First Ice Skating Lessons ~ age 2!

A just finished two months of skating lessons. He LOVED it. He didn't want to be on the ice alone. So Mr. K or I had to be out there with him, but that wasn't so bad! There were always a couple of parents on the ice :)

He was definitely one of the youngest in the class, but that was ok. He really enjoyed skating with the "walker" - everyone in class started out with one - very cute. 

By the last class, he could skate for awhile without the walker - not that he wanted to! But I caught him skating with a smile :)

It was definitely crazy - 20-25 kids, 3-5 instructors, a very parents, lots of walkers. But A really enjoyed it - lots of tumbles, but he got right back up again. He put his hands in the air, touched his toes, jumped in the air (well tried) and even did a little dance. My nearly three year old had lots of fun. 

I'd highly recommend skating lessons - it especially helped with getting him interested in the olympics! We'll have to look for another deal so we can afford some more lessons...

Building a Birdhouse with a 2 year-old

My husband took on an awesome project with the little guy this past weekend! They built a birdhouse. Now, it says it could take up to a year for the birds to find it - if they even do - but it's a good looking house regardless. I love how proud A gets when he makes something himself (with mom or dad help, of course).

Right: He's so proud! Left: The final product!

We bought a make-it-yourself kit from my park's visitor center. A is really into making things himself these days, and it was all he could talk about all weekend long!

Best Tradition Ever!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! We have a great Easter tradition - now three years running. Poutine! A is clearly a big fan. We go to a little French Canadian Bistro named Soleil in Westwood. Though they made it a bit more difficult this year, it was still tons of fun! The grandparents made it this year too :)

I can't believe how much A has grown - and yet looks just the same!

Other traditions...wearing adorable hats and overalls? and just being very cute...

Any great traditions to share? p.s. how many years can I make him wear overalls?

Brought to you by the letter B :) 

Part of the A-Z blogging challenge!

My Son is a PuzzleMaster

Every mom thinks their kid is the most amazing, most brilliant, most awesome child on the face of the earth :) Right? Especially when they are in the mode of "firsts" - every new thing is amazing! First step, word, any new skill...he must be a genius!

But really, kids are amazing. Little sponges. Now, A might not be the most advanced verbally - though his vocabulary has grown exponentially in the last month - but one thing he seems to really enjoy is puzzles (thanks to the McKays for starting his puzzle collection)!

He can concentrate for a crazy amount of time on puzzles (thanks to grandma for endless hours of fun!). I am amazed that he is able to put together puzzle after puzzle. He's mastered the 12 piece and is currently making great headway on 24 piece puzzles. Now that he has full access to hi room during naps - I often find his bed covered in puzzle pieces!

We like to call him the PuzzleMaster - maybe he will grow up and be the next Will Shortz? :) I can only hope! What amazing things are your kids doing? Please share :)

Happy Monday - Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! It's one of my favorite holidays, being a good Irish girl.

I hope everyone had some fun :) It always makes me think of my family, corned beef and cabbage, four leaf clovers, leprechauns and the color green.

My parents got the little guy a "Mr. Lucky" t-shirt and made a clover "hat" with him. We went for a very green hike - for SoCal anyway! A was a wee bit afraid of the lizards, but enjoyed himself anyway. We enjoyed the great outdoors - did some gardening, ate some pizza and enjoyed each other's company. What could be better - it made me so happy!

In case you were wondering, I always dress the little guy in green for St. Patrick's day. Here is his first St. Patrick's day! So much has changed...

Oh, and I, of course, wore my Family Reunion t-shirt from 1990. I was totally embarrassed to wear it back then...but now, I'm happy I kept it for 23 years (eek!). Hopefully I'll never wear it out. What family traditions do you have? Am I crazy to love St. Patrick's day so much? Hope you had a wonderful one!

Link up any post that makes you happy - the sky's the limit (or just comment if you don't blog)! Grab the button, link up and check out the other posts. If you like some blogs, please take the time to follow them. Thanks for stopping by for week 10 of Happy Monday!

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Make sure to join us next week for Happy Monday! I'll be writing about Spring - a season that always makes me happy :) 

Mommy & Me

The little guy and I had some fun while daddy was off on an adventure :)

Once we got over the worst of our awful colds - we really enjoyed ourselves! He is talking up a storm these days, so conversation is getting very interesting..."No wanna" is my fvorite new addition to our conversations...

Highlights from the week?

Relaxing like daddy - while watching Peter Pan :)

His first popsicle

A pony ride (thank you grandma & grandpa!)

Reading Thomas books and face painting! he did it himself....

Glad to have this time to spend with my favorite 2 year old! I can't believe how fast he's growing up!!

Day in *My* life

It's throwback day! This post was initially published almost exactly a year ago on my friend's blog - which she has since disbanded, so I thought I'd share it here! Amazing how little life has changed in the last year... :) 

Welcome to life at Crazy Casa K…both my husband and I work full time, I’m a park ranger and my husband works from home. It makes for a busy life, but we love it…most days!

The alarm goes off at 6:30. I usually lie there for a few moments before garnering the willpower to get up! Usually A is making happy noises in his crib. Babbling away. I usually have 20 minutes before he is tired of playing by himself.

Then I go in and get him – the best part of my day is seeing his face light up when I walk in the room. I sing him his morning song “Good morning to you, Good morning to you, you look like a monkey, and you smell like one too!” One day he won’t enjoy this song, but for now, he bobs his head along with a big smile on his face.

 

I get him dressed and ready for the day. Then he plays while I get his and my breakfast ready. At 7:30 we go in and wake up daddy – making sure he makes his minute long commute down the hallway. Our baby-sitter arrives and chases A around while I scarf down breakfast, get my coffee ready, and update the babysitter on A’s food and schedule for the day.  I try my hardest to get out the door by 7:40 – waving and blowing kisses to A as he eats breakfast.

My days usually consist of meetings, meetings, and more meetings. Just what you imagine a park ranger doing, I know! When I’m not in meetings I hang out at my desk, trying to do some work while not being too distracted by the adorable pictures of A around my office J I’m also lucky to have a big window…

Over lunch I almost always try to make time and run/walk with one of my colleagues. I’m trying to work up to just running! Today I had the chance to both visit the new visitor center (opening June 9^th, eek!), and see a roadrunner outside my window – wildlife sighting!

On a normal day I leave work at 5:30 pm – I work 9 hour days, so I can have every other Friday off to spend with my little guy. A gets to play with daddy from 4:30-6:00, and I get to feed him 2^nd dinner (yes, he eats two dinners. No, he isn’t a hobbit!).

Since it’s my short day though, I got off a little early today, so we got to go for a walk as a family before it gets dark.  Then he gets a bath (his favorite, favorite thing!), play a little, cuddle, read a book, sing a lullaby, brush his teeth (and scream when I take the toothbrush away) and say “nigh nigh.”

Then I get to relax, wait, no! My amazing husband has started dinner…so we finish making dinner, give the Moose some attention, and most night these days, watch some tv or hockey. I play on the ipad, do some blogging, talk to my husband and get ready for bed…

Read, sleep, and get ready for the next day J Then it starts all over again….just a regular day in the life at Crazy Casa K…

Birthdays at Disneyland

A and I celebrated our birthdays at Disneyland this past weekend! If it's your birthday you get a button and so everyone wishes you a happy birthday - I've never had so many birthday wishes in my life! 

A loved the parade, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, the cars in Toon Town...and the hotel pool :) I loved seeing him in matching Minnie Mouse ears! 

A's favorite ride? The Carousel! By far :) We rode it three times! He also loved being able to hang out with grandma and grandpa! Overall, Disney is a great place to turn a year older...

Celebrate like a 2 year old!

We had a very mellow, very enjoyable 2nd birthday. Cupcakes, parks, kites, mickey mouse pancakes, amazingly generous gifts, friends, family and lots of laughs. Here is a quick photographic recap :) 

A is one happy two year old!

Happy Monday - Happy People

Welcome to Week 1 of Happy Monday! It's a weekly conversation about things that make us happy. I need some more happiness in my life and I'm hoping by sharing good stories, we'll all benefit!

This week the topic is people that make you happy. For me, there is nothing better than a good laugh, big hug or smile to brighten your day. I've already extolled the amazingness of my husband, son, mom and dad, even my Moose. My family is amazing and I love them.

Today, I want to talk about someone that is not a family member, but feels like a part of the family. We have been extremely, amazingly, overwhelming lucky to find a full-time babysitter for our son who loves him as if she were family. As a working mom, the absolute hardest thing I do every day is leave my son in the morning. It is made so much easier by knowing that A is in such good hands. She loves him and he loves her. It makes me happy to know that he is in incredibly capable hands all day long.

I also love that he is learning Spanish from her. It is the cutest thing when he tells me he wants to go to the "parque" or that he wants "mas" of whatever he's eating :) Definitely makes me happy!

So who makes you happy? Link up any relevant post about someone that makes you happy (or just comment if you don't blog!). Grab the button, link up and add some happiness to your Monday!

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Next week's topic is Happy Food - anything related to food that makes you happy! For more upcoming topics, check out the side bar. I'm so happy you're here :)

Hockey's Back! #hockeyisback

...and A learned a new word today! 

Let's Go Caps :)

Montessori from the Start

I checked out the book "Montessori From the Start" from the library. Then I had to renew it, and renew it again. This book is so dense with great ideas that it takes time to process. If I could go back in time, I'd buy this one, not borrow it, so that I had it as a great reference. I still might go buy it!

It is full, almost too full, with ideas. It sometimes gets a little off-putting, the way they present the information - it presents information as if there is only one way to do things. But if you get past the tone and see it for the great ideas that it includes, it's a treasure of ideas.

Everything from how to set up the best home environment for learning, potty training, language acquisition to developing personal will. I've already instituted many ideas from the book and love the sense of calm and order that it encourages. He loves "helping" mom and dad with real work!

I do wish that I had started reading it when A was an infant. It is for children age 0-3 and A is now almost two. I feel like I'm already behind! But I still feel like there were tons and tons of great ideas. There just needs to be better organization of the ideas so I can go back and find them again! Definitely worth a read - and an add to the collection.

New Year - New Resolutions!

It's 2013! How can that possibly be? I still remember dancing in the street in the rain as we celebrated 1990. I remember listening to Stomp on the Mall as we rung in the new century. I remember sitting by my husband's side in the hospital in 2010. All of the sudden it's 2013 ~ and I'm not sure where the time went! Since having a son, time just flies by...I'm sure this year will be no different. Even though it will fly by, I still have high hopes :)

Of course, as cliche as it sounds, I face a new year with new hopes, dreams, and yes, resolutions.

In fact, they aren't too different from my Fall Resolutions: Eating Healthier, Exercising, Living a Greener Life and Making Every Day Count. I feel like this year might an interesting one - and I hope to face that change with happiness and strength.

First steps? My husband and I are starting to exercise. Joining a gym and starting the Couch to 5k program. I plan to enjoy California more, taking time to visit the places I haven't yet seen, especially those that are in my backyard. I plan on spending quality time with my husband and son, more hugs, more kisses, more joy. I need to take care of my own diet and that of my family's as well.

And I just need to have more fun. More Happiness. More Life.

I hope all your dreams and wishes come true in 2013.

p.s. Happy Birthday to my Mr. Moose! Always a puppy no matter what his age :)

Looking Back at 2012

Last year, I looked back at the amazing journey that was 2011. This year went by in a flash - but was also an incredibly journey!

My little guy turned 1 (and I turned 35, but there need be no photo evidence of that!)

We took A's second trip to Washington DC to see friends and family - and his first trip to the Mall!

I had my first week away from the little guy - an amazing time in San Fransisco, great food, beautiful city, great food...

 

A loved Easter! We continued our Poutine tradition, looked for eggs in the yard and enjoyed a trip to the farm for more egg searching!

We joined the LA zoo - went a few times, I met another mom of  January baby (yay!) and we enjoyed a night out at "Brew at the Zoo."

The Visitor Center I'd been working on for over two years finally opened! A was the first kid to get to go through the tunnel...

A took yet another plane ride, and saw another major city (Chicago). My cousin got married in a beautiful ceremony and we got to see many friends and family - including his 93 year old great-grandma.

My little guy grew up. He started talking, singing, and just smiles all the time. I am so very very lucky. Not only that, I get to take some amazing pictures of the smile to keep me smiling when I feel down :)

We took the most amazing vacation to the Canadian Rockies. It was truly the vacation of a lifetime. Banff, Jasper, Lake Louise. It was incredible. Trains, bears, waterfalls, mountains, gondolas....and A's first passport stamp :)

Our neighbor's oak tree came down - adding sunlight to our lives!

 

Another work trip - this time to NYC! It was a lot of walking and contemplating parks. What a vibrant, alive city. Though I am glad not to live there!

A really learned about Halloween this year. He was a little train conductor and by the end of the night got the hang of "Trick-or-treating"

My little guy is almost 2. He can hike a good deal by himself. Love water, birds, and just being outside. We took him to the Salton Sea recently. I can't believe how much he looks like a little boy and not my little baby :(

And of course - Christmas. He loved his Great-grandparents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, NYC, his new bike, dad's trains, pie, "pull, pull, pull" -ing the presents open.

All-in-all, a very eventful year! A left the US for the first time and went on 4 flights...he has now visited quite a few major cities: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Calgary. A is quite the traveler. Every time we travel he grows by leaps and bounds. He is learning how to ride a bike, he is saying new things every single day and he is the light of my life.

I can't wait to see what 2013 brings. I'm glad you are sharing it with me!