Out and About

We had gorgeous weather over the weekend and no plans or sports due to the holiday so we took advantage of the time and the weather and spent our weekend out and about.  Lots of walks and parks.  Easter we learned that a lot of places were closed so we just went for a quick walk to the park in the afternoon.  Jacob has been begging to bring his bike places but he doesn't know how to ride it yet so we brought his scooter.  I'm not sure when he figured out the scooter but he can now ride, as you will see in the video, not for very long.  Poor little dude is not built for exercise.

I few more pictures from the weekend!

From my alone time with Riley

Two scooter riding fools

God Bless Monsters Inc for a few minutes of calm in the midst of pure chaos!

He'll hate me for this one day but he loves these shoes!  Every morning he wants to put them on!

Getting Our Monies Worth

We've certainly been getting our monies worth of the backyard these days, which says a lot, since we paid a lot of money for that postage stamp we call a yard.  The kids absolutely LOVE to be outside and quite honestly, they need to be out there.  They get along much better outside and tend to get crazy if they are indoors for too long.  Fortunately the weather has been great lately, not too hot with a strong breeze so it makes being out back very appealing.  The day after Marc popped our giraffe pool Target happened to have a big sale on pools (they heart me) so we picked up a gigantic pool for like $20 and the kids love it.  Jacob is still a bit too short to get in by himself but next summer he will own it!  Riley also loves to BBQ outback so we've been doing a lot of that lately as well.  Family fun time to the max!

This boy doesn't miss a meal!

Fun park play date with our KLC play group - love this group of families that we've met through the kids' school

I'm all soaking wet! - My new favorite Jake-Os picture!

Jacob is quite proud of his physique

He loves him some water play

Like I said, they love each other when they're outside

Water baby

Having a snack in their playhouse!

The 2013 Season

Of Family Fun Day has officially begun!  We had a little mini-session Friday to celebrate the removal of Riley's cast but we went all out yesterday!  We were going to take out the giant giraffe pool we had but Marc popped it while blowing it up so we went to plan b which included our slip and slide and sprinkler ball toy.  Both, major hits.  Neither kid had the slip and sliding down but they had fun with the sprinklers and Jacob had a love hate relationship with the ball sprinkler.  Jacob of course ate his snack in the middle of the slip and slip which prevented slipping and sliding but Riley ran all around him and eventually he was on his feet running around in the water fully soaked!

Splish Splash

I don't know what it is about water but I know all kids love it.  I was at Target the other day (big shocker right???) and saw this Safari Water table and since I had an extra 5% off, I decided to get it for the kids, especially since the weather is getting nicer.  It was super warm at the end of the week so I put it together while I was working at home one day and on a call and let the kids test it out.  Of course fun was had by all.  I expected Riley to be soaked by the time we went inside but it was Jacob who was soaked and Riley was pretty much completely dry.

Jake-Os couldn't decide between the house and the water table

Cheese!

Playing nicely together

Pretty girl dove right in!

Captain Destructo thinks dis is fun!

When the 1 year old starts dunking his face in the water it's time to pack up and go inside!

Outdoor Fun

The weather (up until this weekend) has been GORGEOUS!  We've certainly been taking advantage of it with all of our treks to the park and down to the little shopping center on foot (or in Riley's case, scooter). On the days that we can't make it out and about we've been going outback (though, daddy needs to mow the lawn).  Jake-Os didn't get to experience the backyard too much last year as he wasn't too mobile but now, watch out, the boy loves it back there.  He LOVES the playhouse, going in, out, opening and closing the door, I have to bring him back inside kicking and screaming!

Cul de Sac Fun

It's been quite warm here again so after school on Tuesday I let the kids play out front.  My conundrum has been what to do with Jacob while Riley is riding her bike, he's really getting too heavy to hold but I don't necessarily want him crawling around outside!  So I busted out Riley's old push toy, our faithful lion and he LOVED it! 

I'm so not ready for my little man to be walking but day care keeps telling me that he wants to be a toddler and I can really see him light up when he's keeping up to his big sister so I'll let him have this one!  I also put him in Riley's pink Cozy Coupe car which he initially tried to climb out of, poor kid, the curse of having a big sister, everything is pink!  But once I started pushing him around while Riley was riding her bike and he was cruising next to her, he was more than content!

And Little Miss Riley has mastered her big girl bike, I don't know if she's finally tall enough, weighs enough, or her feet/ankles are finally strong enough (maybe another clubfoot delay, who knows) but she has it down!  I'm so proud of her, she's been trying for so long to be able to ride it. 

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!

Family Fun Time is Back

Last weekend was hot, like close to 90 hot, so hot that I had to go out and buy some shorts since I still haven't lost all of my pregnancy weight hot.  So we bribed Riley into behaving with the promise of some Slip and Slide time if she was good Sunday.  Well actually we had originally tried to bribe her with it Saturday but she earned her sad face very early on in the day so it turned into a Sunday activity.  She got her act together and when she woke up we put on her suit and brought her outback for some good old fashioned Zimmerman family fun time.  Jacob was napping so it was perfect alone time for her with us.  She loved it!

Slip and sliding!

Sun bathing

"I so escited!  This is so much fun!"

Splish splashing!

Oh What a Week!

Oh what a week last week was.  We headed down to San Diego last Saturday for a week.  Marc's cousin got married on Saturday so we decided to make a week out of it  I worked Monday and Tuesday for our Kashi office in La Jolla and then took some calls from home on Wednesday morning, then it was time for fun in the sun and with family for the rest of the week.  We woke up Sunday and the weather was gorgeous so we hit the beach for Riley's first SoCal beach experience.  She wasn't so sure what to make of the whole situation.  The water was super cold so I can't say I blame her for not being interested.  She did eventually take to the sun and sunbathing!  When we got there Riley said she had to go potty so I took her into the bathroom to go and Riley took one look around and said "It's so yucky, I just go peepee in my swim diaper."  How could I argue with her, I hate any public bathroom, even Nordstrom so the beach bathroom was less than appealing.  We had a fun morning at the beach!

Who's ready for the beach???  Riley is!

If this is how she sunbathes at 2 1/2 we're in some serious trouble!

Checking out the view

Family self portrait

The water was too chilly but the sand was so delightful!

More to come on our week vacation (and my last trip before baby boy arrives!)

Holiday Fun!

We celebrated the 4th of July with 2 of my favorite national pastimes, shopping and Chinese food (followed by Sprinkle cupcakes).  We BBQ on Saturday and Sunday so we were all a little BBQ out so instead we headed down to Palo Alto for the day for some shopping.  We headed back late in the afternoon so that Ri could have some water time. Marc was hosing off her house when she of course decided that she wanted to slide, she learned real quick how fun a water slide was! 

Riley also did her horsey impression for us!

Farmer's Market

Dublin started having a Farmer's Market down the street from us about a month and a half ago, unfortunately between travel and work we've only been to one of the markets, until today! After school Riley and I met my friend Elisabeth and her little boy Owen for a quick play date down there! Riley and Owen had a blast (they used to live a block down from us and recently moved so they hadn't seen each other in a few weeks). They got balloon animals (Riley got Elmo and Owen got Mickey), ate kettle korn together, and danced! Super fun times and definitely a play date to repeat!

Hugging

Getting ready to kiss!

Buddies!  This is before the $3 Elmo balloon popped (which you can see and hear in the video below)!