wordless wednesday at the garden faire

gone fishin'...



free fallin'...

wordless wednesday

you write the caption...

bring it on!

Which is easier, two kids or four? Well, for two hours in the middle of a happy, healthy afternoon I would have to say...FOUR.

Fortunately, my strategic double play date today paid off. The girls locked themselves in Zuzu's room, danced to Barbie & the Backyardigans and dressed up in every costume imaginable. The boys locked themselves in the playroom and gazed stupidly at a Bakugan DVD while clutching at the Bakugans in their hands with true love and devotion. I was not allowed in either room (although my presence was tolerated for about 10 seconds every 10 minutes to check in). It was glorious.

So glorious that for a brief moment I wondered if I shouldn't get a second dog. Then I slapped myself across the face, poked my eye out with a pencil and threw Lucy a treat packed kong.

who ARE these children?

Sure they are laying rudely on a restaurant bench. And yes, he did tell her to *shut up or throw up* and then proceed to shoot her with two finger pistols. But you have to admit...this is still a rare sibling moment filled with love that absolutely must be archived for one of those, "Remember when you two used to like each other?" moments.

birthday battle

We went to just about the cutest birthday party ever today. (Until Zuzu was taken hostage by a friendly uncle dressed up as a scary Clone Trooper that is) Six boys, three sisters, blow up light sabers, a duel with a Clone Trooper & a special appearance by Darth Vader. What could be better? Did I mention that it was in a breathtaking amphitheater in the middle of the California redwoods? Ah, it's good to be six...

happy friday!

Here's hoping your holiday weekend is all sorts of upside down, round and round & just plain fun. Hugs!

sing sing sing

Yeah, this is how we wind down for bed at night. Hey, it worked tonight. They're both fast asleep...

wordful (letterful) wednesday

Go figure. I can't teach her the abc's but apparently her just three year old friend, Ande can! Whatever works. I wonder what else Ande has up her sleeve...

you've been punked!

So I'm in Safeway, not generally the most efficient place in town, picking up a few processed foods when strange things start happening...

I pay for my latte at the Starbucks counter and notice that I wasn't given my 10% Gold Card discount. When I ask why the barista gruffly tells me that I didn't show her my Gold Card. "But I swiped it through your machine & it went through, is that not enough?" No, I was told. You need to physically show it to me. (because we like to do everything TWICE here)

I was refunded. OK. No biggie. I strolled off with my cup of joe and started shopping.

My last stop was the deli counter. The kids LOVE the breaded chicken tenders so I always bring home a half dozen or so to serve cold in their lunches. But I digress. The woman in front of me is getting one dozen chicken wings. As I approach, there are two women behind the counter awkwardly walking a batch of about 12 dozen chicken wings to the metal service tins on a small piece of wax paper. Um, is there not a better way to do this? They somehow manage to slide most of the wings into the tin. So they've done this before. They retreat and the whole action is carried out again. One woman finally returns to fill a small plastic bag with twelve wings. She then stops and looks up at the customer she is serving and tries several times to explain what is simply this...

If you buy 12 wings it is $8.29 but we have a special. If you buy 25 wings it is only $7.99.

So it is cheaper to buy 25 chicken wings than 12. Apparently Safeway has some chickens to unload. The other customer and I laugh about what a smart marketing tactic this is, she takes her extra 13 wings home to freeze and leaves.

Unfortunately, there is no special on the chicken tenders, so I get my bag & head straight to the check out lanes. It's 9:15 on a Tuesday morning in a Super Sized Safeway and there are two lanes open. One express & one regular. I have what looks like about 10 items in my cart but I am aware that the case of 12 yoplait yogurts that I took right off the dolly is really 12 items so I stay honest and go to the long line. I read US magazine while I wait.

I get through about half the magazine before I arrive at the register. I watch as the cashier removes one of my 12 yoplait yogurts from the case and proceeds to slide it across the scanner 12 times. I joke, "I guess you don't have a *times 12* button on there, huh?" To this I get a very serious response that explains how they only do that for produce because they need to touch every single item that goes out the door in order to maintain the integrity of their inventory. (I so wanted to tell him that he didn't actually touch each yogurt since 11 of them never actually came out of the box but I held back) Instead, I turned to the chicken wing lady, who was now behind me and we marveled at the efficiencies of corporate America once again.

OK. I know this is long, and it may not sound as funny now as it really was but there is more. As the man is swiping my yogurt twelve times across the scanner the woman that was two people in front of my walks up and explains that she's been standing at customer service this entire time and no one has come out to help her. (Now I saw this woman earlier shopping - she was taking up the entire aisle with her baby stroller which was just one of those snap and click things that you put the car seat in, which was loaded with a baby and food as she stumbled along carrying a super full hand basket. LADY - get a cart. Put baby & food in cart. It's not that hard to grasp really!)

Sorry, back to the story.... So my cashier screams to someone else to get the customer service lady when the express lane cashier (the ONLY OTHER LANE OPEN in this humongous store) calls back that the customer service person is on their break and SHE is the only one that can help the customer. So my cashier gets on the intercom (while explaining the intricacies of yogurt inventory) to ask that someone come and lock down the express lane while that cashier goes to customer service to help the lady with the baby stroller.

I stand there and can't help but to just laugh and look for hidden cameras & someone that might be just about ready to to jump out and *punk me*...at the same time knowing that no one ever will and wondering how in the world so many people can come together to create such inefficient chaos. But I'm almost glad they did. Because I was entertained.

wipeout

Like to surf? Find the Pacific Ocean a tad cold in May? Never fear. Pool surfing is here. Just look out for hard surfaces as you jump from the board....cause it may be just me but my heart stops every time I watch the last second of the video...

friday funnies

Don't blame me. I'm just her mother.

and on the other hand...

there's the second child.

This post will make much more sense if you are really on top of things and have already read this post.

I'm not saying she's not a bright child because she is. Her communication, coordination & creativity are off the charts but I think it's fair to say that she will never be our scholar (nor will she ever have the time to be bothered).

Shortly after Gage went to bed, and I rattled off the last post, she appeared from her room and hopped up on my lap. She hadn't seen dad in a few days so we were filling him in on the latest from pre-school. You know, carrots, worms & such. Then I asked her to count on her fingers for dad, expecting her to tick them up one at a time like most children (and adults for that matter) would. Instead, she held up all ten fingers...and counted to 13. Well, 13, followed by 16 which is what she normally does. 14 & 15 became irrelevant about a year ago and 16 somehow seems like a good place to stop.

Then, she asked about Gage's name.
"It starts with a 'G' right? G.A.G.A."
Well, close.

After a few more laughs (that have somehow escaped me) it was undeniably clear that Zuzu does not have a solid grasp on the difference between letters and numbers. Then, she hit us with this one.
She was going to "count to Z".
"1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.Z."
I suppose it's a good thing that she knew the Z came last. Right?

Apparently the time it takes learning letters & numbers takes away from the time she could otherwise devote to simply being cute.

fun with math

Every night we watch the show Arthur just before bed. Tonight's episode was about geniuses. Towards the end of the show Scott started in with...

dad: gage, do you know any geniuses?

gage: yes, (name withheld because that's not really the point but he's a classmate)

mom: gage, he's SEVEN...he's a year and a half older than you

gage: I know....(brief pause)...but when he's nine I'll be SEVEN.

Who's the genius now?

wordless wednesday. clean.

i love my mommy...

...and she loves me.
What could be better than that?
Happy Day, Mama.
We love you with all of our crazy hearts...

rain, rain go away...

The rain is gone, the sun is back & Zuzu got a new umbrella. Go figure.

teachers are people too!

Tonight I was laying in bed with Zuzu and as she was fighting sleep she whispered to me, (yeah, so zuzu doesn't really whisper)...she said to me...

zuzu: is everyone sleeping right now?
mom: yes, honey. everyone.
zuzu: is mrs. m (name shortened for privacy reasons) sleeping?
mom: yes, honey. she is sleeping too.
zuzu: in a bed or on the carpet?
mom: in a bed honey, just like mommy's
zuzu: in a bed? in the classroom?
mom: no zuzu, not in the classroom. she has a house. just like us.
zuzu: but where is her house?
mom: it's right near ours.
zuzu: what does it look like?
mom: I don't know honey, probably a lot like ours. Now go to sleep.
zuzu: ok.

read this. you might save a life.

You're at 35,000 feet somewhere between the east and west coasts when your child's face is suddenly covered in hives and he begins to scream bloody murder. What do you do? Well, if you think the easy answer is run to the back of the plane for help from the flight crew you are sadly mistaken. Because what happened to one of my dear friends two days ago will make any mother cry.

They were in route from Boston to San Francisco. Dad, Mom & two kids, six and nine years of age, were traveling home from a busy weekend with family when Mom looked at her son's slightly spotty face. Huh, she thought, we must have been having so much fun we forgot to wash his face! If only. It was about 40 minutes later when her terror began. Her son was covered in hives and was in a complete panic (and this kid DOES NOT PANIC). When they rushed him to the back of the plane the crew was "clueless". They had no benadryl and no epi-pen. They did, however have epinephrine but it needed to be administered via IV. And guess what they didn't have. You got it.

For fear of their son's life the parents insisted the crew get on the intercom and ask for a doctor. Which luckily, they found. They were also able to locate a passenger on board that had adult benadryl with them. Their six year old child was then quickly instructed to swallow the first adult size pill of his life in order to, quite possibly, save his life. He was a rock star and downed it instantly.

Upon consultation with a Pediatrician on the ground, the plane was diverted to the nearest airport and met with an ambulance. The boy is fine. Physically that is. After hearing so many people in such close quarters debate whether or not he was going to die, he's a little shaken up still. Can't say I blame him.

So, the moral of my story today is a simple one. Don't leave home without benadryl. Please. It comes in many forms. Liquid (which you can't bring on a plane) chewables, fast melting tablets, & dissolving gel. Bring one of each. Seriously. If your child doesn't need it someone else's might.

this little piggy

Some very good signs on a Monday morning that the swine flu has invaded your town.
1. News vans & cleaning crews are the only ones in attendance at local high school.
2. You find the salad bar at Whole Foods stocked with packaged pre-made salads rather than the usual broad selection of fresh fruits, veggies & salads.
3. You pick up the bacon, stare at it for 30 seconds, and return it to the case. Just because.
4. You wander the aisles at Safeway for a good 7 minutes before you realize that the big empty shelf is the place where the hand sanitizer once resided.

breaking news

STAY AT HOME MOM GOES MAD
Buys daughter her first pair of roller skates & son his first skateboard...on the very same day. We are happy to report that, as of 6:22pm, the children are entirely without incident. We will remain on scene and promise to bring you updates as they become available. Thank you and have a good night.