Where's All My Stuff?!?

The movers got to our house at about 8 am last Tuesday and were completely done with packing and getting everything out of our house by 1:45 pm! We were expecting a two day pack-out, but they were super fast and finished in less than a day. We had a friend watch JJ while the movers were there, which was definitely a good decision, and then we stayed with our friends on Tuesday night in San Diego. On Wednesday morning we went back to the house to finish some cleaning and we had JJ with us which was pretty interesting.

On the way to the house we kept telling him that none of his stuff would be there and that it's on the way to our new home in Italy, but he definitely doesn't understand that yet. When we first got to the house he was running around room by room and screaming, "look, all the stuff is gone, look, look!" After that he "helped" us clean a little and then starting throwing fits and crying, "I want to go." It's going to be a rough/interesting few months for all of us, but we keep reminding ourselves of the adventures we will have and that gets us through.

December Nights.

JJ's dinner. . . a whole bag of kettle corn!

On our last Friday in San Diego, we went to a festival at Balboa Park called December Nights. There is a lot of international food and Christmas lights and tons of people. We were able to walk around for awhile before it got too crowded and JJ was trying to run away, so it was our time to leave. Brian and I had been years ago so we really wanted to go again for our last time. JJ really enjoyed all the lights so we were glad that we went.

Disneyland.

Brian took Tristan on the new 3D StarTours ride. I don't know if the "big" boy or the "little" boy liked it more : )

We had one day left on our Disneyland passes so we met up with Krista and Tristan there last week. It was lots of fun and even without a nap JJ did pretty well. We went on lots of rides and since we went during the week the lines were really short. The boys even got to meet the princesses, which was really cute. I don't think very many boys go through to meet them so they were super sweet with Tristan and JJ. Since Brian wasn't excited about that, he went and staked out a spot for us to watch the Christmas parade. The boys sat through the whole thing and seemed to be in awe the whole time. The night was topped off by "snow" falling on us on Main Street. It was pretty much a perfect Disneyland experience. The next time we're at a Disney Park it will probably be Disney Paris : )

Thanksgiving.

A little Thanksgiving Battleship; what's more festive than that!

For our last American Thanksgiving for a few years we had lots of laughs, lots of tears, lots of game playing, and LOTS of food!!! Tristan and JJ actually played really well together all weekend which was a huge relief.

Still Catching Up.

Right before JJ kicked him off the water fountain and bit him : (

Ok, here's the last post for October : ) We went up to LA at the beginning of the month to see my good friend Mary's new adorable baby, Peyton. He is super cute and it was interesting to see JJ react to me holding a little baby. . . he did not like it! When I was holding the baby he just kept saying, "put baby down, hold baby JJ." When I finally did put the baby down JJ climbed up into my lap and sat like a baby for a long time! It will be interesting if we ever have another baby to see how he reacts.

After visiting with the new baby, we headed over to Michael and Krista's where the boys had lots of fun playing together. They were babysitting their friends 4-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter and JJ played well with both of them. He seems to be fine with older and younger kids, it's just the boys that are his own age that he sometimes has a problem with!

So I'll post some more recent pictures later, but here are some of the new developments. JJ's still crazy and talking all the time! At this very moment he has built a "fort" out of the couch cushions and he's throwing his cars from the top to the ground and saying "in a minute" when he goes to pick them up! He just moved a side table and told me, "mommy, I set it right there so race cars." The re-decorating by a two-year-old seems to have a different purpose : )

We've been telling JJ that Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Michael, Aunt Krista, and Tristan will be here this week and he's getting very excited. Today JJ and I were "hiding" under the covers in my bed while Brian was in the kitchen making breakfast. JJ told me that he I and were hiding and that Tristan and Uncle Michael were going to find us and that Daddy was hiding in the kitchen and Grandpa was going to find him. It looks like we will be hiding for a few days! We can't wait to have our family here : )

Arizona Part Two

He kept picking the green pumpkins : )

Ok, so I know it took awhile, but here's more of Arizona from last month. As you can tell from the photos, we went to another pumpkin patch and it was very hot! We saw the pigs, went on a hay ride, decorated pumpkins, and the kids went in the bounce house until they were sweating so much we had to pull them out.

JJ's girlfriend Avery and her parents moved over to Arizona a few months ago so we got to hang out with them too, which was great. It was so cute when they saw each other, they were so excited and it was like they were never apart : ) JJ and her play together so well, no biting or hitting, just playing. The only "aggressive" behavior was when JJ came up behind Avery and kind of back/chest bumped her. We weren't even sure if he was trying to dance with her, be mean to her, or just show her he missed her! It was a great weekend and we were soooo glad to see our friends and my parents.

One major development when we got back. . . . we changed JJ's crib into a toddler bed and he loves it! He hasn't even climbed out once which is amazing. He won't even get out of bed when he drops something out of bed and wants it back, which is semi-annoying!!! It's nice to be able to sit next to him and sing lullaby's like I remember my dad doing with me until I was about 21-years-old : ) Brian's mom and dad got him some new train "toddler sheets" for his birthday and they helped make the transition easier. He's getting to be such a big boy, it's crazy!

Arizona Part One

Ok, so I know it's blurry, but it's soooo JJ!!!

A couple of weeks ago we headed over to Phoenix to visit my parents and our good friends that moved over there. JJ did really well on the drive and we had a great time. It was VERY hot, but were able to get in some good pool time. The pool isn't heated and was in the shade so when you got in, the extreme temperature change made it feel like the water was freezing! We stayed in until JJ started shaking from being cold. How can you be cold when it's 100 degrees outside!?!?