Getting ready for Christmas

 Got the tree

 Hauled it inside

 Thanks for the help Garrett.

 Lights, check.  Angel, check.  Ornaments, check.

Merry Christmas!

Thankful for Friends

On the way to the Bay Area we stopped off for a delightful visit in Bakersfield with dear friends. Here is a video of our two boys tearing up the house.

Garrett sings the alphabet

Oh wait, no he doesn't. He is a total difficult 2 year old and he won't do anything he is asked to do. Sorry.

What Papa missed



Garrett and Kailyn playing


Garrett and Kailyn sharing a snack

And the trip to the LA Zoo

Next time, Papa will have to join us in our fun revelries. 

Diggers!

 Guess who didn't care at all that there was no parking for Daddy's car?

 Garrett, that's who!

 He is totally "diggin'" the construction equipment directly in front of our house.

Yep, we let him climb up in there and press any button he wanted, 

yank on any lever until his little heart was full,

and crush anything that got in his way.

Just kidding.

Way up in the apple tree

"Way up high in the apple tree

 two shiny apples smiled at me.

 I shook that tree just as hard as I could.

Down came the apples.

Mmmm, they were good."

It is a ...

A sprinkling of summer activities

Disneyland

 rocketship ride

 Buzz Lightyear

 Pirates

monorail



Yosemite: Red Peak Pass

 Back side of Half Dome

 Lake where we camped

 Ottowa lake

 Red Peak Pass 11,180 feet

tonight we said...

bye-bye crib

 

We have been talking about moving into a big boy bed.  And everytime we ask Garrett if he wants to sleep in a big boy bed, he has said "no, I like my crib".  So, we haven't pushed it.  Tonight when we asked, he said "YES".  So, here we are with the side off the crib ready for Night #1 in the big boy bed.    

Red and Blue. Not pink.

at least not yet...

Getting Dirty

What has Garrett been up to?

Why don't you ask him?

Ok. It's not really preschool.  It is a glorified playgroup. 

 But he sure loves to tell everyone that he goes to preschool.

Visit to the Santa Ana Zoo

I couldn't take being with monkeys any more, so I took a day to go look at monkeys. I brought the family along. It was wonderful.

After checking out some of the animals, we went and played on the playground.

Flippin' Out!

Happy Mother's Day!

Garrett only has one mother, but we here at the DeClercq house hope all the moms had a good day, Gramdmas and Gigis, too!

Garrett rides the train at the Santa Ana Zoo

Spring Smiles

Friday, Garrett was sick.  Today, Laura is sick.  Then Garrett got sick right as he and I were walking out the door to church.  So it is a good thing we had a great time at the beach yesterday.

We even found a house for my parents to buy.  My dad keeps saying he wants to live at the beach.

Garrett has learned to play Hide and Seek. 

Garrett has learned to hide. 

Garrett has learned to count.

Garrett likes to hide, but usually he hides everytime in the same spot: under the nearest blanket.  While he is hiding, he likes to count.  The counting usually goes something like "One, Three, Nine," and usually ends with him bursting forth from his hiding spot yelling, "Ready of not, here I come!"

He's not a great Hide and Seeker yet, but we are working on it.  For now, you can watch his silly antics here.

Garrett's 2nd birthday was a huge success.  The only problem was that our son in now two and is such a big boy! 

We gave him this awesome wood block set.  He loves it.

We headed to the park and everyone had a good time.

 

Friends and family were there to celebrate.

There were curious monkeys to snack on.

Yummy!

His buddy Brice stayed for a visit, and to share in the loot!

Happy Birthday, Big Boy!

beginning of the end?

Is this the beginning of the end for the cq blog? It has been 6 weeks since we have posted anything here... and neither of us really wanted to sit down and do it.

Maybe it is because life just seems like life to us, and nothing that anyone else would want to see. Maybe it is because we have had beautiful weather and who wants to sit inside on the computer when you can be outside with a 2 yr old? (I know, he's 2 now and we didn't even blog about it. Shame on us.)

Let's just say, I won't make any promises that we will be back to blogging regularly, but I won't say we are going to drop it for good. Is that non-commital enough?

In the meantime, here is what you really wanted to see anyway. A video of Garrett.

 

I will say that I will try and get something up from his birthday, that was a month ago already.  Oh, the mommy guilt!

Who is Garrett named after?

 Thomas the Train                                     or                            Thomas DeClercq


Let's have Garrett weigh in on the issue: