Zach's 6!

 

We had a great party for Zach's 6th birthday. We held it ia the Maidu Interprative Center - a n Indian Museum here in Roseville. There were 23 kids there - 25 with Zach n' Sela. It was very fun. The kids learned to throw spears, made bracelets, sang native songs, had dinner outside, followed by roasted marshmallows and cake.

Here is the camping theme invitation and s'more party favor. They also got an arrowhead and polished stone of their choice. I think the kids had a blast.





You may notice that he decided to ask for a donation to the Monterey Bay Aquarium instead of gifts... He still ended up with plenty of gifts... but he was able to donate over $200.00 to the aquarium and he was REALLY excited about that!! We are excited to take him to see the Seahorse exhibit when it opens.

What a Difference a Week Makes...

Did I really say my life was carefree on Monday? That must have been before I had to take Zach to the doc again for his Asthma, Sela threw up on me, and I practically begged the doc on the phone for cough medicine with codeine so that I might someday get over this cough that is BACK.

I guess I was still caught up in the high from our new president!

So now I am looking down the barrel of a week that includes:

*Planning/purchasing/prepping food for a gazillion kids at Zach's b-day on Saturday Afternoon
* Finishing my presentation for a group of teachers at the IMAX theatre on Saturday Morning.
* Finishing and prepping materials for a Valentines Craft for Saturday morning for reCREATE.
*Praying that this cough will miraculously go away by tomorrow and that the kids will be healthy this week.
*All this and Mark will be gone for most of it. This is taking some getting used to.

I'm going to bed. I'm tired just thinking about it. Have a great week and wish me luck!

Random January Pictures

 

Birds nest we spotted out on a walk.

 

 

Fun on the slide.

 

Zach Helping Ci put on her shoes.

I woke up this morning, The sun was shining, the family is happy, and I was reminded how blessed I am to have such a wonderful carefree life.

Thanks for stopping by!

I have been meaning to post these pictures for some time... and finally got around to it.

Sela's New Knit Vest

Thanks Namie for the pretty vest you made for Sela! Sela loves it. It wasn't easy to get a picture though. She wanted to play "swimming ballet" - and insisted on wearing it over her swimmng suit ...in January, ...while it was raining outside. I finally coaxed her into a tutu.

Donuts With Dad

Yesterday Mark took off the morning from work to go to "Donuts with Dad" at Zach's school. Zach was SOOOOOOOOOOO excited to have his daddy vist him at school. The kids made their Dads all a tie for them to wear. They put on a little show singing "Take me out to the ballgame" and a few other songs, made a picture with their dad, and got to eat donuts! How fun. Me... I was home cranking through a grant proposal dreaming about donuts!

Time Marches On

I just can't believe the rapid pace that children grow. Sela is doing the cutest version of a 3 year old skipping I have ever seen. I asked he where she learned to skip - expecting the answer to be, "from my princess friends" - the answer of choice these days. She said from Wow Wow Wubbsy... the episode with the new little girl.

We are planning Zach's b-day party... he wants a campout theme. We are going small this year... I'm tired!

Word of the Month

I can never just think of one word to represent my year... but this month ist is definitely organize. It is high time I get everything organized, and get reCREATE completely out of the garage. It has been engulfing our entire world for a while now. I can't believe how much progress I have made in the last couple of weeks... if feels great!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year - I have been busily cleaning closets - donating clothes and stuff we just don't need. It feels sgood to simplify. I must say that the con of reCREATE, is that I had gotten to the point I wasn't throwing anything away... so there were little stacks of reCREATE stuff in drawers here, and bags there... I finally got it out and it feels good!

I have been such an awful blogger as of late, and again, am thinking that I am missing things - and need to get them written down.

Zach said he was a "car with rocket boosters" in the car the other day, and not to be overdone, Sela sing-songed , "Well I am a horsey car with fairy dust!" It was so funny to me that in each of their minds they had clearly "won" that one! I mush prefer the verbal wars to the hitting, pinching and other mean things they have been doing to eachother lately.

Sela is LOVING her Doll house from Christmas, and Zach is Mr. Hot Wheels these days.

I will post some pictures soon.

Great Project over at ScrapMatters

Hey All.... I do a little eco-blurb over at Scrap Matters for their Project Re-new it blog entries once a month. With all the envelopes arriving in the mail at the moment... I thought I would pass this timely project along that Kate created. You can find it here.
Wile coming up with the eco-facts about junk mail I learned that the average American adult spends 8 months of their life dealing with junk mail. The link has links to get off all those awful lists and save some trees!

Sweet Sleeping Babe

All is Calm...
All is Bright...

My little Ci. She has had a few tough weeks. First she got that nasty cough,and finally she got better... but she got used to being around me full time again, and is having separation anxiety every time I drop her to pre-school this week. I HATE leaving her in tears. I'm hoping she will be ready to go back after the holidays.

I had to snap off this picture. She looked so peaceful!

Oh my - where has the month gone?!!

So it is the 16th, and my holiday cards lay in pieces waiting to be assembled still. I hope to complete them this evening.

Here are the photos I didn't used for the card from the same afternoon. We made a gingerbread house, so I thought it might make a nice "prop" for our pictures.

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving Cough Cough

We made it through the Thanksgiving Break. We picked up one eye infection, four colds and one still bad stomach. We took Zach to the doc the day before Thanksgiving and the Doctor decided that dairy and apples might be upsetting his stomach. So he says, "ok... no daiy for the next three weeks starting now... oh and by the way - almost everything has dairy in it - you need to really watch the labels.

I walked out of the Doc's office in a daze, and since both the kids were sporting an awful cough along with the stomach ailment,we cancelled out of our Thanksgiving plans. After a short meltdown, I gathered myself up and headed to the new Whole Foods. An hour later we were set to cook for Thanksgiving.... sans dairy. Gotta love Whole Foods. Unfortunately I got the cough we are passing around, so I was zapped of energy on Thursday which made cooking a less than delightful event. By Saturday Mark was sick too... I think in his case it was the early morning shopping that got him. My husband loves a bargain!

Fast Forward to Monday and Zach is still complaining about stomach upset. I'm not sure how long it takes for the dairy to get out of his system, or if that is even it. Sela missed school today too, both are still coughing and I'm kind of doubting they will go tomorrow either.

On a happy note, our kitty Chumba gets to lose the lampshade tomorrow, and get her stitches out from her ittle surgery.

Gosh - just call us the house of ailments!

A Sweet Moment

 

 

It seems like I have been saying , "zach don't push your sister, Sela don't hit your brother so much lately." I was so happy to be able to capture this sweet moment between the kids the other day while they were waiting to go into a bounce house.
Yah! For sibling love!!

Zach's Soccer Games and Sela Being Silly

 

 

 

 

Zach has had such a great experience playing soccer this season. His coach is great... patient but also teaching the kids so much about Soccer. They had their end of season party last week and their last game today. I snapped off these pictures last week at his game. He loves playing goalie - and I was especially proud that he didn't let the other team score once! He also scored a goal - so that was fun!

I also had some fun with Sela snapping off some shots of her entertaining herself during the game.... pretending to be a butterfly and just plain being silly.

When I asked Zach is he had fun playing soccer he said, "I would have more fun if we would win more."
Me, "But Zach - this is about having fun - not about winning."
Zach, "but Mom - winning IS fun!

He is definitely got my competitive gene - poor child!

Boooo!

 

 

 

 

I am so slow in posting these days. Here are the kids for Halloween. Zach was quite the brave little guy this year - not even flinching at the older kids scary outfits... Interestingly our little ballerina (who isn't scared of anything usually) was spooked by the scary halloween noises some houses were playing. Scared enough to blow off getting a piece of candy from them - which is alot from our little treat monster. We had such a nice time trick or treating with our friends the Hays. They are the nicest family!

I was happy with their costumes this year. I made Sela's tutu. Mark and I and Nama created Zach's robot costume. He was by far a favorite costume and got rave reviews both at school and while out trick or treating. The best paert... we spent hardly anyhing putting the costume together! My personal favorite was the milk carton robot helmet.

Zach and Ci

I forced myself to slow down and notice the nuances of my kids behavior. I have been running crazy - distracted, and not paying attention, and realized that many days had gone by without my really noticing just how amazing my kids are. How awful is that? So I just stopped. I stopped nagging about the dirty socks on the floor. I stopped worrying about being late for school, or for the lost blue folder (WHERE is that folder?!), and I just enjoyed. Truth is... my family is pretty amazing.

Sela is wondering around the house saying Pppp Pppp P is for princess. P is for Pony. P is for pretty, P is for pp purple. Yep... my 3 year old is figuring out sounds... I love it! I looked at her beautiful face and realized that I need to slow down and savor the moments... because before I know it she won't ask to just sit with me.

Zach is recognizing words and starting to help read his good night books. He is so sweet. He promised to save up all his kisses for me while I was sick. I didn't want him to get sick - so he said he would save them for when I am all better.
He seems so big to me lately. It isn't easy to pick him up and carry him around anymore... and that makes me teary just thinking about it.

Mark is still driving to Oakland a few days a week. We all miss him when he isn't here. Sela said this morning.. "Where's dada? I want to share my gummy vite with him!" (gummy vitamin) Zach sometime asks me questions only Mark would know - Mom - how far away is the closest star? What is the temperature on Jupiter? etc.
Mark is teaching Zach to play Chess... I love how they are both such smarties together.

We are so so blessed.

Change is in the air

Tonight, history was made.
Tonight I am proud to be American.

Tonight I am sad at the intolerant beliefs that marriage needed to be protected.... from what? Recently I was "found" by an old classmate. I knew him for many years... you know - the smiling always friendly guy who was in your class. We didn't really hang out in school, but I always liked him. So... we reconnected via Facebook... turns out he is gay, and happily in a relationship. I thought about him when I voted today. I crossed my fingers things would go his way, because he is a good person.

I wonder how people stand behind religion to say homosexuality is wrong. We are all God's children. I really can't imagine how so many people have decided it was their place to judge what is a sin. I thought that was God's job.

As the Backyardigans say....Huka Pele!

I am so sorry I have been ignoring my blog. I have been BURIED in work, and am just starting to feel like I'm getting in the groove. Life is dramatically different here from a month ago. My sweet Sela is now going to preschool 5 days a week. She is enrolled in a Montesorri program and loves it. I never knew much about their philosophies - had heard about the kids having "jobs" and didn't understand it. Sela has completely embraced it, and has channeled her energy in very positive ways. They call their learning activities "jobs". She is so happy to be learning so much.
Zach had his first field trip last week, and Mark went with the class to the pumpkin farm. I had agreed to present reCREATE to the Kiwanis Club - so I had to miss it.
They had fun - I'll post pictures soon!
Soccer is more than half over and Zach is still really liking it.
Mark has been an awesome husband while we settle into this new schedule. He has really gone above and beyond - and surprised me last weekend by organizing the storage unit. It was AMAZING! This is all awesomely nice of him because he has been working some long hours on top of it. Yep... my husband rocks!

The pictures are from a few weeks back. We made a volcano in the sand box from vinegar and baking soda - it was fun! And as the Volcano Sisters say - Huka Pele!

reNEWit and reCREATE

I am excited to be part of a hybrid scrap blog over at Scrap Matters. My friend Heather asked me to be a guest on the blog each month. We are talking about ways to take stuff we trash, and create with it... scrapbook style.

Check it out!

Sorry I have been so absent

Before:

After:

I am wishing that sleep was a optional thing, that way I could have recorded the funny things my kids did this week - but I have been scrambling to get reCREATE underway.

First - on Monday - We got our Truck back Wrapped and almost ready to go....

Tuesday my dad and poor sick husband finshed putting the shelving up for the supplies on the inside. Tuesday night I stocked it. Wednesday morning our first field trips!! My mom came along as a volunteer - and was an awesome helper. We visited Sierra Elementary in Rocklin and had a great time teaching the kids to be good environmental stewards and then they made some great art!

My favorite part of the day? When this little boy came and gave me a HUG and said thank you... and also sittong on the back of the truck in the playground eating out lunch and being surrounded by kids who thought we were cool. Nothing like a group of 3rd graders to make you feel like a rockstar!