halloween madness

A gymnastics class, school, a pre-school parade, a kindergarten parade & a trick or treat extravaganza. Who knew Halloween could be so exhausting? Plo Koon & Dorothy are finally snuggled warm in bed while I sit here blogging...and eating all of their good candy.

the ultimate excuse

As many families in our steep neighborhood do, we buckled up in the car and drove to our trick or treat destination tonight. On the way there Scott made a quick remark about how he needed some treats to kill the garlic on his breath from lunch today. A few seconds later (after thoughfully pondering the implications) Gage exclaimed, "I didn't know that treats made your breath fresh!"

We're looking forward to that one being used on us later.

happy halloween

It's the eve of Halloween and we finally got one of our pumpkins carved. Better late than never, I suppose. Gage designed the eyes. Scott the nose. And the mouth was a downloaded from the web. Technology.

not me monday...on tuesday

I didn't completely forget about not me Monday...certainly not me.

I didn't remember about not me Monday when I found myself saying "who me?" in the car today.

I didn't completely forget what I was saying "who me?" about in the car today already so I cannot blog about that not me experience.

You follow?
Good.

I didn't convince Gage to get an oreo cookie ice cream cake for his birthday party (discussed here) and then forget to take it out of the freezer until just before it was time to light the candles. Nope. I did not then follow that brilliant move by putting said ice cream cake into the microwave to defrost before serving. That would be a little odd.

I did not eat Zuzu's left over oreo pieces off the dining room table tonight (well, she abandoned them voluntarily...what was I supposed to do with them?) and then proceed to tell her that tinkerbell flew in and ate them when she noticed them missing. (Actually, the tinkerbell story would have been dad's idea but I definitely didn't support it).

I didn't just craft two not-me posts about oreos. Or did I?

birthday boy

You think he liked his gifts?

circa 1983

I suppose it's not hard to guess which one is me since my name was carved into the photograph but I still got a kick out of this one posted on facebook yesterday by an old classmate. Based on the hairstyles and attire I'm guessing we were celebrating a bar mitzvah. Oh to be 12 again. The joy captured on our faces is simply priceless. Strike a pose!

slacker?

I've been catching a little slack for not posting at all this week (does it not count that I posted THREE times this past weekend?). Not that I'm making excuses or anything but I just happened to take a picture of what I did Tuesday (in between shuttling kids to and from school, attending a two hour play-date, cooking dinner, giving a bath and putting the kids to bed). And this was just Tuesday. Phew, forgot how exhausting work can actually be!

not me monday

Wow. I can't believe Monday has come and gone already and it's time to come up with some quick not-me's...

I definitely did not set my kids in front of two movies this afternoon so that I could catch up with some work and manage to spend the entire time on the computer. Making new crafty friends on line? Check. Making headbands? Not so much. Not me!

Oh, this is good. There is no way that I convinced my son with an upcoming birthday to forfeit the easy twenty-some dollar cake from Safeway with the creepy blue icing and gaudy batman figure to trade up to the fourty-some dollar cake from Lollipop simply because they use all natural ingredients. He's 5...who would care? And, I never would have taken him then directly to toys r us and spent an additional $10.99 on star wars action figures to use as cake toppers since Lollipop does not offer said plastic toppers. Nope. Not this mom!

Enjoy your week.
I'm going to work...

i like ice cream

Gage was busy writing this "phrase" over and over again on the back of a very guacamole stained coloring book page when we asked him if he needed some help...


Turns out, this is what he was actually trying to write but damn if I'm not proud of him for quietly trying it on his own. (Proud enough to blog about it on a Sunday night!)...

mustangs on the move

Yesterday was Gage's annual PTA Fundraiser which requires the students to run laps around the school for twenty minutes. Fortunately, the kindergarten classes participate first and run a far shorter track than the rest of the school. Unfortunately, yesterday was one of those indian summer days we normally embrace here in Northern California. Gage would not let a little heat (or 83 other students) get in his way, and somehow managed to run twenty-one laps. Checkout the before, during and after...

happy friday

Sorry I haven't done much blogging this week...I've been crafting instead. Zuzu girl takes our first leap into retail tomorrow with a dozen wands being delivered to Goodnite Moon first thing. We'll follow that up in the next few days with dozen lovely headbands and crowns. Wish us luck and I'll be ranting here again soon....

i kissed a girl

No, silly, not me. But I'm thinking the story is still blog-worthy.

We had movie & popcorn night tonight and Gage was on the couch watching Aladdin & Princess Jasmine fall in love when he proudly announced, "Zander kissed a girl on the lips". Zander is five.

Something told me not to open this one up to conversation but I just couldn't resist. Apparently it was a girl in the class. Yes, the kindergarten class. When I asked whether Gage thought his friend was a little young to be kissing girls his reply was, "Why? He likes her. He told all of his friends."

I stopped there.

bon appetit

We had some friends over for dinner tonight and they shared a mealtime ritual with us that I thought would be nice to pass on as well. Every night as they gather at the table they take turns answering the following...
1. Name three things you are thankful for today
2. Share the best thing that happened to you today
3. Share the worst thing that happened to you today
It's a lovely way to get the young ones engaged in the meal and forces them to share at least something small about their day that they might not have otherwise volunteered.
Thanks Lisa!

blog with zuzu girl

Yes, I've officially lost it. Just when you thought I'd converted to one blog I go and add another. If only it was "not me monday".

Click on the cute picture of our zuzu girl above or in the column to the right to visit the zuzu girl handmade blog. Of course there is nothing really there yet...but give me a day or two!

pretty ballerina

I just stumbled upon these beautiful images of Zuzu in my phone. Apparently I took them last week at ballet class when I was battling a vicious migraine. Must have been the double vision that caused the funky treatment on the first shot - only wish I had done it intentionally!

zuzu says ahhhhhh

Zuzu had her first dental visit today. For two year olds, the dentist comes out to the lobby and takes a quick look as kind of a warm up. Zuzu passed that first test with flying colors so he led us back to the exam room.

The expectation here is for the child to sit on mom's lap on one of the adult chairs rather than scare them with the big dental chairs. Well, Zuzu wanted nothing to do with mom's lap. She was right up in the big blue chair...sunglasses on, mirror in hand, ready to go. I do think she got a little nervous when the exam lasted longer than expected but I was so proud. She was a rock star!

Even better still, we found out that the runny nose we battled all weekend is not contagious but the product of tooth #20 entering her mouth today. Should be fully in by tomorrow. Good timing!

not me monday

Yup, it's Monday again. Time to reminisce about all the ridiculous things that I most certainly did not do in the last few hours...

I did not get my fourth zuzu girl order at 7:30 this morning, agree to expedite shipping at my expense and then, when I found out that the post office was closed today, I did not proceed to entirely re-make the item to make sure it was absolutely perfect for my new customer. That would be the silliest waste of time and money for a little added customer service...and the fact that I definitely did not do that is reason enough to stop here.

name the authors

posters provided by Not Another C Student

wikki what?

In case you missed this post on it's beautiful here about wikki stix then checkout this afternoon's art project on our kitchen window.

save the bay

We visited the aquarium of the bay today for the 186th time. Gage pet the bat rays...Zuzu stuck with the starfish...and we left the sharks for the professionals. Thinking I would definitely not want to be washing windows at the aquarium like this guy.