Oahu Vacation Details

The Thanksgiving vacation was exactly what the family needed.  Each day consisted of waking up before the sun, having coffee in bed, breakfast on the hotel floor picnic style, beach time at the hotel's lagoon, lunch, naptime for everyone, pool time, dinner and then bed.  One of the days was pretty gray so we went up to the Dole plantation.  We explored the plantation by train, then a nice walk through a tropical hawaiian garden, and a delicious pineapple flavored frozen yogurt topped with a ton of fresh pineapple.  PJ's favorite word is apple, so he loved pointing out the pineapple, which he called apple.  PJ also loved eating the pineapple.  I have posted a few of my favorite pictures, but they are all in a picasa album.

Orange Painting

PJ made some fun orange art at school today.  This is one of the first that used a tool instead of his fingers.  Ry said it was his favorite to date, I think its because he loves everything orange.

Cuddle Puppy

First day back to work since our vacation and neither Ry or Chey want to get up.

As I got the camera out, Chey thought she would make a sweet situation sweeter by offering her belly for a rub.

Close up of the bums

Moved Out

We haven't mentioned it on the blog yet, but we are moving.  We have an offer on our dream home, but its a short sale.  We do not have the keys to the new house, since the short sale process is anything but short.  Since we have an offer on another house we had to sell ours.  So a few days after we had started the short sale process we found some fantastic realtors (a pair of super smart people) and put the Brier house on the market.  We did not expect the sale of the Brier home to be so quick, but after 4 days on the market it was sold.  We found some temporary housing while we wait through the short sale process.
So today was the official move out day.  We packed, patched walls, cleaned, and packed some more the entire day.  PJ stayed at a friends house, which made this mega work day so much easier.  I am going to miss this house.  Neither of us really expected to leave, especially not just 3 years after we bought it.  The house we are hoping to move into is perfect and the circumstances were too perfectly aligned that we think the move is right, even if unexpected.  We will miss all the great upgrades we made to the house to make the house our home.  We will miss the patio we were working on with my parents the same weekend we found out that we were becoming a family of 3.  I am going to miss PJ's first room.  We spent a lot of time in their feeding, book reading, naming the items on his alphabet wall, singing, diaper changing, soothing PJ through his first sickness and the list goes on.  We will also miss the perfect shed Poppy, Uncle Troy and Ry built right after PJ was born.  All three of them designed and built the shed, with final completion taking less than a week.  I can't I remember much of that time, but I know it turned out awesome!

The front of the Brier house.  

The living room, which went through the biggest transformation.  New fireplaces, new windows, new flooring, new paint color and removal of some odd painted picture frames on the long walls.  

This patio space used to be about a 2 foot wide dirt/wood chipped path.  We pushed back the dirt, put in the retaining wall, which resulted in so much more usable backyard space.

This corner of the yard used to be one big weed covered unusable dirt hill.

The perfect shed, Hammell-Younkin designed to match the house.

PJ's Room

Lizard

ON our trip we saw lots of these cool green, red and blue lizards on the island.  When PJ saw them, his response was always "WHOA!"

Big Shoes

Blurry picture, but worth sharing.  PJ is obsessed with shoes lately.  He tries to get his own on, but they are a little too small to maneuver around his foot alone. PJ has recently discovered that its fun to put Momma's shoes on, if not better than his own.  He even managed to put walk across the room while wearing the shoes, hence the blurriness.

Beach Dudes

Napping in Paradise

We went for a nice afternoon walk in the setting sun, and PJ took the opportunity to get some shut eye. Perfection!

Hangin' at the Beach

We are having a great time in the sun!

Puppets

PJ woke up before the sun so we played with some of G-Ma's homemade felt puppets.  PJ is starting to understand how they go on, and tries really hard to do it himself.  Once the puppet is on his hands he looks at it and says "hi" in the cutest little voice.

On Our Way to Oahu!

We are headed to Oahu for our first and only vacation as a family of 3.  We are very excited for some down time in the sun!  PJ was super excited about seeing the airplanes and then being on an airplane.

Pointing out the airplanes out the window.

Enjoying the free snacks in the Delta Lounge.

PJ was totally in love with all the different vehicles he could see out the window.

Daddy couldn't even get PJ to look at the camera, just glued to the window.

Daycare Artwork

PJ has been very crafty at school lately. His latest work is more blob like than little dots. His teacher says that he really gets into his work. Which I can attest to via bath time and laundry!

Fall Feast

Daycare is hosting a Fall Feast on Friday. The kiddos made their own invitations with a turkey handprint. Can't wait to hang with my little man on Friday at lunch time!

18 Months

Today PJ is exactly 18 months.  2 years ago I was in New Zealand jumpseating with Air New Zealand,just barely into my second trimester of pregnancy.  How times have changed.  Today I rushed home from hosting Air New Zealand in the engineering cab.  Funniest part for me was that it was the same pilot today as I had met two years ago.  Still super supportive of being a family person and a career woman.  I am so grateful to be working in my position where I can do both.  In the past 18 months I have learned a lot about being a working momma, and some days are definitely easier than other days, but could not be happier.  At the end of a long day I get to go to daycare and pick up my son who 9 times out of 10 is thrilled to see me. PJ lights up and comes running towards me with so much enthusiasm I have teared up a time or two.  The 1 time out of 10 that I do not get my little boy running toward sme is when he is into snacktime or playtime outside on the slide.  At first I was offended and definitely embarassed as PJ screamed the whole way to the car, "NOOOOOOOOOOO".  But I truly am happy to know he has interests already; food and playtime that he finds enjoyable to him. 
As I reflect on the last 18 months, the main emotions I feel are joy, excitement, and a little fear.  Joy that we have made it this far, and we are still smiling; ready to welcome a second baby to our family.  Excitement for what is to come, since its been so much fun and challenging so far.  A little fear that I am not enjoying enough of the now. 
So to enjoy the now let me tell you what has been happening with PJ this month...
My all time favorite new happening is that PJ is sharing his kisses beyond Cheyenne.  Thats right Momma and Daddy get kisses too! PJ kisses on our request and most recently on his own he offers them up.  He even gets frusturated with you and denies them, which I actually love just as much.  He is finding his voice.  Some days his voice hurts my feelings, since hearing "No. No. No." and "Mine. Mine. Mine" over and over again for long bouts of time is trying, but thats part of being a mom, right? 
Speaking of finding his voice, PJ is saying a lot more words, some we know and some we can't yet identify. Lucky for us PJ repeats enough times that we will get the unidentifiable words eventually.  As for the words we do recognize, the favorite for Ry is Dada.  yep he is finally calling Ry, Dada.  G-ma and Poppy also have names, no longer do they have to share Momma.  PJ calles G-Ma, Eeeeee and Poppy, Bubba.  I am not sure where Bubba came from since PJ determined Bubba while we were in Seattle and not with Poppy.  Poppy does call him Bubba a lot, but do you think he actually remembers that?  Either way its pretty cute whenever he is frusturated with me because he doesn't understand or when we are in the car, he calls to be over and over again.  "Eeeeeeeeee, Gruck (Truck), and Bubba, Gractor."  To which I respond, "yep G-ma loves you and drives a tractor, Poppy loves you and drives a tractor." Then we talk about all his family that loves him, Satanley, Aunt Sammi, Uncle Troy, Ome, Granpa Dave, etc. 
This month PJ loves his animal sounds.  He also loves pointing to things in books and around him and identifying them with his word.  He likes to tell me everything is hot, even when its not hot, but may at one time have been hot or he thinks could be hot.  Until recently this was adorable, its starting to take a little more patience from me.  Not only is he telling me things are hot even when they are not, he is starting to test them. Which is good that he is starting to hear me say nope, the door is not hot.  But he is also starting to test me when I say something is actually hot.  The meaning of the word has been lost a bit.
Funny boy.  I love having a toddler.  Next week we are going to Hawaii on our first family vacation.  I can't wait for him to swim and play in the sand.  There will be lots of good stories to share!

Green Dye

Today PJ played with water and flour dyed green at daycare.  The teacher put in a bit too much green dye, making PJ and the other kids super green even hours later.  He soaked in the tub tonight for longer than usaul but still has a bit of an alien glow to him. 

Day with X

Since PJ has been having such weird on and off healthy days; I thought a break from daycare was in order.  A little more one on one attention and the chance to sleep more if needed.  I had an important meeting in the morning so my girlfriend watched PJ with her son, X, the same age as PJ.  They play super well together and things were a lot more mellow than if PJ had been at daycare.  After my meeting I went back to my friends house to pick up PJ.  I had to wait until he woke up from his nap, but it was a 3 hour nap, so that meant I got to hang with my girlfriend and get some more work done.  Exactly what we both needed!

PJ playing with X's toy.  Probably trying to call G-ma.

Doctor Office

Today PJ had another fever with a lot of whining and pathetic clinging to me. It was a sad sight to see, and a bit frusturating since there is no diagnosis, even after a visit to see the doctor. We will keep our chins up, give PJ lots of hugs, some tylenol and a little prayer that whatever ails him passes soon!

PJ and I at the Doctor's office.  Yes I am smiling, gotta keep a positive attitude. 



Natashas' Boots

Today we went to church with Jacob and Natash.  They go to the same church as us, but a different campus.  We will be at the same campus once we move houses, so PJ and I thought we would check it out today.  Not much is different from where we go, just a smaller auditorium and less people, same great message.   

After church PJ and I went over to Jacob and Natash's place for some delicious lunch and to play before PJ's nap.  After lunch PJ found these awesome boots and insisted on putting them on.  Quite entertaining for all of us, and super cute to boot!  (yes pun intended, I love puns!)

School Pictures

Got PJ's daycare photos today.  No actual smile, but still so dang cute.  Which one do you like most?