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.