Moving and preschool and commutes, oh my :)

  Well gosh darnit, wouldn't you know it, my babies are turning 4 and 2 next month. I mean, what the hay? Don't they know that life is not supposed to progress past toddlerhood? Carter is going to be a full-on man-child! 

At least we've had a few adorable things going on around here to commemorate babyhood and all it's wonderfulness. Here's what's been going on around these parts:

- The computer has been fixed! It crashed sometime during the Summer, so since then I've been doing everything on my phone or iPad - not ideal. It has pretty much been no fun when dealing with anything work related, but all that is now behind us! Now we have our beautiful desk top back sitting upon it's fabulous new mini desk. Quite the exciting event. :)

- We moved THANK GOODNESS! Up until about a week and a half ago we had been living in the Lake Forest neck of the woods, but now that is over. We never really loved living in the big LF, so when we got a horrible roach infestation (puke!) we picked up and left, breaking our lease (amicably, another thank goodness). Now we reside in the big LR - Ladera Ranch! We figured that for our final bout of renting we might as well do it in style - hello water parks! Hello 100,000,000 parks around every corner! Hello a quadrillion children living within a 10 mile radius! So far it has been glorious.

- Carter is still loving preschool and it's been awesome. I recently had his parent teacher meeting and the child is doing wonderfully! He has lots to say, participates vigorously and loves the "toy" section, but sort of skips town when Mrs. Gimby says it's clean up time! A child after my own heart I say! Anyway, big dude is doing great!

 - Kota bear has been getting her molars in over the last few days - boo! She's SO fussy, I can't even believe it. She's my little Tuesday/Thursday Stroller Strides buddy, my boot baby and Carter's "hey Kota, it's okay, you don't need to cry," side kick. It's so adorable, I tell you! Baby girl has the biggest personality, follows her brother everywhere and basically kills me when she asks for me to put her hair up in a pony tail. The best!

- Chad's new commute since moving to the LR has pretty much sucked, but hey! He says that if that's the only con then no big deal. I know, he's the bomb. The lovah man is hands down the most awesome, especially when he's stringing Christmas lights around our two windows. :) 

- I really don't think Disneyland could be any larger part of our lives than it already is. I mean, thank goodness for that place! It's fun for all, especially when the babes get mad at us for pulling them on Pirates of the Caribbean AGAIN. What can we say? It's a blast and that's the end of it.

- Stroller Strides is going great, but it must be documented that I had a crazy bit of burnt-out-itis over the Summer months and into the Fall. It's so great to be busy, but truly it zapped me. Since the move has happened and we're all a lot happier where we are, I can feel myself getting back in the game, but sheesh, that was no fun. Everyday I had this terrible feeling like I wasn't doing all that I could to be awesome, but I just couldn't help it! Prayers and prayers for invigoration is coming from this lady daily - and lots of coffee drinking (from our new single cup device! Woohoo!). 

With our computer sitting newly upon it's pretty desk in the living room (a big change from the office we had in LF), I can already feel the babes' glaring stares. These two HATE it when I use technology! It's been a truth since the day Carter was born - how do other people use the computer when their children are around?! Anyhoo, that being said, it's time for me to get back to laundry and grape-cutting. :)

Oh and cheering Kota up after her throwing a mini fit after she woke up from her nap. And making sure Carter doesn't tear apart the make-shift coffee table/wicker trunk with his feet as he idly watches the iPad. And change Kota's diaper. And give Carter a big hug for giving his sister her grapes. And give Kota a big hug for being a doll. And then give Carter another hug. :)

San Francisco is for lovers

So I surprised Chad with a trip to San Francisco this year! We had quite a few things to celebrate: a) his birthday (which we welcomed by driving into the city), b) his graduating, c) Father's Day and d) our four year anniversary!

Here's how it went: my awesome sister-in-law offered to watch the babes months ago, so whenever I figured out that it was about to time be the surprisOR to my man (versus the forever surprisEE), I took her up on the offer! We left on a Saturday evening right after Chad got off work, spent the night in Salinas after hitting up a gross sushi bar (Chad fought for this disgusting place! Puke!), and woke up early to leisurely drive into the big city, totally relaxed and ready to go!

We had quite a few hours left before we could check into our hotel (the hotel I BOOKED secretly - muhahaha!), so we decided to take advantage of our car time. Off we went to Alamo Square to see the painted ladies (and hit up a random farmer's market!), Lombard Street and then the Golden Gate bridge! Yes, all of that! I was so excited with it being my first time there, ya dig?! (Every time I told people I had never been to SF, they always looked at me like I had not experienced one of life's basic wonders. Now I know why!)

Okay and can I just say how absolutely FREEZING it was during the END OF JUNE and BEGINNING OF JULY?! Holy cow! I brought all sorts of Summer clothes only to don my jeans 95% of the time!

Anyhoo, we were having a blast - and we were only 2 hours in! Next we decided to park the car and then take off for the brunch I had a Groupon to. So we walked 4 miles. One way. Yep - we walked! 8 miles total. But it was not so bad because we got to walk all the way up one of those main, awesome San Franciscan streets where we ran into...

THE PRIDE PARADE! Yes, we were in the city the weekend after the marriage bill passed! It was crazy - picture a wall of smoke that wasn't of the cigarette variety mixed in with straight up NAKED people and lots of techno music! Nutso! And hey - there were even kids there. It just reminded me that every time Chad and I get out of town, we are major once-in-a-lifetime-event magnets. Our honeymoon was riddled with "this is the last time this will happen for the rest of the millenium" and "you lucky dogs, you caught the President of the European Union being in town parade!"

Anyway, once we finally walked until we meandered into the not-so-pretty-part of San Fran for brunch, we were ready to return to our room to get ready for the night.

The next day we finagled our way out to Alcatraz (thank goodness! I didn't buy the tickets pre-sale because I was so sure I would be able to find some other way to do it once we got there. When we went up to get them, we were told they were sold out for 2 weeks! What?! So I called a tour guy and LUCKILY two of his people weren't able to make the Alcatraz leg of their trip - hey-o! So immediately we snatched them up - giving him our credit card numbers on a packed trolley. Eek - and off we went!

The rest of our trip was just fabulous. We came home on Tuesday, making this the first time I had a sub for my Stroller Strides classes - quite the big step. This trip was needed so much, it was insane - truly the perfect way to end the two months of madness! (May and June - I basically died.)

 Our view from The Buena Vista!

 At the beginning of our 8 mile trek.

 So beautiful!

 This was so darn strong! Oh my gosh!

 The Well's first branch!

 Waiting for the trolley!

Some freaking maniac swimming around Alcatraz. Idiot!

Last but not least, I just have to document our last night in town's dinner. We went to Little Italy and ate outrageously amazing food. It was so perfect. I just love that man of mine! There we were, surrounded by legit Italians (it was a family owned business), sitting closely to people from all around the world. Truly wonderful. After that, we walked to Ghirardelli Square to enjoy our send off: a humongous sundae! Cheers to San Fran!

"I'm old enough too!"

(18 months and 3 and a half!)

We've had a TON of shifting going on around these parts over the last few weeks. Some good, some questionable, some hilarious and mostly just overall precious. Here goes, update land!

Carter's naps are no longer in existence. We really pulled the plug, yo. It's over. Fenito. Done for. FINISHED! He's just too gosh darn old now, and you know what? It's actually not too bad! There was a time where the mere mention of my child not taking anymore naps gave me the chills, but it's all good in the Cisneros hood! Here's what we do: everyday Kota goes down at 1:00 in their shared little bedroom, then I tell Carter it's "resting time." And who would have thunk-it - the boy loves this new game! Probably because it means unbridled running around time in mommy and daddy's room, along with his newest favorite show running (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, thanks to daddy-o), with multiple "Mom! Can I have a snack? How about some water? I'm THIRSTY! Pweeeease?!"'s from the top of the stairs, so hey - who am I to question what makes the boy happy?

If Kota could form sentences, she would say, "I so get what you guys are talking about" at least four times per day. I mean, it's just precious. This daughter of mine is such a unique soul - she really is. Not only does she get a kick out of making mommy say, "Koooooooota?! That's a no-no, you know better than that..." but she now wants to let Carter and I know that she gets it. GETS IT. Gone are the days where Carter and I point at a doggy and say (to each other), "Look Carter/Mommy,  that doggy is being so silly! He's chasing the duckies!" Now it goes more like this: Kota: "LOOOOK!" Carter: "Mommy, that doggy is being so silly! He's chasing the --" Kota: "DUUUUCKIIIIIIIIESS! QUACK QUACK!"Carter: "Yeah, Mommy, he's chasing the duckies! (like it ain't no thang)" At the end of which Kota will throw back her head and give her "isn't that so silly" laugh just so we'll see how much she's on our same page! Hilarious! Gosh I love these babies!

I felt so cool doing something last month. I'm saying that somewhat sheepishly because it's probably really lame that I felt so awesome doing it. So here's what happened: I went to a bank all by myself. And set up a gosh darn business account. Like a miniature boss. Now I realize this is something I should have done when I started my ole' business, but you know what? It was still gosh darn awesome. Now I have my own business banker who calls me to ask if I need anything - real legit stuff, ya know man?

At the beginning of Ramzi's (business banker dude) and my meeting, I was all on edge. I swear, if there's one thing I want my babes to know going into the world, it's for them to know the ins and outs of how business works. Even if I spent my entire college career in business courses and then entered the corporate world or something like it, I probably wouldn't get it as much as people like Chaddington. It just comes so naturally to him and to other people! S corp versus C corp? (Those are the right letters, correct?) No problem! What do you need to know? Buying and selling of companies? Real estate? Loan modifications? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah? Oh yeah, go to people like Chadly (and many more people we are friends with) who have their business knowledge together.

Anyway, about fifteen minutes into our meeting, I told him something along these lines: "Listen, I have no clue about any of this stuff, so... ya know... You're going to need to help me out here... haha. Hehe." It was totally fine after that, which I knew it was fine anyway, but it always helps to just be HONEST, DAMNIT! Now that that weird moment was behind me, I've found a new appreciation for being the el creativo in a business dynamic. A sort of Rachel Zoe, ya dig? She doesn't care that she has no clue what she's talking about when it comes to contracts and the like, so why should I?! It was quite the liberating realization, I tell you.

In the cave

I'm sitting in our play room office right now, totally alone, listening to Chad reckoning with the babes downstairs. It's pretty gosh darn sweet to hear, I tell you. There's a little bit of "Kota, Kota, no-no baby!" and "Carter, you want to help Dad BBQ?" - The perfect sounds to hear on a pretty, Friday evening.

...And now for what's really on my mind... The month of June has been so absolutely jam packed I really can't wait for it to be over. My brain needs a gosh darn break! Even though everything we have done has been related to fun events, I just need a good 6 months of relaxation. Okay, not 6 months, but maybe 6 hours? That surely would rejuvenate the ole' spirit! Oh, and yesterday I was sick as a dog. Sick, sick, sick, sick, sick. I even had to bow out of teaching my Stroller Strides classes TWICE! It was mental torture, I say!

Even though I'm really going to miss my babes, thank goodness Chad and I are going on our Chad's-graduation/our-anniversary/his-birthday/Father's-Day celebration tomorrow! We will be heading to San Francisco - I've never been! On Saturday night we will be staying somewhere on the coast (either in Paso Robles or Big Sur), then will be heading into the city on Sunday morning. It will be the first time I'll be missing my SS classes voluntarily (deep breaths, deep breaths), but thankfully I have my awesome new instructor, Al Bal, to cover for me! (Never underestimate someone you've known your whole life and who was in your wedding to come in clutch as the world's most awesome trainer to your moms!)

All in all, this post has been all over the place. I'm going to put on some real clothes instead of this weird robe I'm wearing, head on downstairs to join the fam bam and the bar-b-que extravaganza, mentally prepare myself for the 10:00 pm movie I'm going to be seeing with one of my favorite people on the planet, and enjoy everything that is fabulous about right now. Whew!