We ran out of our Tiki bank checks, so I browsed what the internet had to offer this evening. I was about to buy some Amnesty International checks, but then the company wanted like 15 bucks for shipping.
So I wandered onto "Life Checks" which is a Christian check printer. There are many many dreadful designs on there, but I found a jewel in the rough!
Kids E and V had their dual birthday last week. We were there, and Baby R tried his hardest to find something to break. Luckily, we escaped with no damage.
I like how Kid E looks bewildered and Kid C looks surly with that juicebox.
Baby R in position for cake launch.
It looks like he's in awe of the flaming cake, but if you look closely, he's just trying to get the straw out of his upper lip.
Kid V got to blow out the candles first.
Amazement and anticipation.
'Oh wait, hold everything, my friend's on the phone."
"Quick R___, look innocent, she's watching us!" Isn't that a frightening sight?: A glass of pomegranate juice, precariously set upon a loose placemat, in front of a 3 yr old, at someone else's house.
B roll action.
Yes, I busted out the "mink" shrug. I bought it when she was just a little baby because it was on the clearance rack at Gap and I had a gift card. And there it sat in my closet until she got big enough. I thought it was a good time to debut it.
This photo has nothing to do with the kids, except that I took it on our ill-fated Christmas Tree Lighting at Santana Row. It was a mad house. People and strollers everywhere! But the highlight of the evening was this woman, and her cat. Her hairless cat, dressed up like Santa. Her hairless cat, dressed up like Santa, that insisted the cat get up close to see the police horses. Comedic pause. As if cats appreciated: a) being bred to be hairless b) dressing up in costume c) getting near giant horses.
You can't pay for entertainment like that.
p.s. I forgot to mention a story [an illustration of Kid C's self confidence.] She was singing a little song this weekend while playing, and I asked her if she learned it at school. And she said "no, I made it up" and then continued singing, only this time, the words to the song were "I know every stuff..." (like I know everything)
This past weekend was Beautiful Day weekend. It kinda ran me over like a train. A nice loving compassion volunteer-driven train, but still it came all of a sudden. And then it was over and I was like "what?...oh yeah, that was it."
So much went on that I can't tell everything that happened, but I'll try to tell what I know before the end of this episode of Charlie and Lola that Kid C is watching while I blog.
Kevin and I tag teamed for our small group's project: Daily Fuel (I didn't name it, it's a cheezy term). The goal is to be nice to those day laborers that hang out at Home Depot or OSH and wait for work. Kevin helped pack the bag lunches on Friday night and I got up early and helped deliver them, along with coffee and donuts. I could tell that the guy who was in charge was overwhelmed by the project, but he did a great job and I think we were pretty successful. I wish I had remembered the Spanish word for "evangelical" (because they asked if we were from a Catholic church) but otherwise my Spanish was pretty effective. My high school spanish teacher Ms. Grana should be proud.
If I were them, I'd be like, "um, what?" But they were pretty good sports about it. Even when I made them take two donuts. :)
I told them "look happy!" You can see the bottled waters for the lunches and the little Starbucks packs for the coffee.
Then I went back to get the family and we went over to an elementary school to see how "my" murals were going.
The school uses 3 big shipping containers, kinda like freight train cars, for storage of who knows what...thousands of pencils? Banned books? Anyway, they were ugly and needed some sprucing.
I came up with one set of designs, which involved large plains of white, and the prinicpal said white plains invite taggers. So I changed it to the current design. And I thought it came out pretty good.
Yours truly. In her Haiti hat.
We penciled out the design last Wednesday, after nightfall and it was a fiasco. We had a gas powered generator running the laptop and the video projector. It was so cold that the metal had condensation on it, so the markers would stop working after a few minutes. But it worked out as you can see. Two teams of volunteers came and filled in the shapes with the colors I prescribed. I had one volunteer who asked if she could paint the pinecone brown instead. I had to say "no." And an engineer and his daughter that just couldn't get past the fact that the dog was green.
Go team.
I'm out of time, but here's a photo of the EMT Thank You Coolers, that I designed. Aren't they cute?
And I was the marketing "mastermind" behind these "water conservation kits" that was out "green" project. They were distributed to neighborhood homes.
Normally I'd delete a photo off the camera that had someone closing her eyes. But this is an important protective measure when Baby R is near your face. I have new nickname for him, "little Wolverine." Because not only does he have a quick temper and is not afraid to fight anyone at anytime. But he's also incredibly strong. It's an achievement in itself to hold him down and change his diaper.*
Hey, hey, look at that cool shirt! I got a little pint size Beautiful Day shirt for Kid C. Mommy and Daddy have matching tee's too. Oh and, I don't know where she learned this funny move with her face. I didn't teach her, but it cracked me up.
Yes, he was really saying "cheese." He'd never done that before either.
Again, more "cheese." But I'd like to draw your attention to the giant yellow ball behind Dr. Frankenheimer. I bought that for a WG project, but then we didn't end up using it after all. So here it sits in our house where the kids bowl each other over with it and cry. I like to sit on it though so it's staying until I can paint it like a giant ornament. (yes!)
The reason they're being so cooperative and cute, is due to the sleeping bag. They were magnetized to it, ever since I brought in the house. Who knew it would be so exciting?
They snuzzled up to it immediately. Like Mojito would.
Big mom foot, 9 o' clock.
I don't know if it's clear from the video, but Baby R for some reason has become facinated with Olive's poop-shoot. He has a tone in his voice like he's concerned about it, like he thinks she's injured or something. Either way, I gotta keep them separated.
This is from Halloween, I forgot I had it. Kid C was serenading us with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. This'll be nice and embarrassing later, right?
*Speaking of diapers. I've been seriously considering going ot disposable diapers with Baby R. Because he has to wear them when he goes to Grandma's or church or out somewhere. And he totally prefers the disposables, and he won't fight me (as much) to wear them. Plus, Kid C is in disposable pull ups, 24/7. I feel like I've done my 3 years of cloth diapers, I've reduced my share of the landfill, and now I'm going to be a polar bear killer like the rest of society. I haven't made the call yet, but I think I might do so in 2009.
...because when I tell you I'm going to a Christmas Tree Lighting tomorrow night with the kids, you're gonna think it.
I have mixed feelings about Santana Row.
I mean, mostly I love it. The Dallasite in me loves it. It's produced, polished, filled with shiny new products and well dressed people, and lots of restaurants. But then, alot of those people are the rich and the bored and it's very pretend-cosmopolitan. Because it's in San Joser, and everyone knows it used to be a Chevrolet dealership. Watching the "singles" action there is an event in itself. I like to play the "I know why you're still single" game while watching the parade of push-up'd women, and dry-clean-only-shirt men walk around.
Anyway, it's most likely going to be a refreshing mix of families with kids. And hot chocolate tasting, I can get behind that.
Let me preface this by saying, I'm not complaining.
I'm just reporting. It's my blog after all, I need to tell me about me.
This is how I gauge my exhaustion:
I'm too tired to /I can't handle:
-closing kitchen cabinets -opening the garage door to recycle something -do anything but read aloud to or take a walk with the kids -plan a meal, cook it or clean up after it -e-mail maintenance -phone communication -shower -make/keep doctor appts -read Bible/books
I don't feel like I'm going lose it. But I do feel like falling over.
I made a bunch of mistakes in the last week because I'm so exhausted and I can't think straight. And I feel really terrible about them. It's like cosmically I know I'm forgiven, but I'm so tired I can't make a resolve to fix the mistakes. It's different than the pregnancy "Stupids" because that was more like going around in oblivion. My thoughts now are clear, and clearly regretful.
And I've been meaning to say this following statement for years: If you have gone to a spa recently, or are planning on going, etc-- *do not tell me about it.* It only makes me want to cry. I don't want to know what you do or how great it is, or how great you feel, because I'm horribly jealous and it makes me depressed.
I'm going to stare at this beluga whale for a while and see if that helps...
I was considering this year's Christmas card, the other day while shopping. How can i make it meaningful and cheap...meaningful and cheap...hmm.
And then I realized the most meaningful thing to do with that 100 bucks that I have spent on cards (yes, I'm an idiot but $1.00/card plus stamps adds up when you send out 50 cards) ...the most meaningful thing to do would be to spend that money on people that need it. ...the cheapest thing to do would be to not send cards.
I knew it was a good decision when I felt a big relief after I made up my mind. And I weighed what I believe and the facts as I see them, and it's the only logical choice.
But! I promise to make a really cute photo shoot and make a blog post that looks like what my christmas card would look like if I had really made them. It'll be entertaining, I promise!
Kid C likes to take pictures of herself. I don't know where she gets that from. *eyes darting back and forth* She will sit with my laptop and play with the "Photo Booth" program for like 30 min straight and take photo after photo of herself. If she sees the camera, she wants me to take her picture. She loves the mirror. No self esteem problem here, people.
She insists that no one else be in her shot. We snuck in on this one, and then she told us to go away.
Working with props, namely, my earrings.
She did a ton of these, motion shots.
More props.
Extreme close-up.
Classic.
Baby R wanted part of the action.
There are a ton of these too. She would hit the button and then flop on the table.
She wanted me to take photos of her in the bathroom all night.
