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.

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 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.

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.

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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!

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.

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. . .

We folded up all your comments and Gunnar got to pick the winner since he is home sick from school and this is the most excitement he’s had all day!

I will be in touch with you! And if you didn’t win, I’m sorry. But don’t be too sad, I’ll do more giveaways in the future. I realized that it isn’t necessarily about making money, but I love my craft, and sometimes it’s exciting to share my time and love for photography with other people who appreciate it as much as I do. Not always will I have the time to photograph others just for fun, but once in awhile I think it’ll be awesome for me to have my creative juices flowing without the pressure of a regular photo shoot. So don’t worry, there will be more. And I could use the practice, always. Especially when I have been separate from my camera for more than a few weeks, it’s great for me to get back behind it where I am most comfortable.

I love that there are people out there that I don’t know who follow my blog. I wish I could know more about each and every person, why they visit here, for the photos, the venting, the piece of sanity that they are not alone in their chaotic life, whatever it is, I love that you came to visit.

(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.