Here's Mini-Pear getting harnessed up for some fun on the trapeze.
No fear. At all.
Of course, D'anjou wants to go to there...
And would she be content to just hold on with both hands? Of course not!
When we signed up for Girl Scouts, we had no idea just how much fun she was in for! A huge thanks to Dawn for setting it all up.
I'm not about to wax on about why I dislike the term "potty training", but I do have the following things to say:
Whoever invented wall to wall carpet (hate! gag!) obviously didn't have a toddler (or a husband whose morning grogginess includes a propensity towards spilling coffee).
Also, this bilibo thing may have won every toy award under the sun, not to mention the accolades of design conscious hipsters (who may or may not be parents) everywhere, but my boy has trouble distinguishing it from his $5 potty from IKEA.
Just sayin'...and you know he's wicked smart, so it's not him.
While we are not on the subject (of "potty training"), may I say that big sisters who change their little brother's diapers are the bees knees. I didn't even ask her!
I love my thoughtful girl. Ten minutes ago we had this exchange:
Me "Awww. We're out of milk for the mashed potatoes!"
She (not missing a beat) "That's okay. Let's just invite Luke [friend with dairy allergies] over for dinner!"
I love, love, love (or should I say "luv") how these turned out! I think I love the big printed sheet even more than the individual Valentines. If I weren't renting, I might insist on a stamped wall of hearts somewhere.
We had to shut the door on a certain someone in order to complete the project unmolested. It didn't stop him from scampering in this morning and attempting to put my little press bed through its paces. "Monkey see, monkey do". D'anjou cannot resist tools of any kind.
How cool would a family print shop be?
It's an artsy-fartsy evening at Chez Pear. Actually, it's artsy-fartsy downstairs. Upstairs, I think there's some operation involving the removal of all the bath water.
Not down the drain. That would be too easy.
Min-Pear is going into mass production for her Valentines this year. She created a design to cut into a linoleum block. We only had black ink, but she worked out a creative solution with a washy red background. While we were working earlier, I realized I have been carting around the glass palette in the above photo (towards the rear of the workbench, with the brayer resting on it) since my first year in art school! It's a piece of glass I had cut at Hechingers down the road from my mum and dad's. I meant to reinforce the edges with duct tape, but ran out mid-way through the third side. I'm only slightly amused that in almost 20 years, I've never seen fit to finish the job.
Check in tomorrow, for photos of the finished product;)
Where did 10 years go???? My beautiful girl had a beautiful day: scavenger hunt, Dance Dance Revolution, birthday phone calls, a crown fit for a fairy princess, chocolate making, cupcakes shared with friends, a great new game played in the woodlands of our friends' little farm, a baby brother who conveniently fell asleep so she could steal away to immerse herself in her new Playmobil set, dinner at In'n'Out with the family, and now a late night teevee date with Gordon Ramsey.
We're so lucky she's ours;)
First Monday after the holidays. Back to the sofa, with my chocolates and my stories, kids wallowing in their own filth while I elevate housewifery to new levels of banality.
Ha. More like two loads of laundry, dinner prepped for this evening, online ordering of birthday gifts (my girl turns ten in a few short weeks) and reviewing/refining our increasingly full calendar. Our local rec center gets mad props for scheduling a little music class for toddlers at the exact time of Mini-Pear's theatre class! We have also added Girl Scouts to our schedule. Who's your cookie hook-up?!??!?!
Mini-Pear recently moved up a level in her karate training. I'm so proud of my green belt girl! She takes her martial arts training very seriously and really missed her classes over winter break. Now that she's a green belt, there are more classes available to her, which is not only great for her training, but for this weary chauffeur.
Okay, nap time wanes! This afternoon, I brave Costco (on my own, with both children! Must have canned pineapples and oatmeal!) and then we hunt peacocks at Leo Carillo Ranch.
Nine.
Nine is when it really might start to hit you that your kid is going to be smarter than you ever were, or could hope to be.
In addition to sharing a childhood favorite, I had an ulterior motive in picking Watership Down for us to read together; I was hoping I might wean her off that awful Warrior Cats series. In the interests of full disclosure, I have not read more than a couple of isolated chapters in the series. Initially, I was just irritated with the names and what a pain in the ass mouthful they were when reading aloud. My disdain really kicked in to high gear when we discovered that Erin Hunter is not one person, but rather three women hired by Harper Collins to push out a seemingly endless series about semi-feral cats.
I thought the plight of a rag tag band of anthropomorphic rabbits would draw her in, and away, from those damned cats.
I was wrong. My sweet little riot grrrl immediately noticed what I had never even picked up on.
"Why are all the main characters male?" It having been a while since I'd read Watership Down, I responded that I was pretty sure there would be some female characters. After all, we were only a couple of chapters into the story.
"But they've already mentioned the does. They are just for mating, and digging burrows. I doubt there's going to be lead female character in this."
Um...she's right. I sort of feebly protested that it was still a pretty good story and maybe we should just, you know finish it? It being a classic and all?
"Mom," said gravely, and with an inflection that suggested it pained her to have to educate me on this matter, "I really don't think...as a girl...that I will enjoy this book."
"Oh, uh...okay"
Crap. What a total FAIL. On the other hand, feminist nine year old, WIN. Too bad I didn't have much, if anything, to do with it.
The death of my (old) computer has delayed this post too long!!
We had an excellent Saturday a couple of weeks ago, thanks in no small part to a contest the lovely Dawn hosted on her blog.
I never win anything, so what a total surprise to find we had won 4 VIP passes to Disneyland! Happy dances all around, especially on the part of Mini-Pear, who has visited several times (thanks Mimi and Aunt Monica!) and loves The Big D!
Disclaimer: While I was excited for a truly awesome day out for the rest of the family, I have to admit, I was a little skeptical. I don't especially love crowds, and while I couldn't get enough of amusement park rides as a child, the last few times I've attempted anything other than a roller coaster, I've gotten maddeningly nauseous. I envisioned me doing the "mom thing" - holding everyone's jackets and bags while simultaneously trying to amuse the baby who would undoubtedly be too small to actually ride anything.
I should really stop being such a humbug. We all had an amazing day! Disneyland is so much more than the rides, although Mini-Pear and her dad certainly got to indulge in all the head spinning, tummy dropping rides they wanted. And there are plenty of coasters, so Mini-Pear and I got to spend a fair amount of time ecstatically screaming our respective heads off, without me needing to feebly nurse a ginger ale for hours afterwards.
D'anjou, far from being too young to fully enjoy himself, had a grand time. His little cartoon eyes seemed to get bigger and bigger and bigger as he took it all in. Early in the afternoon, we met up with our friends to see a new show based on "The Princess and the Frog", Tiana's Showboat Jubilee! Both kids were completely transfixed by the show, which started as a Mardi-Gras style parade behind us in New Orleans Square and ended on the river in front of us, cleverly using the Mark Twain Riverboat as a stage.
As we were special guests, we were treated to an evening reception at the beautiful Grand Californian Hotel. Talk about fun! We enjoyed excellent food, a fashion show and a holiday cooking demo by one of Disney's pastry chefs. Mickey, Minnie and Goofy showed up and...I think D'anjou has a crush on Minnie. There were lots of cool activities for the kids - a gaming station, cookie decorating and Studio 365 makeovers! Here are the girls cozying up to Princess Tiana with their sparkly up-dos! Mini-Pear loved her purple and platinum extensions;)
After dinner, we went back over to the park to check out the holiday light displays and the fireworks. The Haunted Mansion was even spookier after dark, with a Nightmare Before Christmas theme. Mini-Pear had to get one last ride in on Matterhorn Mountain - her favorite!
One day wasn't nearly enough! I'm thinking a certain little girl with a birthday coming up might enjoy an overnighter;) And we know the boy is more than happy to tag along!
Thanks so much to Dawn, and our hosts at Disney, and to Mandy, who took the photo of the girls with Tiana.
I should mention that, in addition to borrowing a photo from Mandy, the other photos are courtesy of Disney, since my own are still stuck on the hard drive of the old computer. Fingers crossed that they are as easy to retrieve as Mr. Pear claims they are. I certainly don't know how to do it;(
Yay: My "picky eater" two fistin' pears.
Yay: The other one. Crazy. But happy! So happy! Cannot squelch her joy!
Boo: The fireplace is not a great place to play (purely from the perspective of the mother and family laundress).
Yay: The removable top of my sewing table is the perfect size to hide the fireplace!
Boo: Uh, sewing table?!?!? No sewing table. No sewing table. No sewing table. No sewing table. I am gutted.
Related boo: The underside of a workbench is not the most attractive addition to our decor.
Yay: Spaghetti carbonara with organic bacon for dinner last night. And leftovers for lunch. It's the little things, isn't it?
Yay: Reading Watership Down aloud with the whole family.
Possible impending Boo: Claustrophobic nightmares (mine - not the kids, they are as tough as nails) brought on by sympathizing with the plight of anthropomorphic rabbits.
There's a special place somewhere for Craigslist no-shows on gorgeous Sunday afternoons.
Whatev. We enjoyed ourselves anyway, so I suppose it's neither here nor there.
Last week, Mandy sent us home from what can only be described as a canning party* with a pile of peaches. I was determined to make a pie, and I was going to have to be quick about it, because those delicious peaches were going fast. I also had to be realistic. D'anjou was not going to wait in the wings while I messed about with pastry, so I settled on a crumble (with a quick and dirty topping of flour, sugar, butter, oatmeal and almonds). Once all my peaches were prepped, it was obvious we'd eaten too many peaches, so I added blueberries. The end result? A whole lot of yum. There was not a lot left over. We like sweet treats. We like to eat them at 11:30 in the morning on a Sunday.
Sunday in pictures?
My babies sharing a quiet moment together.
Catching up to the rest of the family on the way to the park. I love stepping out our door and seeing the ocean.
Smiley boy.
I love this picture of my thoughtful girl.
What do you do with the red wax that comes on your baby bella cheese? We make gum.
D'anjou gets his first shiner. Explora-boy meets table leg.
* As always, she has posted some excellent photos of the event over on her blog, so pop on over for a look-see!
