3rd Annual Beach Vacation!

Last week we enjoyed a much needed vacation to sunny California! Skyler had to go to training for work, so the boys and I tagged along because we love nothing more than a free vacation (transportation to and from and our hotel was paid for by Sky's firm)! We left Saturday and went straight to the beach! We loved Santa Monica beach so much from last year we decided to go again. This was Ethan's 3rd time at the beach and Teigan's first and they both loved it! It was a little cloudy but still plenty warm to play in the water.

Teigan's first time in sand

Seriously the cutest picture ever! Holding hands looking at the ocean. LOVE the matching shirts and swimsuits!

Running from the waves

Ethan got drenched!

And again.......

Mommy rescuing him

Stop the CUTENESS

Teigan loved the water!

On the Santa Monica Pier....the blue bird was originally on my shoulder but the guy who gave him to me walked away and I was starting to get freaked out because it was trying to eat my earring so I asked Sky to take the bird....he said no but he didn't really have much choice :) then the guy came back and put the green bird on Ethan. As you can tell, neither of my boys particularly loved having the birds on them!
I can never get both boys to look at the camera and smile at the same time! But seriously--how CUTE is Teigan?? Really people!
Tired after a looong dat at the beach. Watching a movie on his "computer" AKA portable dvd player AKA life saver!


Sunday we got up early and headed to Disneyland. We were there from 10:30 in the morning until 9:30 at night with not one single meltdown from either of our boys! Teigan slept when he needed to and Ethan did great waiting in the lines!! He so loved seeing his favorite movie characters. He's really gotten into the disney movies lately....he loves Cinderella, Jungle Book, Monsters Inc, Peter Pan, Finding Nemo etc etc.....so Disneyland was especially fun for him this time around. We did the Playhouse Disney Live concert in California Adventure and it was so entertaining and Ethan just laughed and danced through the whole thing! Teigan was such a trooper too. Oh, and Pirates of the Caribbean is still "not scary" according to Ethan. Ethan was tall enough to go on most rides like the Madderhorn....I didn't realize how FAST that rollercoaster was but Ethan seemed to enjoy it! It's crazy to think that the last time I went to Disneyland I was pregnant with little Teigy and this time he was enjoying it with us! Life goes by so fast!

Ethan with his favorite movie characters: Sully, Mike Wazowski and Boo

Ethan LOVED meeting Sully. You can't tell in the picture because I think he was a little surprised that he was actually meeting Sully....but when we walked up to him Ethan said, "I love your movie!" Then he said, "Where's Mike Wazowski?!"
Watching the parade

I couldn't believe they wouldn't let Teig sit on Skyler's lap! Made me a little nervous.....

Riding like a big boy!

Love this boy!!

On King Triton's Carousel. Ethan didn't want to ride the one with horses, but the one with fish......yes!

Teigan's cute little hands holding on!

The handsome boys in my life!

Mommy and Ethan

At Mickey Mouse's house


While Sky was in training all day--I ventured out around the Los Angeles area. I'm proud to say I didn't get lost once! And those California freeways are nuts I tell you!!! We did the L.A. Zoo, the Children's Museum, and a Bounce House. It really was a lot of fun to spend such quality time with my boys!

Teig at the Children's Museum

My little basketball player/football player/baseball player (he says he wants to be them all!)

Playing the Water Symphony at the museum

Climbing the waterfall at the museum

Teigan watching patiently as E plays in the water

E's favorite thing at the museum by far!

Ethan's very first art project!!! Made a dragonfly at the museum--he was so creative with the beads and buttons! Although, the dragonfly is missing an eye.....I'm such a proud mama!!


All in all it was a fabulous trip! We are looking forward to next year's trip to the beach!! It sure is good to be home though!

Teigan is getting TOO big!

So I haven't been very good about posting Teigan's monthly pictures. Here they are:

Teigan's 6 months


Unfortunately someone "misplaced" the camera for his 7th month pictures so here are his 8 month pictures:




And his 9 month pictures:


I have a lot of pictures like this--as soon as I would sit him up, he'd slump down......

Lots of pictures like this.......

And this.........


Have I mentioned how much we LOVE this little guy?? He is absolutely perfect for our family. He's a great little brother and loves his big brother. I still think having two is a breeze because Teigan is just so chill!

He just broke his 2 bottom teeth (finally!) and was a trooper during the teething process. We didn't even realize he was teething! He loves loves loves to eat bananas. They are his favorite. I just cut them up and they are gone in seconds. He also LOVES avocados. He and Ethan both love when we have avocados for dinner. Let's see....he can pull himself into a standing position and can even stand on his own without holding on to anything for a few seconds. He says mama and dada and baba (for bottle) and loves to "sing" with Ethan. He's quite the dancer as well :) Oh we just love love love our little Teigan Grant!!! Seriously. So. Stinkin. CUTE!!! We feel so blessed to be parents to both our boys and are so grateful for their healthy little bodies and super sweet spirits!

Picture Overload

When I say overload, let me assure you that that is an understatement. :)

One of my favorite pictures ever!!

A common mode of transportation for Teig....

Teig's first experience with an m&m.

Ethan said he was "feeding" Mickey. I laughed out loud.

A birthday cake I made....

Skyler's idea of "feeding" Teigan

Love this face!

Teig crawled up to sit on Daddy

At the zoo. I love having 2 boys. They are best friends!

E loved the train and rode it over and over and over.........

T fell asleep in the stroller. Comfortable, huh??

LOVE this picture. E comforting T.

Playing baseball....E said he needed a helmet like his Uncle Scott and came back with his Elmo halloween bucket. Again, I laughed out loud.

Being brothers....

Teigan "helping" Ethan eat his food.

Running through the water feature at the park

Ethan with his "girlfriend" Emme. Emme told him when they get bigger they need to have true love's kiss! I love it!

All Right, Already!!!

I know, I know....I've been slacking a little on the blog lately....ok, I've been slacking a lot! Things have been pretty crazy busy over at the Black residence and well, to be honest, blogging just isn't up on my list of "to-do's". There. I said it. But now I'm back and have waaaay too many pictures of the cutest little boys I have ever seen. Some of the things we've been busy with:

-Kristen has been living with us all summer (her break from school) and we've been busy entertaining the boys during the HOT summer months lovely Las Vegas has to offer.
-MOVING. Yes, we've moved. Sadly, it's just around the corner from where we used to live. But the good news is, we moved to prepare ourselves for a different move coming up here shortly........details on that to come.
-Traveling.
-Having lots of visitors.
-Training for a marathon! My first (and possibly last :)) marathon is October 18th. There's something about running 15 miles in one day (and 40+/week) and oddly enough I just can't find the energy to do much else. Let alone, BLOG. Keeping up with 2 little boys after running just one mile is exhausting enough :)

Ok, so now it's September and Kristen is back in school. I've experienced a few withdrawals here and there but I should be getting a Kristen fix in about a week so I think I should be ok. My sweet Ethan misses his Aunt terribly and asks about her all the time. When Kristen left I didn't just lose a babysitter/cook/housekeeper...I lost my running partner!!! I didn't realize that watching someone next to me on the treadmill suffer as much as I was could offer such motivation....but alas, now that she is no longer running next to me--my motivation has dwindled. It can be a motivation killer when after running for 2 hours you realize you still have 5 more miles to go.......but I'm not complaining. I love the blisters on my feet. :) And let me just say that the Tiffany jewelry that I'm running this race for (pretty much why I signed up) better be good.

Oh, and hopefully they cure cancer too.....


We're off to our annual beach vacation on Saturday. I know the boys are going to be thrilled to run and play in the sand. Skyler has training the rest of the week so I get to explore Los Angeles with my boys...Ethan has been asking if he gets to go to Disneyland today everyday for the last week......I think someone is excited to see the Monsters Inc characters at Disneyland!!! I'll post those pictures next week. For now, enjoy the picture overload!!!