The big news

Well, this evening I went to see Dr. Soffici to have an ultrasound. He found a beautiful brain, a healthy heart and strong spine on a baby BOY! I guess we are creating a basketball team :) Our fingers were crossed for a baby girl.... but I guess they weren't crossed far enough. Dr. Soffici said "maybe next round". Hmmmm.
A baby boy will definitely be easy. We have all the clothes, all the toys and we know just what to do with boys! We are excited to welcome brother #3 into our family come May. Now I really need to start thinking about names! I will have to put my Leila Anne back on the shelf for another day.
Hooray for Boys!

Hiking & Battle wounds

Yesterday we decided to go on a family hike. So we put on our backpacks... Billy packed William and I packed Zachary. We started from our front door and headed down the trail to the compound, across the river crossing to sage hill camp ground and back to the Aliso Canyon trail. The trail is a 3.5 mile loop and adding the distance to and from our house it was a little over 5 miles. It was a perfect day for a hike, the weather was not to hot nor to cold and perfectly sunny and clear. The Aliso trail climbs up to a ridge top where you can look down at the Santa Ynez river and across to Rancho Oso. I was surprised that there was still so much water in parts of the river. Then the trail turns back toward the back country and there is a connector trail that you can take to upper Oso camp ground where you can get on the buckhorn trail. (You could do some serious backpacking on that trail). We stayed on the aliso trail which loops back around, drops you back down to the canyon bottom where you follow a creek bed back to the trail head.

By the end of the hike, I was tired, hungry and my feet were starting to hurt. I guess that would happen with all the extra weight I was carrying plus being about 18 weeks pregnant. It was so nice to get out and get some good exercise though. As we were crossing back through the camp ground, all sharing a pear and not paying attention, we walked under a pine tree. Billy ducked, but not quite enough and William took some branches to the throat :( Poor guy. He was scratched up pretty good and not very happy about the surprise. Kind of a bummer to finish off the hike that way. Especially because the bruise on his forehead, from tripping and head butting a big rock not quite a week ago, is finally fading. Good thing he is a tuff boy.

Sorry William, I know you will heal fast.

I love living in the wilderness!

Rancho Oso

On Thursday I didn't want to drive anywhere. I had driven down into town everyday for at least a week straight and I just needed a break. So, about 2 miles from our house is Rancho Oso. There you can find the biggest pig you will ever meet in your life. I don't know how many 100's of pounds it weighs, but it's huge. There is also a barn & stable full of other exciting animals, so that is where we decided to go for a little adventure on my no driving day.

Both the boys enjoyed chasing the chickens, petting the horses and staring at the big big pig. We also found a barn cat, goat and cows. Hooray for a fun & close by source of entertainment.

My big day

Yesterday was a big day for me. I started off the day by running the Santa Barbara 1/2 Marathon. It was a nice race, weather was perfect and I enjoyed the scenic route from the Page Youth center to SBCC. I ran the 13.1 in 1:58, which I felt good about. I was at the starting line with my friends Lauren & Kevin Gleason... but they were going for it and took off in front of me from the beginning. They finished more than half an hour before me, I was so proud of them. I however was not pushing it at all, just steady to the end. By mile 11 my legs were not feeling good and I was happy it was all down hill to the finish. I could have put a lot more miles on my legs to prep for race day. Today, I am not walking so well, but I think a little yoga will help to stretch me out.

So, after the race was over, Billy & the boys came to pick up Kevin, Lauren & I and take us back to the Gleasons home. I took a quick shower & then we were off to my first appointment with Dr. Ramos! She was so sweet and gave me a big hug when I got there. I got the first ultrasound of my third pregnancy and it looked great. She was so surprised to see how big the baby was already- developed little hands were waving, feet were wiggling. The heart beat was strong and she said I was measuring a week further than I thought I was. So, I'm 13 weeks into it! The boys were all in the room for the ultrasound and William thought it was pretty cool to see the little baby on the computer screen. Zachary just stared.

We are excited to grow our family one more and we are crossing our fingers for a little girl :) Come Christmas time, we will find out and then come May we will have 3 kids!

What a terrific Saturday.

Halloween

This year I brought to life the idea that Billy has had for our family for years. To be a Pinocchio clan. Just a trip to the thrift store & a few trips to the craft store and I pieced together our costumes for this year again. Billy is Geppetto, William starred as Pinocchio, Zachary the tiny Jiminy Cricket and I got to be the Blue Fairy. It was fun to be matching again and everyone enjoyed our costumes. They were no where near professional, very homemade looking, but they worked.

Saturday was full of festivities for us and dress up opportunities. A fall carnival, a halloween birthday party, trunk or treat & a party at our neighbors house. (LONG DAY)

Today was perfect, we just walked the loop in costume and trick or treated to the neighbors. They in turn came and trick or treated to our house. We were done in less than 20 minutes. Love my neighborhood.

Happy Halloween.

Pumpkin Patch

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch on Monday. We were waiting for Billy to have a day off so he could come with us and he came back from a fire that morning, so we went! Zachary went immediately to the animals on display and tried to feed the pig. He is so drawn to animals.

Then, William pulled Zachary in a wagon over to the BIG pumpkins and we took some pictures. Zachary thought it was so cool to sit on top of a big pumpkin. It was cute.

Next we ventured into the corn maze. William led the way and was really excited to be in a maze. He has been figuring out mazes in his kindergarten book so he was all smiles to be in a real maze. We managed to find our way through, not sure how long it took, but not to long.

Once we conquered the maze it was on to the hay ride. We sat on the back waiting for a long time, the ride was pretty short, but the boys enjoyed every minute. Ran into a few friends, watched the animals eat their dinner and went home. Hooray for lane farms pumpkin patch, we love it every year.

Bike riders

Yesterday I found a great deal on a little two wheeler bike for William so we drove to town and bought it. $25! I love craigslist! Ever since we got home yesterday afternoon all he wants to do is ride his bike. He does so great on it, he just charges. We don't have any flat ground around so he is already learning to be comfortable on the ups and downs. I am so impressed with how quickly he transferred from trike to two wheeler (with training wheels of course). Go William! WOW :)

Zachary won't be left behind either. He has found that the neighborhood plastic trike is just his size and he motors around on it flinstone style. He can't reach the pedals. He also charges on his little trike and can keep up with the rest of the kids where ever they are going. Up hill or down, doesn't matter. He has some strong legs!! I saw him a few days ago pushing William on his trike from behind with his trike, up hill! What a brother, go Zachary!

A Date

When Dad was here earlier in the week, Billy came home from a fire and we took advantage and went out on a date! I really can't remember the last date we had been on, mostly because it's fire season and we just don't get the opportunity. Our neighbor was planning a surprise birthday dinner for her husband and we got invited, so we left the boys with Grandpa and went down town. We ate at a new Mexican place in town called Casa Blanca, it was good food and great company. It was such a treat to go hang out together with friends and not have to give the boys a second thought because they were in such great hands. Thanks Dad, I love you.

Zachary's 1st hair cut

Yesterday I got out the sissors and prepared a little ziplock bag for Zachary's first hair cut! I think i waited until William was a little over 2 before I finally chopped his baby locks. Zachary has been sporting quite the mullet and einstein hair in the mornings... I was ready. I put it into a ponytail and cut! It was hard to cut off the baby hair. Not only because, despite the lolly pop distaction, he was really wiggley but it was hard to cut that cute fine hair. Now, he looks a little more grown up and a little more like William :) Here he is:

William's birthday party

I was a little preoccupied with other things in the month of September to do a lot of planning for William's birthday. Billy left for Texas the 1st of the month, I was dealing with my property management, our tenant in our condo decided to stop paying rent, planning the RS homemaking night.... let alone two small children by myself day and night. William would occasionally mention that he wanted a train birthday party and a thomas cake. I kept putting it off dealing with everything else on my plate. About a week before I got down to it and decided I better have a train party for him, with or without Billy here. So I got on oriental trading and bought some supplies and favors, sent out invitations and started jotting notes on what i needed. I decided to make a big taco salad with chicken, beef and black beans on the side, chips & salsa and fruit and a big pot of macaroni and cheese, hot dogs on the side for the kids. I thought about having puzzles out, the train table, thomas tents, baseball, monkey bingo and a tattoo station for things to do... not to mention the swing set and all the trikes, bikes, and wagons. Everything seemed to be falling into place quite nicely. As people would RSVP i would sew up and fill the treat bags to be handed out at the end of the party. Then the party got closer and I realized i hadn't ordered enough treats for how many people were RSVPing.... I was starting to stress about putting on this party solo and how i was going to make a thomas cake.... we got a little sick at the start of the week... the temperatures back here were hitting near 100*..... ahhhhh.

Then on Wednesday, the day before our birthday, Mom showed up! I was saved! She helped me run all the errands for the party, bake and frost the cake, prep and cook all the food and clean, clean, clean. I would not have been able to pull it off without her. The party was a success and even more people came than had RSVPed. The final count was 22 kids and 21 adults! Yikes. But somehow there was plenty of food and drinks, enough cake to go around and everyone enjoyed themselves. Even though it was 84 degrees, the people that came up from SB were pretty happy to be out of the fog and didn't mind so much. All the kids ran around and played and all the adults mingled away. I don't think I really talked to anyone.... just tried to stay on top of everything, but it was a train party for William and now it's over!

This was actually the night of our birthday- William opened presents from Truckee Grandma.That is a big thomas tent! He is on the phone telling Billy all about it!

Retro Homemaking

A few weeks ago our Relief Society put on a retro homemaking night. It was so fun to be a part of (I'm on the committee). We had a pressure cooking class, made little apple pies in a jar and sewed half aprons. We also had a board game drive which we collected and gave to a local children's program. All in all a very fun night. Most of us on the committee dresses up for the occasion, wearing pearls, curling hair and of course sporting our aprons!

I slept in sponge curlers up to my head the night before and even painted my finger nails. I wore a full apron that one of the other ladies brought but couldn't wear because of her hair due. Billy was gone on a fire, So I brought the boys and one of the young women watched them in the nursery... hooray for a small break and a fun evening with the RS sisters!

Doesn't Jill's hair look amazing!

Clean freak?

Today was really hot. Outside it peaked at 108 and inside our house it read 91. We have one window air conditioner in the office room and today i had it on. We hung out in that room quite a bit today including lunch time. We decided to have a picnic on the floor on a little blanket. Well, Zachary being 15 months old isn't the best at picnicking on the floor. He walked out of the room carrying his plate and five steps later his lunch was all over the floor. I immediately started to pick it up and put it back on the plate and Zachary immediately went over to the place where I keep the dust pan and little broom. He brought it over to me and handed it to me without me saying anything. haha. I guess he has seen me do this once or twice before :) What a good little helper.

On another note. William is really getting good at talking. He calls Billy at least 3 times a day to see what he is doing and tell him what we are doing. (Billy is in Texas fighting fires for the month probably). Talking to Billy tonight, he told me it has really been a joy for him to be able to talk to William on the phone during the day and that it blows him away how well he speaks and understands. On my side of the phone... I kinda wish he didn't talk quite so much sometimes :) But I love him and am impressed by him also. He is one smart little man.

Aprons

So my ward relief society has a really fun "retro homemaking" night coming up in a few weeks. We are going to have a class on pressure cooking, learn to sew an apron and make little apple pies in jars. I am going to be helping in the apron class. My friend Jill, who is amazing on the sewing machine, found a cute pattern for an apron in an hour. It's a cute half apron and I have now made two for practice! The first one I made at our craft group with Jill sitting next to me, walking me through it. Then I went home and sewed a second one to see how I could do on my own. The second one I gave as a gift to my mother in law... it's her birthday today, so why not. This apron is so easy, I'm sure I will make a few more to give away too :)

Here is the first apron I made

Here is the one I sent to my Mother in law