A day at the Pates

Jack w Syd Emily w Cj
Lazy Daze
We made a little play pen for the girls... They were happy campers!
Sarah getting a good workout!


Yummy popsicles!

Yesterday Sam was missing Jack and Emily so we headed over to their house. They didnt have any plans for the day. So we played all day. Samantha loves jumping on the trampoline. We left our house around 10:30 am and didnt get home until 9:30pm. I dont know why I dont pack like we are going to be there over night...I didnt bring enough food, diapers and I didnt pack there pjs. We did go to Target to get Sams Halloween costume so I bought more diapers and more food too. Sam has been saying she wanted to be Dora the Explorer for the past month but when we got to the store and she saw a Cinderella costume that's what she decided to be. I was pretty happy too becasue the Dora costume looked pretty cheap and it was $30! She is the cutest little princess now I have to keep her out of it until Halloween time. We also got a chicken costume for Courtney and Sydney gets to be the lady bug.

This is Sam when she was the lady bug.

studio grow with doubletalk

Today a few of us from the Doubletalk class I am taking met at this place called studio grow in Berkeley. I was running really late, we were suppose to meet at 10 and I didnt show up until 10:45 and I was the first one! It is a really fun place...pretty expensive for something to do all the time but worth it. After a quick trip around looking for someone from the group Sam found the dress up area! So we set up shop there for a bit then JoAnna and her family came then 2 more moms after that and we moved to a corner in the Tumble room. They have lots of things to do there. They have a room for just crawlers (which we didnt go into) a tumbling room (that has a ball pit, climbing stucture and all sorts of soft pad thingys) an arts and crafts room (Sam painted a couple pictures) a dancing room with fun music, a room that is a little dark with a light table that you could put see through colors on that reflect on the wall, a room that has a doll house, dress up clothes, trains, kitchen and little animals, they have a snack room too and you can bring your own food too which is awesome. It seemed like every hour or so they had some sort of structured activity that you could do...like a music class, story time, tumble and parachute time and a dance time. We didnt do any of that because it was too hard to with all the kids. next time I go I will bring an extra adult with us so Sam can do that.

JoAnna (striped shirt)with her twin boys Lucas and Grayson (she also has a 3 year old Parker) Jennifer (black shirt) with Mackenzie and Madison (she she has Max who is 4) and Miryam (blue shirt)with her twins Beckett, and Yair and there is Courtney and Sydney crawling to me!

Fun times!

Pretty dress up and what a fun doll house!

Everybody in the balls! I kept the girls in there for a long time because it contained them really well. Syd was getting tired of it so she's out already!

Another fun doll house!

Sam loves playing dress up! A pretty pink dress over the Cinderella dress she had to wear there!

Having a snack with her pretend twin babies!

Super Crawler!

The Smilers!

Thursday

I didnt want to miss my doubletalk class that I am taking...I am suppose to be taking it with the twins but they have had runny noses the past two classes. My friend Rachel from my twins and siblings playgroup came over with her kids this morning and watch my girls for me while I went to the class. Ebba came over with all her kids too so it was a party at our house but I didnt host it! Sam spent the day at Debbies. Check out http://chezlong.blogspot.com/2007/10/thurs.html to see how much fun the girls had with the all the kids while I was gone. When I got back the girls were asleep so I picked up the house and watched some tv...I still need to address all the thank you notes I did on Sunday but I felt like doing nothing! After they woke up and a quick snack we headed out to Babies r us! I had a bunch of coupons and I save almost $10! I;ve become such a frugal shopper!

More park time

This afternoon I ran out to Pleasanton to pick up some more bottles from a fellow twin club member. I sure love that club, if you need anything you just post it on our yahoogroups and within a hour you probably have it...either really cheap or free. It's awesome! I was tired of washing bottles everyday or so I wanted a few more. Plus if you want to sell anything thats a great forum. I sold a highchair yesterday through it. I am also getting good at getting rid of all the baby stuff. Last weekend I sold a bunch of stuff at the twins club sale that they have two times a year. Bought a lot of stuff there too...crazy deals!! Today we had to get back around 2 because I sold another the high chairs (Sams old one) on Craigslist and the lady was coming after 2. She called at 2:30 and said she'd be another hour so I packed the girls up and we headed to the park since we didnt make it earlier...everyone fell asleep in the car on the way out to Pleasanton so we came back for a picnic in the backyard.I bought those little booster chairs at the twins sale and they are great (and they were cheap.) The fold up so they'll be great to take places and they are excellent back yard highchairs. That's why I am getting rid of the 2 extra high chairs we kept back there! I am getting tired of all this baby stuff around...too much clutter!

so cute

Sam was a good sport today and pretty much stayed in the little toddler section. She is way beyond it and really wanted to play in the other section but it is to hard for me to keep an eye on her and the twins. So when we were leaving I let her play there while I packed the little ones up but she didnt come when I called so the next time she gets strapped in first...maybe she'll listen next time...haha

Sam Got a new pair of shoes

The door bell rang this afternoon and it was the UPS guy with a new pair of red shoes that Namy and Papa got sam...that's the second pair of new shoes from them this week. Sam was super excited and quickly put them on. She has been wanting red shoes for awhile now and these are pefect! They are from Lands End and they are super durable and waterproof. She was really cute when she opened the package she said "where are my sisters shoes?" awe!


I know this isnt the most lady like picture... but she's so cute

a perfect fit

another picture mom, really?

weee

Sam loves to push the babies. She got mad at one point because these two little boys were pushing HER babies. I was trying to tell her it was ok but she really wanted them to leave. One boy did but the other really wanted to push one (his mom came up later and said he really loves babies) so Sam finally let him.

a perfect fit!

Sam wanted to get in on the action too!

Syd wasnt camera shy at all but Sam wouldnt even look at the camera!

Sam and her trike

the girls love the crab, that's what the red thing is.

This morning we met up w a couple moms from our twins and siblings playgroup at the Castro Valley Community Center. We usually meet every other Tuesday so today was the "other" Tuesday. We were there for a couple hours and right when we were leaving Ebba showed up so Sam missed playing with Lincoln. When we got home the twins took a great nap but I am really wishing Sam would take her naps. She needs them but refuses to even lay down. The only way she will fall asleep is in the car but that really isnt an option with the twins. The weather here is perfect so we have been spending most of our time outside. Sam has gotten really good at riding her trike so I have had to put the twins in the crab so she doesnt run over them...they are quick little suckers! Last night Jon worked on the MOJO pork marinade that he found on foodnetwork.com It sure was a lot of work but it was really tasty. We have a ton, he bought a shoulder at Costco the other day. so we'll seal and save it and have it over and over again. YUMMY!

Me time

Yesterday morning Jon watched all the girls while I got a few hours of just me time. it was so nice! First I picked Julie up and we went to starbucks for coffee and pastries. It was great to chat with her w out our kids interupting our conversations! Then I headed out to Barnes and Noble and sat their and worked on thank you notes that I have been putting off. Got them all done but now I need to address the envelopes! When I got home Jon took Sam for a nice long bike ride while the girls slept so I got even more time. Cj woke first so we got an hour of good quality fun time! Then we spent the evening picking up the house. it's amazing how nice the house looks after a 30 minute tidy! But both the girls were awful sleepers last night with Sydney winning by staying awake until from midnight til 1:45. Jon took care of Cj and she got back to sleep around 1 and Jon told me that I had to take Syd and rock her or he was going to go sleep on the couch. It worked, the rocking that is, she had a little milk and just went to la la land after 15 minutes of me rocking her. And she woke up early so it has been a really long day today! This morning Sams toddling times play group met at our house. It was fun and sam is always sad when they leave. We didnt do anything else the rest of the day but Cj took a 4 hour nap! Let's jsut hope they make it through the night! The mail man brought a package from namy and Papa today. Sam got a new pair of sparkely pink shoes and all the girls got halloween stuffed things that make spooky sounds! Fun stuff. I think Namy and Papa spoil them~~