Thursday, October 30, 2008

A Hot Fall Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Jacob LOVED climbing on the pumpkins!

I have learned to love the Fall season and Halloween now that I have kids. It is so fun. The only damper is living in southern California where it is 85 degrees in October. Chili just doesn't taste the same when you are in a tank top!! After our mishap at Bates Nut Farm a week prior when Emily was stung by the bee we chose not to return, so we happened upon a little pumpkin patch closer to home (thank you Dana for the info). The kids were allowed to pick out a pumpkin of their choice and of course (just like last year) Emily wanted to take home all of the sad looking pumpkins. The ones that were already getting soft, misshapen and lots of dents. After I butted in way to much I finally decided I was going to let her get whichever one she wanted. And of course, she wanted the tiny one she can put by her bed (with every other stuffed animal and blanket that we own). Whatever, it was only 99 cents! Jacob on the other hand was only allowed to get the little one because we couldn't get him to stop throwing the pumpkins as he said "ball". It was a VERY hot day but we let the kids jump in the jumper and go down the slide while all of the rude women commented on how Taylor was going to get sunburnt.


Saturday, October 25, 2008

Oak Glen Apple Farm with Playgroup Families




Taylor 12 weeks old, and first time facing forward in the bjorn

Finding the Perfect Apple with Daddy





Emily and the boys (Malachi,Jacob,Lucas and Drew)











Well, we did our first official family outing with other San Diego families since living here a year and 3 months. I have been a part of a great play group for a year now but we have never done something all together as families. We decided to do a very festive Fall activity by going apple picking. I know...many have commented on their anticipation of us slowing down our lives, and to me, we have, Doing this activity with Rex too rather than just me and kids is quite a step up. After the hour and half drive north east (I thought Rex was going to kill me when he found out how far we were REALLY having to drive) I was so excited to arrive at the Oak Glen Family Farm. We started out the day with a picnic lunch with the Jarrett's (Dan, Dana, Malachi (3) Elijah (5 mo), the Davis' (Michele and Drew (4)) and the Todd's (Mike, Jami, Lucas (3)). Some brought lunch and others got a tri -tip sandwich. Although the wait for the sandwich was extremely long, it was worth the wait... it was delicious! Then we went to start the festivities. We went on a 20 minute hay ride where we learned all about the apples they grow there, we went to petting zoo where I was afraid a goat was going to eat Jacob's hand and a chicken was going to peck Emily's leg and then sometime simply crawling on the hay, playing on a wagon and getting VERY DIRTY! And then finally came the apple picking. Due to the large amount of little stickers that were everywhere in the dirt, I opted to let Rex take just Emily because I could already see it... Jacob stumbling onto the ground and falling right into the stickers. Emily was so proud of her bag of apples! We ended the day with a trip to the gift shop where of course we ended up with pumpkin bread mix, apple pie and fresh apple cider. At the end of the day we were all so tired AND DIRTY! It was so fun to spend a day with other families, doing activities that the kids really enjoyed. Although it was a lot of work and our kids are so little to really enjoy all Oak Glen has to offer, I think it was definetly an activity I would like to do again!

The Davis'
                                  The Jarrett's



Friday, October 17, 2008

It was a sad day!

I am a part of an amazing playgroup that gets together on Wednesday mornings. For the most part our activities consist of lunch for the adults (always a delicious treat) and of course pb& j for the kids. In this group there are pretty much always 4 of us girls ( I guess we are women) and sometimes there are more. When it is just the 4 of us, Emily is the only girl (next to Taylor now). Emily usually plays well with the boys and Jacob just follows everyone around (all of the other kids are 3-4) and tries to be apart of the group. Anyways, for something different we decided to have our playgroup this week at the pumpkin farm. It sounded so fun: pumpkins, pony rides, petting zoo, hayrides, and a picnic lunch. Once arriving to the pumpkin farm I had to feed Taylor, change her diaper, change Jacob's diaper and get everyone set up (Taylor in the wrap and Jacob in the wagon). After 20 minutes of getting everyone settled for the pimpkin farm we make our grand entrance. Right away the kids wanted to go on the pony ride. I didn't have Jacob ride because I didn't want to have stand next to him on the pony (I know, I am mean mom). As the ponies are going (and stopping every minute for the workers to pick up another ponies' droppings) I see a bee hovering around Emily. In my head I am wishing the bee would go away and leave her alone. And then I see th ebee land. Right above her lip. I find myself saying out loud, "that bee is going to sting her" and before I could tell Emily not to touch, she tried moving the bee off of her lip. Instantly the bee flies away, I see blood on her face and the tears start coming. I was SO MAD AT THAT BEE! I was so upset because I couldn't even get to her. I had Jacob running around climbing on the hay and Taylor in the wrap. My friend Jami took her off the pony (yes they had to stop the pony ride) and handed her to me. I really couldn't hold her the way she wanted me to because I had Taylor in the wrap up against me. Emily's lip was swelling by the minute. The tears stopped, we went into the petting zoo (Jacob was VERY excited) and the tears started coming again. They just came and came and couldn't stop. In that moment I felt very sad. Emily was in terrible pain but I couldn't take the pain away. I couldn't even hold her because I had Taylor. Taylor was now crying because Emily was squishing up against her (not to mention with all of the commotion Taylor fell out of the wrap and I caught her before falling to the ground).  And then there was Jacob that was lost in the shuffle walking around wanting to pet the animals and yet he couldn't because I couldn't be there with him. All of this happened in the first 10 minutes we were there. In that instance I looked at my friends and announced I was going home. With tears in my eyes I packed up the kids, all three were crying at this time and headed to the car. While at the car I took a moment to comfort each of my children individually before buckling them in. It was very sad. It was one of the first times since having the three kids that I realized that I couldn't meet the needs of all of my children when they were needing me. Lesson learned: don't try and be super mom. It is OK to say "no" to things for the simple reason that it will be too hard. For now, I will be staying in confined areas when by myself with the kids, or even with playgroup. I will save the big outings for when Rex is home with us. Here is a picture before the big bee sting event!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Our Family Pics








We spent some much needed time this weekend with our dear friends Ryan and Kim and their two kiddos Dylan and Hillary. As we were attempting to all eat dinner together, chasing kids aorund the house with chocolate cookies in their hands and playing referee as the kids fought over every toy imaginable, our conversations quickly went to the good ol' days of college life where our responsibilities were so minimal and we had endless energy and....how young we all really did look even only a few years ago when we each only had one child! Wow! Children really do change your life. Of course, for the better and how enriched our lives are now that we have children. However, I sure am glad I had those college years and year married years to look back on....if only I didn't take life so seriously! Here are some precious pictures of our family...thanks Ryan for being so willing to take some pics for us! You are so awesome!




The Wild Animal Park...Just where our family belongs!

Although these days staying at home is A LOT easier than going out, I agreed to make my husband happy and get out and do a family outing to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. It really was a perfect fall day, crisp and cool enough that all of the animals were out, but not too cool for us to enjoy. Emily and Jacob loved seeing all of the animals. Jacob's favorite part was riding the carousel, Emily's favorite part was the tram ride, Taylor was content to sleep next to mommy in her wrap, and Rex and I were completely entertained by the gorillas! They really are very interesting animals!


Friday, October 3, 2008

The Life of The Middle Child

Well, all of my anxieties of Jacob being a middle child and what typically happens to a middle child becoming of my sweet little boy are actually unfolding before my very eyes!!! Here are some pictures to show for it.  This is what happens when you leave a little boy at the table too long by himself, and I guess he got lost in the shuffle and really needed a nap but mommy didn't notice. I am so bad! In actually, his napping on the floor was a result of Jacob having the stomach flu and really not being able to do much of anything other than throw up, cuddle mommy and sleep anywhere he could. It was quite sad. I am proud to report that at Jacob's 18 months check up he was in the 5th percentile for weight and 25th for height....still a little peanut. The real question is...How long until his little sister Taylor who is in the 67th percentile for weight and 72nd for height catches up to him?