Little Chef
Ollie is so helpful in the kitchen…
Although…I suppose a bit wasteful. It’s okay, his cuteness makes up for it. heh.
Just adorable
So, I don’t really have a story here. I just think these are adorable. I love my little guys so much! Even when they’re upset, they are cute! hehehe.
This one of Ollie just sends me over the edge. He was so annoyed at me cause I kept taking so many pictures. But I got this awesome expression from him, which makes the crying afterwards TOTALLY worth it! haha. 
Sorry bud, but your Mom is crazy…and you are CUTE!
Counting
Just showing off Noah’s sweet Chinese skills. Thanks to his Amah & Yeh Yeh.
The other day, a stranger asked me if Noah knew any Chinese. I told him he could count to ten…then Noah proceeded to count to thirty! I must say I was a very proud, and shocked, mommy. And the man was very jealous that Noah had such awesome Grandparents that teach him so well.
Popsicle plea
Ollie is CRAZY about Otter Pops. He wants them ALL the time. I recorded this cause I just LOVE the way he says popsicle. hehehe.
In case you are wondering….he eventually won. I know, I know…but look how cute he is when he EATS the popsicle. 
Easter fun!
I know this is slightly late. heh. But here it is anyway…
I thought the Easter Bunny did a pretty awesome job this year. Actually…I didn’t even try to pretend. When Noah said “Thanks Mommy”, I just said “You’re welcome.” Honestly…the Easter bunny kinda creeps me out.
Noah got his first pair of ‘safety scissors’ and wow, was Ollie jealous. Told Ollie he’d get a pair next year and that didn’t go over so well. So, they get equal scissors time now, and to Ollie’s credit, he handles them QUITE well. I was impressed.
This was the ONE piece of candy in their Easter baskets. I know…I’m so cruel. Sorry….but most of that Easter chocolate is NOT fair trade, and since I am Miss ANTI-slavery, that’s just how it goes kids.
I, thankfully, did not have to hide eggs, since the kids were invited to a joint birthday party the day before Easter for their friends Meadow & Max. They both have extremely talented moms. Here’s just a sample of the decor…
Noah, sadly, now POSES for pictures. Ugh.
Waiting patiently…for ONCE!
Noah and the BANANA
Joe’s mom (the boys call her Amah) sent this story to us after they babysat the boys this week. I love it.
“While in Vancouver, I saw this cute pastry shaped like a banana, and it has big lettering: BANANA on it. I bought a box of two for Noah and Ollie.
To let Noah practice his alphabet, I said, "Noah, what does it say?"
Noah ran his pointer through the letters, and read without hesitation, "not a hot dog".
(Joe took this picture by the way. Pretty great, huh?)
Day at the Dentist
I never thought I would say it, but we had a GREAT day at the dentist today. I’m not sure what our dentist has pumping through the air ducts, but WOW, the kids’ LOVED every minute. So, here are some pictures. (the pictures were taken on my phone…just had to add that)
Noah was first up and did very well. Ollie watched the whole time and was eager for his turn.
Ollie was so great! He did everything they told him to do.
How cute is this!!!! Dr. Thomas actually told Noah to stay on the chair and Ollie could put his legs over him. I’m thinking…haha, yeah right, that’s gonna work, but it TOTALLY DID. This is what I mean…something crazy is pumping through the air there. You HAVE to go to this dentist, he is MAGIC!!!
Then if that wasn’t enough, they were SOOOO excited to get their toothbrushes, they couldn’t even wait until we got home to open them and start BRUSHING!
This cracked me up. Noah had such a tight grip on, yes, dental floss & toothbrushes. And he’s so serious! haha. I was totally laughing at him. In his mind he’s saying “Mommy, proper oral hygiene is no laughing matter.”
Then we had lunch with Daddy and they got to spend the night at Amah & Yeh Yeh’s (Joe’s parents). All in all, a pretty great day for everyone. Who knew?
Beach Day
On the way to Christmas in Phoenix, we spent a few days in San Diego for a little pre-vacation, just the four of us. On the first two days we hit SeaWorld and Legoland, and on the third day we just puttered around looking for good places to take pictures.
In Coronado, we hit the jackpot. Deserted beach, photography gold.
We only speak integers here
Joe: "How many apple slices do you have left?"
Noah: "One, two."
Joe: "…and a half."
Noah: "Two."
Joe: "Two and a half."
Noah: "That’s not a number!"
Joe: "Yes, two and a half is a number."
Noah: "No, it’s a Spanish number."
A Dinosaur and Spiderman
Ollie got to wear the dinosaur costume that Noah wore 2 years ago. Check it out. When Noah was his age he was actually scared to wear it. Ollie didn’t want to take it off! I think he may have worn it for 3 days straight. He loved running around the house yelling “Raaaawr!” I finally had to hide it.
My friend, Heather, had a Halloween party. This is probably the only time you will ever see Joe in a costume. If you can’t guess…he is Remy and I am Colette from Ratatouille. Ollie cracks me up in these pictures.
Heather and I share the same love/hate for Martha Stewart. We found all this awesome Halloween stuff in the October issue and it was all over. Had to be done. Heather made that house and actually poured windows using melted sugar. Isn’t it cool how the light passes through. Cool….but crazy! Darn you, Martha!
I had an Azalea bush that died on me. (no surprise) So, I spray painted it and we hung the favors off of it. We also made ghosts from fondant, marshmallow bones, and skeleton cookies. All Martha creations. She really makes me crazy.
Halloween night we went to our church for a some candy, bouncy houses, airplane rides and all kinds of crazy activities. Lots of fun….but whoa, sensory overload! Good thing Amah and Yeh Yeh came with us.
Ollie was a fan of the popcorn, face painting and balloon animals. Daddy was a good sport.
Noah just liked to show off his Spiderman muscles. He’ll sing the theme song if you ask him. Although, instead of “spins a web, any size” he sings “spins a wrench, any size.” heh. (He’s also a fan of Handy Manny.)
Noah also enjoyed the balloons and face painting. I wasn’t with him when he got his face painted. But when he saw it in the mirror at home he instantly broke into tears. My perfectionist child was upset that the mouth wasn’t exactly how he envisioned it. I’m sure my Mom would laugh at this since she had to put up with much worse from me at that age. Sorry Mom. I understand now. I guess I had it coming.
Little Pumpkins
These little pumpkins had a blast at the pumpkin patch down the road from us. I was amazed it went so well and the big pumpkin (Joe) even wanted to come along. Joe took most of these pictures and I love so many of them that I can’t decide….so, here’s a lot…
They were so good at sharing that day. (Notice the Ethel gloves in the background. Perfect for pumpkin picking and sooo cute!)
Ollie kept falling down, and Noah helped him up every time.
The kids are cute and all…but LOOK at those gloves! haha. Just kidding (well..kind of). I’m just in love with Ethel gloves. I already thought they were great, then they donated gloves for our Golf Tournament gift bags. They have great design sense AND a heart for the world. Just awesome in every way.
Ollie sat on every pumpkin that was just the right size.
Then he decided to be creative and stack them. I love that he did this, and especially that he stood back and looked at what he had built.
I love Noah’s expression here.
Ollie was not impressed with the tractor at first.
Then he got excited. (notice his crossed ankles…hehe)
Ollie is two!
Well…our baby is 2. We did not have a party this year (if you can believe that….yes, I have restraint). But I did make a cake and we had a very small celebration with Ollie’s friends, Rusty & Max.
Ollie loves frogs and turtles, so he got a frog cake and I splurged on the huge mylar turtle balloon. He loved it, but not as much as the goldfish, which was his ‘big’ gift.
We asked the boys what they wanted to name mr. fish. First, Noah suggested “Bakkak” (i have no explanation for that), next was “Trainsian”…interesting, then Noah adamantly suggested Nemo. Well…he actually ‘told’ us his name was Nemo. We argued and said he doesn’t even look like Nemo…well, Noah won. So, our fish has the incredibly ‘unique’ name of Nemo. Lovely.
Other blog
So, we have decided to keep this blog 95% pictures. If you would like to know more details about the day to day life of Noah and Ollie, check out Amy’s blog at www.amycheng.com.
Tulips and Little Green Munchkins
Noah was very concerned that Ollie was going to fall in the mud puddle.
He’s so happy that he “rescued” him. hehe. What a good big brother.
Ollie is such a little comedian. I think he’s performing for us.
(Btw, thanks for the great raincoats, Sabby. They still fit! )
Haircut
I (Joe) literally asked, “How hard could it be?” Yeah, turns out it’s pretty hard if you don’t know what you’re doing. Luckily Amy’s mom was on hand for the save before I did too much damage.
Portland
Here are some random pictures from a trip to Portland in January.
Casey (Amy’s cousin) and Anne (Amy’s grandmother) 
Uncle Casey’s bar 
