Bart Train

We took a ride to San Francisco around St Paddy's day. One of my friends from Colorado was in SF for a conference and I wanted to visit him. We talked and he mentioned that there was going to be a parade. In all of about 30 minutes we decided to take the kids to the parade and were out the door. Spontaneous fun at its best!

We have been meaning to take Bart Downtown and this was a perfect day take the adventure. All was going smoothly until the first stop at Rockridge. Josiah thought that the ride was over and scooted off his seat and ran for the door. He made it all the way down the aisle to the door before I caught him. Truly, he was just too excited to realize that this was a big adventure and not just a short ride.

We got downtown and ate lunch "under the dome" at the SF Centre Mall which is one of my favorite places that we went to a few years back.


Later, we watched fire trucks, marching bands, horse and motorcycles on the parade route. At one point, I think Rebecca was more excited about the parade than the kids were.

We then landed on the train for our journey home. Sleepy but happy.

Good Friday Part II: Potty Training Success

We had a pivotal moment on Friday! If you ask any of the kids what they get if they go potty in the potty chair, they will say an M&M. Little do they know that it is a mini M&M, you know the really small ones that are about 1/10th the size of a real M&M. Then you ask what they get if they go poo poo and they say, "Go for ride in Daddy's new truck." We convinced Josiah to sit on the chair as it appeared that he was getting ready for some business. I left him in the bathroom and checked on him about 10 minutes later. I said, "Are you done?" and he responded, "No, I still trying." After another 10 minutes, I checked and sure enough he had done some Serious business. I have pictures to prove it but will withhold for future blackmail purposes.


Can you tell that he was excited to take a ride!


Three M&M's later he was on cloud nine and after his nap I took him for a ride to the grocery store. It is downright amazing the excitement of a ride in the truck. The girls were completely distraught and we tried to explain that they needed to go poo poo in the potty. Alana looked at Rebecca with the sweetest puppy dog eyes and said, "But, I go pee pee." Later that night we caved and took the whole family out for a ride.

A very Good Friday: Hiking Briones

Since we moved about a year ago we have come to appreciate the vast open space less than a mile away from our house. With the day off on Good Friday, we had no plans which is a good way to guarantee a ton of fun.

We decided to take a hike and do a picnic. The hike entailed hopping across a stream and a climb up a big muddy mountain. Good news was that we were all smiles at one point or another. I didn't get any pictures of the highlight which was getting up close to some ducks in the reservoir.



The view from our picnic site

Mommy with her girls

Josiah after the duck sighting

Josiah and Alexa walking to go and see the ducks

Random shots

I just came across some pictures of the kids from when we had our "professional" pictures taken. These were taken just after. We were trying to get the kids to pose for us so that we wouldn't have to buy as many of the professional ones (can't blame us for at least trying to save a few bucks). But, we weren't super successful. The kids were tired of us trying to take their pictures!

We love our daddy!

The kids LOVE their daddy! They all like to put on his shoes and anything that is his. Josiah, recently, put on Eric's bike helmet & shoes. He really, really can't wait to go on a bike ride with daddy. We also got some cute, random shots of the the kids with Eric that I thought I'd share...

Potty Training

I will be the first to admit that I have been procrastinating like crazy when it comes to the whole potty training thing. The last thing in the world I want to do is teach 3 little people to all use the potty at the same time...ughhh! But, I think the time has finally come and I can procrastinate no longer. The girls are super excited to start wearing "big girl undies" and would literally sit all day long on the potty if I let them. Josiah, on the other hand, is excited to "sit" on the potty but has yet to be too excited about actually doing any business. So, we are still very much in the beginning stages of this whole potty training adventure, but I had to at least share some funny pictures we took of the girls enjoying some reading...

Misses Fix-it

We got the kids some "tools" for Christmas and they all love them. One of the things I love about having girls & boys at the same time is that we buy both girl and boy toys for them all. Then, they have the choice of playing with either (baby doll & stroller vs. tools). I love the fact that the girls love to play with the tools & Josiah's favorite toy, by far, is the kitchen (yeah, for guys that love to cook!). :)

Such good Care takers

The kids are such great care takers and have recently discovered the joy of taking care of things. My mom got the girls both a baby doll & stroller for Christmas & Alexa treats her baby doll as if it were real. She carries it around with her and wraps it in a blanket. She gives it toys to play with while she pushes it around in the stroller. She even takes it to bed with her and falls asleep with it in her arms. It's very sweet!

Awhile back while I was doing the dishes after breakfast one day, the kids were busy taking care of their stuffed animals. They each had placed one in a high chair, with a bib & tray. They gave each one a sippy cup and some blocks (for food). They did all this while I was doing the dishes. It was pretty amazing!

Forts & Big Messes

Since we spent quite a lot of time indoors in December (partly due to weather & mostly due to illness), we had to get creative in keeping the kids entertained. Eric is a master fort builder, so whenever Daddy was home that was the fun thing to do. The kids were also good at entertaining themselves. Unfortunately, that meant that they made extremely big messes. One of their favorite things to do is to bring every single one of their toys from inside the "play zone" to wherever in the house mommy happens to be (Awww...I feel so loved!).

Hanging Christmas Tree Lights with Auntie Renee

The kids had SO much with Auntie Renee when she came up to Conifer (Colorado) to help put up & decorate the Christmas tree. She was so patient with the process (which was quite time-consuming) & let the kids jump in and help. And they truly felt like they were helping, even when they got tangled in the cords. It was such a fun & relaxing day. The kids enjoyed hanging with Auntie Renee, Uncle Jeremy & Cousin Jake.

Unfortunately, our time in Colorado this year was a bit dreary, due to all 3 of the kids getting sick & coming down with pneumonia. But, we had a few highlights from the trip that made it all worth it and this was, definitely, one of them!

Sunglasses

I don't know what it is about sunglasses, but our kids LOVE them! Thy funny thing is, though, that no matter how many times we show them how to put them on right side up,they always end up putting them on upside down. I can't believe that they already think they know it all! Oh well! We did get some goofy pictures of them! Here is Alexa & Josiah showing off Daddy's sunglasses...

Merry Christmas

We finally just uploaded a ton of pictures that have been sitting on our camera for several months. And I know it has been ages since I have been able to post on a regular basis, so I will likely be doing a few posts with pictures taken over the last couple of months. Unfortunately, the last part of Nov & a good part of Dec were taken over by a super yucky bug that turned into 3 cases of pneumonia all at the same time...No fun! Anyway, all 3 of the kids (including parents) are all finally healthy and feeling well and excited to start the new year!

These pictures were taken on Christmas Day at our house:

The Happy Trio:


My sweet girls:

Alexa:

Family Portrait

I decided that it was finally time to have our family portrait taken by a professional photographer. We've had several casual pictures taken by family and friends, but we've never actually had our picture professionally taken. So, here it is: