Hope everyone enjoys their time off this week. It was glorious for Aaron to have just one day of work, and then be officially off. Unfortunately, he will have to work on Sunday, but it’s definitely worth it. We are off for some family time and relaxation, hopefully a little swimming and a few massages, lots of good food and drinks, a little golf for Gunnar, and some good reading time for me.
Be back next week!
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.
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.
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!
I seriously have let some posts slip through the cracks. My sister and her husband celebrated their 10 year anniversary in September and to celebrate her friends, my mom and I threw them a cocktail party. I didn’t take many photos, I was too busy cooking food for the ravenous wolves. But we didn’t mind, as long as the cocktails are flowing, you have to keep the food coming.
This was the first time I blow dried Greta’s hair. Oh, the little princess she felt she was. And Sawyer got to pull out Gunnar’s old tuxedo from a wedding he was in. Again, such a bummer I didn’t take more photos. sigh. I didn’t even get one of Jessica and Carl together! Basically, the only photos I took were before it started. Once people arrived, that’s it. My camera wasn’t picked up again. Nikki should be in the photo with us too, but I didn’t even get one of all the girls who threw it with me. There’s always the next one, five years from now. . .
These two were separated at birth, brothers from different mothers, twins raised by different families. . . need I go on? It cracks Jane and I up every time these two get together because we roll our eyes and laugh at how alike they are. I mean if you get rid of the ethnicity, language, state they grew up in, education, and career, they’re almost identical. Not knowing until after we married these men did either Jane or myself realize that we married extreme men. Jane explained this to me, and I doubt I can put it in terms as easily understandable as she, but basically, all men are not like our men. This information was shocking. I thought all men are pretty much the same. Especially since we both married the same type of man, it was clear to me that most would fall into this same category. Nope. Pretty much NOTHING can gross them out. They will eat ALMOST anything, take any dare. They are both slobs and don’t mind being dirty and gross. Sometimes they both need reminders to brush their teeth and shower. And did you know, not ALL of men are like that? Apparently there are some men, who Jane and I must’ve been oblivious to, that enjoy being clean, neat, tidy, and sanitary.
Not these two.
And these two. Can they make my heart melt any more? The fact that they wake up and can’t get to each other’s rooms fast enough. That when one has to go the bathroom, the other goes. every time. And when one girl isn’t eating, all it takes is one bite by the other and all of a sudden they’re both hungry. Or the fact that if one is wearing a skirt we must dig in the suitcase to match the other, heaven forbid they wear different things!
Aaron knows I hate when he makes this face. He likes to force and accentuate all the wrinkles he has on his face.
Not sure how Gunnar managed to dodge every single photo I took. The weather was perfect. Perfect weekend. Just way too short. . .
(thank you self timer)
Giveaway winner will be chosen and blogged about tomorrow! You can still enter tonight.
I am a bit behind on some posts and they are not going in chronological order. Not sure if they ever do. I still haven’t posted pictures from our trip to Palm Springs, but they’re coming.
Kooza came to the Santa Monica Pier and my whole family went along with another couple. If you haven’t seen a show by Cirque du Soleil, I’m sorry. You really should. Years ago they came to our pier regularly and then they stopped, not sure why. But this is their first show back. Aaron and the kids had never been before. Watching their expressions was honestly the best part. Sawyer didn’t sit in his seat for more than about 5 minutes the entire show. He stood and stared and yelled and laughed and smiled the entire night. We were a little concerned that Greta would be scared because you never know the premise or theme of the show and although this “zany kingdom” Kooza sounded harmless, you just never know. And it can get loud and dark in there. But she was totally fine. She’s not easily scared and other than getting a little restless the second act, she was great. We didn’t have to get up once.
If you’ve ever been to the show you know that they like to mess with the audience a little. And where our seats were made it so that we had a big aisle right behind us, an aisle that the performers like to use a lot. They especially enjoyed Aaron’s bald head and repeatedly climbed on his shoulders so that they could kiss his bald head. The acts are not your normal acts. I honestly was screaming at one point in the show for fear my heart would jump out of my chest. There are no animals, just people. It was a beautiful show, and the kids still talk about the “bendy girls” and the “tumble wheel guys” on a daily basis. Even this morning Greta was talking about the man in the striped PJs who had a kite.
Before the show we had dinner at The Lobster, and Gunnar couldn’t have been happier. Lobster is his favorite and I think he has eaten at this restaurant more than I have!
A few snapshots with my iphone. Here’s the kids before we left.
You aren’t supposed to have your phones on during the show but I had to sneak one of the boys’ faces. I couldn’t resist and I didn’t get busted. I’m such a rebel!
Here’s some photos from dinner I got to take in between bites of the fantastic food. Oh, and if you are planning a trip to the show in Santa Monica, The Lobster has an awesome Cirque du Soleil 3 course meal you can get that includes valet parking for the whole night too. I can’t remember the last time we were all in a photo together.
I just realized I never posted photos from our Riley’s Farm expedition. We will definitely go back in spring time and they have so much to do there. The kids panned for gold, picked pumpkins, walked around the grounds, made friends with a donkey. Here’s some highlights.
That’s Gunnar and Noah in the next picture, you can barely make them out.
I was going through some old photos and stumbled on these videos. I have about a dozen but these ones made me laugh the most. I think they are from last month. She loves to make her some videos, almost as much as her brother Sawyer. These crack me up.
I didn’t bring my camera with me to Disneyland since it was raining, but I got to play around with the camera on my iphone. So here are a few snaps of our day. Paige and Jane and the kiddies met us and braved the weather. Seriously in love with all the fun photo apps on my phone.
