Big Weekend

Well, it was a big weekend around our house.  Lauren had her very first soccer game on Saturday.  She played so hard and gave it her all.

And on Sunday, Anna auditioned for the Sacramento Ballet's Nutcracker and was cast as a teeny, tiny mouse.  We also received an e-mail saying she had a callback for  "Oz, The Musical".

We're so proud of our girls and are looking forward to a busy fall!

Okay, Granny, okay. I get it.

Lauren lost her first tooth this summer.  I am a horrible, no good, very bad mother as I failed to post a picture of this momentous occasion on the blog.  My moms have asked via e-mail and by phone (many times) to see pictures but I never seemed to get it done.  Last week, Lauren received $10 and the following letter in the mail:

Lauren,
The Tooth Fairy left this at PawPaw & Granny's house for you.  I have not seen a picture of you with a missing tooth BUT the Tooth Fairy assured me that you had lost one. We love you so much and are so very proud of you.
Love,
PawPaw & Granny

Okay, Granny.  Message received. :)  Here's your picture.  Thank you to all of the grandparents for wanting so much to be a part of the kids' everyday lives even though we're thousands of miles apart.  We're very lucky and blessed.  We love you.

Next time I lose a tooth, I'm headed to Granny and PawPaw's house.  Their tooth fairy seems to pay much better than ours! LOL!  While we're updating, here's some pictures from the girls' summer camps.  Here's Anna at the Roseville Theatre Arts Academy Broadway Bound performance at the end of her two week camp.

 Here's a shot of Lauren in her Bones, Stones, Plants and Shells camp at the Maidu Interpretive Center.

 While the girls were busy singing and dancing, and tracking animals and throwing spears, Jacob was up to this:

Anytime he went missing, I just needed to head to the nearest bathroom to find him.  Lovely.

Bento Zen

I love the idea of healthy lunches for the kids. Even more I love the idea of healthy and "cute" lunches. There are some extremely talented and creative bento box makers out there. I recently came across a site called "Bento Zen" and fell head over heels for her lunches. She inspired yesterday's and today's lunches. I recently came across a passage from "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" and read a few paragraphs to the girls. We learned about the Baron's trip to the moon and the people he met there. As the moon was at war with the sun and the weapons used by the moon people were mushroom shields and asparagus swords, when I saw the following lunch on Bento Zen, I knew I had to try it. So, even though my lunches are nowhere near the level of perfection found elsewhere, the kids don't seem to mind. They headed off this morning with their own mushroom shields and asparagus swords and some pages from the story in their backpack.  The ravioli are mushroom and chicken with ham and cheese mushrooms on top.

From Chapter 18 of "The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen" by Rudolph Raspe

On the eighteenth day after we had passed the Island of Otaheite, mentioned by Captain Cook as the place from whence they brought Omai, a hurricane blew our ship at least one thousand leagues above the surface of the water, and kept it at the height till a fresh gale arising filled the sails in every part, and onwards we travelled at a prodigious rate; thus we proceeded above the clouds for six weeks. At last we discovered a great land in the sky, like a shining island, round and bright, where, coming into a convenient harbour, we went on shore, and soon found it was inhabited. Below us we saw another earth, containing cities, trees, mountains, rivers, seas, &c., which we conjectured was this world which we had left. Here we saw huge figures riding upon vultures of a prodigious size, and each of them having three heads. To form some idea of the magnitude of these birds, I must inform you that each of their wings is as wide and six times the length of the main sheet of our vessel, which was about six hundred tons burthen. Thus, instead of riding upon horses, as we do in this world, the inhabitants of the moon (for we now found we were in Madam Luna) fly about on these birds. The king, we found, was engaged in a war with the sun, and he offered me a commission, but I declined the honour his majesty intended me. Everything in this world is of extraordinary magnitude! a common flea being much larger than one of our sheep: in making war, their principal weapons are radishes, which are used as darts: those who are wounded by them die immediately. Their shields are made of mushrooms, and their darts (when radishes are out of season) are the tops of asparagus. Some of the natives of the dog-star are to be seen here; commerce tempts them to ramble; their faces are like large mastiffs’, with their eyes near the lower end or tip of their noses: they have no eyelids, but cover their eyes with the end of their tongues when they go to sleep; they are generally twenty feet high. As to the natives of the moon, none of them are less in stature than thirty-six feet: they are not called the human species, but the cooking animals, for they all dress their food by fire, as we do, but lose not time at their meals, as they open their left side, and place the whole quantity at once in their stomach, then shut it again till the same day in the next month; for they never indulge themselves with food more than twelve times a year, or once a month. All but gluttons and epicures must prefer this method to ours.

Back to School...Finally!

Our babies are finally back in school.  Classes were scheduled to start last Wednesday but a tanker fire in downtown Lincoln forced an evacuation of most of the area and pushed the opening of school back to today.  They were so cute this morning and even though I'm so excited  for them, I already miss them like crazy.  Jacob has even been wandering through the house saying, "Miss sisters."  Even though we had almost everything ready to go, this morning still felt like running a marathon.  We all need to get back into our morning routine.

I tried to make the girls a special "back-to-school" lunch and was aiming for "The Frog Prince" theme.  I included the story in the girls' lunch box to hopefully help clue them in.  I don't think my frogs look much like frogs.  :)  Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right?  

 We put the teacher's gifts together in preparation for classes to start last Wednesday.  I didn't put drainage holes in the silver pots and so I'm afraid to say our succulents were beginning to look a little worse for wear.  We made an extra to take to Anna's teacher from last year.  She is just so sweet and she and Anna were pen pals this summer.

 This may be my favorite picture from the day.  Jacob saw the girls holding up the chalkboard and so he tried to do the same...but upside down.  I love his grin.  Don't worry, I did comb his hair before we left for school!

We're looking forward to a great school year!

Mischief Managed

Jacob has been extra busy as of late. Recently in one day he emptied a bottle of starch on the wall and carpet. He climbed onto the washer in the laundry room and got into the cabinet with our cleaning supplies. He sprayed the girls with CLR, and the walls, the doors, and the floors of the laundry room with various other nasties. He took his diaper off and pottied on the lid of the toilet. I put him down for his nap and he pulled off his diaper and pooped in his bed.  When I was getting him out of his bed he said, "Don't be mad at me, I'm little."  I had to chase him through the backroom of Extreme Soccer in Roseville. He got the Pam and sprayed it on the family room ottoman and couch. That was just in one day. He's also been climbing on the washer to undo the deadbolt and the child latch at the top of the door.  He learned how to climb the shelf to get to the garage door opener and took himself out into the front yard.  Enough was enough!  I bought a new locking door knob for the laundry room and figured out how to put it in myself. I blame it all on my mother. She said so many times in the past that she hoped I had a child that was just like me. Really? I don't think I could ever have been this wild.  As the last Harry Potter film is out, I thought the line "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good" was quite appropriate.  I finally pulled out my Silhouette and used it for the first time to make this little shirt for my little stinker.

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Anna as Queen Elizabeth

So, it's only taken months to get this video off the camcorder and into a format where the grandparents can see it, but it's finally done.  Here is Anna's presentation of her famous person book report for her second grade class.  We were/are so proud of her.

Rub a dub dub, one baby in a tub...

Summer Daze

Is it just me or does the summer seem to be passing by all too quickly?  Anna started her first week of drama camp today.  Lauren starts an outdoorsy camp next week.  By the time they're finished, it will be August.  School starts on the 24th of August.  I need the days to slow down.  I'm just getting into the swing of things.

Swinging on a swing made by PawPaw

 Our little ones love to fish.  They just can't get enough.  The grandparents bought a lot of crickets this trip.  Jacob even caught his first fish this summer.  Will share more shots this coming week.

I'll dream in melody...

The third time must be the charm.  We finally made it to see Alison Krauss and Union Station last night in Tahoe.  We've tried to see them in the past but one show was cancelled due to weather and another because of an illness.  It was so worth the wait.  What amazing talent and my favorite concert in years.  A band called "Good Old War" opened the show.  They were a ton of fun too.  It was a beautiful evening for an outdoor concert and Doug and I had such a great time.

The Arrow and The Song

I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight

Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For who has sight so keen and strong,

That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroke;

And the song, from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

Lauren and her PawPaw spent a lot of time on the phone making big plans for our Alabama visit.  They planned to wrestle alligators, catch birds and coons, shoot rifles and arrows, and go fishing.  They managed to accomplish pretty much all of it during our stay.  They wrangled an alligator they named Gobbler, caught and released a raccoon, went fishing, shot balloons and soda cans with a BB gun, and spent hour after hour "practicing" with Lauren's very own bow and arrow set PawPaw bought for her.  She seemed to be a real natural and got better and better as the week went on.  No matter how hot it was, or how many mosquitoes there were, PawPaw was right there with her, instructing, monitoring, encouraging, and competing.  He's such a good grandpa and a wonderful father.  He's someone I would want to be friends with even if we weren't related.  The Longfellow poem seemed so appropriate as the time these two spent together placed an unbroken song in Lauren's heart.   She'll always remember this time with her PawPaw.  Who knows?  Maybe she'll be an olympic archer someday.  When we made it back to California, I tried to enroll her in a local archery camp but was told she was too young.  If only they knew our Lauren, they'd see she would have fit right in.  Tomorrow is my dad's birthday.  We wish we could be there to celebrate with him.  We hope he has a wonderful, spectacular day!  XOXO!

Fred

Because we're 1,000's of miles apart, Jacob has only gotten to see his granddads 3 or 4 times in his 2.5 years.  He talks to them on the phone and sees a lot of pictures but he had a hard time getting everyone's names straight in person.  We spent the first two nights of our visit with my mom and stepdad, also known as Nana and Poppy.  We drove to my dad's and stepmom's (AKA PawPaw and Granny) the next day and spent the next week and a half with them.  Jacob called my dad "Poppy" most of the visit.  Every time Jacob would call him "Poppy" instead of "PawPaw", my dad would call him "Fred" in return.  I just had to laugh because I went through something similar with my dad's mom.  She wanted to be called Grandma but I kept calling her "Gahbbie".  Every time I called her "Gahbbie" she would call me "Susie".  I finally got the hang of it and began to call her Grandma.  Jacob, too, started to get the hang of it and would call my dad by the right name...most of the time.  Toward the end of our stay, he walked up to my dad with a balloon and said, "Fill it please, Poppy."  My dad looked at him and said, "What's my  name?"  Without even so much as a moment's hesitation, Jacob replied, "Fred".

This saddle was at my mom's house and belonged to my mom's family when she was little.  They had a shetland pony named "Patsy" and this saddle was just the right size for her.  We have a picture of me when I was young sitting on this same saddle, although I was on an actual horse instead of a log.  I couldn't find a horse so I guess you do what you can!

Grandpa's boat

There was a child

There was a child went forth every day,

And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became,

And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day,

Or for many years or stretching cycles of years.

The early lilacs became part of this child,

And grass and white and red morning glories, and white and red clover,

And the song of the phoebe-bird,

And the Third-month lambs and the sow's pink-faint litter,

And the mare's foal and the cow's calf...

-Walt Whitman

The kids and I are home from a 3-week visit to see the grandparents in Alabama.  We had such a wonderful time and it was hard to say goodbye.  The little ones had room to run and roam, swim and fish, play and enjoy the outdoors.  The grandparents were so good to us and went out of their way to make sure we had a great time.  Lots and lots of pictures to share through the week.

Do you want to be my friend? Check yes or no.

Wherever we go, Anna and Lauren seem to make new friends so easily.  Heck, they even made a friend in the restroom at a restaurant the other day.  At the park they just walk up to the nearest kid and ask, "Do you want to be my friend?"  Then they all happily run off to play.  Wouldn't it be so nice to make friends as easily when we're adults?  We all need companionship and friends play such an important role in our lives.  Would that we could just let go of all of the insecurities, worries, and baggage and just offer a smile and a hand without worrying about whether or not we'll be accepted.  Being retired military, we've experienced the continual loss of good friends as we all seem to be on the move somewhere new every 2-3 years.  It wasn't until we had kids and lived on base that we actually began to make new adult friends.  There were years we spent living in neighborhoods without knowing anyone at all.  Although children open an easy door for conversations with moms we might not know, but would like to, it's still hard to find someone that you share interests with, and feel comfortable enough to be yourself.  I'm thankful that I'm at a time in my life where I have good friends, here and out of state.  I love the Bernard Meltzer quote, "A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked."    Goodness knows, I am a bit off! Speaking of being just "slightly cracked", here are a few of the latest crack-ups from our very own peanut gallery.

Anna caught an infomercial on TV and called into the kitchen, "Mommy, do you need stretch mark lotion?  Because the phone lines are open right now.  I was just wondering."

We drove by the new Bikram Yoga studio that's just opened in our area and Lauren said, "Mommy, that's the place I was telling you about.  If you want to be like this (she sucked in her stomach and poked her chest out), you need to go there."  Anna piped in and said, "Yeah, Mommy, if you want to be really stretchy go to Bike-Ram Yoga!"  After a good laugh and a good groupon deal, I took their advice and went to a yoga class.  I still have 9 classes to go but have decided that hot yoga is almost like childbirth.  With your first child (and your first class), you're excited and giddy and not really sure just what to expect.  When your second child (or second class as the case may be) comes along, you're not sure if you want to go through it again, at least not without a few drugs because well, you're scared and you know it's going to hurt.

We'll be visiting with the grandparents soon and the girls have been on the phone A LOT planning out all of their activities.  After one lengthy call between Lauren and my dad, my dad called me and was telling me about their conversation.  Lauren is planning on catching birds, hunting deer, and wrestling alligators.  My dad mentioned that at one point in the discussion Lauren said, "Mommy is mean sometimes."  My dad asked her what she did to make me that way and she responded, "Let's not talk about that."

We took a day trip to Empire Mines in Grass Valley a few weeks okay and Doug and the kids had the following conversation on the drive there.
Lauren:  When I grow up, I'm going to buy a motorcycle.
Anna:  Yeah, maybe I'll buy a motorcycle too....or a hot car.
Doug:  What kind of car, Anna?
Anna:  Ummm....a pink Chevy with a TV in it like Ryan and Mrs. Trish.
Me:  Mrs. Trish has a mini-van.
Anna:  Oh yeah.  Maybe a hot pink car with a TV in it or one that serves me burritos or McDonalds.

Jacob's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds.  He's a little parrot and repeats everything you say.  When I ask him his name, he responds, "J-tob Tiest".  When I ask him my names, he says, "Mommy Tiest".  When I ask his age, he says hes "Two!"  When I ask him how old Mommy is, he replies, "Mommy ooooold."

He tries to help out around the house and he'll get forks out of the drawer at meal time and place them on the table.  Unfortunately, however, at the end of the meal he takes the same forks (now used) and puts them back in the drawer.  He loves to help me unload the washing machine and put the clean laundry into the dryer.  He also likes taking the laundry from the dryer and placing it into the basket.  Walk away for even a second though and he'll have that clean laundry placed back in the wash and be trying to climb the machine to turn it on.

Doug spent a morning putting sticks in all of the windows so Jacob can't open them and climb out.  Even though he's figured out how to get by all of the other child safety latches we've put into place, my one consolation was that at least if he got out of the house, he couldn't get out of the backyard.  Yesterday I found him outside, climbing the gate, and removing the padlock (it was unlocked anyway).  He threw the lock on the ground and then started working on the gate handle.  If this keeps up, I really am going to be oooooold and gray by the time he turns 18.

Hawaiian Funnies:
At the Hilton Waikoloa there was a young man who ran along the shoreline each night, blowing a conch shell and lighting torches.  The first night we saw him, the kids were very impressed.  After he lit all of his torches and was making his way back, Anna yelled over to him, "Nice conch shell!"  I started to laugh, she asked why, I stifled the laugh and said I was just so happy to be there enjoying the lovely evening with my family.

The lighting of the torches affected Jacob in other ways, however. He spent all of his time trying to blow the torches out. He huffed...  (I know these aren't the clearest pics but I still love them anyway!)

And he puffed....

But he couldn't blow the torch out, much to his dismay.
 

We stopped at the Waikoloa market to get some gas and Anna saw the following sign.  Lauren asked her to read it out loud.  Anna read the sign quite accurately until she got to the end.  At the end, she read, "Violators will be subject to criminal execution!"  Worriedly, she turned to me and asked, "Mommy, they kill you??"  I calmed her down and explained the word prosecution.  Lauren asked Anna what it all meant and Anna said, "They don't kill you, Lauren, they just "persecute" you."

Oh, how I love our babies. I'll be in and out over the next few weeks as we're getting caught up on spoiling of the grandchildren by the grandparents, but will be back in July.  Happy summer!

It's the big one, Elizabeth! I'm comin' for ya.

Perhaps I’m dating myself by quoting “Sanford and Son”, but it seemed to be such an appropriate title for this post.  Last week I donated 130 books to the county library system, and 37 books to Goodwill.  It was painful and heart wrenching, and I thought it might send me into cardiac arrest. But I knew it needed to be done. I still have a gazillion books scattered around the house in bookcases in various rooms. The donated books were books that had followed us around from home to home over the years, always staying in boxes in the garage. Some were easy to let go of, but others I had to force myself to place into the donation box.  When I asked Doug where I should put the books that would be going away, he told me to put them in the trunk of his car and he would put them in the trash for me.  There was no way I would have been able to part with them knowing they would be in a dump somewhere. 

Books for me are almost like souvenirs, not necessarily from the places I’ve been, but of the person I was or wanted to be, and of the things I was interested in once upon a time. I feel invested in them, and in more than just a financial sense.   A "Literary History of Cambridge” reminds me of a summer spent learning about the history of Cambridge and touring the grounds of the different colleges.  "Scotch and Holy Water" and "The March of Folly" leave me nostalgic remembering a trip to Turkey with dear friends and the long talks we had that taught me so much.  I found it difficult to part with "The Roman Revolution", a book left over from a class I took while we were living in Nebraska.  I was studying civil engineering and geology and pregnant with Anna.  I didn't need the class but wanted to take it because I thought it was interesting.  It brought back memories of mine and Doug's move to Greece in the fall of '99, the drive we made from England through mainland Europe, and our stop in Rome.  I know it may sound silly but books are my vice...okay, and fabric too (I must admit).

There were two reasons I needed to divest myself of these piles of books. One was that I had mentioned to Doug I thought it might be interesting to have a Kindle. Don’t get me wrong. I love libraries, and book stores, and the smell and feel of books. I love the basket of books that sits next to my side of the bed. Travelling with wee ones, however, means the days of carrying 4-5 books in my backpack or purse are no more. Now, diapers, sippy cups, wipes, barbies, toy cars, and crayons have taken the place of my beloved books. Having a Kindle along at a time like that would be most handy. Doug told me if I would clear the books in the garage, he would order a Kindle right away. The other reason was that I took a closer look at myself and began to worry about my tendencies to hold on tightly to things that may just be cluttering my life. While holding on can be an admirable quality (and I come from a long line of holding-on-ers), I caught an episode of "Hoarding: Buried Alive" for the first time the other day. There was a gentleman living in a house stuffed with books, papers, and magazines. It was so bad, he couldn’t use the upstairs of his home at all, and the downstairs was well on its way to being rendered unusable as well. When asked why he chose to keep a newspaper from 25 years ago that had no significant stories in it, he remarked, “I thought it might be good for reference.” It took me aback as the overflowing stack of magazines in a basket in my closet, combined with the huge library of miscellaneous pictures stored on our computer, had all been saved for the exact same reason. I had to save one pile of magazines because there were pictures I wanted to recreate, another pile because of the recipes and entertaining ideas, a third pile had travel ideas galore, a fourth pile for holiday ideas, and none could be totally discarded. Okay, I take that back, occasionally I do go through and discard, ripping out anything of “significance”. One man’s treasures, another man’s junk….right?  So, I decided to jump in and declutter before the urge left me.  I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how good it felt, as if a weight had been lifted. 

Doug, ever true to his word, ordered a Kindle for me the very next morning and I'm trying not to look back.  I am really enjoying the Kindle and am indulging my book mania by downloading a bunch of the classics for free.  I've always been interested in trying to read the great books curriculum of St. John's college.  The first year is devoted to Greek authors, the second year covers Roman classics as well as works from the medival and Renaissance periods.  The third and fourth years take you through the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.  Now, I can actually start to attempt it as the majority of them seem to be available for free download through amazon.  How cool is that?!  I have to watch myself though as it's so easy to just go on-line and order a book that I'm tempted to buy more than I should.  I've already read the first two books of the "Game of Thrones" series this past week.  I just downloaded the third this morning.  At least, I don't have to worry about what to do with them when I'm finished.  That makes my husband very happy.  Six books from our bookcase on the bottom compared to 6 books in my Kindle in the red case on top.  Not too shabby.

On a sidenote, I may have rid myself of a pile of books but I did purchase a Silhouette to come in and fill up part of the space.  I didn't win one of the bundles from the big Silhouette giveaway this past week, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.  We have a box full of change in the cabinet above the washer and dryer in the laundry room.  We hadn't counted the change in a while, so out of curiosity I sat down and did just that.  $260 later, I ordered my Silhouette and even had some cash left over.  It's amazing how quickly that change adds up.  I'm so excited.  Hopefully, it will be in next week.  I already have my first project planned!!

You may be wonderin'...

So, you may be wondering where I've been and why I haven't been updating as often as I should (cough, cough, grandmothers).  There are about 10 reasons why I've been slacking, as of late.  Reasons #1, #2, and #3 are the three on-line classes I took this semester.  As of Thursday, I am now done with Medical Terminology I and II, as well as Human Anatomy & Physiology I.  Whew!  It feels so good to have those behind me.  The girls have taken to saying that I never have any time for them as I'm always on the computer.  Well, classes done means more free time for mommy and the kiddos.  I sat down yesterday and planned out some fun summer activities.  Hopefully, I can make it up to them.

Reasons #4-10 have something to do with this little fellow...

He is an out of control monkey.  He's figured out the pantry latches.  I caught him trying to drink almond extract.  He's learned to open the fridge.  I found him trying to eat a tablespoon of Starbucks coffee from the freezer.  He's learned to climb on the cabinets and check out the top of the fridge.  My keys were missing an entire day until I found them in a side drawer of the buffet.  The sisters have taught him how to unlock the windows.  I heard him saying, "Hi, Butterfwies!!" the other day and found him standing on the rocking horse in the girls' room peering out the open window (second floor).  Anna taught him how to use deodorant and he's now obsessed with it and keeps finding it no matter where I hide it.  At the same time, he's absolutely adorable and precious.  I've just never experienced this with the girls.  I'm thinking about tying him to my belt loop.

The June Bride

Wedding season is coming. I'm so excited to be second shooting for a wedding next month with the uber-sweet, and incredibly talented Alexandra Frankel. Thinking about next month's nuptials made me start to reminisce about weddings that I photographed (with my dear friend Trish Larsen) or helped photograph (with Alexandra) last year.  It's so exciting to be part of a couple's special day.  Everyone is happy and in love and joy abounds. I so enjoy seeing the special details that each bride makes her own.  No two weddings are ever alike.  You can see the differences in the choice of bridesmaids and their gowns....

"The" dress that every little girl dreams about...

The shoes are always varied...and fun!

The flowers and extra bits that make each wedding unique...

I'm also so happy that we get to be a part of our niece Betsy's wedding next fall.  Betsy has been sharing details and it's going to be amazing.  Our daughter Alaina, who will be giving birth any day now to our first grandchild, a little girl, has mentioned that she and her husband Zach may have a wedding here in the states next spring.  She and Zach met in Germany where they're both stationed with the U.S. Army.  They got married in Denmark and so family wasn't able to attend.  I so hope they do and we can share that special time with them as well.