power bar = juice

Mo comes into the room with the iPad.

"Mama can you plug this in?  It only has nine juices left, and it's red."

getting exposed

to Queen.

Watched a couple Queen videos with the girls tonight.

KT:  Is that a girl singing?

Mo:  Their hair is poofy.

KT:  That one looks like Sally Ride.

Mo:  He wears weird clothes.

KT:  He's really sweaty.  He looks like daddy after basketball.

Mo:  I think he just bit the microphone!

funny how they sometimes chose to be

themselves for Halloween sometimes.

Mo is constantly pretending to be a cat, and has in real life, quite a few cat-like traits.

Kaitlyn not quite a surfer yet, is an avid boogie boarder and lover of all things water.

Both made it exceptionally easy for me this year.

Hey, even moms get luck sometimes.

kamping

The vast majority of our friends camp.

We do not.

While this has been a non-issue for most of my life, kids -- shockingly -- have made this a complication, as all they want to do is "go camping like their friends."

Thank goodness for cabins.  Or, should I say kabins as the clever marketing people at the KOA have branded them.

This fall break I took the kids down to San Diego with some friends.

To say the kabins were a hit is an understatement.  A place where bunk beds are only trumped by

a porch swing.

Let me reiterate.  I. do. not. camp.  We own no camping gear.  I came armed with an electric kettle (the kabin had an electrical outlet).  It's amazing how much you can make with hot water -- cup o noodles, instant mac n cheese, coffee, need I go on?

We spent one of the days at Sea World.

(that's how the gangsters roll with one polka dotted legging up, right?)

After all that kamping, we had to stop at Fin's on the drive back.  I mean mommy earned that -- being all by myself!

Happy fall break!

the baby goes to real school now

She's a Kindergartener.

My baby is a Kindergartener, how did that happen?

While it's only for a couple of hours, I miss her in the mornings.  She's my 'lil sidekick.

sigh.

the hills/car/bathroom/backyard are alive

You know how Maria in the Sound of Music can't help but sing even though she's not supposed to sing as a wanna-be future nun?

That's kinda like KT (minus the nun-to-be part).  She's always singing.

self-portrait with her iPod

This summer she was belting out Adele in the car with her earbuds on a long road trip.  It was so fantastic, but we had to stop ourselves from laughing out loud because she would be none. too. happy.

there's no business like it

Mo had her first tap show last month.  

And, she loved it.

Yes, the costumes were to the nines.

Yes, there were two full dress rehearsals.

Yes, it was an almost three-hour show.

But, man were they cute.  

because #10 is the playmaker that's why

fools rush in

Upon waking up on April Fool's Day KT asked me, "How many jokes are you going to play today?!"

I attempted to tell her that you generally don't say, "I'm going to surprise you" before you surprise someone.

I got a blank stare in return.

It's always interesting to see what they think is most funny.  For example, they thought this was funny.

It opened a discussion on how Mo wishes Snoopy were a girl, that KT wasn't really like Charlie Brown, etc.

Mo thought this however, was hilarious:

KT has been obsessed with getting an allowance lately.  We've talked about agreeing on chores, and that Mom and Dad would need to have some discussions before anything is finalized.  

This morning I told her that we had finally agreed on the list.

This was her face as she got further down the list. 

(Photos are a little grainy, because she understands that when I get the camera out, there is going to be a April Fool's joke, so I had to be sly with my camera phone.)

This was her when we shouted "April Fool's!" at her. 

I switched their drawers around when they were sleeping, and put some "ha ha ha" notes in the toilet paper.

When they came out of their room in the morning they found this line to the bathroom.

I told Mo, "I'm sorry you're going to have to wait in line."

Mo replied, "But I have to go SUPER bad!"

After she cut in line and used the toilet I heard her say, "Okay Pluto, it's your turn."

For breakfast I put food dye in their cups and had them pour their milk own (I do this a lot anyway, because they think it's a blast).

KT laughed and understood what was going on pretty quick.

Mo was a bit more taken aback.

She didn't understand how it was working, she kept looking at the white milk in the creamer, and then back down at her orange juice-looking milk.

I flipped a bunch of pictures upside down in the house, and I also glued eyeballs on just about everything I could.  Mo got a kick out of this.

For snack, I put pudding in their cups to look like milk and placed eyeballs on top of the pudding.

Maybe next year we'll get a little "meaner," but for this year we just had fun.  Did you do anything fun with your kids?

did you know

there are back-to-back holidays next week?

KT informed me of this.

Not to leave you in suspense, but those two holidays are of course... Easter and April Fool's Day.

As you might guess April Fool's Day ranks pretty high up there, garnering the coveted "holiday" status in our household.

Ever since KT was four, I've been playing little pranks on April 1 to her delight.

See what I've done in the past... 2010; 2011; 2012

The bad thing:  I'm running out of ideas that are 1) easy to do; and 2) fun-spirited.

I have a handful on my "list" for this year.

If you're looking for ideas, check here, here, here and here for starters.  I've found Pinterest has been a great resource too.

Here's to making little ones smile on Monday!

spring

KT has informed me that all seasons begin on the 22nd of a month.  While I have yet to investigate the truth in this statement by my 7-year old, one this is for sure -- spring is coming, and we are starting to see a little more life in the garden.

The columbine and hydrangea leaves are gaining strength daily, and the lavender is making a big push right now.

One of my all-time favorites is in bloom right now.  I just love the heady smell of jasmine.  I planted our vine about 16 months ago, and it is blooming beautifully right now.

Time to get those zinnias in the ground!

1977

That's when Tom Petty released the song "American Girl."

KT covered last night in her school talent show, and while it seemed to play a little more to the grown ups in the crowd, I think she did great (but I am her mom).

It was so dark I wasn't able to video it -- we are getting a video later apparently.

In the meantime, here she is at the dress rehearsal.  KT singing Tom Petty's "American Girl" on her uke...


Note:  YouTube has different screen dimensions than what I recorded it in, and I have no idea how to compensate for that, so excuse her head getting cut off from time to time!

mo rides

We've been trying to convince Mo to take off her training wheels for awhile now.  Her balance on the razor scooter has been good for some time, so we thought she could do it.

Last week she did it!

Love the outfit she pulled together for the momentous occasion.

Oh, the days of this.

And, a little video from the second day when she really got the hang of it.

leo carillo = lots of stuff to see

I have to admit,  we don't venture toward Los Angeles too often.  Mostly because, well, there are a lot of people when you head south.

Our friends convinced us to meet them at Leo Carillo Beach for low tide and I have to say.  I'm glad we went.

My kids are very satisfied with playing in the sand and just like being in the water.  My friend's kids like to do stuff.   And, this beach has lots of stuff to do.

There were the tide pools.

Caves to play in.

Because what's better than playing in a cave?

Playing in sand in a cave, or course.

And, there were tons of rocks to climb on.

The only drawback was that you can only wade in the water.  You can't really swim or boogie board as there are too many rocks.  

But, all in all another great beach.  

Thanks friends!