So I've been running....

Woo Hoo... I've logged 100 miles since I got my Nike +. It is the coolest little gadget... it works with an ipod to collect info on pace, distance, etc. I just love it!

Sela turns 4!

 

After the excitement of Disneyland - we opted for a small celebration for Sela's birthday.

We went to a fun indoor gym here called Wacky Tacky, and she invited a few favorite classmates, and her best pals from down the street.

I can't believe my little girl is four already. She is my sunshine.

Happiest Place on Earth? Really?

Fav Trip Pics

 

Standing in Line

 

So I had this anxious feeling that we were missing the window in taking our kids to Disneyland. Sela was about to turn 4 and Zach at 6.... I was worried we wouldn't get them to see Disneyland with magic in their eyes if we didn't go soon.
So Mark was a sweetheart and arranged the entire trip. We stayed at the Disney Paradise Pier Hotel - which I liked a lot. We got a 3 day pass to both parks, and hit the road.

If you have kids that are 6 and 4 - you are by NO means missing the boat if you haven't taken them to Disneyland. There is plenty of time!
We chose not to stroller them - they never use a stroller at home anymore... so they walked... except when we carried them... all the way bak to the hotel from the back of Disneyland Park. On the bright side - my arms are looking buff these days!
Some kids may really love it... but my kids were a bit overwhelmed. Too many things to see... even on the kids rides - there was stuff jumping out in so many of them - Sela just hid her face on the ride... I felt like I was torturing her. Zach cried because there were too many choices. It really is alot for kids to take in.

Overall it WAS fun... but we defintiely could have waited a few years.

Ride Highlight: Soaring over California - at California Adventure. For the Kids - What Else - Its a Small World.
Parade Fav: The parade at California Adventure... just expect to get squirted with their water guns.
Show Fav: Taking Sela to have breakfast with the princesses...it isn't really a show per se - but it was like a show coming alive for Cici.
Food Highlight: Napoli's: good! - decent servings and prices.

Open House

 

 

 

 

Zach's school had open house last night. He was wound tight as a top all week long... I guess he wanted to be sure we would be proud of him (Of course we were!).
He was very proud going around the room showing us all his hard work. He finally got to one thing and got a sad look on his face because he hadn't finished it - He was quick to tell us they did that project when he was out sick. He was so serious about the whole thing, and very proud of his hard work, as he should be... he did a great job!

Our Weekend

 

We were on the party circuit this weekend. Princess Sela was invited to a high tea at the home of one of her classmates. Complete with a visit from Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Ci has a great time with all her froneds dancing, listening to stories and getting her face painted.

Sunday we went to San Jose to help celebrate Sean and Ricks' birthdays. We went Miniature golfing. It was Zach's first try and he got 2 hole in ones! Poor Zach cried about leaving all the way to Walnut Creek. "I miss Seany!" "It's no fair - I wanted to stay longer." you get the idea. Ir was great to spend some time with Cheryl and her family. I feel so lucky to have such an awesome friend.

Snowball Trees

 

I actually have no idea what these are called... we call them snowball trees because the blooms look like a fluffy snowball from far away.

Ornamental Plums

 

One of my favorite things in spring. So Beautiful!

Springtime Fun

 

We have had some lovely weather recently. I wanted to catch the trees in bloom this year - every year I seem to miss it, and I was determined not to miss it this time, so the kids and I went on a walk. I love taking pictures of them just playing at the park, they are so happy there.

I'll post my spring pictures next!

The Little Pink Blanket

 

I realized recently that I had a VERY few number of pictures with Sela and her beloved Little Pink Blankey. She loves this blanket. When she was about a year and a half old, it got a little hole in it... I tried closing it up, but my little one was fascinated with the hole, and before we knew it the little hold was a medium sized hole, and then beflre long the hole also could be used so the blanket could be used at a poncho.
Now after my failed attempts at getting the hole fixed, I tried to swap it out for a new and improved version of the blanket. I tried and she said that one wasn't soft enough - It looked the same but the yarn was indeed slightly different.... so as you can guess I was quite excited when I found the exact same blanket. I bought it - bonus - it was even 50% off! Tried to swap it out... and she said it was too pink! I washed it a few time to try and replicate the original... and tried one more time to give it to her one night when she was half asleep... even then she knew it was an imposter... She said, "that isn't my blankey - it doesn't smell like my blankey."

I gave up and decided to let her keep that blankey - complete with a huge hole!

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.