Gratitude!

It was a busy day! First soccer pictures. Those took longer than needed but the kids all had a blast so it was A-OK to me! Next we met Ty for his lunch break. We had been missing him since he had done 12 hour shifts the last two days we figured we could at least bring him some lunch. He enjoyed it just as much as we did. :) Then we went for a swim, some errands, and Ty and I stole away for a date. Wewt!

My Pink Unicorn being all happy and goofy.

My baby sister telling HQ, "Ok, but I'm not going to follow you..."
But of course HQ called her bluff. Thank you Shannon for being so helpful!

We waited until Ty got home from work to do some swimming. Swimming weather in October... pfft. Come on fall!

Why am I NOT in the pool?

We ended up just dangling Locke's little legs in the pool. He kicked and squealed with so much force! He loves the water. He gets angry every time we take him out of the tub. The only time he doesn't like water is when we are washing his face. He thinks his face is better dirty/sticky.

Watching HQ swim. 

Today Izzy used face paints all over Ty. An "angry pink heart" on his cheek and many October themed items up and down his entire arm. They eventually all turned to large dried up globs, but Ty left them on while we ran some errands. He wore them proudly. He got some odd stares, a few glares, and a few praises. "You are a one in a million guy" and "You're such an awesome father" were some comments he got at Joann today as he was chasing HQ down the aisles. At one point he had Locke on his shoulders while playing hide and seek with HQ. You could hear her giggling from many aisles away. Locke joined in on the giggling. He has such a hearty little giggle. Errands are so much fun.

In the evening we dropped all three kids off at my parents a enjoyed a quick date. We had some light fun conversation and a beer. I feel like I am in honeymoon mindset these past few days. Ty and I have just been in an amazing place. Our life hasn't really changed, just our mindsets. Gratitude I suppose. We are so blessed with so much more than we deserve. It was odd that we both felt like we were being so ungrateful with what we had been given at the same time. I am so fortunate to be with the person my soul loves!

His and Hers Fat Tires.

Ty's phone died yesterday. It will be missed. 

Face on a Pin

Ty woke up at 3am today for work and then did a 12 hour shift. He's pooped. He fell asleep around 6pm. I can't say I blame him.

I was reading through some of my old blogs. It's so great to be able to read and remember almost exactly what was going on that day. So even if no one read my blog, I would totally keep doing it. It's fun for me! Plus Izzy likes it when I read some to her. So I suppose it's fun for us :D

Ty admiring a sleeping Locke.

Pink Unicorns vs. Blue Dolphins today. The Pink Unicorns are getting better. Izzy even stole the ball and ran it down the field today. When a teammate scored a goal Izzy let out a maniacal laugh. I'm not quite sure what was going on through her head... she isn't a very vicious person and isn't a sore loser or winner. I guess it was just weird timing, or she has decided to be a mad scientist when she grows up.

"Good game" "Good game"

 After the game Grandma Orpi took us to Izzy's favorite "fancy restaurant", Ruby's, for lunch. We also met up with Ty's Aunt. Izzy had some ketchup with a side of fries and a grilled cheese sandwich. Strawberry shakes were a must. The kids were good until the last 5 minutes. Then Locke wanted to play and HQ wanted to run around.

Oooh! Grilled Cheese!

Tomorrow is picture day for soccer. Izzy doesn't get the concept. "We have lots of pictures of me in my uniform. Why do we have to go somewhere else to take more?" When I explained that they will put her face on a pin she was all for it.

Well, I'm going to head to bed. I got a headache that just won't quit. I suppose I will just have to quit it!

The Melting Pot

Last night I went out a celebrated the birthday of a very special friend. Her birthday party was quite a testament to the amazing woman and friend that she is. It really had me thinking.

I always go to Ty with my friendships. He is an excellent judge of character and also always seems to know how someone with affect me. Every person that he has as a close friend (and he makes friends easily and everywhere) is an amazing man of character. He has encouraged me before to keep certain people at arms length or even to just "love that person from afar".  Anyway, he too loves Jennifer.

She specifically stated a "grown up girls only" (no kids and no men) gathering. Having three kids of her own I know she had been really looking forward to this night! It's been about five years since I last had a "girls' night out" so I shall admit I was nervous and thought I wouldn't have much to say or really anyone to talk to, but I love Jennifer and thought I would "take one for the team" Plus, my husband practically insisted I needed it. He happily watched the kids for the evening. I am so glad I went! It was an awesome night.

The shindig took place at The Melting Pot. Yum! She had reserved an entire room for her party. I arrived a little early and helped her set up (which also meant I got first dibs on her little party favors! hehe) At one point she went around the room (which was full!) and told everyone how she met us and what she loved about each one of us. When she came to me one of the things she exclaimed was "I REALLY wanted to be your friend!!" I thought this was quite cute :) Afterwards we all went around saying what we loved about her. Nearly everyone had tears in their eyes when giving their soulful, loving.. toasts? I was blown away. She had managed to touch all these women's lives with her hospitality, honesty, ability to have fun, loyalty, grace, love of Jesus, and her all around spirit. On top of all that, she's gorgeous. It's disgusting really.

The first time I met her was about a year ago. She actually threw herself into my life. Every time I saw her she would practically run up to me and genuinely and excitedly ask me "how is everything?!" if my quick short answer didn't suffice she would be more specific "How is your husband?" "How are the girls?" "How is your cute little boy?" "What have you been doing?" "You look like you've lost weight! (one of my favorites)" Eventually she just had verbal diarrhea and poured her life's story out to me. I loved her even more for it. This woman forced me to become friends with her. Which is good! Having three kids really keeps you busy. I'm not a seeker. It's hard for me to nurture a new friendship when you don't have the time or energy. It can be days before I get a moment to call a friend. I have been blessed with few friends who if I don't talk to for a while it doesn't matter, we can pick with where we left the next time we get together and it's like the time in between never happened. I recently had someone try to make me feel like I was a bad friend or a terrible person because I couldn't get into a meaningful conversations with her daily. We just need different things. And that's OK.

Everyone that comes into your life if only for a season will impact you in some way. She has managed to impact all these women in such a positive way. Earlier that day she and I were talking about friendships and how to be a good friend. She quoted Abraham Lincoln to me, "If you look for the bad in people... you will surely find it". I am so fortunate to have friends like Jennifer.

But it got me thinking, what would all my closest friends say about me? How about you? If all your closest friends were in a room together what would they say about you?

World Famous!

Oh the rain today was beautiful! Usually the best way to enjoy these days is spending them at home drinking something warm while baking something deliciously fragrant. But not me. I chose to get up early, get myself and three kids ready, and drive 45 minutes away (in the rain) for something that didn't happen. I got the dates mixed up for something. Oh how silly. Izzy was very disappointed in me. Anyway, we headed back home and did the rest of the day right. 

For lunch the girls and I made our traditional rainy day foods, grilled cheese and tomato soup. We enjoyed hot coco and watched a spooky cartoon while we baked a loaf of Izzy's world famous banana bread (hey, it's famous in her world). 

She dislikes camera's with a flash.

 HQ's new favorite word is her name. Well, it comes out "Ha hee". She also likes to talk in third person. "Uh oh! Ha hee pooped!" or "Hewp! Ha hee tuck!" I love toddler language. It evolves so fast though!

Today's chew toy: a scrunchy 

This afternoon Izzy asked, "How does soap work?" I love it when she wants to learn extra stuff! So I whipped out one of my old dermatology books and explained it to her, even showing her little images of it on a molecular level. She was fascinated. I then chose to do the little food colored water, oil, and soap experiment. Now she is even more excited to wash her hands. I suppose this may up our soap and water bills.. hmm.

Today was Ty's Friday, so I look forward to having him around the next two days. He's looking forward to sleeping in! Plus, tomorrow is Locke's check up and we're glad he gets to be around for it. :D

Orange Vests and Yeti Costumes

I had every intention of making it to spin class today, but it just didn't work out. I think the kids prefer me fat. We spent the morning working on the girls's room and their massive mountains of clothes. Most of which don't fit, but in a rush to finally get through the last of our moving boxes (I have 3 kids, don't judge me!) I dumped the boxes marked 'clothes' in the middle of their room and then realized they were the hand me downs. So we got to organize those. Almost ever piece of clothing being packed up was Izzy's "favorite". She had a story for every item. "Remember when I wore that purple dress? That was my favorite. I always had so much fun in it. Remember?" I told her she seems to have fun in all her clothes. "I don't think I would have fun in a orange vest or a yeti costume". Pfft, who wouldn't have fun in an orange vest or yeti costume?

Doing her best to pull all the bells and whistles off Locke's ball.
Locke just watches in wonder.

We did our home studies and watched a documentary on bees. Those guys are vicious! HQ sat and watched the whole thing too. Izzy decided that she would never want to be a bee. I concur. We had a bit of natural honey as a snack to stay with the bee theme.

Enjoying a documentary about bee's.

 Locke has another tooth coming in. When you really think about it, teething sounds horribly painful. He's such a trooper. He does his best to just always have something soft in his mouth. Even when he is crawling. Kind of like a puppy. On top of teething HQ accidentally scratched his cornea.. it has already almost completely healed, but it was looking pretty awful for a moment there!

Happy little guy.

Stuffed cookies make the best chew toys.  

At 3:15 my mom showed up to pick Izzy up for art class. I thought Wow! Izzy will be gone, both HQ AND Locke are down for a nap, will I get a moment to myself? Even if it is just to do the dishes... but no. The very moment the door closed behind Izzy I kid you not, THE VERY MOMENT both of the little ones let me know they were done napping. Oh well. :)

Never leave a 5 year old with a love of stickers alone with your stickers... especially if they are heart shaped! 

When Izzy got back we made mini pizza's for dinner. One of Izzy's favorites, but who doesn't like pizza? HQ likes to compartmentalize her food. First she eats the toppings (if any), then the cheese, then licks all the sauce off, then mashes the crust into unrecognizable bits and eats half of those and smashes the other half where ever she can before Ty or I get a hold of her to hose her down... figuratively speaking of course.

Grampa and HQ doing the most important job in cookie making. 

Costumes!

Costume making time! I have the patterns all good to go, now it's time to construct some costumes! As per our agreement whatever Izzy has decided she wants to be by the end of August (within reason) is the costume I make. It gives me time to draw up or alter a pattern, find the materials, and construct her costume. She has wanted to be Rapunzel since she saw Tangled back in November and she stuck with it.

Rapunzel and Flynn

So Rapunzel it is! We already got an adult sized Lady Godiva wig for her. She really didn't like that the kids' Rapunzel wigs only went to her waist and they cost 3x as much!! She asked if Locke could be Eugene (aka Flynn Ryder) and I figured that would be a decent costume for a baby.

Bellossom

HQ is going to be a Pokemon. Bellossom to be exact. She loves poofy skirts, but princesses and ballerina's aren't really her thing, so Ty thought this Pokemon would be a good fit. I'm still kind of stuck on how I am going to do her flower head piece. I am thinking a head band with felt and large rhinestones, but I am unsure. I suppose it will be trial and error! Any suggestions?

Time to get sewing! I'm so excited :D

Happy October!

Today was surprisingly warm! I had bundled HQ and Locke up to head to Izzy's soccer game and the poor little ones were sweating. It was chilly and raining yesterday... Oh California. You're so wacky.

Locke noticed a bottle of orange gatorade and tried to leap from Gramma's lap.

 Today it was the Pink Unicorns against the Purple Dolphins. The Pink Unicorns were a bit more proactive today, but the score was still something like 1 to 80764385726. Izzy even "stole" the ball! I think getting one less month of practice than the rest of the teams put them behind quite a bit, but the girls still have a great time. Ty and Grandpa Orpi even made it to today's game! Yay! I can tell Izzy loves all the support.

Pretty vicious! No, Izzy isn't pushing anyone.. it just looks that way.

Woohoo! They got their banner in! I tried getting a picture of just Izzy, but HQ didn't quite get that.

Texting all her friends on Grandma Orpi's phone.

Watching Izzy with my dad. 

In the afternoon we had a few errands to run. HQ likes errands. They give her a chance to really help us get our exercise. She rides in the cart for the first half of shopping and then plays hide and seek the last half. This is why I don't do big shopping trips without Ty!

Before running around the store we play a game of storage container peek a boo.

"Where did my sister go?!"

HQ saw this on the shelf, grabbed it, put it on, and then ran around the men's underwear section for a good 5 minutes.

Checkin' out some cupcakes.

October 1st is one of my favorite days of the year. It's the first day of my favorite month and at the kickoff (for me) to the end of the year (which is my favorite time). Ty, Izzy, and HQ were all born this month. It has some of the most delicious smells and foods and it ends with a bunch of candy. You can't beat that! Anyway we celebrated today by getting some pumpkin pie squares from my favorite bakery.

Time to get some sleep. Ty has already fallen asleep as he plans to get up for work at 2am. I suppose I should go to. That way I can get up earlier and hopefully get more work done before he gets home.