Rain...

So it looks like Fall has decided to show up...finally! Today it rained for about 3 hours and the air is chilly. It wasn't pouring down but more of that annoying in between rain that couldn't decide what it really wanted to do. But still it kept us indoors for most of the day today.

When we went out this afternoon, it was like I was letting the wild animals out after years of being cooped up. They went straight into the garage for their big wheels and tricycles and got busy racing each other up and down the block, Noah running after them. Ben zooming by barely missing toes. And Hannah dancing around wildly. We let them play outdoors until the sun went down and they couldn't see anymore.

It makes me thankful for not living where it rains a lot!

Beekers....

Here they are...the family of Beekers that Ben made today. He found some pipe cleaners somewhere and he got creating! I think he did an excellent job :-)

Front left to right: Ben, Noah and Hannah

Grumpy...

We have noticed that the day after a party or a day with extended family that our children are grumps and not fun to be around at all! They argue, argue and argue, cry and pull toys away from each other, don't listen to directions from us (nor anyone else), are tired and pitch fits that last a long time. We don't like these days.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for my little family. I love them so much. They entertain and give me joy every day. I have been blessed with a wonderful husband and three beautiful children. My husband is my love, he plays with the kids, reads them books, changes dirty diapers, and wipes snotty noses. My free-spirited fun-loving five year old monkey, Ben loves to climb, tie knots and assemble things in different ways-usually his way. My thoughtful adorable daughter, three year old Hannah, is a joy and a love with her pretend play, her babies, songs and dances. And my one year old chunky monkey, Noah stomps around, sides steps, kicks balls and loves to follow all of us around. I look forward to going through our lives together for many many years to come. I'm sure there will be bumps and bruises as we travel the road called life but we will always have each other to help pick one another up. I love them!!

Thanksgiving count-down...

Ben and Hannah are so excited about Thankgiving and keep asking when it will be. I think they are more excited about seeing and playing with their cousins than they are about eating the turkey. They are pretty good at telling when a day will be here with how many day and night naps have gone by, or will go by. So, again there is a count-down ...this time it's to Thanksgiving at Delaney's house. Right now we have 2 day naps and one night nap to go...

Internal clocks...

We go to the park several times a week. We have to get out of the house during the day or else there is total chaos in the house. So, the kids get fresh air and sun, they play, they run with each other and some friends. They dig in the dirt, sand or woodchips. They have tons of fun. They stop every once in a while for a snack or a drink of water and check in with me. And it is always amazing to me that in the midst of all of this fun that they come to me at noon (give or take a few minutes) and ask if it is time to go home. This is when I check the time and... well...it is time to go home for lunch and naps. I guess we have left at noon so many times that they are programmed to leave at that time.

New discovery...

I was going through some of the toys on the shelves in the play room this afternoon, to make room for the new toys that Ben and Noah got for their birthdays. The big Christmas season of giving and receiving is coming up too, so we need room for new stuff. I found an unopened box of books with a CD and a tape! The books are about Winnie the Pooh and are perfect for Ben. I think he got this as a gift when he was 2 years old. I think he is finally old enough to read the story along with the tape. So we put the tape into the stereo and started to play one of the stories (there are 3 books). Ben really got into it. Corey went in and asked him (or maybe it was a statement) about what he was doing "Oh, are you reading?" to which Ben replied "Yeah the TV is telling the story!"

So, I do think he is ready for books on tape, they certainly will help in the car for those long drives that we do...once a year!

A morning with Daddy...

Today (well, this week), Corey has off from work. So he took the kids to the zoo this morning. He hadn't been in a while and since we have been going fairly often recently he thought he'd take them. They took him to see the naked mole rats which I'm sure he loved. They also saw the mouse house which really caught their attention last time we were there too. I didn't hear about any other animals that they saw. I'm assuming because these two were the highlights of the trip. And to tell you the truth...after the last time we went to the zoo Ben and Hannah couldn't stop talking about those two rodents also. Can't argue with them...they are worth talking about!

New chairs...

Today we re-covered our dining room chair cushions. The kids were so excited about it but all they could do was watch. We had the staple gun out with scissors and screwdrivers. Ben and Hannah love to help but it was just not going to work for them today. The cushions were so dirty-yes, white with almost 8 years of dirt and grime on them. It was time for a change. So...here they are!

Before-yuck...so dirty!

After :-)

Brotherly love...

Just look at these boys! They just love each other sooo much! Ben and Noah sitting in a box enjoying each others company...fun times!

A love of books...

I know I have mentioned this before. :-)

Noah loves books. Here we are reading together with Ben (who also loves books) about the baby in the bath. Noah picks books up at all times of the day. He wants to learn all about the animals or about what the babies are doing. He is such a bookworm...already! Isn't it great?

Too big...

For some reason Ben really likes these cars. He loves to get in them and drive them around, open the doors, turn the steering wheel, honk the horn. He has liked them since he was very little and couldn't 'drive' it on his own. Maybe it's the tight space he's in...

Well now it seems that he is getting too big for these cars. So sad...

Doesn't he look like he's having fun?

Shovelling...

We do a lot of yard work and much of it involves shovels...digging holes for plants, digging up dead plants, digging holes for play, digging holes for fence posts... work around the house and garden is never done. Ben and Hannah help out with the digging too. They have shovels for their work around the house. Noah is a smart boy and watches us work hard with our digging. Here he is as he is doing a little work of his own around the back yard. He actually puts his foot on the shovel like we do and ... well loses his balance, but he has the technique down right!

grand opening...

Over the weekend one of my many cousins opened his shop doors here in San Diego. He owns a printing and graphics company in town and they had the grand opening Saturday night. What a fun time! We took the kids and met up with most of our families there. My brother catered the night and it was delicious. The kids had fun. They found a ladder that led to upstairs (they didn't go up there, like many of you know how much they would've loved to go and explore) and had fun climbing it up and down while they ate corn on the cob. Ben even maneuvered a way that was a bit more challenging and turned a chain into a 'cable' to keep him safe in case he fell. And he needed his headlamp to see.

Ben and Hannah and their cousin Marissa

Ben suspended

Shopping...

Every week, sometimes twice a week I go grocery shopping by myself and often to 2 or 3 different stores. I would take the kids with me but I get it done so much faster without them around. I know how it benefits children to go and how much they love it, but still I go alone. Most of the time. A couple times a month Hannah decides (as I'm putting the keys in the ignition) that she would like to go along. She gives me the puppy dog eyes, her bottom lip starts to frown and quiver like seconds before she cries and says "I want to go". So off she goes to get her clothes on or her shoes or her purse and into the carseat she sits. She sings all the way. Different songs for different days. Today the song was about numbers in Spanish in a sing songy tune.

Hannah loves grocery shopping. She has a bounce in her step throughout the store and is talk talk talking the entire time. She has Mommy's undivided attention time and is a mighty big helper. The other shoppers are quite amused by her energy as they dodge her quick steps in the aisles. She has been to the stores enough times that she is getting to know where the products are and which ones she can pick up herself. She's such a big girl.

It's nice to have a shopping companion/helper.

Baby talk....

Hannah: "di di manoook badeee beee"

...

Hannah: "dibalookee maaamaa"

...

Hannah: "Mommy, didn't you hear me? I want a glass of milk!"

Me: "Oh...no I didn't hear you. You were making funny noises with your mouth."

(I give her the glass of milk.)

...

Hannah: "daabaaka lloookeee"

I guess that's thank you?

Yep, baby talk is the norm these days...another phase, I hope.

First pictures...

Ben got a digital camera for his birthday from his Granny and GranDad. This one. Very nice, kid-proof and kid-tough. Anyone who knows Ben knows that kid-tough is important. Ben has been having a blast taking pictures for the past few days. He puts the camera to his face or aims it towards his target and shoots. He does this so fast that sometimes he doesn't get the picture right...or maybe it is right? I think that he'll be getting a little bit of guidance from his "camera happy" Mom.
Here are some of his first pictures (some of the ones with people and their faces)!

Hannah, Granny and Marissa

Hannah...up close

Marissa and Auntie Heather

Little teachers....

I love how Ben and Hannah are listening to and learning from us about how to teach a baby. Noah is so interested in the world around him and wants to learn about it now. He wants us to read to him, showing him the pictures in the books and pointing to all the details. We talk to him and show him different signs so that he can learn to sign different words. We never did signs with the Ben and Hannah so it is new to all of us and we are kind of doing our own thing with it. Ben and Hannah are interested in the signs too so we've pulled out the sign language book and taught them a few signs too.

So every so often during the day I will hear Ben or Hannah (taking turns teaching) repeating a word or short phrase to Noah in hopes that he will just blurt it out. "Ap-ple, Noah, ap-ple, Noah this is an ap-ple, can you say ap-ple? Ap-ple, ap-ple, ap-ple..." Ben will say. Hannah will do her own version of this with another word such as "up" or "ball" or "truck". Noah has picked up a few words along the way. It is amazing that such little people can be so perceptive and receptive to pick up on a strategy like that. They are born little teachers! It's wonderful.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Birthday boy!

Ben celebrated his official birthday today. He was so excited, now he can say that he is FIVE! Ben is a spirited boy who keeps us on our toes all day. He loves to tie knots, create one of a kind creations, play games, invent games, pretend play all day, snuggle with us, learn new things, chase his sister around, giggle, laugh, have fun...

It has been such an adventure having him in our lives. For the first few months after his birth and bringing him home from the hospital, we would jokingly say "when are his parents coming to pick him up?" and have since adjusted to having him in our house along with his siblings. He takes us on an adventure every day whether it be a story in the car about how the monsters are following us or a tale about what the rope is doing tied like that in the tree. He is full of stories and we love him for all of them. I couldn't imagine life without him. I love you Ben!

Happy Birthday Ben!

Secret...

Hannah, Noah and I went to the zoo today. Ben and Daddy went on a bike ride together. We were going shopping for Ben at the zoo store. Hannah wanted to buy him a baby jaguar for his birthday. We had checked at Toys R Us and they didn't have any. So instead of running all around town, we went to the zoo. Hannah is a great secret-keeper. She has been keeping his present idea a secret for several weeks. She wouldn't even tell him where we were going because he would have a clue about his present.

We went in and saw the flamingos and ducks at the entrance (can't go to the zoo without seeing any animals!) and Noah went wild quacking at them and trying to climb into the enclosure with them. We watched them for a long time and then set off for the stores. We found just the right one and went back to watch the flamingos and ducks for a bit more.

Hannah really wanted to tell Ben that we went to the zoo today but she didn't. She hid the bag of gifts in my closet so he won't find them until the morning. We'll wrap them up for him tomorrow and hope that he loves his new baby jaguar.

Hannah bought herself something too (she had some Halloween money) a baby cheetah! So now the baby jaguar and the baby cheetah will play together.

First words...

for Noah. He is starting to talk and do lots of different signs. Time is going by so fast. His favorite sign is "more" and he loves to say "car" with the noise of a motor running, as well as "Dada" and "Mama". It is just blowing my mind how fast he is growing!

Apple pie...

You might remember that we went apple picking a few weekends ago. We had so many apples from that day! Today we finally got to make an apple pie (some apples were going bad). The kids loved the apple peeler-corer that we have and wanted to do all the apples that we have in the kitchen. So we got busy in the kitchen today...yes, you may call us the Martha Stewarts on Burgundy Street!

"Piiiiiieeee!!!"

All done! Doesn't it look yum?!

Giggles and tickles...

for Noah with 'tiger Daddy'...

Delight...

Hannah is so delighted that she has her new Elmo. He comes with us everywhere and mostly stays in the car when we go places because she doesn't want him to get dirty, lost or played with by someone else. She says, "He is nice and clean and fluffy and I like him that way." So I was surprised the other day when he came to the park and again today she took him into the sand. She wasn't bothered by it either. I guess she's getting used to having him around again that she is more comfortable having him 'play' with her.