under the ash tree

Monday, October 24, 2011

6 Months

This is from August...

- Charlotte has her two bottom teeth
- She is "this close" to crawling
- She is a great nap taker
- She doesn't like to sleep by herself at night
- She is super happy right after she wakes up
- She waves her arms up and down when she gets excited

Summer 2011: Marathoner

Zach ran his first marathon in July. He's been training for it for a long time and he did great! It was run along the coast at Rodeo Beach.

Yet again, we were completely unprepared for California coastal weather. It is always the opposite of what we are expecting. I should start bringing supplies for all weather conditions. Oh, well. At least it wasn't as bad as it has been in the past. And either way, we still had a great time.

A well placed plank entertained the boys for a long time. It was brilliant.

We walked up and down the beach several times, playing in the waves and picking up pretty stones. Sadly, I tripped backwards over a rock and dropped our camera full into wet sand. It's been mad at me ever since, but it still mostly takes pictures, so not all bad.

Zach ended up getting 7th overall and 2nd in his age group! We were very impressed. And the boys were so happy that he got two medals! (one for finishing and one for placing). And it was such a fun beach that I didn't mind being with the kids for a couple hours by myself (but don't tell Zach, because I think he still owes me. :)

Our gallant marathoner, boldly facing into the wind. And looking forward to a great post-race burger!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Summer 2011: Ben and Sam's Birthday

My little baby boys turned five this year! It is mind boggling. We had a lot of fun celebrating this year. We played in our (very) little pool, because it was a scorcher and went to McDonald's in classic birthday celebration fashion. Then came home for some cake and presents.

I'm pretty terrible at decorating cakes, but Ben liked the icing robot so much that he cut him out all for himself.

The party really got started when we went on our camping trip. The boys picked camping over a friend party. We went to a little state park in the middle of farming country. We woke up to a cow mooing quite loudly across the river.

We swam, splashed and played in the river. We had s'mores and burgers for dinner. The boys loved it. And Charlotte did well, too.

When we woke up and got packed up we went on a completely annoying hike. The "lake" we were heading to was more of an algae covered puddle, it was extremely hot, and the boys got worn out pretty quickly. The highlight was finding a dead possum on the trail.

But at least Charlotte looked cute.

Afterwards we went to the river's beach and let the boys fish for a while. They did great, but sadly didn't catch anything. They did completely drench their pants though, so not a total loss.

It was a most splendid birthday.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

if a tree falls in the forest...

...and no one blogs about it, did it even happen?

That is the question I've been asking myself for the last couple of months. We did a lot of fun things this past summer, but we were having so much fun that I didn't really get to the recording aspect of it. So, I'm starting a series of posts over the next week or so called "Summer 2011." And we'll get caught up and everyone is happy. Lovely. Thank you and good night.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Conversations

Sam: I didn't like him.
Katie: Why not?
Sam: Because he kept bugging me and his breath smelled like lemon.
Katie: Oh. What does Mommy's breath smell like?
Sam: Flowers.
Katie: Oh! Thanks! What does Daddy's breath smell like?
Sam: Tomatoes.
Katie: Cool. Wait, do tomatoes smell good or bad?
Sam: Bad.
Zach: What does Charlotte's breath smell like?
Sam: Flowers, too.
Zach: What does Sam's breath smell like?
Ben: Garbage.
Zach: What does Ben's breath smell like?
Sam: Food from yesterday that didn't get put in the fridge.

Ben: The dragon skull of America... from the 1820s!

Ben: Hello Miss Lu!
Sam: No, Miss Lu is her secret identity! She's Super Baby!

Ben: Mom, you're funny.
Katie: I'm funny?
Ben: Ya. Kinda. Not a lot.

While making a "potion" in the backyard:
Ben: Yes! Yes! Ha, ha! I'm an evil genius!

After Zach said that he wouldn't make sweet popcorn for us:
Sam: I think if I fight him so much he'll change his mind!
Then Sam ran and started pretend punching and kicking Zach and he said he would make the sweet popcorn. I think we've taught him a valuable lesson.

While watching the show Mythbusters:
Sam: Now we know how to make a bomb!
Katie: Why would we want to make a bomb?
Sam: To defend our house maybe?

After I made a joke that the boys laughed at:
Zach: Mommy's funny, huh?
Sam: Ya, but that's her only funny joke.

While eating a golden delicious apple:
Ben: The name is right; these are delicious!

While I was saying the good night prayer Sam leaned over and whispered this to me:
Sam: Mom, don't make it too long.

Monday, July 18, 2011

5 Months

- Charlotte is sitting up like a champion!
- She broke her first tooth last week and another is on the way
- As a result of the teething thing, she's been a bit grumpy
- She can roll over from her back to front and front to back
- She likes to grab for things
- She likes to eat paper a lot
- She really likes to watch TV (I try not to let her, but when it is on she is pretty darn transfixed, very unlike her brothers at this age)
- She loves to smile
- She is starting to laugh more
- She likes to "fly" up in the air
- Charlotte loves to ride around in her baby carrier
- She loves Ben and Sam, but gets a little nervous with their rough play, unless Zach or I is holding her
- She likes to be entertained
- This is what she contributed while I was trying to type all this

g fhk hu , "w hgbt7 y7 m ,n

Friday, July 8, 2011

The Journey to Five

Ben and Sam have had a birthday - Shout Hurray! More on that later. For the moment, I wanted give a little picture history. I meant these to go from oldest to newest, but it didn't turn out that way. I still like it.