Next Time...

... you see anyone running with a jogging stroller, give them huge props!

Yesterday I decided to take Jilli and Aaron for a jog around Miramar Lake. Dana is gone this week, so I have had to get creative about making sure to run.

I loaded the beast of a double stroller into my van, dropped Isaac off at Joy School and headed down the 15. It was a sunny but pleasant morning. Not too hot. I loaded the babies and their blankets in and crossed my fingers.

The route is 5 flat miles. I started out feeling good, worried about pacing because that is usually Dana's forte. I was passing people, and freaking out that I would die and they would pass me later! I actually felt pretty good and made it the whole way.

Dana and I had been doing 6 miles most mornings, with lots of hills. 5 miles of flat with a jogging stroller could possibly be even harder! You don't realize how much you use your arms to run until you can't anymore!

So next time you see anyone running with a stroller... take it from me, it is tough!

The babies fell asleep on the last quarter mile! Jillian was singing for half the ride, and Aaron was screaming right along. Jillian did drop her mono one time... fortunately, as soon as I realized that it was missing, someone ran up behind me and had picked it up!!


This is me sweaty and tired. But awake. No one drove me home in my cozy car seat and lovingly transferred me to my bed :P

A Day in the Life of a "Stay at Home" Mom

Ready for it?

Up at 5am for a great 6mile run with a friend
Showered and ready for the baby to wake up at 645
Pack lunches, feed breakfasts, leave house at 745
Drop off Isaac and Aaron at 8am
Help in Roman's class from 8-930
945 oil change on van
run over to Albertsons during oil change to get stuff for salad
11 am oil change done, pick up A and I
1120 make salad and gather papers for Enrichment meeting
1200 Enrichment meeting
230 P/U Roman and the Seiter kids
330 Joy School Meeting at Hilltop
500 feed fussy baby who hasn't been home all day
530 try to feed boys yummy Waldorf salad
600 baths for all
630 jammies and stories
655 tell boys I'm done and tuck yourselves in
700 Blog, wait for hubby to come home, maybe he will appreciate my yummy salad
715 Somehow summon the strength from within to get all my dishes done.....


**No, this is not my normal day... but they are all starting to look a lot more like this! I thought I would have MORE time, with Roman in school, and Isaac in Joy School... somehow it has actually made things more hectic!!

Crazy Beach Baby in Action!

He had such a blast! Hope you enjoy a few clips of our day!

Beach Bums!

We tried to take the Sea Doos out for one last adventure yesterday. Unfortunately, the good launch spot was reserved for some Pacific Islanders festival. So we had to improvise. Dad found a launch at South Point and we found a nice private beach :P

Once we got on the Sea Doos, we realized why it was so private... it was surrounded by no wake zones, you had to ride for 15 minutes at 5 MPH to get to anywhere to have a good ride.

Not the end of the world, just meant that we had a regular old beach day, without the Sea Doos
being the main event.

The baby was dying to get down and dirty, so we finally gave in. He was in heaven! He crawled straight toward... and INTO the water. He didn't realize that it was getting deeper, so he just kept crawling, until his face was in the water and I grabbed him.

Then he decided that the sand castle that his dad and brothers were building was a nice obstacle course to be conquered. He would just throw himself into pits and over walls, he was absolutely fearless! It was so much fun to watch, and he
really had a great time!

Of course the boys enjoyed eating "Cheetah Bones" (Cheetos) and Oreos all day... and remarkably, I was the only one to get burnt that day.

It was a good way to end the summer weather, and I am ready for some cooler days... Not that they are anywhere in sight!

Backyard Fun

Roman has been practicing his mean swing... and we're missing about half our balls, so that should tell you how good he's getting :)

Earlier this week Roman and Ben were playing baseball, and Aaron wanted more than anything to be outside. I ran and set the pack n play up outside and put the babies in, expecting a cage match :P They actually really liked just being outside. Aaron really likes Jillian, but she still doesn't know what to think of him. Smart girl not to trust boys :) Just kidding. You all know I am partial to boys :P

Three Cheers for Child Labor!!

Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Roman asked the other day if he could do some chores around the house. He decided that putting away the dishes was worth $5. I informed him it was worth a quarter.

How much should I have paid him to put away the groceries all over the counter before I took the pictures???

The A-Mazing Isaac

My sweet Isaac who never used to sit still... has recently discovered coloring and MAZES. A few weeks ago my mom brought over a few books of mazes and puzzles, and Isaac did them all in a matter of days.

I'm so glad that he has found some quieter activities :) But I am more glad that he enjoys them. He is getting so big, and I am enjoying his willingness to try new things!

Aaron is ONE!!!!

My baby is one year old!! I can't believe it. One year ago this sweet little spirit joined our family, and I couldn't imagine life without him.

Last week he finally got his first tooth!! Bottom right. So cute. I have been waiting for a tooth for the better part of 6 months, and Ben kept sayint that he would not get any teeth until 13 months :P So I was glad to prove him wrong, when 5 days before he turned one, that little bugger popped through!

His birthday was actually quite uneventful. Roman ran into his room as soon as he woke up
and sang "Happy Birthday" to him... but he didn't quite get it :P Then he went to a friend's house while I helped in Roman's class, came home, didn't nap, that's normal... and then went to bed early while Ben went to YM.

The following day he got his first hair cut. He was really good, he didn't know what to think of it all, but he didn't move o

We went out to dinner and had cupcakes. Aaron actually got hungry before we left... so he didn't actually eat at the restaurant.... and he didn't
like the cupcakes, so no great pics of him tearing into his cake and smearing it every where :(
But he did LOVE his balloons :)

Oh, and the picture of him with Ben after his bath is literally the only picture I took of him on his actual birthday! Poor third child.....

White Blanket with Blue

This first picture is of Isaac's bed. He fills it with JUNK and then curls up in a little ball in the space that is left. Every once in a while we have to check under the "babies" and get all the candy, toy cars and misc trash out of his bed. I tried to enforce a 2 baby limit, but everyone said I was too mean, and Roman started sneaking him more :P

The second picture is of Isaac's "white blanket with blue". My boys are blanket boys, they each have one that they can't sleep without. This one was actually made by Grandma Donna for
Roman. She made it before we knew what we were having, so it is white, blue and pink. Roman latched onto another blanket, and Isaac ended up falling in love with this one.

He started by calling it his "white blanket". And when we told him it really wasn't just white, he came up with "white blanket with blue". He still to this day calls it that.

It is so sweet that my boys love their blankets... but what do I do when they start to unravel and return to the spools of yarns from whence they came?!?!

Standing Baby

We made it eleven months without him standing, now he is standing every where and on every thing!!

I got a few shots of him standing: on the couch, in the bathtub and on a dinning room chair :)


We also had to lower the bed completely when one Sunday he toppled out of the crib. The bar was pretty high on his chest, but I knew the day was coming that we would need to lower it. I was hoping I would know when that time was before he fell out.

Last Sunday I put him down for a nap before church. He got quiet, so I assumed he was sleeping (which is rare these days!!). A while later, he all of a sudden was crying. Usually he just talks to himself when he should be sleeping, so I thought I should check on him. As I was headed down the hallway, I saw the shadow under the door of him knocking on the door!!!! So Ben had to speedily put the mattress down, and he did take a nap after all that excitement. Don't worry, I checked for dialated pupils and what not. Babies are actually natural born fallers :P

Backyard Baseball

Ever since Roman was born and I would just sit there and stare at his perfect face and features, I have wished that I had a camera mounted on my head that was constantly taking pictures of exactly what I was seeing. I don't trust my memory to recreate all the perfect moments that I have enjoyed in the last 5 years.

The other night, I had one of those moments. I walked outside where Ben and the boys were playing. Roman was showing Isaac how to hold a bat and swing when the ball came. (Yes, it was the blind leading the blind, but it was so sweet!)



I told Ben to let them keep doing what they were doing, without telling them I was getting my camera.

I grabbed my camera and luckily snapped a few of Coach Roman and his little Rookie.

I love the one of Isaac holding the bat, with chew and all :)

My Favorite Game

I've fallen in love with jumping pictures. So when Roman started running and jumping onto Isaac's bean bag chair, I had to take a whack and cathing him mid air.

This was one pose he didn't mind doing over and over again :P

Oh Boy, I've Got Joy :)

This year a few friends decided to do Joy School with our 3 and 4 year olds. Did I say a few? We ended up with 10 kids!! So we split it in 2 groups. Our group is 4 little 4 year old boys.... such a fun group, I hear, I have yet to tackle teaching :)

These pictures are from Isaac's first day. It was sharing day, so he got to take something to show the other kids. He picked his new soccer ball that he had just gotten for his birthday.

The first day he did NOT want to go. Again, I was bummed, my kids were not liking school :(

Then, when I went to pick him up, he ran away from me. I couldn't tell if he wanted to stay or if he was still ornery from the morning.

In the car I finally coaxed out of him a few things they had done. He had cut and glued and melted crayons to make a mirrored image. He told me that he liked it and he promised not to be grumpy the next day!

So that Thursday, he was much more excited to go, and I think things went better. This is the first year of any preschool for these, kids, so it's an adjustment for them all.

This week he has had a blast! Today I picked him up, and he didn't want to go! He said school was too short!! 3 hours is pretty long I think :P He also has started to sing some of the songs that they have done these last few weeks, and he loves having an exciting story to tell his big brother when we pick him up from school!

Wish me luck next week.... I get to teach, and on my FIRST day, we have a field trip!!

Full Day Kindergarten!!

Today was Roman's first day of full day kindergarten. 810 to 230!! I got him to bed right on time last night and let him sleep in as late as I could this morning, but I have to say I was nervous!! Roman has always been a good napper, and boy does he need his naps!! These last three weeks of half day kindergarten, there have been a handful of times that he has come home exhausted and ready for a nap.

I wondered if the teacher would call me and have me pick him up if he needed a nap. He can be that bad. But I never got that call.


At 200 I packed up Isaac and the non-napping baby and we went to the park by Roman's school. I had to get out of the house, and I was that much closer to picking him up :)

We had some fun, we were the only ones at the park (well, besides some day laborers who were resting in the shade of the few trees, and some construction guys tearing or repairing out handball courts).

The boys played on a little teeter totter first, and then Isaac had to show me how he could climb the "Rocket Ship". He is getting so big, and we are both really enjoying the new things that he can do!

The baby didn't like the sand, so we ended up in the swings. Isaac used to be a swinger, once I put him in, he would never get out. For hours he would want me to stand there and push him.

I plopped him in the baby swing without putting his legs through. It was pretty silly. He really needs to learn to swing in a normal swing :P

As I watched other parents begin to flock into the school, I packed up the boys and we headed in.

Roman came out of his class chipper and talking a mile a minute. FINALLY !!! That was what I had been waiting for!! It took going all day long to make it more fun?!?!

I'm glad that he is enjoying school. I want him to love it like I did. (He has a lot of years ahead to hate school, he has to love Elementary :P)