Reptiles, insects and earthquakes...welcome to California

So everyone has warned us about rattlesnakes, tarantula season, black widows and earthquakes. For one, I am deathly afraid of snakes. I break out into hives when I see them. I hope that I don't run into one. There are signs along walking paths on what to do if you run into a snake (don't run, pick up your children so they look taller, etc). Ok, if I am walking the boys in a stroller, how in the world would I get them both out and hold them. I am taking off running! We have killed two black widows already. I worry about William picking up reptiles outside. I probably shouldn't blog this for Scott's pride but he never reads this anyway:) I found out that he is just as afraid of reptiles as I am. He was cleaning up after grilling out the other night when he ran across this guy (pictured). He was on top of the grill cover. It was so funny watching Scott pick up the cover and drop it over and over again trying to get up the courage to finish what he was doing and hope this guy didn't jump at him. Well after almost 30 minutes, he gave up and came inside. He told me that I could go out there and put the cover on if I wanted it on the grill. I told him he knew I wasn't going to do that seeing that I was afraid of reptiles. And then he admitted he was too.... The grill cover still sits on the ground:)

Well we experienced our first earthquake and yes we are ok. The media made it sound so much worse than it was. And the cell phone towers were turned off so we couldn't communicate with anyone. Scott had to get under his desk at work. I was mopping the kitchen floor when it happened and I thought a car ran into our house. When the shaking didn't stop, it hit me what it was and I took off for the boys. But it ended as soon as I got to them.

I am glad Big Brother is not on tonight. I have a computer again so I am trying to catch up on everything.

My baby is 6 months old!

I can't believe my baby Harrison is already 6 months old. Time really does fly by before you know it. Just like we did with Will's first half birthday, we celebrated Harrison's on Sunday. I think we enjoyed it more than Harrison since we ate cake and ice cream. I did let Harrison try a little bite but he was much more interested in the wrapping paper on the presents more than anything. He is growing so fast.
We took the boys and Miss Belle to the park to play earlier in the day. William thought it was really funny to run as fast as he could and then fall face first into the grass. I would think that he would get hurt but he just kept falling and laughing really hard.

Like I said, I think we enjoyed Harrison's cake and ice cream more than him- check out Will licking his bowl. He is definitely an Archer when it comes to sweets.

From the mountains of Utah to the beaches of California...

ahh, quality family time. After two weeks of unpacking and cleaning, we decided to take a day for ourselves and enjoy where we live. We spent the entire day together. We went to the Santa Barbara Zoo followed by the beach. Will loved the sand and tried to eat it of-course. We had a nice picnic at the zoo. The grounds are so beautiful there. After playing at the beach, we had a snack at a restaurant on the beach. Later that night, we went out for a family dinner. We were all so tired that we went to sleep when we got home.

Here comes trouble....

Ok, sorry for the lack of posts. I have so much to say. First of all, I lost a little bit of communication to the outside world. William broke my laptop. I haven't even had it three months and the old desktop is packed away somewhere??? William thought that it would be nice to take a nightlight and put it on the keyboard and try to shut the computer. Obiviously, it wouldn't close and I couldn't get to him in time. And then, he threw my cell phone into Belle's water bowl. It took a few days to dry out but now at-least my phone is working. I still have to get the computer fixed. Ok, so it has been a big two days in the Archer household! Yesterday was eventful. First, William decided to get out of his crib....but not gracefully. I opened the door just in time to see him do it but not soon enough to catch him before he fell face first onto the hardwood floor. You would think he learned his lesson after busting open his lip and bruising his chin but nope. He keeps climbing out. I think he is too young for a toddler bed but maybe I am wrong. Today he is 18 months old. I can't believe my baby is already a year and a half. I bought a crib tent last night but it is too small for his crib. I don't know what to do at this point. I am afraid if I put pillows down, he can still fall the wrong way and break something and if he is in the todler bed, he will never go to sleep. Any suggestions????
Secondly, Harrison broke his first tooth yesterday (the bottom right front). Everytime I touch it, he laughs. He is so cute. And today was equally eventful. Harrison has been doing this army crawl for a little bit now. He has mastered scooting backwards and in circles. He is really good about manuevering around to get where he wants. Yesterday I walked out of the room for a minute and when I came back, he was under his crib :) A few days ago, he got up on all fours but didn't move. Today it all changed. He got up on all four and took two steps forward!!!!! My baby is starting to crawl the right way and he is only 5 and a half months old!!! I can't believe it. I am so going to be in trouble with two kids on the run :)

On a side note, I am so excited for my new project. I absolutely love salt water fish. I had a salt water fish tank in Missouri but decided not to set one back up in Utah since it costs so much (time and money). Anyway, I missed having one and I thought it would be fun to have one with the boys. I just started the setup 3 days ago so there is nothing fun to show a picture of. I just added some live rock and hardy fish (blue damsels with yellow tails and dominos) tonight. So it will be at-least 4-6 weeks until I can start adding the fun ones (tangs, starfish, perculas, live plants, etc). I am so excited.

Slowly but Surely

I cannot emphasize enough how much I hate unpacking. It seems like it is never ending. We are finished with the boy's rooms, kitchen and living room. Don't ask what the dining room, our bedroom and the disaster of a garage looks like. My goal is to finish our bedroom today if the boys let me. Our movers suck though. It is so hard to find anything. I still haven't found the love seat cushions and all of the living room boxes are unpacked. I am sure they are probably in a box labeled, "garage tools" or something of that sort since I found William's toys in a box labeled, "kitchen booze" and it had nothing in it but toys. I think movers must get bored with their job so it must be a way of messing with the homeowners. We did unpack William's old walker and I thought Harrison may be too young for it but boy was I wrong?! I put him in it and when I turned around he ran from the kitchen to the front door. The kid zooms around in this thing and absolutely loves it. And it is so fun to watch him interact with William now. William has always taken to Harrison but now they actually play together. Will will push Harrison around in the walker and Harrison just holds on and laughs. The evil smile says it all. He is into everything and is such a rebel! If anyone has advice on how to discipline a 17 month old who does opposite of what you ask, let me know. We have been trying to baby proof this house as fast as possible. He turned on the fireplace the other day and now that we have a gas stove, he turns on the burners. I saw online that you can buy covers to go over the knobs on the stove but I can't find them anywhere. If you know where, let me know before Will burns down the house.

AT LAST!!!! A home cooked meal and my spice rack! After a week of not having dishes or pots and pans, I finally made a home cooked meal last night. I do not want to say how much weight I gained in one week. I didn't think it was possible! OK, I love my spice rack and it has been in storage for two months. And most of you know that I love to make home made spaghetti once a week. It just wasn't the same without all of my spices. But last night we got to indulge on a favorite. Now only if we had a kitchen table to eat at. We sent ours back to Missouri for storage and now I think it would fit.

I want to apologize to everyone for not keeping in contact lately. It has been such a chore this whole moving thing. And everytime I think I can call, I notice the time change and it is way too late. So Sorry!

Welcome home

This past week has been crazy busy. We left for California Monday night and reached our destination on Tuesday. Our new home sweet home of Simi Valley, CA. The drive went well. I am so upset I didn't get a picture of Will and Belle. My camera was out of reach. Belle fell asleep on Will's lap and Will fell asleep with his head on Belle's head while holding Harrison's hand. It was the sweetest moment ever.
I wish I could say we have gone to the beach or Disneyland or something fun. Nothing to report of that nature. We have been cleaning and painting this whole time. The movers arrive tomorrow morning with our belongings so the craziness is just beginning. I seriously don't know how we are going to fit our stuff in this house. And that is after selling some furniture and sending some to Missouri. We haven't taken any new pictures so hopefully our next post will be more interesting than this one. I just wanted to let you all know we made it safely :)