Jacob's first Snowman

Jacob has been wanting to go play in the snow for so long so today, Dave bundled him up to take him out while he shoveled.

Jacob was so excited he loved playing around in the snow, Dave decided to help him make a snowman since it was perfect snowman making snow! Lyndsey and Noah came upstairs about then and wanted to get in on the action, it turned out to be a pretty good snowman and grew into a family of snowmen!

It was a great night, after building snowmen, Lyndsey made hot chocolate for her and Noah, Dave made me and himself some and we watched Santa Clause 2. I just love the holidays!

Swim goggles and the DMV....

Yesterday I decided was the day to run some errands I have been putting off, one of those being the DMV so I loaded up the car with Max and came inside to get Jacob as he was putting on a pair of swim goggles. We have these hanging on the coat rack in the washroom and as he was waiting for me he decided he wanted to wear them so, not wanting to fight I loaded him up with the swim goggles on, thinking once we got to the DMV he wouldn't be interested in them anymore.....

So after a drive of quizzing each other on what sounds different animals make we made it to the DMV, unfortunately for me he had not forgotten about the goggles and still wanted to wear them so, again not wanting to fight, I mean really what is the point, I unloaded him goggles and all! Now I have figured out one way to get Jacob occupied and somewhat close to me when we are in busy places and it is only me is to put him in charge of Max's stroller, (sorry Max). So that is what I did, Jacob pushed the stroller into the building, wearing his swim goggles, it wasn't too busy so that was nice, or at least I thought....Jacob quickly found the fun in running through the near empty DMV, pushing Max in the stroller and wearing his goggles, Max giggled and was having a great time which encouraged Jacob to keep it up. Now as I was watching this, I couldn't get mad, I mean, again, what would be the point, but I was quickly taken back to before I had kids and what I would have thought watching this. I probably would have thought what kind of mom lets their kid go out in public with swim goggles on and push their brother around in his stroller, little would I have know that yep, that is the kind of mom I am!

Giving thanks...

Thanks to my friend Holly, I had some fun ideas for treats for the kids to do. We decided to make the pilgrim hats and cornucopias. My patience is something I have been working on for a long time and I didn't handle it very well, the chocolate was taking too long to dry so I kind of rushed the pilgrim hats but any how the kids had a great time and it tastes just as good.



Yesterday we celebrated Lyndsey's 10th birthday. I can't believe she is 10, it seems like overnight she had grown up sooo much. She was way excitied, we decided to get her a camera and scrapbooking stuff and she was taking pictures all night long. Happy Happy Birthday Lyndsey I love you!!!!!
Jacob was the tour guide during Lyndsey's birthday celebration, we had put up our Christmas decorations this weekend and Jacob was showing everyone the ornaments that he put on the tree, all the Santa's and Snowman we had around the house and anything else he could think of. We had to pause the tour so that we could open Lyndsey's presents and have cake and ice cream. But that didn't stop him, during the opening of the presents he held up the socks to show everyone and pointed at the presents he wanted Lyndsey to open.

Proud Mom!

Last year Noah and Lyndsey received climbing higher awards at school within two weeks of each other and they did it again this year. Noah received one for almost completing his multiplication facts through 10 and Lyndsey for outstanding academics. I am so proud of them, they work so hard at school and do an amazing job!



Sat. the 14th was Noah's baptism, of course it snowed, I think whenever something like this happens it snows, I remember Lyndsey's baptism was the same way, maybe it is the time of year that I had my babies???? Anyway, after the baptism we have family over for the "after party" as Noah calls it and I snapped this fun picture of my Dad at the kids table with all his grandkids! He is such a great grandpa and they all love him so much. Our kids have been blessed with great grandparents!

Crazy, Out of control, October

The fall for us is totally crazy with birthdays, holidays and this year with Noah turning eight a baptism coming up, cub scouts and it goes on and on, here are some pictures of what we have been up to.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

What was I thinking?

Jacob is sick, yes again, so I took him to the doctors yesterday. I thought, this is going to be pretty easy, Lyndsey and Noah are off track and I was looking forward to their help, plus Jacob has been to the doctors so much it is his second home. It was pretty much the normal procedure, we got there, checked in and waited to be called back. Once we got in the room and Jacob was checked out, they wanted to do a breathing treatment because he was getting enough oxygen. For those of you that aren't familiar with these, they hook up a machine, with a face mask that blows medicine, hopefully directly into the patients lungs. So for little kids, this is quite scary and it takes a couple of hands to get Jacob settled and the medicine aimed at his face, while I was wrestling Jacob I had asked Noah to hold Max. I guess Noah had enough with that and he was letting Max slowly slide down his legs, so now I am trying to catch Max, hold Jacob's hands down and aim the medicine appropriately. Well something had to give so I quickly grab Max and sat him on the floor and hurried back to help Jacob. After the breathing treatment it took a while for the doctor to come in....too much time...I had to laugh as I watched my eldest fighting with her 2 year old brother over a chair, Noah doing some sort of dance which required a lot of shaking the behind, over a stool (don't even ask me) and Max just taking it all in. Only one thought came into my mind as I watched this....WHAT WAS I THINKING!

On a less stressful note...Saturday we took the kids to a pumpkin patch and let them pick out pumpkins. It was a lot of fun and Jacob was picking up everything and taking bites. Lyndsey had her hot chocolate so she was happy. Here's a slide show.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Home, Sweet, Home

We made it home Saturday, we decided to drive straight through since Jacob and Max were totally not loving the car rides...every time we got in the car Jacob would have a fit, and I don't blame him there was a lot of driving.
I feel like I have been doing laundry since I got home! I sure hope there is still sand at the beach, we brought so much home with us it is everywhere so everything clean or dirty got washed.
We slacked a little on the blogging because we had a sunburnt Jacob who stayed up almost all night for two nights and neither one of us had much energy during the day. We did however manage to go to the San Diego Zoo, Jacob loves animals and I think he might have liked this more than Disneyland. They had a great children's section with a petting zoo and fun activities for the kids. Here are some pictures.



Some animals that the kids loved to see were the otters, they were so active and funny, Jacob called them Pip and Pop, (from Bear and the Big Blue House, for those of you that remember that show).
The Hippo was a favorite as well as the Ape that was right up next to the glass.




The next day we heading back to Disneyland, this day we decided to start at California Adventure since we never made it there the other day. The Toy Story ride was soooo much fun! It was a fun day but the lines were so long, we found out that there is a Trick or Treat night thing going on in California Adventure and I think that drew the crowds during the day as well.
Jacob and Max were able to go on Monsters and play in Bug Land while Noah, Lyndsey and I went on Soar'in over California. Jacob was so cute, the next morning the first thing he said was that he wanted to go on the Monster ride.




On Thursday the kids wanted to play on the beach again so it was a beach day, later that night we went out to dinner and stumbled across a Street Fair that Oceanside has every Thurs. That was so much fun to walk around and we each found a little treasure to take home with us. The only regret is that was ate dinner before, everything smelled so good! That night we found that one of the seashells we collected still had a resident, it was Noah's shell so we let him decide what to do, he decided we should return it to the ocean. So out to the beach we headed to return the shell to the ocean.




For the last day we went back to Disney and I think this picture sums up the day!

We had a great time, Noah said it was the best vacation we have every been on, I am so glad that we went and were able to do this for the kids.

California Roadie Continues

It's been a busy couple of days. I meant to post after each day but I just realized how exhausted I am when the day is done. So here's what's gone on in a nutshell the last two days. On Sunday we spent the day at Disneyland and did a total of 15 rides. That's amazing to me but Melissa thinks it's a lot. I think we should have hit 25 at a minimum. Oh well. It was a lot of fun though. We all went on the Winnie the Pooh ride to break Jacob into D Land. Then Noah and I hit Splash Mountain while the girls waited for their turn. At first I thought geez why is Noah so amped up? But I realized it was because he was so nervous. He was all A.D.D.'ing the entire time up until we actually got into the log. Then he was really really quiet.

Meanwhile we went to a lot of rides and finally Jacob had enough. Literally. He laid down right in the middle of Frontier Land. One of the workers stood over him because she was afraid somebody would step on him. While I sat about 5 feet away from him on a bench laughing. So we decided this would be a good time to lunch.



After Lunch we headed back out to the rides. Jacob loved the carousel and Dumbo. Max doesn't seem to care about any of it. Noah had talked up Indiana Jones the entire day. When the time came I noticed an awful lot of questions about the ride. Like A LOT of questions. "Dad, is this ride fast?" "Dad, is there any drops on this ride?" Dad has anybody ever died on this ride." I told him I only knew of about 20 or so people. He wanted out! The trouble is we'd been waiting in line for 45 minutes before I started getting any resistance. So I decided to either to be a good dad or a bad one. I'm not sure which I chose. I told him we could get out of line when we got to the front. He said, "You're mad at me huh dad?" I said, "Well I wish you would have told me about a half hour ago, but if you don't want to go on it I'm not going to make you." So he said "FINE! Let's go on it." Which timing would have it that they needed just two people to come get on the ride right away. So I seized the opportunity and said to Noah, "OK, let's go." So we moved up ahead of the line and got on the car. I helped him strap in next to me. I've never seen so many tears in all my life." At this point I'm thinking "OK I'm the worse father in the world." My dad would have never done this to me. But seriously, it's not that bad of a ride!!!....???????? Well he buried his head in my lap. But I kept saying "Look Noah, here come the darts" or "Look Noah a Giant Cobra!", "Fire!", "A huge boulder!" So anyways he looked up a bunch of times. When it was over I said "Seriously tell me was that as bad as you thought it was going to be?" Noah - "THAT WAS AWESOME!!!" (So I'm a good dad for making him overcome his fear.....right?)







Anyways we ended the day on Buzz and then headed to the shops for a treat for the ride home. It was a fun day at the park. We're going back two more times before we go. Lyndsey has already informed me she won't be doing Splash Mountain, the Haunted Mansion or Indiana Jones so I guess I won't have any "father" opportunities with her.

So yesterday we spent the whole day at the beach. It was sooooo much fun. Noah and I would go into the ocean and then run to the shore when the water came crashing in. I forgot I was Noah's dad and we were just a couple of pals. It was great. Then we got a ton of shells to bring home. And I do mean a ton. I told the kids no more shells unless they are like REALLY REALLY cool. We all got fried. Including Jacob. (The one of us with the most sensitive skin." He didn't sleep much last night. I feel bad for him. Melissa and he laid in the front room last night. I think they are both tired. I'll take my turn tonight. Lyndsey met some nice girl at the beach and her, Noah and this girl boogie boarded most of the afternoon. They built this "Grand Canyon of the beach" thing. Which Jacob promptly went and sat down in the middle of. This didn't sit well with Lyndsey so Jake and I made him an even bigger bottomless pit to sit in. He had a great time. (Sis got green.)





After the beach we tried to bbq but none of the bbq's were working so, starving, we went to the pier where at the very end sits a restaurant. It's like an old dinner "Ruby's" is it's name. It was either really good or I was just really hungry. Anyways we all ate our food and I kept thinking the entire time, there's going to be an earthquake and I'm going to die at sea! But I put on a happy face and ate. (I get that from my mom.) So after diner we walked back towards the beach on the pier and watched the surfers. I'm not sure what it is about my kids and wanting to put stuff in their mouths but holy cow it's embarrassing. It's gotten to the point that I don't even try anymore. While we watched the surfers I saw my daughter munching on the pier railing. Seriously. So when we walk away I let her know "Lyndsey, there's some bird poop on your lip you missed." She was semi humiliated but I've given up telling her not to put anything in her mouth unless you're supposed to use a fork or spoon to get it there. Plus I've seen that guy on "Man vs. Wild" eaten enough nasty stuff that I'm sure Lyndsey will survive a little second hand seagull food.



Anyways I'd better get going. We're taking the lobster family to the zoo today.

Oceanside!

We made it to the condos yesterday about 2:30ish. What a trip. We decided to follow the google map from Vegas to Oceanside and then take the directions off the map that came with the papers for our condo. Sort of a mistake. Google lead us off the normal beaten path and down some of the more "local" routes. (YIKES, roll up the windows kids!!!) At one point Jacob, who was wearing his "travel pants" (pull ups but don't tell him that.) had held it in for so long that he had to go the bathroom. He had refused to go in his pants which is a really really good thing but also a pain in the butt when you're driving in scary areas and can't stop the car. So finally I couldn't take hearing him say he had to use the bathroom any more and I jerked the wheel and took a hard right up a side street. Little did I know that the side street went up the steepest incline our van has ever been on. Melissa asked how I planned to turn around? (Great question) Which is why I continued to drive up to the summit. When we got on top it was a really pretty vineyard like deal. I pulled out Jacob's potty and he promptly emptied about 3 pints of urine into his potty.

Anyways we got to the condo and WOW! Wayyyyy exceeded our expectations. I'll post more when we get back tonight since everybody's jonesing to get to DLand. But let me just say that one of the greatest experiences of my life so far barring my marriage and the birth of each of my four children was sitting outside last night under the stars with my daughter on my lap watching the tide roll in. HEAVEN!

Here's a few shots from this morning. I'll add more tonight.

Pit Stop

We made it off onto our little week away from reality. It's been interesting to say the least. I was thinking as we drove about how fifteen years ago it was just Melissa and I on this same stretch of highway together, driving towards our honeymoon. Then I look into my rearview mirror and there are four shining faces looking back at me. Time has flown by. I can't imagine life without any of these people.

So anyways, we made it to Vegas. We were all pretty tired of being in the car. But we got the hotel, unpacked and managed to get the car down to the strip to show the kids what Vegas is all about. Lyndsey liked the sparkling lights (shocker), Noah liked the volcanoe (shocker squared) and Jacob saw a giraffe in a tree (no idea!). Sorry no great photos of any of the casinos but we did manage this little shot above on the way down. (We're pretty high maintenance. No peeing in a bush for my boy. Well right now Melissa and the kids are trying to get to sleep while I sit here and eat dinner.

Anyways pretty boring I know but it's early in the trip. I'll try and keep posting as we go. Why? I'm not sure. I think only two people read this but oh well. Tomorrow morning it's up and at 'em. Beachfront condo here we come!!!!!

Happy Happy Birthday Maxwell!!!!!!!

Our little monkey turned 1 years old today. I can't believe how fast it has gone, I wasn't sure we were going to make it but we did! Time to celebrate.