A Jolly Holiday

My baby is 4.

(Insert sobs and sniffles and sighs here.)

(Seriously. How has it been four years already?)

So today we celebrated our big grown-up girl with a supercalifragilistic Mary Poppins party.


Mary Poppins herself made a surprise visit.



Here she is with her good friend, Bert.



Fortunately, Janie was there too and had a great time eating cake, opening gifts, playing with the Grandmas and the Grandpas and Aunt Susan, and just generally being the star of the show.

Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

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There's a party in my tummy

I recently discovered the recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Cake.

These are two of my most favorite foods - but I'm not sure how they would taste together.

Awesome? Or awesomely bad?

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Honey Bee

In Phase-Two-O-Halloween-Fun, my little Honey Bee & I joined Rob at church for the faux-halloween festivities.

There was lots of candy, fun prizes, crafts, popcorn (score!) and the highlight of the day.... pony rides!! I wish I knew how to include a video - Janie was loving it!

Here are my two most favorite people - Honey Bee Jane & Train Conductor Rob.

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Halloween Princess

This morning was Phase-One-O-Halloween-Fun & we hit a cute little downtown area to trick-or-treat at all of the stores.

Halloween Princess was ready to go in her fabulously fancy skirt & t-shirt from Grandma. She practiced saying 'trick-or-treat' all the way there. (And I practiced reminding her to say thank you.)

As we walked down the street, she kept saying "When do I get to say it again? I want to say trick-or-treat again!" Seriously, she doesn't even like most of the candy - she just want to say the magic words & get something fun to put in her bucket. Although at the end of the morning, she discovered that she loves lollipops - especially the ones that turn her tongue blue!

I appreciated the stores that gave away crayons & bubbles & playdough & books. (Really - there was a store giving away used children's books - brilliant!) My favorites were the stores that used the event as a marketing opportunity for all the moms & gave away samples of fun shampoos and skin care products. Woohoo!

Now we're taking a break to come down from the lollipop-induced-sugar-high before we get dressed up in costume #2 & head out to the big faux-halloween event at church.

Seems like the perfect time for mom to raid the pink candy bucket!!

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Guess who loves her new Cubbies vest???

At one point during the night, all the kiddos were doing a little move-like-the-animals dance number. After the song, there was a brief moment of quiet.

Janie filled the silence with a loud voice, saying "Great job little Cubbies!"

Admittedly, I'm a little biased. But I thought is was pretty much the cutest thing ever.

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Me in 1972

Check out yearbook yourself to see how you would look through the decades.

It's weird how much I look like my mom in this picture.

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Vacation Adventures

Today we celebrated the half-way point of Rob's vacation with a super-fun trip to Marine World. (Yeah - I know, it has a new name now - but it will always be Marine World to me!)

Side note: While we were there today, everything kept looking familiar. Weird. Then Rob & I finally remembered that we had visited this place on a date! When we got home, we found pictures in an old scrapbook and saw that we were a couple of baby-faced, super-skinny kids - maybe 20 years old. I wish I had a scanner so I could show you the skinny-ness!

As I've mentioned before - Janie is a thrill seeker and loves the rides. We tackled Thomas Town and lots of other kiddo rides throughout the park. Her favorite - the spinning teacups! And honestly, it kind of gave me a headache - how old am I??!

We also managed to catch a few shows - the killer whale and the dolphins - which were amazing and fun to see through her eyes. Also: the shows are shady - so double bonus points. :-)

Some photo highlights:









And my most favorite picture....

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Twelve

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Family toes

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Clownin' around

For the last couple of weeks, Janie has been enjoying her new art class at the community center. (Thanks Grandma!)

Here she is showing off her creations from circus week:



She has a blast with all the cool, messy art supplies. And I've been inspired to find new artsy stuff for us to do at home. Our latest adventure: glue!

P.S. I edited this photo at picnik.com - a really fun site with lots of cool tools and effects. One of my favorite effects is 1960s - so fun!

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Riding the rails

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Just because she's so darn cute...

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Mill Street Mamas

Last week, Janie and I took a little road trip to my favorite place in the world - the central California coast - to visit some of my favorite people in the world - my college roommates!



You know what I love? Even though its been forever since we've seen each other, we when do get together its like no time has passed at all.

On Wednesday night we all met at Happy's house for a BBQ. All the kiddos and a couple of husbands were there for the fun.









We spent Thursday at Avila beach. It was sunny and sandy and wonderful. But you'll just have to take my word for it - we were having so much fun that I forgot to pull out my camera!

Thursday night we headed to downtown SLO for some girl time. We enjoyed watching all the people at Farmer's Market and some yummy food.



I love these gals!

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Put me in the zoo

One morning last week, Janie and I were feeling spontaneous and decided to visit the zoo. It was lots of fun!

The zoo we normally like to visit has had a little problem lately with tigers escaping and killing people, so we opted to try some place new.

Highlights:

- Elephants! They were graceful and gorgeous and not nearly as ginormous as I expected them to be.

- Bears! There was one little bear who spent all day walking around and around in a circle. I actually felt a little bad for the bear, but Janie thought this was the most hilarious thing and laughed loudly and then louder still.

- Carnival rides! Directly adjacent to the zoo is a small carnival & ride area with a carousel, roller coaster and several of those little rides with cars and trucks that go around and around and around. It was at the zoo that Janie discovered a deep and profound love for the around and around car rides. She did her loud happy laugh, followed by lots of exclamations.... "Woohoo! I'm driving! Look at me!"

Lowlights:

- Getting lost. Twice. Sigh.

- Hills. I almost wore my new summer shoes for our zoo adventure and I was so glad that I decided against it.

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Churchy stuff

For all you closet Psalty lovers out there, please check out this funny, funny video here.

Saddleback Church was holding a conference for worship leaders and played this video right before Psalty came out to lead everyone in a song!! How fun!

And if you've been going to church for forever, then you'll love reading Stuff Christians Like.

Some of my favorites.... Prayer scoring guide, bulletin art, greeting people around you, and (for all of you who went to church back in the hymnal days) singing the 1st & 3rd verses of hymns.

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New faves

Here are some new (to me) products that I am loving right now...

Mentha Lip Tint
Silky, shiny gloss with a hint of color and a double dose of peppermint flavor.

(I think they might also have wintergreen flavor - but whatever. That's for weirdos.)

I can't help but smile when I put it on - it's so tingly & refreshing. Plus, it also makes me feel fresh-breathy.

Skin Milk
Purchasing a lotion-type product is a challenge for me. A much bigger challenge than it should be, really.

Regular old lotion just doesn't cut it. After a couple of hours, my skin feels parched and like I'd never applied lotion at all. So I've discovered that using a body cream or butter is the way to go. It's heavier, it lasts longer, my skin feels softer and I just generally love it.

However, I'm a bit of a Scrooge McDuck and it was killing me (and my budget) to fork over serious $$$ for the good stuff. I stumbled upon my new fave while checking out my new fave place to shop.

At $5, it's a skin care bargain! Plus it has a yummy, yet totally mild scent - which is perfect. My hunky husband has a very sensitive sniffer and strong smelling lotions make him feel gaggy - which is not the desired response when snuggling up next to him on the sofa.

So, gentle reader, what about you? Have you discovered any can't-live-without-it products recently? I'd love to hear about them.

Especially if it gives me an excuse, I mean... a reason to head back here.

Which, not coincidentally, is right next door to here. Which is where I found the most adorable summer shoes. Which I would totally post a picture of, if only I could find a picture of them anywhere on the entire world wide web.

(I'm realizing now that I probably could have just taken a picture of the shoes myself rather than spending 30 minutes looking on a bazillion websites trying to find this elusive photo.)

Oh well. Imagine your favorite shoes here:

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Sheesh!

Ever have a day when you drop a lot of stuff? Not in a metaphorical or spiritual sense - but in an actual, physical, butter-fingery sense.

It's not so surprising, really. I mean, I do have quite a klutzy history. But today seems messier than most.

So far this morning I have...

- spilled water all over the kitchen trying to fill up Janie's water bottle.

- run over my own toe with a shopping cart. Ouch. Plus it ruined the at-home pedicure I gave myself last night. (Janie offered to kiss it and make it better - but I thought it would look weird for my child to be kissing my foot in the middle of the grocery store.)

- dropped a container of alfredo sauce while putting away groceries. It broke. And it was a big mess.

- pulled a pan out of the cupboard to make mac & cheese for lunch. The lid fell off the pan. It dropped into the bowl of cat food in the corner. Cat food and bowl pieces flew around the kitchen. It was another big mess.

That's it for now. But it is, after all, only 1:00 in the afternoon. There's still plenty of time for me to break something else! To protect my carpet, I'll be using my grown-up sippy-cup for the rest of the day!

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Four things

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. For most of my teenage years I was a professional babysitter
2. I eventually moved up to jewelery salesperson at a local department store
3. My perfect summer job during college was Quality Control clerk at a local cannery
4. And my most favorite job of all - full-time mama

Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. Pride & Prejudice - the way long A&E version
2. Sliding Doors
3. Anne of Green Gables
4. Elizabeth

Four places I have lived:
1. Valparaiso, Indiana
2. Glenview, Illinois
3. San Luis Obispo, California - my most favorite place to be in the whole wide world
4. Modesto, California - home of several national scandals

Four TV shows that I watch:
1. Mad Men - my new, most favorite show
2. Friday Night Lights - if you're not watching this show, you really should
3. Assorted reality shows - The Amazing Race, Project Runway, Top Chef, etc.
4. The Closer

Four places I have been:
1. Maui, Hawaii
2. Tijuana, Mexico
3. Pismo Beach, California
4. Catalina Island, California

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Carbs - all types
2. Sparkling apple cider
3. Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate
4. Zucchini squash- I'm suddenly very into this delicious vegetable

Four things I am looking forward to this summer:
1. Vacation with hubs & kiddo
2. Hanging with my college roomies at the beach
3. Getting a flip flop tan
4. After dinner walks around the lake

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The good stuff

Recently, during a play group, one of the other moms started singing a song that took me right back to 1982 (give or take a few years).

If you were part of a children's program in any church in the 80's - then you'll recognize these lyrics...

Have patience, have patience
Don't be in such a hurry
When you get impatient
You only start to worry
Remember, remember
That God is patient, too
And think of all the
Times when others
Have to wait for you

You may even have memories of some poor volunteer dressed up like a big blue hymnal named Psalty.

Well, after hearing my friend singing this childhood favorite, I couldn't get the song out of my head! I had to find it! It was no where to be found on iTunes, but I did track down a copy of the CD on sale for $3.



It arrived today and we listened to it during dinner. It was every bit as fabulous as I remember. I admit that some parts and a little goofy - and I'm not a fan of listening to the dialogue from the acting part of the musical between the songs.

But each song brought back memories. It's really amazing, that 25 (or so) years later, I can still remember the words to almost every song.

Which makes me think, of course, about what Janie is busy memorizing and I'm wondering if knowing the words to the Little Einsteins theme song is going to help her make good spiritual choices as a young adult.

I don't know if Janie will ever be in a musical with a giant blue hymnal, but I do know that I want to be more intentional about filling up her mind with the good stuff.

It's hard, because so much of Christian children's entertainment is either ridiculously lame or really annoying or sometimes both. So if anyone (all three of you who read this blog) have any good ideas about CDs and DVDs of the non-lame, non-annoying variety, please let me know!

In the meantime, I'm off to search the web for more childhood churchy memories (that have been transfered from audio cassette to CD) to share with my kiddo!

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Overheard

Rob:
"Janie, what do you think? Should we have a new baby in our house? Would you like a new baby brother or sister?"

Jane:
"No. No babies. No brothers. No sisters. Just Jane."

*Disclosure: Nope, not pregnant.

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My favorite job

The other morning I had to go into the office for a meeting. Thankfully, Rob was able to work out his schedule so that he could be with Janie while I was participating in actual-office-y stuff for an hour.

Side note: I quit working full time when Janie was born, and at the time I wondered if I would miss being a Working Woman with my little cubicle and dressy shoes and lunch meetings and big projects.

As I walked up those long stairs toward my old office today, I saw a couple of folks scurrying about with that all-too-familiar freaked-out I've-got-a-huge-deadline look in their eyes. And I realized...

I. don't. miss. this. at. all.

Well, I miss the paychecks. But all the politics and stress and the inflated sense of urgency about every little thing... I can say with certainty that I'm happy to be in my new line of work.

Anyway.

After my meeting, I headed over to one of Rob and Janie's favorite hang out spots - Chuck E Cheese. I found them having snack and enjoying the stage show.

Soon Janie was showing me all of her new gaming skills and running from ride to ride to show me all of her favorites.

She completely schooled me at the water gun game.

And stuck a pose with her buddy Chuck.

As I followed her around with our little cup full of tokens, she had a bright smile and kept up a steady stream of commentary.

And I realized, not for the first time, that when I quit that office job for my new mommy job, I was trading up.

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Can I get an amen?

This morning, I happened to attend one of the later services at our church. Normally, I'm at the 9:00 service. But Janie slept late and I didn't feel like waking her up because she's been a little sick for the last couple of days and I figured she needed the sleep. So we had a bit of a lazy morning and made it in time for the 10:45 service.

It was during this service that I experienced the funniest church moment of all my 33 years of church attendance.

The pastor was continuing in his series about the fruits of the spirit. Today's fruit: patience.

One of his main points was that the opposite of patience is anger. He spent a lot of time talking about the havoc we create when anger goes unchecked and some steps to take to deal with and overcome anger.

But he did pause to point out that sometimes anger is a good thing and gave examples of righteous anger from the Bible. Then to bring the point home, he mentioned a local political action committee that was working with the city to correct something happening in our public libraries.

Pastor: "Did you know that our local libraries do not have p*rn filters on their computers?"

Man in church (very loudly): "Yes! Amen!" Clap, clap, clap, clap. "Thank you Jesus!" More clapping.

Everyone else in church: Awkward silence.

Pastor: "Umm, actually... they don't have the filters yet."

Man: "Oh. Uh. I thought you said..."

Everyone else in church: Hysterical, tears-in-your-eyes laughter for several minutes.

Man's wife: "If the rapture could happen right now that would be great." (I don't know if she really said - I'm just guessing on that part.)

After a minute or two, we all managed to quiet down and the pastor was able to continue his sermon.

At the very end of the service, the man ran up to stand next to the pastor and asked if he could say a few words.

Man: "I'm really proud of the political action committee. They do really great work. And I also think it's really important to have filters on the library computers. And really I just want to say that the committee is doing a great job. And the library is really great and I hope that they do get filters. I mean, I just want to support..."

Pastor: "Thank you sir. You're a good sport. It was an honest mistake."

Everyone else in church: Clapping and laughing.

Pastor (with a big grin): "Friends, this is why you should always listen very carefully to what your pastor is saying."

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Future WNBA Superstar!

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Cool stuff

Fun things I've discovered this week...

1. If you happen to be receiving a refund from the IRS, you can track the status of your refund here. Yeah! Ours just arrived!

And while you're at the IRS website, you can also calculate the amount of your rebate and figure out when it will arrive.

2. Instead of trying to read all those grocery store ads, visit MyGroceryDeals to see all the great deals in one place.

3. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I discovered these little bits of delicious yummy-ness and they are my new chocolate addiction.

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Stop, train, stop!

Stop, train, stop!
as read by Janie.

Warning: if you are the grandparent of this little "reader", then you will find the following video completely adorable. For everyone else, watch at your own risk! :-)

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Wedding weekend!

Janie and I had the joy of spending the weekend celebrating my bother Jon's wedding! Here are some highlights...

Staying a Grandma & Grandpa's house and letting them spoil us silly


Practicing walking on the pretty stone step pathway




All dressed up on the big day




While walking down the aisle, Janie told herself over and over "Go, Jane, go!" and "You can do it Janie!" When she finally reached Grandma at the end, she said (quite loudly) "Yeah! I did it!"


The wedding party


Hanging out with mom


Striking a pose with Uncle Ross


Whew. Being a princess is exhausting!


Congratulations Jon!

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