April 5, 2007

I just finished watching last night's Lost. And now my brain hurts and I still have to blog. Did I miss a show? What the heck just happened? But I do love me some Sawyer, especially when he's the campy comic relief. Anyway, so I'm supposed to be blogging....

7:05 Miss Ariel arrived.

7:15 Changed a poopy.

7:20 Breakfast - blueberries and hot cereal.

After yesterday evening and last night, I too skipped the matzo and had hot cereal. But Alex requested matzo bry so I made up a batch.

8:15 Ariel went down for a nap.

9:45 Ariel woke up. We left for our adventure of the day.

10:30 Our adventure - a different jumpy tent place. Our dear friend Ellen suggested it and met us there. She said it was supposedly empty all the time. But not today. Today was CRAZY. Still, except for Adam bonking his robot head and loosing me, the boys had fun. Ariel would have had fun if she wasn't in danger of constantly being run over.

Ellen took some pictures today. The minute Alex walked in, Ted handed him a helmet and he unquestionably put it on and wore it the whole time.



And Mae and Ariel:



Ellen missed shooting Adam, who spent most of the time going up and down a bouncy slide. But he was very entertaining looking today. At some point this morning he took off his underwear and put his pants back on. I did see the underwear on Alex's floor, but I thought it was an old pair because Adam was still wearing pants. But at the jumpy tent place, Adam's large and baggy jeans revealed that he was indeed going comando. And when I asked him why, he just said that he didn't like those underwear. Crazy boy.

11:30 Ellen and I decided we had gotten our $16 worth of fun and headed out to lunch. We choice Safeway because of it's wonderful combination of both Jamba Juice and Starbucks. The kids had a champion lunch of smoothies, Veggie Booty and Tings. I rounded out my smoothie with a mocha and some sushi. Once again, I missed a beautiful photo op of 6 kids sitting in Starbucks - all in big chairs - eating together. Ariel does love hanging with the big kids.

1:30 I left Safeway with an extra kid. Alex insisted that Ted come over for a playdate so he could see the new bionicles he and Adam got yesterday (Alex finally saved up for another one, with a little help from Granny Shirley).

1:45 On the way home, I stopped by Adam's school and turned in his registration paperwork. Go me!

2:30 I put Ariel down for a nap, and then I actually accomplished stuff. Turns out it's not that I have too many kids, but that I don't have enough.

Things I did:

- Squared away swimming lessons. Adam starts next week and Alex will start sometime in the next few weeks.

- Made an appointment to visit (and probably join) the reformed Jewish temple. I'm thinking Alex should start Sunday school next year, especially since Adam won't be going to the Jewish preschool.

- Opened my mail, which was backlogged from my trip to Chicago.

- Cleaned up the house a bit.

- Returned some email.

3:45 Ellen picked up Ted.

4:00 Ariel woke up.

4:10 Changed a poopy.

Ariel was watching me trim a business card and she said, "Baby. Hannah." Pretty exciting, especially since I don't remember telling her it was Hannah.

4:30 Pick up.

April 3, 2007

7:05 Drop off. Jeremy had to use a crowbar to get me out of bed. Wah! And Ariel was just as bad off, she was asleep when Becky brought her in and remained so for a bit.

7:20 Ariel woke up.

7:30 Breakfast - Ariel had blueberries and oatmeal. Alex had Grape Nuts and matzo and Adam also had oatmeal. Dad had a very interesting tibit at the seder last night. He said that if you boil oats for 18 minutes, they a kosher for passover, so I figured that instant oatmeal would work for us minimally practicing Jews. And there was surprisingly little whining over the missing waffles.

8:30 Down for a nap.

9:00 I woke Ariel up so we could go to the library.

9:14 Started walking to the library. It was a bit chillier than I thought it was and boy did Alex let me know about it.

9:35 Realize that we were walking to the wrong library in the completely wrong direction. D'oh! ("But Mommy why are we walking the wrong way???")

9:55 Got back home, got Alex a heavier coat and we walked to the right library.

10:15 Story time. As usual, Ariel ignored the books and walking around being the Little Ball of Chaos in-training that she is.

11:15 We left the library and walked to Adam's new school to drop off his registration forms. And apparently school was off today because the school was locked (and that would also explain all the big kids at the library). On the one day I actually have my stuff together... Grrrr!

11:30 Stopped by the grocery store to buy passover cookies, aka macaroons. Much rejoicing from the peanut gallery.

11:45 Picked up my pictures for Mom and Granny Shirley.

12:15 Got home, had lunch. Already sick of matzo and not sure what to eat. Blah.

12:30 Ariel had lunch, mixed veggies, yogurt and Mighty Bites.

1:00 Put Ariel down for a nap.

1:30 Stroller class friend came over for a Photoshop tutorial. Which would have gone better if our DVD player was working. And if her 8 month old daughter wasn't tired and crying.

3:15 Friend left, Ariel woke up.

3:30 Left to deliver photos.

3:50 Dropped off Laura's Baby Hannah pictures.

4:00 Dropped off Mom and Granny's photos.

4:30 Becky picked up Ariel at the parent's house.

Ok Dad, this is very important. You need to show Mom this and ask her which one she wants for her 5x7 and which one she wants for a wallet.

2182


2125


2133

April 2, 2007

Yes, I know there isn't a blog for Friday. And since I want to be paid for that day, I will get to it. Eventually. But I'll try to make up for it by posting a lot of pictures today.

In fact, I'll even start now with the pictures. Yesterday we went to the parent's house for dinner and Granny Shirley was visiting from Wisconsin. She was just in time to meet Baby Hannah:



And Becky, the proud Aunt:



And now, back to Monday:

7:05 Drop off. Breakfast - blueberries and waffles.

7:45 Poopy.

8:45 While I was talking to Crissy on the phone, Ariel fell asleep in my lap. So that nixed my walk plan.

10:30 Ariel woke up. We literally ran up to the store to get a few things for lunch.

11:00 Granny Shirley arrived for her lunch date.

11:30 Yummy lunch of homemade goat cheese/sun dried tomato/pesto pizza and strawberry spinach salad. Adam and Ariel had mac & cheese and a banana. We all ate outside and Adam and Ariel ate at the little table. It would have been a cute picture, but I missed it.

12:30 Granny Shirley went with us to pick up Alex from preschool. It turned out to be pretty chaotic. Adam disappeared while playing with other kids on the playground and Alex wouldn't leave until he found his special rubber ducky that I brought him from Chicago that he had brought (and quickly lost) for show and tell. We didn't find it, but I was reprimanded by his teacher that he shouldn't have special toys at school anyway, but she did promise to keep an eye out for it.

1:45 Got home.

1:50 Ariel had second lunch, sweet potatoes and yogurt.

2:15 My dad got back from his bike ride and he and Granny Shirley went home.

2:30 Ariel went down for a nap.

While Ariel napped, I thought I would get something productive done. Sometimes I wonder if I'm lazy, or if my life prevents me from productiveness. After this afternoon, I'm pretty sure it's the latter. My great idea was that the boys could ride their bikes up and down the sidewalk and I could fill out Adam's school forms. Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. As soon as I sat down, Adam would fall off the sidewalk or ride into the grass or there would be some other crisis. I couldn't concentrate even if I had more than 30 seconds to look at each question. Sigh.

4:00 Pick up.

And then, it was Sedar time at the parents house!

Mom getting the Passover table ready:



Carl and his big honking turkey carcass (much family harmony has been found since my father handed over the carving job). And a big congrats to Mr. Carl, he passed his journeyman test and is an official El Plumber-o.



Adam (of course) fell asleep on the car ride:



Ariel and her new spring dress, take one:



New spring dress, outside:



And spring dress, take three:



Spoon???



Um, yeah, GET THAT OUT OF MY FACE:



Why Jeremy likes Passover (and how I bribe him to come to sedar):



Baby Hannah's party dress:



Cousins, take 1:



Cousins, take two:



Group shot:



Plague number 2 (aka frogs) visit our table:



And start some bizarre and mysterious ritual:



Jeremy's "nothing" face (ala Adam)



Gramps:



Alex ("do I look 10 years old in this vest?")



No, but you sure look more grown up than you did at your first sedar:



So Alex is pretty excited about Passover this year and knows all about Moses and Pharoh and plagues (and apparently now slaves and whips, judging by the game he and Adam played this afternoon). The only thing that he's not kosher with is a week without waffles. So wish us luck!

Mar. 30, 2007

Better late than never, right? Let's see, I'm writing this on Tuesday, trying to remember back 4 days. It's going to be sketchy.

7:00ish - drop off. Some sort of breakfast. With mushed something and probably hot cereal. I think.

8:30 Ariel fell asleep in Toni's lap, went down for a nap.

10:30ish We went to the mall. The play area was really busy so we didn't stay there too long. When we left, we all walked down the mall and Ariel walked with us. She was such a big girl walking with all the other kids. She won't hold hands, but if you herd her in the right direction she does pretty good. We found a couch area that we had all to ourselves and all five kids played bunny house. Well, except Margot was pouty and Ariel didn't understand she was Baby Bunny.

12:00 We had lunch in the food court. Ariel and the boys had mac and cheese. She also traded Margot for some cheese pizza. Afterwards, we all went to DQ and she shared my blizzard.

1:30 Left the mall. Ariel fell asleep in the car.

2:00 Toni stayed with sleeping Ariel and I took Alex, Dagny and Adam to run Shabbat errands.

4:00 Pick up.

Mar. 29, 2007

Hi, I'm back from my fabulous vacation. Last Wednesday I flew to Chicago. My friend Toni picked me up and we stayed at her house that night. The next day, we drove to scenic Waterloo Iowa for a photography convention. The convention was really good. Friday-Monday we went to great workshops and seminars with wonderful speakers. I learned so much I'm not even sure where to start. Monday, we drove back to Chicago, and on Tuesday Toni and her girls flew back to Denver with me.

And while I was gone, I got a new niece. Hannah Elizabeth was born on March 22. She and her mommy came over for pictures yesterday.









I didn't get any candid shots with my boys, but later that night and out of the blue Alex said, "I don't like my new cousin Hannah. She is WAY to small."

So now it's back to your regularly scheduled programming.

7:00 Jeremy woke me up in Alex's bed. I had moved at some point during the night from our temporary futon bed. I think Alex had a bad dream because he kept calling for me between the hours of 2 and 3 am so I finally decided it would just be easier to stay with him. And I should add that Jeremy did try to wake me at 6:30 but I was not ready.

7:05 Ariel arrived.

7:15 Breakfast - apricots and hot cereal. It's a regular waffle factory around here with 4 bigs kids.

7:35 Changed a poopy diaper.

7:40 Ariel, Alex, Adam and I drove Jeremy to work. The original plan was for him to ride with Becky, but he wasn't ready at 7:00.

8:20 Got home. I changed another poopy diaper and then I tried to put Ariel down for a nap but she didn't fall asleep.

10:00 Toni got Margot's car seat loaded in Jeremy's car (hence the reason he couldn't take his car to work) and then Toni and I went to the Butterfly Pavillion.

10:30 Butterfly Pavillion - it was the worst possible combination of spring break and school groups. I've never seen it so busy and it wasn't fun for me. The kids had a good time though. Ariel liked looking at the spiders. I would have let her hold Rosie if there wasn't a huge line for that.

Dagny and Ariel look for Butterflies:



Margot hamming for the camera:



My boys posing:



And "I'm not smiling for you"



12:00 Left the Butterfly Pavillion.

12:30 Home and lunch. Ariel had mushed mixed veggies and string cheese. After lunch I changed her diaper, but it was too late. She had already soaked through her jeans.

1:00 Put Ariel down for a nap. I think it took her a while to fall asleep.

4:00 Ariel finally woke up. She watched a little TV with the big kids while I worked on the blog. I don't think she was watching much, she was having too much fun hanging out.

4:35 Pick up.

Mar. 20, 2007

7:10 Drop off. Breakfast - blueberries and hot cereal.

7:50 Changed a poopy.

8:00 So for the last few weeks, Alex has been asking for a hair cut. I figured that if we were at the mall, we could get one there. And other things we could do at the mall would be things like stroller class. So this weekend I decided that I would go back to stroller class on today so the boys could get haircuts. So where was I? Oh yes, we went to stroller class. (And my boys would still not be getting hair cuts there.)

8:30 Super fun stroller class. It would good to see everyone again, but my legs are going to be mad at me tomorrow. Ariel was much more toned down than the last time we went, she didn't have to be walking every second.

10:00 Left right after stroller class so we would get home for my Probably Not Such a Great Idea Plan.

10:30 Home, Ariel was asleep, went right in the crib, I took a shower.

11:15 My Probably Not Such a Great Idea Plan. My neighbor and her 4 week old baby came over for a portrait shoot. The not such a great idea part was that I am leaving on vacation tomorrow and also had 3 kids under my care. And I couldn't get the DVD player to work.

But all things considered, the photo shoot went well. The boys played in Alex's room and Ariel slept. But Quinn was a tough guy. He wouldn't be awake/happy or asleep laying down. I had grand plans for him, but we were only able to get a few of what I envisioned, and even those were not quite there. Definitely a learning experience. Here's a sampling:



I had bought the blanket and bucket at Target yesterday just for this:


12:30 Ariel woke up, had lunch. Squash, string cheese and mac & cheese.

1:00 Now the hard part of the day, trying to proof my pictures and get the kids to leave me alone. Another learning experience - never give a baby a thin mint. They get very messy when licked.

3:00 Finished proofing, Ariel and I went in the backyard while I talked to Crissy.

3:30 Left the house - went to Great Clips to get the boys hair cuts. There was a wait, so we went to Safeway for more cookies (don't worry Becky, Ariel just has a bite or two and then makes a mess).

4:15 Becky picked up Ariel at Great Clips.

Mar. 19, 2007

Not much to report from out weekend. We went swimming together as part of family day. I also took a nap and missed the other half of family day. Jeremy went for a bike ride, I took a walk. Speaking of walking, I'm thinking of signing up to do the MS 50 mile walk (again). Anyone else want to do it with me? Becky, maybe?

7:00 Drop off.

7:15 Breakfast, apricots and hot cereal.

7:30 Changed a poopy (the rabbit pellet kind)

7:45 Changed another poopy (more normal)

8:00 Nap.

9:30 Wake up.

10:00 Adam, Ariel and I left for our walk. We walked to Starbucks and the secret post office (where I mailed Crissy her birthday present that she's not to open until her birthday) and the library. Just like old times. I'm so excited for spring and that we can do lots of walks. And Crissy, Dorothy wasn't at Starbucks to say hello to. And they claimed not to have decaf frap base, and right now (4:40) I'm still jittery. Stupid cheap caffeine (i before e except after c... huh?).

11:45 Got home, immediately left for the shoe store.

12:00 Shoe store. Now that it is spring, I'm craving new shoes. Especially a new pair of Keens. But the shoe store did not have the Keens I wanted, so I got some new Teva flip-flops instead. They are the most comfortable flip-flops I've ever worn, but I guess that's what happens when you upgrade from the Old Navy $3 ones.



And I had to order my Keens off the internet. Aren't they totally, like, spiffy? I'm so excited for them that I shipped them to Toni's house so I can have them on Wednesday when I get to Chicago (oh, by the way I'm going to Chicago on Wednesday for a photography conference. I'm going alone! and I won't be back until Tuesday). I only wish I could have them tomorrow, but I was too late placing my order for next day shipping.



12:40 We were going to be early to pick up Alex, so we stopped at Jamba Juice. Then I made the mistake of getting bagels, which too way to long and made us late. And Ariel wasn't that impressed with hers anyway, but Adam ate all of his half.

1:10 Picked up a teary eyed Alex who was sure that I forgot to pick him up.

1:30 Target-ole. I needed to pick up a few things (not $93 of new things, but I digress). And whenever we go to Target, the boys have to look at Bionicles.

Ariel showed Adam some Thomas toys:



Ariel was a vision in orange today (you can't see her matching pinkish-orange barrette):



And Alex pined for all the Bionicles that he can't afford.



2:30 Left Target (and changed another poopy in the car). I ran by the bank on the way home and both Adam and Ariel fell asleep in the car.

3:00 Got home, but only Ariel stayed asleep.

4:30 Becky had to wake a sleeping baby. Bye bye Ariel.

Mar. 16, 2007

7:00 Drop off. Yummy breakfast of blueberries and waffles.

8:00 Changed a poopy.

8:40 Left for preschool.

9:00 Dropped Alex off at preschool.

9:30 PALS. Ariel is still a bit hesitant about this group. She enjoyed playing with toys that others left her on the couch, but she didn't want to go out and get her own. I was surprised at that today as it was a small group, just 3 more kids than Adam and Mae.

Here's Mae and Ariel at snack time:



I bought this "Kiss me, I'm Irish" shirt for Alex. Adam wore it too, now it's Ariel's turn. But with the jeans she really was a bit andryogenous-looking (and let me tell you how long it took to figure out how to spell THAT word) so I put the bow in. And, my family is even a bit Irish, my mother's father was from Ireland and that's how my boys ended up with blue eyes :)



And speaking of andryogenous, one of the animals Ariel was chewing on today was a rhinoceros (which I also had to google spell check) and I couldn't figure out how to pronounce it. Ellen may have lost all respect for me (or perhaps she thinks I'm mentally deficient).

And speaking of google spell check (back to andryogenous), but have you ever mangled a word so badly that even google couldn't help you? Dad? (Becky, stop laughing!)

And here's poor Adam, waiting for his challah that never materialized. We take turns bringing it and no one signed up this week. We had cookies instead, but that wasn't good enough for Adam :( And Ariel wouldn't even try her cookie, she threw it on the floor, so I ate it. Floor food doesn't bother me, and there wasn't even any cat hair on it. Ariel settled for a few cheerios, that we picked back of my floor just yesterday.



11:00 Went to lunch. Ariel fell asleep in the car and had a little under the table nap. And we did go back to the breakfast place. Ellen decided that the oatmeal would be a good vegan option and now I'm happy because I heart coffee and breakfast.

12:00 Ariel woke up. I offered her some bananas, oatmeal, toast and potatoes, but she wouldn't eat. I feel like she doesn't eat much on Fridays because of all the activities, but this was definitely (I didn't even know how to spell that word until 2 months ago) all on her.

12:30 Back to school for Shabbat sing. For some reason, Ariel likes the Sing better than PALS, which is very strange because it's as smallish room full of 50 preschoolers. And Adam really loves it, which makes me a bit sad that he won't be going to preschool there next fall.

1:30 Got home. Ariel had lunch, sweet potatoes and string cheese. She just threw the bread right on the floor, she must be on a low carb diet today.

2:00 Changed another poopy.

2:30 We went to the park. Alex tried to dig to the lava but only made it about 8" before he hit clay and gave up. Ariel walked around a bit, and then figured out how to climb up the stairs and go down the slide.

Up:


Down:


I would have video taped that, but the whole process took about 10 minutes of trying to climb back up the slide, realizing that wouldn't work, wandering around to figure out where the stairs were, climbing the stairs, sometimes pausing for minutes on each one, then deciding to go down the slide. But she did do it all by herself.

3:45 Got home.

4:05 Pick up.

Mar. 15, 2007

I was really ready to get up today and shower before Ariel got here. But my dear husband didn't even wake me up until 7:00. So it's really not my fault (or my congressman/woman or God/Godess' fault). Just Jeremy.

7:00 Ariel got here. It was very weird, but the boys were both still sleeping. I think it was because it was cloudy and darker than usual.

7:15 Changed a poopy in my living room (as to not wake up Adam.) I won't be doing that again, on the floor Ariel is much wigglier than on the changing table.

7:20 Breakfast - blueberries and waffles.

7:30 The boys finally woke up.

8:15 Changed another poop.

8:30 Down for a nap. Now when I say "night night" she walks right to the pack-n-play. Of course, she doesn't immediately fall asleep, but she is willing. And I took a shower.

10:00 Ariel woke up and it seemed like a good time to leave the house.

10:30 Starbucks (where else to go on a rainy day?) Adam spilled his hot chocolate all over the floor. Ariel walked around and ate Rice Chex. I tried to enjoy my mocha.

11:00 We stopped by Adam's preschool to pick up all the paperwork that needs to be filled out. And it is A LOT of paperwork.

1:00 Lunch - apricots (I thought it was squash but at least it was orange) and yogurt.

Some pictures of Ariel now that she's 16 months old:

It's like she's not happy about having her picture taken.




And a better view of her new head decor.


Speaking of head decor, we played a fun game today; let's try to keep the barrette in for more than 30 seconds. I think Ariel came out ahead today.

3:00 Put Ariel down for a nap.

3:30 Pick up.

New tricks for Ariel today:

- points to head
- points to nose
- answers a cow says "Moo"
- said "juice"

Mar. 13, 2007

If I had any bit of motivation and I wasn't so gosh darn tired, I would be writing my congressman (or woman) or perhaps God (or Goddess) about this gosh darn time change. I feel like Garfield, I hate mornings!

7:00 Ariel arrived.

7:30 Breakfast - mixed veggies and waffles.

8:30 Down for a nap. I was actually productive during nap time. Alex and Adam were holed up in Alex's room (which is usually off-limits to "little guys"). But this morning Ariel tried to go in and so Alex and Adam became a united front against her. So anyway, I got all the paperwork in order for all of the boys' various summer activities. They have a lot planned, and since Ted will be there for most of it, I think everyone is going to be happy. Alex wants to go to Rocket camp right now, but he's going to have to wait until July.

9:30 Woke up.

9:45 Walked to the library for storytime. Ariel was not happy about her confinement in the stroller, but it was hard enough to keep track of the boys walking.

10:15 Storytime. Ariel is not a huge fan of storytime, either. And I don't blame her, the books are too old for her. But the boys do love it.

11:00 Left the library, stopped by the park on the way home. Now this, Ariel liked.

12:00 We got home and had lunch. Ariel finished her mixed veggies, had one of my yogurts and then ate some mac & cheese. Oh, and she also had 1/2 a slice an apple, that's progress.

12:45 We went back outside so Alex could see if he was big enough to ride his two wheeler, with training wheels. And yes, he finally is. Now we just have to work with Adam on the tricycle. He does not understand that he has to keep pedaling to achieve forward motion. I seem to recall Alex having that problem too, so hopefully Adam will figure it out soon. While this was going on, Ariel was walking around and occasionally pushing a popcorn pusher.

1:10 All that walking made for a tired Ariel, so she went down for a nap.

2:30 Ariel woke up, we all went to Target-ole. Alex decided that he would stop saving for the vicious spider bionicle because he had to have Toa Hewkii RIGHT NOW. He's now getting $2/week for an allowance, so it will take him another 5 weeks to earn another Toa or 12 weeks for the spider. It will be interesting to see if this becomes the money teaching tool it's supposed to be.

I also wanted to get new windshield wipers (I managed to only buy the passenger side one last time) but for the life of me I can't figure out what size the other two are. It's not in my manual and it's not in the guide in the store. Arg! And then I bought sunscreen (yay, it's so nice and sunny!) and some plastic old school barrettes for Miss Ariel. It's too bad I forgot my camera because she looked pretty darn cute. But I have a feeling she'll be showing up with new barrettes every day for quite a while ;)

Oh, I also bought Adam the Dekar bionicle because Adam doesn't get an allowance yet.

3:00 We sat in Target Starbucks and I had a frappachino (ahh, spring) while the boys put together their bionicles. Well, Alex put his together (absolutely no help from me!) and I put Adam's together. And Ariel wandered around and irrationally wanted up or down or this or that.

3:45 Left Target.

4:00 Dropped Ariel off at Becky's work.

I didn't have my camera out all day, but I did get this picture of Alex and Toa Hewkii when we got home. Awww, isn't that sweet?