Family Pool Pass

I got a summer pass to the pool for the kids. We bought it the first day and after some quick math I determined that I would have to bring them at least 16 times to make the pass pay for itself. We've been going nearly every day with a few exceptions. The pool opens at 1 pm so I told the kids that they needed to finish their lessons before they were allowed to go to the pool. That has been very motivational for everybody! I've bought our History and Language curriculum for next year and we will continue with the math program I had. Elle gets really indignant that her lessons are so short and wants to do more. Hunter loves being able to figure words out in books and gets books from the library and will just pour over them trying to decipher the harder words. So mornings are pretty well laid out with lessons and afternoons are reserved for the pool. The Kids K group comes at about 2:30 and fills the pool up, but we leave at about 3 pm anyway so that I can have enough time to put dinner on at and early hour.

The first three days at the pool one of the lifeguards jumped in to pull on of my kids out. The first day was Hunter. I didn't see what happened, but he got away from the edge and he and Ethan were playing rough and he started to struggle.

The second day Ethan went down the slide and the lifeguard at the top told him to lie down. That made him go super fast and when he got to the bottom he got turned around and started swimming the wrong direction, so they jumped in. He was embarrassed and didn't want to go down the slide again. I insisted that he get over it and do it again. The third day Hunter went down the slide for the fourth time, but this last time the lifeguard at the top told him to take his goggles off. I got a picture of him with him coming down with them in his hand. When he got to the bottom he wasn't swimming as fast as they would have liked because the goggles were in his hand so she blew the whistle and jumped in. BLAH! They are trigger happy is what it is! ....mumble...but better safe than sorry, right?

Hunter and Ethan both became disgusted with the slide and their rules so they don't go down now.

This is after Hunter spent the first couple days practicing so he could pass the swim test. He had to swim from one end of the pool to the other without grabbing the rope. He did it! It wasn't pretty, but he did it. The lifeguard watching him verified that he passed the test but still said he couldn't go. I put my foot down. I told the lifeguard that they needed to make it a timed test or a longer test, but don't set a standard and then once a kid passes THEIR requirements tell them they can't go after all. What's the point of having the goal then? I argued with him and then explained the case to the Senior guard on duty. He agreed to let Hunter go down and when he got to the bottom and over to the side without any problems we were good. It wasn't until they changed the rules again and said no goggles that the boys lost interest.

Fort

Michael made a fort for the kids with his woodworking clamps and their playthings. The neighbors came over and they all watched a Barbie movie from the fort. Dad's forts are SO cool!

To the dentist

Last time I took the kids to the dentist it was Elle's first time. I took lots of cute pictures, but somehow I lost them before I could transfer them to the computer or put them on here. So in defiance of that I'm posting Elle's SECOND trip to the dentist. Hurray!!!

Hunter's eyes were sensitive so he got to wear a pair of cool guy glasses. At the end of their visit they get a little take home bag with little goodies in it including a new toothbrush, floss (which always gets pulled out on the way home), and toothpaste. For being good patients they get a little coin to put into the dentists toy dispenser. The boys put their coins in and got a toy out. When we got to the lobby I realized Elle did not have her toy. The assistant went back and got one for her. I figured she must have put the coin in wrong or didn't turn the dial or something. When we got home the golden dentist coin appeared out of her pocket. Ah HA! That's where it went. Little stinker got to have her cake and eat it too!

All lined up

The boys thought it would be fun to put Garrett and Elle's new baby doll from Christmas all lined up on the floor together. Sure is cute!

And now there are four

I used my hat

Ethan was feeling malicious or destructive or needy for attention....whatever the reason, he decided to cut the shoelace on Hunter's new shoe. Since he was honest and admitted what he had done even before I had found the evidence he didn't get a time-out. However, I told him that he needed to buy Hunter a new shoelace and get him a toy costing three times what the shoelace cost. Ethan was beside himself, but didn't have anyone to blame but himself.

In order to get the money needed to make recompense we took several bags from Ethan's ever growing collection of plastic bottles to the recycle center.

Elle has been potty training and after walking to our neighbor's house she peed on their porch. This is the third time she's done it...I don't know what it is. Urge to pee translates into neighbor's porch? At least she's not making it inside... In any case she only had a shirt and panties on, but nothing substantial on bottom. She went with us as is.

Ethan counted the bottles out one by one to make sure he got the full CRV value. Weighing is faster, but you don't get as much.

We only had two pairs of gloves left, and Hunter took the other pair but promptly lost count before 30 and started over at one without accounting for the bottles already in the bin. He was excused from counting. Rather than sitting on the curb in the shade like he was told he tried throwing rocks in the parking lot, putting berries of an unknown nature in his mouth and making swords out of the various plant life in his immediate vicinity.

Garrett wanted to nurse right when we got there, so I tried to remain decent while simultaneously supervising Ethan in his count. A few times the wind caught my blanket, which was probably refreshing for Garrett in the heat, but somewhat embarrassing for me.

Meanwhile Elle was running around the Land Cruiser. I wouldn't have minded so much, but the Land Cruiser has a poor parking break that is complimented only by being in gear when parked. If knocked out of gear the vehicle could have started rolling and hurt somebody. She wouldn't sit down voluntarily. She's at a point now that she thinks it's cute to run the other way and then waggle her bottom at me when I can't quite reach her to impose my will. I finally did get a hold of her and cinched her down into her car seat eliminating the possibility of her wiggling out of the straps. She was not happy.

Counting took a lot longer than anyone could have guessed. Elle was thirsty and complained loudly about it in addition to being restrained. Hunter was thirsty too and Ethan was loosing the desire to count in exchange for a drink of water. As a complete twist of irony, we had no full bottles of water in the car to quench anybody's thirst on this particularly hot day. If Elle had pants on I could shut the car up and hauled everybody to the bank to get a drink from their drinking fountain. However, Elle's lack of imperative clothing prohibited the trip, as it would be quite voyeuristic.

We decided against counting the big black bag because the need for water was reaching imperative levels. I sent Ethan and Hunter to the bank to get a drink. Ethan came back alone and said the fountain was too high for him to reach.

Well, where is Hunter?

"He didn't want to leave without getting a drink"

Go back and get him

Ethan came back a second time without Hunter. I figured Hunter would ask for a cup, or get a chair. Knowing Hunter he would figure out a way to get the drink. Hunter finally did come out with his shirt soaking wet.

Hunter, what did you do?

"I got a drink"

Ethan said the fountain was too high. How did you get a drink?

"I got a drink"

HOW did you get a drink?

Hunter took his hat off and I noticed it was wet. "I used my hat"

It could be worse. He could have used his shoe.

Cabin Fever

Having regular outings has one disadvantage for me in that when the children don't get out of the house after too long they go into distructo mode (due to overwhelming boredom) and the house gets torn apart. We got out of the house today to the Central Park in San Ramon. It is FANTASTIC!!!

There is a large mushroom shaped fountain in the middle of the children's area with a shallow pool that the children can play in. This is the head of a cement river that flows down to a beautiful man-made pond. The water comes out fairly cold, but on hot days it's rather refreshing!

All around the water play area are play equipment structures with swings, slides, things to climb on and sand pits. After a while the boys discovered that they could get sopping wet, go roll in the sand and then rinse off in the mushroom. They thought that was great fun and did it over and over. It wasn't until we got home that we realized they had worn the sun block off their shoulders with that little trick and they had a slight, yet uncomfortable sunburn.
Having Garrett join in our fun meant that our usual convoy of STUFF nearly tripled. Our steak out spot was quite impressive with all the bags and folding chairs...beach towels strewn about and the stroller decked out for the little prince.

I just sat and watched the children, which was great for Garrett and I. The one snag came when Elle, who is potty training came to tell me that she had to go to the bathroom. On the one hand I was thrilled that she was willing to go to the bathroom at the park and that I didn't have a raging mess to clean up...YUCK, but what do I do with all this STUFF and the baby? I couldn't haul everything to the bathroom. I put Garrett in the front pack and then had Ethan sit with our things while I walked her to the potty.

Sure enough, she pooped in the toilet. HURRAY!!! We called Daddy at work to share the excitement.

The next major attraction for Hunter and Ethan was a big sloppy mud pit, which ironically enough had a sign (covered in mud, of course) that said "Please no mud or sand in the water". Seeing as how the patrons of this particular area are mostly five and under and are most likely still illiterate, I'll have to assume that the sign was there as a matter of principle.

Waldorf Picnic

The children and our neighbor's children love to play together and will frequently run back and forth between our two houses. Today they set up a right proper little picnic complete with table cloth (makeshift from a kitchen towel) and a china set from a little basket picnic set. They got little cherries for everyone, an opened bag of chips, filled the tea pot with water for each little cup and used the tiny little silverware for a front yard picnic. They all sat together so nicely and used their manners, saying "please" and "thank-you". As much as I would like to take credit for the exuberant cuteness they did it all on their own. Afterwards they each helped clean up. Ethan even ran back to the house to get a Clorox wipe to clean the little picnic table as he's seen me do with the kitchen table. I'm not sure they actually cleaned the dishes off themselves, but they put everything away and then set up for some front yard T-ball.

Helping Momma nest

Yesterday the wall in the kitchen finally got to me. I pulled everything away from that one wall in preparation to paint it. The children were very excited at the prospect of PAINT. I told them to get dressed in things they didn't care about. So at the beginning of this week's heat wave, both boys put on long pants and long sleeve shirts. Brilliant.

They helped first by washing the walls with me. I told them to scrub hard and it didn't matter if the paint came off. The enthusiasm waned quickly.

I taped and then for the rest of the morning I primed the wall. I couldn't find a roller so I did the whole thing with a paint brush. I didn't care...at least it was getting done!

In the meantime, my friend Denee who is due the 10th had her baby yesterday at about 4:30 pm. A baby girl, Jenna (officially Genniveve) , weighing 6 pounds 9 ounces. Our husbands are best friends and we are constantly hanging out together. Our boys and their boys are about the same age. When we got pregnant at the same time people must have thought we planned it that way. What is completely hilarious is that our due dates were a day apart. In any case we were belly buddies.

So this morning at about 1 am I woke up thinking, "It feels like 5...I should get up and paint before the kids get up so it'll be dry" I looked at the clock and was completely surprised how off I was.

4 am rolled around and I was even more full of energy. I decided to get up and just get it over with. Michael got up shortly after and provided me with a roller, which helped considerably. Ethan was up shortly thereafter, so I had him help me paint in his pajamas. We got finished up at about 5:30 am.

It's nice to suddenly have energy. It feels kind of like a crazy squirrel energy: bright eyed, bushy tailed....twitchy, and perhaps not thinking quite clearly. Michael has been very patient through all of this. He didn't even tell me to go back to bed, which I appreciated. He probably figured it would be a waste of breath.

The walls look SOOOO much better. That one dirty spot right above the garbage can is gone. Good riddance!

Today is my due date. I don't go into labor on my own usually. Maybe I should go do some aerobics, or take the kids for a walk to Vegas (kidding!) SOMETHING!!!

Michael's father's name is Dale. My Grandma's middle name is Dale. Their birthday's are both July 9th. This baby is going to have the middle name of Dale for both of them. It would be SO cool if he shared their birthday too.

Parade

Uncle Daniel came over before the parade to give the kids a private performance in his Jack Sparrow Pirate costume. He parked in the parking lot next door and came over for a dramatic entrance. Elle got scared because she didn't recognize him and slammed the door shut on him and then peeked out the window.

I came down and let Daniel in. Once he took the hair off, Elle knew who he was and was OK with it.

The kids had made a fort in the living room, which to the untrained eye looks very much like a tornado passed through. Uncle Daniel had to leave shortly thereafter to get his makeup done and get lined up for the parade.

People in town set up their chairs and claimed "spots" a full day in advance of the parade...despite signs saying not to do exactly that. Michael was doubtful that we would find anywhere to sit and didn't want me walking too far. He dropped us off at the end of first street (the end of the parade route) where the crowd was thickest. Hunter and Elle were with me. Ethan was participating as a Tiger Scout in the parade.

Amazingly enough there was a little section of bench that was open and perfect for us to sit. I felt very blessed! So big and pregnant and THERE'S A SPOT FOR ME!!!

Uncle Daniel was the first to come by. Hunter was very excited to see him. Daniel looked right at the camera for the picture, but later told me he never saw me in the crowd. It just worked out that way.


Denee came by next doing the Jazzercize routine. She became an instructor and taught classes right up to the end. Durring the length of the pregnancy she didn't put on any weight until the very end when she finally gained 10 pounds. It was amazing to watch her get slimmer everywhere else and her belly just started popping out. The judges on the bandstand commented over the microphone, "Look at all those ladies with those slim waists...except for that ONE." The other guy jumped in with "Leave her alone, she's pregnant!" Then over the loud speaker the first guys says, "Where's the Daddy!?!?" Denee said later that it distracted her to have them talking about her so she felt like she messed up. I didn't notice.
Ethan came through next. He looked sheepish waving to the crowd. By then we were ready to go, so we met up with him and Grandma and called Michael to come pick us up.

Lots of Play Dates!

I've found that the children are lots easier when they have other kids to interact with. I invited some friends over that are Hunter's age on Monday. As an added bonus their siblings came along, so Ethan and Elle had playmates too.

So, in all we had four friends over making a total of 7 children. It sounds worse than it was. I would get out a game or two and have them participate in something structured between their normal random play. They would keep each other entertained and I really had very little to do other than supervise.

We played a round of color/shape bingo and then I got the tangrams out for them to play with. It was a hit, but with short attention spans, I knew they were done when the pieces started being used as projectiles.

I put on the Standin' Tall tape for Honesty and printed out coloring pages, but only Hunter and the girls participated.

Then I took them all to the park with the sand toys. Unfortunately there weren't enough shovels to go around, so those without found other ways to keep themselves busy. I had no idea Hunter was so agile.

Snack time turned into lunch accompanied by a full fit by Hunter because I wasn't putting food in front of him fast enough. He went into the living room sprawled out on the floor and screamed , "I CAN'T EAT!!" It was a self fulfilling prophecy, since he was too busy with his temper tantrum, I just gave the next ready tortilla to whoever was waiting. He finally wised up and came in...I think the fit was more an expression of over tired than actually being upset about the food. As it turned out, everybody crashed for the afternoon. That was great for me 'cause nowadays I really do need a nap come afternoon.

Today we had friends over for Elle. Two of her little girl friends, Emma and Jaime. The boys weren't as excited to have them over because I kept emphasizing how they needed to play gently. We got all the Barbie stuff out and the kitchen play food and pans. It was all very girly!

All three of the girls are the youngest in their families, though Elle not for long. Jaime's oldest sister just graduated high school and Emma's oldest brother is already in Middle school. So, they're used to much older kids.

Actually, when Elle went over to Emma's house when I had a prenatal visit she was SOOO excited....right up to the point when Emma's oldest brother answered the door. Elle burst into tears and didn't want to stay after all. Fortunately, Mindi (Emma's mom) was very understanding and made sure Elle had a good time.

Productive in the off season

As a point of sanity for myself (trust me, it's completely selfish...) I've been trying to keep the children busy with plenty of activities. At this age they love stories, songs, coloring, art projects, park time...etc.

We've been listening to the Standin' Tall tapes that I had a child. I've been downloading them into digital form onto my computer so when the tapes finally all give out we'll still be able to enjoy them. The coloring books I had, which surprisingly enough never got colored in, are used as masters for making photocopies for the kids to color. We've listened most recently to Cleanliness, Dependability and Self Esteem. The songs really get through to the kids in a way no amount of my naggy repetition could.

We were listening to the one about keeping your fingernails clean. I was making up little hand signs as we went along. Elle was SO intent on watching me and following along. They were singing about not biting your fingernails, which I wanted to emphasize with her since she's started doing it.

I really need to take advantage of this stage while I still have it figured out. Music works!

Another project we started was to make paper-mache puppets. Ethan and Elle did really well on making their layers. Hunter had a harder time. He tried doing both a small and a big balloon. I don't think he liked having his hands all goopy. After we put on a couple of layers we'll white wash the outside and then paint either faces or some other design for a piñata.

Night time antics

Michael gave Elle a bath in the downstairs shower. She was having a fit about it, so he decided to play with her hair a bit to get her OK with the deviation in the normal routine. With her hair soaped up he started molding it into a cupie doll look, followed by a troll hair-do...mow-hawk, spikes, etc. She is very much into hair (among all the other girlie things that is so stereotypical for her) and she loved all the different styles.

After we put the kids to bed I went to check on them before going to bed myself. They had all climbed into Elle's crib which was cute, but silly considering the HOT weather. I took this picutre before breaking up the nest.

All of Daddy's helpers

Michael went to the store to get a new pair of pants and of course he brought all of his "helpers". The kids were SUPER excited to go shopping. They wanted to be a part of every aspect of the clothing adventure. I caught this picture before Michael put a stop to it. It was too classic to pass up!

Hunting for Ladybugs

We went to Grandma's house for her birthday and the children discovered that there is a whole community of ladybugs living in her lawn. They caught one and put it on the window so I could take a picture of it.

Amidst the ladybug hunting they took turns locking each other out of the sliding glass door. Each in turn thought it was hilarious when they were on the inside of the glass, but not so much when it was them who was locked out. Funny how that works.

Nasty flu

We just got over the whole fever thing just in time to get a really nasty case of the flu. Ethan got it first with simultaneous throwing up and diarrhea. He had to wear diapers just to contain the mess. Unfortunately Elle and Hunter both wanted some of his Gatorade, so they drank from his sippie-cup and promptly got the same thing. While they were sick we kept the kids downstairs on puddle pads and in front of the garbage can so they'd be near us at night. Elle slept in our bed. Hunter slept on the couch and Michael slept out with him to assist with the midnight barfing. Elle fell asleep half on and half off the couch. Poor baby!

Ethan and Elle recovered fairly quickly, but Hunter couldn't stop throwing up. I could tell that he was really dehydrated and when I noticed that he hadn't gone potty in well over a day, the doctor had us come in. We were at the hospital for 4 hours while they pumped him full of IV fluids. He slept through most of it. After the first round he was feeling better and wanted something to eat. They brought him some juice and applesauce, but he promptly threw it up. After the second round of IV fluids they let us go home but gave us some medicine to help him stop throwing up. I think he just needed some fluid to get a foothold onto healthy again.
The day after his IV recovery was his friend Denver's birthday party. He was just barely feeling better so I kept him home. When he realized he was missing the party he cried that he wanted to go. We made up for it later.

Outing day

I took the children to the Tech in San Jose today. We had been there once before to see Body Worlds.

There was a hands-on experiment that the boys got to participate in to clean "dirty" water. They used alum to precipitate the "dirt" out of the water. Then they made a water filtration system using two sizes of sand and small rocks held in by a coffee filter. The water came out looking murky, but much cleaner than when it went in.

After our experiment, we spent about an hour exploring the computer exhibits before going to see the Tiger movie at the dome theatre.

The screen was more of a dome which created an artificial feeling of movement because as you're looking straight ahead, the screen fills up your peripheral vision as well. Hunter is a very physical person and so the feeling of movement while sitting in his seat was unnerving for him. Elle, on the other hand felt like she was going to fall because the seating was very steep. She sat on my lap during the movie and held on with a death grip the whole movie. Ethan thought it was fun.

We stayed until about 3 o'clock exploring all the different exhibits. Unfortunately they were remodeling the younger children's areas, which were the favorites the last time we visited.

The parking garage that did validation with the Tech had a broken down elevator. We, of course, parked on the top level and since I had the stroller, we had to walk through the garage all the way down...and then back up at the end of the day.

After we got home Elle went into the yard and started picking wildflowers out of the front yard to give to everyone. It was so picturesque I couldn't help myself.

The cleanest room in the house

I think that if a mom expects her house to be clean constantly, she's either fooling herself or has hired a full time staff dedicated to maintenance. For every other mom, it's a delicate balance. I do believe there is an operational standard, a guest standard (which usually involves cleaning the visible areas). However, there is a threshold point of mess that every mom has at which point a room MUST be cleaned....and cleaned thoroughly.

The office has been a hot spot in our house for messes. Papers congregate there, the box of recycled paper that the children use to color on or cut up in iiiity bitty pieces usually end up spread throughout the room. The office has also become a stopping point for socks, Hunter's shirts, toys, random pieces of sets.

As I child I can remember wanting to contribute to the state of things whatever they may be. In kindergarten we were transitioning from one activity to another and it was quite noisy. I decided to contribute by stomping my feet along the way and banging two books together. I had no idea it was a problem until my teacher scolded me for making so much noise. Hey, I was just contributing....

I think that's true for most children today. They want to contribute.

I reached my threshold point for the state of the office today. I got out big garbage bags and started throwing things away. Laundry baskets were used to gather toys, another for clothes. Papers that had been sitting out were filled appropriately and the boxes of curriculum stuff were organized and packed away. What a transformation! I wish I had a before and after shot just to bask in the productivity.

The vacuum was still upstairs when I put the kids to bed, so after they were all tucked in I picked up their room and then vacuumed up all the little bitty stuff all over the floor. My mom used to vacuum the upstairs every night after we had gone to bed. I never understood why she made so much noise when we were supposed to be sleeping, but for whatever reason the sound of the vacuum cleaner made me sleepy. For years after whenever I would hear the vacuum running I would inevitably yawn. Well, LO AND BEHOLD....my children zonked right out after vacuuming their room. There was no two hour game of grab fanny. It was GREAT!!!!

Having discovered this little gem, I think that we'll be vacuuming their room every night from now on. It may not need it on a daily basis, but I don't mind that they children's room is the cleanest room in the house so long as I can get some down time at the end of the day. Phew!

Exploratorium

We went to the Exploratorium today as one of our regular outings. When we got there there were school buses filling the parking lot and big kids running all over the place. I wonder if one of the schools was from the inner city or perhaps a rougher neighborhood. The students were....rough around the edges...? By comparison, my three children were so small and very intimidated by the bigger kids. More than once a group of students would go blasting past where we were and nearly knock Elle down. I made sure to stand right by her as much as possible. Hunter and Ethan wore their beeper bears, which...I might add...have been absolutely WONDERFUL! Hunter knows that when I beep him he is to stop and find me immediately. Every time we've used them out, parents are asking me where to get them.

ANYWAY... We passed by the dissection table just in time to see the cow eyeball get started. The children were fascinated. I don't remember doing an eyeball when I was in school. Perhaps that's something we can do together once Ethan is a little older and better equipped to handle a knife.

I forgot to bring in water with our lunches, so we splurged and bought a milk for everyone. I helped Elle get her first drink, but when I offered her another drink she did not want any. I looked in the container and the milk was chunky and smelled just awful. AUGH!!!! I took it back up to the cashier who pointed out that the expiration was not past. "Just smell it" He didn't want to do that, so he let me get another milk. No sooner had I gotten back to the table than Ethan said he didn't like his milk either. Oh no.... I picked it up and he had already drunk half of it. It wasn't chunky like Elle's but it smelled rank. I took it back too and then pulled a new one out of the far back, just to be sure. I was crossing my fingers the rest of the time that nobody would throw up.

I was really excited to go today because the last time we were at the Exploritorium they had an entire section in the back cleared out for some new exhibits. I was so jazzed to see what new stuff they had, but as it turned out they just rearranged the existing exhibits and added only one or two new things. It was still all great stuff, and all of the children's favorites were still there....including the toilet drinking fountain. They think that is the funniest thing ever! One of my favorites is where you get a straw and put it over a metal rod to bite down on. Then when you plug your ears you can hear music. It's WILD! The bar is vibrating and when you bite down on it the vibration carries to your ear bones and tricks you into hearing something that's not really there.

All quiet on the munchkin front?

As you may have noticed...I haven't posted in a while. It's not for lack of material, mind you....but I tend to like posting pictures of certain events and lose my motivation when I can't access the pictures.

I couldn't figure out why the camera wouldn't connect to the computer. I figured it was just a glitch that would work out if I rebooted. However, as it was pointed out to me at Fry's the camera cord got wet and rusted. Hmm.... sounds like baby drool to me.

So as a brief recap:

Elle really likes being a helper














Ethan lost his first tooth















The children got ahold of my camera...unbeknownst to me until I found a few of these.