2 years old

Wow- 2.  It is hard to believe that we started here...

 They are 8 days old here.  I still look so pregnant...but don't focus on me...look how TINY they are!

And now, we are here!

Random amazing things about them at this point in the journey-

1) Manners- they are so stinking appropriate and adorable with their pleases and thank yous.  They say please, thank you, my pleasure, and apologize to each other and others....not all the time...but often. :)  I don't know why, but these simple words, used genuinely by them melts my heart unlike anything else.  I think that it is because they convey respect and gratitude.  I feel like the proudest mama ever when I think that our kids, not even two years old, could begin to grasp those concepts.

2) Music- they love to listen to music while they eat, while in the car, and during dance parties at home.  This is all great, except that I end up taking on the role of DJ.  They are really demanding about what songs they want to hear- they have names for all their favorites, ask me to turn the volume up, and at least twice a day, Owen requests, Adele's "Rumor Has It".  I am not sure why his affinity for this song, but he loves it.  

3) I know they are eating during these pictures, but I don't care, I love their smiles SO MUCH.  Recently it seems we have jumped into the "terrible twos" with both..okay...all four, feet.  The tantrums and moodiness are almost too much for me to take sometimes.  Usually it is just one or the other that is falling apart, but this means that basically you never get a break....a necessary break.  However, their personalities and demeanors seem to swing on a pendulum so if you can imagine being pushed to, and sometimes over, your frustration limit, you might also be able to imagine how much freakin love I feel for them when they are not quite so difficult.  They are cuter than they have ever been.  They are turning into little kids who say the funniest things, give random hugs and kisses, have definite opinions, and want "mommy play" ALL the time.  I try to hold onto these things and conjure them up when I am at my wit's end.  Hopefully this moody stage doesn't last right through to adolescence.  I need a few years to gear up for that one.

Here are a few pictures of their party at Kamas Pool.  It was great!  There were no good party hats to be found at the stores so we had party sun glasses...perfectly appropriate for an indoor, nighttime  party. :)  Notice in the picture above how they are each looking at the other person's cupcake....just making sure theirs isn't any bigger.

4)  Ruby and Owen LOVE their family members.  They know everyone's name, can identify them in pictures, and know where most of them live (state names anyway)...sometimes. :)  They love a lot of our friends who they get to see a lot and live near by too.  They can name the siblings that go together and often the parent's names too. It is quite remarkable. We often watch the slideshow of pictures on our laptop during meals and name who are in the pictures and/or what we were doing.  I guess practice works!  

Mindy made the trip from Steamboat all by herself for the weekend.  She wouldn't miss their birthday party.  She rules. :)

Owen and Ruby were pretty happy about their big gift this year...the kitchen!  I am hoping that this will help them stay out of MY kitchen a little bit. 

We did not get enough pictures of all the awesome guests at the birthday party, but did get this one of Graham (in one of Evan's sweatshirts).  Love it.

5)  Hobbies- Ruby and Owen both love to paint.  We probably break out the smocks and other accouterments at least a few times a week.  And, recently, especially Ruby, really enjoys coloring with crayons.  Daily, sometimes twice, she asks to be lifted up into a "big girl" chair and for paper to draw.  She holds the crayons like a pencil and is quite detailed in her work.  Owen is a sweeping-circles man.  They both know their colors and like to tell you what they are drawing a picture of (reindeer, moose, cars, trees, welcome home signs for daddy...these are popular subjects).

6)  We recently ditched the cribs for a full size mattress on the floor for both kids. This makes midnight wakings and early morning starts easier to manage as they are pretty easy to snuggle with. They will usually lay down with me or Chip and fall back asleep within minutes if it is not the "right" time to be up.  I am sure we are establishing some "bad" habits or something, but I think the best parenting advice is, do what works.  This works for us for now.  A funny habit that did come out of this transition is that Owen falls asleep in front of his door on his rug both at nap and at night.  He loves his bed, but can't seem to get back into it before falling asleep after playing around in his room a bit.  We might have to do something about that one at some point.  

In the wake of the Newtown tragedy and experiencing that loss in a more personal way than we would have liked, it can be difficult to pick ourselves back up and remember that life is a gift and a celebration and that we should not live in fear, but in faith, that most people are good and most times we are safe.  We don't know how long we will get to enjoy this journey, so as Paris says below,  

"The way I see it, you should live everyday like its your birthday." 
-Paris Hilton 

Cookies

http://vimeo.com/56072891

Another video to share some of our holiday hilarity.  Click the link to check it out. Don't worry, we aren't going to share any of these cookies with anyone else.  Ruby was diagnosed with strep the day after we did this.  Awesome.  Anyway, just some classics in this video that I want to remember from this stage.  Enjoy!

The Holidays

I don't have too much time, but wanted to quickly post these videos.  The first two are of Ruby singing Christmas songs.  They are pretty rough around the edges...but pretty good for being less than two years old!  Today in the store, Owen broke spontaneously into "Santa Clause is Coming to Town".  Hilarious.  They do LOVE music so it is no surprise that they are embracing this part of the season with gusto.  

Oma sent a special package that Ruby and Owen opened today.  In it was this penguin.  It is sure to become a fixture in our Christmas decorations each year.  Although...it's batteries might run out tomorrow.  We'll see if Owen continues to make him sign every constantly like he did today.    

Busy

We have been busy.  Busy potty training, getting the ski stuff ready, trying to get this blog into a book again, planning a birthday party (two is coming up- I can't believe it!), learning to count, building and playing in a star box, and visiting with Nana and Papa and most recently, Mindy and Bo.  I feel like there was such a build up to Halloween...we still talk about it.  And then Thanksgiving kinda snuck up on us and is now past!  I have a feeling there will be another build here to the big birthday and, of course, Christmas.  Ruby and Owen already love to spot santas around town and they talk about reindeer.  I think they are getting a lot of that from school, because we haven't really started all that here yet...but soon!  Tree should be out and up this weekend hopefully.  Anyway, here is a quick catch up.  Only a few more posts for the year.  Time really did fly this time around.  

Ruby and Owen- they have been using the potty at least a few times a day since June.  Ruby has been ready to ditch the diapers for a little while.  So finally, last month, at 22 months, she, without effort, put on big girl underwear, proudly stated, "no more diapers", and never looked back.   In fact, she hasn't used her diaper for naptime or nightime for the past five days.  She even got up at 5am to go pee this morning, and went back to bed, again waking with a dry diaper.  Amazing.  Owen will be in diapers a little longer.  He uses the potty really well, but also still needs his diaper for backup.  He is kinda envious of Ruby getting to pick her underpants each morning, so maybe that will be the motivating force for him.  We'll see.  :)

Owen has been able to count to 10 or 13 (depending on the day) for about a month now.  We have been a little lazy about getting stuff on video, which is too bad because they are SO verbal these days.  Laura, this is for you, although, we will keep working on a good video of some interaction between the two of them.

The moose in our driveway.  We love them. :)

And, a cool shot Chip got of our mailbox and the empty lot across the street from us.  Some friends of our just bought the house across the street from us, which is really exciting.  However, they did not buy the lot also, which means that it may go up for sale within the year.  Sad.  Anyone want to pitch in and buy the lot with us?  We could build a visitor's cabin on it.

 

Love these eyes.

Well, it was time...to bake and "eat" the pumpkins from our farmer's market and CSA adventures.  Ruby and Owen have been talking about this day for months now as we watched some of them ripen on our window sill.  Beautiful, eh?  And, the pumpkin butter which resulted was pretty awesome as well.

They smelled SO delicious...even before being cooked!

The starbox.  Another pinterest phenomenon. I am sure we will build more in the future.  It has been a hit.

And, Ruby and Owen's first day on "the slopes" (aka The Park City Public Library's field). Owen was pretty enthusiastic throughout.  Ruby was a tougher sell.  They both LOVED and talk more about getting to go skiing with mom and dad in the backpacks.  Man, that was an incredible workout.  Hopefully we will be doing lots more of both when the snow shows up again.

There was enough snow to go sledding with Mindy and Bo, but it was epic coming down.  And...

Just turned into a hike after one run because we all value our lives too much to have done another round.

Thanksgiving.  We were 8 adults and 5 kids.  I can't believe we all fit at one time at our dining room table, but we did!  The food was delicious, the company even better, and the reasons to be thankful inumerous. 

Halloween

Halloween was a big holiday for us this year.  I guess, whatever the holiday, it would have been big.  We are just getting to this point where they understand most of what we are talking about, can wrap their heads around the idea of birthdays and holidays, preparing, celebrating, etc.  It is nuts.  So, we spent the weeks before Halloween talking about ghosts (their favorite part of the whole thing- they wanted EVERYONE to dress up a ghost this year), costumes (our dress-up collection is in full swing these days), practicing trick-or-treating (at the bathroom door, of course), and getting to know pumpkins (which ones we carve vs eat, and carving...more to come on that one). 

 On Halloween day we made a visit to the local fire station so Owen could show off his costume.  We have several friends who work at this station, so it was fun to say hello, try on a helmet, get in the truck, and pick up some non-candy treats.

 And the highlight- Trick-or-treating!  We gathered quite a posse from the neighborhood- moms, dads, kids, dogs, wagons...and made our way around to a few houses.  Owen lost his hat in the 11th hour so he had to go without...which was fine because it got cold and we were all wearing winter hats before long.

Team Kirby- love them- the WHOLE family dressed up as characters from Little Red Riding Hood.  Impressive.  I was feeling lucky to get Ruby and Owen out the door in costume...and like I said, minus a hat so I couldn't even get that all together, let alone a costume for me! 

My favorite part of this holiday was the great practice and repetition in some basic manners like waiting your turn, saying thank you, and looking people in the eye.  Ruby and Owen did great!  Stinking cute.

This is the crew- Owen, Greta, Ruby, Willow, Gia, Micha (missing Graham)...man getting a picture of a bunch of toddler types is difficult.  They were a squirmy little bunch!

 This is out of order, but I can't deal with changing it now.  So, back up a week or so.  We carved pumpkins!...In a beautiful Kirby driveway...seriously, check out that backdrop.  As I mentioned, I LOVE fall.  

Well, at least all of their faces are visible...including the dog's.  Not sure when the picture thing is going to get easier again...might be a few years.  :)

Team DuRoss

Good Night Halloween....until next year!

San Diego

Here we are...all packed up and ready to go...in down, fleece, sweatshirts, and pants.  We look like we need the beach, eh?  Well then, let's do it.

Uh...discovered a petting zoo at our first gas stop.  Yes, a petting zoo that included a zebra, ostriches, and a slew of other interesting animals that we got to roam around with and touch.  In honesty, in the last five years or so, my passion for road trips has waned.  However, I will always love the endless surprises that greet you along the journey when in a car making your way across the land.

We made it!  And, we got camp all set up.  Yahoo!

There was surfing to do...

And dinner to be cooked...

And barges (well, that is what we called these ships that graced our horizon all week.) to look at.  Our kids are obsessed with Barges.  Chip grew up listening to his mom sing a song titled Barges to him, and now he sings it to our kids.  I have been forced to learn this out-of-the-ordinary children's song because it gets requested every night at our house.  So, you can imagine the excitement when we got to watch them in person every day from our campsite.

Ruby and Owen loved roaming around camp, playing with Finn and Nola, burying their toys in the dirt and sand, eating food made on the camp stove, and, of course, playing on the beach.  We don't have very many pictures of our visits to the beach.  In fact, it was difficult to capture this trip in photos as we found that sand, water, and toddlers don't mix well with cameras.  So, the cameras spent most of the trip in the car- safely stowed away.  Chris and Erika are holding a few more pictures, including the one group shot we got, hostage, so look for an update to this entry at some point.

A-dorable.

Ruby enjoying some dinner while watching the evening sunset.

Owen also enjoying the sunset.  Camping on the western coast is pretty amazing.

Roasting hotdogs over the fire.

So, there were supposed to be a bunch of other families joining us on this sun/surf/family adventure.  But, as it turned out, one by one, they all had to bail.  The Western DuRoss Clan held strong, and didn't mind a mellower trip.  It was a lot of work and our first time, so kinda nice to be able to focus on just us and not worry about other people's expectations being met or not.  However, we were SO happy that Mike Jeffries and his beautiful wife, Sarah joined us for a few days.  Ruby and Owen especially loved getting to have a dog around (and incidentally, their dog is named Kessler as well- crazy, I know).  Thanks for joining us you two!

A precious moment- Finn coloring with Ruby and Owen at our picnic table after a long day in the sun.  Finn played SO well with his younger cousins.  Ruby and Owen pretty much worship the ground he walks on.  Such an amazingly kind heart and gentle soul in that one.  Love you, Finn!

Finn and Owen joking about something....and Ruby not so entertained. :)

Oh yeah, the surfing...the initial impetus for making this venture.  I actually did not end up doing any.  I just couldn't motivate.  Holding camp and the kids together was enough of an energy expenditure that I preferred to relax, play in the sand, build castles, whatever.  Oh well, maybe next time.  Chip and Chris, on the other hand, got out every day a few times, often early in the morning, and ripped it up.  This is a picture of Chris that Chip got from camp.  Sa-weet!  

We did some fun outings, like this one to the local aquarium.  I discover all these cool things through finding things to do with the kids.  I had never been to an aquarium before Ruby and Owen came into my life.  They are really amazing places.  Incredible underwater creatures and SO peaceful.  I have always struggled to meditate for very long.  I think I should try in an aquarium.

So, after camping for four nights, we were grateful to spend two nights at my aunt and uncle's house (even though they were out of town).  It is an incredible abode in a perfect location.  We could not have asked for a better way to end our trip.  We adore their house keeper, Manuela.  It is always fun to brush up on the Spanish with her and teach the kids a few new words.

I LOVE these huge windows.  

Owen did too.  If that isn't pure delight, I don't know what is. :)

They live near Ocean Beach, my favorite beach town.  We walked out on the pier, shopped at the famer's market for avocados, persimons (which Ruby really liked), and mangos...and also mosied on down to Pacific Beach where we...

rented beach cruisers!  Oh my gosh...SO much fun.  In fact, we got home and started planning how we could recreate this fun here at home.  We have decided we are not a chariot family...but this was up our alley.  Updates to come on that.

"simply" fun bikes.

Thank you, stranger on the board walk! 

Taking pictures of these squirmy two has become progressively harder.  The backdrop here is to die for.  A photo to be framed was in my mind's eye for sure. Instead, we got this hilarious collage of our efforts.  Maybe still worth framing. ;)  This is a fun one to click on for larger observation.

One thing I don't think any of us have a picture of, but I must archive because it was an AWESOME part of the trip for me, was Bull Taco...the taco stand at the campsite.  They made the most incredible fish burritos and tacos I have ever eaten.  I am salivating just thinking about them right now.  I am not sure how many tacos and burritos we consumed before the end of the week, but it was a lot.  The shark (fish of the day) burrito eaten at the deck bar overlooking the ocean at sunset with everyone there, was a highlight for me. Mmmmm

On the trip home, we were sucked into Vegas's unrelenting pull for a final pit stop before making it to the hotel.  We used the bathrooms in Circus Circus.  Owen hugged Bozo, Ruby tried on hats in the toy store (one of her favorite pasttimes at home), and we almost got on the indoor roller coaster for a quick spin.  Ruby and Owen were just a little too short to make the cutoff.  Oh well.  Next time.

The real fun started when we GOT to the hotel.  Oh my gosh- cousins reunited after a long day in the car, delirious on pizza,  and excited to get some energy out...this one is worth the click as well.

Ruby and Owen did well for the...i don't know...at least 15 hours in the car.  Better than me.  And, both times we arrived- in San Diego and then again here in Park City, 10 minutes beforehand, they fell asleep for their afternoon nap...resulting in idling around for an hour...when we were SO ready to get out of the car!  That was how this trip was and had to be- we were all along for the ride.  It was a lot of work and driving, but overall, an awesome trip that we will talk about for years to come- without a doubt.  Thanks to SLC DuRoss for hangin in there with us and making this all happen.  We love you!

"We travel, not to escape life, but for life not to escape us." - anonymous