Playing Hooky!

I took Friday off and took Riley to Six Flags with her friend Bella and her mom, Jen.  It was a super fun day and the girls were SO excited to be there.  Poor Ri was about a 1/4" too short to ride the rides by herself so I had to go with her.  My neck is super sore today, I must be getting old!  But we had a great time.  The rollercoasters weren't nearly fast enough for Riley and Bella but they had a blast and Riley's foot held up pretty well walking all over the park for 5 hours, I think she might be Disneyland ready!  We even rode a real elephant which was SUPER cool!

All ready to get the rollercoaster riding started!

On our first ride!

If that smile doesn't say fun, I don't know what does!

Nacho chompers!

Watching the dolphin show

Another fun one!

Still smiling after a full day

Now that's what I call a good day!

Little Buddy Time

I had Friday off so I planned to keep the kids home with me and spend some quality time with them.  I asked them both if they wanted to stay home with me and Jacob's response without hesitation was "Yesh, stay home momma!"  Riley says "I proberry just want to go to school."  Turns out they were having an Easter Egg Hunt at school last Friday, I said she could go for that and then I would come get her after if she wanted and she then asked if she would have to take a nap at home.  Yes, Ri, you would.  Let the negotiation begin.  To which she responded "Maybe you could just get me after nap."  Sure, Ri, I'll get you at 3:00, that way we can still do something fun in the afternoon and you get to see your friends.  Negotiation complete.  That meant little dude and I got some alone time, it's been far too long since we've had a whole day just mommy and Jacoby.  We kicked the morning off with a little viewing of The Wiggles.  Jacob was so in heaven having my undivided attention, he kept coming up to me and randomly hugging and kissing me.  I could just tell he appreciated the time.  Then we went for a walk and then he requested the mall (he likes Wetzel Pretzel Bites).  We headed home for lunch and nap and then went to get Riley after a little more one on one play time.  Little man was SO sweet that whole day, I really need to make a bigger effort for one-on-one time with each of them.

Of course Riley was later jealous of Jacob's time with me so we ended up with some alone time on Sunday.

Much Needed Day Off

I took a much needed day off on Friday to spend the day with the kids.  They have definitely been getting the short end of the stick with my new job and Marc's crazy work schedule so I wanted to spend some quality time with them.  We walked to Peet's for breakfast then headed down to Morgan Hill to go to Marc's hotel to do some swimming.  After swimming we headed to lunch at Red Robin and then home for naps.  After naps we had gymnastics and then we did some food shopping.  It was such a fun time, I miss time with the kids.  Wish I could be around all the time!

Days I Love

Yesterday my company was closed for Good Friday, I was going to keep both kids home and take them to the zoo, Chuck E Cheese, park, something fun but Riley insisted on going to school.  They were having a party and she really, really wanted to go and didn't want to miss the party so I sent her but I kept Jacob home with me.  I don't get a lot of alone time with Jacob these days, Riley I feel like I do, I'll take her on errands with me, to get our nails done but Jacob I don't usually take and leave Riley with Marc so I jumped at the chance to have some one on one time with my little man.  We had a great day, exactly what I needed, I feel refreshed and reconnected to him, even though spending the day with him made me realize what I miss while he's at day care and I'm at work. 

I got up at 5:30, got my work out in (I'm a little obsessed these days with our Cancun trip right around the corner), dropped Riley at day care around 7:00/7:15 and then Jacob and I came home for some breakfast and then I did some laundry and he played/helped me.  Then we went for a walk down to Peet's and had a coffee and a snack and then we grabbed some groceries before walking home.  We actually sat at Peet's and looked at the trees, the dogs, the birds and I got to focus on him rather than his sister trying to be the center of attention.  When a bird landed on our table and he pointed at it and said "biry!" I realized how quickly he has developed in the past few weeks and what I really miss.  I try to convince myself that he's developing the way he is because he is in day care and they are teaching him things I wouldn't but the truth of the matter is, he's growing leaps and bounds in the blink of an eye and I probably don't even know a fraction of what he's learning or experiencing.

It was such a beautiful day that I decided to take the long way home and walked through the park and along the trail in our neighborhood, Jake-Os fell asleep soaking up all of the Vitamin D (he's cutting his incisors so he's been sleeping a little restlessly so he definitely needed the sleep).  We got home, put the groceries away, did some laundry and then Jacob woke up so we played a little, then made lunch before putting Jacob down for his nap. 

When big sister is away, brother will touch all of her stuff!

While Jacob napped, I gutted our play room and packed up some toys the kids either don't play with or have outgrown (bye bye playmats and exersaucer!).  I also baked a banana bread.  Jake-Os only napped for an hour, darn stroller nap ruined my napping plans so once he woke up we headed to the mall for some errands and picked up some dinner as a treat.  After the mall we headed to get Riley.  We dropped our food off at home, got Jacob in his stroller, got Riley her scooter and we walked down to the park.  Yep, 2 walks in one day, my little slice of heaven.  This was Riley's first time riding her scooter to the park, she did great, though her foot looked awful, I video taped it for Dr H to see in July.   She scooted all the way down and scooted all the way back and only fell a few times.  She also stopped at each corner and waited for me to help her cross the street.

 

The kids love the sand box, I'm not a fan but it does keep them both confined to one place so I'm not chasing 2 kids in different directions so I go with it. We also can't even look at the swings without Jacob melting down so at least the sandbox keeps everyone happy.  On the way down we saw a little girl and her mom walking down with her little brother, we saw them on our way home too.  It turns out the little girl is 4 1/2 and the little boy is 20 months so they are right around Riley and Jacob's age and they live 2 doors down!  Riley and Noelle hit it off and actually ran up to play in Noelle's room when we got back to our neighborhood, they ran down to our house so Riley could tell her where we lived and Kai (Noelle's little brother) and Jacob played outside for a bit.  Riley was so excited to meet her and even talked about her this morning and how she hopes we see them again so that she could have her over to show Noelle her stuff.  The mom and dad were super nice too so I'm excited to have met another family in our neighborhood, and Noelle and Riley will be at the same elementary school next September so that will be nice, Riley is already very worried about not knowing anyone at her kindergarten since all of her friends will go to different schools. 

It was a messy, messy afternoon but we had a great time and it was such a fun day off.  I need more days like that!!!

Pretend

Monday the kids' school was closed for Columbus Day so I took the day off and pretended I was a stay-at-home mom.  Let's just say I started the day off with extremely LOW expectations on how much fun the kids, ok let's just get it out there Riley, would allow us to have.  She's continued her difficult streak and I was pretty convinced that by the time Marc got home from work that I would be in a drunken stupor just to be able to deal with her or I would be on the verge of killing her and had already warned Marc that I would be going upstairs alone when he got home and getting on the treadmill.

The morning started out rocky, we had a crazy busy weekend with t-ball Saturday morning, then a birthday party, and then another birthday party on Sunday coupled with Jacob's early wake ups (thanks to tooth #5, yes, he now has 5 teeth, coming through) so she was exhausted because she still semi-refuses to sleep.  I promised her a trip to the park so after hacking me all morning about going, like she was ready to go at 8AM, we finally headed down around 10:30 after Jacob's nap.  All morning I had been texting with her friend Joey's mom (not the little boy who tells her she beautiful, this is Joey A, her "best friend") and coordinating meeting up with them there.  I loaded up lots of snacks, a picnic blanket and we headed down to the park.  I made a quick stop on the way there at Peet's for a cup of coffee and told her that Joey and his brother Alex were going to be at the park.  She was SO excited!  She popped out of the stroller as soon as we hit the playground and rushed right over to Joey and Alex.  We ended up spending like 2 1/2 - 3 hours out of the house at the park.  It was such a good time, all of the kids got along great!  We headed home close to 1 for a quick lunch and then nap time.  Mr Jacob took a 2+ hour nap and little Miss "I don't want to sleep" even napped for over an hour!  I got a good 2 hour break to get some cooking and cleaning done.  After naps we played a little bit and then Riley asked to go to Target so she could "buy" something.  She grabbed her purse and we headed out to Target because of course I needed some stuff despite the fact that we went Saturday night while Marc was at the Giant's game.  Then home for baths and some dinner and more fun before wrapping up the day. 

It really was an awesome day!  It made me realize how awesome my kids are in their own ways and I feel so much more connected to Jacob again.  I feel like I know Riley really well because she's up until like 8:30/9:00 after Jacob goes to bed at 7:00 but Jacob I feel like I only get maybe 2 hours a day with him during the week and that's with Riley's distractions.  I feel like I got some great Jacob time this whole weekend and really got to learn his personality.  As sweet as I always say he is, I think he's got a little devilish streak in him.  He can be a little stinker, as in he's a biter and he knows what he's not allowed to do but he does it anyway with a devilish grin on his face.  He also talks up a storm at home but in public he's much more reserved and apprehensive.  He's saying "ba" for ball when he picks up a ball and he says "baba" when he's hungry.  Day care has confirmed these "words" as well so it's not just us knowing what he wants.  Monday really made me realize what I miss every day when I am at work.  It made me very sad Tuesday morning to drop them at school, even Riley, who was little miss helper on Monday when it was just the three of us.  I could seriously get used to being home with the kids, I had a ton more activities to do with the kids that we just didn't get to!

Here's some pictures of our trip to the park!

First touch of the sand

I let him keep his binx so the sand did not go in his mouth!

Riley and Joey building castles

Alex getting involved

The little guys swinging

The big kids swinging

Group shot!

Park Day

Yeah, so I am way behind on my blogging, it's been a super crazy week at work and all I can say is TGIF!  Since I was off last Friday, Riley and I walked down to Peet's for some breakfast and some quality time since I had been gone most of the week.  After I had my coffee and she had her croissant (her favorite) I decided to take her to the park since it was a beautiful day.  It's been several months since we last went to the park and seeing the developmental difference in Riley on the equipment was amazing!  The baby swings were taken so she tried the big girl swings and held on pretty well!  I didn't get a picture because I was too afraid to venture too far and have her fall off, I mean we only need one black eye at a time! (Which by the way she got another one on the other eye last night playing after school!  Oy!)  Riley also was not afraid to run across the bridge and even jump on it and she took on the big, twisty slide all by herself.  She even made a little friend there and showed him how to do it.

Jack-o-Laterns!

Today was my flex day off so I kept Riley home and we had some fall fun. I started out the day with attempt number 2 at Challah, using Crista's recipe. It was another epic failure. I even waited the entire 2 1/2 hours to let it rise, I'm thinking I'm not putting it in a moist enough spot to let it rise. Again, the flavor was tasty but it was super dense again. I was pretty proud of myself for letting it sit for an entire hour and a half without peeking. While the bread was supposed to be rising, Riley and I carved our pumpkins!

Here's Riley picking out her template!

Helping to carve (she wasn't a fan of the mess)...

Proud of our handy work...

With both of our pumpkins...

That's it for me!