Happy New Year!

The 2008 year ended better that I thought it was going to. We finally made it back home to SD after a very trying flying (or lack there of) experience. On Tues, we got to SFO airport to find our flight delayed due to SD fog. So we waited and waited when the finally boarded us on the plane. They told us we might get diverted to Phoenix, but we wanted to get home so we took the chance. We were the A group so we luckily got the bulkhead seating. The boys insisted that they sit next to their daddy so I sat in the aisle across by myself and got to read my 3rd book in the Twilight series. I love young adult fiction- don't judge. Finally we pushed back, waited for our time to take off, but ended up returning to the gate since the weather report said the fog still has not lifted. The boys got kinda cranky about this. So while we were waiting in our parked plane, the pilot asked the boys if they wanted to see the cockpit. AJ did, P was too scared. AJ loved it and was thrilled. Unfortunately, our flight was eventually cancelled and we didn't make it back home until the next day (after a delay of course).
After we got home, Tim and I were able to get our work done so we could go out on the town. Yeah to grandparent babysitters- Love it. (Although, I still have to finish my timesheet-shhh) We had a great time with fun friends ringing in the New Year . Yet, I still have to make my resolutions. Any thoughts? I probably would break them anyway.

Happy 2009!!!!!!!!

Getting Our Wine On

The best part of going up to wine country is having a designated driver. It is even better when the designated driver is not you! (Poor Leslie is pregnant so she was unable to imbibe, but she was a great sport.) James and Leslie picked Tim and me up at my folks place complete with bagels and coffee and we headed up to wine country.

The weather was absolutely picture perfect heading up the peninsula and into SF. After we crossed the Golden Gate the weather changed into drizzle. That was OK though because it kept the crowds away and we were able to actually learn something from our wine hosts. Our first stop was Iron Horse (http://www.ironhorsevineyards.com)where/ I started with a sparkling wine flight- Awesome. Our host was a young guy who was very knowledgeable. We could have hung out there for hours but we had to get to our appointment at Siduri (http://www.siduri.com/).

At Siduri, we were treated to a behind the scenes tour of their Dallas Cowboy themed wine making warehouse. Then we headed to DeLoach (http://www.deloachvineyards.com/) , Ridge (http://www.ridgewine.com/), and finally F.Teldeschi (http://www.teldeschi.com/history.htm) where we got to speak directly to the wine maker, John Teldeschi, in his very cold wine tasting room. It was so fun. Thank you Leslie and James!!!

Big wheels keep on turning

The boys were very spoiled this Christmas. They woke up in San Diego to find that Santa thought that they were very good. They were excited to see that Santa and the reindeer nibbled on the cookies and carrots. Then they had to wait very patiently until their Grandma Laurie and Grandpa Carl came over with their Uncle Chris. It was only then that they were able to open they presents. The favorite of course was the Geo track airplane kit and the blue angles toy planes. Grandpa Carl enjoyed setting up the train around the tree.

Then they got on a plane (delayed- AGH) to open even more presents at their grandparents (Grammy and Grandpa Wonderful) house. They were a bit overtired by all the excitement, but Christmas only comes once a year, right?

The big hit was the big wheels that they spent hours riding around as fast as they could. They also enjoyed singing along to educational video games.



I think the new version of the ABCs threw them off.

Crash!

The rest of the Kostick family enjoyed drinking copious amounts of wine and even had a impromptu drum circle that I was lucky enough to capture until Grandpa Wonderful shut it down.

Reflections of What Life Used To Be

Being back at my parents home for the holidays I was able to peek at alot of old photos. It is fun seeing how I looked at my boys age and noticing the similarities and differences. Although the most fun is seeing me when I was between ages 11 and 14. Wow those were the years- yeah I think I was probably considered pretty nerdy/dork by my peers. Although I don't think those labels bothered me much. I liked being considered one of the smart girls. I do remember feeling that I was not one of the "cute/ hot/ good looking" girls and that made me feel sad.

The picture shows my first day of school starting at Centerville Junior High, 7th grade. From the picture you can see that I was very excited, my brother- not so much. I think in 6th grade I had cut all my hair off and looked like a little boy, but by 7th I may have started to take an interest in my appearance and asked my mom to give me a home-perm. Then I would wake up early to curl it and aquanetted it into a fluffy mess with my Mom's old curing iron which was caked with all of my hairspray. I still had a mouth full of metal but now sported some stylish 80s clothes. By 8th grade, I had grown my hair out a little and started focusing on making my bangs do extreme things like the donut or waterfall look. I think in 8th grade I also started to really get into unnatural looking make-up too.

When I was younger (college aged) I used to be repulsed when I looked back at my young self, and now I just chuckle. I think my boys will get a real kick out of what their mom used to look like. It was pretty hard growing up and feeling awkward and insecure. Hopefully, they will realize that what you were or how you were growing up doesn't mean that the rest of your life will be that way. People can change, grow, and continue to evolve.

Through the wonder of the Internet and social networking web sites it is nice to reconnect with people you didn't really hang out with growing up. I like putting my immature past aside and forge new friendships on an adult level. Although, my friends that put up with me back in the day are the true winners in my book.

Christmas Card Lane

Christmas Card Lane is a place in our neighborhood where the houses all display big Holiday greeting "cards" on their lawn complete with massive amounts of lights and decorations. We grabbed the grandparents and met up with some friends and walked around and enjoyed the festivities. It was great seeing how much the boys loved it and hanging out with good people.

Highlights of the boys' night were seeing their friends Beck and Max (Their mommy is Sarah from See Sarah Spin), all the mechanical trains and displays, and Santa Claus with Rudolph. Santa was rolling through the neighborhood on some sort of vehicle that had been converted into a motorized sleigh complete with a reindeer at the front. He was handing out candy canes to all the children and giving sleigh rides to his friends. They boys told them that they have been good boys and wanted "GeoTrack". A little bizarre, but both the boys and their Grandpa Carl loved it.

Musicals in their future?

Whenever the boys are playing nicely together they spontaneously break out into song. It just cracks me up. I will be in the other room and just start to hear my rough and tumble boys sweetly singing together. Usually it is a nursery rhyme song, but lately it has been Christmas carols. The favorites are of course, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph, and Santa Claus is coming to town.

I finally attempted to catch them in action this morning while they were doing their brand new Christmas puzzles from Debbie and Laurie. It was a new song that I hadn't heard before.

Nightmare

P woke up in the middle of the night all sweaty, crying and shaking due to a bad dream. This is what he told me about it:


"Santa put me into the fire. He put Rudolph in there too."

Poor guy, I guess the holidays are stressing him out like the rest of us.

Front and Center

My boys had their first holiday program last night with their pre-school. We were told that we should have them wear either red or green shirts so I found the only red and green shirts we had which were long sleeved with a baseball and dumptruck, respectively. When I got to the church where the program was taking place, I noticed that all the children were dressed in their nicest holiday attire and not wearing jeans and long sleeved t-shirts. Uh oh. I felt a little embarrassed. Oh well, this mommy is a little green and now knows better.

The program started with the little children and then finally my boys' 4 year old class came up. They were all wearing glittery crowns that they made. Somehow my boys mange to align themselves in the front row and right in the middle. They sang the Dreidel song and We Wish You a Merry Christmas , complete with hand jesters. It was very cute.

After the program, Santa came out and all the parents started pushing their kids to see him. Soon there was a large swarm of people trying to see Santa. At the time, the boys were on Tim's lap and we finally convinced them to go meet Santa. They left for the big line and we stayed back because we figured it would be a while before it was their turn. Little did I know that somehow the boys managed to worm their way through the crowd and were all of a sudden 2nd in line to meet Santa. Once the girls ahead of him dismounted Santa's lap, Adam did the one leg out with a bent knee (on your mark) move to ensure their place. Unbelievable. I have a feeling I am going to have to watch them a little closer to see how they seem to finagle these things, as I hope they aren't unfairly taking advantage of the other children. Hmmm.

Happy Birthday

The boys made it to 4! Look how far we have come from 4 years ago!

Little boys little problems, bigger boys bigger problems

When the boys were small, Tim and I were raw and ragged from having two little bundles of joy to take care of. I still shudder when I think of the endless crying, whining, and sleepless nights. One of Tim's colleagues told him, "little boys, little problems; big boys, big problems." I think now that the boys are on the verge of the 4th birthday we have gotten to some bigger problems. Right now is it lying. I did not think I would be dealing with this problem so soon. I really was hoping to get some of the no longer acting like a baby, but still a sweetie time. Patrick shattered that idea yesterday when I picked the twins up from school.
It was show and tell day so both children brought toys from home to share. AJ brought his GeoTrack fire truck with mini fireman and PJ brought 3 similar looking dinosaurs and a mini GeoTrack cowboy. As we were leaving the classroom, PJ had 4 similar looking dinosaurs and told me three were his and one was one he had found at school. I said we can not take that dino home because it is not ours and that would be stealing and we do not steal. PJ protested and complained that he needs 4 dinos for a Mommy Dino, Daddy Dino, Adam Dino and Patrick Dino. I told him firmly no and to please put the dinosaur away so we can get going home. I left the boys to put things away in the classroom and proceeded to the front desk to chat about what to bring in for birthday (since I still can't get my act together to have a party for their friends). The boys come out and I ask if PJ had put the dinosaur back. PJ says yes. I try to pick him up and he backs up from me, so I know something is up. Then I ask where did he put the dinosaur and he tells me in his cubby. So I say, let's go see. The boys run ahead and enter the classroom. When I get to the classroom and check his cubby, there is no dinosaur in his cubby. (I actually now think he was trying to unload the stolen dino from his pocket before I noticed.) I was so upset with him. I tell them that lying is unacceptable and I am very disappointed in Patrick's choices. Then I ask PJ where is the dinosaur. He still doesn't fess up even when I am checking his pockets (Mommy getting really mad now). Finally, AJ tells me that PJ put the dino in his green jacket's zipper pocket. I find the dinosaur, remove it, give him a stern taking to, put the angry/crying boy in the car, put the other child in the car, and drive home were I get "look at my face, Mommy, it is not happy". Once home PJ promptly goes to a time out in his room. Apparently, he is very sorry and "won't ever do it again." Time will tell.

Who are you?

When I went to pick up the boys from school, they were sitting in a circle with their friends listening to a story. One of their friends tapped AJ and said Patrick your mommy is here. AJ just said I am Adam. Then another friend asks Patrick, "are you Adam or Patrick?". He calmly says "I am Patrick, that is Adam." This happened a few more times as we were getting ready to leave. It shocked me that their friends have trouble telling them apart. To me they are so different. Besides we still do not know if they are identical twins or not. Also, it is not like I dress them alike unless it is for pictures or if grandparents are coming. On a daily basis they are dressed similar- same style of clothes, but different colors to avoid the freaky Oompa Loompa look.
I asked the boys on the car ride home if many of their friends get them mixed up and call them by the wrong name. They told me it happens "a lot of times". I then asked if they were upset that their friends couldn't tell who was who. They said no because they liked their brother. (followed by a "you my best friend?" and "I am your friend, bubpee." hug hug) I wonder what they would have said at one of those moments when "you are not my friend anymore."

I heart SD

One of our favorite things to do in SD is to go up to Pizza Port about ~11 to 11:30, which is early enough to not annoy too many fellow patrons. We drink beer and eat pizza while the children play on the video games. The driving car game is A and P's favorite. They each sit in a seat and "race" each other. They even let Lexi race with them. I wonder how much longer it will be when they figure out that there are "racing" to the video game intro and there's no money in the machine.
After eating we walk down to Fletcher's Cove and play on the beach. This time, I made the mistake of not packing towels or swimsuits since I figured it would be too cold for them to go in. I was wrong. We had soaking wet and sandy kiddos for the ride home, but I didn't care. I love how much fun they have at the beach and feel so blessed to be able to live so close to the ocean. I am excited that they get to grow up here and share my same love for the beach.

Giving thanks

We spent Thanksgiving with Tim's parents and the Quesnell family, this time at Aaron and Jessica's home. Since we moved to SD in 2004, I think we have spent 3 out of our last 5 Thanksgivings together. The first one was at Brian and Aaron's grandma's house and I was heavily pregnant. I went into pre-term labor the next day. We blamed grandma's fruit salad that had eaten the majority of. Come to think of it, I think I out ate everyone that year. It took a lot of work to get up to 200+ lbs. AGH- I just spent a half hour looking the picture of me passed out on the couch while others played cards. And they had an automatic shuffler that was so loud and it annoyed me, but I was too tired to care. It is a horrible picture and I will re-post when I find it.
The next year the babies were almost one and we were at Brian and Dina's old house. At that time, A and P were the only kiddos. This year we had 5 children (Adam, Patrick, Lexi, Will and baby Ethan) under 4 and one one the way. Times have changed. There is finally a kid table.

I am so thankful for the love of my family and friends.

Grow smaller

The boys found their Zebra and Elephant Halloween costumes in their closet from 2 years ago (2006) and wanted to wear them again:

Mommy: But you are now too big to wear those costumes.
Boys: When I grow smaller I can wear these costumes again.
Mommy: I am sorry, but you will just get bigger and you wont get smaller.
Boys: No, if I eat a lot of candy I will grow smaller. I am going to eat lots and lots of candy.
Mommy: Why would eating candy make you smaller?
Boys: Because you said that if I eat candy I wont grow big.

When it rains it pours....

I made it back from Philly and I am exhausted. I am so happy to have Tim's folks here to help out in my absence. I am sure Tim feels the same. Two trips back to back and a like million billables to do in between. I have to operate at over 125% of my utilization until the end of the year. It is going to be tough. I can't even begin think about planning for the holidays and boy's 4th birthday, which are all right around the corner. Yikes. Will it be bad if they still never had an official (inviting their friends) birthday party? I don't know if I have the time and energy required to pull it off. *Sigh*

Tim told me a funny that happened when I was gone:
Boys: Where's Mommy?
Tim: In Philadelphia.
Boys: Are there lights in Philadelphia?

They are so random. Guess they wanted to make sure I wasn't in the dark.

FDA- finally

I finally got to have my first meeting at the FDA. I have been chomping at the bit to go for years, but somehow my upper managers always went instead of me. Not this time! I was so nervous, but it went really well and the clients seem pleased. They even made me sit at the big conference table and not in the back like I wanted. And I had to talk and answer questions! They just love to throw me into the fire. Super shuttle called me at 3:30 am to let me know that they will be picking me up at 5:30. They were late and didn't come until 6:30 am. Today is going to be tough and I have to still make my reservations for Philly next week.

Prop sadness

Boo.
It looks like 8 might pass. I thought Californians were more progressive. I am saddened.
Boo again.
Prop D is going to pass. They are banning booze on the all public beaches. No more wine with my sunset watching. Boo.

It's raining in baltimore

I made it to DC (I had to wash a ton of laundry, according to the boys). It is kinda cool that I am in the nations Capitol for election day. As much as everyone is excited for the presidential election, I am more concerned over California propositions. In particular, I am most concerned about Prop 8. If Prop 8 passes it would amened the state constitution and eliminate the right of same sex couples to marry. Naturally, I voted No.
What shocked me is the amount of yes on 8 signs and protesters there were in my neighborhood. My boys asked me what they said, and I told them that the signs had hateful words. They told me the signs need a time out. Yesterday, when we passed a particular large crowd on our way home, PJ told me that some of the people holding the signs did not look like they were bad people, they just need to put down their signs of hate. Let's hope Prop 8 doesn't pass.

Happy Halloween!!!

Silly boys

Big Bear- not so fun

When looking for kindling for the fire at night, it is not advisable to rely on the flashlight feature of your i-phone.

Big Bear Fun!

Tim and I are taking advantage of our new found freedom. We were invited to join my friend Beth and her husband, Joe, up in Big Bear. Because we now have local living grandparents that are kind enough to watch the boys, we were able to say yes! We had a great time. We enjoyed the spectacular views and having uninterrupted adult conversation. We imagined buying a place up here one day. The pictures are from when we took a chairlift to the top of a summit and hiked down. We got a little lost but enjoyed ourselves.

Knew it was coming

Guess what- I am sick. To be predicted because I would never give up kisses and love from my boys even if they are sick.

I've got a sore throat, can't swallow, chills, fever, ear ache, grouchy, and even talking hurts. Now I feel guilty that I should have been nicer to the boys since I know how they must have felt first hand.

I just want to go home and rest, but I have deadlines. Grrr.

Update: Just got a call from the pre-school. AJ has a fever. I am so happy we have the grandparents as backup now. We just have to get them some booster seats so they can transport the kiddos!
Update 2: Took AJ to the Dr and we both were positive for strep! My mom says this is the best sickness to have because it clears up real fast once you start the antibiotics. I do feel better today after one pill, not 100%, but better. Hopefully we didn't infect anyone else. So far Tim is ok.

Bad day

I should have known today would not go well. It is never easy to work from home with a sick kid and I had two kiddos that were banned from pre-school today. The boys were so crabby today. All Adam did was whine. He must have had 5 time outs in the morning. PJ was a little better but had just melted down at dinner time. Apparently he did not have enough Trader Joes White Cheddar shells in his bowl and flipped out. So AJ scooped his shells into PJs bowl while crying that PJ is taking it all even though AJ is doing the scooping. Then AJ melted down that he had an empty bowl, etc.... PJ is in a timeout right now as I write.
If the children's disposition wasn't enough, I started to have work problems. A project that I am on is having this impossible secure website that I have to get my e-mails off of. The attachments don't work most of the time and I can't seem to get the secure website to work properly. So I spent over 4 hours dealing with computer problems which to add insult to injury turns out has to be non-billable because the my billing rate is burning through the budget. I am suppose to have an associate help me out, but we have no associates available and tight deadlines. So I just had to carve back 0ver 15 hours worth of billables in the last pay period alone. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Just had to vent. AJ is in a time out now. I need a strong drink.

Timing is Everything

So Tim's parents have left WI and are en route to San Diego for a 6 month tour of duty. We are very excited to have the extra help. Now we will have help for when we are on business trips, have sick kid days, and even will be able to have date nights! Tim's parents even offered sleepovers for the boys. Tim and I have never had a night in our house alone without the boys. As Brian says, our lives are not going to be the same and it is going to be really hard to go back to our old lives.

As luck would have it AJ came down with a fever yesterday and got kicked out of pre-school. Now I am doing my exhausting working from home while dealing with a sick boy dance. At least he is sleeping. Oh wait he just woke up. I am thankful that we just recorded a new Scooby Doo episode.

This morning was trying. PJ was very upset that he had to go to school without his brother. (mainly because his brother gets to watch Scooby Doo.) PJ has a very bad temper when he starts feeling out of control. He told (screamed at) us he was not going to school and was going to run away. He informed us that he was not going to get dressed either. Then to top it off he melted down because we didn't have the same brand of cereal bars and therefore they didn't match. Oh, the grandparents are in for some fun!

Sundays in the Fall

AJ is pretty excited about this season.

Also included are digital pictures taken by Adam.

PJ Surgery

PJ had his lasering surgery today. He was very brave and only got scared when the anesthesiologist came in and when they took him away to go on the "spaceship". He picked strawberry this time for his mask flavor and they didn't need to give him an IV. Yeah! His recovery was quick and he charmed juice, 5 Popsicles, toys, books, and even ice-cream (chocolate) out of the nurses. They sure think he is such a cutie. We had to stay a little later because he had to finish his Popsicles and was disappointed to learn that he couldn't take the leftover ice-cream to his brother.
He made me take him out of his gown right away!
It gets a little "coldy" after 5 Popsicles.

Miramar Air Show

We finally made it to the Miramar air show this year. We waited this long because we thought the boys could actually enjoy it this year. I think we waited so long is because we did not want to have to deal with the pain of strollers, bottles, or diaper changes. I am glad those days are behind us.

We met my coworker, Beth, and her husband, Joe, who is a lieutenant officer works at Miramar as a fly guy (he is the "Goose" guy in Top gun) . So we got all the inside scoop on the planes and equipment. Pretty cool. The boys loved matching the planes in the program to the ones they saw up close. They even had the Budweiser horses to look at. Fun times.

Beth, TPJ, PJ, AJ and Joe.
Big Tire!

Adam and Baby Ethan Quesnell