Playing Catchup

The month of November flew by... thanks to Mr. Popular, TJ Martin.  He was invited to several birthday parties for his friends at school.  Mix that with our normal schedule of basketball, gymnastics and swimming, and a dash of Thanksgiving and the unveiling of the new zoo park, and it was a BUSY month!

First up, was Mila's third birthday party at "Pump it Up!"  You can't go wrong with a dozen preschoolers in a building full of jumpy houses.  The next weekend, it was Li'l Tommy's first birthday party on the 46th floor of the Hilton Union Square.  We all enjoyed great views, great food, and great music.  TJ was a little dance machine... he didn't want the party to end.  The next day, it was a gymnastics party for Aria.  Again, the kiddos had a blast, and TJ even got a Batman mask painted on his face! 

 

 

TJ's basketball team, the Hoopster Tots, had a special night at one of USF's Men's Basketball games.  The kiddos got a chance to hang out during warmup, then watch the game and get special autographed posters.  TJ and Baby Frankie had so much fun!  It ended up being mustache night at the game, and we were all part of setting the world record for the most people wearing a fake mustache at once!  Of course, it made for some great family pictures.

It's a San Francisco tradition to light the Embarcadero Center buildings every year, and this year, we decided to head down to the holiday ice rink and watch the ceremony.  There was a special Disney on Ice performance planned, so TJ was excited to see that.  He was so excited... he fell asleep before it even started!!!  Baby Frankie stayed awake for the lighting the fireworks that followed, even though big brother was passed out in the stroller!

Since Mommy had to work on Thanksgiving, and our plans to host some family at our house fell, through, we were lucky enough to have Thanksgiving with Michelle and her family.  Baby Frankie had a wonderful first Thanksgiving.  He ate some turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, and the little munchkin loved it all!  (Of course.)  TJ had a great time playing with Gi, and we all enjoyed eating and visiting with our fellow Coloradans!  We are very thankful to have such good friends to share special times with here in the Bay Area.

That weekend, TJ picked out our Christmas tree.  Once again, he chose a small one because he was worried the tree wouldn't fit in our house.  The boys helped decorate the tree, and it's the perfect tree for Frankie first Christmas!

During the holiday weekend, the San Francisco Zoo finally opened its renovated park.  TJ has been waiting a year to play on the playground, and it was worth it!  From a jungle, to the Antarctic, this playground has everything!  While we were walking into the zoo, we ran into Natayla, Sasha, Julia and Denis, so we had a great time playing and visiting with them. 

This past weekend was full of Holiday fun.  TJ & Mommy had a date night at the movies and watched "Frozen."  It was such a cute movie, and we enjoyed some much-needed time together.  Saturday night, the entire family took a cable car holiday lights tour through the city.  We were a little worried Baby Frankie would make it through since the tour started after his bedtime, but that little monster wouldn't let a good time pass him by.  He stayed awake for the entire 80 minute tour, and we all loved seeing all the holiday lights in the city.  We even make a special stop at the Fairmont Hotel and saw the world's largest Gingerbread House! 

TJ is counting down the days to Grandma & Grandpa's house.  We can't wait for Friday to get here so we can spend Christmas in Colorado!

Oh! What a Month!

It's been such a busy past 30 days... We've crammed six months worth of fun into one!  It started with a trip to Colorado in early October.  Mommy braved a flight alone with the two boys, and luckily, it was a smooth trip both going and coming.  We had a great time with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt G full of playtime, birthday celebrations and a trip to the pumpkin patch.  After spending a few days in the mountains, it was time to head to the city and see all of our Parker friends.  TJ was so happy to be reunited with Jack, and we even got to have a sleepover at Asher's house.  TJ was such an awesome boy on the plane, they let him go in the cockpit on our way out.

The weekend after we returned from Colorado, we went to Half Moon Bay's Lemos Farms to ride the train and play in the bounce house.  It was a beautiful day, but the boys were a bit worn out, so we didn't stay too long.

We rounded out the end of the month with a birthday party, Disney on Ice and two Halloween parties.  The boys had a great time at the show, and they both partied it up at gymnastics and TJ's school.  The kids sang songs for their parents before eating pizza and jumping in the bounce house.  It was so fun!

The Monday before Halloween, we stopped by a local pumpkin patch to get our family pumpkins.  Of course, there was a bounce house, and of course, TJ had a blast in it!

Baby Frankie had a wonderful first Halloween.  We all went trick-or-treating with the neighbors to a nearby neighborhood where all the houses are decorated and the homeowners are dressed up.  Some were a little scary, but not for TJ -- he loved every minute of it!

The boys have been busy between gymnastics, basketball and now swimming lessons!  TJ & Frankie take a class together as more of a "get used to water" class.  Both boys are loving it, and they're nice and tired when we get done! :)

In the past month, Baby Frankie has gotten his first tooth, mastered sitting up without support and started army crawling all over the house!  He's already in his 12 month clothes... so we're hoping we can all keep up with his growth!

TJ is having a great time at gymnastics still.  This past week, he started learning how to do cartwheels.  He's also getting good at dribbling and passing at basketball.  This weekend, TJ's basketball "team" gets to do their drills at halftime at USF's game.  He's so excited.  Of course, pictures will follow!

Movers, Shakers, Mischief-makers

That's what we have in our household these days, now the Frankie is rolling all over the place! He's six months old already, and he's taking over the house and getting into anything and everything. Just last week, TJ helped wrap his cousin Mary's birthday present. He very gently put the bow on it, and I stuck it in the box to be mailed. In one swift move, Frankie rolled over, reached his arm into the box and ripped the bow right off! Luckily, TJ's been pretty good about the change, and he keeps all his small toys off the floor - mainly because he doesn't like Frankie's slobber, but whatever works!

The two are playing together more, much to everyone's delight. TJ loves it now that Frankie interacts with him, and he's actually really good about sharing with his baby brother, which is great since Frankie wants everything TJ has. (This is just the beginning.) Frankie's pretty much always has a smile on his face, and he talks and talks and talks. We know we're in for it, but we just love how expressive he is. He's extra-chatty when he's talking with TJ, so that's really fun.

At his six-month appointment a few weeks ago, he weighed in at 17.5 lbs! Our little chunker is trying to get used to eating baby food, but he's a lot pickier than we expected. He has taken a liking to carrots, but forget plain rice cereal or oatmeal! Mommy is trying to make his baby food again, and she just whipped up a batch of peas, so hopefully those go on the "like" list.

Mommy's taking Frankie to storytime on Thursday afternoons, and he absolutely loves it. He just sits there with a giant gummy grin on his face during the stories and songs... it's so fun to see! TJ's doing great as well. In addition to gymnastics, he now goes to basketball practice on Monday afternoons. (That means, no naps for Mommy on Mondays and Thursdays, but I would trade sleep for time with the boys!) He really loves playing, and the coaches are awesome -- teaching him basketball skills through fun games and drills. He's actually a little natural... he's picking up dribbling, and the first time he had to throw an overhead bouncepass, it was perfect! We just love watching him play, and it's so fun to share my love of the sport with him.

TJ's skills at gymnastics are improving as well. He can do the balance beam by himself, and he's becoming a pro on the bars -- he can do a front-support and straddle on his own, and he's working on flipping over the bar now. It's crazy! Aside from playing with the cubby-full of cars and super heroes,

TJ loves to draw. Aunt G bought him a desk/easel for his birthday, and he uses it almost daily. He draws pictures of him and Frankie as well as BoBos the cat and pretty much everything his mind cooks up. He drew Pa a picture of him for his birthday, and he even drew a kidney stone on it. Silly boy. He's also really good at writing his letters... not just his name, but everyone's names!  He even draws on himself... this one, he wrote his name, upside down (looking down onto his belly), and while we told him he shouldn't write on himself... it was pretty impressive!

TJ loves to sing songs... songs from preschool and songs he makes up in his head (which are really quite good.) Both boys are such a joy to be around, and while it's so fun watching them grow and become who they are, it's really sad to watch how fast the time goes by.