Nov 30, 2006

7:00 Drop off. After Becky left, I ran outside to take this picture:



Purty, huh? I thought it was so pretty that I emailed it to the photo editor of the Boulder newspaper. He thought it was pretty too, but didn't need it. He did, however, let me know that if I ever caught an on the spot news-ish picture to send it to him.

I gave Ariel waffles and eggs for breakfast. She ate waffles.



7:30 I put Ariel down for a nap. She decided to play the fun game of sitting up and then crying because she wanted to go to sleep. I watched her sit up, do you know she does a sit up? That girl does everything the hard way.

8:15 Woke up Ariel (yes, she did go asleep) to go to exercise class. Didn't really want to go with all three kids but it was cancelled yesterday (the instructor is a wussy Californian) and I needed to move.

8:45 Exercise class. I don't like the Tuesday/Thursday instructor's style as much. She only has one 18 month old and we do a lot of power walking with the stroller. She did intervals today, so I just parked myself by the escalator and ran up and down, no way I was going to get my heart rate up walking at Alex's speed.

10:30 Left the mall. Ariel fell asleep in the car.

11:00 Ariel napped, I attempted to take Adam's 2 and a half year old pictures:



It was not a very fun experience. Adam is a bit wiggly.

1:00 Ariel woke up and had lunch, 1/2 a banana, 1/4 a piece of string cheese and 3/4 a piece of bread.

While Ariel ate, the boys and I worked on making Adam's 2 and a half year old 1/2 cake. Yes, I halved a cake recipe, made one layer, then cut it in half. Because it's only his half birthday.

2:30 Our friend Tea came over for a playdate.

3:00 Ariel had veggie booty and water. She did not like water today.

3:30 Pick up.

Nov 28, 2006

7:10 Drop off. Not only was I in my jammies, but I was asleep. Jeremy forgot to wake me up. Only he said it wasn't forgetting, he didn't know Ariel was coming.

7:20 Breakfast. Ariel had 4 mini waffles and nibbled on an apple slice.

7:45 Nap

10:00 Ariel woke up with a poopy.

10:15 We met Crissy and Gavin at the library for story time. Ariel was kept entertained by veggie booty. And Crissy and I kept her safe from an overexuberant 18 month old with a disturbingly strong grip.

11:00 Decided to spend the cold bleak day together at the mall.

11:30 Much mall fun. We went to the dinosaurs, then changed another poopy diaper, then went to California Pizza Kitchen (the pear/gorgonzala pizza is very yummy and Ariel ate a slice of cheese), then the research place (we are doing an air freshner test which pays $25 but also requires plugging in a very foul and smelly air freshner in our house for 5 days, I hope we still get paid if we only leave it in for 2 hours), and then Cinnabon (Ariel still likes cinnamon rolls).

3:00 Home. Adam and Ariel took naps. While they were napping, I updated my website. Check out my Turkey Toe and Butterfly galleries, they are purty.

4:30 Pick up.

Nov 27, 2006

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. I was not able to share chocolate cheese cake with Becky, as I spent the holiday with Jeremy's family and friends (here's some pictures: http://wendysweetphotography.com/thanksgiving_2006/). And then Jeremy and I had a wonderful adult weekend skiing/snowboarding. Wonderful! Thanks again, Super Grammie!

7:10 Drop off. Breakfast - I was going to give Ariel waffles, but Adam had the last ones. So I gave her some apple sauce (which she hated, yet how is it different from baby food?) And then she shared my oatmeal and liked it.

7:40 Nap. How she slept during Alex's I-don't-want-to-go-to-preschool tantrum is beyond me, but she did.

8:15 Wake up to go to the mall.

8:45 Mall workout. These workouts really do something. I was much stronger snowboarding this weekend, especially for the first trip of the season.

10:30 Left the mall, Ariel fell asleep in the car.

10:45 Home, Ariel napped in the crib while I showered.

12:30 I had to wake Ariel so we could pick up Alex.

1:00 Pick up Alex.

1:30 Go to Crissy's house. She wasn't back yet from grocery shopping, but we made ourselves right at home. I fed Ariel lunch - she had an entire string cheese, 1/4 of an apple and a piece of bread. Thanks Crissy!

2:30 Crissy shared her cinnamon roll with Ariel. Ariel likes cinnamon rolls.

2:45 Changed a poopy.

3:45 Crissy changed another poopy.

4:05 Dropped Ariel off at Becky's work. Good thing Becky hadn't gone yet, as she didn't get my message that I was coming by.

Nov 21, 2006

7:10 Drop off. Breakfast - something, I'm not recalling. I'm writing this on Wednesday...

7:30 Nap

9:00 Wake up. While we were waiting until it was time to leave, I snapped some pictures.

9:45 Walk over to the library for story time. We had to explain to Miss Judy, the Library Lady that we lost a book she had loaned us from her personal collection. I was able to order the replacement on Amazon and am expecting it next week. And a funny story, 10 hours later I found the book. It was under the office desk. I had looked everywhere in Alex's room for it. Well, I guess we have a copy of The Ugly Truckling now. And we aren't borrowing Miss Judy's books again, and I won't even get into the missing library book saga.

I kept Ariel entertained by feeding her Veggie Booty.

11:00 After the library we walked over to the grocery store to buy Adam his new favorite breakfast food, Worms (or as we like to call it, Veggie Breakfast Sausage). Apparently they make a better utensil for eating ketchup than a spoon. Next we went over to the yarn store. Good think I knew what I wanted, Ariel is not to be trusted in that place. It was all I could do to keep a tight grip on her as she struggled to reach/touch/throw all the skeins of yarn.

12:00 Home. All the baby food is gone, so I made Ariel lunch. She ate part of a bagel while I steamed some broccoli and cubed some cheese (neither of which she would eat), so I put her down for a nap.

While Ariel slept, I worked on the pictures we took this morning.

I call this one "Momentarily Contained"


This one is "Not Another Loopy!"


And Adam at by the wall of our house that I think is going to be a great place to shoot, if only I had some coorporative subjects:


3:00 Ariel woke up. She slowly drank her cup of milk.

3:30 I whipped up a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, which are never as good as what I've been buying at the store. Ariel ate Cheerios.

4:30 Pick up.

Nov 20, 2006

Hey, just wanted to share one of my new favorite pictures that I took this weekend:



That was very difficult to get, Alex has officially decided that he doesn't like having his picture taken. Sigh.

6:55 Drop off. Yes, Early!

7:00 Breakfast.

7:30 Nap

8:15 Wake up to go to the mall.

8:40 Super Fun Stroller work out. This was the hardest class I've done yet. It was fast and relentless. We ran stairs. We did 3 1/2 minutes of wall sits. We did 2 minutes of calf raises. Push ups, tricep dips, the works. And my poor abs don't know what hit them.

The only snack I brought was a banana, which Ariel and Adam shared half of. Ariel took a few bites, then mashed it into her shirt.

10:30 Home, Ariel took a nap.

12:15 Wake up, Lunch.

12:40 Go get Alex from preschool.

1:00 Pick up. The only excitement there, the weekly newsletter said to ask the teachers for my prize if I was reading, which turned out to be chocolate for all of us to share. Yay!

1:15 Stopped by the bank drive through.

1:40 Stopped by Borders to see if they had The Ugly Truckling, which we needed to replace because we lost Libary Lady Miss Judy's copy. They didn't said they could order it for us. Managed to leave without buying anything else.

2:10 Very quick trip to Michael's to buy a frame for Ariel's "Year of Ariel" collage.

2:30 Home.

3:00 Nap

4:15 Wake up, change a poopy.

4:30 Pick up.

Nov 17, 2006

7:10 Drop off. Some sort of breakfast, I can't remember. Oh yes, apricots and mixed fruit. And part of Alex's waffle.

7:30 Nap with bottle. It took her a bit longer to settle down than usual.

8:15 Leave for stroller class.

8:40 Stroller class. Hard as usual. I'm glad I don't have to run up any stairs until Monday.

10:30 Got home. Ariel didn't fall asleep in the car, but she did fall asleep when we got home. I cleaned the bathroom then took a shower.

12:10 Ariel woke up with a poopy.

12:25 Lunch - she was not interested in her mixed veggies. She ate about half the jar. Then she had some of Adam's mac & cheese.

12:40 Left to pick up Alex from school.

1:00 Pick up. Then we went to Target to buy a battery for our DVD remote so that we can watch more than the first episode on a disc. Then we went to Whole Foods to pick up our fish. I shared some of my sample hippy cookie with Ariel and she liked it.

2:30 Get home. Ariel fell asleep in the car and transfered.

3:30 Ariel woke up, had a bottle.

4:10 Change bottle, Becky picked up.

Nov 16, 2006

So Ariel successfully turned one. However, her second portrait session yesterday was not as successful. You can see why here. At least Becky gained some respect for me for getting anything decent on my own.

Ariel birthday party pictures are here. For some reason, they uploaded backwards, so to do it right you should start at the end.

6:55 Drop off. So it was ok that I was still in my jammies.

7:05 Breakfast, apples and cherries and most of the remaining half of Alex's waffle. Alex doesn't eat big waffles, just mini waffles. Sigh.

7:30 Nap with bottle.

8:15 Wake up to go the the mall.

8:40 Yet another super fun mall work out. I think I did about 1/4 of a mile of walking lunges. Ouch. And 50 push-ups, but 45 of them were girly on my knees. As Crissy can now attest (from Tuesday's workout) it is a HARD workout. And I had both boys with me with their mini strollers. The instructor's daughter had her stroller too and they all played together very well.

10:00 Ariel at the end of the workout. See her cute matching red shoes?:



After the workout we hung out a bit and then went to the bathroom so it took some time getting home.

11:00 Home. Ariel had fallen asleep in the car with a bottle. And I showered. See a pattern?

12:30 Ariel woke up. She had sweet peas for lunch, then I offered her some of the bean and noodle chunks from my soup. She dumped them out, mashed them a bit with her bowl and then threw the bowl on the floor. She did not try any chunks, not even the carrots. Of course, Alex wouldn't try the soup either, even though he loved it last year. Adam at least picked at it.

1:15 Changed a poopy.

2:00 Fun errand running. I picked up some pictures, mailed a letter and bought cat food at Pet Smart. Ariel had a bottle in the car.

3:00 Called Crissy from Pet Smart to confirm playdate.

3:15 Crissy's house for a super fun playdate. How's this for a story? Crissy had consolidated all her kid's Halloween candy into a bucket and I managed to eat the two pieces that were labeled for Gavin so that he would agree to said consolidation. What can I say, the kid has good taste in candy. Of course, if I followed Pop-Pop's advice, "If I didn't put it in my mouth, I wouldn't have to take it off my a$$ (aka stroller workout tomorrow)."

4:25 Becky picked up Ariel from Crissy's house.

Nov 13, 2006

7:10 Drop off. Breakfast was some sort of mush fruit. I do not recall.

7:35 Ariel down for a nap with a bottle.

8:10 Woke up Ariel to go to the mall.

8:35 Yet another super fun mall workout. Adam was happy that his "friends," the instructor's children, where there today.

10:00 Ariel ended my super fun mall work out with a big poopy.

10:30 Ariel fell asleep in the car after a bottle.

10:45 Ariel transfered to the crib and I took a shower.

12:40 Ariel woke up just in time to got get Alex from preschool.

1:05 Pick up Alex, slightly late. Again.

1:30 Get home. Ariel had lunch - green beans. I gave her a few of Adam's bunny mac noodles and she wouldn't eat them.

2:00 Ariel's One Year Photoshoot.

She did not want to keep on her oversized shoes.


She did not want to be on her tummy.


She did not want to look at the camera.


She did not want to stand up.


She did not want to take her fingers out of her mouth.


I got a few that were ok.






Becky and I are going to try again on Wednesday. I think she need to be there because I can't keep Ariel still and take her picture at the same time. My arms aren't long enough. It's either that or duct tape, but I have a feeling that would make Ariel cry, too.

3:00 Down for another nap with a bottle.

4:25 Wake up, another poopy.

4:30 Pick up. Becky - remember I need diapers!

And tomorrow is Ariel's birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARIEL!

Nov 10, 2006

Ok, so it's really Monday and I'm trying to write Friday's blog. I think Ariel got to my house a bit after seven. We did the normal breakfast/nap/mall routine. The only difference was that Alex didn't have preschool due to Veteran's Day. The mall workout was fine, and I think we went straight home. Ariel probably napped again, then had lunch. Grammie got to our house a bit after three. I spent an hour organizing photos from my shoots the weekend before that had just come in the mail.

The only story of note was that when Ariel woke up from her afternoon nap, I reached into the diaper cupboard and pulled out an old (piece-of-crap) Huggies diaper. I thought to myself, "Might as well put it on, when it leaks Becky will have to deal with it." Talk about karma biting me in the butt - not 15 minute later Ariel peed and pooped and I notice because I saw a slime trail behind her, much like a slug leaves. Stupid cheap huggies.

Becky picked Ariel up around 4.

Nov 9, 2006

7:00 Drop off. I had actually gotten up at 6:20 and taken a shower but I was not quite ready when Becky got here.

7:20 Breakfast - apples and cherries.

8:00 Nap with bottle

8:30 Crissy (and a mocha!) came over with Gavin for a playdate. After we enjoyed our coffee (very much so, thanks!) I made Crissy critic my new business brochure:



Don't I look like a real live professional photographer? I've also been updating my website.

10:00 Miss Ariel woke up.

Crissy was glad to see Ariel, it's been awhile:



And then Crissy convienced me that I should get Alex's old walker out of the shed and she would wash it for Ariel. Ariel was midly amused:



If you look closely, you can see Ariel's early birthday present, a pair of Robeez shoes. I think it's good I didn't have a girl, I would be broke buying clothes and shoes. I've already bought Ariel 3 pairs!



11:00 Ariel had her lunch, orange (mixed veggies)

12:00 I put Ariel down for another nap with a bottle.

And I have no idea when Crissy and Gavin left. I think it was around noon?

1:00 Ariel woke up and played and did Ariel stuff.

2:30 Ariel was grumpy so she went down for another nap with a bottle.

3:50 Ariel woke up.

4:15 Changed a poopy

4:30 Pick up

And overheard in the car tonight (on the way to pick up our CiCi's pizza):

Alex: I'm Galileo and you are the Jupiter probe.
Adam: Ok, I'm the Jupiter probe
Alex: Ok Jupiter probe, take some pictures of Jupiter!
Adam: I'm taking pictures!
Alex: What do you see, Jupiter Probe?
Adam: Jupiter and stars.
Alex: There are no stars down there, silly Jupiter Probe.

I told Jeremy we discussed the solar system formation today and Jeremy said to let him know when we got to string theory, he would sit that one out, lol. (Ok, is that just funny to astronomy buffs?}

Nov 6, 2006

7:05 Ariel arrived. And for the record, I had actually gotten up at 6:15 today.

7:10 Breakfast - blueberries and something... uh, either apples or pears, and cheerios. She started working on a poopy and I put her down on the floor to finish.

7:30 After changing Ariel's diaper, I put her down for a nap with a bottle.

8:10 I hate waking Ariel, but at least she's not grumpy. We had to leave to go to the mall workout.

8:40 Mall workout. Super fun time. We ran up and down stairs and escalators today. I think we went up 14 times. And then we did lots of resistance training. I really like the M-W-F teacher, no day has been the same yet. Adam had more fun today too. He decided that the instructor's two girls were his friends and he followed them around. Not sure how they felt about him.

10:15 Changed another poopy at the mall. We walked to the other end to use the special family bathroom that has the small potty. As frequently happens, when we got there it was occupied by a single adult. That drives me nuts!

11:00 Got home. Ariel had a bottle in the car and finished in the crib. I took a shower.

12:15 Ariel woke up, had some sweet potatoes for lunch.

12:40 Left to pick up Alex. I did not leave early enough. There is now construction on pretty much every intersection and it takes me an extra 10 minutes to get accross town.

1:20 Went to Jamba Juice :)

1:45 Got home. Everyone pooped, then Adam had a poop-tastrophe. Remember that scene from Daddy Daycare when Eddie Murphy opens the bathroom door and you see him look at the toliet, then the walls, then the ceiling? It was a little like that. Somehow Adam keeps bouncing up to check his progress and then it smears on his legs and then it gets on his hands and... well, you get the picture. I had to strip him and toss him in the shower.

2:30 Got my camera out and took some pictures today.

Alex - who got to see the Mars movie at IMAX with Daddy yesterday. In the car home he was crying because Pathfinder doesn't have a rock grinder like Spirit and Opportunity. He's *really* getting into the space stuff. His class has a field trip to the planitarium next week, I'm so excted for him.


Little Adam, who decided he was a planet today. And not just one planet, I think he was each at some point.


Ariel - after finding Adam's empty Jamba Juice:


And then I changed another poopy diaper.

3:15 Ariel took another nap with a bottle. Blech, I felt slightly sick this afternoon.

4:15 Ariel woke up. With, guess what, another poopy! Becky and I wondered WWDD (what would dad do?). So Dad, what WOULD you do?

4:30 Pick up.

Nov 3, 2006

7:05 Drop off. Yes, I was still in bed. It was tired in my room.

7:15 Breakfast - squash (you'll have to ask Becky about that).

7:30 Nap with bottle

8:10 Leave for mall

8:40 Super fun mall workout. I have been continuously sore since I started doing this. I guess that's a good thing.

10:00 Workout over. We stopped at Michaels on the way home to buy some magnets.

10:30 Got home. I showered while Ariel napped

12:15 Ariel woke up. She had some sweet potatoes for lunch.

12:40 Left to get Alex from preschool.

1:00 Pick up. Alex's teachers said that his show-and-tell of his space box full of Mars Rover and Galileo spacecraft parts was a big hit. His class is going to do space next week now, Alex is excited.

1:15 Stopped at Whole Foods to get dinner. I picked the Salmon stuffed with crab today (it was not as good as the spinach feta). We were walking around and got a free bread sample of a cranberry/orange bread and Ariel was the only one who liked it.

2:00 Got home. Started our challah. The kids all played. Alex and Adam dumped out both toy baskets, then fought over them (which was why they were on top of the refrigerator when Becky got here). Ariel was pretty excited about all the toys being out.

3:30 Pick up.

And I changed 2 poopy diapers today but I don't remember when. Or was it only one????

Alas, low on pictures today. But here's a picture of our Shabbat table with Alex's new homemade candle sticks, which appear to be made out of plaster of paris:

Nov 2, 2006

Hope everyone had a great Halloween. I need to show off pictures:

It was below freezing, so the boys wore their jammies and their coats under their costumes:



Alex always knocked first. Despite an afternoon of coaching and practice trick-or-treating, Adam was still saying, "May I please." We made it down our street and back, and came home with a reasonable amount of candy that Jeremy and I hardly ate any of.



And the pumpkins I slaved over. The one on the left is the one we grew in our backyard:



7:05 Drop off. Ariel looked sad. Becky said she had been sad all morning.

7:15 Breakfast, apples and blueberry. Ariel wasn't sad. I didn't give her any waffles since we have Ego at the moment which have nasty trans-fats.

8:00 Ariel went down for her nap with a bottle quietly and willingly. I made the mistake of turning on the computer so I could read about how to use my new flash.

9:30 Ariel woke up.

10:15 We finally left the house. I had something I needed to take care of, finding a place to take pictures for my holiday card family portrait shoot on Saturday. I knew I wanted to do something on Flagstaff Mt., something that looked like Any Colorado Mountain. So I set my trip odometer and got out occassionally to take pictures. Adam (don't like this, too rocky not enough trees):



Alex, better view, still needs more trees. And a blue sky would be nice, too:



And somehow I mananged to find an activity that made all THREE kids cry. Ariel was better after I got her a bottle but the boys whined and whined. And have I said that this mountain road starts approximately 2 miles from my house? And that the spot I picked (not any above) is only 3.7 miles farther? It's not like we mounted an Everest expedition. Yeesh.

11:00 Home. I changed a poopy, then had lunch.

11:30 Ariel had lunch. She ate all her green (garden veggies, yes Jana I put that in just for you now).

I was messing with my flash again. See how you can see the detail and color out my window?



Oh, after the green I gave Ariel one of Alex's raspberries. She treated more with much contempt and did not try to eat it.

12:00 I put Ariel down for a nap with a bottle of water.

1:00 Adam was needed a nap, so I put him down. I fell asleep too.

1:45 Ariel woke up.

2:30 Ariel had another bottle. Alex was bored out of his mind, so we finally started filling in his Dr. Seuss "All About Me" book. That kept us busy counting all the windows, doors, mirrors and pictures in our house. We didn't count the forks, too many were in the dishwasher.

At some point I changed another poopy. Perhaps the prunes backfired.

3:30 Adam woke up.

4:15 Pick up.