Santa!

Sorry for the long lapse since the last post. Everyone in our house came down with the plague over the weekend. Karl and I got hit with a nasty little flu virus and the boys turned into little snot factories with fevers. YUCK! We are all on the mend though!
The first picture was from Thanksgiving weekend. My grandma, from Colorado, flew in for the week. We took a little day trip to a Hungarian sausage factory and stopped at Charlie Browns for sweet potato fries and date shakes! My grandma loves to try new foods and I'm not about to decline sweet potato fries or a date shake ( I can do without the sausage!)
Yesterday, Monday (12/8) I drugged the boys with Tylenol and took them to Mommy and Me class because a very special guy visited...Santa! It may sound cruel that I took them out being sick but every kid in the Antelope Valley is sick and they had a GREAT time! Before Santa flew in we decorated cup cakes. The kids all got jingle bells to hold and they walked into the room to find Santa asleep in his chair! We had to ring the bells and sing "Jingle Bells" to wake him up. Santa brought Matt some tools and Micah a book. Matt did a great job of talking to Santa and telling him what he wants for Christmas. I think Matt thought he was going to get the camera (that is what he wants) right then . It is a hard concept to explain to a 2 1/2 year old! Although, he can talk all about advent and Jesus' birthday! I don't think he really understands but he is very excited to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus o n Christmas! The picture below is of Mat t and his teacher, who Matt says is "so silly!"

Lone Pine

The Stutelberg family decided to get out of town for the weekend! We left midmorning on Saturday for Lone Pine, CA. Lone Pine is located about 2 hours North of the Antelope Valley at the base of the Eastern Sierra Mountains. Lone Pine is the portal to Mt. Whitney. My dad hiked up Mt. Whitney about 10 years ago and said it was an amazing (literally breathless) experience! Someday Karl and I would love to hike it. We just need some babysitters for a day or so...hint hint!
The boys slept on the drive to Lone Pine so we didn't immediately stop in town. We drove up Portal Rd a few miles and pulled off the road and had a picnic lunch and hiked around. The rock formations at this spot were really cool. The pictures of Matt squatting and leaning on a rock and Micah by the rocks were taken here. They were in "forts." We had a good time scouting out lots of "forts!" We then drove up Portal Rd to the Whitney Portal. It had been about 70 degrees out when we had our picnic and just another 10 miles up the road it was 45 degrees at the start of the Whitney trail!We stayed the night in an old hotel in town that was built back in the 1930s to house actors and movie crews that were in the area filming old Westerns. Matt was VERY excited to stay in a hotel! Both boys were bouncing off the walls! We had dinner across the street at a pizza place which was also a special treat for the boys and added to the excitement! Once we got the kids in bed (no small feat) it took them over an hour to fall asleep! Karl and I were trying not to laugh because it was kind of cute/funny how excited they were!In the morning we ate breakfast at the greasiest (yummy yummy) cafe in the world. We then drove back up Portal Rd to Lone Pine Campground. We hiked a bit, Matt rode his tricycle, Micah pushed his toy, and hung out by the stream. When the boys started getting tired we loaded back in the car and drove home! It was a great weekend! Hopefully all of you had a nice weekend!

GOODNIGHT!!

Matt's First Race

Matt ran his first road race with Karl. The annual Turkey Trot was this weekend. There was a 1/2 K race for kids and Matt ran with Karl! He did great! He refused to wear the number (another two year old thing) but ran the whole way! All the kids got medals at the end. Our family friends, the Schneiders, ran as well. Karl paced Clay for a fast time and my dad, Bill, Dawn, and myself ran a nice easy run!

Happy Birthday Micah!!

We had a very busy weekend! Lots of family came to town for Micah's birthday on Sunday. Erin came last Tuesday evening. She had the week off for "fall holiday" and chose to spend it with us! We are so glad she came. The boys and I LOVE having her here. I keep trying to talk up the Antelope Valley with the hope she may be blinded by the the cuteness of her nephews and move here! No such luck! While she was here we went to a really cool pumpkin patch that has a train ride and animals. Jeanette had Friday off so she came on Thursday evening. We babysat Luke on Friday so we dressed up the 3 kids and took them to Karl's work then out for frozen yogurt. Matt was a bee, Micah a spider, and Luke a bear! I had originally planned to have Matt and Micah be monkeys but Matt refused to wear the outfit (a two year old thing) and a friend gave me the spider outfit and it was just too cute. So, we had two insects!
Halloween night we carved pumpkins then went to our church for "trunk or treating." People from the church and school park and decorate their cars and hand out candy. We took Matt last year and it is perfect! Karl's brother, Jack and his girlfriend Raina came on Friday night and joined us.
Sunday was Micah's birthday party. The theme was zoo animals. I made Micah's monkey cake and a banana cake for him to smash into. Thanks Uncle Jack for the assistance! The party was lots of fun. We wanted to keep it fairly small so only family came. My aunt, cousin and two of her kids came. We haven't seem them in over 2 years so it was really nice of them to make the drive.
Micah performed great as you can see from the pictures! Matt "helped" him blow out his candle. I can't believe my little baby is a YEAR old. Where did the year go? I still think of Micah as my little new born and he isn't even a baby anymore but a toddler. The kids had fun with the pinata and playing in the backyard. Everyone had to leave in the afternoon after the party. It was hard to see everyone leave after such a fun long weekend! I want to send a big THANK YOU to everyone. We are very lucky to have such wonderful family that cares and loves our boys so much!

Camping

The Stutelberg's had their family camping debut this weekend! We went camping for the first time as a family. It was a great time! Our friends, the Schneiders, go camping every year with another family and they invited us along. In our 3 families their were 6 kids all under age 5!! We went to Carpinteria Beach (15 miles south of Santa Barbara) on Saturday morning. The other families spent two nights and arrived on Friday but since Karl works late and we were unsure how the kids would do we decided to go for only one night. The slide show below is a little out of order but you can get the basic idea of what we did! We spent most of the day on Saturday at the beach. The kids had a great time digging, building sand castles and burring Bill! After playing for a couple hours the younger kids were getting tired so we loaded them up in the jogging strollers and the 3 moms, Dawn, Michelle, and I went for a run while the kids napped. After running/napping we walked down the beach a bit and checked out tide pools. The kids thought it was really cool to (gently) stick there fingers in the sea urchins! We then went back to camp and got everyone showered and in pjs, which is no easy feat!! Following a great dinner we made smores. The kids were so tired they all went to sleep without too much protest around 8:00! I was really worried how Micah would sleep but he did pretty good. Other than wanting to party from 4:00-5:00am the night went pretty good. Matt was so excited about this whole adventure! Sunday morning we had breakfast and took turns borrowing bikes and taking the kids on bike rides. We then packed everything up and went to the Santa Barbara Zoo for a couple hours. Matt got to feed a giraffe and we rode on a little train around the zoo. Both boys really love zoos and had good time even though they were SOOO tired!! We all had so much fun I think we are up to a longer camping trip in the spring! Although I feel like I need a vacation after our little vacation! It is a whole different ball game camping with 2 kids! It was great that our first trip was with seasoned campers! Our friends were so helpful! Enjoy the pictures!

Homecoming at CLU

It was homecoming weekend at Cal Lutheran. We went to my sister's house early on Sat morning and let the boys play. After a morning at the park and getting bagels we put them down for early naps before heading off to CLU. We met up with my parents and brother at the football game. My brother plays in the pep band and Matt thought it was pretty cool to see him playing his clarinet. After the football game we went across campus to the new athletic facilities for the festival. There was a free festival with bouncers and a petting zoo for the kids. We also got dinner, ice cream, popcorn and coffee. It was a ton of fun. Jon, Louise and Luke met us there and the boys had a blast bouncing and petting the animals. Matt thought it was fun to hug and kiss the goats, pigs, rabbits, and sheep. Yuck Yuck Yuck!! The boys were so tired last night! It was fun to see old classmates. Karl and I went to the homecoming dance on one of our first dates when we were at CLU. That was 10 years ago!! Where has the time gone! Ten years ago when we went to the homecoming dance and carnival I never dreamed that someday I would be married and have 2 beautiful kids with Karl!! Micah is starting to walk more. He can stand and take 4-5 steps before falling. He does better if he is holding a toy and not concentrating on walking! Karl took this video last week. Micah is a little sloppy because he is about ready for bed!

The Number of the Day

The number of the day is 5!!! The theme at Mommy and Me class on Monday was the number 5. We did all our crafts and songs about the number 5. Micah slept a little longer than Matt yesterday so Matt and I did more "5" crafts! We decorated the numbers and hung them on the back of the couch then made 5 different colored play-doh snakes for Matt to carry around on his shoulders! We attempted to "teach" Daddy about the number 5 when he got home last night but Matt was too excited and silly!
Karl had a nice trip to Arizona for his grandpa's funeral. Karl said it was a very special time with family. The service was beautiful and everyone shared good memories and just enjoyed being together. The boys and I missed him and are happy to have him home.
Micah took his first 2 steps today! I am going to count them even though it was more like stumbling into my arms!! Micah has a few "words." Da da means Daddy and doggie! Ba ba is Matt. While feeding ducks at the park on Sunday Micah said "quack quack!" No Mama yet!! I'm not holding my breath for it!
Have a great remainder of the week!
I am super mom...I have single handedly gotten Matt, Micah, and Luke all down for naps at the same time!! The house is so quiet. It doesn't feel right!

Two sick boys

This weekend both the boys were sick, Matt worse than Micah. We stayed at home and watched half a dozen Elmo movies. Here are some other recent pictures of the boys to remind us what they look like when they are well.

Jumping, Riding, Walking, Running & Driving

I think we have some good pictures (and video) from our weekend! Karl, Micah and I took it easy on Saturday. Matt and my dad rode the Metro (commuter train) down to Santa Clarita to meet my sister. They then drove to Cal Lutheran to pick up my brother. This was the farthest Matt has been away from us! Right after my dad asked if he could take Matt on the train I panicked! Karl thought it was a good idea. Good for both Matt and myself! Matt had a great time! He carried his train ticket in his pocket all day. I packed all his things in his Elmo back pack. He looked so cute carrying it! I am so glad we let him go.
This morning Karl and I took turns running. We then meet our friends, the Schneiders, and drove down the "musical road." I'll explain! Honda recently filmed a commercial a few miles from our house. They cut grooves into the road so when you drive over it plays the "William Tell Overture." It sounds crazy but it is really cool. We drove it 4 times today and pulled off to the side to hear other cars do it! Apparently there are only 3 "musical roads" in the world. Finally, something cool in the Antelope Valley!! We then went to downtown Lancaster to a street fair. The kids got to see and talk to some policemen that were really nice to them. They let the kids sit on their motorcycles and in the squad car and turn on the sirens and lights! Matt LOVED it! We also let the kids go in the bounce house. Matt also loves bouncers! Micah forgets he is just a baby and wanted in on the jumping so lucky mom got to go in with Micah and the other kids while Karl and Bill hit the beer tent!! After naps today, which were awesome because of the busy morning, we took Matt and Micah to the college parking lot to ride trikes and walk. Check out the video! The boys rode and walked or over a half hour!! Karl barbecued hamburgers and Boca burgers tonight for dinner! It was a great weekend!

The 4 Busy Stutelbergs

The kiddos are in bed and I have a glass of wine and a bowl of pretzels...time for some blogging. Any grammar and spelling errors in this post will be blamed on the wine!
We have been keeping busy the past couple weeks. I tried to post pictures from all the major events! This first picture is from a few weeks ago when the A.V. Fair was in town. Karl, Jon, and Bill (family friend) went to see a concert and Louise, Dawn, and I hosted Romper Room for our 5 kids! Luke's face says it all! We kept control and had a fun time with all the kids until bath time when we had 5 kids running around the house naked!
The second picture is from Labor Day weekend. Bill and Dawn hosted their second annual Schneider Slip N Slide Completion. I am so proud to say my husband won and holds the record of sliding 51ft 6in. I don't have the talent that Karl has and came in second for the women. It was pretty fun but the next day Karl and I were laughing because we were so sore!!
On Labor Day we went to Fox Air Field with the kids. There is a little coffee shop and we let the kids play on the grass and look at the planes while we enjoyed some coffee.
I am so glad I carry a camera in my purse otherwise I wouldn't have captured the last picture. We pulled into Costco and I looked back at the boys and Matt had put on the glasses and was just chilling out in his car seat. For a minute I didn't know if he was awake or asleep!

Matt is very much a two year old!! Disciplining has been my biggest challenge so far as a mom! Some days, like today, I'm not sure how effective I am! This evening we were playing outside after dinner and I told Matt is was time to go inside for a bath and he said "Nope, I don't think so. Bye Mommy!" Then he jumped on his ride on car and started "driving" away! AHHHH Micah is a sweet little boy who really observes his brother! Immediately after Matt puts a toy down Micah crawls over to it and tries to mimic what Matt was doing. I'm not going to be able to hold Micah back at Matt's gymnastics class much longer! He wants so badly to jump on the trampoline and climb through the obstacle course!
We put an offer in on a home in Quartz Hill about 2 weeks ago. It is a short sale so it could take a long time once the bank approves the offer. I'm not going to post pictures or go into too much detail because there is only a 50% chance we will get the house.
I hope everyone is well and has a good weekend!