Greetings from Hawaii!

Okay, we're not on vacation anymore. We've been back for two weeks in fact. But I'm going to finally write the blog post so it's like we're there again.

On July 30th, we got up WAY too early and flew to Kauai with Grandma, Grandpa, Lindsey, Travis, and Lucie. Our first day involved a lot of flights and luggage and grocery stores, but it ended with margaritas around our rental house's pool, which was awesome, so there was no complaining.



The next day was a leisurely day spent at Poipu beach:



And let me tell you, I could get used to grass at the beach. It's genius! No sand in your towel. We mostly swam and waded and looked in the rocks for fish and crabs, and it was awesome because we were in HAWAII.



The next few days we got down to work on the vacation, and played in the sand,


climbed some trees,


climbed some vines,


picked out some walking sticks and went on a hike,


visited the Wiamea canyon overlook,


and fed some feral chickens.


And that was all in two days! But we didn't stop there. The next day we focused on the Wialua river. We started at the old Hawaiian village, and crammed 10 people into an outrigger canoe for a short trip up the river.



We were dropped off by our guide to take a hike to the secret falls.



We managed to get lost along the way somehow, but met a couple toads off the beaten path!



I do believe the girls kissed it even. Anyway, we finally made it to secret falls.



Not really secret, by the way.

After returning back to the village, we explored a bit while Mayanna cooked us up some food in the mess hall,


and Mirabelle entertained us with her peahen dance.


And when we weren't out and about, you could often find Mirabelle climbing the tree in the front yard of our rental house.



On Friday, we took a boat ride up the Na Pali coast and saw some dolphins and flying fish.



We even got to snorkel on the way back in some deep, calm waters with some bigger fish. Mayanna refused to go in, but Mirabelle enjoyed the swim. They both liked the wind in their hair.



And it was on this boat cruise that we discovered Mark may have a tendency to get seasick. But I think he kept his sandwich, so it was a success.

We also managed to go on a train tour of an old sugar cane plantation.



The highlight of which may have been feeding the luau pigs.



And we squeezed in a quick photo shoot of the cousins at the house in matching outfits.



It was tricky to get them to all look reasonably happy, let me tell you.

And we filled up our last day swimming at the fancy pool at the Grand Hyatt.



Really, Mirabelle swam all day. ALL DAY!

That night we flew out, and a couple planes later, made it back to San Jose, where the girls enjoyed the ride to the car sans car seats!



Woo-hoo! The freedom!

We were greeted by a dead car battery, but made it out of there 45 minutes later thanks to some borrowed jumper cables.

We all took naps that day.

Aloha!

In mid-July Mark and I had fun at a wedding without the kids.

See?


No kids!

Oh, and ignore Mark's facial hair, he was just growing it out for a contest at work. And, I think he won! It's gone now.

Anyway, we had a great time with a super-great group of friends.



There was a lot of eating a drinking a laughing and trying on hats and taking pictures and more drinking because the mojitos were REALLY REALLY tiny. Honestly, I think I had eight, but it only added up to about 1-1/2 real mojitos. But what they lacked in size they made up for in flavor, because they were delicious.



And there was some dancing, though very little by me, though Mark was up for dancing, which may give you an idea of how many mojitos he had. And kicking off of shoes and changing into flip flops and trying all the flavors of cake and waiting for shuttles and holding of babies.



All in all, a great time. Happy wedding, Megan and Warren!

We spent an enjoyable five days without showers at Dinkey Creek in the Sierras earlier this month. Actually, there are pay showers at a resort just outside the camp, but I did not partake of that luxury during the trip. Instead, the others had to endure me and my not-quite-as-soapy baths in the creek. But it's okay, we were camping. Everything is 20 times more dirty than usual. (See example below.)



But here's proof we were in the water:


Well, Mirabelle at any rate. But who do you think helped her swim out there? Me! So we all kinda bathed.

The water was cold as usual, but not bad once you spent a minute or two getting used to it. Mark certainly had a hard time, though, and spent as little time as possible. He did have no problem sitting on top of it.




From there he enjoyed a lot of fishing and paddling. And he even took a motorcycle up so he could try the off-road trails.



I actually don't know if that's a hard part of the trail or an easy part, but he looks like he's having fun!

Anyway, swimming, boating, fishing, motorcycling, eating, ready, games, singing, and general merriment. You can't beat that!



(And apparently a lot of life-jacket wearing since I don't have a shot of Mirabelle without it!)

The girls and I had a lovely Fourth of July weekend in Napa while Mark was on a backpacking trip. We even got to hang out with Lucie for three days!



Our first stop on our all-American tour was the Jelly Belly Factory!


I hadn't been since third grade, and it was crowded and busy, but it's a very efficient operation, and very interesting. We got to taste different jelly beans through all stages of the manufacturing process. And the automated robots moving trays and packages around were cool too.

The girls LOVED the stuffed Mr. Jelly Belly, and Mirabelle wanted one to take home SO bad. But dang, we have plenty of stuffed animals that she hardly plays with, so I insisted that we get something useful. So we came home with a pencil and a playground ball.



And she was happy.

The next day we returned to another place of my youth, Morton's Warm Springs. For several years, my entire grade school would come here for an end-of-year picnic and BBQ. There are three pools, a creek, a softball field, and a large grassy picnic area.

Even though the whole school didn't come, we still had fun picnicing and swimming, though they did take out the diving board, what's up with that?

In fact, here's a photo of me doing a flip off the missing diving board in third or fourth grade:



Wasn't I cool?!

Anyway, despite the missing diving board, the girls still had fun swimming. Mirabelle swam for about three hours straight, and what's nice about it is that she actually can swim now, so part of the time she was in the medium-sized pool unassisted. The rest of the time was a lot of swimming with sisters, aunts, and uncles.



The next day we dressed up in our very best Fourth-of-July duds.



And went to the Napa parade.



My mom said that in recent years, the parade has been a little lame, but this year was really great. Bagpipes, martial arts, taiko drums, bicycles, dogs, fire trucks, a community band, and candy were all highlights of the parade. But Mirabelle's favorite may have been the reappearance of Mr. Jelly Belly passing out jelly beans! That was exciting.

We ended our long weekend at Lindsey and Travis' house, running through the sprinklers, BBQing, picking cherry plums, and getting treats from the ice cream truck.



Mira and May really enjoyed eating their cartoon-shaped popsicles with black gumball eyes. The only Dora and Sponge Bob themed things I'll let them have.

A great weekend.

Happy July!

We've enjoyed a lot of fun times with friends this summer. We have a weekly park playdate, we've visited Gilroy Gardens, gone to Rinconada wading pool, and generally had a grand old time. It works out well that both the moms and the kids are all good friends.

Riding the train at Gilroy Gardens:


Swinging on the tire swing at the park:


And I'm sure more fun to come!

What's that colorful stack in the corner of my linen cabinet?



What, that? Why it's my collection of vintage sheets and pillowcases! Aren't they all fabulous? Let's take a closer look:



Oooooo! Look at all those awesome patterns and colors! They don't make them like they used to. And if you're lucky, you can even find a fitted sheet of your favorite pattern in original packaging to go with the flat sheet and pillowcase you already have!



So they are inexpensive, easy to find, and pretty, but what do you do with all those sheets? So many things! They are very useful. I could use them for the fabric, and make something cool. It's really cheap considering the amount of fabric you get, but I haven't had the nerve to cut any up yet. Probably someday. I've used them when we had to bring linens for vacation house rentals.

But here in one of the best uses: Forts!



They make really great forts, especially because of the fun patterns. This is a grassy butterfly fort, for example.

But I have to watch out because sometimes the ghosts steal them!



Woooooo! Those ghosts LOVE vintage sheets. I think here they are discussing how to steal more of my sheets.



Better go ghost-proof my linen cabinet!

Over the memorial day weekend, we had a BBQ and pool party at my sister's husband's aunt's house. Follow that?

Anyway, the funny thing was she wasn't even home, but my brother-in-law's entire family was there: parents, brothers, wives, niece, and puppy. My parents and Mark and I also came and together we enjoyed the lively company and celebrated my mom's birthday.

And swam!



Mirabelle is rarin' to go. She loves those fins, and after all, who doesn't love fins? They make you so fast!

So there was a lot of swimming, and we got to use our garage-sale kickboard right away.



There was diving for rings, kicking, splashing, lounging, and a brief synchronized swimming routine by Mirabelle and Lindsey. It was brilliant.



(This is not a photo of the syncronized swimming, just lounging.)

After we dried off, we ate way to many ribs and gorged ourselves with salmon. It was scrumptious. Then it was on to birthday cake, and then a visit to the horse!



We fed him a bunch of carrots and he seemed to appreciate them.

Then, since we're never all together at once, we took a group photo. Ta da!



Isn't cute that all the little girls have rainbows on? And it was totally unplanned! Though that happens more often in the under-five crowd then it does in the adult world.

Boy, do the girls like the chickens!



They love to pick them up and carry them around, but they don't get to that often. Those chickens are tricky! Especially Snowy here.

But Snowy must have been having a lazy day, because Mirabelle had no problem picking her up. And she was happy!

Not sure about the chicken, though.

Happy garage sale day! Here's our Saturday finds, about three hours worth of searching. We were out a little longer than usual since we had to meet up with Mark for lunch. Usually it only takes a couple hours.

First up is our toy finds:
Little Mermaid kickboard, (was looking for one) $1
Foam butterfly puzzle, $1
Bag of seven Sesame Street characters, $1
Doggie coin purse, 25 cents
Musical triangle, 50 cents


Clothing:
Airwalk water and trekking shoes, $5
Size 5 shirt for Mirabelle to grow into, $1


Kid stuff:
Eddie Bauer portable rocking hammock (to sell), $1
Half a package of swim diapers, $1


Office supplies:
Only one thing, printable business cards, which I had been needing, yay!, $1


Kitchen items:
Two silicon mini-muffin trays, $1
12 metal skewers, 50 cents
Neoprene double wine bottle carrier (also something I was looking for), 50 cents


Books!! This was a big book day.
Can't list them all individually, but a big variety for everyone, from 25 cents to $2 each, $9 for all.


That's it for our finds. Another average day, but lots of books! And a few things I had been wanting, so that is always good.

As more and more things I own come from second-hand sources, I get more requests to accompany me as I thrift. Funny thing is, I'm not doing anything particularly special. I don't have amazing luck. I just go frequently.

I do have phases when I feel like I have a lot of stuff, and am not in the mood for the hunt, so I'll skip shopping for several weeks. But when I'm on, I go to thrift stores two to three times a week, and attend estate sales, garage sales, and flea markets every Friday and Saturday. Thursday and Sunday too, if I can find them. If you don't like shopping this way, you're not going to like thrifting. But if you enjoy the hunt, the digging through boxes, the searching, the impulse buys, the amazing deals, the surprise finds, the bargaining, then it's totally worth it, and a lot of fun.

I spent 3-1/2 hours at the Capitol Flea Market Friday, and had an average day. Here's what I found.

Things to sell at the consignment store:
Like new infant carrier, $2
NIB Fur Real Pet, $2 (Mayanna loves this and will be sad to see it go, but she has the duck version, so I don't feel bad.)
Thomas the Tank Engine Wood Suspension Bridge, $9 ($89 online!)


1978 Fisher Price Phonograph, $8
Had been looking for a kids' one for months, so was glad to find it at a reasonable price. It needs a new needle, though, but that's not surprising.


Two VHS tapes.
Aladdin, easy to find, 50 cents
American Legends, had been searching for a VHS version of this since last summer!, was happy to pay the inflated used VHS price of $1


Vintage linen category:
A box of a dozen never-used,vintage handkerchiefs, beautiful designs and handiwork, one embroidered with an M!, $1.50
It's hard for me to resist beautiful linens.


(On a side note, check out these two old toddler quilts I picked up in the last few weeks, about $3 each. I LOVE them.
)

Okay, back to the flea market.
Miscellaneous category:
Corduroy bag from Target a few seasons ago, $1 (I needed a bag like this!)
Bag of 200 Light-Brite pegs, 50 cents (I'd been wanting to pick up some extra of these too)
Two sets of eight each vintage melamine plates, $2 each set


And here's the "Keep Mayanna Happy While Shopping" category:
Is it Cinderella?


Is it Belle?


It's both!!


This doll cracks me up. I can't figure out why they would make it that way. We have a doll this style that is Red Riding Hood one way, and Grandma and the Wolf the other, and that makes sense because they are from the same story. But I don't quite understand this. Oh well, who am I to argue? Now we have both dolls but it takes up half the space! It's in great condition, too. $1!

Now the best part of the flea market, the food!
The fruit was about $10, and the bread $5. I also got some veggies, but no photos.





That's actually one of my favorite parts of the Capitol flea market, the farmers market! They have tons of produce, including lots of unusual stuff since it caters to the Latino/Asian market, and several seafood booths. They also have quite a few booths devoted to plants, places that sell fabric (though not that amazing of patterns), haircut places,stands that sell boxes and boxes of drugstore products, tons of tools, hot food stands, live bands, and much more. The flea market is really huge, and I can't cover it all in one trip. And you feel like you're in a different world since it's not catering to you at all. I don't hear a lot of English there! (Though all the vendors speak it, of course.) It's a fun world to visit.

So this was an average trip. A few good finds, a few good deals, and enough vintage stuff to keep it interesting. You should visit the Capitol Flea Market if you have a chance. The entrance fee is only 25 cents on Fridays!

I'm going to try to post about my garage sale finds tomorrow. We'll see if I can manage, though the post won't be so lengthy. I sure go on and on!

So the thing is, Mayanna loves to paint and write all over herself. Markers, paint, pens, diaper cream, makeup, anything she can get her hands on.

And I can't decide if this is a battle I want to fight with her. Because I'm thinking that someday, eventually, she'll just figure out it's not that cool to write all over your body all the time. Kids don't do that forever, right?

And it's confusing, because sometimes she'll get her face or hand painted at a fair, but then she's not allowed to do it at home. At two, it's difficult for her to distinguish between those situations.

And when EVERYTHING is a battle with this kid, you've just got to choose the important ones.

So I THINK this is not an important one. I'll just try to give her a piece of paper every time she starts to draw on herself.



And lock up all the permanent markers!

Hey, look what came in the mail today!!



REAL Chocolate sprinkles! From Holland!

See the package? You know it's real chocolate because it says "Puur."

Or there's a cat in the box.

Nothing completes ice cream like yummy chocolate sprinkles. Too bad I had to buy it in a three-pack. OR, really awesome I got to buy it in a three-pack. More sprinkles for everyone!

Can you believe I got these from Amazon? With free 2-day shipping? Amazon Prime is THE best.

Off to get some ice cream...

Here's our yard, ready for plants! It used be all covered with weeds. Sorry it's not the best photo of all the raw dirt, but I liked taking pictures from the balcony.

But look at that umbrella, it's totally blocking the dirt view! Maybe I should have closed it.

Anyway, I do like this perspective of the house since we don't see it this way too often.

You can see my car where a gate to close the main fence line should be.
And our spa that is broken and un-fixable. Boo.
And the door is open on the under-the-front-deck shed we built last fall.
And our neighbor's house is just over the far fence. Hi!
And you can see a tiny, tiny bit of the cottage's new roof through the trees on the right.

Back to the plants. I've been extensively researching plants that require no water since irrigation is an issue.

Deer-resistant too since deer are also big factor.

In fact, since we don't have a deer fence, I've had to put all our vegetables on the balcony.



Here's one of our tomato plants. Some large heirloom variety.



The rest are in this stacked container I picked up at the Smith and Hawkins going-out-of-business sale last November for $2! Woot!

From the top, we've got eggplant, a small tomato, mint, strawberry, strawberry, Italian parsley, basil, cilantro, and sage.

I wish I would have taken a photo when we first planted them. Most of them have really grown!

But I wish we could actually plant veggies in the rest of our yard. Sort of sad when we have so much land, but, the deer. The deer!

So far we've harvested some herbs and two strawberries. The herbs were fine, but the strawberries were surprisingly bad. I hope the next ones to ripen are better.

Or I'm feeding them to the deer.

I had tonsillitis last week and it really slowed me down. Besides being in bed for about three days, the next week I was still extra tired and my throat was sore. Only these last two days have I been pretty much back to normal. So now I'm playing catch-up with all those things that fell by the wayside, including the blog, email, and cleaning the bathrooms.

Here's a photo of the girls having a picnic with their new cousin. As much as a newborn can have a picnic. It's not much, but hopefully it will keep you happy until a real blog post happens. I also added three new albums to Our Photos on the left. More to come!

The girls and I stopped at Happy Hollow a few weeks ago for its grand re-opening. We thought the remodel was pretty nice, with a bunch of great new playgrounds, a new roller coaster, and an expanded petting zoo.



The climbing wall was in the petting zoo, I think it was supposed to be "goats climb, kids can climb too!"

There were a couple new kiddie rides.


And some classics.




(That's an electric Danny the Dragon, in case you couldn't tell.)

Annoying things are that the entrance is a farther walk from the parking lot, and the zoo hasn't changed at all except for moving the petting zoo. I thought the animals were getting all new exhibits! Oh well. We'll still be back.

How about a big welcome to Mirabelle and Mayanna's first first cousin, Lucie!



Lucie arrived just in time for her annual Easter photo with the girls.  Can't wait until they all have matching outfits!!

Happy spring!

And in celebration, I finally made a table runner I had been thinking about for some time. I had about a dozen reproduction vintage handkerchiefs with nothing to do, since I have about 30 real vintage handkerchiefs I actually use. So I thought some sort of sewing project was in order.

Luckily they were all about the same size, so I ironed them, arranged them as I saw fit, and sewed them together.

Ta da!



And there you have it, our spring runner.

Though it turned out so well, maybe it will stick around for summer too.  

Yes, Mirabelle turned four last week and we were full of birthday festivities.

The first event in our birthday line-up was the presentation of her big present on the morning of the extended-family party. In case you're wondering, the traditional gift for turning four is...


...wait for it...


a bike with training wheels!



She had been talking about "a bike with two wheels" for ages. I almost got her a balance bike, even ordered one then canceled it, deciding it would be too small, and instead found this beauty at the flea market the day before for $10. Good timing, eh?

Actually, I think a lot of kids get bikes earlier, but we don't have a ride-able driveway or street, so I waited until it was really worth the effort.

The bike presentation was early because her party was at a (flat) park, so we HAD to take the bike along to break it in.

We hauled it over to windy Baylands Park for the fête.



If you're wondering why the party was way over there, not really anywhere near our place, it was to accommodate people coming from out of town, so they wouldn't have to come all the way to our house. Plus, they have nice picnic areas, playgrounds, plenty of parking, and bathrooms. A win-win-win-win-win location.

And it wasn't even that windy! Though the "theme" of the party was wind. It was a very, very loose theme.



We had kites to play with and pinwheels on the cupcakes. That was about the extent of the theme.

So we had lots of family, lots of food, lots of presents, lots of cupcakes, and lots of fun.



Mirabelle was especially good at opening her presents for some reason. I didn't have anything to do with it, she just carefully went through each gift, opening the card first and thoroughly examining each one, making excited comments throughout. Woot!

And her (second) cousins came, which always makes Mirabelle's day.



After the Saturday festivities, we moved on to a party in her classroom on Monday, complete with layered jello and a glitter crown! But then my camera died, so I didn't get any photos of that.

I busted out the really old camera for Tuesday's fun. Let me tell you, cameras used to be big. I'm glad they've downsized.

Anyway, we started the morning with sprinkles on toast, and moved quickly on to a party in the park with a few of her church/preschool friends.



It was basically a glorified playdate, with donuts and a pinata.

All the kids took a good whack at the pinata, but it proved to be quite a feat for them to break.



Finally we had Mark aim a well-placed hit to weaken it, then brought in our ringer, the kindergartner.



He bashed and bashed and finally the candy and prizes started flying. Pretty soon there were kids scrambling around to fill their bags, while kids who were there just playing at the (boring) playground looked on in envy.



I think we gave them a few pieces of candy. It was actually a very civilized candy clean-up. They didn't have the desperation of older kids trying to grab everything possible.

Next off we went for lunch and ice cream with another favorite friend, Alex.



(Sorry, best photo I could get. They weren't really in the mood.)

Mirabelle was so happy to hang out with Alex. We don't get to see him as often as we used to since (A) our schedules don't coordinate and (B) we don't live at their house anymore. So unfortunately, our visits are few and far between. But we did manage to work it out for her birthday!

Then we were off again driving up to the city. We were originally going to do something fun and exciting with my sister, but she ended up being too busy with work so we just hung out at a park for an hour.



Which, honestly, is pretty fun and exciting if you're a kid. Maybe Disneyland would have been better, but they were pretty happy.

After that a smooth drive down the peninsula, back home for mac 'n cheese, more presents, and more candles.



Four of them to be exact.

A good day for Mirabelle, filled with her favorite people.

Yay for four!

But I found these Valentine photos and realized I meant to post them ages ago.

One thing I noticed about Valentines Day is how few kids make their own Valentines. Am I crazy in thinking that's just what you do? Plaster a few stickers on some sloppily-cut hearts and pass them out to your friends? Well, Mirabelle got maybe one of those, but mostly it was store-bought all the way around.

I do have more craft and art supplies than the average person, so I might have a tendency to go home-made whenever possible.

Anyway, Mirabelle and I got started on her list a couple days before her class party.


Following her lead, our Valentine design was hearts drawn by me on the back of origami paper, cut out by her, names added, stickers stuck, with glue and glitter as the finishing touch. It wasn't too difficult, but I'm glad she only has six other kids in her class!

Here's how they turned out, each one a unique design.


And the backs:


She did get tired of writing the names at the end, so I filled in the gaps.

Her class had a fun party with all the parents and the kids handed out the Valentines in a very orderly manner, directed by Ms Carla.


Then the kids decorated cookies with icing made by yours truly! Okay, that's not really impressive since I just mixed some water and powdered sugar together. Impressive is Abbey's mom who made cookies for both her kids' classes to decorate.


Even Mayanna got in on the cookie fun!


Mayanna feels right at home in Mirabelle's classroom. I have to drag her out of there when I pick up/drop off Mirabelle. She's going to LOVE going three days a week next year.

And then, we played outside in the trees and grass with Abbey. The kids have fun, and the moms get to talk. It's a win-win situation.

We let the two chickens wander around the yard during the day, and Snowy (the white one) often heads up to our house to hang out with us. I'm pretty sure she's just looking for tidbits to eat, since we have two snackers that are pretty close to the ground. But Mayanna seems to think the chicken is just enjoys her company.

After spending 10 minutes or so with Snowy out on the deck, Mayanna tells me "White chicken is my best friend."

Awww, don't you feel sorry for the kid?

That a chicken is her closest friend? Not even something more cuddly, like a kitten?

Eh, you know in toddlerese that just means she likes good ol' Snowy.

But it didn't stop Mayanna from sharing her popsicle with Snowy the next day!



Did you even know chickens liked popsicles? I didn't.

Now I think I'm going to find Mayanna some friends with a little more brain power.

One thing I love about thrifting is finding things you can't buy in regular stores. It is very exciting to come across a vintage or homemade item that you just don't see anymore. Sometimes it brings back memories from my own childhood, sometimes it's things I wish they still made, and sometimes it's the fact that the item has a history that makes it unique.

Vintage household items are great because you find colors, patterns, and styles that aren't around. Well, manufacturers often make reproduction pieces, but it doesn't feel as authentic as discovering a real piece. I much prefer items with a life before they came to me. It's carrying a little piece of history on.

I always look for vintage linens, children's books, kitchenware, toys, and holiday decorations. One thing I've been looking for this last year but haven't found is a set of vintage pyrex. A few pieces here and there, but not a large set.

This is actually pretty popular item for thrifters to search for. Everyone used to get a set of pyrex mixing bowls or covered casseroles for their wedding, so there's a lot out there. They came in a HUGE variety of patterns and colors. (Check out pyrexlove.com) And I've always wanted a set.

And finally, it came.


See? Thrifting is all about patience!

This set of two covered casseroles (1.5 & 2.5 quarts) is decorated with the Friendship pattern, which was made in the early 1970s. (They are older than I am!) I was so excited when I spotted them on the shelf. Mostly because the colors are great, I totally use this type of dishes, and they both have lids! In awesome condition!

The set originally came with a 1 quart casserole too, but I'm happy with just the two.

Aren't they so pretty and happy?

I know you can buy these things on ebay, but you do have to spend a huge amount on shipping, so I prefer to find them on my own. I paid $11 for the set. Not a crazy bargain, but a very good price.

I just wish I had real display space in my kitchen to show them off. They are so cool!

Since my 2011 Sewing Calendar is basically finished, I now have time to actually sew instead of just writing about it and imagining it in my head. I find it funny that I make all of the projects in my brain and manage to learn a TON about sewing and construction without ever turning on a machine.

Glad to return to my trusty Viking, though!

This week I worked on one project that is going to be in the 2011 calendar (August 15-17, if you're interested), the reusable snack bag! I love this project, since all of our other lunch accoutrements are reusable. I just needed a few bags to round out our supplies, and boy did they turn out cute!



This was a simple project, and a great way to use favorite fabrics from my stash. The bags close with velcro, and the insides are lined with cotton sealed with a layer of iron-on vinyl. That was a fun part, pairing the linings and outside prints together.



I'm so pleased with how they turned out! I can't wait to start using them.

Just finished another busy Thursday, which around here is known as lesson day. It all started when I looked into gymnastics class for the girls, which grew into dance class, which exploded into swimming. It's sounds a little crazy, but exciting!

We start with swimming at 9:30.


We're still doing swimming because, well, we'd like the girls not to drown when we're hanging out around large bodies of water. They like it, and I think Mirabelle may actually be kinda swimming! I'd feel pretty good about leaving her in a pool on her own. A really small pool. That's really shallow.

And look! Diving!



After swimming we rush reeeeeally fast in the 15 minutes we have between lessons. I originally thought the pool was a lot closer to the gym, but I read the map wrong. So we dress speedily, and drive very efficiently, and drop Mirabelle off at the door of the gym so she can run in, put her shoes in a cubby, and run into her gymnastics class.
 


May and I park the car and come in for the ParentTot class.


Actually, it's next to impossible to get Mayanna to pay attention to the coach for the class. She runs around and climbs on things and generally causes a lot of trouble. I'm constantly wrangling her and chasing her all over the gym. Mirabelle seems to have better listening-to-her-teacher-skills, thank goodness.

Mirabelle has tap/ballet class at 11:00 at the same place, so we don't have to drive anywhere, yippie! It's actually a 4-5 year-old class, but I asked the teacher if Mirabelle could sneak in because it was the only dance class that didn't conflict with Preschool. I totally felt like one of those pushy moms when I asked, though the teacher says she's doing great in the class.

May and I stick around for open gym during Mirabelle's class, which she is much better at. She gets to run around all crazy, and that she has no problems with.


After dance is over at noon, we have a picnic outside and head for home! It's a full day, but it's actually quite nice to get it all over with in one fell swoop. Now it's naptime!

Had a good playdate at a farm near downtown San Jose a few weeks ago. I had no idea it was there, so it was a good discovery. Ducks and chickens were everywhere, as was farm equipment, a playground, and lots of grass. We went for a picnic with the girls' friend, Josh, and his mom, and they had a blast.



We could have smuggled a chicken home as there were a bunch wandering around our car in the parking lot as we were leaving. Hmmm, a thought next time one of our chickens goes missing...

How about all this weather we're having?

I've been really enjoying the rain. Our rain gauge isn't in the best spot, but I'd estimate we've received 25+ inches of rain in the last month. Some other fun facts about the weather:

-Mark had to clean out/repair the gutters twice to accommodate the deluge.
-The reservoir is looking really full, and is filling up on the west side of the freeway too.
-We got hail a few times, enough to make a mini-snowman at the end of the slide.


-We had to replace the roof on our little cottage between storms since the rain leaked through and made the bathroom ceiling collapse.
-We replaced the floor of the cottage bathroom at the same time with slate.
-If we had rain barrels (and plants to water), they would be really full.
-We had a little part of a stone retaining wall collapse, but all our trees are doing fine.
-Mark had a tree fall down in front of him on the road while driving, followed immediately by a tree falling down behind him. I was about 50 feet in front and missed the whole thing.
-Mark salvaged firewood from the tree that fell behind him a few days later.
-We lost electricity for several hours a day four days in a row during the first week, but have been powered up ever since.
-The girls and I went to the movies twice while the power was out because it is cold and dark and we are hungry in our house without electricity. We saw the same movie both time.


-We did not see the chipmunk movie, but the Princess and the Frog. These characters were just in the theater and we couldn't resist a photo.
-We had seen The Princess and the Frog when if first came out, but none of us minded seeing it two more times.
-Then we bought the soundtrack and we are singing the songs constantly, they are so much fun.
-We visited a different theater every time we saw the movie, and got popcorn each time.

Okay, I guess I'm a bit off topic from the rain. But now you know how our wet, froggy, princessy month has been.

We got the chance to go to the Exploratorium at the end of December. I LOVED the Exploratorium growing up, especially the tactile dome. Although the experiments are aimed a little older than the girls, we went for a visit and figured we'd find a way to have fun. And we did.



The girls ran around all crazy in the forced-perspective room. They weren't interested in the optical illusion part, and cried when I made them take a picture showing the perspective. That's what I love: making the kids cry.

But we all had fun with the experiments, even if the girls didn't learn anything. I think the adults picked up a few new factoids.



And they got to play with water, too. So that's always a bonus.


It will be great to return there when they are older and can really appreciate everything. But we can still find fun.

The evening was spent at the House of Prime Rib. YUM! A super-awesome end to the day.

Mirabelle and Mayanna are a fan of tea parties, of course. Though really we have juice parties. Fun for everyone. Mirabelle is always good about cleaning up after. She washes the dishes in the sink, then dries them the old-fashioned way. On the clothesline:



This was all her idea one day, isn't it funny? But now, it's how we dry the tea dishes.

This really isn't our 104,830th chicken. We've just had so many, I can't keep track.

We started out with four new chickens last spring, lost one almost immediately, and then got a replacement. Those four were doing pretty well (despite one's near-fatal encounter with a raccoon), but they slowly started disappearing in the last couple months. We kept them shut in their coop, but would find them out in the yard. We weren't sure if the neighbors who take care of the chickens were letting them out or what, but eventually they stopped making it back to the coop at night, and we were down to one: Snowy, the white chicken. Mark found they had been sneaking out a hole under the coop, so he concentrated on closing that up and acquiring new chickens.

We didn't want to get chicks again since they don't lay eggs until 4-5 months old, so we searched on Craig's List and found our newest chicken, Lava.



She hails from a backyard coop in Mountain View, and is a Ruffled Ameraucana, or something like that. Very poofy and feathery. She's about 3 months old, and cost $20, if you're wondering what's the market value of an adolescent chicken.

So far, she seems a little shy and reserved, but we think she's just trying to get her bearings.

Welcome to the coop, Lava! It's fun here.

A few weeks ago, we drove under this:



That's a pretty good arc, don't you think?

Welcome to our downstairs! It's practically like a real room now.



What's that you say?

Why yes, those are new built-in bookshelves!

Sure, they were just big holes in the wall (with lights!) for a long time, but now they have these things called shelves, and stuff called trim, and they can hold things and look pretty!

Oh, you want a closer look? Why sure!



Yes, it's all decorated for Christmas right now, we don't usually have felt trees, miniature houses, and fairy lights on the ledge. But it is a nice ledge, isn't it? We have a lot of ledges in our house, and they are very useful.

Even closer, you say? By all means!



See all that lovely redwood trim and lining? That used to be the outside of our house! We had hundreds of 12x1s that have been lovingly planed and cut to finish out all the trim in our house. Isn't that a neat-o factoid?

I'm so glad you asked. The books are mostly my collection of old children's books. Many I've just picked up here and there, but some are from the family, including the red-bound books. Those are the lovely 10-volume set of The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls from 1955. They are activity books and stories my Grammy had that we used to read every time we visited. And they are in great shape, too!

Sure, we can look at the other bookshelf.



Yes, I know the Harry Potter's aren't vintage, they just fit there. But I do have the UK editions of first three books, Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them, and a $75 collectors edition of book 1. (That everyone got for free by working for Scholastic. I think they just couldn't sell them. I mean, come on! $75?!?) But gee, that amass of books makes me sound quite HP obsessed. But I'm not. Really, really.

Anyway, yes, you can see the shelves are clear, and in fact they aren't glass, though they appear to be. We bought sheets of plastic and had the front edge polished to look like glass. Doesn't it look nice? That way the light can make it through the shelves and we don't have to worry about them falling and slicing anyone.

By the way, did you see that edition of Five Little Peppers and How They Grew? It's a condensed illustrated version I picked up at a garage sale. Isn't it a beauty? Quite a find, I think. But I better not go into all the books because we'll be here for HOURS.

So that's the latest improvement. It's making the our home more homey.

Happy Christmas, everyone!

After Thanksgiving, we went down to visit my extended family in Santa Maria, which is a town on the central coast. We used to go down there every year when I was young and celebrate Thanksgiving, but now that everyone is grown and has kids, it's just more complicated. So it's been a while since I've spent some time down there with all the family. But we made it this year! One of the things we always used to do is go to the sand dunes.



Now we've returned with a lot more kids in tow. The sand dunes are great, despite all the sand in the shoes. We always used to sled down on cardboard, or roll down all crazy, or just jump.



Sand dunes are great. We also went to see the ocean, but since it was cold, I think the sand dunes were more fun. The walk there was fun too, on a boardwalk along a pond.


And we saw a raccoon! It kept coming out of the bushes, probably wanting a hand out. I think it was pretty tame. The rangers kept trying to scare it off.


And then we cleaned out all the sand and went home and made cookies. Yum!


I'm glad Mirabelle and Mayanna have such an awesome time with their (second) cousins, even though they are older. They play together all day having the best time. It's great!

Hey, we got snow!



Well, not at our house actually. At least, not any that stuck. It certainly was cold enough for snow. All of last week we woke up to 28 degree mornings.

So we were hoping and hoping for a bit of snow, but had to settle for driving up the mountain 500 more vertical feet to find any.


I hear it was pretty well covered, but by the time we were there at the end of the day, much of it was melted. But we still played on the playground. The slide was extra fast with the bonus layer of ice, but the monkey bars were all but impossible. Still, snow is fun.



And cold! Brrrrr!

Hey, someone around here is two! Can you guess who it is?



No, it's not this girl. She's only one.

But maybe...

just maybe...


it's this girl!


Yes, just overnight, Mayanna turned two. (And apparently lost her pants.)

We celebrated her birthday with family on Thanksgiving since everyone was over at our house anyway. We just snuck a little cake and presents in around dessert time and we were golden. I think once she's older, she's going to fight that plan, but for now it works splendidly.

On her actual birthday, we started with presents and breakfast.


And also a daddy with crazy hair, I guess.

Then we played in the morning while Mirabelle was at preschool, which was supposed to be followed by an early nap while mama was doing errands so we could do fun things in the afternoon, but someone missed part of that plan. I guess it's hard to catch on to everything when you're only just two.

Anyway, we ended up with a picnic after we picked Mirabelle up from preschool.


Followed by a trip to the Children's Museum. Originally I thought we'd take the train (light rail) since the girls think it's fun, but it can add an extra 1-1/2 hours to the trip, so in the end I'm glad we drove, especially because we got the very closest parking spot to the museum! This is awesome since the parking around there is mostly in very far away, expensive lots. But we got the best one of the 8 metered spaces across the street. Sweet! Anyway, I digress. Back to the birthday.

So first the girls took a ride in a Wells' Fargo stage coach:


(By the way, you'll have to ignore the band-aid on Mirabelle's forehead. She smacked it hard the day before and got a little cut, and wouldn't let us take it off for a week! She finally let her sheep puppet take it off. At least her bangs are too long and sort of cover it. Crazy kids.)

Then we hit up the bubble area and played Catch the Bubble for a bit.


That was followed by a few games of Fall Down Because the Floor is Covered in Soap. Good thing the floor is also covered in rubber mats.

Then we went upstairs to the art studio and painted...


and played with dye and glitter and salt on ice...


and climbed into a tree.


We also sang eight verses of a rousing edition of "If You're Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands!" (clap clap, stomp stomp, ROAR, flap flap, nod nod, kiss kiss, spin spin, hop hop, we are!)

After that we headed home, where Mayanna finally got the memo about the nap and crashed in the car. Mirabelle joined in as well.

We ended up having mushroom olive pizza from Nonno's for dinner, followed by a chocolate ladybug cake decorated by Mirabelle and I. There was also much wearing of hats and blowing out of candles.


And everyone was happy. The End.

Especially this girl:


TWO!

In a rush to get ready for hosting Thanksgiving and Mayanna's birthday at our house, Mark spent a good part of a weekend installing the carpet downstairs in the family room. We used flor carpet squares in the green modern mix. They are fairly easy to install, just making all the cuts around the edges of the room gets tiring.



And the grid pattern really shows how uneven the room is. But we knew that, and we call it character.



Having carpet makes the room feel finished. Though there's a bit of trim, and some shelves to put in, we're basically done. It looks great!

Just in case you were worried I wasn't thrifting anymore, here are some of my finds from garage saleing last week. Actually, it was my first time in a while, as we've been busy the last few Saturdays. And in fact I don't go to thrift stores as often as I used to. Part of it is simply we have a LOT of stuff now that I've been going for the last few months, and I just don't have as much room as I used to. Part of it is I'm busy with my 2011 sewing calendar. Part of it is I've found many things I've been looking for. But I do still go when I can, since at the very least, I always have room to buy inexpensive toys I can resell at the consignment shop. That's been working out pretty well. I probably make about $50 a month there.

Here's the haul from November 7th:



As you can see, it was mostly a toys and tools morning. I found one garage sale that so many bags and boxes and piles to dig through, I spent quite some time there, got a huge bag of stuff, and only spent $7. I love it when I have tons of stuff, and I'm adding it up in my head what I think I should pay, and it's getting pretty high, and then the sellers look at my pile and say a price way lower than I was expecting. Awesome!


So that big garage sale had a lot of puzzles, many NIB. I got some to keep, some to resell, and some to give away as presents (shh, don't tell!).

All of them were either wooden or Ravensburger, which makes nice paperboard puzzles.

Next we have books and movies, which I really don't need many of, so some of this will be gifts.

But I couldn't pass up the Pat the Christmas bunny NIB (stocking stuffer!), School House Rock Science Rock, or Dr. Desoto on video. I loved that book as a kid.

Here's the toy haul.

Paddington Bear because, um, PADDINGTON BEAR! He was a bit worn on the leather on his coat, but still had his boots and tags and everything. I always pick up extra trains when I see them, so I got an old-school Thomas and Sodor fuel car. I wanted an extra pencil sharpener (the blue thing), so that was nice to find, and the train whisle I sanded down the mouthpiece and cleaned it up before we used it.

I LOVE when I'm in the market for something and I find it at a garage sale. I was just about to get some jumper cables, when BOOM, there's a pair for $3 at a sale.

Most of these things were from an estate sale from an electrician. Tools are a great thing to pick up on the cheap. I also got a level and some pinky/purply electrical tape. And the mulling spices are the kind I use already, so it was great to find a full can.

This was from a Christmas-heavy sale.

It's just a plastic set, but cute enough, and Mayanna can't destroy it, so it will work. We have a couple other ones for the kids too, but I like to have several out for them to maul.

And here's something I forgot to put in the book photo.

And old book called "The Spirit of Chirstmas" that was about the origins of gift giving and charity around holiday time. Some good, true history about Santa Claus, the three kings, and other Christmas figures from around the world. Really old book, maybe from the '30s? With beautiful illustrations.

I also got a small wooden doll, green sunglasses for Mirabelle, and a Curious George viewmaster card I forgot to photograph. Total spent this Saturday: $12. Not too shabby, eh?

I forgot to mention how Mirabelle's Cinderella costume for Halloween came about. At first she was happy just using random pieces from her dress-up clothes. She would get all dressed up in a white slip, pink slippers, and a crown and dance around in the kitchen to the music. It was great, I thought I was off the hook for making anything more complicated. Unfortunately, one trip to Target was all it took to spoil her. She saw all the costumes and decided she needed a blue, sparkly, poofy, down-to-her-feet dress.

So while I was considering what to do about this, including trying to convince her to just use what she had, we found found a home-made Cinderella dress in a thrift store for $1.99. Well, I can't pass up that bargain, even if we only used it for dress up. It was well made using nice fabrics, and it fit her well.


But Mirabelle said it was too short and not sparkly enough.

So first we added an extra 12" or so to the bottom.

This fabric was left over from my bridesmaid dress from my sister's wedding, and though it was actually grey, the tone was just about the same, so it worked.

Then I added an overskirt of a sheer fabric with sparkles all over it.

This helped to fulfill some of the sparkle requirement. Oh, there's also a band of sequin trim on the bottom of the overskirt.

Finally, we added a row of lace to the hem of the underskirt, lace and other sparkly trim to the bodice, re-aligned the zipper, and trimmed down the neck.

Actually, this photo is before I added the lace to the underskirt and trimmed down the neck. You can look back at the Halloween post to see the final final version. By the end, we had also added sparkly trim to her shoes and underwear.

It was a pretty enjoyable project for me, and Mirabelle wore that dress constantly for several weeks. Mayanna loves it too. She's back to her slip again, only because she's waiting for me to make NEXT year's Halloween costume, Tinkerbelle. Don't worry, the fabric's on order. : )

Here's some art Mirabelle came up with recently. She found some 1" foam I was going to use to make some cushions, glue, and colored popsicle sticks, and made these lovely pieces.





Do you think I should frame them?

Actually, the glue didn't hold so she's been re-gluing the sticks in different arrangements. I love that she's just using supplies in ways she came up with. I do keep a lot of stuff out and accessible to them so they can be creative on the spur of the moment. But that's another post. I'll give you a grand tour of their awesome set up in a few days.

The girls and I spent a weekend up in Napa in early October while Mark was out of town, and we joined my parents working with their wine-making club Saturday morning. I had visited before, but we had never stayed long and the girls really had fun.

First we harvested some grapes.



Then we got the fruit ready for the destemmer.



Then we dumped the grapes into the machine.



Then we squeezed some older grapes and pumped the liquid into other bins.



Then we smiled for the camera.

Kinda.


It was a fun way to spend the morning and get our hands purply.

Mirabelle's new favorite holiday is Halloween. I'm pretty sure. Even now, after the fact, she's talking about what her costume is going to be for next Halloween (Tinkerbelle, in case you were wondering) and asking how many days there are before it comes. And she wants me to make more and more costumes, for her and for me and for everyone. I'm going to have to figure out a way to distract her with Thanksgiving and Christmas over the next few weeks.

We did have a full month of activities, including going to the pumpkin patch three times. We carved pumpkins, which was very fun. Mirabelle did it mostly on her own with one of those specialized pumpkin saws. They spent the next few days carrying them around EVERYWHERE. (The pumpkins, not the saws.)



Our next activity was making caramel apples. At least that's a treat that has some nutritional value, right? And Mayanna actually wasn't that good at covering them with caramel anyway. Though I guess she did pretty well in this picture.



Then we went to a fun carnival at Mission San Rafael. It was all cheesy games and prizes and the kids loved it. Even when Mayanna fell into the duck pond. Well, she was dressed up as a mermaid after all.



And we did go trick-or-treating that evening for a little under an hour, where Mirabelle scored 38 pieces of candy. I'm not sure how many Mayanna got, she can only count to 10.



Happy Halloween!

I forgot to mention how we fared during the storm in early October, so just a quick recap.

The rain started sometime early Tuesday morning, and it was steady all day long. By 9:30am, we already measured 2-1/2" of rain. I was planning to stay home and get things done that day, including laundry, computer work, and baking. But at 10:45, the lights went out. So the girls and I cleaned up and headed out an hour later to get some food and escape the rain. We don't have any gas at all at our house, so we aren't able to do anything when the power is gone. We were stopped at the bottom of the road by this:



That explained the power outage. The truck in front of me turned around, and I considered going under it, but used the other road instead.

We spent the day at the mall where they have covered parking! And food, and playgrounds, and toys, and books, giant puddles on the sidewalks. and everything one might need. I had to pick up a few things anyway, but I stretched out the day, calling home every once in a while to see if the power was restored. By 7:30 we had finished dinner and no luck with the power, so we just went home, turned on a few flashlights, and went to bed. Actually, I think the girls were both asleep when I got home, so I just had to tuck them in. Yeah, easy bedtime routine!

We still didn't have power the next day, so in the afternoon we took a walk down the road to see if work was being done. I wasn't raining too much at this point, so it was fun. We watched the guys fixing the lines for a while.



Then we walked slowly home, looking for letters in the debris on the road and taking photos. By the time we got home, the power was back on. Hooray! Electricity is great. And the girls got to use their new umbrellas, bought just the day before on a whim. It was fun. Especially getting electricity again. The final rain total for the storm was 10-1/2". I had to empty the rain gauge twice! Too bad we don't have rain barrels. They would have been full.

On Thursday we had hamburgers for dinner, and the girls didn't touch them. They gobbled down the french fries, of course. They usually aren't too picky, but typically go for basic toddler fare, with random obsessions of broccoli, apples or things like that.

For lunch on Friday, I picked up some sushi. This usually goes over well, as long as I get shrimp. However, I picked up a calamari salad too, since it looked pretty good. I wasn't sure if the kids would be into it, since it was whole calamari, heads, tentacles, everything. But they pretty much skipped the sushi in favor of the squid.



Most adults would get weirded out by the tentacles, the rubbery texture, but not them. They almost ate the entire tray. Kids are funny.

We've finished off some more projects downstairs in the last couple months. There was a lot of debate between Mark and I on what the downstairs floor should be, which is why it was subfloor with a lovely layer of dropcloth for soooo long. We finally compromised between cork in the "hallway" area and carpet in the family room area. So Mark got to work installing the cork. In the meantime, we had Jose finish the shelves in the linen closet area which was AWESOME! That eliminated another big pile of boxes. More storage, yeah!



We also bought some doors for all the empty doorways. The downstairs bathroom used to only have a curtain, so that was a big one. But the office door was great too. Now when Mark works at home and is on a conference call, he can shut out some of the noise.



The other doors we got were the pocket doors for the laundry and the upstairs bathroom. We're still working on the hardware for those.

So storage + doors + floor =  AWESOME!

Next up is the carpet (on order), trim, and closet door (needs to be picked up).

At the beginning of August, Mayanna started climbing out of her crib. Once she figured it out, she was getting out all the time. And Mayanna is not one of those easy-sleeper kids. She whines about going to sleep, is VERY difficult to rock to sleep, doesn't take a pacifier or any other lovey, and often cries for a bit before going to sleep. So having her able to get out of bed at night was not helpful. I mean, you can't reason with the under-two crowd. That's why you have cribs: so they can't get out and are forced to sleep. So it's no surprise we were really disappointed in her new ability.

We got her a toddler bed right away, since I didn't want her to hurt herself trying to climb out. Might as well make it easy for her. And we started the long evenings of just returning her to bed every time she got up. Which, during the first month, was probably 15-30 times a night. Once she fell asleep, she was good for the night, but getting there was a difficult road.

The second month, she went down to getting up 10-15 times before falling asleep. That's still a lot. I think most experts will say it takes a week to have them adjust to something new. But to say Mayanna is strong willed is an understatement. She really took us to task on this one.

Just in the last few weeks, I've noticed she's finally caught on and has been staying in bed. Sometimes she'll get up 1-3 times, but we've had several times she didn't get up at all. Halleluja! She's learning. It's been a long process.



Mirabelle, during this time, has been going to sleep in our bed to start. Because having her sister in there is a huge incentive for Mayanna not to sleep. Thank goodness Mirabelle is so easy going.

We've been busy settling into the MWF school routine these last few weeks. Mirabelle still really likes preschool. Actually, Mayanna really likes preschool, too. I have to drag her away from the classroom when I pick up Mirabelle.

Other fun things we've been doing include making pizza:


There was some slight unevenness in the cheese layer, but we went with it.

Also, we planted some flowers. Mirabelle picked them out, and they are mostly pink. Mirabelle wanted to dance in front of them, so here it is. I think she was spinning.


These are pretty much the only growing things in our yard. It's just a sad, sad dirt lot still. And even these, I wonder how long before the deer get them. Bah, deer.

What's with all the hot weather? I mean, I know it's summer and all, but I sure prefer the mild summer days. I think I just need to get some shades for our windows. They let in a lot of view but also a lot of heat from the sun. Around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, the temperature just shoots up. Okay then, shades. I'm on it.

So how we're keeping cool in the heat is our new pool!



Actually, we would just use our spa (without the heater on, of course) as our pool, which we've done before. But the pump and 20 other things are broken, and Mark can't find spare parts anymore. So now we need a new spa too. Yay, one more thing.

I had been searching for one of those little plastic wading pools after our inflatable one died, but I could not find one for the life of me. Actually, I saw one at Long's Drugs while we were on vacation in the Sierras. Here's a bonus photo of that vacation:



But it's not really convenient to buy one while on vacation. So I waited until I returned home. I went to every drug store and toy store around but couldn't find one. I almost gave up, but checked Craig's List, and found our new blue beauty. $10 and one rubber stopper later, and we can swim! And slide!

Apparently they don't make this pool anymore, and I found it on ebay for over $100. Isn't that crazy? This one is a lot larger than the ones I had been looking at, and the kids enjoy the slide.

So that's what we're up to. Keeping cool in the heat, and I'm still working in the evenings which explains the lack of posts. Mirabelle starts school next week, that should be fun. She's in a new classroom with a new teacher, but has a good friend from church in her class this year, so she should do okay. We also are attempting to finish up the downstairs floor, the closets, and add interior doors. Man, we're on a roll!

I added some summer photos! See, I'm working on it. More to come.

Here's a really quick post before I go to bed. I've been slow posting lately because I'm working again on the 2011 sewing calendar. And that takes up a bunch of time. But see, the 2010 is available for pre-order here. It came out really cute. Go give it good reviews or something.

So I posted one album from our summer adventures over on the left. That was a weekend trip to Coloma. It was fun, and not as hot as previous years. Here's one photo close-up, and more photos and such to come. As we had many adventures this summer. Which seemed really short since all the teachers I know are back in school this week. What's up with that?

I finally figured out how to display our new webpage. Here it is.

I decided to use the Shutterfly site because I wanted a better way to integrate our photos into the blog. And many of my photos were on Shutterfly anyway. Now they are in a lovely sidebar, see? Over there on the left. Maybe you have to scroll down. Ah, there it is! Of course, there's only a few albums now, but I'll be adding more later. And you can also go to our old gallery from the link on the left. It still exists.

Anyway, I hope it works for everyone. There are a lot of shutterfly things and links and everything, and if you're not careful, it will send you email updates, though you can turn them off. So those things are a little annoying. But hopefully the pretty pictures and such will make up for it. You can always go back to our old side if you like. Once again, the links are on the side over there on the left. But I'm not updating that blog anymore.

We'll see if it lasts. I may add a password because it's very easy on this site (another reason I switched) and I'll email you. Or email me if all of a sudden there's a password required and I didn't contact you. I don't know, maybe I'll get too annoyed and switch back. Maybe something better will come along. Who knows.

Okay, I'll try to blog again later. With a real blog entry.

We are quite a craft-friendly house. That's no surprise considering my old job. I have a ton of craft supplies from that. So we try to be pretty artsy around here. Of course, there's only so much a 1- and 3-year-old can do, and I get tired of creating "things." I usually just let them play around with supplies.

Right now Mayanna loves playdough (and not just eating it, though she does that too), painting, and crayons. She'll actually sit and color for a while. And though I wasn't sure for a long time, I think now she might be right handed. She's really started to favor it lately, though she used to switch back and forth all the time.

Mirabelle has been very into beads lately. I have a couple of big bins, and she threads them on pipe cleaners, sorts them by color and shape in muffin tins, and pours them around from container to container. Man, think how many developmental skills I'm working on with that one craft supply! Very often, a lot of them end up on the floor, but she's remarkably good at going on a "bead hunt" with me to pick them all up. She's a bead-o-holic. Here she is making bead soup:



I also thought I'd share my awesome thrift finds from the last month or two. I've had lots of good deals, but this is a selection of big toys I've bought.



Mini Trampoline - $9 at Salvation Army
It was in new condition, and it has elastic bands instead of springs. I was going to buy Mirabelle a trampoline for her birthday, but the place I ordered if from didn't get it in time, so I gave up on it. But this was a steal!
Foam T-Ball Set - $5 at Goodwill
This was new-in-box! We've had a bunch of fun with this.
Kettler Tricycle - $10 at garage sale
We have another one in opposite colors, so now we have one for each kid! Mayanna's getting close to pedaling. Kinda.
The Learning Tower - $30 at Goodwill
This may be our best find. I hemmed and hawed for a while before giving in. I'm so glad I did! It's meant to be a big, safe stool for the kitchen. Before, the girls always wanted to come up to see when I was cooking, but they would knock each other off the little stool and it was so unsafe. But now they totally fit and it's awesome. And they just love to play in it too. It's big, so it wouldn't fit in a lot of kitchens, but it slides under our island perfectly.

I calculate I would have paid at least $325 if I had paid retail for everything. Instead, only $54. Awesome!

While I have your ear, I'll gush about my great garage sale find from last week. Actually, I could go off on a lot of garage sale/thrift finds, but that's another post.

I had wanted to get another storage cabinet for the kitchen while we are waiting to buy our real cabinetry. I wasn't able to fit all our stuff into the storage pieces I had rounded up to form our temporary kitchen, and left everything that didn't fit in a big pile in the corner. Unattractive, yes, but I had no choice. This is the best before photo I have, and you can only just see the pile of boxes on the right behind the desk. Just know there were about nine piled there with stuff on top of that.



So I had been looking at Craig's list, consignment centers, thrift stores, etc. to find something that wasn't too expensive. After all, this was only a temporary storage solution. And just last week, I spotted a little cabinet at a garage sale. I didn't look closely at first, because it seemed like an overpriced garage sale, so I didn't think it would be worth it.



So when I finally went to check it out, and saw the $10(!!!) price tag, I immediately said I would take it. Then I looked it over a bit and saw it could break down to fit in the station wagon, and it was sturdy enough to work. The helpful garage sale dudes loaded it up and I was on my merry way! $10 is a fine price for a temporary piece of furniture.

The nice thing is that it's mid-century, which is what I was looking for anyway, has sliding doors, which I love, and a nice glass display. The height ended up being perfect for storing stuff on top too. It's just a veneer, but it's not super cheesy. I think I saw some real wood in the back. And the wheels are a nice touch. So all in all, a good buy.

And the storage transformation is spectactular!



Here's a better view:


I know, it's not as nice as real cabinetry, but it's so nice compared to a pile of boxes in the corner.

Sorry it's been a while. I'm actually ready to switch our blog over to it's new format, but I have to figure out how to set it up, and that's my stumbling block right now. I'm going to get it set up soon. Promise. So here's what you've been missing while I've been working on other things.

May was a great month. We started with a lot of dancing.

The girls like dancing, but of course dancing skirts and dancing ribbons are required.

Of course, we enjoyed Mother's Day with a picnic.

Followed by a visit to the insect fair! It was really fun and we got to see a lot of cool insects.

Mirabelle went grapefruit picking with her friend Chloe who was visiting from San Diego.

They did eat a grapefruit, but needed a lot of sugar to make it edible.

The three of us also took the train up to Maker Faire in San Mateo.

Although it was somewhat overwhelming since there was so much to see, we managed to focus on a few good things like the Exploratorium exhibits, a marble run, giant light bright and cupcake cars, so the girls had fun.

Mirabelle and Mayanna also spent a lot of May looking at bugs.

They are both fearless when it comes to picking up bugs. They will grab anything and run to show me. We caught a lot in our little bug box, and Mirabelle loved the caterpillars and roly-polys the best.

Finally, I got another bike seat for the back of my bike and now I have a bicycle built for three! So we have been on a lot of bike rides these last few weeks.

As long as the path is flat, I'm happy.

Okay, I'm back in the swing of things, and new website coming soon!

Here's a crafting/thrifting combo I think turned out quite nice. Found this really good-looking chair at Goodwill last month. I needed a chair for the upstairs desk, and this one was quite comfortable, though the fabric wasn't that great. But it was 50% off, so I couldn't pass up that deal. About thirty 8mm staples later, it was done.



I looked through my fabric stash, played around with a bunch of different looks, and finally decided on this orange and green flowery thing.



I've always wanted to re-upholster something! Good thing this one was super easy.

(On a side note, the same Goodwill had about 75 pairs of slightly-used ballet toe shoes for sale. I so wished I needed some, I could have gotten a deal! I'm wondering how they got there and if they were ever sold. Hmmm... the things you find at Goodwill.)

Sorry no posts lately, we took a spontaneous trip to Hawaii!



Yes, Mark and Mayanna went too:



Just didn't have a super picture of the four of us that shouted "Hawaii!" So two separate shots will have to do.

We were on the big island, which was fun. We had great weather, even on the Hilo side where it didn't rain at all. Did some swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, hiking, eating, drinking, fishing and all that good stuff. Mark wants to move there now.

I've still been into garage sale-ing, this weekend I scored a nice Kettler tricycle for $10! That was Friday, at an early drive-by garage sale. And then even though it was the Sunnyvale city-wide garage sale Saturday, I hardly found anything. Maybe I spent $3. It was lame. Sunnyvale disappointed me. But I did get to visit four friends while in the neighborhood, so that made up for it.


Mirabelle had her 3-year check up and she passed with flying colors. She is a clever little nugget. Loves to play with her sister (but likes a little alone time too) and to help me with everything. Is absolutely in the "why" phase and asks it endlessly. She has stopped napping, which makes bedtime so much easier. I thought I'd be more sad when she gave up her nap, but I don't mind a bit since she's fun to hang out with. She's been reading for a few months now, which has been a neat process. And she still totally enjoys preschool and swimming.

Mayanna is a typical 16(17?)-month old. She knows what she wants and is mad when she doesn't get it. (Why can't I have that knife?!?!?!? WHAAAA!!!) She's an amazing tantrum thrower. I'm so good at ignoring her cries. It's funny because she can say a ton of words, but her pronunciation is not so hot. She tries to talk in sentences, and they sound like: "Puh-bee puh-bee puh-bee puh-bee jooce blease." (That means can I have some juice please.) Or she just tacks please onto anything. But talks (babbles) A TON. And tries to sing. That's cute. Today she made it climbing up our green rocket slide by herself! The girls had fun doing that, then sliding down, for quite a while.

Mark is still working, though not as crazy as before. Ultimate has started, but not hard-core yet. And he climbed Mauna Kea while we were in Hawaii. Did you know that's the world's tallest mountain? I think if you want more of an update, you'll have to ask him.

The house is continually progressing. We finished all the upstairs trim around the doors and windows, including baseboards, and it looks swell. Also we have a big new retaining wall/storage area underneath the front deck, which will really come in handy. We can't wait to fill it up with stuff!

I've been thinking about moving the blog and gallery to another site, so I may post infrequently in the next month or two while I work on that. I'll try to put little updates here and there, but this post was to give you a good update while I'm somewhat silent.

Of course, you can always email me if you get desperate for information. I'm usually good for a quick note.

Yes, just a couple of weeks ago, we celebrated Mirabelle's third birthday. It was a fun affair.

We started the weekend off with a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium! That was a gift from Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Travis for Mirabelle's <i>second</i> birthday. Ahem. Well, you can see we made it just under the deadline! And it was a fun trip that she probably enjoyed even more since she was 11+ months older.


The next day we had a birthday brunch for all the family we could find. The winners were my cousins Adam and Tara (plus kids) and Jessica who came all the way from Sacramento! And I hear some of them came via San Francisco. That's tricky, eh? We ended up having two cakes! So she had lots of candles to blow out.


She chose one of the cakes when we visited the <a href="http://www.icingonthecakebakery.com/">bakery</a> earlier in the week because it had carrots on it. Why? "I'm a little bunny!" It's a game we often play. It involves bunny hats and a lot of hopping.


As you can see, she was quite happy with her birthday gift-o-rama. Here she is applying a red bandaid from her new doctor's kit to her new green pony, Rody, wearing her new bathing suit and new flip flops. What a day!


Her actual birthday started with crying, as Mirabelle said she didn't want to be three. She wanted to stay two. She got over it when I mentioned the presents. And Mickey Mouse pancakes!


After the regularly-scheduled swim lesson, we went in search of a McDonalds playground. Dude, it was her birthday. And she wanted to go to this one we always drive by after swim class. But it was closed for unknown reasons. We were foiled by a garbage can in front of the door. So, on with the search, and we ended up and one of those pizza/playground/arcade places.


There were hardly any people there, which was super, and this one had a lot of windows, which I felt was unusual. There was a lot of climbing, playing in balls, sliding, pizza, and then arcade games! Mirabelle's favorite was catching "popcorn" (ping-pong balls) in a bucket. It didn't have a very good token to ticket ratio, but she seemed to enjoy it despite her lack of skill. Tickets were exchanged for cheap-o prizes, then home again!


Wait, haven't I seen this picture before? Yes, you have! Just a reminder that she's three. Posing with her birthday cookies. With pig sprinkles.

Happy Birthday, Mirabelle!

I have been so into garage sale-ing and thrift stores lately! I started going to thrift stores looking for name-brand kids' clothes to re-sell in second-hand shops (it's complicated, I know) and then I went to a few garage sales, and now I'm hooked all over again.

Way back in college a group of us used to buy things from garage sales and then sell them on ebay for a profit. We made enough to all take a fun trip to Vegas together, so it was worth the early mornings. But now it's fun just shopping for fun things for myself and the kids.

Mirabelle likes it too because there's often toys to play with, and Mayanna sometimes ends up sleeping in the car, which is fine because she can just sit there while I'm right outside at the sale. And Mark can sleep in at home. So everyone has fun.

Here's my haul from today, a good one!


From leftish to rightish:
1. One of those cool teaching clocks you remember from Kindergarten!
2. Books: Tales told in Holland (vintage), Chickens Aren't the Only Ones, The Circus Baby, Betty Crocker's Boys and Girls Cookbook (vintage), and Three Roald Dahl's
3. Just a pretty drawing of a ballerina. Bought on a whim.
4. Two darling wooden puzzles from maybe the 40s or 50s.
5. Tickle Bee magnet game
6. A toy stethoscope
7. Some kids' clothes

I also got a couple new scrapbooks for cheap, but didn't take a photo. And I almost bought a plug-in cooler ($15!) and a camping table ($5!!) but I resisted. Barely.

It was a good day. Can't wait for next Saturday! I hear spring is the best time for garage sales.

So I finally (mostly) finished decorating and setting up the girls' room. Whew. But it was loads of fun, and I didn't mind a bit. Since they have to share a room, it's nice that the room is so big. Makes it easy to divide it up into a sleep/read space and a place space. Okay, on to the photos:


Here's the sleeping side, with the beds end-to-end. I tried just about every arrangement imaginable for those beds, and this was the best I came up with. It works, and later, when the kids get bunk beds (Yay!), they can go right along the same wall. I'll move the quilts around then. Those, by the way, were made by my old co-workers and my aunt, and they are cute. Mayanna pulls hers off the wall if she's in bed awake too long.


Here's the tree! I knew I wanted to paint a tree on the wall, but not too complicated of one. I saw this one in the window of the Gap last summer. I snapped a picture, bought the paint, and there you go. It turned out well, though this perspective is funny. I added the pink flowers, if you can see them. There's a bird mobile hanging from the ceiling.


Here's the play side of the room. Table and chairs in the bay window, bins of toys, play kitchen, map on the wall, cute hanging light, etc.


Finally, we have the clothing wall. Just a IKEA dresser/changing table and a stack of drawers I got from Katie (thanks!). The closet is full of clothes and more toy bins. We don't have closet doors right now. I want to get louvered bi-fold ones like in our bedroom closet, but it's not a necessity, so no big rush. The shelves are for the art and nick-knacks. I need one more shelf in between the two on the right, but have to pick up one more bracket.

One thing I'm really proud of is all the awesome original art I have up on the walls. Some of it was made for me by talented friends, others I bought from the artist or got for free from work. But there's a good story behind all of it, so that makes me happy. Maybe I'll do a post later showing all the different art.

There's your tour!

One inch of rain over the weekend. That's 19.5 inches.

Meet the newest members of our brood:


Hailing from a feed store in Gilroy, these three beauties will be fully grown in a couple months, and ready to relocate into our newly-renovated chicken coop. New door, new chicken wire, new supports, new pulley system to lift of the lid off the nesting boxes, it's quite a set up. But right now they are living in a recycling bin in the laundry room. It's the perfect spot for them.

As you can see, we have three different breeds. And in fact we had a fourth, but it died about two hours after we brought it home. We'll have to get another one. I don't know what the breeds are since Mark picked them out. Maybe a Buff Orpington? If I find out, I'll update the blog. We haven't chosen names yet. Maybe when we get the fourth one again. The girls, of course, love them. Think they are tons of fun. Would pet them all day if they could.

I think anyone who has spent any time at all around kids knows that you always spend a good deal of time making mundane tasks fun. That's like my whole life. Making clean-up a game, racing to change into pjs, climbing up the slide to get to the car, singing songs to get them motivated, and on and on.

Food is one thing I never worry about. If they're hungry, they'll eat. If not, they won't. I try not to fill them up with snacks, but if they don't eat dinner, eh, I'm already over it. So I've never had to make any extra effort to make eating fun.

Mirabelle has upped the fun factor on her own. She really likes sprinkles on everything. I think it's brilliant. It makes any food fun, is inexpensive, has like 0 calories, and it's pretty too.

 

Though that's a slice of chocolate chip banana bread, so I don't know why that needed a little extra fun. Yummy!

4.5 inches this last time around. You should see the reservoir, it has really filled up! Still about 25(?) feet below its maximum, though.

That's about 18.5 inches up here since February 12th.

I stole this idea at least from SouleMama, if not other places. I see it around, and it's a good blog topic.

ten things I'm loving right now:

1. The rainy days. The sound of rain on the roof, little girls in little boots, puddle jumping, rain hats, and sisters hiding under umbrellas.


2. Knitting again. Makes watching tv seem not so lazy.

3. Netflix instant watching + tivo = awesome. I may never buy movies again.

4. My little M&M sharing M&Ms.

5. With the addition of a painted tree and some artwork, the girls' room is pretty much finished. And it's pretty darn cute, if I say so myself. I guess a bigger post of that to come.

6. Having lots of delicious leftovers in the fridge. All yum, no work.

7. Rediscovering the library. Book and books and new books to read every week. And it's right across from preschool, so it's convenient too.

8. The pat-pat-pats on the back from the littlest M who can't hug without them.

9. Craft blogs like The Crafty Crow, Skip To My Lou, and the long thread for creative inspiration.

10. This little plant, that is somehow not dead even though Mayanna upturned it and spread it out all over the carpet. I put it back together in the pot, but I didn't think it would live. Stay strong little plant!

This round: 3.75 inches

Ready, set, rain!

Look at this beauty Mark installed last weekend:



Isn't that a pretty picture? In an effort to get our permits finished off, Mark added the laundry room sink to complete our plumbing, and it worked! We have our final plumbing signature. Still need a few things to get final final sign off, but we're actually really close.

We ended up using IKEA cabinetry for the laundry room. The quality is moderate, the price is low, and it's easily available. So it's working in there so far. But I wouldn't do the kitchen with it. I'll step it up a notch when we finally complete that. Mark was very skeptical, but I put it all together with glue, which eased his worries. That's the secret to avoid IKEA crappiness, you know. Wood glue.

The sink and countertop were also from IKEA, but those aren't crappy so no complaints there. It's just a solid birch top which I may or may not stain green and a square porcelain sink. We love having all that work space, and are glad we put the washer and dryer side-by-side. There was some debate whether to go stacked, but more countertop won. The big laundry room right off the main space feels like having a really nice (but small) garage. In fact, it seems better than a garage because it's not outside at all so it's easy to access. Now we can't wait until we get the rest of the cabinetry. I think I'm going to get one of the big wall ones next week.

Oh, and Mark finished up the paneling between the laundry room and bathroom. I'm throwing in a photo, but without a "before," it's sort of boring. Sorry.

How 'bout those rains last week? Weren't they something?

Okay, it was just rain. Not really that amazing. But nice when we haven't had much rain at all this season. And usually it is so on-and-off. Rain, break, sprinkles, break, showers, rain, break, etc. But this was steady from Saturday night until Monday morning. I liked it. But I'm a fan anyway.

It turned out I bought our rain gauge just in time. Picked one up Thursday after wanting one for a bit. Stuck it in the ground, and we ended up emptying it three times over the next five days. 2-1/2", 3-3/4", and the last at 4-1/3". That's almost 10-1/2 inches in less than a week! Nice.



We floated one of the girls' hair clips inside so you can see the level from a distance. Genius, I know.

And here's my still life post-rain. It's our old kitchen garbage can full to the brim with water. Inside are some kids' utensils, breast milk storage bottle caps, a drawer organizer, a green funnel, and our old front door handle.



I thought it looked random, all floating together.

It's raining again!

I'm so excited we have an office now. A dedicated craft and computer workspace. I have quite a collection of art and creative supplies from working at Klutz and my general interest in everything. There's not really a craft I'm not willing to try. So having a place to arrange supplies, have them easily accessible, and work in a dedicated space is awesome. I'm back in it after a long break of not crafting, able to pull things together on a whim.

Just on Tuesday, I decided to whip up a knitting-needle case. I inherited a bunch of needles from my Grandma, and they came in a not-so-attractive and bulky case. So I pulled this together based on some designs I've seen before. Having the sewing machine ready to go with supplies right at hand made this a breeze. It took me about 45 minutes, start to finish.



Of course, after I was done, I started thinking about things I would have changed for next time.



It works just fine, but I think I would have used interfacing for a little more sturdiness, and added a flap that folds over from the top to keep the needles in, and maybe added a pocket for circular needles or other oddly-shaped things. I could still add the flap, but it actually works fine, so we'll see.

I also realized yesterday I didn't have valentine's cards for the kiddos, and I wanted to give them something. So I was able to create these two cards in about 15 minutes.



It's just a fabric heart slightly stuffed and sewn onto a piece of cardstock with a zig-zag stitch. I used red metallic thread for added pizazz. So simple!

And I'm not just sewing. I've got two projects I'm knitting right now, a little crocheting, and Mirabelle and I made a bunch of painted, glittered valentines for her class. I'm glad I'm able to do things like this. I'm often thinking when I'm shopping, I could make that! And now I have the space to do it in. I'm so delighted!

Just a week ago, we were at the happiest place on earth. Boy, I wish we were back again. Disneyland is the best.



I'm not really obsessed with Disney, but I do like Disneyland quite a bit. Maybe because I have so many good memories there, from when I was young and also when I was in high school. We even went a couple times in college. So I was most excited to share it with Mirabelle and Mayanna.

We met up with friends from college who also have kids our kids' ages, so everyone had a buddy. We squeezed our visit in before both of the older kids turned three, key because they are free until then!



Wednesday was a great day to go since it wasn't very crowded. We arrived at opening (10am) and managed to hit Peter Pan, Dumbo, the Carousel twice, and Pinocchio before 11:30. This was a different type of visit since we were focusing on little kid rides. We managed to hit rides I can't remember the last time I've been on. Like the Casey Jr. train, that was a good one! I though it was just going to be a regular, flat train ride, but we went up and down, sometimes fairly quickly, through tunnels, over bumps. It was quite a ride. I think the kids' favorites were the Tiki Room, Autopia, the Nemo Submarine, and the Teacups. Oh, and the carousels. Kids like carousels.

We ventured over into CA Adventure, since our friends had never been. They had some good Bugs' Life-themed rides, and a good, though sometimes scary, 3D show. One thing we all noticed is there's often a scary component in the rides, so we each were having to talk the kids through the frightening parts. It's not that hard to make things less scary, except for the fact some of the rides move so fast we felt like we were speed talking the whole time. Here, imagine this really, really, fast:

"Did you know boats can fly? well, just magical ones with pixie dust I guess, I see a dog over there and wheee! now we're going out the window, oh, it's dark because it's night, see the stars and there's the moon and more stars and did you see Chloe? she's right over there in that other flying boat now look down there there's cars driving and a tall bridge and a funny big clock and now there's a big island see the mountain and the waterfalls and little teepees and the tiny boat and look at the indian princess, do you think she's going swimming? do you see the funny crocodile and oh boy, there's a big boat and we're flying right through it in our boat and quick, there's Tinkerbell but she's really really tiny, look there! no there! over there! see up high? and there's that funny crocodile again isn't he silly? ooo, look mermaids over there, mermaids are people with fish tails instead of legs and our boat is flying back to the beginning and we're done! See? We made it! It was fun!"

Okay, I may have over-talked that one but it was our first ride of the day. It was also really fast. I don't remember it being that short. And a lot of black-light usage. But still cool. By the way, I love that you can find videos of all the rides on YouTube. It's awesome. Relive the memories.

So we didn't go on Small World (closed for maintenance), or to Toontown, or Pirates, or Jungle Cruise, or the Treehouse, or Tom Sawyer's Island, or the new Rocket Blaster ride or the Space Rockets, which are all things I'd like to do next time with them. The park closed at 8, so we really only had 10 hours, and 3 of them were spent in CA Adventure. I'd love to spend two or three days down there next time, so we could really relax, take in a few shows, hit a few more rides, and play a bit more. We'll have to see, Disneyland tires Mark out. Though he did say he had way more fun than he thought watching the girls have so much fun.

Oh! One of the best things was we met Mickey and Minnie and Mirabelle was so excited to meet them! She wanted to give them hugs and kisses and shake their hands and it was so darling. I wondered if she would be scared of them, but I guess not. We also saw a glimpse of Tinkerbell (her favorite), and she commented that she was so big! Ha!

One of the coolest things we did was take the older kids on The Matterhorn! Did you know you only have to be 34" tall to ride it? So we all buckled in and bobsleded around the mountain. We did have to talk them through the dark parts, and the scary snowman parts, and Mirabelle kept asking "Is this a ride for little girls?" so we had to point out anyone slightly young on the ride, but they did enjoy it. That was the only "big" ride we went on all day.

I think the girls earned their ears, don't you?

There have been some great changes at the house lately. We've finished the office floors, so there's a place to put all the boxes and furniture that were piled downstairs and in the girls' room. Mark almost entirely finished the cork floor in December, but realized the floor wasn't level enough and took it all up, leveled the floor, and then laid it in again. Even added baseboards. Sweet!



We didn't get new furniture for it yet, I just got a couple of folding tables at Target to set up a desk, and we moved our two large storage cabinets down there.



Of course, it's not organized at all, I still have to go through everything, which is why there's stuff everywhere in the photos. I'm going to put some art and shelves on the the walls. Jazz it up a bit. But look! My sewing machine is just out! So I could use it at the drop of a hat! Or the rip of a seam.

Next we installed the sinks in our upstairs bathroom. This doubled our sinkage! We finally got around to paying someone to cut the marble, then Mark (with Mirabelle helping) attached the sinks. I helped with the install.



It worked out pretty well, except we lifted (heaved) it up to set it in place and found that the holes in the plywood it rests on weren't big enough for the sinks. So we had to set it down again, cut, and lift it back into place. Let's just say marble is heavy. Especially with two sinks attached.

Finally, (and maybe the best thing?) we got rid of our giant trash pile!



It's been around forever, and we were getting so tired of living with it. Though it is fun to throw trash off your front deck. But having no trash is way better.



Now we're not the scourge of the neighborhood. Yay!

photos from 2001 on

entries from 2005 to 2009

very very old webpages

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Cousins together for a cookie-decorating party!

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Lots of candy, lots of cookies.

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More decorating.

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Watching the master at work.

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Ta-da!

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Mayanna and her cookie.

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A friend on a hike.

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Hi!

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Standing on a table in the middle of the lake.

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More standing.

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Walking on the bridge.

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It's Ann and Chuck!

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Cousins.

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Kids in the sand.

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Looking at their sand angels.

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Adventuring.

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Sliding down the dunes.

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And jumping!

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Lindsey!

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Krista!

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Drew!

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Mark!

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Having to hike back up the sand. Ulg.

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Mark and Mira taking the plunge.

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Anne and Chuck.

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Joel and Krista.

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Sandy rest.

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Corralling the kids.

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Ready to go down again?

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Heading back to the boardwalk.

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But May won't leave the sand.

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Come here, please!

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But, no.

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Finally we make it to the beach.

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Lindsey and Travis with a football.

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And without a football.

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The family photo that didn't happen.

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Snacking and a show in the afternoon.

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Clark, Mirabelle, and Drew before goodbyes!

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Appetizers on the deck.

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It was a lovely day!

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May getting her snack.

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Getting the food ready!

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A boy and his dog.

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Getting the food!

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Marsha and Erin enjoying the grub.

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The other end of the table.

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The other end of the other table!

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Food!

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And more food!

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Yummers.

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Linds and Travis.

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The birthday girl getting her gear ready.

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We're ready for cupcakes!

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Yes, we are!

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Crazy family photo.

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Whoosh!

Thanksgiving10-019
Can you tell Mira really wanted to blow out the candles too?

Thanksgiving10-020
Happy Birthday!

Thanksgiving10-021
The birthday girl enjoying her cake.

Thanksgiving10-022
A whirlwind of presents!

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Waiting for the train. So exciting!

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And so loud!

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May and I on the very very back of the very very last train.

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Mirabelle scrunched down to look out the window.

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From outside the window.

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Josh and Ann on the train in front of us.

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Checking out the flowers as we pass.

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Farm and gardens.

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May and I in the train again.

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The three of us (mostly).

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Mira in our train car.

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Kids with straw. They loved throwing it around.

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Red Warty Things!

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Pumpkin on a pumpkin.

Sierras001
Walking down to the pond from our cabin.

Sierras002
Through the weeds and wildflowers.

Sierras003
A frog!

Sierras004
Frog hunters.

Sierras005
Frog in the hand.

Sierras006
Josh, Dave, and Ann. And probably frogs.

Sierras007
Still frog hunting.

Sierras008
A frog, mama!

Sierras009
See? See???

Sierras010
One frog of millions.

Sierras011
They were small.

Sierras012
And plentiful.

Sierras013
Running out to the end of the dock.

Sierras014
More frogs?

Sierras015
Running in the shallows. (Actually, the whole pond was really shallow.)

Sierras016
Ann and Mark lounging.

Sierras017
Dave showing the kids some frogs.

Sierras018
Mayanna's diaper was HUGE from soaking in the water.

Sierras019
So we took it off.

Sierras020
Josh in the flowers.

Sierras021
And then playing in the sand.

Sierras022
The girls swimming with Mark and Dave.

Sierras023
Wheee!

Sierras024
IMG_5321.JPG 2009-07-24

Sierras025
May and Josh.

Sierras026
One on a rock.

Sierras027
The kids "walking."

Sierras028
But mostly they were eating snacks.

Sierras029
Some kids on the big rocks.

Sierras030
More snack hunters.

Sierras031
On a train in Jamestown.

Sierras032
The other side of the train.

Sierras033
The big, big engine.

Sierras034
Dave and Josh.

Sierras035
The whole family.

Sierras036
Our visit with the big engine.

09 Summer001
Mayanna in on the fun of Mirabelle's last dance class.

09 Summer002
Happy Birthday to me!

09 Summer003
My dad brought me cupcakes.

09 Summer004
Yum!

09 Summer005
It's summer! High five!

09 Summer006
A beach trip with a playgroup.

09 Summer007
Getting crafty with beads.

09 Summer008
Fun at the Little Gym.

09 Summer009
Happy Birthday, Arjun!

09 Summer010
Jello jiggler fun.

09 Summer011
Yum!

09 Summer012
Little jiggle.

09 Summer013
Yay!

09 Summer014
Mirabelle and Mayanna love the tunnel.

09 Summer015
Playing with water and goop out on the deck.

09 Summer016
The inflatable pool before it died.

09 Summer017
Mayanna driving.

09 Summer018
Visiting Rinconada pool in Palo Alto with friends, it was a great place!

09 Summer019
Snacks!

09 Summer020
Swim, swim, swim.

09 Summer021
At the Bay Area Discovery Museum.

09 Summer022
Frogs and fish in the creek.

09 Summer023
Artsy sand.

09 Summer024
Mirabelle at the top of the crows' nest.

09 Summer025
And then hauling crab.

09 Summer026
Fish!

09 Summer027
Trying to take a photo of ourselves and the GG with lots of wind.

09 Summer028
Kinda did it!

09 Summer029
At Napa's Scientopia!

09 Summer030
A fun place.

09 Summer031
Paddle boats at Gilroy Gardens!

09 Summer032
Wheee!

09 Summer033
The kids didn't do much paddling.

09 Summer034
To the waterfall!

09 Summer035
And back.

09 Summer036
Then Mirabelle takes us on a drive.

09 Summer037
Vroom!

09 Summer038
Mayanna driving far away.

09 Summer039
Our little coupe.

09 Summer040
Up on the ferris wheel.

09 Summer041
Up, up, up!

09 Summer042
Mayanna's goat.

09 Summer043
The next day she met a lama.

09 Summer044
And Mirabelle found a very big swing.

09 Summer045
Wheee!

09 Summer046
Whooow!

09 Summer047
Yeeeee!

09 Summer048
A more comfy swing.

09 Summer049
The mini swing.

09 Summer050
What is this face?

09 Summer051
Running around like crazy.

09 Summer052
With Tanner and Payton. And the giant flower.

09Coloma001
Ready for a hike.

09Coloma002
At the top!

09Coloma003
The memorial.

09Coloma004
Resting in a spot of shade.

09Coloma005
The group at the top.

09Coloma006
A squished frog! Being eaten by yellowjackets!

09Coloma007
Ewww!

09Coloma008
May and Mark at the cemetery.

09Coloma009
The ditch.

09Coloma010
It was so cool!

09Coloma011
Old church.

09Coloma012
Mirabelle took this picture.

09Coloma013
And this one.

09Coloma014
Mirabelle got tired of walking.

09Coloma015
Mountain lion!

09Coloma016
Fox!

09Coloma017
Rowr!

09Coloma018
Broken bucket.

09Coloma019
But still fun.

09Coloma020
Fun in the river.

09Coloma021
Whee!

09Coloma022
Lots of reading.

09Coloma023
And relaxing.

09Coloma024
And boats.

09Coloma025
In Grandpa's boat.

09Coloma026
Row, row, row...

09Coloma027
Lindsey stuck with the frog.

09Coloma028
I was there too.

09Coloma029
Relaxing still.

09Coloma030
gently down the stream.

09Coloma031
Hi!

09Coloma032
Mirabelle under her tiny umbrella.

09Coloma033
Yep, just enjoying the shade.

09Coloma034
And ping pong!

09Coloma035
And ice cream!

09Coloma036
A fancy fountain in the parking lot.

09Coloma037
Songs around the "campfire."

09Coloma038
Back in the river again with a clear plastic tube. Apparently the best toy ever.

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Mirabelle's Birthday001
Wake up!

Mirabelle's Birthday002
Mickey pancakes, yum!

Mirabelle's Birthday003
Even Mayanna is happy.

Mirabelle's Birthday004
Birthday breakfast.

Mirabelle's Birthday005
Balloons!

Mirabelle's Birthday006
Presents!

Mirabelle's Birthday007
Group shot.

Mirabelle's Birthday008
A mermaid card! Because they're cool!

Mirabelle's Birthday009
Opening presents...

Mirabelle's Birthday010
more...

Mirabelle's Birthday011
more...

Mirabelle's Birthday012
more...

Mirabelle's Birthday013
She's getting good!

Mirabelle's Birthday014
Yay, Mickey!

Mirabelle's Birthday015
Mayanna got a Minnie, just to be fair.

Mirabelle's Birthday016
Mirabelle's new sleeping bag.

Mirabelle's Birthday017
One girl sleeping.

Mirabelle's Birthday018
Swimming lessons that day.

Mirabelle's Birthday019
Swish!

Mirabelle's Birthday020
Splash!

Mirabelle's Birthday021
Riding the train.

Mirabelle's Birthday022
Balls!

Mirabelle's Birthday023
More balls!

Mirabelle's Birthday024
Up in the net.

Mirabelle's Birthday025
Climbing around all over.

Mirabelle's Birthday026
Whee!

Mirabelle's Birthday027
Mini ball pit!

Mirabelle's Birthday028
Action shot.

Mirabelle's Birthday029
The balls were a hit.

Mirabelle's Birthday030
Trying to find a slide, probably.

Mirabelle's Birthday031
Eating pizza.

Mirabelle's Birthday032
Birthday pizza.

Mirabelle's Birthday033
The popcorn game, her favorite.

Mirabelle's Birthday034
Woot!

Mirabelle's Birthday035
Turning in tickets.

Mirabelle's Birthday036
The prizes!

Mirabelle's Birthday037
Driving another car.

Mirabelle's Birthday038
More balls. It was hard to get a good picture.

Mirabelle's Birthday039
Birthday dinner.

Mirabelle's Birthday040
#3 cookies.

Mirabelle's Birthday041
3!

Mirabelle's Birthday042
Hip hip hooray!

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IMG_0351.JPG 2004-12-30

IMG_0355.JPG
IMG_0355.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0358.JPG
IMG_0358.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0360.JPG
IMG_0360.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0362.JPG
IMG_0362.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0364.JPG
IMG_0364.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0367.JPG
IMG_0367.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0368.JPG
IMG_0368.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0370.JPG
IMG_0370.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0372.JPG
IMG_0372.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0373.JPG
IMG_0373.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0375.JPG
IMG_0375.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0381.JPG
IMG_0381.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0384.JPG
IMG_0384.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0393.JPG
IMG_0393.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0396.JPG
IMG_0396.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0402.JPG
IMG_0402.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0403.JPG
IMG_0403.JPG 2005-01-01

IMG_0407.JPG
IMG_0407.JPG 2005-01-02

IMG_0408.JPG
IMG_0408.JPG 2005-01-02

IMG_0410.JPG
IMG_0410.JPG 2005-01-02

IMG_0411.JPG
IMG_0411.JPG 2005-01-02

IMG_0414.JPG
IMG_0414.JPG 2005-01-02

IMG_0421.JPG
IMG_0421.JPG 2005-01-03

IMG_0423.JPG
IMG_0423.JPG 2005-01-03

IMG_0424.JPG
IMG_0424.JPG 2005-01-03

IMG_0426.JPG
IMG_0426.JPG 2005-01-03

IMG_0428.JPG
IMG_0428.JPG 2005-01-03

IMG_0435.JPG
IMG_0435.JPG 2005-01-03

IMG_0436.JPG
IMG_0436.JPG 2005-01-03

IMG_0437.JPG
IMG_0437.JPG 2005-01-03

IMG_0443.JPG
IMG_0443.JPG 2005-01-03

IMG_0446.JPG
IMG_0446.JPG 2005-01-03

IMG_0447.JPG
IMG_0447.JPG 2005-01-03

IMG_0450.JPG
IMG_0450.JPG 2005-01-03

IMG_0474.JPG
IMG_0474.JPG 2005-01-04

IMG_0476.JPG
IMG_0476.JPG 2005-01-04

IMG_0477.JPG
IMG_0477.JPG 2005-01-04

IMG_0478.JPG
IMG_0478.JPG 2005-01-04

IMG_0481.JPG
IMG_0481.JPG 2005-01-04

IMG_0490.JPG
IMG_0490.JPG 2005-01-05

IMG_0491.JPG
IMG_0491.JPG 2005-01-05

IMG_0492.JPG
IMG_0492.JPG 2005-01-05

IMG_0494.JPG
IMG_0494.JPG 2005-01-05

IMG_0495.JPG
IMG_0495.JPG 2005-01-05

IMG_0496.JPG
IMG_0496.JPG 2005-01-05

IMG_0504.JPG
IMG_0504.JPG 2005-01-05

IMG_0505.JPG
IMG_0505.JPG 2005-01-05

IMG_0506.JPG
IMG_0506.JPG 2005-01-05

IMG_0508.JPG
IMG_0508.JPG 2005-01-05

IMG_0512.JPG
IMG_0512.JPG 2005-01-05

IMG_0514.JPG
IMG_0514.JPG 2005-01-05

IMG_0517.JPG
IMG_0517.JPG 2005-01-06

IMG_0518.JPG
IMG_0518.JPG 2005-01-06

IMG_0523.JPG
IMG_0523.JPG 2005-01-06

IMG_0524.JPG
IMG_0524.JPG 2005-01-06

IMG_0526.JPG
IMG_0526.JPG 2005-01-06

IMG_0528.JPG
IMG_0528.JPG 2005-01-06

IMG_0531.JPG
IMG_0531.JPG 2005-01-06

IMG_0533.JPG
IMG_0533.JPG 2005-01-06

IMG_0536.JPG
IMG_0536.JPG 2005-01-06

IMG_0538.JPG
IMG_0538.JPG 2005-01-06

IMG_0540.JPG
IMG_0540.JPG 2005-01-07

IMG_0541.JPG
IMG_0541.JPG 2005-01-07

STA_0221.JPG
STA_0221.JPG 2004-12-24

STA_0224.JPG
STA_0224.JPG 2004-12-24

STB_0225.JPG
STB_0225.JPG 2004-12-24

STF_0229.JPG
STF_0229.JPG 2004-12-24

STE_0228.JPG
STE_0228.JPG 2004-12-24

IMG_0214.JPG
IMG_0214.JPG 2004-12-24

IMG_0211.JPG
IMG_0211.JPG 2004-12-24

IMG_0213.JPG
IMG_0213.JPG 2004-12-24

IMG_0212.JPG
IMG_0212.JPG 2004-12-24

IMG_0215.JPG
IMG_0215.JPG 2004-12-24

IMG_0216.JPG
IMG_0216.JPG 2004-12-24

IMG_0235.JPG
IMG_0235.JPG 2004-12-24

IMG_0236.JPG
IMG_0236.JPG 2004-12-24

IMG_0238.JPG
IMG_0238.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0239.JPG
IMG_0239.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0240.JPG
IMG_0240.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0241.JPG
IMG_0241.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0242.JPG
IMG_0242.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0243.JPG
IMG_0243.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0244.JPG
IMG_0244.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0247.JPG
IMG_0247.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0248.JPG
IMG_0248.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0249.JPG
IMG_0249.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0250.JPG
IMG_0250.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0252.JPG
IMG_0252.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0262.JPG
IMG_0262.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0263.JPG
IMG_0263.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0266.JPG
IMG_0266.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0265.JPG
IMG_0265.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0267.JPG
IMG_0267.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0268.JPG
IMG_0268.JPG 2004-12-25

IMG_0270.JPG
IMG_0270.JPG 2004-12-25