A day in the life

Tahoe with no snow

2012-01-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

Our trip to Tahoe this winter was devoid of snow for the most part, but that didn't ruin our fun.

We used the bottom of a run at Heavenly to sled once the lifts had been shut down.

No surprise that Samuel was willing to go for solo runs.

But I didn't know Shira was going to love it so much that she wanted to do it solo too.

Samuel was very worried about Shira getting hurt, you can see him in this picture running next to her to make sure she didn't go off the edge.

Samuel, ever the big brother, actually volunteered to haul Shira up the hill. The days of complete meltdown when requested to walk more than 5 feet seem to be over (Yay!)

And since there wasn't much reason to pay the big bucks for limited skiing on man made snow, I realized we could do my favorite thing to do in Tahoe - Hike!

Can't remember the last time we had the opportunity to do some serious hiking - Two days in a row, no less!

Amazing views, amazing hiking, amazing husband. Doesn't get much better.

Spent an afternoon hanging out watching the gondola in Heavenly Village. Two years ago I took Samuel on this gondola after a day of skiing. Too bad we didn't have the passes to do it again this year - without a ski pass, the gondola costs 30 bucks! But it is pretty awesome (and a little nerve wracking - I seem to have acquired a minor of fear of heights, or perhaps a small bit of caution, who can tell the difference?)

And of course the best part of the vacation - spending time playing endless games with Bubbie and Popsi.

Our first truly successful car trip

2011-12-30T19:59:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited that we finally managed to have a car trip that took more than an hour that involved almost no crying or whining.

To what do I owe this success? Older kids, and a long stop in the middle.

On our way up to Tahoe, we took a VERY long break in Sacramento, checked out the famous Train Museum, which is indeed all that it is cracked up to be, and visited Sacramento's venerable food COOP(what is up with me and my obsession with food COOPs?)

Oh, and one other thing that saved the day at the end of the car ride - pulling out the Annie's whole wheat cheddar cheese bunnies. Boy were those a hit. Shira begged me for more for a solid week. Nothing like saving the special treat food as last resort. I guess there are some (almost none) advantages to being the mean mom who almost never lets her kids eat anything good.

The Search for Chanukah Celebrations

2011-12-25T19:33:00.000-08:00

Samuel has begun to identify very strongly with being a Jew and that combined with some Jesus/Christmas drama at preschool (don't get me started) has left him constantly asking where the Chanukah representations are amidst the bombardment of Christmas accouterments.

So I went on a search for some public Chanukah celebrations. We kicked off the first night of Chanukah at Santana Row. It was fun, lots of singing and stories, but the tiny menorah was kind of disappointing.

Then I thought, 'Isn't there a freaking huge menorah in Union Square? We've got to go check that out.' So we trekked up to the city, met some friends, and stood out in the cold for an hour while we waited for the menorah to be lit (they were a half hour late). Not to be negative, but what was billed as a big celebration, was not, and the 100 foot Christmas tree that stood 10 feet away from the menorah took away from the ambiance slightly.

But not to worry, I managed to find excitement for us. I had yelped a Pakistani place to eat at (it was Christmas Day, and I lean toward Indian ethnic over Chinese). It was in the Tenderloin, but it was just a few blocks from Union Square, and really, that's just the way it is in SF anyway, right? Tenderloin, Nob Hill, whatever.

I made the kids sprint to the restaurant since it was getting late, and I figured I could wear them out a little and maybe they would sit still for 5 minutes and 30 seconds so I could eat. Our crew of four adults and four kids - 2 four year olds, a 2 1/2 year old and a 4 week old - all of us very white, walked into the restaurant to discover I had indeed found a very ethnic, very authentic restaurant as every last person there seemed to be Pakistani.

I won't bore you with the details of trying to steal enough room for the eight of us to sit down, but we had managed to cobble together a table and enough seats just in time for a fight to break out among some other patrons. A couple of the kitchen staff showed up to push one of the guys out the door, just as a circle was forming around the participants. The guy wouldn't leave, and came slamming back through the door, making it crack like a gunshot. After some more high drama, the whole thing got calmed down, and everyone went back to normal.

The food was very good, and so cheap it was practically free.

But I wouldn't be surprised if Eric and Kristen don't let me choose the restaurant ever again.

Chanuka Party 2011

2011-12-24T19:20:00.000-08:00

Ultimate Frisbee Tournament

2011-12-17T19:06:00.000-08:00

Samuel has been begging to watch Steve play Ultimate, so when Steve had a tournament on the weekend, we loaded up the lion and Winnie the Pooh chairs and headed out to watch.

Shira was content to watch for about 5 minutes before she insisted that we head over to the park to get some of the swing and slide action that she noted on our way to the field.

Samuel, on the other hand, thought it was fantastic and was perfectly happy to eat the snacks that were brought for the players and watch the games for hours. He was so engrossed, that he didn't mind sitting on the side lines by himself while Shira and I went to the playground.

Biggest disappointment of the day for Samuel - Steve and his teammates were so worn out (old men! and women!) from winning their first two games that they didn't actually want to win the third and be in the playoff game. Samuel and his drive to win and beat all things seems to extend to a desire for his father to win and beat everyone as well.

And more exciting bike news...

2011-12-11T19:12:00.000-08:00

We bought Samuel the next size up bike yesterday (yes, it's blue). He's now on 16 inch wheels. As soon as we put it in the car to take home Samuel said that he wanted to ride it to the farmer's market. I was a little hesitant, as I didn't want to get to the market, hear how tired he was, and then have to endure meltdown on the mile ride home.

But he did it, no problem. Rode all the way there, all the way back, and then rode straight over to Graham (after a quick snack and drink of water) to ride some more. What a treat for me to ride a bike with only an extra 30 lbs (Shira and her seat) rather than an extra 70 lbs.

And how exciting for Samuel. He now has a serious mode of transportation on his hands. Can't believe what a big kid he is now. In addition to doing the 2 mile round trip completely under his own steam, he rode in the street with us, and used the exact right amount of caution necessary. Amazing.

Also, he told me yesterday that he thinks that instead of playing football at Michigan, he will "probably race on both of the bike teams." (Both refers to mountain bike and road racing, of course). That's my boy! Of course, Steve isn't sure they've got cycling teams at Midwest schools, but we can work that out later. I'm not sold on Samuel going out of state, but I have a few years yet to work on the Michigan obsession and replace it with "Go Aggies!"

In more bike news, Shira wants to ride a bike with pedals badly. She talks about it every time bike discussions come up (daily). My response has been that she can have a pedal bike as soon as she can go super fast on her balance bike.

And what is the result of that? She now rides that balance bike pretty super fast. All the while chanting "super fast, super fast, super fast". I may be in trouble. Can a two and a half year old learn to ride a pedal bike? I don't know if she has the coordination to turn the pedals in a complete circle. We may be finding out very soon, though. She knows that Samuel's two wheeler now belongs to her.

Remember that tandem I just bought?

2011-12-11T19:08:00.001-08:00

I knew I'd figure out a way to get us all rigged up on it...

Reading!

2011-12-07T21:29:00.000-08:00

We arrived at preschool this morning to see several index cards with a separate word written on each one. They were meant as props for the kids to write gift cards to their parents.

The exciting news: Samuel read each one of the cards! First, "Mommy", then "Daddy", both with no help or visual hints. I got him started on sounding out the "and" and he figured it out himself. The "love" took a little more scaffolding.

Samuel didn't seem to think it was a very big deal, but I was thoroughly impressed.

The writing - he's working on the letters, but not quite there yet.

Visiting Grandma Sarah and Grandpa Sol

2011-11-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

Immediately after Thanksgiving dinner at Grandpa Lou's house, we zipped the kids into their jammies, brushed teeth, said goodnight, and got in the car for the long drive to Bubbie's house. The next morning we left Steve behind to get a break (he had spent the last couple of weeks taking care of everybody as I got over the plague) and loaded ourselves into Bubbie's car to visit Great Grandma Sarah and Great Grandpa Sol.

Samuel had a nice time playing with Grandpa Sol, tossing the basketball back and forth. Samuel even set up a bucket as a basket and tested Grandpa, to see if he could get it in, moving it back each time Grandpa made it. Pretty impressive for a blind guy.

Shira got cuddly with Grandma, and we all had a very pleasant visit. I wish we could visit more often, but that 6 hour drive is a killer.

Stone Soup 2011

2011-11-20T18:53:00.000-08:00

This year we made sure to bring Shira. Almost as frigid as last year, but I was prepared this time. Our contribution were CSA shelling beans, herbs from the garden and leeks.

Samuel loved performing the song that the kids had been practicing. The smile of pure joy when he saw Steve standing with all the other parents was priceless.

Can't get much more with the season than jumping and hiding in huge pile of leaves.

Reading and Writing for one, Super Emo for the other

2011-11-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

Within the last couple of weeks Samuel has begun to exhibit a strong interest in letters, words and spelling. It began with his preschool placemat. Every night at dinner time he would point to each photo of a student with their parent and ask about the letters in their names. As the nights went on, he started naming the letters in each name, and within a few days he was associating the sound with each letter. We've begun the adventure into sounding out words.

Yesterday I asked Teacher Rachel for some curriculum books, and tomorrow we will get started practicing writing. Samuel is very excited. Rachel gave us a little chalkboard to go along with the writing workbook and Samuel immediately picked it up, drew an "L" and told me what it was, what sound it made, and a few words that started with "L" (including "Lisa", of course).

Mainly I just want to make sure he can write his name, since he will be asked to do that a lot in kindergarten, but he's so excited about it, I think we'll be running with it. Next up is checking out some "Bob" books, which are apparently books for the early reading set that are written using only words that are spelled phonetically. We already knew how non-sensical English spelling is, but now that we are sounding out words with Samuel left and right, it really hits home how difficult it is to teach someone how to spell properly in English. I remember when I was studying in Italy and I learned that the subject "spelling" simply doesn't exist in Italian schools. Since Italian letters always sound the same, you can just sound out any word to spell it correctly.

Shira is definitely listening to Samuel and his letter interests, it wouldn't surprise me if she started reading and writing very early just because of it. She has been singing the alphabet of late. But her most notorious new skill at the moment is her use of colloquial English. She can be heard saying "Oh man!" with just the right intonation repeatedly through the day. She said "Oh jeez!" yesterday, and I hopefully nipped that in the bud (though Samuel got confused and told her not to say that but "Damn it!" instead, which I then had to remind him I didn't want either of them to say either. Oy.)

She also enjoys the superlative "super" and uses it frequently to describe her emotions. As in, "Me super sad because ball undies (her fave underwear that has soccer balls, baseballs and basketballs on them) are in the laundry," and "Me super happy I see Bubbie next week and she sew buttons on my shirt." Also, yesterday she informed me, totally unprompted, "Me had super good time with Fabiola. We went to park and made popscicles."

Most days they are just so perfect it almost hurts. I almost never want to give them away to strangers anymore.

The Hair Cut

2011-11-08T21:09:00.001-08:00

Thanks baby for finally growing it for me. I don't miss it too much, though, now that it's gone.

Goodbye Tandems, Hello Tandem

2011-11-08T20:47:00.000-08:00

At 8 o'clock in the morning on Saturday, December 6, 2003 I emailed a guy that I had been corresponding with through JDate to ask if he would be interested in test riding a tandem with me (I had always wanted a tandem and decided I would buy one for myself for my recent birthday). I didn't expect him to respond in time, since I doubted that he was awake, or checking email at 8am, but shortly after I wrote to him, he called me.

Steve said he'd be happy to check out the tandem with me, but was taken aback when I asked him what kind of car he drove. He decided he would meet me after all, when I explained that I was only asking to see if his car was big enough to transport the bike home should I choose to buy it. The answer was obviously no, since his Toyota Corolla was barely bigger than my Toyota Tercel.

When we arrived at the house of the gentleman who owned the Schwinn Twinn we were about to ride, I informed Steve that he would need to captain it (ride in front and steer) since I am much smaller than him. This was news to Steve, but he got huge points for still being willing to try it, on a first date, with the date being an experienced cyclist. What guy is confident enough to do that?

The tandem ride lasted only minutes, but the date lasted 5 more hours. I bought the tandem. This December will mark the eighth anniversary of that tandem ride, and though I just sold the tandem (it was a tank and Steve hated riding it), I can't imagine anyone I'd rather ride our new tandem with.

I also said goodbye to our Trek. Now that we have kids, we never get a chance to ride either of these tandems.

And the purchase that made these two sales necessary: I finally found a tandem that I can captain. In order to warrant purchasing a new tandem, I had to clear out the old ones. Samuel and I have a blast riding this together, and within the next year, Shira will be hooked up behind us on the trail a bike.

It was easy to sell the Trek.

But selling the Schwinn that Steve and I rode and I purchased on our first date, was hard to come to terms with.

Trains

2011-11-08T20:40:00.000-08:00

Have been very popular recently. I finally feel like buying all that Brio was worthwhile. Samuel and Shira built this entire track on their own.

Preschool with Shira

2011-11-08T20:33:00.001-08:00

Shira's favorite station - handwashing after the painting project.

And her second favorite - the painting itself.

Loves the lawn mowers and doll strollers.

And snack time.

And after preschool for Shira, we head over to Samuel's preschool for storytime and the goodbye song.

And whew, preschool is tiring work. Face plant in art project.

Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-08T20:27:00.000-08:00

Finally did it. Managed to host my pumpkin carving. Thanks everyone for coming. We had a great time. Next year I'll make sure to have it closer to Halloween - our pumpkins all got moldy too fast.

Halloween Candy

2011-11-03T07:43:00.000-07:00

I have much blogging to do and pictures to post, but I wanted to record this morning's experience with Halloween Candy.

First thing in the morning Samuel wanted to pick his piece of candy for the day. Which of course means Shira also wanted to pick her candy for the day.

First up Skittles for both kids. Ate one each, decided they didn't like them. Two packs of Skittles in the garbage.

Second up, Starburst for Samuel, Sweet Tarts for Shira. Likewise in the garbage (though Shira had to try a second Sweet Tart to make sure she really didn't like them.)

Third, Shira went for Nerds and said she liked them, but abandoned them for her homemade yogurt, strawberry, banana popsicle after a couple of "rocks".

Samuel had already given up on candy because I was making honey whole wheat bread, and negotiated for some honey instead of a piece of candy. Which was subsequently negotiated into one and a half teaspoons of maple syrup drunk from his favorite glass.

My kids' health may just yet stand a chance against the corporate capitalist machine.

HALLOWEEN!!!!

2011-11-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. Why? Other than the fact that my mom found the costumes at one of her estate sales and anything Bubbie comes up with is THE COOLEST THING EVER?

In Shira's words "Brudder Pooh - he like honey. Me, Tigger, I like bounce."

But I think Steve may have stolen the show this year with his 70's roller skater with afro.

I didn't dress up. Sorry, not going to be Eeyore.

Samuel's preschool parade. Shira and I showed up at the end, Samuel refused to keep marching, so Shira jumped in and held Teacher Rachel's hand.

The Microsoft party.

Swimming Lessons

2011-10-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

Not the greatest pics, but did my best to document. Samuel is really swimming. And Sergio is a great teacher.

Growth

2011-10-17T19:18:00.000-07:00

Shira's language continues to grow in leaps and bounds. She now speaks in complex sentences, frequently with completely correct syntax and grammar. Her fine and gross motor skills have been developing similarly. She can truly run, as well as gallop, jump and hop. She loves to paint and draw and use all sorts of utensils. And can I talk about pottying, or will I jinx it? Her bladder seems to have grown recently, as well as her bladder control. I have many days where she doesn't need a change of clothes at all (and I don't have to race her to the bathroom every 22 minutes - or is that seconds?). I have dreams of being done with all manner of diapers within the next year, but that is probably fantasy. Since naptime seems to becoming old hat, I do have my hopes that we will be down to just night time diapers in the near future.

Have I mentioned that we have been reading a lot about kindergarten readiness for Samuel? That was the topic of our most recent preschool "class meeting". And as these things go, all signs point to Shira being ready for kindergarten. No joke, not a typo. Which might give you a sense on where I have landed in terms of the "redshirting" in kindergarten issue. For all my concern about whether we should send Samuel to kindergarten or not, it's becoming absurdly clear that that is just noise. He's ready for kindergarten, no question, and I'm a little embarrassed about getting sucked into this "it's much better if they're older" nonsense. That's not to say that some kids don't benefit from a little more maturity. I just have realized that it's silly to think of waiting just so my kid is older than everybody else.

Samuel has been making some big advances himself. Just last week he began to express an interest in sounding out words, and our spelling adventure has begun. Grandma Susan should be acquiring us some flash cards to work on letter and sound recognition. Samuel is super excited (as are Steve and myself). Reading has brought us so much pleasure in our lives, we wait expectantly as that world begins to open up for Samuel.

The garden continues to grow as well. After a recent rainstorm our tomatoes stopped producing for a couple of days, and I didn't realize how accustomed I had become to freshly picked tomatoes on demand. Winter will be hard to get used to, but since it was 80 degrees again today, it looks like we'll have tomatoes again for a little longer. I just hope they hold on until next week so Grandma Susan and Grandpa Tom have the opportunity to enjoy them.

Our lettuce has not been faring so well. The red leaf became bitter and bolted almost immediately, and though the romaine is slightly better, between the lettuce and the broccoli, our garden has begun to attract snails. I might give up on the lettuce all together, or try again when it gets cooler. Definitely would plant more than 4 broccoli plants next year, but they take up a significant amount of space. Our radishes, carrots and onions are coming right along, I keep telling Steve and the kids they should do another planting, but we never seem to be able to take the time. The pumpkin, watermelon and cantaloupe plants have shockingly all decided to put out new flowers, I can't wait to see if they actually produce something - the pumpkins have already set 2 new gourds. And the raspberries are producing a few berries a day; next year promises to be prolific. Cauliflower hasn't shown up yet, we'll see if those go anywhere. The apple tree had most of its leaves turn brown and drop off the tree. Not a good sign. I might go back to the nursery and ask for a replacement (although I doubt they still have one).

Our new camera should arrive tomorrow or the next day, at which point I imagine the blog posts will pick up again.

No more pacifier

2011-09-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

The dentist mentioned that he could tell that Shira used a pacifier or sucked her thumb based on the shape of her teeth.

The next day, I experimented with the end of the pacifier. So far it has been a week or two, and we haven't back slid.

So I think I'm ready to say, we're done with the pacifier. One less thing to keep track of. One less thing to wonder about how/when we're going to end it.

I hate to say it, because I don't want to jinx anything, but it was remarkably easy. One day, at naptime, I just told her we weren't going to use it anymore because it is bad for her teeth. She asked for it at bedtime and naptime for several days, but wasn't upset when I said no.

Huh. Not every parenting issue is a teeth pulling challenge. Go figure. I'll have to keep that in mind the next time I want to quit.

Shira's first day of preschool

2011-09-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

Each time we mentioned to Shira that she would be going to her first day of preschool soon, she responded with an excited, "Me wear purple packback" Clearly. Everyone who goes to preschool must wear a backpack.

We gave riding to preschool with both kids a test run today. I'm going to try and ride with the kids every Monday, at least until it gets wet and yucky. So convenient that Samuel's preschool is 40 feet away from Shira's.

Shira was a little nervous when we walked in the door*, but cautiously allowed Teacher Mindy to put her name tag on. I don't know why I thought Shira would just walk into preschool like she owned the place. She warmed up quickly, but remained close to me most of the day.

It was a unique experience to be focused solely on Shira. I didn't really think it would be that different, but it was special to experience this preschool with just her. Quite different from the last time I attended Parent Observation, juggling an infant and a first born 2 year old.

It is funny to think that 2 years ago Shira attended this same preschool as a 3 through 11 month old, but was usually sitting in the Maclaren, or perched in the carrier, watching Samuel and the other 2 year olds doing all of the activities.

She spent her first day checking everything out. Painting interested her, but typically, the hand washing station for after painting was a far bigger draw.

She found the bounce pads enchanting

Unfortunately, my photos stop there, as a little boy walked by me and kicked my camera, and it is once again broken. I'm not bitter. (Speaking of which, I need a small, reasonably priced, point and shoot that takes decent photos, if you have any recommendations.)

Shira also enjoyed her whirl on the tire swing. With all of our other activities, recently, we have spent precious little time at parks (as evidenced, yesterday when we went to Samuel's preschool's picnic in the park, and when we pulled up, Shira enthusiastically yelled, "Playground!") I've forgotten how tuned in Shira is to every swing in a 2 mile radius, and if they are occupied or vacant.

Shira did not want to leave the playdough table when it was time to clean up and head to circle time. Tactile sensory activities are a big draw for her.

She was in observation mode during circle time, quietly taking it all in, watching everyone, but not yet ready to participate (Silberman or Kafka trait? Both Samuel and Shira have it, though I'm betting Shira will begin to participate soon, I'm not sure that Samuel participated in any of the circle activities, until perhaps April or May.)

Shira enjoyed snack time, eating her own, and checking out what was on the menu for other children. When she saw that someone had not finished their cheerios and pretzels, she pointed them out and happily offered to take care of them. Definitely not a shrinking violet.

Once the water table entered the scene, all else was forgotten. Shira even ignored me at that point, and went to work filling up a watering can, just to empty it all over her shoes. Note to self: bring an extra pair of shoes in addition to change of clothes. I'm lucky it was a hot day, or I'm betting I'd have heard a lot of conversation regarding the cold wet state of Shira's feet on the ride home.

Shira was exhausted by the end of preschool, at which point we headed over to enjoy story time at Samuel's preschool before hopping back on the bike home. Pretty sure Shira thinks Teacher Rachel is as much her teacher as Samuel's. And when they sit next to each other at story time, and Samuel puts his arm around Shira, I always hear at least one "ahh" sigh from a mom who hasn't seen it before. Gosh I'm lucky.

*As a side note, Samuel was very disappointed when he learned he could not be the "work parent" at Shira's preschool. That said, he is enjoying his preschool so much, that when I gave him the option of coming to drop Shira off with me (his preschool starts 15 min earlier and we went there first) he declined the offer as he was having far too much fun of his own. He did say he would drop her off "next time."

Goodbye Bubbas, nnfing and gulp

2011-09-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

Hello Brudder, Samuel, nursing and water.

Shira is losing her baby talk.

It started with Samuel insisting vehemently, "I HATE being called Bubbas. My name is Samuel." Shira listened carefully, and proceeded to almost instantly drop all use of the name "Bubbas" in favor of "brudder". Within the last couple of days she has begun to call Samuel by his name, on occasion, as well.

Not long after the end of "Bubbas", I also noticed that Shira had started asking for water rather than making her gulping noise.

A week ago or so, she stopped asking to "nnf" (mainly because I would tease her and say, "What's nnf?") and began asking to "nurf." Now within the last day or two she has begun to say "nurse."

She does still insist that she is my baby, though. Whenever she is called a big girl, or even little girl, for that matter, she responds with "Me baby, Mommy" and "Me, Daddy Baby" and will also tack on "Me Brudder Baby" as well. Which in Shira speak means that she's my, Steve's and Samuel's baby. And most definitely NOT a big girl.

Firsts at the Dentist

2011-09-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

Shira had her first dentist appointment today, and Samuel had his first teeth xrays.

Samuel insisted on Shira sitting next to him. In fact, he really wanted Shira to watch him have a turn with the dentist first, so that she would know what to expect and not be nervous.

The waiting room rocking horses are always a hit.

We didn't know about the xrays, and Samuel was nervous, but he pushed through it, and even managed to smile by the end of it.

And the most important part - the "prizes" at the end. They took home two big bags of booty - stickers, mini skateboards, pencils.

Trees Planted

2011-09-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we bought three trees that we have been thinking about for awhile, and Steve, Samuel and Shira planted them this Sunday.

This is the 4 in 1 stone fruit - Santa Rosa Plum, yellow nectarine, yellow peach and Blenheim Apricot.

Adding redwood compost on top.

Samuel and Shira show how they are almost as tall as the tree and we try to decide which will grow faster.

We also planted a 4 in 1 pear and a dwarf Fuji Apple.

Gardening and Skating

2011-09-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

I cut the rose bushes way down today, as my ripped up arms can attest. Samuel worked really hard with me, too, hauling all the thorny branches toward the yard bin. Shira happily hung out with us while we worked.

It is a huge turning point to consider that I was able to spend over an hour working hard in the yard, without having to stop every couple of minutes to attend to the kids.

When Samuel was done helping, he hauled his bike and skates out of the garage and he and Shira outfitted themselves.

And later in the day, they attended to their own gardening chores.

First Day of Preschool 2011

2011-09-08T20:36:00.000-07:00

Samuel now tries to dodge the camera, making it very difficult to get his first day of school picture. His evasive maneuvers are pretty good.

Walking in the preschool gate. Samuel finally forgot that he was trying to avoid the camera.

Shira is ready for preschool too. Too bad she can't go with Samuel, they would both love it.

New year, new cubby.

After about an hour of school, once Samuel had warmed up a bit, I asked him if he was ready for me to leave. He responded, first with a timid yes, followed by an insistent, "Leave Mom!" When I told Shira it was time to go, she and Samuel climbed up the play structure and laughed at me. Shira emphatically refused to leave, and Samuel informed me that I should go, but that Shira was staying and he would take care of her.

Once Shira heard the word "snacks" there wasn't really a chance in hell we were leaving before snack time. When I made the mere suggestion, and tried to pick Shira up, she began literally, to kick and scream.

End of Summer Garden

2011-09-05T18:45:00.000-07:00

Today's harvest of tomatoes.

And it was time to pick the pumpkins. We left the biggest one on the vine to see if it would get a little bigger. And there were a couple of other vines we left because they were still alive, but we pulled all the dead ones and picked the pumpkins. Here is Samuel counting them. Can't wait to use them for our pumpkin carving party this year.

Someone could have done a better job staking the tomatoes...

The jalapenos and serranos are still going strong.

We cleared out the green beans, soybeans and strawberries. We planted lettuce and kale starts, and carrot, radish and onion seeds. My goal is to keep planting the seeds every couple of weeks so we can have a steady supply. We'll see if that is just wishful thinking.

And we bought three fruit trees that we've been thinking about for awhile. Now we just have to figure out where to plant them. A fuji apple, a 4in1 pear and a 4in1 stone fruit - yellow peaches, yellow nectarines, Santa Rosa plums and Blenheim apricots.

Best Dinner Seat in the House

2011-09-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

Why does dinner always taste better if you can sit on Mommy or Daddy's lap?

And yes, Steve's hair is really that big right now. And yes, I do like it, I asked him to grow it out for me.

I feel like these are those pictures that Samuel and Shira are going to look back on, and say, "Can you believe Dad used to look like that?"

I hope they remember that feeling of sitting on Daddy's lap, inhaling homemade pesto pizza, and feeling cozy, loved and so very happy and silly. You can't buy that for a dollar.

30 pounds of tomatoes

2011-09-04T20:30:00.001-07:00

We are currently overflowing with heirloom tomatoes from our garden. So of course, I went to the farmer's market this morning and bought 30 pounds of "sort out" tomatoes.

It's a funny dilemma to be in: we have so many heirlooms we are having a difficult time finding things to do with all of them, but it would simply be blasphemy to make sauce out of them, and freeze them, right? They just taste too good and are too special.

So that's why we had to buy 30 more pounds to can and freeze for the winter. Makes sense, doesn't it? Hmmm, maybe not...

That's ok, mission accomplished.

College Football

2011-09-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

We took Samuel and Shira to their first college football game yesterday at Stanford's new stadium. I think it was only the second football game I've ever been too. The stadium is gorgeous, and it really felt like we were so close to the field.

Stanford vs. San Jose State. SJSU got slaughtered, which was a little hard on Samuel because he really wanted "Mommy's Team" to win. He loved being there, though, and wanted to stay for the whole game. Shira slept through most of it on my lap.

Steve was exhausted by the end, since he had to give minute play by play details to Samuel the entire time. I learned a lot about football, that way, though. And they were so cute.

One disappointment: the Stanford Marching Band. I've heard so much about them over the last few years, I expected to be impressed and entertained. They were very small, and not particularly good. I guess their inappropriate antics are to cover up for mediocre music skills?

The bus ride, followed by brunch, followed by the game, followed by the bus ride back home made for a long day. Of course most family members were melting down by the time we got home... still a fun day.

Prepping for School Year 2011

2011-08-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Steve and I met with Teacher Rachel for our beginning of the year parent teacher conference.

We met at Peet's, just around the corner from our house, while our neighbors, whose daughter had been in Teacher Rachel's class the year before, brought their kids over and entertained Samuel and Shira so that both Steve and I could meet with Samuel's soon to be preschool teacher. I love living in such a tight knit community.

What did we have to tell Teacher Rachel? Samuel loves art projects, and sports and preschool. We don't really have any concerns for him. Separation can occasionally be an issue, especially if I'm involved in the drop off. Samuel loves books, especially Roald Dahl. Apparently also a favorite of Teacher Rachel.

And since we don't seem to have any concerns about Samuel, or the program, or how much he's going to learn, or how they're going to prepare him for kindergarten, blah blah blah, the conversation turned to Steve's and my most common school topic...

Should Samuel go to kindergarten at 5 years old, or 6? What's funny (or weird, or whatever) is that the more we talk to people in our preschool community, the more they support my perspective (I'm the, "let's wait an extra year" person), but the more it convinces me that perhaps Steve is right after all, and we should send Samuel to school at the "regular" time. Maybe I'm just being contrary.

Anyway, Samuel will be going to preschool three days a week in the mornings, now.

I've also buckled under the pressure and signed Shira up for Parent Observation, just like I did with Samuel. So I'll be going to preschool two days a week myself, once with Samuel, and once with Shira.

I'm very excited for this new year to start. I think Shira will thrive in preschool and love it. I know Samuel will thrive and love it as well, if last year was any indication. I'm looking forward to meeting new moms, new classmates and hanging with some of the old ones too. Samuel won't be with Mason this year, and I'll definitely miss Becky and Wendy.

Well, I wanted this post to be interesting, but it's falling really flat and I'm clearly losing steam, so I'll just end it abruptly right here. Good night.

The Puzzler

2011-08-29T21:49:00.000-07:00

I'd say Samuel is very proud of finishing this puzzle, but it might be Steve and I who are the proud ones.

Bounty

2011-08-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

We were in Minnesota for a week, and when we came back, we had quite the harvest.

I was worried about arriving home on a Wednesday night, and not having any fruit until the famer's market on a Sunday, but between the four cantaloupe, and huge watermelon that we pulled out of the garden, I needn't have been concerned.

Still not sure how we're going to eat all the green beans... recipes welcomed...

Bubbie brought skates

2011-08-15T21:42:00.000-07:00

Sports Camp

2011-08-08T21:05:00.000-07:00

Somehow, August has gotten away from me. I just realized as I was downloading the most recent set of pictures, I never managed to post about Samuel's week at sports camp.

There was a lot of discussion a couple of months ago when we went to sign him up for camp about whether he was sure he wanted to go to a camp with all new "teachers" and where moms and dads did not also attend. I was surprised, but Samuel was adamant that he wanted to go to sports camp, even if it meant really pushing the bounds of what he would ordinarily be willing to do. It helped that the camp was located at the school which is virtually across the street from our house, so it was familiar stomping grounds. Mason also attended, which definitely helped Samuel's comfort level.

When we arrived each morning for camp there was one type of game or another in progress that allowed kids to join as they showed up (usually some version of tag). Samuel was not ready to join those games, but watched while staying very close to me. He was happy to line up with the other kids at the appropriate cone, and by the end of the week, he enthusiastically joined in the assorted skills activities to the best of his ability.

He was definitely one of the youngest kids there - the age range was 4-7 - and the skills they were trying to teach in each sport were often well beyond his developmental ability, but he didn't mind, and I really saw him grow during the week. The fact that he was willing to entertain the idea of something so foreign - new kids, new grown ups, new activities - is a testimony to his LOVE of any and all sports.

Getting his t-shirt on the first day of camp.

I took a lot of photos of basketball, since that was the sport that Samuel was rotated into at the end of each day, when I came to pick him up. He also played soccer and baseball, but no pictures of those. I hear he learned a mean throw in during the soccer rotation.

Practicing the bounce pass. He really was getting the hang of it.

The last day they played a "game" in each sport. The coaches definitely had their hands full trying to orchestrate a basketball game among 4 year olds, but "Coach Rocket" tried her darnedest. Simply trying to divide the kids into teams and get them into pennies held pratfalls not regularly encountered in a basketball game where the mean age is at least as old as the average shoe size.

The August Garden

2011-08-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of August, our tomatoes and fennel were taller than me :)

Yet another harvesting of the basil. There are days where I feel like all I do is make pesto. Good thing we have an extra freezer.

And look at our neighbor's garden! Hopefully we'll have as many raspberries as they

do next year. And our corn will be as successful.

My favorite new skill

2011-07-25T20:36:00.000-07:00

Samuel can now buckle himself and Shira into their carseats. I love sending them out to the car saying, "If you want to buckle yourself in you need to go out to the car now."

Goodbye Corolla

2011-07-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

The Garden

2011-07-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled with our garden in the front yard. Right now we have more cucumbers than we can really keep up with, and that's saying a lot since I LOVE cucumbers. We might need to make pickles. Which kind of seems like a shame, since the cucumbers are sooo good.

The pumpkins are kind of taking over the yard.

The blueberries aren't producing much, but once a week or so Samuel and Shira get a couple to eat. Next year we should get a bunch. The nursery told us we needed two bushes per person for a generous amount, so now that we know they do well in our yard, I guess we'll have to plant six more.

We should have watermelons in a few weeks, some little ones are starting to grow.

And I think our first canteloupe might already be ripe. Not sure how I can tell when I'm supposed to pick it.

The tomatoes are HUGE.

The Cara Cara Orange tree is full of new growth.

Unfortunately the corn has been defeated by the beans that we planted with it. I don't think this spot was quite sunny enough, and we planted late. Bummer.

My herb box is really filling out. I've already harvested that basil three times.

Camping

2011-07-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

The last camping trip we went on was when Samuel was 5 months old. So it's been awhile. We decided to ease ourselves back in by going on the Stroller Hikes annual camping trip. This is the first time we have been able to attend due to traveling, itty bitty infants and Steve's general disinterest with camping where there would be MANY other screaming children.

We definitely had some concerns at the beginning of the trip, foremost of which was my possible stress fracture in my left foot due to hard trail running in my Vibram Five Fingers (won't be doing that for awhile, but I also don't think I actually have a stress fracture), Steve's bad back which was aggravated by a fake tackle by a coworker the day before we left for the trip, and concern that one or both of the kids wouldn't be able to sleep away from home.

In the end, not walking on my foot for two days before the trip, plenty of drugs for Steve's back, and two kids who were thrilled to sleep in a tent WITH MOMMY AND DADDY ALL NIGHT, meant we had a very nice time.

There were lots of fun things to do.

Like building and painting birdhouses.

Going on a scavenger hunt.

Digging in the dirt.

Roasting marshmallows - which was probably, hands down, Samuel's very favorite.

Mmm. S'mores.

Sitting and staring at the fire - also a huge favorite for Samuel and Steve.

Relaxing with a book.

And, NOT being in charge of cooking OR cleaning. Did I say not being in charge? Let me revise that. NOT cooking or cleaning ANYTHING for the duration of the trip. To be honest, I did make 17 cups of Mexican rice the day before, and brought ground flaxseed and blueberries for breakfast, but our contribution to the group dinner and breakfast began and ended with those tasks.

Our peerless leader.

The Weber Family Swimming Summer Camp

2011-07-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

I told Wendy today that I am not going to enroll Samuel or Shira in camp next summer, we are just going over to her house everyday for the Weber Swim Camp.

At least once a week (and many times twice) we have been heading over to Zvi's house for some pool action. This morning Samuel told me he wanted to go swimming and asked if we could go to Rinconada. I responded by saying we could, but would he rather go there or to Zvi's pool? The answer was a resounding "Zvi's!"

How can you go wrong? Everyone who shows up brings a snack to share, Wendy orders pizza, and the kids get out of the water only to pee, and shove an occasional food item in their mouth.

And it's a terrible time for me too, of course. I sit in a pool chair, try to make sure nobody drowns, and chat with whomever is sitting next to me.

We're going back tomorrow, of course.

This post is long overdue, but what kind of blog post can you have without pictures? Wendy was kind enough to pull out her underwater camera and the older kids took some great pictures of Samuel and Shira.

By the way, Samuel can totally swim now, but will only do it if he feels very comfortable. We're almost there.

Weekend at Bubbie and Popsie's

2011-07-18T20:42:00.000-07:00

I can't really write much because I wasn't involved in the making of Samuel's and Shira's weekend. Steve and I drove the kids down on Thursday night, got up on Friday and mosied our way up the coast. Spent a night in Big Sur, breakfasted in Carmel and headed home (and bought a car when we got there!)

My understanding is that the first thing Samuel said as Steve and I pulled out of Bubbie's and Popsie's driveway, leaving them on the lawn playing croquet, was to say to Bubbie, "We are going to Chuck E. Cheese's, right?"

There was a lot of pool time, Chuck E. Cheese, of course, sugar cereal and fancy hair ties.

Jr. Museum and Zoo

2011-07-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since we hit up the Jr. Museum and Zoo, but Samuel asked for "that place with the balls that go around and around", and it seemed like just the right diversion for our lazy summer week with no camp.

We went one day last week, but Samuel had such a good time, the only way I was able to get him to leave was by promising that we would return soon. Besides, we forgot to see the bats, which Samuel had been asking about and we had to leave early because Shira was falling asleep on the floor. So I did promise a return.

The kids had a better time than I've ever seen them have there before. Shira is now old enough to really interact with the exhibits and animals, and the familiarity and small size seemed just right for Samuel's mood.

We spent an enormous amount of time with the animals, before we even got to the balls. Shira was thrilled with the goose which honked at us. Samuel was satisfied with the dark bat cave.

And Shira loves to run up and down this bridge.

But then we spent a bunch of time in this little spot, ostensibly to eat snacks, but mostly to climb onto and jump off of logs.

We made sure to spend plenty of time with the balls. I realized that it has taken me the last three years of coming to this place to finally pay enough attention to understand how all of the different permutations of the machine work. I think I may only be a year or so ahead of Samuel on that front (maybe less). What does that say about me? Or about my foggy mommy brains being sucked out my breasts? Sigh.

I managed to herd the kids out of the museum at 4:45pm, only to be defeated by the log balancing maze. Sigh again.

Radishes!

2011-07-07T21:40:00.001-07:00

The radishes were a definite success this year.

We've been having some issues with kids who like to pick things. One who likes to pick anything that is ripe, whether we are planning on using it or not. The other who likes to pick anything, especially green strawberries and any fruit that is within reach, ripe or not.

Samuel picked twice as many radishes as you see here one day, and two days later decided to pick another bunch just as big. Using up the radishes was a cinch since we love them in salad, but those greens, oy. I did manage to use them up, first in a strawberry and radish green salad which we shared with our neighbors at a barbecue on the 4th of July, and the rest went into strawberry/yogurt popscicles that Samuel and Shira sucked down, as usual.

Wrecking Ball

2011-07-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

Pine cone (picked up while bus/walking to Daddy's office) + string (from CSA shade) = WRECKING BALL

Pre Haircut Hairdo

2011-07-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

Samuel had enough of Shira getting all the fun hairdos and requested 4 pigtails today. He wore them this way to Torah for Tots and a couple of hours later got a "short cut" as he calls it.

More Bikes

2011-06-30T21:29:00.000-07:00

Shira loves riding in the Ibert on the front of my bike, but she also really wants to ride her own bike too. She is now big enough to walk on the scoot bike, and wishes that she was big enough to ride the trikes.

The New Garden

2011-06-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

The garden is a work in progress, but the big stuff is mostly done. We still want to add an arbor over the entrance, and plant flowers along the walkway, arbor and swingset, but we're mostly maintaining and watching things grow. (Note the witch scarecrow, courtesy of, you guessed it, Bubbie).

The radishes Samuel and Bubbie planted from seed.

The pumpkins, also from seed.

To date, we have gotten one yellow raspberry, four blueberries, the cherry tomato plant is producing, the radishes have gone crazy, I've harvested the basil three times, and the artichokes produce more every couple of weeks. It's amazing what happens when you actually water your plants. The cara cara orange, lemon, and kumquat trees are all sprouting new growth everywhere. I even have some hope that we can revive the tangelo tree, but I'm not holding my breath.

Language Explosion and Space Excitement

2011-06-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

Shira has had a language explosion in the last two weeks. About two weeks ago, she went from a decent vocabulary, with a short list of two word phrases, to adding multiple words a day to her repertoire, and now within the last week she has gone from occasional two word phrases, to multiple word sentences.

She can now express just about everything that is going on in her head, not just necessities. There is no question that we have another little person who likes to explain exactly what they are thinking and doing in extreme detail on our hands. Taking a page from her brother's play book, she also likes to detail to me exactly what she wants to eat, which condiments I should include, whether it should be on a plate or in a bowl, which plate or bowl I should use, and whether she wants a fork or spoon. She also lets me know if I should be the one to add something to plate, or if she is the one who is going to do it. If it's me, she will explain to me that she doesn't want "much" on. Oy.

Samuel has suddenly become very interested in space, NASA, space shuttles, the moon, and just about everything else space related. Steve and he took an emergency trip to the library on Sunday to feed the habit. And Samuel is already schooling me on the details. We may have Laszlo to thank for this new hobby.

Three next

2011-06-26T21:37:00.000-07:00

When asked how old she is, Shira insists that she is three. Steve has convinced her to say "three next." She definitely comports herself like an almost three year old. Now that we have celebrated her 2nd birthday three times, I guess she is entitled to "three next."

For her actual birthday on the 22nd, we made what I guessed would be a favorite dinner, if Shira could tell us what she wanted - lamb chops and cauliflower. It was most definitely a hit with both the kids.

The meal gave Shira the opportunity to behave like a puppy dog.

And blueberries with whipped cream for dessert. Lucky for Shira, she has a big brother who is happy to demonstrate how to blow out birthday candles. (What's a birthday without blowing out your candles in your birthday suit?)

Two days later we celebrated Shira's birthday with a small get together composed around Teacher Joe's music class.

Looks like Shira's not the only one excited about Teacher Joe coming to our house. I believe Steve's exact words were, "When Samuel sees Teacher Joe at our house, I think his head might explode."

And more blueberries and whipped cream

And one last b-day celebration, this one with the Silberman clan.

And since you can only have so many blueberries and whipped cream, let's stick a candle in watermelon this time...

Father's Day 2011

2011-06-20T21:15:00.000-07:00

The advantage to Single A baseball for Father's Day is you get to sit right in front of the plate.

It was brutally hot, I can't believe the mascot didn't get heat stroke.

Pretty sure the highlight for the kids were the peanuts (and possibly for my dad too.)

Pool

2011-06-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

We spent 2 and a half hours at the pool today. Samuel and Shira begged to stay even though it was nearly bedtime, and definitely past dinner time.

How do I know that they had a stupendous time? Not only did they want to stay longer, but they didn't even take a snack break while we were there. This may be the longest either of my children has ever gone between meals. A clear sign these Silberman Kafkas were engrossed in their play.

Shira loved floating around, using her arms to balance. Samuel was enjoying the game of throwing Shira's goggles into the shallow end and "diving" to get them.

Shira was so exhausted by the end, that when we got in the car to go home, she requested a nap.

Unfortunately for us, this did not translate to a quicker than usual bedtime. True to form, my beyond exhausted, overstimulated children took longer than usual to go to sleep. I keep expecting that magic everyone else always talks about, where their kid passes out in 30 seconds because they were so exhausted from the day's activities. Nope. My kids are more likely to have an easy bedtime if they sit in the house all day and do nothing.

Lawrence Hall of Science

2011-06-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend we met Joe, Dhea, Joey and Nolan at the place where it all began, the Lawrence Hall of Science. Well, not really. I'd say the place it all began was on a Schwinn Twinn up in the hills of Redwood City in the Emerald Lake neighborhood, but we did get married at the Lawrence Hall of Science, and this is the first time we'd been back since that momentous occasion.

It's a decent schlep, and the kids started out by entertaining each other with silliness. (Don't worry, we didn't get away with an hour long drive without screaming and having to pull the car over at least once for a potty break.)

We were all happy to be out of the car.

Shira was fascinated by the roaring and animated dinosaurs in the special exhibit. Not sure how educational, scientific, or accurate the show was, but it definitely pandered to our age group.

Samuel enjoyed using an exhibit completely improperly, instead of using these plastic pieces to dam the river, he liked to huck them into the river and retrieve them further down.

The still happy couple, picture taken in almost the exact spot we took our vows.

Rock Climbing!

2011-06-18T19:43:00.000-07:00

I finally managed to finagle babysitting for a date night and Steve and I went climbing at a nearby climbing gym for the first time since Shira was an itty bitty baby in an infant carseat. We decided to renew our membership on the spot and commit to start climbing again.

Membership in hand, I took Samuel and Shira climbing the very next morning. Samuel was thrilled because he remembered loving it from 2 years ago.

He had such a tremendous time, that he insisted on going the very next day as well, even though we had just gotten back from a fun and exhausting trip to the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley (he didn't even want to stop at home, he just wanted to drive straight to the climbing gym.)

It is so awesome to see the improvement in his climbing just from the beginning of the day to the end of the day, and from one day to the next.

Shira is also getting in on the climbing action. She definitely liked being tied into the rope and harness, but mostly because she thought it was cool to fall off the wall and swing. Even so, she will climb up a foot or two with me spotting her (as long as I don't tie her in). Shira also discovered the wonders of climbing chalk, and would follow Steve around the gym begging for "Chalk! Chalk!"

Samuel explains some detail of his ascent.

Samuel discovered the slack line outside and gave it a whirl.

Also awesome - Samuel was excited to give us a turn to climb, even insisting that Steve needed to get a last turn before we left, because I had had a last turn and Samuel had had a last turn already.

Messy Art

2011-06-09T19:25:00.000-07:00

Samuel and Shira got one of the coolest recycled gifts ever for their birthday from a couple of doctor friends of ours, and I finally got around to pulling it out, after much negotiating from Samuel.

The McBeths gave us a bunch of left over from casts Plaster of Paris, as well as a doctors gown, blue hospital sheet and wash basin to do with what we would (all guaranteed unused, but about to be thrown out, for the squeamish ones out there). There was also a very thoughtful list of instructions.

And because Shira prefers to use her body as a canvas...

And because I hadn't had enough of messy art a couple of days later...

And because the water was already flowing to clean off the sliding glass door they had just painted...

And because it was finally hot enough outside...

Bubbie comes to garden, Popsie comes for baseball

2011-06-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

As promised, Bubbie came up to help us plant our new garden, but Bubbie doesn't garden without accoutrements. Here the kids help her to rebuild a birdhouse that she brought up to decorate our new yard.

And a few days later Popsie came up to take Samuel to his first ever baseball game at Pacbell Park. And of course he made sure Samuel got thrown a ball from the dugout.

Here Shira is before she realized that she was stuck staying home with Mommy.

Bed

2011-06-03T20:44:00.000-07:00

Tonight Shira walked around the house at bedtime, picking up toys and saying "bed?" To ask if she could bring one of them to bed with her.

Also, Samuel and Shira love playing in our newly done front yard. Mostly they like to dig up the black sand in the unfinished walkway, shoveling it into cardboard boxes, making "cakes" for Daddy. Pictures to come.

May birthday celebrations, Silberman style

2011-05-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Maybe this choice and responsibility thing really works

2011-05-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to a birthday party where there was a pinata filled with candy. When the pinata broke open all the kids scurried about gathering up candy. Samuel, more than any other child, went about picking up every last piece of candy he could find. He didn't want to leave until he was sure he had as many pieces as he could get.

As soon as we arrived home, Samuel informed me that he would be eating one piece of candy each day. No prompting from me. Then he asked that we put the candy away in the pantry. For the next 5 days Samuel asked for us to get the candy down after breakfast and he picked one piece.

Yesterday I took the candy down for Samuel, he picked out his piece and ate it, and then told me to put all the candy in the bag for him. I told him that it was his job to put the candy in the bag. It lay on the floor for an hour or so, at which point Samuel walked into the kitchen, said that he didn't want anymore of the candy because he had eaten all the pieces that he liked, and then he threw all of the remaining candy in the garbage can.

Can I just turn all the parenting over to Samuel now?

The demolition of our front yard, aka...

2011-05-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

...we are no longer the biggest eyesore on our block.

Grandma and Grandpa visit for Samuel's 4th Birthday

2011-05-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

Although it wasn't anybody's birthday yet, the first thing that had to be done, was open the birthday presents. I'm not sure who was more excited, Grandma and Grandpa, or Shira and Samuel.

Do you think Shira likes her John Deere dump truck?

Samuel and Grandma had a very good time putting his first set of Playmobile together. Every night for about 3 weeks after receiving them, Samuel spent all of the time between dinner time and bedtime playing in his room with these figures, creating scenarios for the pirates. He also, for the first time in his life, would wake up in the morning and play with them in his room for a significant amount of time, before coming to crawl into bed with us.

Gotta have storytime with Grandpa. Shira has taken to wearing shades recently. Apparently life is just too bright for her. Or she's just too cool to be in this family.

Mmm, Grandma's breakfast always tastes better than their own.

Preparing the plane pinata for its date with destruction.

The 108 cupcake scones I made, and the rest of the set up for what was supposed to be the park birthday...

...but turned into the birthday in which it HAILED in CALIFORNIA in mid MAY for 10 solid minutes an hour before we were going to leave for the park. These Minnesotan relatives seem to bring crazy weather with them.

Samuel, with encouragement from Grandma and Grandpa, braved the hailstorm to save that ice pelting from the sky in the freezer. Remember this day, buddy. You're a California boy.

Leaps and Bounds

2011-05-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

Both Samuel and Shira have made so many developmental leaps and bounds in the last couple of months, it is impossible to keep up and remember all of them.

They both amaze, charm and delight Steve and I on a daily basis.

Shira has entered that stage where she doesn't walk, but runs, almost everywhere.

Samuel has become quite the builder. His most used toys are Legos, tinker toys and Legos. No, that wasn't a typo. Legos deserve an extra mention nowadays. At bedtime Steve has to remind Samuel on a nightly basis that if he doesn't stop building Legos and come to bed, then he's eating into his story time.

Shira is very attached to her "babies", picking a new doll or stuffed animal to carry around every few days. Lotta, her "red baby" and gift from Grandma Susan, still plays a prominent part, but recently Shira has been quite taken with a random stuffed mouse that she found in the toy bin last week. She also enjoys the "blue baby" that Auntie Suzette originally made for Samuel, and the dollie that Steve's English aunt and uncle sent us. She insists on sleeping with some combination (or all) of the fore mentioned dolls.

Shira, like Samuel, has become an avid fan of books. She is picking up language constantly, and has acquired some of Samuel's favorite phrases. She is wont to pick up a book, follow Steve around the house and yell, "Read! Read! Read!" over and over again. Charming the first time, not so much the 50th (especially if she is sitting in your lap and you are actually in the middle of reading to her, as happened to Steve yesterday.) Current favorite books include Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, Bark George, Red Hat Green Hat and Moo, Baa, La La La. Sandra Boynton continues to play a strong role in the household.

Bikes are also high on the list of favorites for both kids. A couple of weeks ago Shira managed to do a bit of "riding" on the balance bike, which she was quite pleased about, but she loves to ride on the front of my bike in the Ibert even more. We have begun to ride to the Farmer's Market on Sundays in order to make the trip a little less exhausting and time consuming than walking, which thrills both of the kids. Samuel loves to ride on his trail-a-bike behind Steve, and as soon as I mention that we are going to ride bikes, Shira sprints for the door yelling "ride bike!" repeatedly.

I don't think I have mentioned yet, Samuel has started receiving an allowance. It has been a great experience for all involved. He gets ten cents a night at bedtime after he clears the table and helps Steve load the dishwasher. What I love about it, is that now when Samuel asks to buy something, I just say, "Do you have enough allowance for that?" It takes all the control issues away. Awesome. So if he wants to buy himself to yogurt covered pretzels out of the bulk bin at WF, it is totally up to him. If he wants to get a bouncy ball out of the little toy machines, go for it. I think he's learning a little about money, he definitely knows what a quarter and a dime are, now. The whole saving up for a big thing later on, though, is too tough.

Shira turned into a little girl last week. What with the brushing her hair, putting barrettes in, and getting the 2T clothes out, a number of moms commented on how grown up she has gotten. Not such a little baby anymore.

I am happy to report that we seem to be winning the war against the pink princess menace that seems to have befallen all of the girls that we know. We definitely have a leg up with the big brother action in the household. Every morning when it is time to get dressed, Shira asks for "cars" or "balls". She is referring to the designs she wants her underwear. No pink princess or cupcake undies for this girl.

Crazy thing Samuel did today. We were riding up to the house, Shira in the Ibert, Samuel on the Trail a Bike behind me, and Steve was walking down the driveway to meet us, as he had just gotten home from work. Steve points behind me, and says, "Did you know he did that?" And I turn around to see Samuel standing on top of his bike seat, while the bike is still in motion. He then leapt off the bike and ran for the garage door (which Steve had just pressed the button to open so I could put the bikes away.) Samuel jumped up, caught the garage door handle, and held on as the garage door continued to open, feet dangling in the air as he rode the door upward. After momentary shock, Steve and I yelled for him to let go before he got stuck in garage, he finally dropped to the ground and walked over to us grinning. I must say, it did look like fun. Did seem rather out of character, though. Steve says it must have been his super hero cape that made him do it.

Mother's Day at Preschool

2011-05-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

Today was our Mother's Day Tea at preschool. I love my newspaper hat. Very "Ladies who Lunch". Notice the hand painted silk scarves - those were our Mother's Day gifts. Also note, mine is mostly blue.

Amazing we got all the kids into a picture, and most can actually be seen. The phrase "herding cats" comes to mind...

The Mother's Day Celebration coincided with Teacher Appreciation Week.

Camera Fixed, Half of Thesis Submitted

2011-05-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

So I picked up our camera from the camera fixer guy today. And yesterday I submitted the first three chapters of my thesis to the Universe, so here is a much needed catch up blog post.

The first eagerly awaited CSA truck of the season arrived in early March.

We celebrated with a playdate with our CSA friends, and some Fabiola popsicles. (Apparently Samuel has forgotten that I know how to make popsicles, and he eagerly awaits Monday and Wednesday mornings, yelling out, "It's Monday! Fabiola is coming!!! We are going to make popsicles!!!" And on Wednesdays, "It's Wednesday! Fabiola is coming!!! The fish store is open today! We are going to get a gumball there!!!!! We're going to make popsicles!" It's nice to know that they like their babysitter...)

Random Thursday with Penelope on the trampoline.

Best Dad Ever.

Also, note Shira is wearing barrettes. Another Mom came to preschool with her two daughters, one Samuel's age, the other Shira's, in matching hairstyles. Cue light bulb for Lisa, "Oh, maybe I should start brushing Shira's hair, and you know, put something in it to keep it from total disaster on a daily basis." Do I get to blame it on being a mother of a boy first, or is it just my poor hygiene? How did my Southern California, make-up obsessed, high heel wearing mother create me?

Love my fava bean shellers. And those fava beans were yum.

Legos!!! It is so awesome to watch Samuel engrossed in Legos. Nothing has ever captivated him like this. We love to watch him create things from his imagination.

Our First Family Seder

2011-04-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

The dual blows of our camera being on the fritz and me writing my thesis have combined to leave me little time or drive to update the blog, but I couldn't let this evening go by without documentation. No pictures due to the broken camera...

We were all set to go over to Alexi's house for the first night Seder tonight, but Samuel has a nasty flu that he hasn't been able to kick. So on the very last minute, Steve made a list of must haves for the Seder before he left for work, and after I finished working on my thesis I dragged the oh so sick Samuel, and perfectly perky Shira to WF to pick up the bare necessities for a Seder.

We had a lovely evening, just the four of us, with Steve leading the Seder. I somehow managed to pull together homemade chicken soup with matzoh balls (stock thanks to Boris and Terri - whom I can't thank enough since I looked at the ingredients on the chicken stock at the store and was horrified - another reason we should have a freezer constantly stocked with stock), arugala and strawberry salad, artichokes and parsley from our garden, homemade charoset, hardboiled eggs and horseradish and matzoh (store bought, but whole wheat of course!).

I'm impressed and proud of myself for what I pulled together in two hours, but more impressed and proud of Steve and Samuel and Shira for making a wonderful Seder. Best one I've ever been too. I'm biased, though.

The Capes are Finally Done!

2011-03-07T09:16:00.000-08:00

Steve bought me a sewing machine for Valentine's Day and I finally managed to finish Samuel's and Shira's capes this weekend. The Mardi Gras themed potluck at Kristen's, Eric's and Lillian's house was the perfect motivator to get these done.

Play Dates

2011-03-07T08:59:00.000-08:00

Zvi came over last week, and Samuel pulled out his swords and shields. I bought these almost two years ago on sale at Tiny Tots because I simply couldn't resist them. It was a moment of weakness on my part on so many levels. New? I bought something new?

Weapons? I bought weapons? For my 2 year old? That are meant to hit other things with? Steve looked at me like I was insane. But I grew up with a big brother. I know how awesome it is to have toys like this. And Zvi and Samuel played with them completely appropriately. Swords smacked shields, not people.

Pictures from a few other recent play dates:

Rebecca and Samuel on the trampoline a couple of weeks ago.

And Lillian joined us on Friday for a playdate followed by Shabbat dinner with Kristen and Eric.

Swimming Success!

2011-03-04T13:59:00.000-08:00

Today was Samuel's fourth swimming lesson, and we saw big jump in comfort in the water.

A few days ago we were talking about what we would be doing this week, and when I got to Friday, Samuel exclaimed, "And on Friday we get to go to swimming lessons!" Part of that excitement probably was related to the fact that we would be meeting Zvi and his mom Wendy for our after swimming lesson steamed milk at a cafe, but at least a small part of it was actual anticipation for swimming.

Samuel was still nervous when he got into the water, but this was the first time that he said that he only wanted to put his face under water once, rather than not at all.

And he swam about 3 feet under water to get from the teacher to the side of the pool, where I waited with outstretched arms.

And he actually smiled a few times during the lesson.

Woohoo!

Awesome

2011-02-19T10:18:00.000-08:00

What is so awesome about this picture? Samuel built all the items here himself. He built the train track and popped up the tents, and connected them together on his own. There were a couple of times that he needed a few suggestions from me, but there was a lot of independent play going on here.

So much less needing mommy for constant interaction. Yippee! for everyone involved.

Also awesome - Samuel welcomes Shira to play with his creations too... as long as she doesn't touch the blue Thomas the train... or break the track... or he's not cranky...

Sickness

2011-02-18T18:53:00.000-08:00

So we are remarkably lucky that the kids rarely get very sick. Don't get me wrong, through most of the winter we get our fair share of sniffly noses, but I think Samuel has had a fever one time in his life up until now.

Well, we certainly have rectified that this past week. Samuel has been sicker than he has ever been, eating only breakfast and then spending the rest of the day sitting on the couch, passing in and out of consciousness, followed by being up throughout the night. Four days of the ugliest thing he's ever had, preceded by 5 days of a nasty cold. It's been generally yuck in this household.

And lucky us! As of yesterday, Shira seems to have contracted the same thing, only she can't sleep at all, day or night.

Someday we'll sleep again.

First Swim Lesson

2011-02-11T15:50:00.000-08:00

I don't know why, but I've been thinking about swimming lessons recently. Probably because I've been trying to figure out when we will be taking a trip to Grandma Susan's and Grandpa Tom's house, which makes Steve think about the pool with water slides and trapeze, which makes me think about how much more fun Samuel would have this summer if he could swim. And how much more fun I will have this summer watching him swim.

So last Friday I broached the subject of swimming lessons with Samuel. He was cautious at first, concerned that I wouldn't be in the water with him. He told me that he was afraid that he would fall to the bottom of the pool if he didn't have me or Steve to hold onto.

We talked about how you have a teacher in the water with you, and that I would never let Samuel be in a situation where he wasn't safe. We talked about how great Teacher Claire and Teacher Wilma are, and how your teacher never lets you do anything that isn't safe, too. And whammo. Within the space of five minutes he went from saying that he would wait until he was bigger and could touch the bottom in the deep parts (I couldn't bear to tell him, "honey, in this family that ain't gonna happen for a looooong time - if ever") to being intent on starting swimming lessons ASAP.

Still, I figured we would talk about it for a few weeks, just to keep adjusting to the idea (and wait for the weather to be reliably warm. Yes, we are taking swimming lessons at an outdoor pool in February. Eat your hearts out Minnesotans. It does have a tent over it, though.)

So much for adjusting to the idea. Samuel talked about it several times after our initial conversation, asking me where he would take lessons. I told him I would have to find the best place. Once I found the place, he wanted to know what day he was starting. On Wednesday he informed Steve that he would be starting swimming lessons this Friday. At which point Steve turned to me and said, "I guess you better register him tonight, honey." I did.

He was cautiously excited on our way there this morning. Once we got there, he was a little nervous about the deep water, and having to get in without me. He liked the hot shower I had him take beforehand, though (apparently I'm the only one who actually follows the pool rules, since when he showed up already wet, the deck manager thought he had already been swimming this morning.)

Samuel generally likes to observe things for a good long while before he participates in anything. This doesn't work so well for swimming lessons. But he did a fabulous job. He was super nervous about all the new things - deep water, unfamiliar people, being in the pool without mommy or daddy. There were a couple of tears (literally, a couple tears, no hysteria, as I would have done) after the head dunking, but he held it together. He asked to get out of the pool once, but accepted that he needed to stay in for the whole lesson.

The teacher was great, as was the deck manager. Super encouraging. Teacher Sarah said that everything each kid did was "awesome" about five million times.

When he got out he looked shell shocked, but he replied in the affirmative when I asked if he had a good time and if he was excited about going back. He for sure didn't have a "good" time, but he seems to be motivated, and I can see him loving it, once he has become comfortable with the routine. He definitely has Steve's personality that way.

For my part, it was hard to hold back the tears when I could see how anxious he was, but I think I did a good job holding it together, too. I also worry about him having my fear of the water, which he clearly doesn't, so I should let go of that. And he clearly doesn't have the hysterical melt downs that I did, so we're good there.

I didn't bring his clothes with us, since I could only manage one bag with his towel and robe plus books to entertain Shira (which were totally unnecessary - staring at the spectacle in the pool was more than enough) plus snacks, plus holding onto Shira for dear life so she didn't jump into the pool (which she didn't even make a move for, thank goodness). So we went outside to strip and dry off in the sun and I put my sweater on him.

After which we went to the park. Mr. Shell Shocked eats his lunch.

Trampoline Tricks

2011-02-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

Shira's new trampoline trick is getting onto the tramp all by herself.

Will I enjoy more independent play, or will I be making new friends with some ER doctors?

Unfortunately, her tactics for getting down still consist of standing at the net opening and screaming "DOWN" over and over until I come get her.

Samuel pulled the soccer net onto the grass himself, and put on his soccer cleats. I'm not sure what happened next, but for some reason it involved pushing Shira over. Three cheers for soft grass and accomodating little sisters. She decided she was pretty content to lie in the warm sun.

Doll Stroller

2011-02-10T19:21:00.000-08:00

I asked for a doll stroller on Freecycle because everytime we went to someone's house who had one, Shira would obsessively push it around.

From these pics, you might notice that there is precious little dolly pushing happening. They sure do like to push each other around, though.

Superbowl Sunday

2011-02-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

Def not my kids...

Pulley System

2011-02-10T19:07:00.000-08:00

Here are those pictures of the Pulley System that I promised.

New rule instated today: no babies or live things in the pulley basket. Do I need to elaborate?

Standing slide and Lasagne

2011-02-05T19:40:00.000-08:00

I had Steve take pictures and video of Samuel's new trick, just so that should we need to take a trip to the ER, we can show them just how the head injury/broken bone occurred.

Samuel now requests socks without "the sticky part" on the bottom, just so that he can perform this feat.

Shira wanted in on the action, too, of course.

And while Shira and Steve napped this afternoon, Samuel helped me make fresh pasta for lasagne.

I couldn't have done it without him. And remind me to brush my hair before Steve takes any pictures next time.

Oh, and Steve made Samuel a pulley system to haul things up to his bed (thanks Laszlo and Laszlo's Dad, Steve, for this idea). Pictures to come. Samuel immediately wanted to invite a friend over to help him work his pulley. So Mason was called, and we got to share our freshly made lasagne for dinner with Becky, Gil and Mason (while little Julia slept).

Lena's Bat Mitzvah

2011-01-30T20:20:00.000-08:00

Samuel and Shira attended their first Bat Mitzvah yesterday, and their first Bat Mitzvah party last night.

Both the service and the party made a significant positive impression on Samuel. He informed us that he will be getting Bar Mitzvahed at "his" shul next weekend.

Favorite part of the party? For Samuel - the photo booth. For Shira - the fact that Bubbie had eyes (and arms) for no one but her.

Photo Booth, you ask? Yes, they now rent out those booths that you go in to make silly faces and the pictures come out in little squares. Except nowadays, it is completely digitized, so in addition to the copy that you get (almost) instantly, David and Suzette will get a copy of every picture that was taken on a cd.

We counted this morning, Samuel managed to convince various people to take a trip to the photo booth with him to the tune of 14 different trips times 4 pics a time. Hopefully I'll get the chance to scan and upload a few.

We didn't take many pictures, since Samuel and Shira were so frickin' adorable, and the photographer was the same one we used for our wedding, we knew there would be plenty of professional shots, but here are couple that we did take.

Samuel looks like he is about to fall asleep in his soup. Considering the party started when we are usually getting ready for bed, it's not surprising.

But he was so intent on the fact that there would be dessert, he pushed through dinner as quickly as possible. He shoveled his soup in, and the next words out of his mouth were, "Did I eat enough to have an ice cream cone?"

Shira got a lot of attention for looking unbelievably adorable in her fancy dress. I believe we have Kathy and Jessie to thank for it (was this the one Jessie wore to her cousin's Bat Mitzvah, too?)

Ah, that much awaited cone...

Preschool Project Sharing

2011-01-30T19:40:00.001-08:00

You might remember the project that I mentioned Steve and Samuel were working on last month for preschool. You know, the one about monkeys.

Well, today was the day for presentations. I can't tell you a lot about what went on, because I wasn't allowed to go. It was Dads (or whoever was project point person) and preschooler only. But Steve and Samuel (there are a lot of pictures of the back of Mason's head) and Wendy (our class photographer extraordinaire - Hi Wendy) took lots of pictures.

I hear that Samuel did a great job. With prompting he told the class much of what he learned about monkeys, and answered questions from the audience as well. He was happy to report, when he came home, that he and Mason were the only ones who "did" animals (Mason learned about bats.) There were also two cooking projects, a lever and pulley demonstration, a drum circle, guitar demonstration, a bee report and a checking of vital signs.

This Morning's Bath

2011-01-30T08:04:00.000-08:00

Samuel and Shira are both big fans of taking baths. If I honored every request for a bath, I would have the cleanest, pruniest kids around. We're talking a minimum of two requests a day, typically. This morning the kids took an hour plus bath. I had to get a couple of pictures in of one of the new tricks that Samuel has taught Shira - using crayons with your toes. They do this outside of the bath, as well.

First Parent-Teacher Conference...

2011-01-24T21:15:00.000-08:00

...where I was the parent.

Weird, I almost feel like it was more about Steve and I than Samuel.

Even more weird - seriously, do we need to evaluate preschoolers?

Well, I guess it is a good thing if there are any developmental issues or concerns.

Anyway, it's official, Samuel is a charming kid, who is right on track and we will be doing the MWF morning class next year, because who needs all that structure?

Thank you Teacher Claire for making a house call for our conference. Man, I'm already that parent...

PS I am so sleep deprived I thought our conference was last Friday at 8:00pm. Turns out I had signed up for this Tuesday at 7:30pm. How did I manage that one? It's even more convoluted than that, but impossible to explain here.

Preschool Ice Skating and New Bookcase

2011-01-23T19:29:00.000-08:00

Samuel and Steve went ice skating today with Samuel's preschool.

Mason and Samuel had a good time on the ice.

The zamboni was, as usual, one of the highlights of the day.

When they got home, I put everyone to work constructing our new (to us) book case.

Got the kids' books and toys in, now all we have to do is pull all of our boxes of books out of the garage.

It was a gorgeous day, so after the slave labor, the kids played on their play structures.

Ran around the trampoline.

With bowls on their heads (game created by Shira and wholeheartedly enjoyed by Samuel).

And sat in boxes.

Ahh, Eagle Park, How do I Love Thee

2011-01-22T20:15:00.000-08:00

I've been making an effort recently to get in more park time. I realized the other day that Shira gets to play at the park maybe once a week. When Samuel was Shira's age, we were frequently at the park twice a DAY.

In my quest to allow Shira some childhood unfettered by all of her older brother's activities, I have been reminded how awesome hanging out at Eagle Park is. I have already made myself several new mom friends, reconnected with some nannies and mom acquaintances, enjoyed more time outside, gotten Samuel more playdates, and had my children pee on more bushes.

Yesterday morning, we relieved Katherine of her children so she could recover from a nasty cold that my children quite likely inflicted on her and visited Eagle. When we got there we had the park completely to ourselves. By the time we left, it was hoppin'. Probably didn't hurt that it was in the mid 70s. Anyway, it's been great to get outside more for some unstructured time, and the kids seems to love it too (especially when we bring friends).

Shira adores the swings. She points to them first thing whenever we arrive at the park and I always tell her we'll do it later. I save it for last. Seems to be working well so far.

(Picture courtesy of Samuel - looks very artsy, no?)

Super Hero to the Rescue

2011-01-22T19:53:00.000-08:00

One day when Samuel was at Kristen's house, he asked her to make him a cape. She did, and he was thrilled. Thanks, Kristen!

I called him a Super Hero. After which we have had considerable discussions about what a Super Hero is, and what they do. We agreed that Big Brother is another name for Super Hero, as is Mommy and Daddy.

Anyway, he began to tell me that we needed to have more capes. Namely, because Steve and I needed capes as well as Shira. Which of course morphed into him needing another cape.

So we went to JoAnns and picked out some nice shiny Super Hero fabric, in, you guessed it, BLUE.

And I looked online to find some Super Hero cape patterns, of which, unsurprisingly, there are many.

Then I drafted Steve. Because really, making a pattern out of muslin (I used this one) looks like geometry to me, which I can do, but Steve's brain just works that way so much better than mine.

So here are my boys. Notice the level. So much more manly when making a sewing pattern if you use construction tools.

Samuel learns about pinning the pattern to our material. This is the blue that Samuel picked out.

And I thought it would be cool to have a double sided cape - blue on one side, red on the other. Shira's cape will be green and red.

Haven't come to a final decision on the emblem yet. Samuel wants just an "S".

PS Anyone have a sewing machine they don't use? I'd love to borrow it...

Sunday Night Dinner

2011-01-17T21:44:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed an impromptu dinner at Grandma Joan's and Grandpa Lou's house on Sunday.

The highlight was watching Shira and Carlin kiss.

And Samuel had a good time taking pictures. He told me I shouldn't delete them, so here they are in their entirety.

The world through Samuel's eyes:

Do you remember what it was like to see the world at this angle? I don't. But I do remember that it was a bummer to never be able to see anything. Hence the love of sitting on counters...

Shira can run!

2011-01-14T09:03:00.000-08:00

She's been working on it for awhile, but it wasn't quiet running until this morning, more like really fast walking. Today, it's very clear, she's a runnin'.

Imaginary Play and Dress Up

2011-01-13T20:00:00.000-08:00

Samuel seems to have hit another developmental milestone. He has really begun to engage in imaginary play on a consistent basis, both by himself, with Shira and with other kids. On Monday, Samuel and Lillian played on a boat and surfed in the water. Yesterday Shira and Samuel were running away from sharks, and today Samuel was helping Winnie the Pooh drive a train. I'd give more examples and details, but it's pretty difficult to follow most of the time. Also incredibly adorable. Especially when Samuel leads Shira around the house, asking her if she wants to play along, and telling her what is happening.

Shira is working on taking care of her dolls and I think she will be getting herself dressed and undressed on her own in no time. It will be nice when she is able to put on and take off her own socks and shoes, so that she doesn't need our help for her multiple costume changes.

Lotta uses the potty

2011-01-13T19:45:00.001-08:00

Shira demands that I sing to her to entertain her each time she sits on the potty. In an effort to forestall another rendition of "Hello Everybody" or "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", I suggested that perhaps Lotta needed to use the potty too. Shira enthusiastically agreed. It seems I have found at least a temporary distraction.

We spoke to Bubbie on Skype this morning. The kids were entranced.

Shira and Penelope have been very obliging the last couple of weeks by napping at the same time. (And yes, that is another new Freecycle stroller. I have to say those double Bobs are as awesome as everyone says.)

And when Rebecca and Katherine finished with preschool they came over and snacked and played with us until dinner time.

Bubbie's Visit

2011-01-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago my mom came and stayed with us for a few days.

She brought us an avocado from her tree. And made me take a picture of it. She's very proud. She wanted to make sure you could tell how big it was, so we added a regular avocado from the farmer's market for comparison (hers is the big one).

She also taught Samuel the finer points of fancy make up.

Shira still asks for her every single day, even though she left 2 weeks ago. For a little while, she would wake up at 5am and say "Bu bu", in the most pitiful voice you could imagine.