The fair....

Today we went to the San Diego County Fair. What a great day!! We are all exhausted from everything that we did. It was Noah's first time at the fair and Ben and Hannah's second trip. They remembered the last time we went and couldn't wait for today. We got there right when the gates opened and headed right for the animals, we found some big equipment that Noah was enthralled with, checked out the new Chevy Suburban (I like our 'old' one the best) and got a free Caprisun drink. We saw the goats, sheep, steers, calves, pigs and piglets, turkeys, chickens and roosters. We toured the farming arena for a while and then headed to the rides. Boy was that fun! Ben and Hannah went on the ferris wheel and loved it! They went on the carousel, down the giant twirly slide and fought the fires in the fire engines.

All that before lunch.

We watched Marissa do her folk dancing during lunch and then we went to play again and this time with Marissa! We enjoyed ourselves, indulging a bit in the fair foods and lots of fun. Ben and Hannah each got a bag of cotton candy, and ate it all by themselves! We didn't worry about naps, Noah slept in the stroller and Hannah went without one. We came home very tired and got to bed early.

Noah trying to touch the goat

Hannah and Ben in the ferris wheel with Daddy (on the left)
Noah wanted to be on the 'lello' horse...so we switched!
Marissa dancing
This roller coaster was perfect for little kids (& big ones!)!

Hummingbird...

Update:
The baby hummingbird has been hanging out in the front yard waiting for it's Mommy every day since we saw it the first time. It waits and chirps and gets all jittery and excited when Mommy comes near for a feeding. It is really cool to watch. Yesterday I was by the window watching from indoors and they didn't know I was so close.

Garden visitor...

I was watering the front garden with Noah when a little hummingbird flew in the stream of water, stumbled while flying and landed on a little branch of one of the tea trees. I was able to get real close. It was so small (about the size of my thumb from tail to tip of beak). I called to Ben to grab my camera and bring it to me. I was afraid that it would get scared if I moved since I was so close. Armed with my camera in hand I started to snap some pictures, then decided to do some video. As soon as I started to shoot to clip I realized something about my little garden visitor... watch and find out!

And here are two clips! The first took me by surprise and the next I waited for...

Our Caterpillars....

We brought two caterpillars home the other day with a butterfly bush from the monarch program we attended. One of the caterpillars was active and found his spot on the roof of the box I put together for him (just like the man told me to). He stayed on the roof for a long time and finally dropped his body to hang and quickly (within 30 minutes) changed his outfit into a chrysallis. It's bright green with a bit of gold on the top with a few golden spots. The other caterpillar spent that day and the next eating, escaping three times and finally settling on the roof of the box next to his partner and did the same (hang from the roof). Now we have two chrysallises and we wait patiently. At least now we don't have to worry about them escaping from the box and squashing them with our feet!
I'll post pics later...

Hannah sings...

I found it. This was (obviously) when she was younger... She was almost 2yo (taken in April '05) and I snuck the camera in the headrest hole to take the video because she wouldn't have continued to sing. She does notice me but continues her singing. I can't believe how verbal she is!! And here's Hannah singing "Down by the bay..."

Old pics...

I'm going through some old pictures and thought I'd post these two cute ones...funny kids eating peanut butter for lunch...and making silly faces...

Zucchini...

Check out this zucchini that we grew in our garden! It is so big! I'm going to make something with it tonight for dinner...just have to figure out what. But in the meantime we have it on the kitchen counter...taking up the entire counter!

Monarchs...

Today we went to Encinitas to learn about caterpillars and butterflies. We met up with a bunch of other homeschooling families and learned all about the four stages of life, butterfly body parts, watched a video and some slides. We learned about how to tell the females from the males by identifying the little black spot on their lower wings. The tour guide even did a magic trick where he had some stickers (of butterflies) in the back room and came out with one and put it on his arm. Then he peeled it off and a real butterfly flew away. No one knows how he did it. It was very cool.

By the end of the lesson, Ben and Hannah were very interested in the information but they weren't interested when we got there. Then we went into the vivarium to see the butterflies, chrysallises and caterpillars. There were slices of watermelons for the butterflies, and some of the kids started to eat them... oops! Ben caught a butterfly on a slice of watermelon (see below)!



OH and we brought some caterpillars and a butterfly bush home with us. We have it all together in a Cheerios box, and they are hanging...the beginnings of chrysallis-making...more to come!

Bath time...

We were talking to some adult friends of ours over the weekend and somehow we started talking about the kids (we don't know how that happens) and the funny and strange things that they do. So here's a story from Corey about bath-time.
The kids love to take a bath and with all three in the bath together is super fun. Noah will get in and pee in the water (it must be the warm water), then Hannah and Ben get in-sometimes they all get in at the same time. They immediately get their toys out to play with which includes boats, squirt animals, sponges, cups and bowls... As a precaution Corey always starts out the bath-time by saying "Don't drink the water because Noah pee'd in the water!" They laugh with giggles, partly because they are in the water and partly because of the word 'pee' and that Noah did it in the bath. Then they grab their cups, dunk in the bath water and start drinking. Corey says it again and again but they still just giggle and drink.
No one knows why they keep drinking but they do. Urine is sterile, and the amount that they are ingesting is so little mixed with the bath water, so we're not worried.

Caterpillars...

They're back! We have spotted our first caterpillar and it headed up the wall of the house to rest on the eave. Noah was a bit excited and tried many times to pick it up (the big fingers). More to come! (our adventures with them last year start here)

Happy Father's Day!

Ben, Hannah and Noah have a wonderful Daddy. He can't wait to spend time with them during the week and on the weekend, they get him around all day! He plays, teaches, wrestles, chases, colors, guides, watches, reads to, sings with, carries, digs with, swims with, builds, and does so much more with them and for them. They love him dearly. Here are a few pics from the day.

A little swim

Feast for the Dads

A cruise on the jeep

iPod girl....

Tooth Fairy visits again...

Last night while we were gone to a wedding, Ben's 2nd tooth came out. It is the one right next to the first one, on the bottom. I knew he was working it, he has been with his fingers in his mouth for the last week. Now he has a nice big gap on the bottom of his mouth. He can stick his tongue out and a straw in. He did tell me that he needed one more tooth out so that the straw 'wouldn't hurt' (be more comfortable??). I told him that the other teeth weren't loose yet and to leave them alone, they will come out on their own time.

But I just know that he is dying to wiggle another free....

Pout...

This morning we went to the mall to pick up some wedding gifts (we have 2 weddings to go to in the next 2 weeks). I took Hannah and Noah along, while Ben went on a bike ride with Daddy. I also had a couple of other errands to run while at the mall, and since we never get to the mall I thought we'd get them done too. One of these errands was to get into the Apple store to buy a hook-up thingee for my iPod Nano to play in the car. I download pod-stories & kid shows for my kids and having this hook-up would be a nice way for them to listen together in the car. They always want to listen to stories or a show and we only have one iPod. I think it's the headphones that they love.
We got to the Apple store to have a look around and find the area that we are looking for. We walk around a bit (the store was very busy this morning) and Hannah spots a pink iPod Nano. She jumps up and down while pointing at it, and says "Look Mommy!!! There's a pink one for me!!!" I knelt down and told her that those are very expensive, that we can't afford to buy her one today, we just don't have the money. She was distraught and about in tears!
Hannah disappeared into the stroller to pout and be sad. Her heart was broken, I think she had her hopes up to buy one. She really wants a pink iPod Nano...maybe someone else can buy it for her!?

siblings...

Since the day I found out we were expecting Hannah I was thrilled that Ben would have a playmate. And they do play together all the time and I thank God that they have each other every day. They love each other and know each other so well. They know what each other wants and can sometimes verbalize it to us if the other can't. They are starting to do this with Noah too, when we are struggling to find out what he wants, one of them can come in and figure it out right away. They have their games, their favorite activities, their imaginary friends (they both have several) and their fights and squabbles.


Not all days are beautiful and harmonious. On rare days, they bicker and fight all day long. They eventually migrate back to each other only to leave in tears again broken-hearted that the other hurt them. These days can be the end of a planned day and make us go home. They love to be together and play with each other but on those few days they need their own space, and they take it. Sometimes I hear "I don't want to play with you ever again!" or "I'm not going to be your friend any more!" or "--pushed me" or "--'s not being nice" and it's enough to make one's head spin. But at the end of the day, they love each other and can't wait to play together tomorrow.

Garden pics...

hydrangea

sunflower

flowering zucchini

bean running up corn stalk

sunflower with heart center (& bee)

hydrangea

Tooth fairy (pt 2)...

Ben woke up early this morning and checked for his tooth. It was not there but there was a new envelope in its spot. He was thrilled! He knew it was from the tooth fairy because it had a big picture of a tooth on it and a fairy wand. He opened it up and was so excited to get some cash. The tooth fairy was generous, he got 2 $1 bills...$2!! woohoo! He said that he is not going to put it in his piggy bank but that he is going to save up his money to buy something good. And with his next tooth being helped out (he wiggles it all the time!) I'm sure that will be very soon! He is a good saver so he might even wait a bit longer to see if he gets even more money...from someone...

Tooth fairy...

Tonight the tooth fairy is coming, wanna know why? Because Ben (our first born) lost his first tooth today! I can't believe that we are at this stage already! He has another wiggly tooth in his mouth, and he is determined to get them out.

At his last dental visit, the hygienist announced that he had a 'wiggly' one! How exciting! His tooth was wiggling and he's 5! Wow... So he has been playing around with his tooth for a while (about 5 months) and nothing has happened, except that it has become a bit more loose. So the other day (I think Monday, last week) I noticed that the tooth was turning black. I called the dentist and she said that the tooth was probably dead but that as long as their wasn't any pain that he's OK to wait until his visit next month. So, there is no pain, we're good to wait. She also said that it might be a good idea for him to help it along by wiggling it. He wiggled it all week.

Today he ran home from the park with Daddy and showed me the hole in his mouth and his little tooth! So we got it all ready for the tooth fairy tonight.

Me: What is the tooth fairy bringing you?
Ben: Money!!
Me: Oh lucky you! How much?
Ben: Twenty-five dollars.
[yikes!]
Me: Hmm...I don't know, I'm sure you'll be happy with what you get...!

And off he went to put the little tooth under the pillow. I brought it back to put in an envelope, so it wouldn't get lost. And below is where it ended up!

Feet update...

Today Hannah came up to me again with wrinkled feet. She said that it was just one of her feet that was all wrinkled.

Me: Again? Is it all prickly?
Hannah: No it's just all wrinkled (poking with her fingers and twisting them together)
Me: Huh...mysterious...
Hannah: No well they're just wrinkled again and I can't walk.

She had been sitting on the couch for a time so I am concluding that her feet (or foot today) fell asleep.

Fancy pants....

Corey bought himself some new pajamas the other day and decided to wear them tonight. Ben saw him as he came out and said "Wow Daddy those are some fancy pajamas!" So, now that is what they are called.

Wrinkled feet...

Hannah walked over to me this morning and proclaimed:

"I can't walk anymore."

Me: Why, what's wrong?

Hannah: My feet are wrinkled so now I can't walk [as she is walking away from me & getting on the couch].

Me: Hmm...that's terrible!

Hannah: Yeah well that's why I can't walk 'cuz my feet are wrinkled [snicker, shrug].

Sling boy...

Is this not the sweetest sight you've ever seen? Putting the sling on was his idea, he got it and brought me the baby to put in for him. How does a 19mo know this?