Arizona Trip

Doesn't this guy look like he's ready for some fun in the sun in AZ?

About a week ago, we went out to AZ to visit Gabe's grandparents and Aunt and Uncle and fam and also to visit the Maycumbers. The above pic is of most of the family. We had such a fun time visiting with everyone. The woman all the way to the left is the marathon-studly aunt who helped me run my marathon last year. Another side note: the rocking chair that Andrew is sitting on used to be Gabe's grandma's when she was little. It's so awesome to think that 4 generations have used that chair! How cool is that?! (btw, Andrew loved the rocking chair and took it with him all throughout the house.)

Grandmas have a very special place in Andrew's heart. Gram Barb was singing songs for Andrew and he was LOVING it!

(Sorry for the sideways video.) These are songs that she was teaching him right then and there. How cute are they?

On Monday of the trip, 2 things happened in the pool: First, Gabe discovered Keira's first tooth! (She has 2 now. I can't believe all toothless grins are gone!)
Second: I have to include the following story becuz it will sound insanely familiar to my family... Gram Barb, Gabe, Andrew, Keira, and I got into the pool. It was a hot day and had been hot since we got there. After about 30 minutes, I decided I should probably nurse Keira so I got out of the pool with her. She started fussing so I figured that she really was hungry. Every time I tried to nurse her, though, she just went psycho, screaming and screeching. I couldn't figure out what was wrong so I went back outside with her. I gave her to Gram Barb who was now sitting on the edge of the pool. She held Keira as she cried and fussed. Finally I took her in with me. Of course (as my baby story goes) she stopped crying and was as happy as could be. She just wanted in the water. She loved the pool so much!

Andrew had a fun time too!

On our way from Fountain Hills (where Gabe's grandparents live, just outside of Phoenix) to Flagstaff (where the Maycumbers live), we detoured through Sedona. It was beautiful! Here are some pics...

I included this one becuz this is how I feel most days. I've got one kid attached to my hip and another attached to my leg and a diaper bag slung over my shoulder. I love this part of my life!

Yes, this is Gabe on a motorcycle. Can you believe it? Phil took him out for a ride in the forest (about 100 yards from their house!). He seemed to be pretty good at it and loved the ride. On a side note, did you notice that Phil is not wearing a helmet? I'm guessing (due to the lack of helmets we saw on the freeway) that it's not a law in AZ... Isn't that insane?!

A highlight of the Maycumber home: the trampoline! Here are Andrew and Logan, with William and Luke.

Here's more of their fam: Janelle and Phil, little Logan, then Luke, Wesley, and William. Not pictured are Morgan and Michelle. They've got a huge and wonderful family. They opened up their home to us for 2 nites and even took time off the enjoy with us. I feel like we've known them forever now, although this is my first time meeting them. Andrew fit right in with all the boys and made himself right at home.

On the way home: This is the second verse... and the last line of Baby Baluga.

We're back at home now. Keira and Andrew are cuter than ever playing together. I just LOVE watching them.

I was making dinner the other night and thought they were pretty quiet in the family room. I glanced over and this is what I saw.

Haircut

Here's the new hairdo! I was inspired by my friend, Allie, who just got the cutest cut ever and so I went for it. I've learned that for me to get a real haircut, I need inspiration. Thanks Allie! I'm already loving it! I hope I can figure out how to do my do tomorrow!

We went to Disneyland today with my friend, Rachelle, and my new friend (I just met her today), Jen. Everyone had a lot of fun, but Keira was pretty much sleepy the whole time. She is already quite the social butterfly and has a hard time not being a part of the action (I don't know where she gets it from). If you look closely in this pic, you can see a tear on her cheek from crying because of how tired she was.

I had a hard time not taking pictures of Keira today. I just thought she looked so cute! The shirt she has on reminds me of my friend, Janelle.

By the way, new stats from her 6 month visit are...
weight: 15 lbs 7 oz. (50th percentile)
height: 26.75 inches (90th percentile)

Here's a cute Andrew story... Andrew is still afraid of the vacuum, but he also has some weird fascination with it. The other day while I was vacuuming, Andrew was sitting up on the couch, completely still and quiet out of fear as I cleaned around him. I left him alone with the vacuum in the family room while I went down the hall. I didn't know how he would respond when I didn't take the vacuum with me. As I listened to him from the hall, I heard him say to the vacuum, "I love you, vacuum. When Andrew is a daddy, I use you too."... WHAT?!

Signs

I've been seeing some signs around town lately that just crack me up...

FREE GAS WITH BAIL BOND
(Like they need more help fleeing the country.)

FREE VACUUM WITH CAR WASH
(I highly doubt that.)

99 Cent Video and Water
(Name of a store)

VALET PARKING
...wait for it... at the YMCA!

Life in the Barber Home

Last week was my first day back at The Pursuit Bible study for women at EV Free in Fullerton. I was a part of the study last year too and I'm looking forward to another great year. Both of the kids go to "play group" while I'm at the study for the whole morning. In Andrew's class they actually do crafts and a Bible story, etc. It's really cool and he enjoys it. It's a lot like school so I decided to take "first day of school" pics... of both kids. This may not be the best pic of Andrew, but have any of you tried to ask an excited 2.5 year old to stand still for a picture?

This is Keira's "first day of school" picture. (It's a lot like the one on the last post, but I think she really looks like she's posing for a school picture here.)

Gabe and I made bagels for the first time the other night with other Gabe's recipe. They were supposed to be chocolate chip, but we mixed in the chips too early to the warm dough. We got chocolate bagels instead. They were tasty! There is no reason for this picture except that I like it!

We all went to Disneyland a week ago and went down an alley that was pretty empty. One of the Disney workers was there and gave us "Disnyland Dream Passes." They have little tear-off tabs for 12 different rides at the 2 parks that can take you straight to the fast pass line. Pretty cool, huh? (We actually gave ours to a nice-looking older couple who were very excited to get them. There were only 3 kids rides on them, none of which Andrew was really into.)

Now THIS is what Andrew is into.

This was Andrew's first time on the teacups. He liked it and didn't barf!

A week ago, we moved Keira into Andrew's room. They've done fairly well together, especially at night. I think they're pretty much used to it now, actually. This video is from their first naptime together. It was after church and they both seemed wide awake, but after church that usually means that they're past tired and exhausted so I laid them both down. They sat like this talking to each other for about 5 minutes before I walked in there. On the monitor, I kept hearing Andrew say, "Keira, what are you doing, Keira? Keira, you're funny, Keira!" Keira was just squealing and laughing (until she saw me here.) I love having them in the same room. It's so cool!

We had Josh over the other day. This is probably the most organized chaos I've ever seen. You can't tell, but we're singing, "The fox" song.
Little boys and forts!

For the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fans out there, maybe you've seen the one where Goofy builds a bird house. Well, this is Andrew in his life-size bird house...

... and this is him knocking it over.

My Little Mei-Mei

Here's our little Keira at 6 months!
We call her, "Mei-Mei", which means "younger sister" in Chinese. I know she'll always be younger than Andrew, but it just seems like she's growing up so much faster than he did. She's a happy baby who definitely has her favorites, but enjoys almost everyone. She rolls and scoots all around the room (and sometimes down the hall). She's a daddy's girl for sure and if she had a second pick, it'd be Andrew. She won't take a bottle under any circumstances. She's a good sleeper and loves bathtime. She's tickelish and loves to be zerberted. She enjoys being thrown in the air (and caught again). Her favorite songs are "Baby Beluga" and "Keira had a little lamb." Her favorite book is any that I'll let her chew on and her favorite toy right now is a little blue dog rattle that used to be Andrew's. She loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with Andrew and smiles any time Mickey or Goofy come on. She loves diamonds and anything that looks expensive. (Help!) She's a fun little girl and we love having her here with us.
We finally started her on rice cereal about 1.5 weeks ago and she gave us a look like, "It's about time!" She likes to eat, but doesn't pig out like her big bro. I think she's just excited to be at the table with the rest of us with a spoon in her mouth.

Andrew and Keira get along so well. It's hard for me to believe. They both love being together and seem to miss each other when they're apart.

I snapped this quick shot of us yesterday and was shocked to see how different we look. I guess I always expected our daughter to look like me. I don't really see any resembelence at all! Crazy!

Keira is so cute when she eats. She literally says, "Num Num Num." The second video is her saying, "mama", although not talking about me, of course.

Retreat!

Last weekend was a retreat for our church. We went up to a retreat center near Big Bear for 3 days and had a blast. Above is a group of us who went for a hike Saturday morning. It was a lot of fun, but quite a workout! It was beautiful and the company was wonderful.

One of the windows in our cabin was missing a screen so Andrew designated this site as his eating area. It was very cute.

Andrew was a great camper. He spent most of the time with dirt on his face and a smile from ear to ear.

Keira was great up there also. She slept better than I anticipated and was a lot of fun. (Sorry for the sideways pic.)

I'm not totally sure what the story is behind this elephant, but Andrew thought it was cool.

Here are Andrew and his buddy Noah with Wesley, one of the "big brothers" (7th grade). It was so cool that Andrew could just walk outside and play with his friends!

Daddy-baby relaxing time.

Here are a few shots of the scenery...

As for the actual retreat...

Andrew got to go to the pre-school sessions. He played and sang songs and did arts and crafts. He loved his "Sunday school in the mountains" and still talks about it.

Keira got to bond with many different people at our church and seemed to have a great time.

Gabe and I had a BLAST!!! One of the foundations of our relationship was ministry, and more specifically, ministry together. It's been about 5-6 years since we've been able to really minister together. This experience was so refreshing for us and a HUGE blessing to our marriage. Even the planning for the teaching sessions for the past month or 2 have been awesome time for us together. I'm excited for the next opportunity we'll have, even if it's not for quite a while. This experience gave me some encouragement that it will happen again. This is just a uniquely difficult time right now with the ages our kiddos are. In the meantime, I am VERY thankful for the experience and the joy that it brought to our home. Thank you, God!

The Cutest Ring Wraith

Out of all the Nazgul I've ever met, this one is my favorite!

This is Great...

My friend, Gabe (not husband), found this. HA!

Elephants and Oakes

I'd like to tell you about 2 dreams...

The first is Andrew's first dream that he remembered (and told me about.) This morning, the washing machine was on the spin cycle and was shaking our whole apartment, a common occurrence in this home. Andrew jumped to his feet and looked at the front door exclaiming, "Mommy! Open the door so the elephant can come in!" Needless to say, I was a little confused. He then proceeded to tell me about what I can only conclude was a dream he had. He insisted that an elephant came into our house, Andrew waved good-bye to all of us, he climbed aboard the animal, and they went to Ralph's Grocery store. We spent the rest of the morning entertaining elephants that kept coming to the front door.

On to the second dream... This one was mine and may not be that funny to anyone except Josh and Flo. I had a dream that they were billionaires who lived in a HUGE modern-looking mansion with a gigantic pool. They had body guards (although it was unclear why. I'm also not sure how they made their billions.) and personal trainers. Their big purchase was about a thousand pool toys. The bummer for Flo was that she had to deflate these toys every night. Thankfully, she had a servant who blew up the toys each morning.

Just One Inch Please!

So I've never really been huge on drinking caffeine. I get a little crazy when I have it (not all in a good way) and for those of you who don't know me well, I don't need any help with that. But, I've been really tired lately and so I thought that I'd try having a little coffee. By a little, I mean an inch. After 1 inch of coffee, I was feeling really good: awake, alert, even happier. So I thought to myself, "if one inch is good, imagine what two inches could do..." So that day, I had an inch in the morning, and then I had another inch in the afternoon. Wow. I felt good. On the way to our friends' house (Gabe and Allie), I was considering if caffeine fell under the classification of a drug for me. I was feeling SO good. I was wide awake and jumpy and excited- just like Cheri used to be. I decided it wasn't a drug since it didn't alter my reasoning nor did it kill any brain cells. Yay coffee! We dropped off the kids and went out to dinner. I kept telling Gabe how good I felt. Nothing could slow me down! About half-way thru dinner, Gabe looked at me and said, "you're shaking, Cheri". Well, I'm back down to 1 inch, but at least I now know my limit!

Andrew and I had a blueberry pancake picnic in our house Saturday morning. It was yummy, sticky, and fun!

Last Saturday, Josh and Zach came over and we went to a fun park with fountains not far from here. They had a blast. We had to borrow their car to fit all the car seats, but it was fun! Look how wet Josh got compared to the other boys. He was definitely the bravest.

The following are some goofy pics of Andrew. Believe it or not, most of these are different animals.

I've Been Meaning to Tell You...

People keep telling me how much Keira looks like Andrew so I thought I'd see what you all have to say about it. I have to say that I thought they did until I started looking back at pics of Andrew at 5 months. The pic right below is Andrew and below that is a pic as close as I could find for Keira.

This is crazy. Below are my niece, Annalise, and nephew, Nathan. As I was looking for pics of Andrew from 2 years ago, I happened upon these photos. Keira was seriously wearing THIS outfit as I looked at Annalise's picture. The shirt Nathan has on is one that Andrew wears all the time right now. Whoa! The only bummer is that you can't see their faces. You'll just have to take my word for it that they're cuties!

Remember how I told you that Keira is a Daddy's girl? Here's proof... This is a pic of her looking at Gabe...

and this is her looking at me...

As GOB would say, "C'mon!"

In other news, I still have a lovely LG Chocolate cell phone. I would have to pay $20 to exchange it for another phone, it turns out and who wants to pay for a free phone? It was the sexiest one there anyway. :)