Paul's Fall Break

Little Paul had fall break the first week of October. Paige still had school so we did things close to home. Paul wanted to spend most of the time at home playing with his toys. The only thing he asked to do during his break was go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Paul is fascinated by sea creatures and is always asking me when we can go to an Aquarium again. Well I finally said, "yes, let's go". My good friend here has guest passes to the Aquarium and was kind enough to let us use them for this outing. 

So I love love the jelly fish exhibit there. It is amazing and it has always been my favorite exhibit there until recently. I've become more and more fascinated by the seahorses. They intrigue me.  I love that they dance to court their mate. They are monogamous creatures and mate for life!  I love that their tails entwine and their bodies spin in unison. The female entrusts her eggs to her mate and the males are the ones that get pregnant and give birth! Seriously?? Are they for real? I hope that in another life I come back as a female seahorse and watch my male mate give birth to our baby seahorses. It all sounds so dreamy. 

We had a couple of play dates, a day at the park and the rest of the week was spent playing at home. I think Paige has really missed having her brother around. She loved every minute of it. 

On the weekend we got to go pick apples with Dad at Gizdich Ranch. The golden delicious was our family favorite from this trip. They had a lot of different varieties but we seemed to all gravitate back to the golden delicious. 

Paul posing with the eels. 

Zoey in a clamshell.

Paul coming out of the tunnel.

Zoey loved running across the waterbed. 

Not sure what this was because I was chasing after Zoey but Paul seemed to really enjoy it. 

All three kids checking out the same thing at the same time. 

Zoey is speechless

New jelly fish exhibit at Monterey. These were spotted and so cool!

Paige looks extra special here but she loved the purple jelly fish also in the new exhibit. 

Paul with the brown, turqoise and white with purple dots jelly fish also in the new exhibit.  Also very cool!

Paige and Paul in the new jelly fish exhibit. If you haven't been in awhile, this new exhibit is really fun. 

Movie night with popcorn. Zoey loves snuggling next to her big brother. 

Movie night. 

Paul picking a golden delicious apple. 

Paige never helps when we go pick fruit. She just eats:) We don't bother getting her a bucket anymore because we end up carrying it. She ate about 10 apples that day. 

Zoey loved running down the aisles. She's also proud to be in the USA. 

She also just eats mostly from the buckets of apples already picked. 

Dad ate a lot of apples too but he also picked a lot of them. 

Paul was the best picker. He lives for this stuff. He climbed up so many trees looking for the perfect apple. 

Trying to keep this monster from taking little bites out of our picked apples. 

Paige wanted to sit down for a second and got stuck. 

August and September update

Life got really busy with the start of school. We just have to be on time for so many things and my kids have no concept of time.  Every morning I get myself and the kids dressed and ready for the day. Then we walk downstairs and make some breakfast. While the kids eat, I make Paul's lunch and get his backpack ready for school. I quickly eat breakfast and have the kids brush their teeth and go to the bathroom. This is usually the time where I yell, "Hurry up you guys. We are running late".  Then something else will happen that will make us even more late like Zoey going #2 in her diaper, Paige running upstairs to get a small toy, Paul going #2 in one of the bathrooms upstairs, Paul going upstairs to play with his legos, Zoey climbing on the counter and taking a bath in the sink, Paul taking his socks off and not remembering where he took them off and the list goes on and on. After lots of yelling, we get our shoes on and jump in the car. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday we only have to take Paul to school. We park the car and everybody gets out and we walk Paul to his classroom door. We usually stay in his classroom for 10-15 minutes while he gets some of his work done. We leave once Zoey starts to be disruptive. Sometimes we are only in there a few minutes before Zoey is trying to climb up on the tables or starts throwing things off the shelves. This is our cue and we quickly get out of there. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have to leave a little earlier because we take Paige to her preschool class first. When we get there, I get all three kids out of the car and we walk Paige to her class. Then we run back to the car and hurry because we only have 10 minutes to get to Paul's school, park and walk him to class. We are always running to the door as the last student is walking through the door. This keeps my blood pumping. After school pick up goes the same way. I have to pick up both kids at their classroom door. Mondays Paul has soccer and Tuesdays Paige has dance class. It seems like every other day we either have a play date at our house or the kids are going to a friend's house for a play date. And then there is reading and homework. I don't know how parents with many kids in school do it. 

I feel like August and September flew by. I'm not sure what we did those two months but according to the pictures on my camera we did get out a little. One of our favorite things to do is hike up the big hill close to our house. There is a big tree and swing up there that my kids love. I love the views. 

Paige on the swing. It used to be an actual swing but it broke and was replaced with a log. My kids still loved it.

Zoey loved the swing but thought every turn should be hers. She threw a fit every time we made her get off.  

Paul really got high on this log swing. 

Paul and Paige

Dad and Zoe

Only picture to show I was there too. 

While the big kids were in school, we took the little ones to Happy Hollow with some friends. It was fun to make an outing just about Paige. She loved the special attention. 

Paige with her friend Kyle.

Zoey loves driving the cars. 

My motherly daughter taking care of her younger sister on one ride.  

Even though her and Kyle are the same age, Paige would run over to his chair and help him out. 

I asked for her best smolder and this is what I got. She's a natural. 

We made it to one of our favorite indoor places one Saturday Paul didn't have to do schoolwork which is pretty rare these days.

Paige loves anything purple and pink. 

Paige and Zoey in the foam pit. 

Zoey liked being burried in the foam. 

My three kids playing nicely together. Zoey is small but she loves to play with the big kids. She holds her own most of the time. 

Waiting in line for the zip line!

Paul on the zip line.

Paige on the zip line.

Zoey was so tired and took a short nap while her older siblings kept playing hard. She doesn't nap like this very much anymore so I was loving every second of it. I'm not ready for another baby but I miss all the cuddles. 

First Day of School

We were not ready for school to start this year. For some reason I thought school started at the end of August but then I got an email from Paul's school in early August saying school was starting in 2 weeks! Kindergarten started on August 15th! We lucked out and got the kindergarten teacher everyone said was the best. So far, we love her. I think she is a good fit for Paul's personality. There is another teacher there who is more of a "yeller" and I don't think he would have done very well with her. He had half days the first week and a half but come Monday he goes to full days. So far so good? Who knows... Paul is not the best communicator. I ask him a million and one questions after school but all I can get from him are one word answers like, "cool" or "good". I spoke with a mom that volunteers in the classroom and she told me he seemed to be doing really well so I'm not too worried. There is lots of gossip that goes on among the parents of this school. I try to stay away from it but my friend told me there was one kid in his class that was the "troublemaker" and to have Paul stay away from him. She knows everyone and is always looking out for me. Well, after the 3rd day of school, I asked Paul who he played with at school. Of course it was the "troublemaker" kid;) Awesome. I don't really care but I just thought it was funny. Even though he is known as the "troublemaker" of the class, he probably knows how to have a good time and Paul likes to have a good time. He's never been drawn to the quiet, mellow kids. The crazier the better! Since then, he has made some other friends but still likes the crazy one:)

I was impressed with myself that I only cried for a few minutes in the car on the first day. I felt weird crying in front of my girls especially since Paige was looking at me with such concern. It's been a week and a half and I still get sad after I drop him off in the mornings. It is slowly getting better. I miss having him around. Paige misses him too. She cried the other day when she found out Paul had a play date after school for the second time this week:( I need to get that girl some more friends. She just wants to be with her big brother all the time.

Paige also had her first day of preschool this week. She only goes 2 days a week for 3 hours and she has the same teacher Paul had for preschool last year. The first day was orientation and I stayed with her the whole time. The second day she walked right in and didn't even say good-bye. I had to call after her to say good-bye. It made me feel so unneeded.  So I may have cried a little bit in the car on the way to Zoey's doctor appointment. I'm so my mom. Soon, they are not going to need me at all...I will probably roll up in the fetal position and cry myself to sleep every night.

At least I still have this one at home....

I don't know what she is going to do without her partner in crime. It is crazy how similar these two are.