Driving to…

…then walking to…

…the Boone Children’s Gallery at LACMA.

Checking out the kid-art.

Building forts while mommy crafted away at a table…

…making this girly girli-ness.

Playing “Earthquake while watching TV in bed” with daddy.

Dax in a box.

Goofball.

Hungering and telling us it’s time for the afternoon nap.

Tugging at the ears. Yep, definitely tired.

I’m itching to go back to look at the art collections, but you can only push two boys past their scheduled naptimes so far. Three-hour chunks of time, that’s what we got to work with!

Ranging from the most mundane to significant.

1) I am currently recovering from a pancake and french toast addiction. This morning, I whipped these up while Kai watched an episode of Oswald and Dax chewed on toys. I love win-wins.

Our newest friends.

2) Two of my girlfriends just recently had their babies, and I got to visit with them and hold their darling little newborns. Strangely enough, I came down with a short-lived case of baby-itis which was quickly remedied by these frightening visuals:

Pregnant with #2.
Dax kindly left my womb a petite 8 lbs even.

And, (brace yourself)…

Ginormously pregnant with 9 lb, 11 ouncer Kai.
Holy puffy face, Batman!

Yeahhhhh, not wanting to do that again anytime soon.

3) I was recently hired on by a friend to build a Flash website for her event coordinating business. I’ll be spending some time relearning Flash, so blog posts may be fewer and farther in between the next couple weeks.

4) Dax is pulling himself up to standing. Photo proof to come soon. Oh, almost forgot to add that he slept an almost 6-hour stretch last night. Go Dax!

5) As of late, Kai’s been pressured by his little bro to improve on his communication skills. When Kai was younger, I was concerned about his language delay, so I’m impressed when he strings together sentences like “Nooo, Dax, that’s my toy!”

Protecting the Porsche, which ironically, isn’t even his.

So, that’s us at this moment in time. Since we have this weekend completely open for like, the first time in more than a month, we plan on heading down to L.A. tomorrow to just hang out, visit museums, eat, and hang out some more. Should be fun.

Happy weekending, everyone!

Kai has been going through a rough patch lately. It has something to do with being a normal toddler, and everything thing to do with his younger brother’s new-found mobility. Kai really, and I mean really, doesn’t appreciate Dax getting all up in his stuff.

My heart aches for my son, who is grappling with a torrent of emotions and competition over toys, books, and mommy’s attention. Which is why I was overjoyed to see this:

Like sunshine breaking through the clouds.

Being his regular, goofy, sand-showering self.

Looking at all the crap necessities I packed today, one would think I was going camping instead of a quick jog to the park.

Stuffed to the max

All you soon-to-be-moms-of-two, get ready:

- wipes
- diapers
- Kleenex
- burpcloth
- sun hat
- picnic blanket
- sunblock
- band-aids
- snacks for you
- snacks for the kids
- bottle
- formula
- toys
- camera

And yes. I said the F-word (formula). So much for being AP mama extraordinaire, but we started supplementing with formula a couple weeks ago, and believe you me, everyone is so much happier for it.

When I opened up my scriptures yesterday, the thing nearly fell apart in my hands. Kai had done his fair share of ripping, wrinkling, and re-arranging when he was much younger, but now Dax has decided to take on the profession of scripture editing. Chapters of Isaiah are now found in the New Testament, chunks of the book of Alma are permanently lost (eaten for spiritual nourishment, perhaps?), and the index is no longer an index. My set looks terrible…almost to the point of sacrilege, you think?

To Mommy,
The re-mixed version of the four standard works.
Love, Dax and Kai

Fact of the matter is, my children are hell-bent on destroying my home. This particular weekend was so bad, I vowed to move in with Kai when I’m an old, senile, cat-crazy widow so I can spend my days finger-painting the fridge with cream cheese, rubbing clean laundry on the cat, tearing apart the beds, and driving toy cars through my lunch.

Musubi. You know you want some.

I am very sad. Somehow, my email addy got into the wrong hands. 7,304 spam emails since this morning. Even as I delete items in my spam-box, more and more come in. It’s hitting my inbox, too. Oh computer-guy Ryan, HELP!

Strawberry Shortcakes

Toss halved berries with sugar and let sit until juices run.
Place inside these buttermilk biscuits cut in half (cut down sugar by 1/2 in the recipe and grate the butter).
Top with fresh whipped cream.

Mmmm. Gluttonous heaven.

I’m on a losing streak. I just can’t keep up with all my crazy hair. Methinks it’s time to chop it off, except, seeing this lovely mane makes me think twice.

Melting in the heat. And looking like a bug.

Girlfriends and I have always complained; Why is it that the male species are more often blessed with Audrey-Hepburn-esque eyelashes to die for? I mean, what a waste. Men totally don’t appreciate their glorious lashes the way a woman would, and are therefore so undeserving. Ugh, right? And since I sport stick-straight lashes common to the Asian peoples, I am always full of lash-envy towards the Kirk boys in my household.

But I learned today that boys, and only boys, would play rough enough (by themselves, even) to somehow kick up a butt-load of sand into their own faces. Okay! So males are born with pretty lashes as a protective measure. Got it. I spent nearly ten minutes gingerly sweeping sand and grit out of Kai’s eyes, but he went back for more. Twice.

Lickin’ away the sand.

Lastly, I wanted to share this little scene:

This was such a beautiful moment for me; the three of us peacefully sitting together on the blanket, doing nothing of particular consequence, just snacking and enjoying the shade and each other’s company. As a relatively new mother of two, I live for the moments when my children come together like this.

As Ryan and I were married, there was a promise that our home will be filled with love. As newlyweds, I’d think to myself, “Well, yeah, of course there’s love in our home!” but kind of taking that all-present love between us for granted and not quite grasping the depth of that promise.

But I’ve always pondered that promise over the years, the words inadvertently coming to mind at various stages of my life. And as our family has grown, so has my understanding of fierce, meaningful, true love. So folks, this is why we have children — or at least one of the many reasons why we have children: So we can sit together, snack together, simply exist together happily, on a picnic blanket under an endless and beautiful blue sky.

Now that Dax has settled into a regular nap schedule (and he’s the type that can sleep only in his bed), we’ve been homebodies more often. Dax gets his beauty-rest, while Kai goes hyperactive. And I…just get grumpy.

Kai’s version of an Ikea hack.

The newest member of the Pots and Pans Band.

But today, when we finally emerged, we were greeted with blue skies and sunny, beautiful, Ryan-must-be-totally-jealous weather.

Having more fun than this picture lets on. Really!

See?

Honing those crawling skills.

And sadly, today was the last day Kai got to play with his friend Jet, who lives a couple doors down. In six weeks he’ll be back, but I’m dubious as to how well a toddler grasps the concept of time, especially anything longer than 10 minutes. I have a tough road ahead — Kai typically asks for Jet five times a day, so I’m really hoping he’ll grow out of it in a couple weeks.

But in the meantime, Dax will have to do as Kai’s ready-playmate. They are becoming more interactive these days, so maaaaaybe they’ll become new best friends? Here’s to summer!

Thank goodness for the popularity of the Bermuda. The choices when I first got married back in the ‘03 where frightening.

That’s “orange juice” in Kai-speak, and he can’t get enough of it.

As Ryan prepared some OJ today, Kai looked into the pitcher and exclaimed, “Eggs!” Tee hee. Made me think of:

Eggy juice.

Just wanted to post a shout-out and big thanks! to Ryan’s parents for taking care of the boys this weekend, allowing Ryan and I to get out and celebrate our anniversary. We had so much fun, we forgot to take any cute, lovey-dovey couple pictures. But here’s me, feeling refreshed from spending some much-needed QT with the husband.

Happy

We celebrated modestly and without any frills, but it was still über-romantic. Friday night, we dined at Pascucci’s in Santa Barbara, eating way more food than we should have. After dessert, we did a little window shopping downtown and was ready to call the evening quits at 9:30. How old are we again?

The next morning, we breakfasted at Cajun Kitchen Cafe in downtown Ventura (three words: wheat. germ. pancakes. YUM!), again, doing what we do best; eating until we were beyond full. We then caught an early showing of Iron Man, which was great, especially considering that the last movie I saw in a theatre was Napoleon Dynamite. Or was it the Joseph Smith movie at the Oakland temple? See, it’s been too long.

But really, the best part was just hanging out with Ryan. Being able to have an adult conversation over dinner without the stress of fussy kids, wipes, spills, salt-shaker obsessions, and all the other logistics of eating out with small children. Still, I admit that I missed them, but you know, missing your children can be a good thing. As long as it’s in very small doses.

Five years! Can you believe it?!

Remember sleepless nights and toughing it through college? School with its books, projectors, annoying group members, and milkshakes from Julian’s…remember those?

What about when we returned home starved, sick, and jaded (but nicely tanned!) from our ridiculously poorly planned vacay to Cancun? Have you ever again been
so happy to see Los Angeles?

And I know this is incredibly random, but do you still wonder about those Mexicans that bought the busted Taurus from us? If they’re still driving it around Santa Barbara, even though 4th gear and reverse don’t work? Whether or not they’ve removed those lovely bovine seat covers?

Remember feeling so happy (but a little scared — okay, terrified) when he came along?…

…but how much more confident we were when he came along?

Certainly not a very glamorous five-year run, but hey, happiness isn’t defined by glamour. Our lives have been so incredibly full and we’ve grown to unbelievable heights. Thank you for being my partner in everything we’ve been through — you, mister funny smart-man that keeps me grounded and always makes me feel loved. Happy anniversary!

I’m nearly halfway through, but it’s been such a painful read most of the way. The writing is beautiful, yet the storyline so tragic. Not achingly tragic in the ‘Romeo and Juliet’ or ‘Moulin Rouge’ sense, but rather in the stomach-sickening, “Gee, our world can be really ugly” sense. I’m typically drawn to dark dramas, film noir. And while I think feeling unsettled is a good thing (makes you think), I feel, perhaps, too unsettled when I put this book down.

Maybe becoming a mother has something to do with my sudden, bleeding heart. When I read Kite Runner some time ago, I couldn’t even get past *that* pivotal scene which the entire novel hinged on.

So, at this point, I’m unsure if I should continue forward and finish the book or maybe move onto something a little less heavy. I do have this book which I’m a chapter into, but I can’t help getting riled up as I read it.

I know, I know, I’m being such a pansy with books right now. As if all I can tolerate are Kai’s Curious George stories. Seriously.

Thoughts?