June 28, 2006

7:00 Drop off. Ariel was awake, Adam was grumpy. Adam's mood was somewhat understandable, he didn't sleep well last night. And for that, I blame myself, because we had too much fun yesterday. First, we went swimming. Then, we went to Jamba Juice and the bagel store. Next was Target. And finally was the highlight of the day, the greenhouse. I think I've found a near perfect activity. The greenhouse is mostly free (depending on whether or not you buy plants), there are fountains and carp AND a talking parrot named Lindsay. My kids had a blast finding all the plants they knew and asking names of all the rest (which I had to read off the sign, because Alex knows all the plants I know already). Anyway, so Adam was cranky this morning.

7:40 Ariel went down for a crib nap

8:25 Ariel woke up, bottle. She was not eating very enthusiatically, so we had to save half for later.

9:00 Finished bottle as I prepared for the adventure of the day.

9:10 Walk to Starbucks. Today was different, I put Ariel in the stroller with Adam and had Alex walk. Alex has never walked that far before. He kept telling me he was tired. At least he didn't say his body or his heart hurt. I distracted him by showing him the wild roses and prickly pear cacti along the way. And then I heard Alex say something that no parent ever wants to hear in the middle of a walk, "Mommy, I have to poop." Luckily in about 5 minutes we found an port-o-potty in a soccer field. But Alex couldn't do it. He was too obsessed with why there was blue water with poop in the tank. But at least he didn't have an accident.

10:05 We finally made it to Starbucks. Normally it takes me 35 minutes, with Alex walking it took close to an hour. But at least I know he can walk that long without collapsing in a sniveling heap, I would like to take him on some short hikes soon.

10:10 I got a frappachino, and rewarded Alex for his hard work with a soy milk, cold (his drink of choice, say it in your heard like James Bond would).

10:15 Storytime at the library. Ariel listened for some (and as an aside, she didn't sleep at all in the stroller). Crissy et al. didn't make it, Crissy was waiting for her new camera to show up via UPS.

11:00 We walked home. It went much faster, I carried Ariel and Alex rode in the stroller. Ariel napped about half the time.

11:40 Got home, immediately packed up to go to Crissy's.

12:00 Crissy's house. I gave Ariel some prunes right when we got there so I wouldn't have to take her out of her carseat and put her right back in.

12:45 Bottle - wasn't at all enthusiastic, she only took about 1/2 ounce.

1:00 I put Ariel down for a nap on Crissy's floor, she went right to sleep.

1:05 Crissy and I played with our cameras.

Here's Gavin and Alex after a spaghetti lunch:


After much (much much much) deliberation, Crissy went with the Olympus E-500 digital SLR.


The BIGGEST marble EVER:


2:00 Ariel woke up. I didn't get her up, but I gave her bottle in "bed" (a blanket on the floor). She drank it right up, then fell back asleep.

It was a cool, cloudy day. Nice temperature wise, but not great light for picture takin' (every time Crissy or I take this picture, we have to clone out the stop sign and the electical box. Help, we can't stop!):


A rose for my boys:


I gave Crissy a depth of field homework assignment:


Alex and Gavin mostly played in a big box in the garage. Adam tagged along with Marcus and his playdate, all in all it was a nice afternoon.

3:15 Ariel woke up nice and chipper. Crissy wanted to play with her, and we both took Ariel's picture:


3:35 My gang and I finally departed.

4:50 Before going home, we made a quick trip to the grocery store. As I was getting Ariel out of the car, I realzed she had a poopy, so I had to change her in the car. Then I had to pick up some dinner (BBQ cajun shrimp, fresh bread, green beans and watermelon for desert). I'm 3 for 3 making dinner this week! Granted, my life would be so much easier if I didn't have to buy the ingredients every day, but progress is progress. Maybe next week I can try shopping for 3 days at a time.

4:15 Home, I quickly unloaded the car and defrosted the shrimp.

4:25 Ariel had a bottle.

4:45 Pick up.

June 26, 2006

7:15 Drop off. Ariel had been asleep in the carseat, but my exuberant children were so happy to see her that their joyful noise woke her up.

8:15 Ariel went down for a nap. And I did what I said I wouldn't do anymore, I got on the computer. See, I had just downloaded a picture program and I wanted to play. And this my made children very sad. They were very whiney. There's a reason I need to stay off the computer!

10:00 I went into the crib room to get Adam some clothes and he came in crying and woke Ariel.

10:10 Ariel had a bottle

10:35 I changed a poopy. It was bi-colored, yellow and brown. I thought you would be interested in that.

11:00 Crissy, Gavin and Marcus came over for our Fabulous Adventure™ - walking to Starbucks and doing errands. I pushed Alex and Adam and carried Ariel while Crissy pushed Gavin and Marcus rode his bike. It actually worked our really well.

11:30 Starbucks. I was feeling a bit blue today so I got a straight up full fat java chip with whip. Mmmmmm. Crissy had already had her coffee at home, so she didn't get anything. Oh, and she just bought a very nice SLR camera, so I have a feeling she's going stop going to Starbucks as much :)

Next, we went to Michaels. I had forgotten to get a frame for one of Pop-Pop's pictures, and they were on sale again this week. And this time I was a bit smarter. I brought the picture, and Michael's assembled it for me. I thought that service was free, but it was worth $10 to avoid the stress I incurred during my last framing experience. Anyway, they were going to need 20 minutes to put it together.

So then we went to the bank.

And then we had lunch at CiCi's. Crissy had a Fabulous Idea™ - normally we do the lunch buffet, but with 5 paying people, that would be about $25. So we ordered a large take-out cheese pizza for $5. It was enough to feed everyone, and it was really good too.

12:30 Ariel had her bananas while we had our lunch.

1:00 Ariel had a bottle

1:15 We all walked/rode home

1:45 Home. Crissy and the boys didn't stay.

I got on the computer again. And then I shot some pictures of Ariel to show you what I've been messing around with. But first, a secret... I have a decent camera, and I can take a decent image (see Crissy, I said image instead of picture). But before I print my pictures (and even before I put some of them on the blog) I do some level of photo processing. Last night I bought Andrew's AIO Action for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements (I have elements). It is WAY cool and pretty easy to use.

Here's the before picture:



And the after:



Before:



After:



See? Way cool!!!

When I wasn't taking pictures, Ariel was sitting playing with toys. And she sat for a long time and never fell over.

Today I was reminded of how easy Ariel is. In the morning, she just hung out with us on the walk and errands. If she wasn't in the bjorn, I might have forgotten she was there. And then in the afternoon, she was happy to play by herself, until she got hungry.

3:30 Bottle

4:00 Crib nap

4:25 Pick up

June 23, 2006

7:10 Drop off

7:15 Crib nap

8:15 Ariel woke up. Then we went to the bagel store for breakfast. See, we have to take Alex to the bagel store no less than once a week because when he's there he eats half his calories for the next 5 days. He loves egg and cheese bagels and the bagel store makes them big, you know - those bagels that the FDA like to warn your are 500% bigger than they 25 years ago and are 400 calories each. Jeremy usually takes Alex on the weekends but Jeremy is going to Wyoming for a bike race all weekend. Jeremy may owe me some favors when he gets back.

8:35 Ariel had a bottle at the bagel store. Alex ate his whole sandwhich. Adam had a mini bagel and some eggs.

9:15 Get home

9:30 Photo shoot time. I was hoping to get some adorable nekkid baby shots but Ariel was not being very cooperative.



And I couldn't resist this one before I picked her up and put her down for a nap (with a diaper, of course):



I was trying using my garage for a studio, I was pretty impressed with the light. When I shoot in my house I have to use ISO 800, outside I could be down at 200. (Don't worry Becky, I was watching that she didn't fall, and she was on a pack 'n play pad, not the cement floor).



I got Alex and Adam to sit too.





10:00 Crib nap

11:15 Ariel awoke, then we got ready to go to Xandi's house for a playdate. One of Alex's old playmates was visiting from his new home in St. Croix.

11:30 Finally get everything ready to go.

11:45 Get to Xandi's house. Ariel had a bottle.

12:30 I changed a poopy.

1:45 We left for home.

2:00 Got home, Ariel fell asleep in the carseat.

3:00 Ariel woke up, bottle.

3:10 Super Grammie arrived. We decided that Grammie could take the boys to her house, and I would come down later this evening.

3:30 I got the boys packed while Grammie held Ariel.

3:50 Grammie and the boys left.

4:00 Pick up.

June 22, 2006

7:00 Drop off

7:15 Nap in crib

8:20 Gavin was dropped off. Marcus had an appointment with the allergy doctor and Crissy didn't want to take Gavin too.

8:30 Ariel woke up.

8:40 Ariel had a bottle, Alex left for summer camp. He wasn't as upset as Tuesday, his teacher suggested that he take a special toy and he took a stuffed bunny.

9:30 Changed a poopy.

9:40 I put Ariel down for a nap, then I cleaned the bathrooms. It was actually easier to have Gavin here, then to just have Adam or Adam and Alex. Adam and Gavin played without fighting or whining. Crissy joked about trading kids this summer (Adam + Marcus and Gavin + Alex) and she may be on to something.

10:15 Gavin requested a snack. I gave him 1/2 a PB & J and some OJ.

10:30 Ariel woke up.

10:50 Bottle

11:30 Crissy and Marcus got back from the doctor's. Crissy took us all out to Denny's for lunch.

12:00 Crissy fed Ariel some bananas at Denny's. Ariel ate them all up.





And I remembered why I don't let my kids look at a menu. I usually look and offer a few choices. Well, Adam looked and had his heart set on gold fish. I figured he could have some of my french toast too.



12:40 We left Denny's to pick Alex up from summer camp.

1:00 Pick up Alex

1:30 Get home, Ariel had another bottle.

1:50 Changed another poopy. Becky, I take back what I said this morning about Ariel being constipated.

2:00 Ariel went down for another nap.

2:30 I got Adam down for a nap. I could have taken one too. These days without Starbucks are rough.

3:30 Ariel woke up.

4:00 Bottle

4:15 Wait on the front porch for Becky.



4:30 Pick up.

June 21, 2006

You are lucky to be getting a blog today. I am

D-E-S-P-O-N-D-E-N-T

I got some very bad news yesterday. While not official yet, it looks like Mr. Crissy has a job. In MARYLAND. For those not familiar with geography, that's about 1,500 miles away the way the crows fly. That's really going to put a crimp in meeting for Starbucks. The only good news in that the job doesn't start until January, so we have some time. I've never had a best friend move across the country, I may be mopey for a while.

And my other bad new? Tonight I'm going to watch the last two episodes of season one of LOST. And then season two doesn't come out on DVD until September. And I have nothing in my Netflix queue to watch until then. Any suggestions? Here's what we have watched and liked already:

Sex and the City
The Sopranoes
24 (though I still have season 4 left to watch)
Alias
Desperate Housewives
Scrubs

I'm looking for something a bit more light and less intense than 24. We loved Scrubs, it was over too fast.

Oh yeah, is this blog supposed to be about Ariel?

7:00 Drop off. I was not ready. I was still in the shower. Bad me.

7:15 Nap. Ariel was really tired but congested. She would fall asleep, then need to breath through her mouth, which would make the pacifier fall out and then she would wake up. It took a bit for her to get to sleep.

8:50 Awake and 4 oz bottle. She did not eat very enthusiastically.

9:15 Wednesday activity - walk to the library

9:50 But first, Starbucks. I was so despondent that I had to order a grande frappachino.

10:10 We met Crissy going in to Starbucks. She took Adam and Marcus in while she got her drink, I took Alex and Gavin to the library.

10:15 Storytime. Crissy, Ariel and I hung out in the back. At some point Crissy changed a poopy diaper.

10:45 Storytime over. Adam requested checking out "The Monster at the End of this Book." Again. I was too despondent to find Alex anything.

11:00 Walk home. Ariel dozed in the bjorn.

11:35 Home. 4 oz bottle. Once again, Ariel was not very enthusiastic about it. She didn't finish the last 1 1/2 ounces.

12:20 Finish bottle

12:55 Go down for nap.

1:30 I put Adam down for a nap. It took awhile. Everytime I thought he was asleep and I got up, he would cry. I had to keep him quiet because he and Ariel are still in the same room.

1:55 Adam finally went to sleep

2:00 With both kids napping, I had time to work on my latest project, framing some pictures for Pop-pop. My Mpix order had just arrived in the mail, and I had already bought the frames. There was some assembly required. I bought some frames that were just frames, no backing or glass. I purchased some none reflective glass and backing separtly. The guy at Michael's said it was easy to put together, I just needed a screwdriver. Well, after a screwdriver, two pliers, a box cutter, a bandaid, and an hour and a half of profanity, I finished. And Greg, I'm not sure I did such a great job, and I didn't even put on the hang-up-do-dad-thingy. If that guy at Michael's wasn't 100 miles away, I might have gone and given him a piece of my mind.

So here are the pictures. The big one is 16x20. I'm really pleased with it, I've never printed out anything that big before:



3:10 Adam woke up. He wasn't as grumpy as usual, and did ok with a video while I finished up the framing project.

4:00 I almost had to break my "never wake a sleeping baby" rule, but the princess finally woke up. 4 oz bottle.

4:15 Wait on front porch for Becky





4:30 Pick up.

PS - I'm slightly less despondent than this morning, but enough despondent that we are having nachos for dinner. *sigh*

June 19, 2006

And Happy Monday to you. And you. And you over there. See, I'm in a pretty happy mood tonight as I sip my beer (see 3:00 for the reason). I hope you had a nice weekend. Jeremy had a bike race that he was gone overnight for, so the boys and I went to Grammie's house. Grammie took us to the North Pole on Saturday for her birthday. It was super fun.

Adam loved the motorcycles:



Here's me trying to do an action shot by moving my camera with Adam to create more motion. I tried this a lot, this is the best of the bunch:



The boys rode lots of rides together:



Alex really did have fun, especially on the tilt-a-whirl "Screamer."



And then, HORROR! I had forgotten to recharge my extra camera battery, so I have only 50 pictures of the North Pole and none of Father's Day with Pop-Pop (at least until Sarah sends me the ones I took with her camera).

I commendeered my dad's camera for the second Father's Day celebration:

I swear I have never seen Ariel suck her thumb before. Ever.



Grandpa and his grandkids:



Grandpa and all his offspring:



And back to your regularly scheduled programming.

7:00 Drop off.

7:30 Adam finally woke up, so I put Ariel down for her nap.

9:30 She must have been tired, another long nap. Finally woke up.

9:45 Bottle. I'm not amused by the new 6 oz system. She had a big spit up and didn't even want the last ounce. Nah-nah.

10:20 We walked to the park. The park is only 3 minutes away. That is, when I'm walking alone. Somehow, it took us 15 minutes to get there with both boys walking.

Ariel enjoyed the swings for a bit:



There was a preschool using the park at the same time and it was a zoo. There were two teachers and 21 kids between the ages of 2 and 5. I don't know how they mananged not to loose anyone, they weren't watching very closely.

11:30 Walked home. It took slighly less time because I made Adam ride in the stroller, despite his protests.

11:45 Ariel had some applesauce while the boys didtn't eat their lunches.

12:00 Ariel down for a nap.

12:30 I filled the pool and attached the extra-special sprinkler. The boys loved it, for about 10 minutes:





1:00 Ariel woke up.

1:10 Another humungous bottle

1:30 Finally done with bottle

2:10 The boys were getting restless, so I suggested a trip to Target-olé. That seemed agreeable to everyone with an opinion.

2:20 I pulled up in the Target parking lot, looked in my rearview mirror and saw not ONE but TWO sleeping boys. I didn't even put the car in park, I drove right back home.

2:35 Got back home. Ariel stayed awake for the ride, so we went in to play, I left the boys in the garage in the car.

3:00 Ariel went down for her nap. I thought I might be able to sneek back to garage and read a bit while everyone napped. What was I thinking? I read about a page and a half before Adam woke up. Grumpy, like he's been doing recently. REALLY grumpy. He was grumpy if we were inside, he was grumpy if we were outside. He was grumpy if I held him, he was more grumpy if I put him down. Wah (we both said). Adam looked like this (but much louder) for at least an hour:



3:50 Alex and Ariel woke up. Alex was distracted for a bit by squeezy yogurt, Adam was distracted for a tiny bit by Elmo. Ariel chewed on her chew toy:



4:25 Pick up

June 15, 2006

7:15 Drop off

7:30 Crib nap

8:20 Wake up

8:30 Bottle

9:00 Adam, Ariel and I walked to Starbucks while Jeremy took Alex to Summer Camp. Alex was going on all morning about how he hated camp (same place as preschool, which ended 2 weeks ago). Jeremy literally had to drag him out the door. Anyway, Ariel sat with Adam in the stroller, it was very nice not to carry her, even though it was only 85 deg today.



9:40 Lovely Starbucks. I just bought 7 of 7 for my next free one!

9:50 We stopped by the park. Adam dug in the sandbox, Ariel played with the toys in the stroller. I enjoyed my drink.

10:10 Walk home.

10:35 Get home. I called Crissy and we decided that I should come over to her house before I picked Alex up from camp.

11:00 Arrive at Crissy's. Marcus had to show me the frame he made for Adam's two year picture. Isn't it sweet?



11:15 Crissy gave Ariel a bottle. Ariel thanked her by spitting up on Crissy's dress and couch.

11:30 Ariel took a nap on Crissy's floor. Ariel's moving around enough that I don't trust her on a bed anymore.

12:40 Ariel was still asleep, so I took Adam and went and got Alex from camp.

1:00 Pick up from camp. Alex, of course, had a fabulous day. They had a guest speaker come and show them animal skeletons and furs. Alex really liked it, especially the bunny and beaver skulls. Seems he forgot all about hating camp just five hours previous.

1:20 Ariel had just woken up (or was just wakened, whatever the case may be) when I got back to Crissy's. The boys didn't come in, I just grabbed Ariel and we all went home.

1:30 Home

1:45 Ariel had a jar of carrots while Alex ate half an apricot and Adam didn't eat his second attempt and PB & J.

2:30 Bottle

2:45 Crib nap

3:00 I tried to put Adam down but no take. And we had a surprise visitor, Grandpa! He did puzzles with Alex.

3:45 Ariel woke up. This was right before she spit up all over Grandpa's shorts.



4:00 We all went on the front porch to wait for Becky. Alex brought Grandpa lots of rocks hoping for some identification. Adam brought Grandpa lots of rocks because Alex was doing it.

4:30 Pick up.

June 14, 2006

HAPPY FLAG DAY!

(and Happy Seven Months Old, Ariel)

7:10 Drop off. Becky warned me that Ariel slept through the night and probably wouldn't want to nap today.

7:20 Adam and I had been hanging out on the couch, Ariel was still in her carseat. I looked over and her eyes were drooping, so I put her in the crib.

9:05 Ariel woke up, bottle.

9:30 We left for our Wednesday morning activity, walking to Starbucks and the library. Ariel dozed a bit in the bjorn.

10:00 Get to Starbucks. I had my new speciality, tall Java Chip frap with 1/4 regular base and the rest light, no whipped cream. And for the record, it's been a while since I've been to Starbucks, maybe close to a week...

10:15 Story time at the library. Ariel sat and watched the kids listen to the books.

11:00 Another bottle.

11:15 Walk home.

11:45 Got home. It is hot today. My thermometer said 95 deg when we walked in the door. Thank goodness I have a/c.

11:50 Ariel split some sweet potato/apple sauce with Adam.

12:15 Ariel's 7 month pictures (Becky, use number for ordering purposes):

005


006


008


010


12:30 Pictures wore Ariel out, I put her down for another nap.

2:05 See how hot it is?



2:10 Wake up. She had 1/2 a bottle but wasn't that interested, so I changed her clothes and took more pictures:

024


025


026


029


I dare say that girl looks good in a hat.

2:35 Guzzled rest of bottle.

2:45 Ariel hung out in the bouncy chair while I proofed her pictures. Yes, I was on the computer during the day. Bad me. The boys watched a Bob the Builder video. Jeremy's not coming home until after dinner (apparently he thinks it's perfect weather for a bike ride) and I'm not going to make it today without TV.

3:45 Ariel hung out in the exosaucer.

4:15 Pick up

7:30 And here's the collage:

June 12, 2006

7:05 Drop off

7:25 Crib nap.

Everyone is ever so slightly sick. My boys had slight fevers Friday and Saturday night, and very mild cold syndromes. Not enough that that they can stay in bed, but just enough that they are very whiney and irratible. I suspect Ariel had/has the same bug.

8:20 Ariel woke up. She helped me hang the last of my wash. And speaking of hanging clothes on the line, why do dryer sheet (heard of those Laura?) commercials always say that they are like clothes dried on the line. My line-dried clothes always end up smelling like wet dog, but it's too hot to run the dryer in the house.

8:35 Ariel had her first bottle.

9:00 I somehow mananged to load three kids up so we could walk to the post office.

9:50 Got home from the post office. It's only a two mile trip, but I walked slow because all the kids were relatively happy.

10:00 Talk to Crissy, we decided to join her family at the lake for a Fabulous™ time.

10:15 Actually leave for the Lake.

10:50 The Lake™. It really blew Alex's mind that we could go to a beach and not have to go on an airplane. And that it could be so close to Gavin's house was mind-boggling.

Gavin and Marcus:


11:00 Crissy fed Ariel a bottle:


Crissy also changed an Ariel poopy. Crissy is a good friend.

Ariel hung out and dozed a bit, but never took a good nap there.

Alex:


Adam:


They are wearing their new dinosaur hats, which were part of the birthday party extravaganza™ from yesterday. I'll just leave that story at we came home with a heck of a lot more than we brought.

At some point we found a bunch of dead crayfish, and Marcus decided that it would be cool to get them out of the water and put them on the dock. Ewwwwww.



1:00 Finally came home. I fed the kids some lunch.

1:15 Ariel had a full jar of stage 1 pears and a few ounces of water.

1:30 I tried to put Adam down for a nap but failed.

1:50 Gave Ariel a bottle.

2:15 Got Ariel and Adam (and almost myself down for a nap).

3:15 Adam woke up GRUMPY. I put an Elmo video on and that distracted him for a little bit.

4:30 Pick up. Becky had to wake Sleeping Beauty up.