Ode to Playgroup

This post is so hard for me to write. So I'm not going to. To make my tears worse as I sit here trying to figure out what to write, I go back to girls' blogs who have already left and read what they have written and just cry more.

From Natalie, our playgroup founder:
It really does take a village to raise a child, or at least a few fantastic playgroup moms, who have become some of the greatest friends I will ever have. There's just something about wiping noses, changing diapers, and cleaning up puke that bonds women together. Plus, they can understand, appreciate, and maybe even look forward to my stories of the aforementioned bodily functions of my children. I know I appreciate their stories and realize I am not alone.

As far as I know, this is our first official playgroup picture, May 2006, but the group had been going at least six months before this.Today was our last official activity. The group and grown and changed so much! I will miss these friends (past and present) so much. They really are my family here and I've learned how to be a mom by watching them and getting advice from them. I feel so blessed.

Night Clinic

For the past two years we've been taking Blake dinner at the school when he has night clinic. The boys love going up there and it's always good to get some food in Blake's belly. Just one problem--Blake is usually playing with one of the boys while I'm feeding the other one Blake's dinner and then switch. I don't know why it didn't hit us earlier, but just recently I started taking dinner up for the whole family and we get to spend some quality time together. So far it's been a success with only one instance of dry-erase marker on a surface that's not erasable. Then, home, jammies on, and straight to bed. Good times.

SF RES

As much as it stinks to have friends moving away from San Francisco all the time, the one good thing is then I get ideas of what I need to do before I move. Like take a picture of my babies' hands with their last SF RES (San Francisco Resident) stamp from free day at the zoo. Remember our first free day at the zoo three years ago, when Max got down and licked water from the puddles? Oh, how we've looked forward to this monthly outing with our friends. We will sure miss it.

Did you know the SF Zoo doesn't have any elephants right now? All there is of Jack's favorite animal is this one statue that he gets so excited about every time. He's so funny.

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day, we packed up our mini van and drove to Arizona to meet Andy and Bri and our AZ family for a weekend of swimming, quad riding, tennis playing, watermelon eating, golf cart riding, late night game playing, birthday celebrating, pillow fighting, and more swimming fun!

Gus's first golf cart ride--
This trip was the first time Jack got right in the water without any hesitation. He was loving it. And you may think by the looks of the picture with Blake and Jack that Jack gets his sensitive skin from Blake, but you would be wrong. :)

Max found this floaty duck and goggles that made him think he could swim just like his cousins. He was so cute sticking his head in the water and kicking around as hard as he could all while holding the duck. Poor guy. Swim lessons this summer, Max, I promise!

The other highlight of the trip was hearing Gage talk all about his trip to Jerusalem and seeing all the souvenirs he brought back. It actually made me think maybe I would like to go one day. But maybe, just maybe.

Thanks for the fun time AZ!

4 Months

At four months old, Baby Gus
--weighs 13 pounds, 10 ounces (25%) and is 23.5 inches long (10%)
--decided he wants more time playing with Mommy and went back to sleeping only 4 or 5 hours at night
--wears 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers
--takes his paci out of his mouth and twists it all around, examining it
--loves to watch his brothers run back and forth in front of him
--has had more diaper explosions in his short life than Max and Jack have had combined
--is STILL gassy
--has a laugh that sounds more like deep gasps than a little giggle
--thinks it's funny for me to squeeze his little cheeks together
--likes singing "If You're Happy and You Know It!"
--will sit for short amounts of time in his Bumbo until he starts arching his stiff back and almost falls out
--is always kicking his legs and flapping his arms
--holds his rattle (after I pry it into his little hand) and shakes it, then gets scared from the noise
--is not an on-the-go baby; he only sleeps well swaddled in his bed with his noise machine making whale sounds
--has coos that are getting louder and louder and a smile getting bigger and bigger by the day
--is loved so much by his family. We are always fighting over who gets to hold and sit next to this little guy.

All Good Things Must Come To An End

As if leaving San Francisco wasn't enough, now my two favorite shows have to go and end FOREVER! Blake and I finished the last episodes of Lost last night and now 24 tonight. It's sad.

Dear Jack S, You answered hardly any of my questions and I'm still more confused than ever.
Dear Jack B, Why hasn't everyone learned to listen to you? However, I've had a hard time taking you seriously this season ever since I found out you also play the voice of Little Foot's father on Land Before Time X. But you do save the day from all the sharp teeth, so I have to give you thatGood thing there's still this Jack to save us all...

Green

A few days ago, Max came to Blake and said he didn't want his favorite color to be red anymore. Now Max's favorite color is green. And today when he brought home his picture from church of a family praying together all colored in green instead of the usual all-red picture, I knew this was serious.

So, I asked Max if this meant he was going to stop wearing the red airplane shirt he wears ALL THE TIME. (Seen here, here, and here.) But he told me that it is still his favorite shirt since he still likes airplanes. Duh Mom!
I took this picture during Gus's blue background shoot. Silly Max is the reason Gus is smiling in the pictures. Everyone around this house really loves Max!

And while I'm posting pictures of Max, remember Jack's from this shoot? Well, here are Max's. What a little poser. I love my obedient child!

The East Bay

Today we said "so long" to two of our favorite East Bay spots. First on the agenda was the tasty taco truck on the corner of Handgun and Homicide, oh, I mean 22nd and International in Oakland. We found it one time when Blake was taking me to the airport and we were looking for something to eat. This was way before there were any of the restaurants near the airport and we were so hungry. We randomly came upon it but didn't have any cash to pay for our food. So, after Blake dropped me off, he found an ATM then went back to the truck and we've been going there ever since. Really, it is so, so good. Better than any other taco truck. Just don't go there after dark...And next to the beautiful Oakland Temple. I think it is one of the best temple grounds for kids to enjoy. It is so fun to be able to take the boys through the visitor's center, around the fountains, and up on the roof of the temple. And I really love that if you ask the boys what their favorite temple is, they will tell you OAKLAND! Oakland Temple Fun Fact: When you're on the roof of the temple, you can see a statue of an owl on top of the Interstake Center that helps keep away other birds.
East Bay honorable mentions go to Fenton's, Tilden Park Train, and Blake's favorite lunch stop while working in San Pablo--Tortas y Taqueria.

Exploratorium

Another good thing about the pass Grandma got to the Children's Museum in Utah is that it also gets us in free to the Exploratorium. Yea for free and yea for Grandma! So today we decided to check it out. We really lucked out and picked a perfect day since the museum was practically empty due to a fundraiser being held there later tonight. I would usually never go to the Exploratorium by myself since I have one 2-year old in particular that loves to wander, so I'm really glad today ended up being a good day. We stayed for about 1.5 hours and did everything...as much as the boys wanted. It was perfect.

My favorite exhibit was this bubble curtain. So cool. The fundraiser people even came and took pictures of Max blowing the big bubbles. Their pictures turned out so much better than mine. Oh well--I'm so glad he was wearing his favorite holey pants and duck whistle so he'll be easy to spot if he ever gets published.

LOST

Yesterday Max lost his first tooth. My baby is too young for this. But really, he is too young for this. He must have knocked it sometime, somewhere, but I don't know when or where. I noticed it was loose while we were in Utah when Max complained it hurt while he was eating a roll. That was four weeks ago. Yesterday when Blake checked the tooth, it could bend all the way forward, so he told Max to pull it out and Max did. Just like that.

It has been fun prepping Max for this moment. He and Blake had a good talk about what to do if the tooth fell out when he was at school (put it in his pocket) and all about the tooth fairy. When it came time for the big night, I had Max put the tooth in a little box under his pillow so the tooth fairy could find that little tooth easier. Max was worried the T.F. wouldn't know it was in the box, so he decided to write her a note. He wrote the note by himself since he knew how to spell all the words that got the point across:

MAX
TOOTH
BOX

After we taped the note on his bed, he decided to add the word "PILLOW" to make things a little more clear. I think the Tooth Fairy will treasure that note forever. In return for his precious little tooth, Max received four quarters. Instead of spending the money right away, he decided to save it to buy a new TV. I love this little boy!
Is it just me, or does a missing tooth make him look so much older?