Riddle's Dictionary

par·ent·hood 

[pair-uhnt-hood] n.: a state of perpetual sleep deprivation

Grandpa Tweet Turns 98!

She Does NOT Like Being Alone

With her two older siblings off to school, Emily has the privilege of hanging out with me. All. by. herself.

She hates it!

The first day, she had two tantrums and ended up crying in my lap for half an hour. She put her face in her hands and moped around.

She misses her sissies and it shows.

In other exciting news, Emily is going to have surgery on Friday to get those pesky adenoids out. It's been a long time coming.

She got her hair did.

Oh, and she's added some more new words. In fact, this evening, she said an entire phrase: "in eyes, mama" meaning the sun was in her eyes. Usually, she just starts yelling to get my attention. This was a huge change for her (and us). She's also saying, "eat, in, dog, of, thank you (this was pretty garbled before)".

And, she says prayer. I say one word, she repeats. She actually enunciates really well. The amazing part is that for kids like her, imitating is how they learn to make the proper mouth shapes for words. You actually have to say to them, "lips only, no tongue" and have them mimic the shape you show with your mouth. During prayer, however, she faces away from me and her eyes are closed. To say the words with correctness, without sight, is a real feat - even miracle if I do say so myself.

That is all.

I'm a Little Learner!

Addison started her academic career today. We've been talking about preschool, practicing preschool manners and anticipating preschool for a few weeks. Addie was SO excited to start school.

Rearing to go!

And then, we got to school. Can you see the hesitancy in her step?

Poor Addison! She kept telling me, "I want you!" I knew she would talk a good game and then melt under the pressure when it all became reality. I gave her a big kiss and her awesome teachers distracted her while I made a break for the exit. 

When I picked her up, she was all smiles again. She talked a blue streak about how great preschool was and how she can't wait to go back again. 

This Is a First

As in 1st grade! 

I take this lame picture in front of the door every year so the change in her height is actually noticeable. 

Little sisters providing moral support.

Daddy leading the fray.

This year, she has a big girl desk. 

Ready! 

A new chapter for this girl! We all know it's going to be a great year!

Summer Wrap-Up

Summer break has officially ended. School has started, once again. I'm happy to say that this year we had a great summer.

We stayed really busy and tried to get out of the house as much as possible.

Some of our travels included:

Fairyland in Oakland. We locked the outlaws up in the jail.

Sailed the high seas. Aye matey!

Walked in the fairy garden with Grandpa Bob.

Froze a little. Yeah, in the middle of summer even.

Fairy princesses trying to stay warm.

Reunion with long time friends. I was there the day her "baby" came home from the hospital. Now, she's 14 and helped give my babies swim lessons. 

Had a girls' day on the wharf in San Francisco.

Made one last pilgrimage to the beach. This time Daddy came along.

We dug caves.

And went on walks.

And rolled on our tummies in the sand.

Tested the water. Never did make it all the way in, though.

We made a sand castle.

Sang about the foolish man who built his house upon the sand.

Learned about the tides as we watched our sand castle get washed away.

All that's left is the driftwood bridge.

Contemplated life's mysteries.

And spent all day swimming, of course.

We went to the Jelly Belly Factory with our friends. 

Addison was SO happy that day. She hated the hat.

Emily finally warmed up to her hat. Geesh, who'd a thought a hat would cause such problems with the 3 and under crowd?

Happy Gavin.

Grandpa Bob.

Then, Grandpa Tweet (my 98 year old Grandpa who is also a shriner and gets special tickets every year) took us to the circus. 

The animals are ready for the performance!

Hoola Hoops.

The famous elephant (s).

This one happens to be an artist.

And we learned the "dragon" dance.

With temps in triple digits all week long, we are ready to say goodbye to summer!

This was the first summer that went by almost too quickly for us. It took some planning and doing and wasn't entirely perfect, but overall we walked away with good feelings. More over, I think we made some great memories as a family.

Until next year...

By Small and Simple Things

Ok. The backyard is no small or simple task. But, the rest of the house only needs a few finishing touches to come together. 

We decided to add a privacy screen in the front to help hid the ugly trash cans.

It'll wrap all the way around, but you get the gist.

And, I got Allen a citrus tree. He's been talking about planting one forever, so I got him this clementine as a present. 

See. Ugliness hidden.

Awww. Cute little tree. 

Lest we forget the hired help.

We tried to explain it would work better if she turned it around.

Then, we got some grasses to spruce up the side yard. Before there was just a bunch of junk that had been planted by the contractor guy.

Hodge-podge yuckiness.

Ahhhh. Serene grasses. We planted these in NM and they were gorgeous within months. 

And they will create a natural fence.

Hydrangeas. Just 'cause I love them so.

And, we planted a couple of pumpkins. Gonna carve our own this year. 

A little here, and a little there, and this place will start feel like home, right?