Dirty little secret

Superheros watch TV.

H20

Gotta love when watering the garden turns into this...
and later this...

Waiting for Papa

The days are getting warmer and longer.

This means we get to sit outside to wait for Papa to come home from work.

We pick leaves and grass. We run around on the sidewalk. Sometimes we bust out the chalk.

Katie can't wait until Maddie gets old enough to play hide and seek with her.

Until then...
she'll play with puppy -- who's not a half bad hider...

Solamente chalk

Today we headed out to the
i madonnari event.

I'm always so amazed by things like this in part because I am so not artistic or crafty.

It's simply amazing to see what people can do with mere chalk.

We ran into our friends Ellie, Lara and baby Luca which was a pleasant surprise.

This lady offered the girls to help color in some petals down towards the bottom of her picture.

I don't think she realized that 3-year olds don't exactly color within the lines. I apologized for the scribbling and she said it was okay and that she would "fix it later after we left."

There were chalk renditions of a number of famous paintings including those by Diego Rivera, Michelangelo and Edvard Munch, but this was Katie's favorite by far...

The cuisine was very non-fair like and consisted of roasted chicken plates, calamari, pasta, gelato and cappuccino.

No pretzels, cotton candy, hot dogs or churros (a.k.a. Katie food) here. I had told Katie we'd get a treat and I was getting a bit worried.

I finally found a little ice cream cart hiding out. The only ice cream they had that wasn't coffee-flavored or Cherry Garcia was this ginormous cone. Katie was quite pleased.

Guess who

went to see Sesame Street on stage today...

$7.75

This small sum gets us the kid's meal at the Beach Grill at Padaro. It includes milk and a pizza big enough for Katie and I to split. Then, we give our crust to Maddie.

Win. Win. Win.

When we go we always spend multiple hours there.

Katie has always loved the huge sand pit they have there. And, today we discovered that Maddie was pretty keen on it too.

She didn't eat too much sand. I only caught her once on all fours (yes, like a dog) licking the sand.

Only steps from the beach, the other big draw is the fact that the train goes right past the place and super close.

Big fun.

Ugly Ducks, Rides & Polliwogs

Busy weekend.

We started by going to the other local high school's spring musical Honk which was the story of the Ugly Duckling.





Later, the girl begged to go to the Strawberry Festival solely because she wanted to go on rides.

Like her father, she is also a sucker for fair food.


The combo of the two ended up winning them over.

She is just so happy on those rides. It's hard to deny the girl.





On Sunday we ventured out on Mission Pollilwog.

We started the hike late in the afternoon but it was still quite toasty out there.

When we finally hit the water, Katie took a little dip with Auntie Jayne.

Until we spotted this guy in the rocks.

Papa collected some polliwogs.

Then, we headed back.

So, the idea is to let the kids watch them turn into frogs, then we'll hike back out where we found them and let them go.

We've been doing our homework, but any additional tips on raising tadpoles is much appreciated!

Dancing, dancing, dancing machine

This week we went to the Steve & Greg show/concert (thanks for the tickets Carrie!).

I keep calling them Greg and Ted out of habit (some old friends).

Katie corrects me every time, "No Mama, dem Steve and Greg."

Katie danced her derriere off at show.

I know lots of kids love dancing, but when it's your own kid it never ceases to crack you up.

She's got a couple of Classic Katie moves:

-- Elbows out rocking back and forth

-- Fingers pointing in the air

-- The chicken dance

All of them incorporate jumping and spinning. Because if you aren't spinning, you aren't really dancing...

Alone Time

I found myself with a couple of hours and no children on Friday. I was so giddy I didn't know what to do with myself.

Do I clean my floor? Do I mow the lawn? Do I nap?

In the end, I went antiquing.

Let me caveat this by saying, I'm not a real antique shopper. I just like looking at things.

I ended up buying two little metallic trays. I had Maddie's room in mind which is green and yellow (maybe I'll snap some shots of it someday). This first one works perfectly and we now have it on her dresser with her lotion and hand cleaner on it.

This second one will be finding a home in the girls' kitchen.


I had thought about getting a massage, but I'm really glad I didn't. I spent way less money, and am very pleased with my little finds.

$4 -- metallic tray

$3 -- metallic tray

$4.75 -- an incredibly rich ham & cheese croissant at the bakery

------------

one wonderful little outing

Her Partner in Crime

On Mother's Day we got a little performance by the girls.

And,

...yes, those are leotards over their dresses/pants,

...yes, those are tights over their leotards,

...yes, those are sandals over their tights,

...yes, that is the "Daisy" song from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and finally,

...yes, that is Maddie raising the roof in the background because she enjoys the show that much.

Into the Belly of the Beast

Los Angeles, The Pros

Museums, diversity - economic and cultural, world-class music and theatre, ethic food, extended family.

Los Angeles, The Cons
Smog, people, people and more people all equating to too many cars, and the ultimate deterrent -- traffic.

Every parent fears being stuck in traffic with two small children. In L.A. I feel as if this is a daily, if not hourly risk regardless of the day of the week or time.

Today after a relentless drive -- where we hit traffic on the 101, 134, 5 and 10 freeways -- we finally made it to a dinner.

Dinner -- real Chinese food in Monterey Park -- was good. It was nice to see everyone. We tried to get a picture with all the little ones in the family.

This was the best one we took -- and, yes, presently we all have girls.

Mommies & Kiddos Day at the Beach

Today was a great day to live in a beach town.

I love that you can wake up in the morning and decide, "it feels warm today, we should go to the beach."

Sure, Little Wickies + sand = a ton of mess and work for mom, but it is always well worth it.

Here is Parker and Katie -- sand-free and dry -- ready to start the day at the beach.

I just loved how Katie and Fin would sit, shoulder to shoulder, and wait for waves to come to them so they could fill their buckets.

Madeleine and Georgia started off like babies should be at the beach, their delicate skin covered with hats, sunglasses and other such appropriate garb.

But soon after they got into the mix and became little sand monsters just like the rest of them.

Today was the first day we ventured to the beach without Papa.

The moms -- three of us -- were severely outnumbered today, but I think we did pretty good.

I love this picture of Laura posing here as Supermom with all of our kids -- all six of them.