TGIF!!!

Hello Friday afternoon, I love you. You are so peaceful and friendly and comfortable, you just make me feel good inside.

Rough week. I have been KO'd by allergies, big bad ones. Not just the in the face ones, the all over flu-like kind. I think I went to bed at 7:30 last night. Thank you to my husband for doing all the bedtime prep and the nightly duties, it was marvelous to wake up this morning and find the kitchen clean and the sink empty. He even did the pots and pans! What a man, what a man, what a mighty good man!

Today was marginally better, mostly in the face, more traditional allergy symptoms. I think I will live through it. Yay.

On the subject of kitchen clean up. My kids make lots of messes, all kids do right? Well, right under my nose, Wyatt managed to make the grandest one person, split second mess I have ever had to clean in my entire life. You spill some milk, it takes what, thirty seconds to clean? You drop a jar of spaghetti sauce on the tile floor, maybe fifteen minutes, yes? Have you ever had to spend one hour and twelve minutes to clean a single mess? I have.

This is my story. I filled the Vita-mix container almost to the rim with one orange, one apple, one peach, one container of yogurt, a cup of blue berries, a cup of strawberries, flax seed, soy milk, honey, and ice. It ran at top speed until all was blended to a yummy deep purple. I then remembered the two blackish bananas that I desperately needed to use up. I removed the lid on the container and walked over to retrieve the bananas, which now I wish I had done in reverse order.

You can guess the next part, Wyatt's finger flicked the go switch and it exploded all over the kitchen. It was on the blinds, the window, the ceiling, the counter, the floor, the refrigerator, the dishwasher, the oven, all three counter stools, the walls, the bread basket and it's contents, me, Tony, Wyatt, plus much much more. I froze, he froze, finally I looked into his bewildered little eyes and said sternly "what was that?" He said pitifully, "I didn't know."

Luckily I didn't freak out, that would have made things worse. I just started to wipe and scrub. It was about 7 p.m. when it happened I was starving. The kids had eaten earlier but Tony and I had not. I was using the smoothie to hold me over until I could figure out what we were having for dinner. Tony asked me if I wanted a hamburger, I said yes and he was just a blur as he jetted out the back door. He could not have uttered more perfect words, it was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment, "do you want a hamburger?" It made things right again and gave me the strength to scrub and bleach on.

What I am especially thankful for this week:
600 mg ibuprofen
allergy medicine
air conditioning, it felt like the hottest week of the summer to me
soccer coaches and girl scout leaders
smoothies, still

I'm off to make a Friday night pizza and I just remembered that it's a holiday weekend. That makes this Friday even sweeter!

Happy Labor Day!

Week 1 = Well Done.

Three in school. So Cool! So far, so good. Nobody is complaining, not much whining going on. Happy little school children is what we have here, that translates into happy Momma as well. Eva has been a little cranky, but I'm guessing she is having a hard time adjusting to being without her three loud, bossy siblings for so many hours a day! As you might guess, this relative quiet is refreshing for me though.


Wyatt has the same kindergarten teacher that both Emily and Sarah had. I'm hoping she will be Eva's teacher as well, that would be sweet. Wyatt has walked to that kindergarten class so many times before, I could have just dropped him off at the street and he would have been OK to make his own way to the room on his first day. Actually, he probably would have preferred it that way. He is such an independent child, he does everything himself. Bathes, feeds, dresses, the whole works. The only drawback is that his need for independence pushes him to climb anything, giving me grief.

So the first week of school went smoothly. My calendar is like a flower that is blooming very quickly. Emily, Sarah, Wyatt are all three playing soccer this year which means we are swiftly loading our weeks. If I can get through this week, I will be in good shape. Every day is already filled up with soccer practice, Girl Scout meetings, back to school night, orientations and meetings with sales guys from pool companies. Not too many holes in the schedule this week but I am up for it. It's gonna be A-OK.

Eva is a heaping handful without Wyatt or my big girls for distraction. She is keeping me ultra busy in these early school days. I'm off now to find her ballet shoes because this morning she is a curly twirly little pink and black dancer.

Beach Postcard.

One last summer trip. We gladly drained our credit card points to spend four days and three nights at Mandalay Beach in Oxnard [a five hour drive for us, south of Santa Barbara and happily north of the LA area] where the temperature rarely rises above a very perfect 73 degrees.

To get there we passed through the most amazing valley. It was everything you would imagine finding in a bountiful agricultural area in California, including about thirty miles of orange groves. It was exquisite. Delicious fruit and vegetable stands every few miles. It was the best part of the drive, a visual delight.

There were no theme parks, no shopping, no frills. Just beach, pool, pool, beach, beach, pool, beach, pool, pool, pool, beach, beach, pool. The only exception to our strict beach/pool schedule was a short trip over to Ventura to the San Buenaventura Mission Saturday night. Nothing brings out the smiles, the shrieks of joy, the bursts of bodily delight in my children than the beach.

In the beach photos, the waves don't look very big, but they were. BIG. The first night on the beach, as our three big kids were playing in the surf and soaking themselves, a terrifying scene played out with a tiny kid no bigger than Eva getting sucked into a wave that had knocked him down. He had maybe been pulled ten or twelve feet out when his father sprinted from twenty feet up the hill at top speed to pluck him out of the ocean. Tony was holding Eva and he practically threw her to the sand in a micro-second, ready to save the kids life, as did every other adult that watched this near-tragedy unfold. It was scary, I thought OMG we are in the wrong place here!

We all made it home safely with only minor abrasions you might say, from waves tossing us into the sand as if to say get out you are not big enough for me! One thing worth noting, my husband is entirely too fearless with himself and the body surfing. At one point he was so far out and as the current took him further and further from me, my life as a newly single mother flashed before my eyes. I'm not kidding, I was freaked out. I was screaming at my kids to get away from the water because I felt like I could not witness him disappear into the ocean and keep an eye on them as well.

When he finally climbed out of the water and made the long trek back up the beach to me, he said he was never worried for a second. WHAT! After giving me a freaking heart attack! Luckily, I was able to calm myself with the open bar known as the two-hour managers reception at the lovely Embassy Suites. When it's 5:30 p.m. there, you get yourself over to the Surf Room and get in line. Hey, it worked for me.

Back to life, back to reality. Bring it, I'm ready!

So Long Summer Vacation.

I know summer is still in full swing, but because school starts next week for THREE of my children, our summer season is almost history. I've enjoyed having the kids home with me for the last 2 1/2 months but I also can't wait to see what comes next. I am eager to turn the page. That's what it feels like sometimes, like I am literally turning the pages of my life. The key, so they say, to happiness is to live in the moment. Right now I would give myself a B+ on that.

For the last three days, Eva wakes up at six a.m. with one request. I want to be a fairy. So naturally, we indulge her. She bounces around for a few hours as a fairy, then she is ready to put her little girl clothes on and continue with some other sort of fun. Oh, just a warning if you find her dressed as a fairy, don't call her a princess. When she is a fairy, she likes to tell me, "I'm the fairy and you're my best mommy." I love that!


We started the week Monday with fevers. No child was spared. Eva took the worst of it because she also threw up a few times and could not keep the medicine down for a while. My next trip to Costco you can bet I'll be loading up on Tylenol and Motrin because they almost wiped me out. Yesterday things were much improved. Today, not a trace, only happy healthy children. Thank God it didn't stay too long. It's crazy when all of them are sick.

Overheard yesterday between Eva and Wyatt:
E: Let's go Dad!
W: I'm not your dad, I'm your Wyatt!
E: You're my Wyatt?
W: I'm your brother and your Wyatt!


We spent last Sunday with Rafi and Miriam. That's my goddaughter Mia with Eva in the stroller. I was overjoyed because she smiled at me! Actually I was tickling her toes, but I think it still counts.

Let's see...how to properly say goodbye to summer vacation. Think, think, think. Maybe the beach?

Lucky Pickle.

I thought it was just in the process of becoming a long delectable cucumber, still small. Tony picked it out of the garden last night, he told me it was ready.

What is it? What am I supposed to do? Get out the vinegar, the spices, which ones?

Will it taste like a cucumber or do I have to turn it into a pickle? It looks like a pickle.

*Sigh*

And I am just that goofy, still in my pj's, to take my fresh pickle outside in the early morning with a Dixon Ticonderoga, to photograph it.

Okay, fine, I confess. I don't really have anything interesting to report today. I just wanted to make a post on 08/08/08 at 8:00. I guess I can't hide from my accounting background, I'm just a numbers freak at heart. The most fortuitous Friday in the century, here we are, right in the thick of it.

I am looking forward to watching some of the Olympics. We will forgo our Friday night Netflix movie in lieu of the opening ceremonies. I like to see all the athletes march into the stadium representing their country, it'll be fun to watch it with the kids.

Speaking of movies, I think my all time favorite movie was bumped last weekend, it's still under consideration. Fiddler on the Roof. I had never seen it before, and didn't expect it to be THAT good. It was a marathon, it took two nights to watch and of course we lost Wyatt and Eva to dreamland, but oh it was great. I may have to break my rule of not buying DVD's for this one, and I'll probably need to find the soundtrack as well.

I'm going to get out there now and seek my fortune, which means I am off to check on my four lucky pickle loving children. I hope today brings you all the buena suerte you can stand. It's Friday! Ciao!

Pickle update: we ate it raw, it was very very delicious!

August Bits.

I love fonts, do you love fonts? If you do you have to see this, it's brilliant. It's the funniest thing I have seen in a long time day or two while.

For another sort of funny, check out the little doggy Wyatt made for his Daddy. As we gaze upon it, Wyatt informs me that there are lots of dogs that don't have tails. As for little Eva, I have enjoyed very much hearing her tell her Daddy, "you be Cinderella, and I be Snow White."

Our garden is filling up, but it seems like it is taking a very long time for the tomatoes and the cucumbers to be ready. Gardening teaches patience like nothing else!

I am especially longing for the cucumbers. Every time I look at them, I hear Granny's [my Mom's Mom] voice telling me to "go get us a cucumber." She would look at me with a twinkle in her eye as she said it. I would rush out the door and behind the house to pick a nice one off the vine, then we would slice it and share it with a little salt. Oh, there was just nothing better. What I would not give for another moment with her like that, for one more "go get us a cucumber."

I made chocolate chip cookies yesterday, I baked one sheet of them and froze the rest for later. Having homemade chocolate chip cookies in the freezer, just waiting for the right happy moment to be loved up, is good. Very good.

What an exciting day! Cucumbers, cookies, doggy's and fonts! Bet you're just on the edge of your seat waiting for the next installment!

Eva has just requested "sunscream," the kids are blowing up the pool, so I'm off. Gheeesh, I don't know if I can handle all of the excitement around here.

Fun With Time Lapse.

After a thorough organization blitz of Wyatt's room, all of the pieces to this very cool toy were located. I thought a video like this would be fun, check it out.

Build and Tear Down. from Mel on Vimeo.

The best toy ever for a little boy, I think. Build it, tear it down, build it, tear it down, build it, tear it down. For that matter, the girls love it just as much as he does. They take turns to see who can put it up and take it down the fastest. It was a gift from Nana and Papa [AKA Lois and Jim] a few years ago. I remember Papa diligently showing him how to put it together Christmas morning. Sweet.

FYI, the video was a little over five minutes in real time.