Sunday, November 28, 2010

Thanksgiving week!

The kids were off all week, which worked out great since my brother Anthony and mom came for a visit! My family arrived on Monday Nov 22nd around 11AM. I just happened to be in Chicago for a work meeting so Trina and the kids picked them up. When they got home, they built the ginger bread house and had a blast!! My mom had never done one and was thinking of doing another one when she got home :o). They are definitely not for eating...Anthony tasted the frosting only once and wishes he wouldn't have! I wish I would have been able to join them, but after a 4 hour delay on the tarmac and one upset passenger that was taken back to the gate, I finally arrived at 10:00PM and was so glad to be home.

Reggie admiring Uncle Anthony's work....maybe he found a new profession!!!

Tuesday they all went to Pump it Up. The kids as usual had a blast and climbed & jumped all over the place and really tired themselves out. They spent the afternoon playing :o). I went to work that day, but got home at a decent hour so that I could spend some time with the family. It was time to go birthday shopping, so mom took Reggie to Walmart to pick something out. Ainsley was lucky as she just happened to get something because she was there and looking cute as ever. After shopping, we headed to our favorite place to eat, Sweet Tomatoes. Anthony enjoyed it but didn’t eat any of the dessert afterwards (Anthony’s on a bit of a health kick, which is great as he worked out almost every day while he was here). The rest of us ate until we were sick!
Reggie beating Uncle Anthony at Mario Kart:

Wednesday we headed to the jelly belly factory. Mom and Anthony had a good time and were impressed with the history surrounding the candy and factory. Ronald Reagan was a huge Jelly Belly fan and even had them on air force one. There are also many different art murals that are made out of the famous candy such as Elvis, Donald Duck, and Ronald Reagan. After the tour we bought some candy and headed over to the Budweiser factory for another tour. That was a horrible tour as there was nothing to see or do. The plant was like a ghost town and even if it was busy they didn’t let you see much of anything. I would not recommend that tour to anyone. That night we continued to hit our favorite places and went to Menchies, a frozen yogurt self serve with 15 different flavors and many different toppings to select from :o).
Maybe another job possibility for Anthony?
Thursday morning was turkey day and mom put the bird in around 8AM. The house started to smell like Thanksgiving around noon. There's nothing like the smell of holidays :o). We decided to get the Christmas decorations out and Anthony was a great brother and hung all of our outside Christmas lights and even had to climb up on the extended ladder to reach the highest peaks of the roof (sorry you ripped your pants Bro). The house looks great! During the day we ran out of lights so we made a run to Walmart (can’t believe they are open on Thanksgiving) and Anthony got Reggie a birthday present. Got back just in time for dinner and stuffed ourselves with great food. Our plan was to go back to Walmart that night at midnight for black Friday to shop but once the clock hit 10:30, we were snoring and wussed out.
Girly time-thank goodness for Grandma's!:
Enjoying the park:


We had a great time with my family and time flew! It was so very nice to sleep in and know that the kids were occupied. They had fun wrestling and running around with Uncle Anthony and Ainsley enjoyed playing babies with Grandma, getting her nails done and watching her in the kitchen (I’m sure she learned a lot!). It will be nice to see them again in a few weeks for Christmas as we’re getting ready to come home!!!!


Sunday, November 14, 2010

Sorry in advance for the scattered thoughts

3rd lost tooth:

It is a good thing this happened today because Ryan is traveling and I absolutely HATE pulling out teeth. I had to do one of his other teeth and I about threw up (I don't think I ever got over having to pull my own tooth out at school in 2nd grade)! Today he was eating a bagel after church and started freaking out. There was blood everywhere and it was hanging on by a thread. Ryan tried to pull it, but it wouldn’t come. He was pretty upset, along with me, but managed to pull himself together to eat samples at Costco :). Later in the day, Ryan reminded him that the tooth fairy would come and he opened his mouth and was ready to go. It came out pretty easily, but bled a lot. I think we’ll have a bit of time until the next tooth.

First basketball game today (from Ryan):

It was a blast. Reggie and I didn’t quite know what to expect. Herding cats pretty much sums it up. I’m the assistant coach and there were a lot of kids running in all different directions, all wanting a piece of the ball. After the first quarter they all started to get it. Reggie was hustling and trying to get the ball. He had a couple of opportunities to dribble but didn’t quite get a chance to take a shot. There are a few kids on his team that shoot whenever they have the ball. The highlight of the game is when Reggie got the ball, got spun around and started dribbling toward the wrong end of the court. He had a breakaway but he was going the wrong way. He finally figured it out, but by the time he did a girl stole the ball, continued dribbling to her basket and scored a basket. He didn’t really know what was going on at the time but after the game when I asked him what he did, he got a smile on his face and said “I know what I did.” This is great for him as he’s getting more aggressive and interested in team sports.

Walkathon and carnival

Last Sat. we had Reggie’s walkathon (thank you all who supported him-he raised over $120!). I ran with him, but at a steady pace. The younger kids have such a different running style, sprinting, then walking. He found his friends and they all ran away from me when I got close. Reggie did 17 laps in 1 hour which is over 4 miles! After that, we had some food and played some games and of course, picked out a prize.

Early wake-ups and chore chart

The daylight savings time change is killing us. Reggie was up at 5:15 on Sunday and 5:45 on Monday. We finally seem to be at about 6:30…they seem to have no problem staying up later!!!

We’ve been having some issues lately with attitudes and it has been very challenging to both Ryan and me. It is hard to have a positive attitude toward the kids when we are always asking them to pick up or do this or do that or telling them no all the time. It is exhausting. So, I decided last week to put together a chore/goal chart. They get money for chores and smiley faces for goals (no hitting/shoving, no gimmies, no negative talk/yelling, listening, happy attitude and manners). If they get a certain number of smiley faces, they get a reward. This week is an extra hour of t.v. I put myself on the list too, so we can all participate :o). Reggie was so excited about it that he called Ryan to tell him what we are doing (he’s out of town for a couple days). It has only been almost a week, and Reggie has definitely improved! I’m not sure it will be too successful with Ainsley (she doesn’t really care much about prizes and money), but this is the kind of thing that really motivates Reggie and he’s been more of a challenge, so I’m glad it is helping. Reggie earned $4.25 (he folded 36 pairs of socks, so he got $3.60 extra) and Ainsley $3 this week :o) and I’m sure will be very excited to collect.

Ryan at school (Ryan blogging):

I was able to work it into my schedule to go on the Pumpkin patch field trip with Ainsley. She was very excited to have me at a school event during the day! The kids got to play in the hay maze, corn box, and also got to pick out their own pumpkin. The weather had been terrible the day before, so we weren’t sure we’d get to go, but it was beautiful, although a bit muddy.


Then, last Monday, I took Ainsley to school to present a family tradition. A few years ago, we started doing Operation Christmas Child. They send shoe boxes full of toys/toothbrushes/books to children all over the world who may have never received a present. At first it was very difficult for the kids to go to the dollar store and not want something for themselves, but this year was much better and I hope we are teaching them the importance of giving and being thankful for all the things that we have. Ainsley was very excited, but also shy to have Daddy at her school. I felt very special to be there with her as I could tell she was happy to have me there. She helped me take all of the toys out of the box as I was telling the kids what they were for. It was cute and one little boy raised his hand and asked if he could have one of the toys. A good lesson learned as we had to explain to him and the other children that these gifts were for kids that were less fortunate.

Allergic to penicillin:

I noticed a rash on Reggie during his Halloween party at school, but thought it may have been from his costume. The next morning the rash looked a bit worse and as soon as I gave him his medicine it occurred to me that he may be having a reaction to amoxicillin. I called the pharmacist who said he should be seen, so on our way to Six Flags, we stopped to see the Dr. She asked if he’d ever had it before and honestly, I couldn’t remember. Since he’s never had an ear infection, there wouldn’t be much reason for it. His reactions was not typical (of course), but she was about 99% sure that it was from his medicine. Kind of a bummer….As I’m writing this, Ainsley is changing her babies….her baby has the fots (farts) and air in her boobs!

Making playdough cupcakes (thanks Kirsten!):

Playdate with friends:

Monday, November 8, 2010

Grandma and Grandpa visit :o)

The kids had been counting down the days until we picked up grandma and grandpa last Wed. evening. They were very excited, so much so, that they woke up very early the first few mornings wanting to hang out with them. We made them wait until 6:45 to visit their room. Of course, grandma brought lots of fun things in her suitcase and they really enjoyed unpacking.

Thursday we dropped Reggie at school and took grandma and grandpa to Ainsley’s gymnastics class. It was a beautiful morning, so we decided to make a stop at Shadow Cliff’s Regional Park. It just happened to be the day they were stocking the lake with fish, so we got to watch them pour 500 pounds (1000 fish) into the lake. Then we walked the trail and learned we could spend the whole day exploring the area. We decided to head home for lunch instead! Grandpa was busy blowing and mowing in the yard, so Ryan had a nice surprise when he got home. That night, we visited our favorite frozen yogurt shop, Menchies :o).



Friday was really busy, Reggie and Ainsley had their classroom Halloween parties, so we divided and conquered. As always, Halloween is so much fun at Reggie’s school and I think this might be his favorite day of the year. They do a parade, assembly and then have a class party. We learned a lesson a few weeks ago at a playdate about eating too much sugar, so Reggie did a good job of limiting his sweets. My mom went to Ainsley’s party and had a good time visiting with 4 year olds. That night everyone (except me and Ainsley) went to Reggie’s cubscout meeting where they had trunk or treating afterward. Sounded like it was quite the event….people had lights/music decorating their cars!

Ironman Reggie:

Saturday, we finally got some rain. We headed for Six Flags anyway, packing our umbrellas :o). Mom and Dad had never been and really wanted to go and since it is only open on the weekend, we didn’t have much of a choice but to brave the weather. The closer we got, the darker it got and it was raining pretty good when we got there. We picnicked in the car and then packed everything in the stroller to go. We got a nice Halloween scare on one of the umbrellas…..a nice large black widow!!! Mom had never seen one, so it was a good learning experience and reminder about how much they like the garage. The weather worked to our advantage because “fright fest” is a big deal at Six Flags and it was the quietest we’ve ever seen it. We were able to see almost all the shows and have front row seats! We did get poured on a few times, but managed to get through the day pretty dry. From there, we went straight to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner and the kids ate free since they were wearing costumes :o).






Grandpa playing take-out in the deflated bounce-house:

Sunday we headed for church and then Costco. My parents just light up when you mention Costco. We were there for an hour, sampling and looking at all the fun things. We did haircuts that afternoon and then headed out for trick-or-treating! It was the first time we were home and decided to go through our neighborhood, partly because Reggie’s kindergarten teacher asked if we were coming by. We hit the jackpot….our neighborhood was great!!! There was even a house that had a slow-cooker handing out ribs and pulled pork sandwiches for parents! You can bet Ryan and my dad were all over that :o).


It was a bit of a late night but Reggie didn’t have school, so we just relaxed on Monday. Grandma had never been on the trail, so we took her for a walk and looked for prairie dogs and showed her where we play pooh sticks. The water has been running all summer and since it just rained, there was a big current once we cleared the debris away.

Tuesday was pretty mellow…Ainsley had dance in the morning and then we did a little shopping at the thrift stores, worked in the yard a bit and went out to dinner at Uncle Yu’s (the best Chinese in Livermore!) and then Reggie had basketball practice. I guess that wasn’t really a mellow day after all.

Mom and Dad helped me get the house back in order Wed. morning since we had a break from both of the kids. After we picked up Ainsley, we went out for bagels and then to Target to get Ainsley a toy for being such a good helper in the yard. She decided she wanted shoes instead, so grandma got her the most sparkly red shoes :o). Then we picked up Reggie from school and headed to the airport. The week flew by and we had lots of fun. We will miss grandma and grandpa!