$50 later...

After spending $50 on a probiotic, because my mother swears by this stuff, and then learning that a probiotic doesn't do squat if you just have a cold, I am downing as much Zicam and Coldeeze that is allowed without overdosing. I seriously don't remember having a cold being that big a deal as a child, but now, just a little cold will render me useless.
Meanwhile, at breakfast this morning (keep in mind that I am sick, so meals are going to be easy peasy) Nicholas figured out that however nutritious (or not) granola bars are, he only ate the m&m's off the top. Isn't that what they put on top to trick the child into eating all of it?

And Riley keeps coming in every few minutes with a new "prize" for me. The last surprise consisted of the following:

Now, I know that looks like a box, tape measure, two blocks, and two toy men, but allow Riley to correct you. In fact, the box is a monster house, while the tape measure is the monster house tongue. And the man on the left is Daddy. Last year, the tape measure was a snail. Riley has such an imagination!

Birthday Fun

Riley has been telling us for a while now that he wants to go bowling. He's also been telling us that he wants to go back to the miniature golf course. So, for his birthday, we told him he could pick anything he wanted to do for his birthday. Riley decided to go bowling. Stephanie and Brayden accompanied us, which was a lot of fun.

After getting our shoes on, we had to hunt for a 6 lb ball. The boys tried bowling the regular way, which was still a little hard, so, we got these ramps to roll the balls down for the boys. They had a lot of fun doing this.

Though, I'm not sure if they had more fun bowling or watching the ball come back up the shute.

The boys did pretty well with the bumpers. At one point Riley had the high score...

...not to mention a spare.

Wanting to give them the whole bowling experience, we bought them overpriced burgers and an icee. That evening, Grandma and Grandpa Simpson came over and we enjoyed cake and presents. Happy Birthday Riley! You're such a big boy!

The Pumpkin Patch

Even though we went to a pumpkin patch with Riley's preschool class, and he got a small pumpkin there, we wanted to take the boys to a pumpkin patch where they could pick out a big pumpkin to carve with Jim. Riley found his perfect pumpkin.





And so did Nicholas...or so he thought. He kept trying again and again to pick it up (but never let go of his car while he was trying).

He finally moved on to a pumpkin more his size.

We took pictures on the BIG pumpkins.

After we picked picked our pumpkins, we took a tractor ride. It was really windy that day and pretty cold too.

The tractor ride went through the strawberry fields.

enjoying the scenery

The Painted Pony

I'm doing a great job of taking my camera with me everywhere I go. The problem is finding time to download and edit the pictures, and then write a post. So, here's is the cliff notes version of some things we did in October.
Riley had his first field trip for his preschool. We went to The Painted Pony. It's a small farm with animals and a pumpkin patch. First, we got to hold some baby chicks that were a week old. At first Riley would only pet them while Jim and I were holding one. Then he would hold one as long as we were right next to him.

By the end of the day, he was picking them up and putting them down all by himself.

Next they all got to pick a pumpkin.

They got to feed the animals, then they let the animals out to run around. Nicholas loved chasing the goats.

Then we gathered together and ate some yummy apples...

and homemade muffins.

and took a few pictures with the tractor.

They had this old bathtub filled with flowers that I thought was really cool.

It was a lot of fun packed into a couple of hours and made for a perfect day trip. I'd highly recommend it if you're in the neighborhood.

More October cliff notes to follow.

Shabby Apple Dare to Design Limoncello Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Shabby Apple Dare to Design Limoncello Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Wanna snitch?

Riley said he wanted "a snitch". A snitch? Yes, and he had already gotten everything out and lined them up on the counter. Ohhh, a sandwich! Well, Riley, I don't think these will taste very well together. "Yes, they will," he insisted. I tried the entire time to at least forgo the jelly, but he insisted.

This picture makes me want to throw up. I almost left it out, but without it, you don't really know for sure that I put everything on his sandwich that he wanted. Absolutely disgusting!

But he didn't seem to mind one bit. He ate the entire thing and has had several since. I wonder if he'll remember eating this combination as a kid when he gets older or wonder if and when he'll realize that jelly doesn't taste very good with mayo and mustard.

Golf N' Stuff

We have a miniature golf course in town. You can see the windmill and the castle from the freeway and Riley loves pointing them out as we pass by. We thought it might be fun to take him there. Jim and I always have a friendly bet when we play miniature golf, and it took playing two holes before we realized that it was going to be impossible for us to keep score. After I hit my ball at the first hole, Nicholas ran down the green, picked up my ball and brought it back. At the second hole, all it took was Jim just placing his ball down on the black mat for Nicholas to quickly pick it up and run with it down the green.

Jim showed Riley how to hold the golf club, but after doing this once, he remembered when he was a kid, his dad would do this, and Jim would get mad, and want to do it his own way, so after that, he let Riley hold his club any way he wanted. After all, he wanted this to be fun for him.

After these first two holes, we let the kids do whatever they wanted with the balls and clubs, within reason of course. For Riley, he'd started off each hole correctly, but after a few swings, resorted to basketball and would finish throwing the ball down the green. Then a few times he even switched to soccer, and tried to kick the ball in the hole. For Nicholas, he was mostly content running after the ball, picking it up and then placing it in the hole.

A few times Nicholas would make an attempt at swinging the club.

It looks like he might actually hit the ball in this picture, but he didn't. He got frustrated, gave Jim the club, picked up both the white ball and another ball you can't see, and placed them in the hole.

They both loved the holes like the one below, where you dropped the ball at the top...

...and then ran somewhere else to see the ball come out of the hole.

There were a few times that Riley actually hit the ball in the hole with his club. This is not one of those instances, but he started to throw his hands in the air and cheer when the ball went in.

another one of their favorite holes

After our round of golf, we played a few games.

The outing ended for some the way it always does. So exhausted from a busy day that it was hard to keep our eyes open during the ride home. (I referance Nicholas, but I am also refering to Jim and myself).

We were thinking ahead and knew Nicholas would want his own ball, so we brought him his own from home to use. We were betting on him loosing it there and we're actually surprised it made it home with us.

Putting our fair to shame

My parents invited me and my sisters, along with our kids, to the L.A. County Fair with them. I grew up 5 minutes away from this fair, and I knew it was big. I knew it was "bigger than the California State fair" as my mom would always tell us. But I don't think I realized just how big until now. This was my first time since getting married and moving away that I've been back, and after taking our family to our county fair just a few weeks ago, I realize the magnitude of the L.A. County Fair. It was awesome. I wish I had more time to spend there (sans kids). Regardless, it was a lot of fun. I know the kids enjoyed it and the adults were pretty worn out by the end of the day too.


Sadie is always stylin' and got several looks with her matching bows and tutu's. You can't see, but she had pink sunglasses on as well.

Our first stop was to see Reno Jones play. My brother, Mikie, plays bass for the band. They've played some pretty big gigs, including the Monterey Jazz Festival. He will probably be my only claim to fame.

It got pretty loud during the sound check

Mikie is the one on the right

After watching Mikie play for a while, we went to building 8, which was a dinosaur exhibit. I think the kids were in awe with it. I know I was. They had what seemed to be lifesize animated dinosaurs. They also had these cut outs where you could take your picture. Riley loved these. I think we took his picture in every single one.

running from the dinosaur

After the dinosaur exhibit, we made our way to the petting zoo. My mom bought some food for them to feed the animals. The kids all seemed to enjoy it.

After the petting zoo, we called it a night. It was great getting to spend some time with my parents and my sisters. It seems rare that we all are able to get together at the same time anymore. (Julie, I'm not fogetting you. When I say all of us, I mean all us local sisters.)

photo shoot

I've been working on my own boys tie pattern and after finalizing one of the sizes, wanted to take some pictures of Riley in one....He didn't

A first for Nicholas

This Sunday was the first day that Nicholas has worn shoes to church. His feet are so deep and wide that his feet wouldn't fit in any shoe other than Vans. Even these are a size too big, but because they're the right size for the depth of his feet, we're making them work.

Poor Nicholas is completely oblivious that Riley is apparently going to attack him

We've always known that he was big for his age, but now he's starting to look like a big boy too.

Nicholas, we love you and your big feet!