Snail Trails and Lemon Juice and Whatever.

Eva is so fascinated by the snails in our backyard and she knows I don't like them in the house so, she sweetly shows them to me through the glass. A few minutes later Wyatt runs out the door after her because those were apparently his snails.



After the rightful owner of the snails was again in posession of said snails, Wyatt found some ice cube trays that I had filled with lemon juice and thought he found Popsicles so I indulged him and gave each of them a Popsicle. I had my camera ready for Eva's happy first taste. It wasn't mean, it was fun!



Sarah is doing great, she had the five staples removed Monday morning before school and didn't surprise me when she refused the shot to numb her head that her Doctor offered her. Tough little girl.

We painted Emily's room last week too. It took us forever because we had to paint the ceiling back to it's regular color since the last time we painted her room [7 or 8 years ago] we also painted the ceiling [which in retrospect never looked good and was not our best idea] and we had to paint the room twice! Twice because the first color was all wrong. The store mixed it with the wrong base so it was not the color we asked for at all. Unfortunately, we didn't recognize that fact until we had almost completed the job! Oh well, it's done now.

So the pale lavender that she has been asking us to change for a couple of years now has now become a nice shade of green with one wall of brown that we can all live with, for a good while I hope. We are painting Sarah and Eva's room next, we have already bought the paint, pink and pink will replace a yucky yellow. Then all the baseboards in our house [that we have needed to paint for two years and have not managed to get to it], then finally my bedroom and bathroom, which have never been painted, except the white that came with the house. Hopefully after that, I can retire my paint brush for many MANY years!

The wild spring-break-everybody-home-all day-every-day week that we had last week left me and my house almost in need of federal disaster relief. So, I have been sifting through the wreckage and salvaging [or you could call it cleaning house nearly to the point of crazy] what can be salvaged. I have also been working on PTA stuff that has been procrastinated to death and am finally feeling like I can get out from under it and breathe.

Breathe. Breathe. It's Earth Day, I'm going to get dressed and get outside with my reusable water bottle and not forget to bring along my reuseble bags today. No matter how HOT it is!

And. It. Is. Hot.

Sarah and the ER.

Yesterday was a good day, things were clicking. I seemed to be getting so much done and the kids were having a ball doing fun kids on vacation things. In the afternoon, we made chocolate chip cookies and everybody was happy.

Then out of the blue, it happened. In a nutshell, all four of them were in the backyard playing and Wyatt was chasing Sarah when she fell. She kind of fell to one knee and also hit her head on a sharp stucco corner of our house. I was in the kitchen when I heard the noise and simultaneously heard her wail. She rushed to me holding her knee as the blood from her head was running down her shirt. She then told me that her head hurt and as soon as I looked at it, I said "everybody in the car RIGHT NOW!"

It was truly astonishing how fast we collected ourselves and made it to the hospital. I told Emily to call her father to tell him to meet us and to get Eva dressed [because she was in her ballerina costume, which I guess really shouldn't have mattered, oh well] as I was applying some towels to Sarah's head and comforting her into the car.

Emily was such a big help, she held Wyatt's and Eva's hands as we walked towards the ER. I carried Sarah from the car and was immediately helped at the front desk. Thankfully they got her in right away, we didn't have to wait five minutes before they were working on her head. I guess when you are bleeding from your head you get to be first in line, this mother was relieved. Without shots or any other mitigating substance they were stapling her scalp back to the shut position.

She didn't fuss, or cry, or shout. Sarah toughed it out just like a big girl, so brave, I was impressed. Five staples later we were on our way home with gauze, bandaids, stickers and lollipops all around, instructions for pain medication and that was it. She laid on the couch for a few hours with an ice pack and today you would never know what she endured. She hasn't complained, not one time.

Thankfully also, the cut is hidden completely by hair, about two inches above her ear on the side of her head. Monday we will have her doctor remove the staples and with that hopefully she will be healed up and good as new.

Scary. As a mom I was freaking out and trying to stay calm at the same time. Most of the time when your kid gets hurt it's not so bad. And a lot of the time when it's maybe borderline I have to talk Tony out of rushing one of them to the ER. This time, my instincts fired up and I knew it needed quick action. I didn't think it was life threatening but I also didn't want to take any chances. I was scared, this is the first time I have had to rush out of the house like that without Tony.

I don't think I am overprotective of my kids, I let them play, they're kids. But sometimes they take risks that make me shudder, especially when there is climbing involved, I try to stay on top of that. Chasing though? Chase and run all you want but please watch out for the house sweeties.

So, now that my stomach is settling down I can get a good night sleep. Tony is setting up the tent in the backyard as I write, but I'm staying in the house tonight. I don't usually poop the party but I need to sleep!

Goodnight.

Easter + Tidbits.

Tidbit is such a funny word.

We went to the children's Easter mass at our church which was nicely complete with an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Tony's brothers came to town so we spent all afternoon visiting with them. It was a good day and beautiful weather to boot, one of our nicest days so far this year.

I like this photo. Each brother has two or more daughters, and one son.

The cute dog that my kids can't put down belongs to Maria, Tony's sister. Doggie's name is Filio. Here are a few more Easter pics.

I am home this week with the kids and it's kind of awesome. I love not having to drive them anywhere all day long! We made a long overdue journey to the library yesterday where we loaded ourselves up [not kidding, 22 books in all] and I picked out a few pool books for some ideas and reference. Here's a picture from yesterday afternoon that makes me very happy.

My kids signed up for a program that gets them a free cheeseburger from In and Out if they read five library books, it's actually quite a motivator. We might have a cheeseburger party by Friday, who knows?

Tony is taking the rest of the week off after today and we have some promised backyard tent camping to make happen. Emily has a basketball tournament in Stockton this weekend and Sarah will have her first reconciliation ceremony. So, a little bit busy but overall not too bad.

Ciao for now!

Happy Good Friday.

The holiday weekend is here. It has been raining here for the last several days and this afternoon the sun has finally popped out and I'm feeling great about that. I love the way the sun shines through my house, I am super sensitive to it this time of year and I adore the way the light moves all over the insides of the house.

I just wanted to share a few photos from the last few weeks that I meant to and didn't. So here you go...

Emily is playing more basketball, this was the day she received her jersey for the traveling team.

We were coming home from Emily's out of town basketball game and the sun was in Eva's face, keeping her from her nap. I tossed an extra shirt to her and told her to put it on her head. I was amazed at how well she worked it out!

Eva, displaying her trademark sun in the face wince.

A few weekends ago, the sun was shining and my kids decided that it was time to put on their swimsuits and eat ice cubes in the backyard. After that they ran through the sprinklers, I guess you could say they are seriously anticipating summer.

And that's a good way to leave it for now, with dreams of summer days to come. Hope your weekend is beautiful. Happy Easter.

A Little Egg Story.

Well, last week Wyatt and Eva were out in the backyard playing. They suddenly came rushing in looking suspicious, hands behind backs kind of suspicious. I followed them to Wyatt's bedroom where the had already locked the door. I knocked and required them to open the door asap, which they did. The fact that they opened the door quickly may surprise you but it's the norm around here and I like it. When I demand the door open, it opens. It's a little gift they give me I suppose to make up for the other 99 times that I have to say something more than once to make it happen. Let's get back to the story.

Wyatt had backed himself into a corner of his room and when I asked him what he had in his hands he refused me. About the fourth time he gave up the booty. Two tiny white eggs. I started to panic and tremble and then I gently asked him to give them to me. I just couldn't be responsible for that, I wanted those eggs to have a chance at bird life, my mind was racing. The eggs were very warm. That was my clue, being the super sleuth that I am, to ask the obvious next question. He said he didn't know, he repeated that so many times I was beginning to loose my cool and tearfully beg him to tell me.

After giving Wyatt the nature talk in language that I thought he might understand and have compassion for, we arrived at the nest. No mama bird, just nest. On the side of our shed hangs an extension ladder, inside the ladder, second rung from the front, you'll find a nest barely four feet off the ground. What the ... was the mama thinking? Doesn't she know I have four curious little pirates that scour every inch of our yard for treasures? And where was she?

It only took me a second to find her perched nervously on my neighbors housetop watching us with anxious jerky bird motions.

I gently laid the tiny eggs that were no bigger than eyeballs back in their nest. I set up my camera to record in time lapse mode [cause I'm crazy that way] on the fence near the nest at great risk of peril [to my camera] because it was, after all, a terribly windy day.

Long egg story short, it took her a while, maybe 45 minutes, but she came back. Ahhhh, what a relief it was. I was worried that we had possibly caused mother bird desertion or something worse, but happily it seems that she didn't hold it against her egg babies that they had been absconded to the corner a six year old boy bedroom, however briefly, and then rescued.

Then Wyatt insisted on making signs to warn future intruders to stay away. He tacked one on the back of the shed and I noticed that the wind was blowing it hard and it was making lots of paper slapping against shed noises, so I convinced him to hold on to the other one until the wind stopped it's mighty blowing. Yes, of course I photographed the sign, it's artwork after all. You expect that from me, no?

Days later, still she sits. She is fine, eggs seem to be OK. I just hope she can live there peacefully and not draw any attention to herself until the egg babies hatch out.
Fingers crossed.

Ch Ch Changes.

The weather, springy and wet and cloudy and lovely here in the middle of California. I think there are no less than a million birds singing outside my door. Even in the rain, they sing away. That reminds me of a story I need to tell, tomorrow.

The backyard, all whole and long and empty for now. Contract signed yesterday. Ch ching and ouch, but in a very good planning for the future kind of way. Did you know that a home equity loan can leap and bound just like the Easter Bunny?

Little girls, see how they grow. That's her Easter grass she planted at nursery school in the first picture of our kitchen window.

Looks like we've got change on the run. Okay, now David Bowie won't leave me alone.

Hello April.

Wyatt's birthday was properly celebrated, and then some. I am so grateful to all our friends and family who came in spite of the wind to welcome Wyatt's seventh year and bid adios to his super sixth one that's safely behind us and now just a fine memory.

And the wind did blow! Whew! I guess it came to blow March right out of the way, and just like that, another month behind us. I like April. It means fresh local strawberries are not long away, green is back, and my favorite tulips are going to be everywhere very soon.

Look what else the wind blew my way.

It's hard to understand, I know, but this is a very happy thing. I don't know how long it will last, but I love doing the laundry. I love it. I wish I had more laundry. Everything in my house has been laundered this week. Everything, er, I mean everything launderable is clean. I am having a hard time understanding the technology of the front load washing machine. I don't get how they use less water and still get the clothes cleaner than the top loader, it's like a small enigma right in my home. I look at it, watch it work, try to study it's behavior, yet I still do not understand it. It behaves in ways that make me say to it what are you doing? They are smarter than I am, and they are digital! They play a cute little tune when the load is done! They sound like small [but quiet] cars, they even have the new car smell. These things are so awesome they belong on a pedestal, but I didn't go for the pedestals. I did want them but the four hundred dollar + pedestal pricetag just wasn't for me. I have created a perfectly good solution to the problem though, it's my little stool. I just sit down on it and attend to all the laundry right there just like that! It's ingenious I know, actually better than pedestals because then I would be stooping and bending to pick up dirty clothes and moving them up into the washer. This way, I sit and everything is already at the correct level right there with me! I never thought I would be saying this but laundry is cool!

Hey April, go slow. I'm so glad you're here.