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!

July 2014

We kicked off the month with a week at Lake Powell with almost all of Todd's family.  It was hot, crowded, and a ton of fun.  We always have a great time with cousins, even when circumstances are less than ideal.  We love spending time with family and making such happy memories.

Hazel and Jack were in heaven.  Hazel loved tubing and being on the boat.  Jack loved playing in the water near the houseboat.  They were both really disappointed when we had to leave.  Gemma had a harder time.  For some reason, she did NOT want to touch the water or the sand.  Every time we asked her if she wanted to get in the water, she shook her head.  Mostly she played in the hot houseboat or went along for the ride in the ski boat.

 Hazel learned from cousin Easton how to fish.  She thought it was quite interesting.

 We loved having jet skis.  All the kids took turns riding with Daddy.  Todd and I left the kids with Aunt Laura one morning and went off for an hour or two on our own.

 We were there over the Fourth of July, which is Jack's half birthday.  He thought we were having a massive party just for him.  He felt pretty special.

 I spent a lot of July in the car.  We signed Hazel and Jack up for swimming and soccer lessons in Livermore a couple months ago, thinking we'd be in our house by July.  Twice a week, I packed all the kids up in the van and drove them up for class.  Poor Gemma got paltry 30 minute naps in the car.  We had to leave early to avoid traffic, then bum around town waiting for class to start.

Our first week of soccer, Jack stood with his back to the class the entire half an hour.  Thankfully, he realized how boring that stand-off was, and he's participated well ever since. He and Hazel are both doing well.

 All three kids got pink eye in July, beginning with Hazel, then on to Jack, and ending with Gemma.  Thankfully, Todd and I escaped unscathed; although I got so little sleep that week that my eyes were bloodshot and achey every morning, and I kept thinking I'd caught it after all.  Yikes!  I had alarms set on my phone to help me remember to give all the kids eyedrops every four hours for a week.  And we had to quarantine ourselves from all our friends just when we wanted to spend our last few weeks with them.  It was pretty lame.

 We went on a few family hikes/bike rides.  We really need to get a bike trailer!  Soon....

 Gemma started nursery at church.  Jack's in there with her (he didn't turn three until January) so it made the transition completely painless.

 Hazel's pre-literacy is getting pretty thrilling.  She's started sounding out short words.  Sometimes, she asks how to spell out entire pages of her thoughts.  She lost to Jack at Chutes and Ladders, and immediately ran to get a paper and pen to write "I'm happy that you won, but I'm sad that I lost," drew a picture of herself crying, stuffed it in an envelope, and gave it to Jack.

 The kids have spent a LOT of time on their bikes and the scooter.  It's been fun since Gemma figured out how to get on and off her bike on her own, so she could have more independence.  She always wants to be on her bike.

 Towards the end of the month, it became more and more likely that we'd move to Livermore very soon, so we took advantage of our favorite things while they were still close by.  We visited the Sunnyvale Library a couple times a week.  My kids have all loved this statue outside the library; they pretend it's Todd and climb into his lap and onto his shoulders.

My best friends Chrissy and Suzanne and I took off to Half Moon Bay for a girl's weekend.  We spent Friday night at a hotel, swimming in the pool and lounging in the hot tub and chatting, chatting, chatting.  

 Saturday we window shopped and got mani/pedis and relaxed at the beach, and talked, and talked, and talked.

 When we got home Saturday night, Chrissy's kids were still awake, so instead of dropping her off, we drove over to Target and wandered around, found silly clothes to try on, and dragged our time out as much as we could.

 

 Hazel's my artist.

  I love this shot.  These three kids are my heart.

 We had to scrunch in as much play time with Hazel's buddies Spencer and Nova as we could before we moved.

 Our best friends from our time in Alabama (Troy and Rebecca Wikle) are living in Monterey for the summer, so we made a trip down to see them.  We went to the Aquarium and the beach, and had dinner at their house.  It is always so healing to spend time with people who have stood the test of time and are definitely for reals your friends.

 All three kids in the same tub. Rub a dub dub.

 Hazel's been going crazy drawing on herself with washable markers.  It does come off, but it takes a day or two to fade completely.  Gemma's obsessed with markers, and immediately pops off the lid whenever she finds one.  Thankfully, she's following Hazel's example and has (so far) only drawn on herself and not on the walls, or the floor, or the furniture.  We're trying to keep them out of reach, but there's always a stray.

 Our last full day in Sunnyvale, we had our sweet Derham friends over for a swim party.  I wish I had spent more time with their mom, Olivia, when I easily could.  I'm realizing more and more that I have to be aggressive about my own friendships.  Hopefully, I can take what I'm learning to Livermore and be better about pushing myself out of my shell.  I really want to give myself the gift of regular friendship with the people I can sense would be good for me, and I'm learning that won't happen unless I really make a big effort for it.

 Our last evening, in the middle of the craziness of packing and loading and cleaning, we met up with Chrissy and Spencer for ice cream.  Hazel bawled on the drive home.  I hope she can make some great friends as well.