Ryan's first blog entry

Well, Halloween is right around the corner and Reggie is getting very excited. He has more than enough costumes to choose from as mommy has gotten him every super hero to speak of along with the evil Darth Vader (thank you Value Village)! Believe it or not this is Reggie and not Vader.

Sleep was challenging this last week as we had nightmares and some sniffles to deal with. We're on the mend now with both but as you can see it sure has taken it tole on Trina.

The weather has been wonderful, actually better than normal. This week was in the high 80's with Thursday hitting 90. This has been great for our lemon tree as we have tons to pick. Here's one that the kids got today!!

Grandpa and Grandma will be here next week and through Halloween. Reggie is very excited to hang out with his Grandma and yes he plans on wearing her out. We plan on celebrating both Grandma and Reggie's birthday a little early (any reason to have cake and ice cream!).

Ainsley took her first real shower after she sat in the chair to get her hair trimmed. Ryan started to take a shower with her but she kicked him out and took over. She has a mind of her own, that one. Reggie hopped in after that and was not happy when mommy washed his hair.

First Visitor!!!

Last Tuesday was a big day. We had a playdate in the morning with Michael and Sam and then we went to pick up Aunt Liha at the airport!

We've been going non-stop since she got here, which means we have had some cranky kiddos at times, but they've all been sleeping really well :o). Wednesday we went to the Jelly Belly factory. That was a surprisingly fun outing-the kids were entertained by all the workers and activity and Reggie was very excited about seeing a robot in action. We learned a lot about the history of jelly bellies. Did you know Ronald Reagan was a huge fan, so big that he had a special container made to hold them on air force one. My sister took some pics, but didn't bring her computer cord, so I'll have to add them later. That night, we all went to Ainsley's mommy and me class. They finger painted pumpkins and I'm so glad that was not at my house!

Thursday we stayed around here and went to the bookstore (a favorite outing for Reggie and Ainsley) and then went to the market after dinner. Liha spent most of the time running after maggie, but we had fun eating a snow cone and kettle corn. I bought the most wonderful flat of organic strawberries for $7! My sister is sick over the fruit prices here. We get Washington apples for $.67/lb and they seem to be much crisper.

Friday we went to the Oakland zoo. It is a lot smaller than the Woodland park zoo, but they had a lot more kid play areas and some different animals, so it was definitely worth visiting. Ryan met us there for lunch and took Reggie to the kiddie ride area to ride the train a couple of times while we took the girls home for a much needed nap.

Sat. afternoon, we headed to Six Flags Animal Kingdom. We could have spent a few days there exploring all the things there were to do. You can ride elephants, feed giraffe/dophins, go on water rides and kid rides. Our timing wasn't the greatest...by the time we got to a lot of the stuff, it was done for the day. We did go to the dolphin show and all the kids sat through it, a major feat :o).

Reggie was very interested in biker dude. He actually gave him a high five, but my camera was too slow to capture it.

Today we went to church in the morning and to the pool this afternoon. We finished the day off with a visit to McDonald's. They have $.49 cheeseburger's, so our family ate for $9, what a deal! Maggie had never played in the play area and she had a ball!

Maggie doing abs with me!

It's been awhile.....

I figured it was time for an update. Nothing too exciting to report. We did have a little scare with Reggie a couple weeks ago. He has a relatively large mole that concerned us last year in a very sensitive, manly place. We had it checked out and it was fine, but it developed what looked like a freckle on it. So, I took him to the dermatologist here and he didn't feel good about the changes and thought it would be a good idea to biopsy it. I had a long talk with Reggie, explaining what they were going to do and he said o.k., as long as he got a toy. We read a book during the procedure and he almost lost it once, but I focused him on his prize (Optimus Prime) and he was all smiles. I think it was more traumatic for me than anyone-Ainsley watched them cut/stich and was very interested! When the whole thing sunk in the next day, I was having a hard time with the thought that something might be really wrong. I put in a prayer request at our church and gave it to God. It took an entire week to get the results, but thankfully, everything is fine. It is a good reminder of how fragile life can be and how I need to work on my appreciation of my kids on a daily basis (as I sit here and write, Reggie is screaming/crying because once again Ainsley took something, destroyed his train track and pinched him-so, fifteen minutes later, after a time-out and snack, maybe I'll finish this!). I don't know what I was thinking trying to do this while they "play". Anyway, we went back this morning to get the stich out and it was a complete disaster. Thank goodness Ryan came because he was holding his legs while I held his arms and we could barely keep him down. I wonder what the other patients thought was going on? He has hundreds of tiny broken blood vessels on his face from screaming/crying and trying to get away. Glad that's over!!!

On a more positive note, Reggie is still enjoying school and we've been spending lots of time with his new friend Michael. He started swim lessons again and none of the other kids have showed, so he's been having a private lesson! His teacher is pretty aggressive, which I think is what he needs at this point. He's been playing the games and doing their activities for awhile and not doing much new. She has him hand crawling along the edge of the pool and going pretty deep and working on differents strokes. She dunked him 2 weeks ago and now he doesn't want to go, so we'll see what happens the next couple weeks.

Ainsley has started a mommy and me class Wed. nights. and she loves it! I think she feels like her big brother. They have dolls/babies there, so I always ask her if she is ready to go and she says, "Babies?!" and runs to the car. This week they gave the dolls a bath. She is very much into the arts/crafts which is so different from Reggie. We have an art wall in our hallway that is filling up quickly! She has been talking up a storm lately and although everything isn't perfectly clear, we usually get the message.

Ryan has been working hard at work and we are still getting used to this new schedule. Reggie has said more than once he wants to go back to our hold home so he can see daddy more. But, then in his next statement, he never wants to go home because he loves that he and Ainsley have their own sinks in the bathroom. Too funny! I'm sure we'll adjust soon. Ryan joined a parenting class through our church called "Boundaries" which teaches parents how to create boundaries with their children. He has started to learn not to parent in the present, but parent for the future. Many times we get busy with work, chores, errands, etc... and when our children are acting up we want to fix the problem quickly. Well sometimes that isn't the most healthy/wise thing to do because a lot of the time it means giving into their wants. Learning to step back and take a deep breath and being able to say no is the best thing for our children down the road. It teaches them respect, discipline, structure which are key elements to a Godly child. It's been very helpful....

I joined the MOPS group here and that has been really great. It is nice to have a morning with adult conversation and interesting guest speakers. We've had a few park play dates with school mates, which has been good for me to meet other moms in his class. I'm still looking to join a gym, but I think I have another month of daylight to do my running/biking/swimming outdoors.

The whole family (except Ryan) got our first cold of the season and I seem to have it really bad. I'm not quite ready for this! I thought being in a warmer climate, the sun would kill more "bugs", but I'm not sure that is going to be the case.

We've been bad about taking pictures lately, but I'll try to get on that and post some soon.

Earthquakes, Black Widows and Fires

What a crazy few days!!! We just had an earthquake about 45 minutes ago. It was a strange one, a big jolt and then nothing for a few seconds. Then we got some soft rolling. It was a 4.o in magnitude and pretty short. Ryan was freaking out a bit and wanted to go get the kids and I was like, "no way, they're sleeping!" It wasn't nearly as big or long as the 7 whatever in the Seattle area a few years ago. I was curious about the magnitude, so I got online and it turns out there were about 8 earthquakes today, mostly 1-2 in magnitude. It looks like that is the norm for everyday.

Spiders, spiders everywhere! When we first got here, there were spiders all over the house, on the walls/ceilings, in the closets, just about everywhere. We'd walk through webs and it was not good. We see them far less in the house now, but I have gotten quite good at killing them, although I don't have to anymore because Ainsley is the spider killer. She finds them and comes running for a kleenex, smashes them and then throws them away. Works for everyone! Until, Ryan was getting something out of the shed and noticed a big black, shiny spider. He took a second look and saw the red hourglass on its tummy, so he called us all over to look at it. It was a Black Widow. That was it for me, I was looking in every nook and cranny in the house worried one was inside. I was just getting over that when Reggie had a friend over and they were outside playing. Oh yes, one had crawled onto his play leaf blower. He told his friend, "that's a dangerous spider, don't touch it. I need to get my mom." What a good boy!!! So, we are going to get some spray this weekend and do our best to encourage them to leave.

Reggie had a super time playing and it was so good to see him running around, being crazy and laughing. His new friend, Michael, asked if he could do a sleepover here (I guess he's never done that before), so I think he had a good time as well. Michael has a brother, Sam, who is Ainsley's age, but they didn't play much. The best part is Michael's mom, Sarah, is going to have a baby in Jan., so Ainsley will be happy, happy, happy!!!

Too close for comfort

Well, it started out a boring weekend and we didn't really have plans, but we found a few things to do and we had a great time!

Today, we rounded the corner to our house and saw flames/smoke at the end of the street. No fire trucks, just one family watching the fire. We pulled over to talk with them and they had called 911, but it took forever (like 10 minutes) for the trucks to arrive. My first thought was maybe we should go back and start getting stuff out of our house, but the neighbors assured us the fire department would get it out quickly. There's a walking/biking trail across from us and that's where the brush fire was, directly across from the park and it was going pretty good and making a lot of noise. We dropped the car and walked down to get a few pic's and thankfully, the fire department put it out quickly. But, YIKES!!!!

This morning, we went to ride on the Niles Canyon Railway train. They were doing a special steam train today for the holiday, so that was really cool. We were greeted all along the way by people taking pictures. It was about an hour and fifteen minute ride through the canyon and they both did great. We, of course, forgot our camera, but Reggie had his, so we were able to take some pictures. The quality isn't so good, but at least it is something:

Sunday afternoon we went to the water park, but it wasn't toddler time, so all the water was spraying and the kids were a little hesitant. Finally, right before we left, Reggie started going down the slide. Ryan was happy to witness it :o). Ryan also went down the "big" slide:

A few days of cooler weather and then record breaking heat!

The weather cooled down for a few days and was high 70's-lows 80's. It was great for us to be able to play in the yard, go to the park and ride our bikes!!! We went to the Farmer's Market on Thursday in Livermore and had a blast. Big surprise, the kids really like kettle corn :o). We also discovered golden raspberries. I'd never seen them before, but they taste just like a regular red one. We also got a huge flat of melt-in-your-mouth organic strawberries. Not too many of the raspberries made it home. I'm happy to say my kids are fruit kids! It was a great atmosphere, lots of people, kids, music and bubbles. We're going back tonight, although now we're back at record breaking heat, so the kids might be a little more grumpy. I was actually a little chilly when we went last week.

Ryan was out of town Monday through Thursday and thank God for air conditioning-it has been hot! It is strange to walk out to get the mail at 6 o'clock when it is 101 degrees! It feels like Hawaii, sort of. We went to Chuck E Cheese one evening and hit the kid pool. I wish I was able to take pictures at the pool because they were having a blast! They have a water slide that Ainsley flies down and I catch her and Reggie slowly goes down by himself. By the end of the session, he started going a little faster. He has made such huge progress in the water this summer. We are going to do lessons in Sept., so hopefully, he'll get even more comfortable.

Ryan got back on Thursday and we went to Reggie's orientation for school. His teachers seem awesome and there's a 6 to 1 student/teacher ratio, so he should get some individualized attention. All the kids seemed very well behaved and the parents we met were very friendly and nice. Seems like this area has a lot of out-of-staters, so it was nice to have something in common right away! We already have a play date set up for next week and it can't come soon enough. We've had a couple rough days where Reggie has really missed his friends. They talk on the phone, but I know he'd like to play with them :o(. At least Reggie has Ainsley to play with. They have really started playing together a lot more and they laugh and talk and it is really fun to watch.

Ryan and I haven't had a babysitter yet, but we are hoping this weekend to have Julia (Ryan's bosses daughter) come to watch the kids. We've been having a little competitive fun playing basketball in our driveway after the kids go to bed. We're about even in wins of PIG, but we are running out of daylight, so I think our days of playing are numbered. Ryan is very excited that his watermelons are growing. He has about 5 the size of softballs.

Trip back to CA

It was a much more pleasant drive home. We got a much earlier start, around 11:30, and stopped in Portland to see Matt (Ryan's college buddy), Monique, and their 2 sons, Atticus and Tennison. We had a nice visit and dinner. It was good to get caught up and let the kids run around before being stuck in the car for 9 hours. We arrived at around 4 in the morning, so we made great time and caught a few hours of sleep before the kids woke up at 7. It was so much fun watching them. It was like Christmas! I didn't realize how much Reggie would miss his toys. He was very excited to play with them and was running all over the house. Riley, our cat, was very happy to have us home :o).

We were greeted with HOT weather. The first week we were back, it was over 100 almost everyday. The kids (and Ryan) cooled off in the pool and slip and slide:

The first week back was busy, grocery shopping, unpacking and just trying to get everything organized. I made Ryan a collage of just the 2 of us for his birthday, which required going through hundreds of my parents pictures in boxes, in no particular order. So, my first project when I got back was to get caught up on my pictures of the kids. I downloaded them from my camera, uploaded them to the website and printed over 800 pictures (I was over a year behind!). Now I just have to put them in the kids books and I'll feel somewhat on top of things :o). I also realized that since the kids have been born, there are very few pictures of me and Ryan, so all you new parents, remember to take pictures of yourself.....it will be fun to look at the bags under our eyes someday!

Our last week in WA

It was a busy week!

We went to the Skagit Fair on Wednesday and had a great time. It was the most animal active fair that I've been to. Competitions were going on everywhere and animal owners were anxious to answer questions and talk about their animals. Of course, Ainsley could have looked at the critters all day long and Reggie wanted nothing to do with them. All he wanted to do was go on the rides. We made our way in that direction and he and Grandma went on most of the kiddie rides. Ainsley was quite upset that she wasn't tall enough for any of the rides, except one....

We spent Thursday and Friday just enjoying the lake. Here's a few pics:

We celebrated Ainsley's birthday on Thursday with banana muffins, topped with whip cream (grandma's got them addicted and now guess what we have in our fridge?). And she got to open her baby from grandma. It was supposed to get her interested in the potty because it pees, but it hasn't worked so far. Reggie is very interested and has added a peeing (and pooping) baby to his Christmas list. I tell you, you never know!

Aunt Liha, Uncle Wade and Maggie arrived on Friday and the kids always get riled up. Here's a fun clip after Ainsley opened her gift from them:

We finished the week out with Ainsley birthday party and a final goodbye to family and friends. The weather was a bit crazy, sun, rain, hail, wind, but the company was great :o). Ainsley was a bit overwhelmed and pretty quiet, but perked up a bit after dinner. Here's a cute clip of her big day:

I have to give a big shout out to my family who put up with us all summer. Liha and Wade every Monday/Tuesday and my mom and dad the rest of the time. Thanks for having us and making the summer so much fun. They spent countless hours playing with the kids, dad mowing the lawn and moving dirt on the back hoe with Reggie, grandma playing in the sand with Ainsley and getting Reggie to try swimming, walks to the property through the woods, playing in the loft, the list goes on and on. They were in heaven! They will remember summers at the lake forever :o). They have no idea how lucky they are, but someday they will. Thank you mom for taking every Wednesday off of work, so we could "play" and I could have a little break. Hopefully, next year, they'll sleep better and then we'll never leave!!! We love you guys and miss you already :o(.

Notice the string in the front....Grandma pulled them because the 4-wheeler is broken!

Summer fun

We've been visiting lots of friends/family and have really enjoyed being back for a few weeks. Ainsley has had lots of baby time and Reggie has had quite a bit of friend time :o). Things are winding down and we're all pretty tired and ready to see daddy. Sleep has been a big issue and I'm pooped. Feels like I have a newborn again....when one sleeps, the other doesn't and I'm up usually a minimum of 4 times a night :o(.

Ainsley with Amelia during our visit with Jane. Lilli and Reggie were having all kinds of fun in the master bathroom!

Visit with Grandma WadeAinsley with Mack during our visit with Megan and Drew. Reggie was having fun with Lachlan and Cohen.
Splashing in the water at Forest park with Abby and Kellen.
Sharing a snow cone.
Monday we went up to Bellingham for a picnic that my mom's work was hosting for family. The kids had a lot of fun jumping in the bouncy houses, getting painted tattoos (not Reggie!), eating, dancing to the tunes and playing games.

We had a couple windy/cloudy days at the lake and what better to do than fly a Buzz Lightyear kite!! Ryan flew in for a week and got to spend his birthday with us. It was a great week and nice for the kids to get to spend lots of time with daddy. Nice for me to spend a little time relaxing and enjoying the sun :o). Peggy came to watch the kids on his birthday, so we played golf and went to Red Robin for his birthday burger. It was great for us to spend a little time together too!