Slumber Party

Our boys are having a slumber party tonight - their first overnight at our house together. So fun! They woke up this morning talking to each other and excited to start their day. We went down to put on our gear and head out....

Jeff and I strapped them in their strollers and we set out to the park. It turned out to be such a beautiful day that we also played in the backyard.




After a fun-filled day and a lot of fun, we had a nice dinner and the boys enjoyed watching each other eat.
Jeff and I thought it would be fun to give the boys a bath together - we were wrong. After the tears subsided they both settled down for a story and were exhausted and asleep just after 7.








We were happy we all survived a two child household and seemed to come out unscathed.

Boys will be boys .... well Antonio will be.

Antonio takes a new toddler class every Friday called Messy Play Day held at a preschool near our house. It is a fun little hour of literally, messy, play with kids his age. This week, Teacher Jenna pulled out the brown paint and made 'mud' for the kids to drive the trucks in. All the girls dipped themselves in it and were dirty up to their elbows, all the boys just delicately touched the trucks and were annoyed the paint was there.

In the end Antonio adapted and was just happy with the truck.And between the dirty trucks and the birdseed in the sand table he was content to play for his whole class...until singing when we get to sing about elephants and monkeys and the more we get together. Believe me it is great the first time, but by the hundreth you are sick of the more we get together. After class we drove up to Oak Harbor to see Grandpa and Grandma. Jeff stayed in LA this weekend and Antonio and I thought it would be fun to visit Oak Harbor. And it was, but not at first when Grandma and Grandpa were at work!But then we had lots of fun. We saw Uncle Alvin who has convinced Antonio that purses are no good and that he needs a backpack. And we saw Uncle B too.

But best of all we saw a new Wonder Pets who save the itsy bitsy spider. After watching that it was all Antonio could think about so we went outside to play and he spent the whole time acting it out. Below, playing the part of the Wonder Pets is Piglet and Pooh. The spider is the giraffe.
And this cool jeep is the fly boat.....
And here is Antonio acting out the entire episode-

Yes, he is his father's son.

Obama is President

Today was the Obama President day. And luckily, in many ways, we don't have tv to watch it so instead we talked about Obama today. For a little mixed boy like Antonio, hopefully, he will have less looks, less struggles, and less hurdles because of today. And, hopefully his college stocks will start going up soon.

He is too young to remember this day, but Antonio does know "Obama President" and that is good enough for a two-year old.

Grandpa Barge's Birthday

Grandpa Barge is 84 this year, and that is whole lot of you ask Antonio. We all know that Antonio LOVES birthdays because he knows that means CAKE!

Thankfully Grandpa didn't mind Antonio's fingers poking into the cake while we sang...

Besides cake Antonio had a great visit with all his family. He was so happy to see Natalie again. There is something he really loves about 9-year olds.

She brought out a lot of fun things to play with and Grandpa Barge got to see how big Antonio has grown since our last visit.

Antonio had so much fun playing with Uncle Bruce. And even today was saying "Bye-Bye Uncle Bruce" - he is at an age where men are really really cool!

And of course he did his share of showing off his smarts to the Tias (Tia Mia and Tia Yiz as he says) But most of all he enjoyed playing with Natalie. They made beautiful music together.

It was finally time to go home and Antonio was ready to show off and say I love you to everyone. Especially Grandpa.

Wagon Wheel!

Antonio"s wagon is in California but his cousin Elijah has been sharing his wagon and Antonio could not be happier!

Lil' Kickers

Antonio has started taking a fun soccer class at Arena Sports. I say soccer very loosely as really they spend a lot of time running, kicking and doing many things other than soccer. But he has fun and we enjoy having an indoor place to go and run.

There are great activities, like kicking bubbles....


Then there is a water break....

Then cone towers...

He'll be dribbling and making goals in no time!

Cousins again

Antonio is truly a fan of all three of his cousins. This past week he got to see them all. Little Elijah came to his house to play. And in the end Antonio was great about giving nice hugs - they use to be tackles.


Then this weekend, Antonio got to see his big cousins for dinner. Unfortunately for Torin, Antonio does tackle him and Uncle Greg too.

The big treat of the night was playing in the boys bounce room. They have one in the house! After a lot of watching Preston, and giggling, Antonio decided to take a turn...copying everything his big cousin did. It was the first time Antonio was willing to go in a bounce room.

In the end, his favorite thing was just watching and laughing at Preston.

Rhythm

Antonio got most of his rhythm from his dad. All holiday season he was showing off his dance moves...

And while those are pretty impressive, what was most exciting was his drum set! Oh yes, he finally had a chance to play the drum set that his Uncle Steven forced Nina to buy him for his first Christmas.....

In the end, Antonio showed the most enthusiasm for the discovery of a small hole where his drum stick would fit. Ah the simple pleasures.

Happy New Year Antonio Fans

We are so excited to welcome 2009, and Antonio enjoyed a great visit with Grandma and Grandpa to ring in the New Year while we celebrated as grown-ups in Seattle.

And the best part of the New Year celebration was getting our prints from Antonio's photo-shoot with Clare.....here are few highlights.

And this one is our favorite, because for those who have ever been to our house, you know that Antonio has spent many hours of his little life peeking out these big windows in our living room at the world. This ledge has been his favorite table, his window to the world, and one of his favorite places to peer out even as an infant. No matter where we live as a family in the years to come, this picture perfectly captures our boy in his favorite place, at the window.

Do They Know It's Christmas Time At All?

We braved the snow and made our way up to Oak Harbor for the holiday. How much snow did we brave? Well, check out Havana trekking across our back yard.

Christmas was a blast. There were so many things going on that were just so overwhelming to Antonio. But one thing he came to understand, Santa is good.

He got so excited when he received this "The Night Before Christmas" book that we read it every night before the big day. Many nights we read it multiple times. "More Santa story," Antonio would say.
This Christmas was the first Christmas Antonio got the concept of Santa. He still knows he's the scary guy whose lap he has to sit on once every December, but now he also knows him as the guy who breaks into Grandma and Grandpa's house and leaves stuff for him. That part's pretty cool.

There was also lots of cousin time. He loves all of his cousins, the big ones:And the little ones:
The only problem with the little one, however, is that whenever Antonio would turn his head for even a second, Elijah would sweep in and grab whatever toy Antonio would be playing with. One of Elijah's favorite words? "Mine."One toy he won't be able to get his hands on is Antonio's new motorcycle. Look out ladies, Antonio is a badass biker in a cardigan sweater. But in the end, Antonio learned that Christmas is really about family. Like spending time playing with Mommy.
Or learning how to use his cool new DJ Aunt Bobbi gave him.
He was so excited about all the Christmas activities that he hadn't napped for three days. That isn't a problem anymore.