Valentine's Day

Here's video of our stud at the neighborhood Valentine's Day Dance. Both the kids had a blast, but Kess really showed off his stuff. He's little daddy for sure. Mark was dancing in front of him and Kess was mimicking his every move (only with more rhythm).

That's not a cartoon..

It's Saturday morning. Makena turned up at about 7:30, just like she's done the last 3 morning. Usually she gets up well after 8:00. Anyway, we've been limiting the amount of TV she watches because it's become a bit of an obsession for her. The fabulous DVR invention means she can watch her favorite show, Little Einsteins, over and over again. She'd watch it for hours if we let her.

Since she's up so early and we've limited the amount of TV she watches during the week, Mark and I agreed to let her in on the Saturday morning cartoon watching ritual!! So Mark started looking for a good one. He found Calliou. After watching it for a few mintues Makena said to Mark, "This is not a cartoon." Mark explained to her that it was. Just as she always does when Mark tells her something she doesn't buy, she looked at me and said, "Mom, this isn't a cartoon." I told her it was; she continued to disagree. I asked, "If it's not a cartoon, then what is it?". She said, "I don't know, but it doesn't have any cars in it."

Some people should not be responsible for others...

The kids and I went to the supermarket yesterday. (I could say that nearly any day of the week and it would still be accurate. Safeway should charge us rent.) Anyway, we went because I didn’t have anything for dinner and Mark needed a prescription filled.

So, I loaded the kids up in a car cart, the awful, awful car cart. Kess started pulling Makena’s hair almost immediately and a skirmish began. They continued for a bit until I finally decided to put Kessler in the top of the cart near me. He was still none too happy but we continued to look for the items on the list I never created.

At one point I realized that Kessler had nabbed something.. It’s a pastry decorating pen. I realized he had it but didn’t realize he been chewing on its cardboard container. I couldn’t put it back on the shelf in its altered condition, so I chucked it in the cart. (every home needs a $10 pastry decorating pen, don’t they?)

Kessler remained in his funk despite his high fiber snack so I put him in the cart with the rest of the groceries hoping that would occupy him for just a few more minutes. It worked well enough. I was so happy to finally arrive at the register. Kessler helped me unload the cart and I started to look for my wallet. It wasn’t in my purse!! But I knew I had it earlier. I told the cashier my dilemma and asked if I could run to the car to check for it there. She was extremely sweet and understanding. So, I left the groceries on the belt and started running—while pushing the car cart. Now, I wasn’t breaking any records, but I was definitely hurrying. Imagine my surprise when I tried to maintain my speed as I reached the threshold of the automatic doors and the car cart stopped--cold. Kessler toppled over in the cart and I knocked the wind out of myself.

The cart would not budge. What the hell??! Someone behind me said “It’s the magnets.. you can’t leave.” To this I astutely said, “huh?!?!” and continued to push the cart. Now, I’m not sure what came over me.. but I made the decision that, so help me, this cart was going to go through that door. Like a mad woman, I grunted and pushed and pushed and grunted… the cart inched forward. “I’m almost there” I thought. “Just a little more!” I silently cheered myself on. In my mind I was supposed to cross the threshold and feel the magnets loosen their grip as I finally escaped the invisible hold of the doors. Only, that didn’t happen. Once the front of the cart crossed the threshold it became attached to the metal rail just outside. It was all I could do to push the back end of the cart around so that I could squeeze my way through the door and around the cart.

Once I did I grabbed the kids (and Kessler’s shoes) and schlepped them to the car. I threw the shoes and my purse inside and grabbed my wallet and schlepped the kids back inside to the register. My stuff was no longer on the belt when I returned. Before my head had a chance to explode the cashier told me she had it all and to come ahead. I briefly explained what had happened and she told me that if the cart doesn’t come through the checkout lane that will happen!! No way!!!

I had to put both kids down so that I could get my ATM card from my wallet. As soon as I did Kessler took off running and Makena followed. I quickly swiped the card and chased them down. I hoisted each of them onto a hip and headed back to the register. As I scurried back I twisted my ankle nearly dropping both kids. I limped back to the register where I gladly accepted the offer of “help to your car, ma’am?” Hell yes. Thank you. Needless to say I could not get home fast enough.

Now, today was gymnastics day. For some reason I woke up this morning feeling undeservingly confident. I decided that after gymnastics I would take the kids to Chili’s for lunch. Kessler was not a happy camper while we watched Makena in her class. There was no doubt in my mind that our lunch plans should be cancelled. But, again, something came over me. I decided that we were going to go to Chili’s for lunch (period). So, we did.

Kessler started throwing anything within arm’s reach. The staff was amazing. Before the stuff hit the ground they were over to pick it up. Our waiter brought out each item as soon as it was ready so that we could get started. Kessler (and I) definitely appreciated this. He settled down as soon as he started to eat. The waiter also brought our check with the food—he explained that he didn’t want me to have to wait on him, but no rush. Again, this was greatly appreciated. I decided it was an excellent idea and grabbled my purse.

Do you remember yesterday… how I threw my purse and Kessler’s shoes in the car—then retrieved my wallet? Well, when I returned to the car I didn’t put the wallet back in my purse. Lucky enough the kids were angels for the rest of lunch so I had plenty of time to ponder how I managed to let this happen twice in as many days. Finally, I worked up the nerve to tell him. He, just like the cashier, was so extremely nice and understanding.

I made the walk of shame to the car with kids in tow.. again. I paid the bill with a large tip. Thank goodness because the waiter had to chase me out of the restaurant to return Kessler’s sippy cup. I strapped the kids in the car and yes, I put my wallet in my purse.

When I pulled in the garage at home Makena said, “Mommy!! We made it home after all!” Even she doubts my competence!

I had better blog..

There have been events that are blogworthy but I'm finding that since I have no more business stuff to do, I'm never in the office. And since I'm never in the office, I'm never at my desktop. And, since I'm never at my desktop I don't blog! I do use my laptop all the time, but all the cables/cameras and such are in the office! Quite a quandary, eh?

In a parallel quandary, our point and shoot camera no longer shoots. So, we bought a replacement yesterday--a Canon 880SI. I LOVE this camera. Anyway, unlike the older camera, it has a memory card that I can insert into my laptop to download the photos. Easy Peazy!

So, I'm hoping the solution to quandary two, will alleviate quandary one as well and I'll be back to blogging at more frequent intervals.

With that being said—let me show off my new camera!!

Return from my hiatus..

I haven't blogged in a while--as I tend to do more often than I'd like.

There are two immediate reasons why I needed to blog. The first and most important is to congratulate Julie, Ken and Phoebe on the new addition to their family--Ruby Grace! She was born on Janurary 2nd. She doesn't understand it yet, but she is a very lucky girl to have such a wonderful family to look after her.



I can't wait to meet her!

My second reason is to tell a funny story...

We were sitting at the kitchen table last night. I glanced up at the digital display on the oven to see what time it was. It said 5 .41. It was well past 5:41 and the time was displayed in the wrong format. My first thought was that it's some error code and I'll end up having to call a repair the next day. So, I forgot about it and moved on.

Have I mentioned that Kessler likes to press buttons? Kind of like how his dad likes to press my buttons.. only Kessler likes to press ALL buttons. Well, this morning at about 2:00 a.m. I was awakened by a loud beeping noise. "Beep........ Beep....... Beep..." I laid in denial for a few seconds. Then I tried to will the sound away. Finally I decided I better check it out. As I descended the stairs I could tell the beeping was coming from the kitchen.. the oven, in fact. I finally recognized that the beeping was the timer. Yes, Kessler in his button pushing frenzy, had set the timer on the oven. It never ceases to amaze me how many different ways I can be woken up in the middle of the night.

At least I didn't have to call a repairman today.

Souffle

Several weeks ago I asked Makena what she wanted for Christmas. She said a bear. A few days later I asked her again and received the same answer, a bear. Not realizing what a bad idea this was, I asked her what color bear. She said purple.

Easy enough, right?

I started my Christmas shopping a few weeks ago. I wasn't stressed about finding a purple bear so that remained at the bottom of my list. Whenever I was in a store that carried stuffed animals I'd take a gander. This occurred a few times before I started to realize purple bears aren't as easy to come by as I originally thought.

This past Sunday I had the babysitter come so that Mark and I could go on a date. Realizing the time was slipping we decided to turn this into a purple bear finding expedition. Seven stores later we were still purple bearless. We did, however, find two. The first of which was a little bear in one of those vending machines with the claw--you know, pay $.50 to watch the claw wrap perfectly around the bounty only to have the tentacles slip off like cooked, wet spaghetti. This was at Toy's R Us and the bear was buried deep beneath a zoo of other animals. :) Mark found the manager who was dealing with his own zoo at the customer service counter. There were at least five customers in line with returns--on a Sunday night at 9:30. We decided to continue on--it was an ugly bear anyway.

The next one we found was at Target--it was a Care Bear though. For some reason, I don't like Care Bears. I don't know why. We bought this one just in case, but letting a purple Care Bear be the result of all of our efforts just didn't sit well with me. Nor did it with Mark.

Yesterday he called me from a store in San Francisco. He was back to bear hunting. He called from store number two, still without bear. I started another online search--we had done many of these but never found a bear worthy of the shipping cost.

That was until I tripped across this site: www.800bear.com. Here, I found Souffle. A beautiful, cuddly, purple bear. Shipping was only 1.5 times as much as the cost of the bear--a bargain compared to other websites. I placed my order which included the words/image for a personalized bib. We Love Makena! In the comments section I asked if it would arrive tomorrow? (please). Within seconds I received an email from Bruce indicating that it would. And, that Souffle is now extinct! We bought the last one!

Mark called to tell me that he was in a store with more purple stuffed animals than he has ever seen in his life. He found another purple care bear, but no real bear. He decided to get a purple racoon and a purple skunk to keep Souffle company.

Souffle arrived about 15 minutes ago--he/she/it is safe and sound waiting in his/her/its box until he/she/it can be placed under the tree with love.

An Older Photo

This photo was taken at Big Sur when Makena was a month shy of two.

It reminds me of the photo that I posted of Kessler and Mark so I thought I'd post it as well.