Thoughts from the delirious mind

A whiny post about whining

2010-07-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

Lately I find myself wanting to avoid all social media. It started with IM a few months ago, and is spreading to Twitter and Facebook, which until my injuries, I was pulling away from. Why? Because of all the whining. It's become epidemic.

I originally became involved in these because I enjoyed the communication with friends, the laughter, and yes, the commiseration. I loved the daily contact with friends, hearing what they were up to, and making plans for get togethers. I loved the humorous stories of children, family, and pets. But in the last year, all of that seems to have taken on a darker tone. People viciously mocking others behind their back, constantly degrading family members. making fun of those whose grammar, lifestyle, or beliefs may not be on a level with their own, and others who are always looking for the negative in any interaction or situation. It seems to be more of a glass half empty outlook instead of a glass half full outlook.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it should be all puppies, roses, rainbows, and sunshine, everyone needs to vent now and then. I'd just like to see all my friends, family, co-workers, etc., have a little more joy in their lives. Lighten up, smile, go for a bike ride, have an ice cream, hug a kid, leave the negativity behind.

I think I'll go sit in the backyard now, and watch the grass grow.

Vision...it's what's for lunch

2010-04-22T23:44:00.000-07:00

This year the girls started Kindergarten as all 2 of you know. Last Fall we noticed that Riley was putting her face very close to everything she was looking at, reading, etc. and she was walking up to the board a lot to see what it said. When questioned about it she said the board was too far away, that she couldn't tell what it said. I spoke with the teacher, and she told me that the following month they were going to have a vision screening with an optometrist, so we should wait until then to make any decisions. As it turns out she was referred for further examination. Yesterday we picked the girls up at lunch, and finally had that appointment.

We set the appointment for both girls since it was long overdue for both to have an official eye exam. After several different exams, eye dilation x2, and one more exam it was determined that Sam had mostly normal vision. She does have an astigmatism (thank you hereditary), but that is not affecting her vision at the moment. She was/is extremely sad that she does not need glasses. She wants them badly and is insanely jealous of Riley over this issue.

Riley, on the other hand, had far greater problems than we had ever imagined. We (I) had thought that there might be a slight deficit that could be easily corrected with glasses, maybe associated with an astigmatism or the like. Unfortunately we were to find out differently. Apparently she has not been using her left eye at all, and has been letting her right eye do all of the work for both. We don't know how or when this started, but we've been told that it's been caught early enough to fix. Riley has been referred to a specialist who will probably patch her good eye in varying time lengths to help strengthen the weak eye. If that does not work, then the next step would be surgery. Obviously we are praying for the patching to work its' magic.

On to the issue of glasses. She was a little nervous about having to wear them and how the other kids would react, but once she discovered that Sam wanted glasses too it changed everything. She picked out a really cute pair without any assistance from Mom, Dad, or the sales crew. They fitted them out with her prescription, and we were on our way. She donned them for the first time at school today, and was pleasantly surprised by the positive reactions from her classmates. One of the boys came up to her and said, "I really like your glasses, they look very nice on you." This was without any prompting from anyone. As for the girls in the class, they were just as complimentary and it would now appear that all the girls in her class want glasses too. Success!

Updates to follow in June.

Ack!!!

2010-04-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

I missed my blogaversary. Happy 6 years of blogging to me. Now to get back to it.

Religious upbringing. Is it for you?

2010-02-10T09:55:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I was asked to sit on a parents panel for our local twins group regarding education. That meeting takes place tonight. There are going to be representatives from as many types of schools as possible including public, private, and parochial. It got me to thinking about religion from another point of view - that of the agnostic, perhaps previously affiliated.

Many of my family and friends have stepped away from their church due to disagreements with the superiors in the church, the notion of one greater being, a mixed marriage in which neither side felt compelled to attend on their own, time commitments, perceived useless, or a number of other reasons. I too, left the church (in my case, Catholic) for a time because as a single parent I didn't feel welcome. It's like walking around with a giant red D(ivorced) on your chest. In hindsight, I wish I had not allowed myself to be intimidated in that manner.

As you may have guessed, I returned to the church, slowly but surely. Now I once again attend regularly as do my children. The reasons for this are multifold. The first being that I was raised within the church, and I think it's a large part of who I am. I truly learned kindness in the face of adversity, humility while still achieving my goals, love for my fellow earth dwellers, community, etc. Can you learn those things elsewhere? Absolutely. Is it nice to have the lessons of our youth reinforced outside of the home? Absolutely.

So how to deal with the parts of the church I disagree with? It's been a struggle, and I've had more than one person tell me I'm not Catholic because of my differing beliefs. I'm sure others have heard similar things about their faith. This weekend our Bishop came to speak to our congregation regarding a recent Bishops meeting, his thoughts, and where the church is headed. I had heard many things about this Bishop and was concerned that as a representative of the Catholic church he would be too far right for me, but I went, and I listened, and I was pleasantly surprised. He spoke of women one day being priests, he spoke of fertility treatments and birth control in a positive light, and he reminded everyone that in the end it comes down to your relationship with your God, not your relationship with your priest, your bishop, or even the Pope that you need to be worried about.

It reminded me that had everyone that disagreed with certain teachings of the church just walked away, then change would and will not happen. Vatican II, girls as alter servers, women allowed to attend mass, children involved in mass, etc? None of it would have come to pass just as there will be no future changes if we all just walk away. Now I'm not saying you should go down to your local church and start picketing the community. Far from it. I'm advocating change from within. I believe that's where it needs to come from.

For me, it's important that my children have a relationship with God. It's important that it's reinforced outside of the house, and it's important that they speak their minds when they disagree, and fight for change. For us this meant Catholic school, but it could very well have been public school supplemented by CCD classes. Either way I would have been happy.

Harrison and his cat

2010-01-28T20:38:00.000-08:00

We've had a long standing rule for dogs in our house, no soft animals. Why such a seemingly cruel rule? It's simple. Our children have many soft animals that have been carried away and/or destroyed by dogs who thought they were fair game. As a result we have trained our dogs not to touch those toys, and we've been fairly successful with this tact. Until my sister dog sat for us that is. Her dog is allowed to have many loveys and so they shared one with Harrison which he was allowed to bring home. Needless to say I was apprehensive about what this would teach him. Would I have to start guarding the girls toys again? Were we going to have to take away his toy, and break him of the habit? This was a little over a month ago.

Flash forward to today. As it turns out, his cat has become his favorite toy. We have not seen him without his beloved cat since he brought it home. One day it was so disgusting I had to wash it. He paced by the washing machine, and then the dryer just as a toddler would waiting for it to come out. My fears that it would create a stuffed animal canine thief out of him? Totally unfounded. He seems quite happy with his toy, and hasn't touched the girls things. I think it reminds him of his surrogate Mom and Dad, Linda and Sean. He totally wants to live with them. Can you blame him?

I want to write...

2010-01-21T21:11:00.000-08:00

I just don't have a good topic. Severe writers block. Oh well.

Another new beginning

2009-12-31T10:06:00.000-08:00

It's been almost 3 months since I've blogged (where did that time go?), and I couldn't leave the year that way. As with most years there was both good and bad about 2009, but mostly good.

-I played in my first hockey tournament with the Burninators. We didn't win, but we had a lot of fun.
-I had yet another birthday (way beyond what I ever thought I'd have as a child.) Remember those days? 30 was ancient. I was convinced that 30 was the end of life when I was a kid. I'm so happy it wasn't.
-We paid taxes (or at least worked out a deal with the IRS).
-The girls turned 5 which was bittersweet. It's so fun to see them growing and developing into their own little personalities, but 5 also meant that I would be losing them to a new growth experience, Kindergarten. As it turns out, that has been fun.
-Stacey also had another birthday (duh). We had a great celebration hosted by my sister, Linda.
-Bill and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary, and our 17th year together.
-The girls started kindergarten (as mentioned before). They have loved every minute of it, and are thriving in the new environment. It's amazing to see how much they have grown in such a short period of time.
-Stacey moved away from home, far away from home. Thankfully I've seen her at least once a month since she left, and she was able to come home for Christmas.
-We celebrated many holidays, birthdays, and other special occasions with good friends and family.
-We were fortunate enough to take 3 trips to Disneyland (thank you annual passes and good hotel deals.)
-We also said goodbye to some friends this year. Though they will be missed, they will always be in our hearts.
-We also greeted several new little lives this year, and watching them grow and develop will be fun.

All in all, it was a good year full of growth, love, happiness, and laughter. I am looking forward to all that 2010 has to offer.

My first baby - she is gone.

2009-10-11T02:59:00.000-07:00

I can't promise I won't cry while writing this post, but none of you will know if I do or not. Right?

Anyway, about a month ago my eldest decided she needed a change, and an opportunity presented itself to move to Las Vegas. Planning ensued, goodbye parties were held, and today I sent her off on a plane before I headed to work for the night.

Am I excited for her, and her new adventure? Absolutely. Would I have picked Las Vegas for that adventure to begin? Absolutely not. One of the other times she left was for school, and she was home every weekend. The one other time she flew the coop she was only one town away. As a result I still saw her 3 to 4 times a week. Las Vegas is a whole plane ride away (or a very long car trip).

The girls don't quite understand that she's not coming back anytime soon. I think they think that she's going on vacation. They kept asking if we could all go with her. They've gotten a little sad, a little upset, and more than a little teary over that fact that they've lost "their Stacey" as they affectionately call her. As an aside, they think every family has a "Stacey" just like every family has a Mom or Dad or Aunt or Uncle or Grandparent. It's really quite cute, but I digress.

I miss her terribly already, wish her the best of luck, and hope she stays out of trouble. Stay tuned for updates (either on her progress or my breakdown.)

My Landscape Beautification Project

2009-09-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Residents, Visitors, and People passing through Palo Alto,

My yard? It is not a landfill, please do not deposit your garbage here. While I appreciate that it is not beautiful, I do put some effort in mowing down those weeds to give it that lovely look of a scraggly lawn.

You people walking by while I'm mowing said weeds? Do not shake your head in disdain at my loud, ancient mower with the broken wheel. It's performing a much needed service.

Helpful man who warned me about the dangers of chopping ones foot off using a power mower? Thank you for your concern.

Residents, visitors, and people passing through Palo Alto, if you feel my yard is not up to snuff I will gladly accept donations of labor, plants, gardening, and/or money to fund this enormous project. Should we ever find ourselves in the position of having surplus food, water, clothing, and housing, I can assure you we will attempt to divert a portion of our cash flow to fund this project myself.

Until then a smile, a friendly wave, a knowing nod, etc. are all welcome "greetings" while I am laboring away at the battle of the weeds.

Sincerely,

Somewhat sweaty, grumpy me

24 hours as a new kindergartner

2009-09-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

Preparation for the first day of school starts the night before. Who are we kidding? It starts months before, probably even years. For the purpose of this post however, we'll start the night before.

The uniforms are all ready: Jumpers and shirts hanging on hangers,

Sweaters and pants neatly folded in drawers, and shoes shiny and new and waiting to be worn.

Their new alarm clock (complete with ceiling projection) is set for 6:30 A.M., yes 6:30 A.M. Ugh.

The girls have a bath and head to bed for a good nights sleep. Afterall, they have a busy day tomorrow.

Daddy makes blueberry pancakes, bacon, and deviled eggs, orange juice, and milk for breakfast their first day (He was worried about having enough protein.) Their lunches were packed and ready to go.

A quick photo shoot with Mommy and @aktse, (with much silliness) then into the car, and off to school they went.

Once at school there were many things to do starting with a scavenger hunt (Daddy read the list). First they had to find their cubby, and put their things inside.

Then they had to find the bathroom, the calendar,

and the under the sea reading area.

At this point the girls split the list. Riley went to the rug, and built a design with the shapes while Sam found a book from the rack for Daddy to read. Soon Riley joined Daddy and Sam to hear the end of the story.

Then it was time for the kids to sit on the rug, and for the Mommies and Daddies to leave, and begin their long wait (2 hours) until the end of the day.

Waiting...

waiting...

still waiting...

Spying on the class as they take their class photo (this was taken through a volleyball net with my telephoto lens (thus the blurriness). The two short ones on the right? Those are mine.

waiting some more...

and still waiting...

Finally, it was time to pick them up. They were patiently (and quietly) lined up at the door until they were released,

and then out burst a group of excited and happy Kindergartners. A hug and kiss for Daddy,

a short stop to peek in on another mysterious room of the school, one last drink from the fountain,

and a quick goodbye to friends until tomorrow, a snack,

a peek in the science room, and it was finally time to head home, and prepare for day 2.

That first day was just 2.5 hours. 3 weeks later and they're up to 6 hour school days. Wow!

They're also just as interested in everything about the school, and they love their friends. I love the enthusiasm.

One set of carseats has become two

2009-09-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

Since the girls were born we've always had a single set of carseats. They went in the Tahoe as it was what we deemed our safest car for them. (Our other car at the time was my Jeep Wrangler. Not really kid friendly.) It went without saying that the person with the kids had the Tahoe as well, so we swapped cars back and forth, as troublesome as that was.

This past spring we suddenly realized that we were going to need a second set of carseats since Bill would be dropping them off at school and I would be picking them up. His current place of employment is over 45 min away, which really doesn't make for great car swap possibilities, so we invested in new carseats which we installed in the Tahoe. We decided to use the older seats in the "blue car" as the girls have dubbed it. Now the blue car needed new tires, breaks, an oil change, and to have the AC juiced up before we could install the seats. Amazingly that has taken us all summer to accomplish, but finally the blue car was ready, so I installed the seats last night. Thank you Britax and thank you people who invented LATCH for a quick, easy, SAFE installation.

This morning the girls were SO EXCITED that they were going to get to ride to school in the blue car. A hug and kiss for me, and they were off, excitedly running after Bill to get into the blue car this morning. This is now a total of 4 cars they have ever been in during their little lives. They were so cute sitting up very proudly as they drove off to school.

See you this afternoon girls.

The Road to College

2009-08-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

Today our lives turned a corner on the long road to college (or some life path of their choosing), my girls started kindergarten.

When my eldest started kindergarten the teacher did a home visit ahead of time to assess the students skills, and to help prepare us parents for that momentous first day. One of the things they told us is that it would be best if we just said goodbye at the play yard gate, and walked away. No long goodbyes, no clinging hugs, just peel the kids off and go. I spent 2 weeks mentally preparing both myself and Stacey for that day. When it finally arrived I got her up, dressed, and fed. Took the obligatory first day photo (which is still one of my favorites) and headed off to school hand in hand. My heart beat a little faster as we neared those ominous gates (which in those days were chain link, but are now a lovely wrought iron). Suddenly the moment was upon us, we were there, and even more suddenly my kid was off. There she went, through the gate, to the playground, to swing on the swings, slide the slides, and climb the structures without a look back. I found that the clinging, crying child at the gate was me.

Fast forward many years to the present day when I once again found myself sending a child, two in fact, to school for the first time. I'm not sure if times have changed or if it's just the school, but there were many events leading up to this day. Parent back to school, buddy parent meetings, lemonade socials, and the like have broken us in for this first day. Instead of leaving children at the gate, parents were welcomed into the classroom and encouraged to help their children complete a classroom scavenger hunt. At the end of the hunt, the parents were gently requested to join the rest of the school for a back to school coffee social while the children took up the familiar spot on the carpet for their orientation and story time.

All of the people were a bit overwhelming for Sam, so she hung back and sat to read a book by herself, but as the parents left the room I noticed her relax and she eagerly joined the group on the rug. Riley, on the otherhand, had eagerly joined in the scavenger festivities until two things happened: 1. Parents were asked to leave, and 2. another child had gotten into their lunch bag. Suddenly she was "hungry" and grabbed onto my neck wanting me to get her something to eat. Explaining that she would eat with the rest of the class when it was time was not sufficient. I gave her a hug and kiss, said, "I love you", but that was not enough for her. Her grasp only tightened so as not to let me go. To her teachers credit (and one of the reasons we love her already), she came over, gently asked Riley to join the group, and allowed her to stand right next to her chair which is where I left her. This time there were no tears from me, though many emotions were surging through my body. Does it mean I'm any less sad or excited than I was with my first? Absolutely not. It just means that I, we, they were much better prepared.

Washing dishes on my anniversary

2009-07-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

Usually I'm a fairly happy go lucky person ignoring the seriousness of situations around me. When we found out we were having twins, I was not afraid, I was ecstatic. Perhaps I was just too naive to realize the gravity of that situation. At the time I figured two parents, two babies, one for each to hold. When I was on my own with them I still had two hands, one for each securely held little chubby hand. Even breastfeeding did not daunt me, afterall I do have two breasts, one for each tiny baby. While I was pregnant I had a myriad of problems including gestational diabetes, cardiac arrhythmias, a broken ankle, and it ended with being induced for pre-eclampsia and Bell's Palsy. Still, I didn't blink. It was all part of life, part of what makes us who we are, and it got me some pretty cute kids IMHO.

Lately however, many of you may have noticed that I've become a bit sour on life, a bit grumpier, a bit more negative. Amazingly it has nothing to do with my family, or does it? As you all know, our census has been down at work which means we don't need as many nurses which means I have been getting cancelled, A LOT! It also means that I haven't been getting paychecks, or very minimal paychecks for about 2 months now. It's not so much the paycheck I miss as the things I can do for my family with it. Due to this lack of funding, we have had to cancel nearly all extra-curricular activities including vacations which brings me to why I'm washing dishes on my anniversary, and how it's helping to redirect my attitude.

This morning my wonderful hubby let me sleep in. Having cancelled all our anniversary plans this seemed like a good thing to do. I was just moping anyway. Anyhoo, when he woke me up, he said if I would wash the crepe pan, he would go to the store and get some blackberries and make us some crepes. He also mentioned that he was planning to stay off his computer for the day since we should be spending it as a family (because that's what getting married got us.) I figured fair enough, and headed off to wash the crepe pan (which also meant doing a whole load of dishes because I couldn't make my way to the faucet to wash the one pan.) As I stood there washing I had an epiphany. Despite the financial difficulties right now we still have each other, we still have 3 beautiful girls, and we are all fairly healthy. I have a hubby who is making the best of the situation, and trying to make the day nice for both of us. I am also finally going to get his wonderful crepes (he's been promising to make them for me since I met him 16.5 years ago).

Finally, as I stood there washing away and contemplating life, he came home from the store with one of my favorite champagnes (that's a funny story in itself), and a bunch of red roses. He said since we were limited, he was going to get me a small present from everywhere he went today. How sweet is that?

The day is little more than half over, but I'm already smiling about it fondly, and getting ready to meet the coming year with a new found peppy attitude. You over there, yeah, you dark stormy clouds, go away!! You're no longer welcome. The sun is shining, and I'm sure I see a rainbow on the horizon.

Heart of Black

2009-07-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

Since I met my hubby approximately 16.5 years ago we have joked about the fact that he's dead inside, has a little black heart, no feelings, etc. I'm telling you right here and now that's not true. He is a ~~sensitive caring~~ tough guy. The reason all this got started was because I never saw him cry, and we were having a conversation about that one day many years ago. Tough guys don't cry, right?

Anyhoo, today we were talking about something totally unrelated, and he says, "Do you want to make me cry?" To which I responded, "Yes, I do." He laughed and muttered something about his shriveled, black heart. Could I leave it at that? Nooooooo. Instead I mentioned that didn't need an entire sensitive muscle, I'd be happy if he could just come up with a sensitive tendon in his body. Again he laughed. Do you see a pattern here?

Sometimes you get a grounder, other times it's a grand slam.

2009-07-02T14:42:00.000-07:00

Being a parent isn't easy. No one ever said it would be. It is one of the most challenging, and sometimes unrewarding things you can do, and you never quite know if you're doing it right. Most of us strive to help our children grow into ~~the adults we wish we were~~ the best adults they can be.

Why am I waxing poetic on this? Because yesterday I felt like I hit a grand slam. Not a grounder, not a base hit, not even a homerun, but a bonified grand slam. Most of you know that things have been tight here, and I've been losing hours at work. Recently this means that we're cutting back on some of the "necessities" of life like vacations, summer camps for the kids, science classes, and art classes. We've also been scrimping to find money to pay utility bills, rent, and for car repairs. Amazingly, none of my kids have complained about all this, though Sam and Riley have been packing their bags for Disneyland for over a week now. I've been trying to explain to them that we are not going, but I don't think they quite get it. They offered to give me the money from their coin banks to pay for the trip. So sweet, but I'm digressing. Back to the topic at hand.

Yesterday, on Facebook, my oldest posted a message saying she was doing something nice for her Mommy. In my mind I thought this meant she was going to dye her hair back to a uniform color, she got some shirts that covered a bit more of her skin, or that she was bringing me something simple like a piece of dark chocolate. Boy was I surprised when I found out what she had done. She had taken our car in to the shop on her time, and with her own money, and had the brakes repaired. I know she probably wanted a bigger response than what she got when she arrived home, but I didn't want to get all sappy and cry on her, so I thought I'd write it here instead. This was a fabulous thing for her to do, and really makes me feel like some of my parenting might be paying off. Or could it just be that she got here on her own? Either way, I'm very proud, pleased, and happy with her, and not just because I have brakes again, but because of the wonderfulness of her kind act and her thoughtfulness for another person. Thank you sweetie. I love you.

All I want for Christmas...

2009-06-29T22:07:00.000-07:00

Despite all my fears of not being ready Sam did indeed lose her first tooth. Not only did she lose her first tooth, but 2 days later she lost her second tooth. By lost, I mean lost. Gone. Never to be seen again.

Saturday, June 27th was a busy day for our family. We started the day by celebrating a friends 5th birthday party rollerskating in Santa Cruz. The girls started out with their wheels locked, but soon had to have them loosened to roll, and roll they did.

After the birthday party we headed to my sisters house for some fun in the sun, a little swimming in the pool, and a belated Father's Day celebration with my Dad. It was here, about halfway through the event, that I suddenly noticed a gap in Sam's smile. I had been watching those teeth like a hawk since we first noticed that there were 2 loose teeth, and yet somehow I missed the escape of that first tooth. She had been in the pool the entire time, so we are fairly certain that is where it was lost (we think when her and Riley crashed into one another on the rafts.) We donned swim goggles, and spent a good deal of time searching the bottom of the pool to no avail. Sam was distressed that the tooth fairy would not come because the tooth was gone. We assured her that the tooth fairy would find it for her.

Skip ahead to Monday, June 29th. I had a meeting to attend for my twins group GeminiCrickets, so off to my parents house they went for some more fun time in their pool. I got back just in time to pack them in the car and head to their afternoon swim lessons. I thought that the gap in Sam's mouth was a little bigger, but didn't have time to investigate. After lessons were over I had her do the obligatory open mouth presentation, and sure enough tooth number two was gone.

I HAD MISSED HER FIRST TWO TEETH. How could this happen? Not only ws I oblivious to her losing the teeth, but she was too. She had no idea they were gone until I mentioned it. I'm attaching an alarm to tooth number three! I will not miss another one.

In the end Sam dictated a letter to the tooth fairy, then she signed it, drew a picture of her mouth with arrows pointing to the 2 missing teeth, put it in an envelope along with a picture of her without her teeth. Then she tucked it under her pillow with one corner peeking out so the Tooth Fairy would know it was there. The Tooth Fairy will reciprocate.

My Amazing Girls

2009-06-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

The title of this post could very well be written by any one of you substituting the "Girls" with an appropriate word of your choice such as boys, kids, spouse, dogs, cats, etc. Why use that title then? Because that's how I feel right this very minute.

As some of you know I stay home with the kids during the week, and work on the weekends. This means we don't get much family time together. The days I work I don't see the girls much, and i miss them terribly. This weekend I was able to work 3 nights which was great for the ol' checking account, but hard on the Mommy. This morning I was exhausted when I got home, so I got a quick hug, kiss, and cuddle from each of the girls, and then headed off to bed. Later today I was awoken by 2 kisses, 2 hugs, and 2 cuddles followed by requests to read with them. We spent the next 2 hours cuddled up in bed reading books. It was the best "Saturday morning" ever.

I'm sure that all of you can relate to the nice cozy feeling of being with your amazing "others" which is why I say, "Any of you could have written this."

Endings lead to new beginnings

2009-06-01T01:11:00.000-07:00

Friday the girls "graduated" from preschool. I could stop right there since that was the end of a story. A story of growth, development, independence, and letting go while still hanging on. However, it is also the beginning of a new story, one that I'm sure will expand on the previous tale.

My girls did not go to daycare. They did not go to preschool at an early age. For a long time I was determined to homeschool them in order to maintain our own schedule, their individual learning curve, and yes, a bit of control over what they're exposed to on my part. This past year I made the decision to go back to school for my masters (I haven't yet, but that's another story.) In order to accomplish that the girls would have to attend school. I spent a short amount of time exploring preschools near our house (distance was a factor), and finally selected one that may not have been at the top of other people's list, but gave me the warm fuzzies. I was not let down. The teachers are enthusiastic and truly care about the kids and their development. To say they are fabulous is an understatement. More importantly, the girls loved it. We didn't have a transition period as I feared. My greatest threat the past 9 months has been, "If you don't do "blank" then you're not going to school today". Let me tell you, they would snap to, and do whatever it was that needed getting done whether it was getting dressed, finishing their lunch without playing around, or changing their attitude. Despite being in the same class they gained some independence from each other (and from me.) They learned many things this year, but the most important is their current love for school. I hope that it continues for a long time.

The new beginning starts in two weeks. Their new school hosts a summer school/camp for two weeks in the summer. We've decided to enroll the girls as they seem to be having a difficult time with the idea of actually leaving their beloved preschool and moving on. They want to take their teachers with them. The good thing is that I also get that warm, fuzzy feeling from their kindergarten teacher, so I'm hoping the transition goes well. After the summer program we have about a month and a half off, and then elementary school (yikes, elementary school) begins along with the rigid schedules, homework, and even more independence that I was dreading. I'm sure it will be fine. I'm also sure that I will cry the first day of school as they run off to begin a new life, one without me there at their side.

If wishes were horses...

2009-05-28T02:21:00.000-07:00

I wish I were a better writer.

Every 5 year old should have a bachelor/ette party

2009-05-20T22:04:00.001-07:00

The past few months the girls have been begging us to try some new foods and to eat with their hands. While the two were not related I thought that combined they would make for a good, new experience. As a result, I started looking around for a Morrocan restaurant. I asked a few friends and as it turned out one of them had recently dined at such a place in San Francisco, El Mansour. She wanted to eat there again, and started recruiting people to join us.

Tonight was the night that we could all make it, so we piled in cars and met up in the city. The girls were thrilled with the concept, and excited that the day was here. Upon arrival we were immediately seated at a low table surrounded by low couches and "tuffets". While I should have seen the disaster coming, I did not. Tuffets plus two 5 year olds equals one very "active" dinner
with many reminders that we were indeed in a restaurant and needed to behave accordingly. Overall, IMHO, other than expanding our dining space to include the vacant tables next to us, they were pretty good, especially for such a prolonged dinner.

The start of the experience began with handwashing where they bring out a large brass tureen and pitcher and pour nice warm water over your hands. The girls thought this step was great, and lots of fun. Sam even required a solo washing. Soon after came the bread which was passed around between every course. Better grab extra though, because this is what you use to pick up your food, and they don't leave any on the table. The bread was followed each time by something new, soup, a veggie platter with uniquely cooked and spiced treats, some sort of puff pastry appetizer that Riley devoured, the main course, belly dancing, and dessert which was more puff pastry yumminess and fried bananas. The girls seemed to enjoy most, if not all of the food.

The belly dancing, however, is where the bachelorette party started. The dancer came out, did a short dance then brought Riley up to dance with her. Sam refused, but held on tightly to the scarf the dancer gave her. Riley did a great job copying everything that the dancer did,
and had me in tears of glee throughout. She was so serious about the whole thing, and was really paying attention to what the dancer was showing her. After her turn was done, the dancer moved on to other tables to dance with their occupants. At this point I was pretty sure
we were all done. Nothing could be further from the truth.

After performing for each table, she made her way back towards the kitchen where the manager put a dollar in her shirt strap giving everyone a clue as to how they should tip her. Members of our party gave the girls dollars for the dancer, which I thought was really nice...until they
delivered them. I mistakenly assumed (I know, I know) that they would hand her the dollars, she would say thank you, and they would sit back down. Oh noooooo. She held out her waistband and let them tuck the dollars in. They were very entertained by it all. I, however, was mortified. My girls had unknowingly had their first bachelorette party.

The life cycle of a yellow dinosaur cake

2009-05-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a woman that had some sense of sanity, that's gone now. That woman would be me. About 4 months ago Valerie, my Goddaughter, requested a dinosaur cake for her birthday. Not just any dinosaur cake, but a yellow dinosaur cake. This is the story of that cake.

Month one, contemplate the many ways of creating a yellow dinosaur cake. 3D solution comes to mind, rejected as ridiculous.

Month two, contemplation continues. 2D solution formulated, 3D version continues to inject itself into the forefront of thought.

Month three, out damn spot. 3D idea not cooperating.

Month four, give into idea, acknowledge plans in back of head, begin formulating exactly how to achieve the vision.

Week of May 11th:

Collect all ingredients. The list was impressive, so I thought I'd share.

25 cups of flour, approximately 6lbs

22.5 tsp Baking Powder

7 tsp Salt

38 sticks of butter (yes, you read that right)

15.75 cups Granulated Sugar

20 cups Powdered Sugar (approximately 6 lbs)

17 tbsp Vanilla Extract

13.5 cups Whole Milk

16 tbsp Heavy Cream

18 Large Eggs

5 lbs Fondant

and a partridge in a pear tree (just checking to see if you're still reading.)

All of these were used over the course of 3 days to make nine 10x13 cakes which were then stacked using buttercream in between the layers to make one very large cake. The challenge here was using a very old, inconsistent oven. The cakes go in, get rotated halfway through, then come out. During this process I would check the thermometer in the oven and I was getting readings ranging from 300 degrees F to 360 (it was supposed to be 350 throughout.) This meant that I got 2 cakes which seemed to come out fine, 4 which were underdone in the middle (and rather dense), and 3 that were a bit overdone, but not too bad. Despite all this, the easy part was done.

Once I had them stacked, I began the carving. It was kind of like giving yourself a haircut. A little more off this side, oops, now a little more off that side. Why is one foot the size of mine, and the other 3 are the size of a 9 month old? How exactly do you carve a curving tail? I ended up with something that looked more like lizard roadkill than a dinosaur. Perhaps this was just because it didn't even come close to the picture in my head.

Once it was carved, it had to be coated with buttercream so the fondant would stick. Then the kneading of color into the fondant, rolling of the fondant, and application commenced. This process went okay, only created 2 holes, and sort of patched those. Details were added and the whole thing was slipped into my refridgerator on the wonderful board that Andrea got for this purpose (acquisition was not easy.)

Final stats:

Wt. of cake before carving - 32 lbs

Wt. of completed cake - 30lbs

Happiness of one 3 year old - total.

The best Mother's Day present ever (even if it was a little early)

2009-05-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

While in Disneyland this past week we got the girls cupcakes (more expensive and less tasty than Kara's or Sprinkles) for their birthday. The cupcakes came complete with little Minnie Mouse rings that the girls just loved. Riley wore hers all day. Sam was a little "busier" with her ring. It was on her finger, off her finger, carried tightly in her fist, and yes, left on tables, benches, rides, etc. This is probably because Minnie Mouse is her favorite character. She just couldn't stop looking at it.

At the end of the day, we made a stop by the little potties in the child care center. It was here that Sam discovered her beloved Minnie ring was missing. All day she had been a little under the weather, and none of us had had much sleep the last two days, so she (and the rest of us) were just exhausted. Upon discovering the loss Sam just crumpled into a sad little heap on the floor and cried. As I was trying to comfort her and assure her that we would try to find the ring Riley walked up. Very sweetly, she took off her Minnie Mouse ring and presented it to Sam saying, "Here Sam, you can have my Minnie Ring". She then gave Sam a very gentle and loving pat on the shoulder. Sam responded with, "That's ok Riley, that's your ring, you should keep it." At this moment in time I could not keep the tears out of my eyes. Thankfully they didn't notice.

I could not have been more proud of my girls. This was definitely better than any Mother's Day gift I could hope to receive.

Twin thoughts

2009-05-03T03:05:00.000-07:00

With the girls 5th birthday fast approaching I've had some deep moments of reflection, regret, happiness, sorrow, joy, and general contemplation. 5 years ago I had no idea what I was in for, and I now know that unless you've experienced it yourself you can't come close to understanding what it's like to have two totally unique individuals growing up in your home that just happen to have the same birth date. Wondering if I'm doing the right thing often keeps me up late at night, and in this case caused me to get out of bed at 2:00 A.M. to record some of these thoughts, incoherent as they may be.

When they were first born, and even to present day, I had many people tell me how much alike they looked. I never saw that. To me they always looked very different, starting with their weight. They were born a whopping 2 lbs. apart. Sam was 5 lbs 5 oz while Riley was 7 lbs 7 oz. Until this year they maintained that weight difference within half a pound. For the first time they are the same weight and height, but I think that this is about to change again. They were both blonde but Riley had a nice head of hair while Sam was nearly bald. They both had riveting blue eyes but Riley's were a deep cerulean blue while Sam's were more of a penetrating steel blue. The list of visual differences goes on and on. I could understand other people's confusion though, they didn't know them like I did.

The differences go beyond appearances though. I can see them across a playground and know by the way they run which one it is. More importantly though, I know who they are with my eyes closed. I know when they creep into my bed in the morning which one it is that has curled up on my left and which one on my right by the way they snuggle. I know whose hand I'm holding just by the feel. I can pat a tushie or rub a tummy in the dark and know just who it belongs to. I can tell the difference by the bend of their ear, the curve in their nose, or the line of their lips. They're unique from the shape and feel of their heads down to their cute little toes, one set chubby, one long and thin.

The way they interact with the world around them is also very different and ever changing. I could never say one is dominant, aggressive, outgoing, quiet, shy, or withdrawn. I can clearly say that they each carry these traits within them, and they come out at the most unexpected times. One moment one of them will walk right up to a new person and say, "Hello. Do you want to play with me?" The next day it will be the other one to perform this miracle of childhood. Is that to say they're interchangeable on any given day? Never. Even with the same act, they handle it very differently. One will generally jump right into the center of any social situation and soak up the energy of the moment, the other is more comtemplative, will observe and evaluate before making the same leap. Other times Mommy's coat tails are not quite big enough to hide behind. Many of my friends have come up with cute monikers to describe the differences. I've been unable to do so. Thier names seem sufficient and we often use them to describe something such as, "That's so Riley" or "That's a Sam-ism" I know this is a no-no in the electronic world.

The most challenging part of this whole journey was not learning these things about a child, but learning them about two people who just happen to be the same developmental age at the same time. It's very different than learning it about one child at a time, not to lesson that experience by any means. Having raised a single child, the unique difficulties (and joys) of having two simultaneously have become clear. With one child there is a focus, a purpose, a challenge. With two children the focus is often split, the purpose unclear as it shifts from one to the other, and the challenges are exponentially multiplied. Trying to help them each grow as individuals, give them each the attention that they need, and teaching them how to live together yet be strong when they are apart have all become parts of this wild trip. For those of you with multiples you know that it stems from the first days trying to meet their individual needs for food, sleep, and clean diapers to learning to clap, crawl, walk, and use the potty to preparing them to face the world as individuals. Teaching them to share, to empathize and to sympathize with others but usually starting with their sibling who also didn't understand these concepts and had to learn. The big question that applies to any parent however, is, "Have I learned more from them than they learned from me?" My answer would have to be a resounding, "Yes!" They have taught me so much about who I am, and what's important to me. I thought I knew this already, but I have found that there is still much to learn.

As any parent out there, I can't yet tell if I'm having any level of success in encouraging them to follow their own path, or if they are the successful ones in making me believe that I have any control over it at all. I can only hope that together all of us will come out of this roller coaster ride of childhood with satisfaction, eagerness, and anticipation for the next adventure.

My ticking time bomb

2009-04-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, for those of you who don't know I was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm about a week and a half ago. The "cure" for it would have involved some form of brain surgery. "How was it found?" you might be asking yourself. I'll tell you.

Back when I had the girls you may (or may not) remember I had a Bell's Palsy. The last 6 months, some of the symptoms from that have been getting worse, more ptosis (drooping) of the eyelid, twitching of the eyelid, some vision changes, facial numbness, etc. I went back to the neurologist and he thought it might be a good idea to get an MRI to rule out any sort of brain abnormality that might have caused this. I know, I know, you're all thinking, "Of course she has an abnormal brain," or "She has a brain?" They were thinking medically not mentally. Now that we have that out of the way I can continue with my little saga. Anyhoo, the MRI showed what looked like a small aneurysm in my carotid (the major blood supply to the brain). An aneurysm is an area of a blood vessel that stretches out much like a balloon. If left untreated it grows and grows until an area of the vessel wall is so thin that it bursts much like an over-inflated balloon. The result is quite often death or severe brain damage, so as you can imagine, I was quite nervous. The next step was to get a CT angiogram which I did yesterday. In the mean time no physical activity for me, nothing to raise my BP, etc. Arrrgggg.

The CT angiogram was the strangest experience I've ever had in my life. I've had studies that used contrast before, but never like this. They inject it while you are being scanned and it immediately makes you feel hot. I could literally feel it travel around my body. I got an odd, almost metallic taste in my mouth and my mouth felt like it was full, like just before the dentist uses her magic wand on you to suck out all your saliva. Then, the oddest feeling of all. I got very hot down there, and it felt like I had wet my pants (I hadn't). All this occurred over about 20 seconds, and then it was gone. Sooooo weird.

So. Scan done. Now for the waiting. Thank goodness my neurologist is an early riser and a prompt responder. For both scans he has called me first thing in the morning the day after the scan. Now for the good news, which I'm sure you all have guessed by now, NO ANEURYSM!! Woo hoo, woo hoo, and woo hoo. Apparently it was just an odd twist of the vessel that created a large shadow that looked like an aneurysm on the MRI. You can't imagine the relief I feel. Big, huge weight lifted off my chest. As Andrea so accurately put it, I feel like jello about now.

Now, back to hockey for me. I'm playing Sunday!! Woo hoo!!

Happy 5 year blogiversary to me

2009-04-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

That's right folks, I've been blogging for 5 years now. I know it hasn't been as regular as it use to be, but maybe we can rectify that this blog year.

P.S. Happy Easter to y'all too!

It's been a long week around here

2009-03-27T02:39:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday both girls starting feeling bad, Friday they were pretty lethargic and Riley was complaining that her ear hurt. I put drops in it, gave them both some Tylenol and headed off to work leaving them in Bill's hands. Saturday and Sunday Riley stayed in bed all day voluntarily. Monday we headed to their doctor since they weren't getting any better. The diagnosis? They both had bronchitis and Riley had a bilateral ear infection. In addition to this Bill and Stacey both have sinus infections they're fighting off, and all 4 were on antibiotics, and Bill, Sam, and Riley are on inhalers. Do you know how hard it is to get a 4 year old to use an inhaler properly? Amidst all this I came down with a mild version of whatever plague is going around here.

Fast forward to today. Girls are up and playing, seem to be pretty healthy, Stacey is out and about, I'm feeling much better. Just Bill is still pretty sick, or so I thought. After going to bed tonight Sam came out crying about her ear hurting. Here we go again.

Since Andrea has blogged, I figure I should too

2009-03-24T14:45:00.000-07:00

As usual, a lot has happened since my last blog entry. Most of it I remember from photos I haven't yet uploaded (although that process has begun.)

The girls had pajama day at school. A wonderful day in which (in theory) I didn't have to get them dressed for school. In reality they had gymnastics in the morning, so they had to get dressed for that, then come home and get back in their pajamas for school. They thought going to school in their pj's was the best. They also got to read bedtime stories, have warm chocolate, "go to sleep" and then had pancakes when they "woke up." All in all, it was a great day for them.

My birthday this year happened to fall on the annual St. Patrick's day dinner hosted by our church. Normally my birthday is good, or at the very worst it's uneventful. This year truly stunk. There were many awful things that happened (that I won't go into here), but the end of the day turned things around a bit. The dinner was a lot of fun. I found out one of my friends daughters was/has been one of the Celtic dancers that perform every year. My entire family generally attends these things, and so they brought my cards and presents there. I was very lucky to recieve a quilt made special for me by my SIL, Deb.

St. Patrick's day the girls and Val helped make Shamrock cookies for their teachers at school. My parents had also given the girls a plethora of green holiday items for them to wear and consume. They looked quite cute and were very excited.

That brings us up to this past week. The girls have become very sick, Riley more so than Sam which varies from the norm. After 5 days without improvement (and some degeneration) I took the girls to the docs office. It turns out they both have bronchitis and Riley has an ear infection (both ears) to top it off. They were sent home with antibiotics and inhalers, and seem to be on the mend. After 3 days of being in bed (voluntarily), Riley is finally up and playing a bit though she still seems tired and lethargic. Sam is still pretty cuddily, but gaining more energy herself.

On a side note, Bill, Stacey, and I are also sick, but mending as well. We were suppose to be up at my parents condo in the snow this week, but finances and illness had other ideas.

This weekend is scheduled to be a 3 night (12 hours each) work extravaganza, so no hockey for me. However, it should be noted that that is only temporary. Thanks to my wonderful hockey peeps who got me registered, I will be skating summer season. Woo hoo and THANK YOU!

Spanish Algae

2009-02-17T17:43:00.002-08:00

This past weekend Bill noticed that a couple of our fish weren't doing so well, so he decided to go to the pet store and get some medicine. Since I was at the Vacaville tournament he took the girls with him. Once home it was time to medicate the tank. This was very interesting to Sam who had the following conversation with Bill:

Sam: What are those dots (pointing to the algae on the fishtank glass)
Bill: That's algae.
Sam: Algae? What's that? I've never seen algae before.
Bill: It's like a plant, kind of like moss, and it blooms.
Sam: Daddy, I don't speak spanish.

I hate to tell her this, but her Daddy doesn't speak Spanish either.

My weekend hockey report

2009-02-16T17:50:00.000-08:00

I played my first hockey tournament this weekend. The report is as follows:

Game 1 vs. Blacklist, we won 4-2, I was -2
Game 2 vs. The Northstars, we lost 0-2, I had neither a + or - for that game.
Game 3 vs. The Seals, we lost 0-9, I was -5 for the game
Game 4 vs. The Bucktooth Dolphins, we tied 3-3, our line was briefly +1, then they scored on us.

Of note, The Northstars and Seals both have unprofessional coaches. The Northstars coach kept yelling at his players to crush us, next time take them out harder, etc. The Seals coach made similar comments and to top it off was yelling at their team to kill us when they got a power play AND WERE ALREADY COMMANDING A 7 POINT SHUTOUT LEAD.

This was suppose to be a recreational tourney.

Despite all this we actually had a really good time. It was nice to start the tourney playing our Blacklist friends and to end it playing our buddies, the Bucktooth Dolphins.

A random post that's not about my kids

2009-01-27T14:56:00.001-08:00

OK, it's about my 4 legged kid. Apparently he felt like he should be sleeping with us last night. He also thought that he should bring his own bed with him. Yep, Harrison dragged his dog bed up on our bed last night to sleep. Mind you, this was no easy feat. It's big and bulky, and our bed is tall (the top of the mattress sits just above my hips.) Needless to say, it did not stay up there, and I had to change the sheets for the second time this week.

Lose a crystal, gain a better behaved preschooler

2009-01-13T15:57:00.000-08:00

It's taken me a few days to calm down enough to be able to semi-coherently write this post. Two days ago the girls got into my annual Swarovski crytal Christmas ornaments. I'm not sure if their original intent was just to play with them, but none the less they knew they were not supposed to touch them. Now I have to take a little responsibility here because they were left out waiting to be properly packed for next year. However, the girls had been told many times not to touch them, had verbalized to us that they were not to touch them, and had to get through all the other ornaments (which would have been okay to touch) to get to them. Somewhere along the way they decided they didn't like certain design elements (or like them enought that they wanted to keep them), so they started snapping things off. 10 years of ornaments gone in a flash.

As I was putting things away I walked around the table to suddenly notice a large empty space in the middle where the ornaments had once resided. I immediately called to Bill, "Did you put the Swarovski's away?" To which he replied in the negative. I started to look around and noticed 2 four year olds duck their heads and inch towards the exit. Then I looked down, and under the table, reflecting the light from the window, were the bodies and dismembered pieces of my beloved ornaments. These meant so much to me on many levels, they were one of the few nice things I actually owned, they were very beautiful, we'd been collecting them since the year after we got married, and then last year Bill hunted high and low to get the one from the year we were married. (these appreciate immediately in value, so our little collection had grown to be worth about $2,000). As I stared at the shattered pieces I could barely speak. I crumpled to the floor in tears, and ordered the girls to their room (which they had the good sense to retreat to without a word.) My tears continued to fall as I picked up the pieces reflecting rainbows all about the room. Bill went to deal with the girls.

A couple of hours later I went to play hockey. A game we narrowly won 1-0. I had dinner with my buds, then headed home to 2 rather sad little girls. They had to know that this was a serious offense (we've had deviations before, but none like this and I didn't want it repeated.) I said goodnight to them, and told them we would discuss their punishment in the morning, I needed time to cool down and think. In the morning Sam immediately and sincerely said, "I'm sorry we broke your crystals Mommy. I know they were special to you and that we shouldn't have touched them." She had obviously thought a lot about it. Riley as I came to see later was just having a hard time verbalizing her remorse and sadness.

In any case, I had had a night to sleep on it, and while they are just "things", they were important things, a direction had been given and directly disobeyed. There had to be some punishment that would prevent it from happening again (I hope.) What was that you ask? Let me tell you. They lost ALL their toys. Not for good, but for a time. They know they have to earn them back by following the rules, and then they only get a few at a time which they have to put away properly if they are to get the next box of toys back. I'd considered just taking away their favorite toy permanently, I'd considered time "served", I'd considered other punishment options, but this seemed to be the best and killed many birds with the one stone. To top it off I've been having them help me box up the toys to put away, so they are directly involved with the punishment.

The good news is that they seem to get it. There were many statements throughout the day, but the 3 that stick with me the most are Sam's apology, them both asking me if I was done being mad at them, and then Riley's goodnight statement. I had gone in to tuck them in last night, gave them hugs and kisses and told them I love them as always do. Riley said, "I like this voice much better Mommy." To which I replied, "You mean better than my mad voice?" She said, "Yes. We'll try to follow directions better so you don't have to use that voice anymore, ok?" It made me happy and sad all at the same time.

The long and short of it is that they get it, they are not whining for their toys, they are following directions, and it's been much calmer around here. Let's see if it actually sticks.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading my lengthy ramble.

New Years Eve

2008-12-31T14:07:00.001-08:00

New Years Eve is often a time to reflect, but I think I'll pass on that
for this year. Instead I'll end the year the way it's gone, with a
story about one of my kids.

This year marks the first year that we intend to let the girls stay up
to celebrate New Years with us. (Whether or not they make it is a whole
other story.) In light of this fact we thought we should have them take
a nap so they have a chance at seeing the New Year come in. Riley's
response? "It's not dark and my legs still have walking to do."

Have a happy and safe New Years everyone!

Gluton free? There's nothing free about it.

2008-12-13T20:16:00.000-08:00

It's always irritated me just a little that schools have entire dietary policies in response to the restrictions/allergies of a few. It makes me want to send peanut butter sandwiches in my kids lunches followed up with some apple juice. (Good thing my girls don't do lunch at school.) I understand that some of these kids can have serious reactions, but to me it sends them a message that they don't have to take responsibility for their own well being, let the rest of the world do that. Anyway, I digress - a little.

I've offered to do a holiday cookie decorating activity for the girls preschool. As a courtesy I checked with the teacher to see if any of the kids had any dietary restrictions (I wanted them all to be able to participate.) As it turns out, one of the kids has a gluten allergy, so off I went to figure out how to make gingerbread cookies without gluten. (Only because it was my choice, and not required to do. The teacher did say the mom could provide an alternate item for her child, but this didn't seem fair to me.) And I digress again.

Anyway, Gluten free flour is ABOUT 10 TIMES THE COST OF REGULAR FLOUR and it requires Xanthem Gum which is about $25/lb!

All day today I've been trying to modify my recipe, find a new recipe, etc. to make gluten-free gingerbread cookies. So far I haven't even been able to come up with something I can roll out, and I'm burning through ridiculously expensive ingredients. I have to say I'm gaining a whole new appreciation for what these moms go through. Two thumbs up for all their hard work.

Update to follow with my final results. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Illness 101

2008-12-13T02:21:00.000-08:00

Why Illness 101? Because it's all stuff I should know, especially considering my profession. However, as a Mom, it's sometimes difficult to bring the personal and the professional together.

The beginning of this week the girls seemed fine and both went to school on Monday. On Tuesday Sam was a bit sniffy and warm, so I debated what to do. Then she had a half hour throwing up jag in the bathroom and it became clear, she would stay home from school. Riley felt a bit warm, so to be on the safe side she stayed home too. Afterall, she was bound to get sick too, right?

Wednesday dawned bright and early, and I figured that my girls who are rarely sick would be ready for school. Not so. Sam was up for 2 hours and went back to bed for 4. Riley seemed fine so off she went, a little sad without her sister, but went anyway. So went the rest of the week. Sam stayed home, Roo went to school.

Finally, Sam seemed a lot better though still a bit sniffily. We thought Riley had dodged the bullet this time. We couldn't have been more wrong. She seemed a little tired, but the week had been busy. At dinner she said her ear hurt, asked to leave the table, and GO TO BED! Yep, you heard me right. My little non-sleeper actually requested a date with her pillow. We knew something was wrong then, but had no idea how tough my little one really was. Finally about an hour later she started howling that her ear hurt, she was holding it, her nose was running significantly more than before, and she had a low grade temp, so we called the after hours clinic. They were able to get us in right away, and it was a good thing. The doc said that this was about the worst ear infection she's ever seen. Who knew how long it had been brewing. I'm told there's a good chance her eardrum will burst, but that will actually relieve the pain because it will release the pressure. There's nothing they can do to either prevent or treat it, so we wait. In the meantime my poor baby fell asleep in the car on the way to the pharmacy, in the shopping cart at the pharmacy, and again in the car on the way home which is so not like her. She kept repeating, "Can we just get home and to bed fast? I'm tired."

After loading her up on antibiotics, ear drops, and acetaminophen she is now sleeping quietly. Let's hope for a better day for her tomorrow.

New musical instruments

2008-12-04T12:46:00.000-08:00

We were driving in the car today, and Riley was playing music on a toy
pan from their kitchen, and Sam wanted to play too. She didn't have an
"instrument" so she started doing thinks with her hans and feet
accompanied by the appropriate musical sound from her mouth. She says
she was playing the Skode and Ruffus, two instruments she just
invented. I'm not quite sure what they are, but judging from the
gestures and sounds I'm guessing they are members of the percussion
family.

Sam's game of Beardie

2008-11-25T19:25:00.000-08:00

Today Sam asked me what was on my Santa List. When I said I didn't know, she said, "Maybe you could put some games on your list." I asked her what games I should ask for and she replied, "checkers and Beardie." I asked her what Beardie was, and this is her description:

You put marbles on a table and you try to hit them with a stick. If you miss them you go up (you're chair rises in the air), and if you hit them you go down. There's a Mawday by the ceiling that keeps you from hitting the ceiling, so you don't make a hole. According to Riley there are also Mawdays on the walls, so you don't hurt them either. To come down from the Mawday you have to hit the marbles.

I should say that this description was accompanied by much gesticulation and animated facial expressions, not too mention excitement.

Stories about monsters

2008-11-17T12:53:00.001-08:00

At preschool the girls had to make up stories about monsters. They made
pictures first, and then described them. Here they are.

Riley:
My monster's going to have 3 eyes. My is Riley Roo. She's a girl. She
likes to play and dance.

Sam:
This is going to be his brain but, he doesn't have a zipper. Mine is
going to be named Dream. He knocks on the walls. He loves your
preschool, he likes to hide. And he likes to eat people. He likes to
do it with Frank. He likes to dance like Frank.

Today has been a record boo boo day for me...

2008-11-13T21:41:00.000-08:00

Today I started to drive away without buckling Riley in her carseat. Good thing I've always told her to say, "Stop. I'm not buckled in." She did exactly that, so no harm done. Right?

Jump forward about an hour and I find myself sitting at a traffic light that has clearly turned green. Does this register with me? Only if you consider me sitting there, staring at the light, wondering when it was going to turn green.

Another couple of hours forward and I go to pick up the girls from school. I find I have the Tivo remote with me instead of my cell phone. (Thankfully that was in my jacket which I just happened to grab on the way out.)

After picking them up we make a quick stop at the park where I get the girls out of the car and start to walk to the play area WHILE THE CAR IS STILL RUNNING. Thank goodness I realized that and went back, turned off the car, got the keys, and locked the car.

There were a few other minor mishaps of the day, but these were the highlights. What does this mean? That I seriously need more sleep. I have NEVER driven away without buckling my children in, and I don't think I've ever had a day with quite so many "Oops" moments.

Liquid Assets, aka: Breaking my blogging hiatus

2008-10-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you will have $49.00 today.

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in AIG one year ago, you will have $33.00 today.

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you will have $0.00 today.

But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the aluminum cans for recycling refund, you will have received a $214.00.

Based on the above, the best current investment plan is to drink heavily & recycle. It is called the 401-Keg.

A recent study found that the average American walks about 900 miles a year.

Another study found that Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year.

That means that, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon!

Makes you proud to be and American…………..

(Post courtesy of Cathy)

Sam's Big Challenge, My Big Heartbreak

2008-06-15T11:03:00.001-07:00

When the girls were very little they did not take pacifiers. At about 7 to 8 months old they discovered their hands. When they would put their hands in their mouth we would gently pul them away and say, "No hands in our faces." This really seemed to be working (and it did for Riley) until Sam had that first seizure. When I saw my baby laying in that hospital trying to comfort herself by sucking on her fingers I just couldn't say no.

That brings us to now, almost 3 1/2 years later. She's still sucking on those two fingers (she alternates between her hands.) She has huge callouses at the base of each finger, her teeth are being pushed forward, and the roof of her mouth is being pushed upward. They say this could affect her speech, but it doesn't seem to be.

In any case, about a year ago we tried to get her to stop by constantly reminding her to take her finger out of her mouth. It wasn't working and it was just upsetting her more which in turn made her suck her finger more. About this time I read a whole lot about finger sucking and many sources seemed to indicate that children would sto by age four, so we left her alone with it. She hasn't stopped.

Back to the research table for me. A couple of sources suggested sitting down with the child to see if she wants to stop (she said she did), and then let them be involved in the process (duh). Yesterday I got some white surgical tape and together we cut off pieces, and then Sam wrapped them around her finger. This is supposed to make it less comfortable for them to suck so they quit more naturally and without nagging.

I thought we were doing great until the last piece of tape went on. As she finished, she looked up at me, and big, giant tears slowly started rolling down her face. She didn't howl, she didn't complain, she just folded into my lap and sat there with those big silent tears rolling down her face. It made me cry then, and it's making me cry now as I write this. I have never seen anything so sad in my life. I just wanted to rip the tape off her fingers and let her have them back. However, as a parent I know I am doing the better thing for her by helping her to stop.

In the mean time I will silently cry for my baby.

And the award for worst puppy mommy ever goes to...

2008-06-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

Me!! Harrison required a time out last night for getting into the garbage. As a result, we put him outside and closed the doggie door. A little bit later we went outside to have dinner on the patio. This means that when we came back inside the big door was open and he came inside with us instead of coming through the doggie door. This also meant that the doggie door never did get opened FOR THE NEXT 16 HOURS! My poor puppy did great though. No accidents in the house, and when I finally realized our error and opened the door for him he shot outside and was gone for about 5 minutes. I'm sure he was tinkling the whole time.

Too long without a post

2008-05-25T05:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, I said that. According to Bill, and he is right, Twittering does not take the place of blogging. So, I'll pull myself away from Packrat for a bit to give you some snippets of what we've been up to the last month.

The first week of May we traveled to Disneyland for the girls 4th birthday. That's right, 4th. I can't believe that much time has passed. Wasn't it just yesterday that my beautiful little bundles came home from the hospital?

Anyway, we had a full week of adventure and birthday celebrations. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures this week. We also did something we never had before. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and the Grand Californian. I liked both for different reasons, and we'll probably end up staying there again. The Disneyland Hotel upgraded us to a suite that had me saying, "Swwweeeettt." The living room alone could have encompassed our living room, dining room, and family room at home. Also, it has a tub with a shower AND a seperate shower, and two bathrooms. I could move in. At the Grand Californian we splurged and stayed on the concierge level - TOTALLY WORTH IT. I wish we could afford to do that all the time. They fed us all day long, had wine at night, and story hour for the kids where they could enjoy the time in their jammies, on the floor with blankets and pillows. All in all, a good Disney week (is there any other kind?)

The girls are taking a little break from their science classes, dance classes, etc until the fall (with the exception of a couple of camps. They're just finishing up their clay class where they had fun making a variety of projects, but with more help from Mom than I would like. I think the classes need to be stretched out for the little ones so they could have more hands on.

In the middle of the month we also celebrated Valerie's 2nd birthday with her. I made a cake which I was very proud of since I created it start to finish by hand including carving and decorating.

Along with the happiness of the month, there must be some sadness I suppose, and this was totally brought on by me. I haven't written about it previously, and I'm not sure how far I'll get here as it's still emotional to me. With Valerie's 2nd birthday came the last day that I officially watched her. She's now a big preschooler. As I said, this was brought on by me. Earlier in the year I told Liz and Andrea that I could no longer watch her as I'm planning to go back to school with the end goal of getting my masters degree in nursing. As a result I will also be putting the girls in preschool (yep, no home schooling for us.) Though I still think it was the right decision it makes me sad. My house seems a little emptier during the week, and when she has a bad day at school like she did this last week, it makes me cry and kick myself for not watching her. To say I'm still torn up over this decision would be an understatement. That's as much as I can say now as I've got myself crying at work, and that's no good.

On to some funnier stuff:
Riley (after checking out preschools with me): I'm too little to go to preschool. I only get to go for a little while then I have to come home.
Sam (while watching videos of her birth and first few days of life): Why is he crying? (We repeatedly told her that was her, and he seemed to get it, but every time the crying started the baby became a he.) She also noted, "I'm cute."

Later this month we will celebrate Bill's birthday as well as a belated party for the girls.

What's in Your Nose, Part Deux

2008-05-08T19:07:00.000-07:00

For their birthday we had dinner at Goofy's Kitchen in the Disneyland
Hotel. This is one of those meals where the characters come around to
each table to play with the kids and take pictures.

As it turns out, Alice (of Alice in Wonderland fame) came to our table
for an extended visit. During the visit Sam asked her what was in her
nose. She said mostly nothing, but when pushed by Sam she replied,
"Maybe some little boogies sometimes." I was very surprised that Sam
replied, "I have nothing in my nose" instead of the previous snot
reply.

In addition, they also found out that Wonderland is just below Oxford
(where Alice is from), and that you get to Oxford on the monorail.

What do you have in your nose?

2008-04-28T17:20:00.001-07:00

Sam: Daddy. You have hair in your nose. Why do you have hair in your
nose? I only have snot in my nose.

The vileness made a little better by some preschooler humor

2008-04-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

Sam: Mommy, what happened to your voice?
Me: I lost it.
Bill: Do you think Mommy forgot it somewhere?
Sam: No.
Me: Do you think the Sea Witch took it like Ariel's?
Sam: (looking all around) I don't see her around here. She's at home
in her nest.
Bill: Should I send my friend to get Mommy's voice back? He scuba
dives.
Sam. No. The seashore is closed. She locked it up.

The magic of Oz

2008-04-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

How to determine the representation of your child's age changes as they age. Up until about 2 to 2 1/2 years old most people go by months. Why? Because less than 1 is not yet a year, one is singular while year is usually referred to in the plural, so you can't say Baby Snookums is 1 years old, and lastly, there is still so much of a difference in growth and development from month to month at that age. Once they hit 3 years old the changes come more slowly as do the age changes. 3, 3 and 1/2, almost 4 which is what prompted this post.

Lately people have been asking me how old the girls are and I've been replying with, "Three and a half." This past week or so I realized they are going to be 4 in less than a month, so the real answer is, "Almost 4." However, I'm not ready for 4 year olds. 1 was exciting, we had hit that first milestone. 2 was a whirlwind, but 3 has gone by at lightening speed. This is the last year I have with my babies before they go to Kindergarten. Yep, you heard me right, Kindergarten. So, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I would like to click my heels together 3 times, and say, "There's no place like 3, there's no place like 3, there's no place like 3," and magically be granted another wonderful year with my girls before I must relinquish them to the cold, cruel land of Winkie Country which the Wicked Witch of the West rules.

Why oh why must tarantula's be part of a pre-schooler science class?

2008-04-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

My girls have been taking science classes for almost a year now (they start them at 3 y.o.), and the topics have varied from kinetics to classification of vertebrates to the Rainforest, and everywhere in between. One of the classes they're currently attending relates to the diet of the zoo animals. They get to prepare the food (for some, not all), and feed many of the animals (depends on safety, etc.) This weeks subject was carnivores. They like to bring animals in as much as possible, and since bringing in one of the jaguars or a shark was not feasible they selected a snake and a tarantula. Yes. A taruatula. If you know me, you know that this is one of the few things that I am deathly afraid of, and yet there it was. I couldn't show fear as I don't want to pass this on to my daughters, but it was really tough when the teacher TOOK THE TARANTULA OUT OF IT'S HOUSE AND LET THE KIDS PET IT! Lucky for me, the girls were so excited by seeing and touching the tarantula that they didn't notice me quietly backing up to the other side of the room. Had it come anywhere near me I'm afraid the zoo would be looking for a new one.

Odometer rollover

2008-04-01T21:20:00.001-07:00

Today I had the unique experience (at least to me) of seeing my
'odometer' rollover. What's so noteworthy about that you ask? Because
the rollover was on my camera that I've had slightly more than a year,
and the rollover number was 10,000. That's right, more than 10,000
photos in a year. My camera is now at 00043 and that doesn't count the
thousands of photos I've taken on my digital SLR that I got at
Christmas.

BBQ or attempted murder? You decide.

2008-04-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

So last night Bill came home from work, and went to light the BBQ to cook some chicken he had been marinating. All was well and fine until he went to light the BBQ with the Scripto Windresistant lighter that the Easter Bunny left in his basket with other BBQ implements. As he pulled the lighter away from the coals, he noticed there was a bit more fire than there should be and immediately dropped the lighter on the ground. This is what it looked like 2 minutes into the burn:

Of course I had to get pictures, and of course that meant I had to get too close. Just as soon as the words, "Susan, I think you should back away from the lighter" were out of Bill's mouth, there was a little explosion and a lot more flame. I almost broke a leg in the process of jumping back. This is what the second burn looked like:

This is what the lighter looks like today.

And they were right. This was a wind resistant lighter. I think I may be sending them photos of this lighter.

I couldn't be more proud

2008-04-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

We're here at the park playing, and a little girl walks up to Sam,
Riley, and Val. Riley asked her what her name was, then said, "Nice to
meet you. This is my sister. Her name is Bing Bong (her nickname).
I'm Riley Roo. This is Balderie (Valerie)."

Apparently they do pay attention every once in a while.

The Eclectic Life of a Three Year Old

2008-03-31T13:23:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking today about all the things my kids do. Not because I force them to, but because they enjoy the activities, and they ask to do them. For example, today has gone like this so far:

Get up, have breakfast
Go to ballet class
Visit Starbucks on the way home
Get out tricycles and ride them around the block (including all the courts)
Come home, do Yoga
Relax with a movie and popcorn

The afternoon looks to have backyard play, coloring, and a bbq on the schedule. Not a bad day for a three year old.

Yummy!

2008-03-23T07:14:00.001-07:00

Delicious, delicious honey baked ribs for dinner. And Easter cookies
with chocolate milk. Mmmmmm. Thanks honey.

Extended Weekend Update ala Andrea

2008-03-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

Friday was my birthday, but we didn't have anything super special planned. I slept in, got up, had a yummy breakfast of German Pancakes, then headed to the movies with Bill and the girls. It was opening day for Horton Hears a Who, so we just had to see it. It was a cute movie with quite of bit of humor for the adults, but totally appropriate for children as designated by it's G rating.

After the movie, we came home, regrouped, grabbed Stacey, and headed to dinner with a large majority of my family. We ate at House of Gengi on 1st Street. It was good, but not as tasty as the Royal Teppan Steakhouse in Cupertino where we celebrated with Liz and Andrea earlier in the week.

After that, it was home and to bed for the old folks (me) and the little ones (Sam and Riley).

Saturday I slept in again, then went to our church for the annual St. Patrick's Day dinner. The food is not great, the entertainment (Irish clog dancing) is ok, but the overall event turns out to be great. Our whole family goes every year, and watching the girls eyes light up while watching the dancing, and seeing them clap along is the best.

Sunday was a serious Spring cleaning day at our house. I got a majority of our bedroom cleaned out, took down the last crib, did more laundry (never ending), cleaned up the kitchen, touched up the bathrooms, etc. Then it was off for a small gathering of hockey buddies up in Woodside. There was a firepit where we made S'mores, and the company was great.

Monday the girls had their first ballet recital. I'm a little partial, but I think they were very cute. There was a total switch in roles however. Usually Riley is very focused, following everything the teacher says, and doing it to the best of her ability. Sam is not quite as focused. She'll dance for a bit, then wander off, watch from the sides, flit around the room, etc. The day of the recital however, Sam was super focused and in performance mode. She smiled at the audience, and danced her little heart out. She was quite the little entertainer. Riley unfortunately got a terrible case of stage fright, and spent most of the performance standing off to the side of the stage. She finally ended up dancing a little with the teacher. Overall I think they did great for their first time.

Tuesday (today) is another story. One that involves 3 carseats, and will be told later.

Checklist for the day:

2008-03-12T10:20:00.000-07:00

Sleep in: check (sorta)
Miss kids crafting event: check
Push over mountain of laundry on the couch, so I can watch junk tv:
check, and double check.
Totally ignore messy front room: check
Eat Toffifay and cookies for breakfast: check
Living in a state of denial: check

Funniest lunch ever

2008-03-10T14:52:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to take the 3 girls (Sam, Riley, and Val) to lunch, and
boy am I glad I did. We had the funniest conversations. We actually
sat at lunch for an hour and a half. That's virtualy unheard of with
young kids, but goes to show what a good time all of us were having.
Here are some excerpts from lunch and the ensuing IM conversations:

Me: Oh man. Heart melting.
AT2: ?
Me: Val jus leaned over and said, "love you Auntie"
AT2: awww!
Me: Then she says, "love the mommies."
AT2: i love spontaneous "love yous"
Me: Me too
Me: That's the first one I've gotten from her though.
------------------------ 14:12 ------------------------
Me: Ok. What does your daughter want? I'm getting the full workover.
AT2: want for...?
AT2: cuddles!
Me: Head leaning on shoulder, cute look on face, patting of shoulder,
and many many, "I love you's", and "cuddle".
AT2: uh oh, careful, "candy" might be the next thing she says
Me: Uh oh

Just for the record, she never did ask for candy.

Me: Do you want some bread Sam?
Sam: No. No bread.
Sam loves bread, so her refusal is unheard of which caused me to respond
with, "Who are you?"
Sam: "I'm samantha. Did you forget?"

There was also an excellent demonstration on how to eat pasta by Riley.
It involved head tilting, 2 hands, and a spinning fork. You just had to
be there for that one.

There were also conversations about counting and why we don't eat bugs
accompanied by numbered reasons counted out on their fingers. I don't
know what caused them to think of that - there weren't any bugs around.

None the less, it was a great lunch.

Ice sculpture anyone?

2008-03-09T22:23:00.000-07:00

I was perusing the Ice Oasis web site because our hockey coach, Peter (BluePoofs hubby) sent a link to their webcam. While I was trying to load that I noticed the following advertisement:

Penquin Ice Company
Dry Ice, Party Ice, Ice Sculptures
24hr Emerg Serv.

What exactly is an ice sculpture emergency and why would it need to be taken care of at all hours of the day. As my hubby said, "OMG, it's 3:00 A.M. and I need an ice sculpture. What am I gonna do?" To which his uber smart wife (that would be me folks - stop laughing) would respond, "I know! Lets call Penquin ice.."

Or how about, "Quick, it's 3:00 A.M. and I've just removed a person's kidney, get me a bathtub full of ice STAT!"

I think you can see how the conversation went from there. Yep, all down hill.

YoYo Crackers

2008-03-07T17:17:00.001-08:00

For the most part my kids don't get a lot of cookies. Mostly they've had the boring animal crackers/cookies (not the pink and white frosted ones) which we've always referred to as crackers.

Today I gave the girls a sandwich type cookie.
They asked, "What is this?"
I replied, "What do you think it is?"
Riley quickly answered with, "It's a yoyo cracker."

Next time you look at your sandwich cookies think about this and I think you'll agree that they do indeed appear to be yoyo crackers.

There's an "O" in the middle

2008-03-05T17:04:00.001-08:00

Today Sam spelled her first word ever, dog. Per Sam: There's an O in the middle, a D in the front, and a G at the end. Thank you Word World.

Delish dinner

2008-03-03T00:35:00.000-08:00

This past weekend at work sucked. There was much sadness and stress with the babies, but the one thing that made it better were the delicious dinners that Bill made for me.

Friday night I had an absolutely wonderful steak, that was cooked perfectly even after being reheated in the microwave.

Saturday night I had lobster tail! Yes, lobster tail. I'm not sure what brought it on, but it was very good.

Both nights dinners were accompanied by yummy salads with baby greens, cranberries, and nuts.

Thanks for making a bad weekend a little better honey.

My daughter, President of the Earth and she wears a Minnie Mouse dress!

2008-02-29T17:14:00.000-08:00

Vote for Sam! Sam for President of the Earth!

Today Sam and Riley were role playing, and Sam declared herself President of the Earth. She quickly followed this up with, "The President wears a Minnie Mouse dress."

Not like him.

2008-02-27T15:13:00.000-08:00

Last week Bill went on a business trip to New York. The girls and I took him to the airport, so the girls could get the idea that he was going away for awhile. "On a plane, just like Hawaii," per Sam and Riley. Of course we had to pick him up too, so I got there nice and early (earlier than planned), parked the car, and took the girls inside. We got a little snack and set ourselves up at the glass so they could see him when he came through the gate.

As we waited, Sam became more and more worried that he wasn't coming, or that he was lost. Finally she asked me if we would know Daddy when we saw him. I told her, "of course we will." This was not enough for her. She very calmly told me, "Mommy, Daddy has black hair and a big head, and he doesn't look like that guy (pointing to a random male passenger)." Now I know.

I finally figured out what I want to happen to me when I die

2008-02-19T14:01:00.000-08:00

For my whole life I've been disturbed about what happens to me when I die. Mostly I'm irrationally afraid that I will be buried alive, or if I decide upon cremation, that I would be burned alive. I think I can finally set all of that aside thanks to Helen's Whatever Wednesday post and Jesse's response. I am going to have myself made into a diamond courtesy of Lifegems. If Bill goes first, I'm experimenting on him. ;)

Children are so literal

2008-02-19T13:35:00.000-08:00

I don't know how I do it, but I seem to keep forgetting that children can be so literal, and often misinterpret things they hear.

This weekend Riley had a high fever, so much so that I claimed she was burning up. I tried to give her some Tylenol (which she has had in the past without complaint.) As I was reaching out to hand her the tablet she started screaming, "No, no, no", and covered her mouth. Now we've never had this problem before, she always takes her Tylenol just fine. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, "I don't want to burn up" at this point it became like an Abbott and Costello routine with me saying, "This will help with the burning up" and her screaming back, "No. I don't want to burn up." After a minute or two I finally realized what I was saying, and how she was interpreting it. Once I explained that the Tylenol would cool her off, not cause her to burst into flames, she was ok.

From the mouth of babes...

2008-02-17T22:57:00.001-08:00

Sam happened to come in while I was watching a Food Network show on making beer. After watching for a minute or two she made the following statement:

"Beer is not for little girls. It's not good for them. Little girls need milk. And water. And warm chocolate (this is what they call hot chocolate)."

There you have it. The beverage necessities of little girls.

I heart William Fisher

2008-02-14T23:17:00.003-08:00

Rich sent this to me with a, "What the heck" message attached. Not sure why this is on Amazon, but I think it's pretty funny.

Happy Valentine's Day to me!

2008-02-14T17:29:00.001-08:00

Many of you may have plans for a nice little dinner with your sweetie,
maybe a card or two to exchange, or some chocolates and flowers to
celebrate Valentine's Day. Not so for me.

First of all, we just don't celebrate this day. We celebrate the 13th
instead as that is when we got engaged (9 years ago now). We had a nice
dinner last night out on the wharf in Santa Cruz, where we always go
since it's where the inaugeral event occurred. However, I do always
have a little treat for my kids on V day.

So. What did I do to celebrate the day? I went down to my nice little
doctors office and let him slice my breast open. Shortly after that I
started my period. And no, I'm not a little grumpy right now. Why do
you ask? Just hand over that cookie and no one gets hurt.

Serious speedtrap on Middlefield in Palo Alto

2008-02-12T10:31:00.001-08:00

Or should I say, "traffic control zone?" There are at least 5 officers
patroling and it looks like they are focused on the area between San
Antonio and Charleston.

Police activity = entertainment for 3 year olds

2008-02-04T10:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, somebody ran from the police in our neighborhood. No idea what he did, or why he was in this area. The police were not forthcoming, and we haven't found anything in the news about it yet.

However, it did end up being good fun for the girls. There were three police cars parked around our house, and one had a police dog. There were at least a dozen police up and down the streets doing searches which makes for good breakfast entertainment. They did ask us to be sure all our doors and windows were closed and locked, and then they came in the backyard to look around (as they did for all the houses in the neighborhood.) The girls thought that was funny.

Eventually they moved off to the next block, and we were back to our day to day routine.

Bad News Brownies/M4

2008-01-28T02:06:00.000-08:00

Normally I don't blog about hockey because, well, my hockey is just not blog worthy. Tonight was a little different, not because I did anything great, but just because of the situation.

I was asked to sub up a division along with a couple of other people. Again, not due to my skill, but because they were desperate for warm bodies. In any case, everyone on the team was so nice, and so supportive, it made what could have been a very nervous game for me, a very fun game. The team was very motivational, and even though we lost 5-0 I left with a huge smile on my face. It was one of the best hockey experiences I've had.

Thanks Liz for asking me to sub for M4.

And just because I wanted to know what my food would say if it could talk...

2008-01-25T16:19:00.000-08:00

What Your Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwich Means

Your eating style is gluttonous. If you like something, you're going back for seconds... no matter how full you are!

You don't really have a sweet tooth. If you go for dessert, you tend to go for something light.

Your taste in food tends to be pretty flexible. You may crave sushi one night, and your favorite childhood recipe the next.

You belong to a class that's all your own. You resist rules and traditions of any sort.

You are a tough person who isn't afraid to live life fully. There isn't a lot that scares you.

You are a pretty easy person to please, but you do have your own little personal quirks. You're far from neurotic, but you can be a little picky at times.

What Does Your Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Say About You?

If only...

2008-01-25T16:04:00.000-08:00

You Are Sheryl Crow!

Down to earth with tons of creative energy

When you talk, everyone can relate to you

"Life springs eternal

On a gaudy neon street

Not that I care at all"

Who's" Your Inner Rock Chick?

This was courtesy of Jennie

Hmmm, should this post be titled, "Exhibitionist Pregos" or, "Revisit of Pet Peeve 1,247?"

2008-01-25T12:51:00.000-08:00

This week I took the girls back to one of our favorite places, the Silliman Family Aquatic Center. It's an indoor water park that is open all year long, and geared toward younger children. This time there was the strangest assortment of people there. Normally everyone is very polite, keeps an eye on their own children, and there is a certain amount of decorum that is inherent to the place. Today none of that was present. Was it the holiday crowd that I should be avoiding? (It was MLK day)

There was one boy, about 7 years old, that kept splashing everyone (in the small kids area), didn't wait his turn on the slide, and kept sliding into the other kids. When he slid into my kids, and actually hurt them (he was large for his age), I went and talked to his Mom. At first she seemed very nice, and headed over to talk to him. However, as she was walking over, she turned around and said that all the kids were doing it (they weren't), and that my kids had run into him before that (they hadn't - I was right next to them the whole time.) Later I noted another Mom went up and talked to her and got the same response. I guess this goes back to my Pet Peeve #1,247.

A plea to pregnant women everywhere, on behalf of all people with eye/s:

To the extremely large pregnant woman who came out of the locker room looking very appropriate in her swimsuit, keep it that way. Do not sit at the edge of the pool and proceed to roll the swim suit top up to the crease between your breast and your swollen belly - there's no sun at an indoor pool, you cannot tan this way.

To the other very large pregnant woman there - Thong bikinis were not meant to be worn by pregnant women. Bikini's yes. You had the body for it. Thongs, no. Getting to see your swollen prego bits was not my idea of fun. And to your husband, banana hammocks are just not attractive at the family pool.

Thank you for listening.

Hawaii run down

2008-01-25T11:59:00.000-08:00

This is long overdue. It's been sitting in my outbox waiting to be finished, but it's apparent that it's not going to be. So, for your enjoyment (or torture), here's the rundown:
1. If you have kids, travel with them either in a stroller or in their carseats with some sort of wheels attached to get through the airport. This allows you to go through the shorter wheelchair line. We had no idea until we were redirected by TSA.
2. Have friends (Thanks Auntie Liz and Auntie Mo) pack backpacks for your kids to entertain themselves on the plane, and don't let the kids have them until you are at cruising altitude. This should keep them busy the whole flight.
3. Schedule beachtime during daylight hours or you will come back as white as you left. (Yep, that's from recent experience)
4. Get loco moco as often as you can. It's just not the same here.
5. Eat at the local roadside restaurants/stands. You'll get a plate full of rice, macaroni salad, and either beef, chicken, or pork for $3 to $5. It's delicious and usually enough to feed 2 people. We spent $20 for 5 people and ended up throwing away half the food cuz there was so much of it. I highly recommend Kenneke's. It was the best by far.
6. If on Oahu, go to see the Kamaka Ukulele factory. Sounds dorky, but it was fascinating. One of the sons of the founder is still there. He's 95 years old and made his first ukulele at 5 years old. He does the tours and you get so much more than just a tour with him. It's not in any guidebook, so you'll probably have the place to yourself and his undivided attention.

Can't think of more at the moment, but that's enough "duh" factor for now.

The plumbing gods hate me

2008-01-24T10:58:00.000-08:00

Now I am plunging my toilet which doesn't seem to be budging. Calgon
take me away. Oh wait, that would involve water and plumbing. Scratch
that and just get me a stiff drink.

Drain Disaster, The Final Episode

2008-01-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

For any of you that may have been wondering (ok, I know it's only Chaim), the drain situation has finally been resolved. In case you need the info, it all started with this:
In hindsight I probably shouldn't have left it in the drain for 6 hours when it said to flush with hot water after 30 minutes. I believe Chaim was correct when he said all the hair, sludge, etc. had loosened up and congealed into a giant ball somewhere downstream. Lesson learned.

Resolution was achieved with 3 1/2 bottles of this (note the 80 oz. size):
2 more bottles of this (smaller, 32 oz. version of the Grandaddy bottle above):
A bit of this (until my shoulder started aching):

And a whole lot of this (which as you might have guessed, didn't help the situation at all, but it made me feel better.):

Next time I know to pay more attention to the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

What am I missing?

2008-01-17T00:32:00.001-08:00

3 more doses of drain cleaner and lots of plunging and now my shower is
completely backed up! This from a shower that I (stupidly) treated
because it was a little sluggish draining. What was I thinking.

Huh? How does that work?

2008-01-14T19:31:00.000-08:00

So. This week my drains were running slow, and I found myself standing in about 1/2" of water at the end of my shower, so I decided to be proactive and run some drain cleaner through. All seemed fine, the drains were running through very nicely, until this morning. This morning I found myself standing in two inches of water that wasn't draining at all. All I could say was, "Huh." When I finished my shower I ran some more drain cleaner through. Hopefully tomorrows shower will be puddle free.

Pet Peeve 1,247...

2008-01-11T17:58:00.000-08:00

People who don't parent their own children at the park (or any public venue for that matter.)

Today we went to the park with Liz and Val and there was this group of less than well behaved children who were using sticks as guns, poking each other with them, pouring sand on my girls heads, and whacking Val in the face with a stick (though this last was just due to carelessness and not paying attention to the stick they had in their hand) all while their mothers sat on a bench and socialized. At one point, one of the Moms called out. "We don't play with sticks." Seriously, is that all it takes in her mind? The only other thing said to the children was, "5 minutes" meaning they had 5 minutes left before they were going home.

I'm appalled to say I overheard them speaking of homeschooling meetings as I am seriously considering homeschooling the girls. However, I hope that these parents and children are not indicative of the homeschooling community.

Kiddie gate update

2008-01-10T11:01:00.000-08:00

The escapees are at it again. Today Sam wanted Riley to join her in her escapades. I can only guess that Riley couldn't quite make it over the gate, so Sam went into the bathroom, brought out the step stool (thought I should clarify that), and it was up and over for Riley too. Sigh. My life is no longer contained.

Too many pictures

2008-01-10T04:13:00.000-08:00

OK. I may be taking too many pictures of my children. This morning
when I went in to be sure they were covered up, so they wouldn't get
cold while they slept, a little light from the hallway fell on Riley's
face. Suddenly I hear a little asleep voice cry out, "No pictures, no
pictures." I can only imagine that in that sleepy state the hallway
light must have seemed like the flash from a camera.

My little hockey player

2008-01-08T16:01:00.001-08:00

This morning Sam wanted me and Riley to play hockey with her. This afternoon when I told her it was naptime and started walking to the bedroom with her, she told me to close the kiddie gate so she could climb over it. I guess she'll have no problem with the boards.

House no longer secure

2008-01-07T15:57:00.000-08:00

All this time we've been able to use kiddie gates to keep the kids out of the areas of the house where they could get into trouble. Up until now it's been no problem because my kids aren't really climbers. Didn't climb out of their cribs, don't generally climb on furniture, and never
over the gates. Today I couldn't figure out how Sam got out of the play area, so I asked her to come back, so I could see how she did it. She simply threw one leg over the top of the gate and
rolled on over like some people clear the boards in hockey. So much for security.

Peppermills...a necessity for preschool kitchens

2008-01-02T13:12:00.001-08:00

The girls made lunch today in their play kitchen. After they had
everything laid out on the table they walked around it with their
kaleidoscopes twisting the bottoms to "grind" pepper on the plates.

Ta da!

2007-12-30T17:27:00.001-08:00

This weekend we went up to snow country and were staying in a two story condo. Bill and I were in one bedroom and the girls were in the other bedroom. We were a little concerned the first night that the girls might wake up, be a little disoriented, and fall down the stairs, so we
tried to figure out some sort of obstacle to prevent this. We didn't have child safety gates, so Bill had the great idea to use the free standing steel fireplace screen that usually sits in front of the wood burning stove. He wedged it in their doorway after they went to sleep, so they didn't know it was there until they woke up.

When they woke up we heard a very quiet and earnest conversation between the two of them. Some of they questions asked were, "What should we do? Should we move it? Should we call Mommy and Daddy?" and some others that were too soft to be heard.

Finally Riley decided on a solution. She either pushed or kicked the screen down, and as it fell with a loud crash, she cried out triumphantly, "Ta da!" Bill and I almost couldn't control ourselves it was so hilarious.

After that, Sam said, "Good job Riley," and they both charged into our room.

No snow? It can't be Christmas.

2007-12-25T13:27:00.000-08:00

This morning the girls woke up and ran into our room to tell us that Santa had left slippers for them in their room. They also emphatically notified us that it could not be Christmas because there wasn't any snow. They wouldn't even go in to see their stockings and presents because it wasn't Christmas. We had to have a rather extended conversation about what part of the world we live in, why it doesn't snow here, and how it could still be Christmas without snow before they would go check for stockings and presents.

Making Gingerbread Cookies

2007-12-24T13:17:00.000-08:00

The girls were helping me make gingerbread cookies this morning when we added the molasses. They both got verry excited about the batter changing colors. There was much excitement and many shouts of glee.

Finally the following conversation occurred:
Sam: Look, look! It's turning yellow.
Me: That's really more of a brown color. Most people would call that color tan.
Sam: Oh, that's just like Valerie Tan.

Egg toss

2007-12-19T14:58:00.000-08:00

Today the girls had to figure out how to protect eggs so that when they were fired from a catapult they wouldn't break. They were presented with a table that had some styrofoam type stuff, foam trays (like those from meat in the supermarket), felt, tissue paper, toilet paper rolls, cups from egg cartons, tape, string, and plastic. The girls picked all their own materials, decided how to "wrap" them, and only had me help with the holding and taping when they needed an extra hand.

After their creations were complete, we headed out to the park where they had the catapult set up, and each child got to place their creation in the catapult, then stand back and watch it fly. I was pretty impressed by all of the kids creations. Out of 8 kids, only 3 eggs broke. Pretty good for 3 to 5 year olds if you ask me.

After launching them several times, we opened them up and took out the eggs. Then the kids had a choice of taking the egg home for their parent to cook, giving the egg back to the zoo so they could use it to feed the animals, or launching it again without any protection so they could see it explode. One of my kids chose to launch the unprotected egg while the other offered to give hers back to the zoo for the animals. Can you guess which was which?

For those of you (Liz and Andrea) that wanted to see the holiday dress...

2007-12-18T13:11:00.001-08:00

here it is. The party was good fun. Will add more to this post later.

Christmas Meme

2007-12-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

A Christmas Meme not because I enjoy meme's, but because I've been tagged several times (the latest being by Helen), and I'm hoping to stave off further attacks, I mean invitations by answering this one. Here goes:

-Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. No peeking here folks.
-Real tree or artificial? Real tree. Only a real tree. Never ever artificial. It was bad enough the few years when I had to go to a tree lot instead of hiking through a tree farm to find just the right tree. It must speak to you. This year I'm happy to say the girls totally got into it and we "listened" to many trees before they found one that they declared had asked to come home with us. You don't get that joy from artificial.
-When do you put up the tree? That's a difficult one to answer. We usually get it the day after Thanksgiving, but keep it in a bucket of water for a week or so before we put it up. This year we were in Hawaii the day after Thanksgiving, so we didn't get our tree until this past Sunday. And whaddya know? We put it up and decorated it the same day.
-When do you take the tree down? I usually try to get it down for the first trash day after the new year. That's when our city will take them for recycling. They actually do it for a few weeks, but it's usually time to have it out - dead needles everywhwere.
-Do you like eggnog? Yes and no. The stuff in the carton? Gross! The rum flavored alcoholic stuff? Gross! The sort of liquid vanilla milkshake thing my Mom made us as kids? Delicious.
-Favorite gift received? A happy, healthy family every year. I dread the years when some people will no longer be with us.
-Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, but it's been years since it's been out. Kids and animals tend to wreak havoc on them.
-Hardest person to buy for? Hands down, Liz. She has everything she needs/wants. A close second is Andrea. Go figure. Oh yeah, and the parents on both sides of the family. They just don't need anything.
-Easiest person to buy for? Sam and Riley. They're still at that magical age where they just love any gift.
-Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't think of any bad Christmas presents I've received, but then again I'm still at that magical age where I just love surprises of any kind. Just for the record, I will always be at that age. The fact that someone has taken the time to even think of getting me a gift is more than enough for me.
-Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail although the last 2 years I've failed to actually get them in the mail even though I had them. Let's see how this year goes.
-Favorite Christmas movie? Oh my. How do I choose just one? I love all the oldies. Rudolph, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, etc. I guess if I had to pick one, it would be "The Year Without a Santa Claus" because it has the Heat Miser in it, and who can resist singing along with that?
-When do you start shopping for Christmas? The day after the previous Christmas. I try to shop all year round if I see something I know someone will love, and I know they won't get it for themselves before the next Christmas. The bulk of my shopping though happens online between Halloween and the first week in December.
-Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Never. It goes back to my excitement of getting a gift. I can't give away something that someone gave me. It's like giving away the love.
-Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Gingerbread cookies. Mmmmmmmm, mmmmmm, mmmmmmmm.
-Clear lights or colored on the tree? This question can be interpreted many ways. Clear lights = newer style, small lights, colored lights = older style, larger bulbs. Clear lights = all small white lights, colored = small, rainbow colored lights. There are many other variations, but for the sake of space I will say that we currently have the newer, small, rainbow colored lights on our tree. There is however, a part of me that misses the large old fashioned (very hot) lightbulbs, and the bubble lights of my childhood.
-Favorite Christmas song? This is like the Christmas movie question. How do I pick just one? For the most part I like all of the old ones sung by the crooners of old. Who can be White Christmas sung by Bing Crosby? Seriously?
-Travel at Christmas or stay home? In general we stay home now. We use to try and get to everyone's house, but that was just too crazy, and not fair to our family time.
-Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Yep. Dancer, Dasher, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and of course Rudolph who isn't always pictured.
-Angel on the tree top or a star? Star. Always a star. I am very lucky to have the one from my childhood to grace the top of my tree. My children have learned to love it as much as I do, though I think my husband would secretly like something newer and less decrepit.
-Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning always!
-Most annoying thing about this time of year? Crowds and rudeness everywhere at what should be a happy, loving season.
-What I love most about Christmas? The tree, the treats, the lights, the joy and squeals of delight from my children as they take in all the wonder that is around them.

And now, because I know you won't respond if tagged anyway (you know who you are), feel free to answer this meme in your bl0g (or in my comments section if you don't have a blog.)

Sam's Pajamas

2007-12-14T14:26:00.000-08:00

The last couple of days Sam has been storing toys in her pajamas. The pajamas are the fleece footie kind that zip up the front. She simply puts the toy in the top of the pajamas and then guides it to her left leg if it's a toy for her or her right leg if it's one she's keeping safe for Riley. Yep, she's storing them for Riley too. Keep in mind that she is WEARING THE PAJAMAS, PLAYING IN THEM, AND SLEEPING IN THEM WITH ALL THE TOYS IN THERE. Following is a list of what I just pulled out when it was time to shower:
2 Disney phones
2 wooden airplanes
1 metal airplane
A 4" tall witch figurine
A golden retriever figurine
A Hello Kitty small plush
A Mr. Potato Head plastic saber
A kukui nut lei
A hand drum
1 lg. Superball
A rubber popper toy
A pair of sunglasses
5 Winnie the Pooh stickers
3 Tigger stickers
A butterfly sticker

Delicious!!

2007-12-13T15:39:00.000-08:00

Last night I got lucky! (Get your minds out of the gutter people.)

Bill had suggested we have crab for dinner last night, but prices were outrageous (the sale was over). Instead he brought home sourdough bread with hunks of garlic baked in (mmmmmm, mmmmm, good), lobster (which he cooked to perfection), and king crab legs. To start the dinner though, he made a warm goat cheese salad that rivaled any I've had in a restaurant.

You could say that I'm the luckiest girl around except that Andrea was here for dinner, so that makes us two of the luckiest girls around. ;)

Shaved head

2007-12-12T23:37:00.000-08:00

Went to get my hair cut today, and really began to panic when she whipped out the razor and started going to town. I seriously thought I was gonna be bald when she was done, but not so. Whatever she did, she was also able to get lots of curl and "fullness" into my hair. Not sure I like that. In fact, pretty sure I don't, but never fear I do not have the skills to make that happen even if I did like it.

Of snowmen and belly buttons...

2007-12-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today started as any normal day in our household. Me getting irritated by a bunch of little things, the kids not listening, the dog chewing up paper towels and spreading them throughout the house, and all of us racing to get out of the house and on our way at the same time. As the morning progressed I became grumpier and grumpier until the two best little people ever turned it all around.

We went to that evil donut shop where they are now making snowmen donuts for the season. When Sam received hers she looked at it, tilted her head, looked at it again, and then said, "Mommy, why do snowmen have 3 belly buttons?" She was referring to the "buttons" down the front, but how could I not smile at that?

This question was quickly followed by Riley's ballad to her snowman. "I love snowmen. They are so cute. I love snowmen, I love snowmen," sung to the cutest of tunes.

And to top it all off Auntie Mo just arrived to take the girls for a walk.

I feel much better now.

Science class

2007-12-05T12:02:00.000-08:00

Today the girls had another installment of science class. They talked about eggs, and to the girls great delight they got to smash them, mix them, seperate them, all while trying to identify the different parts. At the end of class they got to make scrambled eggs that they could eat. That kind of creeped me out. I was always taught (and thought why does this need to be said) that you don't eat anything in science class. God knows what's growing in there. The girls enjoyed it though. At the end of the series they get to do the famous egg drop experiment where they each have to build something to put their eggs in so they don't break when dropped off the roof.

To Diamond Head and back.

2007-12-03T15:19:00.001-08:00

I am so proud of my girls. They hiked all the way to the summit of Diamond Head and back again without fussing or whining. I couldn't say the same for some of the adults that were hiking up.

Just so you know what a feat it was for 3 year olds, here are some stats about the hike:
- The trail is 1 and 3/4 miles to the rim (that's 3 and 1/2 miles round trip).
- it takes the average person 1 and 1/2 hours to do it (the girls did it in 1 hour and 15 minutes)
- there are two sets of stairs (one very steep and the other a spiral). The first is 99 steps, the second is 76 steps. Plus there are 3 more steps to get out of the bunker at the top, and about 25 more to get to the actual summit.
- there is 225 foot unlit tunnel as well (this kind of freaked me out, but they were fine.)
- the hike is rated as easy to moderate (realy more on the moderate side)
- there is no shade on the trail (sunscreen works wonders)

Cinderella at the ball

2007-12-03T14:42:00.001-08:00

Sam dressed up in her Cinderella dress and told me she was going to the ball. She then said that her prince wasn't there, she was only going to take pictures.

Shocking fact of the week

2007-12-03T13:26:00.001-08:00

There was a Starbucks in the lobby of our hotel, and I never even had one Starbucks the whole week and a half we were there.

I know. I was stunned myself.

Crazy Loco Moco Bonanza

2007-11-29T23:38:00.001-08:00

It's been a loco moco bonanza since we've been here. It everywhere and I'm lovin' it. The best I had was at Keneke's where you could order a triple (I did not). The worst was at Rainbow Drive-in which comes highly recommended (and everything else we had was great.)

All I can say is Mmmmmmmm.

Wednesday Humor

2007-11-28T21:02:00.001-08:00

What's funnier than a naked 3 year old running across the room playing a ukulele?
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Two naked three year olds running across the floor playing ukuleles of course.

Accounting for headwind is everything.

2007-11-27T12:45:00.000-08:00

On the way out here United has a game they play where you have to guess the time (hour, minute, and seconds) that the plane would be geographically halfway to Hawaii. They gave you cruising speed, altitude, and headwinds, and you had to give them the time. Get this. I guessed 2:23:37 and the actual time was 2:23:10. I only missed it by 27 seconds which was close enough to get me the first prize. Mmmmmm, chocolate covered macadamia nuts are delicious.