Friday Favs

My almost walker is going at top speed around our house with this little push toy. Any day now...

My boys LOVE to wrestle. Thankfully Caleb is usually able to hold his own and Levi tries really hard to be gentle. I'm thankful when Daddy or one of the Papas or Uncles is around to help fend off some of the incoming blows. Geez, my boys are tough!

I'm still trying to get out and run a few days a week. Here's Levi rockin' my shoes and hat and running (stumbling) around the house yelling, "I RUN!" He'll be faster than me in no time. :)

Waiting on the front porch for Grammy to get home from running errands. Nothing special really going on here but I couldn't resist snapping a picture when he was sitting so patiently. 

Both my boys were a little under the weather this week. So we lounged around in our comfy clothes, watched a couple movies and tried to feel better. 

We also snuck over to Grammy & Papa's house to play with their trains. (I'm thankful that my mom sentimentally kept all of Bryan's old Brio sets. Those things are expensive!)

Levi is turning into quite the helper around here. He helped put away laundry the other day, he helped clean up a mess on the floor and he helped walk to our mailbox to mail some letters. I for one am super thankful for his helpful heart!

While Daddy did his Fantasy Football draft this week,  we went to the mall to get out of the heat and get out some energy. We love the fountains, dancing to the music they play outside, the "Mickey Mouse Store" and our new love: riding the escalators with Grammy. 

Happy Friday everyone!

Caleb is 10 Months Old

Caleb David is 10 months old!

29lbs (on our home scale)

He's still our great eater, great sleeper, happy little (ok, BIG) guy. He's sleeping 12 hours at night, two two hour naps a day and could still probably use a quick little snooze in the evenings but he refuses. He loves to eat and will continue shoveling food into his mouth until we stop him. He is a super fast crawler and has just started to use the push walker to get around the house by walking. He goes super fast because of the hardwood floors and he is so proud of himself. He can go up the stairs and open cabinets and pull all of my shoes off my shoe rack in 0.08 seconds so we finally got some baby gates. (When we moved here with Levi he had already mastered going up and down the stairs so we never really needed them.) He puts up with a lot of rough housing from his big brother and is a surprisingly good wrestler already. He loves being with us and is just a joy to be around. We love you big guy!

Following in Levi's footsteps...literally.

Loving the stroller and time near his big brother.

Watching Daddy play baseball. Both boys are fixtures on the fence.

Monday Funday

Here's a quick Monday picture update from our fun August so far:

We celebrated Levi's 2nd birthday a couple of times. He isn't complaining about the extra sweets!

It has been HOT so we've spent extra time playing in the pool and the water.

Caleb is following in his big brother's footsteps and becoming quick the daredevil. Stairs? Mastered. Slides? No problem. He sure is busy!

And Levi's getting the hang out this whole "blowing out the candles" thing. Just wondering what's going to happen when it's someone else's birthday...

Climbing on furniture? Who me?

Brothers playing together. This is the reason we got the trailer, right? :)

Popsicles with Daddy. Levi really likes to share!

Dinner and fun with cousins.

Walking the dog and trying to beat the heat.

This is one smart kid, he couldn't get the pantry door open to get a snack so he figured the ice cream from the freezer was the next best thing. 

Cuddle time with Uncle B! 

Happy 2nd Birthday Levi!

Levi is 2 years old!

Happy 2nd birthday to our little buddy! Levi is getting to be a very big boy and we are so glad to be his parents. He can climb anything, run fast, jump (a little), throw balls, hit off a baseball tee, swim on his own with a ring, and walk up and down our stairs by himself. He hasn't met an activity that he can't handle and seems especially inclined to be athletic. He loves blocks and books and slides and cars. Actually, he loves cars, trucks, helicopters, planes, trains, motorcycles, bikes--anything that goes! He talks up a storm and is starting to put three word sentences together. He is sometimes reserved at first and doesn't always like to perform on command, but when he feels comfortable and loosens up a bit he can be a total ham and likes to make people laugh. He likes to dance and wrestle and give head butts instead of kisses. He loves his Mommy and little brother but he loves his Daddy the most. Whenever we go anywhere he likes to do a "roll call" and will call out "Mama?" "Dada?" "Brother?" and we're all supposed to respond back. He has become a pretty picky eater and would rather drink milk than eat most things. His favorite foods are chicken, fruit snacks, corn, and strawberries. Levi is a good listener and does a pretty good job at following directions. He is a good sharer with his brother and is very concerned about Caleb's well being. He loves to make animal noises and thinks it is really funny when he purposefully mixes up the sounds they're supposed to make. And any time we drive past an open field he yells out "COW!" even if we're in the middle of town and there are no cows to be seen. He's wearing mostly 3T clothes and weighing in (on our home scale) at 34 lbs. He really likes his Crocs (he calls them his "Trocs") and would wear only those shoes if we let him. His favorite movie is 'Cars' with 'Toy Story' as a close second. He loves playing baseball in the backyard and will hit 30 balls in a row off his tee. He likes getting to watch Daddy play baseball too and often will walk around the house saying, "Daddy batter-batter swing hit fast!" And I'm pretty sure that if he had the words he would say that Daddy plays baseball for a job. He's in bed from 8pm-8am (although we've learned that he doesn't always sleep the entire time) and takes one really good 2-3 hour afternoon nap. He wakes up happy and excited to see us and hasn't gotten out of his toddler bed once. He's still using his potty about every day or so and it's about time to knuckle down and potty train for real--he's more than ready! He has grown and developed so much this year and turned into such a sweet boy and a fantastic big brother. We love him more than words can say and we're so proud to call him ours. 

We love you Levi Daniel! Happy Birthday!!!

Southern California Trip

While Dave travels to LA for work every so often, the boys and I haven't ventured down there since last December. It was long overdue for a visit! We had perfect weather, great eats at restaurants we've really missed, an amazing first trip to Disneyland and the beach and a very successful hotel stay with two little boys. We were so proud of how calm and sweet and compliant they were despite long car rides, disrupted sleep and all the excitement that vacation brings. Here are (a lot) pictures from our quick trip South. Enjoy!

Riding the tram to Disneyland. We were so excited!

First stop: Carsland!

Smiling with Mommy

Caleb and Papa got to hang out a couple of times while we took Levi on rides.

Levi loved the carousels!

So did Caleb!

We met Mater! 

Yes, I made everyone wear matching shirts. Get over it because, seriously, how cute are we? :)

We loved all the big cars to take pictures with.

Goofing off in line.

One of Levi's highlights was getting to ride Dumbo with Grammy and Papa. Following in Uncle B's footsteps!

After a marathon Disneyland day, we headed down to the South Bay to see our old haunts and meet up with friends. First a trip to the Terranea Resort for a little hike, good views and dinner.

Lockridge family of four.

Then we also snuck in a trip to the beach. This was Caleb's first time and he loved it!

What a good Daddy. Schlepping all our stuff down to the sand.

Running with Grammy

Our little guy crawled all over (and ate a little sand) and had a fantastic time.

Touching the water for the first time.

Then a quick trip to the Irvine Spectrum for dinner and shopping.

Levi found this fountain, sat down in front of it and said, "Cheese!"
I took that as my cue to take his picture. Goofball.

And we even got to go to Oakley Headquarters to visit Papa at work.

Yes they have a tank. Levi climbed right up and did his "V for victory" pose.

And last but not least, we got to have dinner with our favorite Torrance families. The Smarts and the Holmes and all 5 (and a half!) kiddos ate dinner amidst the chaos and noise that 5 kids add. Life sure is different these days but it was so awesome getting to see them for a bit and catch up on life. They're just good people and we seriously miss them, and their cute girls!

Stevie, Kylie and Caleb (under the table). This was the best I could do but, trust me, they were all there. :)

Right after dinner, my mom and I drove the boys all the way home while Dave and Dad stuck around to work. We made it back home around 1am and crashed. Vacation is always fun but it's also nice to be home!

Birthaversary Trip

Dave and I celebrated my 29th birthday (eek!) and our 6th wedding anniversary by traveling to Napa for two whole nights. It was amazing! Big thanks to my mom and Alison for taking care of the boys while we were gone. We stayed in a super nice hotel, ate full meals at nice restaurants without having to go outside to entertain Levi, we slept in as late as we wanted and enjoyed our quiet time together. It was rejuvenating!

We didn't sit around for long though. We drove up and down the Napa Valley and saw some incredible locations, tried some great wines and thoroughly enjoyed doing exactly what we wanted to do, when we wanted to.

I love spending time with my awesome hubby!
At our favorite winery: Grgich Hills Estates.

Our favorite market where we picked up sandwiches for lunch. We were surprised by all the history in Napa. Parts of this market were from the 1880's-- it was super cool.

This is the winery owned by the Coppola family. It was also super old and beautiful.

We took a sky tram to the top of the hill at Sterling and got some incredible views and this nice picture.

And to stay with the theme from the week, Dave found this awesome vintage-y wine barrel sign with our name and the year we were married. It's already hanging in our dining room. I love it! I felt very loved and appreciated for my birthday this year. My husband ROCKS! :)