Rex and Cameleon

As I mentioned, Shea is convinced that I'm having twins. Tonight at dinner he named them. His baby brother will be Rex (and in case you're wondering that's the shortened version of Tyrannosaurus Rex) and his baby sister will be Cameleon (yeah, like the lizard.) He's been talking to my belly and calling them by "name" all night. But don't worry, I won't let him get his hopes up. Before she was born, he named Clare Shamu and we didn't let that stick, so there's really no chance for Rex and Cameleon. :-) There's really no chance, for that matter that it's twins either, right?!!!

!!!

The first so I was sure and the second so Chris was sure. Now we're all sure! I'm terrible at keeping my pregnancy's quiet. I want everyone to know our good news when we do. So now you know! We're a little unsure of how to be the parents of three! Being outnumbered and having only two arms and hands for holding, two legs for lap reading etc. all scares me! But I guess you just figure it out. We're due in January and couldn't be happier! When we told Shea he just kept saying over and over that he wanted it to be twins. Hope not!! And now Clare's obsessed with putting things (today it was a phone and a battery) down her shirt and saying it's her baby. Good times!

Fire fighter birthday

Shea thinks he wants to be a fire fighter when he grows up. And he REALLY wanted a fire fighter birthday party this year. So we took some friends to the fire station for his party. It was very fun! The kids got lots of good fire safety info, they got to see all the equipment, climb on the truck and even shoot the hose!! What's not to love??!! Thanks LAFD!
(Although it was a close call at the beginning, our tour started by the engine getting a call, and us watching them leave! Luckily it was a quick call and we were able to wait until they got back to have or tour - but I think the kids were a little confused to get there and then wave goodbye to them! :-)
Waving goodbye!

Wow these guys are cool!
And man, they have cool equipment!
Shooting the hose. A fan favorite!
Teaching them how to crawl below the smoke. (This was very cute, he had them crawling all around the place. )

Coming down the firefighter pole! There were lots of requests to try this!!
Shea and firefighter Jun. How cute are they?
Then presents and Fire Truck cake. Not my finest cake ever, I have to say. I decided not to do fondant, which is easier, but sloppier looking. Oh, and I'm pretty sure there's not a truck out there that leans like that in the front. :-) Oh well, it tasted good and the kids sure didn't care if it was leaning.


I did however, think my fire cupcakes turned out super cool.
Thanks friends!!

Happy Birthday Shea!

He had a great birthday!
On Thursday morning he woke up and got to open his presents from us and Clarey. Here he is waiting with his eyes closed. What did he get?
A real big boy bike! Finally! He's SO happy.

Mom got to go to school to celebrate with him. We had fireman cupcakes for the whole class
they gave him 5 hip, hip, hoorays, sang to him and he got to wear the birthday crown!!


Then lunch at McDo - his "perfect lunch" (his words)
and Disneyland with our best friends.
(In the car on the way down)
Then PF Chang for his birthday dinner. His favorite restaurant!!! Can you tell he's happy? :-)
And finally home, where awesome Sean and Rachel met us to give him his birthday gift. Thanks again Sean, for introducing him to comic books! What? Cartoons in book form ??? Even better!!!! (I definitely think a life long love has begun!)
Finally bed time! I had been telling him ALL day long, happy birthday. He asked me sometime at Disneyland how many times I was going to tell him happy birthday. I told him a lot! Geez, it only comes once a year and I wanted to make sure it was special! So as I tucked him in bed, he said, and mom don't worry, I had a happy birthday! :-)
Whew!

New favorite

Yogurt Parfaits.
My kids are asking for them every day now. Breakfast, snack, lunch it doesn't matter. I started making Laura's homemade granola. DELISH! And so so so so easy. So we do layers of vanilla yogurt, homemade granola and whatever fresh or frozen fruit I happen to have. We love them!! You should definitely make some too!


Homemade Granola
4 C Old Fashion Oats
1/2 C Wheat Germ
1/4 of a bag of Coconut (around 3/4 cup)
6 T Brown sugar (if you're watching your sugar intake, you can cut this down to 3 T)
OPTIONAL: you can add any kind of nut, cinnamon, raisins, sunflower seeds, banana chips, anything!

BOIL TOGETHER:
6 T Oil (you could cut this down to 4 and it still works)
4 T Water
1/2 Cup Syrup (you can use any kind you would like - corn, maple etc.)

Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and mix together until it is all wet. Then get your hands in there to clump it up. Lay out granola onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 275 for 20-30 min. You want the edges to be golden brown. NOTE: when you take it out it will still seem soft. It hardens as it cools.

ENJOY!

DVR rules!

Except when there's a glitch and it records 27 straight hours of E!

Seriously?!!