Budding Artists and Storytellers

Annabelle came home from school the other day with this picture, and she was so excited to tell me about it. It was so cute, I thought I should write it down for posterity!







Then, when Wyatt saw that I was scanning it for the computer, he, of course, needed to do his own!!!

Annabelle's New Dance Class

Here's a little video of Annabelle's "Christmas Dance". She's only been 3 times, so this is really cute. They have a recital in May, and she is soooo excited about it already!!! Enjoy!!!

Not Enough Time, or Not Enough Hands!

It's either one or the other around here these days! I have quite a few pictures and stories, but just haven't been able to get to them! I'll try to get something here today...it may be cut short, though. I'll do as much as I can!!!

My parents were awesome...they came down before Thanksgiving...we all thought I'd have Daphne long before I did, so we tried to plan their trip around her arrival so that they could help with the kids. Well...Daphne had other plans, so they had to change their flights to leave on Friday, knowing that I'd be induced on Tuesday. They schlepped the kids around to school and other activities, cooked, fed, bathed, cleaned, fixed and were overall just amazing. All the while getting sick from the kids...I brought Daphne home on Wednesday and had to take Wyatt to the Dr. on Thursday - he had bronchitis and an ear infection! Yikes!!! Thank you, mom and dad!!!

Grandma , Grandpa, Wyatt and Annabelle meeting Daphne a few hours after she was born!

Water Polo doesn't stop just because a baby was born!!! Matthew and Wyatt are heading out for Wyatt's first introduction to a real water polo practice!!! He loved it and can't wait for more! He is going about once a week to the intro program. Matthew has even started taking our nephew Jackson, and another friend from Wyatt's class. He is a shameless self-promoter!!! :)




The kids litterally can't keep their hands off Daphne! I must say a thousand times a day to not touch her face or hands. I'm doing all I can to keep her healthy through the winter...we'll see how it works! They both are excited to see her first thing when they wake up in the morning, want to hold her various times througout the day, and are not happy if she's not in my arms when I come to their room to kiss them good night. Thank goodness they love her!!!

Had to get a picture of a cute new outfit!

Matthew and Annabelle looking cute!

Matthew's been teaching Annabelle the "sorority pose"!

And...they got Daphne to do it, too!!!

Awwww..... :)

Wyatt loooooovvvveeesss to hold Daphne!

Santa Day! I decided to bathe all three kids (and myself!) get them dressed and take them to see Santa! We made it in one piece, although it was quite an undertaking for me!

Here's Daphne's first bath!!!

Annabelle greeting Santa - she was so excited!

She told him that she wants the big box of all the princesses that she saw at Target!

Wyatt greeting Santa...Santa really liked Wyatt's hat!!

Explaining the Star Wars thing that he wants. I didn't hear all of it, so I'll need to clarify!!

Daphne telling Santa that mama needs a new purse! :)

When the kids looked at this picture with all of them, one of them said, "Wow, that's a lot of kids!" Funny!!!

Next on the To Do list...Christmas Cards!!! :)

Just to Wet Your Appetite!

I don't have a lot of time for details, right now! All is well and we are settling in to our new addition! Daphne is absolutely wonderful, and Wyatt and Annabelle are over the moon with her! Here are some pictures:

Not really enjoying her first bath. Glad I wasn't there with her for it!!!

Grandma and Grandpa brought the proud brother and sister up to the hospital!

Annabelle talking to Daphne while we decorated the Christmas tree.
Checking out the tree!


She's thinking hard about something...

If You're Checking here...

You'll notice that that fun little baby count-down to the right says ZERO. That's because the baby is due today, and today we still have a bun in the oven. No signs of him or her making an appearance so far, but he or she WILL be here Tuesday, Wednesday if things take a long time. I have an induction appointment for early Tuesday morning, and will be shocked even more than I already am if I haven't had this baby by then!

We'll let everyone know when something has happened!!!

First Loose Tooth!

For some crazy reason, Matthew told the kids they could have Drumsticks for breakfast on Saturday. The ice cream kind. For breakfast. Of course they were beside themselves, and enjoyed every minute of this early morning treat! Wyatt was busy eating away when all of a sudden he burst into tears. He was crying so hard that he couldn't tell us what it was that he was crying about. After a minute we were able to calm him down enough for him to tell us that when he bit down into his Drumstick, his bottom tooth got stuck and it hurt! Low and behold, that tooth is now loose!!! We get daily updates on it, now. He seems to think it's getting more and more wiggly each day, which I'm sure it is, but it still seems like it's a ways away from coming close to falling out all the way. I'm totally excited about it...Matthew is less than so. It grosses him out, which I can only think that he has nightmares of Wyatt's top tooth being ripped from its gums when he was only 11 months old!

Wyatt is becoming known and the "smiley kid" around Montair School. More than one parent has commented on how he is always smiling. It's funny, because it's true, except that he keeps his grumpiest self hidden away until those times he's only with his mama.

He is also playing in an indoor soccer league. It is a ton of fun to watch, and the games go fast! There are two 20 minute halves and they never stop the clock. The kids boot the ball as hard as they can, and when it ends up getting near another player or going in the goal, it's a shocking and extremely exciting surprise! He smiles the ENTIRE time he is out on the field. It's pretty cute to watch!

This is the way Wyatt has been starting his day. Let me explain: The catalogs are coming in full force, as I'm sure you're experiencing. Wyatt can't wait to get his hands on them and pour over every detail of every item within each one. So, as soon as he gets up, he grabs the catalog, the blanket, jumps into "his corner" of the couch and sets up shop. He's pretty content for the next hour or so. It's pretty cute.

And this is what Annabelle's doing...I don't even have an explanation! She's quite a character!

Lastly, last Friday, Wyatt's teacher hosted a little baby shower in the classroom for me. It was so sweet! She had the kids sing a couple of songs for me, they predicted how many days it would be before the baby came (the range was from 10 days to 30 days!, with the average being 17. I'm hoping it's more close to the 10 day mark!), made a graph of their predictions of whether the baby would be a girl or a boy (14 kids think it's a boy vs. 3 think it's a girl! hmmmm...), made a name suggestion balloon and put together a book where each child wrote a sentence telling what a baby needs and drew a picture to go along with it. Mrs. Larson had cake for us to enjoy and a few of the kids brought in presents for the baby, too! It was so very thoughtful and a lot of fun. I had a hard time holding back tears...

I had a dr. appt. yesterday and finally got the good news that I have dilated to ONE WHOLE CENTIMETER!!! Whoooooppppeeeee!!! (if you're thinking that sounds kind of sarcastic, you're right!) Now I know that still doesn't mean anything, but I'm taking it as proof that my body hasn't completely reneged on the deal of actually going into labor at some point in the coming week or so. We'll see what happens!!!

Last year 4th, this year 2nd!

The National Club Championships, called the Speedo Cup, was last weekend. I waved good-bye to my husband, wishing him luck, and hoping that I didn't go into labor while he was in Michigan for five days! His team did phenomenal (because of phenomenal coaching, of course!) and took second place this year! That means his little 680 Water Polo club team out of a little town in Northern California is the second best team in the United States! I guess the time away was worth it...it's too bad he had to spend 5 days in Michigan to prove it! (Although, I know he LOVES every minute of it...) And, lucky for Matthew, I was able to get rid (read: kill) of the little visitor (a MOUSE!) that decided to show up on Friday afternoon, while I'm home by myself, very pregnant, with 2 children to care for! Wyatt and I found the dead mouse today and took care of it accordingly, thank goodness...

So here we are...37 weeks pregnant. Nothing new to share on this front...no dilation, no nothing. I'm not miserable, yet, so that's good, and everyone says I look "small". I'm trying to take that in the most positive way possible! I don't feel "small". I'm looking forward to meeting this little one, and anxious about being exhausted! Annabelle continues to talk to my belly, give it kisses, etc. She's probably going to have smothering problems when the actual baby is here! Wyatt is, well, Wyatt. I'm pretty sure he's happy a baby will be joining us. He asks questions about it, but his interest is more logistics than emotional, I think. It's pretty funny how they operate so obviously different!

Happy Halloween, and other things!

Matthew and I got back on Wednesday from 3 glorious days at the Four Seasons in Scottsdale, for an Owner's Recognition Meeting (think AIG in Half Moon Bay!) put on by a company we represent. It couldn't have been better timing for me. My parents came down to take care of the kids, which made it sooo easy. I'm not sure who was more excited, or had more fun - my mom and dad or the kids. I'm pretty sure it was equally mutual! Matthew golfed, we both had massages, I had a facial and a luxurious mani/pedi - in between lounging around and reading/watching TV! Like I said, it was perfect timing. Now I'm ready for the next 4 weeks and whatever it brings (most likely a baby at some point!). I'm waiting for pics from my parents...I'm sure there are tons!

We carved pumpkins last night - you can't carve them a week or two before Halloween down here, like you can in Washington. They rot pretty quickly! Wyatt carved two pumpkins completely on his own this year! He was very proud of himself. Annabelle has grown in to being able to at least touch the goo inside the pumpkin! Last year, she had nothing to do with it...this year I was able to get her to scoop out some of the stuff!

This morning both kids had their Halloween parades at their respective schools. They are so excited for trick or treating tonight!

We grew our own pumpkins again this year, but Wyatt went to a pumpkin patch for a field trip with his Kinder class, so I felt guilty that Annabelle hadn't gone to one this year...soooooo, a little last minute, we went to a pseudo pumpkin patch down the street. I don't think Annabelle cared that much that it wasn't the full deal! She like the stinky animals and the hay!

Working on his first masterpiece!

Papa helping Annabelle out on hers!

The finished products!

Wyatt's are the two on the outside! Pretty good carving for a 5 year-old!

Captain Rex, the Clone!

It's just a little wet today...so unusual for here!

The princess, Cinderella!

We are heading over to Michael and Karyn's tonight for our traditional family pizza dinner before trick or treating! I'm sure there will be more pictures to come! Happy Halloween!

Yep, I was a pregnant nun, with my Ghostbuster hubby!

We are Alive and Well...

Even though it has been more than 6 weeks since I have posted! It's not because of lack of material...it's more lack of time and energy! Our schedule continues to be busy! It has been one fun thing after another, so I'll try to give a brief "look-back" of the past month and a half!

Wyatt's first homework assignment was to decorate a box to house all of the take-home books they make at school. When we first talked about it, he really wanted to make the box out of wood...I told him that was a cool idea, but I thought the teacher wanted us to use a cardboard box (like a shoebox) and decorate it to make it his own. He seemed o.k. with that... Then I shared the story w/another parent at school, and she was all ooohh-ing and aaahhh-ing over how creative Wyatt's idea was, and I felt like a big old lump of you-know-what for reigning in my son's creative genius! So, off we went to Home Depot to buy some MDF (like particle board for those of you that don't watch HGTV!), cut it to size, and get to box-making! It took us two tries, but the second time around, it came out pretty cool! Wyatt was very specific in his ideas of how he wanted to paint/decorate. He wanted it to look like a treasure chest! So, here is the famed book box:

Working hard on the finishing touches...

The Treasure Chest!

Annabelle started a beginning soccer program through our town rec program called Kids Love Soccer. Wyatt did a few sessions of this, and had such a blast. I was always impressed with the coaches and the activities they did with the kids. Annabelle has been sooooo excited to do this, I think mostly because of having watched Wyatt for the last year and a half participate in these sorts of things. This is once a week for 30 minutes, which is just enough. She hasn't completely grasped the "no hands" rule, but each week gets better and better at dribbling the ball. She loves it, but is eager to take off her cleats as soon as it is over...she says they hurt her feet?!

Cutest soccer player on the field!

This is what she does when she feels like she's falling behind the group!

Listening to instruction...just sitting on a ball is a new skill!

Random pictures...

Annabelle in her new Cinderella costume. She still loves to dress up, whenever the feeling strikes! Matthew captured Cinderella reading to herself! (Notice the new carpet beneath her tush...I'm in heaven!)

Apparently our neighbors had a sewer problem, so they had to tear the cul-de-sac up to fix it. Wyatt, always the engineer, pulled up a chair to watch. I couldn't resist capturing a trait that he still has not outgrown!


Lastly, we took a little mini vacation to spend a long weekend with my mom and dad, brother and his family in Indio, CA (a little east of Palm Springs). I only have a few pictures of the kids playing in the pool with Grandpa, but this will give just a small idea of how much fun they had the whole weekend!

Guess who was tuckered out after this?! :)

I am feeling really good...counting the days, but not wanting them to pass too quickly! I know the chaos a newborn can bring! We have a trip to Arizona (without kids! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!), and then Matthew has a trip to Michigan to get through before this baby can even think about making an appearance!