a little mid-breakfast stretch

this morning i turned around to find joel and kadin like this:

here is the conversation that ensued:

me: what are you guys doing?

joel: we're stretching!

me: oh ya? that's cool.

joel: ya. we have "crummies in our tummies." we have to stretch before we finish our breakfast. (100 points to anyone who knows what book that quote is from)

looking for entertainment? search no further than your local toddler.

holiday laughter

has anyone seen this gap commercial with jon heder yet? seriously cracks me up. may your holiday season be filled with joy and laughter!!

reading time

i just LOVE that my boys LOVE to read. it drives me crazy when they practically empty their bookcase and bring ALL the books out to the couch or to my bed, but the cleanup is totally worth it when i see them doing this...

sniff, sniff... the surfer locks are gone

so i finally submitted to cutting joel's hair... ben made me do it. :)

here's the before:

















here's the after:

i forgot to take a before shot of kadin's hair, but it looks pretty much the same. i keep his hair pretty short because it's so stick-straight and fine, but he's darling anyway...

the sweetest day ever...

okay, this is about a day that was NOT the sweetest day ever. on thursday i put my boys down for their nap at around 2:00. after going in the room several times, administering a few spankings and trying desperately to get them to just go to sleep, kadin came waddling out of their room at about 4:15. he was COVERED in poop and both boys were freaking out. why can't i just use my nose sometimes?!! i'm sure he'd pooped a while before that and that's why they weren't sleeping. and i felt terrible that i spanked them for goofing around when the problem could have been easily solved if i had just paid attention and used my head. anyway, the sheets and blankets were smeared, the crib was covered, there were chunks ground into the carpet and, of course, kadin and blue doggie were a mess. he had swung his leg over the side of his crib to climb out and... you get the picture. sick, sick, sick, disgusting, sick. so after a bath, some serious carpet scrubbing and a load of laundry (complete with some intense stain treatment), everything and everyone was clean and fresh.

about 20 minutes after i finished the clean up, i was blowing bubbles for the boys. they were having a grand old time, squealing with joy... swatting, popping and running after bubbles. smack! head on collision. kadin came out unscathed, but joel was clearly hurt as he was sobbing and carrying on, which he never does... kadin is usually the one that gets injured from their wrestling episodes. joel had this huge black and blue goose-egg swelling up under his eye. i had to pin him down to keep ice on the bruise and it was not easy. it was all very traumatic and tragic for joel. i couldn't decide whether to cry or laugh for him... he was very dramatic. needless to say, i got a great workout that afternoon... and joel is sportin' a sweet shiner.

joel pouting about having his picure taken.
"okay, i'll humor you and smile, but i won't look at the camera." anyone else have a hard time getting their kids to look at the camera? drives me nuts!
ben and joel wrestling... is it any wonder that joel has a shiner?!!

24 hours in sacramento

ben ran the run the river half marathon in sacramento on the 15th and i'm just gonna say that he pretty much rocks. his goal was to get under 90 minutes... he came in at 1:28:03. he placed 7th overall and 1st in the 25-29 age group. can you tell that i'm such a proud wife?

while we were at my parents that weekend, grandpa bill set up one of the train sets for joel and kadin and they were in their element all day long. between the dogs, the trampoline and the trains, there was constant entertainment for the boys which resulted in never-ending happiness for me.

tagged

jackie tagged me and i thought this one was pretty fun. and easy. which is important.

this is the fourth picture in the fourth photo of our iphoto collection:

this is on our trip to hawaii a couple years ago... looking kinda dorky on our hotel bed.

i tag morgan, janaya (she needs things to blog about, even though today she had 2 posts in one day) and jillian (i want to see if she even has a fourth folder of pictures).

costumes, candy and cuties

ben took the boys to the ward halloween party while i was out of town for the weekend. he had to give them suckers before they even got to the party so they would calm down and put their costumes on without freaking out. ben said they were seriously a mess by the end of the night as you can see from the pictures below. but that's what halloween is all about though, right? ...letting your kids gorge themselves on candy while making a sticky mess for you to clean up. they had a great time, so it was worth it.

joel was a bat (or a "batty-bat" as he likes to call it).

kadin was a monkey.

i was so sad i missed it, but at least i have this cute shot to make up for that.
on halloween night, we took the boys trick-or-treating with a couple of their favorite friends, sam and charlie. kadin insisted on eating the candy he had received after every house, so we had a hard time moving him along as fast as the older three boys, but they all had a good time and got plenty of candy. one great thing about having so much candy in the house is that i have some excellent leverage to get my boys to eat their broccoli (they call them "trees") and carrots. they have to eat three of each before they get a piece of candy. totally genius. except they are probably eliminating all the healthy benefits of their veggies by immediately eating sugar. oh well. i do what i can.

6 1/2 months

i haven't been very diligent at documenting my pregnancy like i hoped i would. oh well. here's my ever expanding belly at 28 weeks or 6 1/2 months or how ever you like to say it.

moral support

just a little something to bring a smile to your face... i took this back in may when we were potty training joel. kadin was such a fantastic cheerleader for joel's pooping efforts. maybe i can recruit him to be MY pooping cheerleader after i deliver my baby. happy pooping to all!

pregnant brain

i was making some crumble topping for blueberry muffins the other day and look where i dumped the teaspoon of cinnamon. yep, right into the flour tupperware. whoops. ben decided we should just mix the cinnamon into the flour. a little cinnamon makes everything delicious, right? i made some chocolate chip cookies the next day and they were decadent as usual. phew.

my darling mr. four-eyes

ben almost failed his eye test this summer when getting his california drivers license so he took a trip to the doctor a few weeks ago. he came home after picking up his new glasses this week and said, "i could've been seeing things!" any brian regan fans out there? speaking of brian regan, the eye doctor informed ben at his appointment that his left eye is bigger than his right eye and ben totally almost burst out laughing. "it doesn't affect your vision at all, i just thought you would want to be self-conscious for the rest of your life." hmmmm. thanks doc. here he is again posing to look studious. isn't he cute?

i love you my sedu

this just arrived in the mail last week. a birthday money purchase. it doesn't catch my hair or pull on it. love it, love it, LOVE IT! maybe i'll actually do my hair every once in a while now.

the new husky

sorry for the delay on the husky report. thanks for all your great suggestions! we gave joel the new husky about a week ago yesterday. in the end, we decided not to lie to him about the fact that this wasn't his real husky. here's basically what happened:

me: "mommy and daddy have something for you joel." ben pulls out the husky from behind his back.

joel: "i don't want a NEW husky! i want MY husky!" he takes it and throws it aside.

ben and i look at each other like, "crap."

me: "this is husky's brother. husky sent him to keep you company."

joel: "but i want carter to bring me MY husky from the beach." (carter is joel's cousin, just 3 months older than joel, who was very concerned when he heard about husky being gone. he offered joel to come and help him look for husky. very sweet, but he lives in washington.)

me: "well bud, i'm really sorry but i don't think your husky is coming back. it's husky's brother or nothing." (this is breaking my heart!)

kadin: "i want him!"

joel: "NO! he's MINE!" (joel grabs the dog)

nice. that's all it took. the prospect of his little brother getting the new dog instead of him. and he hasn't parted with it since. i took this picture about five minutes after the introduction. notice how beautiful and shiny and fluffy and plump husky is? it won't last for long. it's only been a week and he's already filthy. also, notice that kadin has his blue doggie with him, too. we need to start investing in TY stuffed animals. this is ridiculous.

RIP husky

it finally happened... on our trip to the beach this past labor day, joel lost his beloved husky dog. husky has been a constant in joel's life since he was born... a precious friend that he has toted along almost everywhere and cuddled with every night for almost four years. he's been pretty sad, but i almost cried when ben repeated what joel had expressed in his prayer one night last week while i was at yoga:

"dear heavenly father, we thank thee for mommy and daddy and kadin and joelie. please bless the toys and the food (this is the exact prayer he says every time, no matter the time of day, despite our encouragement for variance)." he pauses. "please bless husky that he can be not scared at the beach. bless carter to be safe when he brings my husky to me. and bless husky that he can have fun in the surfing. in the name of jesus christ, amen."


seriously tragic. so we just HAD to order another husky... and it's on the way to our house as we speak from those folks at amazon. but i'm a little worried how he's going to take to a brand new husky. obviously joel's going to notice that it's not the same dog. he's no dummy. any suggestions on how we should handle it? what we should say? how to introduce the new husky?

a quick question

so has anyone else who's been pregnant before had the distinct feeling that your baby is about to fall out while you're, say... blowing your nose? or maybe while pushing your poop out?

just wondering.

maybe it's time for some kegels.

we're having...

a boy!

crazy huh? i guess ben and i are just meant to have little dudes. i sure love our little guys, though, so what could be better than to have another? he looks really healthy and is measuring right at 18 weeks.

details

thanks for all the conrats you guys! so i'm 17 weeks along and i have an ultrasound scheduled for this wednesday the 27th. hopefully we'll have a cooperative babe that day so we can find out the gender. we are hoping for a girl, but we're pretty partial to darling, little boys... so, of course, we'll be elated either way. my due date is january 28. kadin's birthday is january 21 so they'll be almost exactly 3 years apart.

as for the half marathon i ran.... i was 5 1/2 weeks along at that point and it was the weekend before i started getting tired, sick, nauseous, etc. if i ran it a week later, it wouldn't have gone so well. :) i'm running another half marathon this weekend and i assure you that it will probably take me a good 15 minutes longer to finish this one. but i'm grateful that i've been able to continue running and push through my yucky, sick weeks... i have my running buddies to thank for that. running has helped me to feel better, though. on the days that i didn't get a run in, i felt MUCH more pukey. but i'm feeling pretty good now. YES!

i never took pictures of myself pregnant with my first two babies, so i decided that i'm going to take a picture of my budding belly every month this time around. here's 4 months along:

take a gander at kadin's "special" shirt

see whitney run

on may 31 i ran the all women's "see jane run" 1/2 marathon in alameda with a couple of cute girlies, maren and kristen. it was an absolutely perfect running day in every sense of the word. it was nice and cool outside... it was a fast, flat course with a fantastic view of san fran and the golden gate across the bay from us... and best of all, i felt incredible. i love those kind of runs. i just wanted to post a sub-2 hour race and i did just that, finishing in 1:56:35. note to self: screaming and waving while running by does not make for a good picture.

the victorious finishers. kristen on the left, maren in the middle.

santa cruz sweet santa cruz

it's a long standing tradition for our family to camp at new brighton beach near santa cruz over memorial day weekend every year. this year was as fabulous as ever... lots of catching up with old friends, tons of beach time, a visit to the monterey bay aquarium and, of course, gobs of yummy food and campfires galore. we took lots of pictures of the kiddos. they're the good lookin' ones anyway...

joel and kadin snuggling together on their air mattress.
jellyfish.
checking out the hammerheads.
"i'm a whale mom!"
tearing it up on the longboard.
best brothers... with a hammer.
cutie pie boys.

oh yeah

anybody else watch the americans upset the french relay team in the mens 4x100 meter freestyle swim last night?!! absolutely incredible. it was almost midnight and i was jumping up and down and screaming at the top of my lungs with my kids sleeping in the next room. man, i love the olympics. you HAVE to watch the replay here.

catch up

i have been the worst blogger lately. i'm lucky if i get two posts a month in. so, in the next week or two i'm going to try to post all the stuff we've been up to over the last few months. let's start with the los altos hills pathways 10k that ben and i and some friends of ours ran on may 10. this was seriously the hardest race i have EVER run... and i think that includes any of the marathons i've finished. well, maybe not THAT hard, but take a look at the elevation profile:
ya, seriously psycho. ben totally rocked it. he finished in 46:27 and got 1st place in his age division and seventh place overall! now we have this trophy on our dresser that literally looks like they nailed 2 blocks of wood together. that's brook, kaylynn's boyfriend, with ben. he finished third in his age group. he luckily ended up with a nice medal instead of a trophy that looks like a... well, you know.
as for myself, i wanted to get under an hour and i did it just barely coming in at 59:54. that's about seven minutes slower than my fastest 10k time, but i'm just happy i finished alive. thanks to lindsey, who kept me going on those crazy hills... and for e-mailing me her pictures from the race as ben and i, once again, forgot our camera. here's some shots of all of us loco runners after we finished.

the girls
the boys
all of us
afterwards, we all met at hobee's for a delicious, high calorie breakfast. if you ever run across a hobee's in california, i suggest the blueberry coffee cake. divine. it was a totally fun morning.

up tomorrow (or the day after)... santa cruz camping bliss!

giveaway

click this to enter to win this:

totally darling. good luck to you and good luck to me! :)

ummm...

so this morning, we're sitting in church and kadin starts singing, "bow chica wow-wow, bow chica wow-wow..." ben and i couldn't stop laughing. nice songs we teach our kids, huh?

and proof that kadin is seriously one of the sweetest kids around (usually)... i was laying on the couch today after church and kadin climbs up and says,

"do you want your bwankie on, mommy?"

"yes! that is so nice of you, kadin!"

"here you go, mommy."

he throws the blanket that we keep on the back of the couch on me still folded up. as i'm unfolding it and throwing it over myself he says,

"there you go. is that good?"

geez, i just wanted to kiss him.

family portraits

my friend, meghan, snapped some fabulous family pictures for us a few weeks back. here are some of my faves:




check out her smugmug page if you live in the bay area and want an amazing photographer that doesn't cost too much. and click here to see more shots of our silly little dudes.

livin' the life

was anybody as excited as ben and i were on tuesday for the release of coldplay's new album viva la vida? we pre-prdered it on itunes two months ago and what delight to have it magically appear in our itunes library overnight. this music really makes me happy.

i think i'm losing my mind...

does anybody else scream at their children at the absolute top of their lungs occasionally? or all the time? maybe i'm PMSing or something. here's what happened at lunch today:

i throw a bag of popcorn in the microwave and go do something else while it's popping.

joel climbs onto a stool to watch the popcorn pop and opens the microwave door half-way through the popping process.

me: (screaming as loud as i possibly can, mind you) "what in the world are you doing?!! don't ever, ever touch the microwave!! you just ruined this bag of popcorn!!! (insert more shouted ramblings here) AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" (and i seriously just clenched my fists down at my sides and hollered "ah" as ear shatteringly as i could)

joel: he looks at me bewildered for a couple seconds and then says, "it's okay mom."

wise words indeed from a 3-year-old.

all this over a bag of popcorn that probably cost 50 cents. just tell me i'm not the devil, please.

the joy of pictures

a couple of months ago, our boys wiped a bunch of stuff on our computer clean somehow. i sat down to our trusty iMAC one afternoon and all of our programs were missing EVERYTHING... no songs in itunes, no favorites on my firefox window, NO PICTURES IN IPHOTO. i seriously cried. we're talking a couple thousand pictures documenting our lives for the last few years. so tragic.

yesterday i was trying to find something on our hard drive and... low and behold, there were all of our missing pictures. hiding safely in the shared folder. they had somehow been erased from iphoto, but not completely from our computer.

i cried again.

so i spent all afternoon yesterday going through all of our pictures that i had mourned so tragically. pictures are so awesome. i had to share a couple of baby pictures of my precious boys.

this is joel at about 7 months... how can anyone resist that huge, "charlie brown" noggin with those enormous, twinkling brown eyes?! you can't, i tell you. :)


this is kadin at about 2 months... have you ever seen such darling squeezable jowels? i think not! :)