Two Peas For Me

My life in cell phone pictures!

2011-09-18T01:14:00.001-07:00

Let me start by saying that I was never a cell phone enthusiast. I had the same little cell phone for probably ten years, it was a very basic piece, all I could do with it was call people... and it spent most days buried at the bottom of my oversized purse, uncharged.

Then a major milestone happened. Erina was going to Middle School... and many years ago, I promised that she would get a cell phone for that occasion (mostly a selfish act, since I feel safer knowing that she can get in touch with me anytime). I figured it would be time for me to get a "good" one too. So we got i-phones. And the thing is now glued to me day and night. I still don't call anybody besides my own kid, but I totally enjoy browsing Facebook and Pinterest while on the go... and the best part is the camera. I've taken countless movies and pictures over the last month. I figured could give you a glimpse into my life through them.

Upstairs remodel project. Carpets are being replaced by hardwood. Walls are getting painted. Kids are getting separate rooms. New furniture is getting assembled. It's slow going, since Brian is doing all the work, but we'll hopefully have it all done by Christmas, lol.

Grace's room during the floor install.

Floor done!

Loft bed & desk assembled (boy, was that a challenge!!!)

My cute Claire Bear... how I love her. She's my constant companion and never fusses when I want to take a picture.

Morning walks with Claire & Erina. Love them, gives us a chance to chat alone. Sometimes (like when I'm still in my pajama bottoms, lol) we just sit in the car together and people watch. Oh, and all this time in the morning is due to different drop-off times for the girls and not enough time in between to go home.

Girls are still riding once a week. Still loving every minute of it.

And this is today's garage sale find... a vintage bike for $10!! I first saw it this morning while walking Claire, then went back with the girls to look at it up close... but walked away (telling myself that I don't have room for an old bike, that I don't NEED an old bike). But then I sat at home, imagining all the cool pictures I could take with this vintage bike as a prop. So I went back again and drove it home.

That's all for today! Enjoy your Sunday =).

Back to School 2011

2011-09-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

Summer break has come and gone... truly time flies these days!!! We spent five weeks with my parents in Switzerland (I hope I will actually get time to edit those pics somewhen soooooooooon).

Erina started Middle School this year, I don't like to call it Junior High... that sounds too much like High School, lol. We're four weeks into the school year already and Erina seems to love her new school. Big sigh of relief, she adapts so much better to new situations than me. Thankfully she has a group of friends from Elementary School that she can hang out with during lunch time. There's nothing scarier than not knowing where to sit during lunch (again, this is more my fear than hers ;-).

This was her first day of school attire. She figured she should let people know that she's nerdy and proud of it!!! Worn with skinny jeans, of course. Don't know how this kid lived before skinny jeans, lol.

Grace started 5th Grade!!! You read that right, 5th Grade. Ugh. Thankfully she had an easy start, since she already knew her wonderful teacher. Her best school buddy went off to Middle School as well, but she adjusted well and found some new friends already. She was always my more timid child, but she's become more outgoing and independent over the last year.

Grace's first day of school outfit, she went for a modern cowgirl look. Skirt is from Matilda Jane, tank from Justice, jeans vest from H&M.

Happy "Gotcha" Day, Dear Claire!

2011-09-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

Today a year ago, we picked up our darling pup, Claire!!

This was taken on her first day with us. Her entire little self almost fit on one tile:

And here she is today, laying in the same spot:

Her head just about fills one tile now ;-)!

I still remember when the breeder told us, that we could come pick her up on 9/11. Not exactly a happy date... but thanks to Claire we now have something positive to celebrate on such a tragic date.

We love this girl more than is probably healthy =D. Me, the cat person, has totally turned a corner and is now a dog lover. Who would have thought????

GIVEAWAY on my photography blog!!

2011-05-22T01:25:00.000-07:00

I'm giving away a girl's coca cola tee on my photography blog, just like the one Grace is wearing in the pictures below =). You'll see why, when you read my post over there ;-).

We love our Willow Tree Park to pieces. And we also love Yoga Man. He's the guy who hung up those ropes. I'm not sure what it is that he's doing... but we see him in all odd positions hanging on those ropes. So we named him Yoga Man, it's easier than saying "the guy that hangs on ropes at the willow tree park". We never talked to him, he's never there when we actually come to play. And this time, we found a homemade swing!! The girls had a blast!! I hope you enjoy the pics!

Claire

2011-05-21T13:14:00.001-07:00

I haven't done a Claire post in a while. I can't believe she's 10 months old already!! Not little anymore, but still cute. We had a little get-together with a few of her siblings, which was a blast. She loved playing with her brother Buster the best. I honestly didn't think they would recognize each other after all this time... but there was definitely a connection.

The three siblings...

Buster & Claire

Piper

Claire looking fierce, lol.

Buster got her back...

... but not for long.

And some beach fun!

Matilda Jane "House of Clouds 3" Fashion Show

2011-04-20T12:44:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted a Grace fashion show in AGES!! I have several reasons if you care to know, lol. 1. I was blog slacking in a big way, 2. Grace will try on her new clothes right before bed time and I don't like flash photography ;-), 3. I feel like every single picture I take needs a "pretty" background and not my backyard.

But since this is my personal blog, I can post less than perfect pictures, right?

So here we go, all this goodness is from Matilda Jane Clothing.

Misty Dress, size 8 (G is 9 and about 50 inches tall for sizing reference)
It's a bit short alone, but I can see this being worn over a bathing suit all summer.

And here it is paired with some platinum ruffles in size 10. Since the pocket on the dress is white with teal polka dots, I felt the need for white in the ruffles.... I'm weird, I know.

She's grooving =).

With our Max boy

Next up is the oh, so desirable Maggie Dress in size 8, paired with the Seaside Straightees in size 10. I'm not sure how I feel about straightees under dresses... I much prefer ruffles or leggings.

And a little self advertising at the end... I'm holding some Mini Spring Sessions in Vacaville, check out the details on my photography blog =).

Happiness

2011-04-18T23:55:00.000-07:00

Today after school, I was busy chitter-chattering on the phone while the girls did their homework. By the time I was done, they were already playing outside. With my new found blog giddiness, I dashed upstairs to grab my camera. In the back of my mind I was thinking "Oh, Grace is wearing a cute outfit combo that I haven't taken pics of, yay!"

Then I came outside to see this.

Yep, that's my daughter in a flimsy undershirt and darling Matilda Jane leggings. She was too hot and ditched her dress (which was a dark grey lap dress from Loves Me Not that matches the cute little taxis on the leggings).

I was about to huff and puff... but then I looked at the pure happiness on her face. And I kept taking pictures. Who cares if she's in an undershirt?? Who cares that it's really not that warm outside?? She was having a blast and I let her be.

Have you noticed the fun makeover they gave their scooters?

That was another fabulous idea by Grace.

If you can't own your very own horse, you just have to make one!! And I love that Erina was right on board. She's acting so grown-up lately, it's refreshing to see her play like a kid =).

She's nuts.

Totally flying on that scooter... sorry, I mean... horse. And she's also not wearing a helmet. Boy, this puts me on the bad mommy list!!

I do however take cute pictures of her little bum, she'll thank me for those later in life ;-). Can you see the misty rain falling?

That's when I had enough of being the "let it go" mom and told her to put a jacket on.

Thank goodness she didn't protest. Love this spunky monkey.

Getting back in the saddle...

2011-04-17T22:28:00.001-07:00

... of blogging, that is. I realized that I will never catch up with all the posts I had planned in my head. I still feel bad that my Erina never got an 11th birthday post =(. Instead of catching up, I'll just start today and hope to be better in the future. Nobody should dwell over the past anyways, right?

The biggest news is that the girls started horseback riding lessons last month =). Grace had been asking for years... I kept talking her out of it for two reasons, one: it's expensive, two: it's dangerous. All the wrong reasons, I know. Then things just fell into place, like it was meant to be. Brian has a co-worker who owns horses, he asked him if he had any recommendations for riding lessons... and so we found Rusty Milliken Training in Vacaville.

We showed up that first Sunday, thinking we would just watch a lesson. But nope, before we knew it, Rusty had both girls brushing a horse.

They even had to clean out the hoofs!! Yes, I about had a heart attack and envisioned crushed toes (I think I need a serious chill pill).

To come to the point. The girls fell in love. I already knew Grace would love it, but was pleasantly surprised by Erina. She's my cautious, careful child. She worries about getting hurt or not being perfect. She can spend hours reading or drawing. Doing safe things, not taking unnecessary risks. AND THEN SHE RODE A HORSE. Just like that.

Here's some pics from last weeks lesson (I didn't bring the camera today and I'm kicking myself for it... they actually had to fetch their horse Sassy from the pasture, then got to ride bareback to the barn... talk about a perfect photo op):

And my "getting back in the saddle" title wasn't just for me... it was also for Erina. Today, while dismounting, she leaned forward too much and somersaulted right off the horse. OUCH! She got the wind knocked out of her but was fine. And while her legs were still shaky, Rusty lifted her right back in the saddle. One of the first things she said to me afterwards was "Rusty must be very strong, he lifted me up like I weigh nothing!!!"

I'm proud of my big girl =). Of course I'm proud of my little girl as well ;-).

Frozen

2011-01-10T10:43:00.001-08:00

Frozen... that's how this dear blog has been lately. I'm not sure what to do, it seems that I can't keep up with two blogs anymore. The more I fall behind, the more I drag. That's pretty much how I am with everything in life.

Frozen... that's how our mornings have been lately. But since the girls were on Christmas break the last three weeks, we rarely got to see the frost, except maybe in shady parts of the yard =).

Today was their first day back and we marveled at the frozen beauty while driving to school. Scraping ice off the car actually felt refreshing. As much as I loved the school break, it will be nice to be on a schedule again. We tend to be lazy... very lazy. Most days were spent in pajamas, doing crafts, watching movies or playing with their new goodies. Yes, we even walked the dog in pajamas. Who cares.

My motivation was out the window... laundry started to pile up, fridge became bare, dust bunnies collected.

But today is a new day. I took the Claire Bear for a long walk early this morning and brought my camera along. I took in the beauty all around me. Frozen. It doesn't happen very often where we live, but when it does, one should enjoy it. I sure did.

Claire had a blast too, remember, she's a Swiss dog... made for cold weather. I think she was in heaven =).

Do you know how hard it is to get a focused picture while holding a pup's leash??? Goodness, did I need patience.

But it was all good.

Now I'm charged, refreshed. Ready to tackle, all the laziness left behind.

Have a wonderful day, remember to take a breather... aaahhhh... life is good.

Hello again!

2010-11-30T11:52:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been absent... to say I was busy is an understatement =). But I'm back and will flood you with pictures pretty soon. For right now I'm sharing a little video that I made of Grace's purple belt testing... let's see if it works =).

Grace's 9th Birthday

2010-10-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

Well, my little girl is now nine years old. Not little anymore by any means. But she will always be my little girl =).

This was our first year ever without a big birthday party. I just didn't have it in me. AND it was part of the "getting a dog" deal. Grace was totally fine with it, never complained one bit.

I sent her to school with a batch of cookies to share, even though she had a stomach bug two days before. Poor kid has been sick on and off for three weeks now, I even took her to see the doctor and she called it a "bad streak of luck with germs".

Thankfully she woke up feeling wonderful on her b-day.

This was her favorite present this year (well, besides the dog). Can you tell?

Lalaloopsy dolls have since taken over my house. I have to say they are pretty cute in a creepy kinda way, lol.

Grace loves getting mail, so opening her birthday mail is always a highlight =).

Gram Rose sent a really funny one. It talks & sings & is plain old silly. Perfect for my girl.

We went out for dinner of her choice, which was... surprise, surprise... SUSHI. Ya, I know, it's not a big surprise. She's very predictable when it comes to food choices.

And to finish off a good birthday, one needs a giant cookie. It was my hugest cookie ever!! This picture makes me laugh, they are disgusted about the wax dripping on the cookie. I can almost hear Grace saying "ewwwww" =).

Time to sing...

... and make a wish.

All in all a fabulous day. And for a short time, I'm the mother of a nine and ten year old. But it won't last long... that big girl of mine is only a month away from turning eleven ;-).

Claire's first bath!!

2010-10-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, I realize we are not the first people on earth to own a cute dog. I realize people give their puppies baths all over the world and it's not worth shouting from the roof tops. BUT... I still took a video. AND I'm making you all watch it (you better... it only took 128 minutes to upload it to youtube!!!).

So please be nice and don't make me feel even weirder than I already feel. Thank you very much. =)

And here she is all fluffy after her bath. She loves her daddy to pieces! Daddy is looking a bit pink, he worked in the yard all day (and of course thinks he doesn't need sunscreen).

This is the "you better let me out or else..." look.

Chomping on something...

Thanks for hanging around =).

She's growing like a weed!

2010-10-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

Our darling Claire is already 12 weeks old and weighs 18.4 lbs =). She had her second round of shots last Thursday... I can hardly wait for her to be done (at 16 weeks) with her immunizations, so we can take her out in public for walks.

I've been working on leash training. Some days she's a good girl, some days she turns into a total spaz trying to get her leash off. She still loves to eat whatever she can get in her mouth... dirt, bark, weeds, rocks... you name it. The sight of me wrestling something out of her mouth in our yard is quite common =).

Here she is on 9/23 at 10 weeks old.

And on 10/5 at 11 1/2 weeks =).

More to come soon, she just had her first bath... oh, she smells sooooo goooood!

PS: I do still love my human children too ;-), there's some new pics of them over on my photography blog.

Our first week with Claire

2010-09-18T15:24:00.000-07:00

Claire has been with us for one week and she already changed the way things are done in this family. All of a sudden kid socks are put in the laundry hamper right away, children are putting themselves to bed (or end up reading until 10pm because mom didn't come to check on them... ts, ts, ts), our floor is cleaner than ever and the mother of the house is up at 5.20 am (if you know me, you know I like to SLEEP!!!).

I'm pretty much exhausted, but I know this puppy stage won't last long. I swear, I can watch this little girl grow right in front of my eyes!! She's the softest fur ball ever and loves our cuddles.

Lots of my pictures look like this... she's always on the move when awake!

She's also a very smart pup. She just turned 9 weeks old last Thursday and she already knows how to sit, lay down and high five on command. Here's a little demonstration by Erina.

Max (our bully cat) is getting better with Claire every day. The first two days, he was on attack! We would take Claire outside to potty and Max would come running out of the bushes at full speed trying to charge at Claire!! It was crazy!! On day three we avoided any contact between the two (we let him in when we took Claire out and vice versa). Day four he realized he could still relax upstairs and after a full day of snoozing in the girl's room... he was his happy self again. I guess he was sleep deprived just like me, lol. By now he can be outside with us, he always has an eye on that fur ball tough... and if she gets too close, he'll meow and hiss until she backs up. At least he's talking and not getting violent.. haha!

See him back there?

Love that crazy cat!!

And lastly just another cute one of Grace & Claire

Sorry for the picture overload =)!!!!!

Guess what?

2010-09-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

We are getting a puppy!!!!

I can't quite wrap my brain around it yet, but that little cutie up above... she's mine!

I honestly never thought I would agree to a dog... they smell, they slobber, they chew stuff up. My safe answer for years was "we'll get a dog once the cats pass away", I really had no intentions to EVER get one, hoping the cats would live to a good 16 years (which would make the girls 14 & 16). By then, I was sure, they wouldn't want a dog anymore anyways.

I don't know when I changed my mind. Maybe it was Grace this summer, yelling out the breed of any dog we would see around town (yes, slightly annoying, but cute in a way). Maybe it was watching both girls with our friend's dogs. Maybe it was the realization that my dear children are growing up FAST. All of a sudden I had this urge to give my kids a dog companion... while they are still kids!

I might regret it pretty soon... or I might just fall in love head over heals myself ;-).

School

2010-09-08T23:32:00.000-07:00

My girls are on their 4th week of school already and I haven't even posted the classic "back-to-school" pics. Bad me =).

First let me tell you a little something about our school clothes shopping. I'm not one to wander through the mall for hours. I'm one to surf the net and have all the pretties delivered to my door. Yep. I don't really like shopping at our local mall, they only have a Children's Place, Old Navy and Justice to choose from... oh, and Gymboree. So what clothes do we see most at our school... exactly, you're getting my point. I can't explain why or how it came about, but I simply like to see my kids in something original, something nobody else is wearing. Does that make me look superficial? I hope not! I believe that my girls will grow up to be stronger individuals, because they have their own style and don't mind standing out from the crowd.

Ok, back to the real story here. We came home from Switzerland on a Friday night and school started the following Monday. I had not done any shopping in five weeks. No special outfits picked out. No new shoes. No new backpacks.

We had to go to the mall. No way around it. On a Saturday.

We were severely jet-lagged, almost delirious... giggling out of control over the smallest things. At one point Grace turned to me and said "Mom, I feel like my feet are not even touching the ground!!", which really hit the nail on the head. We floated through the mall and right into The Children's Place. And in my delirium, I gave the kids free range...

... which lead to these back-to-school outfits:

And this backpack & messenger bag (which I would never in a blue moon allow my child to buy in a normal state of mind):

And yes, that's a brown paper bag you see in Erina's hand. That's right, I'm sending them to school with paper bag lunch. Why? Because they lost too many lunch boxes. Actually Grace is the one who lost more than I can count... Erina would be fine. But I have to treat them fair, so they both get a bag that they can toss.

Erina started 5th Grade! I can't believe that this will be her last year of elementary school. She has grown a lot over the summer, body and mind. She's not a little girl any more, but grew into a wonderful young lady. She has a mind of her own and will argue you in the ground (she got that from her daddy). She can also be a bit bossy at times due to her believe that she's always right (now that's from me).

Grace is only a year behind Erina... and I'm having a hard time dealing with it. 4th Grade. She's only 8!!! She is still my baby, she won't want to hear that, but it's true. I want to keep her safe at home, away from the harsh world. I really don't have a reason to feel like she needs protection. She's a tough little cookie and will speak up for herself if she absolutely has to. I think I need to grow up.

Did I mention that my girls are in the same class this year? It's pretty wonderful (I'll only have to volunteer in one class, yay).

All in all I'm hoping for a good year. I know time will fly... and next year will be time for middle school... yikes!

Well... hello there!

2010-08-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

Hello to all my dear blog readers (yeah, like there's any... really, I'm just talking to myself, lol). Summer break has come and gone in a flash. I have so much catching up to do, it's not even funny.

We had five wonderful, fantastic, fabulous, peaceful, relaxing weeks in Switzerland with my family (we stay at my parents house every summer... small house, four of us in my old bedroom... and yes, I still call it a relaxing, peaceful trip). Brian came with us for the first two weeks, and we took a little road trip through France. The girls really wanted to visit Paris and it's only a six hour drive from my Swiss hometown. Ah, we had fun. Ah, we had adventures... like visiting the Eiffel Tower during a mean, monstrous thunderstorm. But I'll tell you all about that later.

The truth is that I haven't edited a single picture from our trip. I can't get myself to look at them. I get a "pang" of missing when I do. Not sure if I'm making sense. Do you ever get that feeling... like your heart explodes when you look at a picture of a person that you're missing? Well, that's what I mean with "pang".

I didn't cry this year when I had to say goodbye. My eyes welled up after hugging my Papi at the airport and the usual "what if" thoughts popped in my head... which normally leads to an uncontrollable crying fit right after my dad leaves. Yes, I sob in public if necessary. But this year I didn't let myself go there.... no sadness, no "what ifs"... my parents will be healthy and strong for another year. I'm counting on it.

Life still isn't back to normal here though. I'm sad, homesick. But I have a smile on my face... how could I not smile when I'm around my kids. My happy, funky chickens.

And when one chick looks at me like so... my heart melts.

Camping

2010-07-07T01:13:00.000-07:00

We are leaving for Switzerland tonight, but I figured I should share a few pics from our annual camping trip to Grover Hot Springs =). This was our fifth year there and we love it (well, I only love it, because the kids have so much fun...).

Our home away from home

Kids point of view... they pretty much live up on these rocks.

My point of view, watching them play up there =).

We have a creek right in the backyard... it was c-c-c-cold!!

I just love the light in this one.

My lovely hammock, which was a gift for my 20th birthday. And guess what? It finally broke! I'm so sad... I think the chipmunks had a party in it at night, they got tangled up and chewed through a lot of strings. Sniffle.

We also had a day of rain. I was very unhappy. Enough said.

Brian was brave enough to dunk in the cold water too. He's nuts like that!

The kids all had a blast, rain or shine. They made stores and we poor parents had to buy overpriced rocks, bark and what-not. ;-)

The three big girls gave the three younger ones a new name... the evil triplets... ha, ha!! They don't look evil to me!

Last but not least, our master story teller, Sam. He's so animated! Love it!

Kids & Airplanes

2010-07-03T22:50:00.000-07:00

We are getting ready for yet another long airplane trip to Switzerland =).

My girls are totally used to all the traveling and they pack their own backpacks for the trip by now. We pretty much bring the same stuff each year... we added the i-pods when Grace was five and they finally got Nintendo Ds' last Christmas (but we used to bring Leap Pads along when they were younger). I figured this might be a handy little list. I realize all kids are different, some probably hate drawing while mine love it, lol.

Two books each (Erina already read the one below... even though it was supposed to be for the trip, ha, ha!!!)

Nintendo Ds Lite with games

I-Pods

Pocket Doodles keeps them entertained for hours!

Mad Libs! I even enjoy them =).

Sketch Pads, one medium, one small each.

A brand new box of colored pencils.

They each fill a medium zip lock baggie with Playmobil (mostly people and animals... no tiny pieces allowed, they are sure to get lost between the seats).

One can of playdoh each. Wonderful when they get bored... even at their age.

Pipe Cleaners! I know, funny item, but it works for my kids. They create all kinds of things with them... and the good thing is that you can use them again and again.

Plus a travel size pack of wipes, tissues, chewing gum (in case their ears won't pop), chap stick and a few snacks. Oh, and of course their Sigg bottles (we bring them on the plane empty and let the flight attendant fill it with water right away). We don't have the horse one, I bet Grace wishes it was hers... sigh.

Matilda Jane Facebook Fan Page Contest

2010-06-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

Please click the link below, "like" Matilda Jane's fan page on facebook and leave a comment on there that I sent you! I could win an art fair piece... and since I can't go to the art fair, it would be super cool to win!

Matilda Jane Facebook Page

Never mind... this was a super fast contest and I was late to the game, lol. You can of course still LIKE Matilda Jane on Facebook. Lots of great info =).

Beach Training

2010-06-18T23:55:00.000-07:00

Grace had a cool karate session at Stinson Beach a few weeks ago! It was seriously neat!!! We arrived at the beach at 9 am, the curvy drive down to Stinson went by smooth (yay, nobody got sick), the fog was lifting and the sun came out. Good day! We marched down to the beach to lay out our camp and saw bubbles everywhere! It was magical! Turns out that Stinson has a bubble man, he calls himself Bubble Smith (I later found a video on youtube).

Then Grace's training began... two hours without water break!

See G with the green belt?

Kicking in the sand causes some problems... first she tried to look away...

... then she just closed her eyes every kick, lol!!

Something must have been funny =). That's Grace's Sensei Anisa to her left.

Erina happily played in the sand, she wrote "save the planet". I hope someone up there saw her message.

Nice form ;-)

Then they did a little one-on-one practice.

And finally approached the ocean.

The younger kids were not allowed to go in very far, but it was still fun.

Finally done. OSU!

My Writers

2010-05-28T11:00:00.001-07:00

Both my girls entered poems and short stories for the Solano Reading Association's Annual Writing Contest this year. Erina has participated the last two years already (and won each time). Grace however didn't think her writing was contest worthy until now. And goodness, she won for both of her entries!!

This is quite a big deal, considering that they receive over a thousand entries from all over Solano County and only pick 125 to be awarded & published in a book (K-12th Grade).

Here they are with their award certificates:

I'll share Grace's poem with you, I think Erina wants to showcase hers on her own blog.

Drip Drop

I look out the window,
The rain is coming down.

Drip drop
Drip drop

I put my hand out and feel the rain,
The cold rain.
It chills my body.

Drip drop
Drip drop

I lay down on my bed
And fall asleep.
To the music of the rain.

Drip drop
Drip drop

And this is her short story:

Friendship

There once was a purple pug and a tabby kitten. They both didn't have friends. So they thought they could be friends with each other. But it was harder than they thought.
They tried lots of things for the past three weeks! One of those things was fishing. On a Saturday afternoon the tabby kitten was walking by the purple pugs house. She knocked on the door, the purple pug answered the door and the tabby kitten said "Do you want to go fishing?" "Fishing for BONES??" asked the purple pug. "Nevermind!" said the tabby kitten. "BYE!" the purple pug shouted.
A week later they were still trying to be friends. The purple pug came up with an extordinary idea. "A treasure hunt," said the purple pug, "for bones!!" "Ewwwww, gross, yuck. Bones! No way!" said the tabby kitten, "no thanks, bye." "Bye then," the purple pug said sadly.
"Well, do you want to go on a playdate?" the purple pug asked. "Does it involve bones?" asked the tabby kitten. "Nope." So they went to the purple pugs house. But there was one problem, for lunch purple pug served bones! The tabby kitten shrieked and ran off.
The next day they decided to go for a hike. The purple pug found a lake. So they went fishing. The tabby kitten caught a big fat fish! The purple pug reeled in a bone! They hiked all the way back home after that. It was very exciting!
It was sundown and the purple pug and the tabby kitten were up on a hill. They were now friends. The tabby kitten said in a whisper "Why do you think we fought before?" "I wonder," said the purple pug in a whisper, too.

New Blog

2010-05-26T00:16:00.000-07:00

So... I've been working on a new blog =). I think I'm ready to take the plunge on this photography deal. I really, really enjoy photography immensely and my girls are getting tired of being my #1 subjects. I'm giving it a try... I feel like I have to, since this is a dream of mine.

Go check it out, maybe even follow me over there too (the follow button is at the bottom of the page), just so I know I'm not talking to myself (THANKS). I'll still keep this blog alive with my personal ramblings =).

Monika McSweeney Photography

I know, I picked a super original name ;-). Yep, I'm a genius, lol!

Wish me luck! And if you know anybody in NorCal in need of pictures, send them my way... pretty please!

Oh, and yes, I'm super nervous about it all!!!!!! What if I mess UP???? EEEEEEK!

i heart faces * week 20 * faces & flowers

2010-05-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful;
they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.
~Luther Burbank

My little photographers

2010-05-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

Grace & Erina couldn't be ANY happier that I upgraded my camera. To them, this means total access to my "old" baby! Both of them have been snapping away all week... and I have to say, they are pretty dang good. And lucky! Thinking back at my own childhood and how I was super proud to get my mom's old point & shoot, I thought I was the coolest kid on the block. Wow, how times have changed. My kids are using a DSLR and learning leaps and bounds about photography. Erina is on her way to shoot in manual, she likes to be in control of things (not just in photography, lol).

Anyways, since they are taking a lot of pictures now, they asked if they could have their own blog. I hesitated, wasn't sure if I want my kids exposed on the internet. But then I had to laugh at myself... after all I have a blog with my kid's pictures plastered all over it. And I am in total control of their blog too, I get all the comments emailed to me and approve of their posts before they press the button.

So here it is:
Clickin' Converse

Enjoy!

My Erina =)

2010-05-14T13:17:00.001-07:00

I don't want my readers to think that I'm neglecting my older girly. She's just camera shy and rather spends her time behind the camera (just like her momma). But here she is, my beautiful Erina, who makes me proud every single day.

She even took her glasses off for me

Soooooo....

2010-05-13T21:44:00.000-07:00

... I got a new camera!!!! Of course I'm super duper excited and want to take pics every day, but my dear children don't always cooperate.

And for some reason photobucket is being unkind to my pictures... they are tack sharp on my computer and to me they look a bit blurry here. I know it's probably user error and I shouldn't blame photobucket ;-).

A little love for Lil Blue Boo

2010-05-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

Time to give a shout out to yet another awesome designer! Ashley from Lil Blue Boo totally rocks! She must be one of the most creative people I've come across lately. She makes the cutest dresses, tie dyes & screen prints her own fabric too. But she doesn't stop there... check out her blog, she has so many amazing tutorials available (we're tying the bangles this afternoon).

Grace loves this Lil Blue Boo Peace dress!! It is soooooo her! We had fun doing a little photo shoot at sunset... hippie style with braids and lots of dancing too =).

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T12:45:00.001-07:00

I hope all you mommas out there are getting spoiled today!

I slept in and made my husband cook me breakfast, lol. The kitchen is still a mess though and it looks like I will be cleaning it up... oh well, I think these holidays are a bit overrated anyways. I don't really need my kids to shower me with love today, because I know they love me every day. I actually prefer a random act of kindness when it's least expected!

I received this letter from Grace. I love it when teachers force the kids to write a nice letter to their moms, lol. It's always hilarious to read what they are thankful for. Apparently I'm an awesome mom, because I take her to Starbucks, woohoo!!

I am a little sad that I can't be with my Mom though. I talked to her this morning (already evening for her ;-) and thanked her for having me. And yes, I apologized for moving across the ocean =).

Here's an old picture of us. We are the two on the right =). Awww, how I miss her! I wish I could hug her... but it's gonna have to wait until July.

hello world

2010-05-07T23:50:00.000-07:00

Well, hello world!! I feel like I haven't blogged in ages... I know, it really hasn't been THAT long. Why did I not blog? Maybe because I was busy with life, maybe because I'm questioning why I have this blog or maybe I'm just blah and don't feel like sharing anything. You take your guess.

I was trying to organize my lightroom folders and came across this picture of Grace. I was practicing catch lights and ditched this one as no good. Her eyes looked strange to me, at first I thought she had a strand of hair blowing over her eyes.

But then I zoomed in closer...

Can you see it? The park, the grassy field... I can even spy my elbow, lol. Eyes like a mirror. Love it. Oh, and how about those cute little freckles?

i heart faces * week 17 * smiles

2010-04-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

Smile, it is the key that fits the lock of everybody's heart.

Peas on Earth

2010-04-25T00:16:00.000-07:00

Earth Day calls for some peas... or is it peace???

I know I'm a few days late, but who cares. Peace out!

i heart faces * week 16 * collages

2010-04-18T23:43:00.000-07:00

I'm not really a collage kinda gal, but I'm playing for the fun of it anyways. My first try and surely not perfect, but it makes me smile... all images from last years beach camping trip. Happy times =).

To see more collages, visit iheartfaces by clicking the icon below!

Who's to blame?

2010-04-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

I went to bed late last night (as usual) and couldn't fall asleep (not as usual).

I had clothes on my mind, kids clothes, that is.

I was wondering how I became who I am today. How did I go from thrift store to trunk shows to boutique???

It all started with Gymboree. When the girls were little I would window shop there, but I couldn't imagine how ANYBODY could possibly pay those prices for something that would be too small in a few months. I spent lots of time in thrift stores and was always super thrilled to find Gymbo. Once both girls outgrew my thrifty finds, I went to Ebay. I figured it would be worth a try. Back then Gymbo was HOT on Ebay... I was amazed!! Soon after my first ever auctions ended, I got an invitation to an Ebay group for Gymbo Addicts. I joined, simply because I was curious. So began the trip to the dark side.

Before I knew it, I was shopping for brand new Gymbo in store & online. I knew all the line names, hunted down older pieces on Ebay... had to own entire lines. But it was all good, since I turned around and sold those complete sets on Ebay again. Buy something for $50 and sell it for $35. Ha... it only cost me $15!!!

Some time later I joined a few other message boards, huge ones. Lots of mommies with shopping addictions. Oh boy. I sucked it all up... brands that I had never heard of before. Naartjie, Mini Boden and eventually Matilda Jane. How did I justify buying more expensive stuff all of a sudden? Well, the Ebay resale was great.

Are you starting to see a pattern?? ;-)

YUP, I think I'm blaming it all on EBAY! My evil partner in crime.

Sooooooo... thanks to great resale value... I bought this dress for Grace. From a boutique. I won't tell you how much it cost. But it's the most I ever spent on a single dress. Eeeek. I must be losing it.

I must admit, I love it so.

Most importantly, so does Grace.

And let's face it, I maybe have another year before Grace moves to jeans & tee attire like her sister. I should enjoy it. Right?

Cozy

2010-04-12T23:14:00.001-07:00

Look at my Max boy, all curled up in a box. I want to eat him up =).

Lovely Little Lady

2010-04-07T14:20:00.000-07:00

Erina in her Easter outfit =). She's growing up so fast, looking more and more like a young lady.

Easter

2010-04-05T21:40:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! The weather here didn't really play along... it was the coldest, wettest one I can recall in my 11 years in CA!

It was still dry in the early morning when the girls headed outside to find their baskets. Never mind their mismatched outfits and uncombed hair... I guess they were in a hurry!

They ran around the backyard... and couldn't find a thing!

Ha, ha... they know all the good hiding spots already, so I had to expand the search to the front yard.

Erina is about to find hers behind the palm tree.

Ta-da... I gave them their new Webkinz the night before, but she quickly put hers in the basket too.

Grace found hers, finally!

Of course they immediately had to compare their loot. Apparently I did fine... uff, good for me.

Our family tradition is to make chocolate chip bunny face pancakes =). YUM.

Grace and I spent the rest of the day in sweats... poor baby was sick and we couldn't go to the family party. But we made the best of it, played "The Game of Life" two times in a row and snuggled a lot. And yes, we ate plenty of chocolate ;-). Brian and Erina did go to the party... I'll show you pics of pretty Erina tomorrow.

Rush Ranch

2010-04-01T01:03:00.001-07:00

Just in case you haven't noticed... my kids are on spring break! For three weeks! Woohooo! Which means a lot more picture opportunities and good times spent together =).

Today we visited Rush Ranch. We go out there often just to watch the horses. Many of the females are high pregnant right now... we were hoping for baby news, but nothing yet.

This gal didn't like me. As soon as I got close, she walked away! She did like the girls though, so I snuck a picture through the fence.

Then the more friendly white lady came along and said "Take a picture of MEEEEE". So I did.

We found another expecting mother, a rather tiny one compared to the horses. Meet Miss Killdeer. She was protecting her eggs and wouldn't move away from her nest. And her nest was right by a rather busy walkway along a fence! We wouldn't even have noticed her if it wasn't for her loud alarmed singing. You can see one of her eggs to her left, it looks like a speckled rock.

Finally we gazed at beautiful Apollo. He's the big stud out at Rush Ranch... probably the father of most of the babies too. Sadly we couldn't get closer than this... and the girls got yelled at by farmer dude for standing on the gate (apparently it loosens the hinges?).

Another good day for us =).

A day in the city

2010-03-31T12:38:00.000-07:00

We went to San Francisco yesterday for my way overdue haircut. We have a routine when going to the city. Since I'm a wimp when it comes to city driving, we always park at Gram Roses apartment and walk wherever we need to go. I love it, the kids hate it. I get a lot of whining on the way back up the hills along with "can we take a cab?????" pleas. But I'm tough and don't give in...

Here they are right after my haircut... they had to sit quietly for over an hour and were HYPER and happy...

Then we walked through China Town

But it got too crowded for our liking and we ended up on a side street. I just love to look at San Fran's architecture...

By now the kids were annoyed with me, my camera and the hills ;-)

But we had to keep going.

Pretty view, that's the Bay Bridge down there!

Taking a rest, don't they look wonderfully grumpy?

We finally made it and enjoyed a yummy dinner with Gram Rose. The very first picture in this post was taken from her window. Isn't she one lucky lady?

If you stuck with me through all these pictures, I want to thank you!!!! I know I post too many pics, but they are my way of communication. I'm not too good with words!

i heart faces * week 13 * dramatic black & white

2010-03-29T00:54:00.000-07:00

This week i heart faces is looking for black & white photos that are dramatic, sensational and/or moody in the way they are presented.

I am not sure if this will fit the bill, but to me it looks dramatic. The serious faces, the emotional moment of receiving a medal.

Random Saturday Night Blabbing

2010-03-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Sunday. Our day to rest. But tomorrow will be different. We'll get up at 6.30 am to bring our little karate kid to her very first competition in South San Francisco. We will drive an hour and fifteen minutes to get there, so she can perform a one minute kata. It's kind of silly when you think of it. Not to mention the fee to enter the tournament (let's just say I could have bought another MJ dress, lol). BUT we're doing it, because she loves karate and wants to compete. I'm proud of her, I really am.

Grace with Master Vincent Cruz

This is the kata that she will perform:

Maybe I should tell her entering the tournament is her Easter present. That would go over well... *giggle*.

Talking about Easter. I went to Cost Plus today to shop for European chocolates for the girl's baskets. Of course I ended up buying new baskets as well (hey, they were 25% off). AND I found Swiss chocolate bunnies that are made by FREY, my all time favorite Swiss chocolate. This brand is hard to find, usually I'm stuck with Lindt (which is my least favorite... but still better than American).

While browsing for little nicknacks to put in the dumb plastic eggs, I started wondering how much I will end up spending on this little junk... just so my kids can find plastic eggs all over the yard, open them, be giddy for a minute and then never use the little nicknack again. So I put all the little junk back and decided NOT to have an egg hunt this year... or if I do, I'll just put coins in them.

What do you put in your eggs? I need inspiration, people!!! I'll take any suggestions besides chocolate... they'll get enough of that in their basket already.

Fish-Eye FUN

2010-03-24T12:53:00.000-07:00

So the other day we were lounging around at the park like so:

And we were feeling slightly silly.

And a bit goofy.

Which lead to these funny pictures.

Thanks to THIS fish-eye attachment. It's really neat, you can stick your face right up to the lens...

... and well, the result is lots of laughter.

Yes, we all laughed the most at the pics of MOI. My nose is just so precious, so glorious... perfect for a little fish-eye mocking.

So here, you go. Have a good laugh at our expense.

You're welcome. Laughing is healthy, you know.

i heart faces * week 12 * focusing on angles

2010-03-22T22:17:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of fun with this week's challenge!

I took the girls to our beloved willow tree park after school, equipped with a mat and my camera =). Yep, I had an idea... and for once I actually went through with it.

See, Grace has this dress made out of a band tee. The band's name is Junior Giant (and just happens to be her cousin's band ;-). When I saw that the theme is angles this week, I imagined Grace in her Junior Giant dress, looking like... well... a junior giant. She's little, but can look like a giant depending on the angle.

So I was laying on my mat, while she was playing guitar right next to me. I used a nifty little gadget that I got myself for Christmas, a fish-eye attachment (which screws on my camera's kit lens). Sadly the attachment isn't fabulous, therefore my picture isn't top quality. And funny enough you can't even read the band name on the dress... oh well!!!

Check out other cool angle pics... click the icon below!

Lovely Bird... you are lovely after all!

2010-03-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

Remember this Matilda Jane combo? It just didn't do anything for me... the lovely bird dress was too wide and the entire outfit just looked too baggy with the marine straightees.

But guess what? The lovely bird has been rescued! Put together with the lavish tee and the fabulous knee socks it looks amazing! At least I think so... you be your own judge (okay, maybe it's too crazy of a combo for some... but it's perfect for Grace).

Of course I had to take a jumping picture ;-).

Erina was wearing her Mighty Acorn tee (which is the Matilda Jane boy line). My big girl lives in skinny jeans and screen tees these days... no more cute dresses, sniffles. But I can't blame her, I'm a jeans & tee girl myself ;-).

This picture is pure love for me. I looked at it and felt like singing "let the sunshine in" on top of my lungs (Did I ever mention that I saw the musical "hair" four times??? And that my best friend & I sang songs from the musical at a Swiss train station? And a nice man actually put money in our hat????? Oh, good old times!). Anyways... back to reality. This picture makes me happy, the sunlight streaming in full blast, Erina doing a little dance and Grace watching her. Peace.

I tried to get a good sister picture... it seems impossible without looking too posed. I don't like posed pictures, but want eye contact... grrrr. This was the best I could get.

And lastly sisters dancing =).

A new beginning

2010-03-15T23:32:00.000-07:00

I don't really know what to write tonight. My head is full, but the words won't flow.

It finally feels like spring is coming. Now is the time to take long walks and really take in your surroundings. Notice the delicate new leaves on the trees, their beautiful fresh color.

So new.

So lovely.

i heart faces * week 11 * bundled up

2010-03-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

This week it's all about the cold, the white stuff, being bundled up. Which isn't an easy task for me, since we live in CA and hardly bundle up and never get snow!

But luckily we took a trip to the mountains in January, where I took this picture of Grace. She refused to wear a hat and I like how the snow in her hair looks ;-). She has her concentrated look going on, which makes me think she's either trying to get her glove back on or making a snowball (which was impossible, the snow was too dry).

To see more entries or maybe even enter a picture yourself, please click the icon below =)!

Love to read...

2010-03-09T12:38:00.001-08:00

I took the girlies to the bookstore last weekend, which is a rare treat for them. Usually we just go to the library, after all it's cheaper (unless you forget to return the books and rack up $40 in late fees...).

We love bookstores. Everything about them. The smell, the look. Just all lovely.

We can easily spend two hours browsing...

And usually end up sitting on the floor, reading a bit of this and a bit of that.

Erina is all about adventure, suspense and people these days. She ended up with two books taking place during WWII. I hope she won't get depressed...

Grace's books need to have animals. Dogs. Cats. Horses. That's about it =).

And you know what else I love? The peace & quiet after we come home with new books. They disappear in their room and aren't seen or heard of for a few hours ;-).

i heart faces * week 10 * jump for joy

2010-03-07T19:58:00.000-08:00

I'm loving this week's theme! You know why? Because I'm the mother of a little jumping bean ;-). My Grace loves to jump and for some reason she always asks me to take jumping pictures.

Here is my favorite one of late =).

Excited for LOVES ME NOT "Cherish"

2010-03-06T15:03:00.000-08:00

Loves Me Not Clothing is releasing their spring line "Cherish" somewhen next week. You can see some sneak peeks on Amy's blog. I'm telling you this, simply because I'm nice and want to warn you that her stuff sells out fast. Sooooo... if you like anything, stalk her blog and site... and maybe do some finger exercises too, you know, to make sure you're ready to type fast =).

Grace was wearing her LMN market ruffles a couple days ago. Gosh, how I love them.

And just because she's cute ;-).

Super Giveaway at EPIPHANIE BAGS!

2010-03-05T11:53:00.000-08:00

I came across this fabulous giveaway and simply need to let you all know about it too!

You could win
A BRAND NEW CANON 5D MARK II
OR
A $2500 GIFT CERTIFICATE TO SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

How do you enter? Follow THIS LINK to the Epiphanie blog, you'll find all the instructions right there.

Oh, and take a peek at their camera bags for women... they look yummy. I especially like Belle, love the bright turquoise color.

The inside looks roomy and nicely padded.

I think I'll have to send a hint to my husband... this would make a perfect birthday present, don't you think?

One of the ways to earn points in this giveaway is to create an Epiphanie Card, here's mine!

Good luck to you!!

To be a kid...

2010-03-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

To imagine.
To live in the moment.
To be happy.

Rain or shine =).

Matilda Jane "Hammond Bay" Fashion Show

2010-03-01T22:45:00.000-08:00

Yep, it's time for a new Matilda Jane line again!! Hammond Bay is simply beautiful and we love the new designs (like the raven skirt... I mean... hellooooo... it's like a dream come true for any girl!!).

Grace was in a fun mood, a new load of MJ seems to bring out the best in her =)!! My pics aren't the best... we moved quickly, since it's really not tank top weather yet.

First up the silly tank & raven skirt. We both love it!

Oh, how it twirls!!!

Cookie tank & raven skirt... love this combo too!

Next up... cookie tank, marine straightees and a GAP cropped sweater.

And this shows where my focus was... right on the tank and not her pretty face.... dang it, lol!!!

Lovely bird dress & marine straightees. Dress is too wide for skinny Grace and I don't care for the pants under it either. Oh well, one sad piece in the pile isn't too bad. We have the lavish tee coming our way, hopefully that will save the dress.

Wendy dress & perry ruffles. L O V E!!!!! I honestly wasn't too sure about this dress... it didn't look like MJ to me. I didn't even have it on my list... but then Grace decided last minute that we should give it a try. Girl knows what she's doing. It was a hot item that sold out already AND it's gorgeous in person!

Goofy victory dance

And here she's yelling "Thank you for making this dress, Denise!!!".

Last but not least a comfy combo that will probably be her "go-to" outfit this summer, silly tank & perry ruffles.

Not sure if she's jumping for joy or demonstrating how one can move freely in these clothes??

And then she danced... until she was silly =). Yep, she even put her dancing shoes on!!

i heart faces * week 8 * hands-on fun

2010-02-21T20:23:00.000-08:00

I've known for weeks which picture I would enter for hands-on fun!!! I'm excited week 8 is finally here, lol!

I took this picture last summer, during our vacation in Switzerland. My friend owns a pottery store in my old home town (well, it's more of a village ;-) and my girls were lucky enough to get a private lesson from her. They made the cutest, little lopsided cups on a real, big pottery wheel.

My pic might not be perfect, I think one thumb is about the only thing in focus... but those little hands were moving and so was the wheel =).

To see more hands-on fun, click the icon below!!!

Annual Sledding Trip

2010-02-20T12:05:00.000-08:00

We have quite a few traditions by now. One of them is a sledding day trip to Ice House. We drive up there early in the morning, camp out in the parking lot and let the kids play. This time there wasn't as much snow as usual, which I find a little funny... all this snow in the States and we have less than normal. But the kids still had a blast!

It was a beautiful, sunny day. Grace never even put on a coat (and yes, her sleeves were soaking wet). All in all a fun trip!

I took way too many pictures... here's just a few ;-).

Love this... can you see the big snow ball that's about to hit her?

We always have lots of yummy food... we even grill out there in the parking lot. But YUCK, orange teeth!!!

Erina needed a hug & kiss. She said she wishes she wasn't such a sissy... see, she lost her boot in the snow and then had to go back to the car to put on new socks. She couldn't handle the wet sock. Poor girl.

But she had fun too!

Christopher on his new snow-skateboard... he rocked on that thing!!!

And this is the closest I got to a group shot, lol!

The only kiddo missing in the above group shot? Little Nathan... he's just so cute! He carried that bear of his all around the snow.

Bear

2010-02-18T20:50:00.001-08:00

Brian has been working tons of overtime and I guess he's feeling slightly guilty about missing family time in the evenings. Yesterday he walked in the door with a big stuffed animal doggie under his arm. Oh me, oh my! The girls were thrilled to say the least! They named him Bear, because he's so big and fluffy.

He makes a good dance partner, lol.

And he can fly too!

I know, I'm goofy... I'm blogging about a stuffed animal!! I must be bored or something... maybe avoiding the laundry piles is more like it!

Erina wanted a yoga picture taken. Why? Because she's wearing yoga pants, of course. She's such a goof.

And then trouble-maker Grace had to bud in and give her bunny ears!! This picture perfectly shows my girls personalities... one is calm, relaxed and cookie-loving... the other hyper & funky.

I love my girls. And I kinda like Bear already too ;-).

i heart faces * week 7 * i wanna dance

2010-02-14T23:57:00.000-08:00

I'm entering a twirling picture for this weeks "i wanna dance" challenge... simply because my Grace loves to twirl. I have a million twirling pics of her, seriously =)!!! I picked this one, because I like the perspective. I hope it counts, even though her face isn't fully visible... crossing my fingers ;-).

To see more dancing pictures, click the icon below. Maybe you will even join the fun?

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-13T15:03:00.000-08:00

I wanted to wish you all a lovely Valentine's Day! I hope every single one of you is feeling loved... if not, come by my house for a hug ;-). XOXO

I took my sugared-up kids to the park yesterday... along with a heart balloon. I had high hopes for some creative pics. But it didn't work out too well, lol.

Looks kinda goofy, he? And the girls are looking at me like I lost my marbles... ha, ha, ha!

I went with the flow and took some action shots instead.

Erina was twirling and twirling until she was dizzy... I love it when I find a rather cheap "YES" item for her ($15 tulle skirt from Old Navy... woohooo!).

She looks so grown-up. I can't believe how fast she's changing these days.

Grace was a running, jumping, candy necklace eating fool.

Rosy cheeks, candy on lips.... my wild one.

Hello Sugar High!

2010-02-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

I just picked up the girls from school and they are WIRED... ah, the wonderful side effects of Valentine's Day =). This will be short and sweet, I need to get those two wild ones outside before it will rain again!!

Just wanted to share Erina's Valentines with you. We made big chocolate chip cookie pops (simply put a wooden craft stick in each cookie before baking... believe me, eating cookies on a stick makes them ten times better!!!), wrapped them up in heart bags and slapped a cute little saying on there. They were a hit!

Homesick!!!

2010-02-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

My Swiss facebook friends are making me homesick today! They are posting about going to carnival or how we say "Fasnacht". This is one event that I miss... I miss it so much, I can't even attend any parades here in the States. I tried several times, last time it was a 4th of July parade. Let me tell you, I wasn't a pretty sight. Parades and especially marching bands make me bawl like a baby!!! I'm usually quiet in control of my emotions, but a high school marching band will come along and I can't stop the tears from coming. WHY? It reminds me of carnival... the cool marching bands called "Guggemuusig", which are way less professional than a high school band.

Fasnacht is such a cool thing, the party starts on Thursday night and doesn't end until the Wednesday after. Sunday is the big parade and by then most people are pretty hung over, still drunk or working on the next buzz. It's pretty darn fun, everybody dresses up and simply goes wild.

Anyways, in my sadness, I went on youtube and found this movie from last years parade. If you make it past the annoying "I like to move it, move it" part, you'll get to see and hear part of the parade in my little hometown.

i heart faces * week 6 * we heart kisses

2010-02-08T23:41:00.000-08:00

It's almost Valentine's Day and i heart faces is celebrating KISSES this week!! I knew right away which picture I would enter... it's not the newest, but by far the cutest kissing pic I own of my two girls. I just love the happy smile on my younger daughter's face, she knows she's loved and it shows =).

Flashback!!!

2010-02-06T12:20:00.000-08:00

Look what I found today tucked away in a yellow envelope in a messy junk drawer!!

Both taken in Mexico by the hotel photographer =).

This was in September 2003 (which makes the girls almost 4 and 2). I love the look they gave the guy... like "Who are you and WHY are you taking pictures of US???"

And this was during our May 2005 trip (so they were 3 1/2 and 5 1/2). They were pretty brave... I still remember, they weren't scared of those big birds at all. Looky how cute and chubby my Grace was!!!! Awwwww!

Now I want to board a plane and go back there... this time with my own good camera, lol!!

Check out my Ebay auctions... please =)!

2010-02-03T22:26:00.000-08:00

I'm cleaning out the girl's closet!! Out with the old, in with the new!! Truth be told I need funds to buy the new Matilda Jane line that's coming out in twelve days (not that I'm counting or anything...).

If you need anything for your 6-9 year old girl, take a peek right HERE.

I have Matilda Jane items ending tomorrow evening.

This dress is currently still a steal!

So is this darling halter!

And this knot dress... this is honestly so much prettier in person.

Here's a little sample of the Naartjie I just listed today:

Thanks so much for looking =)!!

Life is sweet!

2010-02-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

When you have a big lollipop... that is!

I hope you are all enjoying a sweet Monday! The sun is shining... I'm pretty dang happy =)!

courtneycourtney

2010-01-30T21:20:00.001-08:00

Wanna know the newest hype in girl's fashion??? Upcycled dresses!!!

They are made of previously used knit items... like your husband's hideous golf polo or your grandma's old fashioned flower tee, lol. Courtneycourtney designs these dresses and they sell like freshly baked bread. She really has an eye for funky combos (and yes, all of a sudden your husbands hideous polo will make you swoon). Each dress is one of a kind... which I love!!!

I like my girl to wear unique clothes, I bet you already knew that ;-). And guess what? She likes it too... I got a big thumbs up!

If you would like one, you need a stalkerish personality... seriously, she post them on etsy or her new website and they are gone within seconds!!! Two weeks ago, my stalking finally paid off and I got my first dress... woohoo!!

Yep, I'm feeling pretty cool to own one... and I think she does too. Just look at that smug little smile!

She's so happy, she's even singing in the streets ;-).

Now please excuse me, I need to go back to stalking... I need another one for Erina!!

Baby Love

2010-01-29T11:16:00.000-08:00

My girls got some quality time with their cousins last weekend ;-). We went up to the snow together and Saturday it was me and the four kiddos (the other three grown-ups went skiing).

Erina is totally, utterly in love with baby Holden. She carried him around, entertained him, bounced him... whatever it took to keep the little guy happy. It was really cute to watch, she totally reminds me of myself at this age. We had neighbors with two little girls and I spent all my afternoons over there, playing with the little ones. I always knew I wanted to be a mommy ;-). Erina says she wants to be a mommy too, but she will adopt all her children. I guess we'll see about that in many, many years.

Anyways, I was having fun taking pics of them!

Lilly is a wonderful big sister. Goodness, Holden's eyes just light up as soon as he sees her.

I love this one so much...

Pretty Lilly

Smiley Holden... of course he's smiling at Lilly

He's not quiet sure about this black thing in front of my face, lol.

You might wonder where Grace was by now. Well, she really couldn't understand why everybody was fussing over the baby. It's just a baby, mom!!! Mhhh...

I'll be back with sledding pictures soon!

Yay, it stopped!

2010-01-26T22:08:00.000-08:00

Raining... that is! This afternoon the sun even made an appearance. The girls were so thrilled, they just had to dash outside to play RIGHT AWAY =).

Grace was looking for puddles. Note her cool new rain boots. They kinda look like duck feet, "quack, quack"!!

When she couldn't find a good puddle, she decided to boogie a bit.

We found our Duchess in the backyard =). Love that cat!

And voila! Puddle found!!!

Erina joined the fun too! She has blue duck feet... or maybe we should call them smurf feet instead??

Then they galloped around the yard like horses until they were exhausted.

Ahhhh... it's great to be outside!

Rain

2010-01-21T21:10:00.000-08:00

It's been ONE rainy week... hours of downpour. No sunshine. Ever single day this week.

I'm not complaining, I know we need the rain.

Due to rain, I don't even have any new pictures to show. My camera isn't waterproof. Great, he?

So I dug through my older pictures and this one made me smile. Ah, I'm looking forward to dryer days and long walks in the marsh.

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend! We're heading up to the snow! YAY!

Happy Birthday, Janis!

2010-01-19T08:39:00.000-08:00

In honor of Janis Joplin's birthday, "Little Girl Blue" one of my all time faves. I hope she's having a big old party up in heaven today. Peace.

Treehouse 28

2010-01-18T00:48:00.000-08:00

Let me introduce you to Treehouse 28! They make seriously comfy knit clothes in solid colors... with lots of mix and match possibilities. Best thing about this brand? Everything is made right here in Northern California. I was lucky enough to participate in a group order on one of the mommy boards... and since I live pretty close to them, I had the pleasure to pick up the order. I got to see the production, meet one of the owners and touch all the pretties... it was pretty darn cool.

If you like what you see, you should check them out! They have a website with all their organic fabrics right here and an etsy store with more color choices right here. If you do order from their website, make sure to size up for your girl! Grace is wearing size 10's and as you can see the pants are almost too short. You won't have that problem if you order from their etsy store, since everything is made according to your measurements.

And I was feeling creative and vintage-E today... therefor some fun edited pics for you. Mind you, Grace's hair really isn't that orange ;-).

Grace is wearing the hooded dress, ruffled pants and crop top.

Grace loves it, when I take pics without looking through the viewfinder... just hold the camera to her face and click... silly girl.

San Francisco

2010-01-13T12:31:00.000-08:00

We spend Sunday afternoon in the city. Gram Rose had left something important at our house, so we were nice enough to drive down there to return it to her. I figured we should do something fun... but what? I get a little overwhelmed with big cities these days... too many choices, seriously.

We ended up at Union Square and considered ice skating. But we found three reasons why not to do it... it was too crowded, the ice looked bumpy and it was expensive.

So we sat down on a modern bench and did some good old-fashioned people watching =).

We took silly pictures of each other... just for the fun of it.

Next stop was Market & Powell... maybe we could go for a cable car ride? But guess what? That line was way too long too. So we went to the Gap and shopped... ha, ha, we didn't really need to go to SF for that.

Then we walked all the way back up to Gram Rose's apartment on Nob Hill.

One of the steepest hills... ever.

But we made it and got a work-out!

During our drive home we already made plans for our next city visit. The girls really want to see Alcatraz...

i heart faces * week 2 * best face photo

2010-01-11T22:38:00.000-08:00

"i heart faces" is celebrating its first birthday with a "best face" theme. How appropriate, right?

Here's my girl Grace, looking at me a bit anxious or maybe nervous while waiting in line to see Santa. Love that face... but I'm biased, lol!

Come check out other entries, simply click the icon below! Maybe even join the fun?

Hoot, hoot... because it's cute!

2010-01-10T01:10:00.000-08:00

Gram Rose came to visit today to celebrate Brian's birthday. And since she loves owls, Grace wore her Hoot Peasant Dress from Matilda Jane.

Grace also has the matching owl ruffles... but she couldn't wear them today, because her knees wouldn't look cute. Are you confused? So was I!

She put the dress on, marched over to the full length mirror and stared at herself.

G: "Mom, look how cute that looks!"

Me, not really looking "Mh-mh... very cute."

G: "Mom, you have to look at my knees to see how cute this is!!!!"

Me, looking up... wondering what's going on with her knees "Okay, what's so cute? I don't get it?"

G: "Look how I'm putting my knees together... I think it looks cute with this dress."

Me: "I'm glad you think your knees are cute like that, but please put your ruffles on now."

G: "I don't think that will work."

Me: "Hun, you can't have naked legs today... it's too cold. Besides, the dress is a little short on you without ruffles."

G put ruffles on, goes back to the mirror "See? It doesn't look cute now... the ruffles don't make my knees look cute! I need tights."

Me: "I think the ruffles look adorable with the dress... it really is a bit short for tights."

G: "Mom, you don't understand. I can't see how cute my knees look when I wear ruffles with this dress!!!! And see? The dress goes past my fingers... it's long enough!"

Me (grumble, grumble... giving up): "Okay... let's find some tights then."

And here are her cute knees in a short dress.

I still don't get it. To me she looks like she has to go potty =).

"Ah, mom... sometimes you just don't get it"

I agree, I agree.

Who's this guy???

2010-01-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

That's what I was pondering over this morning, when I came across this video while channel surfing (and eating my bagel ;-). The video was somewhere in the middle when I tuned in. Right away the voice sounded familiar... but I couldn't remember seeing this hot guy. Mhh... who is this? Then I studied his face and it hit me. CREED! I didn't know that band was still around... had not heard any of their music in ages. I remember the lead singer as a guy with slimy long hair... oh, my... he's so much hotter without hair!!!

Watch for yourself. Love the song too.

And here's a flashback to 2000 with the song that made me cry, EVERY SINGLE TIME. Erina was a itty baby and this song somehow hit my emotional spot...

And I guess his hair wasn't slimy... but I still like him better without.

Never say never

2010-01-02T18:55:00.000-08:00

I thought I would never see this sight. Training wheels carelessly tossed on the ground... useless.

See, our children didn't know how to ride a bike without training wheels. Until today. You read that right, my eight and ten year old girls did NOT know how to ride a bike!! Until today ;-).

It's been an ongoing battle.

Erina was simply too scared to give it a go. She's such a cautious, careful child and even the thought of riding something on two big wheels made her nervous. She never had a problem with her scooter, loves that thing, is more like it. But I guess it's closer to the ground and makes her feel safer?? I really don't know. What I do know, is that Erina didn't have the slightest desire to EVER ride a bike.

Grace tried to learn when she was six, but we made the mistake of trying to teach her right on our sidewalk. She got frustrated, Brian got frustrated. They gave up.

The bikes collected dust in our garage. Until today.

I knew we had to get them outside today. We've been lazy bums over this break, sleeping in late, staying up late. And it's time to turn around and get back to business as usual. So it had to be an activity that tires them out. Then I came up with the idea of bringing them to a huge empty parking lot and trying to teach them how to ride a bike one last time.

Erina said, no way. I will never learn.

Grace was excited. So she went first.

Brian was holding her by her neck (which looked kind of strange, lol).

And then he let go...

... and she was riding!

Just like that!!!!

Before we knew it, she was circling the light posts like a pro.

Erina got a little braver all of a sudden. You know, that "if my little sister can, I can too" mentality... sometimes it's helpful! But she did not want anything to do with Brian and his neck-holding teaching strategy. So it was up to me.

Ten minutes and one sweaty mom later...

I seriously ran along her side for ten minutes, first holding on to her waist. Then just to make her feel safe. Finally she said "You can stop running now" and she followed Brian & Grace.

Oh, happy day!!!

Grace found the only puddle...

On our way home, we stopped by the bike shop. Erina was in dire need of a new helmet. And we realized that her bike is way small for her... she's supposed to drive a 24 inch wheel bike and hers is probably 16 inches. She sure found her dream bike, it matches her new helmet. But it didn't come home with us today. Maybe for her next birthday.

So always remember, never say never!!

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T21:37:00.000-08:00

Ah, another year is coming to an end...

it seems like such a blur to me, the year zoomed by me...

kind of like my kids...

I can't wait to see what the new year has in store for us...

I have hopes for a good one...

Even though this one wasn't bad either...

I just like even years better than odd ones...

Which is odd...

Since I got married in an odd year...

And I had both my kids in an odd year too...

Maybe I'm just an odd person...

And no, I'm not drunk right now...

But I'm considering opening that bottle of champaign before midnight...

Is that bad of me??????

And what about my odd kid...

Fishy face for fish-eye lens???

She cracks me up on a daily basis...

She really does...

I'm looking forward to green trees...

For some reason they look sick to me...

And frail...

And I need my willow trees to be strong...

I'm weird...

And I know it...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Christmas Day

2009-12-31T01:46:00.000-08:00

I figured I should share our Christmas pictures before the new year starts. I took way too many pics and can't choose which ones to show on here... so I made it easy on myself and put them all in a slideshow.

Christmas day is always spent at home, no guests allowed, lol. We lounge around in our pajamas all day and the grown-ups even get to take a nap (which I always need after the hype BEFORE Christmas).

The girls were thrilled with all their presents, which makes me happy. I'm glad that my big girls still squeal with excitement when they get playmobil... or a doll. Grace got Erina a Baby Born... which is her favorite doll ever, she got her first one when she was only two... and well, the poor doll lost an arm and I wasn't going to replace it... so Grace took care of it... and boy, was Erina excited!

I also finally caved and got them Nintendo DS Lite's. I'm soooo not fond of handheld games. I'm kind of old fashioned that way and would rather have them play with a wooden dollhouse, paper dolls or playmobil... you know, something where you need your imagination. AND if they have to play a game, they can do it online... after all they are Webkinz fanatics already. BUT... as I said, I caved. Of course they were both glued to that little machine immediately. Thankfully the battery died after about an hour and the instructions said to charge them for at least three hours. Ha, that was perfect! So they took off and played with their real toys.

Another hit sure is the Wii!!! That was Brian's surprise present to the family (and sooooo not planned OR in the budget... darn it, Brian!!!). Of course we all knew about it, because he told ERINA. Doesn't he know she can't keep a secret? I was mad when she told me. Very mad. Not at her... but Brian. In the end it was a good thing Erina told us before Christmas... that way I was able to work through my anger and put on a happy face when time came to open the "surprise". Am I still angry? Nope. Guess what? I think I actually like that darn Wii better than anybody else. I played tennis for hours and paid for it with a real tennis arm, lol. Believe it or not, this really is a work-out machine!!!

Ok, that's enough blabbing by Monika, right? On to the slideshow:

And if you made it through... thank you, you must really love me or my kids ;-).

Our Christmas Eve

2009-12-29T13:22:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve was spent at the Carro's house again this year. Maureen and Jim had just come home from a long trip to Australia & New Zealand and they still managed to throw a wonderful, festive party.

Four goofy McSweeneys =)

My girls with their Auntie Michele & cousin Holden

This one makes me giggle... Grace told Michele that daddy bought a Wii (which was a secret and we were NOT supposed to know). SHHHHHHH!!!

The cousins!

We always open presents to each other right then and there. The kids love that!

Grace was patiently waiting her turn. I love this pic with the pretty angel in the background... even though the light is bad, still love it.

Lilly and her grandma =) (yep, and there's the pretty angel again)

Poppers!!! Highlight of the party!!

Grace with her paper crown

The Carro's dog, Holly =)

Brian loves her, big time!

And Erina looking cute ;-). I called her Christmas Rambo, lol.

Wishing you all...

2009-12-24T14:08:00.000-08:00

... a peaceful, merry Christmas!! May your days be filled with laughter and joy!

Santa

2009-12-20T15:46:00.000-08:00

We had a busy, busy week... and on Thursday I realized that Christmas was a week away and my kids had not seen Santa yet!!

So we drove down to the Jelly Belly Factory after school. All three of us were a little anxious to see if "our" Santa was going to be there. See, we've seen the Jelly Belly Santa for many years. Grace was only two months old the first time. A few years they had a different Santa, but our Santa had been there probably 6 out of 8 years. To my girls, he is THE MAN. He has been interviewed by Erina over the years and apparently he passed the test =). He's the real Santa. Really.

We dashed up the stairs to his room, stuck our three heads in the door as fast as we could....

and....

he was there!!! YAY!

The girls walked up to him, Erina in front with her hands in her hoodie pocket. Santa said "Take your hands out of your pocket!!!". Uh-oh, bad mood? Grace always acts shy in public... I swear, that child isn't shy... she just acts like it from time to time.

First the posed picture, had to take it. Look at Santa's huge hands!

Erina took the lead, she's a leader (got that from her daddy). Grace had a smug little grin on her face, happy that she didn't have to talk.

But THEN... he turned to her. Grace was looking at Erina in panic, giving her the common-talk-for-me look. But she didn't. See, Erina is always Grace's voice in moments when she gets too nervous. But I had heard her say "Grace, you are now eight years old, you can do it yourself"!!!

Santa was being patient. Grace was being quiet.

And then... she talked!!! Woohoo, Grace! You did it!!!

Erina on the other hand couldn't stop talking. She told him about school, about baking cookies, about our big tree... bla, bla, bla.

Santa was patient with her too. Note how Grace's eyes are glazing over... she's not listening anymore, lol.

Lastly, another picture for mommy.

And we were done. I hope our Santa will be back next year, he sure is getting old!

It's all worth it

2009-12-14T23:53:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I can be a grinch. I'll openly admit it, my holiday spirit hasn't been the greatest this year. I didn't feel like decorating the house and kept putting it off. But last Saturday Brian & Erina finally went to pick out a tree (Grace was sick, it rained cats & dogs... part of my mood, I guess)... and the magic happened. Gosh, I love the smell of a real tree in my house. LOVE. And putting up all the ornaments was a blast, kind of like a hallmark commercial with the girls sharing their memories about certain pieces. That's when it hit me, this is it, I thought, I'm making history right now and I don't want my girls to remember my lousy mood. It's all worth it... for them. I hope I did okay, it's hard for me to "act" happy when I'm not, especially around the people who know me best.

I captured some lovely moments this weekend. My girls reading to each other.

Pretending to go to sleep in front of the tree & fireplace (that's the plan for Christmas Eve...)

But the giggles came over them ;-)

They look happy. I don't think my grumpies are rubbing off on them ;-). That's good. Very good.

I Heart Faces * Week 49 * Pets Only

2009-12-13T23:58:00.000-08:00

I snapped this picture of my Max boy today while we were decorating our Christmas tree. He was just taking a cat nap... then the girls came along and decided he should get in the holiday spirit too. He's the most docile cat I've ever met, but I think his face speaks volumes =). I don't think he wants to be Santa Cat, lol.

To see more great pet entries, click the icon below.

Every now and then...

2009-12-10T15:08:00.000-08:00

... my kids will wear an outfit, that I love so much... I have to photograph it (on the kid, lol). My girls don't love me for this passion of mine. This is how it usually goes as soon as we get out of the car (after school):

Me: Grace, don't take your shoes off just yet. I need to grab my camera.

Grace: Why, mom??? I don't feel like pictures!!!

Me: Just a quick one in front of the door. You look so cute today, I have to!

Grace: I won't even smile for you.

Erina (whispering while I run upstairs to get the camera): Just smile and she will be done faster.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today was one of those days. And this is how she smiled for me to get it over quickly.

But then... without any warning or encouragement... she broke out into this

I wasn't ready for such a huge burst of energy. And she said "Want me to do it again?" - "Ok, hun." (see the cat behind the screen door looking at Grace?)

Next was the "Oh, let me jump off the side, that's more FUN!!!". She's asking if I'm ready for her to go... she's so considerate =).

I'm ready!!

So, what's the moral of this story? Sometimes a dreaded moment can turn to fun without you ever noticing it. Gotcha, Grace!

And on a side note. The darling velour outfit is from Naartjie! I love their velour sets and get at least one every winter.

Fake Ice Skating

2009-12-08T23:31:00.000-08:00

I took Grace to our "special" downtown ice skating rink. It's special, because it's synthetic hybrid-ice and not real ice. It pretty much looks like a huge plastic cutting board... but it's slippery.

Grace was super excited for this. She tried it last year during the holidays and this year it's bigger and open a lot more (which means it's not so dang crowded... you know how I feel about crowds).

She was bundled up real good. We put the extra puffy and long coat on her... for some extra padding in the bum ;-). Oh, and the lights in the background are from the big downtown Christmas tree!

And she sure needed the padding =). Lots of my pictures look like this:

But she did not mind one bit. She got up over and over again with a huge smile on her face.

She finally got the hang of it... notice how nice and empty the place is? I loved it!!!

One happy kid

And I'm sorry the pics aren't very good. I still refuse to use a flash ;-).

I Heart Faces * Week 48 * Sweet Dreams

2009-12-06T21:51:00.000-08:00

When I was looking through my pictures, I noticed that I don't have very many sleeping ones anymore. Sniffles, my girls are growing up way too fast. They don't fall asleep in random places anymore... and hardly EVER sleep in the daytime. Unless they are sick... or have a bad case of jet-lag.

My entry is just that... jet-lag. Taken last summer in Switzerland in the middle of the day. She had been asleep for two hours already and we tried to wake her up... with no luck. She was OUT. After all it was night time in California =).

To see more snoozing faces, click the icon below ;-).

Santa Claus is coming to town...

2009-12-06T13:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the day. Santa came to town. By boat. As always.

It's a family tradition to watch the boat parade.

Santa's sleigh...

Then we all crowded around the tiny area where Santa arrives. As always I get annoyed at this point. Me not likey crowds.

Now look at the above picture again. See the guy behind Santa's elf? He's glaring at me, isn't he???

Mrs. Claus was looking stellar. (there's the staring guy again... I'm slightly creeped out!!!)

Then Santa lit the big tree... ta-da.

Can you guess what came next???

Did you guess right?

I must have been in a debbie downer mood. During the fireworks I kept thinking how our city could have used all this money for more important things. We're in a recession after all. People are in need. My husband, always seeing the positive, thinks people need a little holiday cheer. Forget about the daily problems and enjoy five minutes of wonder in the sky. Mhhhh...

My children sure are in the holiday spirit. They came home and "baked" playdoh cookies.

And they ate them too!!!!!!

Nah.... I was just kidding. It was all pretend.

And I just sent Brian to the store to get me two packages of motivation (fresh, not canned) and one package of holiday spirit. I need both of those... badly.

Week 47 * We Heart Tooshies *

2009-12-01T12:44:00.000-08:00

Yes, you read that right... it's not I Heart Faces but We Heart Tooshies ;-). Week 47 doesn't need to have a face in the picture, but a bum instead =)!! How fun is that? I had the hardest time picking... I guess I take too many pictures of my kids tooshies, lol.

I ended up with a picture of both my girls, taken a year ago in beautiful Maui... ah, how I wish I could be there right now!!

To see more tooshies, click the icon below.

P.S.: If you have a minute, please check out my blog entry about the Matilda Jane Photo Love Contest. My friend needs help! Thank you!

Matilda Jane Photo Love Contest

2009-12-01T11:19:00.000-08:00

Matilda Jane Clothing is holding a wonderful contest for photographers. My friend Sharon Sossaman is one of the contestants and I would love it, if you could put a vote in for her =).

Follow this link (read instructions below the darling picture first, please).
Matilda Jane Photo Love Contest

Here's Sharon's entry, so you can spy her easier ;-). Isn't it gorgeous? I sure think so!

And a couple pointers taken from the Matilda Jane blog:
RULES: Voting is done by adding your favorite photographers to your shopping bag and then checking out. You can add as many photographers as you want to your bag, but don't waste your time adding a photographer a million times to your bag because multiple votes for the same photographer in one bag are ignored. Also, you can check out only once from your IP address. Checking out more than once from your IP address will not be counted in our system. Voting will end Sunday, December 6 at midnight. Voting takes place on the Matilda Jane Clothing website.

Oh, when you hit Submit, a confirmation page appears asking you to double check everything. You must hit Submit one more time on this page for your votes to register.

Sister Love

2009-11-30T20:59:00.000-08:00

Today was the last day of our three week long fall break. And believe it or not, I'm sad to send them off to school tomorrow. Those two get along so nice, they can literally play together twelve hours straight and not get into any fights. Yes, they do fight occasionally... and they do have grumpy days. But all in all they are a power team. And full of imagination. Ballerinas, pirates, ice skaters, doctors, world travelers... you name it, they can be it.

I had many plans for this break. I wanted to take them to the city... show them some sights and ride the cable cars. Maybe a trip to the zoo or a museum. But you know what? They were happiest at home. And I can't really blame them, I like my home too ;-).

They watch out for each other, comfort each other when one is scared or sad. They are each others biggest fans.

I love that they have each other. Forever.

Even though one is a whirlwind...

... and the other is calm.

They belong. Together. To me. For now. Peace.

Our Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T09:50:00.001-08:00

We were lucky to celebrate Thanksgiving at Kevin & Michele's house this year (yeah, no messy kitchen for me!). It was a lovely evening with many heated discussions (which I stayed out of... after almost 11 years with the McSweeney family, I simply know better... I can't win).

My girls played happily with their cousin Lilly. Look at the three cuties:

And here's the most handsome baby boy I've ever seen! My little nephew Holden.

He was talking to me ;-)

It wasn't a night for picture taking. Socializing was more important (and all the lights were dimmed for a peaceful mood). But I did get a few...

The girls playing Sorry!

Note the beautifully set table especially for the girls...

Turkey time! Uncle Kevin was the master carver in charge.

My girls always like Uncle Kevin's cooking better than anybody else's.

Mhhhh...

Michele was so sweet and even got Erina a little birthday cake. I really should use the flash sometimes, lol... sorry, it's so dark.

And I'll leave you with another baby Holden picture...

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T20:14:00.000-08:00

I hope you'll enjoy a peaceful day with family, friends and delicious food! I know I will!

Remember to share.

It makes you smile BIG.

And it warms your heart.

Welcome new friends into your life.

I promise, it will make you happy.

Happy Turkey Day!

Avoiding the laundry piles...

2009-11-24T13:53:00.000-08:00

That's what I'm doing right now... totally not in the mood to fold laundry. Not at all. But I think we're on day three of finding clean underwear in the huge "to fold" pile in the guest room. Ugh.

I also need to brave the grocery store. Better today than tomorrow, right?

Sometimes I just don't feel like seeing people. I don't even want to exchange the lame "how are you doing"s with cashiers. Maybe I'll use self check-out. Yep, that's what I'll do. And the darn machine better work for me.

I was editing pictures of Erina and I can't decide if this looks cool or creepy? Erina likes it. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet... she's right in my face, like in real life... ha, ha!

I've never met anybody with eye lashes as long as hers. They touch her glasses, can you believe that? She actually asked me once if I could cut them, lol.

Yeah, baby... DOUBLE DIGITS!

2009-11-24T00:23:00.000-08:00

My baby turned ten today (well, technically yesterday... since it's already after midnight). I've handled it well, if I say so myself. I didn't even shed a single tear. I've come to terms with the fact that Erina is growing up. And I really, really like the person she's becoming. I could go on and swoon about all her fabulous qualities... but I don't want to brag. She's just special in so many ways =).

Happy 10th birthday, my darling!

I Heart Faces * Week 46 * Sun Flare

2009-11-23T01:12:00.000-08:00

I had fun and frustration with this week's theme. I tried many times to get it just right... but I wasn't happy with my results. I wasn't going to enter this week at all. But you know what? It's not my way to throw in the towel.

So here's my entry... great sun flare for sure, but the picture over all... probably not so great ;-).

To see better sun flare pictures, head over to I Heart Faces... simply click the icon below!

Ten years ago...

2009-11-22T15:17:00.001-08:00

... I was highly pregnant with my first child. Gosh, it feels like just yesterday. Ten years ago today I sat in my OBG's office, two days after my due date, and she informed me that I should go to the hospital that night to get induced. All of a sudden it was SO REAL... I was gonna have a baby!!! I was gonna be a MOTHER!!! MEEEEEE!

Of course the mother part doesn't feel like "just yesterday" by now. Actually I feel like I've been a mother hen forever, lol.

Anyways, my Erina had her little birthday party on Friday. She loves to plan parties and I left it pretty much up to her. She designed her caterpillar cake and was mighty proud of it too =).

A storm blew in Friday, so we were stuck inside. I was a bit worried, I don't handle noise well and neither does Erina. All in all it turned out just perfect, we had enough activities to keep 12 kids entertained for two hours.

First up was the goody bag decorating:

Then it was time to paint a flower pot:

Off to play with snails... we had snail races planned, but the snails did not cooperate AT ALL.

Next we made bird feeders out of pine cones, peanut butter and bird seeds. Wow, that was messy!!

Finally it was cake time!

Yummy stuff!

Finally presents!!!

Oh, and there was this one kid at the party... she was wild... loud... and didn't listen to her mother. I even heard her use her kids full name several times. You know what that means, right? You better listen or else!!!! Guess who that kid was??

See below...

... yep, it was my own, lol!!

Thanks to all the mommies who helped out!! I couldn't have done it without you!

New Look!

2009-11-19T11:36:00.000-08:00

I was tired of my old blog "look"! What do you think? Pretty, he?

As I was looking online for free templates, I also came across this cool site:
Shape Collage

You can make fun collages out of your pictures, like this one:

I made my new header with this cool gadget too. The only bad thing is that it randomly scrambles your pictures. But it's still cool to play with, lol.

When cabin fever hits...

2009-11-17T22:20:00.000-08:00

... take the kids for a walk! We had one of those days yesterday. The girls were on day two of playing ice skaters (involves a lot of leotards, tutus, nylons and gloves... plus hardwood floors) and they were getting testy with each other. Little things like choice of song for a performance would send them into little hissy fits. So I called it quits and made them go for a walk with me.

Let me tell you, it lifted the mood. I could almost see the tenseness disappear with every step. Frowns turned into smiles =).

And before I knew it, they were running toward their beloved willow tree park.

They got to the first tree and decided to play a game of "Reach-The-Branch".

When that didn't work, they tried teamwork!

Eventually they gave up and moved on to finding the perfect sticks... (I know, Grace is not in focus... I seem to do that a lot lately... grrr)

Voila, now I'm the proud parent to two pirates =)

And they realized that another tree had longer branches... ahhhh!

Hurt pirate (not really... just pretending ;-)

Is she still a pirate or tarzan?

Erina doesn't know either...

Look at those smiles... nobody would ever know that they were in each others hair just an hour ago!

We stayed until the sun disappeared... it was THAT much fun.

So if you have cabin fever, go for a walk!!!

I Heart Faces * Week 45 * Autumn Beauty

2009-11-17T00:04:00.000-08:00

I was hoping to find wonderful piles of leaves to jump around in during our walk today. But nope... leaves were already raked up, sucked up or blown away =). We did find some stragglers along the way and Grace collected a handful to toss in the air. The look on her face makes me giggle, like she's bracing herself for the attack of the leaves.

Find more "Autumn Beauty" at I HEART FACES, click the icon below =).

Eden's Bouquet Giveaway!!!

2009-11-16T13:25:00.000-08:00

Great giveaway found right here at Eden's Bouquet. Enough said! Go... enter! And go back tomorrow... it looks like a daily thing!

What would you order? I would get the ruffled jeans... I've been drooling over them for a long time!

Good luck!

Loves Me Not Clothing Co.

2009-11-15T11:42:00.000-08:00

I was just looking through my pictures and came across these shots from our Loves Me Not gig that didn't make the cut... but some of them are personal favorites or show Grace's silly side ;-).

She was a dancing queen right here... shaking booty and all!

This one is just so sweet... at least I think so, lol.

And yes, she ran around a lot...

I love the bokeh on this shot

And another one where she's groovin'

Have a nice Sunday!!

Memories

2009-11-14T23:09:00.000-08:00

Brian came home Friday from work and announced that he felt like going on a road trip. No lazy bums allowed this weekend. I was all for it, I love to get out! He was a man on a mission, he even knew where he wanted to go. Samuel P. Taylor Park in Marin.

It was a walk down memory lane for my hubby today, that's for sure. First stop was Terra Linda, the town he grew up in. As we were rolling into town, he said "let me see if my buddy still lives here"... two minutes later we were in front of said buddies house and Brian was at the door before I could say peep. Something I would never do. He had not talked to this buddy in over ten years and there he was, knocking on his door. Sure enough, said buddy still lived there and was delighted to see Brian. I was playing my shy act and snuck a picture while they exchanged numbers, lol.

Next was the house Brian grew up in. This was especially fun for the girls, they had never been there, but had heard a million stories. It was emotional for Brian... I could just see all his childhood memories flooding his brain. No pics, I felt a bit stalker-ish as it was. After that we drove about town with Brian narrating the trip. He was bombarded with questions about his past. I loved every minute of it... and I think he did too.

We left Terra Linda behind and headed to Samuel P. Taylor Park. Along the way we realized how starved we were... so we had a pit stop here. Yummy burgers.

Finally we made it to our destination, it was getting late already and we picked the first trail we could find. It was soooooo pretty. Gorgeous redwood trees, green ferns everywhere...

Huge, he?

The tree had a little tunnel... perfect kid size.

View from the other side of the tree.

Ferns! All over!!!

And mushrooms too!

Tough family picture =D

Hummmmmmm..... serenity now...

Then it was time to go home... back to traffic... I wasn't ready. I wanted to stay out in the green.