Do you have any tape?

I need a little to mend my broken heart.

Yesterday and today Anna has decided that she does not want to go to school and leave Mommy and Daddy. Yesterday it started with extra waves and kisses blown our way. Then it progressed to a run back to the gate for just one more kiss and hug. It culminated with crocodile tears and pleading for us not to leave her alone. Today the tears started as soon as we got out of the truck. As of Monday, no parents are allowed on campus during school hours (unless you sign in) and you must say goodbye at the gate. Yesterday I told her all the things you're supposed to say to make her feel better but my heart was breaking in two. I really just wanted to pick her up, carry her to the truck, drive home, and climb back into bed with her and eat chocolate chip cookies all day. Instead, our wonderful neighbor happened to be standing near by and when she saw the situation offered to have her Lauren (age 7) walk in with Anna. After a few more minutes of consolation and hugs, Anna finally agreed to go in the gate. She and Lauren headed off toward the playground together with Anna still in tears. As they rounded the corner, Lauren put her arm around Anna and that's when I lost any composure I had left. I burst into tears and was sad, happy, and extremely touched all at the same time. I'm so thankful for my sensitive, sweet Anna who loves her parents AND I'm also very thankful for sweet, thoughtful new friends and neighbors who will go out of their way to look after our girl. (No, she doesn't wear glasses but she wanted to "play" being the teacher. Also, please ignore the quality of these pictures. I think I was having a serious off-day. I couldn't seem to get the focus right at all!)
Lauren will be starting school next Thursday. She's been there to see Anna's dismay and I hope she'll conquer heading off on her own with no problem. She's already expressed some reserve about meeting new kids and her teacher. I guess we'll need a lot of pep talks in between now and then.


These pictures cracked me up. Even though they're sisters they have a lot of dissimilarities except when it comes to their silly faces. They make the same ones!! Too funny.

87 Years Young

Today Grandma Ruth turned 87. What an exciting and interesting life she's led over the past 8 decades! To celebrate she wanted fish and chips and a lemon birthday cake. She loves "The Cheesecake Factory" and so we headed there for her fish. Afterwards we opened gifts and had cake and ice cream here at the house. It was a really nice day. Happy Birthday, Grandma! We love you. (P.S. Please ignore the paint patches on our bright orange wall. We're still working on getting the new house in order :)
Holding her beautiful scarf from Jan and Mike

Are we really here already??

Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know. ~ Daniel J. Boorstin

Today our little Anna started 1st grade!! We all went to her classroom to get her settled in and to meet her teacher. Anna actually has her own little desk and even got to bring a lunch for the first time. When we picked her up, she said she had a fantastic time and even made four new friends~Emily, Hallie, Madison, and a girl with braids. :) Here are some shots of our first-grader.

Lauren insisted we take her picture with Anna on her big day.
Anna's desk

I wanted her to have a lunchbox she could use day in and day out without creating a lot of waste. I found this cute little bento box from Laptop Lunches at a store in Auburn. It's perfect and gets the "Anna seal of approval". She's quite particular about her things.

She chose what she wanted to have for lunch~pasta & pesto, fruit salad, celery, carrots, and bunny graham crackers. Oh, and she wanted water with lemon in it. Like I said....very particular.
Last year I made back-to-school cupcakes for Anna. This year she kept mentioning that she couldn't wait for her surprise. Yikes!! I was a bit behind but tried to throw together these "apple" cake pops. They may have not been the prettiest treat on the planet but they tasted yummy! Bakerella I am not. Please click here to see how cute they should be.

Anna didn't seem to mind. She ate three. I call that a success. Congratulations, honey! We love you.

Blackberry Time

It's that time of year again. The blackberries are ripe. We drove out to Amber Oaks Farm today to pick a flat. Our new neighbors and friends came along with us. We all had a really good time. I can't wait to cook up some blackberry goodness!
Ready to do some picking!!

Taste test.
Juicy and ripe.

Jacob took advantage of a momentary distraction to get a closer look at some blackberry leaves.

I was so in love with these little baskets they gave the kids to use.

Our neighbors and new friends
Grandma even got in on the act.Jacob managed to pluck one and almost had it in his mouth before Mommy grabbed it.

Happy Birthday To Me, To Me

I've been feeling a bit old and careworn as of late. Thirty-eight years of gravity and this left-over baby-weight have been getting me down. I was hoping to feel more comfortable in my own skin at this age but it seems I still have a long way to go. So, I've decided to take the proverbial bull by the horns and make this 38th year a year of self-improvement. I'm going to start today. Hopefully, this will be an uplifting 12 months...in more ways than one. :)

I had a very nice birthday. The morning started with a "Happy Birthday" song from Doug and the girls, followed by some sloppy, wet kisses from Jake. Throughout the day I received many phone calls, cards, and well wishes from family. Anna kept saying, "I bet Nana sure is happy today!" While Lauren repeatedly told me, "Today is your lucky day!!" Doug came home from work with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a fantastic chocolate cake. In one of the birthday e-mails today, a friend of mine sent some pictures of a trip we took to Turkey about 12 years ago. When Doug suggested Turkish as an option for dinner, I thought it was a nice coincidence. So, we drove to Rocklin and had a fabulous meal at our favorite Turkish spot. While we were waiting for our food, Doug asked the girls if they were happy that their Mommy had been born. They both said, "Yes!!". Then he asked them what they thought Mommy was like as a baby. Lauren responded, "She probably had cute hair, whined a lot, and somebody beat her."

Afterwards at home, the girls helped me blow out the candles on my cake. As we were taking the candles off the cake, Lauren pulled one out and said, "Ooh, look at the ear wak!" (She can't seem to say wax....not that candles have ear wax anyway but you get the point). Anna and Lauren drew many beautiful pictures for me throughout the day but I think my favorite had to be the piece of toilet paper with two googly eyes taped to it and a face drawn underneath. The caption read, "My girls and son are the best!" I think she hit the nail right on the head!

Bananas and Tuna Oil

Our little one has recently entered a new stage. He is now a solid food eater. He’s busy enjoying various cereals, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, and sweet peas. I’ve just discovered though that he is NOT a fan of green beans or bananas. Both of these seem to result in something similar to a gag. Speaking of gagging, I happened to take a look at the ingredients of some Gerber butternut squash and harvest apples that Doug picked up recently. The front of the jar states that it’s filled with DHA which is great for baby’s brain development and growth. Imagine my surprise when I read that the source of their DHA is in fact tuna oil and gelatin. Bleechhh. If medical professionals advise pregnant women to avoid fish during pregnancy due to the high levels of mercury, why would you put tuna oil into your baby food?? I’m sure Gerber believes it’s totally safe. As for me, I’ll most likely chuck those little jars right into the trash and find something organic and more straight forward. The whole thing just seems a little “fishy” to me. Sorry. I couldn’t resist. Here are some pictures of Jacob's first banana experience.

So, these are bananas, you say?? They look yummy. Oh my stars, lions, tigers, and bears…..yuck. This doesn't taste at all like I imagined. These are disgusting.
Okay, I’m really not digging these. I like these even less than the green beans you keep feeding me.
Wait! You’re giving me more. Are you serious??? I just told you how bananas and I are not compatible. This woman is crazy. She won't stop with the bananas! Help me!

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

Okay, so I do have "Alice in Wonderland" on the brain. I have so many ideas for the girls' Alice room and am really excited about them. I found some lamps and a chandelier and ordered some bedding. I can't wait to see it all come together!

Since we all are a little "mad" around here I thought I'd share the latest conversations with our crazy peanuts.

~Anna to Mommy: I don't want you to die. I wish we could all live forever but we will because we'll all be angels someday. Then I'll get my lifelong dream to fly.
~Lauren: Yeah, and I'll still like boys.
~Anna: You know what boys like best?? Not taking baths and to stink!
~Lauren: Yeah, I like that too.

Doug took down the track lighting in the girls' room left over from the previous owners. Anna was excited about her new chandelier but said she would miss the other lighting. According to her, at night it looked like a raindrop that was smiling and throwing a cannonball.

The other day our neighbors rang the doorbell to see if the girls could come out to play. I was upstairs cleaning and the girls told their friend Jason that they couldn't come out. A few minutes later we walked over and rang their doorbell to tell them we would love to play. Jason's mom said he was having a meltdown and they would be out in a bit. Anna ran to tell Lauren. Lauren raced up to me, very concerned and asked, "Mommy, Mommy, why is Jason melting??"

Later that morning, the kids were busy climbing our tree out front. Lauren was the first to make it into the tree on her own. When the other kids asked how she did it, she replied, "With a lot of practice and I never give up."

Speaking of Lauren, she'll be starting preschool next month. She still will not consistently take care of all of her bathroom needs on her own. Trying to convince her to take the next step, I told her she couldn't go to preschool if she wouldn't wipe. I was sure this would do the trick. Instead, she's decided she's just going to stay home with Mommy and Baby Jacob. Back to the drawing board on this one.

At church as the pastor was calling the kids up front for storytime, I looked over to find Anna standing beside the pew with her doll up under her dress nursing her. I got her dress back down and sent her up. For storytime one of the kids brought the story box filled with snowglobes from far away places. Everyone oohed and aahed over the globes from London, Paris, Madrid, and Cairo. Anna raised her hand and said, "My family goes to Las Vegas!"

The other day Lauren kept asking me when we were going to the "bathtub" again. I told her she would be getting a bath that evening. She continued to ask and it took me a while but I finally realized she wanted to go back to "Bed, Bath, & Beyond".

Why is it your children never say:
~My mommy made my favorite cookies today.
~My mommy colored with us today.
~My mommy took us to Wacky Tacky.
~My mommy took us to the park and out for ice cream.
~My mommy reads us stories at night and cuddles with us before we go to bed.
Why is that??
What they do say is this: (Going into the dentist office for a cleaning)
~We don't brush our teeth very often.
~Lauren never brushes her teeth.
~My hair is too long. I need a haircut.

I've always been sure that my children are indeed my children. The other day, however, a small bit of doubt was cast as to whether or not Anna's DNA truely matched mine. We were watching "So You Think You Can Dance", the results show. They were showing some of the Emmy nominated dances from past seasons. Chelsea and Joshua came on stage to tango. Now, you may or may not know this, but I love, love, love a good tango. I've tried repeatedly for the past decade to get Doug into a class with me. He did buy a tape for me one year and we tangoed like crazy in our basement; flicks, dips, passion...you name it. Of course, whenever we actually went onto a real dance floor surrounded by people, we always reverted to the 80's prom dance where you just hold on to one another and turn in a slow circle.

I digress.
Back to the story.
Chelsea and Joshua's tango began.
Anna stopped coloring her princess page and said, "The music sounds enchanting but TOO enchanting. It sounds like its from France....and there are tables and chairs from France. I don't like France.
Lauren piped in, "Me neither. But there could be toys there."
Gulp....not like France!!??? Gulp...not like tango music!!?? Who doesn't love the "City of Lights" and a good tango?? Maybe my babies were switched at birth. We'll be going in for a DNA test this week.:)

Not long after the tango ended, a group of dancers came on stage dressed in white masks and yellow hats. Anna asked, "What are they pretending to be?" Lauren answered, "Hiker builders." "Yeah," Anna said, "people who hike and build."