Ian's Friday at "work"

Ian's office has been in transition and moving to a different building on base so Friday there was pretty much no work that was going to be able to be done so they decided to have a day off. This led some of the guys to plan a hike up in Poway at Lake Poway. They met up there about 8 am and hiked 3.9 miles each way. I believe Ian said they started out at 1200 feet elevation and ended up at about 2300 feet. He said it took them about two hours to get up to the top and about an hour to descend. Needless to say he could not walk the remainder of the day. I tried hard (without succeeding much not to laugh). He really enjoyed it though. Hiking is something I have really wanted to start doing so hopefully I can talk him into going more. Our only issue is finding trails that are easier for the kids and stroller accessible. The one he went on Friday definitely was NOT that.
I was shocked that he actually took the camera with him and took pictures including having someone take one of HIM! Maybe he is finally learning? :)

Busy week!

This was a busy week for sure with doctor appointments, last day of 1st grade for Jacob, dinner with friends, cat fishing until the early morning hours and a nice big hike for Ian. Here are a few highlights

At my request Ian moved the kids' little pic nic table into the kitchen so Owen can start doing fun things like play play dough and have snacks at a table his own size. He LOVES it. We have had quite a few messes but a lot of smiles too which makes up for those messes (most of the time!) He is very proud of himself and thinks he is quite the big boy. I guess I should also mention that I shaved his head last week. Ian came home from a church meeting and I got the look of death. I think though, now that a week has passed, he is used to it and its not such a big deal. I think he looks a lot like his big brother Jacob and lets face it its HAIR it will grow back!

Here are a couple of pictures of the two peas in a pod. I try to ignore the fact that Ian is going to be gone so much come next spring because Owen especially is quite attached to his daddy. Just about every night if I try to put him down to bed he flat out refuses to go to sleep until Ian goes in to say goodnight. Obviously I doubt he can stay up for 7 months but it sure is going to be "fun" when Ian is gone. Can you tell they love each other?



I had to pull out the camera the other day. Ian got home from work and I was cleaning up in the kitchen and I walk into the living room and he is standing there still in full uniform including boots and his cover "helping" the boys with a lego star wars game. I laughed and teased him about it and he told me to hush that he was just helping really quickly. Well a good 15 minutes later I found him in the exact same spot. This is when the camera came out. It just gave me a good laugh. The boys did appreciate his help, of course.

Friday Ian had the day off and he met up with some guys from work and did a hike at Lake Poway (pictures to follow in another post). He called me and told me if I could get the boys to take a nap he would take them cat fishing that night after we went to have dinner with some friends from church. I doubted they would nap but when given the explanation that it meant staying up late to cat fish they both passed out. Figures! So, we enjoyed a YUMMY Korean dinner with some new friends and then the three "men" headed out to the lake to fish. Nathan made it to about 11:15 before he passed out. Jacob, however, made it the entire way home. I believe Ian said they got home around 1 am. That is pretty darn good for a 7 year old! Unfortunately no fish were caught but the first thing the boys said to me when they woke yesterday was "mom we didn't catch anything BUT we didn't complain AT ALL! so does that mean we can go again?" I think it does. I think I better learn to fish so they can continue to go next year or we may have some serious issues and withdrawals. How did I end up with three boys again? (I would not change it for anything).

Sunday Sunday

Happy Sunday to all! Today was quite the busy day but here are a couple of pictures to share.

Owen was so cute having his bagel and watching tv with his "mo mo's" that I had to get a shot.


Then later today to Ian's horror I gave Owen his first buzz cut. It turned out fairly good besides the bald spot I gave him behind his ear...but I saved 10 bucks and he will be nice and cool now. He looks SO much like Jacob did at this age and so blonde now! Here he is helping daddy mow the yard. He was really trying hard!


Then meet Ginger. She is our neighbor's chiuaua and we are watching her for the week. She spends a lot of her time at her house but since we were home all day I brought her over. The boys, especially Nathan who has been begging for a chiuaua for about a year now are in heaven. Just call us dog boarding house. At the end of next week we will have Valerie's dog, Chancer for two weeks. All I have to say is thank God Jackson is gone.

Onto the new week! Jacob finishes the 1st grade Wednesday! Finally!

School year endings....

I have to say there are pros and cons about year-round school. Right about now we are all ready for school to be out. Wednesday is Jacob's last day and Nathan finished preschool yesterday. Here are some highlights of the past couple of days.

Prince Jacob! As a last project Jacob was assigned to "with the help of your parents" build and design a castle. Then they dressed as princes and princesses and had a "royal ball" in their "royal" classroom. They have been learning about fairy tails and fiction and Jacob has been loving every minute of it. I think his castle turned out pretty cute. He wanted this HUGE elaborate thing and I had to knock him a bit back down to reality but after all was said and done it was great.



Nathan's Preschool! Yesterday Nathan had his last day of preschool. He got a certificate and a killer whale stuffed animal from his teachers. He was/IS so excited to be starting Kinder. It is not going to come soon enough for either of us I don't think. He is beyond ready to be off and running. I unfortunately had to miss his party but Ian was a trooper and took pictures for me.



Jacob's Family Day! Today was the last "Family Day" of the year for Jacob so Nathan, Owen and I joined him for the first half hour of class and the boys read together. Walking into the school Jacob and Nathan were in front of me and I noticed they were holding hands walking. They were totally involved in their own conversation so I had to sneak a picture. It is the little moments like that that make everything else in the world right.

It is finally feeling like Summer around here!!

Time to FINALLY break out or should I say in the Slip and Slide!! And you can't have slip and slide fun without Popsicles! Owen just wanted to drink all the water and then after watching his brothers began to slither like a snake up and down the slide. The boys were less than thrilled with his slow motion. It is even hotter today. We are all hoping for a beach trip today or tomorrow!

Owen and the very, very, very LONG week!

This has been quite the week with Owen. Well, really it has been quite the 8 months since we moved here that he has been sick. He finished round three of antibiotics for his 3rd sinus infection since December mid week last week. He seemed "ok" for a few days. Sunday we went to church as normal and he went to the nursery all by himself for the first time and seemed to have a good time but then......after his nap he woke up warm and cried and cried and screamed the rest of the day. Monday came and we had plans to go to the beach again but he woke up with 101-102 fever and was so miserable. So he and I spent the entire day on the couch. Every time the Tylenol wore off the fever spiked. There was even more crying that day. Poor kid. Monday he woke up seeming better but it lasted only about an hour. It was a crazy day for me with both kids in their separate schools and two doctor appointments but I cancelled my appointments and made him one. Thank goodness I did. By the time we got there his eye was all puffed up and purple. I honestly was not sure if he fell in his crib and hit himself or if it had to do with whatever sickness he had. The doctor came him and we talked and she saw how he had just gotten off the meds and then she checked his ears. FULL of puss. Both of them. The purple around his eye was the infection moving into his sinuses around his eye. GREAT! So after discussion we decided to give him shots of heavy doses of antibiotics. He was so miserable and cried the rest of that day. Then Wednesday came. The nurses told me he would be a different boy the next day. It was definitely a different kid that went running into the waiting room greeting each receptionist with a big "HI HI HI". His ears were clearer and there was no more fever but definitely still not better. So here we are on a third round of meds, this time stronger ones for 10 days. We go back on the 20th to recheck and reassess. The doctor is putting in a referral to see a ENT specialist and we will go from there. We also had maintenance come out and check every window, door, under the sink, in the bathroom etc for any signs of moisture/mold. They found none. I see allergy testing and tubes in his future. I just want him to get better. He still is not feeling well and is spending the day crying but you have to add in teething (he cut one eye tooth this week) and the fact he is pushing 20 months and smart. He knows what he wants and holy heck if you don't give it to him and fast enough. His vocabulary is growing leaps and bounds. Our favorites are his saying "bless you" when someone sneezes and "thank you". He is getting better and better with the colors too and I think is recognizing at least green. He says yellow really well surprisingly. He drags this ripped animal book around everywhere wanting me to look at the pictures with him. I had no idea he could say Lion or Giraffe until the other day. He calls Giraffes "raffes". I love this age where they just soak everything up.

He is now refusing to sit in his booster seat. He wants to kneel and sit like us. So we have tried a few meals and I have to say he does pretty good and its a lot more peaceful.


Now if the screaming would just subside. Ian and I are both ready to put in ear plugs....

While it has been a LONG week there have been a few fun moments. On Wednesday the boys and I were playing in the play room when Ian got home. All three boys ran to the window along with the dog and were screaming DADDY DADDY DADDY over and over again. I had to take a picture. Keira had followed me down stairs but you can see the boys. They always are thrilled when he comes home but for whatever reason they were exceptionally overjoyed this day!

Jacob came home today with a certificate saying he has reached level 16 for reading! This is the level he needs to be at to meet the standards for the fourth quarter of school. He made it! We are so proud of him. Through his struggles he is improving every day. His assignment for this week is to design and construct a castle and then they are having a ball in their "royal classroom". He is SO excited to do it he has been driving me NUTS! We hope to get it accomplished this weekend. So, stayed tuned to pictures of prince Jacob and his castle.

Oh and I can't forget Nathan. He is practicing writing his name. He can do first and last now without any help from me at all. So now we are moving onto having him write it neatly in the lines. I struggled so much with Jacob both with his willingness to work with me and his fine motors that it is such a different experience having Nathan do it. He complains very little and just has a better grasp of the fine motors. He finishes preschool this upcoming week and is driving me bananas begging (and I mean crying begging) to go to kindergarten every day. September cannot come soon enough for that boy!

DOG Beach!

The weather down here has not been the best. It has definitely been "June gloom". It is overcast at the house until noon some days which means the coast is staying gray all day. We decided though this morning to brave the weather and head out anyways. We were actually more worried about the crowds. Seeing as Jackson left last night we thought we would try to take Keira with us and venture to dog beach instead of our "normal" beach out on the Island. We have not taken Keira since we lived here years ago. Ian said he knew of a spot right off a channel that would be better with no waves that the kids, including Owen could play without us having to worry about them being swept away. We were shocked to find parking right away. I guess the weather is a good thing! The water in the channel was much warmer too. Ian was right. It was the perfect spot. We enjoyed almost 3 hours of fun in the sand and sometimes sun. Finally Owen came up to me asking to go "ni-night" and asking for his monkey and plug. That was our cue that it was time to pack up. I think we will be heading back there much more often. Keira did so good too. After living in Illinois and not being around many other dogs she just was not sure how to act around them. After having Jackson here she is SO much better. She had a blast. I guess he was good for something after all.



Somebody was getting rather sleepy by this point....




This is Owen's little friend a puggle. They played ball for a good hour. So cute!

This is a sand sculpture of Keira or so the boys said...


Check out Jacob's glasses tan:) It cracks me up.

We all had such a good time. Of course I slathered the kids with sun screen and um kind of forgot myself. I am quite red at this point and it is not feeling so good. Smart one I can be sometimes! We hope to get back to the beach on Monday.

Happy 4th!!

The beginnings of a great weekend!

I love long weekends!

To end last week Jacob's homework for the week was to make a patriotic hat to wear in a parade through the 2nd grade class rooms. They could take a hat and transform it or make one with paper etc. I got a few supplies at the dollar store and he and I got to work. I think it turned out pretty cute. His teacher had to call me to talk about something and she told me he was so cute and had the cutest hat there. By the time I picked him up he was irritated because of course all the kids LOVED his bells and kept ringing them. I told him that is what he gets for having such a cool hat.

Thursday night Ian and I finally got away for a few hours to celebrate our anniversary. Better late than never, right? We had planned to go on a hike and have a pic nic but time constraints led us to just have the pic nic without the hike. We went to a little park that overlooks Mission Bay and ate yummy treats Ian had gotten at the store. He even packed our champagne glasses from our wedding. Afterwards I asked him to take me to Costco because I was craving their gelato. One of the Costcos here in town is one of two in the country that serve it. It is SO good. I bet you are jealous!


The view from our pic nic spot. And a picture of the two of us. I think one of the best parts was not having to get all dolled up!:)


And the very BEST part of the weekend?!?! Jackson the dog has MOVED ON! I can't begin to say how much of a relief that is. I hope he is happy wherever it is she took him to stay. I am just so glad I am not the one that has to be on edge 24/7 anymore!