My Little Indian

Last week Greta had her first performance in preschool. I believe I shed a tear or two. They’ve been learning social studies and all about the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. My Grets was a little Indian, or Native American I should say. And Hayden was a pilgrim. Although after the performance Aaron commented that their roles should’ve been reversed based on skin color, it was quite funny. I wasn’t sure she was going to go through with the songs, but she did. They sang a little song that went like this, “there’s a song in my heart, food in my belly, and love in my family”. It was pretty adorable. Aaron walked up as the performance ended, as did Nanni, but Tati and I were there to cheer her on.

These two are just edible! They were so proud of themselves.

boys and their books

Some nights after bath/shower time the boys have a little extra time to chill. I walked from the kitchen into the living room and this is what I saw.

The two of them together, current books in hand, totally enthralled. And there’s not much I love more. Maybe it’s because I have such a love for reading, but seeing them so into a book just about does it for me. I love Sawyer’s pjs hiked all the way up to his thighs, he’s still such a normal 5 year old I just can’t stand it.

superstar

Soso was pretty jazzed to be picked for the Star of the Week in his kindergarten class. He had to answer a bunch of questions like what his favorite color is, what his pet’s name is. I pulled out a poster board and he decided to write everything he likes on the board. His writing and spelling cracks me up. And his little pictures to go with the words. Beyond cute my boy is.

too grown up

can you just not stand this photo of my girl?

hair bow

Yeah, I kinda have a thing for cute knit hair bows. I have found some adorable ones on Etsy. And this is one of them. I was surprised that it actually stays put in my hair. I get compliments every time I wear it and I have a feeling my collection may grow.

sometimes. . .

not planning things turn out the best. Friday afternoon at 5:30pm Jane called because that afternoon I found out they didn’t have evening plans and I was hoping they wanted some. Spontaneity has never really been a huge part of Jane and my friendship, but we’re getting daring in our old age. 2 hours later the whole family was on my doorstep with pajamas and toothbrushes and big smiles.

One night turned into two and I still could’ve used some more time with them. The girls are beyond cute together. They hold hands when we drive in the car. They kiss each other when we read bedtime stories on the couch. And since they all ran out of clothes, Sunday I dressed the girls alike and they couldn’t contain their excitement at being “twins”. David wore Aaron’s clothes and Jane wore mine. See, they don’t even need ANYTHING to come and visit us!!! It’s usually time that is always the problem. But not this weekend. The rarity that both of us had nothing changeable or planned was definitely taken advantage of. We laughed, we cooked, we went to Koreatown, we cleaned, we dined, we drank, and we laughed some more.

It never ceases to amaze Aaron how much Jane and I talk when we’re together. You’d think we would’ve ran out of things to talk about this weekend, but nope, in the very late hours of both nights we forced ourselves to say goodnight and go to bed. I still think I could be talking to her now, we have lots to say when we’re together.

I realized that unplanned things are quite fun. I am torn between loving the anticipation of something and the thrill of it just happening out of the blue. For now, I’m leaning towards the out of the blue part.

Hoping to catch up on my laundry now and my sleep. It was fun Lees! We miss you guys already.

Thank yous. . .

Thank you crazy man at the park who passed by me and didn’t stop to talk. I am loving wearing my headphones all the time, if nothing else, it keeps people from trying to talk to you. Not that the crazy man knew I was wearing headphones, but other people in general, they don’t bother you if you’re wearing ear buds. A new revelation to me. Interesting, now I kinda understand why my brother in law wore his headphones for 2 weeks straight while visiting. Hmmmmm

Thank you Coffee Bean for Winter Dream Tea Lattes being back in season!

Thank you husband for putting up with me not feeling great for the last week. I’m better now.

Thank you Veterans Day for not making me put money in my meter while I was at the doctor’s office.

Thank you lovely Kate for listening to me yesterday when I said I didn’t feel good, you didn’t make me hate you.

Thank you sister for shopping for me. My closet is always full and pretty thanks to you.

 

the zoo

Sometimes it’s nice to go to the zoo because then we, okay just me maybe, I feel that maybe I DON’T live in a house full animals. It makes me feel like there are other places where the creatures fling their poop and act in their right mind, like animals. Climbing walls and swinging from ropes, throwing food and fighting. Yes, the zoo is a welcome place for me. I feel so. . . at home.

Amanda and I took the kids out of school early the Friday of Halloween so they didn’t have to sit through their class parties. We met up with some other families at the Los Angeles Zoo and the weather couldn’t have been better. It was perfect. The L.A. Zoo is fantastic and large and sprawling. They have a great little park in there too.

Forgive me once again for the iPhone photos. You can’t really expect me to keep track of 3 wandering children AND my camera all the time, right? But Amanda was prepared, and I stole the ones at the bottom from her fb page.

weekending. . .

Nothing too exciting over in this household. A lot of downtime recuperating. Greta had an ear infection, Gunnar still has a cough but the doctor said that can take weeks if not months to go away. Aaron didn’t feel great Thursday and Friday, and I didn’t feel great Friday and Saturday. We are on the mend and strangely I wish we would just contract H1N1 because the anticipation of it hitting us and the back and forth controversy on the vaccine is making my head spin. Sawyer, poor guy, stuck home, enjoyed a Saturday afternoon playdate with his best bud.

The good part is that I have been sleeping a lot more than usual this weekend. And somehow I felt really great yesterday morning, and was able to do a garage sale that morning that we’ve been planning on for months. Maybe the idea of purging and clearing out space in our garage was worth enduring the exhaustion. I vowed not to return home with what I left in the morning, and sure enough, thanks to my trip to Goodwill after the sale, I kept my word. We did have to cancel our fun plans of outdoor ice skating, but there will always be another day, and no sense taking my kids to mingle with other kids and either passing on the lovely germs or getting some new ones. We all go back to work and school tomorrow and have enjoyed our weekend around the house. Sadly, it meant more than the usual TV time, but we did savor hot apple cider each night. The kids were also introduced to old school 007. Goldfinger.

I am realizing the benefits of going to sleep early. I never sleep before midnight and I am a zombie, being awoken each morning by the kids and dragging myself out of bed. But the last 2 days I have gone to bed in the 9-10pm range and I have woken up on my own around 6-6:30am each morning. Amazing what can get done in the morning hours! We’ll see if this early to bed, early to rise pattern continues. It doesn’t hurt that it’s pitch black outside at 6pm and Aaron and I stare at each other at 6:45pm wondering how it can’t be the kids bedtime yet?!

Lots of reading time for me and the kids. Lots of cuddles on the couch and in the beds. Lots and lots of laundry. But that is nothing new. Looking forward to Aaron having a day off Wednesday, but not looking forward to the fact that I scheduled dentist and doctor appointments for us that day. Hope everyone had a more fun weekend in their house than we did here!

10 things i love. . .

right now.

1. purging. thank you saturday morning garage sale.

2. sleep. thank you lunesta.

3. not having to convince the kids it’s bedtime because it’s pitch black outside.

4. Trader Joe’s mini hamburgers and buns.

5. ice cream sandwiches.

6. black cocoa almonds.(again trader joe’s)

7. Just Breathe by Pearl Jam.

8. My new hair bow.

9. Rereading a book(s) for the third time.

10. Pencil skirts.