Run Mommy Run!

Rebecca ran in the Nike Women's half Marathon a week ago today and we are so proud of her. She drew the lucky lottery ticket a few months back to get a spot in the race and its no surprise she got the lucky ticket. Her race training has been limited to a short workout most weekdays during the kids morning nap. Then again, chasing three kids around the house is like a daily marathon all by itself. Thankfully, my Mom came into town to visit for the weekend which allowed us full flexibility in race logistics. I dropped Rebecca at the start line at 7am, came home and we finished giving the kids their breakfast to dress them in three layers of coats. We met Rebecca around mile 8.5. We slowed her down by walking with her for the next three miles. The race goes about two blocks from our house so we just walked home and Rebecca ran the last mile. Alexa was pretty tired at the end. She was putting her head down on the stroller in an attempt to rest (bottom picture). As I was pushing the kids up one of the hills I (Eric) got a congratulatory, "Way to go man!" If only he knew that I am far from deserving this kind of cheer. Rebecca pushes the kids daily up and down hills with no crowd cheering her onward. The kids and I are so proud of our Supermom!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Eric's birthday was earlier this week. So, we have had fun celebrating his birthday "week". On his actual bday, the kids and I met him downtown and took him out to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. The kids were excellent! I think the key was to go after they had already eaten lunch. They were happy to play with the menus and to munch on Cheerios and french bread while we ate. It was lots of fun! Happy Birthday, my Sweet husband!

The Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to a pumpkin patch this past Saturday and had lots of fun! The kids enjoyed playing with the pumpkins. More than anything, however, they enjoyed being able to run free in the dirt. I think they were even more fascinated with the twigs and the dirt than with the pumpkins. Oh well, whatever works! We came away with a majorly big pumpkin that Eric's mom worked super hard at, to get it all cooked up. So, we are enjoying the first batch of pumpkin bars and are now looking for more ideas of how to cook and bake with fresh pumpkin. We are also considering going back to the pumpkin patch again to let the kids explore some more, since they enjoyed it so much. I think we may end up more pumpkins than we know what to do with!

It's a Walking Party!

We officially have 3 walkers!!! Yeah! Go, Josiah, Alana & Alexa! Alexa was the first to walk about 2 weeks ago (she's the one in the video on a previous blog post). About a week ago, both Alana & Josiah started walking on the same day. They'd go a day or two without many more attempts and then as if they suddenly remembered, "Oh ya! I can walk!" they'd all start walking around. It's pretty funny because they know they are doing something pretty exciting (probably from all the cheers) and they get this huge grin on their faces. They still prefer crawling when they want to get somewhere super fast, but each day they are walking more and more. It's pretty exciting to watch! I'll try to upload some more videos of them walking, but for now I posted some pictures of them playing in their new favorite sand pit at a local park.

Sisters

These are just some fun shots of the girls being girls. It's amazing how much they really do look a like. I enjoy dressing them alike in similar outfits, but not the exact same. They have quite the personalities, I must say! Once again, they are IN the toy box.

Mr. GQ

We, recently, found a new indoor play area in one of the local malls. So, we've taken the kids there a few times and they really like it. It'll be a good "rainy day" play area during the winter. I ended up getting a pretty great picture of Josiah the last time we were there. He totally looks like he is posing for GQ Magazine. I must say, he is pretty stylish!

We love boxes

The kids have always loved boxes. In fact, we continue to joke that they like the boxes more than the toys that come inside. So, we recently decided to leave a couple of the bigger boxes that they like to play with in their closet. That way, they can find them themselves and come up with creative things to do with them. Last week, we found all 3 of them inside the boxes, which was pretty funny. We also have found many missing items inside the boxes, at times, such as socks, shoes, and toys. It seems that the kids are great helpers and they love to put things away, especially inside the boxes. So now whenever I am frantically looking for a missing shoe while we are trying to go somewhere, I know to look in the boxes and chances are it'll be there!

Alexa is taking more than a few steps

All of the kids have been shuffling along the coffee table for a few weeks now. I have been saying that the kids are two weeks from walking for about the last six weeks. Alexa today finally decided that she wanted to keep trying to take some steps. After about six attempts, she got halfway across the kitchen! Note that Alexa and Rebecca have the same laugh. You can compare the two of them at the end of the video.

Sand

We recently found a playground that has a little "sand pit" where the kids can run around and I don't have to worry about them escaping. It was a really cool playground because the rec center actually put out sand toys and riding toys for the kids to play on. Josiah LOVED the little car. He also liked playing with the red fire engine truck in the sand. It's funny because a month ago the kids didn't even like the feel of sand. In fact, when we took them to the beach in San Diego, they cried when they touched it. Now, they can't get enough of it! It's amazing how things can change in such a short time!

More playgrounds

A couple of weekends ago, Eric & I decided to leave the fog in SF and search for some sun. We headed north to Marin and soon found a beautiful, warm, sun-shiny day and quite the fun park, as well. The kids had fun "eating" the wood chips (that's Alana in the green trying to shove a handful in before deciding she didn't really like the taste). The park had a fun wooden train that was the perfect height for the kids to stand behind. We had fun taking pictures of the 3 of them behind the train.