New Years with the Mahanas!

After a fun filled Christmas we had the privilege to host the wonderful Mahanas in our home. When they got here we got to eat some Philly cheese steaks from Pats and Genos. We thought we would decide which is better for ourselves. Both were really good but the general census was Pats. It was GOOODD! Who knew processed cheese could be so good?! Anyway they were only going to stay for the night then visit the Big Apple early next morning. I had a dentist appointment in the morning, so when I arrived they were all gone. Now Weston and I don't normally have a lot of people visit us from out of state so it was really sad that our house went from FULL to EMPTY in less than twenty-four hours. Weston had to go in to the lab for a few hours but he came home early. We thought well hey why not lets go NYC too. We stalked them to NYC and had a lot of fun seeing the lights and the skyscrapers. While we were there there were a few places that we a must-see, one being the ground zero and Chinatown.  It was amazing to be walking around New York with its boisterousness but, walking into the memorial and feeling everyone's respect for the heroes and those that had lost their lives was beautiful and quiet in comparison. It was sooo crowded.
        Overall New York was a blast. I was a little overwhelmed but the good company made it worthwhile.   Glad that the hotel was in NJ where we can park the car and just take the bus to NY. Definitely worth avoiding the hassle of finding parking.  The fun part of taking the bus was the drop off at  NJ. The bus stop was seriously at a median on ramp exit where we then had to walk through the underpass of the highway. It was insane! I should have taken a picture of it. We all got off the bus a little confused and had a good laugh afterwards. Hahaha! Thanks Stephen for figuring it all out. We came home on the night of the 31st to avoid the craziness of New Years Eve which was quite nice.
        When we arrived home it was late, however, we still stayed up with the kids to watch our local New Years celebration. Fireworks just aren't the same on television but it sure was an adventurous weekend!

SO awesome for letting us tag along! Thanks again!

Me being overwhelmed! HA!

The clan headed over to Chinatown

'Twas a warm Christmas!

I was really excited that I wasn't pregnant this time around. I could RIDE rides! WAHOO!

Thank you for watching the kids! Gramma and Grampa are troopers for the many meltdowns they went through. Thank you again!

Tribond is a great way to pass time! So much FUN!

I think it's suppose to look like I'm carrying the sphere. Didn't turn our right.

She was so patient and sweet with us.

Madeline with the Dunns Christmas morning

Thank you again! We LOVE YOU guys!

Aren't they so cute!

Oliver had a blast in the sand.

FISHING TIME!!

Grampa's ready!

Great form!

Newlyweds matching, so cute!

Oh weston I love your face!

Oh weston, It was so much fun seeing your geeky star wars side. Glad you had your dream come true!

Stockings filled with love!

Our beautiful tree!

Toy story mania! OoooHH yeAHH!!

Christmas in short was a warm, fun-filled, family adventure in Florida, and it was WONDERFUL! Thank you Gramma Beck and Grampa Beck for making it happen and for the Dunns and the newlyweds for joining us. LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Turkey, gravy, yuuuummmm!!

     

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVEN THOUGH IT HAS PAST ALREADY!

  This year we weren't able to celebrate with family BUT we were able to celebrate with friends, the second best thing. We went over the Noyces, our wonderful friends who are so patient with, not only us, but our lovely rambunctious Oliver, and  our clingy and adorable, Madeline. We were fed very well by our friends. Kudos to Zack for a delicious meal. We contributed a little with desserts and a side dish. It was a very nice low-key evening, quite relaxing. And I wanted to make a pioneer hat for Oliver and a bonnet for Madeline which turned out kind of cute. I was hoping to make one for all of us, but I didn't have big enough paper for our adult heads. Overall Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful with great company.

    My post won't be complete until I express my gratitude to my Saviorn for all of the blessings He has given me (the list is endless but I just want to share some, in no particular order):

1. My life as a wife, a mom, a daughter and daughter-in-law, a sister, and friend
2. My Bung Bung and Mads!!! How can I not be grateful for my rascals. They keep me alive! 
3. The sun. I didn't realize how much I love the sun until it got gloomy and cold.
4. Games! 
5. Weston! He keeps me laughing even when I'm in a crazy pre-period time. I'm really lucky!
6. My in-laws for having Weston and loving me!
7. The smell of rain and wet trees
8. My heritage. It's pretty cool if I can say so myself.
9. My wonderful parents and crazy brothers.
10. A very cool sister!
11. Smiling and laughing! my favorite things to do even though Weston may say otherwise 'cause I'm a booger a lot of the times! jk jk
12. Friends
13. CHOCOLATE and any kind of desserts!

The list can go on and on, and I hope and pray that I will always be able to recognize His hand in my life and thank Him for it.

Trains, trains, and trains!

       Around the end of October Weston had a school retreat for his program and me and the wee ones got to tag along. Last year when we went we drove by a train museum but never got the chance to stop in, so this time around we just HAD to stop by. We had offered a ride to one of Weston's classmates so she wouldn't have to take a train in to the retreat, so she tagged along with us. It was very nice of her to be willing to make the stop with us. But it turned out it brought back a lot of childhood memories for her so she enjoyed it too!
    So when we got to the museum, Oliver was just bug-eyed at the monstrous trains. It was really cute watching him look around. Weston had a blast reading all the nifty facts and reading about the history of some of trains they had on display. It really was quite fascinating. The big trains didn't hold Oliver's attention for too long unfortunately, but the person at the front desk told us that we had to stop by a train room they had for kids, and so we did. The room was long and just lined with wooden train sets with Thomas the tank engine, remote controlled trains, a mini version of a steam engine that actually did move by steam, it wasn't just a model (it was really cool). As you can imagine Oliver could not get enough of it. If this was our only stop for the day we would have been there all day. All in all, the museum was great and we found out that every now and then Thomas the tank engine stops by. A life size Thomas that kids can ride on. That would be another dream come true for him, so we'll have to go again when he's there. Oh did I forget to tell you what the name of the museum is? It's the Strausburg Railroad museum.

Family Reunion!

        A few weekends ago the kids and I went to California for a short but sweet Dela Cruz family reunion. The siblings all arrived on the same day, one right after the other. First it was the stylish Michael, then me the mommy, and the sporty and new dad Mitch with his awesome wife, Valeria, and the almost cutest baby in the world (my babies are the cutest ~_^ lol). It was really fun that we landed one right after the other.

My parents picked us up and it was just a fun filled weekend. Ate a lot of Filipino food, of course. We all ate at Max's Filipino restaurant. Later we made some doughnuts and a s'more cookie bar. MMMMmmmm. Always a food fest when we go home. We also attended my cousin's wedding which was gorgeous, so we got to see even more family. I wish I had a picture of it because it was absolutely breathtaking. The reception was of course just as beautiful but once the party got started it got loud. Oliver and the two little babies were getting a little overwhelmed. Oliver kept running up to me asking me to cover his ears but I was holding/feeding Madeline so he went and found Uncle Mitch instead.

Our almost complete first family portrait. Thank you Russel and Joy for getting us together! It was a beautiful wedding!

Family was getting their party on but Oliver wasn't feelin' it.

        The only thing missing from this reunion was our most wonderful Weston Beck. Next time, we'll have everyone there. I just want to let whoever reads this to know how much I love my family and I can't imagine my life without them. It's just like food. I need them to survive. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! I just hope that moments like these will never be forgotten.

Oliverisms

Oliver, is the funniest, most loving, sweetest, pull-your-hair-out crazy boy you'll ever meet. I love HIM! So here are some of my favorite "isms" from my one and only Oliver.

When he gets frustrated and wants something his way he'll say whatever it is he wants at that moment then ends it with "that's the deeeaaallll"!

 Oliver loves to play with his toys so when we need to do something else like eat or go out he'll say "noooo, not yet. put on timer, few more minutes"

When I'm having a hard day and my patience is running a little low, he seems to be able to sense it so he'll call me "mmmaaaaammmm, mmaaaammmm...." then softly say "...i love you!" and then gives me a big hug. If that doesn't melt your heart, you have none, joke joke...except not really. 

Oliver has gotten the pooping down as well. It took us a while to get him want to sit down on his potty, but his basket of poopy toys helped a lot. So much so that he doesn't like to get off his potty. Let me just add that when he sits on his potty he wants to be naked. This is what he looked like one night on the potty which he now does more often.

 Oliver has moved up to the potty to an adapter seat onto the toilet. It has done wonders for our noses!
     2/4/12: We have, since this post, moved the potty back on to the floor so he can go pee pee by himself. There has been a few accidents but overall he has consistently been doing his business in the potty! GO OLIVER!! wahoo!
          

Fun Oliver phrases:
      - "that's the proooblleemm!"
      - "that's cool huh?"
2/4/2012
      - every morning rain or shine he will walk into our bedroom and say "it's a beautiful day!" he has been doing this for a few months now.
      - "that's not the truth" he doesn't really use it in the right context but its funny hearing him use it.
      -

 



There's more but I can't remember them right now so I'll add more when I do. ^_^

Mother of Two

      It's been a long time since I've posted and I like to attribute it to the fact that I have two kids; one that likes to run around a lot and another that seems to be strapped to my chest all the time, but in reality I've just been a little lazy.

      So let me just start off by saying that Oliver has been wonderful with his little sister, Madeline, and he absolutely adores her. He copies how we talk to her sometimes, so he'll say things like "hey sweetie" or "hey cutie" in an even higher pitched voice than mine. It's really cute. When other people hold her he lets them know that she is his sister. And in the mornings, if he's had a good night, he'll ask to hold her. And when we go for walks he makes sure that I don't leave her behind. Then of course there are times where he won't want to share his toys. You're probably thinking, she's only three months! she doesn't need toys. This is true but he considers teethers and baby rattles his toys that he doesn't really play with and I just feel bad that Madeline stares at blank walls all day. She needs something to look at. All in all though he's been wonderful. Madeline adores him back. She loves to watch him play and just stares at him with interest. And when Oliver talks to her she sometimes breaks out into the biggest little grin that is just to die for. However, if there is a meltdown to be had, its some serious business. They just feed off of each other (mostly Madeline). If Oliver starts crying she starts crying and if he doesn't calm down I can't seem to get her to calm down so it can get a little loud. Now this seldom happens. Oliver would have to be really tired and grumpy along with Madeline, otherwise Oliver is pretty tolerant of her cries.

          Being a mother of two is not so bad. I thought there would be bigger adjustments to be made but so far I have two hands for two kids so it's good and I have Weston! He's my knight in shining armor when I need a break. Love HIM! I will say though, since I'm not pumping anymore and she's just latching on its made things much easier. It was a lot harder taking care of two at the beginning with the pumping, being stuck in one spot and not being able to be as free as I would have liked, but that's okay because I survived ^_^ Life is Sweet! I will say this, although Oliver has gotten a little better at not doing this, but sometimes if he has a supposed bad dream he'll come in to our bed and sleep with us which would be fine except in the middle of the night when Madeline gets up to nurse I like to lay down so I can still rest and sometimes I fall asleep. So if you can imagine the four of us in our queen bed, it can get a little tight. And if you know how Oliver sleeps then you may even feel a little sorry for us. If he wasn't so cute I would say no. I'll have to get better at that. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is being a mommy of two isn't so bad. I love my family! Yay for forever families!

see what I mean!