Photo Saturday-Roaring Camp

I apologize for not posting photos yesterday, but I knew I would get several excellent ones today on our adventure, so I made you all wait. And so now, you may witness our day at Roaring Camp. We met up with some of my college roomies, one of whom was passing through from So Cal on their way to visit family in the Bay Area. So, those of us in Nor Cal rushed down to Santa Cruz this morning so we could have some time together.

Here's our quick lunch before boarding the train. Ten kids, all between 7 and 6 months. So. Much. Fun.

All aboard. We sat on the "wet" side of the train, but no one really noticed their wet bottoms.

Mommy and Juls...

Sach and Jack...

Picture perfect afternoon...

Through the trees...

A boy and a train...

Taking a break from the train...

Here they are all...all ten of them. And, of course, Chris. He was our only Daddy that could come today. He had to be in the picture or else we couldn't get baby Ryan in the shot. And yes, this is the best photo. Have you ever tried to take a picture of ten children? The next one in the serious has a kid running away and the following one has a child crying, I think.Ready to head back to the station...

Train trestle. Thanks for taking the pic, Chris.

This was slightly creepy, so I had to get a shot of it. I'm pretty sure this dude works for Roaring Camp, but in this neck of the woods, you never really know...

Showing off its steam...

I think she had a good time...

Back at the station, we had a little play time before heading home...

Our boys in orange...Brother Bear and Robbie.

Show much fun on the tree...

This was pretty fun. Both Calvin and Robbie brought some cars along to play with. Without any adult intervention, they lined them up opposite each other on the edge of the horseshoe sandbox. Then they stared at each other, as if daring the other to go first. They didn't actually play together. They just stared for a while. I love boys.

Thanks, Juls for organizing. We had such a great day. I love you all!

Happy Saturday.

Photo Friday-Januarys of Old

January is a slow photo month. I've got nothing new for you. But as I was browsing through old photos to find something to post (so I don't get hate emails), I realized I hardly ever have photos from January. I decided instead of doing recent January photos, I'd go back and post ones from years past. Since this computer only goes back to mid 2007, my January photos start at 2008. Of course, I didn't post them that way. These are posted January 2010 to January 2008. Sometimes I just like doing things the hard way (and does it ever drive Daddy crazy!)

Ok, so to begin...January 2010. One year ago. Actually, I don't even have any January photos from last year. I find that incredibly hard to believe...maybe I never downloaded them to this computer? It's possible, but not very likely. So, instead, we have some photos from December 2009 and Feburary 2010...

Here's Padyn and Robbie about one year ago. Padyn looks similar, but look at Robbie. A year ago, he couldn't walk, he couldn't even sit up properly. He still had to be in the Boppy. And he has absolutely no hair. But he still loves his big sister. That hasn't changed.Here's one of our family photos from last December. Don't we all look so special!This is from Feburary 2010. I remember how hard it was to get a good picture of all three of them. This was the best one of the lot, and it still isn't great. But look! A year ago Kate was still letting me pull her hair back. Padyn still wears that green shirt. Robbie still has that pacifier.Feburary 2010. Katelyn doesn't wear her dress up clothes much anymore. I think it's part of her "I hate all clothes" phase. And look at those two tiny teeth Robbie had a year ago! He's got a full set of chompers now. I know. He likes running up to me and biting my legs.

Here we are in January 2009. I was pregnant with Robbie and we were living with Auntie. She was so kind to let us live with her while Daddy was still working two hours away and our house was being remodeled. Look! Katelyn used to willingly wear a leotard! (Next post I'll tell you all about her new ballet class.)

This is something that has remained the same in two years. The girls love dancing together. They got the soundtrack to "The Little Mermaid" for Christmas. We listen to it daily. They have choreographed little numbers for each piece of music. Good thing I like the soundtrack as I have heard the "Daughters of Triton" song at least 10 million times while they pretend to be Ariel's sisters.

Remember this? We used to come back to Auntie's house in the afternoon after kindergarten and preschool and the girls would get in their pajamas and play in their tent. It would be 3 in the afternoon and they would be dressed for bed. And even though it's been two years, they still have these PJs in their drawers. Yes. They still wear them.

January 2008. Three years ago. We still lived in the Bay Area. Katelyn was the age that Robbie is now. (She seemed so much older). Robbie wasn't even a thought in our minds at this point. The girls were just starting to play together. I remember this being a fun game...stick Kate in the laundry basket and sit on her. Padyn's always been such a good big sister, hasn't she?

Padyn at 4 years old...a bit younger than Kate is now.

Kate at 1 1/2. I know this is a horrible picture of her, but I just remember how messed up she'd be when she woke up from her nap. And she had that horrible mullet.

Here's a better one of her from the same month and year...such cute girls.

Happy (blast from the past) Friday.

Letter to a Four Year Old-Part II

Dear Katelyn,

Thank you for going through all your pants and shirts with me over the last two days and choosing the ones you are willing to wear. I'm actually quite amazed that you have 5 pairs of pants and 6 shirts that you claim are suitable for your sensitive body. Now you have a drawer that you can go to with all your acceptable clothes. That drawer right above your "will wear" clothes that have the clothes you "aren't sure about"...well, we'll just keep checking in on those. And while I'd say I was impressed that there are actually pants and shirts you are willing to wear, I'd have to forgot about that drawer in the stairs of you bed that now holds all those clothes you claim "you will never ever ever wear." You know, that drawer that holds your jeans, fleece pants, and every single pair of pajamas you own. I have to keep them. I do. There are just times when you have to wear jeans and you might absolutely require a solid pink shirt. But I won't dwell on that drawer. Today we made progress . When I told you it was too cold outside for a skirt and that you HAD TO wear pants and a sweatshirt or jacket, you did. Never mind that you get almost completely naked for the short ride to school. Never mind that you didn't wear socks. Never mind that you wore a short sleeve shirt under your fleece sweatshirt. I will just keep reminding myself of the progress.

But if you could just answer a simple question for me, Katie, you're daddy and I would be much appreciative. It would help us plan for future years. (Do we need to set money aside now for counseling?) How long are you planning on staying crazy? Is this a four year old thing that kindergarten will beat out of you? Or is this completely illogical, insane behavior that you exhibit day in and day out...over clothes, shoes, underwear, food, carseats, hairbrushes, and toothbrushes...is this here to stay? Are you that kid? If you could just let me know, please. I'll make sure I purchase enough booze on my Costco runs.

And even if you do stay crazy, I'll still love you. Even when you refuse to wear pants when it is 29 degrees outside.

Love,
Mommy

Photo Friday-Just Barely

It's hard to post pictures for Photo Friday when I hadn't taken any since December 27th. So, despite the hand foot and mouth disease, ear infections, cold viruses, goopy ears, and sore throats that have plagued us over the last couple weeks, I pulled at the camera today to show you what our typical Friday afternoon looks like...

The girls like to bring all their toys out to the family room and set up some elaborate scene to pretend around. Robbie just likes to hang out near them in his new shoes playing with his toys before the girls steal them to make part of their production.

Padyn is often writing some elaborate list or script or drawing some new creation. I'm not sure. But she prefers the floor to the table. Oh, and look. You can see Kate's new shoe, and the only pair of pants that she will wear these days. The shoes are the 3rd pair of Crocs I've bought for her over the last couple weeks. This is the pair she finally doesn't complain about. Well, she doesn't complain about them much. She still wears them, which is a huge accomplishment.

I'm really not sure what they are doing here but I do know that yarn is one of their favorite accessories lately. (See Robbie's blocks down there that they've stolen?)Oh look...here's the only other article of clothing besides the "snow dress" that Kate will wear. It matches her pants. BonBon got it for her for Christmas. You had to scrape my mouth off the floor when she willingly put it on the day after Christmas. Seriously. It's this or the snow dress. And usually she wears the pants with the snow dress. The pant knees already look like they are a year old.And here's the big boy. Hand foot and mouth (which he gave to Mommy), runny nose, goopy ear with infection...isn't he a handsome one? I think he needs a haircut.

Happy Friday. I hope you are staying healthier than we are. We might be pathetic, but at least we are no longer contagious (fingers crossed).

Photo Friday-Sports Center

It's great when we go to Papa's house. Everyone gets a little sports conditioning...

And everyone plays baseball in their grandparents' garage, right?

Everyone uses the inside of the garage door as a backstop (complete with cardboard target) while wearing totally inappropriate clothing, right?

We are so normal.

Happy Friday.

And welcome 2011.

New Skillz

There's a lot of things Kate wants to do for herself lately. I just wish they were the same things I want her to do by herself (like find her pjs and clear her place). But I'm usually willing to take the ones that she gives me. A new skill that she decided she was capable of earlier this month was cutting her own apples. So, me being the busy mom I am, I said, "Great! Here you go." and gave her a cutting board, a butter knife and a peeled apple.

Silly me. I assumed she'd cut a few chunks and be done with it. But no. Not Katelyn. Twenty minutes later, this is what I found on the counter.

She'd already consumed about half the apple. This is what was left of the massacre.

Catching Up

Clearly I've been on a vacation from blogging lately. Somehow I just haven't been able to find the time. So we'll start with something easy...Christmas.

Christmas came a bit early this year. The girls' first present actually arrived before Thanksgiving, but it was a couple more weeks before we could put it together. These awesome bunk beds have literally doubled the size of the girls' bedroom. They are super excited about their new beds. But clearly, it hasn't really helped keep the room tidy...Another early present for the girls...tickets to the Nutcracker ballet. Surprisingly, both girls enjoyed it. I wasn't sure since they are so sensitive to anything slightly suspenseful or a tiny bit frightening. Kate did ask me to cover her eyes while she covered her ears when the Nutcracker was fighting the King of the Mice. And other than wishing it was over about 15 minutes before it ended (because she was bored), she thought it was great. Padyn also loved it. When I asked her what her favorite part was, her reply was, "All of it."

Here they are demonstrated what they had seen that afternoon. Oh, and Robbie wanted to get in on the picture, too.

Christmas continued to come early. We let the girls open their present from Uncle Greggie and Aunt Hezzie the day before Christmas Eve. Thanks, guys, for our AWESOME new game!

I skipped a day of photos, but we celebrated with Grandma and Auntie and Bella and Trevor on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day found us at home in the morning opening our presents from each other. Still in our jammies. We were all a bit tired as Katelyn was up coughing most of the night and Robbie was awake every couple hours with, what we figured out a few days later, was hand foot and mouth disease.

Only an hour later, the house was in complete chaos...

Christmas continued...more presents, more houses, more family. Kate and Robbie didn't get to participate in all of it since the were ill. But they didn't mind sitting around watching TV with Daddy while Padyn and I celebrated at Grammie's house.

And after it all...all the presents I mean, the clear winner for Katelyn was the last one she opened at Papa and BonBon's house. Can you tell what it is from the picture?

Even when I tell you it's a unicorn pillow pet, you still might not know what it is. But don't worry. If you come over, it will be the first thing she shows you.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

Definitely Has His Own Drummer

Robbie is really starting to bust a move. Up until last night, he needed music to get in the dancing groove, but now apparently all he needs is a command. This morning, he was swaying his hips so hard to "Little Drummer Boy" that I thought for sure she was going to fall over.

It's worth watching the video until the end, just to hear the exit line for Kate.

Happy Friday.

True Story

Padyn has been bugging me lately about the tooth fairy. When she lost her sixth tooth this weekend, she again asked me about the reality of the tooth fairy's existence. I pushed her question off and told her we would talk about it when Kate was not around.

Today she had her chance. Just she and I were in the car when she said, "Mommy, tell me about the tooth fairy."

Not looking forward to this conversation (it's never fun to shatter your child's views on reality), I asked, "Tell you what?"

"Is the tooth fairy real?"

"What do you think, honey?"

"I think you are the tooth fairy."

"Sometimes I am. Is there anyone else that can be the tooth fairy?"

"Daddy."

"Yes. Sometimes Daddy is the tooth fairy. Anyone else?"

"I don't know."

"Well, every parent is the tooth fairy sometimes."

Thinking we had cleared this up, and one small part of my daughter's childhood existence was now shattered, I as quite surprised by her next question. Wait for it...

"Mommy, how do you get so small?"

Ah. Innocence safe for another day.

More Pictures from Thanksgiving

Here's a few more pictures from Grandma's house...

Playing with snow when there isn't even any on the ground. That's pretty tricky...

Photo Friday-New Shoes

Well, they are almost new shoes. And they are Mommy's. But Robbie clearly thought they belonged to him this morning. We were amazed at how well he could walk around in them.And just for something different...here's the little man having a fit yesterday. Who knows why.
Happy Friday.

Peace

There was a moment today when the girls were playing together without bickering, screaming or tattling. Of course I had to take a picture of this miraculous event.
Yes, those are pajama bottoms that Kate is wearing with her dress. And yes...she did wear them to school. But hey-she wore pants. So you will hear no complaining from me.

What was Robbie doing while his sisters were so nicely working together to solve a work puzzle? Sitting in his new chair, playing with his cars and Little People, of course. Ok, it's Mommy's new chair, but we haven't put the legs on yet, or really decided where it and its sibling chair are going to actually go, but nevermind. It's a new chair, and it's Robbie height, and he loves it. Loves it. You should see how pissed off he gets if anyone else sits in it.I had to include this picture because you have to see how many silly bandz my eldest wore to school today. Her right arm, the one she's writing with. How many is that? Like 30? I don't get it, but I'm sure I felt the same way about jelly bracelets or something when I was her age.