Visit with Nana

Today Gina went with Nana for a two day visit in Sacramento. She was SO excited to be going. Of course she couldn't resist rubbing it in to Andrew that she got to go and Andrew was too little. Andrew was not happy with being left behind. I left for a little while to get my tire fixed and when I came back, Gina had her sleeping bag in the hallway and was busy packing her two backpacks. I think she took half her wardrobe with her.

I called my mom later and she said Gina was having a lot of fun. But she wouldn't talk to me on the phone. She's funny like that sometimes. It was strange just having the two boys around and definitely quieter. Without Gina, Andrew could play with his toys without interruption and there was no one to pester in the car.

Andrew's Party

Andrew had his birthday party this past weekend at a local park. The weather was perfect and we were able to get the picnic tables in the shade. The big kids had fun running around. Andrew brought his balloon rockets and the kids enjoyed taking turns blowing up the balloons. Andrew opened his presents at the beginning and then convinced me that he should be able to play with them at the park. All the kids had fun playing with his new matchbox car playset. Amazingly, none of the pieces were lost.


I didn't have time to make a cake so we settled for cupcakes from Icing on the Cake, always a big hit. We had both chocolate and lemon cupcakes (Chocolate was Andrews' choice and the lemon was mine).

Dylan and Katrina sat on the blankets in the shade. Dylan was much more interested in the toys that Katrina had. Dylan is showing interest in starting to crawl but he's not there yet. It won't be long though before we have to keep all the little parts from all the big kids toys out of reach.

Swim Class

This week Dylan and Andrew had their first swim class of the season at Water Babies. It took a bit of coaxing to get Andrew into the pool and then he was hanging on for dear life with Dylan holding tight on the other side. Neither kid was crazy about putting their face in the pool. Dylan was happy with Teacher Gina until he got dipped then he started crying. Andrew tolerated it a few times and then told Gina "No more dip". I think it will take a few classes for him to warm up to the idea of swimming. He spent the entire play time sitting on the steps, watching Emily swim like a fish.

Gina spent the time sitting at the table drawing and talking with Spencer, the owner's son. She hadn't wanted to take swim classes at Water Babies and though she had a great two weeks swimming at the Y, she has once again decided that she doesn't like swimming.

Big Boys

This week Andrew turned 3 and Dylan reached 8 months. Dylan is sitting up really well now, he only occasionally falls backwards and he is showing interest in learning how to crawl, though he has a long ways to go. This week he also got his first bath in the big bathtub. He wasn't too sure about all that water at first, but once he started splashing the water with his hands, he had a grand time.

Andrew was so excited about having his birthday. Every time we went to the toy store recently he would point out everything that he wanted for his birthday. This mostly included rockets, space ships, airplanes and cars. I asked him if he wanted cupcakes or popsicles for his birthday at preschool. Lucky for me, he wanted lime popsicles (I don't know when I would have made cupcakes since I had a class the night before). I stopped by his preschool room for snack time and he was patiently waiting for that popsicle. The teacher said that normally he sits on his mat for awhile after he wakes up, but today he hopped up and put his blanket away and was ready for snack. Once he finally got one, he proceeded to eat it (while the other kids were slowly licking theirs) and he was done in just a few minutes.

For dinner we went to the kids favorite restaurant, Flames. Dylan got to sit in a highchair for the first time and you can barely see the red marks on his forehead from where he hit the edge of the table (4 times) when he bent forward too far. Andrew was way too energetic and couldn't sit still so he and Nana walked around outside for awhile.

After dinner he was excited about the cake. He couldn't resist the giant piece of chocolate cake with green frosting and chocolate chips on the outside. Gina of course had the chocolate cake with pink frosting. They each ate about 2 bites from their gigantic pieces of cake (while mama almost finished hers).

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Up a Creek

San Gregorio Creek that is. Today we went to my boss's house in San Gregorio for a party. It was sunny when we left our house, but the fog was in once we passed Skyline. Despite the fog, the temperature wasn't too cold.

David's house is very interesting. Outside among the various trees and plants are large sculptures from Zimbabwe. The house itself is a nice looking farmhouse. Inside are more sculptures, various items from around the world and lots of paintings. One painting, a very dark piece showing a woman visiting a someone who is sick, takes up an entire wall. It is huge.

The food was Ethiopian. My friend Seble made one dish, a red hummus like dish and the rest came from a local restaurant. The food consisted of various meat and vegetable dishes with spicy sauces. It is then eaten with a thin spongy bread that comes in rolls. The bread is used to pick up the food so no utensils are needed. It is very good. Dylan liked the bread too, though Gina was less enthusiastic about it. Andrew liked the non-Ethiopian tortilla chips. My favorite part though was the chocolate rum cake from Prolific Oven, yum!

The highlight of the trip which the kids were excited about was the creek walk. The last time we visited David (before kids), there had been a flood and the creek was easily visited from the house. Now we had to climb down a sandy bank to the creek and then walk along and through the creek. With the dry winter, the creek was low but we still got pretty wet.

I went down to the creek carrying Dylan in the sling with the intention of just seeing the creek but after climbing down the bank, I decided to go on the walk as well. I didn't have real water shoes but it worked out okay. With a curious almost 3 year old, it was slow going, we brought up the rear. Andrew had fun picking up rocks and then tossing them back into the creek. At one point neither Gina nor Andrew wanted to continue in the water and so Vic ended up carrying Gina on his back and Andrew on his front for a short time.

On the ride home, all three kids were fast asleep. Of course taking a nap in the car meant that the kids were wide awake when they were supposed to be going to bed.

Happy 4th of July

Today was Independence Day. Nana and I decided to take the kids to the local morning celebration at a small park which we went to last year. They have a band, balloons, speeches and a parade at the end with ice cream for the kids.

Things got off to a great start with Andrew not wanting to leave his binky and duck behind. Then he wouldn't smile for a photo with all three kids on the porch.

Gina took her scooter and Andrew took the trike with Dylan in the stroller. A block from the house though Andrew was having a tough time with the trike so we ended up carrying the trike for the rest of the way. Once we got to the park, Gina started to whine and complain about listening to the band (a clue we should have left right away) but after seeing all the balloons, she seemed happier.

There were quite a few people there, mostly sitting in the sun on the grass. The one drawback of the park is that it has very little shade. Gina went off to play on the swings for awhile and Andrew was happy with a pinwheel.

After about an hour though, we were all hot and decided to skip the parade and have ice cream at home. The kids though were not happy about riding back. They wanted to go home, just not walk or ride. Gina didn't want to ride her scooter and Andrew still didn't want to ride the trike. So Gina rode the trike even though she is way too big for it and I dragged the scooter along with Nana pushing Dylan in the stroller. It seemed to take forever to go just a few blocks, with Gina complaining the whole way.

The day improved a little later with a visit from Uncle Steve. Nana got to escape the kids for a little while, going with Steve to get coffee and once they returned, the kids had a grand time playing with him.

With the heat, I decided not to cook and instead, we had pizza on the front lawn. Once we were done, they kids had fun running through the sprinklers until they turned blue from being cold. After all that running around after dinner, they went to sleep easily for once, listening to the fireworks going off in the distance. Maybe next year they will get to see the fireworks.

ICE CREAM

Last Saturday, Nana and I took the kids to Happy Hollow Zoo for an ice cream social fundraiser. I had forgotten how bad the parking can be there so I ended up dropping the kids off with Nana and then spent another 20 minutes looking for a parking space. The kids were fine in my absence, eating their first of many ice cream cones and Gina got to ride the merry go round.

The ice cream was definitely the highlight of the trip for the kids. I think they had at least four each. We toured the zoo and saw a presentation on some of the animals. Gina and Andrew were quite impressed by the boa and the alligator.

Dylan had fun hanging out in the stroller.

Graduation Day

Friday evening was Gina's graduation ceremony for Preschool III at Whistle Stop. She had been looking forward to it all week, especially since she would be able to wear her new dress.

The photo above shows 10 kids (one other boy refused to be up with the other kids and stayed with his mom) and six of them, including Gina have been at the center since they were infants.

The kids walked into the garden and then sang four songs with the music teacher. It was very cute. Then the director Laeh handed each kid their certificate, with a hand shake.

One of the moms gave a little speech about how much she has appreciated the care that her kids have received at the Whistle Stop over the years. She is another 3 kid mom and Philip is her youngest (She also has an 11yr old girl and another boy in the middle, and she is 50 years old!). She also had some of the girls hand out flowers to the teachers. Gina got to give flowers to Lynne, her favorite teacher.

Afterwards, it was time to have food and cake. Andrew filled up on watermelon, his favorite food, and then had fun making bubbles.

Every so often, Gina mentions that she is going to miss all her preschool friends. They are all going to different schools next year, from Palo Alto to San Jose. Hopefully, she will enjoy the two months that she has left there before the start of kindergarten.

Friday was also the day that the class list for Gina's new school was posted. It turns out that I know the moms of three kids in her class.

Dylan at 7 months

Dylan is now 7 months old. He started solid food slowly, but now eats everything I have given him so far. He is now sitting up pretty well on his own, though he still has a tendency to fall backwards.

He loves sitting up and playing with toys, or just watching big brother and sister play. He is still a very mellow, easy going baby. When he cries, it is because he is hungry or tired, though it isn't always easy to put him down for a nap.

Often in the morning we are off doing something with the big kids so he gets short naps in the car on the way to the park or swim classes, not the 1 to 2 hr that he really needs. But he does sleep well at daycare in the afternoon. He is starting to occasionally sleep though the night, none too soon for me. Sleep is one thing I miss with having a baby, but it won't be that long before he is no longer a baby.

Show Time

On Sunday night Gina finally had her big show for dance class. She was so excited about wearing makeup and wearing a tutu in the show. She had a dress rehersal Sunday morning and then the big show in the evening.

I had planned on taking Andrew to the show as well and he said he wanted to go. Gina had been showing him parts of the dances. But once Denise showed up to take care of Dylan, all Andrew wanted to do was stay and play with Denise.

The show was very cute. The girls looked so tiny up there on stage. When Gina's group came on stage for their Broadway Baby number, all the girls were looking very intently at their teacher giving signs of the different steps they were supposed to do.

In between each Tiny Tots number they had dance numbers by the junior and senior performing groups. They were very good and fun to watch. One of the girls had started out as a Tiny Tot at age 4 and had been dancing with the studio for 14 years.

After the show we collected Gina from the dressing room looking a little shell-shocked. She got flowers from her preschool teacher who had also come which she loved but wouldn't let us take any pictures of her. Once home and after a little pizza she was back to her old self, dancing around the house and smiling.

Future Scrapper?

Gina got a scrapbook kit from Uncle Steve for her birthday. She has been diligently decorating the cover and one page with stickers and drawings but today I finally got some photos that she could use, various photos from her birthday. She spent the morning carefully cutting the photos, gluing them on the page and then adding stickers. I tried to subtly offer suggestions which she mostly ignored. She definitely had her own idea of what she wanted and was very proud of the results. She already raids my scrapbook supplies for her art projects; I guess I'll just have to buy more.

Rancho Hike

Today I decided to take the kids on a hike at Rancho, the hike I used to do twice a week with the kids in the stroller. Now it is two kids in the stroller and one kid walking. Gina was game to walk up the hill but started getting tired half way up. So Andrew took a turn walking up the hill while Gina rode in the stroller. At the top of the hill the kids pointed out an old tree that looked like a dragon.

They liked seeing all the animals at the farm but past the farm they were both very tired and each wanted to ride in the stroller so they were switching every five minutes or so. It took awhile but eventually we made it back to the parking lot.

Later in the evening the kids wanted to go outside and make bubbles. If you look real close at Gina you can also see that her bangs are missing. While I was changing Dylan and Vic was occupied, Gina found some baby fingernail scissors and decided that she really didn't need to have bangs anymore. I walked into the room to see a small pile of hair on the floor. Thank goodness she didn't try to give Andrew a haircut.

Dance Mom

I didn't think I would become an activities chauffeur with a preschooler, changing my schedule to get kids to practice, etc. But I did sign Gina up for dance class with full knowledge that there would be a show at the end of the year, complete with extra practices and photo day; at the time it seemed so far way. So yesterday I left work an hour early to pick up the kids and take Gina to dance practice. Of course I cut the time too close, especially with freeway traffic so we were a full fifteen minutes late. I then forgot that practice ended at 6:30pm and not 6:15pm so we were hanging around the lobby for half an hour (since it ran late) with a very antsy almost 3yr old and baby. Dylan was great, smiling at everyone who came by, but just as Gina finished he had had enough and started crying. So we get to repeat this two more times.

Eat with the Seasons CSA
I love the idea of buying directly from farmers and supporting local farms. A few years ago, I tried Mariquita Farms CSA (Community Sponsored Agriculture). Every week I picked up a box of fresh produce, mostly vegetables and then tried to find the best ways to use them. There wasn't any choice in what we got in the box, so a lot of fennel and kale went to waste. At one point we got some very potent onions which I really liked in the potato salad that I made, but Vic still complains about that dish to this day and mentions "those smelly onions" every time I bring up Mariquita Farms. The one bright point was the strawberries, bright red, juicy and full of flavor. I almost considered signing up again just for the strawberries, but didn't.

Currently I am getting fruit from another CSA, Frog Hollow Farms. This CSA is all fruit, and all year round. In the winter we enjoyed apples, pears, kiwi, avocado and citrus and now with spring, we are getting cherries, apriums (a cross between apricot and plum) and peaches. The kids eat a lot of fruit from the box as we are bringing it home which is great, though it is some times difficult to get them to eat it once we are home. But we are working on that.

While I love all the fruit from Frog Hollow, I also would like to get vegetables in the same way. So now we are trying a new CSA, Eat with the Seasons. One good point of this CSA is that each week I get to choose six items from a list of what is available. So this week we got broccoli, carrots, chard, potatoes, blueberries and strawberries, all things that we eat on a regular basis. The carrots smelled wonderful in the bag, very sweet. Gina snacked on one right when we got home. Most of the blueberries didn't make it home, the kids ate them up as we drove home. The one disappointment was the strawberries, they are organic but not as ripe as I would have expected. So next week we will get two containers of blueberries and I will have to track down my favorite strawberry vendor at the Saratoga farmers market on Saturday.

BBQ fun

On Sunday we went to a local park for a barbeque with friends. Originally, it was supposed to be just us and the Creech family, but then Judy mentioned that she had wanted to do a bigger get together but didn't want to do it alone. I am always game for large gatherings of friends and family so we decided on a joint party. We each invited friends and family, I took care of the location and invites, and Judy took care of the shopping spree at Costco.

It was a beautiful day at the park. The kids had fun playing on the play structures and exploring. Gina went off with Gabriel and his dad for a walk through the "forest". Alice got to spend some more quality time with Dylan.

The guys spent awhile figuring out how to start the BBQ. The one thing we forgot to bring was matches, but luckily someone at the park had a lighter so no one had to make the trek up the hill. As always with potluck type parties, we had a ton of food, especially yummy desserts.

This is a picture of Andrew quite pleased with himself for finding his new hat. The hat had arrived by mail on Thursday and for awhile on Sunday it looked as if it might already be lost. But at some point he ended up with his hat again. Hopefully he will hold on to it for the summer.

Saturday Fun

Saturday Auntie Alice flew up for the weekend to visit. We decided to take the kids to Los Gatos for the afternoon so that the kids could run around in the fountains. Usually Andrew ignores the fountains and instead, pushes his stroller around the grassy area. This time, with no stroller to push, he followed Gina into the fountains and had a great time getting soaked. Gina was excited to try out her new bathing suit.

Dylan had fun hanging out in the shade with Alice and Nana. He is now rolling over and likes to show off his new skill.

We also took advantage of having both Alice and Nana visiting by leaving the three kids at home while Vic and I attended a wedding reception for his boss. I got the "Mama, you look beautiful" from Gina (not that I was very dressed up, but I was wearing makeup and a necklace which impressed her).

What was the question?

Gina: What are those horses eating?
Me: Grass.
Gina: No, what are they eating?
Me: Grass?
Gina: NO, WHAT ARE THEY EATING?
Me: I think they are eating grass.
Gina, now getting very frustrated at my stupidity: No, what are they eating, like dinner?
Me: Lunch
Gina: Oh.

Surfs Up

Yesterday I took the kids to the park for lunch. Gina and Andrew found some old cardboard that had been left. They had a great time surfing down the sandy slopes by the slides. Gina has mentioned that she wants a skate board. I'm hoping to hold out as long as possible for that, though I always have pictured her skateboarding wearing a pink skirt. Let's work on riding that bike first.

Dylan got his first tooth on Saturday. The other kids didn't get theirs until 11 months. Each kid is definitely different. Today Dylan tried winter squash and actually ate some. The previous five days he tried cereal and pureed pear but quick drooled it out or pushed it out with his tongue. He ate some in the morning and then in the afternoon at daycare.

We also had a visit from Boppa today and a bookcase delivery. We are being over run by books and hopefully the new bookcase will help solve this problem.

Gina rides her bike

I finally got around to uploading the little bit of video that I took of Gina riding her bike for the first time. Here it is.

Doctor's Appointments

Today both Gina and Dylan had doctor appointments and Andrew tagged along. Andrew didn't want to be left out and volunteered for a checkup and shots. He followed Gina down the hall for the eye exam and repeated everything she said. Gina sat in my lap for her shots/TB test and cried the whole time.

Gina is still a big girl (95th percentile for weight and height). Dylan on the other hand is falling off the chart in the other direction. He is now 14lb 8oz (5th percentile). But now he gets to try solid food. Here is his first attempt at rice cereal. The cereal went into his mouth but I don't think he actually swallowed any of it.