June 24, 2009

Vacation Time

We have had a great 2 weeks with family in town. Tons of time to play with cousins, Aunts, Uncles and of course Grandma's and Grandpa! The kids are going through some withdrawls now, Emma even said today, "I want to play with everyone." I wish they were here to play with you too!! Here are a few highlights from our vacation.

Emma and Lucy are standing in the sand

Dad got Isaac to boogie board

No explanation needed!

Happy Birthday to my Baby Giant 2 year old

Skateboarding with dad

June 17, 2009

LegoLand


What an adventure we had at LegoLand today! It's never dull with me and my kids! It started out as a fun day with all of my sisters and some cousins but turned into my nightmare. We started off on a good note, rode a couple rides - thanks to Paige riding with my kids, and getting a very expensive snack. While looking through all of the Lego displays in the Miniland I noticed that Isaac had "that face" - you know, the one that says, "I dare you to try and change my messy diaper" face. I picked him up and put him on a bench and did the usual mom looks down the back of the kids pants, only to find a very runny present all over my fingers. Then it all just goes downhill from here. I noticed that it had soaked through the ONLY clothes I had for him because they were on him! After cleaning my hands and trying to keep him from sitting down I grabbed the entire wet wipe package that I brought, thankfully, and headed off to find a bathroom that was not close. I am so thankful that Paige and Brooke were there to take my kid and my stroller. I will spare any more gross details and just say that Isaac got cleaned up and we headed off to the nearest gift shop to find some new shorts - couldn't put back on the soiled ones! But no shorts. So, there is 8 months pregnant mom and my baby giant with no pants on heading back to meet the crew. Needless to say we got some looks but just didn't care!

We found everyone for lunch and we were having a pretty good time when all of a sudden Emma started to tell me that she didn't feel well. Now, sometimes this is like the Boy Who Cried Wolf so I just said she needed to eat to make her empty tummy feel better. But that just was not working. We moved my lunch out of the way and she threw up in the little paper boat looking container that held my sandwich. We cleaned up and the rest of the crew went to a ride and then they would come and check back on me in a little bit. I moved locations to a bench close to a bathroom where Isaac fell asleep in the stroller, he just knew that I would really love him for doing that, and Emma stayed on my lap and fell asleep. Then she woke up and needed to throw up and we ran to the bathroom. Now, remember, I am great with child, carrying my 4 year-old and pushing my sleeping giant in the stroller and running to the bathroom - yes, comedy of errors! I get into the bathroom and of course there is a line and I said, "Is there an open one my daughter is going to throw up!" Some lady actually said, "There's a garbage can right there." Now, I realize that it was fast and close but seriously, cut the pregnant woman with the sick kid and the giant stroller with the baby giant in it some slack! We went to the garbage can and she ended up not throwing up there. She managed to save it until we got back to the bench and I had her throw up in the bushes behind the bench. We were in a good spot where no one could watch her and Isaac was doing a great job hiding her with the stroller. By now you know that I wish I were somewhere else at the moment, oh, say, like HOME or better yet a beach in Hawaii but I had to pretend we were the only ones in the park and I didn't care because I didn't. All I cared about was my sweet sick baby girl that was screaming to go home and my little sleeping boy with no pants on!

We caught up to everyone else, thanks to Paige coming back to us with Brooke's sweater to cover Isaac's legs to he wasn't cold in the shade. I ended up carrying Emma back to everyone and that was not easy. After several attempts to throw up in the bushes that failed we headed to the car. Emma kept saying, "I want to go HOME!" Well, home we went. But it was a long walk back to the car and yes, I was carrying her there as well.

We got to the front of the park and Emma had to throw up again so I ran to the bathroom with her and managed to pull a great move of sweeping her up and simultaneously pushing the lid off the garbage can because she wouldn't make it to the toilet, it was a sweet move! I mopped up a little mess off the floor, there happened to be a mop by the trash can, and we cleaned up and off we went. There was a very nice lady outside the bathroom, she had seen us in the bathroom, and she asked me if there was anything she could help me with, very thoughtful. I thanked her for her kindness and told her we were heading home and I had some help with me. That had to have been the best part of this ordeal, besides leaving, because someone seemed to relate to my plight or at least would like someone to offer some help if the roles were reversed.

We made it to the car and thanks to Noah's purchase at the gift shop we also had a barf bag for the ride home. Emma threw up 3 or 4 more times on the way home, not like she had anything left, and she slept. We made it home and she made it to the couch and fell asleep. But you would think the story ended here because we made it home...wrong...it just keeps getting better!

Now, back to Isaac...just as we get in the house and he starts playing with some toys he starts up on the runny diapers again! In a manner of 1o minutes I changed 4 diapers. Not cool. At least I have family in town and Jordan was cooking dinner tonight, otherwise I would have had cereal for dinner. When Steve got home we ordered "take out" from my family and my boys went and picked it up. Jordan is an amazing cook and our dinner was fantastic!

Now both kids are asleep, mom is ready to head to bed, and dad is finishing up work. Just another day in the life of us!! Let's hope for a better tomorrow, which is Isaac's birthday, so I think it will be great!!

June 15, 2009

Preschool Graduation


Today was Emma's preschool graduation. It was more like an end of year school party because she still has one more year of preschool but there was one girl in her class that was going to be attending Kindergarten in the fall so it was graduation. The party was at the San Clemente Pier and we were so lucky to have Grandma Sue in town for the festivities, she's here for the Pratley family vacation and the timing was perfect! Emma did a great job in preschool this year and has grown up SO much. She is already starting to read and she knows how to write a lot of words already, she is always asking me how to spell things and making lists for me, what a helper! She also received the "Super Singer Award" because she knew all the songs for the programs and was always wanting to sing, she doesn't get that from mom or dad!! We are so proud of Emma and her growth and progress. She is such a wonderful little girl and I am SO happy she is my little girl!! We love you Emma!!

Emma's Class (party hats were courtesy of the pinata)
Emma and her teacher Ms. Dianne

June 9, 2009

Daddy's Home!!

Whenever Steve gets home from work, either during the day or at the end of the day, the kids love to climb in the car with him.  When the garage goes up the kids go running!  We first have to make sure that dad is not on the phone.  The pictures are pretty typical of the kids in dad's car.


Multi-Tasking

Talk about efficiency, Isaac managed to eat his dessert while taking a bath!  Nothing like dipping your chocolate chip cookie in tubby water!!  Mmm...tastes better with bubbles!!