3yr and 4 yr old together with zero conflict? Makes for a very relaxing playdate for the parents too.

During one visit, I lost Alaina about 30 seconds after I let her out of the car. Really, she was nowhere to be found. Finally I saw her way down the path with a woman holding her hand to bring her back to me. The woman said Alaina was running soo fast. Scary! So here Hana & Ava are making sure Alaina doesn't get away again!

Picnic at the beach! Today, it has been super dreary and raining. Almost had to believe that this picture was taken a short week ago when it was 85 degrees and beautiful out! Our amazing beach days completely make up for the cool foggy ones!

Pumpkin Patch

We live mere miles from the pmpkin capital of the world, Half Moon Bay but have never taken the kids to visit a pumpkin patch there before. We decided to go the day before Alaina's birthday. While Hana rode a pony, Alaina visited the petting zoo. She loved it! Hana loved the pony ride and of course, made friends with her fellow pony-riders.
Alaina wanted to ride the pony but when she got on, she got scared. Fine by me - I got some cute pictures and my $6 back!

What I really wanted to do was go on a hay ride. It would've been more fun if we went through some actually cornfields or something but it was still a good time.

I don't know why but we didn't even end up buying a pumpkin.

Big Girl Rooms

We've been trying to figure out for a while what to do about the girls' bed situation. Convert the crib to a full size for Hana and move Alaina to the toddler bed? Buy Hana a twin bed and give Alaina the toddler bed? Bunk beds? Bunk beds -YES! My brother and I had bunk beds when we were kids and there is just something so fun about them. Since the girls share a room, we though it'd be the best use of space. This is what their room looked like before. And here it is now! They are in love with their bunk beds and I am too. Of course, it is a little sad taking out the baby/nursery items but we will store them somewhere just in case :). In this picture below Alaina is saying "My bed!" Hana used to come into our room regularly at night because she would get cold and because our bed is more comfy. Well not anymore! Alaina's doing pretty well for not being in the crib. She has learned though that she can climb out and though we have an alarm (Angelcare Movement sensor that goes off after 15 seconds of no activity), she tries to test us. Bedtime isn't so bad but naptime is rough. Hana cherishes her naptime and gets super annoyed when Alaina sneaks out of bed and climbs up to see her. Since I am overeager, I bought gender neutral nursery decor before I knew if I was having a boy or a girl. It's nice that their room actually looks girly now. Definitely bittersweet to see the baby stuff go but this yet another fun stage of life!

Kevin has a tendency to fall asleep really easily. Now that he fits in their beds, I worry that he'll fall asleep their when putting them to bed!

The Sharpie Fiasco

On Sunday, we had a friend over. I was talking to him in Kevin's office while Kevin was on the phone in our bedroom. My kids are the most mischievous when we are occupied. Kevin came into the office and told us "You need to look what Alaina got into NOW!" We ran to the living room and this is what we saw. It was absolutely hilarious and we were trying so hard not to laugh. Alaina snuck a purple Sharpie from Kevin's work bag and Hana thought that she would make Alaina more stylish by drawing all over her. Judging by how proud she was of her markings, Alaina thought she was so cute!
The not so funny part is that Alaina did a number on our house with that marker in such a short amount of time. She scribbled all over both couches, the coffee table, and the carpet. My poor carpet! Kevin & I are pretty particular about keeping the carpet clean and even the littlest of stains annoy us. I immediately called the local carpet cleaner that has handled emergency stains for us in the past (and was surprised he actually answered on a Sunday at 8 pm!). Once he heard 'permanent marker', I could tell there was nothing his carpet cleaning magic could do for us.

We used some rubbing alcohol & other methods and got a lot of the ink out but still have a bunch of noticeable scribbles on our carpet. I am kind of getting used to it but when it starts to bother me, I just think of that first picture of Alaina and can't help but laugh all over again!!