Last Hurrah at Gilroy

The end of summer is fast approaching, so we're trying to cram in a few last minute activities before school starts.

Today we hit up Gilroy Gardens with a bunch of friends.

Andrew thought he was too cool for school and didn't want to go on any of the little kid rides... at least until he saw how much fun Catie was having... and then he was all over them.

I loved the look Catie gave me when I told her it was time to get off the fish ride- grrr! We arrived at noon and left close to 5pm... so I think our last hurrah at Gilroy Gardens was a success.

Best move of the day was buying the kids each their own icee...

Every ounce of my body was sweating because it was so hot outside (even my ankles)... so we sat and chatted and drank our icees for awhile and all the grumpiness went away.

At least most of it... 

Somehow Andrew convinced me to let him play one of the silly $1 carnival games before we left. It was either that or the balloon ride that makes me sick...

He made the smart choice and we all went home happy. 

We ended the day with dinner at In N Out in Gilroy (I was so sad we didn't have time or enough energy for outlet shopping)... and then we headed to Mountain View to pick up Kevin so that I could enjoy a lovely drive home relaxing while he got to navigate all of the traffic. 

We made it home right around 7pm... It was a long exhausting day (we left our house at 10:15am)... but the time spent catching up with friends and seeing the kiddos have so much fun made it worth it!

I am not anxious to take Catie on another road trip anytime soon though. She is not a fan of the car!

Only a few more summer bucket list items to check off before school is back in session!

One of the good days

I am trying to be better about recording simple awesome moments. Instagram is helping a lot with that. Today was one of those good days that I want to remember. It seriously was almost perfect...  

Here's why...

1. I managed to get out of bed before 9am on my own... which is so much better than being woken up by crying crazies... and I still got to sleep in till 8am. 

2. Catie slept till 9:30am, so before then Andrew played and I did some blogging work I needed to do and then we did some math activities. We did a school bus math activity yesterday, which he wanted to play again... wonder why? (M&Ms?)

3. We went running before 10:30am... and I ran a good chunk of the time pushing the crazies and Catie was absolutely adorable talking and singing to the park and home. She said, "hi baby hi" to basically every baby spider web that she saw and every baby flower, etc. We also met up with three friends at the park, so I had fun chatting with my friends while the kids actually all played pretty nicely.

4. Andrew had Cars, Trains, and Airplanes themed camp and Catie slept from when we got home from dropping him off (1:15pm) until the last possible second before I had to leave to pick him up (3:45pm)... which meant I had a lovely break all afternoon to do whatever I wanted. 

5. Andrew was a sweetheart and made Catie a train picture at camp. He told her yesterday that if they did a train project he would make one for her... and he remembered! So sweet. She loved it... although she also loved the wooden airplane he made too and that was quite a grabbing/hitting/name calling fiasco. Guess every day can't be totally perfect, right?

6. I worked with Melissa & Doug on a project earlier this summer and they paid me AND let me pick a few products to have as well. Our box of goodies arrived today... and since Andrew has been way into dress up lately, he loved his new costume and went right to work cooking in his play kitchen for us! The rest of the toys got saved for another day.

7. We did some reading and writing activities later in the afternoon and the little dude LOVED them. Catie played happily (or commandeered my lap to watch) while we worked. I don't think I have EVER seen a kid so excited to read words. I actually don't know much about typical development for 4 year olds and how much Andrew should know already, so he could be totally behind, but I was amazed that he was decoding simple short vowel words by actually sounding them out letter by letter and blending them to come up with the word. 

He was amazed by himself too and wanted to do it again and again. I had to force him to drop the activity so that we could go to the pool.

We also did a volcano name writing game... because little dude loves anything and everything with volcanoes. I laminated it so we can do volcano name writing every day.

8. Later in the afternoon we went swimming at the pool with our neighbors and there were no tantrums when it was time to leave to go home. Normally Andrew throws a giant tantrum and I have to leave with him running after me crying.

9. After dinner and family time I got to have a quick trip to the mall by myself... and I ended the day with one of these.

Yeah... I don't think it gets much better than that.

Tomorrow is going to have a hard time measuring up.

Hooray for the Weekend!

We had a great weekend... so great that I barely managed to take any pictures! 

My parents flew into town because my dad was speaking at a local YSA conference on Saturday, so we grabbed a babysitter and ditched the kids and headed to Oakland on Friday night for some yummy Indian food with Jessie and my mom and dad. I have yet to find any Indian food that is good anywhere near where we live, so this was a delicious treat.

Saturday was spent sleeping in till late, running by myself (it is always lovely not to be pushing a double jogger up the hills in the heat), and going swimming as a family.

Once the kids went down for naptime/quiet time I headed over to the Oakland Temple and crashed the singles conference to listen to my dad speak. He did an awesome job and I loved getting to be there.

Afterwards Kevin brought the kiddos to meet up with us for dinner in downtown Walnut Creek (Scott, Cat, Jessie, mom, and dad all came too). We ate and chatted and hung out at a park until it was past time for the kids to hit the sack.

Sunday was spent going to church and hanging around the house and making (and cleaning up) big messes. Kevin had three different church meetings during the day (plus church), so the kids relished the time they got to spend with him when he was home and we actually had a family dinner that was more than just Pasta Roni or quesadillas.

Catie and Andrew played dress up with dad while I took a lovely afternoon nap

And they also broke out some nerf guns. These two were cracking me up.

All in all it was a fabulous weekend. We loved getting to see my parents and siblings for a little bit and I was so happy that I managed to catch up on a few household things for once too- the fridge finally got cleaned and the dishes got done before Monday morning- always a bonus!

I still have loads of laundry to do tomorrow since Andrew decided it would be fun to sneak marshmallows into his room and then squish them all over his bed with his feet. Gotta love 4 year olds.

Camp, Olympic Fun, and Messiness

Andrew has been feeling extra creative lately, so I just leave out some materials (or he tells me specifically what he wants) and then he will craft for hours. He loves using old boxes and painters tape to make random structures.

His sticker, fire, Halloween, animal masterpiece took over our family room for two days... and today he finally declared it done and moved onto a new picture. Yay!

We have also been doing a lot of Olympic activities because we are obsessed with the Olympics around here. Kevin and I have been up watching events until at least midnight... if not later, every night this week. Our straw javelin throw and straw "high jump" were big hits.

For our "Camp Mom" this week my friend Chrissie hosted a morning filled with Olympic field events. Andrew and friends loved the broom hurdles, tennis ball shot putt, and frisbee discus throw... in addition to several more fun indoor Olympic activities. 

Catie even got in on the action a bit... though she thought it was more fun to make a hat with the discus than throw it.

Andrew also got to go to an adorable camp almost every afternoon this week put on by two girls from our church. Each day had a different theme and he went with loads of friends. His favorite day was the Olympics Day- of course- because he got to another torch! I think we have a torch in every room of our house right now! Camp also had a painting day (see shirt above that he made last year at the same camp), pirate day, and a water day.

Andrew has seriously been in heaven all week with all of the fun activities he's gotten to do! 

Downtown Street Festival

I have about twenty things I should be doing tonight, so of course instead I am updating our blog.  :)

Tonight we hit up our town's annual Downtown Street Festival. I am absolutely in love with our town... and the summer street festivals are some of my favorite things ever. One of the talented Young Women in our ward was singing, so we had to try and go and see her perform.

We roamed around, grabbed pizza from the HS football fundraiser, watched some entertainment, ran into a bunch of friends, and tried out a few activities. Andrew's favorite was dunking the mayor in the dunk tank. The assistants tried to help him out by lifting him up higher, but he got so mad! He wanted to do it all himself! They let him get a little closer to the target than most and he managed to hit the target 2/3 times... thus dunking the mayor twice. He was VERY proud of himself.

Now he thinks our next project at home should be creating our own dunk tank. :)

Kevin grabbed a cupcake and I grabbed some insanely delicious dark chocolate sea salt caramels from the local chocolate shop. I think we would both agree that my choice was hands down the most delicious one. Kevin was practically scouring my caramel bag for any last remains.

They had a free bounce house and somehow we managed to arrive at the perfect time so that Andrew and Catie got to be the only bouncers. Maybe because it was almost 8:30pm and all other good parents already had their kids at home in bed? The kiddos were in heaven!

Our last event of the evening was the train. I think it is a rip off every year ($3/kid or adult... even babies)... so this year I was so happy that the kids could ride without us. I was hesitant to let Catie go by herself, but Kevin assured me she'd be fine and she totally was. It was ADORABLE to watch Catie and Andrew chatting and waving while they rode around. Catie kept making the choo choo sign with her arms and the conductor pulled the horn thing many many times which kept her so excited!

She and Andrew just waved and waved at us while they rode for a good almost five minutes.

We got home a little before nine and we were all completely wiped out! I was so glad we decided to go... despite already being exhausted before we left!

Quick trip to Arizona

At the end of last week I took a quick trip to visit my Grandma down in Mesa, AZ. I met Elise and my dad down there and thoroughly enjoyed the time I got to spend with my Grandma along with a few of my cousins and aunts and uncles. The trip was only maybe a 30 hour one... but we packed a lot of socializing in!

Somehow once again I really only managed to snap pictures of my food. After we arrived and chatted with Grandma a bit, we headed off together to a favorite family mexican restaurant that we've been going to since we were super little- Mattas. The cheese crisp is delish and I ate wayyyy too much!

Thursday evening was spent watching hours of Olympics and listening to Grandma's stories. She told us again and again how much she loves us and appreciated us coming to visit her. 

Elise and I spent the night at a local Hilton and I was super stoked when we discovered this M&M machine in the lobby. Yum!

We slept great and went on a nice run in the insane heat on Friday morning. We spent the rest of the day hanging with grandma at the hospital and lounging at her house watching the Olympics and chatting and napping. On Friday evening we got to see a few more cousins and aunts and uncles briefly before I headed home on my late night flight.

I came home to happy kids who had enjoyed lots of fun with their dad while I was gone! They shopped, went out to eat, fed the duckies, went swimming, and even ran some errands for me. I was so grateful to Kevin for taking over so that I could have such a special visit with my grandma.

Now I just need a few days to recover from this weekend! 

Some Pregnancy Thoughts...

Baby Jack (as Andrew has been calling our kiddo) has been super active lately. Maybe he's trying to live up to his namesake- Andrew's hero- Jack Jack from The Incredibles.

It might also be due to all of the attention his sister has been giving him. When I change Catie's diaper she likes to kick me and then smile and say, "baby?" ... this does not bode well for Jack's future with his big sister.

Despite her kicks, Catie seems to be super aware and excited about babies lately. Every time she sees my stomach she says, "baby!!" and loves to say "nigh nigh baby" and give my stomach a kiss at bedtime. It is super cute. She loved having Baby Mackenzie visit earlier this week... though had a major meltdown when baby M was in her high chair or playing with her coveted toys. Good thing Erin brought her own high chair.

For me pregnancy also = no patience whatsover.

My kids have been pushing every button imaginable this week and I've been trying to love them extra in return. I'm reading an awesome book called Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs by Ellen Galinsky. I'm currently in the chapter about communication. It talked about how babies prefer their mothers the most during their first few weeks alive because no one else's voice is loud enough when they are in utero. I have a feeling Baby Jack is going to know and like his siblings more than me by the time that he arrives because their fighting and screaming has been so loud this week that he probably has no clue I am even around.

For me pregnancy also means I eat a lot of treats. Fortunately my hobby of blogging and doing crafty projects keeps my hands busy so I actually eat less treats than you'd think. I am a bit of a hoarder though and want to have the treats... Catie is starting to discover all of my hiding spots. I can't deny her ever. Her little "treat treat" is too adorable.

This pregnancy I have been all about mexican food. I make a lot of mexican manicotti, taco soup, taco salad, quesadillas, etc. If you can believe it, I had never made enchiladas until this week- EVER. If I had known how easy they were to make they would be on our weekly meal rotation. But, let's be honest... I don't have a weekly meal rotation :) I will be making them a lot from here on out though!

Today I had a doctor's appointment for Baby Jack. The doctor said that I am 26 weeks and 2 days. Last time I went to my appointment I had gained 6 lbs in 5 weeks and they were appalled. It was probably due to all of the traveling we've been doing and extra food (lots of Chick-fil-A fries in NC and VA)... and less running (since it was 106 degrees in the south). Today I weighed in less than last time, so it all balanced out. Considering I have a spreadsheet from each pregnancy with my detailed weight gain by month and it is EXACTLY the same every pregnancy (no matter what), I haven't been too concerned. Since I'm down a pound or two than my normal goal it just means I can eat an extra cookie at Paradise Bakery today. :)

The doctor also told me that the baby is measuring big. They aren't concerned about it (esp since I don't have gestational diabetes) but want me to come back for my next appointment sooner. I am hoping that the baby is even bigger next time so that we can prove I've been right all along and the baby is coming sooner than they expect. I've thought their due date prediction has been off the whole time. Kevin is hoping the baby arrives on Halloween so that Baby Jack's name is extra meaningful.

Overall I am so grateful to be healthy and have such a great pregnancy so far! I feel less old and tired this time around, so I'm thinking it might be boys versus girls for me... cross my fingers it stays that way!