June 29, 2007

7:00 Drop off.

7:20 Breakfast - mushed apricots and waffles

8:45 Left to take Alex to camp.

9:00 Dropped off Alex. More drama than usual today. Alex forgot to bring his hat (But Mommy, you didn't remind me) and then wouldn't wear Ted's Nemo hat or Mae's plaid flower lined one (that I kinda got). So I wished him luck that his head wouldn't burn.

9:15 Stopped by Wild Oats to buy challah. See, I volunteered to bring challah today for PALS and the preschool. I was going to make it, but last night I made my normal double recipe and forgot to double the water. It was not pretty. So I had to buy some this morning. And sadly, Wild Oats didn't have any, but I was able to pick up some white flour, as I had used that last of it in my mess in the bread machine.

9:25 Stopped by Panera to buy challah. They did have challah, but only one plain loaf. The other choices were sesame or poppy. I wasn't sure about either, as the preschool is nut free, but decided the poppy would be ok.

9:35 Got to PALS. Very small class today. Just Ariel, Mae, Adam (unofficially but there non-the-less) and Evan.

Ariel contributed to the class painting:



Colored with crayons:



Ate poppy seed challah:



Went outside and had a mini popsicle:



And played with a running hose:



She also played with instruments and did circle/song time enthusiastically. She even did the bim-bom hands and clapping in Shabbat Shalom.

By the end of PALS, she was a very wet, sticky mess.

11:40 Left PALS to pick up Alex.

12:00 Alex pick up.

12:30 Got home - Ariel was asleep and went to bed.

3:37 Ariel finally woke up. She had a snack of yogurt and goldfish.

4:00 Pick up.

And I don't know what was up with her, but she pooped 3 times this morning.

June 28, 2007

7:00 Drop off the happiest Ariel I've seen in a while

7:15 I'm not going to spoon feed Ariel anymore (Becky, I know you stopped a while ago, but it's just habit with me). Ariel fed herself mashed blueberries and hot cereal. And fairly well.

8:45 Left to take Alex to camp.

9:00 Dropped off Alex. Today was finally bug day.

9:15 Quick trip to Starbucks. Surprised?

9:45 Trip to the Rocket Ship park. Everyone (even Sam, after a while) had a really nice time.

Ariel poured rocks on her feet:



Mae poured rocks on her feet:



Ariel poured rocks on Mae's head. Rocks are fun!



Adam said - Rocks are not as fun as you two babies seem to think. I will fly to the moon instead:



11:15 It was hard to leave the park when everyone had been playing together so well (all four of them were playing so cutely in the tube/slide thingy) but we did have to go.

11:25 Quick trip to the grocery store to buy bread.

11:35 Ran home for a minute to make a lot of PB&J sandwiches. Ariel finished her hot cereal that I hadn't put away and then had string cheese.

12:00 Pick up Alex and Ted from camp. We had a quick picnic before leaving. Ted had 1 sandwich, Alex had zero. There may be a reason Ted weighs 10 more pounds.

12:40 Got to swimming class.

I took this lovely picture of Ellen and Mae. I'm so glad Adam is over 2 1/2 and I don't have to get in the water. I love to tease Ellen about having to do the hokey pokey every week. Poor thing, she's been doing it for 4 years.



1:00 Alex and Adam had their swimming class.

1:15 In an effort to complicate things, I took Ariel, Mae and Sam home with me. Mae fell asleep in the car and transfered to Alex's bed. Ariel went right down for her nap. Sam played nicely in the living room while I cleaned my kitchen/dining room least Ellen fear that my house is infested with cockroaches.

2:30 Ellen got to my house with Alex, Adam and Ted. I took off with Sam. I dropped Sam off at his house to nap with Mr. Ellen (who works from home some days).

3:00 The last day of my dream job. I got to spend an hour tasting various Milky Way Fudge incarnations. Some were better than others, but they were all pretty good and very rich. I had a mild headache and felt pretty sick when I was done, but the paycheck will make it all worthwhile. I'm going to dump it into a Starbucks card for Ellen and I. Any guesses as to how long $150 will last us?

4:30 Becky picked up Ariel from Ted's Tae Kwon Do. Ellen said the girls slept until she had to wake them to go to the class.

And after I picked up the boys, I was going to stop by CiCi's for a take out pizza, but they were GONE. Very upsetting, for all of us.

June 27, 2007

11:00 Ariel didn't get dropped off today until now because she was at the doctor's getting tubes in her ears. Becky said she was a rock star and did fine.

11:45 I had to wake Ariel to pick up Alex from camp.

12:00 Camp pick up. Alex had another good day. He was supposed to be studying bugs and birds, but since it was cool (in the 70's) the bugs were hiding. So they did animal tracking instead. Alex informed me that he was a scatologist today. The job of a scatologist is to poke sticks into animal poop to see what kind of animal made it. They just found deer poop and raccoon tracks. Did you know that you never see mountain lion poop because like the house cat, they bury it?

After pick up, we ran by the grocery store.

1:00 Got home, we had some lunch. Ariel had yogurt. She looked like she was in one of her "me do it" moods so I gave her the carton and a spoon and she did a pretty good job. She had some gold fish and didn't do much with the waffles.

2:30 I dropped the kids off with Ellen so I could go to my dream job - a fudge tasting focus group at the mall. I got to spend 2 hours tasting fudge and fudge-like products (fudgecicles, E.L.F cookies) and talking about it. Not bad, and it pays $150 for two 2 hour sessions.

Ellen said the kids did fine.

Alex and Ted watched the first (IV) Star Wars.



Adam and Sam played together well.



Ariel chased Sam:



Ariel poked kiwi with a fork (Ellen, she didn't actually EAT any, did she???)



And Ellen had to get Ariel a potty after Mae physically removed Ariel from hers (Ellen, she didn't actually PEE, did she???):



4:30 I assume that Becky found Ellen's house without issue and picked up Ariel. At least, I didn't hear otherwise.

June 26, 2007

Last night, Ellen and I participated in what Jeremy is now calling "Negligent Wife Adventures" (I think I need to cook him dinner tonight). Instead of having dinner with my family, Ellen and I walked to The Hill, had some divine crepes, and then she got her nose pierced. Note to my friends and family - if you need to be talked out of something, don't call me. I'm all for impetuous craziness. Of course I had to take pictures, so here they are (and warning, there is a pretty graphic one with Ellen and a needle in her nose. I think it's funny, you may not). And then we found a turtle on the way home, so I had to take a picture of that too. Jeremy said it was a painted turtle, Mr. Ellen said, "Don't touch it, they have salmonella!"

7:00 Drop off

7:15 Ariel once again refused breakfast

8:00 Ariel actually cried to be put in the pack-n-play, where she fell asleep.

8:45 Got Ariel up to take Alex to camp.

9:00 Ellen and I talked about doing swimming today, but bizarrely yesterday was 100° and today was only 72° (well, maybe not bizarre for Colorado) so we went to Starbucks instead.

9:30 Starbucks. I didn't get Adam or Ariel milk today but they did have a bit of a donut. They played outside for a little bit, but it really was quite chilly.

9:45 Decided to go to the indoor mall for some Old Navy fun.

10:00 Mall - Sweet Ellen's family has a wonderful habit of frequenting the quarter machines. Mae and Sam got a quarter, so I had to give one to Adam and Ariel too. Adam got peanut M&M and I picked Skittles for Ariel. She only had 4, but oy what a mess.

10:15 Slightly depressing trip to Old Navy. I tried on a few shirts that were all slightly unflattering and a dress. This whole billowy-emperor style baby doll dress is not for me. I don't want to spend all day explaining that no, I am not pregnant with my forth child. I did find a couple of camisoles on sale, so the trip wasn't a complete wash (and yes Becky, I finally used my ON birthday gift card).

11:00 Left the mall. Mae lost it in the car (well, actually before the car) so we thought she could benefit from some food. We made a quick trip to Noodles. Ariel shared a bit of Adam's pesto cavitappi but not much.

11:40 Realized we needed to boogy to pick up the boys from camp. Ellen had been riding in my car, so we had to speed to the other mall to pick up her car, then rush to Chautauqua.

12:02 Arrive slightly late only to find that the kids hadn't even returned from their hike. So we were not late after all.

Alex had skinned his knee on the hike and was pretty upset, so we rushed home to clean and bandage it.

12:45 After first aid, Ariel had some yogurt and the rest of the apricots from yesterday. Then we stopped by the library to pick up Magic Tree House books 6,7, and 8 and then went to Wild Oats for dinner shopping. I haven't cooked for a while, so tonight we are having blackened catfish, green beans and mashed potatoes. That should make the husband happy.

The kids had a quick snack. We got some organic raspberries, Alex and my favorite. Adam won't even try one. Doesn't know what he's missing.





And everyone loves the new camelbacks, even Ariel (and note the 4 Skittles mess on her shirt):



After making a mess on the floor, she had some waffles for a snack.

2:00 Put Ariel down for a nap.

4:30 Ariel slept until pick up time.

June 25, 2007

I had a fabulous girl's weekend in Winter Park. Ellen's birth mom's group was having a get together and since the boys were going to Grammie's house and Jeremy was bike racing in Wyoming and I was going to be all alone and productive, Ellen invited me along. It was a LOT of fun and the house was amazing. Here are pictures from the weekend.

7:00 Becky dropped off a grouchy Ariel.

7:15 Ariel was pretty mad about breakfast. She ate a bit of apricots and didn't want to try the gorilla munch.

8:00 Ariel went down for a nap.

8:45 I woke Ariel up so we could take Alex to camp. This week is a hiking camp in Chautaqua. It's for kids 5 and up and BOY was Adam jealous. Adam has gotten to do the other two camps and could not wrap his brain around why he couldn't go on this one too. Poor guy :(

9:00 Dropped Alex off. Then I followed Ellen to Toyota so she could get her car serviced.

9:30 Ellen and Mae hopped in my car and we went to Starbucks at the 29th street mall. All the kids had a bit of donut and chocolate milk (which Ariel managed to spill all over herself). They also played on the wonderful foam playground (man, I love that Starbucks).

10:15 We went across the street to REI. I had consoled Adam with his lack of camp by telling him that I would get him the camelback that I've been talking about. Of course, there was the REI brand on sale for $20 and the real Camelbacks for $40 and the REI brand was way to big. So I had to spend $80 on hydration for the boys, but I know they will get a lot of use out of it (if they don't break of loose it). And in the mean time, Ellen was trying to get replacement bite valves for her boy's water packs (which didn't exist) and took a LOT of time. I let the kids go through my purse, which was great fun especially since they didn't find the tampons in their new secret pocket.

(And yes dad, I put the purchase on your REI card).

11:00 We stopped back at my house to get a road rash bandaid for Mae's skinned knee. I also cleaned the camelbacks so the boys could use them right away.

11:45 Before we knew it, it was time to pick up the big boys from camp.

12:00 Got Ted and Alex. It sounds like they had a great day at camp. Later Alex told me (Crissy, brace yourself) that they saw a big bull snake on their hike.

12:15 Dropped Ellen and Mae and Ted off at Toyota.

12:45 I got home. Ariel fell asleep in the car and went to her bed.

2:00 Ariel woke up and had some lunch, string cheese and mac & cheese.

3:00 Left the house to drop Ariel off with Becky at Ariel's ENT appointment.

3:25 Drop off.

And the result of the appointment is yes, Ariel's ears are a mess and she has another appointment on Wednesday for tubes.

June 22, 2007

Ok, so it's Monday again and I'm trying to remember back to Friday.

Friday morning, Ariel went to PALS. It was a nice, small class with only 3 kids. Ariel liked the shaving cream with food coloring:

\



For snack, she had a popsicle (in case you were wondering, Becky, why she was slighly green)



And then we played outside and Ariel found a fun puddle to splash in:



And see that big long booger? Ariel's nose was running like a facet ALL day long.

At 11 there was a planned fire drill, which was a perfect time to leave. Ellen and I took the girls to Foolish Craig's on the Pearl Street mall. Ariel didn't eat much.

At noon, we picked up the boys from camp. When we got home, Ariel napped while I packed the boys up to go to Grammie's house.

I dropped Ariel off at 3:00 at Becky's work so I could meet friends for a fabulous girl's weekend.

June 21, 2007

7:00 Drop off

7:15 Poop

7:25 Breakfast - peaches. And she asked for waffle but wouldn't eat it.

8:00 Ariel attacked Adam so I figured she was tired and put her down for a nap but she didn't sleep.

9:40 Left for our activity of the day - joining Ellen and her crew at their library for story time. But first, we had a quick coffee across the street.

Story time was ok. When we got to the library we found out it was "toddler" story time so it was a bit young for Alex and Ted (thought when I asked Alex later he said he liked it). There were only a couple baby books read, and a few Raffi songs played. It actually was perfect for Ariel and Mae, but there were so many kids there it was hard for anyone to really enjoy it.



11:15 After story time we went to Ellen's house for lunch. Ariel only had a little bit of Pirate Booty.

12:25 We left Ellen's house and Ariel fell asleep in the car. I stopped at the drive thru bank and then we headed to swimming lessons.

1:00 Alex and Adam had their lessons. Both did fine. Alex has a lot of free time to dork around, he was experimenting with using the castle to push himself to the bottom of the pool. But both boys did everything they were asked, swimming, jumping in, going down the slide and diving for rings.

Ariel had woken up when we got to swimming and was playing with Mae. And then she bit Mae, pretty hard:



Both my guys went through a biting phase too. I think it's a combination of not being able to express themselves and general frustration and temper. I just need to watch Ariel more carefully so I catch her before she does it (18 month olds are not very sneaky) and if she does bite, she'll get removal from situation (aka time out in stroller, pack-n-play).

1:30 After class we stopped by the 29th street mall and went to Bath and Body Works. Then we stopped by Starbucks and in a huge show altruism, I bought the kids each a chocolate milk and a donut. Except for Ariel, she got pumpkin loaf (which she didn't eat a whole lot of). All I had was Ariel's left over pumpkin loaf. Then the kids played on the foam play set.

3:00 Got home. I put Ariel down for another nap and she still didn't sleep. But she did manage to get herself pretty tangled in her shirt, which enraged her.

4:30 Pick up.

June 20, 2007

7:00 Drop off

7:10 Poop

7:15 Breakfast - some waffle, some pancake and some peach

8:20 The boys finally left for camp with Jeremy. It got much quieter.

9:00 Mae and Ellen came over. I tried to get a good picture of the two of them together, so Ellen can use it for our MS fundraising. It was hard. I didn't do so good.

This is Ariel giving Mae a hug:



And this one looks like:

Mae: And this is how you pick your nose.

Ariel: Ohhhh, now I get it!



And this one is sweet but you can't see Mae's face at all (which might be good, she was a bit grumpy):



At least they are both looking at the camera, but Mae wouldn't get closer or smile:



Ellen got this picture of them jumping on the chair:



10:00 Laura showed up to get Hannah's pictures taken. Ellen took the girls to get coffee and bagels. The stroller didn't work out, it had a flat :(



Look how set up Ariel is with a peach smoothie and an egg and cheese bagel:



And then she found some fun ice:



I'm still working on Hannah's pictures, but here's what I have so far. And a funny story... When I took Hannah's picture last month, Laura and I both smelled poop, but couldn't find a source. After Hannah left, the smell was gone and I didn't think of it again. And then it smelled like poop again today. I finally figured out that my backdrop smelled like poop. No idea why, but I would guess it was cat related. It went straight into the wash.

11:30 Ariel and Mae came home, Ariel went down for a nap.

12:45 Put Ariel in the car to pick up the boys, she stayed asleep.

1:00 Pick up time.

1:30 Becky picked up Ariel from the school.

June 17, 2007

Well yesterday I just plain forgot to post father's day pictures. Nothing too exciting, they are here.

I made the socks, mom made the cake. My dad made out pretty good, Jeremy just got a loving fun day with his children (that's what he gets for leaving Friday/Saturday for a bike race).

7:10 Drop off.

7:15 Breakfast - apples and cherries and hot cereal.

7:45 Changed a poopy.

8:00 Put Ariel down for a nap. She didn't think she was tired, but she did eventually fall asleep.

10:15 Woke Ariel up for our Adventure of the day. We had a playdate with Alex's friend Jack at Jack's house. Jack's neighborhood has a pool, so we all went swimming.

Ariel liked the baby pool for a bit, then she found a more exciting way to pass the time by throwing pool toys in the pool and then crying when they floated away. Eventually I got her to eat a bagel and some Tings and juice for lunch:



The boys had lunch too, then went back in the pool. Here's Alex showing me he can jump in backwards:



Adam hung out a lot in the baby pool, but he did some real swimming with me in the big pool too, as I retrieved toys for Ariel.



1:30 Left the pool.

2:00 Stopped by Target because I wanted to get a book on CD that just came out (Lean Mean Thirteen). They were out, but I got a Starbucks and then tried a new Starbucks plan with the kids. I got them a venti chocolate creme frappachino and had them split it 3 ways. Ariel and Adam though that was a good idea, though Ariel spilled half her drink on herself and Adam didn't finish his. And Alex was happier with the accompanying water.

2:30 Stopped by Ellen's to say hello. The boys played for a while and managed to wake Mae.

Ellen sent some pictures of the afternoon:

Ariel and Mae dancing (note Ariel's maternity shirt):



And Ariel gave Mae some very sweet hugs (some of which seemed to hurt more than others):



3:20 Left Ellen's. Changed a poopy on the way out.

3:50 Got home.

4:30 Pick up.

June 18, 2007

7:00 Drop off

7:15 Breakfast - stawberry/banana/apple mush and hot cereal. Neither Adam nor Ariel care for "big" waffles.

8:40 Left for preschool camp

9:00 Dropped the boys off at camp. Then Ariel and I drove to Kangaroo Kingdom and she fell asleep.

9:20 Kangaroo Kingdom. It took Ariel a bit to warm up, but once she did she had a lot of fun. There are a couple of slides and a plastic club house and a ball pit. We met up with the stroller mommies and Ariel is one of the older babies. She's about the same age as Ryan and they are surprisingly similar in growth and development.





11:10 Ariel said, "bye-bye" so we went and got our shoes and left. She fell asleep in the car and transfered to her bed.

12:45 I moved Ariel back to the car, she stayed asleep.

1:00 Picked up the boys. Ariel finally woke up. We played a bit outside, then we went to Jamba Juice.

Look how Boulder Ariel is today with Mae's Hannah Anderson dress, crocs and a smoothie:



2:15 Becky picked Ariel up early from Jamba Juice.

June 15, 2007

7:00 Drop off one crabby Ariel. Apparently she had a lot of caffeine yesterday and didn't sleep well last night. Huh.

7:15 Breakfast - blueberries, 1/2 a mini waffle and some hot cereal.

8:15 Put Ariel down for a nap.

9:00 Left (late) for preschool camp, I had to wake Ariel up.

9:15 Got to camp. I got the big boys situated, then I took Ariel to PALS. Ariel picked out a very fancy dress today so I took it off for play. It took her a bit to warm up, but then she got into it. First, she banged on her drum all morning (picture courtesy of Ellen) :



The she did a bit of painting (note Ellen lounging in the background):



And then she had a snack. She said "apple" and licked it, but I don't think she actually ingested any. But the goldfish she ate.



Here's Ariel playing outside in her fancy duds paired nicely with crocs:



Except for Mae-Mae, this is a whole new group of kids in PALS from the spring and it's a younger group. There are twin girls who were born in October and then another girl who was born a week before Ariel, so she's with her contemporaries.

11:00 After PALS Ellen demanded that I come with a new and exciting place to go to lunch. Jeremy had given me a coupon for a free smoothie/latte/bowl(???) at a place called Rush in North Boulder, so I suggested that. Ariel and Mae shared a strawberry smoothie and I had a fruit parfait with hemp granola (oh yeah, this place is very Boulder). Ellen got a bowl, apparently they are very thing smoothies with hemp granola on top (she gave it a thumbs up). It was very good and I think we'll come back. Then we went across the street for a mocha for me (I had a tired morning with taking a little yellow pill and no caffeine).

12:30 Headed back to school because Mae said she had to poop (she didn't) and made it there in time for Shabbat sing. Ariel sat on Ellen's lap, it was very sweet.

1:00 Left preschool.

1:25 Got home, everyone was still awake. I started the challah, then Ariel had some yogurt and cheerios.

2:00 Ariel went down for a nap. Adam was supposed to rest too, so we could do a bike ride with Ted this evening. He never did sleep, so we didn't go. Apparently I made the right decision, because both boys fell asleep in the stroller later on my walk. Anyway, I cleaned house and listened to Harry Potter while Adam and Alex didn't rest but did play quietly and nicely. Or so it seemed with my headphones on.

3:30 Becky picked up a sleeping Ariel.

June 14, 2007

Oh yes, I did. I spent an obscene amount of time, energy and resouces looking for the very smallest sized crocs so Ariel could join our croc family. And it was worth it, when Ariel excitedly tried to take off her old sandals so she could put them on. Muhahaha!



7:00 Drop off

7:15 Breakfast - not much blueberries, hot cereal and a few bites of waffles.

8:30 Down for a nap

9:30 I attempted to take Adam's 3 year pictures. It was difficult. He seems to have lost the ability to follow instruction, sit still, or show any signs of listening. Here's some of what I got:

Adam's Pictures

11:00 Ariel woke up and I changed a poop.

11:30 Lunch - mac & cheese

12:00 Changed another poopy.

12:30 Left for the boy's swimming lessons.

1:00 Swimming. Both the boys did well. Alex is swimming a bit ahead of the group, Adam a teeny tad behind. But it's nice to get it done in one class.

1:30 We stayed to watch Ted do his strokes class (my boys are in class with Sam, and Mae's baby class is at 12:30).

2:00 After Ted finished with swimming, Ellen and I went to the 29th street mall for a Starbucks. Ariel stole my java chip frappachino and wouldn't give it back. It wasn't even decaf (but luckily only a tall). Ok, she probably only drank 1/2 of it, but now I know to get her a drink without caffeine in it next time.



Ellen took a picture of our little croc family. Ain't we cute?



3:30 Ariel was acting a bit tired (ok, crazy insane) but Becky was planning on picking her up from the mall so I waited her out. Mostly, she would get mad at irrational things and then wouldn't let me hold her.

3:50 Becky picked Ariel up from the mall.

After that, I went and bought a new purse. Isn't it sporty AND cute? It's bigger than my old purse and I can fit a diaper and a bag of wipes in it. Now I can leave the diaper bag as an extra back-up (it's got clothes and medicine) behind in the car or house, and just leave with a cool purse. It also has a matching mini-change purse that I can grab if I just need my credit card and license. And I only spent slightly less time on finding it than I did the crocs. Gawd, I hope I'm not turning into a shopper!

June 12, 2007

7:00 Drop off

7:15 Breakfast - waffles and apple/cherry mush.

8:30 Down for a nap. When I first put Ariel down I realized that she didn't have her nuk because she had left it here yesterday and I still hadn't found it. I looked in Alex's room and didn't see it and then sat down despondently on the bed and saw it under the train table.

9:40 Woke Ariel up for the Adventure of Day - swimming. We plan on swimming with Ellen et al on Tuesday this summer at her community pool. But since it was 60 and raining we had to come up with a new plan - the indoor pool at APEX.

10:00 First we stopped at Starbucks for some fortification. Paul's birthday was last night (and I decorated a fun soccer ball cake for him):



but we were also drinking some crazy rum drink that was like rocket fuel and I got a tad bit knockered.

Anyway, we stopped at Starbucks and then went onto the pool.

10:30 The pool was super fun. This was the pool I took Adam and Ariel to a few months back. That time, Ariel wanted nothing to do with the water so I held her the whole time and it was very easy. This time, she was a maniac. I kept having to pull her out of the water. She would cry for a second and then demand back down if I had had the chutzpah to pick her up. It was very nice to know Adam and Alex could handle their own, even though I was keeping an eye on them too.

Oh, and Becky forgot to pack a swim suit so Ariel borrowed Mae-Mae's.






12:15 We finally pulled the kids out of the pool (I think Ariel would have stayed there all day) and got them dressed. Then we drove back to Louisville and had lunch at a bagel store. Ariel only had a few bites of my egg and cheese bagel.

1:45 Got home, Ariel had more lunch - peaches, yogurt and cheerios.

2:15 Changed a poopy

2:30 Down for a nap.

4:30 Pick up