Playdates!!

Now that we're back home in NorCal, we're trying to take full advantage of being closer to friends and family.  That means playdates!!

Fun at the big playground in Golden Gate Park with Aunt Shanny and Aunt Casey

I was at least able to get him to take his shoes off…shoulda just gone for everything off!  At least I was a smart mom this day and packed a change of clothes.  He even got comments from other kids about how dirty he was after this adventure.

I guess when you're surrounded by construction every day at home, it makes perfect sense to bulldoze with your head.

Say cheese!

I was very glad Arjen didn't get more adventurous than the bottom level of this crazy contraption.

Catching waves

And then there are the sweet moments (may I highlight moments) that these two play side by side peacefully.

The turtle was more Gus's speed

You can't really see it well, but his pants are soaked, and totally covered in sand after playing in that huge puddle. 

Then there was our playdate with my friend Kelley, and her two kids, Ryan and Kaitlyn. It was so great to see them, especially since the last time we saw each other was at her baby shower for Kaitlyn (who's now 16 months old)!! What was even more fun was watching Arjen and uncle Brian play together. Yes, I said uncle Brian, because when you're 3 years old and you have an Uncle Brian and a Great Uncle Bryan, and it's hard enough to fully pronounce your R's, when mom says your friend's name is Ryan, you hear Brian, and you just roll with it.  I'll be the first to admit, when he first called out and said "I did it just like Uncle Brian do it!", I was very confused, because I couldn't remember when Arjen had been at a park, or anywhere, that Uncle Brian or Uncle Bryan might have been climbing on some structure.  And then I realized he was calling Ryan, Uncle Brian.  And then I had the best laugh I'd had in awhile.  So Arjen had a blast chasing Uncle Brian on their bikes, around the playground, and up the tallest play structures they could find.  And Gus had a blast toting his lunch box and juice cup all over the place, testing out all of the various perfect picnic spots.  And I had a great time catching up with an old friend.  All in all, an excellent morning.

Chasing down Uncle Brian

Our cutie pie friends

If the big boys can do it, why can't I??

And then, as if the confusion between Ryan/Brian wasn't enough, this morning, we had another playdate with my friend Anne-Marie, and her kids Kaitlyn and James.  When I told Arjen who was coming over, he said "Kaitlyn? And her brother? The one his name is like Uncle Bwyan?" Oh buddy, you entertain your momma.  Of course we were too busy having fun with our guests today, that no one managed to get any photos!  Just means we'll have to do it again, and soon!  

Thanks everyone for playing with us!

Around the house

Creatures of habit?  Emerging personalities? Seeing into their futures? Whatever it is, these two sure are having fun at their new house…

No one will ever argue that Gus doesn't love food:

"Baking" a cake

"Making dinner" (aka reorganizing the pantry)

putting the leftovers away - or at least making sure all the tupperware still has lids!

And Arjen never turns down a chance to use a head lamp, or help Dad with whatever it is he's doing:

working on the fireplace

ready to measure and check the level of the new patio

Stacking pavers for the patio - cause why not make it a night time activity?!  Then you really get to wear a headlamp!

Halloween Fun

The boys had fun trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood this year.  Both were fairly comfortable walking up to doors and holding out their pumpkin containers.  Arjen definitely wanted to skip the house with the scary guy in the window, and I can't blame him.  Creeped me out too (an upstairs window was visible from the street, and they had someone standing up there wearing a mask, wielding a stick/sword of sorts, and all in a dark room lit only by a UV light.  Definitely wins for creepiest halloween decor!)

The boys started to peter out after 10 or 15 houses, so we came home to pass out candy.  What I didn't expect, was that Arjen got almost more excited to pass out candy than he was to go collect it!  And of course, what Arjen enjoys, well Gus gets right in there and joins him.  Unfortunately, I didn't act fast enough to teach Arjen the laws of supply and demand, and his generosity handing out candy resulted in us running out after about 30 min.  Lesson learned (buy more candy!).

If I get around to taking the pics off of Andrew's phone, I'll add some pumpkin patch pictures up here too.  Just haven't managed to do it yet….

The SuperBoys

And yes, next year we'll plan for more completed costumes too!

More pieces of October

Moving in, first visitors, and just general fun getting to know our new 'hood!

Thanks to Baba, the Ice Cream Truck now drives onto our street every day at 2.  I know two boys who aren't complaining though!  Big thanks though to Baba and Dave (and Joann, Bryan, and Dorothy!) for helping us on moving in weekend!

Gus decided he'd help unpack the toy boxes in the loft - the official playspace

First playdate in our new house - Thanks for coming over Sophie!!! So glad we live so close to you now!

Obligatory goat ride

Despite the cute white pants, this kiddo had no problem joining the boys in our lovely dirt yard!

Big Love!

"hello, my name is chubby" - yes, Arjen has discovered a new favorite game, if you can call it that.  Fortunately, Sophie was a good sport.

"Mom sure spends enough time using this broom thing-y, maybe I should give it a try!"

Arjen got a new-used bedroom furniture set.  Now he has an official place to work on his laptop.  

Trying out the new birthday kite at our neighborhood park.  

Gus had to "fly" a kite too, of course!

Dinner on the patio (imagine pavers under the table, sod off to the left...or just enjoy the view with us!)

Gotta work on the "cheese!" face a bit more...

Of course, October also brings another birthday for Andrew too...Happy 38th Dad!!!  Thank you for all you do for us, each and every day!  We love you!!

"making" a birthday cake

The big guy needed a little help blowing out all those candles!

Moving is hard business.  Time for a good lounge.

Arjen got a new piano book.  Took it upon himself to set up the perfect piano playing spot, after taking a train ride to Wisconsin of course (note the seatbelt towel around his lap).  Gotta love the imagination growing with this kid!

Somewhere in this moment in time, I got the loveliest serenade ever...but I was enjoying it so much, that it's not one I get to share with anyone but Arjen.  Attempting to get video of it was a complete afterthought.  He played on his piano, and sang "our" song "Rock me Mama".  Happy tears were shed that day.  

Happy 3rd Birthday Arjen!

Hard to believe I've been logging pictures and events on this blog for 3 years now.  Even harder to believe that this tiny peanut...

...is now this kid climbing trees!

It truly is amazing to watch these little bits of yourself continue to grow, and start becoming much bigger pieces of themselves.  Thank goodness we get such a head start on life before kids show up, because I don't think I'd be able to keep up with this guy if I weren't already a few steps ahead!  Arjen, I hope you hear it from us enough, but you are one incredible, compassionate, brilliant boy.  I love every moment watching you grow up, but please don't do it too fast, okay?? 

Some birthday pics:

Even though we had just moved in to our new house two days prior, we had to do a proper birthday celebration.  Nothing fancy, but after a birthday muffin-with-a-candle breakfast (cause mom hadn't quite done real grocery shopping), Arjen got to open his much anticipated new present...

Putting on his new "ding ding" boots

Big love to Dad for the awesome ding ding boots!

strutting his stuff, in the ding ding boots

 Then, for dinner, we bit the bullet and took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese's.  I mean, what's a kids birthday without The Cheese?!?

Gus was loving the games

The boys on a virtual roller coaster ride

I think there were some mixed emotions in the smaller folks here, but overall a fun ride!

 Then, there was the Birthday celebration with the Keane fam/breaking in the new house!:

Some things Arjen remembers about his birthday this year:

"In October!"

"There's presents!"

"And People"

"We play"

"Happy birthday to you Arjen"

Happy 3rd Birthday Arjen!  We love you to the moon and back!

Cooking with Baba

...it's the newest show on the Food Network.  Have you seen it yet?  They even have the Naked Chef too!

(so it troubles my inner OCD slightly, that this post is so out of order on the blog and delayed in getting posted, but it had to be shared!)