Starting of 2014!

I'm just going to throw a bunch of photos at you for this blog entry.  It helps me to share what we've been doing and to show some of my favorite caught-on-my-iphone memories from the past few weeks.  Amazing how we can now take photos ALL the time with the smart phones.  I have always been one to have a camera and take photos (even back in the days of rolls of film) but now it's even crazier.  I'm non-stop snapping pics.  Where as I have probably have viewed a total of FIVE photos from my father's ENTIRE childhood (and I think less of my mother's), I have taken that many of just Ella yesterday.  The times they have a'changed!  

Love this photo of my brother with the boys (though it is blurry--Apple definitely hasn't perfected the camera app on their iPhones...but can't complain!)

the girls!  hike @ Torrey Pines

playing cards (another blurry iPhone pic)

Chloë can ride without training wheels!!

Myke can run!!

Grandpa & Ella

My blondies

A photo taken from my iPhone while jogging on the beach (I carry the phone to track my distance...and to take pics on occasion)

Train trip from Encinitas to downtown San Diego- the boys first time on a real train!

They loved it!

And her first time, too!

Chloë & Gramma

Downtown San Diego

Ella & Chloë and their little friend, Addie

New Year's Eve kiddo Party in our front yard

Yes, we went to Chuck E. Cheese!  Chloë has been before, but it was a LONG time ago..first time for the boys.  They all LOVED the mini-air-hockey table the best.  Besides the fact that I made all my kids bath in a scalding water & bleach solution when we got home (KIDDING...kind of...), it was a great time!

Ready for Pajama Day at preschool!  

Thanks to Aunt Heather for the matching PJs for Christmas!

(Eli is holding a stuffed animal ladybug..he never lets that thing go these days!)

Checking out the beach with my boys

Love these guys!

Owen post-chocolate donut a a neighbor's birthday party

apparently this was on "Modern Family" - sent to me from my next-door neighbor

What a great name for a dance academy!

So here we are...mid-January already.  In just three weeks we get ready for our next round of visitors. Until then, we are on our own for the month of January.  By "on our own" I mean just the six of us.  Myke, myself and four small children.  We kind of get into a little groove when it's just us...and then it goes all up in the air when visitors arrive.  Not to say that visitors are a bad thing, because that's FAR from the truth.  It just changes the dynamic of the household and the day-to-day a bit.  It's great because Myke and I get more date nights, the kids get more one-on-one attention, the kids get time with grandparents/friends/aunts/uncles/etc, I can take the kids on more extensive outings and adventures and try new things that I wouldn't otherwise try.  Having more "hands on deck" lets you do that.  So I love it.  Not to mention the helping hands around the house.  The entire 3 weeks that my parents were here in December I think I unloaded the dishwasher ONCE (and Myke did it ZERO times).  The two of us usually each unload it at least once a day EACH.  Also, I don't think I folded ONE item of clothing during those three weeks.  It was wonderful!  Laundry is non-stop here.  There is almost always a pile of clothes waiting to be folded on our couch.  When my parents were here it was folded so fast and timely that I was backed up with a line of baskets of folded clothes to put away in everyone's drawers.   Ha..if it's not one problem it's another, right? :)

So, on another note, I've signed up for my VERY FIRST 10K race/run!  It will take place on February 2nd here in Encinitas.  I'm super excited...and training for it has taken my running to a new level.  I'm really finding that it's more a mental game than I had realized.  After having Ella, I wanted to get back into running...and by running, let me just explain: I'm not a long-distance runner by any means.  I enjoy a good run.  But we're talking 2-3 miles, tops.  In fact, when I would run 3 miles without stopping, I would have considered it a success.  So, I had talked to some friends about doing a 5K with me this past Fall...but they basically scoffed at the idea of spending money to run 3.2 miles.  They said that I COULD run more than that and I should skip the 5K race idea and go for the 10K.  I needed to stop "building up" to a 10K when I could actually run that much sooner than I let myself initially believe.  Long story short, we verbally planned to sign up for one in early December together but it ended up falling through due to our schedules/the holidays/etc.  I had been running 3-4x per week up until that point and didn't want to let that training fall to the wayside...so I ended up just searching for an upcoming local race and signed up for it.  And there you have it.   Three weeks to go.  I'm ready.  Before my training I had never run more than 3.5 miles at one time.  Ever.  The past week or two I've been pushing it..and Monday I ran 8.5 miles!  Definitely a record for me in terms of distance.  Ella was and usually is my running partner (I BARELY ever get to run without pushing a stroller.  When I run with "JUST" the single jogger I consider it a TREAT...the double jogger is a beast in comparison!).  She's the best running partner ever.  Never says a peep.  Just enjoys the ride and sometimes takes a little nap.

Just moments after our 8.5 mile run!

Two and a half weeks until the race and I'm feeling ready!   

Christmas Quick-Recap

The past month has been a whirlwind...but definitely a fun whirlwind of holiday hustle-bustle and cheer!  It was a WONDERFUL Christmas!  My brother and his significant other, Adriano, surprised us and flew in from where they live in Santiago, Chile to spend Christmas with us here in San Diego.  He had told me a few months back that he was coming on a  Delta BuddyPass (which is basically standby) so I had been so excited about the thought of my parents and my brother all being at our house for the holidays.  We decided we wouldn't tell my parents and we would surprise them.  Well, when it got up to the date they were going to attempt to get on the flight...the flight was full and there were no seats available for BuddyPass ticket-holders.  I was bummed, but figured they would have better luck the next day.  There is only one flight from Santiago to the US each day so they had to return to the airport each day to try to get on the flight.  To make a long story short, they came to the realization that they most likely wouldn't get on a flight unless they purchased an actual seat (versus a standby-type BuddyPass), so they did just that.  Except they didn't tell me they had done that. Instead, day after day I just kept getting texts from Hale (my brother) saying "No go" and "The flight was full again:(".   I was disappointed more and more each day and figured it just wasn't going to happen.  Well, in fact, they HAD gotten on a flight and were in L.A. for a couple days...even hanging out with one of my best friends, unbeknownst to me!  They decided to surprise Myke and I as well.  And they sure did! 

So it was a great Christmas having my family all together.  We had a full house with 10 people but it was such a fun time.  Plenty of sight-seeing (it was Adriano's first trip to the US), hiking, eating, drinking, eating, and eating and drinking.  And repeat.  I have 4 new pounds to show for it.   It rarely happens that we're all in the same place at the same time....so when it does I cherish every moment.

It was a wonderful week together :)

The End of T-Ball 2013

Chloë's first season of T-ball has finished.  She seemed to really enjoy it (MUCH more than the Pee-Wee soccer she was involved in last May/June.  However, almost every parent I mentioned that to told me their 3 or 4 year old also didn't like soccer...maybe it's the age?).  The T-ball practice and games were held every Saturday morning.  30 minutes of practice followed by a 30 minute game.  Chlo was one of two girls on her team.  She really enjoyed it, but I think her favorite part of all was getting her medal on the last day!  (We missed the last day of the soccer season so she never got that medal).  She was SO excited to get that medal and said, "I guess I am pretty good at T-ball".  

The Green Team

My proud baby girl!

This girl can run!  

Looking professional, huh?

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

12/9/13

Ready to head to the boys' preschool holiday performance

Now that the bump in the road that is Thanksgiving is over I can finally start immersing myself in all things Christmas.  KIDDING (about the bump in the road)...kind of..hahaha...I love and appreciate the Thanksgiving holiday and I'm all about counting my blessings, but I'm just feeling READY for Christmas this year.  More than any previous year.  Maybe it's because I have four children?  Maybe it's because we are spending it in our new home this year and I'm not having to think about packing suitcases, fighting the holiday crowds, etc.  Who knows.  Either way, I'm excited and I'm loving the holiday season.  Last year I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with Ella and we traveled to Colorado for the holidays.  It was A LOT of fun, a really great trip, but, since we weren't around for actual Christmas AND since we were moving THE DAY AFTER we returned from Colorado (literally...less than 12 hours after our plane landed back in San Diego the moving truck arrived at our house to move us) we didn't decorate.  So decorating this year was a lot of fun.  I hadn't seen my decorations in 2 years and I didn't even remember what I had.  Also, this year Chloë is 4 1/2 and really GETS it.  She's a big help.  She decorated the tree, helped put up other decorations around the house, helped Myke string lights outside, etc.  She's really into it.  That makes it all the more fun.

Chloë doing her thing

We found a singing Elmo stocking in one of our tubs of holiday decor.

Must have been a grandparent-purchase back in 2011!

Myke got a remote control Christmas train that circles the bottom of the tree.  The kids LOVE it.  

All my little ones.

The boys (Eli peaking out on the left, Owen in red on the right)

at their preschool holiday performance.  All the kids kind of stood there like 

deer in headlights.  

Santa was there post-performance!  Ella still did not LOVE Santa.

Here we are visiting Santa the week before.  

Speaking of Ella, she's suddenly eating EVERYTHING.  

Not too interested in pureed baby food these days.

Her she is trying pizza for the first time.  

Love that toothless grin :)

Sant

Post Thanksgiving Ramblings

Myke headed off to bed but I'm awake...and I'm feeling awake...not completely exhausted like I usually am at the end of a long day rearing 4 small children.  At first I couldn't figure out where this surge of energy was coming from, but then it dawned on me:  Ella has been sleeping through the night for the past 5-6 (or more?) nights!!  FINALLY!!   It has been nine long months of waking up to feed her in the night.  She quickly went to just one wake up back when she was just a few months old, and was even doing long stretches and sleeping until 4:30 or 5am back in July....so I THOUGHT she was going to be starting to sleep a nice 12 hour stretch at any time.  But NO!!  Besides a couple flukes where she actually slept from her bedtime (6:30/7pm) until around sunrise, she, for the most part, regressed since July.  Started waking up 1-2 times here and there.  Woke up to eat at 3am.  Then it moved to 1:30am?!  What?!  Anyways, she has now slept 10-12 hour stretches for almost a week in a row so (I'M HOPING!) it's not a fluke this time.  I'm so excited about the whole idea of a solid night's sleep!  Now, if I can just get Chloë to stop waking me up at 3am to "fix her sheets"!  Argg!

It's Monday.  Back to the grind after a lovely 4 day holiday weekend.  Was nice to have Myke around and have a second set of hands.  Makes it much easier to go on outings and do fun things with the kids when there is another adult.  We kept to our very un-traditional Thanksgiving and went out to eat.  The "un-tradition" started two years ago when the boys were just 6 months old.  We had a 2 1/2 year old and twin 6 month olds.  We definitely weren't traveling and we don't have family in the area so we celebrated at home in Pacific Beach.  No one had time to cook/wanted to cook/was allowed to cook because it meant leaving the other person with 3 small children for a prolonged length of time....whatever the reason, we ordered food from our favorite Thai place and called it a day!  It was fabulous!  Last year, we planned to do the same thing...but found out last minute that the Thai place was closed that year.  We ended up taking the kids to Denny's for pancakes instead (and Myke and I cooked our own pad thai at the house later) and thus started yet another un-tradition: pancakes on Thanksgiving.  It's PERFECT for toddlers and young kids.  They LOVE it.  Otherwise, it will be a fight for them to try green bean casseroles, squash, etc.  I have picky eaters.  Growing up, I was a very picky eater.  In fact, I remember thinking that traditional Thanksgiving meals were my "worst meal I could imagine".  I never liked turkey (except in cold-cut form), gravy and cranberry sauces made me cringe, I despised mashed potatoes.... green beans and sweet potatoes?!  Forget it!  I never liked (and still don't) pumpkin pie.  It wasn't until later in adulthood that I started really liking the traditional Thanksgiving fare... except substitute tofurkey for turkey, please :)   So pancakes are fun.  There is no complaining with pancakes.  No whining.  Just happy children.  I think we'll keep this up for another few years...at least!

Thanksgiving at Encinitas Cafe

(we stepped it up this year in our new hometown!)

Chocolate chip pancakes!

Owen loves it!

(He also loves his new Batman hat and won't take it off)

Eli is a plain-pancake-type-of-guy

Even Ella got to munch on some pancake

Chloë's preschool Thanksgiving potluck feast

(I was the mom who supplied the vegetarian chicken nuggets..it wasn't on the sign-up sheet (surprise, surprise) so I added it, drew a line, and put Chloë's name next to it)

Another November tradition is family photo shoot at JC Penny

Then a visit to see Santa (which is at the same mall)

At least Eli didn't cry this year...!

A few more pics from our weekend:

Sisters at the park

Best invention ever at VONS grocery store

And today (on Myke's lunch break)

picking out our tree!!! Yay!

Except Myke had to take all the seats out of the van and go back to the tree lot to pick it up after work since our van doesn't have a roof rack on it.

And this is the inside of our minivan.  No tree is fitting in here.  Is it weird that this is starting to look

normal to me?  4 car seats!  At least there is still a spot for Kyla.  

All the previous pics were taken with my iPhone.  It's sad.  Of course it's nice to have a camera on my phone and the ability to quickly take photos whenever I want to capture a moment....but I really need to use my "good" camera more often.  The difference in quality is amazing.  Here is a pic from Ella taken today with the "good" camera.  Much better than the above blurry photos.  Man, my little baby is growing up way too fast....but at least she's sleeping through the night!!  :)

She's crawling now! Started 2 weeks ago at 9 months old.