Lopez Family: November 2009

November was another month of excitement, injuries, and staying too busy.

Nov 1

We had a moment of inspiration to teach Anthony how to ride a bike. We have heard the best way to teach a kid is to remove the training wheels and pedals and let the kid ride the bike like a ride-on toy. This way the child learns how to steer and balance, then when that is mastered, put the pedals back on and the child will learn to pedal.

Anthony has a "toddler" bike he inherited from his cousin, so we took the pedals off and lowered the seat as much as we could, but Anthony was too still too short to really push the bike, but he had fun sitting on it.

Anthony got bored pretty quick because he couldn't move the bike so Adrian took a turn. Adrian was making all sorts of car sounds while he sat on the bike.

(Patrick isn't angry he is just bored because Adrian seriously sat on the bike for almost an hour)

Pat let go of one side of the bike to give Adrian some balance lessons :)

Adrian finally got off the bike and climbed onto the motorcycle. "beep beep"

Cruising together

Anthony is such a good older brother

Nov 2
Since we taught Anthony about bikes we also had to teach him about safety. So we let Anthony pock out a helmet and pads.

Anthony checking himself out in the "mirror" (Anthony uses the sliding glass door as a mirror)

Nov 4
How many pictures do we really need of zoo animals? Meagan took pictures today because the boys were too cute walking around together.

The snakes were very active (naturally this is the boys favorite stop). Anthony and Adrian are mesmerized as the snake slithers over and under the stick

The Gila monster was right up against the glass! When Anthony got too close it was "bite" the glass

Meagan loves Adrian's pointed finger

Two elephants were out today! And they were close to the fences

Just can't resisted the pointed finger

Nov 6
Meagan got some Halloween costumes on clearance and one of them was a storm trooper. Anthony was so excited he wanted to wear it (even thought it is too big). Anthony even wanted to wear helmet...here he is checking himself out

We had Adrian's friend, Kaitlyn, playing at our house tonight. Her and Adrian aren't sure what to think of the storm trooper

Anthony and Adrian both wanted mommy to wear the helmet

Anthony's storm trooper face

Adrian put the helmet on mom

Anthony discovered he was missing the belt, so we put it on

Anthony's eyes through the helmet

Uh Oh! the belt kept falling off

Mom put the helmet on Adrian

Kaitlyn wanted to try the helmet too. Where's Kaitlyn?

There she is!

Kaitlyn later discovered Anthony's bike helmet

and the bike

Kaitlyn had a rough time moving the bike around, so she settled for the motorcycle

Nov 7
The Phoenix opened a new Kamodo Dragon exhibit. Meagan was so excited. They are one of her favorite zoo animals, because they are always so active.

This is the female dragon. She was sitting so close to the glass just staring at the kids.

Anthony's Kamodo Dragon imitation

The male dragon started in the back of his cave, but later came closer. It was neat to watch him explore his new home.

Riding the kamodo dragon

Sticking their tongues out like the kamodo

Getting jiggy with it...I think

All the gila monsters were out. We had no idea there were so many

The prarie dogs were out munching some lunch

Point away Adrian! too cute!

This one wants to be free

This one climbed the log and waved to everyone

Today, Fisher-Price came to the zoo with a huge play area of fisher-price toys for kids to play with

Anthony really enjoyed the video games

Adrian really liked climbing over the door

Daddy got into playing too

Not sure who theses guys are but Anthony wanted to take a picture with them

Fisher Price even brought their big wheels and a race track

Adrian is hanging on for his life while Anthony has the pedal to the floor

After racing it was back to the toys to play some more

Adrian always kept a car in each hand

They boys really liked the work bench.

Anthony also got a turn controlling the dinosaur

In all the excitement Anthony was the only one who suffered a minor scrap

The only way we can convince the boys to leave the zoo is watch the ducks and turtles swim for a while

Anthony waving bye

When we got the car the boys were exhausted and whiny. So Pat let them fly high in the sky for one more laugh before we headed home.

Nov 10
Meagan has always wanted to get Denali a pink collar so everyone knows shes a girl. We were going to give one to Denali for Christmas, but when it came in the mail, Meagan couldn't resist giving it to her early.

Yes, it is a pink spiked collar. Meagan really enjoyed accessorizing Denali

Chico is wondering wear his pink spiked collar is

Nov 12
We went on another Preschool field trip! This time we took a tour of the local Fry's Food Marketplace. The kids had lots of fun and enjoyed walking around the store instead of being in carts.

They got to sit on the patio swings

touch a live lobster

the Lobsters are Anthony's favorite part of the grocery store. He was so excited to touch one. He was the only one in his class that touched it.

then we stopped to smell the roses

and lastly they brought the kids cheese, lunch meat, smoothies, and cookies for a snack. The kids also got to take a balloon and gift bags home.
Enjoying their cookies from left to right: Anthony, Raiden, Shaylin, and Adrian

Adrian really enjoyed eating his snacks on the couch.

Nov 13
Meagan took the boys to the park and Anthony really wanted to plant a garden. So she took him to the store and let him pick out some flowers and a watering can, so he could make his own "garden" at home

shoveling some dirt into the bottom of the planter

well almost, Adrian just shoveled dirt onto the table

Meagan cut the plastic pots off the flowers and Anthony put them into the planter

Anthony really wanted to water the flowers so we filled up the watering can

and Anthony watered them a little

Then we filled the planter with more soil

and watered them some more

all done! Anthony was so excited about his garden. Meagan has a black thumb and usually can't grow anything so we will see how long these last.

Nov 14
We have been going on walks as a family to get Meagan some exercise plus the boys really enjoy being outside. This trip Chico tried to stow away in the bottom of the stroller (can you see his nose sticking out from under the seat?)

Chico thought it was a good hiding place until Adrian sat down, squishing him

maybe next time chico

Nov 20
One week later and still alive! Not too bad. Of course Meagan has taken over the garden. Anthony lost interest after a few days. The flowers only lasted like two weeks. After we got back from Thanksgiving the flowers were pretty much goners. Meagan tried watering them and giving them sunlight but finally gave up trying to revive them. It was a good experiment. If the kids ever want another garden we are now prepared for it! Maybe next time we'll teach Anthony how to really take of it.

Nov 22
Getting ready for our drive to Utah, Meagan had been doing laundry all day. She must have left the dryer door open during dinner, because when she went upstairs the boys were playing inside it.
Adrian actually really enjoyed the dryer he is just made because Anthony tried to close him inside (don't worry our controls are on top so there is no way the dryer could turn on)

Where are the boys?

There they are!

"cheese"

"Grrrrr"

Nov 24
Our drive to Utah was uneventful except for Meagan's craving for KFC crispy chicken. We were about 30 minutes from Patrick's Aunt Josie's house and Meagan insisted on KFC crispy chicken. The first KFC we stopped at was all out of crispy so we would have had to wait 20 minutes. The second KFC (down the street from Patrick's Aunt's hosue) was out of crispy chicken too but offered to make some and stay open until so we could come back for it. So Patrick dropped off Meagan and the boys said "hi" to his Aunt, unloaded the car, then headed back to KFC to pick up Meagan's hot n' fresh crispy chicken. What a sweet husband!

Nov 25
Anthony so excited to have an older 'brother' around. Tanner was so good with Anthony and Anthony had so much fun playing

Tanner and Anthony on the tramp

Adrian wanted to play out side too

but never made it down the stairs, he got distracted by the duck

Patrick has always enjoyed playing the drums. Adrian made a good accompanist

Tanner even read Anthony bedtime stories

Nov 26
Happy Birthday Patrick (and happy thanksgiving too)! To start off his day Patrick decided to play soem turkey bowl with his cousins. Patrick didn't make it through warm ups. When he caught the ball it twisted (and broke) his left pinky. When Patrick came home and showed Meagan his finger, she laughed first then asked what happened second. Patrick said the ball went through his fingers, and from this picture it literally does look like a football went through his fingers

Surprisingly the break didn't hurt at all. But Patrick was a sport and took a picture pretending to be in pain

Patrick's Aunt's Father-in-law (did you get that?) is an EMT so he buddy taped Patrick's finger until we could take him to the ER on Friday.
Patrick's famiyl that we spent thanksgiving with:

aunt Lydia, cousin Daurice, grandma Betsy, cousin , grandpa Val (the EMT), Meagan with Meggie, Patrick, and cousin Sarah

Same peeps but this time Meagan took the picture and Aunt Josie took her spot

While the ladies were finishing up the turkey meal, Adrian fell asleep in Patrick's arms holding a bronco's football

Patrick's Uncle Rob (the EMT's son)

Uncle Ryan (Rob's brother)

cousin Daurice was able to smooze Adrian into letting her hold him for a while

cousin Michael (Josie's son) singing falsetto, while cousin Alex (Lydia's son) and Austin (Josie's son) play guitar hero

Anthony, Tanner and Justin playing with tracks and cars

Adrian was content playing on his own

cousin Sarah, aunt Lydia and her daughter Daurice chatting on the couch after dinner

Sarah took a bump picture of Meagan nearly 26 weeks along

Since the finger has been buddy taped, it isn't sticking out to the side so much

Tanner and Justin wrestling on the couch

Aunt Josie and Sarah looking for black friday deals

Duarice driving cars with Adrian

With all the older cousins playing guitar hero, Anthony found a blow up guitar that he was able to play, sing and dance with

Tanner joining the band

don't you love the duck lips??

Adrian was super clingy with Meagan during our trip, but every once in a while he would let Josie hold him

Adrian held these huge truck the most of the trip

Nov 28
On black friday Uncle Rob found a pair of portable DVD players on sale. We couldn't pass yp the deal or the thought of a more pleasant drive home. So we got some and tried them out on our drive up to ogden to take cousin Sarah's kids home and meet Meagan's sister Nichole for lunch. The boys were really excited to have a tv in the car

On the way we stopped to see Lydia one last time before we headed home

Alex, Daurice, Lydia and justin

Sarah had already left for work when we dropped he kids home, so we headed for lunch with meet Nichole, Matt and Logan at Red Robin. It was so much fun to see Nichole and Matt again. Logan has grown so much since his blessing in September. After we ate lunch Anthony wanted ice cream. Anthony shared his ice cream with Adrian without us asking him to.

Logan Knudson (Meagan's nephew). Meagan couldn't help but take several pictures of him.

Logan was really into the gingerbread house

Logan has a cute sad face...just look at those cheeks :)

Logan is so hungry he could eat his bib

but milk tastes so much better

Adrian is drinking his milk, but won't take his eyes off Logan.

so sweet

Nichole and Meagan

Nov 29
Home again. The drive home was a lot smoother with movies going the whole way. Meagan wanted to drive home because of Patrick's hand. We made it to Kanab in about 4 hours, and Patrick had to take over the wheel because the boys were being too demanding and Patrick can only do so much with one hand.

While we were in Utah, Grandma Betsy gave the boys a little wooden train track. We had already bought one for the boys for Christmas, and figured we might as well just give it to them now since they have a little one. So Patrick got it out and the boys have been playing with non stop ever since. With the two sets combines, they can make some big and crazy tracks