ballet recital

Greta had her first ballet recital recently. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Well, if not the cutest, then pretty darn close. She warmed up first and then put on her yellow tutu costume. The girls were beyond adorable.

And we are back from Palm Springs, but unfortunately on the drive out there I lost my voice. I think I have mentioned before that I lose my voice when I get really stressed? Anyways, it happened a few months ago and I didn’t really address it until it turned into a full blown upper respiratory infection. . . ahhh. . . now you remember don’t you? Well, the doctor on call was nice enough (this time, normally she is really mean) to call in a prescription that my regular doctor put me on last time. And sure enough within 24 hours my voice is back. I still sound like I have a touch of emphysema, but so much better than the whispering I was doing before. Unfortunately the doctor on call was NOT nice enough to call in that lovely cough syrup with codeine that I got last time. But I believe I saved some, so I’m off to search the medicine cabinets.

I will try and post some photos from Palm Springs later this week. The kids had a blast, it’s unreal how many hours they could spend in a pool during a 40 hour vacation. They got to swim at night which was extremely exciting for them. Hope you all had a great weekend!

out

i’m out. til next monday. going with the familia to palm springs to soak up some sun, well as much sun as i can get wearing a huge hat and sitting under an umbrella with spf 30 on. but the kids will return to their fish form that they love so much. sawyer is a bit freaked because i made the mistake of telling him that we’re going to the desert for a few days. he has cried for about 30 minutes straight about how much he doesn’t like sand and camels. i tried to convince him that we actually LIVE in a desert and there will be no sand. no camels. just pools. there will be pools to swim in. he is convinced it will be 100 degrees and sandy. i even showed him the resort’s website and of course when it logged on there was a huge picture of a guy golfing in a sand trap. oops.

Strawberry Festival

One Sunday we drove up to Oxnard for the Strawberry Festival. We met up with another family and the kids went on some rides, enjoyed some strawberries. It’s only once a year so it was pretty busy. I had my fill of “fair” food and rides for awhile. But I must say, it was the best strawberry smoothie I’ve ever tasted. Greta did not hesitate once on this humongous slide.

light

I didn’t do anything to this photo. No cropping, no editing. nothing. i liked it just the way it was.

this is mallory.

Newborn Shoot- Elijah

Remember this beautiful pregnant mama? Well, that belly was holding this little guy, Elijah. And I can just tell you that my hormones were a raging during this photo shoot. A few days after Elijah was born I spent the morning with Gaby and helped her through a feeding, burping, and taught her the importance of swaddling. He is definitely a sweetheart. Here are a few when he was 9 days old. If you would like to see some more and see the whole family, they are posted on my photo blog.

a few funnies

oh, the things they say. 

Greta and Sawyer were quietly “discussing” who should have the wooden spoon from my kitchen, not that I don’t have 9 wooden spoons in my kitchen. But apparently, this particular wooden spoon was special. I hear this from the living room,

Greta: Sawyer, I’ll give you five bucks for the spoon.

 

I was editing some photos on the computer and was totally distracted. Sawyer was saying my name over and over again and it didn’t actually register til I heard this,

Sawyer: Mama mama mama maaamaaa maaaaaamaaaaaa, focus!

 

After dinner one night, Greta came over to me and said proudly,

Greta: Mama, I can speak frenchy. “baminos!”

Me: Greta, that’s spanish, and it’s vaminos with a v.

Greta: in frenchy?

Me: no, in spanish.

Greta: what does vaminos mean?

Me: let’s go. What language is vaminos Greta?

Greta: ahhhh, frenchy!

When Greta potty trained, my friend bought her some Ariel panties. She had her little boy, Hayden, give them to her. She was beyond thrilled. He was like “ehh, no big deal”. Well, when he went to leave he came over to Greta and said, “have fun with your panties”. It was hilarious. And I kept thinking to myself, oh no, boys cannot talk about my daughter’s panties! But they’re 2, so it’s okay right now. And to this day when she puts on her Ariel panties she tells me that Hayden bought them for her. 

And lastly, here is a funny video of my princess. sweet? innocent? feminine? not quite.

craigslist

the lens is SOLD.

i listed a few things on craigslist lately and have had awesome success, but i thought maybe i should list them here too in case any of you are interest. Either email me directly or leave a comment here with your email address. But most of you have my email address directly if you’re interested. we are getting rid of our beloved Brio train table and all the pieces, tracks and trains. The train table has some bumps and bruises, it comes with 4 containers that sit on shelves under the table. There’s 56 track pieces, 10 trains (2 battery powered), several little conductor men, lots of accessories and bridges and tunnels, etc. It’s listed for $175, but I will take $150 just so it leaves my house. 

I am also selling this Pottery Barn Kids bedding set. It’s a twin quilt and 2 pillow shams, kind of a patchwork style, can’t remember the name. The bedding is listed for $40.

There is a chance that one of my lenses will be for sale too. A guy is supposed to pick it up tomorrow, but you never know, he may never show. It’s my 24-85mm 3.5 Canon lens with a Tiffen filter. Hardly used, but I have my eye on something else. . . I bought it 6 months ago for $300 and am selling it for $125. If you are interested in that, email me, and I’ll let you know tomorrow if it’s still up for grabs.

D-Land Part Deux

LOVING the “Happy” lists, l o v i n g. Keep ‘em coming.

Absolutely loving the bokeh on this camera. I seriously can see such a difference when I edit the photos. Love love love it. Here’s some more random photos from our time  at the pool and in the parks.

We got to ride Small World for the first time since they renovated. I really missed this ride. And the kids were in awe. They don’t remember riding it before, and this is a glimpse at their faces the entire time.

The kids always have a blast in the pool with their slides. And we were thrilled Miss Alissa and parents could join us.

Although we go to Disneyland often, we have never done the Pixie Hollow line. And this time we did, Greta was beyond thrilled. She sometimes gets so excited she won’t smile, it’s like she is trying to process being in Tinkerbell’s presence, and it’s just much too thrilling.

 

 

happy

(First, I want to thank everyone for all their emails about Jane’s family’s shoot. Y’all are shy, feel free to comment on the blog. I won’t bite! But I do appreciate your sincerity and am so happy that you all love them as much as I do! So thank you.)

Last week, I wasn’t very happy. I think the new phase Greta is going through right now is going to kill me. It’s a new phase of “wake up crying and complain, whine, or cry the entire day and then go to bed”. And I’m not lovin’ it so much. But halfway, okay, maybe more like Thursday, through the week I decided that everything and everyone that was irritating me or driving me crazy was going to stop. Or I should say I was going to stop it all from irritating me. 

Instead, I was laying in bed the other night and thought up this list of things that make me so positively happy, some small, some big. But surefire happy.

1. fresh cut flowers on my dining room table

2. sawyer’s laugh

3. the perfect red lipstick

4. a good book

5. an unexpected visit from Aaron bearing goods from a Coffee Bean run

6. not having to clean up after dinner

7. the noise of my polaroid camera as i click the shutter

8. a postal delivery-i know, strange. but even when i order things and they are expected to arrive, i still skip to my porch when they actually do arrive.

9. snagging something on ebay that I have been wanting for awhile

10. saltwater sandals

what’s your 10?

for my jane. . .

If you are as fortunate as I am to have a friend for 15 years, viewing them like a sister and loving them more each year than the last, hold onto that friendship with both hands.

Almost 15 years ago I met Jane. I was 14, and she was 16, she just got her drivers’ license. We bonded over having the same favorite ice cream flavor. And since then she’s been in my life every step of the way. Jane means a whole lot to me, and we’ve been through a whole lot together. I remember her first car, a little white Toyota Corolla. We did a lot with that car. Got lost a lot too. We weren’t so good with directions, or remembering to turn the car off and take the keys out of the ignition when you got out and locked the car door. Oops. Before Jane I had never had a friend like her. Our friendship was totally brand new for me and I have loved every second of it ever since.

Jane is one of the smartest persons I have ever met. I still to this day have her proofread important letters or papers for me. High school is one of my favorite periods in my life because she was in college at UCLA which meant she practically lived at our house most nights. Loved that. I love that at the time Jessica and I were sharing this little bedroom in a high rise apartment and my Jane slept on the floor between our two beds. She was one of us. Still is.

Jane and I celebrate our friendship each year on our anniversary. I was thinking back to how we have celebrated in year’s past. When we were both single, and teenagers, we once went to Palm Springs for the weekend. And how I talked my parents into letting me travel to New York with Jane before I was even 18 years old is pretty insane. Greta for sure will not be doing that. But I love that Jane was there the night I met Aaron. She was also there many a meetings of boys, some good, some not so good. And let’s just say it’s a good thing I didn’t end up with some of them, because she did NOT like a few. I still hear about some of them to this day from her! 

Jane and I have survived distance. Our friendship has definitely changed through the years with the changing of our lives. I got married and moved across the country. Then, when I came home pregnant with Gunnar, she began dating David. They got married and it was her turn to move away. But throughout all this time, our friendship never faded or went away. 

Jane is one of the strongest people I know. If you know Jane you may scoff and say “Jane? strong!?” Of course, I don’t mean physically. Because we all know how fragile Jane is. When the weather dips below 60 degrees she breaks out in hives. Literally. Hives. Trust me. It’s true. She was always on the verge of being sick since I met her. In fact, I remember the super foods diet she went on to get really healthy before she had Alissa. It must have worked, because Alissa is near perfect. Back to the strong part now. Jane is one of the strongest people I know. She was at both Gunnar and Sawyer’s births. Although she doesn’t handle her own pain very well, or seeing others in pain, she has an inner strength that is unyielding. When she had Alissa I hauled my 7 month pregnant butt as fast as I could down the coast to be there within the first few hours after she came into this world. And despite all the obstacles that were in Jane’s way to breastfeed her baby, she persevered. She overcame.

Recently she’s been through the hardest time in her life and she has proved to be even stronger than I knew she was capable of. I hope I can one day emulate Jane’s strength, her power, and her daily will to go on living life. But always remembering.

She is a wonderful mother. Despite all the frustration and impatience we all experience, I have never heard Jane yell or act rashly. She is a calm and even tempered. Her daughter is the fruitage of her mother. I adore Alissa and view her as another child of my own. There is no difference in the love I feel for Alissa or the pride I have for that little girl. 

One of the best pieces of our friendship is the total lack of competition that we have shunned since the first day we met. There is nothing but pure, complete happiness for the other when good falls upon them. No animosity or jealousy. Okay, I take that back. I was extremely jealous that Jane’s daughter slept through the night at 6 weeks of age and continues to sleep 12 hours a night to this day. But I’m dealing with it. In all seriousness though, not once have either of us experienced even a tinge of anger or hurt or jealousy over not getting something that the other had received. Never have we been unfair or catty. Malicious or gossipy. We truly want the best things in life to come to one another. Neither of us have ever felt threatened by any of the other people that comes into each other’s lives. I think we both know that we cannot be replaced. Our friendship will not disappear. I can speak for myself, but having friends with others only makes me appreciate and love Jane more.

David is probably as close to a man could get to deserve Jane. And we laugh all the time that we happened to marry very similar men. Well, except for the Korean/White thing. But their demeanor, spirituality, humor, humility, rational thinking, upbringing, even the way they treat Jane and I are so similar it’s a bit crazy. It just makes me love David for being Jane’s husband and giving her what I know she needs and deserves.

Jane, I admire your honesty, your tact, your strength, your love, your determination, and your ability to love me despite all my imperfections. I look to you for advice and laughter. What would I do without you? I don’t ever want to know.

Thank you for letting me be a part of your family and document your laughs and smiles. I put this video together because taking your family’s photos just didn’t seem quite enough to me. I wanted something special and you’re kind of hard to shop for as far as gifts are concerned. So I figure I could give you something you can’t give yourself. Hope you like it. There’s a few new ones I slipped in here. Oh, and hopefully by morning the beginning error of the video will be resolved. And I am bringing you four dvd copies on Sunday Jane. I figure the grandparents and auntie are entitled to their own copy.

You can read more about my photo shoot with Jane’s family on my photography blog here.