Train...

Mama Says Om has a theme each week. There are some awesomely creative ladies over there. You should go and check them out!

This week the theme is train. I am being pretty literal with this but here is what I've got.

Fountain fun...

Last week we went to the interactive fountain at Viejas. Ben and Hannah love it. They get all soaking wet and then go and play around in the sun to dry and warm up a bit. Then they go back in for more fun. Noah likes it too. I have to hold him back from it because the water comes out so strong that he might get hurt.

We were there with a playgroup, one of the Moms has a 19mo son, named Dylan, whom Hannah really likes. She would wait near him and then run away when he started to follow her. He would lose her (because she was going around big boulders) and then find her on the other side. They'd giggle and get all tickled inside. They did this for such a long time and they were having so much fun! She would also run all the way around the fountain and not realize that Dylan was waaaaay behind her until she was halfway around it, then she'd turn around to find out where he was and have to run aaaalll the way back to him. Then start running ahead again.

The next day we met at a park and Hannah waited for the little boy to be ready to play...just waited quietly and then was ready to have him run after her again. Makes me smile.

Hannah in the fountain.

Ben being surprised by the water.

a myth...

One would think that if a baby or a child went without much rest (like naps) during the day then he or she would be so exhausted and sleep without incidence through the night.

This is what I have been told my entire life as mother to my children.

This is a myth.

My kids don't sleep all night long if they haven't had any rest during the day. They wake frequently and most of the time they are crying and trying to get somewhere...in their sleep... We are trying to calm them down and get them back down all night long.

So... the next day, we are tired and exhausted from running around after them at whatever event that kept us out late and we are up all night trying to quiet the tired kids.

That is how it works for us...always has!

Happy Birthday Marissa!

Tonight we went to Corvette Diner for Marissa's 9th birthday.

"Hey!! Welcome to Corvette's! My name is Dixie, I'm here to help you out tonight. Just holler across the room if you need anything!" (Boy we wanted to holler for her but didn't have the gumption to do it.)
mmmm.....rootbeer floats!

My kids love it there. What an experience! Dixie threw handfuls of straws all over the place, yelled over the loud music so we can hear her and was so nice!! Marissa had a couple of her classmates there for dinner too and they kept going into the photo booth to get pictures of themselves together. Ben and Hannah got in on the action a bit too.

Marissa's goal tonight: to do a face-plant into her cake. So she did!

And this...is the wall of gum outside the restaurant...can you say disgusting? As you pay you are finishing up your meal and paying the bill they throw Bazooka bubble gum all over the table, floor, you and everyone scrambles for their pieces. By the time you leave the restaurant the gum is old...hence the wall...and of course the kids added their pieces to it.

Happy Birthday Marissa! It was a grand time!

School...for two?

We are thinking that Ben is ready for school...or at least some sort of school. We decided against preschool if you read our previous posts about it. So our thoughts are going towards a gymnastics class because he LOVES to climb and run and jump. So if he gets some guidance with what he is already doing perhaps he can get further and have more fun with a class. He'd also be with kids his age and that would be good since we don't know many people with kids his age. Another thing he might enjoy would be an art class or music. We just dabble in it at home and aren't very good at it. His mind is a sponge and he loves to learn new information about everything.

So then my thoughts go to Hannah. She is ready to do something more structured too...at least I think she is. Some days I don't think she could do it by herself but on other days she is so independent and ready. I'd love to have her go to a gymnastics or dance class. She says she wants to go but I'm hesitant on whether she'd be OK with me leaving her to be alone in the class (I hope I could watch if she needed me to be nearby).

This would give me a bit of a break during the day, even if I had to stay outside the door and wait.

The key is to find a place for all of this to happen around the same times and days. I don't think I would want to be travelling all over the county for my 3 and 4 year old all week!!

Noah clip...

I've been having trouble with our modem...now that we have a new one I'm going to call this "the summer of computer problems".

So...
I finally got some video up on my clipshack site. Here is Noah at 10 months and 2 days old. He is really going wild with walking. He loves to clap and play. Enjoy!

10 months old...

Happy birthday Noah!
You are 10 months old today! You are growing so fast. You want to catch up with your big brother and sister ...right now. You walk, no more crawling for you! You are such a chubby bubby, your brother and sister call you the 'giant baby'...actually that's when you are coming closer and closer to their itty bitty toys and play. They yell "Aaack giant baby!!" and run off to higher ground where you can't reach yet. You'll catch up with them soon enough at the rate you are going.

You are inquisitive (as most babies/toddlers are) and always trying to figure out how things work, what you can reach and get ahold of. Trying things out in your mouth to see how they taste...yum ... and not so yum sometimes. Hitting things to hear the sound they make or just to see what it will do is a favorite activity. You're also fond of sticks, rocks and balls. You know how to kick a ball. Sometimes you go around in little circles kicking the ball with one foot and other times you miss the ball completely and it goes right between your legs! You love cars and really want them to figure out how they work...you study them intently, play with them, let them roll between your chubby little fingers to drop to the floor, throw them and sometimes you just give up.

Sometimes I think you are on the verge of saying something. Maybe it's a sound that we've been practicing with you, maybe it's a name of someone, maybe it's just a noise you want to make. We're looking forward to you talking! I'm sure it'll happen sooner than we think!

I love you so much!
Mommy

Persistence...

We went to Target today and I bought the kids some little gifts for helping to entertain Noah in the car on our trip. They chose 2 things from the dollar spot (love that spot). Ben chose a microscope (cheap plastic) and a miniature watercolor paint set. Hannah chose the same paint set and a set of gel pens. Then we were in the car afterwards and Ben was fiddling around with the microscope. Here is the conversation that went on between Ben and I.

Me: Be careful not to break it before we get home, I'd like to show you how it works.

Ben: We can use our fingers to put it back together.

Me: Sometimes our fingers can't fix it.

Ben: We can use a screwdriver to fix it.
Me: Sometimes screwdrivers can't fix what we have that is broken.
Ben: We can use a different kind of tool to fix it.
Me: (to Corey in a whisper) He isn't listening to what I am saying.
Corey: He's a persistent problem-solver.


It is broken, and we can't fix it. It didn't even make it home.

pictures...(part 2)

Campfire

Ben and Hannah climbing the giant boulder

On our hike with Marissa~to the waterfall

Ben is fishing in the river

The fort
The fort~another view

pictures...(part 1)

Hannah drinking a morning hot chocolate on a very chilly morning!

Everyone climbed up onto a boulder.

Noah was always with a stick.


Climbing a giant boulder near the beaver ponds. The indian rock.
A pose in front of the beaver ponds.

Ben and Hannah ready to go fishing!

Noah ...all beat up. Poor little guy!

I have more...

Our trip...

We had a fabulous time! We tried things differently this year and I think it was successful, we may do it again next year!

First of all, I have to say that it was a F O R E V E R car drive with the kids saying "Is Marissa (their cousin) going to be there?" "Is she on her way to Lundy?" "Are we going to the hotel?" you know, the wuestions that kids are famous for? And the questions lasted from the time we told the kids we were going camping (around March) until we got to Lundy Lake.

This year we left a few days earlier to go camping before we headed to Lundy Lake to stay in the cabin. We found a cool little spot about 20 minutes from Bishop. It was a campground in Bishop Creek Canyon that had 5 hidden walk-in camp spots. It felt like we were backpacking with the kids. The kids really liked camping in the tent but they were still bugging us about seeing Marissa. On the first night Hannah woke up, looked at the brightly moonlit tent and asked me if jack-o-lanterns lived there. heehee

When we got to Lundy Lake we found out that my parents (& Marissa) had RV trouble and weren't there yet. We did find a good friend of mine, Clarisa who was waiting for us. We had a nice time catching up and she stayed the night so the next day we chatted some more. We moved into our one-room cabin, and figured out all the details of where we will sleep...it's good thing we co-sleep! There wasn't much room. My parents arrived the next day and all the questions (from my kids) about Marissa and camping and the RV, disappeared!

They went fishing with their fishing vests on every day. Ben said that he needs to practice fishing and that fishing takes a lot of time. He didn't catch any but he's not bummed about it, he'll just try some more later and next time we go fishing. What an awesome attitude! Corey caught 3 fish for the trip and we cooked them up when we got home!

Our second night at the cabin we invited my parents, Heather, Marissa, JP and Ryan over for s'mores. The kids really enjoyed getting together, playing in the tall grass and eating marshmallows. Noah fell asleep pretty early and didn't wake up until we went inside. It was a great way to start our adventures at Lundy.

We went on a few hikes. We went up to the beaver ponds one day. Hannah had a minor break-down on our way up but she quickly got back on her feet and decided that hiking was fun. We had a nice little snack watching for the beavers (I have never seen one), checked out the indian rock, climbed a gigantic boulder and went home for lunch. Another day we went hiking in Yosemite in the Tuolumne Meadows area. We had been to this area last year and it was beautiful. We ran into lots of deer by the river as it was nearing the end of the day. Another hike we took Marissa on was to the waterfalls up Lundy Canyon. We couldn't make it all the way but we made it to a nice vista point where the kids had a snack.

A highlight of our trip is going to the Mobil station - yes the gas station. They have a mean deli, named Tioga Toomey's Whoa Nellie Deli, where all the locals and tourists go to eat. It is delicious! They also have local bands play on their lawn. The lawn has giant boulders that the kids climb and jump off. This trip though...they played hide-and-seek in the dark.

GranDad and Uncle JP helped them build a fort in the bushes. What a great idea! They will be able to play in it next year too. It was already framed a bit with rocks, they added some flooring (pine branches) and some roofing material (branches) and they even had a little escape door. It was awesome! Something that I would've liked to have as a kid.

Noah was a real camper. He loved every minute of it. He got dirty at the campsite and was not affected by it at all! He walks now...yep full-time walker. He couldn't crawl on the dirty ground, I guess. We were at the cabin for about an hour when he fell out of the door onto his nose, and the next morning he fell again. So here he is all scratched up but he didn't let that get in his way of having some fun.

Our last night we were invited to my parents campsite for dinner, campfire and s'mores. It was a nice ending to the trip. I didn't have to cook and the kids had fun with their cousin. GranDad also told them a few of his famous stories (the ones I grew up with). They were bleary-eyed by the time we got back to the cabin and fell right to sleep.

Disappointingly, we didn't see any bears. Didn't even hear them. Yes I'm disappointed...but there's always next year!

(If you got this far...thanks for reading! I promise to include some pictures tomorrow.)

See you ...

...in 10 days! We're off to Lundy Lake again! Our annual trip (although last year I missed blogging the trip) here is the year before. The kids can not wait to go. They have been asking for months now and now that it is so close they are bouncing off the walls. We are barely getting the packing done. At least they helped get their things together! That helped a bit with my sanity. Everything else? Well... I know that we will pass many stores if we do forget something, so I'm not worried about that.

I gave them some presents today. I had picked up fishing tackle boxes for them at Target and loaded them up with fishing supplies (bobbers, weights, stringers...and some other stuff) They LOVED it! Ben didn't want to put it in the box, he wanted it out so that he could see it. They have their fishing poles and their vests all ready to go too. So cute...I'll have to get pictures of them all geared up to share here.

We will be staying in a cabin at Lundy this year so we are camping in style. We are going camping though for a couple of days before we get to the cabin. A couple of days of sleeping on the ground with bears sniffing at our feet, squirrels munching on the crumbs that our kids will leave behind, and the blue jays squawking at dawn...sounds like an adventure!

See you when we get back!

Climbing...

Noah is climbing all over the place. He just barrels through to his destination all day long. Over toys, kids, pillows, people...whatever is in his way, he just climbs over it! He won't crawl unless he's in a big hurry to get somewhere, he walks. He picks something up and then takes it with him, walking and talking to himself, reaching for something else and leaving the first thing where he was. Moving on to something bigger and better. We call him Frankenstein because he has a heavy walk, his footsteps are heard all through the house...well he's a heavy kid! He shows us how proud he is of his walking with his big toothy grins.

MIA...

Noah's sleep schedule has changed...and he has been keeping me up a lot later than usual and since he needs my attention (I can't sit at my computer) I have been bleary-eyed all week. So I'm a bit behind on blogging but will get back into the swing of things soon enough! Until then!

bubbles...

Ben was making some cool designs on our glass door with bubbles today.

Sunflowers...

We try to grow sunflowers every year. You'd think we'd have it down by now. You're probably wondering why I am complaining because these flowers are gorgeous and huge and just the way they are supposed to be. Well... these are our neighbors sunflowers, aren't they great?


And... Here are ours from this year...kinda wimpy...we'll try again next year!

The 'Ben'...

We had hamburgers for lunch as something different (the kids don't usually eat hamburgers with buns so we don't get them ). But today they were all excited about their hamburgers. Maybe their tastes are changing? Well maybe! I don't know if this is a good thing but it would open up their choices in restaurants we frequent-instead of just a quesadilla or a grilled cheese sandwich...So back to the hamburgers. I grilled them up like I usually do and added some cheese on their plates along with some kidney beans and blueberries (mmm tasty!). Ben wanted to spruce up his burger and here it is!


We'll call it the "Ben" loaded with creamy peanut butter and topped with cheese...yum! (It kind of reminds me of something they'd serve at Corvette Diner)