Mickey's Trick-Or-Treat Party

On Tuesday October 28th we all went to Mickey's Trick-Or-Treat Party at California Adventure (Disneyland basically). It was my and Don's first trip back to Disneyland in 8 years. What can I say... we're just not the happiest place on earth kind of people. Brixie Lee has helped us relax and enjoy life soooo much more (thank you sweetie!) Anyway, we caravaned over there with some of Brixie Lee's friends. I must say that it was the most organized chaos that I've ever experienced. Back on point... Brixie Lee had a BLAST!


All the kids were sooo cute! From left to right, here are Brixie Lee's friends: Malaya, Brixie Lee, Jack, Jacob, Alec, and Christian!



Here Brixie Lee is in her first picture with Micky and Minnie Mouse. I was shocked that she didn't run away screaming!



The best part was when she got to ride on the carousel. She absolutely loved it! I must say that this little girl warms my heart completely. I just love seeing her smile and enjoy life!

If you would like to see all the pictures check out Don's Gallery.

Apple Picking at Riley's Farm

On Saturday October 25th, Brixie Lee and I carpooled with Karen and Jack out to Oak Glenn to do some apple picking at Riley's Farm while Daddy got some much needed studying done. Oak Glenn is about an hour away and the kids did GREAT in the car the entire time. Such good kids we have!

We started off sharing a hot'n'fresh apple turnover that was very, very yummy! From there we got directions to the where we would be picking some apples. We were told, "it's just a 1/4-mile up the road." So, us two 3rd'ish trimester prego mommies pushed our 2 year old'ish kids up, up, up the 1/4-mile hill. More of a workout than either of us had had in a long time!

From there we had to ask for more directions and we were told, "it's just around the corner." After what seemed like another 1/4-mile walk we ended up in the apple orchard. It was perfect! The apples were hanging low enough for the kids to pick them on their own.

Jack is one of Brixie Lee's favorite buddies! He's such a sweet little boy :)

Jack was so funny! He didn't want more than a couple of apples in his bag so Karen ended up carrying the apples back to the strollers. The things we do to make our kids happy!

Cal Poly Pumpkin Festival

This last weekend we went to the Annual Cal Poly Pomona Pumpkin Festival and as expected it was better than ever! Every year they add something new and it attracts that many more people. When I first started going back in 1995 it was a big deal because you got to "pick" your pumpkin from an actual pumpkin patch. After a couple of freezes and some budgeting decisions, they now ship the pumpkins in and have a HUGE fair to go along with the pick'n party. We got there at 8am (when they open) and there were already 40+ cars in the parking lot. As you can see in a lot of the pics we were not able to beat the crowds. When we left at 9:30 there was no parking what-so-ever! Next year we're going to have to get there before they open and wait in line like it's Black Friday!

All the people didn't stop Brixie Lee's good time. At first she didn't want to touch the pumpkins but it didn't take long and she was off and running.
Daddy finally caught up to her half-way across the pumpkin patch for some special one-on-one time. They are sooooo cute together!
When we got home we carved our first family pumpkin. Brixie Lee was quite shocked to find "seeds!!!!!" inside the pumpkin. She's such a doll!
Here she is giving her first jack-o-lantern some love. She has a heart of gold I tell ya!
If you want to see all the pictures from the pumpkin patch and our carving adventure, check out Don's Gallery!

24'ish Week Update

The weeks are flying buy now! I had another appointment with Dr. Cropper last week and she said that everything was looking great! That means I still get to have my corn dog when we make our trips to the Irvine Railroad Park, YES!!!! I'm now 24 weeks and 6 days prego.




If you want to compare to the 20'ish Week Update pic you can click here.


The most exciting news from Dr. Cropper was that our c-section has been scheduled with Pomona Valley Hospital for Tuesday, January 27th. Now I just need the hospital to stop fighting with Blue Cross so I don't have to change doctors and hospitals this late in my pregnancy. Dr. Cropper's billing assistant is trying her best to work with the hospital and our insurance, but no one knows what's going to happen. I think I'll cry if Dr. Cropper can't deliver this baby.


I'm much more tired now and starting to have some sleepless nights. I remember having trouble sleeping with Brixie Lee, but I don't remember how long it lasted. Hopefully I'll be back to sleeping through the night soon! Brixie Lee and my Stroller Strides mamas need me full of energy! Heck, I need me full of energy!

Helene Marie (assuming she's a girl) is very, very active now. She wiggles and kicks anytime I sit down. I feel like she's telling me to get up and get moving! So I guess I've already got my two girls telling me what to do. I better get used to it. Bye, bye for now!

Watch what you say Mommy!!!

A little background on this story. With this pregnancy I have not wanted to wear anything around my waist so I've been wearing lots and lots of over sized dresses that I call my Moo-moos. Brixie Lee loves to pull on my moo-moo and say, "Mommy wearing moo-moo!!!"

Sunday night we were playing downstairs outside our condo when one of our neighbors walked by with her dogs. The woman walked by closer so Brixie Lee could get a good look at them. What excited our dear daughter even more was the sundress this woman was wearing. Brixie Lee got a big huge smile on her face and said, "Wearing moo-moo!"

The woman was a bit upset and just kept on walking. We laughed so hard we almost cried!

Lesson learned... watch what you say Mommy! Kids repeat EVERYTHING!

She can sing... she can dance...

When we got back from Yellowstone Brixie Lee was in rare form. She was singing and dancing more than usually so we got it on video (Sept 25th). Our little angel!

Brixie Lee's rendition of Baa Baa Black Sheep

Brixie Lee dancing to Five Little Monkeys

Visiting Riverside...

Today we went to visit Kim & Caleb in Riverside and we had a blast. Caleb is 7 months old now and is a very, very active little man! His mama was just voted the Mom of the Month for Stroller Strides of Riverside and we couldn't be happier for Kim. I've known Kim for five years now and she's one outstanding woman and mother. Congrats Kim!

We should have taken their picture in the middle of the visit and not half-an-hour into Brixie Lee's missed nap time. She looks a bit zombie like, but Caleb was able to put on the charm! What cute kids we have!

Here Caleb was trying to keep Brixie Lee from getting out of the picture . You know it's bad when a 7 month old is trying to get a 21 month old to say in line. Goodness Brixie Lee!

The Pumpkins Are Here, The Pumpkins Are Here...

It's shocking to me that Fall is here and we're getting ready to start the busiest season of the year. The Mathewson calendar is jam packed thru February (including a new addition to the family at the end of January). We started off Fall 2008 at the Irvine Park Railroad and what a huge hit that was for Brixie Lee. She got to ride the train, jump on pumpkins, ride a tractor, get her face painted, ride a pony, jump around and pose for a zillion pictures!
This was a bit shocking to me... I didn't realize how close she was getting to 3 foot tall! My baby is sooooo not a baby anymore!
Face painting didn't go too well so the lady gave us our tickets back. She was able to paint a heart and dots on my hand and then I transferred that to Brixie Lee's cheeks. I can see her loving this next year!
I didn't know if we were going to be able to do the pony ride because she was very unhappy when we first put her on. Then with just a couple of steps she started to pet the pony and say, "niiice pony, niiice pony." She didn't want to leave at the end.

If you want to see all the pictures from Irvine Park Railroad you can check out Don's Gallery.

First Bowling Trip

We took Brixie Lee bowling for the first time with some friends and she had a blast! I love the little ball ramp that the kids get to use because pushing the ball was just not working. She was a bit unsure at first but she caught on and ended up having a great time!

Look Mommy! It's an "O!"

Watching, watching, watching... YAY!!!! You hit one pin baby girl!

Check out all the letters Daddy!

Yellowstone 2008!!!

For the past couple of years the Mathewson Crew has been vacationing in Yellowstone. This was the first time that Don, Brixie Lee and I went along for the ride and let me tell you... a RIDE it was! I'm sure you can imagine 8 adults vs 8 kids... guess who won most of the time... the KIDS!!! We stayed at one of the most beautiful vacation homes I've ever been in. It was in West Yellowstone, just 15 minutes from the park entrance. Huge, beautiful and in the middle of no where. Just our style! Great find Cindy!

Our first day out took us to good Old Faithful Geyser. It was just like Disneyland! A huge crowd of people gathered around to see a huge explosion of water. Awesome as usual and the kids loved it! Below is The Crew from top to bottom, left to right: Henry, David, Jack, Grady, Annalise, Brixie Lee, Donovan, and Bobby. What a great group of kids!

Before lunch we went on an "adventure" down to a creek by one of the picnic areas around Craig Pass just south of Old Faithful. Everything in Yellowstone is beautiful... even the baby girl that decided to pull her hair out of her hairbands. After the short adventure we had a short lunch due to rain. Darn!

From there we took of to the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center to duck out of the rain in hopes of the weather passing so we could go on a little hike before heading in for the night. Brixie Lee loved looking at all the birds, but couldn't get away from the lake fast enough. My little land-only baby! We did get to go on our hike but Don Lee didn't have his camera with him so we're waiting for our family pic to come from whomever took the picture (hint, hint, hint).

The next day we started out at the Upper Falls and it was darn right cold! Good thing we had gone shopping to get Brixie Lee a knit hat to keep her head and ears warm. Unfortunately the jacket we had just wasn't good enough so she got stuck carrying around her blanket too. And, I got stuck picking it up out of the mud. Really, she didn't mind one little bit!

From there we had another short lunch followed by a short rainfall while we drove to see the elk at Mammoth Hot Springs. For some reason Brixie Lee had it stuck in her mind that these giant animals were monkeys. We have taken the girl to the zoo and she's seen lots of monkeys on her DVD's, so I'm not sure why she called them monkeys for half a day. What goes through my child's mind I will never know. The good news is that after some lessons from Auntie Steff, Brixie Lee finally understood the difference between an elk, a moose and a monkey. Thank you Auntie Steff!

Our last adventure took us on a longer hike... we'll... we hiked... Brixie Lee was in her carrier. I'd trade places with her any day! If you check out Don's Gallery where all his vacation pictures are, you'll see that this was his favorite place. Many of the pictures were taken there. Below is Brixie Lee all bundled up before we tossed her in the carrier and took off. What a cutie pie!

Overall the vacation was a huge success and everyone agreed that we should stay a couple more days next year. There are so many more adventures to be had in Yellowstone!

Oh yeah... Brixie Lee loved her first airplane ride and she was a rock star in her car seat. She sure misses having Grandma and Papa back there entertaining her!

Thank you so much for the wonderful vacation Grandma and Papa! We had a blast!