Bees and Butter

Well history repeated itself yesterday when Kohen got stung after "petting a bee" a little too enthusiastically in our backyard. There is an infamous story in our family from when I was 5 and my sister was 7 and we were at my grandparents house and Natalie encouraged me to pick up bees and pet them. Always looking for ways to gain favor in her eyes I gladly picked up the bees and the 3rd one didn't appreciate it so much and gave me a sting. The story takes a turn for the worse when a high class friend of my G-parents spit some of his chewing tobacco onto my finger to draw out the sting (and no, I didn't get away with typing that w/o gagging). As gross as it was it did take the sting away.   
Fast forward 23 years and Kohen comes crying into the house with a stinger in his finger. My mom whipped up some baking soda paste which did the trick for making the pain go away, a much cleaner, more civilized version of a bee sting remedy I have to say. In the bee's defense Kohen had this coming. I knew he played with the bees from time to time and he wouldn't listen to my words of wisdom and had to learn the hard way. Not sure actually, if even the sting will be enough to keep him away. The bees really fascinate him. But still Kohen, no touch-y.

 
And check out this little number Kennedy came up with. She has been dressing up less and less over the last few months (sad!) but I was pleased to see this. She made the skirt out of several small blankets which according to her were to cover her underwear which were showing out the bottom of the leotard which is a size 2. I like where her head was on this.

****Favorite Aly quote of the day:

Tonight at dinner my ever Butter loving Aly got super upset when I stirred the butter into her beans (rather than leave it in a dollop that can be easily ingested in one scoop) and so when she asked for butter on her Beef Stroganoff (???) she commanded me, "don't tuck it in!"

A Reader Post

Not to bore anyone but I want to gab at you for a minute. There are a few of you out there who read my blog like real champs. Every redundant, 'how cute are my kids, please!?' and 'my husband is the best!' and 'can I please vent a bit here?' you read and some of you (bless you, bless you, bless you!) even leave comments to make my effort feel worthwhile- hey you were doing a service and you didn't even know it! I wanted to thank all of you who actually read what I write. By now I have probably lost all of those who just look at the pictures anyway which is just as well. I wanted to reward my blog readers by sharing something here first with you. Really, I can count on one hand the people who know the news you are about to hear. First a little tutorial.

Erin Might Be Pregnant If:

*She has her lowest # of postings in a month ever, and is likely to break that record this month

*Her nose has developed super powers. (Now I understand how those Super Heroes are blessed/burdened by their powers, lol.)

*She acts like an irritated Kate (from Jon & Kate Plus 8) once in a while

*She gets teary watching the children's show Charlie and Lola

*She smells that Nathan had onions for lunch before he has come within a 20ft radius of her

*She gags every time she opens the fridge, changes a diaper, smells left over food, smells someone had onions for lunch, or pretty much anytime.

*She is negative-imprinting on things she is over-exposed to: Nathan's cologne, over-played songs, the background on my blog. No, I'm not even kidding. Eventually these things make me want to barf.

*she is so tired she can barely make it until quiet time to crash.

*She smells an unsavory smell in the kitchen and 'tosses her cookies' in the sink.

*She won't commit to anything and starts cheezing everything.

***Nathan is doing ALL of the cooking, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, dishes, and putting the children to bed by himself each night.

So umm, yeah, as you might have gathered we are expecting number four sometime mid-September and though we are excited, both Nathan and I are just trying to survive right now. When it comes to my pregnancies I have learned a lot and with the help of Zofran I have been able to keep the throwing up to a minimum -if you can call it that. Down side is that it does nothing for the persistent nausea that hounds me 24/7. Anyway, I promise I won't turn the blog into a nausea journal, but in order to keep that promise the posts will likely be sparse for the next few months. 

In spite of the above, I assure you we are excited, or rather will be in due time. Until then, a sincere thanks for reading. 

A Wicked Girls Weekend

I had been looking forward to this last weekend for a while, I think we all had been. My MIL, Bonnie and 4 SIL's, Trevi, Kysa, Tara, and Amber (bringing her sweet 2 1/2 mo. old baby, Davis too!) all flew in from Boise for a Girl's Weekend!!!!!!! No seriously. We were all so excited. I picked them up from the airport and we headed straight (if by straight I mean turning around twice to find my way) to In & Out Burger before heading home and settling in.

Friday Nathan took work off so he could do all of my usual work and routine (he did it with a smile on top of it all, love that guy) and we loaded up and headed towards San Fran. Unfortunately it started raining so we detoured to IKEA which was new for all my guests except Kysa who I had taken once before. 3 hours later (don't judge, IKEA is ginormous and there were 6 women involved!) after a nice Swedish IKEA lunch we emerged to find the rain had stopped so we continued toward S.F.

It was all of our first time going to Chinatown. It was pretty crazy how you turn onto Grant street and you basically feel like you are in China. Everyone had fun exploring and Hi-Chew! candy was the find of the day, we stalked several more stores and then wiped them out (it is a yummy chewy candy). There was a lot to see (yay!) and a lot to smell (blech.) and I think everyone came away having found the perfect little something for their kiddies.

We went to our favorite Crepe Vine for dinner and sat there talking until my tush fell asleep, it was awesome. Tush falling asleep = too enraptured in conversation to change position and allow blood flow to lower half. It was so nice to have a good chat with a bunch of girls...I've been missing that.

(Tara, Amber, Kysa, Me, Bonnie, Trevi....and Aly)

Saturday morning we took it easy, headed into Walnut Creek for some CPK and to do a little window shopping in the boutiques downtown before coming home and getting ready for the pinnacle of the trip. First I have to point out this picture below. Can you tell who shouted, "okay, funny one!" and how far the message got down the line before the picture clicked? I was mid-funny face, I think Bonnie to my right was working on something and poor Trevi had no idea what wild child Tara had started on the other end, lol.

Okay, before you look at the picture below, I SWEAR to you we did not plan the whole black and white thing. We must've just been on the same wave length. Ladies?! I think we clean up real nice :) Where were we going after a nice dinner at the Waterfront you may ask?.......

Wicked!

That's right! It was it's opening weekend in San Francisco and we were pretty much giddy to see it. As we were driving to the show the huge Chinese New Year parade had just ended and we got to see several block long Dragons and floats which was great. The show was, well, pick any awesome adjective and that was pretty much it. It is an amazing production and to see everyone's reactions to watching the story unfold was so much fun as well.

The weekend flew by so quickly but thank you to all of our husbands who made this possible for us to do- we love you guys!!! Come again any time girls! Love you guys!

Eclectic

Who wouldn't love my eclectic little crew? Seriously.

Today Kohen asked "Mom? How many days till I grow up?" - it kinda gave me a lump in my throat...

A Sign By Kennedy

We found this little sign posted on Kennedy's door more than a week after they celebrated Chinese New Year at school:

It didn't take us long to realize she had sounded out Chinese phrases phonetically, I think Nathan and I were just surprised she remembered a phrase she heard one day at school.

Translation: 

*Gong Xi Fa Cai- "Happy New Year"

*Ni Hao - "Hello" 

Then "Uncle Justin" and a picture of Kennedy with her Uncle Justin who is serving his mission in Taiwan.  

Oh To "Shabe"

Kohen loves every manly thing he gets to do to be like dad. Many times I have walked in our bathroom to find Kohen, post-shower, wrapped in a towel just like his dad, sitting on the counter next to where Nathan is shaving, patiently waiting for his turn to "shabe". Nathan slathers him up then turns his razor around to the non-sharp side and gives Kohen a shabe. If I'm not right there Kohen will run around the house until he finds us girls so we can touch his cheeks and feel how smooth they are.
Well he finally earned a pretend razor and shaving cream of his own tonight and he was giddy to try it himself. He is typically hilarious so the whole fam had gathered to watch his maiden "shabe". He didn't disappoint and had all of us laughing. Tonight he is of course sleeping with his new razor...a sentence I never thought I would find myself writing. P.s.- don't worry, he has had many lessons about the dangers of a real razor, so far they seem to have worked.

Massacre of the Poe's

There are lot's of things you may do as a parent that cause you to be judged by others. Letting your child have a pacifier too long is one of them, no? Don't tell me you haven't seen a 5 year old with a pacifier in their mouth at the grocery store and not wondered why the parents hadn't intervened. I refuse to believe I'm the only guilty party.

So at two and a half Ms. Aly was rapidly and obliviously approaching the end of a long love affair with her "Poe". Long story why but Aly (and therefore the rest of us) calls her pacifier a Poe or Poey. Aly sleeps with a specific blanket and Poe and it has been a year or more now since she only has it at night. She has never given us a lick of trouble about it so I was loathe to change up a routine that worked so well for everyone. Then Aly decided to take matters into her own hands.

The other day when I came in to get my youngest up in the morning there was a massacre of Poey's scattered around her bed on the floor. I picked one up only to find grisly bite marks that had broken through the latex and 'killed' the poe. Surprised, I explained to Aly that all of her Poe's were broken, she was hilariously unrepentant telling me, "Poe's ah fo babies." True enough, I agreed.

Well, it has been a rough couple of bedtimes the last 5 days. What used to take 10 seconds (hand Aly Poe and blanket, kiss her and tell her goodnight) now has turned into the better part of an hour where she stalls, cries and begs for water, kisses, "I'm stared!" (with pretend scary shakes) and on and on. I feel bad for her...and for Nathan who tries to address her superficial needs. Sometimes growing up sucks. Poey pun intended.  

Holding Hands

I had been waiting to post this until Nathan got the other pictures (aka: proof) of these two holding hands in the car -off of my laptop that recently died but I decided these pictures would be good enough. It is something really cute Kohen and Aly have been doing in the car for the last several months and when we were borrowing a car over the holidays they sat a bit closer together so it was even easier for them to hold hands. I don't know what causes them to do it, sometimes Aly asks Kohen to hold her hand but most of the time I just glance back and they are sitting there contentedly holding hands. I love it. 
And before I forget, here are a few misspoken words around our house lately:

Aly:

"Robin Noodles"= Ramen Noodles

"Neetle"= Beatle

Kennedy:

"Pignic"= Picnic

Kohen:

"Knuckles"= Muscles

Aly Performing All Characters in the Nutcracker

So my kids love the Nutcracker and since the holidays they've still been asking for me to put the music on so they can dance. Today Aly asked me to put it on then proceeded to throw herself on the floor and throw a fit because it wasn't loud enough. I told her it gets louder on her own...you can see what happens from there.

 

In the video below Aly is going to fight the Mouse King with a pencil as her sword- she's a little hard to understand on the video but she is talking about getting the mouse and being the Nutcracker at the end.

Santa Cruz Weekend

This past weekend we decided to leave Friday afternoon and drive an hour and 45 min. to Santa Cruz. As I've mentioned we'd been having some unusually warm weather and it was even about 8 degrees warmer in Santa Cruz. We arrived as the sun was setting and though the temperature was cooling very quickly it didn't stop anyone from checking out the frigid water and playing on the beach for a few minutes.

Saturday morning while it was warming up we explored the Boardwalk and Pier. Couple of memorable moments:

The night before at dinner Kohen had eaten much of everyone else's food and so had half a leftover hamburger (leftovers are rarely known when it comes to Kohen). He insisted on putting his precious to-go box in the fridge in our room and asked repeatedly, "Can I eat my food tomorrow when I want?" So after breakfast Saturday morning first thing he did was retrieve his to-go box and he was putting it down for nothing. As we walked and explored the Boardwalk he carried his food. As he climbed a tree, he held his food. As we walked down the Pier he carried his food. At one point I turn to make sure he was still with us and find him cradling his to-go box in one arm and eating his burger with the other, happiest boy EVER. We wondered what had inspired him to finally eat. Was it the seagull poop that covered nearly every inch of the Pier? Or was it the stinky Sea Lions we'd been watching from above? I guess we may never know what makes our little guy want to eat. Other funny thing was this one-legged seagull. Kohen took off toward him- all the while eating his food- to get a closer look. The kids thought this Seagull was the coolest.
Some friends of ours (our oldest girls are in Kindergarten together) decided to meet us at the beach on Sat. They are from Romania and are fun to chat and hang out with. It's fascinating to hear about their lives growing up in a different country. And I think they find the way we live (i.e.-religion, more than 2 children) fascinating as well. Mostly we just enjoyed watching our kids play together in the sand.

A bathtub full of sand when we got home was a small price to pay for the weekend. It was a fun way to make use of a warm day in the winter.

Kennedy's Date Night

Taking a page out of the Jon & Kate + 8 book Nathan and I decided to do a date night with each of our kids separately. So tonight we got a sitter for Aly and Kohen and took Kennedy out. There is the cutest most quaint little outdoor Ice Skating rink they put up for about 2 months in downtown Walnut Creek. Kennedy has been dying to go (so much so that I actually avoid driving past the rink just to avoid hearing her beg to go) so we knew what she would love to do and we were game seeing as it's been so warm lately...

Kennedy could not have been more adorable in the car on the way to the rink. She chatted us up telling us all she's been learning about penguins watching parts of March of the Penguins (pronounced March "off" the Penguins) at school. The detail she has retained is incredible but she cracked us up telling us all about how the Mom Penguin very carefully passes the egg to the Dad Penguin so he can put his "Blump" over the egg to keep it warm. Calling blubber "Blump" was her one and only inaccuracy but gave us a good laugh and a new word for blubber.

Initially we went around the rink with each of us holding one of her hands. Below is her signature move, when she loses her balance she shoots her one leg out and skates on one foot until she regains her balance, it was cute and occasionally effective.
About 1/2 way through she no longer wanted to hold our hands and was determined to get it on her own. Nathan and I kept saying to each other "is this normal? Do most kids get this their first time?" *shrug* we don't know but we could see another little girl about Kennedy's size with a private instructor and that little girl was having a rough go of it so we were glad Kennedy caught on enough to really enjoy herself.

She chose "China Food" for dinner and there is a P.F. Changs near by so we headed there for a special dinner which she inhaled and loved. They have these little mini desserts now that are in a shot glass so we each picked one. Kennedy chose Red Velvet Cake and was pretty much in heaven from the dessert + attention. Nathan and I enjoyed her so much and what a treat to just soak up one child and their unique personality one at a time.

Golden Gate Bridge

Maybe some of you've heard but we have been having unusually warm weather here in Nor. Cal. and so this last Sunday after church instead of naps we loaded up the car and headed into San Francisco. We hadn't checked out the Golden Gate Bridge yet so we were excited to see it up close. Kinda looks like the background is fake in some of these pictures...I think that'd be an elaborate blogging ploy even for me :)

A few sillier pictures: Kennedy showing us how old she is, Aly actually looking at the camera and smiling (not normal) and Kohen doing some sort of defensive moves....


We did walk across the bridge for part of the way but the sun had just set and it was getting chilly fast and the coolness of walking across a bridge quickly diminished into being just cold and hungry. We got the idea though. Great bridge...Great day....

The Darndest Things...

Kohen's 1st Day of Preschool

Random:

The other day I discovered where Kohen had missed a bit in the bathroom. I told Nathan I would get Kohen and he could you know, go over the basics of aim/clean up again because as far as I'm concerned that's Nathan's jurisdiction. So I go get Kohen and he gladly comes back to the bathroom and Nathan says, "Hey bud! Let me show ya something cool!" and they lean in and Nathan shows Kohen what happened and how to clean up after himself. Kohen gets right in there and cleans it up telling us he's "Sorry 'bout that"...so cute. Then before he leaves the bathroom he turns to Nathan and asks, "But why did you say you had something cool to show me?".... Okay this doesn't really sound that funny but Nathan and I laughed so hard because um, good question Kohen, why did your Dad say that??? Cleaning up rogue pee off the bathroom floor does not = COOL. 

Other Cute Things Said Lately:

I find Aly sweetly wiping and playing in the dust on our piano.

Me: Aly, what cha doing?

Aly: I jus' payin in da snow!

Aly found a pine cone at the park and she was carrying it all around calling it her 'baby'. Kennedy thought this was pretty cute and told me, "Mom, Aly thinks it's a baby but it's really an Acorn-el."  (I'm pretty sure that was hybrid for Acorn and Kernel)

In the car lately Aly will cry out in frustration when light shines on her that "Da sun is lookin atta me!" 

Kenna: Mom, what's a Migraine?

Me: It's a really bad headache.

Kenna: (pause) Is that how you fell in love with Dad?

Snowboarding '09

Reason numero uno I will not apologize for a 1/2 dozen pictures of generally the same thing is because I haven't gone snowboarding in probably 4 years and who knows when I will get to go again so I would like pretty much all of it recorded for posterity. (above: Brandon & Tara, Amber & Mike, Nathan, Kysa and me. Most of my BILS & SILS)

Okay, so as much as I want to lie right now I'm just gonna be straight with you...I am not an amazing snowboarder. oh close your mouths, like it's that big of a surprise. Between being preggers with babies and then nursing said babies how often do mom's really get to go anyway? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I have the potential to be a good snowboarder if I got a little more practice. I haven't even gone more than 7 or 8 times. At any rate I was super excited when my FIL and most of my BILS & SILS decided to go up to Bogus the night before our fam left to come home. The company was great, the snowboarding came back to me fairly quickly and those things helped all of us to ignore the lame-o conditions: crazy wind, no real snow- in fact it was largely ice as far as my backside could tell. Night skiing is cheap and that's about the only good thing I have to say about it right now :)

As a blogger, for better or for worse, you have moments in your life where you think, "this would be the best blog..." Well, our first run was down Showcase and about half way down I find I've inadvertently been left behind. No big deal, I'm taking my time enjoying myself and focusing on not catching an edge because I swear 1/2 of Showcase was straight up ice, quite crunchy. There is another lift half way down that wasn't running but you kind of have to keep up speed to get over a little incline there and I was avoiding speed at that point because of the ice. Well I was a little too cautious and I slowed so much I couldn't make the small hill. I try jumping, I try shifting my weight quickly, I'm goin' no where. Before I know it I find myself crawling (no simple task with a snowboard attached to your feet) towards the lift area where there is a fence I could pull myself along on and get over this teeny incline and back down the hill. It can be described as none other than a blogging moment. All these more experienced people screaming past this ol' mother of 3 whose crawling along like a bafoon, in the freezing cold at night...I was laughing so hard at myself I was snorting. It was only a few minute ordeal but man if you could have had that on tape...blogging gold I tell ya.

Anyway, the night was a success even with the bogus Bogus conditions which prompted Nathan to vow to take me somewhere "real" to see what it's like to snowboard on snow vs. ice and the CAT tracks that are 75% of the runs up there I swear...again, my sore backside doesn't lie. *sigh* It's always fun to hang out with fam, especially doing something fun like this.