Phone Pics

Apparently, I haven't synced my phone since the end of June because I just now did and had tons of photos to upload.  I picked out some of my favorites:

We visited daddy at the Y one day for lunch and the kids found a sculpture garden with a pool.  Of course, the shoes came right off.

 I love it when they do this :)

 Every time we go to Costco, they like to "get stuck" in the shopping cart when I put it away.  I love how they prep themselves- by lying down, getting ready for impact.

 Our neighbors have lots of farm animals and one day, we were lucky enough to run into their daughters taking one of their ponies for a walk.

 Watchin' a movie...

 My best friend from Brown came to visit for 2 days and THIS is the ONLY picture I got :( I'm lame.

 I have a lot of funny sleeping pics...

 Notice the stickers on her leg...

 I really really wanted to poke her belly...

The Frog's 4th Birthday!

Before we commence The Frog's birthday celebration, this was Peach, earlier that day proclaiming: "I'm goin to gramma's house."  

Grandma and Grandpa stopped by briefly and I thought this picture was really funny because they are both making the same funny face:

Every time Grandma comes, Peach tries to go home with them- she climbs in the back seat and asks to be buckled in, and it's clear she fully intends to go.  We let her go around the block one time, (while The Frog bawled that Peach was leaving) and then she bawled when we took her out and she realized she wasn't actually going to get to go with them.

The Frog requested homemade pizza with his favorite: pepperoni and pineapple.

It took me awhile to get his cake request.  He kept saying "blueberry" but I knew he wouldn't like that since he doesn't like blueberry pancakes.  So, I took him to the grocery store and had him look at all the different boxed cakes to help him decide.  He finally settled on brownies.  Unfortunately, Peach and a pair of tongues got at them RIGHT after I removed them from the oven.

So, I just flipped it upside-down on the cake plate:

I can't believe The Frog is 4!!

He has matured SO MUCH in the last, even few months.  He's starting to play much better with Peach (and probably because they can actually have conversations about things now that she is speaking so well) and sometimes they will play together for minutes... no, TENS of minutes together without any intervention!  They beg to sleep together every night (which we have learned is a bad idea because they stay up WAY too late playing)  This may sound meager, but it's a great milestone for us :)

I love it when The Frog knows that something Peach does is silly and baby-ish and is able to point it out and laugh about it with me (and Peach loves to make people laugh, so she loves it too).  One of the most rewarding things about being a mom, I've decided, is when it's clear your kids love each other.  Though mine don't always get along, they clearly do.

The Frog is loving preschool and is essentially potty trained.  (finally...)  He still sleeps with a diaper, but I'd rather do that as long as necessary, rather than wake up with a wet bed every night.  I love it when he does things that make him proud of himself.  He's becoming very competitive, and (like most of us) isn't yet great at losing- especially to his little sister.  But if you want something done, a pretty good way of getting it is by making it a race :)

He's had a glider bike for a year now and he's obviously ready for the real thing, so we got him a bike.  However, they all come with training wheels in that size and he won't let me take them off yet, though I know he could do it.

He still loves spiderman, cars, sharks, dogs, dinosaurs, space ships, and anything related to Halloween.

He loves books and is more interested in fine-motor activities now, especially mazes and "to-dot to-dots".

I sure love this little man!

My Birthday/Anniversary

Since we have 3 birthdays so close together, I'm trying to find ways to minimize the amount of cake our small family has to consume.  This year, I thought I'd make myself a mini cake and freeze the rest of the batter, but then when I baked it, (I admit, I used a box...) I was able to fit all the batter into 2 6-inch rounds, no problem.  So, instead I got a tall skinny cake :)  Oh well.

and don't count the candles.  I think the number is meaningless.  It's hard getting the kids to cooperate to rules. :)

I've never seen Peach do this before:

She must have liked it!

Also, this was a special anniversary year, since we had our 5th anniversary on the 5th of September AND it even occurred on the same day of the week as our actual marriage!  I think that's pretty cool. :)  (I need to remember to get a picture of US on our anniversary.  doh!)

I thought I was being amazing and generous by giving up some space in MY craft room so Jay could move his weight bench inside from the garage.  But, as usual, I was outdone in thoughtfulness and generosity.

He happened to remember one time, long ago, when I mentioned that I would eventually like to get a pearl necklace like the one I borrowed for our wedding.

Apparently, that is very hard to find, especially like these because they are so old and now, the sign of exquisite in pearls is a single strand, of large, uniform ones. That is so funny to me because one of the things I loved most about this necklace was the texture and variety.  It makes them feel more "real" and naturally occurring.

Jay says he went to every jeweler in the area (which is hard to pull off, since we only have 1 car, and I usually have it) during the last few months and finally found something even remotely similar:

It's so fun (and scary) having a real necklace.  He spoils me :)

I would like to mention that it was wrapped.  I think I gave Jay a really hard time about never wrapping gifts for me- they're usually still in the plastic sack.  For me, being cutely wrapped up is a big part of the fun!  So he dug around in my wrapping stuff and put them in a bag, but he  couldn't find where I put the tissue paper (and now that he mentions it, a drawer under my sewing table isn't exactly the most obvious place...) so he used regular tissues instead.  Love that man!

I felt like such a spectacle opening pearls over dinner.  (though I'm sure nobody was watching)  We decided to go get Japanese- we haven't had it much since Iris left.  I felt lots of stares being pregnant in a place that serves a lot of sushi, which preggos can't have...  The food was delish though!  We went to Shoga.

I can't believe all that's happened over the past 5 years (especially the 2 7/9 kids.  seriously?) but I can't imagine it all playing out without Jay and his support.  I can't wait to see what the next 5 brings!

The Frog's First Day of Preschool!

I can't believe it, but The Frog is actually in school- Preschool!  I wanted him to pose for me, but he just wanted to get in the car and go.

He picked out his outfit and even packed himself a "lunch" (fruit snacks, cheetos and wheat thins in a ziplock baggie) in his backpack (that never got eaten because they don't eat lunch there, but he was sure he'd need it!)

I knew he couldn't frown forever.  I told Peach to try and make him laugh.

I admit, I was a bit sad that he didn't even say bye when I left.  Peach was really sad in the car when we drove away.  "Where'd The Frog go, mom?"

Family BBQ

As I mentioned earlier, my grandma died last week.  I think the best thing about having a funeral is that it gives the family an excuse to gather, even if they are spread out across the country.  Ours hadn't been completely together since two Christmases ago and it was nice to be together, even if it was for a sad occasion.  We all got together for a last-minute BBQ at my oldest brother's home.  I didn't take a ton of pictures, but I did manage a few.

It wasn't as hectic as our last gathering and it made me excited for future gatherings now that all the cousins are getting old enough to actually play together.

I managed to convince the fam to stand in front of a tripod for 2 minutes at the actual funeral to try and get a family pic while all of us still have 2 kids.  (I must admit I'm a bit surprised that I'm the one breaking the trend.  I never thought it would have been me if you asked me 5 years ago...)

I just need to learn how to use photoshop so I can meld these two together.