First visit to the Pacific

This weekend marked a first in our family of five. A road trip. A five hour trip in a car with a three and a half year old and two 18month olds. Phew. Just the thought is a little exhausting. Jake's cousin Stephen and his beautiful fiancee (now wife) decided to get married in San Diego and since it wasn't too far, didn't require expensive plane tickets and gave us a chance to get out of dodge while being able to support them in their wonderful desire to be husband and wife, we decided to take the trek. And it wasn't too bad. 

We left early on Friday morning. Of course we had gotten to bed late but we ended up on the road by 6am. Not too shabby considering. We stopped in Yuma for breakfast at Mc D's. There we met a "lovely" old woman. Yeah...right. So here's the story. We chose a large booth to sit in and there wasn't anyone in the booths surrounding. Meanwhile, a group of four older women sat down next to us....lots of spots to go to, why they chose sitting by us, I don't know. Well, while Noah was eating his sippy cup dropped onto his plate flinging a pile of food (have you guessed it yet?)...yep...right onto the older ladies. To which they made a fuss and commented something about how if that was their children they would..blah, blah, blah. They also continued to give us dirty looks. I'm sorry their children were perfect but mine have accidents every once in awhile. Sorry. We apologized. But I'm not going to yell and discipline my children for an accident. Jake almost said something to them but decided to be the better person. Some people. Sorry but you shouldn't have sat by us. Hmmphh.

We got to San Diego and met Jake's Aunt Mary and Uncle Paul at a fish restaurant for lunch. It was of course, yummy. We then went to the beach for the kids first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. 

Noah wasn't too sure of the sand or the water so he stayed back for a bit. He did eventually warm up to the idea.

Jonah didn't have a problem with it. He got down and dirty with the sand.

We all must have looked like a sight on the beach running after kids but boy did they have a blast. Elijah especially loved it. He kept asking to go back.  I wish it had been a little warmer and we had more time. I would have loved to just relax on the beach....oh well.

More pictures to come tomorrow....

A Trip for Bagels

Of course my munchkins know 7am is wake up time so I quickly threw them in the stroller jammies and all to go get some bagels. We walked through old town and Elijah found a huge tree he decided would be great for a tree house. Too bad it wouldn't fit in our backyard little dude!

We have major climbers here

I never realized how "tame" Elijah was until I had these two. They push their limits daily and by the bumps and bruises they have all over them you would think we beat them. Truth is they beat themselves up by falling into walls, falling out of chairs, throwing toys at each other...you name it, they do it. 

We first noticed we had a problem when Jonah figured out how to climb into his high chair. Noah soon followed. Don't mention that it's a single baby high chair. Apparently Noah didn't get that memo...and doesn't really care. Jonah on the other hand is a little ticked off at him. 

"Get off my lap bro and get your own chair!"

"Hey Mom, I figured out how to climb on the chair"

So funny story. I came home on Saturday morning and the boys were awake. I got them all up, put them in their highchairs, and gave them a bunch of cereal and fruit for breakfast. Then I woke Jake up, curled into bed and said, "you're turn." He laid in bed for a few minutes and Elijah came in. Then I heard a laugh that was NOT Elijah's and felt a little hand on the side of the bed. Yep. One of the babies (ha, baby? I think not) escaped their high chair. Noah to be exact. And boy did he think he was the bees knees! He kept laughing and laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world. What a little stinker!

Then of course, there is the random "what are you doing?" that goes on. Like this "picture" I found after I gave them a bowl of popcorn to share. Don't ask me why they are sitting on the table. I don't ask things like that. I just get a blank stare or a glare like "what?"

And then there's the newest "trick". Standing on the kitchen table..and jumping. Not off the table. Just up and down. I don't know what personal satisfaction you can get from that but...yeah... gotta love it.

Thankfully a friend from work gave us something that they can release their energy on. A new toy. A BIG toy. And yes, I know it is supposed to go outside, but it was raining and I didn't want to let a day go to waste on this puppy.

Look at that grin!

Even the big one has fun.

Well, so long for today. Gotta go catch the little ones and make dinner!

Sometimes I grimace when it gets quiet at our house. Why? Because when it is quiet it means things like I have my hands dripping in nasty salmonella-ey raw chicken juices while two masterminds have figured out how to open the mouse cage and are now playing in the I-don't-even-want-to-think-about-what-germs-are-harboring-in-there bedding. So of course the video camera is NOT on while I go running towards them with my hands spread up trying not to get disgusting juice everywhere all the while screaming "NO! NO! NO! GET AWAY FROM THE CAGE!" I'm sure their look of awe at me combined with my wild and crazy actions would have guaranteed us at least $10,000 from America's Funniest Videos. Thankfully Elijah came to my rescue to close the cage door while I shooed the sneaky culprits away, washed my hands, and swept up the mess. Of course the whole time I am frantically praying "PLEASE let the mouse still be in there". Have I ever mentioned that I HATE having a snake in the house (of course because this means we need to have MICE!) EEEKKK!!!!

And yes, the mouse was still there. Praise the Lord.

A rare picture

My two cutie pies in a very rare photo. They are BOTH actually looking at the camera. Now, I didn't say they were smiling, but I will take what I can get. Looking at the photos that I do have, I realized I have very few where Jonah is smiling, even though he is a very happy toddler (and was a happy baby as well). Noah,well, I have a lot of him putting on a grin...funny as he is usually grumpier. Oh well, one day maybe I will have a nice photo of us all.

I can't forget Elijah. Since the twins are now 18months I weighed and measured everyone. Elijah is 40.5 inches and 39.5 lbs. Jonah is 30.5 inches and 24.5lbs. Noah is 31 inches and 25.5 lbs. Not tall...not too short...but the twins definitely have a budha belly, especially Jonah. They are just so cute. Elijah is getting so old now. I feel like my little boy is gone. He reasons with us. He can do most things for himself. He is constantly thinking of new things...and CONSTANTLY asking us to play with him. This makes it very hard for me as I would LOVE to always play with him but with me working I get very behind on things and need to at the very least get laundry and dishes done. Somehow he always makes me feel guilty about  it and it makes me feel worse about not being able to stay home with them.

As far as the whole household we are finally on the mend. It seemed just when we were getting better, someone else would get sick again. It is very hard to have a positive outlook when you keep feeling as if as soon as you start to be on the upswing there is something that knocks you down.

We have been making yet another attempt to organize our lives (this is a common theme) and so we bought a few more cabinets for the house from Ikea. The boys decided they wanted to help us. I would like to say we finally got things done, but as it goes in our life, it has been filed to a project not quite done. I hope it will be done soon.  Jake's car is in the shop and has been for a couple weeks. I am hoping that will be done soon as well. It is a pain to just have one car.

I am ending this here before I just become a complainer of the little things that just happen in life and cannot be changed. I am battling a little depression so it is very easy to become Eeyore. It is something I do not like because I know that I have been very blessed and wish that my emotions could convey that accurately. If you could keep me in your prayers for this reason I would be very appreciative.