Halloween Cuties

Knee High by the 4th of July?

This was the 3rd year in a row that we have enjoyed our town's 4th of July parade! I was thinking about how much the kids have changed and grown over the last few years and wanted to compare pictures. The change is obviously more apparent in Asher, who unbelievably will be three this month!

- 2009 -




- 2008 -

- 2007 -

I am blessed.

My two cuties on Mother's Day.

Easter 2009

Finally posting some pictures from Easter! Since we attend a large church, Easter was a huge production. We had to park remotely and be transported by shuttle to the service, which was fun for the boys. We went to the early service, so had plenty of time afterwards to come home and barbeque (Easter a la California!).

Tobiah and Asher were excited to receive their Easter "buckets"

Wonderful to have my parents here for Easter!

Debbie and her best friend, Jen! Thanks for making the drive from San Diego! We love you!

Our friends Cammie and Robert, who we almost always go out to lunch with after church also joined us. Don't ask me why I didn't get a picture of them! They are awesome friends!

Egg hunt

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In this picture Toby is holding a "leprechaun trap" that he made at preschool. Following is a cute story of his attempt to catch a leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day:

Since St. Patrick's Day was on Tuesday, a day Toby doesn't go to preschool, his teacher sent his trap home with us on Monday with a small baggy of Lucky Charms to use as bait. As soon as we returned home Monday, Toby set up his trap and placed the bait in it. Then he went off to play. I was unloading groceries and getting the boys some lunch. What was Asher doing? Curious about Toby's craft, he was checking out the trap, and eating the irresistible little marshmallow charms! When I saw what Asher was doing, I didn't want to draw Toby's attention, so I quickly whisked him away. I made a mental note to replace the cereal from our own box of Lucky Charms before Toby noticed and had a fit that Asher had eaten the precious bait.

Well...I forgot to replace the cereal.

That afternoon we were doing an activity at the table when Toby decided to check on his trap. I cringed, realizing what I had forgotten to do. Toby's eyes got big, and his face got extremely excited (instead of upset) when he burst out, "Mom, the leprechaun already came to my trap and it ate all the marshmallows!! " I totally went with the flow, showing complete surprise and wonder that a leprechaun would be sneaky enough to come eat the marshmallow charms and leave the rest of the cereal behind. Toby's reaction couldn't of been better and he couldn't wait to tell his dad all about it!!

We placed more Lucky Charms in the trap.

Toby was full of nervous excitement on St. Patrick's Day when he checked the trap. Unfortunately he didn't catch a leprechaun, but all the cereal was GONE and in it's place were GOLD chocolate coins (also sent by the preschool teacher for me to sneak in to the trap)!! That morning I let the boys have dessert at breakfast. :)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Toby, Asher, my crazy sister Debbie, and me!

Sierra Madre Rose Parade Float

The City of Sierra Madre puts together a float for the Rose Parade every year. The warehouse where they build it is just down the street from us, so it is neat to walk down and see the work in progress. This year the theme for the float was "Bollywood Dreams" and represented an Indian bridal procession. We were there when they drove the float out of the warehouse for the first time on Wednesday morning for the judging! The judges arrived and white vans (looking very official) and the float was put in to full effect for them - music, fountains, dancers, etc. It was beautiful! It was fun for the kids to see the Sierra Madre float again this morning when we watched the parade on television.

Christmas 2008 - Packed with SNOW and FUN!!

Can't you just see all the excitement of Christmas in their eyes?

We had a fun adventure driving (two days each way!) to Camas, Washington to spend Christmas with Tim's parents, grandma, and aunt and uncle. What made it extra special was all the snow!!

To see more pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/tsbundy or click for direct link on the left. :)

Christmas Fun?

It can be tricky trying to get Christmas shopping done with kids in tow. I seem to be a glutton for punishment because I took both boys with me to Target this morning. Granted, it is a store where they usually do okay, but Toby has a cold and needed a tissue every few minutes, and Asher was especially impatient and fussy. I made the mistake of putting a bag of gummy bears for a certain someone in my cart. The boys immediately coveted them. Asher wanted to hold them and them and kept asking, "Mommy, this mine?" Even though I told him several times, "No, they are for Debbie ," he kept begging for them. So, feeling badly that I drug them along on my shopping expedition, I thought I could open the bag and let them have a few as a treat for having to be at the store with mom. Little that I know that Asher would continue to ask for "more please!!" and that to save my sanity and try to plow through everything on my list the boys would end of eating almost the entire bag! Toby kept guiltily asking if I was going to buy another bag for Debbie's stocking, but that didn't stop him from enjoying them. Between my sneezing five-year-old (I kept stashing away used tissues in the diaper bag because I had no where else to put them - he must of gone through at least 10! Then I would bring out the Purell - we went through a lot of that too!) and my two-year-old gorging on gummy bears, I was feeling a bit self-conscious and kept telling myself that at least I would never see any of these people again anyway. In the middle of all this, Toby managed to knock quite a few clothes off of hangers, among other things, and was up to his usual mischievous antics. It was just one of those shopping trips...but we survived! And on the way home we sang silly songs about our shopping trip starring Asher as a fussy bear and Toby as a tiger with a runny nose and it helped lighten the mood. :)

After Thanksgiving Christmas Ornaments

After enjoying a relaxing and blessed Thanksgiving, it was time to decorate for Christmas! We have a small decorative Christmas tree that works perfectly for putting up in the playroom so the boys have their own tree to decorate, redecorate, and decorate again. They have such a good time with it! One of my favorite things about their little disheveled tree is that Toby and Asher leave "mommy's tree" in the living room alone because they know they can play all they want with theirs. The small tree was already loaded with ornaments, but Toby wanted more! We often do crafts and activities at the table in the afternoons, so I went to familyfun.com (great magazine and website!) to find an idea for an easy homemade Christmas ornament.

I chose "Pie Plate Ornaments". The idea behind them is to use the leftover pie tins from Thanksgiving to made pretty ornaments. I happened to have a tin roasting pan, so I used the flat lid. The first step was to trace a cookie cutter on to the tin and cut out the shape (I did that part). Then we embellished them with a chopstick - swirls and such. We used buttons and regular craft glue to decorate them, since that is what I had on hand. The finishing touch was a hole-punch at the top and ribbon threaded through as a hanger. They turned out so beautifully that we will be sending some along to the grandmas!

Asher did well decorating at least one star ornament, then he proceeded to put glue all over one arm and adhere buttons to himself! I didn't think to get a picture. :)

Asher Saying Happy Thanksgiving

Thankful for...

Boys who help in the kitchen!

Debbie


Lindsey, Debbie's roommate

Family near and far.

These two!

Red and Yellow and Orange and Brown...

Enjoy a video clip of Toby (front row in yellow) singing with his classmates during their preschool Thanksgiving program. It was extra special for us because last year he developed a terrible fear of the stage and church sanctuary at the preschool. He had a really hard time during practices and bravely survived the program. So this year it was fun to have him in the front row, singing and enjoying himself!! We had not talked about his fears last year because I didn't want to put any ideas in his head but this morning he brought it up. I asked him why he was afraid last year and not this year and he chalked it up to the fact that he is now 5, and that was long, long ago when he was only 4. Kids are unpredictable!

A Wet Fourth of July!

Toby has been looking forward to our local 4th of July parade since last year, and he wasn't disappointed! Asher also had a good time and enjoyed waving at the people in the parade as Toby would enthusiastically yell, "Happy Fourth!"

The grand finale to the parade, and most exciting part for the boys, were the firetrucks, some of which had firemen on top spraying at the kids who wanted to get WET (The day was in the high 90s.)!! Many of the children, including our own, were armed with water guns and were allowed to spray back. It turned in to an all out water fight! A few of the firetrucks stopped at the end of the route and unloaded their hoses to spray water out in to the street for the kids to run around in and get SOAKED. Many kids even got to take turns holding the hose and turning the valve. Asher didn't participate much, although he liked watching, but lets just say that Toby went ALL OUT! Tim brought out a cooler full of water, which he refilled twice, so that Toby would have ample water to spray as he wished. He loved jumping through the water and getting a turn to spray the big hose. What an unforgettable experience for a four-year-old!

Easter 2008

Easter was very eventful for us! To see all the pictures you will have to go to our web album. The link is to the right.

On Saturday morning we decided to try out the Arboretum's annual egg hunt. It was crowded, but still very fun for the kids We met up with some friends there and afterwards the kids had a great time exploring and climbing trees.

On Sunday morning we left for church extra early. We had to park at a nearby mall and take a shuttle to the church! They had 4 services in total over the weekend at two different locations. There were special programs for the kids. Tobiah went on and on afterwards about how much fun he had! They had bubble making, cotton candy and popcorn, crafts, worship, a skit. Toby said it was the best time he has ever had at church!

The fun continued when we got home and I had special Easter buckets full of surprises for the boys.

In the afternoon we drove down to Orange County to meet up with the Stiles clan (Tim's great-uncle and cousins). We walked to the park and set up an egg hunt for the kids, which there were a lot of. ( Toby had a great time getting to know his "cousins"!) Asher loved picking up eggs and putting them in his bucket. When it was all over he wanted to take all his eggs out and start over! Toby raced around and even helped Asher add eggs to his bucket. After some play time at the park we returned to the Stiles for a wonderful meal.

On the way home we talked about all the fun we had and Toby brought up the park where he had been, saying, "I had never been to that park before. I guess I haven't been to ALL the parks in the world...YET!"