Name: Shae
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Family Rules
August 31st, 2010
A Morning Hike
August 15th, 2010
Growing up in Lockwood, the lessons you learn are different than those who grew up in the city. During the warmer months we were always taught to look out for two things, black widows and rattle snakes. We we taught what a black widow web looked and felt like and the most likely places they would be hiding. During the day if we spotted a new web we would take note of it and come back after dark when the widow was home so we could kill it. The same was true for rattle snakes. We learned what they looked and felt like and what they sounded like. Every kid I knew had at least one rattle that was cut off a snake sitting on their dresser or a shelf. They were just like toys. I won’t even get into the old turkey foot I use to play with. Needless to say, we all knew what a rattle snake sounded like. We also new the types of places they liked to hide and for the most part we were pretty good at avoiding them. When we did come upon one, we knew how to take care of it.
The country also give kids a wonderful sense of adventure. During the summer, all the canyon kids would get together after the sun went down and just go exploring. There is no telling were we would end up. Of course we had to wait until the evening because our days were filled with swimming in the pond and riding our 4wheelers. Nothing was really off limits. No one ever minded if we hoped a fences or three and we would come home whenever we got tired. TV and video games were almost unheard of and this was before home computers and internet.
Since my kids are growing up in the city, I try and give them a little bit of what I learned as a kid. The most important thing I want them to learn is that it’s ok to learn new things and explore new places.
On Saturday, we took the kiddos out on a little adventure. We headed over to the Old Sweetwater Bridge in Rancho San Diego. Being me, I had to bring my camera and get a few updated photos of them before we did anything else. The mornings have been nice and overcast so we had perfect lighting. After we did some photos, we took the kiddos out on a little hike. This is a new area for us to hike in, so we weren’t really familiar with the trails. The plan was to let the kids walk for as long as they could, and then throwing in the off road stroller and let them ride the rest of the way. Well, one of the first things I noticed about the trail was that it was lined with poison oak. Not exactly kid friendly. The kids got a nice stroller ride the rest of the way. It was actually a really nice trail. Very well maintained. We saw a lot of different people too. There were other hikers, some bikers, and there was evidence of horses.
On the way back we heard some sirens that sounded like they were at the parking area. When we got up there we saw one of the bikers sitting on a gurney. Another guy on the trail that we were talking too wondered if the guy fell off his bike or was bit by a rattle snake. Well, turns out it was both. He fell on a rattler and was bit. It made me realize there was a ton of things I learned growing up that others didn’t. Now I get to teach my own kids about all the fun country stuff. I will definitely be keeping my eyes and ears open from now on when we are out on our hikes.
Since You can’t have a post without photos, here are some of the new photos of the kids that I took right before the hike.
Attitude Adjustment Time
May 20th, 2010I came across this video awhile ago and thought it was really great. I came across it again this morning, and it really had an impact on me. We may not have to best house on the block or much money in the bank and Pat and I most certainly have little issues and I have super whiny kinds, but we have a roof over our heads, we always manage to keep everyone fed and clothed, I love Pat more than life itself, and I have the most incredible kids. I realized I can’t look at the negative things in my life and I need to start looking at all the wonderful positive things in my life.
Queen Califia’s Magic Circle Garden
April 18th, 2010Since it’s starting to warm up down here, I wanted to get the kids up to Escondido to see Queen Califia’s Magic Circle Garden. If you have ever been there, you know the whole place is covered in glass mosaic so as the weather gets warm, so does the glass. I think last year we went up there in the middle of summer and the glass was too hot to touch! Our plan this morning was to get up there before it started getting too hot. Well, due to an issue of a missing little girl shoe, we left a little later then planned. Anyway, we got up there and let the kiddos run around for awhile until they were worn out and we were too hot. The kiddos were fascinated by the black, white, and mirror maze and loved looking at their reflections. Once they found their way out of the maze they had a blast in the circle. They ran and ran and ran until they were totally worn out. They loved touching all the glass and looking at all the colors. It was so much fun! I love watching the kids discover new stuff and get excited when they see new things. Here are some pictures from our morning.
Peter Cottontail
April 13th, 2010Thanks Grandma!
Loss
February 28th, 2010Our family has suffered a devastating loss today. That’s right, Jack got his curls cut off today. Actually, today both kiddos went in for their first haircuts. They did such a great job. I spent most of my time with Jack because he tends to be a little crybaby when I leave his side. Since he doesn’t handle change too well, I figured he would be crying, but he did great! Not a peep out of him until the stylist brought out the buzzers. Jacks hates loud noise, so he didn’t like it very much. I ended up having to hold him so she could trim his neck.
Ella did really well too. Pat stayed with her while she got her bangs trimmed and straightened. The stylist basically fixed what I did to her hair a few months ago. Since Ella didn’t have much that needed cut, the stylist put some pretty little twisty things with bows in her hair. She looked very pretty. When she was done, she came over and watched brother finish up. When Jack started crying because of the buzzers, she started crying too. It was kinda sweet.
Here are some pictures of the new haircuts.
A little of this and a little of that
February 13th, 2010OK, this is pretty much a catch-up type post. Everyone is doing pretty well at the Lorigan house and the kiddos are growing up way too fast! Since Christmas, they are much more sure of their footing and are even starting to run. We got a couple new gates to block off the kitchen, so the kiddos now have full access to the rest of the house. They love running up and down the hallway yelling. I think they just like hearing the echo. on Wednesday the kiddos went in for their 16 month checkup and everything looked good, well, Ella has a little bit of athlete’s foot, but other than that, it’s all good. Ella now weighs 22lbs and is 30 3/4 inches tall. Jack weighs 21.14 and is 30 3/4 inches tall. They are both on the smaller side, but they are nice and healthy, so it’s OK.
While the rest of the country is dealing with horrible snow storms, San Diego was nice and sunny today. We decided to take the kids and Lunchbox out for a little stroll around the neighborhood. Since the kids are much more secure on their feet we let them out of the stroller to explore. One of my favorite things about our neighborhood is the median that runs through the main street. For the most part is covered in sidewalk and has trees and grass lining the sides. It is very wide, so we don’t really have to worry about the kids running out into the street yet. Even if they did wander into the street, very few cars ever drive by. Anyway, we let the kiddos out to explore and they had a great time. Of course I brought my camera so there are some pictures at the bottom. Ella decided she wanted to push the stroller and Jack decided he wanted pick up rocks and sticks and stuff like that. Overall, it was a beautiful, and great day for a walk.
Pat has been traveling a lot for work so it is really nice to have home for a few weeks before he has to fly out again. This last time really sucked. Pat was supposed to be gone for a day and ended up getting snowed in and came home 3 days later. During this time, my car decided to break down. I had Pat’s car, but the stroller doesn’t fit in the trunk so I was stuck at home. It made me realize how dependent on my car I am. Well, I was stuck in a house without food, so I had to use the Vons grocery delivery service. It was great! I see myself using it a lot more. It was so easy! Well, I was glad when Pat finally made it home and was able to give me a break from the kids.
I guess that’s all I really have for now.
Christmas in Texas
January 24th, 2010After Christmas in La Mesa, it was time to pack our bags and head to Texas for another fun and exciting Christmas. On the 26th my dad got up early with us so he could drop us off at the airport. The drop off spot was actually pretty empty and we were able to check our bags pretty quick. Things were looking pretty good. If you have ever flown out of the San Diego Airport, you know you have to walk upstairs to go through all the security stuff. One of the things you never really think about until you have to push a stroller around, is where the elevators are. We were able to locate the elevator pretty quickly and head upstairs. That is where our good luck ended. As soon as we get out of the elevator, we see the line for security. The line was all the way across the covered pedestrian bridge and almost to the parking lot! Now, keep in mind, the bridge is part of the outside, so we had to stand in the freezing cold weather with two tired, cranky babies. Not fun. Despite being super long, we were able to get into the warm part somewhat quickly. As soon as we were inside, it felt like we were in line at Disneyland, but without the fun ride at the end. When we finally got up to the place where the TSA agents check our licences and boarding passes, the guy who was checking our line was also checking the first class line, so it took FOREVER! After we got through, we had to deal with the actual security part. Normally this is pretty easy, you take off your shoes, and put all your crap in the grey bins, walk through, and then collect your crap. It’s not that easy when you are traveling with two toddlers. Since I had a bunch of milk and food and stuff like that, I had to go in the “special” line after we walked through the detectors. They had to check every single item with a special light. For as long as this took, Pat took longer. Apparently he “had too many electronics” in his bag so they took the bag, emptied it, and checked everything. I think it was the baby monitor that made it “too many.” OK, so about an hour after we got to the airport, we were finally headed to our gate. Thank God our gate was the first one, because when we got there, they were boarding the last section! When we got on the plane, you could almost see the dread in everyone’s eyes as we walked on with our two cranky toddlers. We found our seats and had to do some shuffling because we weren’t allowed to have the both babies in the same row. It was time for take off!
The kiddos were actually pretty good for the first half of the 3 hour flight. For the most part, they just slept on our chests and everyone was as happy as could be. Things started going down hill after the drink cart came by. I don’t know if the cart hit Ella or if it was the noise, but whatever it was, she woke up. In an effort to get Ella some milk, I jarred Jack enough to wake him up too. Queue the crying and whining. I had enough snacks and milk to keep them somewhat satisfied and they calmed down. I was also fortunate enough to have an empty seat next to me so I could put Jack down for a little bit and give my arms a break. We took turns putting Jack and Ella in the empty seat and it worked out pretty well. When we were landing You could tell that Jack’s ears were starting to hurt and he started crying. We made it out of the air and onto the ground and the kiddos were pretty happy again. Tom picked us up at the airport and we headed to Brian and Dorothy’s house in Houston.
When we got to the house, our first priority was getting the kiddos fed! They made sure we knew how hungry they were. After a yummy lunch we let them meet their great aunts and uncles and their great grandma. After all the oohing and ahhing, we let the kiddos play for a few minutes and then it was nap time for them. Around the time they went down for their nap, their cousin Liam was waking up from his nap. Liam is just 12 days younger than our munchkins and looks just like Jack! We were kind of bummed that their nap schedules were so different, but it all worked out. Eventually our kids woke up and their other cousins, Oskar and Maya showed up. Oskar is 18 months old and Maya Just turned two. They all had a great time playing together. We decided to walk over to the neighborhood park for a little bit to let them burn off some extra energy. they all had a great time playing on the swings, slides, and rocking things. After we got back, we opened all our presents. We got some great stuff and the babies got a bunch of new toys! After the excitement of opening all our new stuff, we fed the kiddos and put them down for the night. We had an awesome dinner shortly after and spend the rest of the evening hanging out with family.
The rest of the week was pretty mellow. There were more walks to the park and more playing with babies. It was so much fun watching all the cousins play together. It is amazing how different they all are, and how much they look alike.
Our week finally came to an end and it was time to pack up and head home. As much as we love visiting with our family, we both wanted to get home and free Lunchbox from the kennel. We headed to the airport nice and early in anticipation of another security hell. Well, we were through the security line and to the gate in just 20 minutes. This time they didn’t have to analyze every little thing in our bags and we just walked on through. You know what’s not fun? Being at the airport an hour early with two tired, hungry toddlers. We ended up finding an empty gate and just let them run around a little bit. We were finally able to board the plane. Once again, we had to do some seat switching so we weren’t all in the same row. There were actually quit a few babies on this flight. Ours were by far the loudest! Once we got in the air Jack fell asleep pretty fast, while Ella was just screaming! She finally fell asleep and it was all good for about an hour. When they woke up, all hell broke loose. Jack was sitting in my lap and he didn’t want to be there. He was so squirmy and loud! Yup, we were those people. Jack kept hitting and scratching me and kicking the girl sitting next to me. Pat was holding Ella and she was even louder! I guess she kept pinching Pat and squirming around. The flight seemed to take FOREVER! As soon as we finally landed, the people around us jumped up as fast as they could.
Chris and Patty picked us up at the airport and we headed home! While we were gone, a Christmas miracle occurred, our house seemed to clean itself! Thanks parents!!! Pat picked up Lunchbox and it was nice to finally be home.
My Monkeys
November 2nd, 2009As everyone knows, one of my favorite place to go is the zoo. We love going to visit the polar bears and elephants and watching the meerkats play, but my favorite place is the monkey trail. It is so much fun watching the monkeys jump around and climb all over the structures. I think last time I was there, two of them must have climbed into the stroller and disguised themselves like Jack and Ella, and come home with us!
Yup, I am raising two little monkeys.
The girl one grabs the bars of her cage (crib) and starts jumping on the mattress while squealing! Sometimes she will get so into that she can move the crib across the room I will go in to check them and find all her blankets, pillows and crib toys on the ground. It doesn’t stop at the crib. In the living room she doesn’t really play with her toys much, instead, she throws them across the room and tries to hit the boy with them. I guess it is better than throwing poop like they do in the zoo.
Now for the boy monkey. He truly embodies everything about one! He too jumps around in cage and throws his stuff out onto the floor, but he takes it a little further. His new thing he does to avoid taking a nap is taking off his diaper and peeing all over himself!!! I don’t think I have enough sheets to make it through this phase. I have been lucky enough that it has just been pee. You may be asking, “Why don’t you just put pants on him?” Well, I have two answers for you. First, we live in San Diego in a house that heats up like a sauna and second, when we do put him in pants he always manages to take them off and throw them out of the crib. Next comes the living room. He is becoming the little climber! He has figured out how to climb up on the couch. We have been dreading this for awhile now because we use the couch as part of our baby proofing barrier. He has almost figured out how to climb out of the pack n play. This sucks! The pack and play is where I contain them when I need to get something done or run to the bathroom! I guess the next step will be to put a top on the pack n play and start charging people to come over and gawk at our little monkeys.
I won’t be surprised when they start climbing on the coffee table or picking bugs off each other or the dog.
Thank You Art
October 25th, 2009As many of you know, I love making things. I would much rather try and make or build something, than go to a store and buy it. The babies “Thank You” cards for their birthday are no exception. It was a great way to introduce the kiddos to the concept of handmade. This was a very easy project.
I started out with plain thank you cards because I didn’t really have time to cut and fold paper like I had planned. Next came the fun part! I gave each of the babies a piece of bubble wrap and put some globs of finger paints on it. The first thing each baby had to do was stick it in their mouths to taste it. Ella either thought it tasted good, or was really hungry because she kept eating the paint. Jack took a couple tastes and that was it. OK, so the next step was to have the kiddos smear the paints all around the bubble wrap. Ella was really into it. Her piece of bubble wrap was all gooey, and painty, and gorgeous! Jack needed a little encouragement. He wasn’t real sure about the paints. After awhile, he did a little smearing. After the paints was good and mixed, I took the cards and “stamped” them with the bubble wrap. I think they turned out looking awesome!!!
