Family Pictures

Today we go for our annual family pictures, which is something that Penelope and I enjoy but Bryan and Griffin participate in solely to make me happy.

I thought I'd go back and look at the last few years of pictures before today, and they made me cry, so I decided to make a post out of it.

But before that, quick updates. I'm 23 weeks pregnant, 118 days to go. Everything still looks good. Penny had her 1st Kinder parent/teacher conference and she's doing really well (on track in some areas, above grade level in others - everything assessed in Spanish). She's bossy and popular (she only gets one of those from me and apparently none of those from Bryan - or so he says). She's writing sentences in Spanish (unprompted) and is reading at a 1 grade level in Spanish (4th grade in English). She loves math and is quite good at it. She's still taking piano and still loves it.

She wants to be an astronaut or a jungle scientist, depending on the day - but she's very much into science and art and loves Harry Potter (we're in the middle of Goblet of Fire).

Griffin doesn't get p/t conferences in preschool, but we did get to chat with his teacher and he is doing well in school. He talks in both Spanish and English in class, often responding in English to a teacher's questions in Spanish. He's always singing Spanish songs at home and exclusively names his colors in Spanish. He, more so than Penny, is excited for the baby and he often talks to or "hugs" the baby. He wants to help me do *everything* - he insists on helping me put on my shoes so I don't have to bend over. He helps me cook, he helps Bryan with dishes, he helps sort socks for laundry.

The kids are only about a pound apart in weight. Sis is tall and slender (like her daddy) and Bubs is tall and solid. He's strong and can quite easily overpower his sister.

Work is fine - just got back from taking 7 girls to Washington DC for a student journalism conference. That was a trip (in all the ways that phrase implies). It's been almost a week since we got back and I'm still recovering. But it was fun - for all of us - and I'm glad we went.

Ok, so pictures. I don't have all the years scanned in, so maybe I'll revisit this in a few days and add in the ones I scan.

2009: Penelope's 1st birthday and I'm 20-something weeks pregnant with Griffin

Also, one of just Sissy because it's adorable

2010: In my parent's backyard, not professional. We did end up going to JC Penny later, but I can't find those (probably because I hid them because I hate the way I look in these, but whatever. I had birthed two children in as many years)

2011: At a park in Sacramento, Griffin's 1st birthday pics.

Also, one of the kids together and one of Bubba separately, because they're fricking adorable.

And then one of my brother teaching Penelope how to blow a dandelion because it's also totes adorbs.

2012: I don't have digitally, will have to try and scan.
2013: Griffin's 3rd birthday, on the beach in the Aptos area

2014: That's today! 2015 pics will be after baby is born.

I love seeing how much bigger they get each year. Also, my husband is HOT (and apparently doesn't age).  ;)

Beach Day!

Today, after making muffins, coloring, and playing trains, we headed out to my parent's house in Aptos to introduce Judit to the Pacific. It was a beautiful day - mid 70s, sunny, with a bit of a wind. I had the camera again, I'm still trying to get the hang of it, and I think I got some great pictures. Of course, I took close to 300 for about 4 really good ones. I've heard that's not unusual. I tried my hand at the telephoto lens, and that was tricky. It never wanted to focus on what I wanted it to focus on.

Here are some of my favorites.

Covered in sand

Running from the waves with grandpa

Oh no! Waves!

Waiting for the waves with granny

Bubby with great-grandma

Sissy & granny waiting for the waves

It was a fun day. And my goodness, I love this camera!

Born to Dance

I often wonder what my children will be like, what they will do, and how they will act as adults. Usually my day-dream adult children are rock-stars or baseball players, but in reality, Bryan and I would be completely content with financially independent children who don't live in our basement and have college educations.

However it would not surprise me if Penelope ended up as a ballerina and Griffin decided that he was going to make a living as an edgy street-dancer (provided he was financially independent and not living in our basement) because they both seem born to dance. Although if I'm being completely honest, perhaps ballerina isn't the right word for Penelope's dance style - she's more like Elaine from "Seinfeld" than Prima Ballerina in Nutcracker. She did invent a dance of her own, called the "P.A.C." (if you've seen Nemo a million times then you know where that came from) and it's a combination of pseudo karate moves and the Can-Can.

One day I will stop laughing long enough to take a video. It's cute. It's adorable. It's also hilarious.

You know what else is funny? A break-dancing 2 year old. Especially one in knickers, suspenders, and a bow-tie.

I really wish I had video of last night. I know one is out there, there were videographers & photographers at the wedding - so somewhere there is evidence of my children's dance-related wedding antics. And so hopefully one day I will get my hands on said evidence and be able to share it with you so we can all be amused at my children's unique interpretation of "dancing".

They had fun. A lot of fun. And Griffin kept his suspenders on all night. They danced with just about everyone brave enough to share the dance floor with them, and gave everyone they met on the way out a hug goodnight.

They also made a new friend - Tigist, who was the flower girl and is about a year older than Poe. The three of them had a wonderful time together. In fact, Penelope and Tigis got married a few time this weekend, the first time was at the rehearsal dinner. Plus the two of them adopted a "baby" (i.e. a doll) so now Bryan and I are proud grandparents.

And let me say this - being a grandparent is oodles easier than being a parent. Especially if said grandchild is made of plastic.

It was really a wonderful long weekend, minor tantrum at Security in San Jose aside. Tomorrow is the plane trip home, so hopefully it will be uneventful.

It was nice to see B's family - it's been about a year since we've seen most of them (6-ish months since we've seen his Dad & stepmom) & longer for some. The kids really enjoyed spending time with their cousins - it's so cliche (but so true) that they're all growing up so fast. I remember when Gadge was Penny's age and now he's in the 3rd grade. Crazy. We often wish we lived closer, but - while I love my inlaws - you couldn't pay me to live in Wyoming. I hate snow. And gusty wind.

This has been a rambly post, hasn't it? But hey, at least it's a post. Since school has started it's been hard to fine the time & energy to blog.

....and the Bubs is up from his nap. Time to sign off.

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Today, on a lark (can you tell I've been watching too much Dr. Who?), we decided to take the kids to the Beach Boardwalk, which is arguably one of the most famous places in the Monterey Bay Peninsula. I haven't been since high school (I think?) and Bryan's only been once. They have some kid friendly rides and it was supposed to be a nice, warm-ish day, so we thought it would be a nice change of pace. I'm getting rather tired of the Aquarium - all the kids want to do is play in their fun-for-kids-but-boring-for-grownups area.

Anyway, it was the kids' first time at an amusement park and on "roller coasters". Following are a TON of videos of the kids (and us) on rides. Some of them are long (3 mins) but most are shorter. I honestly don't expect anyone other than my parents and Bryan's parents to watch them all. But in case you do, here you go. Underneath is a short blurb on each so you can decide which of the videos you'd like to see :)


Length: 3:42
Penelope on her very first ride!


Length: 2 minutes
This is G's first ride - we're on racecars that swing you wildly on the turns. It's Poe's second ride, and she has become quite adventurous. She's on it alone, G had to ride with me since he was a smidge too short to go solo and not nearly as brave. I had a hard time getting into this one. My legs are too long for kiddie rides...


Length: 3:25
G's second ride, P's 3rd. We went on this one as a family since both kids needed a "chaperone". It goes forward & backward, which did a number on B's stomach. The video is shaky, but considering that our videographer was on the ride, it can be forgiven :) Penelope had a BLAST. Griffin had a ok time... she says some pretty cute things.


Length: 3 minutes
Penelope on the Dragon Ride. Griffin wanted to go, but not with Poe and not alone and not with me or B, so he didn't go.... and threw a fit. It was close to naptime and he was being wishy-washy about rides.


Length: 21 seconds
G & I on the Pepsi caravan ride. He did NOT want to go on this ride, but had a good time after the initial tantrum...


Length: 2:16
Squishy on the boat ride!


Length: 46 seconds
Griffin on his only solo ride of the day!

All in all it was a fun, albeit exhausting, day. Next year we might invest in season passes...

Beach, Bubba, and BUGS

One of my very few New Years Resolutions was to go to the beach at least once a month.

Check.

Lately we've been there every other week if not more often. May and June have been pretty stellar weather-wise and we've been broke (ah, I love teaching), so the beach has been a fun & free way to kill an afternoon.

This weekend was particularly beautiful so we packed up the kids & the dog and headed over to our favorite spot for a few hours. There's a stretch of the beach that's off-leash, so the kids AND the dog can run around and tire themselves out enough to nap well - HQ adores the beach, and so do the kids. Sometimes it's hard to tell who loves it the most...

This visit was especially fun, in part because Griffin has become obsessed with bugs.

Like all beaches, Asilomar is "infested" with lots of creepy-crawly sand insects. Usually the extent of our interaction is watching them burrow out of our sand castles, but this visit we went on a big hunt.


He spent most of his time looking intently at the sand for various sand bugs. Of course, as soon as he'd find one he'd let out a shriek of combined excitement and fear. He is both terrified and exicted by the sand bugs...


Looking for bugs with daddy

Of course, he also did some building...







And we all did some running...





At one point I was chasing the kids around with a shovel full of sand, threatening to get them with "a bug!" They shrieked every time I got close and ran as fast as they could away from what Poe called "that gross bug." It was rather amusing...

And did you know that Bryan and I have a 13 year old?



Sometimes I forget that she's only 3 1/2... she's looks much more like a pre-schooler in this one:



She's really getting too big too fast - what happened to my babies?!? Her first dance recital is in 2 weeks. I'm sure it will be hilariously adorable. Video will be posted as soon as I get it.

Refreshed

This weekend was truly wonderful - for a lot of reasons, mostly though it was because we were able to spend so much time together as a family. Last weekend we were still so busy unpacking, the weekend before was the move, and prior to that I was working at HLC at least day each weekend so we only had one day during the weekend to be all together. Bryan's been swamped too, so he's been spending as much time as possible working. This weekend, while he and I both did a little bit of work (him more than me), we spent a lot of time doing fun (and free!) family activities.

But before I get into the weekend (with pictures!) I wanted to talk about daycare. Friday was the kids' first day in daycare and it went really, really well. Stephanie said they were great and Poe had such a good time that she didn't want to leave. She actually asked me twice this weekend to go play at Stephanie's house, so I think daycare is a hit. I'm sure both kids will have days when they don't want to go, but we've found a good fit I think. This week will be their full week in daycare and I don't really foresee any problems. So that's nice.

On to the weekend!

Friday night after picking the kids up we headed back to campus for the Freshman mixer. I saw a lot of my students, met a parent, and the kids got to play with some other teacher/admin toddlers. My principal has a daughter a month younger than Poe (and a baby boy that's due any day) and the activities director has a daughter the same age as the principal's daughter. The girls seemed to have a really good time together. Penelope was wearing her Princess crown, so one of the little girls kept calling her Princess... as in "hey Princess! Come here Princess!" So cute.

Saturday G and I woke up early and took a mommy/son trip to Seaside for teacher appreciation day at Staples. It was nice to spend some time with him one on one and I think he enjoyed it as well. Afterward B and I talked about the beach or the Aquarium, but decided to get a small start on the backyard. Our backyard is basically an L shaped dirt run. Not super wide, but not super narrow. Semi divided in two. All dirt.

Since we live in the "salad bowl" I decided that I'd really like to start a garden. We're not planning on being in this place for years, but I know almost nothing about gardening and so am considering this my starter garden. When we own a place out here a few years down the line then my experiences with this garden will help me design my permanent garden.

So we picked a spot and got to digging. The plot will end up being 13' x 6' - so not huge, but decent sized. We got rid of all the top soil (like my handy dandy gardening for dummies website suggested) and did a bit of tilling. It took a little while to get the soil removed so we didn't till it all. We'll probably rent a small roto tiller in a couple of weeks and get the rest done. We're also considering putting sod on one side of the yard so we have a place to come out and sit/play, but I don't want to get too ambitious.

After lunch and naps we unpacked the office (finally). We also did an early dinner/bath so we could all watch a movie together downstairs. It was a nice homebody day. At one point Bryan took Penny for a bike ride and I took Griffin and the dog for a walk, but in general we stayed at home and just enjoyed being together.

Sunday we were more ambitious. The beach topped our list, followed by shopping, lunch, naps, a bike ride to the grocery store, dinner, the park, and finally baths and bed. Here's some beach pictures.










Ok, so this picture has to be explained... Griffin was digging trenches with his head. Yes, you read that right. I have no idea why. I have some video, will upload it later



So yeah, we had fun. Penelope was all about running up and down the beach. She ran with Harley and I for awhile and then ran for a long stretch with Bryan and Harley - that child loves to run. She also loves the beach, who can blame her?

Griffin and I buried each others feet and I made sand castles that he knocked over. He was all about immersing himself in the sand.

Neither child was brave enough to put their toes in the ocean :) I was! And Harley, of course, she loves the beach more than all of us combined.

I wish I had more pictures of the park, but we were too busy having fun. The kids spent some time in the swings, I swung... we played tag as a family, we climbed on the playground equipment. The park itself is small, but I LOVE having a park less than 2 blocks away. The library is also super close, less than a block. And I bike to school, it's only 1.5 blocks away. Love.

We did some light grocery shopping as well, just enough to fit in the back of the bike trailer. It is wonderful that I can take the kids to the grocery store on my bike. It is amazing that I can go days without getting into a car.

I do wish our daycare provider lived a little closer so I could ride my bike, but alas she does not. She's on the other side of town and while I could technically ride my bike, parts of that ride are just not safe for cyclists. Oh well. Even with that daily ride, we haven't had to put gas in the car since 8/5, which is a record for us.

Tomorrow starts the first full week of school and I feel ready. I still have some planning to do for the week and a few copies to make in the morning, but I feel rejuvenated and ready to tackle my 6th period... I thought 6th period last year was an anomaly of energetic and... challenging kids, but apparently that's just 6th period. My group this year is a level up from last year's group (and I mean a level up in challenge). Things should get even more interesting when they shuffle schedules around after this next round of placement testing (long story). But I'm ready for them. Bring it on LAD B!