Sunday, February 28, 2010

Life from Frannie's Point of View

My last post was about a hectic day. Well as I was trying to make lunch and Adam was crying and the baby was hanging off of my legs, Frannie came to me with Jason's camera and asked if she could take some pictures. "Sure, yeah, fine." Like I am going to argue when at least one kid has found a way to keep herself busy? Anyways, as I loaded the SD card I did a slideshow and saw all of the pictures she took. It totally cracked me up! Here is a bit of life from her point of view:










And don't forget the Thumb's Up pic I already posted.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

I have 3 hours to make it look like I lead a calm and well-organized life


It's 12 o'clock. In three hours I have a couple coming to the house to make up class 5 that they missed.

I just finished making lunch for the kids. My kitchen looks like this. That pie looking thing on the counter is a macaroni/broccoli/cheese/hotdog amalgam that I threw together because we don't have our normal lunch stuff in the house. I had to get creative, but getting creative gets everything dirty and takes time.

Every other downstairs room also needs attention. The bathroom is scummy and there are crumbs all over my floor near the dining room table.

Adam is in a bad mood.


The entire time I was making lunch either he was crying or the baby was if I tried to set her down.


If I put her down she grabs onto my pants and buries her head between my knees.


Frannie took this picture of me. Yep. Thumbs up.

Goin' for a walk

Here's the sweetie practicing her skills!


Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Adam and James

Jason took some adorable pictures of the boys at Disneyland. Who needs rides?








Monday, February 22, 2010

Curing an Ear Infection Naturally

On Saturday afternoon Adam started complaining that his ear hurt. Then suddenly, his complaints became cries and sobs telling me "Mama! my eaw hoots!". After forcing some Tylenol down him, I called my pal Sonja who cured her own ear infection without antibiotics. After whipping out her handy dandy natural health reference book she gave me several tips. Taking her advice and doing a few searches online here is what I did:

1. Sleep with the infected ear up to allow fluid to drain down.
2. Put 2-3 drops of warm olive oil in the ear.
3. A few hours later put a few drops of warm garlic juice in the ear.
4. About an hour or two after that put a few more drops of olive oil in the ear.

Can you picture me tiptoeing in Adam's bedroom in the night doing this? I felt really silly. He stayed asleep though.

Come morning time he was good as new. There haven't been any complaints from him since!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

The Girl

Well, my darlin', I've broken your birthday post into several sections because I realized that I would never post anything if I had to get it all out at once.

Last Tuesday you turned 5 years old. This was a big one for me. I wrote a little Facebook update about how I feel like I've gotten a new badge on my "mom-scout" jacket. It's true! Maybe it's the "mom of a school-aged child" badge.

As for you, I know you are super happy about being five years old! This year I have seen your increasing independence. You can't wait to start school partly because you can't wait to be dropped off somewhere without me. You have a fun personality and make friends so easily.

Skill-wise you can read just a little bit, and enjoy writing upper-case letters. You are trying to spell by sounding out words. Most of the time what you end up writing is just a line of letters. I'm happy about your progress though because I can see that you are learning even though I stopped actively teaching you. It seems that it is just sort of clicking bit by bit.

Oh, let's see what else? You don't like ballet class. I can't believe it, but you actually much preferred the other City of La Verne class where all I thought you did was stand in line the whole time waiting for a turn to do a few kicks across the floor. According to you, there was a lot more "dancing" in that class. Really? Is it because you got to change into tap shoes too? So, this class, this REAL ballet class where you prance like a horse and get to flutter your arms like a butterfly isn't really dancing to you, but the class where you got to hold your arms "like a pizza" is. I don't get it. Partly I think you like the other class better because it was earlier in the day (not cold and dark outside) and the waiting in line meant there was more opportunity for socializing and comparing leotards and skirts.

Size-wise you continue to be a petite girl. You and Adam are about the same weight. I think you are two pounds heavier than he is. Are you 34 pounds?? I know that being on the short side bothers you. You sometimes ask me how come all the kids are bigger than you are. I know when you go to school you will meet other five year olds who are petite too. It is interesting because you are pretty mature and prefer to play with children who are your same age or older than you are, but that means that you are very often the smallest one in the bunch. You are very healthy though and almost never get sick (knock on wood). You still have a picky-ish diet but that is slowly changing.

Happy Birthday my darling girl!! I love you so so so so much and I love being your MOM!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

The Birthday!

When given the choice of a birthday party or a day at Disneyland, the decision was easy. Disneyland!! On Tuesday Jason took the day off from work and we all went to celebrate Frannie's 5th birthday. My friend Lauren's family all has passes so I asked if she'd like to join us. My Dad also came, and surprise surprise, Bryan came too!

When we got there I asked Frannie what ride she really wanted to ride and she said "Tower of Terror!!" so it was decided that we'd spend the day at California Adventure. I'm really glad we did because the park was unexpectedly crowded and I know we would not have been able to enjoy the day as much over at the main park.

It was an absolutely beautiful sunny, not too hot, California day. I don't think I've had such a nice time at an amusement park in a really long time. Frannie had so much fun riding the Tower of Terror twice, Soaring over California, and all kinds of smaller rides in the It's A Bug's Life section. She and Hannah were constant hand holders. Adam had so much fun hanging out with James (even though they really didn't ride many rides at all). I enjoyed talking to Lauren all day as we sat and waited for the girls to ride their rides. My Dad, brother, and Jason were the ones who escorted the girls. Jason and I aren't normally big Disneyland folk, but both of us agreed that we actually had fun!









Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Gathering

On Sunday the family came by to have The Cake (and also some hamburgers) and sing Frannie her Happy Birthday song. I also invited the Tomt's and neighbor Omar from across the street.

This was good. It wasn't a party. A stressful busy, freak out about every detail party. I only had a few minor freak out prep moments because general gatherings do that to me anyways. There were enough people and kids to make it feel special.

As far as Frannie is concerned anytime ANYONE comes over be it a grandma, grandpa, auntie, cousin, friend or neighbor, it's always a time to celebrate. And of course, anytime a few kids are in the same room together they make it a party for themselves. Here they are playing a silly game that they made up at the table.

Monday, February 15, 2010

The Cake

When Frannie came to me a month ago with a Wilton's pamphlet showing various sample cakes, and pointed to a certain one declaring that was the cake she wanted for her birthday, I politely told her, "That cake is too complicated for mom."

Frannie, not to be dissuade, went to Grandma Bobbie instead.

That cake was not too complicated for Grandma.

After purchasing several supplies: a cake leveler, frosting comb, circle boards, turning table, and the right tips, Grandma Bobbie set out to make the birthday cake to end all birthday cakes for her special girl.

And here it is.