Weekend Shinnanigans (End of 1st Quarter)

I pretty much finished my first quarter of work! This may not seem like a big deal to most, but if you haven't been officially working for the past six years, it IS a big deal!

This weekend (and weekdays, too) consisted of a LOT of Frozen! Char is in love with this movie and always asks for "Let It Go". I'm pretty sure she thinks Frozen is actually called Let It Go. Speaking of the little lady, she turns the big 2-0 on Tuesday! How crazy is that?! The craziest thought I have is that when Lucas was 20 months old, he had already become a big brother for a month! I still can't imagine Char being a big sister at this age. Oh, and to clarify something just to ensure that no one starts any rumors - Char will NEVER be a big sister. Sorry. 

passed out

So a weird thing's been happening every Saturday sometime between 11 - 12. This little lady passes out like clockwork for a little while. I asked her teacher what happens during that time frame and they say that she never falls asleep during that time. So, just a tad bit weird. This Saturday, I was busy cleaning the house, Lucas was already hidden away in the office teaching himself something, and Daddy was also doing something too. We just left Char on her high chair for a while and she was quiet for a rather long time. There is only one reason why she'll be that quiet, and lo and behold... homegirl passed out while eating! We're going to Disney on Ice at this time next Saturday, we'll see what happens to her then.

We went to our first Harvest Festival of the year. This was the first year where both kids really enjoyed all these carnivals games. Lucas really wanted to ride the train, look at that cheeseball!

Lucas cheesin' and Char busy eatin'

Hello Kitty and a ladybug (both kids chose their face art)

Guess what movie they're watching?

Both are equally obsessed with Frozen

For Halloween last year, I got the Shinn kids to dress up as monkeys. This year is a different story. Lucas started out wanting to be a panda bear, then Anna (got vetoed), and now he's settling for a superhero with a green cape (he better not change his mind anymore). I originally got a dog costume for Char since she loves wo-wo's so much. But after putting on an Elsa dress, I think this little lady is set on being a princess. And this girl aims high, she doesn't settle on being just a princess, she jumps straight to a queen!

 Traditional Sunday's best shot

 They're getting rather good at posing for Mommy now

 Brought the kids to a toy store after lunch (they were in heaven!)

 Speaking of heaven, Lucas has been doing great at school. For a three year old, he's learning a lot! I'm really glad he's going to a Christian school because he likes to go home and teach Bible stories to his family. This also includes time outs and no goodies from the surprise bag if you're not a good listener.

And speaking of learning, this boy loves to learn! He catches on to a lot of things now so we definitely have to be careful with what we say around him. He also enjoys practicing writing and doing phonics. I believe he may be every parent's dream kid. I wonder if his little sister will follow in his footsteps in a year...

 L. S. - Lucas Shinn, Little scholar

Another Busy (but fun) Weekend

I took two afternoon naps this weekend. Yes, I was that tired! And one of these naps occurred during our ride back home from the VTA. Who knew they'll be so many stops between Levi's Stadium and the BH exit?!

Anyway, this weekend consisted of an ambulance truck building event at Home Depot, a Frozen party where the Ice Queen herself stopped by for a visit, and our first Niners game at the new stadium.

 Some SW screening for some new rebel movie (?)

Obviously I am not into SW and never will be! Before the weekend started, we were able to go to Apple for a pre-screening of some new SW cartoon movie coming out (we lasted 15 minutes). We hadn't been back to visit Apple since I started working roughly 2 months ago, so the kids really enjoyed going back and visiting Daddy at "work".

I figured out how to tire the kid out (made him do this 4 times!)

 Shinnkids, they do the weirdest things

 Lu is not biting Char, he's kissing her!

 Helping Char get ready in the morning

 "Lucas, smile!"

If you think this smile is weird and awkward, you should've seen the world's most awkward smile he gave during school picture day! Luckily for me, Mommy's on staff and got to "help out" and choose a picture I liked. The photographer thought I was a bit weird by choosing the one where he's sticking his tongue out, but that's my boy...

Mac & cheese heaven

(Queen) Elsa left Arendelle to do story time with the kids

My kids were pretty intrigued by her

Lucas and his favorite princess

Shinnkids with their favorite princess

These kids are OBSESSED with Elsa! At Target, they were singing "Let It Go" on repeat. It was cute the first minute or so, then it became quite embarrassing. Who knew that one of Char's first phrases would be "let it go".

 Cousins looking through their goodie bag

 Too cute to leave

I was resting on the couch and was about to get up to start cleaning or something. Char came over and started playing in the kitchen and pretend feeding me. We are slowly mastering the art of pretend play where you only pretend to eat and don't really stuff toys into your mouth. I made a decision right there that the mess won't leave, but my daughter might. So I just left my thoughts of cleaning and just hung out with her while she fed me. Good decision, Mama Mia!

 Good kids

These are the moments I live for - when they play and get along with each other!

 Big girl on big girl swing

Big girl on baby swing

 Trying to capture everything they do

 Our names are permanent!

We took a break from the kids and went to our first game at Levi's stadium! If you're ever by Intel Gate A where the SF logo is, look for our family brick by the "F"! The game would've been awesome IF the sun didn't start to hit us directly at 3ish where it was the hottest hour of the day! 

And now, it's Sunday night...

Weekend: No Plans

Finally! A low-key weekend with absolutely nothing planned. It's so nice to be relaxing at home on weekends. After two months of living here, the house is finally a place where I can call home. (Well, we're still working on cleaning out our garage and working on our back splash, but those are minor details compared to everything we've already been through.)

My favorite piece of furniture in this house is probably the couch. I think everyone in the family knows that too. I made a little area for me to lounge right in the middle so I can catch up on my literature (US weekly), watch TV, work on school stuff, AND wrestle with the kids! If that's not heavenly, I don't know what is.

 See that corner area? That's MY spot!

Saturday mornings consist of taking Mommy's iPhone and watching Frozen videos on it

I decided our living area will be brightened with hints of yellow

 Family movie night: Frozen

 These kids are so creative...

 These kids are also getting quite independent now

Lowe's building day

 Followed by some Frozen books after lunch

 Another Sunday, another picture (still trying to capture a picture for our Christmas card)

 Frozen Princess

When I asked Lucas what he wanted to be for Halloween, he gave me a surprising answer. I expected him to say something Cars related. Instead, he said he wanted to be a panda. Why? Simple. "Because I like pandas". Being the smarty mother that I am, I asked him why he didn't want to be a lion. "Oh! I want to be a panda-lion!" Genius, mother, genius... I then asked Lucas what he thinks Charlotte wanted to be and he said an elephant. We asked Char if that was true and she said "yes". Now that we have an Elsa dress, I think she might just change her mind... Oh, and Lucas said he wants to be Anna for Halloween now. Oh boy...

Looks mighty happy, doesn't she?

And this is how I feel every Sunday night

Weekend Fun

Have you figured out by now that I love weekends? Although I really don't get to sleep in, thanks to a 19 month old who has an eternal alarm clock that goes off at 6:45 each morning. We get to have fun as a family, I get to clean (I actually don't mind cleaning), and we get to do something different than our now very predictable weekday routine.

When the kids are good together, they are good! However, this goodness doesn't last long (maybe 5 minutes if I'm lucky). When this goodness does happen, I run to get my phone so I can capture these memories. I'm still working on teaching Lucas how to love his sister.

 Shinn kids in a stuffy tent on a hot day (no Mommy allowed!)

 Char randomly walked over next to Lucas and put her head on his shoulders

 Yummy yummy dessert

This Saturday, we were able to host our first housewarming for the Shinn family. After nearly two months of living here, our house is finally presentable (minus the garage)!

 Our first family shot in the new house

 Happy cousins eating dinner

 

 After dinner = cake time! 

While all the other cousins' sugar rush was rubbing off, look who's still full of energy

After church, I suggested trying out Sno Crave & Hot Pot (only because I wanted some snow ice). The hot pot was meh, I think we're going to stick to One Pot instead. I have other complaints about this place, but I'll do my ranting on Yelp instead.

 What this morning looked like (before 8:00)

 Mommy & her silly kids

Dig in, children!

Char suddenly enjoyed eating some desserts over the weekend, however, not a fan of this!

She was a fan of this though

 Another right place, right time moment (FRESH brioche bread!!!)

One happy lady

Boys watching some football (come on Niners, gets your act together!)

And now, I'm going to end with a favorite from this weekend. I don't dress the kids up in their nicer clothes on weekdays anymore since they come home with unwashable stains and holes everywhere. So I'm really enjoying dressing them up on weekends (especially Sundays for church). I'm currently working on getting the perfect shot for our Christmas card. Oh, and I'm loving the camera on my new iPhone!

 My loves

Right Place Right Time

We checked out the grand opening of a big development today. The only reason we went was because it was close by and we were curious about the floor plans and design of this lavish place. I love getting home decorating ideas from staged homes (got a few ideas from the homes we checked out).  I also wanted to prove to myself that I really liked our humble, older SFH more than your typical cookie cutter three story new development homes. And once I went up the third flight of stairs, I knew then and there that I made the right choice with going for an older one-story home.

It all started because of this flier in the mail

 Had arts and crafts to keep the kids happy

 As well as sidewalk chalk

What we didn't know when checking out this development was that there was going to be two food trucks - lunch and ice cream! This was just pure bliss! I had a delicious soft shell crab BLT (something I probably never would've tried on my own). Oh, and did I mention that this was FREE?! It was like we stepped inside a surprise little carnival - free food, free ice cream, arts and crafts, and a caricature! I am definitely coming back when they make their spring debut with their state of the art clubhouse!

 This picture sums up everyone's happiness with the little surprise