Dec. 1, 2006

So I'm sure you are wondering how Adam's half birthday went.

First, the boys helped me make the cake and frosting:



And here's the one layer cake cut in half to make a half-double layer cake (notice the half candle):



And then we sang, "Happy half-birthday to you..."



7:00 Drop off. Breakfast - I cut up a slice of clemintine, Ariel threw it on the floor. She did eat about 1/4 cup of oatmeal.

7:30 Nap. Played more of that sitting up then crying game.

8:15 Go to stroller class.

8:45 Nice and tough stroller class. Have you ever tried to double legged jump up a flight of stairs with your knees as bent as possible? It is very hard.

10:45 Home, Ariel fell asleep in the car, transfered to crib. I showered.

12:30 Ariel woke up just in time to get her poopy diaper changed before going to pick up Alex from preschool.

1:00 Pick up.

1:20 Quick trip to Whole Foods.

2:00 Home. This time Adam fell asleep in the car and transfered to bed. Ariel ate lunch. Graham bunnies, some of the real mixed veggies (those which she didn't throw on the floor) and an entire cup of kid's yogurt.

3:00 I worked on Mom's project, scanning old pictures for Grannie's calendar.

Here's a pensive Becky:



And a fishing Wendy:



And a retro Laura (check out that guy's swim trunks):



4:00 Pick up.

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.

October 31, 2006

Happy Halloween!

7:00 Drop off. Remember yesterday, my plans about not going on day light savings time? How I predicted that would last a week? Well, it lasted one day. I was rolling out of bed again when Ariel got here. Adam was still sleeping.

7:15 Breakfast - prunes and apples. Just to make sure the ol' system is running smoothly. Nothing at all to do with Dad watching her tomorrow (muhahahaha!).

7:45 Nap. While Ariel slept, I prepped the pumpkins for carving. Note to self, do not leave pumpkins outside the night before carving when the temperature is going to drop below freezing. I also found that I have no idea where my pumpkin carving set is. And I broke one knife (which made Alex cry) just getting the top off.

9:15 Wake up with a poopy.

10:00 Left the house, Ariel had a bottle in the car. I dropped Grammie and the boys off at the library for story time and then Ariel and I had wild fun going on errands.

1. Going to the photo store to try and get the 1/4 of my order that wasn't in the envelope when I picked up yesterday. They said they would re-print it but I would have to come back later.

2. Going to Circuit City to pick up my new flash. I realize my camera habit is a bit of a problem when I was thrilled that I found this flash for $199 AFTER rebates.

3. Circuit City didn't have a diffuser for this flash (which is pretty much an overpriced piece of plastic). So I stopped at Mike's really quickly and they didn't have it either.

4. Went to Michaels to see if they had any pumpkin carving tools. The did not. So I walked over to Safeway. They didn't either, but they did have candy on sale, so I picked up a few bags so we would have some for trick-or-treaters tonight (no point in buying it early around here).

5. Stopped by the grocery store on the way home. They did have pumpkin carving tools. I also bought some of the chocolate chip pumpkin cookies I've been avoiding this week. Mmmmm.

Ariel didn't mind the errands too much. I carried her everywhere in the sling and she liked that part.

11:45 Got home, fed Ariel lunch (she didn't finish the jar).

I tried out my new flash. It's pretty fancy, but seems to work well.



12:30 Ariel went down for a nap. I carved up my pumpkins while she slept.

2:00 Woke up.

Here's a picture of Ariel in her halloween shirt. I couldn't get the cute mouse on the front, she kept moving. And she was playing with that kitty and calling it Kitty. Awwwww.



And under that sweet shirt, she had on this undershirt. (If you can't read it, it says, "I listen to Slayer with my daddy." Isn't that horrible (and guess who bought the shirt?)



3:40 Put her down for another nap. She was not amused. She also learned a new trick, pulling herself to sitting using the crib rails. Brings back memories of my boys standing up in the middle of the night and then crying because they wanted to be asleep.

3:45 Pooped

4:10 Pick up.

October 30, 2006

Daylight Savings was obviously invented by someone without children. We put our boys to bed at the correct 7:30 time, but everyone was up by 6:00 this morning. It is my secrect ambition that I don't go over to daylight savings time so I'll not be rolling out of bed when Ariel is arriving, but I see that lasting less that a week.

7:10 Ariel arrive, breakfast of apricots, cheerios and a mini waffle.

7:40 Nap with bottle.

8:10 I woke up Ariel so we could do to the mall for our stroller workout.

8:35 Get to mall. It was a beautiful morning. The original instructor's kids were sick, and we had to wait until 9 until the sub came, so we walked for 20 minutes outside. My car thermometer said it was 67 deg. Remember that we got 6 inches of snow last Thursday?

9:15 The rest of our workout was quick and painful. We did a lot of upper body today. We stayed in one place so all the babies were out of their strollers and scooting/crawling around.

9:50 When we moved to the carpet for cooldown, I changed a poopy.

10:00 Workout over. On the way to the bathroom, we ran into Super Grammie!

10:15 We took Super Grammie to the market research place. She got to sample almonds and I did a potato chip thing and then a chapstick thing. Then Grammie bought us Starbucks. And lastly, we got Adam a pair of winter boots that fit (he's a size 7 and I was stuffing his feet into size 5 boots).

12:00 Got home. Ariel fell asleep in the car after she drank her bottle and transfered to the crib. I took a shower. My arms were so sore from the workout that I had trouble washing my hair and putting on makeup.

12:25 I left Ariel napping with Grammie and I left early to run a few errands. I wanted to go to the bank, but apparently there is construction on every major road and/or intersection in Boulder and I spent 30 minutes driving around in slow circles trying to reach the prechool.

1:10 Picked up Alex. Then Alex and I went to Jamba Juice for smoothies. I wanted to test my theory that all I need to survive is Starbucks and Jamba Juice.

1:40 Got home, Ariel was just waking up. I had everyone put on their Halloween costumes so I could take pictures. Ariel had a break from inside to outside to eat her sweet potatoes/corn.

Adam Monster



Alex Spider



Both my boys



Ariel Kitty



Group Shot #1



Group Shot #2



Alex's head from #2 on picture #1. Yup, I think this will be the official picture this year.



3:30 Put Ariel down for a nap.

4:00 Becky got here. She got to watch me copy and paste Alex's head. I think she was bored.

4:30 Becky woke up Ariel and they left.

October 27, 2006

7:10 Drop off. Breakfast - orange and banana medley. And waffles. Ariel likes those waffles.

7:35 I put Ariel down for a nap, but she didn't want to sleep, she wanted to scream.

7:45 I gave Ariel a bottle in the crib, she drank a little and then went back to screaming.

7:55 Gave up on Ariel taking her usual nap.

8:10 Left for the mall stroller workout.

8:35 The workout started well. First, the instructor read books to the babies while the Mommies ran some laps. Then we did a circuit workout alternating between cardio like jump ropes and resistance like more squats and lunges. And that's when Ariel decided to scream again. She was clearly tired but would not go to sleep. I would do 1/4 of the reps and then come back to her and evenutally I left the workout early. But I did get enough in that my butt and thighs will hurt all weekend.

10:00 Left the mall. Ariel fell asleep in the car.

10:15 Ariel was still asleep when we got home, I transfered her to the crib while I showerd.

11:00 Woke up, screaming again.

11:15 Pooped. (I heard she pooped TWICE for dad yesterday, how was that, dad?)

11:30 Lunch - green (peas). She only ate about 1/2 the jar.

12:00 Left early to pick up Alex from school so we could go to the Shabbat sing.

12:30 Shabbat sing. Ariel didn't hate it as much as I thought she would. But I don't think she loved it either. 50 kids ranging in age from 2 1/2 to 5 plus some of their siblings is hard on anybody. But Alex was very happy that we finally came.

And it appears that Alex had a rough day at school. He got hit on the forehead with an icey snowball, then a boy slipped and fell on his leg. But it looks like he'll live.

1:00 Left school. We first went to Whole Foods to get our Friday salmon. I went there intsead of Wild Oats because they have a stuffed salmon pocket that's really good. I got the spinach/feta one.

1:45 Next stop, the Beer Store for some Shabbat wine. And beer for later. TGIF. It is very sad that I couldn't buy wine at Whole Foods since we live in Colorado. How handy would that be?

2:00 Got home. I put Ariel in her crib since she hadn't slept since 11. She screamed some. I got our challah started.

2:30 Gave Ariel some tylonel. My expert opinion is that her ears are bothering her again, or less likely, teething. But something was up with our sweet baby today.

2:45 Ariel finally fell asleep. I finished up our yummy pumpkin cookies (thanks for the recipe, Amy!)

3:30 Wake up.

3:50 Pick up.

We hope you feel better soon, Ariel.

October 25, 2006

7:10 Drop off. Not only was I dressed and showered, but I had already cleaned both bathrooms. Apparently you can get a lot done in the mornings when you get up at 5:30 (thanks, Adam).

7:15 Apples, strawberries, bananas for breakfast. And I tore up some of the boys' mini waffles and Ariel LOVED them. She didn't want to eat the cheerios after she had some of that sweet wafflely treat.

8:00 Down for nap with bottle.

9:00 Wake up.

9:40 Went over to Crissy's to hang out.

10:45 Ariel ate Crissy's last ice cream cone.

11:15 Go home.

11:30 Down for nap with bottle.

12:20 Wake up. She had a quick lunch of orange (squash) and then I took this video of Ariel "talking"



12:35 Left to pick up Alex from preschool.

1:00 Pick up.

1:30 It's supposed to snow tonight and I realized that we are running out of time to go to the pumpkin patch. We headed over today and it was really nice. Ariel loved playing in the straw, the boys had some bizarre game involving broken pumpkins as toliets, I didn't listen too closely.

This is Adam's pumpkin hat, it was too big (and too hot) so Ariel didn't wear it for long.


I love this picture. Adam looks so old and mature. He really dotes on Ariel and tells everyone that "this is Ariel my cousin."


The best shot of all three.


Ariel's best shot.


Adam's best shot.


Those crazy kids.


Alex's best picture.


I'm pretty sure Ariel didn't eat any straw, but I cannot say that it wasn't in her mouth.


3:00 Home. Ariel had had a bottle in the car, then went down for a nap at home.

4:30 Pick up.

October 24, 2006

7:05 Drop off. Once again it appeared that I was in my jammies, but it really was my work out clothes.

7:10 Breakfast - pears and pinapples and cheerios.

7:30 Nap with bottle.

8:10 Leave for another round of stroller fitness at the mall (I had to wake Ariel).

8:35 Mall. I brought the double stroller and each boy brought his own stroller and riding penguin. I wish I took a picture, but I was too busy trying to work out and wrangle three kids that my camera was far from my mind.

The workout today was taught by a different teacher and was much different that yesterday's workout. She moved much faster and did a lot more cardio by walking/running with the strollers. My little group fell very behind as Adam was insistant on pushing his stroller and his little legs only go so fast. I finally convinced him to ride with Ariel. I still got a good workout and had fun, but I think we'll stick to M/W/F workout dates so I don't have to deal with three kids.

Around 9:30 Ariel had a bottle in the stroller.

10:30 Get home from the mall. Ariel went down for a nap and I showered.

12:00 Ariel woke up (with a poopy) - green for lunch (garden veggies). I gave her some mac and cheese and she ate a bit.

1:00 In a desparate attempt to get out of the house (Crissy left me high and dry and went to see another friend) we went to Ace Hardware with our coupon to get our free Al Gore compact fluorescent light bulb. That went fine, and then we headed over to Wild Oats to get some much needed staples, and that's when it went downhill. There were two Wild Oats kid carts so each boy got one and that wasn't the problem. The problem was they started arguing over which items went into which cart. Alex got really snotty and was threatening to leave me at the store, and then he rammed me with his cart and hit me. I was really stumped as to how to handle that and my first reaction was to leave our carts and go home, but that wouldn't work because we were almost done and we really needed that food. So I made him leave his cart by the register and let Adam finish, and I told Alex that I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but I would tell him when we got home and to not worry. I know Preschool Alex doesn't act out like this, it drives me batty!

2:00 Got home. Ariel finished a bottle. I told Alex that I didn't have energy to bake cookies with boys that behaved like that at the store, so Adam got to help make our chocolate chip cookies. Alex was a bit upset, but I don't think that was the best consequence I could have come up with. At least I got some yummy cookies out of the deal.

3:30 Ariel went down for a nap with a bottle.

4:30 Pick up, one poopy, soaked, sleeping baby

I forgot to tell this cute story yesterday.... When we picked up Alex from preschool, we went over to say hi to Snowflake the guinea pig. Ariel starting kicking her legs and saying, "keh keh keh." I think she was trying to say kitty, and that reminded me that last year Adam was calling Snowflake a kitty too.