A new way to eat

So William's request for lunch today was soup. After I gave it to him, he told me he needed to make the soup. That meant he needed the tongs to put the noodles in the bowl. So I gave him the tongs and he ate 3 bowls of soup with tongs as his spoon! And Harrison got mad that I didn't give him any large utensils. I did cave and give him a pair of tongs too but they were obviously too big for him to use. After a struggle, I helped him out a little. And he ate two bowls of soup this way. Considering my boys don't eat much lately, I guess this is a new way to get them to eat :) And full tummys equal a nice nap. Or maybe it was that they woke up at 5am this morning? Who knows?

How angelic are these sleeping beauties?

I love William's hair in the last picture.

And just a little side note that makes this bittersweet: William doesn't take naps anymore so that was nice. Harrison has started taking lessons from William and doesn't like to sleep in his bed sometimes now. That is why they are both on our bed!

Universal Studios Hollywood

We were bad today. We skipped church to go to Universal Studios for "Grinchmas." I think everybody else had that same idea because the park was beyond packed. They have an offer for the 13 days of Christmas that if you buy a one day pass, you get an annual pass for next year FREE! We couldn't pass it up. But because it was so busy, we didn't get to see or do much. Luckily we took the Studio Tour first. It was very interesting. We visited a lot of sites and studios. We got to see Bates Motel, the cabin from the Great Outdoors, the street scenes from Back to the Future, Changling and Ghost Whisperer. The list goes on and on and on. We saw a lot. The boys weren't very interested in the tour especially when we drove into a lot where we got to experience an 8.3 earthquake. Water came crashing all around, cars and trucks flying at us and of-course shaking. It was almost too real and because of that, William sat on my lap the rest of the tour. On the other hand, he was really excited to see Jaws eat somebody.

We saw the Whos down in Who-Ville and then the Grinch came along. Harrison was surrounded by beautiful women.

Gaby's house from Wisteria Lane. I am a dork though. I took pictures of all of the houses on Wisteria lane-:)

William just had to find Alex, the lion from Madagascar. William thinks he is a lion most days. He pretends he is Alex so you can imagine how excited he was to meet him. And he wouldn't leave.

It was a lot of fun. I am glad we get to go back and see everything they have to offer.

Christmas recap

What a wonderful time of year! Christmas Eve consisted of making Santa Claus cookies and a traditional Salmon dinner. Then off to church. Ok, I understand most everywhere else you are stuck in your houses with all the snow and rain. Well it was/is 70 degrees outside and yet we still put ourselves in holiday sweaters. Church service was funny at times and exhausting for us. A 7:30 service is hard on us considering that is bedtime but even harder that BOTH boys skipped their naps that day. And the nursery attendant was not there so they had to sit through service with us. The funny part did come during the children's sermon. He went over the book of how Jesus was born and then they sang Away in a Manger. The pastor might as well have handed the book over to William because William told the story as he saw it on every page. He wouldn't let Pastor talk. It was rather cute but I was blushing quite a bit. Then when they started singing Away in a Manger, Harry stood up at the front of the church (where they did the children's sermon) with the songbook in his face, "singing." And very loudly. Not sure he knew the words but he was belting something out. It was soooo cute.

We came home, opened one present (pajamas) and drank some hot chocolate and ate Christmas cookies while reading "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" before heading off to bed. Then came the "lesson learned." The boys main present this year was an art easel. It has a chalk board on one side and dry erase board on the other. I bought a bunch of art supplies for it. Well Scott went to put it together and guess what? The hardware that was supposed to come with it, DIDN'T! We had no way of putting it together. So we chalked it up to a lesson learned not to wait until the last minute to put things together. Luckily we had a few other things for the boys. The boys slept in until 8:15. I was whispering in William's ear, "I think Santa came" trying to wake him up. He finally responded, "yes he did, I heard him eat my cookies last night." :) Santa brought what they asked for. And honestly that is all they cared about. Harry got his bubbles.

William got his big red Lightning McQueen.

Oh and just like his mommy on his laptop...(and Harry is on his sitting next to me as I type this post).

Belle received some bones, balls and a Frisbee.

Scott score with a Dolly Parton box set.

I made out with a new watch and Easy Tone shoes. I know my face is not in this picture but I had to post it because I thought it was so cute that Harrison is in it trying to take my picture with another camera.

William and Harrison also got a T-ball set.

After all the present opening, we had a very nice Turkey dinner. And we all took naps:) We watched A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation throughout the day. It was a very relaxing day. Merry Christmas to all!

The next Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga Concert

So I went to the Lady Gaga concert last night. Scott's work has a suite/box at both the Nokia Theatre and Staples Center. Last night was Ladies Night Out to see Lady Gaga. It was so much fun. I haven't been to a concert in a LONG time. She was really fun. These pictures and videos definitely do not do it justice.

It is funny because I went to the gym today and I had my iPod on shuffle. Just Dance came on and I had to refrain from dancing because I was still in dance mode from the night before. I had to remember where I was-ha.

Saturday Family Fun

Yesterday was low key but fun. We played in the park. Then went shopping a little. After the naps that didn't happen, we drove to Ventura Harbor to see the Lighted Boat Parade. I mean, where else can you live where you can go see Christmas lights on boats? It was fun. Santa flew over in a helicopter to start off the parade.

I forgot my big camera so my pictures didn't turn out well at all but its the memories that last :)

On our way home, we stopped by a house that has an elaborate light show each year. They program their lights to songs.

Harrison was asleep for it and William was ready to go home so we didn't get to see much. We will have to go back before the holiday is over.

Archer Tidbits

Just some random things I wanted to share.

Now every time I ask William something, he responds, "no thank you mommy. But thank you for asking." Examples: "William, are you ready for lunch?" "no thank you mommy. But thank you for asking."

I think our children watch too much television with their daddy. The other day William was playing with his matchbox cars and this was how it went. "He's coming in! Ohhh! He's taking tires!" "Oh this one is taking gas again." Then the other night Harrison wouldn't sleep. So he was in the bedroom with Scott. I walk in there and Scott is fast asleep while Harrison is engrossed in the Barrett Jackson auction on TV.

Harrison's TRs sound like the letter F. So you can imagine what I thought the first time he was excited to see a "trash truck."

Harry, you are funny!

Ok so I wake up this morning to this little guy talking away in his crib. My eyes are barely open as I am still tired. I walk around the corner and this is what I find! Luckily by time I got the camera, he was still like this. It was a nice chuckle first thing in the morning.

I wonder how long he would have stayed like that if I hadn't walked in right then? He wasn't calling for me so I could have laid in bed longer. Heck, who knows how long he was like that!

Fall colors in December

So this is what you see all year round in our neighborhood. Notice all the greenery? Oh wait, look ahead. There is one tree changing its color to a reddish tone. It is so pretty.

I miss fall colors. But I am happy that is is 77 degrees here today. There are so many trees that do not lose their leaves or change colors here in Southern California but there is this small moment when a few trees do change colors and it is absolutely beautiful and breathtaking. Probably because I miss seeing this. We had to leave our neighborhood to find the trees but we did and here it is...

I love December colors in California! :)

Pictures with Santa

We headed to the mall today to see Santa Claus. Looking back at previous years pictures (remember last year?), I prepped the boys ahead of time. I showed them the last two years pictures and asked them if they wanted to go see Santa. The both said yes and were excited. I was sure this would not last as William is usually scared of strangers. I can't say I blame him. That is a good thing right?! We got to the mall and of-course Santa doesn't get out of bed until 11am so we walked around a bit. William saw a remote control Lightning McQueen at one of the outdoor vendors. I tried to walk by really fast. Finally it came time to see Santa. Harrison clinched onto me saying, "not Pawpa, not Pawpa." William ran right up to him and jumped on his lap. Here was his conversation:

William: "I'm two, Harry's One. Those a pretty deer. This is my tree (he has a soap in the shape of a xmas tree that he will not let go of). There is its star and basketball (orange ornament)." And on he went. Mr. Shy was not shy at all. Then came the question of the day.

Santa: "What would you like for Christmas William?"

William: "I want that big red Lightning McQueen out there!"

Guess I am going to have to get that. Harry was scared until Santa asked him what he wanted and he got really serious and said, "bubbles and balloons." :) Then snap, there is your picture. William jumped off and asked for a candy cane. I'm very pleased. I didn't expect a good picture at all. I was looking forward to the screaming scared face and the arched back. Ha. And you have to love that I have my boys dressed up in sweaters for a Santa picture when it is actually 70 degrees outside. It has to look like Winter, right?

Weekend recap

Ok lets see. Friday night we went to church for a nice potluck dinner, singing and decorating the church tree.

Scott was feeling really bad with a headache but still went. By Saturday morning, his head was hurting so bad he went to urgent care. He was stuck there for four hours for them to tell him he had the flu awhile back and now he has a cold! He wasn't really happy with that since he was in pain. So he slept all day trying to get rid of his headache until that night. We headed over to his office holiday party. It was nice. Eventful too. Someone at our table starting choking and needed the Heimlich maneuver. Scott was still in a lot of pain so he went to sleep when we got home. By time church was over on Sunday, he told me he had to go to the emergency room he was in so much pain. Now let me tell you a little bit about Scott. He doesn't take pain medicine or complain when he is sick so I knew he was feeling really bad and that made me nervous. Well he was stuck in the hospital for seven hours. Morphine and toradol did not give him any relief. His catscan showed a serious sinus infection so they put him on an IV of antibiotics. He came home late. He is still in a lot of pain so lets pray he gets to feeling better fast.

Last night we finally decorated our tree. Our house and lights have been decorated since Thanksgiving but I was nervous about a tree. Last year I had to move the coffee table in front of it because the boys were into it a lot. This year I knew they could move the coffee table so I kept putting it off. They had a lot of fun decorating and telling me where to put the high ornaments. William told me he put "a star on the tree's belly." Impossible to take group pictures anymore but we gave it a try. At-least I got an action shot.

Child Labor

If it were only this easy to clean the entire house :)

Nana and Pawpa Payne's visit

It was a short but nice visit with Nana and Pawpa. The boys are already asking to see them on the computer. We had a good time from the science center to hiking to playing. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

I love how Harrison is checking out Pawpa.

And William loved his desert at dinner. The boys were extremely good when we went out to dinner. I could have sworn they weren't mine. Of-course riding the train is always an Archer favorite.

And can you really believe a one year old talked a seventy-two year old to crawl through a tunnel with him?

And my favorite. Just a typical moment of reading books and William is resting his head on Pawpa's chest.

And a big event that happened while they were here: Every one's name on my dad's side is James Payne and it ends with this generation (unfortunately). My dad passed on the family Bible to me. It is over 157 years old. The first date we could find in there was 1852. Another interesting thing I found out that I didn't know before is that my Great Grandfather's name was James William Isaac Hardy Brown (whew-that was long). Brown was my grandmother's maiden name. Anyway, William had always been named after Scott (his middle name is William) and Jameson was after my dad (just a different version of James) never realizing that my great grandfather has the name William too. Anyway, it's pretty neat getting the family bible. I feel very blessed to have that tradition passed onto me. Thanks Dad.

Oh, Baby, It's cold outside

Well my mom and dad are in town from Missouri and I think they brought their weather. It has been cold and rainy. Last night it was colder here than there. It is starting to warm up again here and Missouri is getting a lot of snow so I guess that was a fluke. BUT the other day after coming out of the Science Center, I caught this...a double rainbow. You can barely see the second rainbow in this picture though. But it's still pretty. More pictures to follow from their visit...

SeaWorld San Diego

Yesterday we took a day trip to San Diego. It's a three hour drive from our house. We had a great time at Sea World. It was so much fun. We visited the shark encounter house. After seeing them swim around, you go downstairs and walk through a tunnel. The tunnel runs through the shark tank so there are sharks swimming above and around you. It is really neat. Then we saw the Sea Lion and Otter show. It was rather funny. They did all these skits based on reality television shows. It is amazing how brilliant these animals are. The boys really enjoyed this show. I attached a little clip of one of the skits.

Next we headed over to feed the dolphins and watch the Dolphin Experience. Afterward we had lunch outside. After Scott got up, about 20 birds flew down and attacked our table for the food. It startled me but Harrison thought it was part of the fun in the day. There were wings hitting him in the face and he was cracking up laughing and grabbing the birds. After I let him out of his highchair, he was chasing the birds showing me which ones hits him. It was rather cute. After lunch we walked around visiting the sea turtles, salt water aquariums and star fish island. Then off to see Shamu. This show, "Believe", was amazing. I gotta give it up to the trainers swimming and doing tricks with these killer whales. Flying through the air and all. The whales were funny splashing the audience and doing tricks. The boys were exhausted at this point but they loved it. After the show, we tried to fit a lot in before the park closed. We headed over to the Arctic to see the Polar Bears, Beluga Whales, Walrus and Penguins. Oh and we got to see some Clydesdale Horses. Then we played in Sesame Street land and rode rides. Then it was time for the nice drive home. Everyone slept well last night but now we are all getting sick.
I took so many pictures and couldn't decide which ones to post so I thought a slide show was in order :)

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