whats the buzz

Last weekend both boys gave themselves haircuts.  Hana and I documented the process. 

Max

Max is on the verge of his 3rd birthday, and is growing out of the toddler phase with gusto.  He's going to a great Montessori school, where he gets to play with the coolest toys ever! They call them "jobs" at his school, and he loves to do his "work."

A plastic whale is frozen in this ice puck.  With a toothbrush and a jar of salt Max is excavating that orca.

He has learned a lot of responsibility in a short time at this school.  He's pretty good about putting away each activity after he's finished.

On the way to school last week

As any pre-schooler will tell you some one of his favorite things to do is visit the park.

Hanalei

Lets talk about Hana.  She is eleven months now, my how quickly she grows up.  She continues to have a sunny personality and just adores her brother.

Hana's been teething hard core the last few weeks.  Though her first two teeth popped out at about 5 months, she finally got her 3rd tooth last week.  There are two more close on its heals, so I suspect she'll have a mouthful before we know it.

Hana is working on walking.  Leif practices with her every night.  She's standing on her own for about 30 seconds at a time, and loves holding to our fingers while she paces the room.

She is so curious about our every day actives.  She explores everything, and has a fascination with the dog dishes (so did Max).

Over Christmas, Hana caught a nasty cold that has lingered and combined with the pain of teething.  That meant that for a good week she was waking 2-3 times every night.  That was torture for Leif and I who are used to more regular sleep patterns from both our kids.  She's back to a more normal schedule, and we found that by moving her bed time later to 7:30 she's sleeping until at least 5:30 in the morning.   When it comes to napping, Hana's in the process of dropping her second nap.  Though we really fought that with Max, it is appealing to have both kids asleep for one long nap in the middle of the day at the same time.  

We love our little girl and everyday we are so thankful to have her as part of our family. 

Christmas

Ok, so I skipped right past Christmas but I'd like to show you a little peek into our wonderful holiday.  A few days before Christmas we visited with Forrest and Jancie and did a little celebration at their house.  I hadn't gotten my new camera yet, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures of our fun there.

Then we headed up to the Sequoia Mountains, where grandma and grandpa have a cabin outside of the national park.

the river across from the cabin

This deer wasn't afraid of me at all, I was out playing with my new camera and he was the perfect subject

We met up with all of the aunties, uncles and cousins and had a great holiday together.

Auntie Emily reads a story

All of the cousins with Uncle Chriss

Auntie Jessy and Julian 

Yummy steak for Christmas Eve dinner

Hana's new bike

Cousins!

Sleepy Mama

Happy Papa

Thanks for a beautiful holiday! 

Around the house

I got an awesome new camera for christmas (thanks Leif!) and have been trying out all of the manual functions.  It is great for pictures of the kids, and I've been snapping lots of those!  I think I am driving Leif and Max a little nuts with all of my pictures ;-)

Here are a few moments from our normal days:

Cost Co- a weekly destination for the whole family

One of our days off during the holidays we went to the San Diego Botanical gardens.  There is so much fun kid stuff to do at the gardens.  The kids can climb in the tree hours, dig in the dirt, and Max even got to go sledding on the snow they brought in for the holiday season.

Max is running around by the sledding area

Hana is "building a wall"

Max has a new favorite activity.  we'll be driving around town and Max will say  "Mama, lets go Starbucks!"  Our little kid LOVES his kids hot-chocolates.  I swear he even knows how to spell it.  The other day, i mentioned to leif that we should stop at s-t-a-r-b-u-c-k-s, and Max yelled "YEAH!!"

One thing about two-year olds is that they like routine.  In fact, Max wants the same breakfast every day.  "Papa, I want yogurt, 'nola and honey!"

Nice bed-head ;-)

Leif hung some new curtains in the dining room, and Max was quick to help with his new Christmas tools.

Hope you enjoyed this little peak into our days

A Backyard Romp

We've had a cold snap here in San Diego the last few weeks.  After too many days in a row inside, last Saturday morning the kids were starting to feel cooped up.  The sun was shining and it was a balmy 36°, so we bundled up and headed out into the backyard early in the morning.

 All of the grass was frosty-frozen, and there was a nice coating of ice in the swings.  

That made it even more fun!  Sam raced around the yard, trying to knock the kids over... while all of us enjoyed the swing set.

We played and we played until our fingers were frozen.  

Wow, its been awhile

For our normal fans, sorry for the long time since I've checked in here.  The holidays were wonderful and busy and it kept us all away from our regularly scheduled activities (including blogging).

Here's a quick update of some of our antics the last few weeks:

Lets skip right over christmas (for now, it was wonderful!  Haven't processed the pics yet though ;-)   On New Year's day we went to the La Jolla cove and had a beautiful day playing as a family.

The Sea Lions were out in full force!

Love the Kellers!