Disconnected

Hi All,
We're having trouble with getting on the internet, but I'm planning on coming tomorrow. If you all decide not to come, can someone give me a call? Thanks! :)

fingerpaints ahoy!

We're going. Sounds like Young Moms, but with the dads there; sounds like fun.

-Jess

Saturday

Anyone planning to come to the Family Social?

We're going to be fingerpainting. :)

birthdays

Adam: 9/8
Jess: 12/10
Brie: 7/23
Samuel: 3/13

Huntington

Let's do it!

And, yes, I do have a pass, and I think that means I can get someone in for free. Only, let's not go on June 1, 'cause Sam has a doctor's appointment.

But it's a lovely place. I'd suggest, however, that we eat our sandwiches before we go inside, 'cause you're not supposed to bring food in. (I still bring in water and crackers for Brie, but they'll protest if you picnic.)

-Jess

If we go to the Huntington...

I could probably get one adult in free. Assuming that Justy's status as a minor will let her just slip through without using up my extra ticket. I'll have to look into that. (The Huntington is a wonderfully rambly place, and the Children's Garden is especially good for losing toddlers. There's no way I dare to go without backup!)

But anyway, I think a bunch of us have passes. I know Jessica does, and Ashley and Christina were considering it at one point... ???

So we might not actually have to spend a dime.

Except for gas.

And the babysitting.

=)

Birthdays So Far...

Ok, the Birthdays we have so far are:

Me: May 26, 1982
George: May 20, 1983
Rinn: Feb. 11, 2006

Jenn: May 8, 1979
Elisa: 8/5/04

Elena: May 26, 1982
Nathan & Isaiah: 1/12/04
Tembo: 8/28/05
Andrew: either 8/26/82 or 8/30/82 (I'm assuming 82 and I didn't know which was the 2 days went! Elena?)

Rachel: April 1, 1982
Lucy: 5/5/06

Emily: May 12th
Gabe: Jan 27th
Jonathan: April 8th


That's all for now. Jess? Ashley? Christina? Anyone else???

Catching up on things...

Good stores: Jess and I both like going to Its New To You (the St. Jude's thrift store) near Costco in Fullerton. They have a rack of baby clothes that cost $1 each. I've found some really nice stuff there. They also have books "buy one, get one for 1 penny". Its great when they have board books!

Outings: I'd love to try the zoo again (I was so sorry to miss it!) I'd also be up for a (short) beach trip. Jonathan sunburns pretty quickly, so I don't like to keep him out too long. As far as the Huntington, etc. my only issue is the entrance costs. My vote would be to stick to the very cheap or free outings. :)

Birthdays: Someone asked us to post our birthdays, and I forgot until just now. So, here they are.
Gabe - January 27th
Emily - May 12th
Jonathan - April 8th

I'd like to know everyone else's birthdays, too (including whomever asked in the first place, since I can't find that post again) so I can write them down and maybe have a shot at remembering. :)

Park

After a really fun late night, Rinn and I need to rest.
I hope you all have fun. We'll be missing you!!!

Cough, Hack, Sniffle-Sniffle

Thus wheezeth the Tembo.

(I don't think we're going to make it to the park today.)

Park

I'd like to come and am planning on it. I'll only be there for the first hour, though, because I have to be home in the afternoon so our dishwasher can get fixed.

also . . .

park tomorrow at 11? anyone else coming?

-Jess

Next Outing?

I had so much fun with you all at the zoo!! Where should we go next?

• Huntington? Open Tu-Fr, Noon till 4:30. Adults $15, Youth (age 5-11) $6 (http://www.huntington.org/)
• Long Beach Aquarium? Open everyday of the year...almost, 9am-6pm. Adult $19.95, Child (age 3-11) $11.95 (http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/)
• Beach? Open all every day, all day. Free, though sometimes parking.
• Any other ideas?

I'm thinking June 8th, 22nd, or July 6th. I think one or two of these days would be fun or all of them. What do you think??

Re: Best Group Picture

Your's is signifcantly better than mine. Mine accurately represents the chaos of that many kids! :)

pictures!

Hi girls, Adam here for Jess. We have zoo (and other) pictures up on our photo blog

THIS Thursday

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo: the Santa Ana zoo!

The plan is to meet AT the zoo at 10 am. The address is:

1801 East Chestnut Avenue
Santa Ana, CA 92701

if you want to mapquest it.

We're planning on meeting there at 10, as I said, however, since we all know how punctual toddlers (not to mention babies and preschoolers) make us, Emily came up with a mom-friendly back-up plan in case the 10 am meet-up doesn't work:

We are going to all meet again at 11 am at the playground inside the zoo. We're planning on taking a lunch break there from 11 to at least 11:30 - let us stop and nurse babies, feed kids, and meet up with anyone who didn't make it at 10.

Hope to see you there!
-Jess

Good Stores?

I was talking with Patty B. from church tonight and she recommended Children's Orchard (www.childrensorchard.com). Have any of you checked it out before? Are there any other stores or resources that you like to use to get cheap or reused children's things? I know that Jess likes to go to Savers and Ashely took me to a place in Cerritos that I don't remember the name of - let's swap tips!

Birthdays

Congrats on the newest Motte!!! We can't wait to meet you!

Because of this new birth, it made me wonder when all of your birthdays are. So, when is your and your kins' birthdays?

I'll start:
Rinn - Feb. 11, 06
Mine - May 26, 82

Your turn. :)

Carter's 50% off sale

I thought this was worth mentioning: Carter's is having a 50% off sale May 3-23. Yay!
There are stores in Long Beach, Commerce, Irvine, and Ontario (and Torrance if anyone wants to visit :) ). You can get the addresses off of their website www.carters.com

If anyone would like, let me know and I can email you a 20% off coupon.
L

re: baby on the way...

We're definitely praying!!

Thanks for keeping us all updated Emily.
L

baby on the way...

Rachel is being induced this afternoon. Just thought I'd pass the info along so you can be praying for her!

Elena's Right!

Yeah, yeah, let the BABY be the gross, screaming, bloody one! The screaming, gross, bloody - but-oh-my-goodness-the-best-sight-I've-seen-in-my-life one!

Elena's got it nailed. (Elena, I'm always amazed at how well you put things.)

-Jess

Jess is right.

Rachel, I'm praying that today you and Tim and Joi will all be blessed and delighted by the sight of LUCY naked and gross and screaming.

And yeah, slightly traumatized, too. Because it's really weird. In a good way, of course.

=)

Dear Rachel, skip the screaming:

get the epidural. :D As Robert Bolt has St. Thomas More say in his play:

"But Man he made to serve him wittily, in the tangle of his mind! if he suffers us to fall to such a case that there is no escaping, then we many stand to our tackle as best we can...But it's God's part, not our own, to bring ourselves to that extremity! Our natural business lies in escaping . . ."

of course, Thomas More died a martyr's death when he found there was no escaping, so take it as you will. But no one objects to giving someone morphine when he's passing a kidney stone. Medicine is a wittiness.

-Jess

Birthday? Please?

I'd REALLY appreciate prayers tomorrow morning. I'm going in to the hospital at 9:30am so they can start trying to get labor going. If I've dilated another centimeter or so (I'm barely 1 now and they'd like me to get to 2) before then they'll leave me alone, but I'm not even having very many braxton-hicks anymore so I doubt that'll happen. They're going to put gel around my cervix to try to get it to open up. If that doesn't work they'll start to think about pitocin since they really don't like what my blood pressure is doing. I don't know how long they'll give me in between those two attempts. They're having me come in in the morning just in case it works well so that I can get started during the day.

So yeah... it might all happen tomorrow, or it might be a few more days. Either way, please pray for me! I'm nervous. Please pray that all goes very smoothly, that I sleep well tonight and don't get too nervous about the morning, and that my coaches (Tim and, if she's able to get off work, Joi) will be strong and blessed and not traumatized by the sight of me naked and gross and screaming. ;)

Snacks

We really like blueberry malt-o-meal muffins. I got the recipe from the side of a malt-o-meal box and can post it if anyone's interested. I add blueberries because hey, blueberries are cool, and you can get a big bag of them frozen at Costco. Have you ever stopped to look at Malt-O-Meal? There's some good stuff in there! It's fairly inexpensive and it makes the muffins much more filling (and, in our opinion, more flavorful) than normal blueberry muffins. It adds a very nice texture, too. Easy to make and very yummy!

Munchies!

Emily, that's a great idea about making ranch dressing with cottage cheese. Do you know of a mix that doesn't contain msg?

Mandarins are a big favorite around here. All the varieties are yummy and easy to peel, but we're especially fond of the "Delites" found in the big blue box at Trader Joes. We might be coming to the end of the season though?

Another thing is the Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain bread. The kids and I enjoy just eating the slices plain. It has great texture, loads of flavor, and it's super-nutritious.

Miriam Yvanovich was just telling me how much she and Tony adore endame. On her suggestion, I picked some up the other day. Indeed, they're a very convenient and nutritious snack. Too bad that they're absolutely disgusting. =/

As I'm thinking about these things, I'm realizing how badly I need to whip up a batch of hummus and pita chips.

Good snacks

Tea with a little bit of honey and milk. It satisfies my sweet tooth and gives me a bit of calcium at the same time. :)

Whole wheat toast (watch the butter, though!)

Cut up veggies and ranch dip (make it with cottage cheese instead of sour cream so it is good for you.)

My big thing is that they snacks have to be EASY. So I try to keep veggies already cut up in the fridge, because I know that when I'm being snacky, I'm not going to want to take the time to cut them up.

Hi, Snacks, Detergent, Zoo

Hi Christina! Glad you could finally join us!! I hope Nathanael is feeling better.

I snack on almonds, kashi crackers, cheese, baby carrots, and chocolate as a reward. I'm looking to expand my selection.

I use Dreft for her stuff and my undergarments and Tide for the rest. This was suggested to us by the hospital classes till she's about 4 to 6 months old. So, we're trying this for now.

I am planning on going if I can walk. I probably will not know till next week if that will be the case. I'll keep you all updated. Thanks for the suggestions Jess. I know I'll use them!!

Rachel - we're praying for you and Lucy's arrival!!

L

p.s.

um, that "as I'm losing baby weight" at the beginning of the last post should really be, "as I'm working on losing baby weight" - 'cause my goodness gracious, it sure doesn't happen on its own! (I've found, to my dismay)

-Jess

good snacks

So, as I'm losing baby weight, I'm finding it's helpful to have good snacks in the house. That is, snacks that both taste good, and are good for me (and therefore also good for Samuel). And, oh yeah, don't cost too much. Here are some good ones I've found:

-salad
-cut-up fruit
-dried fruit
-roasted veggies
-rice crackers
-homemade cookies (less fat and sugar if you make them right)
-whole wheat noodles with a bit of olive oil, parmesan cheese, garlic, parsley and salt

My sister's suggestion was:
-a bed of spinach, with cottage cheese mixed with a LITTLE ranch dressing, and tuna.
-dried soy beans (which, unfortunately, I don't like)


But I'd like to collect more ideas. Variety is GOOD. So, I thought you all would probably have some favorites. What do you snack on?

-Jess

welcome, Christina!

hurrah! that's four for the zoo so far . . .

Rachel, is Lucy making any moves yet?

and Lettie, how's the ankle doing? From my last major injury-with-kids, I seem to remember that it's good to start the day all set up with food, drink, diapers and such all in one place, so you have to move as little as possible. And if you also have a good place to set Orinthia down, then when you need something, you can just leave her there all nice and comfy and not have to worry about carrying her from place to place. Couch/coffee table/baby blanket is a pretty good arrangement. Sure the house doesn't get clean, but you and Orinthia can have a pretty laid-back, comfy day. Hope that helps!

mmm. One kid asleep, other nursing himself down, husband home, ah, life is good.
-Jess