Visits with Santa

Posted on February 22, 2017 by Mdfrisco

Last year Jacob was a bit hesitant with Santa. This year however, he was very excited to see him and tell him all about the “Stinky Truck” he wanted. Thanks to commercials on the kids channel, he learned about this robotic garbage truck that moves, talks and swallows matchbox cars and burps…The Stinky Truck. At first I kind of rolled my eyes at it and figured he would move on to something else when it came closer to Christmas. But he didn’t. We had three encounters with Santa and every single time he told him he wanted a Stinky Truck. I knew then I had to find one.

Our first visit with Santa was completely unplanned. I was returning something at the mall and when we were coming down the escalator we saw Santa. So we walked by and stopped for a minute to wave and let the boys get a good look at him. Jacob was so excited and dancing around. It was early, the mall had just opened and there was no line, so I decided to take the boys to go sit on his lap. At first Dylan was jumping and dancing along with Jacob just a mere few inches from Santa’s lap, after Jacob climbed up onto his knee, I started to lift Dylan up and he completely lost it. I froze for a few seconds trying to decide if I should save Dylan from the jolly man in the red suit or back away so they could snap a picture. Yep, I backed away for the picture…

I then quickly rescued Dylan and listened to Jacob chatting Santa’s ear off. Of course I ended up paying a ridiculous amount of money for this picture, but it is kind of priceless. And for the record, I did feel a little bad for Dylan, but he got over it real quick.

The following week, we went to the Bernardo Winery for their Holiday Nights. This time there was a long line for Santa, so Justin and I were taking turns standing in line, and walking around with the boys. One time when I was walking with them, we scored a bench next to where Santa was so the boys climbed up and danced to the music while watching all the kids have their turn with Santa. Jacob and I asked Dylan several times if he wanted to go see Santa and each time he shook his head, nooooo. When it came our turn, he was actually okay with it, so I put him on his lap and stepped back for the picture.

Our final encounter with Santa was at the Rancho Bernardo Inn for their December Nights. This time my parents were with us. Usually Santa is on their outside patio next to the fireplace, but it was raining so he was moved inside of one of the ballrooms. When it came our turn, Jacob hopped up and I started to put Dylan on his lap and he decided he was not going to like it again. So I put him on my lap and we did the family picture first,

then I slid him down to Santa’s lap for the boys picture.

And not only was Santa there but Elsa made an appearance too! So the boys had a nice little visit with her.

I wonder what next year will bring when we see Santa…

When we were not busy chatting up Santa Claus we were busy preparing food and baking in preparation for Christmas. And I often find myself wondering why we only make this stuff one time a year?

First up on the agenda was Gingerbread cookies! The boys were great helpers with this one. They couldn’t wait to get their hands on that dough (yes, they were clean!)

When working in the kitchen, Jake really likes to help, or I should say he likes to do it himself! Every step along the way he says “I can do it!” and takes over, and he really is pretty good at this.

They both had fun with the cookie cutters

Then the best part is decorating them

The hard part was convincing them that we couldn’t eat them all because we had to save them for Christmas!

The day before Christmas Eve, my mom and I started getting all the food prepared for Christmas Eve dinner and made Oma’s sweet rolls for Christmas morning as tradition calls for. It was a little bittersweet since Oma went home to Heaven just about 2 weeks before. This is definitely a tradition that will carry on.

And what fun is baking without a little bit of Champagne!

The food was wonderfully delicious! And it always amazes me how quickly it all disappears after you spent days making everything. Maybe that’s why we only do it one time a year. But to me the preparation part is just as fun as the celebration part so it is all well worth it!

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Choo Choo Train

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Mdfrisco

I know I’ve said this many times…I love this blog. It is my memory book, it is my place to do something with some of the thousands of pictures I take that tell the stories of our lives. Pictures have always been special to me and even more now that I have a family of my own. However, I am finding it harder and harder to make time to keep up with this blog. I’m not quitting, and will try to keep this up for as long as I can. And I am hoping that someday I can make some kind books out of this to give to my boys when they are older. Someday, in my spare time…and right now is one of those rare moments when I have a some time to myself. Because, I’m almost to scared to say it out loud in fear that the magical moment will end, but…BOTH of my boys are currently napping! Jake stopped napping a long time ago, but he woke up really early today and has a birthday party to go to later this afternoon. When we came home from school, I told him that if he wanted to go to the party he needed to lie down and just rest, after much debating and arguing I finally got him to lie down, and it worked, he was asleep in about 5 minutes! So I found myself wondering what to do, and instead of doing the usual picking up, cleaning the house or laundry, I decided to make another cup of coffee and sit down with my computer and tackle the Christmas photos. So lets see how far I can get before someone wakes up…

Last year, Papa J gave the boys a train to put around the Christmas tree. It is a very popular thing in our house. They kept asking and asking daddy to set it up, so one night, while I was giving them a bath, daddy set up the train. After they dried off and got their pajamas on, we played with the train for a while before going to bed.

At first they sat and watched it go around a few times while Dylan kept saying “Choo Choo” and doing the signs.

Then they started getting squirmy and had to get closer and follow it around the tree

And this is what happens when I try to get them both to look at the camera and smile.

It didn’t take long before Jake had to take control as the train conductor and make it go himself.

And Dylan was happy just chasing it around the tree.

A few days later, while Dylan was napping, Jacob was playing with his Legos. I suggested that he build a bridge over the train tracks or buildings that the trains can drive by. He thought it would be better to do with his BIG legos, so he got those out and got to work.

I just love his imagination and watching him play.

Then Dylan woke up…please excuse the post nap hairdo and the travel hairdryer (I was in the middle of unpacking from being out of town and he was “helping”)

I just can’t resist this smile.

Then Jake thought it would be fun to put the legos on my toes

And that tickles, so I was giggling and it made him laugh.

And this is an angel that Jake made for me at school from his footprint and hand prints. I love it and plan to display it during all the Christmases to come.

The “Choo Choo” train is such a fun part of our Christmas and it warms my heart to see how excited the boys get when playing with it. One of these years I want to take them on the Polar Express, they would LOVE it!

And wow! I actually got a whole post done and they are STILL sleeping…lets see how much more I can get done, there are plenty more Christmas pictures to tackle. Stay tuned!

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Shopping for the tree

Posted on December 11, 2016 by Mdfrisco

There is a Christmas Tree farm just a few miles away from our house. So last year we checked it out for the first time and we didn’t hesitate to go back again this year. Their trees are beautiful and they LAST. We almost felt bad getting rid of our tree last year since it was still healthy and alive after the first of the year instead of dying and littering our house with pine needles.

When we got there the boys had a great time running up and down the rows of trees.

It became a race

it didn’t take long for the boys to figure out how to ditch us by running in-between the trees.

You can’t really pick a bad tree there so it didn’t take us long to find our tree. After we paid for it and loaded it up, the boys were still having so much fun playing, so we stuck around for a bit.

Maybe someday I’ll get a picture with them where they are both looking at the camera.

Our house is decorated, Red the Elf has arrived and we now have our tree. All the Christmas fun has started. I’ll be back with lots more to share soon.

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Pumpkins and Superheros

Posted on November 26, 2016 by Mdfrisco

Halloween is such a fun holiday with the boys, I love that they get excited about dressing up in costumes, asking every day if it is time to go trick or treating and looking for decorations on houses when we drive around town. But I personally love Halloween because it is the kickoff to the holiday season with Thanksgiving and Christmas to follow. So when we started seeing pumpkins at every store and pumpkin patches we went to, Jake wanted to get one. We ended up with a small collection of a few pumpkins of various sizes that we used for decorations around the house. Then he kept talking about carving the pumpkins and we told him we had to wait until it was closer to Halloween. Finally, a few days before Halloween, we went to get some good sized pumpkins for carving. On Saturday morning that was our first order of business, a pumpkin carving party.

It seems I can never get the boys to smile at the same time for a picture…

The boys have a variety of costumes that they love to play with and Jake decided that he would be Spiderman for our pumpkin carving party, while Dylan was sporting a Superman shirt.

And Grandma was in town so she got to join in on the fun!

Neither one of the boys were too thrilled about the slimy insides (we will see how long that lasts)…so daddy and grandma did most of the hard work with cleaning them out, while they stuck with their spoons as “scoopers”.

And I guess the key to getting this guy to smile AND look at the camera at the same time is carving pumpkins as Spiderman…

Then mom joined in to get her hands dirty for a bit. And apparently the boys were really confused to see daddy behind the camera?

Then these two goofballs started their silly antics…

When it came time to carve them, we got one of the Halloween books that we had been reading with the boys that has various types of Jack O Lantern carvings so they could choose which ones they wanted.

Supervising daddy’s work.

My blue eyed boy!

We ended up with silly, sleepy and surprised. I call that a success!!

And we noticed that we carved 3 pumpkins this year, and Jake is 3 years old. Last year we carved 2 pumpkins, when he was 2 years old and the year before that it was 1 pumpkin when he was 1 year old. Total coincidence, not intentional at all. And I don’t think next year we will have 4, but with two boys, who knows…

With the pumpkins carved, costumes ready, we were officially ready for our Superhero Halloween! Batman and Robin to the rescue!

We started off the night at a neighbors house for a pre-party before hitting the streets to trick or treat.

BOO!

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Bates Nut Farm

Posted on November 16, 2016 by Mdfrisco

A few years ago when Jacob was a baby, I went with some girlfriends and their littles to Bates Nut Farm. In the fall they turn their farm into a pumpkin patch with pony rides, a petting zoo, tractor hay rides, a corn maze and other fun activities. At the time Jacob was a little too young to really “enjoy” it all and every year I kept saying I wanted to go back. This year I finally made it. Our schedule is busy as usual, and there is only one day during the week that we don’t have any kind of scheduled thing like school, swim lessons, etc…So that day usually is filled with a playdate or doctor’s appointments, or errands that need to be taken care of. About a month ago on that day, we had nothing planned. And it wasn’t until about 8:00 that morning when I was trying to figure out how we were going to spend the day that I decided we were going to go to Bates Nut Farm. I got the boys dressed, packed up some food, loaded up the car and grabbed my camera. It is about a 30 minute drive into the mountains from our house which made for a nice leisurely drive to drink my coffee while singing along with the with kids music playing in the car. I like to get to these places right when they open to avoid the crowds and the afternoon heat. And this day was perfect!

After saying HI to the farmers unloading all the pumpkins, they started searching for the perfect one.

Dylan thought they needed some re-arranging and started moving them from one side to the other

Then Jacob wanted to feed the goats, so all 3 of us each got a cup full of food and went to the petting zoo. Both boys loved it and laughed when the goats ate out of their hands.

Then the lady working there offered to take our picture, and we still had food on us. So the goats kept trying to climb into my lap along with Dylan to eat it up!

Then we hopped on the tractor hayride for a spin around the farm.

And Jacob talked during the entire ride, commenting on everything he saw

And Dylan thought it was pretty fun

Then we walked around the stores and bought a few treats. We went over to where all the animals were and looked at chickens, pigs, llamas, turkeys and more goats before heading home for lunch. I love those spontaneous adventures with my boys!

Birds and the Bridge

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Mdfrisco

One afternoon my mom and I took the boys and one of my mom’s friends to the Cascades Raptor Center in Eugene. It’s a neat place that rescues injured/sick birds and nurses them back to better health. It is a small outdoor location that makes it perfect for little kids to run around and learn about different types of raptors.

They had many types of hawks and owls,

and my personal favorite was the Eagle.

Jake made a friend, and they chatted their way through the center.

It was a fun afternoon adventure!

That evening, back at the ranch, Jake was happy to be back doing chores with grandpa and daddy. And this year his favorite chore was picking up the horse poop. Over the last two years, he has always “helped” grandpa pick up after the horses, but he really was just sitting in the cart dancing away to the country music on the radio and talking to grandpa. This year, he actually wanted to do it “all by myself” which is a phrase we hear frequently these days…so consider yourself warned…if you are squeamish by the sight of horse poop, you can quickly scroll over this next batch of pictures to the second half of this post.

Jake looked forward to doing this every single day. And anytime he saw horse poop he had to stop what he was doing and announce that we needed to pick it up.

He did have his few trips and face plants into the piles,

But he took his job very seriously,

And he was mortified that I was taking pictures of him…

Really mom?? Are you really taking pictures right now?

Ugh! I can’t believe it!

Still taking pictures??!!

Whatever, I’m going back to work…

And this little guy, is still too young to be wielding his own pooper scooper…

But he was watching closely, and taking notes. I’m sure he will join them next year.

All this talk of picking up horse poop makes this an appropriate spot to share this adorable photo of Dylan taking a bath in grandma’s bathtub.

On our last day there, we had some more rain. We had a few errands to run and shopping to do in town and we even drove 30 minutes out of our way to go back to Brewers Union for fish and chips for lunch. And I love this picture of the boys/guys with the dark storm clouds in the background, cheering for the rain!

And one thing that we never did and had been talking about doing since our first day there was visiting the Lowell covered bridge. Other than walking through the bridge and reading about the history of it, there really isn’t much else to do, so the guys were not too excited about going. But those kind of places are what make people like me, who are interested in photography, drool. So the guys obliged and we headed over there. I wish we had easy access to a place like this in San Diego to do photography sessions.

As I said it had been raining off and on all day, of course right when we pulled up, the skies opened and it was POURING! But we were there (the only ones for that matter) and we weren’t going to let some rain stop us. So we ran…all the way to the safety of the covered bridge and we were soaked!

Once out of the downpour, we walked around and read about the history of the bridge, and looked out over the lake and watched the storm.

Then it stopped, and the sun came out!

Cheering for the sun!

And we were able to have a much more leisurely walk back to the car.

We always have so much fun visiting the “big ranch up in Oregon”! And I love that every year we do some of the same things as well as some new things. I am looking forward to all the fun things we can do in the coming years as the boys get older!

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Around the ranch

Posted on July 18, 2016 by Mdfrisco

The baby calves on the ranch were just couple months old and needed their medications and ear tags, etc…and the momma cows needed a check up as well, so we had a roundup!

Friends and neighbors came over to help.

Everybody had a job to do

And this little cowboy was loving all the action

When our other little cowboy woke up from his nap, he sat in the stroller and watched all the action while having a snack.

Towards the end, Jake thought daddy was spending way too much time with the cows and convinced daddy to pick him up and get him closer.

We heard a lot of MOOOOOing that day!

Later that afternoon we got the horses out, and Dylan thought it was pretty fun.

We ended our roundup day pretty much the same way we end every day when we are at the ranch…Playing marbles! This is a game that has been in my family forever and I grew up playing this game all the time. It’s fun, it’s competitive and the girls always win 🙂 After the dinner dishes are cleaned, kids bathed and in bed, the 4 of us sit at the game table and play the marble game all night long.

The next day the sun came out again and we just played/worked around the ranch. The boys were moving tractor equipment to get it ready to cut & bale the hay, re-positioning electric fences, and Jake took over for daddy when he was taking the covers off the vents around the house. He watched daddy do a few and then declared “I can do it ALL BY MYSELF!” and he did. This kid likes to work his tools.

We also played…pushed toy tractors around

Played with the giant ball

Went for rides in the wagon

And flew a kite

After the kite got stuck in a really tall tree…we moved on to riding horses.

There is always plenty to do and I love the experiences that our boys have while there. I think I have one more post left…be back soon!

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Sunny to Rainy Days

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Mdfrisco

After our very hot first day there, the next day was still warm, but much more pleasant to be outside. So we played around the ranch.

We sat out on the grass and played with a giant ball, and Dylan was practicing his walking skills back and forth between mom and grandma.

We drove into town to do some shopping and for lunch at Track Town Pizza.

We’ve always visited my parents in Oregon during the summer when it is hot, and all the grass is dead and brown. One year we went up in the fall which was pretty since all the leaves were starting to change colors and we went to a fun pumpkin patch. But we always hear them talk about how pretty it is during the spring when everything is blooming, the grass is green and the hay fields are thriving. So that is why we decided to go in the springtime this year. And obviously the reason everything is blooming and green is because there are lots of rainy days. Being from Southern California, rainy days are so much fun! So it made for an exciting morning when we woke up to cool temperatures and grey skies warning us of the coming thunderstorm. After breakfast, Jake and daddy sat out on the porch watching it rain…

They were looking for lightning and counting until the thunder hit. The thunder was close and LOUD!

And Jake loved it, but the dog, Jane…not so much…in fact after a particularly loud thunder which rattled the windows in the house, she bolted to the safety of her crate in the mud room.

After the big storm passed, we had a consistent drizzle for the rest of the day, so it was a good day to visit some neighbors and friends. First we went to Bob’s house so he could show Jake his train village he built in his basement.

He let Jake sit in the controller’s chair and Jake loved watching the train going around and around and over the bridges and through the tunnels.

The view of my parents ranch from Bob’s driveway

Then we went to Vicky and Roscoe’s house to meet their miniature donkey’s

When we got there Jake took one look at the donkey, then turned around and saw all of Roscoe’s tractors and farm equipment and said WOW! You have a lot of cool stuff! Clearly, he is a motorhead and has no interest in animals. Dylan on the other hand thought they were pretty fun!

Then the boys started exploring the tractors

And the toys, and they have a lot of them!

That evening the rain let up a bit so Jake was thrilled to be able to go out and do the chores.

And of course drive his tractor around in the barn.

These Southern California people love rainy days!

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Fish Hatchery

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Mdfrisco

Three days after Dylan’s birthday we hopped on a 6:30am flight to visit Grandma and Grandpa at what Jake calls “the BIG ranch up in Oregon”. We really missed not taking this annual trip last year since we were still in the middle of our move/remodel/newborn baby/etc…Since we left the house so early, we pretty much scooped the boys out of bed and put them in the car, so they were cozy in their pajamas during our flight from San Diego to Seattle. And we think that because it was so early in the morning, they were still kind of half asleep while taking in everything around them, which made for an easy flight. Jake was so excited to be on an airplane and kept talking about the jets, and asking what every single picture and symbol meant. So when he saw the seatbelt light and the no smoking light overhead, he asked what they were. We explained the seatbelt light and just dismissed the no smoking light. But anyone who has ever been around a persistent three year old knows that he wasn’t going to let us just dismiss it…instead of launching into a discussion about what smoking is, how bad it is for you, etc… Justin came up with a great idea and told him that it means no yelling or talking loudly on the airplane. Since the light is on the entire flight, Jake kept telling us that there was no yelling or talking loudly on the airplane...Hey, it worked! And the funny thing is now whenever he sees a no smoking sign anywhere (and for some reason our Target has them everywhere, I never noticed them until Jake started pointing them out), he tells me that it means no yelling or screaming! One day we will have to tell him what it really means, but for now, I’ll take no yelling or talking loudly! I just had a thought…maybe I should put no smoking signs all over the house and in the car!!

Ok, back to our trip, of course the second we landed in Seattle, Dylan promptly fell asleep. And he stayed asleep while we got off the plane and made our way through the airport to find a restaurant for breakfast. We found the perfect spot by the windows so Jake could watch the airplanes.

After breakfast and changing the boys out of their PJ’s, we found a quiet corner where they could run around and burn some energy before the last leg of our trip. After his little catnap, this guy was ready to go!

It was a bit of a challenge to keep Dylan in my lap and quiet during the flights, but all in all, the boys did great. And we were so happy to see grandma and grandpa when we arrived!

The next day was pretty hot, so we decided it would be a good day to start our adventures by driving into the mountains and visiting the fish hatchery. But first we had to stop for lunch at the local pub, Brewers Union.

Aside from it having bad lighting inside for taking pictures, this was such a great place! Not only do they have really good fish and chips…

But it was very kid friendly. They had all kinds of toys for them to play with, including a kid sized pool table.

I can remember my mom doing this same thing to me, teaching me how to shoot pool.

When our food arrived we had to corral the monkey’s to eat.

Jake stuck with the grilled cheese sandwich

And this guy was being a cheeseball while eating his sweet potato fries

With full tummies, we made our way to the fish hatchery.

First, we got some fish food to feed some really big, over 50 year old, sturgeons.

The boys loved seeing the fish jump out of the water to get the food

We walked around the rows of fish, where you can see them as teeny tiny little babies and each row they were a little bigger and bigger.

It was fun watching the little fish swimming against the current and jumping into the water pouring in the channels.

There were other things to do at the hatchery as well. They had some small animals and birds to look at.

And Jake and Daddy’s favorite was the miniature golf!

Our last stop was the tiny museum. After looking around we sat down and enjoyed the cool AC blowing while the boys chased each other and the fish around in the big tank.

It was a great way to start off our vacation!

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ONE

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Mdfrisco

The day after the party was a special day for many reasons. First, it was Dylan’s actual birthday, it was Mother’s Day and his baby dedication!

We spent the morning with our church family for Dylan’s dedication.

We are so blessed with an amazing village to help guide us on this crazy parenting journey!

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” – Deuteronomy 6:4-7

Afterwards we had a quiet (at least as quiet as you can get with two boys!) afternoon at home, celebrating with just the 4 of us.

I love his snuggles, giggles and big bear hugs…I love his determination, fierceness and stubbornness. He is sweet, he is loud, he is growing up way too fast in an attempt to keep up with his brother! I can’t believe he is ONE! Happy Birthday big boy!

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The Frisco Project

Adventures in life, pregnancy, friendships, family & a little photography

Category Archives: Family

Visits with Santa

Choo Choo Train

Shopping for the tree

Pumpkins and Superheros

Bates Nut Farm

Birds and the Bridge

Around the ranch

Sunny to Rainy Days

Fish Hatchery

ONE