Kari Bear is Married!

Nothing beats a good ol' family wedding! We had such a lovely day yesterday. Kari was such a beautiful bride, and while she and Bennett were at the altar you could just see the love radiating between them. He is such a good guy - I like to say that Bennett is so nice, he makes Tim look like a jerk. I think we were all a little sad that Grandpa wasn't here to share this moment with us, but Auntie B, Sara and I took up the responsibility of being weepy babies at the wedding for his sake. Kari carried his wedding ring pinned to her bouquet, I wore a Boy Scout medal on my sweater, and John had on his dog tags. We made sure to send plenty of love his way (and I know he was sending some love back down to us.)

My girlfriend Becca flew in to stay with the kids, who napped all through the ceremony. The unfortunately missed the Thiel family picture, where I joked that we should hold Kari like a baby (meaning she would be held flat, with each of us having a hand under her) and John just picked her up in his arms. Hopefully the photo comes out cute! We may be the smallest family group, but we're pretty great. During the reception they said that they weren't going to kiss if you clink glasses - if you wanted the bride and groom to kiss, you had to sing a song with the word love in it. So of course, our table immediately launched into a loud rendition of L.O.V.E. And then later, Ellie got the mic and led us all in a version of You Are My Sunshine.

Adam had to go to bed before the dancing really started, but man, Ellie held her own on that dance floor. Betty had found an Easter dress that Grandma made for Kari (Sara and I also had matching ones - I have Sara's at home) and Ellie insisted on wearing it to the wedding. With her cowgirl boots, also. I got Grizz to come out and polka with me, and when Ellie saw he was dancing, she immediately conscripted her into service as her personal attendant and dance slave for the evening. During the first slow song, she asked me if we had to stop dancing and I told her no, it was a slow song, so dance with someone you love. She immediately told me to go away so she could dance with Grizz, and she wanted to dance close, like big people. No hand holding for her, so she put her hand around his back, as a grown up woman might do to her date. Except, she is not full grown, so rather than putting her hand on his shoulder, she kept it on his butt. FRESH! She also told Gigi and Sara to go away too. ONLY DANCING WITH GRIZZ, unless dancing with Hailee. It was pretty hilarious. During the slow song too, she also informed me to go dance with Grandma Rosie, so Grams and I had a nice moment, slow dancing together while her boys slow danced with their granddaughters.

How cute are they? (that's John with a sliver of Hailee in the background.)

Such a fun party! Lots of country songs, some good oldies, and a lot of fun. I especially loved dancing to All About the Bass with mom and Sara.

We put Ellie in bed around 10:15. Adam was then up (and awake) by 5:30, so he and I went down to the lobby and watched Dinosaur Train, and had some continental breakfast at 6am. Thankfully, he went back down around 6:30. He's been so grumpy and a little sick, plus he hates the fun cage, so I let him fall asleep on me, and then sort of plunked him between Becca and I in the bed. She woke up at 8:15 to him inches from her face, saying "hi!" and then he came over and did the same for me. We had a delicious second breakfast, and then the kids went swimming with Grizz while Bec and I cleaned up the room. Now both kids are happily, desperately napping. Beforehand though, Becca and I took Ellie to the Sweet Shop for a milkshake, as a reward for her being such a good girl while we were traveling here. And because who doesn't love the Sweet Shop?

Meanwhile, on the other end of the country, Jacob had a great day at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, coming in at 10 hours, 5 minutes. He's really pleased with his time, and Tim says they're all feeling good today. Thumbs up!

I stole this picture from facebook - that lovely smiling blonde is his fiancee, Dawn.

All in all, a successful October Saturday for all members of our families.

we made it!

We made it to La Crosse last night, safe and sound. The kids were perfect travelers. So g!ad I spent so much time fretting about the trip. Good use of energy.

We had three seats with extra legroom, and Adam spent a lot of time standing or playing on the floor. Ellie sat quietly watching movies or coloring. Even with the nintey minute delay (sitting at the gate) they hung tough. We had time to get a happy meal in Chicago and then the kids ran around the seating area. Adam found fries he'd dropped and ate them off the floor before I could stop him. Now he has diseases. Ellie spent the flight into La Crosse coloring, and Adam whined until he fell asleep.

It was so nice to see Gigi and Grizz and Sara at the airport. And the terminal is so small that while I waited for our gate checked bag, I could watch Ellie walk out to them. And they were both thrilled to see grandma Rosie. Adam is less thrilled about sleeping in the fun cage, but you can't win them all!

Adventures of Four Bruins.

All of the grandparents are scattered to the wind this week - my folks are already in the Midwest, Tim's folks are on their way to Hawaii, and Parissa's mom took off to go visit her family in Texas, leaving Pari with a three week old baby and 18 month old Mila. We had been commiserating about how much we rely on the grandmas in our lives, and I offered to come out and bring lunch and meet the new baby.

It was such a cute afternoon. Ellie is in love with Mila and now in love with Rahim, and when she wasn't bossing around her army of minions, she was standing inches from Pari and talking her ear off. The four kids were quite the adventure, running around the house, going outside to pick oranges off the tree, chasing the dog. What more could you want?

I love this, because Ellie and Rahim are having a moment, and then the toddlers are being creeps and staring at them.

Crazy to think that between the two of us, we've had four babies in less than four years! (and for reference, Adam is taller than Mila, but is sitting back in the crack of the couch, looking petite.) Four years that were almost more adventurous than our four years in college! It's also been sort of the same - lots of puking, crying and late nights.

It's so fun to watch the kids together. Mila is a talking machine, and it was incredibly sweet to watch her walk around asking for Ellie. I can't wait to see what they're like in another six months, all together.

Hot Hot Heat.

It continues to be unseasonably warm here, and I continue to be miserable about it all. I am wilted and melting and crabby. It's just hard. Errands are miserable hot. Our AC runs fine, but I feel stir crazy because it's too hot to spend any time outside, even with the patio cover. I feel like laying down on the side of the trail during morning runs.

Saturday night we were trying to figure out something to do, and decided that since we live in Southern California, where it's too hot to live, we might as well enjoy some of the perks of this dump, so we went and had tacos in Laguna Beach and then went to the beach to watch the sunset.

The food was delicious, the kids were well behaved, and the beach wasn't too terribly crowded. We had a nice half hour digging in the sand and watching the sun set, and both kids dipped their toes in for a bit but didn't try to get totally coated in sand. Plus who doesn't like the smell of salt air and the sound of the waves?

The only downside was that this was the best sunset photo of me and my children that I could get.

Can't win 'em all.

New Videos.

Ellie practicing for her future on the Food Network. My favorite (which she does not say in this video) is when she tells us something needs to cook for "twenty to seven minutes." Whatever that means.

Adam and I goofing off.

And now, for a flashback, here is Adam singing the clap, clap, clap your hands song many moons ago.

If baby Ellie doesn't melt your insides, you are made of pure ice and steel.

Mother's Little Helper.

Ellie seems so much more grown up lately, as though perhaps we will really truly leave the terrible threes behind before we even pass her fourth birthday. Her big thing lately is wanting to help where ever she can. She loves sorting laundry and putting it in the washer/dryer and starting the machines. She happily sets the table for me at dinner time (the other night when I sat down, she goes "what do you say now that you have a fork?" and I sort of stared at her for a minute because I didn't get what she was after, and then I remembered to say thank you.)

Yesterday was bathroom cleaning day, and she happily scrubbed both toilets for me, and then was in charge of the spray bottle when it came time to mop. She said she couldn't wait to be old enough to mop! Me too kid, me too. Then before bedtime I was running the vacuum and she begged to be able to help. She swears she's big enough to move our monster machine. So of course, I put her to work.

Please check those boots. She has been asking for cowgirl boots for weeks now, ever since I got a pair. She has been happily clomping around the house in my boots, and I told her we could maybe get some for her birthday. But since I knew she needed to try them on, and I wanted her to have her choice of footwear (because she is already a picky pickerton when it comes to her wardrobe choices) we went and picked out a pair yesterday. She is SO thrilled with them, and I love how much she enjoys them.

It was quite touching - when we were leaving Target, I told her that those were part of her birthday present, and she thanked me. I said that she should also make sure to thank her daddy, and when Tim came home for dinner last night, the first thing she did was show him her boots, and the second thing she did was say "thank you for my birthday present daddy!"

Eighteen Months.

Who is this big, half grown up boy? As of today, he's eighteen months old! We had his well baby today and he's almost 24 pounds and 32.5 inches. Which, I referenced my reference material, and turns out that he's smaller than Ellie was at this age. But not by much. He is also less of an eater than she was/is. I feel like I spend a lot of time standing with him in front of the fridge, asking him to pick something to snack on, and in the end, whatever he chooses he then rejects. HOW DARE YOU CUT UP THAT PEAR FOR ME, DO NOT OPEN THAT YOGURT I DON'T WANT TO EAT IT! But he's growing nicely, so they are not worried. And Tim, for as tall as he is, was only 6'2" when he left for college. I gained the freshman twenty five. Tim grew four inches and got even skinnier. Life is not fair.

Adam continues to have one of the sweetest personalities around, but he's definitely learning how to throw himself a dandy fit, throwing things and throwing himself down on the floor to wail about the injustices in his life. He's not big on imitation or on performing - he has his words that he can say, but he'll rarely parrot back something we ask him to say. The other day I asked him to point to his nose/ears/eyes and for the first time, he actually pointed to them instead of completely ignoring me.

And so busy. Today he managed to open the front door. He took all of the bathing suits out of the bathroom. I found him wandering with a nail clipper. He'll go find my fancy necklaces and put them on. He moves the stool so that he can get his own tooth brush, because he LOVES brushing his teeth. He pulls on Lulu until she bites him and then he yells at her. He only likes to poop right after I put him down for a nap. He climbs on chairs, he stands on couches, any time he can grab a piece of electronics and run with it, he will. He takes out all my tupperware and puts it in the living room, every single day. Sometimes, all he does is follow me around and cry because I won't let him get burnt at the stove. He would like me to hold him most of the time, except when he's tired and then he'd like for me to pick me up so he can immediately cry and try to throw himself out of my arms and on to the floor.

He's such a funny little muffin. He loves to wear his shoes, he loves to wear necklaces, and he likes to dance to the music from Dinosaur Train. Lately, if I try to sing at him, he tells me NO! But we started doing music class again this week and he loved it. Ellie was at preschool when we went and I was amazed at how manageable the class is with only one child! Adam is big on books, especially the recordable story books that he can read himself, and he loves play doh (which he calls dee-doh.) He also likes to bring the iPad to Grizz so he can play the monkey game (which he also calls dee-doh for sticker.) He thinks peekaboo is the best game ever. Basically, he's our best boy ever.