Working on the Christmas cards

For the 1st time in 3 1/2 years, I had to look (really hard) for a photographer that my boys (Austin:) could work with. Not easy to do when Kim has been capturing all of our "moments" for so long. (miss you Kim, can you tell)? But... I think we got some that will work. Although none of these pictures made the cut for the annual Wood Christmas card--this is just a preview of what happened during our shoot. Let's just say, we had to bribe Austin a little to get that cute little smile going. Once he turned it on.. he realized how much fun he was having. Kain--our happy little baby, was more interested in the wet sand..waves crashing and whatever his brother was doing to get all the attention. (this is where we needed your fun personality and big hair) blowing in the wind Kim. I know this would have gotten his attention. All in all, we got what we needed for our Christmas cards.. soon they will be in the mail and hopefully arrive to all of you by the time we get back "home"! enjoy.

At the Lifeguard tower on the corner of Hermosa/Longfellow. (Manhattan Beach)
Trying to get Kain's attention today was difficult. The Photographer was at a loss for words, but Austin thought it was funny that it wasn't him that was being bothered to smile so much. (HA HA, Austin!)
This is pretty cute--Austin loves his brother, can you tell?
Of coarse Austin is having fun.. sand, sun and water. Who wouldn't love to play in this giant sandbox?
The one and only of just Eric and I. Austin was afraid we were going to run into the water..... no Austin, we didn't run away! :) It was a beautiful sunny, windy, 72 degree day. Kinda crazy to be wearing a strapless dress at the end of November!

Going to get the tree

Picking out the tree in Hermosa Beach. Eric checking things out...

Yeah, this is exciting, Austin is hiding in my shoulder-can you see him?
The boys loved to be in the crowd of Christmas trees.We told Austin that he could pick out our tree, boy was that a hard decision for him. He wanted all of them. He was SO excited!
We found a tree that we could all agree on. It's 7 feet tall! It's full and smells great too!
Look at the lot we chose our tree from.. a variety of Christmas trees, along with Palm trees. It was really cool!
Look how happy everyone is we found our tree! It only took us about 10 minutes and then they tied it to the top of our car! Off we went.

The Christmas Prep

Today was such a fun day. The day after Thanksgiving, when a majority of people are out shopping, we were getting ready for Christmas. Eric was on top of our roof by 9am, along with our neighbor, Bob. They put up the lights all around the house, Eric even did the fence and our balcony. It looks "Awesome" according to Austin. Us too, we love to see all the lights at night! I will have to post another picture of the final look later!

While Eric and Austin were doing the outside, Kain and I took out a few things to decorate on the inside, including the famous "Snow Globe". Although the boys might not see snow this year, they sure loved to play with this Globe.

This globe can be used as entertainment for hours.The boys could not take their eyes off of it.
Here's Bob. He's giving Eric a little advice. Austin as you can see is jumping for joy. He's so excited to see his dad up on the roof. It's just killing him that he can't be up there too!
Looking good Eric. (please don't fall.. please don't fall....)
The view from the street of our two houses. Can you see Bob & Eric in there?
Eric was being very careful up on that roof! It was so fun to watch from down below.
Just another beautiful day in California! Sunny and 70 today. (I think that's why I got so lucky about getting lights put on the house this year!) Funny it never happened to our house on Adamsway!

Thanksgiving Day!

Here we are.... just a few last minute preps.

Johan joined us (again) this year and Austin and Kain are so excited to see him! Austin loves to check out Johan's new games on his I-Phone. (probably all from Eric's Company)~Even Kain wants to get in on what's so exciting over here...

Just having a little fun before bedtime! (The night before Thanksgiving)
Playing a little Star-Wars. Johan makes the "noise" of Austin's favorite Star Wars character. It was too funny, but Austin liked it!
The little boys are in bed and the big guys playing games on their Macs...Here I am cooking for Thanksgiving, the night before.
It's was about 9pm last night and Peyten stayed up so she wouldn't miss anything.. and I mean anything that dropped on the floor. Unfortunately, I did not drop a thing! Poor Peyten, stayed up so late to get a little taste.
Making the Pumpkin Cheesecake.. Yum!
Early morning here in the Wood household. Looking forward to a fun filled day! Waiting for the Macy's parade to start... we still have 2 hours to go before it's on....
As we get started today-we plan on going for a bike ride (Austin)/walk along the Hermosa Pier. Eric's mission: Looking for a coffee shop that is open today-Hopefully we find one. It's going to be Sunny and 78 degrees today. We have a lot to be Thankful for here in the Wood household. Kain is here with us this year which is blessed in itself! We have a lot on the menu for just us, but we plan on having Turkey, Ham (Thanks to Honey Baked Ham), Mashed potatoes, Green beans, cranberries, rolls, stuffing, hope I'm not missing anything off the menu! Oh and my pumpkin cheesecake!

Although we are not near our family or friends today, you are our still in our thoughts!! We are Thankful for all of you! Happy Turkey Day!

look who's 9 months old today!

It's Kain! Today, 11-23-09 Kain is 9 months old. Man, how time flies. So far, Kain has a very contagious smile, he can crawl up the entire staircase, pull himself up on his own, walk 1/2 way around the coffee table, wrestle with his brother, hold his own bottle, has 4 teeth, two on top, two on the bottom, say "Dada" and a little bit of "Mama", eat his fruit and veggies, pick up his own snacks and feed himself , sit in the bath all by himself (with Austin) and to believe it's all in a day's work.

What a "big" little guy we have on our hands, but boy we are all enjoying him in our lives. I think Austin is even warming up to him a little bit more by the day. If Kain is not with me, Austin misses him. If Kain falls asleep in the car, Austin wants him to be awake so he can laugh at his big brother. (of coarse Austin doesn't want anyone to be asleep!)

Austin loves to take Kain on wagon rides and even let's him play in his room, if Kain is lucky, Austin will let him play with one, yes ONE Hot wheel car. Lucky little brother!

By the end of the day--everyone goes to bed, happy, sleep and sound!

Early in the morning.....

So every morning Kain now stands up in his crib and pats his hands loudly on the side (as we hear him on the monitor), we can't get to him fast enough before Austin runs in to see what he's doing. What a great big brother, right? Well, it's 5am, not sure if Kain is ready to get up yet, but really just wants his morning bottle. Austin on the other hand is ready to start his day... and wants everyone up with him.

Although Kain is not in his crib here.. (It's way to early for me to grab the video camera at 5am) this is what he does. (we think, we don't see it, but hear it!) then we hear Austin jump down off his top bunk to run in to see what's going on. (Austin never wants to miss out on a fun opportunity!)

The Boys: Austin on his bike, Kain dancing!

As we are waiting for dad to get home, the boys thought they would entertain mom, yet again. Never a dull moment!

Austin can't seem to get enough of riding his bike!I wonder what the neighbors think????

Remember Footie's?

The "footie" Pj's.

So we needed to get new pj's.. since it's been a little chilly at night. Kain was all set with his pair then Austin found his. I'm not kidding, it was so funny that he pulled these "Feet Pj's" off the rack. So I decided, Why not, let him get the "footie's" I guess they use to be my favorite Pj's too when I was a kid. Needless to say, they are so cute!!

Beautiful November Day

Dad and Austin on the way down to Manhattan Pier. We had "free Parking" today at the Manhattan Beach Library. Yeah!Look at this view. Not a cloud in the sky today.
There were so many surfers out today. Austin loved standing on the pier watching them. When we asked him if he would like to do that, he replied with, "No, I'm fine"
So fitting for our Austin. "NO JUMPING"
The great white shark at the Pier Aquarium. It was just a small Aquarium at the end of Manhattan Beach. They had about 6 tanks filled with fish.
Wow, Check out those fish behind the boys.Kain's not scared. He's loving this!
Austin's new trick, holding his brother. See the starfish behind them? It was a HUGE tank.
We could even touch the fish, but only with one finger.
Kain is enjoying watching the surfers as well. The surfers knew they had an audience, so of coarse they were all showing off for the crowd. Kain probably would have jumped right in if we let him.

Catching a wave at Manhattan Beach. There were a ton of surfers out today.

This board tells the "high" and "low" tides of the day. Looks like the waves were at the highest around 7:24am. 6.6 in. Air temp at this time was 60 degrees. Perfect for a true surfer! (chilly for us)

Austin and I just chilling out on the ol' Beach chair
Kain & Austin at the "Surf Shack" Manhattan Beach
Great way to end just another great day at the beach!