Happy Halloween 2011!

We definitely went all out this year!....NOT!  (I had to put that in there for Adam.  'Not' and 'Psych' jokes are my two most favorite out-of-fashion, lame jokes.  I was so happy when they used it in Arrested Development)  Anyway, Happy Halloween!  More pics to come after tonight, if I can find my camera battery charger that is...better start looking there's only 10 hrs. left...

This is what awaited us...

  at "the Dish" this morning!!!!!!  Ah!!!!!  Instead of running, we watched this tarantula walk with us on our path for a good 10-15 minutes.  (The Dish is a popular place to walk in Palo Alto.  We drive down there and meet up with friends about once a week.  It is an open space preserve, which means, "walk at your own risk"  they have signs warning you of coyotes and mountain lions, and thankfully we have never seen any of those, but this is coming a little too close for comfort. )  Madeline was both scared and intrigued at the same time, but she ended up showing the spider her teddy bear, so I guess the coin landed on the "this is a good spider" side. Go figure.  I was fine to walk beside it, it was actually really interesting; the way two legs were synchronized at a time.  And we just finished reading Charlotte's Web!  So it was perfect!  And that's one of the things I love the most about being a stay at home mom is that we can sit as long as we want and watch spiders, or construction trucks, or whatever we want.  I always seem to digress to why I love being a stay at home mom.  Start talking about spiders, of course I end up talking about being a stay at home mom!  Duh!  Anyway, our list of wild animals we've seen at the dish includes: deer, ground squirrels, a blue heron,  Adam has seen a rattlesnake, lizards, and now a tarantula.  We talked about bringing it home to play a trick on daddy, but we decided not to when neither one of us wanted to pick it up!

Preschool!

   And she's off!!!  This IS the beginning of the end...once she's in school, she will never not be in school again! AGAIN!  Am I being a bit dramatic?  Well, need I remind you of the swimming lessons where I cried? ... mmm hmmm... and of the time I heard Butterfly Kisses on the radio and bawled my eyes out, on my way to the OB--BEFORE--Madeline was even BORN!  Now you know who you're dealing with, I am totally sentimental.  But I was very proud of myself, I did not even bat an eye today.  Well, Madeline did help a little.  She was sitting and playing with Moon Sand before I even said goodbye.  I had to call her over to give me a hug!  What was she thinking?!  I guess she is not much like me, and to second that, Adam said he was the exact same way when he went to school, didn't look back.  Unlike my horror story about Mrs. Tyzinski (my first grade teacher who was really a witch) told me on my first day of school "Only BABIES cry!!" Which of course made me cry harder and made me feel like a LOSER...on to the pictures??

Funny that my first picture of a post about Madeline is of Joseph.  Oh well, here he is happy as a lark in his PJ's ready to go where-ever the wind takes him!  I couldn't ask for a better baby!

Here is Madeline who was not happy as a lark, in fact we had to threaten her with NOT going to school that day she was acting so badly... yes, I know, don't give your kids empty threats, we'll work on that one later when she's behaving!

Walking to school with Daddy.  Such a Daddy's girl.

Smile!

Cute picture, huh?  Even if she's not looking at me or the camera.

Moon sand!!!!  Where have you been all my life?

  So just one more funny story.  This one is actually about Madeline.  When I picked her up, I got the same cold reaction as when she left.  She just hopped in the double stroller like she had gone to Pre-school a million times.  "How was your day?"  I asked "what did you do?"  All she said was "Mom, I just played with a black baby."  hahaha!  What the heck? That's what I'm paying the big bucks for, inter-racial skills at this preschool! I knew there was a reason it was so pricey! What she really meant was she played  with baby dolls and one of them had darker skin.  It wasn't even black, I saw it, it was latino or something. Hopefully she can squeeze it and it'll teach her some spanish!  

Nana's quick trip to California!!

Nana came to visit us in California!  We went to pick her up at the airport.  Madeline tried to scare her by hiding and popping out to say "Boo!"  She is wearing the cute little scottish dress that Nana got for her too!  And here is Baby Joseph meeting Nana for the first time... "who are you?!"

Joseph's first time meeting Nana, "who are YOU?!"

Just chillin' at our house with our favorite Nana!

Filoli 

Filoli is a historic house in Woodside, CA.  We went there to see the house and the gardens.  You can look it up here.  It was beautiful and a great way to spend a Saturday.

The ballroom

Nana decided to drop her cell phone service and go back to this.  "Hello, Operator?"  

Swim Lessons!

These are the very first swim lessons for Madeline! This is the first organized lesson Madeline has done without me, and the moment her teacher first led Madeline by the hand and took her away from me, I felt my heart skip a beat. I mean, I'm pretty emotional anyway, I love country music because no matter how cheesy it is, I love to cry to it (eg. bawling to Butterfly kisses while driving to my OB appt. when I was pregnant with Madeline!!), and even Madeline calls me a cry baby, but COME ON this is swimming lessons! Pull it together, mom, pull it together! I am proud to say, I did NOT cry as they took Madeline away, but I could have if I had wanted to. I definitely caught my breath for a second, felt the tears start, but did not give in to the emotion--even though the mama-lion in me wanted to maul the face off of the swim teacher as they took my baby away from me! I knew it was for the best. Geez- just wait until Madeline's first day at Pre-school post or Kindergarden, good night! I am going to be a WRECK. Anyway, back to Madeline. She is in LOVE with her swimming lessons. She is so proud that she can dunk her head now and jump in the pool by herself. She loves that they play fun games like Motorboat and Mr. Sharky. She has also met some girls in her class that will be in her Kindergarden class, a year from now.
PS. Sorry Dad, for the immodest bathing suit, but it is soooooooooo cute, isn't it? And it was $2 at DI. I couldn't pass that up! We will wait until she's outgrown the bikini to talk about modesty! Isn't that convenient?!

Celebrating Seven Years at Yosemite National Park!

This Saturday marked seven wonderful years for me and Diana. We couldn't think of a better way to spend it than to spend the day hiking at Yosemite with Madeline and Joseph. We woke up at 5, loaded the car, and arrived at the park around 9:30. We packed lunches, hiked to lower Yosemite Falls, took a nap under the shade, and enjoyed God's beautiful nature. We headed out of the park around 5 and s

topped at this great cafe at the way back and had a real excellent dinner. There wasn't a better way to spend our anniversary, and more importantly, there wasn't a better way to spend the last seven years than married to my love, Diana.

Diana and Madeline posing under Half Dome. We looked for the image of the weeping Indian woman on the face of the rock, but couldn't seem to find it. Then again, I still have never been able to make the 3-d magic eye posters work . . .

What a sweetheart!

Half Dome!

  Today, I made bread.  Nothing fancy, just whole wheat.  It's Friday, my lazy day.  I spent the morning in bed with the kids rolling around and jumping and whining that I wouldn't let Madeline watch TV.  I wanted to walk over to the grocery store, but was too lazy, so I decided to make bread.  We put the baby down for a nap and Madeline and I got to work in the kitchen.  Me with my bread, and she with her playdoh.  We measured the ingredients together and mixed.  Then we kneaded it, for a long time, a very long time.   And I got lost in a trance, because it was such a long time kneading the bread.  I love kneading bread.  Making bread is one thing that binds women together between all centuries of time.  How far back do you think women have kneaded bread?  Back in the Bible times? Back in ancient Greece? sure they did.

    My kitchen was totally silent, as we kneaded and thought about ancient women kneading their bread, and wondering what they were thinking about.  What do you think they thought about?   Do you think they had to pick red pieces of playdoh out of their bread with every quarter-turn?  Do you think they had the same thoughts as we do?  I'm sure... people are people.

   It's also wonderfully therapeutic to make bread.  To make the same recipe over and over...there's something comforting about it. There is calmness in the repetition.  I haven't made bread since I conceived Joseph, and I hadn't realized how much I have missed it!  It clears your head and makes you feel like a woman.  I'm not talking about the sexed-out type of Lady GaGa woman, I'm talking about a real woman, who nurtures her family. While I was in my trance, I couldn't help but be so grateful for my womanhood!  I am so glad I get to be home and doing the things I want to do instead of being stuck in my husband's grey office doing things I don't want to do!  (No offense hon- I'm sure your office is great! )  Of course, there are days when it is hard, but today is not one of those days, and boy am I grateful!  And we will have fresh bread to eat!