CADEN and RYLAN turned two!!!

I cant believe that my two tiny little preemie babies are already two! This happened back in august, but seeing as how i am not exactly up to date on my blog- I'm just getting around to it. I havent even had time to edit the photos yet!!!

It was a 'CARS' themed party- seeing as how they are pretty much obsessed with the movie. They could watch it all day every day and never get bored (tempting sometimes!).

The boys were hilarious. All of those presents- and all they wanted were two little quads that our new good friends, Melissa and Brenton bought them!

They werent really all that interested in their cake either- it was Ethan that got the leftovers and went crazy!!!


All in all, it was a great time- i still cant believe that the boys are already two whole years old... seems like yesterday... sniff...sniff...

Catch-up!

LONG TIME NO BLOG!!! :)

So- it has been on my to do list for a very long time now- so here I am. and considering that this is also my journal (of sorts)- I really need to play catch-up! Here is a short synopsis of what has been going on with the Zeltner Zoo as of late!

Chris finally finished with phase training- and arent we glad that it's over! So much stress, and serious pressure for Chris. There was someone watching him at all times, writing down the littlest things that he did wrong. I mean, it is practically in the handbook that FTO's are NOT allowed to tell their trainees that they did something good.

Chris got assigned a permanent station- San Diego South East- which is pretty much as FAR as you can possibly get from Oceanside. Big surprise- NOT! He really likes his squad, and likes even more to be all on his own. It's still a little wierd to imagine him all by himself, like a grown up cop! :) I'ts even funnier to imagine him in the uniform- because he can't drive to or from work in his uniform, I really never see him in it. Once when he first got it, and once at graduation!

Caden and Rylan just had their second birthday- which was so surreal! We had a little party with all the family and a few friends. They got some new cars and motorcycles from mommy and daddy, as well as a new POTTY! (we'll hopefully be starting that up soon- oh joy!). Grammy and Grandpa Craig got them an awesome rocking horse on springs, and they love it! Grandma and Papa Zeltner got them individual trips to Chuck-E-Cheese's, complete with rides, pizza and more! (Rylan just went last night and had a blast!), as well as an IOU for an electric/gas kid quad as soon as they are big enough! (It's what Chris wanted to get them- but i kept telling him they were too small!)

My not-so-little Ethan is turning one in a few short weeks! I cant believe that he's so big already! His first word was uh-oh (after the fashion of his older brothers!), and shortly thereafter, 'ball!'. He tries so hard to keep up with his brothers, its really rather adorable! Sad though, when he works so hard to get to wherever they are, and they just see him and move on to somewhere else! He is my little fireball- and quite the funny man!

Things have been even busier for me (I didnt realize that could be possible!). My photography side business is really starting to kick in- and im scheduling anywhere between 5-10 shoots a week. Its been a great opporunity to make some extra money (Chris had to take a huge paycut because of the city budget crisis), so its an amazing blessing! We would really be in trouble without it, so I started it in just the nick of time! I love going out and doing photoshoots- its a real creative outlet for me, as well as a nice break from adventures in baby-hood back home! The boys love spending extra time with daddy. (I only schedule shoots when Chris is off work and home).

So when im not chasing kids around the house, attempting to clean, forcing grandma to eat, or working with the kids on their speech and infant education, im sitting in front of my computer screen, trying to edit a picture or two before the next cry tears me away from my seat!

All in all- everything is pretty great. We are so lucky to have all that we have, the boys are growing and healthy, and momma and daddy are happy!

Ill post pics of the birthday parties soon (ethan will have his very first one soon!)

And- our very first family picture where we are ALL smiling! woo hoo!!

And the circle of Karma continues...

Sorry I havent been on here in a while- Things have been even crazier (Hey, I dont call it The Zeltner Zoo for no reason!!!)


So my random thought of the day- there really is such a thing as karma!!! :)

So yesterday, my grandma's dumb dog peed all over the carpet. And its not like its the first time either! She just forgets to take her out, and I (of course) have to do all the clean up. That dog is like her child to her- which is no big surprise, considering. And most of the time, I dont mind the dog. Well, anyways, so the dog pees on the carpet in the family room. Im ticked off, and grandma will not accept blame for anything!

First, the dog didnt do it. She would never do such a thing!!! Then, She has NEVER done anything like that before!! (yeah, right). Then, because I put the dog outside and made her stay there (for like a half an hour), my grandma plays the martyr... "So do you want me and misty to stay outside ALL DAY????". ;) Lets just say I was not at my most patient that day.

So today! Im changing the boys out of their jammies. The doorbell rings, and its one of my photography clients, here to pick up the CD of her sons photoshoot. Caden is running around in a very full and wet diaper! I get to chatting and voila! Caden is now running around completely naked!

A couple of minutes later, Im in the backyard (Caden is now dressed), and grandma comes out- carrying the cushion to her old, disgusting, smelly blue chair.

"Look at this!", she said, "those boys just came into my room and got my chair all wet!" She was totally ticked! I dont think she understood exactly why it was wet... but boy she was mad about it!


All I have to say is this.... THANK YOU KARMA!!!


SORRY GRANDMA... YOUR DOG PEES ON MY CARPET.... SO MY SON PEES ON YOUR CHAIR! SO THERE!


hahaha... and the circle of karma continues! I seriously laughed about it for like an hour!

The Grand Launch of JOIE DE VIVRE PHOTOGRAPHY!

So Im not the first, and certainly not the last, to begin a photography business. These days, I swear there are million of us so-called photographers, so at least I can laugh about it! But hey- If I can make a little extra money on the side- why the heck not, right?


And honestly, I really LOVE taking pictures. Kids, babies, families, they all just melt my heart. AND (not to toot my own horn or anything), but i am pretty dang good on photoshop- if I do say so myself!


So here it is- joie de vivre photography! Ive done 4 shoots so far this last week, and have five more coming up this week. Its pretty awesome. So check out my website if you want- let me know if Im crazy!


http://www.joiedevivreimages.blogspot.com !

STRAWBERRY PICKING!

So, I have been out of homemade strawberry jam for a LONG time now! And we finally picked a day to go and pick some strawberries with the boys! I figured they would have a good time running around, eating strawberries, getting filthy, you know... theyre boys!

But I really had no idea exactly what I was getting into!

It took us like 2 hours to pick 4 buckets. Rylan only wanted to be held- he didnt like all the mud in the aisles. And Caden had to be watched constantly, because he especially liked the GREEN strawberries, and the ROTTEN ones! Nevertheless, we had a good time, got some good strawberries to make some jam, and some great pictures!

Today's Rylan-ism

So, I truly believe that Rylan is the sweetest child I have ever seen. He will share ANY toy, ANY drink, ANY food that Caden wants him to.


For instance- today, Rylan had been out with my mom to run some errands. They stopped at McDonalds for lunch. He brought home some left-over chicken nuggets and fries. We put him into his chair, next to where Caden had been eating (or shall I say, NOT eating) his lunch, carrots and sandwiches. Rylan looks at Cadens tray, and GIVES him a nugget and some fries! HOW CUTE IS THAT!


HOWEVER... Rylan can also be a vicious little thing... most of the time when caden steals toys, or whatever, rylan just sits and takes it... but other times, he turns into Mr Hyde and BAM! Takes a chunk out of Cadens leg, arm, neck, whatever is closest and just clams down with his piranha like teeth!


Bottom line is this- Rylan is 90% the sweetest thing you ever saw, and 10% Get Those Teeth Away From Me!!!!



But I love him just the same!

Today's Caden-ism!

So I know I need to start a notebook to write in all of the cute things that the boys do and say. Well I havent gotten one yet, so I thought I would write it in here!


So Caden LOVES to eat chalk (and candles, and crayons, and anything wax, and rocks, and dirt, etc)- but he knows that when I catch him with it in his mouth it goes bye-bye. I'm hoping that it will work!


So yesterday, I am lounging in my bathing suit in the sun, Ethan's in his jumper, and Caden and Rylan are coloring with chalk on the patio. Two minutes later, I open my eyes, and Caden is over in the side yard, playing with the wheels on the trash cans (of course), with the bright orange chalk in his mouth.

I call his name out... he looks at me, IMMEDIATELY takes the chalk out of his mouth, bends over, and starts randomly coloring as fast as he can!!! And then stands back up and looks at me...

As if to say,

"ITS OK, MOM!!! Im coloring, coloring, coloring, can you see?... DONT TAKE IT AWAY!"



That little stinker! Anyways, it was cute, so I thought I'd put it up!

EASTER

I have so many new posts to write, so I better get at least one done today! (and nap time is almost over already- dang!)


Easter was so much fun this year! The twins (I have to start referring to them as 'the twins' even though I hate it- but I cant say ' the boys' anymore, because I now have three of them!) were old enough to realize that eggs had yummy things in them and would hunt for them! They had 3 baskets each, and 2 different Easter egg hunts, one at the Gma and Papa Zeltner's house in the morning, and one at Grammy and Gpa Craigs house. By the end of the day, they were professional egg hunters!

Cadens strategy was to shove as many eggs as he could into his basket, not trying to open any of them, while Rylan had to open each egg as he went along, checking out the goodies inside!
We had to slow Caden down so we could give Rylan more time!





Ethan just sat and watched, hopefully knowing that his brothers would have to share in their treasure!


It is so fun to watch and see how different these three little boys are in temperament, personality and growth!

The Wild Animal Park

We have been planning to go to the wild animal park for weeks now. Then came the rain, then the wind, then flu season... but we finally made it there last weekend. Armed with food, snacks, juice galore, emergency back-up snacks (fruit gummies) and emergency-emergency- cant-get-the-kid-to-stop-crying-snacks (cookies and brownies) We finally made it there!




We went with Chris's parents and sisters (good thing- we needed the help!). Between 6 adults, we figured we could handle the three babies... that was, until we lost caden! He absolutely insisted on walking BY HIMSELF!


He did great at that, the only problem was, we all just assumed that somebody else had him! he was only lost for about 45 seconds, but i about had a heart attack during those 45 seconds! He had gone up the next set of stairs and was wandering down the swiss family robinson walkways. Needless to say, he was holding somebodys hand AT ALL TIMES after that!




The boys had a great time in the petting zoo, until a dumb deer knocked rylan over trying to get more food from him... he didnt really like that much. The liked the bird show, Rylan laughed a lot. Caden was motivated to stay because of the chips I fed him!




They also loved the tram ride thingy (journey acrosss africa)- not so much because of the animals (they were kind of far away to see), but because they were in a 'car' with no carseat! They were fairly obedient when it came time to take pictures, although most of the time they were dying to explore and didnt stay in one place very long, so i got a lot of pictures of the back of their heads!! Overall, they were incredibly well behaved, for not getting a nap, and we stayed until after 3!And ethan, of course, was my sweetest angel! He really is the best, happiest baby! We now have season passes to the WAP and the zoo, so if anybody wants to go- let me know!

a day in the life of a toddler...

So, here it is, a good day in the life of a zeltner toddler.



Chris had the day off, so that always means a happier mommy and more trips out! They woke up to a new toy outside in the backyard (a pop up train thingy- $8 off craiglist!)

So after that, we took the boys to the mance buchanon park in oceanside. We have never been there before, and they have the BEST play equipment!





Caden refused to get out of the swing, Rylan was obsessed with that little elephant rocker thingy, and if youre wondering, Ethan was not so happy when i took that bag of strawberries away!



After that, we took an hour nap (not long enough for mommies standards!) and went to visit grammy and grandpas house! We went swimming in their hot tub, ate pizza for dinner, and grammy gave the boys lots of ice cream for dessert! (unfortunately, i dont have any pictures of that part- my camera was temporarily lost- under uncle ben's butt on the sofa!:)


must be a hard life to be a toddler huh? and tomorrow... we go to the wild animal park!

youre a winner!

Heck, i thought it was cute... LOVE the picture, it made me smile. and sort of similar to chain emails, here you go!

The first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me. What I make will be my choice, but it will be made just for you. Since I only really have 5 readers, that means that you’ll all probably get something

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be an original and it will be made just for you.
3. It’ll be done this year (might be December 31st, but you WILL get something) and I will post all of my original creations as they are completed.
4. You will get no clues what it’s going to be. Heck, I don’t even know what it will be. I might paint or draw something. I might compose a jingle or short song. I might even write a short play just for you. Who knows? Whatever it is, it will be a surprise!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange

The catch? The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

Happy commenting (AND posting!)

new title!

Ok, it must be sad that I spent the boys ENTIRE nap time creating a new header for my blog. Ive seen so many of my friends with these adorable blogs- and i wanted one too!


so there you go. I have a new header! AND i think its pretty cute... let me know what yo think of my crazy time waster!

cool whip mania!

As a fun/educational experience, Allison (the boys teacher) brought over some cool whip and food coloring... i looked forward to it- but knew it would take longer for the clean up than the actual playtime! nevertheless- it was totally worth it! the boys cracked up, practiced 'drawing', using a spoon,colors, and pointing. it was priceless! here are the pics!


AS A SIDE NOTE- LITTLE ETHAN SPROUTED HIS FIRST TOOTH TODAY! YAY!

SICK SICK SICK!

I dont know if it is because my boys are preemies, or if their immune systems are lame, but i swear- every 2 months they get sick!!! and with three boys, when one gets it- they all get it.

Caden got it first, coughing like crazy... three days later, ethan got it, and added the runny nose. three days after that, rylan got it, and he got it worst of all! fever, sore throat (he refuses to eat), cough, and more snot than you can possibly imagine!


It wouldnt be so bad... if there were three of me! they all want to be held and cuddled, dont want to eat (which is no good for rylan considering he still barely weighs 20 pounds- although he has probably lost some by now), and they dont take very good naps! And being a mom who schedules like crazy- when my routine is screwed up- my life is screwed up! poor chris- he had to leave for a new shift yesterday (new training officer in a new area), and leave a crying wife and two screaming children (luckily my ethan was being a sweetheart at that moment and was playing in his exersaucer).



I know, one of these days i will yearn for the time when i had three children under 18 months- but that day is certainly not today!



WHEW! now i feel better, and can go back to my normal cheerful self! ....




Wait... theres a baby crying... OFF I GO!

FINALLY! I have my computer again!

I can't even begin to explain my JOY at having a working computer again! Since we moved into the new house (more on that later), our computer has been crashing. After hours and hours or trying to figure out what the heck was wrong (and the help of two computer dudes)- turns out, the only problem was that our wireless card was plugged into the USB hub, and not a high speed 2.0 port. So everytime I booted up, the dumb wireless card jammed the system and crashed it. SO RIDICULOUS!
Life has just been that much harder without a working computer and internet! First and foremost- i missed my photoshop! secondly, so much of my life is on the internet! online banking, email, my church calling, EVERYTHING! i had to go over to my parents house everytime i needed to do something, and lug the three boys (not to mention grandma- more on that as well to come soon) in the car to go to my moms house.

YAY~ what a relief! ITS SO GOOD TO BE BACK!

Chris's Graduation!

So, after six long months, Chris finally graduated from the San Diego Regional Police Academy on monday night!

Graduation was something we have looked forward to for a long time! The ceremony was nice, not too long (which was great considering my mom an I were struggling with three boys the whole time!). They had a nice video they put together with pictures taken during the academy.

Overall, it was a huge relief knowing that I didnt have to iron his stupid uniform every day, no more studying for tests, homework and gun cleaning, et cetera.

Chris just found out today that his first rotation is going to be in the Western Division (Hillcrest and North Park), working graveyard. He is excited, but I'm a little apprehensive about getting used to the hours. He is most excited about being able to carry his gun anywhere he goes now! Oh yeah, and his badge looks cool... :)

YAY for graduation!