Kids Dialog

Can I just say Love my children from the pure laughter they bring. Now ya all know I am just slightly sassy and forward. My two beautiful daughters are stepping it up a notch and I can't be more proud UNLESS of course it is directed at me. hahaha

Cute Kaitlin things this week.
I went out for a drink with my friend on Monday. Before leaving Kaitlin runs down the stairs with a note taped in half and a reeses peanut butter cup and smarties taped to the top. "Now mom promise me you won't open this until you get there." me, "I promise." her "really really promise." me "ok ok ok."
So I get to the wine bar, open the note and it reads

Look inside...
Dear mom, Have fun. Hope you get a good kind of wine. see you in the morning. Hearts, tons of xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo Love Kaitlin

The fact that she remembered I said I was going to Soif, assumed it was a wine bar and said see you in the morning knowing I would be out late was just too cute.


Now this morning..
"MOM this is really important tomorrow is library book day and I can't find Katie and the kittens."
me, "ok well was the last time you had it."
her, "in my bunk bed."
me, "well have you looked there."
her, "mom I have a really busy day! School and then a play date. You, well you are home all day and have more free time can't you just do it for me."

Guess where the book was? Yup the bunk bed

Now I think this conversation would have had me in a hissy fit a few years ago before I have fully submitted to being a stay at home mom and YES I am loving it. Who wouldn't. But I just love that she thinks I sit around all day.


Now Emma
Simple and sweet, my candy lover says at Marini's the candy capital shop of Santa Cruz.
"Ok mom what are my options." (very serious, looks me straight in the eyes, arms folded)
I state she can pick two candies
She says, "hmmm my options are x, y and z. Ok mom here are my choices candy corn and those little white things (mini jaw breakers). Oh and I want this lolly pop."
me. "Emma you can pick two things not three."
Emma, "DANG ITTTTT!!!! how about I choose these options, candy corn, little white things and and just 1 TIIINNNYY salt water taffy." (pinches her fingers super tiny and give me puppy eyes.)
me, "ok"
her, "YESSSSSS!"

Ok so I totally caved, but this sweet 4 year old using her best manners and the word OPTIONS was to precious.

Another Emma,
Mommy when I grow up I can be anything I want to be! I am going to me an animal rescuer, builder, and a doctor all at the same time!

And one more Emma
Chris and I were driving by a cop standing in front of a house looking inside. Gun in his holster.
Emma says, "what is he doing just standing there with a gun!."
Chris says, "police officers are always suppose to carry their guns everyday to protect us."
Emma, NO daddy police officers aren't killing us everyday with their guns, they are suppose to protect us from the bad guys."

Ok...so essentially when she heard carrying she thought we said killing. My memory doesn't serve me with the exact dialog. But I could only imagine what was going on in her little brain!

Pics, Pics and more Pics

Ms. Claudia (Kaitlin's teacher) with Emma and Lucus (Rose's Boyfriend and Ms. Claudia's 4 legged child)


Kaitlin with a few of her girlfriends at the Brownie Bridging ceremony. Next year I'm the troop leader!!!! Super excited.



Each week a child in Kaitlin's class gets to bring Willy home. Kaitlin dressed Willy everyday in a new outfit


Date night with mom at Marini's


Date night with mom at Denny's


Chris and the kids fall asleep at auntie Maryann's house. Don't they look oh so comfy?


Kaitlin and her friend Lindsey get buried by Emma and Julie (Lindsey's big sis)


Emma gets creative with her monkey toes


On a windy day at Seabright beach in March the ocean brought in what we call "snow bubbles". The kids had a blast jumping and covering their bodies in it.

Let's try this again

Mid March Update

It's been a bit since my last blogging but two weeks of having sick kids and me being sick is really nothing to write about.
But last week we had a very productive week. My girlfriend Lesa turned 40. Her husband and I planned a fantastic surprise birthday party. Along side this fun activity I have been doing an art project with two first grade classes. Wooden planter box...I had the kids make flowers using their thumb print as petals. OMG..it is so stinking cute!
I was in both kids classrooms this week and last with a fun field trip to the Natural History Museum with Kaitlin's class. It was so much fun to see Kaitlin experience the same first grade trip I had many years ago. Although the little museum expanded a bit, for the most part it was exactly the same. Especially the big giant life size humpback whale in front that all the kids climbed on.
My other big project has been helping out with our annual spring auction. Gault's largest fundraiser. It is so cool to see how many local business are still donating even with all the crazy economy stuff. Of course to date the collections are lower than last year, but I think that is to be expected.
This week Kaitlin and Emma started swim lessons. Kaitlin is swimming like a fish and Emma is getting a lot more comfortable with water. 6 months ago she would barely get into the water without me and now she is the loud mouth laughing energetic kid in the class. I was cracking up today because I could hear her distinct shriek over every other child in the pool. I think she is a lot for the teacher to handle but that is ok by me. I use to worry about her shyness..not anymore!

Today I was in Emma's class with 20 little preschoolers. I had more fun today than ever before. All of the kids are so different. Their personalities are so unique.

As you can tell I have been at the kid's schools more than anything.

On a completely different note I bought a juicer with my birthday money. I am SOOO excited about using it. Oranges, apples, carrots oh so yummy. I even added an orange bell pepper and no one could tell. HAHAHA It's amazing..using the juicer I can actually say we have been eating the recommended about of fruits and veggies. So cool. Plus all this fresh produce has been giving me a new source of energy I didn't know I had.

It has been a fun filled few weeks, we are off to Sonora to visit Maryann and Dave this weekend. Woohoo! I'm excited to see them. I need to get most of the past few weeks pics off of Chris' phone. I'll upload them later.

oh my

My future spa partner


This week has been CRAZY! Apart from a fantastic visit from Grandpa Steve Sunday night and Monday I would like to erase this week from my memory. Sunday Emma spiked a fever which then turned into pink eye, cough, and 103 fever. Poor kiddo. Since I'm all about natural medicine I tried a few remedies from www.earthclinic.com. Great site! Warm green tea bags did the trick after a few days (I think). This was the very first time we have had pink eye in our life and I don't wish it upon any mama (oh ya..or kid). I have done more laundry and cleaning of surfaces than I have in several months. Today alone 6 loads of house stuff. Anything they touch has to be washed. Yesterday Emma started to feel better (apart from 103 fevers still at 5pm like clockwork, thank you to who ever created ibuprofen), but then Kaitlin came home with a fever. Later that night Kaitlin looked like she had pink eye too. AWWWWW I could have lost my top at this point. Immediately I did the green tea bag treatment and it seems like after a few times of doing this it is gone. Outside of having a sick household our VERY DUMB dog decided to escape or do a VERY good job of hiding for 2 hours yesterday. Sick and sad kids who think their dog will never come home is NO fun. We walked all around the neighborhood after turning the house "upside down" to find no pup. Finally got a friend to watch the kids for a bit and came home to see the damn dog shaking like a leaf inside by the front door. I have to admit while searching for this 12 pound annoyance I was thinking it wouldn't be so bad to not find her as long as she was with someone who would be nice to her. Of course 2 hours later when I did see her I felt relief, but not as much as I should have. LOL....

On a me note, I got my hair trimmed and colored and my very first spray tan from my girlfriend who just started and needed testers. I love it! It's as if I went to Hawaii or Mexico without a burn. Super excited to try this again. I also got in my second sports massage. Jennifer you rock! I can tell with some strength training and your therapy I'll be able to run long distance again. I will I will I must.

With the kiddos being sick I've found that chips, pizza, sour dough toast, girl scout cookies, Ben and Jerry's along with any other snack I can find in the house bring much comfort to cabin fever. I've been feeling like we just had an earthquake and we're on lock down with limited supplies. No fun taking kids anywhere when they are sick.

Ok..so let's go back to last weekend. Fun trip to the city with a girlfriend and her friends on Saturday night. I was designated driver since the night before 2 glasses of wine at a crab feast made me feel dehydrated in the morning...yummmm crab dipped in hot garlic butter with lots of bread. Ok..side track, back to SF. This will be my 3rd trip to the city for 2010. More than all of 2009! We went to ChaChaCha's in the city. I've heard great things about it. Food was pretty decent but the sangria was top notch. I was a good girl and only had 1. Afterward we went to a club called Mr. Smiths. Might I say my cute top and jeans made me look like I was wearing a moo moo in comparison to the sluts..oops I mean young 20 year old girls on the dance floor. Being sober after 11pm is really quite funny. Especially watching the 3 inch heal stumblers. Fun time dancing until 12:30 or so before we decided to head home. As we left the bar a tall 70 year old punches a young African American in the face on the side walk. CRAZY! Then all of a sudden in 5 seconds all these guys started pounding each other into the pavement. It was insane! I couldn't figure out for the life of me what on earth had caused this abrupt argument but the surge of fear that I felt made me only care about getting my girlfriends and I to our car. Of course I called 911 but by the time I was giving the details 6 cops showed up and the guys ran in all different directions. The weirdest thing was that most of these guys were "men". Meaning all were at least in their late 20s if not 30s and 40s. It was the first time I haven't felt safe in the city so I think I'll be staying away from the mission district and 7th street and market. Besides..Union Square and Nob Hill bars are much more my style. haha..yes I am now officially and expert.

Last piece to my blog entry..a letter from my dear Kaitlin today after I yelled at her for throwing the remote over the fridge. How cute is this! Glad she feels she can show her feelings in a productive way.

Dear Mom
It was a asendent that the reamot went under the panchry wen you yeld at me i felt like you did not love me. I am very sorry and I mean it. It was verry mean to tell Emma to go to bed. Don't sey that to Emma ever agen and evrything will bee fin. Love Kaitlin.

On the back of the card is a heart, she said, "since you said sorry this means I forgive you."

Kids and Animals

Ever since he was a kitten he loves boxes. This one fits him well but it is physically possible for a 15 pound cat to fit in a shoe box if you can believe it.




Say Cheese!




Not only is he a big fatty, but he makes a great pillow too!


Laziest dog in the world I swear


She really does this she's human



So our pets really are our kids as most pet owners would agree.

San Francisco and more

Chris finds a new app on his iPhone to make my little prince look 12! Such a beauty queen



Boat ride under the Golden Gate Bridge, SO COOL!


Our little monkeys on our journey to Chinatown, SF


Girls eating nutella/strawberry crepe for breakfast


Chris and his mommy on V Day


really big snake at the Academy of Sciences!

Kaitlin had the day off of school Friday so the girls and I (along with a her friend Leo and his dad) went to the Academy of Sciences. It was amazing! The planetarium show of how a star is born and dies was mind blowing. There was an albino alligator, an aquarium, a rain forest with beautiful butterflies, geckos, and lots of snakes! See picture. As you know I am not a huge snake fan but these snakes and eels were so beautiful. I must admit though I was ready to see most of them until I saw the big anaconda. My legs almost dropped out from under me as he was only a few inches from my eyes. For the most part Emma was on good behavior. But man is she moody. I seriously dread teen age years with that child. On the way home I came up with a brilliant idea of going back to the city for the weekend assuming we could get a place and find a dog sitter. We originally planned to go to Santa Rosa with Chris' mom but I thought it would be so much fun for Arlynne and our family to spend a weekend together exploring the city. Once we got all our ducks in order (thank you Amanda and Eric for watching Rosie for us) we were off the next day.
I started out Saturday am on a good note, the gym! After getting packed and fed we headed up to union square to the Marriot. Our room was on the 27th floor overlooking Coit Tower. The sky was incredibly clear and the weather warm enough to be in tanks and jeans. Once Arlynne joined us we decided to take the mile long walk to our dinner reservations in North Beach and stop along the way. Our journey stared in Chinatown. We had no idea that it was the Chinese New Year's eve so there were firecrackers, poppers and stinky smoke bombs going off the whole time. I purchased the girls a few paper stars to drape from their ceiling. I'm sure you've seen these cool lights before, but of course as with everything in Chinatown they were super duper cheep. WHOO WHO. We stopped for gelato and tea and then ended up in North Beach at a great park where the kids could get their energy out on the playground. Dinner was at E'Tutto Qua, this incredible Italian restaurant that I had been to last month on a girls night out. The food is so incredible here and reasonably priced. Arlynne's capachino even had a heart made from the foam. Very cool. Back at the hotel we all watched some TV before Chris and I went out on the town. (thank you so much Arlynne for watching the girls!) We yelped all of our locations along the way. Started at Tunnel Top, had mojitos, then off to the Cantina, had Tuscan Sangria, then off to the Owl Lounge, had a few pineapple lychee martinis. At this point we met another couple. We had so much fun that we all got into a taxi and went across town to the Bubble Lounge. We danced until 1:30 or so before getting back in a taxi and heading to the hotel. Of course the girls were up at 6:30 so I was did my best to keep them quiet while grandma and daddy slept, but it only lasted for an hour before I hit the shower and went to SB to get us all coffee. Then we yelped a restaurant we had seen on our bar tour the night before called Cable Cafe and had amazing crepes. I had a pesto/turkey/cheese, the girls had strawberry and nutella. Arlynne had a breakfast ham/egg and can you guess what Chris had? hehehe, my peanut butter lover had peanut butter/chocolate/granola. Divine! At this point I was still feeling a bit tired..but more than anything I lost all my patients for the kids and was one bitchy mom for pretty much the whole day. But Emma was also testing her luck for the weekend. Her defiant nature drives me to the point of insanity sometimes! But I'm just going to pretend there weren't any bad behavior moments from either of the children and stick to the fun stuff. After breakfast and an attempt to get Arlynne an iphone from a REALLY dumb ATT staff member we took a taxi to Pier 39. Fed the cranky kids (again) and hit the aquarium. Small, but cool...you go on underground tubes with fish and star fish surrounding you. Then off to the touching pools where the girls spent most of their time. At this point several hours had gone by and I was too hungry to speak, or at least speak kindly to my kids so we ate and then went on the Gold something fleet boat on a ride under the golden gate bridge. This was probably my most favorite part. Kaitlin and I spent a lot of quality time at the very front of the boat riding the waves up and down as we journeyed under the bridge and back around Alcatraz. See pics. Just amazing! OHHHH very important thank you to Jamma for our city passes which allowed this whole weekend to be fun on a budget! The passes covered all our activities. We're going back up to the city to do all sorts of other things with the passes this week as they expire 9 days after use, but for anyone going to the city I definitely recommend getting them. Now we hiked the hills of the city to Ghiradelli's to find a line that was probably an hour or more long for ice cream. Seriously people? You would wait that long for 1000 calorie treat? We opted for Kara's cupcakes which were so so. But the girls demolished theirs so that was good. Then off on a taxi cab ride back to the garage. Emma was asleep in 2.2 seconds and Kaitlin read and slept the whole way home. Today we are off on a picnic up the coast with some friends. I'm hoping to catch a glimpse of the huge waves that Mavricks is experiencing. Here are pics to share.