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Independence Day is here! Wow, half a year has already passed, and I am glad to report that it has been a lot better than the last so far. Sure, there are still remaining construction related issues (thank you City), but nothing comparing to the stress of the past year.

Even Keegan has been  much easier: better sleeper, and way LESS tantrums (knocking on wood, touching iron, etc.). His vocabulary is increasing rapidly and his absolute non-interest in drawing and coloring continues. He has shown more interest and skills, so far, in math related games. He enjoys workbooks that are math related and has a good grasp of more and less (what is heavier, what is more, etc) which surprises me, definitely not the math genius. The other night he even did some basic math on his carrots. He knew he had to eat 5, so he said: “I have seven carrots, I will took two off and eat 5”. I was clearly impressed. Ok, so he gets it from his dad. Well, engineers make a lot more money than artists.

The long weekend started early: on Thursday we spent a beautiful afternoon in Mission Bay with Hannah, her mom Jennifer and her little sister Natalie. It was a perfect afternoon: sunny and breezy, but not hot. We finished up the afternoon with a nice dinner, and Matt reached us there.

On Friday, I left early from work to meet Keegan at school, just in time for his Bike Parade. All the kids, with their decorated wagons, tricycles and bikes go around the block to celebrate the holiday.

ready to go with Elliott

It is really fun to watch them go, struggling uphill, and flying downhill. I guess this year will be probably the last year we are using a tricycle: It is probably time for a real bike. Keegan knows, that, to get a bike, he needs to pedal on his own (he likes to be pushed when the road gets tough). And honestly, I think it is a little easier to pedal with a bike. So now my months of research start to find the perfect(ly looking) bike.

All together

After the parade, a sweet surprise was waiting for them: sorbet and lollipops.

triple K trouble: Kelsen, Keegan and (Mac)Kenzie

The long weekend was fun. We enjoyed some really good time together. Saturday, since there is no trace of marine layer, we headed to the beach. It was nice, and we got to play in the water and sand. Keegan had a nice long nap, while we rested and worked around the house. We even did a little yard work.

Sunday morning we headed to a park waiting for the Annual Church Carnival to start. It is really cool (and free). We went last year, and there Keegan discovered the magic of bouncie slides. They have all sort of booths, prices, free food and desserts and of course bouncies. We played some games, especially the fishing game, waiting for the bouncie to be blown up. We got enough tickets for a large one eyed leopard. He loves it. More bouncing and then, the highlight of the morning: a huge water slide. Keegan saw one the day before, so he was very excited. Even so, it took a lot of convincing, since he did not have his swim trunks.

But once he tried once, trunks or no trunks, you could not stop him. He was sliding up and down  for more than 40 minutes.

I finally took him home, exhausted, around 2pm. Amazingly enough, he did not have a long nap, but we got him to bed early.

Matt had been working on the pool, so we were both pretty tired by nighttime. We relaxed in the newly connected jacuzzi: it felt nice to be able to soak, after more than a year of watching it sitting there as a huge paperweight.

On the actual 4th, we finally blew up the dinosaurs pool from last year: he has been asking for it for so long… He spent most of the day in and out of the water, jumping, diving (don’t ask…I know it is only a few inches, but you go tell him) and splashing around, on a beautiful, sunny day.

We even inaugurated the new soccer goal, with annoying sounds effects. He had fun kicking the ball and hearing the loud GOOOOAAAL. And check out his technique!

Water guns were also brought out for a fun battle, since it has been very warm all day. The super friendly neighborhood cat Yogi stopped by to say HI. This is friendliest cat I have ever seen. She immediately comes over and rub against your leg even if she never seen you before. And she love cuddles, being pet and and being around people. She behaves more like a dog. Keegan loves her, and he is very delicate with her.

We had dinner outside, overlooking the canyon and listening to the various birds, and the squawking hawks. So beautiful.

After Keegan went to bed, we relaxed, and watched some of the Seaworld Fireworks from upstairs…at least the ones that were tall enough toe above the trees.

What a fun weekend! We really can’t complain too much of not having vacations or not going anywhere, since San Diego provides us with so many great opportunities.

We had a busy June. With the warmer weather and the longer days, there is always so much to do in San Diego.

Seaworld and the zoo are open later, so they are a perfect spot for a quick after school activity: this is where the the annual pass really comes handy. The is  also a great Inflatables World in the parking lot where the Pumpkin patch is and we made a trip there. While the admission fee is not cheap ($15), spending 2 hours sliding up and down made it worthwhile. It was amazing: 10/15 huge inflatables (mainly slides, which are Keegan’s favorite), in all shapes and forms. And being a Friday afternoon, there was barely anyone there, so no waiting in line. He had a blast!  He was running from one to the next, to the next, so excitedly! And since the place closes at 6pm, it was easy to get Keegan to leave: they were closing the gates, no discussion there. We will definitively go back.

The Gorilla one was my favorite. If I did not have to pay my own way, I would have loved to slide down there myself.

We also had some fun playdates. MacKenzie came to visit after school and the two kids had fun playing in Keegan’s play room. These two are really best buds, and they are great playmates. Even after spending the whole day together at school, they still want to hang out. Amazingly enough they did not break anything or hurt themselves.

playing house (with cars)

“roughing” it in the big inflatable ball

On the house front, we are still working on the yard, mainly getting pool and jacuzzi back. Then we will move on the yard, that by now looks more like a wasteland…I guess we are lucky we are living next to a guy who has a bunch of dried dirt and overgrown weeds for yard, so it makes ours look like a tropical paradise. Regardless, Matt always keep the weeds mowed, and Keegan often “helps” with his own lawnmower.

June meant also gray and cool days, but Keegan did not mind, since he get to wear some cool hooded jackets.

We also had two fun events, that happened on the same weekend: Father’s day and Torin’s birthday party.

As every year, we had a Dad Celebration at school, complete with a buffet and water games.

Keegan is helping dad with his water balloon toss

this, sadly,  is the best father/son picture I could manage.

During the weekend we celebrated daddy by cooking breakfast and giving him a little break. Matt got a couple of books, and a wonderful paper tie, created by Keegan. In the afternoon we went for a nice walk in Tecolote canyon, and saw a lot of bunnies and beautiful birds.

Torin’s birthday party was very fun, as always. Trains were the theme, and the kids played and run around. Water guns were added to the mix this year, and that was not good news for some of the adults that participated into a water gun fight.

The little guys got soaked, but they did not care. It was warm and sunny, so it did not matter. Pinata and cake arrived next, making everyone happy.

We all loved the train/lego block cake pieces. As always very creative.

One more fun event to close a fun month: we braved the crowds and headed up to the San Diego County Fair. We actually had the timing right: by driving up there 20 minutes before opening we did not find any traffic and scored a terrific parking spot. And we have heard that on that particular day the traffic, had been horrific later on, because they had a Beer Festival and a Gospel festival going on at the same time. I guess we were lucky.

We started by visiting the agricultural pen, looking at goats, cows,pigs and sheep. Keegan got soon bored, but he loved the little pigs races and swims.We could not postponed it any longer: we had to go to the rides. Keegan was well informed, and knew there were rides to be had. He could ride alone on more than half the rides, but of course he liked to pick the ones that required adults (= twice the cost to ride them).

Fortunately, we met one of his friends from school, Elliott, so they had even more fun riding together and we were mainly off the hook and could sit back.

Keegan’s first attempt at bumper cars

Look ma: I am driving a Mustang too!

“motorcycles…so dangerous!” (actual quote from Keegan, even if he loved this ride)

Overall it was a fun day: we have not been at the fair in ages, but definitively it was not a cheap proposition…these rides are expensive. But the beaming smile on his little face made it all worthwhile.

We are looking forward to some summer weather, without any June Gloom and lots more fun with our little guy.

I know some of you may think that is always Spring Time in San Diego,  and that we don’t really have seasons here, but there still is something special about this time of year: longer days, warmer sun, baby hawks and lots and lots of flowers everywhere.

Spring Time also means we have more time to play outside after Keegan’s nap. So we take full advantage of this longer days to visit our favorite places, the Zoo and Seaworld, as well as neighborhood parks. We play stomp rocket, soccer or baseball. Soccer is still the favorite game, though.

One of our favorite parks, is the South Clairemont park, next to the Skate/Bike park. There are the obligatory slide structure, but also a huge, flat field, which is ideal to play in, or simply run in, maybe on daddy’s shoulders.

Being a neighborhood park, sometimes we met some of Keegan’s friends from school, that also live nearby.

Having a snack and goofing off with Van

If the weather was not nice, we found some fun activity to do. We got to tour an ambulance and a fire engine (which is different from a fire truck, I guess). Keegan had fun pretending to be a fireman and a patient: he even got his blood pressure taken.

goofing off on the fire engine

Hello… Can you hear me?

And if nothing else is going on, a “pic nic” outside school at pick up time will do.

Spring also means, Mother’s Day. We had a mellow but pleasant one. We started the celebration with Keegan’s school party. Tea and cookies were served under a tent outside, and silly dance games were played. It was just nice to see all the kids showing off their moms.

Keegan with MacKenzie and Van and their moms

An horrible pictures of us

Saturday, we had a date night planned, but our sitter got sick, so we ended up building IKEA furniture instead for Keegan’s room.hat a parent’s way to spend Saturday night (it still beats rolling up coins). At least I felt we accomplished something. The room is almost finished: we will have pictures soon.

On Sunday, Matt’s prepared a delicious brunch while I took an early morning nap, and he helped Keegan prepare a sweet card for me. Keegan also gave me his gift: a pretty jar of multicolored sand. I also picked up approximately 400 prints of pictures from 2009 and 2010: I finally got caught up, well still need to start on 2011. Watching all the images, and how much Keegan has grown in the past two years was very heart-warming, and I felt very blessed indeed to have such a wonderful little man in my life.

The warm and fuzzy feelings helped a lot, because he was not exactly on his best behavior that day…but no matter. And since he is three, I still get to dress him with clothes I like, even matching outfits in my favorite colors (a trend started when he was a baby).

One other fun activity we did this Spring was to “raise” and then release Painted Lady butterflies. I have been wanting to do this for a long time, and Keegan have been hearing about caterpillars and butterflies a lot, both at school, and at home, with our fun Hungry Caterpillar book and magnet set.  So we got a habitat for them, and ordered some larva.We were lucky: all 10 caterpillars turned into beautiful butterflies.

It was an amazing experience for all of us…I would say more for me and Matt, but Keegan enjoyed it as well. They arrived in a sealed jar, and we watched the caterpillar wiggle and eat till they became chrysalises.We even borrowed a great book that details the transformation.

getting ready to form a cocoon

a translucent chrysalis

That’s was the tricky par: transferring them to the little pop-up container and hang them there. After a little over a week, they started coming out of the cocoon and we had the chance to watch them and feed them. It was really fun.

We fed them sugar water and oranges…and they seemed to appreciate the bounty.

How many can you count? Can you see all 6?

We let them go on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Problem was, they did not really want to leave. They enjoyed the free food I guess. So, we had to actually put them on our hands and get them out. It took a couple of days, but they finally all flew away. We bid farewell to each of them.

bye bye butterfly. Fly away…now!

One more spring baby we had the fortune to enjoy: our usual hawk came back again this year. It settled in a nest almost completely hidden, but right in front of our house. With a binocular and some luck we got to observe the babies grow into juvenile, and they sometimes used our house and railing as a resting perch while they were learning how to fly.

taking a rest (and a dump) on our railing

So, all and all a fun, busy Spring. We are looking forward to Summer, and to a hopefully warm and sunny weather to compensate for the gray and cold summer of 2010.

… so we are really behind with this blog thing. This year has been very busy so far, between work and the million house related things…And we thought we were done with all that.

Anyway let’s try to recap. The week after my parents left, it was Easter already. The festivities started with preschool party in the morning, where a Easter Bunny dressed magician showed up and did tricks. I was so sad I had to miss it (NOT): Good Friday and Easter Monday were my only two days off in the Spring, alone, so I wanted to take advantage of the time to catch up with stuff.

doing some magic

wow, a real bunny (and not a weird old guy in a bunny suit)

On Saturday, I took Keegan to the nearby park Easter Celebration: there was an Easter Eggs hunt, a bouncie, a little firetruck rides, the Easter bunny, face painting and balloons artists.

Keegan did not really understand the idea of the eggs hunt, when there are tons of other little kids running over each other and scrambling to get some eggs. He just stood there, so he ended up with only 1 egg: it still got to exchange it for candy, so he was happy anyway. And plus, there were PLENTY more eggs awaiting him this weekend.

anxiously waiting for the hunt to start…

Of course he happily jumped on the bouncie and we were lucky to meet one of our neighbors, with her little one, Markus, a few months younger than Keegan. The two get along really well, and I dare to say that Markus is even more rowdy than Keegan, so there was a whole lot of wrestling, jumping, bouncing, bonking, and whole lot of laughter. This helped a lot, since we ended up being in line for the “balloon artiste” (yes, this was on his name tag) for more than half an hour. It was worth it, though, because he got a sword, a helmet and a belt, that lasted for weeks.

There were the obligatory pictures with the Easter bunny, and just a lot of playing in the sun.

Ok, is this just me or this bunny is absolutely creepy???? It is almost scarier than Frank from the movie Donnie Darko (by the way, still one of the best movies ever!)

Markus, Keegan and the creepy bunny

On the actual Easter day, after my early morning nap, I hid all the eggs and the basket in the yard, and had a good time watching Keegan discovering them all. We had to help him bringing in all the loot. I may have gone a little overboard, but he was one happy camper, between all the toys, the large Italian chocolate egg  and the candy.

He got the Leapfrog Scribble and Write he asked for, Froggie catch mitts, and the Cars he got for his birthday, which he did not remember at all. The gift that keeps on giving. These helped fuel his new passion for everything Cars related…and it is a good timing too, since the new movie will come out in the summer. Now playing with his cars is one of his favorite games…AND he can actually play with them alone for some time.

After the hunt, we called my parents and he opened their gift while talking to them via Skype: he was excited to get little Playmobil guys to complete his skate park set (also a gift from his nonni). Grazie nonni!

He easily crashed for his nap, but woke up early (too excited). He was so tired, though, he went back to bed and I had to wake him up. We spent the afternoon at Krista’s house, and had another fun hunt with Torin and their neighbor. They had a great time playing together and we, the adults, enjoyed some relaxing time.

Chasing each other, running and roughing each other were favorite games, but playing with Torin’s great train track was also a favorite.

It was a great Easter weekend, and I had a full day off on Monday to extend the fun. It was only fitting: after all, Easter Monday is a holiday in Italy.

I can’t believe it how fast time flies: it has already been a month since i nonni left: we still miss them quite a lot.

But let’s not dwell on the sadness of the separation. We had a wonderful time together, and we wholly enjoyed these days in San Diego. The trip was uncertain till the last minute, but with the doctor’s green light, my parents arrived on March 26.

Despite our new addition, they still preferred to rent the usual apartment at the beach…and who can blame them? Spending the morning in beautiful Clairemont or hanging out on the boardwalk in Pacific Beach? Humm, it is really a toughie…In any case, it was good for us too, so we get to visit the beach a lot more often than we usually do. The weather has been a little chilly, so there was no swimming in the water, but definitely playing in the sand.

We of course enjoyed a lot of wonderful, home cooked meals, and I made sure to ask for all my favorites.

The weather was not the greatest, but we took advantage of all the sunny days. My parents also rented a car, so they had the chance to take Keegan out to play, while I got some wished-for downtime. Mission Bay was an obvious stop, so Keegan could show one of his favorite playgrounds and all the progresses he made in climbing and jumping. Check out his  really cute t-shirt (with some apologies to Milton Glaser for re-appropriating his logo)

We really got to do a lot of fun stuff, and Keegan sure enjoyed all the attention. Seaworld was another mandatory stop. Keegan showed his nonni his newest favorite: The Dolphin Show.

We also fed the seals, but the smell of raw fish turned Keegan off. We had a quick stop at the polar bear exhibit, and of course we could not miss the Shamu show. Keegan showed off his great map reading and leadership skills, directing us to where he wanted to go.

The first week my parents were here, there was a small Fire Expo right across from Keegan’s school. We went to check it out. Between a couple of emergencies, the fire station was open for business, and we got a nice tour. We were a little disappointed there was no pole, but the guys assured us the PB station have one. Of course, the cutest firemen were brought out for the event: I pick Keegan up every day, and I never seen any cute ones before. The kids also got to test out the fire truck and spray water with the fire hose. They all got stickers and a hat. It was fun.

With nonni here, everything was a game and adventure, even the painful (for us) meal time. He even started eating tomato suace again, but the veggie soup still remained a no-no.

Of course the best thing was simply the time spent together: everyday they would invent a new game for Keegan to play and regardless what it was, there was plenty of laughter. One thing Keegan really liked was to listen to grandma and grandpa telling stories, all sort of stories, from the classics, like Cenerentola (Cinderella), which is now one of his favorites, to Pinocchio, to Greek Mythology (Ulyssis and the cyclops) to Aesop’s Fables. Some of the books were the same ones I read as a child, and it felt really weird to see them again. They don’t look quite as beautiful and fascinating now. It was probably the first time he sat quietly listening to a story, without having any visual in front of him…It is more than I can say about a lot of my students.

Stickers books were a big hit too.

The overall favorite games, though, involved jumping around, and “hiding”. Keegan is fascinated with Hide and Seek, but he still does not get that you really have to hide and not tell where you are.

My mom even tried her hand at baseball.

Keegan even got to go to Legoland with Matt for his school’s annual trip: a welcome break for my parents. Unfortunately I could not make it, but looking at the pictures it seemed like they had a blast. Hannah and her mom tagged along, which made it a lot more fun, especially for Matt.

With Easter approaching, our neighbour, the photographer, once again had a little lamb, Daisy, and we got to play with it a little bit…in fact it walked us home one day… then promptly peed on our driveway, which Keegan found hilarious.

I can’t deny, of course, that my parents’ visit also meant free babysitting for us: it was great to be able to go out at night without worrying about finding and paying a sitter. We took full advantage of that. We went out to the movies, to the Rise Against with Bad religion Concert, and we even stayed a night in a awesome hotel, The Keating, designed by Pininfarina in the Gaslamp Quarter. It was awesome! I mean, being able to be away for a night would have made a cheap Motel 8 feel like a mansion, but this place was incredible. We have not been in a modern, boutique hotel since Keegan was born…and I can say I did not lost the taste for it. The room was great: concrete floors, in room glass shower, espresso machine in the room, huge, comfortable bed. Every floor had a cool model of a concept Ferrari. It was very luxurious.

in-room bath and shower

bed

espresso machine: I had to drink some

the hallway with the Ferrari models

After three weeks filled with so much fun it was hard to say goodbye, but we hope to see them soon in Italy. Thank you for everything and a presto!

So, we have not been writing for a while. Too much to do, too little time, blah, blah, blah. Anyway: all is well here. we kept busy with working around the house and my parents’ visit (more on future blogs). Of course, we have still not moved in the new rooms, and we still have mostly empty closets, and boxes in the garage. All in due time: we are setting up weekend schedules, and try to tackle one thing at the time. Keegan especially is in no hurry, since empty rooms means he has more places to store toys and play.

Case in question: his huge, inflatable ball, proudly sitting in what will be Matt’s cave.

Among all to do lists we had to add some unexpected item, that took priority. Matt’s truck finally kicked the bucket, after 12 years and more than 165,000 miles. Honestly we were hoping to wait till the summer, but when the mechanic said that the wheels could come off at any time and it would take more than $2000 to make it safe, we need we had to get something else, and quick. Amazingly enough for us, we managed to get our new ride in a couple of days. So we are now proud owners of a Honda Ridgeline. I am very excited about it, because it is still a truck (hello IKEA trips) but it has finally 5 seats, so we can all fit in comfortably. No more squeezing in a jump seat or inside the Mustang. Hopefully this will lead us to take more road trips.

As for the house, well, there is still so much t do: the yard is priority #1, We have been working with a landscape architect to come up with a comprehensive plan we can slowly adopt for the whole house. We are also setting up new concrete pads for our jacuzzi and pool, and try to figure out where to place them. For now, the yard is half a jungle, half wasteland, 100% depressing. It is so bad that gophers peek out and scurry around with impunity. They are eating some of the weeds, to be honest, but also make a huge mess. I feel like I am inside an eternal rerun of Caddyshack.

gopher are kind of cute, but still…

Then we will need to get furniture for the upstairs rooms, and the living room. And of course the outdoor furniture as well. The garage is almost cleared out: still a few things to seel, a few things to put away. And we finally ordered blinds for 2 of the upstairs rooms. My goal would be to have most of the more pressing item taken care of by summer time, so our house can really be ready for guests. Anyone flying to the West Coast?

I will soon post images from our wonderful three weeks with our parents, but in the meantime here are some pictures of Keegan during the past couple of months.

trying to inspire his musical career

A big boy seat…love it! I can actually use the front passenger seat now

Our wonderful morning ritual: milk, books and cuddles. It almost make waking up at 6.15 am bearable, ALMOST.

Another ritual: watching some TV with dad on weekend mornings, all bundled up with some friends (while mom is napping).

Keegan is very fascinated by little babies: here is with Natalie, Hannah’s little sister.

Really, 1 lucky boy on St. Patrick’s Day (also 150th anniversary of Italy’s Unification)

January and February came and went in the blink of an eye: we have been busy.

After a summer like January (more warmer days in January than last July), February brought some winter: rain, wind, hails, even thunders and lighting but also a couple of beautiful double rainbows.For as rare as they are, in the past 6 months we saw at least 3/4 of them. They never stop to amaze us.

it is hard to see the second rainbow in this image

While I did use Photoshop to stitch images together and adjust the colors, this is really how it looked like.

We still had our beautiful sunny days, of course, but we also had to crank up the heat most days.The winter weather did not stopped us. Keegan especially has been a busy boy. Between the end of January and the end of February, he had 4 birthday parties and another birthday celebration. Lucky for us, two of his friend opted for a joint party. Wow: we were exhausted.

We started with two of his best buddies: MacKenzie and Kelsen. They are born 2 days apart at the end of January, so they joined forces and had a wonderful celebration in Mission Bay, under a rare sunny day. There was a bouncie house, and crafts and of course cupcakes! How fun! It was interesting to see a Spiderman-Princess party.

playing soccer with his buddies Elliott, Kelsen and Van

the birthday girl and boy with Spiderman and Princess cupcakes

Right after the party, we all got bad colds: I completely lost my voice for a day or two. It felt weird not being able to talk…but I am sure there were plenty people enjoying the silence. (-:

The following week, it was Van’s pirate party. It was fun. It was all about pirates, with a real pirate leading a treasure hunt, and pirates crafts and cake and piñata. Event the guest were encouraged to dress up. Keegan “costume” lasted a whole 5 minutes, before he wanted to take it off. I barely had time for a picture.

Keegan loved the activities and I had plenty of time for chatting.

mr. sensitive eyes, shielding from the sun. He would not make a very good pirate.

The made-from-scratch cake was amazing. Even Keegan seems impressed.

The following weekend, it was Rozalin’s party, another friend from school. We did dread this one a little because it was held at Chuck E. Cheese’s but it was not too bad. Keegan had a lot of fun playing games and winning rewards points, but he was not too thrilled by the huge mascot. Who can blame him? Who thought that having a creepy looking rat as  the symbol of a pizza place would be a good idea?

playing the horse race game

that mascot is very creepy if you ask me

One of Keegan’s favorite things about birthday parties are the goodie bags, and the chance to eat candy. He gets to pick one or two pieces only, so it is quite the event. Guess what color was the candy he picked?

Jada’s birthday is in February too, and even if she celebrated at Disneyland, we had the chance to go visit her and wish her happy birthday.

Our final celebration for the month was Elliott’s soccer themed party. Again crafts, snacks and piñata all matched the theme. The best part about all these parties is that all his friends from school are there, so Keegan feels somewhat comfortable and plays by himself.

the three musketeers (weren’t 4 even in the book?)

Birthday parties asides, we also got the chance to squeeze visits at the zoo, and Seaworld on Presidents day, when both Keegan and I were home for the holiday. The Dolphin Show is Keegan’s new obsession, so we made sure to make it. We also got to see the Pets’ Rules show. I wonder why they have to schedule the shows so close in time: it is always a mad rush to go from one to the next.

Striking a pose with a giant panda at the Zoo

On Valentine’s day weekend, another party, this time at Mila’s house, where Keegan spent some time playing with his buddies Hannah and Mila.

By the ed of the afternoon he is so tired he looks dazed among all the toys. I swear, we did not drugged him.

We had our Valentines Day celebration: while Matt and I postponed our official date one week, Keegan got to have fun the exact day. He exchanged Valentines with his friends at school: you are supposed to bring enough for all children, and are not allowed to personalized them or address them, you just sign them. If Charlie Brown would have been around right now, he would not have to fret about the red haired girl or not getting any cards…

He got in the mood with an appropriate shirt.

At home, he got to eat his candies, enjoy his school’s Valentines and open his gifts: a train bridge and a custom puzzle with his name.

playing with his train track and the new bridge

He is really getting interested into puzzles right now. He also loved his music and motion card (but at $6.99 a pop, it will probably be his last). Even if we did not got out that night, Matt sent a beautiful orchids/brumelia plant, and cooked a wonderful dinner (my contribution: setting the table and preparing the heart shaped mozzarella/tomatoes appetizer), so we had our romantic evening at home, beating the crowds.

Last but not least, we had our final construction walk through on February 25: a year and three days after our “soft start”. Wow: what an ordeal it has been, and we are are happy to be finished. No more lock-boxes at the door, no more unexpected visits from workers, especially in the weekend, no zipper doors…finally time to worry about decorating. Granted, we still have lots to do, especially in the outdoor area, and we don’t want to wait, but we are trying to focus on the part that is done, and not so much on the yard…talking of which, we  hired a landscape architect to create a complete and comprehensive plan for the whole outdoor area, including the side yard that is now a dumping ground. Of course we will not be able to tackle it all at once, but we thought it would be good to have a plan that we can execute little by little, instead of tackling different area randomly…at least when we are done the yard would look consistently designed.

To celebrate the end of construction, we had a very informal open house for the neighbors that have been so patient and supportive throughout this ordeal. We had a pleasant late afternoon chatting and “touring” the house, while the kids played. We had a great time. It is nice to be able to have people over again.

Now we will focus on main priorities, even if I can’t stop thinking about all the other things I would like to do to update the house to match the remodel (kitchen cabinets refacing comes to mind).

With March approaching, Spring is in the air and hopefully my parents’ visit in a few weeks. We are looking forward spending some time together.

…well, we still have a few cosmetic fix-ups, and then we need to decorate, put furniture in, re-landscape, etc. but the major construction is over. We should have our final green light and walk-through in not more than two weeks (we hope), which means no more lock box and surprise visits by random workers. We are obviously looking forward to it, and while we will have more work to do, we figured it would be nice to post some pictures of the basically finished house.

The entrance needs some rugs and plants but out new mailbox is in. We also had to replace our garage door, that decided to break down completely last December. It does looks nicer with windows in it.

We also finally got our adjustable awning put in, so our plants can recover from the scorching the suffered when the trellis went down. I like the warm glow it gives to the office and to Keegan’s room.

The bathroom upstairs needs curtains, towels (and final tiles sealing) but all the cabinets and hardware are in. And the bidet works. (-:

The stairs need a couple of steps replaced but they turned out nice.

We moved the guest room (Asian Room) upstairs…oh that was fun!

Now Keegan can finally have a room to call his own, with a new bed, a new chair and a lot more space. He loves his swivel chair:he likes to hide in there. We all know, though, that the chair purchase was mainly small compensation for me: since I can’t afford a real egg chair or bubble chair for myself, I got the IKEA chair for Keegan.

As for the bed, despite some request for a “car bed”, immediately vetoed, we bought a convertible KURA bed from IKEA. It is a tween size, so it can last for a while, but what I liked the most is the fact you can flip it over to convert it in a bunk bed.

The new bed in Keegan’s room

Despite being so excited about his new tent bed, the new sheets and blankets, he actually slept in it great, without waking up once. This is the only picture I have in which he does not seem constipated…it is now impossible to take a picture of him without him trying to “smile”: closing his yes, and clinching his teeth like he really, REALLY, has to go, right now!

With all the problems we had with the city, the chance of updating and remodeling our master bath in the near future are basically zero, so we gave it a small face lift, by changing the vanity, sink, faucet, mirror, adding some hardware and adding a nice new cabinet. And since we lost our window, we added a solaTube in both our bath and Keegan’s: what a difference it makes. Once again, IKEA to the rescue.

Of course, now I am still busy researching furniture, yard designs, window treatments, etc, so we are not really done, but it beats worrying about what the city will have to say. And by the end of it all, I am sure we could call IKEA and ask them to move their show room to our house: we will probably have at least 1 IKEA piece in every room. (-:

So, how do we feel about being at the end of the tunnel? I think Keegan’s face tells it all…Ecstatic!

Happy New Year everyone. So it is finally here. 2010 is no more, and a new year has just begun with the hope of more happiness and less stress. We rang it in in the best way. Our friends Krista, Eric and Torin came over to celebrate this new beginning. It was really fun. Keegan and Torin had a blast bouncing around the inflatable bouncie, which bravely tried to stand up to their wild rumpus…but it did spring two leaks. Oh well, it was getting too small anyway. Then it was time for cars and trains and any other toys they could get their hands on.

We nibbled on appetizer, while master barman Eric kept the drinks coming.

next drink please!

Then we had a nice dinner, while the kids were “eating” at their own little table.

We easily  got them to settle down a little just before bedtime. Tv is always a great help, and here they are mesmerized by the little short before the Incredibles movie. It is 4 minutes long, but they loved it. In fact, Keegan loved it so much, it is now one of his favorite videos for weekend mornings.

I swear we did not drug them.

Amazingly enough, both of them went to be somewhat easy, leaving us plenty times for dessert, drinks and good company. We cheered to the new year watching the standard countdown and New York ball drop — and making the usual Dick Clarck’s jokes — and got our fill of “champagne”. What a great way to start.

can you tell we are happy it is 2011???

The next morning, Keegan continued his streak, waking up at 6.30. A great start indeed. Again, we began the year with cuddles and stories and laughter, and even a cool sun outside the window. It is indeed a great way to start.

Happy New Year everyone!

We had a mellow day. I took my usual nap, then called my parents. They sent us a second round of pretty cool gifts, so Keegan got to open them on New Year’s Day. He really liked the book, little car and especially his oversize keyboard. Combining jumping around and music: what is not to like?

He had an epic nap that day, and waking up after 4 did not leave much time to go anywhere, so we stayed in, playing with the new toys and just having a mellow good time. All and all a wonderful first day. I felt very optimistic (or maybe just relieved) and I am looking forward to a much better year, I hope.

May 2011 bring all of you happiness and joy.