Baby Tuesday

Look at this guy. And try not to look at me, I cropped out as much as I could.


Baby R and his Gramps, his great-grandfather. We all love Gramps.


C-c-c crazy Kid C and incredulous Kevin.


Baby R and Grandpa Jim, chillin' n' waitin' for food.


Kid C loves Kevin's cousins. They're way fun than Mommy for sure.


Kid C was riveted by the Nutcracker Ballet.
She would have sat there all night.
This is why I *needed* to sign her up for ballet class this morning.
Mission critical.


Here's Baby E, their cousin. She's very mellow.
Falls alseep on laps, I mean, that's amazing.


Grandma Sue sewed Kid C a fancy apron for Christmas. Tres chic!


Like ships in the night Baby E and Baby R crossed paths. Rarely repeated.


Kevin's Aunt Gale bought this princess dress for Kid C.
She really really really loved it. Way more than I would have guessed.
Note Mojito in his holiday elf getup.


I was pretty proud of the success of my gifts to the kids. The Mega Bloks train and car set was a hit for both C and R.


"DOOHHH!" Translation: "Mommy, fix the car I just took apart!"


My mom originally had bought this for another kid's gift but I told her that my kids love Twinkle Twinkle Little Star more than cookies and kool-aid combined. So she let me give it to them from her. And yes, he pressed the little song button on this book about 30 times in a row.



Blankets, blankets for all!
I sewed Kevin's blanket out of old T-shirts he had.
(That Jawbreaker one you see in the photo is the one he was wearing the day we first met)
And Kid C got her new bedspread from GiGi and although Baby R got a fancy new blanket from GiGi as well, no blanket can replace his Blankie (which he calls his VahVah).


Mom, you think she likes it? ;)


Now the day after Christmas, I thought it would be a great idea to take Kid C to see Bolt in the theater.
Here she is all ready for her first movie, and it was 3D so they gave us glasses.
15 minutes into the movie, I had to take her home. She was totally freaked.
Full on tears and red face of fear. Too many loud scary bad guys.
Next time, we'll go with something without conflict, like Care Bears or something.
omg.


So then on Sunday we went to the SF Zoo.
I took a photo of her with this darn map, because SHE WAS OBSESSED with the MAP!
There were animals like right up in her face, but instead she wanted to find the animals on the map. She wouldn't even look up. I kept calling her the "old lady."


Penguins! They live in government housing I guess.


She got out of the stroller for the rhino.


Flamingos not pictured.


Baby R is sporting his new Stanford hoodie from Gramps.
Here's hopin for a scholarship!


And lastly, Baby R loves Olive the cat.
I guess I'm glad I didn't accidentally hit her with the car when she was peeing all over the house a while back.
He now likes to pick her up and carry her around. Which if I didn't see it for myself I would think it would end up in cat scratches, but for some reason she puts up with it. And we crack up at it, so he's just gonna keep doing it. This taping isn't the best, but you get the idea.

like a status update for a longer attention span

-I think I have a cold.
But these next two days were supposed to be chocked full of cleaning and making things, and I really don't want to do any of that now. I want to sit here under the blanket I made Kevin for Christmas and sleep on the couch. Isn't that what working people get to do when they're sick? Sleep?

-The kids are in bed napping. Well Kid C is probably doing crazy stuff in her room, but she'd been punchy since about 10am, so she had a "nap" comin'.

-I'm totally bummed that I finally had enough $ to print out my blog with Blurb's blog to book feature, only to find out their program still has bugs and that I should try again using it in a few months. Gah. Since I'm a bloggin' fool it's gonna be expensive due to the number of pages. I expect multiple volumes...

-We went to the San Francisco Zoo yesterday-- the zoo infamous for the tiger mauling two years ago.
The tigers are now plexiglassed in, but I kept hoping to see a sign somewhere that read "don't taunt the animals...OR ELSE!"
And how crazy is this: Our neighbors that live directly behind us pulled up one parking spot away from us at the exact same time outside the zoo!! What are the odds?!

They said that they have a family membership so they were trying to use it up before it expired, and that motivated me to buy a membership for us.
It wasn't until I waited in line for 15 minutes that I found they had raised the rate from what neighbor-lady told me, but whatever, I bought it anyway. So now we can go all the time. Hurrah.

-Despite an hour of cleaning in the kitchen today, it still looks disastrous. And there's no milk or meat, or anything. And now that I'm sick, I am totally not taking the tantrum twins to the store today. We will live on what's left.
Be it lentils, or fruit cocktail, we will survive until I feel better.

-The Christmas decorations are down, and although it was slightly depressing, it feels much more relaxing in this house now.

-The dogs have been naked since the day after Christmas. They had their holiday collars on, and then when I took them off, the old ones were so grubby that I couldn't put them back on. I guess I'll have to find them some new collars before I leave. I hope they don't wander off before then.

-We've been watching Heroes on NetFlix for the last week or so and it's kind of addicting. It's like 24, because of it's inane dialog and often silly plot twists, but I find myself wanting to stay up all night to watch episode after episode.


Hiro, you're my favorite.

An appetizer for Tuesday

Merriment!

Baby Tuesday

Hello.




It's Christmas...Its Spring? We got headbands here.


This was the first time any of us made a gingerbread house.
We needed a kit.










Finished product. It lasted about 5 minutes before Baby R dug in.
And then there was bathtime. Frosting everywhere.


Here are helicopters on TWO laptop screens.
I brought it on myself.
He loves this video more than anything.
We watch it pretty much everyday.
And I thought he would really love Top Ten Helicopters.
So I bought it on iTunes for him.
He watched it for a little bit when I took this photo but then after that all he wants to watch that Red Bull helicopter video over and over...and over...


The tree is like 90% complete. Look it has lights!
Thanks to the dollar store MOPS door prize I got these "Bridal Lights."
They are like itty bitty teeny weeny white lights.
I hung the branches and drilled holes to poke them through.
See video below for bridal light action!

you're not special

Realtors have a false sense of grandeur.

Realtors and lawyers are always putting their face on advertisements.
But realtors are so much worse about it.

I get something from a realtor pretty much everyday in the mail. They are spending thousands of dollars pretending that I care about what they do.

I totally don't.

I just got a magnet 2009 calendar with this guy Vinicius on it and it was tacky and probably expensive to make and send.
Please! Stop the madness.

They are all going to go broke, no one's buying houses right now, and they keep sending junk mail all over the place.

Tacky expensive junk mail.

I can't roll my eyes enough about it.

Christmas card!

Nothing in your real mailbox, just this little jewel on your screen!

Christmas Craft Bazaar

This morning I needed 3 gifts fast-- Kid C's preschool teacher's gifts.
I meant to sew them last night but I totally forgot and had to come up with a new plan.

I realized I had some extra fleece leftover from making the HIV Center's scarves (*see below for details on that) so I snipped some quick fleece scarves.
And then! I used some of 2006's Christmas cards (coaster cards) that just have the three of our names on them (that I thought I could never use again).
But they worked perfect since it's really just about Kid C.


Cute! I'm so proud of my 6:30 am craft.

*Some women and I made 100 fleece scarves over the last month and 1/2 for the Living Center's holiday gifts. They are wrapped similarly except they are a little fatter and have movie gift cards stuffed inside the bundle.


This isn't the finished product of these bunnies, but I set them up by me while I was sewing the final bunny and it was like they were watching me.
This is for Kid C's cousin Kid S. Aurora, don't let her look at the blog! ;)
It's bunny-bowling, so I gotta sew the [bowling] ball this morning and mail it pronto!

this is why

To all those people without kids that don't understand why I can't do stuff:

and

To all of those who wanted to know why I'm not bringing my kids with me on my TX trip:



That was only 13 seconds.

Imagine that for an entire car ride (which happens 3 out of 4 car rides), or even worse a two-legged plane ride.

That's why.

Baby Tuesday

Okay, I gotta make this snappy.
I got Baby R crying in his room and Kid C with a stinky poop pull up, but if I don't blog this now, who knows when it'll get done!




Here we are at Bethlehem in Sockswithsandalsland.
Yes, step right up, real camels folks! Real camels! Big and small!



Baby R's first open flame.
I think this was more significant to him than his first steps.
He was mystified.


Not just camels, goats too!
Hebrew goats!


I finally broke down and paid real money for a new coat for Kid C. I think it ended up being like 25 bucks from Marshalls, but it did come with that hat. And it's warm. I guess it was worth it.


The trained the pygmy goats to bleat: "A kiiiing haaaas beeeeen borrrrrn!"
Okay, they didn't.


Oh how I wanted to just put them in the pen with the llamas.
The uh, ancient Mesopotamian llamas.


Hoisting at another livestock pen.


Christmas in the Park!
It has cold corn dogs, tepid cocoa, and a carousel.
We partook of all three.


Baby R wasn't happy about riding double-saddle.
But we made it work.




Merriment!


Okay, this was from a few weeks ago. It's your truly with the tree cutting crew....


Okay Kid C is running wild in the house right now, I have to go intervene!...

7 Random Things?

I've been tagged by Devon, who was tagged by Laura, to do a blog meme.

If this was a chain mail meme, I would be obligated to send Laura, who I don't know, a dishtowel or a kids book.

I'm simply supposed to report 7 Random Things, but really I feel that the opposite would be a challenge. "Charlie, we need you to blog purposefully and you're also going to need to focus and follow an outline."
Now, that would be somethin'.

Random fact #1:
I'm incredibly picky when it comes to underwear.
And no, don't avert your eyes, it's a general and simple observation I've made lately: what I look for, does not exist in the average store.
And, SIGH!, I am going to have to break down and shop at the dreaded Victoria's Secret.
I feel like "Victoria" condescends me. Like, I want there to be a section of the store that doesn't have pink upholstered walls that has a sign that reads "Women of Character" "He Loves Me for My Mind."
Is that elitist?
Probably.

Random fact #2:
I don't playground well with others.
Yes, it's true. My inner aggression problem, that I manage to stifle in other areas of my life, surfaces between the toddler swings and the spiral slide.
Nothing makes me want to slap someone in the face like injustice to my kids.
Be it a little kid who pushes Baby R over, or a grandma who is stingy with her kids' sand toys, it makes my blood boil.
It's the kind of thing that makes me want to call someone on my cell phone and say really loudly "you would not believe what just happened!!"
But no one wants that call, so I just stew.
Stew stew stew, glare glare glare.
I want to make a sign and post it at the playgrounds I frequent:

There, I feel better.

Random Fact #3: I don't know what you use to shave your legs, people, but I find conditioner is the perfect product.

Random Fact #4: There are big big red stripes painted on my living room carpet right now, and it was not intentional.
I did a painting the other night.
It was the biggest thing I have ever painted, that wasn't architecturally part n' partial to a building. It was a 9 ft x 9 ft beast, and it's hanging in the sactuary at WG right now. I wouldn't call it art, it's more of a big honkin' banner.
I like to make stuff near the TV or the computer and I also like heat, so I don't like working in the garage like I should. So I moved the furniture, and put the canvas on the floor. And painted the thing until 5:30 am.
Luckily the couch covers the majority of the stripes, and we don't have a landlord...and the carpet is pretty ghetto anyway.

Random Fact #5. I do not, under any circumstances, use the word "hubby." Be advised.

Random Fact #6. I am considering buying one of those big inflatable holiday lawn decor things.
It wasn't until I had kids that I truly understood why people decorated their houses so much for Christmas. My kids get so excited about certain neighbor's houses, I feel compelled to not only get the kids excited about our own house, but to add to the community fun.
Baby R saw not only a Santa Airplane in Lucky's the other day, but also a Santa Helicopter. And he totally tripped out-- first in a good way, when he saw them, and second, in a tantrum way, when we had to leave the store.

Random Fact #7. Right now, it's midnight and Kevin is watching the Spanish broadcast of Tottenham vs. Manchester United on TV while he waits for me to finish this blog. I told him I was only cleaning out my email, so I need to get off the computer mas pronto!

Baby Tuesday

We did a Christmas card photo shoot on Saturday. It was so much harder than I thought it would be. I'm saving the best ones for my e-card, but I'll show you all the others that didn't make the final #1 cut.


"How you like me now?! Holla! Where you at, preschoola's?!"


She was trying for Sears portrait studio kind of pose, unfortunately, he wanted nothing to do with a portrait pose hug.


Nothing like a reflecting pool and a fake silk suit to make things classy.


This guy right here, I tell ya.
That's actually a halloween costume I got on clearance in November.
It's supposed to be a business man, and it came with a watch, a moneyclip and a briefcase.



It's not snow, but those globey things are kinda festive right?


This is one of many many many in which one kid would smile and one would look the other way. It was maddening! They were happy though.


Shmoopy.


Shmoopy too.


"Hey is that a puppy?"


Yes it was a puppy. Thank sweet merciful heavens, a puppy.
Without that puppy we would have never got the really good shots I'm saving for the card.
I asked them to bring the labradoodle puppy over and finally I got double smiles.


Totally my daughter.


They began to tire of my photo shoot here.
But I liked this shot anyway.


Kinda Macy's catalog, dontcha think?


And in closing, it's good to have a chemist as a grandfather.
He brings home dry ice for your water table and fun ensues.