September 2014

 We got into a routine in September.  Hazel leaves for school at 8 every morning with a neighbor from church.  Jack has preschool Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I work in Hazel's classroom on Friday mornings, and my friend Maggie watches Gemma and Jack.  I watch Maggie's two girls on Monday mornings.  On Wednesdays, I go to Zumba class and then we have park day with the young moms from church.  Every afternoon, I pick up Hazel and our neighbor's son from school.  The moment we get home, I put Gemma down for a nap (around 2:00).  Then all mayhem breaks out, because my Wild One is home.  It's suddenly loud, and there are messes everywhere.  Hazel is certainly full of life!

Jack is progressively learning to ride a two-wheeler without training wheels.  He is much more cautious and nervous than Hazel, so the process is taking much longer.  We practice a few times a week.  He can now go, go, go for, like, 20 minutes without stopping.  He can usually stop gracefully.  He still needs help starting.

Fall is sort of here.  Some days it is still really hot, but the leaves are changing and falling, and we've had a bit of rain, and there have been a few days we've needed long-sleeved shirts or jackets.  We're all excited for the change.

It's been fun having time where Gemma is my only kid at home.  Usually, we pack that time with errands and cleaning, but occasionally, we have a down day where we mostly lay low.  She's been painting and playing with play dough for the first time.  Usually, we get those sorts of things out when she's napping.  It's cool to see her experience new things.

She's more fearless than I pegged her as a baby.  She climbs everything and jumps right along with the big kids on the tramp.  She LOVES to swing.

I love working in Hazel's classroom!  It's fun to work with kindergarteners again.  They're at such a great age.  It's also the only way I find out what school is like for Hazel.  She rarely tells me anything about her day, and acts like she hates school when I wake her up in the morning.  But she's always right in the thick of things when I show up, having a blast.

Per tradition, we went apple picking at Gizdich Farms in Watsonville.  I love it every time.  There are rows upon rows of apple trees, and you can sample them as you pick them, and they taste so much better than the apples in the store, and last longer, too.  We always walk away thinking we got way too many apples, and then blow through them so fast we wish we'd picked twice as much, at least.

Since we were driving down south anyway, we included a trip to our favorite beach, Manresa, for the afternoon.  It was pretty chilly, but we still loved it.  Todd showed Hazel how to body board.  She loved it, of course!  Jack and Gemma stayed in the sand.  Hazel did some beach combing and came home with a big collection of shells, including some sand dollars.

The next day was my birthday.  It was a perfect day.  Todd took care of all the meals and kid needs, and I lounged around in the hammock.  The kids were all happy and kind to each other.  Hazel remembered it was my birthday first thing in the morning and drew me a picture, and helped Jack draw me one, then brought them to me in bed.  That was the best; having one of my kids think of me and my special day without prompting.  We ended the evening with a happy family jump party on the tramp.

The kids all wanted to help make dinner the other night.  Hazel and Jack were my cutters.  Gemma was Olive Quality Control.  

We had a visit from Nova and Spencer (and Suzanne and Chrissy and Griffon and Daniel) last Friday.  Everyone was excited to see our best friends again.  We played hard for hours.

We've been having fun with our new friends Grace and Alyse.  They are each within a few months of Gemma and Jack, so it's been a really fun friend match.

I usually take Jack to preschool in the bike trailer. It's fun.  Today I let Gemma hold my phone and listen to music, and, evidently, practice her photography hobby.

I've got great kids.  We're in a good place right now.  We're doing well.  Todd works from home, so we see a lot more of him, and that makes everyone happy.  It's too early to tell if the job is The Job of Our Lives, but we definitely like the quality of life it's allowing us right now.  

August 2014

Our last Sunday in Sunnyvale, I asked Todd, "Is this our last Sunday?  Should I tell people it's our last week at church?" and he said, "We'll know on Friday."  Turns out, we actually knew Thursday night.  Wednesday, it was looking like we'd be in Sunnyvale another week or so.  Thursday, Todd got fed up with it and decided we could move into a house that wasn't quite finished.  He got online and rented a moving truck, with an appointment to pick it up at noon Friday and have it back by 7:00 am Saturday morning.  

The craziness got worse.  Friday morning, with a four-hour block to pack and have everything ready to load onto the truck, Todd remembered he had to meet a contractor at the house in Livermore, and jumped in the car.  I packed everything on my own, with the three little ones at home with me.  It was insanity.  Todd got back around 11:30, helped me finish up, then left to get the truck.  He had about two hours to load it before he had to be on the road again, or he'd hit the bad traffic and double his drive time, so that was stressful, too.  

Lucky for me, my job was done for the day, so I spent the afternoon in the pool with the kids and some friends.  

Friday night and Saturday morning, we cleaned our empty apartment, went swimming one more time, then hit the road.  Our van and Todd's car were packed to the roofs with everything we hadn't had time to load in the moving truck.  We had to leave a couple things behind. 

The first couple weeks in Livermore were intense as well.  In addition to the regular unpacking and organizing, we were cleaning up construction dust and messes, and still adding things like towel racks and light covers, touch-up painting, and other odd jobs around the house.

The kids have been big helpers.

The kids finished strong with soccer.  Jack rarely runs, but he will at least kick a ball as he strolls behind the pack.  Hazel turned into an intense defender and can drive the ball into the net.

Hazel is still practicing body art on a regular basis.

One of the best parts about moving is we have all new spots to explore nearby.  Todd found a lake with a pretty good beach just 20 minutes away.  It doesn't beat the beach, but the drive is great and the kids loved swimming in the calm water and playing in the sand.

We've got the tramp set up - HEAVEN!

We put up a hammock in the backyard.  Man, I love having a backyard.  Hazel's got a little table set up out there; she likes to get out notebooks and paper cups full of leaves and play school or concoct witch's brews back there.  

I am *in love* with my kitchen.  It is super dreamy; huge and gorgeous and brand spankin' new.  Todd and I can both bustle around working on dinner, with kids running between our legs, and I don't feel stressed out or cramped.  It's a beautiful thing.  We've got empty cupboards and drawers, there's so much storage space.  It's fabulous.

We were able to choose paint colors for the whole house, so the kids' rooms got makeovers.  Jack and Hazel's is a bright aqua and I'm so in love with it.  They've got pink, orange, and turquoise textiles in there, and Todd refinished their beds in white.  The whole thing looks great.  I mod podged their name letters with scrapbook paper to match the new look, and took their pictures with them tonight to mark how crazy cute and big my kids are now.  

When I planned out their rooms, I had to find something that would work now, with Hazel and Jack sharing a room, as well as a year or two down the road, when we put the girls together.  Gemma's walls are my favorite sage green, with dark pink name letters and curtains and butterflies on the wall. It's such a great room.  Both the kids' rooms turned out so fantastic.

Hazel started kindergarten August 25th. It's from 8:30-1:30 every day.  She eats lunch at school.  It's been hard getting up in the mornings, but she's otherwise loving it so far.  

Jack is moving up to the 14 inch bike.  We're calling it "the white bike," so if you're around, please don't point out all the girly stuff on it.  It's working out so far.  He rode it to pick Hazel up from school the first day and was super proud of himself.

I bribed Hazel with a giant cookie so she'd tell me every detail about her first day.  It worked, but only for day one.  I rarely get anything out of her.  It's driving me nuts.

Jack started preschool the next day, and he got a giant cookie as well.  He's enjoying school - doing much better than I anticipated, actually.  He's comfortable with the teacher and is making friends with the other kids.  He's not acting reserved or cranky at all.  It's good.

I came a few minutes before school got out today and got to watch Hazel's class decorate her teacher's car with schoolhouse magnets they'd colored.  Apparently, they get to decorate Mrs. Allen's car every month.  It's a Beetle with eyelashes on the headlights and flower taillights.  Hazel was going gaga over it.

This weekend we went to a Scottish Festival in Pleasanton.  It was hands-down the best festival we've ever attended.  It was huge, with entertainment everywhere you went, so you didn't have to watch the schedule and join the masses in the one spot something was happening.  Instead, we could wander around and stop to watch Highland Games sporting events or listen to music or check out sheepdog competitions without feeling any pressure.  Todd wore a kilt, we ate meat pie for lunch, and we finished it all off watching the caber toss.  It was a perfect Saturday.  

We invited the Wikle's to come up and attend with us, so we all had buddies to chat and run around with.  We are definitely making this a yearly Labor Day weekend tradition!