The Winding Road

di Rosa

2011-12-29T19:24:00.000-08:00

The girls and I decided to take advantage of last few days of their Christmas break with a trip to the Sonoma region. We started the day at the di Rosa. When we arrived, we were told we could look only in the Gatehouse Gallery as a tour reservation was required to see the rest of the property. We were a little bummed but began looking around the gatehouse. A few minutes later, the attendant came over and told us some of the tour goers hadn't shown up and we were offered their spots! We hopped on the tour bus and drove up to the main gallery.

Artwork from the Gatehouse Gallery

The Main Gallery

As soon as you set foot in the main gallery, you're surrounded by works described by Rene di Rosa as "divinely regional, superbly parochial, wonderfully provincial, an absolute native glory. Considered the most significant holding of Bay Area art in the world, di Rosa houses more than 2,000 works of art by over 800 different artists. I wasn't sure what the girls would think about this type of art and so I was interested to hear their thoughts. Kids are so wonderfully honest and I tried to remember to appreciate that fact as Anna told the art docent that she thought the "Dry Lake Briefcase" piece wasn't that special. To her, it just looked like a briefcase full of parched earth. We talked about the possible symbolism of it and after that Anna was busy looking for the meaning behind the work. Her favorite piece of all was the angel flying in circles over broken statuary at the exit of the gallery. She said it looked like there had been a war and the angel was flying over the fallen and taking the good souls back to heaven with her.

The House

Lauren's favorite part of the tour was the house. It was a lot of fun. There wasn't a free space to be found. Every wall, ceiling, nook, and cranny were filled with art. I loved the small galleries lining the walls near the ceiling. There was so much to see that it was almost hard to take it all in....and keep up with the girls. They're fast viewers. They look and they're gone. I feel like I'm always playing catch-up!

The girls loved all of the peacocks on the property. Lauren found a feather to add to her growing feather collection. When we saw the "man car" in the lower right hand corner, I began to wonder about the symbolism. Anna, however, just asked, "Where's the gas?" She's so funny!

When the tour was complete, we were given the option of riding or walking back. We chose to walk and take a closer look at some of the artwork along the lake.

Fremont Diner

2011-12-29T19:20:00.003-08:00

I read rave reviews about the Fremont Diner and so we thought we'd give it a try. When we pulled into the parking lot, it looked to be packed and I was worried we wouldn't get a seat. However, the line of people were waiting to order and sit outside in the picnic area and there were tables just waiting inside. We ordered an oyster po'boy, mac 'n cheese, and a grilled cheese sandwich. As it was so busy, it took the food a while to get there. To help hold us over until the food arrived, we ordered one biscuit to share between the three of us. I think the biscuit was my favorite part of the meal. It was delicious! The Fremont Diner is known for its southern cooking so I think next time I will have to try its cornbread and greens. There was also a fig appetizer on the menu that I can't seem to stop thinking about. Anna was excited to try a new drink called Bubble Up. It was similar to Sprite and the first time she's ever drank from a bottle. Some fun memories from my childhood are drinking Coca-Cola from a glass bottle. There was nothing quite like it.

Cornerstone Gardens

2011-12-29T19:20:00.002-08:00

I saw a picture on a blog once of a couple standing in front of a tree covered in round blue Christmas ornaments. Although it may sound over the top, it was really spectacular. The tree was part of an installation at Cornerstone Gardens and after I saw it, I was convinced I needed to visit. After lunch, the girls and I stopped in only to learn that our tree had been cut down. We were so sad but still had fun checking out the other creative installations that were available to us. I'm sure the artists have a reason for naming their artwork as they do but I got a kick all day out of the names the girls gave to the sights we saw. The artist named it "Land I, Stone's Throw", but the girls called it "Fairy Holes". The artist named it "Garden Play", but the girls called it "Soccer Field". The artist named it "Earth Walk", but the girls called it "Pond in a Hole". The artists called it "Rise", but the girls called it "Tube Thingy". The artists called it "White Cloud" but the girls called it "Fairy Trees".

One of the last installations we visited was called "Red Lantern". The girls thought the "train tracks" were really neat. Apparently, a Sonoma Christmas tradition involves the lighting of the snowmen. Even though we were there a few days after Christmas, the snowmen were still standing. There was a fun path that you could take from a door in a field through the line of snowmen to reach Santa's sleigh. It would be nice to see them all lit up at night!

Artefact

2011-12-29T19:20:00.001-08:00

I have a new favorite store. It's called Artefact Design and Salvage and it is right by Cornerstone Gardens. Oh my goodness! Artefact and Anthropologie just do me in. It's not often you go into a store and decide you would just like to move in. I would happily set up a cot just to be surrounded by all of the eclectic wonder.

Sonoma

2011-12-29T19:20:00.000-08:00

Everyone was beginning to run out of gas but it was determined that we had to find ice cream before we headed home. We drove into the main square of Sonoma and found a place to park. Sonoma is a very, very cute town and we would have loved to have had a chance to explore some more, if only we hadn't already had such a busy day. I loved getting the opportunity to spend the day with our girls. They're such sweethearts!

Happy Birthday!

2011-12-26T19:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to our sweet 3-year old! He had a big day with cake and presents and a trip to the "castle". He loves riding the train at the Sunsplash arcade in Roseville...his favorite thing to do. It was a great day with our little guy and we love him so much! Lots of love to you, dear Jacob!! XOXOXO!

Family Photos

2011-12-23T18:59:00.000-08:00

Last year when I was putting together our family albums, I realized there wasn't a single decent photo of the 5 of us, not one. We have one shot from the last day of the year taken by a passing stranger on the Golden Gate Bridge. I decided I wasn't going to let that happen again this year. I called my friend Alexandra Frankel to set up a session and I'm so happy I did. If you've never met Alexandra, she's incredibly sweet, crazy creative, super talented, an amazing photographer and she always looks like she stepped out of a magazine! She's also one of the most down to earth people you could ever meet, she's always smiling. I think the world of her. She did such an amazing job on our photos and we're so pleased. We had SO many favorites, it's really been hard to pick. To see more of our session, check out Alex's blog by clicking HERE!

Gingerbread House Competition

2011-12-23T18:47:00.000-08:00

Granny and PawPaw always have so much fun competing against each other in their fishing and hunting. So, I thought they would enjoy a little friendly competition with the girls decorating gingerbread houses. After we opened presents, I pulled out the kits and was surprised by how intent they were on winning. They formed teams, "The Grannies"...

and "The Deer Hunters" ...

and went to work. Check out the concentration on their faces.

PawPaw started to whisper because he was worried about their ideas being stolen and copied by the other team.

Doug was asked to be the judge and it's a good thing he was savvy enough to declare the competition a tie! The houses turned out so cute and I was very impressed with both teams.

Unfortunately, the houses didn't last long after the competition ended as our smallest family member made it his personal mission to eat them gumdrop by gumdrop.

All Aboard the Polar Express!

2011-12-23T18:45:00.000-08:00

We were beyond excited to have PawPaw and Granny come out on the 9th of December to have an early Christmas with us and to see Anna perform in the Nutcracker. They could only be here from Friday through early Sunday morning so we had to fit in a ton of fun in a short amount of time. The kids had made "welcome" signs for the grandparents that they displayed at the airport. Granny loves High Hand Nursery and so we left the airport and headed for the gardens and lunch at the cafe. We were a bit early for our reservation and so we walked around a little bit. Jacob was preoccupied with the pond there....a bit too preoccupied. He tumbled right in and PawPaw saved him at the last minute, grabbing him by the collar and hauling him out. Needless to say, we had to skip lunch and head home for some dry clothes for the little guy.

After we dried the baby off and had a big bowl of chili with some cornbread, we headed off to the Polar Express in Sacramento. This was Jacob's first time on the train and the girls' second. Jacob has been obsessed with trains lately and so this was right up his alley!

While we waited to board the train, we wandered around enjoying the train displays. Anna and Jacob made friends with the quartet that was there singing Christmas songs and Anna even got to say "Merry Christmas" over the microphone. Santa and Mrs. Claus were also there greeting everyone.

When it was time, we boarded the Kris Kringle car and left Sacramento on our way to the North Pole. Hot chocolate and cookies were served. We had our golden tickets punched and listened to the story "The Polar Express" by Chris Van Allsburg. When we finally reached the North Pole, we saw Santa and his elves. Santa boarded the train and passed sleigh bells out to everyone who still believed. It was a great night. After the train ride, we wandered through old Sacramento and came across the "Theater of Lights" with a reading of some excerpts from Mark Twain as well as a reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas".

Sacramento Children's Museum

2011-12-22T08:21:00.000-08:00

For those of you in the area looking for an activity during the holiday break, I highly recommend the Sacramento Children's Museum. We visited the day after Thanksgiving and had a blast. We arrived as they opened and had the place to ourselves for almost half an hour. The kids LOVED it and happily spent the morning there playing, and painting. I loved that the activities seemed to be very simple by design but were extremely entertaining to the little ones.

The kids literally spent the majority of their time at the "Airways" station. They could not get enough!

They also loved the art studio. What a great idea this was! I would love to have a wall like this in the playroom. It could be a huge mess but what fun they would have!

There were even dress-up stations, and markets, and a post office. The girls had their names printed on a package and Lauren delivered mail throughout the museum. Once Lauren transformed herself into a police officer, she didn't want to take off the uniform. I had to convince her to give the other kids a chance. She just liked being a police officer.

Last but not least, they had water stations with all kinds of water toys. I managed to get Jacob into a waterproof smock although it didn't do much good as I caught him trying to climb into the water. He managed to get his whole right foot in the pool before I could grab him. Overall, it was a great time and we'll definitely be going back again soon!

2011-12-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

This weekend Anna finally performed in the Sacramento Ballet Nutcracker. She had a show on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. We all attended the Saturday night show and then I worked backstage on Sunday. It was fun to get to see the kids close-up in their costumes.

Backstage is a busy, busy place.

I feel like I'm so far behind all of the technological advances of the day. I don't have a fancy phone. I've never texted nor tweeted. My parents have more stuff than we do! Another thing I was unaware of is the popularity of the DS. To be honest, I didn't even know what they were until this weekend. At least half of the kids there had one. It was funny to see everyone dressed as they were walking around with video games.

We had such a busy weekend. The grandparents came and we had a fabulous time. Pictures to follow. On the way home Anna just couldn't hold out. In her defense, she had been up since the grandparents left that morning at 0400. She had promised her Granny that she wouldn't cry when they left but Saturday afternoon she started saying, "I just don't know if I can keep my promise Granny." :( It's hard to only get to see your loved ones a few times a year. We're already looking forward to our next visit with them, whenever that might be. With the passing of the weekend, our calendar is finally getting a break. It's nice to look at the week ahead and have nothing scheduled. Maybe we can pencil in some hot chocolate and a showing of "White Christmas".

Conversations with Jacob and the Peanut Gallery

2011-12-03T18:22:00.000-08:00

Jacob has a lot more to say these days. He's a real riot. Please enjoy our latest installment of funnies from the peanuts:

At dinner, he stood up, made a fist and said, "I'm ready to rock and roll!"

When you ask Jacob if he had fun, he replies, "It was WHEE fun!"

Doug has taken Jacob to the arcade at Sunsplash a few times now. Jacob loves the small, coin-operated train there. He's started saving any loose change he finds laying around the house. He picks up the coin (regardless of what it is, he calls it a penny), sticks it in his pocket and says, "I have penny, go castle." The last time Doug took him, Jacob came home and said, "My Daddy took me ca-sil. He's the best Daddy ever. I love him!" He loves Doug's car and if he ever goes missing you can find him locked in the car in the garage. Doug will take him for a ride around the block and when they get back Jacob says, "It was awesome!"

In our front yard, we have a tree which has turned a beautiful shade of red. It has also started losing a lot of its leaves. Jacob took a look at it and said, 'The tree is bleeding." Pointing at the leaves on the ground, he said, "Look, the tree dropped its apples!"

The kids have been watching a cartoon on Netflix called "Howl's Moving Castle". The other day our internet connection went down while they were watching and the film paused. Jacob looked at me and said, "Oh Man! Castle not moving."

Jacob took down the child gate at the top of the stairs and put it across the entrance to his room. He started crawling around, mooing, and said, "Look, Mommy. I on a farm! Moo!

Jacob is still into everything. I can tell he's about to get into trouble when I hear him pushing a chair across the kitchen floor. If I'm upstairs, I'll call down, "Jacob!! What are you doing??" He always responds, "Shh, Mommy!! Be quiet!"

When he's excited he runs around saying, "Oh yeah! Boo-ya!"

Trying to brush my teeth in the morning, I see the kids go running by the bathroom door and hear Lauren yell, "Mommy!!! Jacob is trying to put his butt on me....and he's naked!"

When picking up the sisters from school, Jacob says, "Mommy, I want to sit in front so I can say "Land-ho!" when I see sisters."

Jacob has a Charlie Brown shirt he calls his "Super Hero Rescue" shirt. He puts it on and yells, "Super Hero to the rescue! Let's fly!"

Prepping the turkey for Thanksgiving, Doug was showing its wings to the kids and clucking, "Baaa-rack, Baaa-rack, Baaa-rack Obama!" He also commented, "Doesn't it look like a dinosaur?" Afterwards Jacob would say, "Gobble, gobble, gobble. It's a dinosaur. Is it Halloween?" Then he would run away flapping his wings saying, "Bock, bock, bock!"

Neither Doug nor I made it to the kids' Veteran's Day assembly at school. They still had mine and Doug's pictures in the slideshow, however, and the kids got to stand up. Anna said, "I stood up for you and Daddy." Lauren said, "I stood up for Daddy." I asked her if she'd stood up for me too and she replied, "No, my eyes got blurry."

Doug returned my phone call and Lauren answered. She said to him, "Hi, Daddy! Mommy tried to call you later."

After a trip to the children's museum Anna said she was so hungry she could see her ribs.

Lauren was wearing a gray poncho and Anna asked, "Do ponchos come from Mexico?" I said, "Well, this one comes from Target." Lauren spoke up and said, "Ponchos are from China. Everything is made in China."

Bike Ride ~American River Parkway

2011-11-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

For Christmas last year, the whole family got new bikes. Well, Jacob got a cart but Santa will be bringing him his own little bike this Christmas....shhh! We've been on tons of rides on the trails around the house but we hadn't made it any further afield although Doug had purchased a bike carrier at the same time as our bikes. Yesterday we finally made it out to the pathways along the river in the American River Parkway. I can't believe we hadn't been out that way before. It was absolutely beautiful!

Doesn't Jake look cute tucked in back there!

The girls wore out fairly quickly but Doug was prepared. He brought along a blanket and some PB&Js for a little picnic.

Lauren and Jacob found a ladybug.

Doug took a break.

Then everyone set off to explore.

The kids had been asking to go down to the water the whole trip and we finally found an easy place to access the river.

Jake spent his time collecting rocks and throwing them into the water.

Lauren and Anna met "Gracie and Beau" and spent their time throwing the ball over and over again for the happy dogs.

The girls coordinated their clothing...to match each other...and their coats matched their bikes. They're too funny!

We're getting so excited because the grandparents will be here in just under two weeks. We cant wait! We'll see you soon, Granny and PawPaw!

Final Performance

2011-11-21T07:46:00.000-08:00

Anna had her final OZ performance last night at MTC. It was so much fun. Even though we're looking forward to a break, we're sad it's over. We met so many wonderful kids and parents there. What a great group of people!

We had planned to get flowers for Anna for the final performance but she didn't know that. She kept saying, "Gee, people sure are getting pretty flowers. I would like to have some too but that's okay, Mommy, I really don't need any." She was so happy and surprised when we pulled this bouquet of roses out at the end of the performance.

I knew she really wanted flowers but as flowers don't last forever, I wanted her to have something as a keepsake. I found this wonderful pop-up book by Robert Sabuda, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and gave that to her as well. It's a fantastic book. You can take a look at it here. This has been such a wonderful experience and we can't wait to do it again. MTC has their next auditions in April for a summer production. They're still determining whether they will be performing "Legally Blonde", "Seussical, The Musical", or "Dr. Doolittle". I'm so surprised because after seeing 3 of Anna's 6 shows, Lauren has told me she wants to give it a try the next time around!

Welcome to Oz!

2011-11-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

Anna has been a busy girl the past few months. She's been working with the McLaughlin Theatre Company on their production of "Oz, The Musical". She has three roles she plays between the two casts. Her main role is as "Boq", the munchkin mayor.

When she's not playing Boq, she is a member of the "Lollipop Guild".

In both casts, she is a "Citizen of Oz".

As Boq, she has a dancing and singing solo in the song "Ease on Down the Road" and she also has five main lines in the play:

1. Welcome most noble witch to the country of the Munchkins.

2. ....the wicked witch of the west.

3. Tell us noble Dorothy, how did you come to this place?

4. Perhaps Oz will help her.

5. The road to the Emerald City is paved with bricks.

The whole play is so cute and the director has just done a fantastic job with the kids. I think the costumes are outstanding. They started with a $100 budget and had to ask for a small increase. The mom that put it all together has a costume design background and is so amazingly creative and talented. Wow!

There's the lullaby league.

Dorothy in her "ruby red sneakers with the Scarecrow and Toto AKA Ziggy (he's gained a little weight through the experience as they trained him for his role with doggy treats).

The Tin Woodswoman...

The Wicked Witch of the West and her Flying Monkeys...the wings are made of one red boa each, hot-glued to cardboard cutouts.

The Citizens of Oz with collars and cuffs made from a thrift store curtain purchase with embellished t-shirts.

The Wizard of Oz and his Guardians of the Gate...

The Cowardly Lion...

The Poppies...

Glinda the Good...

I'm just so proud of all of these kids. They've put a lot of time into these roles. The thought of being in front of a crowd singing and dancing is terrifying to me, but these guys make it look easy.

We've been listening to the CD of cast music for months now...endlessly...over and over and over. It cracks me up that Jake even knows the words now. He rides along in his car seat, nodding his head and kicking his legs in time to the music, singing:

Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!

Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.

Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.

Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead. She's gone where the goblins go,

Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.

Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.

Let them know

The Wicked Witch is dead!

I'm so very, very proud of Anna. She is so charismatic and sings her part with such gusto. She loves it and has been having such a great time.

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

2011-11-14T18:40:00.000-08:00

Nutcracker rehearsals are beginning to pick up. Anna's performances will be in early to mid-December. These aren't technically the best pictures ever but I still like them a lot. There was no power in the studio for the first 20 minutes we were there and so the rehearsal room was a a bit dark.

The teeny, tiny mice take direction from Mr. Cunningham.

The Nutcracker Soldier stands at attention while the army of the Mouse King grabs the Christmas Dolls. Anna is one of the mice running around the Nutcracker.

Trick-a-my-Treat

2011-11-07T06:42:00.000-08:00

It was another one of those years when I had planned to make Halloween costumes for the kids and for one reason or another, we had to run out almost last minute and buy some pre-made. This year Anna wanted to be Dorothy, Lauren picked an FBI agent vest and accessories, and Jacob wanted to be a "Doast" or ghost for those of you who don't speak "Jacob". We also picked up a Thomas the Tank Engine, as a backup. In the store when I asked Jacob if he would be fine with a Thomas costume, he replied, "I be fine with dat." Unfortunately, however, as soon as we left the store, he started to ask, "Where's my doast dostume?" We started out with the ghost costume but it just wasn't working out, so we ended up "trick-a-ma treating" as a train instead. Jacob was so cute as he went up to each door and said, "Trick-a-ma-treat, dank dou, and Happy Halloween!" He filled his bucket and began to run out of gas. He was so tired, he was swaying from side to side. Anna got so much candy, the strap on her bag broke. One house saw that Lauren was an FBI agent, and asked if she was there because they'd done something wrong!

Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-07T05:44:00.000-08:00

Crazy Hair Day at School

2011-11-07T05:38:00.000-08:00

The Gypsy Life

2011-10-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

Ease On Down The Road

2011-10-08T08:36:00.001-07:00

Anna as "Boq" from "Oz, The Musical" performing at the Eggplant Festival in Loomis

Look for #12!

2011-10-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

Big Weekend

2011-09-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a big weekend around our house. Lauren had her very first soccer game on Saturday. She played so hard and gave it her all.

And on Sunday, Anna auditioned for the Sacramento Ballet's Nutcracker and was cast as a teeny, tiny mouse. We also received an e-mail saying she had a callback for "Oz, The Musical".

We're so proud of our girls and are looking forward to a busy fall!

Okay, Granny, okay. I get it.

2011-09-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

Lauren lost her first tooth this summer. I am a horrible, no good, very bad mother as I failed to post a picture of this momentous occasion on the blog. My moms have asked via e-mail and by phone (many times) to see pictures but I never seemed to get it done. Last week, Lauren received $10 and the following letter in the mail:

Lauren,
The Tooth Fairy left this at PawPaw & Granny's house for you. I have not seen a picture of you with a missing tooth BUT the Tooth Fairy assured me that you had lost one. We love you so much and are so very proud of you.
Love,
PawPaw & Granny

Okay, Granny. Message received. :) Here's your picture. Thank you to all of the grandparents for wanting so much to be a part of the kids' everyday lives even though we're thousands of miles apart. We're very lucky and blessed. We love you.

Next time I lose a tooth, I'm headed to Granny and PawPaw's house. Their tooth fairy seems to pay much better than ours! LOL! While we're updating, here's some pictures from the girls' summer camps. Here's Anna at the Roseville Theatre Arts Academy Broadway Bound performance at the end of her two week camp.

Here's a shot of Lauren in her Bones, Stones, Plants and Shells camp at the Maidu Interpretive Center.

While the girls were busy singing and dancing, and tracking animals and throwing spears, Jacob was up to this:

Anytime he went missing, I just needed to head to the nearest bathroom to find him. Lovely.

Bento Zen

2011-08-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

I love the idea of healthy lunches for the kids. Even more I love the idea of healthy and "cute" lunches. There are some extremely talented and creative bento box makers out there. I recently came across a site called "Bento Zen" and fell head over heels for her lunches. She inspired yesterday's and today's lunches. I recently came across a passage from "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" and read a few paragraphs to the girls. We learned about the Baron's trip to the moon and the people he met there. As the moon was at war with the sun and the weapons used by the moon people were mushroom shields and asparagus swords, when I saw the following lunch on Bento Zen, I knew I had to try it. So, even though my lunches are nowhere near the level of perfection found elsewhere, the kids don't seem to mind. They headed off this morning with their own mushroom shields and asparagus swords and some pages from the story in their backpack. The ravioli are mushroom and chicken with ham and cheese mushrooms on top.

From Chapter 18 of "The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen" by Rudolph Raspe

On the eighteenth day after we had passed the Island of Otaheite, mentioned by Captain Cook as the place from whence they brought Omai, a hurricane blew our ship at least one thousand leagues above the surface of the water, and kept it at the height till a fresh gale arising filled the sails in every part, and onwards we travelled at a prodigious rate; thus we proceeded above the clouds for six weeks. At last we discovered a great land in the sky, like a shining island, round and bright, where, coming into a convenient harbour, we went on shore, and soon found it was inhabited. Below us we saw another earth, containing cities, trees, mountains, rivers, seas, &c., which we conjectured was this world which we had left. Here we saw huge figures riding upon vultures of a prodigious size, and each of them having three heads. To form some idea of the magnitude of these birds, I must inform you that each of their wings is as wide and six times the length of the main sheet of our vessel, which was about six hundred tons burthen. Thus, instead of riding upon horses, as we do in this world, the inhabitants of the moon (for we now found we were in Madam Luna) fly about on these birds. The king, we found, was engaged in a war with the sun, and he offered me a commission, but I declined the honour his majesty intended me. Everything in this world is of extraordinary magnitude! a common flea being much larger than one of our sheep: in making war, their principal weapons are radishes, which are used as darts: those who are wounded by them die immediately. Their shields are made of mushrooms, and their darts (when radishes are out of season) are the tops of asparagus. Some of the natives of the dog-star are to be seen here; commerce tempts them to ramble; their faces are like large mastiffs’, with their eyes near the lower end or tip of their noses: they have no eyelids, but cover their eyes with the end of their tongues when they go to sleep; they are generally twenty feet high. As to the natives of the moon, none of them are less in stature than thirty-six feet: they are not called the human species, but the cooking animals, for they all dress their food by fire, as we do, but lose not time at their meals, as they open their left side, and place the whole quantity at once in their stomach, then shut it again till the same day in the next month; for they never indulge themselves with food more than twelve times a year, or once a month. All but gluttons and epicures must prefer this method to ours.

Back to School...Finally!

2011-08-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

Our babies are finally back in school. Classes were scheduled to start last Wednesday but a tanker fire in downtown Lincoln forced an evacuation of most of the area and pushed the opening of school back to today. They were so cute this morning and even though I'm so excited for them, I already miss them like crazy. Jacob has even been wandering through the house saying, "Miss sisters." Even though we had almost everything ready to go, this morning still felt like running a marathon. We all need to get back into our morning routine.

I tried to make the girls a special "back-to-school" lunch and was aiming for "The Frog Prince" theme. I included the story in the girls' lunch box to hopefully help clue them in. I don't think my frogs look much like frogs. :) Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right?

We put the teacher's gifts together in preparation for classes to start last Wednesday. I didn't put drainage holes in the silver pots and so I'm afraid to say our succulents were beginning to look a little worse for wear. We made an extra to take to Anna's teacher from last year. She is just so sweet and she and Anna were pen pals this summer.

This may be my favorite picture from the day. Jacob saw the girls holding up the chalkboard and so he tried to do the same...but upside down. I love his grin. Don't worry, I did comb his hair before we left for school!

We're looking forward to a great school year!

Mischief Managed

2011-08-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

Jacob has been extra busy as of late. Recently in one day he emptied a bottle of starch on the wall and carpet. He climbed onto the washer in the laundry room and got into the cabinet with our cleaning supplies. He sprayed the girls with CLR, and the walls, the doors, and the floors of the laundry room with various other nasties. He took his diaper off and pottied on the lid of the toilet. I put him down for his nap and he pulled off his diaper and pooped in his bed. When I was getting him out of his bed he said, "Don't be mad at me, I'm little." I had to chase him through the backroom of Extreme Soccer in Roseville. He got the Pam and sprayed it on the family room ottoman and couch. That was just in one day. He's also been climbing on the washer to undo the deadbolt and the child latch at the top of the door. He learned how to climb the shelf to get to the garage door opener and took himself out into the front yard. Enough was enough! I bought a new locking door knob for the laundry room and figured out how to put it in myself. I blame it all on my mother. She said so many times in the past that she hoped I had a child that was just like me. Really? I don't think I could ever have been this wild. As the last Harry Potter film is out, I thought the line "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good" was quite appropriate. I finally pulled out my Silhouette and used it for the first time to make this little shirt for my little stinker.

Anna as Queen Elizabeth

2011-07-24T08:27:00.000-07:00

So, it's only taken months to get this video off the camcorder and into a format where the grandparents can see it, but it's finally done. Here is Anna's presentation of her famous person book report for her second grade class. We were/are so proud of her.

Rub a dub dub, one baby in a tub...

2011-07-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

Summer Daze

2011-07-18T13:15:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or does the summer seem to be passing by all too quickly? Anna started her first week of drama camp today. Lauren starts an outdoorsy camp next week. By the time they're finished, it will be August. School starts on the 24th of August. I need the days to slow down. I'm just getting into the swing of things.

Swinging on a swing made by PawPaw

2011-07-16T16:20:00.000-07:00

Our little ones love to fish. They just can't get enough. The grandparents bought a lot of crickets this trip. Jacob even caught his first fish this summer. Will share more shots this coming week.

I'll dream in melody...

2011-07-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

The third time must be the charm. We finally made it to see Alison Krauss and Union Station last night in Tahoe. We've tried to see them in the past but one show was cancelled due to weather and another because of an illness. It was so worth the wait. What amazing talent and my favorite concert in years. A band called "Good Old War" opened the show. They were a ton of fun too. It was a beautiful evening for an outdoor concert and Doug and I had such a great time.

The Arrow and The Song

2011-07-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight

Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For who has sight so keen and strong,

That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroke;

And the song, from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Lauren and her PawPaw spent a lot of time on the phone making big plans for our Alabama visit. They planned to wrestle alligators, catch birds and coons, shoot rifles and arrows, and go fishing. They managed to accomplish pretty much all of it during our stay. They wrangled an alligator they named Gobbler, caught and released a raccoon, went fishing, shot balloons and soda cans with a BB gun, and spent hour after hour "practicing" with Lauren's very own bow and arrow set PawPaw bought for her. She seemed to be a real natural and got better and better as the week went on. No matter how hot it was, or how many mosquitoes there were, PawPaw was right there with her, instructing, monitoring, encouraging, and competing. He's such a good grandpa and a wonderful father. He's someone I would want to be friends with even if we weren't related. The Longfellow poem seemed so appropriate as the time these two spent together placed an unbroken song in Lauren's heart. She'll always remember this time with her PawPaw. Who knows? Maybe she'll be an olympic archer someday. When we made it back to California, I tried to enroll her in a local archery camp but was told she was too young. If only they knew our Lauren, they'd see she would have fit right in. Tomorrow is my dad's birthday. We wish we could be there to celebrate with him. We hope he has a wonderful, spectacular day! XOXO!

Fred

2011-07-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

Because we're 1,000's of miles apart, Jacob has only gotten to see his granddads 3 or 4 times in his 2.5 years. He talks to them on the phone and sees a lot of pictures but he had a hard time getting everyone's names straight in person. We spent the first two nights of our visit with my mom and stepdad, also known as Nana and Poppy. We drove to my dad's and stepmom's (AKA PawPaw and Granny) the next day and spent the next week and a half with them. Jacob called my dad "Poppy" most of the visit. Every time Jacob would call him "Poppy" instead of "PawPaw", my dad would call him "Fred" in return. I just had to laugh because I went through something similar with my dad's mom. She wanted to be called Grandma but I kept calling her "Gahbbie". Every time I called her "Gahbbie" she would call me "Susie". I finally got the hang of it and began to call her Grandma. Jacob, too, started to get the hang of it and would call my dad by the right name...most of the time. Toward the end of our stay, he walked up to my dad with a balloon and said, "Fill it please, Poppy." My dad looked at him and said, "What's my name?" Without even so much as a moment's hesitation, Jacob replied, "Fred".

This saddle was at my mom's house and belonged to my mom's family when she was little. They had a shetland pony named "Patsy" and this saddle was just the right size for her. We have a picture of me when I was young sitting on this same saddle, although I was on an actual horse instead of a log. I couldn't find a horse so I guess you do what you can!

Grandpa's boat

2011-07-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

There was a child

2011-07-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

There was a child went forth every day,

And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became,

And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day,

Or for many years or stretching cycles of years.

The early lilacs became part of this child,

And grass and white and red morning glories, and white and red clover,

And the song of the phoebe-bird,

And the Third-month lambs and the sow's pink-faint litter,

And the mare's foal and the cow's calf...

-Walt Whitman

The kids and I are home from a 3-week visit to see the grandparents in Alabama. We had such a wonderful time and it was hard to say goodbye. The little ones had room to run and roam, swim and fish, play and enjoy the outdoors. The grandparents were so good to us and went out of their way to make sure we had a great time. Lots and lots of pictures to share through the week.

Do you want to be my friend? Check yes or no.

2011-06-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

Wherever we go, Anna and Lauren seem to make new friends so easily. Heck, they even made a friend in the restroom at a restaurant the other day. At the park they just walk up to the nearest kid and ask, "Do you want to be my friend?" Then they all happily run off to play. Wouldn't it be so nice to make friends as easily when we're adults? We all need companionship and friends play such an important role in our lives. Would that we could just let go of all of the insecurities, worries, and baggage and just offer a smile and a hand without worrying about whether or not we'll be accepted. Being retired military, we've experienced the continual loss of good friends as we all seem to be on the move somewhere new every 2-3 years. It wasn't until we had kids and lived on base that we actually began to make new adult friends. There were years we spent living in neighborhoods without knowing anyone at all. Although children open an easy door for conversations with moms we might not know, but would like to, it's still hard to find someone that you share interests with, and feel comfortable enough to be yourself. I'm thankful that I'm at a time in my life where I have good friends, here and out of state. I love the Bernard Meltzer quote, "A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." Goodness knows, I am a bit off! Speaking of being just "slightly cracked", here are a few of the latest crack-ups from our very own peanut gallery.

Anna caught an infomercial on TV and called into the kitchen, "Mommy, do you need stretch mark lotion? Because the phone lines are open right now. I was just wondering."

We drove by the new Bikram Yoga studio that's just opened in our area and Lauren said, "Mommy, that's the place I was telling you about. If you want to be like this (she sucked in her stomach and poked her chest out), you need to go there." Anna piped in and said, "Yeah, Mommy, if you want to be really stretchy go to Bike-Ram Yoga!" After a good laugh and a good groupon deal, I took their advice and went to a yoga class. I still have 9 classes to go but have decided that hot yoga is almost like childbirth. With your first child (and your first class), you're excited and giddy and not really sure just what to expect. When your second child (or second class as the case may be) comes along, you're not sure if you want to go through it again, at least not without a few drugs because well, you're scared and you know it's going to hurt.

We'll be visiting with the grandparents soon and the girls have been on the phone A LOT planning out all of their activities. After one lengthy call between Lauren and my dad, my dad called me and was telling me about their conversation. Lauren is planning on catching birds, hunting deer, and wrestling alligators. My dad mentioned that at one point in the discussion Lauren said, "Mommy is mean sometimes." My dad asked her what she did to make me that way and she responded, "Let's not talk about that."

We took a day trip to Empire Mines in Grass Valley a few weeks okay and Doug and the kids had the following conversation on the drive there.
Lauren: When I grow up, I'm going to buy a motorcycle.
Anna: Yeah, maybe I'll buy a motorcycle too....or a hot car.
Doug: What kind of car, Anna?
Anna: Ummm....a pink Chevy with a TV in it like Ryan and Mrs. Trish.
Me: Mrs. Trish has a mini-van.
Anna: Oh yeah. Maybe a hot pink car with a TV in it or one that serves me burritos or McDonalds.

Jacob's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. He's a little parrot and repeats everything you say. When I ask him his name, he responds, "J-tob Tiest". When I ask him my names, he says, "Mommy Tiest". When I ask his age, he says hes "Two!" When I ask him how old Mommy is, he replies, "Mommy ooooold."

He tries to help out around the house and he'll get forks out of the drawer at meal time and place them on the table. Unfortunately, however, at the end of the meal he takes the same forks (now used) and puts them back in the drawer. He loves to help me unload the washing machine and put the clean laundry into the dryer. He also likes taking the laundry from the dryer and placing it into the basket. Walk away for even a second though and he'll have that clean laundry placed back in the wash and be trying to climb the machine to turn it on.

Doug spent a morning putting sticks in all of the windows so Jacob can't open them and climb out. Even though he's figured out how to get by all of the other child safety latches we've put into place, my one consolation was that at least if he got out of the house, he couldn't get out of the backyard. Yesterday I found him outside, climbing the gate, and removing the padlock (it was unlocked anyway). He threw the lock on the ground and then started working on the gate handle. If this keeps up, I really am going to be oooooold and gray by the time he turns 18.

Hawaiian Funnies:
At the Hilton Waikoloa there was a young man who ran along the shoreline each night, blowing a conch shell and lighting torches. The first night we saw him, the kids were very impressed. After he lit all of his torches and was making his way back, Anna yelled over to him, "Nice conch shell!" I started to laugh, she asked why, I stifled the laugh and said I was just so happy to be there enjoying the lovely evening with my family.

The lighting of the torches affected Jacob in other ways, however. He spent all of his time trying to blow the torches out. He huffed... (I know these aren't the clearest pics but I still love them anyway!)

And he puffed....

But he couldn't blow the torch out, much to his dismay.

We stopped at the Waikoloa market to get some gas and Anna saw the following sign. Lauren asked her to read it out loud. Anna read the sign quite accurately until she got to the end. At the end, she read, "Violators will be subject to criminal execution!" Worriedly, she turned to me and asked, "Mommy, they kill you??" I calmed her down and explained the word prosecution. Lauren asked Anna what it all meant and Anna said, "They don't kill you, Lauren, they just "persecute" you."

Oh, how I love our babies. I'll be in and out over the next few weeks as we're getting caught up on spoiling of the grandchildren by the grandparents, but will be back in July. Happy summer!

It's the big one, Elizabeth! I'm comin' for ya.

2011-05-31T08:57:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I’m dating myself by quoting “Sanford and Son”, but it seemed to be such an appropriate title for this post. Last week I donated 130 books to the county library system, and 37 books to Goodwill. It was painful and heart wrenching, and I thought it might send me into cardiac arrest. But I knew it needed to be done. I still have a gazillion books scattered around the house in bookcases in various rooms. The donated books were books that had followed us around from home to home over the years, always staying in boxes in the garage. Some were easy to let go of, but others I had to force myself to place into the donation box. When I asked Doug where I should put the books that would be going away, he told me to put them in the trunk of his car and he would put them in the trash for me. There was no way I would have been able to part with them knowing they would be in a dump somewhere.

Books for me are almost like souvenirs, not necessarily from the places I’ve been, but of the person I was or wanted to be, and of the things I was interested in once upon a time. I feel invested in them, and in more than just a financial sense. A "Literary History of Cambridge” reminds me of a summer spent learning about the history of Cambridge and touring the grounds of the different colleges. "Scotch and Holy Water" and "The March of Folly" leave me nostalgic remembering a trip to Turkey with dear friends and the long talks we had that taught me so much. I found it difficult to part with "The Roman Revolution", a book left over from a class I took while we were living in Nebraska. I was studying civil engineering and geology and pregnant with Anna. I didn't need the class but wanted to take it because I thought it was interesting. It brought back memories of mine and Doug's move to Greece in the fall of '99, the drive we made from England through mainland Europe, and our stop in Rome. I know it may sound silly but books are my vice...okay, and fabric too (I must admit).

There were two reasons I needed to divest myself of these piles of books. One was that I had mentioned to Doug I thought it might be interesting to have a Kindle. Don’t get me wrong. I love libraries, and book stores, and the smell and feel of books. I love the basket of books that sits next to my side of the bed. Travelling with wee ones, however, means the days of carrying 4-5 books in my backpack or purse are no more. Now, diapers, sippy cups, wipes, barbies, toy cars, and crayons have taken the place of my beloved books. Having a Kindle along at a time like that would be most handy. Doug told me if I would clear the books in the garage, he would order a Kindle right away. The other reason was that I took a closer look at myself and began to worry about my tendencies to hold on tightly to things that may just be cluttering my life. While holding on can be an admirable quality (and I come from a long line of holding-on-ers), I caught an episode of "Hoarding: Buried Alive" for the first time the other day. There was a gentleman living in a house stuffed with books, papers, and magazines. It was so bad, he couldn’t use the upstairs of his home at all, and the downstairs was well on its way to being rendered unusable as well. When asked why he chose to keep a newspaper from 25 years ago that had no significant stories in it, he remarked, “I thought it might be good for reference.” It took me aback as the overflowing stack of magazines in a basket in my closet, combined with the huge library of miscellaneous pictures stored on our computer, had all been saved for the exact same reason. I had to save one pile of magazines because there were pictures I wanted to recreate, another pile because of the recipes and entertaining ideas, a third pile had travel ideas galore, a fourth pile for holiday ideas, and none could be totally discarded. Okay, I take that back, occasionally I do go through and discard, ripping out anything of “significance”. One man’s treasures, another man’s junk….right? So, I decided to jump in and declutter before the urge left me. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how good it felt, as if a weight had been lifted.

Doug, ever true to his word, ordered a Kindle for me the very next morning and I'm trying not to look back. I am really enjoying the Kindle and am indulging my book mania by downloading a bunch of the classics for free. I've always been interested in trying to read the great books curriculum of St. John's college. The first year is devoted to Greek authors, the second year covers Roman classics as well as works from the medival and Renaissance periods. The third and fourth years take you through the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Now, I can actually start to attempt it as the majority of them seem to be available for free download through amazon. How cool is that?! I have to watch myself though as it's so easy to just go on-line and order a book that I'm tempted to buy more than I should. I've already read the first two books of the "Game of Thrones" series this past week. I just downloaded the third this morning. At least, I don't have to worry about what to do with them when I'm finished. That makes my husband very happy. Six books from our bookcase on the bottom compared to 6 books in my Kindle in the red case on top. Not too shabby.

On a sidenote, I may have rid myself of a pile of books but I did purchase a Silhouette to come in and fill up part of the space. I didn't win one of the bundles from the big Silhouette giveaway this past week, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. We have a box full of change in the cabinet above the washer and dryer in the laundry room. We hadn't counted the change in a while, so out of curiosity I sat down and did just that. $260 later, I ordered my Silhouette and even had some cash left over. It's amazing how quickly that change adds up. I'm so excited. Hopefully, it will be in next week. I already have my first project planned!!

You may be wonderin'...

2011-05-29T11:31:00.000-07:00

So, you may be wondering where I've been and why I haven't been updating as often as I should (cough, cough, grandmothers). There are about 10 reasons why I've been slacking, as of late. Reasons #1, #2, and #3 are the three on-line classes I took this semester. As of Thursday, I am now done with Medical Terminology I and II, as well as Human Anatomy & Physiology I. Whew! It feels so good to have those behind me. The girls have taken to saying that I never have any time for them as I'm always on the computer. Well, classes done means more free time for mommy and the kiddos. I sat down yesterday and planned out some fun summer activities. Hopefully, I can make it up to them.

Reasons #4-10 have something to do with this little fellow...

He is an out of control monkey. He's figured out the pantry latches. I caught him trying to drink almond extract. He's learned to open the fridge. I found him trying to eat a tablespoon of Starbucks coffee from the freezer. He's learned to climb on the cabinets and check out the top of the fridge. My keys were missing an entire day until I found them in a side drawer of the buffet. The sisters have taught him how to unlock the windows. I heard him saying, "Hi, Butterfwies!!" the other day and found him standing on the rocking horse in the girls' room peering out the open window (second floor). Anna taught him how to use deodorant and he's now obsessed with it and keeps finding it no matter where I hide it. At the same time, he's absolutely adorable and precious. I've just never experienced this with the girls. I'm thinking about tying him to my belt loop.

The June Bride

2011-05-18T09:07:00.000-07:00

Wedding season is coming. I'm so excited to be second shooting for a wedding next month with the uber-sweet, and incredibly talented Alexandra Frankel. Thinking about next month's nuptials made me start to reminisce about weddings that I photographed (with my dear friend Trish Larsen) or helped photograph (with Alexandra) last year. It's so exciting to be part of a couple's special day. Everyone is happy and in love and joy abounds. I so enjoy seeing the special details that each bride makes her own. No two weddings are ever alike. You can see the differences in the choice of bridesmaids and their gowns....

"The" dress that every little girl dreams about...

The shoes are always varied...and fun!

The flowers and extra bits that make each wedding unique...

I'm also so happy that we get to be a part of our niece Betsy's wedding next fall. Betsy has been sharing details and it's going to be amazing. Our daughter Alaina, who will be giving birth any day now to our first grandchild, a little girl, has mentioned that she and her husband Zach may have a wedding here in the states next spring. She and Zach met in Germany where they're both stationed with the U.S. Army. They got married in Denmark and so family wasn't able to attend. I so hope they do and we can share that special time with them as well.

Hawaii, Day 6, Part II, Akaka Falls

2011-05-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

Ak-ak-ak Falls as Doug and the kids jokingly called it was amazingly amazing. Doug commented that he had been all over the world and that the foliage here was the most lush he had ever seen.

He was sweet enough to chase the boy while I indulged in picture taking. Did I mention I took around 1500 photos this trip? Yeah.

Everywhere you looked there was a flower peeking out.

Jacob even found some "na-nas".

Said "na-nas".

To get to the falls, you have to walk down quite a few stairs. Definitely worth the trip...

~Another fiddlehead~

I mentioned that there were a lot of stairs going down, which of course meant there were a lot of stairs going back up as well. Doug's knee had been bothering him but he managed to carry Jacob back up to the car. When we got home, he had an MRI done and we learned that his ACL is completely torn. He's so nonchalant about these kinds of things. Believe me if I had a torn ACL, everyone would be hearing about it...loudly and often.

Hawaii, Day 6, Part I, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

2011-05-17T06:38:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me, know that I'm a bit of an "Earth Sciences" fan. So, the main attraction I wanted to visit all week long was the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. I couldn't wait to get there. It was worth the wait...so spectacular, desolate, primordial, and inspiring, all at the same time.

My little picture takers, it must be genetic.

Baby on the loose...

~Entrance to the the Thurston lava tube~

It was wet and a little muddy inside. Jacob insisted on walking, got his shoe stuck in some mud, and walked right out of it. We looked down and he had one super muddy little foot. We had to backtrack in the dark and find his sandal. Afterwards, Daddy got him cleaned up while the girls and I took more pictures.

I loved these fiddlehead ferns and couldn't get enough. I'll try not to subject you to all of my pictures of them but you have to see at least a few.

I couldn't help but think of Jeff Goldblum's line from Jurassic Park when I saw this flower. "Life always finds a way."

We were unable to drive past this sign and continued on foot to get to the end of the road, which had been covered with lava during an eruption.

The walk turned out to be longer than the girls were expecting it to be. Anna started falling further and further behind. It could have had something to do with the fact that this was the last stop and Doug promised them a trip to the gift shop afterwards.

Doug and the kids gave up and headed back for the car but I continued on to the end.

"Road closed". No kidding!

When you look at the lava from a distance, it appears all black but it is actually beautifully multi-colored when you take a closer look!

~More "life" sprouting from the rock~

~Beautiful sea arch along the trail to the end of the road.~

I loved the patterns in the lava.

Hawaii, Day 4, Part II

2011-05-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

After leaving the Place of Refuge, Jacob and I stopped by St. Benedictine's Painted Church. The church was built in 1899 and painted by Father John Velghe. He used the paintings to teach those parishioners who couldn't read. The church overlooks the Kealakekua Bay.

There were so many interesting plants and flowers. My mom(s) would have been in heaven.

After leaving the church grounds, we began our drive back to Kailua-Kona. Since I had the GPS and wasn't worried about getting lost, I tried some back roads. We ended up on Napoopoo road and the scenery was breathtaking.

Back in Kailua-Kona, Jacob and I still had a little time before the boat pulled back in. We did a little window shopping and stopped for some pizza and tiramisu. Then we walked over to the pier to meet the rest of our crew.

As the boat pulled back in, Anna could be seen waving with all her might. She would run from deck to deck and wave and blow kisses. That's her on the top deck in the white dress. Doug is on the first deck in the black t-shirt.

I began to worry that Lauren may have been lost at sea as there seemed to be no sign of her. I soon learned why.

Anna came off the boat looking like this...

Lauren came off like this (red dress). She had played so hard all morning that she had fallen asleep on the way back in to shore. She was NOT not happy about having to get up and get going...

Then on the way home, she had to contend with this....the little brother.

I loved the drive back north to Waikoloa.

We made it back to the hotel room and because people still hadn't had enough swimming time even though they'd just spent 4 hours on a boat and in the water, we headed for the hotel pools.

I snagged Anna and Lauren for a few photos on the way.

They found a puffer fish that had washed ashore and were much more interested in him than in having their pictures taken. I don't blame them. There was just to much to see and do to be still any longer than necessary.

Hawaii, Day 4 Part I

2011-05-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

On our fourth day on the island, Doug had planned a boating excursion for us, complete with lunch and snorkeling. As our smallest family member had been giving us the run-around the entire trip, I was hesitant to put him on a boat for hours. I could just see us having to jump in the water after him. So, I opted to do some sightseeing from the shore with our little man while Doug took the girls out on the water. After we dropped everyone off at the Kailua-Kona harbor, Jacob and I drove down to "The Place of Refuge" also known as Pu'uhonau o Honaunau. In ancient times, if you broke a law for which the penalty was death, your only hope was to reach a place of refuge such as this one. What a peaceful, beautiful place. I could have stayed there all day. As it was, I spent our little time there chasing Jake around.

We also saw this plant at the Volcanic Park. I'm not sure what it is.

A Hawaiian game called Konane. It is similar to chess and checkers.

While I was taking pictures, he managed to discard his shoes. We had to retrace our steps to find them.

The rock wall is 17 feet wide and 10 feet high.

Ki'i (carved statues) watch over the Hale o Keawe, or resting area of Hawaiian cheifs.

Supposedly, Queen Ka'ahumanu, the favorite wife of King Kamehameha I left him and swam to the refuge. She hid under this rock and was only found when her dog barked and gave her away.

Jacob on the move...

Race Day

2011-05-11T13:05:00.000-07:00

Even though we celebrated Doug's birthday earlier in the month, he didn't get his actual birthday present until this past Saturday night. I had talked to him about the possibility of a birthday race package in previous years but he finally decided to give it a go this time around. All American Raceway in Roseville offers spectator packages for people who would like to come in for the afternoon/evening and compete in a "stockcar" type race. Doug showed up at 2pm on Saturday for the instruction and qualifying laps. Out of the seven guys racing, Doug was the only one who didn't have any race experience. All of the others had been there several times before or normally raced in what's known as the "Bomber" class. The race was supposed to start at 6:10pm and Doug called early in the afternoon to let me know what time to show up. Our dear Amanda agreed to come along with me to help wrangle the wee ones. We were planning to leave a bit early to give ourselves plenty of time to stop and get some cash and find our way to the raceway. As I was heading to the front door around 5:20, with Jacob in hand, the phone rang. It was Doug calling to say that the race had been moved up and it would be starting at 5:45 instead of 6:10. I started to frantically run around, realized I didn't know my pin number for my debit card (I always used the credit card and just get cash from Doug when I need it), called Doug to see if he knew it, got in the truck, got back out to get headsets for the kids, got back in the truck, drove down the road, realized I still didn't know my pin number, turned around and drove back to the house because Anna told me she had a ton of money in her wallet but I only found $8.00 there, jumped back in the truck and began to drive. We made it to the raceway, found a place to park outside because we didn't have enough money to pay for parking and the entrance fee, literally ran to the entrance only to find that it would cost $35 to get in and Amanda and I only had $16 between the two of us. The lady there was SOOOO nice and only had me pay for the kids. We made it through the main gate and began to RUN to find the grandstand as they were announcing Doug's name over the loudspeaker! I dropped my wallet. Lauren picked it up. I dropped Jacob's jacket. Lauren picked it up. Amanda had Jacob in her arms and we were all running around, completely unaware of where we were supposed to be. We came across another gate and could see the cars lined up but the security guard wouldn't let us through without a stamp even though we had our tickets. We had to race back through the food section to find the "main" entrance and got to the stands just as the official waved the green flag. Whew! That's Doug in the yellow #2.

The race started and I would be surprised if Doug didn't hear Anna cheering him on. She loves her Daddy! The race was only 15 laps long and Doug started in the back. He kept fighting and working his way up though and made it to third place! He was closing in on #s 1 and 2 and I really think he could have taken them if he'd had a few more laps to go.

He came and met us in the stands after his race and we watched a few more races until it was time for the trophy presentation. Doug went down onto the field and was interviewed but somehow they misplaced all the trophies for the spectator racing portion! I think they're going to mail it to us. He had such a great time though and would do it all over again.

Happy Birthday, Honey! We love you!

Hawaii, Day 2 (Waipio Valley and Macadamia Nuts)

2011-05-09T06:01:00.000-07:00

We read so many wonderful things about Waipio Valley and really wanted to see it first hand. The only tour we found which seemed kid friendly was a mule-drawn wagon excursion. We booked some seats for later in the afternoon and took a leisurely drive from Waikoloa out to Waimea in the morning where we stopped at a farmer's market.

Every where we went there were beautiful avocados.

Jacob tried to make a break for it and so the sisters ran him down and took him by the hand. Usually they're like a starburst, all shooting off in different directions so it was nice to have them all going the same way for once!

After lunch and ice cream, we decided to burn a little time and just drive around. We came across this playground at a park and enjoyed 20 minutes swinging and skipping.

We finally arrived at Waipio Valley. It was breathtaking!

The drive into the valley is very steep and requires either 4WD or a stronger constitution than we would have hauling 3 kids up and down. Alden, our guide met us at the top and took us down. On the way down, they prefer you not seatbelt yourself in, nor close the van doors...something about being able to get out quickly if necessary.

It was a beautiful ride, albeit a little bumpy.

Babies never cease to amaze me. Jacob refused to take a nap throughout the morning when it was quiet and cool in the van. When it was hot and bumpy on our way down, he passed out in a matter of minutes!

Alden introduced the girls to macadamia nuts, freshly cracked from the tree. Anna was convinced she wasn't a fan of macadamia nuts. That was until she tried them right out of their shells. They were so good.

While Alden readied everything,

the family ate more nuts.

We finally got started and one of the first adventures was to drive through a stream. It seemed to be quite popular with the locals as there were several families enjoying the cool waters.

Taro growing in the water.

Still bumpy, still hot, still sleeping.

My only disappointment was that we didn't get to go to the beach. I was under the impression we would but after a brief tour of the valley road, we headed back to the stables.

Jacob finally woke up and was thrilled to find "horsies" everywhere he looked.

He also discovered a pomelo (a large citrus fruit).

Since there seemed to be a lot of interest in the pomelo from the peanut gallery, Alden offered us a taste.

Anna loved it. It was very tangy.

A view of the road going back up. It was quite steep.

After our tour with Alden, who was very knowledgeable about the plants and fruits in the area, I began to look up a little more. I noticed this flower and fruit walking back into the hotel. I'm not sure what it is but it's so interesting. The center of the flower reminds me of a piece of okra.

It had been a long day and we finished the evening by grabbing a quick bite at the boat landing just downstairs from our room. The weather and breeze were SOOOOO pleasant after the heat of the valley.

Alden also gave us orange limes. Jacob thought they were oranges, which he loves, and held on to them quite tightly.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

Hoping you're all having a pleasant Mother's Day. It's been a fantastic day here. We're just wishing we could be with our Moms this day. Doug and the kids have given me the most beautiful, heartfelt cards, two necklaces, and a dress. Lauren gave me a construction paper vase full of flowers that lift out with chores listed on them that she offered to do (today only she told me :). She also gave me a towel that has her handprints on it with a darling poem that talked about missing those little handprints once the hands are grown...it brought me to tears. Anna made a beautiful pale pink heart out of clay with an adorable card. Jacob learned to say, "Happ-E Mama's Day!" I couldn't have asked for more. I'm so lucky to be a mom to these three and I'm so thankful to have such wonderful mothers in my life.

Hawaii, Day 1 (Hapuna Discovery)

2011-05-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

For Spring Break this year, Doug planned a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. We flew out of Oakland on a direct flight to Kona, and stayed at the Waikoloa Hilton. We fell in love with the hotel and the beauty of the island. The hotel had a gazillion beautiful pools but we still tried to make it out to the beach most mornings. Our family is always up early so we were usually heading back from the beach by 10 am. Our favorite beach turned out to be just down the road from Waikoloa. The kids greeted us every morning with chants of "Hapuna! Hapuna!" before they were even out of bed. I can't blame them as Hapuna was an amazing beach.

It had gently breaking waves which the girls couldn't get enough of.

Jacob opted to stay closer to shore and had fun running from the water.

The black rocks around the island were spectacular.

I walked to this little cove and found some crabs. I called the kids over and they began to look for them as well. They searched dilligently...

Until they found some.

Then they would scream and run away.

But they wouldn't stay away for long.

Lauren was fairly brave while trying to catch a crab until she got pinched by one like this... (see him tucked into the corner of the rock).

After that, she began to use Doug's mask to try and scoop them up instead of her hands.

Anna enjoyed looking for shells and chasing the fish.

We attended a luau that evening at a different hotel. One of the dancers had a session with the children and showed them different items they use in their dances.

Enjoy these shots of Jacob sitting still as it was the only time all night that he stopped. We spent the rest of the evening chasing him all over the property.

Anna "summoning" the waves.

Our "pig oven".

It doesn't look very appetizing at this point but it was really good.

Royal Obsession

2011-04-29T22:28:00.000-07:00

I must say that I just couldn't get enough of the Royal Wedding week. Yes, I did get up early to watch the ceremony. Yes, I did make wedding crafts. Yes, I did record about 16 hours worth of coverage. Yes, I did get the girls to watch with me. I loved the dress and the uniform and the Abbey and the carriage ride and the hats...oh, how I loved the hats. After the kiss on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, I asked Anna and Lauren what they thought about the pageantry of it all. Anna was practically in tears because she wanted to be the one marrying a Prince. Lauren, however, said she just wanted Prince William's uniform. That's our Lauren! They say that every little girl wants to marry a Prince. That is most definitely the case for Anna. I think Lauren would rather just be the Prince. HaHa!

To be honest, I think part of the excitement for me was that it just brought back so many memories. Doug and I began our relationship while living in England. I lived there from 1994-1999 and Doug was there from 1997-1999. We even spent our first few months as a married couple living right outside of Cambridge in a small village called Cherry Hinton. It was such a magical time and England will always hold a special place in my heart. Thus the obsession. I just couldn't let the day go by without acknowledging it in some fashion.

I had wanted to do a "girlier" take on the Union Jack but Lauren wouldn't have it. We ended up with a little frill but in her opinion any frill is too much.

I did convince her to let me take a few shots with our version of the wedding hat. I had to agree to let her bring 5 ladybugs home with us. We now have a ladybug nursery in the house.

I used Dana's freezer paper stencil tutorial to make the "Royal Lion" t-shirt.

While we were taking pictures, Lauren was up to her knees in ladybugs. I kept trying to get her attention back to me and for some reason kept calling her by all of her siblings' names. I just couldn't get it right. Just imagine if your children had as many titles as the Prince. You couldn't even get through one child's set of names in an attempt to reach the right one. I mean, can you imagine?? It would go something like this. You hear fighting downstairs in the playroom...
Harry: Wills is hitting me.
Parent: Do not hit your brother. I said, "Do not hit your brother. William Arthur Philip Louis Cambridge Strathearn Carrickfergus Mountbatten-Windsor, do not make me come down there".

Seriously though, it was such a fun day. I saw a wonderful quote on facebook that I thought summed things up nicely. "For one day I saw magic. Every other day of my life I watch one disaster after another. Today I watched a fairytale". I agree! Congratulations to the Newlyweds! Wishing all of us more fairytales and less heartbreak!

Aloha

2011-04-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

Been away on a much needed vacation...

Back home now...

And needing a vacation to recover from our vacation...

The Queen

2011-04-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Recently, Anna's second grade class had to do a book report on a famous person. The children were given a list of characters to choose from and Anna picked Queen Elizabeth I. I must say that I am super impressed with the fact that her class often requires the students to orally present poems and book reports. What great public speaking practice at an age where they don't yet know to be shy in front of a group. I'll be forty this year and I shake like a leaf if I have to get up and speak. Anyway, we planned to order the Elizabeth I costume from Chasing Fireflies but they no longer had the costume in stock, only the wig. We sent off for the wig and then I attempted to make the dress myself.

I used upholstery fabric which I knew wasn't the most brilliant idea but I thought I could pull it off. I ended up having to go to a friend that owns an alteration shop and ask for help when attaching the skirt to the bodice as my sewing machine just couldn't cut it. To embellish, we recycled some old costume jewelry and clipped one strand to remove the pearls to use on the bodice. The day of the presentation, the lace stood up more like an Elizabethan ruff but unfortunately seemed to lose its luster once I put in a bag to transport it.

When I finished the dress, it really needed a hoopskirt to make it look the part. I was out of time and so the day before her presentation, I googled "hoop skirt tutorial" and came across the best site called Funky Horror. She called her tutorial "How to make a cheap, fast hoopskirt (that doesn't suck). It was just what I needed. The skirt turned out to be so easy. It was just a strip of muslin with wide ribbon sewn across it to make casings that held soaker hose (like you use in your garden). Easy and affordable!

I wonder if the real Elizabeth had this many freckles.

I was so proud of our little girl on the day of the presentation. She walked up there like it was just another day and gave her speech as if she were the real Queen Elizabeth. It was incredibly sweet. I have it on video but am apparently too technologically inept to get it from my video camera onto the computer. Hopefully, I can get it figured out in the next few days to share with you.

Sew Sweet

2011-04-03T18:42:00.000-07:00

After a fantastic marathon day in San Francisco yesterday with some wonderful friends, it was nice to spend a lazy afternoon with my girls. They cut out doll clothes patterns for the first time and pinned them onto some stash fabric I had lying around. While they were busy cutting, I spent some time trying to recreate a cute dress I had seen at one of our stops in the city yesterday. The girls now wear the same size so it's a 2 for 1 deal with clothing. They can mix and match everything except for shoes! When I came home last night at about 9pm, the outdoor lights were on, there was a chair by the front door and a full glass of water sitting on the kitchen cabinet. The little ones were in bed and Doug was up watching TV. We shared some macarons I had picked up at Citizen Cake while in San Fran and then went to bed. When I got up this morning Doug told me the girls had stood by the front door waiting for me for a long time. Anna turned the lights on for me and had a glass of water waiting. I didn't make it home before bed time and so they went on to sleep. Anna told me later that Lauren missed me so much she opened the window and yelled, "Mommy!!!!" It all just melted my heart. It's so nice to have some adult time every once in a while but it's also nice to come home to where your heart awaits.

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

2011-03-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

Lauren showed me a picture of a volcano she had drawn and said, "Do you know what that stuff coming out of the top of the volcano is?" "Lava," I replied. "No," she said. "I didn't know how to draw lava so I just drew a mustache instead." I looked again and sure enough it was a handlebar mustache.

We were at the dentist office for the girls' cleaning and Anna was looking around the office. She asked the dental hygenist what the Sharps container was for. The hygenist responded it was for needles. She then went on to say they used the needles to help take away the pain in case anyone needed a tooth pulled. Anna perked up and said, "I know a girl who had to have her tooth pulled. Afterwards, she took it home, put it in a jar and named it Rachel."

As you may have guessed, Lauren can be rough and tumble. She tends to give Jacob a hard time but now that he's a little older, he tells on her. The funny thing is though, that now he blames her for everything, whether she did it or not. He fell on a toy the other day and came over to me, rubbing his back saying, "Ow. Back hurt. Low-reen (his pronounciation of Lauren) scratch. Hurt." The next day he got the knee of his pants wet in the dog's water dish and said, "Low-reen did." This morning, he was scratching an owie he had on his knee that he gave himself. I said, "C'mon, Buddy. Let's put some neosporin on that." He responded, "Low-reen scratch. Low-reen did."

Sitting down to a dinner of shrimp and rice, Anna asked, "Did God say it was OK to kill shrimp?"

Some older tidbits I'd written on post-its that I came across while spring cleaning:

At the end of drama camp this past summer, Doug asked Lauren if she'd made any friends during the week. She responded, "No." He asked, "What about that little boy sitting next to you?" Again, she responded, "No." He asked Anna the same question. She replied, "Yes, a ton!" Doug looked at me and said, "Well, that about sums it up."

Conversation upon turning on the computer and seeing a pop-up that says it is a non-media day in America:
Anna said, "Lauren, today is No TV day. It says we're supposed to turn off our tvs, video games, and cell phones and go outside to play." Lauren thought for a second and then said, "Yeah, just click the X."

We're still alive.

2011-03-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, we're still here. We've all been sick. We recovered and then had a houseguest for a week. It's rained non-stop for two weeks and I finally finished one of the on-line classes I've been taking. Since the sun is finally out, I'm busy with a little spring cleaning this week. Just thought I'd pop in to say "Hi" and share some photos from Saturday night's Daddy Daughter Dance at the girls' school. The ladies that put this event on, do such an awesome job. It just melts my heart to see the girls dancing with their daddies. I got to take pictures at the event last year and this year I was back again but working a photo booth. The booth took 4 pictures of the girls and their dads and spit them out in little film strips right there. The theme was "Beach Party" and the girls had such a great time. There was a lot of dancing going on!

The ladies had the school gym all decked out for a beachy fun night!

There were lots of contests and prizes, and cotton candy and ice cream. There was a fierce "twisting" competition and Doug and Anna made it into the finals!!

They didn't win but they sure had a good time. The "twist" was followed by a hula-hoop competition. The girls didn't make it to the end in this one but we had to go out the next day and buy 3 hula-hoops for the family.

It's really worth volunteering at this event just to get to see the girls and their daddies together. What a great PTC we have!!

Seussicality!

2011-03-02T11:11:00.000-08:00

Read Across America is being celebrated today in the girls' school. Very appropriate as it's being held on the birthday of the brilliant Dr. Seuss. The kids were encouraged to wear a crazy hat or to dress as their favorite book character. We put together a couple of Dr. Seuss-inspired outfits in honor of the day.

I wanted to make Stuart-Machlachlan type hats to go with the outfits; a fish in a bowl for Anna and swirls/bands of colors for Lauren but just ran out of time. It was supposed to start raining last night and rain all day today so I was rushing around like a madwoman trying to get the skirts and shirts finished so I could take a picture before they wore them to school. You moms know how it is. It's virtually impossible for wee ones to wear any outfit to school and have it come home without at least a remnant of lunch, snack, or art on it somewhere. (Sorry, momentary distraction as Lauren is pretending to be the Lorax behind me. Hahahaha!)

We'd had to jump an electric fence to get into this field. It's normally open but the grass-mowing goats are in town and a small fence had been put up to keep them in. They weren't around and so I tossed each girl in and then did a karate-kid ninjitsu type move to get in myself. I started laughing because Anna looked like she was trying to hold in her big, funny toddler belly. Granted, she's almost 8 but she still has a toddler belly.

I told her she looked like she needed to find a bathroom and then everyone started laughing.

It only got crazier from there. Everyone decided to spin and although they had an entire field at their disposal for spinning, they couldn't seem to do it without bumping into each other!

They decided to stop before they hurt each other and instead began to jump and balance and make funny faces.

I just love my goofballs.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

If you're interested in making your own t-shirts, see this post!

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

2011-02-26T08:32:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy week. Doug and I are finally coming down with the cold that the kids had and are feeling a bit under the weather. It was another crazy 7 days in class, but after 2 discussion posts and replies, 6 supplemental media quizzes, a lab activity quiz, two tests, and a midterm, I'm only one paper away from being done for the week...just in time to start again next week. In my spare time, I've been working on a Queen Elizabeth I dress for Anna. Her class is doing book reports on famous people and she's read 3 books about Queen Elizabeth. The students are supposed to dress like their character and present their book reports as if they were that person. I still have a few weeks to get the dress done so I'm keeping my fingers crossed I can get it finished and that it will fit. I'm still new to the whole sewing thing. I decided it was probably about time for another CWTPG. The wee ones are coming up with new stuff all the time. I need to put aside one notebook just for their "funnyisms" because I tend to write their sayings down wherever I have a piece of paper and then have to search around when it's time for a new post. Here's the latest.

While watching the Super Bowl:
Lauren: What's the Super Bowl?
Anna: I don't know but if you win you get to go to the World Series.
Lauren: C'mon Pack, go! I want you to go to the Super Bowl.
Mommy: Jacob, say "Go, Pack Go!"
Jacob: Balls.
Mommy: Jacob, say "Go, Pack Go!"
Jacob: Doe, Dat, Doe!
Tyler to Doug: Did you hear that one of the guys in the group that has never missed a Super Bowl is in the hospital and can't go?
Anna: What happened? Did he get hit in the head with a football?

Eating dinner and playing the 20 questions game:
Anna: Okay, it's a person.
Me: Is it a girl?
Anna: Yes.
Lauren: Is it a boy?
Moment of silence.
Anna: No, it's a girl. Here are some more hints. She is Jewish and she's from Amsterdam.
Me: Is it Anne Frank?
Anna: No. She's also Indian.
Me: Huh?
Anna: And she helped Lewis and his buddy find their way across the United States.
Me: Do you mean Sacagawea?
Anna: Yes!!! You got it.

Trying to get Jacob to the table for lunch:
Me: Jacob, it's time to eat. Do you want to eat?
Jacob: Outside to bounce. (He loves the trampoline.)
Me: No, honey, we need to eat first.
Jacob: Shush! Outside to bounce.
Me: Do you want spinach pizza or grilled chicken?
Jacob: Bock. Bock.

I showed the girls a picture my stepmom had sent of my dad with a deer he killed during hunting season. This is the conversation that ensued:
Anna: Awww, is that PawPaw?
Me: Yes.
Anna: Awww, is that a baby deer?
Me: No, it's an adult. Look at how big his antlers are. It's an 8-point.
Lauren: Let me see! Man! PawPaw killed that deer...with a gun.
Anna: Yeah, that's an elephant gun.
Lauren: No, it's a BB gun, right?
Anna: No, BB guns are smaller.

Me to Jacob: Say Granny.
Jacob: Granny.
Me: Say PawPaw.
Jacob: PawPaw.
Me: Say Nana.
Jacob: Nana.
Me: Say Poppy.
Jacob: Woof. Woof.

Overheard from the family room:
Lauren: Help!! He's eating my project!!!!
I walked in to find Lauren in tears and Jacob eating the marshmallows and pretzels off of her snowman picture she'd made in her kindergarten class.

Tyler came out in January to spend 3 months with us. The night before his arrival, the girls were busy making welcome signs and presents for him. He came in around lunchtime the next day. When Anna got home from school and got to see him for the first time, she gave him a huge hug and said, "Tyler, I have a present for you." I assumed she meant one of the pictures she had been working on. Instead, she took Tyler by the hand and led him over to her backpack where she had 8 french fries wrapped up in a greasy napkin . She said, "Tyler, I saved my french fries from lunch for you. C'mon, let's heat them up, so you can eat them."

Looking at baby pictures of Lauren:
Anna: Look at how cute Lauren was. Now she's all grown up and has stinky feet.

After the girls' Starstruck Showcase perfomance at school:
Anna: Lauren, I saw your dance and I was clapping for you very rapidly!

Anna's song at the dinner table inspired by her readings about Queen Elizabeth:
Anna: I'm a princess. Tyler's a prince and Jacob's a prince. Alaina is a princess and Lauren is a princess.
Lauren. Eww. I want to be a prince.
Anna: Daddy is the King and Mommy is the Queen. Tyler and Jacob are princes. I am a princess and so is Alaina. Lauren is a slave. La, la, la, la.

Overheard from the family room:
Lauren: Anna, have you seen those pajama jeans they've been talking about on TV? I'm going to get Mommy a pair of those for Christmas next year!!

The many faces of Jacob

2011-02-17T06:44:00.000-08:00

Happy.

Surprised.

Scared.

Sad.

Confused.

Mad.

Or at least these are the faces he made when I said each of those words. He's a character!

The tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds...

2011-02-15T05:46:00.000-08:00

Tyler graduated from the University of Georgia this past December. In January, he came out to California to spend some time with the family and work on his private pilot's license. The weather has been cooperating and he's been busy flying or snowboarding most days. On Sunday he completed his inital solo. We were so excited for him. He did an amazing job! I really think he's just a natural.

Ty had his solo in the T-41, 24 years after Doug.

The girls couldn't wait to get out to the plane and immediately hopped in. Lauren has been working on flight sim quite a bit lately. Could she be the next pilot in the family to follow her dad and now Tyler?

Maybe it will be this one.

The kids love their big brother...a lot.

Congrats, Tyler!

All You Need Is...

2011-02-14T04:58:00.000-08:00

Or is it? It seems it takes a lot more than just that to get through the week. It also requires patience...lots of patience, humility and compassion, peace and understanding, hope and prayer and belief, laughter and encouragement, friendship and support, and the ability to step back and appreciate where you are, who you are, and the blessings in your life.

I've been feeling a bit beat up from this past week. It just seemed like such a crazy, hectic 7 days. I started taking two online classes a couple of weeks ago and this week was over the top-4 chapters of reading, 2 discussions with 4 responses each, a writing assignment, an objective writing assignment, a lab quiz, and two tests. In addition, I received a nasty response from one of the other students regarding a post I made in support of her discussion response. I guess she didn't realize I was agreeing with what she said and she lashed out. I learned an old friend from my time in the Air Force is in the last few days of his life. That same day, I received a call from our clinic saying some test results came back abnormal. All three kids have been sick and just fighting about anything and everything. Life with kids, as you know, is rewarding all the time, but there are days when it's also hard as hell. Two of my favorite facebook status posts from friends so far this year have been:

1)Brennan might be shipped off to military school before his 3rd bday as he told Rory, "Stick it up your stinky butt, Daddy". I need a vacation.
2)School's cancelled again tomorrow (Snow Day 3). Does the liquor store deliver?!

I just have to laugh. It's good to have friends that are right in the middle of it with you. So, by Friday, I was just ready to put the week away. I sat down and started to count my blessings and you know, life really is good. Even when it seems a bit bumpy, it's still a wonderful ride. Plus, it's hard to stay blue long when you have the King and Queen of Hearts, and Cupid living with you.

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope yours is filled with lots of love, flowers, and chocolates!

Galileo and Gumballs

2011-02-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

These are the two designs I came up with for the kids' t-shirts but didn't get to use. If anyone is interested, you're welcome to take them and use them. Please link back to me if you do! I found a few great tutorials to learn how to make these in photoshop. Here are the links:
Creating a custom shape and Fitting text to your shape

I had always wanted to learn how to make round text. Turns out it was much easier than I thought. Here's another great tutorial. The words surrounding the earth are from Jane Yolen's Earth Day poem.

I Love You to the Stars!

2011-02-05T21:42:00.000-08:00

We had a joint Earth and Stars birthday party for Lauren and Jacob last Saturday. Lauren told everyone that she had to share her party with Jacob because he doesn't have any friends of his own. It made me so sad. I think perhaps I need to join a "MOPs" group right away! Anyway, we had a great afternoon with all our friends. The kids were so much fun. They were also very busy and very ~~loud~~ exuberant.

My neighbor Hiedi and I put together this star mobile. Even though the party is over, I don't want to take it down. When the air comes on in the house, the mobile spins and flutters and twirls. The kids and I all get a big kick out of it. Our friend Amanda helped me make the constellation sign in the back. The lights are actually in constellation form although you may not be able to tell. Again, I don't want to take it down either. It's fun watching TV at night by "star"light.

Inspired by Miniature Rhino, I made gift bags for all of the kids and embroidered the constellations on the front. We had Orion, Taurus, Andromeda, Perseus, Cygnus, Canis Major, Ursa Major, Hercules, and Pegasus. I found some vintage constellation illustrations from the book "Urania's Mirror" and attached those to the drawstring. We placed a personalized stargazing chart inside each bag along with some hot cocoa and marshmallows to keep them warm while they're checking out the heavens. I found some giant roasting marshmallows and my friend Courtney used a star-shaped cookie cutter to cut a star out of the center of each. My kids had fun with this as they kept sneaking the star leftovers.

Each of the wee ones also received another little gift in their bag; glittered star bobby pins for the girls...

And gloves for the guys with stars stenciled on the palms.

I made a little picture for the front door using wood, chalkboard paint, wooden stars, and craft rings.

For crafts, the kids painted the stars on small canvases.

They also painted Earth balls.

While half of the kids were inside painting, my brave friend Courtney was busy outside making terrariums with the rest.

I had planned to make t-shirts for everyone and had put together two designs: an Earth for the boys and a star for the girls. Unfortunately, my printer couldn't get them done and so at the last minute (literally at 3:30, the party started at 4:00) I printed out two pictures of Einstein and stitched them to Jacob's and Lauren's shirts. Definitely not the best sewing job ever but I was standing up to do it as my chair was already downstairs at the craft table! Hahaha. Do you see the gash on Jake's nose? The day before we were almost positive he had broken his nose. He was spinning in the living room and fell into the ledge around the fireplace. It began to bleed and immediately bruised and swelled up, puffier on the left. The next morning we woke up and he looked like this. Babies are amazingly resilient! I'm so happy he's okay!

Miss Caroline was shimmering in her dress. She told her mom she needed to wear stars to the party. So cute!

Lauren and her best buddy, Maycee.

We headed in for some astronomy inspired history and food. We had Kepler Kebabs, Fizeau Fries, Newton Nuggets, and Copernicus Cheese-n- Macs.

We also had Ptolemy Pizza Bites and Halley's Fruit Comets.

Some Hubble Ham and Galileo Granary Bread...

A little Albert's Apple Juice to wash things down...

And some veggie big dippers to finish it off.

I never knew you could fit so many kids around one table. The table is made for four but we managed to squeeze in ten!

These guys were cracking me....and themselves up. Jacob may have been the baby of the group but he did or tried to do everything they did.

It was apparently a pretty funny afternoon!

Jacob was chowing on the fruit skewers. I was surprised at how well the kids ate them!

I was just waiting for the juice to come out of their noses.

And this one....don't get me started on this little star. I just want to run away with him. Hiedi's legs are longer than mine though and I don't think I could get very far before she caught me.

Our sweet friend and my babysitting lifesaver Amanda.

It was finally cake time. This one was chocolate with a raspberry filling. I made the toppers with wooden stars, skewers and sequins on a string.

Our babies. It's hard to believe they're now 6 and 2. It's also hard to believe that the little one on the far left will be 8 come May. It's going by too quickly.

After the cake we headed outside to do a little stargazing. The weather had been a little foggy lately so I was surprised that we managed to see at least one star. In case of fog, I had ordered some sky lanterns so we would be assured of some twinkling night lights.

I love, love, love the idea of sky lanterns but I was very worried about starting a fire. I googled it and although they're not illegal in CA, you can still spend up to a year in jail for reckless burning. Plus it wouldn't be very neighborly to burn down a friend's house or field. So, I lit them and tied them off. I think it would be amazing to see hundreds released somewhere. As it was we only lit two before the rain started and we were done for the evening.

It is tied off here. I just photoshopped it so you couldn't see the string going through Lauren's hair (shhh!).

Happy, Happy Birthday to our two little ones! (These were the pictures on the invitations.)

I just have to say how much I appreciate my husband and dear friends. Doug has told me I have a tendency to pull everyone around me into my party mania. He may be right. I'm so thankful to be surrounded by so many wonderful people; people who string 1,000s of lights in the trees out back, people who come over and help me make and hang a mobile while 6 kids run screaming through the house; people who help me make a constellation sign; people who hang the sign and help me replace strands of lights, people who help make the food; people who organize craft tables, set up food and create terrariums. Thank you, sweet friends and amazing husband. I love you, guys. To me, you are the true stars!

100th day of school

2011-02-02T09:43:00.000-08:00

Goodness, that 100th day of school seems to get here fast, doesn't it?? Next thing you know, we'll be at spring break and then it's summer. So far, both girls are having a really good school year. I'm very thankful for that. For Lauren's 100th day project, we decided to make a few pinwheels. They're so easy and fun. Originally, I wanted to adhere them to the board in a manner that would still allow them to turn. In the end, it was much easier just to cut them, fold them, and glue them on. We didn't even glue the folded edges down in the center but I think it turned out really cute anyway.

Lauren seems extra jolly in this picture, doesn't she? Wanna know why?

Jacob was in the background trying to pull my pants down! Let me explain. My kids are up by no later than 0530 each morning. We started the pinwheel board around 0600 Sunday morning. I was still in my pjs when it came time to take the picture. Lauren started out with a sullen face. Jake came over and grabbed the leg of my pants and was saying, "Milk, Mommy." He tugged a bit too hard, my pants went south, Lauren began to laugh and it was all over from that point. He thought it was hilarious and kept following me around tugging. Thus, the giggles from Lauren and the blurry picture from Mommy. Hehehe.