Gardening

The kids have been wanting to plant a garden for a while now, ever since they read the Frog and Toad story in which Toad decides to plant a garden, and tries all sorts of things to get his seeds to grow. Rachel was doing her 66 mile bike ride yesterday, and she had picked up some seeds from the store, so it seemed like the perfect way to spend the day.

The first thing we needed to do was create signs so we'd know where all of the vegetables were planted. I knew that they'd each want to be watering their own part of the garden, so this seemed like a good approach. We made the signs with paper, cardboard, crayons, and chopsticks cut in half. Parker was very pleased with his renderings of the pumpkin and the squash.



I'd prepped the ground a bit, but they all got some good turns with the hoe, breaking up the dirt, and then they got to put their signs up at the ends of the rows we'd prepared.



Miranda was highly interested in the various bugs which turned up.



After that they very carefully spread some fresh soil on top of the garden



Then it was time to plant the seeds.




Everyone was very happy with how the garden turned out



In the Frog and Toad story, Toad tried to coax his seeds into growing by singing them songs and reading them books, so of course that's the first thing the kids did when the garden was done. I'm sure the seeds will come up any day.

Miranda dancing

Falling.

I'm always worried about the kids falling out of bed. And when I say kids, I mean Elizabeth as she is the only one not secured by a railing since she is the only one down low.

Michael thinks its hilarious and mocks me every chance he gets about it.

So tonight, when I am sitting on the couch recovering from today's ride, I hear a thump thump. And then a Wahhhh!!!!!!

I got up (slowly) and Elizabeth is on the ground wrapped in the blankets, very confused.

I get her back in bed, she moans and goes to sleep. No one else woke up.

Cinderella!

Today, I rode my bike for 66 miles in something called Cinderella. My bootcamp friends were doing it so I joined in. I was a little worried about it since I haven't ridden my bike for more than 30 miles and I only did that last weekend. But everything turned out ok. The race was for women only and there were over 2000 I think doing it. It's a ride, rather than a race and we were suppose to dress up. Some people had tutus. Some wings. Some feather on their helmets. We had capes. Capes that were partly made by Teresa last night and partly made by us in the car on the way to the ride. They were great and got us lots of comments.

There were three stops. One at 18 miles. One 14 miles later. And the last one 11 miles later. Then 25 miles to home. At each stop there were toilets, water and tons and tons of food. Had we not been on the bike for 6 hours, I would have gained 5 pounds today! It was freezing pretty much the whole day. My toes kept getting numb. I had on 5 layers on top. Exercise top, bike shirt, long sleeve shirt, arm warmers and a jacket. Only shorts down below. Lots of wind too, so there was a time when it was so strong I had to actually switch gears. For the second leg of the race, I rode with the fast girls. They did a pace line to help cut down on wind. I stayed near the back and was really pleased I kept up with them. I didn't think I could and was glad that I did.

A good, long, tiring day.



Me!

All the gals before the ride.


Applying the Y (from YMCA) on the red cape.


Pinning capes on Jenny while she pinned it on Teresa.


Walking to the starting line.


The fast gals. Michelle, Elaine and Kym. Kym is one of the bootcamp instructors and has been instrumental in me getting into shape and doing crazy things like this. They had matching outfits which we never saw because it was so freaking cold all day.


I was pretty happy at the end when I got to eat soup.

Swimming updates

Today was the kids' last day of spring break swim intensive. They had the owner/founder of the swim school today (and Monday) and she really let the girls show what they could do. It seems, from watching, that she really wanted to know how far she could push it. Not only did she have them swimming alone from platform to platform (10 feet from each other), but she took off Elizabeth's fins something they don't do for a couple levels. When I went to gather them up after class, she told that they would both be moved to...wait for it...not the next level, but the one after that. Silver Fish! They would skip a whole level. I was concerned that Eli would move up before Miranda, but she said, "Miranda can do everything Elizabeth can, when she chooses to." Ain't that the truth. (She had a little mini silence treatment episode in the pool today and wouldn't participate.)


And Parker would move up too. So now he is the second level from the top, generally set for 7-10 year olds. She had him swimming back and forth today over and over, doing breast stroke and flip turns like he was training for the Olympics! That kid must have been pooped!

Good things that happened over the last couple days.

Yesterday Parker came into the room in the morning to tell me he needed help pouring his milk for breakfast. I told him to ask Elizabeth for help. So he did. And she did.

Today, around 8:30 in the morning I was snuggling in bed with Elizabeth and got really tired. I told her I was going to relax for a few minutes. Next thing I knew I was snoozing. When I woke up, Elizabeth, Miranda and Parker were sitting on the couch playing with Parker's iPod taking turns every 10 minutes (using the alarm feature) and playing skeeball.

This afternoon, Parker and Elizabeth were playing in the playhouse outside and got their own cereal snacks. (dry ceral in a baggie).

Parker is learning the breast stroke in swim class now.

Today at the park, Elizabeth asked if she could go swing. I told her I wasn't going to push her. So she ran over to the swings, ran to jump on, and started pumping. Then when Miranda joined her, she hopped off, helped Miranda on and then started pushing her.

Miranda was playing hide and seek with no one today. She would sit behind the chair and then yell, "Mommy, Mommy, can you find me?" Each time I did, she shrieked with delight.

I went on a bike ride tonight up a big hill. I rode around with some friends in a place where real bike riders wearing fancy racing gear and where I thought only crazy bike riders went. Quite a view from the top.

I started watching Glee on DVD. Which is why I'm still awake at 11pm.

Hair cuts!

I took the girls for their first hair cuts today. Yes, we haven't cut their hair in 3 1/2 years. They really didn't need it today, but both were getting uneven and straggly as well as lots of split ends, so I just asked the lady to "clean it up" rather than cut it short. They both got shoulder length cuts that took about 8 minutes. Neither fussed or cried, but neither seemed particularly happy about the whole thing either. Neither of them accepted the bows and ribbons that are complimentary for girls.

I forgot my camera, but they did give us these little certificates with their actual hair attached. The girls loved them even though Miranda said, "I look so sad!"

While we were there, Parker asked to get his hair cut, so I let him. A few other boys were there and all got the same short, slightly "cool" cut, so I let him get it too. The guy put gel in his hair to get it stick up in the front. Man, I wish I had a picture of that. He looked like such a hip 5 year old.

Car Talk

Miranda: What is a scarecrow for?

Me: To scare crows.

Miranda: What is a crow?

Me: A bird that likes to eat farmer's corn.

Miranda: The farmer's don't like the birds?

Me: No, because they eat all the corn. And the farmers want to keep growing the corn.

Miranda: But don't the birds get hungry?

Me: Not really because they can eat other things.

Miranda: Like bread?

Me: Sure, they can eat bread.

Miranda: Oh, good. Birds like bread.

Miranda and I are not a lot alike, but I'm can almost bet you she will either work or volunteer at an animal shelter at some point in her life.

Swimming Fools!

The kids are on spring break this week so I enrolled them in a spring break swim intensive where they have class everyday but Tuesday. Today was the first and their teacher was the owner/founder of the swim school (who was Parker's first teacher 2 years ago) and they all did fantastic. Elizabeth and Miranda were incredible, jumping in and swimming to the platform over and over. They are obviously more advanced than the level they are in now, but she just adjusted things for them and kept them easier for the only other kid in their class.

For Parker she moved the platform far away so he had to swim 3/4 of the pool to get to it. She would make him (and one other kid) swim freestyle over and then backstroke back. Over and over. That boy was tired. And he is really mastering the flip turn now.

I could pull them all out of classes now since I feel really good about them not drowning if they fell in a pool, but since they are all so great at it, I feel like I should keep them in and let them excel even more.

Reading

Elizabeth read us a book last night. Parker helped her when she forgot two of the pages.

Obligatory Easter Egg Hunt Photos

Jen's Wedding

While Rachel and the kids were playing with Amy and her kids, I drove over the mountains to Reno on Thursday to see my niece Jennifer get married. Her new husband Richard has been her boyfriend just about forever, but I was on the fence about him until I saw his wedding outfit. It takes an unshakable commitment to ones core convictions to get married in shorts.



I was happy to keep things classy on the gift table. What the Long Family's gift lacked in initial presentation will be more than made up for in how much the young couple will freaking love this thing. (It's a Wii.)



The ride over the hill and back were both plagued by heavy snow, which, in my tiny car, made for sustained pending-death experiences, which were bad, bad, bad. I was never so happy to be in Auburn as I was on Friday afternoon.

More Swearing

Miranda: Where were you this morning?

Me: I was at the gym.

Miranda: I didn't hear you. I only heard Daddy.

Me: You did? What did you hear?

Miranda: I heard him say, "Fucking"

A good visit.

Amy and the kids left today. It was another good visit. The kids all played so well together it's great to see. Miranda and Julia hung out together a bit this time which was nice. They both seem to like playing with small animals and people. Hide and Seek was popular this trip with everyone as was banging on drums and playing the piano (thanks David!).

Friday, I took Julia with us to gymnastics class and it was as if she had been doing it for months. One mom even said to me, "Has that little girl with pig tails been here the whole time?" Julia appeared more than happy, bouncing around the room.

Parker stayed with Amy and the boys and they visited the Chabot Space and Science center.

After we met back at home and had lunch we took a BART ride to the city, rode up and down in the Hyatt elevators and walked in the rain. The kids did great with all the stairs, wetness and following instructions.

When we were getting on BART Amy mentions the existence of a beignet shop so on the way home we stopped and Amy and I eat ate about 4 beignets each and then made jokes the rest of the day about the disappearing beignets. Oliver, Peter and Parker liked their, but the girls didn't finish theirs. Oliver especially liked the powered sugar.

I prepped my bike for a ride the next day while Amy got the kids ready for bed. Six kids in one room worked out fine and the only night Amy was on the kid duty was the only night there were issues and the issues weren't really related to the six of them. Just random individual issues.

All in all, great to have them here. Hope to get to LA soon.

Day at Cal Academy and Koret's Playground

Took the kids to California Academy of Sciences yesterday. Got there early enough to do the rain forest exhibit which was a first. The butterflies and these tiny tree frogs were incredible. The cafe was delicious and my mother and Eran would have loved the Pear and Brie Sandwich Amy and I split for lunch.

After the museum, we went to what is apparently the best playground in the Bay Area. It lived up to its reputation. Peter and Julia climbed to the top of this giant climbing tree thing made of ropes. It scared the crap out of me when Julia was at the top. Elizabeth looked like a gibbon monkey navigating it.