Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving at my parents house. It was fun to see the kids interact with everybody. When it came time to eat, we put the kids in their high chairs and assumed that they'd just hang out while we ate. It wasn't their normal time to eat so I wasn't expecting them to be hungry yet. Boy was I wrong! They chowed down like they hadn't been fed in a week! They ate turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and green beans just like the rest of the family. It was shocking! It was a great day spent with great food and great family. We have so much to be thankful for!


The kids hanging with great grandma (aka Nana).



The kids enjoyed hanging out with their big cousins Haley and Kaylah.



Nani & Papa



Daddy on feeding duty!

Where's Santa?

Josiah was dressed in his Christmas PJ's the other night and was looking for the big man to come down the chimney and I caught a quick photo...

Downtown Zone Defense

The kids have a toy that says, "Where should we go today?" We often get in the car asking that same question with no real direction or objective just heading out to adventure with the kids. Saturday afternoon, we decided to head downtown in advance of next weekend when it will be crazy crowded with people. Quite fun to drive 15 minutes to a shopping district that attracts people from all around the world.

We first headed to Yerba Buena Gardens. On rounding the corner we could hear the dull roar of kids playing. Literally, there were about a hundred kids running around the playground. We aborted that playground and headed over to the SF Center Mall. The Dome is on the fourth floor and it is literally awe inspiring. It was redone a few years back and with Christmas decorations hung it is an amazing sight. While feeding the kids we watched as person after person walked into the dome area and stumbled around as they looked straight up. After feeding Alexa, I let her walk around. This is her wandering around in her OshKosh overalls:


Once Josiah and Alana finished their bottles, Rebecca and I transitioned to the "Zone defense." I took the perimeter monitoring and Rebecca was containing the inside. Below is a picture of Alana. She is a really small girl under a very big dome



Finally, here is a picture of Josiah with the Dome in the background. Visually stunning! I was actually talking about the dome, but the boy is pretty cute too!



On the way back to the car, we ran into Shelly in front of Blomingdales. She is a homeless woman that I passed almost everyday at Montgomery Street Station on my way to my way to work. I have seen her for years and sometimes give her a quarter or two from my change from buying a scone at the bakery. She would always reply with a, "Thanks sweetie." My train timing has changed recently and I have not seen her for some time. A few years ago I got her name and randomly remembered it and introduced her to Rebecca and the kids. She saw our kids and said, "What a blessing!" I couldn't agree with her more.

Costco

I am not sure what it is about Costco but the kids love to go there! I think it could be the extra big carts that 2 can ride together in. For awhile, we'd put 2 in the cart and one of us would carry the third one in a carrier. Well, these monkeys are quite heavy now so we've opted for a second cart recently, to stow away the third. I think the free samples are also a reason the kids enjoy Costco. It must be quite entertaining to ride around in a cart and eat samples of yummy treats. Ahh...to be a kid again!

Breakfast for Dinner; can I get five high chairs?

We've recently become good friends with another couple here in the City who have twin boys 2 months younger than our little ones. Luke & Courtney attend our church and are also in a small group that meets at our house. It's been fun having Jacob & Weston hang with the triplets. In fact, I think they are all a good influence on each other at this point. Awhile back when none of the kids were walking yet, our 3 were crawling around like crazy and the twins weren't quite crawling yet. Well, after hanging with us one afternoon, the twins went home and wanted to do the cool new thing that the others were doing and sure enough they started crawling! It's really fun to see them all interact. Hopefully, they'll all grow up to be good friends someday.
Anyway, Eric & I have taken the kids out to eat by ourselves before. However, we usually opt for days of the week or times of the day that restaurants aren't super busy. Well, we decided to be brave and go out to dinner on a Friday night. We did choose, just to be safe, a place that draws a large breakfast crowd rather than a dinner crowd. We even invited Luke & Courtney and the boys to join us. It was quite fun to have 5 toddlers at our table! They did great and we had lots of fun! I, unfortunately, forgot to take a picture until we were almost out the door. So, we had to settle for a picture in the restaurant's lobby and you'll have to just imagine what our table looked like with 5 high chairs! :)

Visit with Marge

One of our favorite people in the world is Marge. I (Rebecca) lived with Marge while I was in dental school here in the City and it was like living with my Grandma, rather than just renting a room from someone. She has become a very special part of our family and she began praying for these kids long before they were even thought of. Marge has prayed us through many ups and downs and we are truly blessed to know her. Eric & I were out running some errands with the kids today when we decided to stop by and pay Marge a visit. They kids loved exploring her house and it was a good "pit stop" in the midst of a very busy day!

SF Zoo

One of the benefits of living in the City, is that once a month a bunch of the museums and zoo are free. I am always excited to do anything for FREE, so my mom and I decided to take the kids to the SF Zoo last month. They didn't really care too much about the animals quite yet, but they LOVED the playground. So, we spent 90% of our time at the playground. I am sure they will come to appreciate the animals at some point. But, for know, it's all about the playground...Josiah likes to "swim" in the sand (second picture) and Alana wanted no part of sitting on top of that crazy stone camel (that's her grabbing my mom with a death grip in the sixth picture). You need to enlarge the picture to truly see her facial expression. I, at least, had some fun, as well (last picture).

Caught in the act

Eric has a habit of tossing his things from work onto the couch or coffee table when he gets home (ie. newspaper, wallet, keys). Well, not too long ago the girls found his wallet and went to town. Alexa knew exactly what to grab first: the money!!! They both have looks on their faces like they were, definitely, caught doing something they knew they shouldn't have! I am sure it won't be long before they are really asking for money...yikes!

Halloween "Outfits"

I was a little "off the ball" this year and didn't think about Halloween until the day before. I've never been much of a Halloween fan and, therefore, have never been much of a "dresser upper". I do remember, however, having fun when I was younger. Anyway, we did end up taking the kids to a "Harvest" party at our church. So, thankfully I was able to find some cute festive "outfits", rather than costumes. I knew they'd only be wearing them for a couple of hours, so I thought the outfits were a better idea. We got some cute shots of the trio sporting their festive outfits. That's Alana in the bottom picture showing off her very favorite shoes in the entire world. They are little Ugg boots that Josiah enjoyed wearing back in the day when his feet still fit. And now, the girls, literally everyday, fight over who is going to get to wear the Uggs. It's amazing at how young an age the shoe fetish begins!

The Broncos

Anyone who knows the Jardine's (Eric's side of the family), knows that the Denver Broncos are the football team of choice, being that they are from Colorado.

However, we've made a decision that when the kids are awake and in the room, the TV is NOT on. So, if we turn the TV on at all, it is generally after the kids are all in bed asleep. However, when Grandpa Jardine is in town or if there's a "special" game on, we'll make an exception and have the TV on for a bit. What's really funny is that the kids get super excited and start squeeling. Our TV recently "died" and so we ended up getting a new one (a much larger and "cooler" one, of course!) and we haven't got a new TV stand yet. So, the current stand is really low to the ground and the kids can easily attack it, if they wanted. We've been pretty diligent about making sure they don't touch it and they finally have come to accept that it is "off limits". However, we did get some pretty cute shots of the time the Bronco game was on and Alana decided she LOVED football. That's Alana on her knees in front of the TV. Alexa, however, tends to run away whenever the TV or radio is turned on because she thinks its going to be really loud. Both Alana & Josiah have learned how to turn the stereo up and they end up blasting it, in which they all start crying! It's pretty humorous, I must admit!

Walking Party

You might have seen the old 3 stooges episodes where they run around and hit each other in pure slapstick comedy? After dinner each night our kids have this burst of energy before bedtime and it quickly turns into good comedy after a long day. We caught a bit of the drunken sailor style waddles on video, complete with the occasional contact with a sibling. Alana could not stop laughing and she clearly could not contain her excitement for her new-found motoring capability!
Alana is the one in her PJ's.

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!