Graham's doctor appointment

Graham did so well at his appointment today.  He listened to the nurse and the doctor without fussing. I'm so proud of my little boy!  Now, if he will only listen to Mommy when she's trying to take his picture!

Graham now weighs almost 30lbs and is 3 feet tall - both within the 25% percentile.  He's still our tiny petutie, still wearing mostly his 2Ts at three years old.  Small but "mature" according to the doc :-)

More fun in Phoenix

Graham almost always says that he likes the "Phoenix house" better.  I wonder if this is why...

Who knew it would be so much fun to watch the wash cycle!  Charlie's head just got lower...

And lower...

And even lower... to a point that he actually bumped his head on the glass!

Who is so silly... and so happy!

I tried to put some shoes/slippers on him but he liked gnawing on them a lot better.

And while at a local improvement store, I noticed a scooter for quite a bargain. Graham had been talking about having one recently so it made a good belated birthday present from Mommy and Daddy.

He did pretty well on his first attempt and was even brave enough to venture onto the path all by himself!

Although after a few minutes, it was back on the playground. He loves to swing like a monkey!

And loves to pile on at the slide:

Gosh, the boys are getting so big so quickly.  Wait... how big, you say?  Sooooooooo big!

I'm glad the boys are able to play together. Who needs a fancy toy when you have a box!

By the way, I finally finished my height chart on the wall by the boys' bedroom in the "Phoenix house".  But we forgot to mark their heights before leaving!  Oh well... next time.

Although next time might be when it's not so hot!

Grandma and Pop-pop's first visit to AZ

We are so proud of Grandma and Pop-pop for making their first trip to Phoenix last week!  They not only got to spend time with their (favorite) grandkids but also experience the dry heat of Arizona.  I've forgotten how quickly it gets hot in the morning - even at 9am!

Both the boys had fun spending time with Grandma and Pop-pop:

Charlie was even getting better with his separation anxiety!

And Pop-pop celebrated his birthday as well in Phoenix - the day right after Graham's on the 23rd of May.  We got Pop-pop a cute customized t-shirt which he loved!

And as for the cake... well, we had a lot of Graham's cake left so Mommy "recycled" it.

 Tada!!!  Happy birthday Pop-pop! :-)

Thank you again Grandma and Pop-pop for coming by to be with us in Phoenix and also for the nice matching pajamas and outfits!

Happy 3rd Birthday to Graham!

We recently celebrated Graham's 3rd birthday on the 22nd in Phoenix, AZ.  I didn't have too much time to think about a cake, so I ended up making chocolate cake out of a box and drawing out one of his favorite cartoon characters - Bot.  I'm just so happy that Graham recognized it!

We didn't have a light at home (darn electric stove-top!) so we tried to use the magnifying glass in the 100F heat.  We got smoke but unfortunately no fire. You can sort of see the trail of smoke.  It's almost scary how quickly the dry leaf started to smoke!

Eventually, Daddy had to just get the light from the grill.  Graham was very excited to blow out his cake:

We still can't believe he's 3 years old now!

So glad Grandma and Pop-pop were able to join us in Phoenix!

Graham liked the cake...

but I think he liked the presents a whole lot better.

Along with the playdoh crane, Graham also got some new duplo legos from Grandma and Pop-pop.  Well, we know which one is his favorite!

After a quick rest, we decided to fill up a sand pit with water. Charlie loved splashing in it!

And putting whatever he could into his mouth:

Graham, on the other hand, just wanted to put all of his toys into the water:

There's just something about this boy and his excavator:

See what I mean?!

I think all in all, Graham had a great birthday!

US Women's Open qualifier

I decided to try out for the US Women's Open qualifier in Phoenix last week.  So we packed up the boys and off we went.  We decided to check into a hotel since the golf course was about 45min to 1 hour away from our "Phoenix house".  We never seem to travel light these days:

We had Charlie in the hotel's crib and when I wasn't looking, Graham said "Mommy, Charlie is standing." and sure enough, he was!

The boys did quite well in such an enclosed area. I'm not sure who had more fun with the balloon - Graham or Charlie:

The boys also kept themselves occupied with the tablet:

And Mommy kept herself entertained trying to get Charlie to stick his tongue out :-)

And many thanks to Grandma!

Unfortunately, I did not play as well as I would have liked.  I did learn some new things about my swing as well as my new putter, so the trip was not all a loss.  Perhaps I will do better next year.  At least I won't need to nurse Charlie during the break of the 36-hole qualifier!
Oops... almost forgot to thank my caddy/hubby.  Thanks honey! You're the best caddy ever! :-)

Kitchen floor tiles

For whatever reason, the kitchen tiles came off from the floor! Notice how these tiles are raised:

I noticed these particular tiles sounded hollow underneath earlier this week.  And then, when I stepped on them, Graham's stool would rock.  Now that was really strange!  A couple more days and more tiles started to rise up and eventually cracked when Daddy stepped on them.  Oops!  With that, it was time to take a look-see:

It's always fun when a project involves a hammer :-)

It's crazy how the mortar came off the floor and there was moisture underneath it. I was only able to save 3 tiles. Hopefully we are able to find the same ones to replace the cracked ones!
I wonder why it was not tiled under the dishwasher. And I know it's not tiled under the stove either.

I put some painter's tape around the rough edges, so it's back to business for now!

Happy Mother's Day!

So I actually thought Mother's Day was the weekend before last, so we had sent out a Mother's Day gift to Grandma a whole week early!  We decided to paint Grandma a little sunflower:

And Mommy got a nice ring holder - painted by Graham as well. We are into shapes right now, as you can see:

And then, this past Saturday - I decided to make some chocolate covered strawberries. It was my first attempt at them.  I tried to drizzle some white chocolate on them but that clearly did not go so well!

And Graham was my handy helper... at eating the leftover chocolate! YUMMY!

On Mother's Day itself, we decided to go to the zoo. Graham was so excited! I love how his ears are curled under his cap.  Too cute!

Why is it so difficult to take family pictures these days?!

Charlie continues to love these fruit pouches even more!  And they are so convenient!

Charlie got tired of being strapped in the stroller, so we decided to put him in the wagon instead. He loved it!

We had to be sure he didn't try to escape! 

After our usual route, it was time to head over to the playground.  Graham was clearly excited about it!

Here's our chubby little Charlie- trying to take his hat off!

Post-fall from a bench... and still smiling.  Yup, Mommy's fault (again!):

Graham loves playing at the playground:

It definitely wore him out!

And Charlie too! It's cute how he's holding onto his little birdie.

I'm glad we went in the morning because look at the traffic going to the zoo as we were leaving.  Bobby would have turned around and we would have gone elsewhere!

As for presents this year - a nice card and new pink pajamas! Soft and cozy and coincidentally the brandname started with the letter "C" too.  Nice touch, daddy :-)

As for flowers, I got this from Graham - a little art work from school:

And Bobby said that the roses are in the backyard.  Nice one, daddy :-P

We did get some new flowers and ground cover for the front yard this year. I like this one:

And this one... although the more I look at it, these flowers are starting to look more like weeds. Ha!

We're going to see how these hydrangeas do in the front:

I hope this summer will be kind to our plants.  I wished our azaleas would grow bigger quicker so it covers more ground. I suppose you can't do too much if you're saving them from the discounted section! And funny enough, none of them are the same color. There are like 5 different shades of red and pink!

And look... blueberries!  So those little white flowers just come off and then the berries are formed.  And I was blaming the birds pecking at them. Who would have known!

And oh, daddy weed-whacked the peonies plant AGAIN this year!