Last week, I finally finished the quilting of Austin’s sock monkey quilt.  I still need to bind the edges, though, but he is enjoying it already.  He doesn’t know that when I finish the binding, it is going to disappear for a while into a box, to be opened on his 3rd birthday.  

Here he is driving his cars on it, while it was in the frame.  He was loving it even before it was done.   There’s a strip of polka dot fabric on it that he calls his “dot road”.  He was really upset when I quilted past it and it got rolled under.. he kept saying, “HEY, where’s my doootttt road???”

Here it is after I got it out of the frame..

And here he is, enjoying it with his hotwheels.  He thinks all of the strips and borders of fabric are roads.   Or he lifts the edges and makes tunnels.

Yesterday, I folded it up and had it off of the floor for a while, and when he got up from his nap, he immed. noticed that it wasn’t in there, and ran to the doorway and started searching the room for it.  Then he says, “Where my sock monkey kilt???”  He was worried that it had disappeared.

He is very conversational now and it is so much fun.  The night before last, I told him, “You are so tired, you can’t even see straight!” He looked up at me with a thoughtful (and sleepy) frown and asked, “What that mean, mommy?”

He’s starting to be such a “boy”.  Loving to rough-house, running around the house, knocking things over, climbing things, etc.  His new thing is that he likes to knock Chris over to the ground, tackling him.  So he will tell Chris to stand in the family room, and he will go all the way into the dining room.  Then he’ll say ready, set, GO!  Off he goes, running as fast as he can through the kitchen to the family room, and hit Chris in the legs (at which point Chris plays along and falls down and Austin climbs up on top of him). The other night, they were playing when Chris moved a few feet one way or the other, to which Austin said, “NO, Daddy!  Stay right there in the fanly room, right THERE.  I going to knock you on your FACE.”    HUH?  WHERE did he get that?  We have never said anything like that, and he doesn’t watch anything on TV except Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the occasional other Disney cartoon.  He has been watching Toy Story though, I wonder if one of the kids in that says “knock you on your face”?  He says things sometimes that stop us in our tracks and we just look at each other and laugh. 

Sunday morning, I was getting ready for church and I told him to play in his room for a few minutes.  He was in there for maybe 5 or 10 min. playing before I went to check on him and this is what I saw at the door.

Upon further inspection.. chair dismantled, coins from his piggy bank EVERYWHERE.  It was nuts.  So quiet, and fast it happened.  Stealthy boy.

Proud of his work…

Latest sewing project for a little girl who just turned one yr.  I hope her mama will like it and that she will get lots of use out of it.  Her name starts with “R”.

And we got his Halloween costume the other day, just needs some tweaking between now and then to make it better.

(Now if we can only get him to wear it on Halloween!  He hasn’t been much for costumes~he likes it now, but we’ll see.)

We have had lots of fun with sidewalk chalk this summer.  Our back patio has pretty much been covered with it all summer.

We’ve drawn everything from trains and railroad tracks to street signs and stick people.  The alphabet, numbers, you name it.

I was shocked one day when Austin drew this:

I said, “that looks like a ‘P’,” and he said, “Yes, it’s a big ‘P’!” That’s his name that I had drawn for him that he drew the ‘P’s over the top of.

Then just to see if he knew how, I asked him to draw some other letters.  It was fun to see the wheels spin in his little head as he thought about it and then tried.  I was shocked that he could actually draw the A, B, and D when I asked him.

the next ‘A’ is realllly flat!

..then ‘D’

..and ‘B’…

He also threw in a “2″ for good measure.  Kind of looks like a backward “S”.

You gotta love sidewalk chalk!

A photo of the artist: (squirting his mommy with water from a spray-bottle which is also good for erasing chalk lines.)

I have managed to do a few projects around the house the last week or two..

#1 is this little blanket for baby Olivia out of some stuff that I had in my box.

#2 is this little tag blankie also made out of some fabric that I had and some scrap ribbons and things I’d been saving.  This is the first tag blankie I’ve made.  It was fun.

#3~working in the yard.  The back fence was covered.. shrouded.. and then some with this tangle of creeping fig, and I think jasmine or honey suckle mixed in, too.  OUT of CONTROL.  Some places were so bad and shady that there were no leaves on it, just twigs and vines….

Here is the right side of the yard, AFTER lots of work and clipping and trimming.  I filled up our huge yard waste can twice.  You can actually see the fence.

Here is the left side of the yard/fence, that I’m still working on.  Little by little, I hope it will look like the other side soon.

Made this little plaque with a board that I got at JoAnn’s and some hooks that Dee, my M.I.L., had collected, but was getting rid of.

Now my mop, broom, etc. have a place to hang in the laundry room.

Then this last Tues. we went to Santa Rosa for one more visit before Chris’s vacation is over.  We spent the night and went to a really great place called SAFARI WEST.  Kind of like a zoo, but CLOSE up and you get to drive through it.  Fun!

Rode in some safari vehicle, Chris rode on top.

Austin making faces at the lady sitting behind me:

He did really well, considering the ride was about 2 hours long and there was no nap that day and we hadn’t eaten lunch.  He did turn around and hold my hand though for a while.. I could tell he was getting tired. But he trooped through and liked seeing all the animals.

And just a few of the animals that we saw.. I will only post the ones that I know what they are~ ha!  Most of them I don’t remember what they were called, but we saw lots, and it was really FUN!

The Ostrich was invading our personal space for sure.  Kept pecking the bench.

Wildebeast, I think..

Different kinds of cattle..

Zebra.. (duh-ha)

And last, can you guess?

Giraffe.. my favorite, I think.

This one got up close and personal with us like the Ostrich did.

Never thought I would see a giraffe from this angle really.  He decided to lean right over and check out the top of our Jeep.

And the little one tagging along.

The place is also a resort, and has luxury safari tents set up that you can rent.  They are actual safari tents imported from Africa.

And they had the cutest things in the gift shop, esp. since Austin’s room is jungle-y.  But I didn’t buy anything for his room.    It was sure fun to look though!

The End.

We ended our trip to Santa Rosa with a big family BBQ for Dolores’ side of the family.  It was at her cousin’s house in Sonoma, up Sonoma Mountain.  WOW, what a gorgeous place.  It was a little farmhouse, I think, that has been a work in progress.  Adding on, reworking the inside, backyard stuff.  It is just beautiful!!  And what a view!

(I didn’t get a pic of the front of the house.. the front was super cute, too, looked like a little country house.)

View on the way up the mountain road to the house..

Chris enjoying…

..this view!

Austin going out to the deck where Daddy was..

Uncle Tim getting some water at the end of the day after putting some chairs away..

..another door that leads out to the deck and down the stairs to the pool area.. again with the view.. it was such a peaceful view. LOVED it!

People pics, visiting inside the house..

Austin learning how to play foos-ball.. (sp?)

..and then teaching Milo who is 15 mo. old..

Milo and his mom, Kelly..who is married to Chris’s third cousin, Peter.

Little Chris and Sara, who are Toni & Pat’s kids.  Toni is Chris’s third cousin as well. (Peter’s sister)  I think I’m keeping it all straight. ha!

Chris is 5 yrs old, and Sara is about 3 mo. older than Austin.  She was a tiny baby at Austin’s baby shower.  They’re all getting so big!

Aunt Lucci, and Aunt Alice (Chris’s great-aunts, they are Dolores’ aunts)

Alex and Leigh in the background.. (my nephew and sis-in-law)

Then after the eating, the party moved to the front yard for a game of Pirate, a pinata, and some more visiting..

Austin helped take this one..

Little boy was hot and sweaty,it was warm that day.

Some fam..

(Aunt Alice and Casey, and Mark standing up)

(Mark, Lucci, Cheree-Mark’s wife..expecting twins!, little Chris, Jeanie, Joanie, Betty-family friend, Leigh and Casie)

(green shirt is Susie-our hostess, little boy in green, Theo, Toni, and Laura Jean? I think.)

Playing ball with Uncle Tim..

Chris, Tim, Warren-my F.I.L., and Jake, I think?

And the ever popular, and Austin’s very first.. PINATA!

Waiting his turn and watching with Pat, Toni’s husband.. taking it all in, figuring out what he’s supposed to do.

Then he knew just what to do!

Sara’s turn again!

Theo, baby Milo’s big bro. (he’s 4 yrs old)

And Chris..

Alex finally had to take a few swipes at it to get it open for the kids..

..and a swipe it was, it broke the stick! (plastic broom-handle)

Then they had fun picking up their prizes! 

And shortly after that, we left for our drive home.  It was a fun five days filled with lots of family visiting and fun, and ended with the big BBQ where I saw lots of family that I had met already and lots that I had never met.  Chris has a really big extended family, I was told this wasn’t the half of it.  I’m pretty used to that myself. ha!  Austin has no shortage of extended family, that’s for sure.  I hope I got all the names right.  I was really trying to keep it all straight when I was there.  So, Dolores, sorry if I butchered any names or relations!

This is a really great place that we visited recently when we were visiting Santa Rosa.  I would rec. it to anyone.  It is very cool.  ESP. if you are familiar with these characters, which, unless you’ve been living under a rock since the 50′s, I’m sure you are.

The only advice I would give is not to take a toddler/very young child if you really want to go through it and take in all of the exhibits.  As Austin cannot read yet or understand comics, he was over it in about 15 minutes.  He just wanted to stay out in the courtyard the whole time.  It was still a great time, though. 

He did come away, however, with a new love of Snoopy, some souvenir pennies that he LOVED making, and a little Snoopy doll which was surprisingly affordable.  Very affordable, I thought!  Much more than the $30 t-shirt that  I really wanted to get him, but just couldn’t do it.  I found a tee for me for $14 but all the kids shirts and baby things were $30?  Come on!  Someone’s taking advantage!!  It was so cute, too.  It was dark brown, long sleeves, and it had a pic. of Pigpen on it, along with the phrase “Dirt Don’t Hurt!”  It still makes me mad that they wanted $30 for a tiny 3T t-shirt!  Anyway, we went with Warren & Dolores and it was lots of fun!

The making of the pennies..

which was great timing, b/c Austin has really been into “coins” lately.  He loves to dump out his piggy bank and play with the coins and put them back in.  I don’t know where he got the word “coins” from. ?  I usually say change or something.  They really do hear EVERYTHING and pick up everything.. bionic ears.  He’s now learning what the diff. ones are called.  So far he knows penny and quarter, but he still just calls them all coins.

..drawing a crowd.. kids love coins.

 THE CHARLES M. SCHULZ MUSEUM AND RESEARCH CENTER  — he lived in Santa Rosa so there are these statues not only at the museum but scattered around town as well.  Fun!

The entrance:

The big two-story mural..

Getting closer to it..

Can you tell yet what the mural is made of?  Yep! Tiles of his comic strips.  This was very cool and one of my favorite things.

What a great idea, huh?

Some random pics of the inside..

painted murals..

Wood relief of Snoopies..

Play area where you could make your own comic strip with these magnetic pieces.. I kinda wanted to try it, but Austin wasn’t really into it.  Kept taking the magnets off.  Not old enough yet.

Checking out some action figures..

The rest of the exhibit rooms were “no photog.” areas..   So you’ll just have to go and visit the museum to see more of it!  They rotate exhibits, too so they change every few months. It was really interesting.

The courtyard..

The purple baseball hat shaped shade structure..

Underneath it, in this bowl of water, you can see five diff. holograms of Snoopy and Woodstock.  Very cool!  You can barely see some of it in the next photo.. it’s the red blurry figures in the right side of the water to the right of the other person’s reflection.

Statue under the kite eating tree..

another statue..

Ah, Snoopy! 

Nana & Papa outside with us while Chris was looking at the exhibits. 

There was a lot of things that you couldn’t take pics of..  like his office/studio that his wife donated when he passed away.  It is exactly how he had it in his home all of those years.

And my other favorite thing was a mural that he had painted on the nursery wall of his first daughter in like 1951 I think.  Someone had bought the house, knowing that it might be under there somewhere, and used liquid something or other and cotton balls to painstakingly remove 4, yes FOUR layers of latex paint.  Luckily he had painted it in oils so it held up pretty good.  When the people who owned this house heard about the museum, they had the wall cut out of their house and donated.  It was a NO PHOTOGRAPHY thing so I couldn’t get a pic, but it was so cute!  There was a little boy, little girl, little black and white dog, and other cartoony things just scattered over the wall, books, a train, etc.  But you could totally see the resemblance of the boy, girl, and dog to Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Peppermint Patty!   It was like the beginnings of them.  Not them, but you could see them coming. So cool!

Well, that’s all the pics I have of that afternoon trip!  If you’re ever in the area, it’s a really cool place to go.

 THE END.

Here are just some photos of visiting, etc. with the family the evening we got to Santa Rosa.. The whole family was together and went out for Mexican, and then after that, we stopped by these polo grounds that are near Nana & Papa’s house.. I think I posted pics of these polo grounds before.  GREAT place to run dogs (and/or kids) and also to fly a kite.

Austin’s favorite 3-legged Border Collie, Skippy..and Calvin the heeler came to visit with Uncle Dave & Auntie Andrea from Phoenix..

Skippy is running in this one and it cracks me up b/c it looks like he’s just standing on his two front legs, like he has NO back legs.

(Cousin Alex in the foreground)

And lots of running..

(^Cousin Ryan in the background)

Did I mention the running?

Saw a couple of those dogs that look like mops, with dreds down to the ground… Italian Sheepdogs..interesting.  Not so cuddly and fuzzy to pet. hmm.  They originated in the Alps so this coat protected them from alot of diff. things including, probably, predators.. don’t think anything would want to bite through all that hair. ?

Lots of people bring their dogs to this place.  We saw a couple of Old English Sheepies, and one that looked JUST like an O.E. but was totally white, beautiful.  Must have been an O.E. mixed with something like a Pyrenees or something.

Anyway, here are just some random photos of the fam.

Alex, Uncle Dave, Kelsey, Papa..Chris way in the background with his kite..

Kelsey, Dave, Ryan, Nana(with Papa behind her and Ben behind him) Andrea, Austin..

And a few photos from around the house..

We decided to try out our tent and “pretend” camp the first night since all the beds in the house were taken.. well, we didn’t last long.  Went in the house early in the morning, FREEZING.  Slept on the couches after that.  Hooray for couches and warm houses!

Austin hanging with the cousins..(And Uncle Dave..)

The End.  Next time.. Pics of the Charles Schulz museum!  Neat place.

I’m interrupting the visiting with family pictures to post this for Bryan.  When he was visiting, he noticed that we have a Malibu light transformer box in our backyard, next to the electrical outlet.  I had seen some scattered wiring around, but it looked so old and dusty, I figured it didn’t work.. but he encouraged me to try it.  So I got a light and plugged it into some of the wire and it WORKED!  Lo and behold!  And I didn’t get shocked while I was figuring it out.    Now we have a total of five lights.  There’s some wire, though, that’s not working so we have to dig it up and find out where/what’s gone wrong.  Ugh.  But here’s a pic, per Bryan’s request.  It’s hard to take pics of the lights at night, so I did my best.  I only have a couple that turned out really.. not very impressive, I know, but here’s my latest project in the backyard..

2 walkway light to light the path..

..a little copper light next to Austin’s play area.. oh, and that’s his little choo choo windmill thingie from the last post that we got at the fair.. at home, in its natural habitat..

and one shining on this tree, and one more in the back shining on a diff tree that I didn’t get a pic of..

..you can’t really tell in that picture, but anyway, there they are Bryan!  You’ll have to come back and visit soon, so you can sit out there and enjoy the ambiance. haha

Love and miss you guys.. along with all of our family we got to visit with recently.  We’ve had colds or allergies or both since we got home from Santa Rosa .. but we are slowly recovering from our very busy and fun last three weeks!

That’s all for now! Talk to ya later!

Last week, we went to Santa Rosa for about 5 days and visited with our Fannin family.   We went to the Sonoma County Fair a couple of times.  It was a really nice fair.. much nicer than the San Joaquin County Fair.  Plus, the weather wasn’t as hot!  Huge plus.

The group going in..

(he just woke up from a nap in the above pic)

Watching the Border Collie sheepherding competition..

ahh, another uncle (this one is Dave )..  Austin loves his uncles!

Cousin Kelsey..

There were some really obnoxious sheep in this competition.. one kept stomping at the dog!  It was fun to watch and esp. interesting b/c Dave and Andrea brought their 3 legged Border Collie with them to visit, and he was herding Austin all over the house.  He has great instincts for never being trained and just being a pet!

We didn’t see this but Andrea and Dave did and said it was good.. they are from Branson, Missouri!  Austin probably would’ve liked it.. wish we would have seen it.

Anhueser Busch (I think I totally spelled that wrong) Clydesdales.. HUGE horses.

Pushing his stroller in the dirt.. very entertaining apparently..

He insisted on going to see the really BIG cows.  I think it was naptime in this barn or something.

Since he woke up from his LONG nap and we immed. left for the fair, we got dinner there, pizza.. and it was GOOD.

..pointing at his “choo choo train” windmill stake that we found to put next to his sandbox in our yard!  I had been looking all over for some kind of “boyish” yard thing to stick out there and was so excited to find a whole booth at the fair selling these types of things.  Also found a little flag to stick out there that has a baseball, basketball, football and soccer ball on it.  Hooray for the fair.

He was so proud of it..  here he is carrying it into the house when we got back home.. that is Skippy, the 3 legged Border Collie, happy to see his family back home.

The 2nd time we went to the fair, I didn’t take any pics except for these two owls that were out at the Bird Rescue booth.  The tiny one is a full grown Screech Owl.  Amazingly small and beautiful.

The End (of the fair pictures.. next time I’ll post some family visiting pics)

The week before last, my mom and 2 brothers, who all live in MO now, came to visit.  Kevin and Bryan only stayed for 4 days while my mom stayed for 2 weeks.  We just took her to the airport this past Tues.

We enjoyed lots of visiting while they were here..

 (Austin and Uncle Kevin had a little “bromance” going.. he was smitten with his uncle.  That is my G-mother, Austin’s great-grandmother (Mammaw Lee) Inez Lee who will be 92 this coming December.  Doesn’t she look good?)

Ronda came to visit one day, and so did Angela Cutter, but I didn’t get a pic of her..

A “picnic” of In’n'Out Burgers on the patio..

Uncle Kev teaching him the golf swing..

Playing with Uncle Bryan outside.. he loved both his uncles.. this was soooo fun for me to watch..

Chillin’ after dinner..

..and a reallllly HUGE spider web, the perfect circular kind, with a BIG spider in the middle.  ICK!

Lots of Austin playing with the uncles..

..playing “what’s this color” with Uncle B.

..having fun with Uncle Kev..

And the four of us went to a Giants game in S.F. while Mom stayed home with Austin.  That was the longest I’ve ever left my baby in his whole almost 3 years.  I felt like I was missing a limb for the first couple of hours.  And of course everything reminded me of him!  He loves trains and as luck would have it, about four or more trains came through Jack London Square while we were waiting to board the Ferry to the game from Oakland.  He loves Sirens/Emergency Vehicles and again, the one time he isn’t with us, it happens to be “Law Enforcement” night at the game.. so there were about 20 motorcycle cops on the field before the game, who ran their sirens while they drove off the field.. etc.  I made it though, gotta cut the strings sometime right?  It was a night game and it was cold, and we got home late.. and he had a great time with my Mom so it all worked out great!  We had a great time!  And the Giants WON, and someone hit a homerun out into the water in McCovey Cove! What else could we ask for?

The Ferry:

Our seats near the foul pole down the 3rd base line..  This was actually a really neat perspective of the game.  I liked sitting there.

I want to go down the slides inside the Coke bottle sometime.. ha!  And I love the glove sculpture.

The section behind Bryan to the left of our seats was the bleachers.. we saw a couple of rowdy fights break out over there.. hmm.. on Law Enforcement night?  Probably not the best night to pick fights in the stands.. they were promptly ejected from the park.

After Kevin and Bryan left, Austin showed Mom how he can ride his bike..

..holding his feet up so the kitty can’t get them..

..decided to walk it home..

hmm.. used to look like this (9 mo. old)

and now looks like this (2 mo. shy of 3 yrs old!)  Same helmet.. way bigger head. Just going by TOOOO fast!!

Then, my mom went to my grandma’s to stay for a week, and we went to Santa Rosa to visit the other side of our family.. pics of that next time.  When we got home, we picked up my mom for a night, and then took her back to the airport.  Austin REALLLLY wanted to ride the plane with her.  He kept saying, “Austin need to go on a airpane, Austin need-a go wit Gwanny.”  He is used to going when we go to the airport, not dropping people off so this time was a first for him.  He’s gone when we take someone before, but probably doesn’t remember it, he was really small.  But he does remember going on the airplanes to visit Granny & Grandpa.  He kept looking for my dad in the airport, too.  He couldn’t figure out why we were sending someone away, when usually we are picking someone up or going on the plane ourselves.  Anyway, here’s Granny leaving us..

maybe he can go with her this way?

..time to get in the truck..

..helping her tow her suitcase into the airport..

Thanks for coming to visit us everyone! I hope you come back soon!

, Kelli

Here are a few more pics of Summer 2009:

Standing by a “REALLLY BIG BEEE!!!” at the Stockton Arena.. (he loves letters!)

on our way to see…

Sesame Street Live: Elmo’s Green Thumb!

(checking out the stage beforehand, with Daddy)

…the show…

Big Bird…

Daddy teaching him to drive.. (actually just backing up and pulling forward about 10 feet in a BIG empty parking lot.. and sometimes he sits on Chris’s lap and helps him pull the car into the garage.. don’t tell CPS. haha) This is a bad pic.. he was actually excited about it and always asks to do it.. and Chris was NOT asleep. ha!

Helping Daddy in the garage..  He likes to change batteries in the things that need new batteries.

Enjoying the patio, having a lazy p.j. day..

posing with his dog Bernie on the same p.j. day..

Playing “whiffles” ball in the front yard.  He LOVES being outside now.  Though he still won’t walk barefooted on the grass..

..a one-handed HIT!

Well, that will do for now.. We just got back from a trip to Santa Rosa for lots and lots of visiting with family, capped off with a kind of family reunion BBQ for Chris’s mom’s side of the family.  Have been gone for the last 5 days, so need some sleep!  Picking my mom up tomorrow to bring her back here, she has spent the last week with my g-ma, but will be coming back for one more night with us, and then we take her to the airport on Tues.  Will post more pics later.

Thanks for readin’.. , Kelli