Aug 7, 2006

Happy Monday, Everyone. We had a nice weekend. I had my first "real" photo shoot with a family I didn't know. They had contacted Crissy about me after seeing some pictures of Marcus and Gavin (and it's possible the pictures she liked were Kiddie Kandids, but whatever). Anyway, the session went ok. It was cloudy day and I didn't have as much light as I liked, but I think mom is happy with them.

I also did Alex's 4 1/2 year pictures. Here's one of the highlights to give you an idea of how that went:



You can see both sessions on my flickr site.

And since my parents didn't know, it may not be clear what I was talking about Friday when I mentioned my possible photography bussiness - here's the lowdown: I'd like to start doing maternity/baby/kid portraits (eventually) and I also have an opportunity to sell some Turkey Toe pictures at a shop in Westcliffe. That's all, nothing is going yet.

Other than that, our weekend highlights were me taking Alex to his first Friday night Shabbat service on Flagstaff (first service I've been to where there were dogs, who were not wearing yamakas) and Jeremy also took the boys up to Nederland to see the mining museum that is only open on weekends.

My Jeremy update - I was teasing him this morning that I was going to start the blog: Layoff Day 13. It was a dark and stormy day. The animosity in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. Will the troubled couple make it till their 7th anniversary....? At which Jeremy interjected that our anniversary was tomorrow.

No, really, it's not THAT bad, but I think we are both getting sick of being in each other's way all day long. But good news, he has a 6 hour second interview tomorrow, and an interview on Thursday. And he's just so darn cute AND talented to boot, who wouldn't want to hire him?

7:15 Drop off

7:20 Enthusiastic cereal eating.

8:00 Playtime. Alex has been paying more attention to Ariel lately, especially when he makes her laugh:



8:30 Rest of cereal bottle

8:45 Down for crib nap.

8:50 Crissy called. We decided last night to meet at a park this morning.

9:00 Leave for park.

9:10 Arrive at park.

9:27 Call from Jeremy, "Ariel is awake." I gave him the option of bringing her to the park, or watching her. He opted for watching.

9:45 Call from Jeremy, "Ariel just pooped. I called so you could journal that for posterity. I think she's tired again, I'm going to put her back in the crib."

10:20 The kids had stopped playing and were hovering, so we decided it was time for our Starbucks emergency run.

10:30 Starbucks. My adventure today - I ordered a java chip, but a new girl made it and accidently made a mocha. She let me keep the mocha, and then she re-made my java chip but upped it to a grande as an apology. We split the mocha amongst the kids, and I drank all of my grande. I didn't really need a grande today, and now I'm very jittery.

(10:39 Missed call from Jeremy when I was waiting at the counter for my drink.)

10:45 Walked over to the post office to mail a package. Alex and Gavin got into a scramble, so Crissy et al. took off.

10:52 After I mailed my package, I checked my phone and saw I missed Jeremy, so I called him back. He said, "Ariel is awake and she's not happy." I instructed him on the art of bottle making.

11:09 Came home to this:



We've been watching Arrested Development and everytime I see Ariel lifting her shirt, I think of "Babies with low self-esteem" lol.

11:30 We went outside so I could take pictures of Ariel's super-cute outfit. I told Becky it was like something she would wear, only Becky would never wear shorts so you have to imagine her in plaid capris:



Please pose Ariel, pretty please?



Ok, this is slightly better:



Ariel, drool and all:



This is what I was trying to get:



And just for kicks, I tried to get all three kids. Here's the outtake:



And the best of the not-so-great:



And it's The Return of The Bare Bottom Bandit:



The potty training is going pretty well. Adam is really good at peeing, especially if he's outside because we told him it's ok to pee in the grass. He's been having a little trouble with the poop, but I think it's coming along. So far he's been dry all day.

12:30 Went inside for lunch. Ariel had blueberries and apples. I've also been spoon feeding her water because she doesn't seem to like getting it out of her bottle.

1:15 Down for crib nap.

1:30 Got Adam down for a nap in our bed.

1:45 Ariel woke up crying but I put her paci back in and she went back to sleep.

I read the rest of Winnie the Pooh and another chapter book to Alex. Then I downloaded and proofed the above pictures.

3:00 Adam woke up crabby and wet. I guess we are going to have to put a pull-up on for naps because he's so irrational and grumpy when he wakes up.

3:15 Ariel woke up. I changed a small hard poopy. I asked Jeremy how her poopy was this morning and he said normal.

3:20 S-L-O-W bottle

3:45 Sit and play.

4:35 Pick up.

And in case you are wondering what days to check the blog - the new schedule is that I have her Mon/Wed/Fri. Grandma has her Tues and Laura has her Thurs. Capiche?

Aug 4, 2006

7:05 Drop off. Not asleep. Ariel sat in the high chair while I finished up making waffles.

7:30 Enthusiastic cereal eating.

8:00 Crib nap

9:00 We all (that being Me, Jeremy, Alex, Adam and Ariel) left for our Fabulous Adventure™ of the day. But first, we had to run some errands.

9:10 My first errand was going to the post office. I ended up in line behind a very old, grouchy woman. She wanted to mail 30 packages (which she didn't have on her) media mail. So they had to weigh her one package, then figure out how to give her the easiest amount of stamps for the rest (which turned out to be 2 $.80 stamps each) while the old, grouchy lady yelled at just about everyone but me, as I was trying to blend in with the wall. It took forever.

9:25 Second quick errand - Starbucks. And FYI Crissy, Ted says his last day is next Friday. Soon we won't know anyone there anymore.

9:30 Finally we were on the way to our adventure. We (the we that is me) drove up to Idaho Springs. It was at this point I started to realize that Crissy is much better suited to Fabulous Adventures™ than Jeremy. I tried to talk to him about my future business plans for my almost photography business and he looked like he wanted to simultaniously fall asleep AND jump out of the car. Maybe because my business plans require spending money before making it?

10:30 Arrive at our adventure (where Ariel finished the rest of her breakfast bottle). The Argo Gold Mine and Mill:



I finally found a solution to child care!



First, we were told about the mining operation and watched a slide show. They also passed around some rocks and I made sure that Ariel touched the fossilized dino poop. Just so I could put that in the blog. We also handled a gold nugget, which we estimated to be worth several thousands of dollars.

Next, we went outside for some machine demonstrations. Both Ariel and Alex hated the drill. Alex told me it made his body hurt, and Ariel burst into tears:



Then they drove us up the hill in an old school bus and we had a self-guided tour.

We went into this old gold mine:


It didn't go back very far and it was very well lit:


Alex insisted he was wearing his hard hat properly:


Ariel didn't have much to say about the mine:


We got to see the tunnel entrance. It ran 4 miles to Central City and drained the mines of water.


And then onto the mill, where they ground up rocks and ore to extract the precious metals:


We were self-touring near another family, who had a 6 year old boy named R-e-e-c-e, Amy :)

If Adam could have turned this drill on, he would have. He settled for using it like a jungle gym. Alex kept his distance:



And I took this display case of UV-light rocks for Marcus:


12:30 We ended up back at the mine office and had a picnic lunch. Ariel slowly drank a bottle.

1:00 After lunch, we went back to pan for gold. We didn't really know what we were doing, but we did end up with a couple little flakes. The real process bored Adam, so he dumped rocks into the trough and then scooped them out again. He also mananged to soak himself, which is too bad since he had be accident free all day.



1:30 We still had some time, so we drove up to Echo Lake. Adam slept, and I think Ariel was sleeping but was awake when we got there. So Alex, Ariel and I went down to the lake:

Ariel is not wearing pants because I forgot to change her diaper and realized her pants were wet when we got in the car.




Alex liked looking at the ducks, who were suprisingly friendly and seemed to be expecting something of us:


Echo Lake:


We opted out of driving up Mt. Evans since Adam was still asleep and we didn't want to pay the fee. We (the we that is me) drove back over Squaw Pass. Here's one of the views from the road:



2:30 We stopped at the Bergan Park McDonald's because Ariel had been talking for a while and I thought she might be hungry. She took a long time to drink 3 oz, long enough that Alex had time to eat an entire ice cream cone. Adam was still asleep.

3:00 Drive back home.

3:05 Stop so Alex could pee in the grass.

3:06 Continue driving home. Ariel amused Alex by sucking on her toes. Adam slept. Jeremy slept some too. Before he dozed off, he commented that he didn't know how I do this everday. I'm not sure how many more Fabulous Adventures™ he'll go on, but I'm sure he's even more inspired to finding a new job.

3:40 Home. Ariel finished her bottle. Adam finally woke up and broke his accident-free streak.

4:00 Pick up.

Aug 2, 2006

Well hello, y'all. Here's a brief update on the potty training. Yesterday, Adam had 4 accidents, one poopy. But he went in the potty more times than that. And we were at the mall for over 4 hours and he only had one accident there. We are making progress, and the first thing that Adam said when we woke this morning was, "Want to put my lion underwear on." Alas, we did not buy that package, but he was happy to put on Thomas.

7:05 Drop off. Asleep, Adam's room.

8:00 After we ate breakfast, we went outside and worked in the garden. We removed a lot of weeds (well, I did, the boys were making a millipede house) so that The Pumpkin Vine That Wants To Take Over The World would have more room.

8:45 Ariel woke up and had her cereal.

9:10 We walked to Starbucks. Alex walked (except for the short part where Adam walked and Alex rode). I got sucked into telling Squirrel Nutkin stories to keep Alex walking. He heard-

Chapter One in which Squirrel Nutkin gets a baby brother, Max
Chapter Two in which the the squirrel family goes camping
Chapter Three in which Squirrel Nutkin starts kindergarden
Chapter Four in which Squirrel Nutkin has a birthday party

10:10 Got to Starbucks. I had my grande frappachino. And I found a quarter! Which brings my found money total to $3.32, enough to buy a drink. And I did it in under a month!

10:20 Library story time. Our regular library lady was on vacation, we had a different one. Crissy fed Ariel the rest of her breakfast bottle.

11:00 Adam had an accident at the library. But we got dry clothes on him, then he peed in the the grass outside. Poor guy is way too small for public toliets, and I'm not dragging his little potty everywhere.

11:20 Walk home. Ariel was asleep in the bjorn. We had some drama with Adam. First, he was crying because he wanted to walk. Then he was crying because he had pulled out the book bag and it had fallen and I didn't know because he wasn't making sense. But I eventually figured it out and then we had to backtrack to find our bag.

12:00 Home. I had to take pictures of Ariel's new hairbow, courtesy of Grandpa:

Cute:


Pensive:


Weird:


12:15 Ariel had apples and plums while the boys had mac & cheese and bananas.

12:45 Everyone went outside to go swimming. See?



At one point, Adam got in Ariel's pool:


1:00 Dry off, bottle. Ariel took fovever to finish it.

1:25 Crib nap.

3:20 Wake up. This is the first time I've gone in and found Ariel on her belly!

3:25 Changed a (rather hard) poopie

3:30 Bottle

4:10 We left to meet Becky at the park-n-ride

4:30 Found Becky at park-n-ride. We successfully ransomed Ariel for a briefcase of money.

July 31, 2006

PS (pre-script) Jeremy broke the computer and as of 10:00 pm on 7-31 none of the pictures are showing up. But have no fear, he promises to have it fixed by tomorrow morning.

PPS (post-pre-script) As promised, Jeremy the wonder dog fixed the 'puter. "Stupid, cheap computer," says he. And now that my parents are back from their trip, Ariel will not be joining us today, so stay tuned until Wednesday for more exciting adventures.

Hi y'all, we are back from our Extremely Fabulous Family Reunion. We had a blast. We met Jeremy's mother's family up in Cody, WY. There were 10 kids under 5 years and 45 people all together. They are a great bunch, everyone is so fun and loving. Here are the pictures from the trip. Make sure to enlarge the scrapbook pages of the rafting trip, Patrick wrote up a hilarious summary of the journey. Besides the rafting trip, we also went to the museum and the rodeo and hung out and had LOTS fun.

Family Reunion Pictures

7:10 Drop off

7:30 Cereal. I used the formula from the left over bottle Becky sent.

8:15 I put Ariel down for a crib nap.

9:15 Ariel woke up. She had her bottle, but didn't finish it.

9:30 We went outside and filled up our pools so the water could warm in the sun.

10:20 Left for the library. We returned our movies (Alex loved Robots) and checked out a few more books.

10:30 Since we were at the library, we walked over to Starbucks to I could get a mocha.

11:00 Our second outing, Target. There, we ran into our good friend Sheryl et al. We decided it had been way to long, so we have a playdate scheduled for tomorrow. And then, we continued on our mission, buying Adam big boy underwear. I decided to commit to potty training for a week and see what happens. I've never commited longer than 4 hours, but I think with a little encouragement Adam will get it. He did great on our trip, peeing on the grass with Alex. But then there was an INCIDENT when he wasn't wearing a diaper and he pooped in his pants and it fell out in the porch and was a general MESS and Jeremy made me swear he would wear diapers the rest of the trip. So anyway, Adam picked out Thomas the Train and Batman and I added Cars and Madagascar. And just so Alex wasn't feeling too left out, he got some Batman too. (PS - as I was blogging this evening, Adam peed his pant. Not sure if it was the first time or not, we were at the lake for 3 hours this afternoon.)

12:00 We got home. I was going to put Ariel right down, but first she finished her bottle and then she ate her banana/strawberry/apple? mush.

12:45 Everyone went outside to swim. Ariel probably should have just gone down for a nap, but the pool was heated and I didn't want her to miss out.

Here's my $5 clearance find:



I didn't give Ariel any toys, but she had a blast splashing. Poor girl forgot to bring her swimsuit. I almost bought her a clearance one at Target, but I couldn't justify spending half of my earnings today on it.:









Alex practiced putting his face underwater:


Adam insists on wearing goggles above his eyes:


1:00 Bottle

1:15 Nap

2:00 Pick up

July 24, 2006

Roses are red,
I have to thank Amy,
She sent me a Starbucks card
so I could buy mochas and stay sane-y (zany?).

I hope you had a nice weekend. We had fun on our impromptu vacation. Here's my favorite picture from the ranch this weekend:



It's a limestone fencepost that Pop-pop brought from Kansas.

So today is a special day. It's Alex's half birthday. Now normally (or most normal people) don't celebrate half-birthdays. But we don't have any birthday in July so we decided to celebrate Alex's. It's a big deal for him to be 4 and-a-half now.

7:15 Drop off.

7:30 Lots of cereal. The most I've seen Ariel eat. There was only 1 1/2 ounces of formula left.

8:20 Walk to Starbucks. Both boys were in the stroller, I felt like it's been a while since I had any exercise. Ariel slept in the bjorn.

8:55 Starbucks. I enjoyed my 8th-one-is-free mocha, but somehow got roped into buying both kids milks that they didn't drink. They are on prohabition for a while.

9:05 It's been a while since we've been to Michael's so we wandered by. They already have their fall decorations out, isn't that creepy? I let Alex pick out a half-birthday present from the arts & crafts section. He picked out color-wonder statues.

9:40 We all sat at an outdoor table and painted our statues. Alex did the seahorse, Adam did the turtle and I did the fish. It was very nice of Alex to share. Before I started my statue, I gave Ariel a bottle. She finished the formula bottle, then started a new one, and left about 1 1/2 ounces. See, she just won't take 6 oz from me, she's a 4 oz girl.

See our bee-u-ti-ful statues?



(And for the record, I did not do a crappy job to make the kids feel better. I really just did a bad job. I guess I should stick to picture taking.)

10:10 We went to the library to stock up on materials for our trip tomorrow. I got Jer and I books on tape, a couple DVDs and CDs for Alex and some books. Before leaving, we all went to the bathroom. Adam didn't go, but he wouldn't let me put on his diaper, either, so once again he's comando.

10:45 We walked home and Ariel napped again.. And it was HOT, 87 deg as a matter of fact.

11:30 Got home. I called Crissy and finalized our Fabulous Adventure™ Plans. I also talked to Jeremy (who was at home). He was back from his job search related phone conference (which was a not helpful) and has an interview tomorrow. He'll have a new job in no time.

11:55 Left for Crissy's house.

12:05 Crissy's house. Ariel had some lunch, Apples & Cherries. She didn't finish the last part. Crissy and I had triscuits and cheese and smoothies. The blender scared Ariel, she really startles at loud noises.

12:45 At last we were ready to go on our Fabulous Adventure™ - Lakeside Amusement Park!

1:20 Got to Lakeside. We got the kids all checked in, then Crissy fed Ariel a bottle.

Much fun was had at Lakeside. Adam did all the rides except the one he was too short for. Marcus did a great job of sitting with Adam and keeping him safe.

Here they are on the roller coster.


Ariel was quite puzzled by Lakeside:


She mostly hung out in the bjorn or the stroller and didn't nap. She had fallen asleep for a few minutes, but then I walked under a water mister and she woke up with a start and wouldn't go back to sleep.

Alex and Gavin rode every ride together:


3:30 We all had a snack and then Crissy fed Ariel another bottle. Keep this picture in mind, because the part of Wendy will be played by Crissy for the rest of the week while we are on vacation:


3:45 We told the kids they had two more rides left, then we would have to go. Crissy predicted it might take a while to actually leave.

4:15 Crissy was right, it did take a while to go potty and walk to the car.

5:00 Got to Becky's house. Traffic was pretty heavy.

(And I think that this blog could have been better written, but Jer is watching Deadwood in the background and all the f-bombs and other colorful language kept discracting me.)

July 19, 2006

7:15 Drop off, asleep in carseat

Hey Becky, I forgot to tell you this story. Yesterday, Alex said to Gavin, "Do you know why Mommy calls Ariel a princess? Because she IS a princess."

7:50 Wake up.

8:00 Cereal

8:15 SS & P. My new acronym for sit, spit and play.

8:45 Down for crib nap. Ariel did not fall right asleep. She lay there humming and kicking with her eyes closed.

9:20 I gave Ariel a bottle in her crib, then she fell asleep.

10:20 Jeremy got home from his bike ride and we went to the library (we being me, Alex, Adam and Ariel). I was going to leave sleeping Ariel with him, but she woke up right as we left. We drove today, both because it was hot and because we didn't have time to walk. Adam left the house yet again without a diaper.

10:30 Storytime. For some reason, it was very crowded today.

11:15 Home from library.

11:20 Ariel ate some banana, mixed berry mush.

11:30 A short video entitled, Will Ariel eat a Cheerio? (answer - no)



Now that my husband is unemployed, I thought I'd better work on my photography so I can support us. Ariel is by far the best model in our house. Alex was not impressed that I was letting her chew on his toy.







And then, Adam pooped. He was still not wearing a diaper, and he sure as heck did not poop in the potty. Sigh.

After I cleaned him up, he took matters into his own hands and got dressed again.



(Did you notice that his shirt is inside out and backwards, and his shorts are in fact not shorts, but his jammie tops? And that he's still not wearing a diaper?)

12:00 Ariel had a bottle

12:15 More sitting and playing, less spitting.

12:45 I changed a big poopy.

12:50 Crib nap.

1:30 Put Adam down for a nap.

1:50 After Adam was asleep, I stayed in the room because Ariel was humming again. I guess I fell asleep, because I woke up with a start certain that I saw a tarantula climbing down the wall. And my first reaction was, "Wow, that's a big spider." Second, "I should catch it" and third, "What is a tarantula doing in here?" It took a minute to realize it was just a vivid dream or hallucination.

2:30 I left Jeremy in charge of the baby monitor while I took Alex to the store to buy dirt. Yes, we have dirt here, but we needed special potting soil to plant our avocado seed.

2:50 Got home. Ariel was awake sitting and playing, Jeremy was on the computer. I gave him a bottle and told him to feed her while Alex and I planted the avocado. He gave me a dirty look and kept typing.

2:55 You may or may not remember that on May 15th, Alex and I started an avocado seed in water. Well, look where it was today:



Alex put the special dirt in the pot:



And then we planted it:



Alex wants to know what we will do when the avocado tree is as high as our ceiling. I told him we would cross that bridge when we came to it.

3:05 Jeremy did not in fact feed Ariel, so I did.

3:30 Ariel hung out with Uncle J, probably sitting and playing, while the boys and I read books. At one point Adam nailed me in the face with a book and I said how much it hurt. Alex got very concerned, then gave me a kiss on my nose. Awwwwww.

4:10 We all went outside to wait for Becky. I pulled weeds.

4:30 Pick up. I asked Becky what she thought of Adam's ensamble, she thought he was wearing a loin cloth. Ha ha ha.

Our first day with Jeremy home went about the way I expected. He rode his bike, tried to ignore us all, monopolized the computer, and didn't like it when the kids used him as a trampoline when he was on the couch. I bet he'll have a new job soon, he is HIGHLY motivated.

So, we'll see y'all Monday. Since Jeremy has suddenly aquired a bunch of "vacation" time, we're heading down to the ranch this weekend. See ya.

July, 18, 2006

I try to follow the motto, the worse my day goes, the better the story it will make. So I hope this is a good, funny story, and not a whiney, boring story. And in honor of Stanely the Raccoon, the subtitle of this entry is:

Wendy's Wrong-side out Day

6:55 I awoke to the sound of Alex alternately calling "Mommy" and scrapping a toy against my door. Darn, I forgot that my dear, wonderful, loving husband had left for work waaaay early so that he could watch the Tour on tv. And for those of you wondering, "what tour?" that would be The Tour de France. Uh, it's a big bike race... Lots of people in Europe care about it... Ok, I don't care about it either. And for those of you wondering why Jeremy didn't watch it at home, that's because we don't have a TV... Well, we have a TV but we don't have reception on it, let alone cable. So where was I? Oh yes, I woke up 5 minutes before Ariel was due and Jeremy was not home.

7:15 Luckily Becky was late so I had a clean face and clothes on when Ariel was dropped off.

7:25 Ariel looked too tired to eat breakfast, so I put her down in the crib hoping that she could get in a nap before I had to take Alex to school.

7:40 Apparently I mis-judged Ariel. She did not want to nap, but I did change a small hard poopy.

7:50 I gave her some cereal and she ate an average amount.

8:00 I scrambled to get Alex ready to take to summer camp. Normally Jeremy would take him, but as I said earlier, Jeremy was not home.

8:25 Finally ready to leave. About 15 minutes ago, I had asked Alex, "Do you want to go to school in your clothes or jammies?" Alex had not responded, and I had not asked again. So we left with him in his jammies. And as soon as he realized that, he freaked out screaming, "They will not want to see me in my jammies. I don't want them to see me in my jammies!" Hopefully this turned out to be a good Love and Logic lesson.

Adam left the house in comando and in a pair of Alex's shorts that he had found, coordinated with his jammie top. He refused to put a diaper on.

8:30 We got to the grocery store so I could drop off Alex's disposible camera. I also let him change into his clothes in the car.

8:40 We stopped back at the house so I could grab my walking shoes that I forgot.

8:55 Three blocks from the school, I got a call. The preschool was closed because the building had no water supple. Uhhhh... bummer. So we turned around and Alex joined Crissy and I on our Super-sized Fabulous Adventure™.

9:05 I arrived at Crissy's house. She would like the record to state that she DID NOT answer the door naked, she was wearing her bra and underwear. But with her tan colored bra, it may have been difficult to tell from the street. I guess we loose all modesty in the delivery room.

9:20 Crissy and I drove to the predetermined trailhead so we could go on our Starbucks pilgramage. But that parking lot was full, so we had to drive down to one 1/4 mile farther away.

9:30 We were finally ready to walk. I carried Ariel and pushed Adam. Crissy pushed Gavin and Alex and Marcus rode his bike.

9:45 We were walking on the path with Marcus riding ahead and I suddenly heard a man yelling. I thought he was shouting at his dog, but he was yelling at Marcus, "There are no bikes allowed on this trail!" Now that was true, but we had forgotten, and plus Marcus isn't really a "bike" yet. The man went on his diatribe, "Your tires will make tracks and the trail will erode." Never mind that Marcus weighs 60lbs and Crissy was pushing an 85lbs stroller, or that the path was bone dry. I graciously apologized and got Marcus moving (I decided that the man was too old and too grumpy to argue with) before Crissy's momma-bear reaction came into full effect. And good for Marcus for not dissolving into a pool of tears, I know I would if a stranger ever spoke to me like that.

9:55 This walk turned out to be longer than we expected. Here's the day, hot and dry:



Coming up this bridge, I got a call from Jeremy. He had a meeting at work at 1:00 to determine his future at the company and given who was invited, it looked like his future was in hours, not days. I promised not to buy a car or new hot tub.

10:00 Gavin and Alex were messing with the stroller visor and Crissy told them to stop. Alex started into one of his, "But we...." and I said, "No buts Alex, Crissy said no." Alex paused, then in a very good Beavus immitation said, "Mommy, you said butt. That's bathroom talk." Crissy could barely keep pushing the stroller with a straight face.

Speaking of kids saying the darndest things, yesterday as I was getting dressed, sweet Adam said, "I have a baby bottom. Mommy, you have a big bottom." Jeremy thought that was hi-lar-i-ous.

10:25 We were almost to Starbucks when we saw a bizarre sight. A souped-up VW drove by, apparently driven by a boy who was 10, no more than 12 years old, with 3 other boys. Crissy and I didn't know what to do. I thought about calling the police, but I didn't have a non-emergency number and it didn't seem like a 911 situation. We ended up doing nothing, but it felt wrong.

10:30 FINALLY get to Starbucks. We each had a drink, and as a special treat we all got donuts. The boys all picked out one with pink and yellow sprinkles. Ariel had a bottle.



Marcus amazed us by figuring out 15% of $300 with only a little guidence. That kid is a mathmatical genius!

10:45 Adam's pants were still dry, but Crissy couldn't get him to go potty.

After the boys terrorized Starbucks (we were the parents with the kids that everyone hates but we were too tired to care)



we...

11:30 Walked to the park.

12:05 Crissy gave Ariel a bottle, then Ariel fell asleep on Crissy:



Ariel then took a nap in the stroller.

12:25 Adam finally had an accident, and I was able to change him AND get a diaper on. 'Cause I didn't have another set of clothes.

1:00 We walked back to CiCi's for the $5 pizza special.

1:30 We had pizza, Ariel had prunes and apples. We'll see if that cures her hard poopy issue.

Crissy wanted to play with my camera and Ariel. She took this:



Crissy seemed oblivious to the mayhem that the other four children were creating, I finally convinced her it was time to put down the camera and leave.

2:20 Started walking back to the car. For most of the morning, Crissy had been trying to convince me how fun it would be for the blog for us to take the bus back. Wouldn't it be comical to load 2 strollers and a bike while handling five kids? As funny as that sounded, I talked her into walking back a shorter way and saving $4.50 in bus fairs for a 2 mile ride.

2:25 I told Crissy we are only good mothers if our kids learned something new everyday. So far, it didn't seem like they had. Then Alex said, "What are those plants" and everyone learned about cattails and marshes. High-five!

2:35 Jeremy called back. His meeting was over. The whole company was laid off. He is on adminstrive leave until Aug 18th, then has a month of severence. This is the first time he's been laid off (though it's common enough in the computer programming industry) and he doesn't have anything else lined up. It wasn't completely unexpected, his job has been iffy all this year. But we were hoping for a better outcome. Poor Jeremy :(

3:00 Adam fell asleep in the stroller. Ariel was asleep in the bjorn.

3:10 Got back to the car. Adam transfered to the car without waking up.

3:20 Stopped at Crissy's house. The boys had push-pops while Ariel had a bottle while we played outside. Adam stayed asleep in the car.

3:50 Finally went home.

4:00 As we pulled into the driveway, Adam woke up and he was not happy. And when Adam wakes up like this, there is nothing I can do. He's crabby and irrational and just has to work it out. This is what the next half hour looked/sounded like (but I was holding him most of the time). Thankfully Ariel sat and played with toys while this was going on:



4:30 Pick up.