Wednesday, September 30, 2009

cards that empower!





My friend is starting her own eco-cleaning service. I'm doing her "corporate identity."

The company name is still up in the air.

fun.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Baby Tuesday

At Kid C's new Preschool, they do birthdays on one day a month. For Sept, that meant all of summer b-days too. Oh boy. So we parents were encouraged to come and join in. For me that meant showing up a bit late and then making sure Baby R didn't flip a table like Roadhouse or bite someone like Mike Tyson.
It was kinda cute seeing all of them with their little cookies.
I have a feeling Kid C was a behavior-tool placed between those two boys at her table, who I think are friends.



This one never stops being cute. Her little ears sticking out beneath her crown and her big cookie.


Baby R's little frienemy-girlfriend Baby R(2) had her 2nd birthday last week. We joined in the madness that is a 2yr old birthday party.


Or rather, as you can see, we moms tried to take a backseat to the madness.
(Heather and Christi...they kinda match here I guess)


Here I am. That's my playground face.


What?, am I about to break this dwarf chair?!


Points awarded to Jenn for her clever use of the radio flyer wagon-- drink cooler!


Baby R at the cookie decorating station. Otherwise known as the sprinkle-chugging station.


Gift opening. Pretty standard procedure.


I love watching Baby R play with other boys. He and Kid E play pretty good together.


Group shot, everyone, group shot.


The BFF's.


I don't know why I took this other than it included more than 2 people...




(here's a video of Baby R waving to the little train that goes thru the zoo. It's a few weeks old, but still good, hasn't expired yet.)

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Baby Tuesday

(dangit, all these photos are "small" when you click them, sorry)

On Saturday we went up to the kite event that was happening in the city. I was actually supposed to be at a baby shower, but I didn't realize that until later. Hello!

Anyway, we had already gotten pretty far away from our car when I realized that I had left the camera in the car. I was going to just accept that reality, until I also realized moments later, that I didn't have any cash-- and like any good outdoor festival, there were jumphouses.

I had often noticed the Safeway by the Marina and I thought "what a funny place for a grocery store" but when we trekked over to it, I noted that it was the busiest Safeway I have ever been to. It was busier than the day before Thanksgiving. I bought some "pink milk," a bottle of water, a disposable camera, and got some cash back. The day was saved.

So that means what you are about to see, all of these photos, were taken with a little plastic Fujifilm camera. And I got them developed today. It had been such a long time since I had done that.


I have learned the value of those really long double strollers, that I like to call "limousine style."I think that keeps them from fighting and hurting one another. Which Baby R usually ends up resorting to, the violence. Always the violence.

I first let them out of the stroller here, and off they went like it was a track n' field event.


We're free! Kites! We're free to run around with the kites!!

They had music playing and these kids don't miss an opportunity to dance around.
Here Kid C is dancing to the Grateful Dead. Dad, this one's for you: your granddaughter dancing to the 'Dead in SF.

Jamba Juice had a hut at the event, so I called that "lunch."


More gettin' jiggy with the kites.


Afterward we walked back by the Palace of Fine Arts / Exploratorium, where I parked, because it was free. They begged not to get back in the car so we walked around the little pond, and had our second potty break in the bathrooms in the lobby of the Exploratorium.
(And Mom, this is where I was when I called you, fyi.)



I like this shot. It looks like no one is around. Nevermind there were like 3 weddings going on that afternoon, and lots of out-of-towners with their "Boston" or "Nebraska" sweatshirts on, I guess so no one would mistake them as locals(?).




Kid C chillin with her bribery fruit snacks. This is explained below...



I had to promise them that I would give them two bags of fruit snacks each if they would sit together like they liked each other and smiled and looked at the camera.


They delivered.


Oh, the love.


Here's the big finale. I asked them to hug and they did!!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

more elementary dreams actualized


In my 3rd grade class with my teacher Mrs. Sparkman the very strange Catholic health food nut, my classmate and half-German friend Heidi Dinger brought in Dirt n' Worms instead of cake for her birthday.

I was fascinated. I wondered if it was German. And I loved that it broke-the-mold of birthday celebrations in our class. (To this day, whenever I think of air-popping popcorn, I think of bland Mrs. Sparkman and her moritorium on all things salty or sugary)

I've wanted to make it for years, but I never think of it at the right time.

But this afternoon while shopping in the "grocery" aisle of CVS, I thought "Pudding! Oreos! Gummi Worms! I can make Dirt n' Worms!"

And so I did. And I'm bringing it over to Kevin's parents for dessert.

**I just looked over and Baby R just stole a worm out of one of them! He's in time-out now for worm theft**

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Baby Tuesday

It's the first day of Pre-K!


she's excited.



I give you the documentation of the princess party...


Here is the set up before everyone arrived. It was cloudy and just a little windy, but those sheer panels were like sails, I had to do some serious anchoring.


Here I am in my tack-tastic outfit, painting little Kid E's face. She was my best "client," she held really still.


They are decorating their own cupcakes here. The sprinkles flowed like Niagara Falls.


The moms dropping off their princesses.


The candle flames didn't hold up in the wind, so we had to bring the cake inside.


Kid C trying to salvage her Cinderella candle.


Oh my little prince. He was such a good boy at the party.


The little ladies mingling.




We opened the gifts inside too, although it kinda was like putting a bunch of dogs in one kennel. It was too much for some of them. It gotta a little tense, but we were in the final stretch so it didn't last long.
Here they are all descending on the big princess castle.



This video is so cute.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Princess Party iMix + other stuff



I published this iMix to iTunes. I think it's a pretty good mix. Some kids songs, some oldies, a sprinkling of Tom Jones, Whitney, y'know.


This is the Barbie castle I scored for two dollars at a garage sale a while back. Kid C has totally known about it, because it's been "hidden" in the unused bathtub ever since I brought it home. I had to give it a good cleaning with a "magic eraser" (almost used up the whole thing!) because the previous castle occupants had gone-to-town with a mechanical pencil. It missing all the accessories, but that's fine with me. More room for imagination, right?



Here's her cake that I just finished. It's a little cake since I also made a dozen cupcakes with the same batter. Thanks to Aurora's advice about her friend Sally's party having the cupcakes out right when everyone arrives, I'm gonna go with that. And it's also an activity, because I bought little frosting tubes and sprinkles for the girls to decorate their cupcakes with.
I covered it with pre-made fondant, and just like my friend told me, it's gross, but it looks nice. I think when I add up how much those specialty candles cost, plus the fondant, plus the blue frosting, and the cake mix, I could have probably just bought a cake from the Safeway bakery. Oh well, it's made with love right?

Friday, September 11, 2009

add to my tiny video portfolio



I made this video to kick off the MOPS session this morning. I was kinda proud of it, although most of the credit goes to whoever made the Chevrolet commercial 60 years ago.
And the hot pink starburst was supposed to look on-purpose cheezy, but I think it looked accidentally cheezy. Oh well. I made in a couple of hours.

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

feeling akin to math homework

demotivation
  1. To decrease the motivation of a person or a group.

In this case, a person, me. In the Ennegram chart, it says that type 7's sometimes fall into type 1 which is perfectionism.

And I thought, what a load of horse crap.

But tonight I realized that not letting someone else do the job, because you think they will do it badly equals perfectionism.

Because I do that most of the time, "let me do it, you'll make it ugly."

And I'm up at midnight because I don't want ugliness.

So maybe that chart is right...maybe. (small revelation)

And I am so demotivated. Big time.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Baby Tuesday

I have descended into princess madness. 6 days until the party. She didn't believe me that I could dress up for the party. So I put on my costume and I don't think she's ever loved me more, lol.





could it be?


our team has struggled with the design of this page for months.

could this be the new "I'm New" page for the website?

I await feedback from the other members...

I also await sleeping..

Sunday, September 06, 2009

oh--

I have heard childless adults and parents of much older children say "I saw this so-and-so and they were just yelling and yelling at their kid in public, etc, it was terrible."

And I think and often say "well sometimes kids are naughty and you can't let it go. I yell at the kids in public if they run out into the street or something."

And just now, I saw what those people were talking about, this woman was just layin' into this little girl, like 2 or 3 yrs old. And it was over the top.

So, yeah, that's different. Okay, I see what they mean.

Thursday, September 03, 2009

until 3am I made...

Stopping work @ 3am feels good when you know you've finished your work.

It's less good when you know you have another 5 or so hours of work to do.

Tonight I made all these for various printed stuffs, they all relate and intermingle and I tried to show how they connect.







this one is my favorite. it's snappy.





these are for the website and I'll do more with my molecule model type explanation for the booklet. (oh heavens, the booklet!)