Davis Ranch Sweet Corn Festival

On Saturday July 16, 2011 we went, for the first time, to the Davis Ranch Sweet Corn Festival. I have been on a country music kick, and heard about this festival on the radio. Then I checked it out online. I saw the words "free" and "tractor rides" and knew Nicholas was going to love it.



Look - Jon and I actually got a picture - taken together - with no kids! We can now have one from our wedding, and from 2011. It seems that between the 2 kids, we hardly get any pictures taken anymore. As a side note, I was standing on a hay bale with my boots on (1 inch heel - western boots). That's why we are almost the same height. I don't think this would fool anybody who knows us. And I fit into my western boots - which means I have been losing weight :)



Nicholas did the pony rides. At first he didn't want to. Then he saw that the ponies were "little horses" and thought it would be fun. These were not free, but I ponied up (haha) and let him ride. Oh my, the fit when the ride ended. I think someone is going to horse camp next summer.



He had a blast on the tractor rides. They did 2 in a row. Nicholas had no intention of getting off the tractor. They rode forever and ever. Which was fine because I held Abby and we wandered around and she yelled with excitement. Then she crashed in her stroller and took a nice nap and I got to sit in the hay bales, in the shade, and smell the cows.



I got a picture of me and Nicholas too. I don't have many of those since I am normally the one behind the camera. This picture was taken at the hay bales where you could sit and listen to music.



They had free bounce houses too. Nicholas probably spent an hour or so bouncing while Jon and I sat and watched and Abby napped. We got to talk - which we don't often get to do during the day with the two kids. And then the band started playing. I am all for giving people a chance, but the music wasn't that awesome. They had sound problems (the lead female vocalist had her mike up WAY too loud), and they simply weren't that good. I don't mind semi-professionals, or even people who just do it for fun, but then you shouldn't be overly ambitious with the songs that you pick as a band.

We did stop by their produce section before leaving. They have fabulous produce at great prices. Nicholas and Jon picked strawberries and we ate them all that day. We also have corn galore and love it. Nicholas even eats the corn. So I have found my new produce spot.

We loved the festival and will return next year and for the gourd festival in September.

Things you forget...

There are things you think you will never forget about kids. yet by the time the second one comes around, you have forgotten them.

For instance - I have forgotten how messy they get when they are first learning to eat. And how they get into EVERYTHING when they start crawling - simply because they can.

Abby is quite the proficient crawler right now; at least when she wants to be. Sometimes she decides it is not worth the trouble and cries until you come get her, but when she wants to, she can move. I left them in my sight while I went to the bathroom, and when I got out, I knew she had crawled away. To the diaper bag she went, in search of food. She found the Cheerios, emptied the container out onto the floor, and was happily munching away. This is about 10 minutes after she ate strawberries, a chicken nugget, yogurt, and some baby food. Nice to know both my children can be motivated by food.

Nicholas doesn't like that she can crawl and reach his toys. He likes to have "races" with her while they crawl outside. But not when she's trying to get his toys. He's getting a quick lesson in the reasons he needs to pick up his toys instead of leaving them on the floor. That quick lesson is called Abby. if he has it, she wants it. My girl likes cars and trucks - since that's what her brother has. I tried to get her a doll, and she has no interest. She does like the stuffed cow. She tosses it around and rolls all around the floor with it. She always ends up on top of it, holding the horns, eating the cow. So I figure she's going to be a rodeo super star and a carnivore. Not a bad combo.

Jon and I are doing well. The gym has been a great savior for me - it gives me "alone" time every day I go. Not time by myself to do what I want, but time alone - without the kids - to just focus on working out. It's a great mental stress reliever. And physical stress reliever too.

Hope everyone is doing well and Happy 4th of July (almost)!

Dresses and skirts

I have been on a sewing kick lately. I have made 2 skirts and 2 shirts for me, and some clothes for Abby. I have a problem buying daisy dukes for babies, and those seem to be the only shorts that exist for little girls, so I make hers. I also make skirts and dresses.

On the left is the newest dress; a heather gray jersey 2-way stretch knit with ruffled shoulders, gathered skirt, a black and white bow with fuchsia sequins and a black and white waist band with fuchsia sequins. The top has an elastic band around it so that I can simply adjust the back velcro when she gets bigger and the top will expand with her.

It is important to me to make clothes that she can grow with because then it isn't a waste of fabric or time to make her clothes. She's currently wearing 24 month clothes, and she's only 7 months. It is also why I make the dresses longer. I don't like showing off her diaper, and I don't know how to make the pants that go under the dresses, so dresses get made longer.

Isn't this a cute picture of her in the dress with her headband on? She got her picture taken right before church and right after a nap so she's still happy and smiling.

Next up is her purple skirt. This started as a tiered summer dress and ended as a skirt. I cut the fabric, then waited 2 weeks to sew because things kept coming up. So the top of the outfit didn't fit her. So I cut off the skirt portion, put in an elastic band at the top, edged it with some ribbon, and now she has a happy summer skirt. The fabric is really lightweight so I had to double it (or line it). It's simply gathered with elastic, nothing dramatic. No tulle or anything.

My next project is a new top and dress for me. Hopefully I will get to cut it sometime this week and sew this weekend. We shall see.

Our potatoes are in!

Today, while we were outside to try and make everyone happy, I realized it was time to harvest potatoes. I use harvest slightly loosely, since I have about 10 potato plants in a planter box on the ground in our yard - I don't have to walk far (about 10 steps) to get them, and there are not a lot of them. But it is fun to plant them because they always grow for me (this is not true of everything).

Nicholas decided he wanted to help. After he pulled up a strawberry plant, thinking it was a potato plant - and no, I don't know how he got those mixed up - I put him on washing duty. He loves playing with the hose, so this would be perfect for him. See his surprised face when the water splashes from the potato onto him? This happened the first time when he held the potato too close to the hose while cleaning them, then it happened again and again. I figured he could only be surprised so long, but he loved it.

Hoses are great toys for kids in the backyard.

I heard a news article about how hoses are bad for kids these days. Yeah right, I lived through hoses as a kid. I had no problem with them. My son can handle the "problems" that come from a hose. I love hoses for kids - he loves them, he gets to cool off, he drinks water (for a change), and he gets clean. How much more can a mom wish for?

He put all the potatoes on the grass and then gathered them into his lap for a picture. He wanted a picture with "his" tomatoes.

He also spent some time inside today. We are dealing with a sick baby girl, so sometimes we have to spend time inside that I would rather spend outside. And here's a great picture to explain why I prefer outside - there are no toys to cause problems with. He gets rather creative with new uses for toys.
This used to be his bouncer, and is now his sister's. When the seat cover had to go into the washer this morning, he decided it was his new "exercise" gym. He hangs in the middle and bounces, then he lays himself over the top and bounces. Who knew bouncers for infants were really for kids?

Rolling and teething.

Abby is moving and teething. Unlike other children, Abby has to move by rolling. I joke that it is because she's so big she doesn't have the muscles to support her crawling. But really it is because she simply prefers that way. Plus, it is faster. I was standing about 20 feet from her, talking to Nicholas when all of a sudden she was pulling on my jeans. So she can move when she wants to. She would rather scream and cry until someone comes and gets the toy she wants, picks her up, or whatever she needs. Nicholas generally is the obliging one. I like to try and get her to stretch herself before I do it for her.

She's also teething. For those people who don't have a child who has gone through teething I will tell you this - kids are so different. With Nicholas he cried and whined, but with Tylenol and some teethers he would calm down and sleep. He didn't get sick or refused to eat. He just kept on eating a ton, drooling a ton, and the teeth came in. After which I would promptly get bit.

Abby, on the other hand, doesn't want to eat thank you very much. It hurts. Even with Tylenol. She's not a good teether. Yes, she likes to munch on teethers. But she prefers cell phones (if anyone is crazy enough to leave them out for her), fingers, shoulders, your clothes (preferably the ones that get ruined or see-through when wet), paper, and toes. When none of those are available, her older brother will do. Nicholas doesn't like this much, which results in some serious crying from Abby and a scolding by Nicholas. Nicholas says "Abby. mouths are for food only. And apple juice." (Can you tell we have gone through this before with him?) It is kind of funny. It would all be funnier if it was happening to someone else, or at some other time.

I'm still going to the gym most days. I had to skip today. I had great plans today. I was going to go to the dentist, then come home and get the kids, go to the gym, go swimming with the kids, do Costco, then do our UC Davis visit, then play outside. It's a nice day outside - not too hot. well, the dentist appointment turned into a root canal. So Costco and UC Davis got done, and the rest didn't. This root canal really hurts. It hurts even more when people "snuggle" against my face because they are tired and refuse to take naps when their sibling is still awake (both children refuse to go to sleep if the other one is awake - makes for fun at our house).

Anyways, that's the news from the Wunderlich's. I will try to be better about blogging, if only because it lets me get some of our funnier experiences out there for records.

Weight loss saga continues...

So as everyone knows, I'm trying to lose weight. And at the moment, I am having a lot of success. Some of it comes from having to eat gluten-free; all the junk foods you know and love are gone. Your snacks are cheese, yogurt, apples, and maybe some salami. Your meals are mostly healthy and made at home, because it is too hard to go out and find gluten-free stuff. So it is easier to moderate the food.

However, I have also joined a gym and started working out recently - I am in my second week of the gym now. I made going on walks part of our daily routine before the gym; I would pick a letter and we would go on a walk, finding things of that letter. I also made it a point to play more with Nicholas at parks and at home. So I was doing more.

Between the limiting food and burning more calories I am now down 68 pounds. I have gone from a ridiculous size 24 to a size 18. That's a lot of inches and pounds. I have done this once before. In the 2 years between Abby and Nicholas I lost 100 pounds, so I know it can be done. It just takes some serious will power. It means not enjoying snacks whenever they are offered. It means leaving butter off vegetables (and that really sucks) and working out, even when I am tired. It is difficult, but it can be done.

Now, I need to find a really good pair of shoes and a new workout bag since I think I deserve it. Hopefully, in a month, I will lose another 8 pounds and be down another size. I have figured it out, a size is about 2 inches off my waist, and 2 inches is about 15 pounds or so. So I can do this, I just have to have willpower. Thanks to everyone who is supporting me in my quest to do this.

Almost a month.

It has been almost a month since I posted on here. I got into the habit of posting, and then - Savior of the World happened. I got out of the habit of posting, and haven't been back into it. But here's the recap of the past month to catch everyone up on what we have been doing.

I did a lot of sewing for the production. It totally wore me out of sewing. Yet, I promised Nicholas a Lightening McQueen sweatshirt.



It even has a hood, a zipper (red naturally) in the front, and a big McQueen car on the back. Needless to say, he wanted to sleep in it. I drew the line at that. But it has been worn everyday for a month. It is holding up to the washing rather well. Until the last wash. Jon did the last wash and used warm water. The sweatshirt shrunk. Now it is a little tight around his tummy. Nicholas says that he can just wear it without the zipper so it won't be tight.



I also made Abby's Easter dress. It is a little longer than most little girl dresses because I don't like having her diaper show. It's not my thing. It is cute on some kids when they have those cute little bloomers over their diapers, but I ran out of time and couldn't make a set to match, so the dress was simply longer.



They are growing up so fast! Abby turned 6 months on May 8th (the day this picture was taken was May 1). Coincidently, that was also the day my son decided to be sick and spend puking everywhere. I have a Mother's Day curse. My first Mother's Day Jon made me breakfast in bed - and gave us food poisoning. So I packed Nicholas up - he was only 2 months old - and took him down to my mom's. The next mother's day was horrible too - everyone was sick. Then I was studying for my comprehensive exams and having horrible pregnancy related problems last Mother's day. The curse needs to be broken. Or else.



I made Nicholas a new fort. What wonderful things you can do with PVC pipe and some fabric. He really likes it and hides in it all the time. It looks a lot better in our living room than the cardboard box.




We finally put the sandbox and wading pool up in the backyard. Our backyard is Nicholas' favorite place to be. He likes to run around naked and play in the wading pool and sandbox. I try to get him to put clothes on, but he thinks it is so much easier to play in the water when he is naked. And if I send him out there with clothes on to play in the sand, all of a sudden clothes come flying into the house and I hear splashing.

We joined California Family Fitness last week. This is the best decision ever. I have gone every day (except the weekend) and love it. They have "Kid's Club" aka childcare. You can leave kids for 2 hours, no appointment necessary. And they have all these fun activities for kids - art, ballet, dance, gymnastics, noodle hockey, crab soccer.....So Nicholas loves it. At first Abby would only go for 30 minutes, but today she went for a full hour. So I can get quite the workout in. I added weights to the routine today and I am really feeling it. But this was a great decision.

Our family is doing well. We are just waiting for some summer weather. It was slightly sunny today so I mowed the front lawn and planted some lilies. We shall see if they grow. I tend to kill things that need a lot of care, so we shall see.

So that's been our month. I will get back into the habit of blogging and it will be better.