Friday, December 30, 2011


I can sit up!  Woot woot!


The holiday season has been busy busy busy here at the Hines' household.  That, along with my ever-so-slow and quickly-dying laptop, is the reason for the severe slacking on posting blogs.  I have good intentions and am often "writing" them in my head throughout the day, but these "drafts" never make it to the big screen.  

Christmas was great- we had my parents in town for a couple weeks starting in mid-December.  My mom's sister Helen also joined us for the holidays.  They left the day after Christmas and then Myke's parents arrived the following day.  We had one day "off" between guests and by the end of that day we were SO ready for the next ones to arrive!  It's so nice to have the extra sets of hands (and of course we love to see our family) around here.  I love that the boys get held more, get more one-on-one time, Chloë gets a play mate (most often Gramma or Mom-mom) to play Cars with her, and even the dog gets a walk and an extra pet.  Also, when we have guests here, our love seat couch is just that, a love seat couch.  When we don't have guests here, it is nothing more than a mountain of clean, ready-to-be-folded laundry.  You barely see the couch itself.  The moms and Aunt Helen were great about folding, folding, folding, as it is a non-stop job around here.  Folding, folding, folding and feeding, feeding, feeding.  That's the theme here!   The boys now eat solids 3 times a day and they are loving it.  They even took small bites of their first San Diego bean and cheese burrito the other day.  I was eating one and Eli was just eyeing it and drooling over it so I gave him a try.  He liked it!



In other developmental news, Owen is about to crawl (we think).  He has been up on hands and knees for over a week now, rocking back and forth and "almost crawling" here and there.  Eli started sitting up unassisted on Christmas day.  Owen can sit up as well, but he is more likely to topple over than Eli.  Also, Chloë now sleeps in a big girl bed (as of 2 nights ago).  My babies are all growing up!


Some photos:

All Chloë wanted for Christmas was "A choo-choo train, a spiderman, and a pirate ship"
Santa brought her this pirate ship!


Kyla gets in the holiday spirit


We had a full house in Christmas morning...and Kyla's stocking isn't even pictured...


Delivering a gift to one of her neighborhood pals



Little friends came over for a holiday cookie exchange the week before Christmas


Myke & Chlo



with Gramma on Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach



I love this shot of my dad with Eli


My parents and the kids
(after Chloë's school Christmas program)


Chloë's preschool Christmas program - Dec. 16th



Borrowing some kids bike at the playground 



Donuts with Gramma!



Hot cocoa (with Kahlua!) gets everyone in a festive mood!


Mom-mom  & Elijah


me and my boys


Myke and Maureen (his mom) giving the boys a bath in our double kitchen sink


Owen wonders why Eli has so much more hair


building towers with Pop






Monday, December 26, 2011

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to all from the Hines Family!

(okay, I'm a day late...but you wouldn't have seen this yesterday anyways since you should have been spending time OFF the computer and bonding with your family instead)


Saturday, December 3, 2011

A Week in Review

 It has been an eventful and busy past week.  I love this time of year and having kids really has made it all the more fun.  Especially since this year Chloë is just that much more aware and in tune with what is going on.
Thanksgiving feast at pre-school

Mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie and pasta... ?!  Yup, no turkey for this vegetarian (and NO, I do not feel like I'm depriving her in any way, thank you)
:)



Owen is part monkey



Looking in the mirror


tandem feeding
(we REALLY are ready for them to hold their own bottles!)



It has become tradition to go see "Surfin' Santa" at Seaport Village.
This is year #3.  Just Chloë and I went this year.



Not a great quality photo with my phone...but a poinsettia Christmas tree at Seaport Village.




Sunday of Thanksgiving Weekend
Myke went sailing with the dog on his "solo outing" so I had all 3 kids.  
I thought if I texted Myke this cute photo of the kids he would miss us and come back.  However, he had no hands to check his phone while solo-sailing and trying to keep Kyla from falling overboard. 





The boys are eating all sorts of solids now...Eli christens a new white bib from Gramma with spinach.




A visit to the beach (Myke and Chloë)




Chloë's "Outdoor Class" visits Pat & Oscars - a local restaurant here in San Diego. 
The staff there taught 40 toddlers how to make pizzas and gave them a tour of the kitchen.  It was total chaos but the kids had fun.  There was one pizza for every 5-7 kids and they all took turns pressing the dough in the pan, putting on the sauce, and sprinkling cheese.  Needless to say, I stayed FAR away from that pizza once it was baked.  The kids loved it though.  

Chloë and some of her little girl friends
at Pat & Oscar's 

behind the scenes
"Mommy, look at the baby pizzas!"



December is here...


Got a jumperoo off Craigslist yesterday....Eli bounced so much that he fell asleep in it the first day!



Jax & Chloë 
Best buds
At the tree lighting/holiday event on Crystal Pier here in Pacific Beach


the fam shot


My friend Sony and her son, Lucas
3 little Santas










A Perfect End...







To a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend...
The boys watching the sunset on Sunday evening (11/27/11)