Happy Friday!

If my crummy little 8 page at a time shredder had not died this morning, I would have been shredding almost a years worth of shreddables for a good portion of my day. Instead I put my little pool movie together. Thank you universe!

That is one thing I miss about working in a big office; the economy-car-sized industrial shredder. Once a year I would just park myself in front of it for five minutes and be done. Home shredding blows!

I have not put a movie together in so long and that little movie makes me incredibly happy, as if Friday wasn't enough reason to be. Going to go enjoy a blender frappuccino with Emily [+ likely a glass of wine with Tony a little later] and celebrate Friday some more. Ciao for now! Have an awesome weekend!

1-1-1

Wyatt came home from his first day of first grade with his first lost tooth in hand and the biggest toothy grin you've ever seen. I can't think of a more appropriate thing to happen on the first day of first grade!

That pesky little tooth stayed in his mouth so much longer than I ever imagined. Last spring he would ask me to wiggle it three to five times a day. And he wiggled it himself all day long, which made me crazy because that was when everyone was panicked about the swine flu and there was my boy with his fingers in his mouth at school and everywhere else! It was quite loose then and every day we thought we were on the verge of his big milestone. But it didn't happen. We waited all summer and it didn't happen. He stopped wiggling it in June and we watched as his permanent tooth grew in behind it, crooked.

About a week ago I could tell that it was bothering him again when I noticed that he was chewing like a little old man, using only his back teeth. It was kind of cute how his chin protruded out and his lips almost disappeared. Anyway, he let me give it a shot yesterday which only ended badly and unproductive because he was in such awful freakish pain.

I watched him eat his cereal yesterday like a little old man again, and then he went off to school. He came home a happy boy proudly displaying the tiny little tooth his teacher had taped to a yellow post it note.

I put it in my pocket and kept it until almost bedtime when he asked me for it. I gave it to him to put under his pillow and then he lost it. He was just a little bit disappointed and he went off to sleep. I found it this morning. We will try to get it under his pillow again tonight and apologize to the tooth fairy for the delay.

Off They Go.

Happy new year!

We had a great last day of summer vacation yesterday, we swam, we played, we made our favorite cookies - snickerdoodles. We even let bedtime slide a little bit for a family spa night and we turned off all the lights to have a good look at the summer stars.

All three of them were happy, and a little anxious, to go back. Tony took the day off because he likes to take them to school on their first day, it's his own sacred tradition. I didn't go, I am happy to give him that one, I have that honor + pleasure the other couple hundred days of the year so it's not a big deal for me.

So Eva and I are here, wondering what to do first, I guess my floors haven't been properly cleaned for weeks. It is so wonderfully quiet here this morning. Yeah, I miss them already.

I took a break from this blog post and went outside to play with Eva and have a mommy + Eva photo session. Eva is so much fun. She is busy coloring now with her brother's art set, I won't tell him if you won't!



I am looking forward to a routine again and I am hoping to stick to my plans of getting the things done in the house that I have been putting off for-ever. I also hope that I can reconnect with some old friends that I have been missing, it seems that the school year is better for that, summer break has a way of putting many things on pause.

Oh, remember a few years ago when Tony and I went to a company dinner and there was mystery entertainment? They are having that same dinner soon with another as yet unknown entertainer(s), any guesses? My mom is coming to town to stay with the kids so Tony and I can get out for the night, I can't wait!

Eva, sitting on my lap, just said, "mommy, don't you think that we should eat candy?" I better go make lunch for us! It's probably going to be a hundred degrees today but fall is right around the corner! I heart fall.

Another Perspective.

I just downloaded the beach camping weekend photos from Emily's camera and I wanted to share her 11 year old perspective. She takes more pictures than I do of the wildlife and the vegetation and the scenery. She likes taking photos of her siblings too.

We noticed our neighbors setting up their camp. They had a dinky tent and were trying to squish a big air mattress, fully expanded with air, into their tent flap. We cracked up about it and Emily took a picture of Tony just to have the event in the background. Then she just took pictures of them without pretending she was taking a picture of her father, it was so funny.

After giving it their best shot they finally let some of the air out and were able to get that thing in. It was actually kind of sweet because they were sort of a romantic not so young couple.

Last weekend of summer vacation...next up: back to school!

The Great Out of Doors.

New Brighton Beach was a great place to camp. We didn't actually pitch our tent on the beach, it was on the bluffs above the beach. It was a lot more work than camping in the mountains because of all the sand. Tony and I spent lots of time cleaning sand off of kids. It was all worth it of course because they had the time of their lives, but you wouldn't have known it to hear me as we packed out and drove away. I made my customary claim of "I'm never doing that again!" Emily quickly reminded me that is what I always say after camping is over. Somehow, time plays tricks on the mind and I am again up for it year after year.

One of our days there, we drove a few miles down the coast to spend the day at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I had not been to Santa Cruz in more than 15 years. I made countless trips over there in my late teens and early 20's with my girlfriends, in the old carefree days of my youth with spontaneous beach adventures in unreliable cars. Whoops, where did that come from? Back to present day: Driving into town from highway 1 seemed like deja vu, it has not changed a bit and I felt as though I was in a time warp! We spent most of a day there and even met up with Rafi, Miriam and the kids. It was a big 'ol giant load of fun.

The best part of the camping for me was that all of us, including myself, slept great. It could have been pure human exhaustion but I think it was the sound of loud crashing waves all night long that provided a natural tranquilizer. In the middle of the night when all the other campers had stopped making noise and there was perfect quiet, all you could hear were the waves. Air mattresses and warm cozy sleeping bags deserve a little credit for the excellent outdoor slumbers too.

OK, maybe sleeping wasn't the best part. I adored watching my kids do all of those fun things that make them squeal with delight; playing in the ocean and in the sand, amusement part rides and cotton candy, exploring camp and walking on logs, running around the campfire and roasting marshmallows.

I just asked each of them what was the best part of our trip:

Emily: the boardwalk.

Sarah: going in the waves.

Wyatt: playing in the waves.

Eva: when the water was getting me and I was trying to run away.

Surf Notes: Eva never actually got in the water, though it did get her a few times! The other three kids got in the water but only when the waves knocked them down. Tony was the only one of us to fully swim in the ocean. You should see him out there, he always makes friends with the other body surfers as they give each other tips on how to best ride the next wave. We stayed so long playing on Saturday in the water, long after we should have gone back for lunch, the kids were ready to go up and it was Tony that I had to pull out of the water last!

Wildlife Notes: From the beach we saw plenty of sea lions a short distance out in the surf. A couple next to me said they saw a whale spout, but I didn't see it. We smelled a skunk our second night. We saw lots of spiders and ants, but none of them got close enough to bother us. The first and the second night Raccoons nibbled their way into our trash because we didn't put it away properly. The third night Raccoons got into a loaf of bread that was in an unlocked wooden food locker. I threw away the five or so slices they nibbled and we ate the rest for lunch. I never heard the stealth raccoons as they pilfered our waste and bread, it must have been the waves that squelch all the other sounds.

This is our last week of summer vacation, back to school already next week for my first, third, and sixth graders. [!]

Tony's last day off was yesterday and unfortunately he spent it tearing out most of our plants around the pool, [as it seems we had made some silly choices] and replacing them with more appropriate poolside shrubbery, landscape fabric, and river rocks. It looks good, not as bushy or exotic but nice and clean and definitely lower maintenance which is worth the trade off.

I still need to find the motivation to get myself outside and pack away the camping paraphernalia but first breakfast, and absolutely, more coffee.

Recap + Roundup.

It's August already! Did July evaporate or what?

The kids and I had the best visit up north with my family last week. We stayed two nights with my folks and one with Renee and family. The thing about my sister Renee is that she brings out the crazy in me, and I like it. Sometimes I get so busy being a grownup person, wife, and mom, that I forget to let my hair down. Renee won't let me get away with that, she's cool that way. Is it just me or does she not let you leave her house without having a dance party in her living room? I love dance parties.

I had to drag three of my kids out of her house backwards, they may have left their fingernail scratches in the pavement outside Renee's house and tore up some grass. Then I had to drive around the corner and honk to get Emily away from her cousin Sydney. That was last Saturday. I think they would still be there if I had let them, except for Eva, maybe she would have come home with me without a fight.

At this shopping center that had a spray park, Renee stayed with the kids while my mom and I went over to a shoe store a few blocks away and this long chain of wet people is what we found as we exited the store.

Another day, Renee and I with the seven little people that follow us around, had a picnic on the capitol lawn, then toured the inside of the capitol, something we [exception: Sydney] had never done.

The trees outside the capitol must be at least a million years old. Renee named this picture our family tree. Sweet + very cool.

More totally awesome pictures here.

When I panic about my kids' health, I get sick to my stomach. This weekend I was a total sicko. Long story short, Wyatt was bitten in the forehead and neck by an evil bug while we were up visiting my mom. Two days after that, his face was swollen and somewhat disfigured. He looked more like Quasimodo than Wyatt there for a while with a swollen head, eye, and bridge of nose.

Wyatt was also in some pain. I called our doctor [who is awesome and answered his phone on Saturday night] who convinced me that I should wait it out with more ice, Benedryl, and hydrocortizone. So, rather than a trip to the ER, which I contemplated, I took his advice and today, I have my boy back. He looks no worse for the wear facial expansion and reduction that he endured for the last four days.

We are gearing up for our beach camping trip, should be loads of sandy fun. In a few more weeks, exactly two, it will be back to school time already. For now, just a few more super slow unstructured days ahead and I am enjoying every minute second of their fleeting loveliness.

Eva is pretending to be a mouse this morning. She just told me, "momma, whenever I make the squeak-squeak mouse sound, you should hug me." I'm off then to distribute the many hugs, she's squeaking quite a bit. I think we'll have a dance party in our living room this morning.