calamity jane

dream if you can a courtyard, an ocean of violets in bloom

2012-01-23T12:13:00.000-08:00

BREATHE.

just reminding myself. i have been running around like crazy lately...like, up at 4am on a saturday morning to help co-ordinate the school rummage sale in the rain crazy. i am still volunteering A LOT at the kids' school, but it's so hard to say no! and all the other moms are so nice to work with! i am going to try to give myself a little bit of breathing space these next few weeks though, and let my folks take over more with my own kids, because i am getting overwhelmed...and i need to focus on my most important task of the moment - sky's health.

in december, we took our super-smart, sweet, funny (and extremely hyper, unfocused, sometimes uncontrollably enraged, sometimes severely tummy-troubled) 10yr old to a specialist - an awesome doc who specializes in natural practices and progressive treatments with kids who are autistic/asperger-esque - and did a full range of testing. here's a summation of the results we got back so far (many of which we already knew):

- HIGH allergy to dairy (even goat milk)
- moderate allergy to eggs (this one we didn't know)
- moderate allergy to gluten, wheat, spelt
- genetic deficiency that is causing his little liver to not eliminate toxins the way it should
- low potassium, low b12, possible iron deficiency

and unfortunately, he also has to have another test to check for diabetes. he was tested by his pediatrician a few months ago, but this doc is going to do a slightly more intensive test just to be sure, since he does show symptoms of it. she isn't worried about it though, so i am choosing not to be, either. and i freaked out about it enough when he had the last test, so i'm not even 'going there' till we know anything for sure. (prayers concerning this are always welcome, though!)

so...we are going back on the gluten/casein (dairy)-free diet again and eliminating eggs as well. (he was on the gf/cf diet for about 2 years and had good results from it, but we stopped the diet last year because he became SO resistant to it, and at the time we didn't know he had 'actual' allergies, just thought he was sensitive to things and would maybe outgrow it.) he is also going to take some folate and other supplements recommended by the doc, and maybe some other therapies will be included down the line once we have the full results.

we are hoping just the combo of supplements/dietary changes will help his overall behavior to land more in the 'normal' range. we already limit dairy and gluten with him, but going to the NONE AT ALL diet again will be a little tough, since he is literally the pickiest kid i know and he is VERY resistant to change! but ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

from barbarian to decadence, without civilization in between.

2012-01-12T08:56:00.001-08:00

craftin' placemats with the boys on a winter's day:
i'm in house spruce-up mode around here. i recently bought these chia'sso wall flowers to try to cute-n up this teeny tiny hideous box of a kitchen...
and am using a bunch of sweet little trays to wrangle my countertop items:we also shopped our garage and found these old floating shelves to put up in the dining room:
i've also been working on the playroom and boys' room, and hopefully by the end of this month i will be able to show some progress pictures of our bedroom!

you could be king, charlie brown! if only you weren't so wishy-washy.

2012-01-12T08:54:00.000-08:00

when malissa came to visit, she brought the boys some fun little trinkets. sharkey had a blast running the beach with this finger kite.

2012-01-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

chronicling my Christmas vacation tummy troubles (urgent care! intense pain!) over at the butter...good times...

life is like learning a violin in public

2012-01-08T19:35:00.000-08:00

tide poolin' on a winter's day...
it's funny that there are super nature-y tide pools on one side of the beach, but the view from the other side is this:
also beautiful, but i prefer the tides...
sharkey is just like me, a little goat clambering barefoot over the rocks.
unlike sky, who takes a more, let's say, cautious approach:i think he still had fun, though.um...what are you guys all looking at?
these guys?
OH. this.

you've got a cheshire cat grin all blurring into one

2012-01-08T19:34:00.000-08:00

so pants surprised me. again.

this time he went over the top - he and my good friend malissa secretly schemed for her to fly out here from chicago to surprise me! i was soooo shocked! pants had made up this big ole' story about one of his guy friends having to come stay for a night (he told me that so the house would be clean and i wouldn't freak out about that), but then instead, in walked malissa! i had absolutely no clue, even though he's flown her out here before as a surprise (for my 30th bday, years ago).

anyway, she and i had sooo much fun this weekend - hanging out downtown, scouring world market, and drinking lots of coffee while talking, talking, talking. oh, and now i am officially addicted to pinterest, thanks to her!

a walk on the pier. (i swear, we did not color co-ordinate on purpose!)
hmm...i think the beach life agrees with my sweet friend...a picture of malissa...taking a picture... we also went tide poolin' down in laguna...and of course we had to have breakfast outside (in january!) at our very own sugar shack here in downtown hb:
we miss you already, malissa!!

because of their size, parents may be difficult to discipline properly.

2011-12-25T15:53:00.000-08:00

i decided it's just not worth the trouble to put the kiddos drawings up on a whole separate blog, so i will just try to contain my motherly pride and pare down the number of drawing pictures i put on this blog.

of course, i can't resist posting this Christmas picture by sky. i was impressed by his shadowing!

there's no such thing as an atheist in a fox hole.

2011-12-25T14:04:00.001-08:00

so...sky had a birthday party in early december, but i'm just getting around to posting about it now, oops! anyway, it was a 'halo'-themed party (halo is a futuristic army-themed video game), and all the boys were SO into it! most of the kids came wearing army gear and bearing nerf guns:
they had a grand time running all over the place shooting each other. pants was also a HUGE help, lining up targets for the boys to shoot and manning water balloon duty.
um, i think this cat thought the party was for him. he was so happy to run with the big boys.
ok, for the cake, i totally phoned it in. because of time and the fact that i am NOT a cake decorator! but the boys loved it, though - probably because of the halo guy on top!
we didn't decorate much, mainly just the table and a few balloons by the door.
although sky did insist we hang this up as part of the decorations. it has something to do with halo, but i have no idea what:
goody bags. filled with...candy and a mini nerf gun, of course!
oh, i have to show you this cool gift sky got from my folks. it's a electronic curcuit set. the circuits snap together really easily and you can make things like a working light, fan, siren, or whatever. of course, sky was off and doing his own configurations without the directions about ten seconds after he got the set, the little smarty pants...

those are marshmallow clouds being friendly

2011-12-25T13:47:00.000-08:00

wrapping up december...lunch. in the laundry bin.
backyard chairs, now in the front.
sky's face when i asked him if he likes doing homework:
and these two cats are finally getting along better these days. (i think sharkey was a little mad at pants for being gone a lot the last few months.)

nothing says holidays like a cheese log.

2011-12-25T10:29:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2011!

shark and his new big shark. doing everything together.so...guess which 5yr old got his mom the world's biggest, floppiest hat for Christmas! gotta love it!
poor pants. not that he cared, but his gifties i ordered online didn't come in time, so the boys and i wrapped pictures of the gifts instead. which apparently he thought was hilarious.
sky got some cool loot. my personal favorite is a toss-up between the electric spark scooter and this game:
but don't let these pictures fool you...
sky pretty much spent most of the afternoon with all his beloved new video games. (love that he's wearing the big red hat, ha!)
sharkey's most prized possession was an EZ bake oven - he's been begging for one for months!
pants even surprised me with my own stocking this year - filled to the brim with my three favorite things:and of course we had to uphold the mckay family tradition of breakfast bake on Christmas morn:
our church had their big service last night, so today is pretty much dedicated to chilling out, playing, and munching. it's been a great day so far!

2011-12-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

drawing out my Christmas feelings...

the horse was lean and lank, misfortune seemed his lot

2011-12-22T17:44:00.000-08:00

how is it that i can't even keep up with my own blog?

it's been...slightly crazy here, oh my. between working at the school every day last week, scheduling specialist appointments for sky, and the fact that the last thing i want to do once i get home is hop on an old slow computer that's tucked back in a corner of our un-decorated bedroom...well, no wonder i'm never online.
but...BUT...pants JUST surprised me late last night with an early Christmas gift - a new laptop! i was sooo surprised, oh my gosh. so now i can be connected while chillin' on the couch, which is so much more my style. i'm so excited!

************

so i got the dreaded stomach flu this past weekend, yikes. i have lost 4 pounds since monday, and my stomach is completely wrecked! i will spare you the details. of course i called my mom and of course she knew exactly what i should do, so i'm hoping it's all under control by Christmas...it's been very difficult being so sick and not having any help with two active boys who are off for vacation - and sky especially is SUCH a handful these days. and of course pants is rehearsing/doing church stuff the last few nights and hasn't been able to come home till late. oh, and just to complete my debbie downer paragraph, i just found out that my folks who were supposed to be here for Christmas (they are RV-ing cross-country from michigan to cali) aren't going to be able to make it till after the holiday.

i am slightly overwhelmed.

but also thankful. thankful that the kids didn't get my tummy flu; thankful for my hard-working husband; thankful for sharkey who has the biggest smile in the universe; thankful for sky, the smartest, wittiest kid i've ever known; thankful that my parents' are on their way, even though they are currently driving through some random texas ghost town; thankful for my sweet friends; thankful that God loves me despite all my craziness; thankful for exciting things happening in our future; thankful for my new laptop (!); and so many more things!

2011-11-29T23:11:00.000-08:00

bloggin' all our thanksgiving weekend shenanigans over at my foodie blog!

upon her gingham apron, before she kissed them all

2011-11-23T16:25:00.000-08:00

just taking a moment to have one more cup of coffee and BREATHE before our pals get here tonight to kick off our 3-day thanksgiving extravaganza! i think i got all my kitchen prep done (there is a rundown of what i made today over on my food blog), and sky is finally all better from his 24-hour bug. (on monday night he threw up AT.HIS.FRIEND'S.HOUSE. oh my.)

did i mention the kids have NINE days off for thanksgiving?! what in the world. anyway, i really am thankful for these little cats...have a happy thanksgiving!

a hundred and two pilgrims sailing into plymouth bay

2011-11-22T08:28:00.001-08:00

i just wanted to squeeze in these photos from sharkey's kindergarten feast at school last week! there were over 100 kindergarteners, all decked out in their pilgrim/indian gear...um...who had the biggest hat of all? i thought it was hilarious how close sharkey and this little girl from his class were sitting the whole entire time, even after everyone else was up and playing. sooo cute.

sister susie sitting on a thistle

2011-11-21T12:31:00.000-08:00

me: 'what do you want for Christmas?'
sharkey: 'a box of dolls.'
me: 'dolls?'
sharkey: 'yeah, so i can torture them!'

sigh. boys. in other news, this little cat is now finished with a successful soccer season! (skip over to my food blog to see the soccer-themed cupcakes i made for the team party!)
here is his 'official' picture, where he thinks he's the coolest kid of all time:

we drank a toast to innocence, we drank a toast to time

2011-11-15T20:20:00.000-08:00

random. lots and lots of random.
a conversation from the weekend...

sharkey: 'how did hitler die?'
me: 'i'm not really sure.'
sharkey: 'i think a person assassinated him.'

um, should that word even be in a five-year-old's vocabulary?

anyway. speaking of ages, i turned thirty-six last week. yikes. i did get myself a cute little birthday present:and i've always wanted to try wen, and my sweet sis-in-law just happened to give me a bottle when i was in michigan. (thanks, candie!) i am loving how soft my hair feels now! i think i am finally ready to grow it out again, bangs included, believe it or not...
the last two weeks have been...stressful, to say the least. just a lot of busyness going on coupled with not a lot of sleep. and the trip to the midwest/time change has totally thrown off the kids' sleep schedules, and somehow they are waking at, oh, like 5am (OR EARLIER!), which is killing me, wah!we are trying to get a few things done around the house before thanksgiving comes around. we needed just a little something behind the tv, so i covered some canvasses with this fun fabric i found:
and pants bought the shark his first 'real' tool set. sharkey is BEYOND excited about it, carrying a hammer and pliers around 'fixing things' wherever he goes.

i stole behind her in the frozen foods, and i touched her on the sleeve.

2011-11-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

it's that time of year again... i got slightly poinsettia-crazy with the mantle...
the only snow we'll be seeing in this beach town...
sharkey offered to decorate the tree himself...which is why there are about fifty ornaments hanging off the very bottom branch of the tree...
decorating with...records??
i love old-timey santas...
and i'm really into oversized ornaments on the tree this year:

we love Christmas around here!

a drawing is simply a line going for a walk.

2011-11-09T16:02:00.000-08:00

i feel like all we do around here is draw, draw, draw. here's what i've been doodling away at:
i love doing random designs with pens. usually during church. (while i am still listening, i promise!)i also like drawing little french-inspired girls, i don't know why:

flaming torches lighting the way to winter

2011-11-06T09:31:00.000-08:00

** just a disclaimer: there are a LOT of pictures in this post!

the boys and i flew to michigan to visit my folks for halloween weekend, while pants was away in chicago leading worship music at an annual campus crusade fall retreat.my southern california boys were excited to wear warm jackets and see their breath in the air while tromping through all the fall leaves at grandma's house!my bro's fam spent most of the weekend with us so the boys could hang out with cousin emily:we basically crammed in every fall activity we could think of while we were there, complete with going to the pumpkin patch for pony rides and pumpkin picking.our strong little five-year-old was very excited to get some pumpkins with grandma and grandpa!my bro's fam on the pumpkin wagon:i have to say, it was a little cold for this wimpy warm weather girl!and you have never seen a kid so excited for a pony ride as this one!
the next day we carved the pumpkins and got ready for halloween. (and by 'got ready' i mean, 'i ate a bunch of candy'.) and here is sky's finished pumpkin he carved almost entirely by himself. (well, except for scraping out the insides, because he says that just smells way too gross.) this nine-year-old always makes me laugh:halloween!
sky was a pokemon trainer (i know, what??), cousin emily was the sweetest ice princess of all time (she was sooo excited to wear blue eyeshadow and lipstick - too cute!), and sharkey was master chief, an army guy from the video game halo.
sharkey was especially sad to leave maxie, emily's dog (he even woke up crying the other day because he missed maxie, aw!!), and about 90 percent of the time he could be found hanging out under the dining room table with that cute little pup.
the highlight for sky was finding out that cousin emily also played minecraft, his favorite computer building game. poor emily, between my boys being wild on a level she's not used to and sky's non-stop technical computer discussions, she's probably glad we only came for a weekend! but we sure had fun!

i became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.

2011-10-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

i can't believe how busy it's been around here! i've been volunteering at the kids' school like, practically every single day the last few weeks, which doesn't leave that much time to get things done around here and work on my cupcake biz! (not to mention pants' being sick all weekend, hosting lego club last week, getting stuff together for our halloween trip to michigan a week from friday, etc.) so it's a little crazy. but i do okay with crazy, as long as i get a few nights of couch time with pants to catch up on watching the second season of our latest addiction, breaking bad (ps - mom, do NOT watch this show!).

anywho. don't you love a nice soft seat to sit on?or perhaps a coffee table is more comfortable?
mine and sky's least favorite time of day - homework time.
here's a little equation to sum up homework time:
sky + math homework = AAAUUGGGGHHH!!!!!!
i will admit that sharkey might be a tiny bit of a distraction during homework time.
sometimes i have to occupy him with a little outdoor project.
although sharkey's no slouch at finding something to do. he made this wooden clock all by himself with stuff he found around the house and in the garage (i did add a few numbers that he told me to write). too cute. i can't wait till it's 28 o'clock!and just a couple more soccer pix for grandma. our little number 8!

i don't own a backscratcher. i just hire people to do that.

2011-10-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

my kids are SO into drawing. i cannot believe how much paper we go through in a day! (sorry, trees!)

my nine-year-old's drawings AMAZE me (although i could just be biased):sky is still immersed in character drawing, most specifically drawing link from legend of zelda:
this one made me laugh. not merely defeated, but cursed and defeated!
while sharkey is still more of a realist. a cupcake!
and a few halloween drawings. i thought his rendition of a haunted house was awesome:
almost as awesome as his (over)use of 'action quotes':
man, this 5yr old is so into writing.

pumpkins scream in the dead of night.

2011-10-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

halloween. my all-time favorite decorating holiday. i'm sooo excited for october!!

i LOVE these little skeletons-on-a-rope. i just got them from the dollar store and strung them here and there.
here's our cutesy-not-creepy mantel:
a few random displays:
um, i have no idea what sharkey is doing here, but i love that our house has a black iron gate in front - so halloween-y all year round!
i'm slightly obsessed with skulls...
...so of course i love that sharkey was holding a skull in his hand when he answered the door!
i put this guy on our bathroom mirror. hee hee.
sky said our decorations 'weren't creepy enough', so i put this picture on the freezer just for him. ew.

brightened by a future moon

2011-10-03T10:12:00.001-07:00

a few more random home shots, simply because.
the wet bar. i'm so in love with colored glass.
here's a quick snap of a wall in our hall bathroom. i found this shower curtain on clearance at target for $3, and i am in LOVE with my bird scene wall stickers!i'm currently working on our bedroom, going for a french/boho-chic kind of look. it's getting there.
sharkey and i made a little secret hideout in the playroom. he calls it his 'book nook', and keeps a bunch of his books on the shelves behind it. the funny thing was that the other night he wanted to sleep in the book nook, but didn't want to actually go to bed in there. so he made me promise i would move him to the book nook after he fell asleep! so of course i did, and he got his dream come true, waking up in the 'book nook'.
sharkey loves that little red motorcycle, even though it's like, two years too small for him. i keep trying to give it away, but the shark just won't let me.

you haven't seen a tree until you've seen its shadow from the sky.

2011-09-28T01:12:00.000-07:00

so...my skin. ok, here's the deal...for the last 2 years i've been breaking out A LOT. pretty much all the time. which is weird because i never really had skin problems any other time in my life. and it has really really been bumming me out. i think its mostly stress/hormone-related, but i also don't get enough sleep and don't have the greatest diet, either. which is all just too much for my almost 36-year-old skin to handle.

so when the kiddos went back to school i decided i would work on trying to get my skin back in order. i changed up my diet so i am eating quite a bit less sugar, dairy, and gluten, and i'm eating way more veggies. man, it is SO much easier for me to eat healthier when the kids aren't around! i don't know why. probably because i have time to make myself a decent meal. (oh, i actually gave up coffee for a few weeks too, which initially seemed to help my overall skin texture, BUT...i really love coffee! it makes me so happy. not to mention that it keeps me from falling asleep in the carpool line in the afternoon. literally. so i'm drinking it again.)

exercise is also pretty key for me - what works best is jogging/power walking in the mornings after dropping the kids off at school. i feel like when i exercise, my skin/face just looks better in general. (also, although i haven't lost any weight yet, i think i've lost a few inches. all i know is that i can wear clothes that i haven't worn for a long time, so that's cool!) i am trying to do a little bit of yoga after i jog when i have time, and it feels really good. now i just have to figure out how to get more sleep...

product-wise, i started using this moisturizer, which i combine with this. i also alternate this and this for face wash. i just got this to put on the actual blemishes (ew), and it really helps. but as soon as i save up some extra cash, i am going back to my very favorite skincare products.

so my skin is finally healing. it's definitely not perfect and i still get breakouts, but it is sooo much better! i actually feel somewhat normal now, and my blemishes can actually be mostly covered with just a little concealer and mineral makeup. at least in pictures, anyway!

we reap liberty, a golden harvest.

2011-09-27T22:57:00.001-07:00

thriftin'...even some good finds for the kiddos...

orange blossoms opened their fragrant lips

2011-09-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

so...i thought i'd have all this extra time during the mornings while the kids were in school. um...not so much. maybe it's just this past week though, since i worked at the school a lot and two of the days i ate lunch with the kids at school (shark was having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to all-day kindergarten, but now he's fine). i'm hoping this week i can focus on some more things around the house...we'll see!

but for now...off to the park!this shark is really into skateboarding these days.
and pants brought home some fun blow-up discs for the kids from china.
yes, we got tree-d. fortunately, a nice guy who was there with his dogs got it down for us.

effortless music from the cameroons

2011-09-17T14:23:00.001-07:00

sharkey had his first soccer game today! too cute. he was so into kicking the ball and then falling on purpose, which is just...so him. pants came home from china yesterday, so he was here to referee the game in his crazy little uniform, although now he's tucked back in bed trying to sleep off the jetlag.

the first half of the game sharkey was really focused...
the second half of the game...not so much...
and can't help it, gotta post it:

but you and i were born beneath a star of dazzling blue.

2011-09-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

monday night at the beach...for once in his life, all this boy wanted to do was run...this one never stops running.sky and i made a sand mermaid...which lasted long enough to snap a pic, then the boys smashed it to their heart's content.

dad, you've been like a father to me.

2011-09-08T10:47:00.001-07:00

last week was kind of weird. but in a good way. both the kids started school, and sharkey is doing an all-day kindergarten. which makes this the first time in TEN years i've officially been home alone during the weekday! pants also left for another 2-week-long business trip to china, so it's been just me and the kiddos.

at this point in time, the kids still need me a ton and want me around ALL the time, and i really want to focus on our home and also volunteering a lot at the kids' school, so i'm just going to keep on being a full-time stay-at-home mom for now. although i would really like to earn some of my own cash, so maybe in a month or so i might hang out my shingle and officially start up my home-based cupcake business. we'll see...and guess what...i'm working out again! it's only been like, 2 years since i last consistently exercised. i've been jogging (sometimes biking) around the neighborhood in the mornings right after i drop the kids off at school. i impressed myself by going every day this week! i think the real secret for me is...putting on tennis shoes. so lame, i know, but i pretty much ONLY wear flip flops around here, so when i put tennis shoes on it's like, BAM, we're serious now, it's time to run!

we danced until the night became a brand new day.

2011-09-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

so long, summer fun...
welcome back school papers and schedules...and hello kindergarten!
and fourth grade!

you look good. have you lost a few bricks?

2011-09-05T18:09:00.000-07:00

legoland 2011!
honestly, this is probably one of sky's last trips to legoland. he enjoyed the super fun waterpark, but i think he is growing a little old for everything else. sharkey, on the other hand, was EXTREMELY excited...for everything!sharkey is our little daredevil. he was ALL about the roller coasters and water slides! it made me sooo nervous when pants took him on the 2 biggest coasters they have there, but shark LOVED it! he was all yelling 'yeah!' on them and trying to raise his hands up. this little five-year-old has no fear!
this face makes me laugh so much.
could we have a little more plaid, please? (and yes, i always dress my kids in bright same-color shirts when we go to big places - it's easier to keep track of them that way!)
even though sky wasn't so into a lot of the stuff there anymore, he definitely had fun doing some bionicle builds in the 'older kids' section.
and this kid never changes...

the poor cook he caught the fits, and threw away all my grits.

2011-08-26T18:02:00.001-07:00

not a bad way to cap off the week...
this afternoon we went to the beach again with some pals, spur of the moment. why the face, skycat?
there were a ton of sailboats in the water this afternoon, but i don't know why. maybe a regatta?
i couldn't resist turning this picture:
into this:
and this:

only the wise understand that shining at night in tunisia.

2011-08-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

golf, anyone?

i'm hanging out on monday, my sunday dream's too dry.

2011-08-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

does this ever happen to you?
sharkey has always been into hands-on stuff - building in the garage with pants, using tools, making little complex crafts, that kind of thing. lately his obsession is knitting and sewing, so i got him a little kids' sewing kit the other day and he was THRILLED to be able to sew this little yarn and felt bear:
and then of course he had to make a bear cave in the playroom.be sure to wash your hands before you come in.
even this fourth-grade cat is into the crafties lately, too:

loveless on the ocean is a ship without a sail.

2011-08-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

gee, don't you just hate monday mornings?
sky's sand turtle. have you seen this show, btw?
kids on the beach crack me up.

it's no pink tea, and mollycoddles had better stay out.

2011-08-21T22:27:00.000-07:00

this little cat...
...wanted to do an experiment the other day. he wanted to know what kind of paper would make the most authentic-looking treasure map, to be exact. so we stole a lemon from the neighbor's tree, brewed a pot of coffee, and made some tea. then he painted each onto three different pieces of paper and we dried them with a hair dryer.the tea won.

a feathery crystal in the flavor of gum.

2011-08-19T16:46:00.000-07:00

i'm finally getting around to blogging about last saturday night's dinner party i co-catered over at the butter! these are a few flower snaps from the farmer's market we went to on saturday morning. (all the actual food pix are over at the other blog.) why am i not at a farmer's market every saturday morning?! i definitely need more of this in my life:

i can't wait till it's 28 o'clock

2011-08-12T19:46:00.001-07:00

sharkey's no slouch at finding something to do. this little 5yr old made this wooden clock all by himself with stuff he found around the house and in the garage (i did add a few numbers that he told me to write). too cute.

sometimes in soccer you have to score goals.

2011-08-12T19:28:00.000-07:00

this cat upped and joined a soccer team...which makes his fútbol-lovin' pops very proud...

quit throwing patsy in the air already.

2011-08-06T15:50:00.001-07:00

catching up...
here's the shark toasting a saturday night marshmallow next to the new fire pit pants just built on our patio. i'm nervous.
a couple weeks ago pants took sharkey with him to pick oranges for a group that gives fruit to the homeless. the cute thing was how serious shark was about it (sorry for the bad-quality phone pic):
and um, the following portion of this post is mainly for grandma, sorry.
these two cats just finished a week at VBS, where (among other things) they learned to draw pandas. here's sky's (age 9):
and here's sharkey's (age 5):
sharkey is still really into 'realistic' drawing. here's his simplified version of the titanic: a guy riding a dinosaur:
and of course, a shark:
this picture is self-explanatory, and makes me laugh:he is also really into making serifs on his letters, for some reason:
sky is still currently residing in imaginary lands, his drawings fluctuating from sweet penguins to comic characters:

is it so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun?

2011-07-28T20:02:00.001-07:00

these are a few pictures i took of our town awhile back. i can't remember if i've posted them before or not, so i jazzed them up a bit and am putting them here...

2011-07-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

posting tour de france-inspired cupcakes over at the butter...

a day without sunshine is like, you know, night.

2011-07-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

it's been a good week...

in the beginning a flame...but still only light and flickering

2011-07-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

my baby is officially growing up. oh, and remind me not to refer to him as 'my baby' in front of him anymore.

sky at age 2
sky at age 9
(i don't know why his hand looks so weird!)

through the gates, flanked with statues of winged boars

2011-07-16T19:46:00.001-07:00

a perfect saturday (for once!)...

this morning pants and sky saw the new harry potter movie with some friends, while i stayed home with shark and caught up on an old onethis afternoon i rode my bike to the grocery storethis evening pants and i played a game of badminton
(...which quickly spiraled into me repeatedly spiking the birdie as hard as i could and laughing hysterically about it while pants just stood there shaking his head...)and just before twilight there were s'mores

2011-07-16T13:35:00.000-07:00

busy day...also posting some good eats over at the butter!

for crying out loud, there's a kid driving the car!

2011-07-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

we had a barbecue with some friends from our old neighborhood last night, and i couldn't resist snapping a few pix of our summer night lights.
...and of sharkey having a little too much fun with the flameless candles...

frail azures fluttering from night's outer wing

2011-07-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

shades of summertime...

2011-07-11T20:23:00.001-07:00

pix of my latest cupcakes over at the butter...

i walk without flinching through the burning cathedral of the summer

2011-07-07T10:22:00.000-07:00

things i'm loving...

downtown date nights

this cat's newfound love... ...of bowling and summertime spent in the mud

what power you have to make us suffer and like it.

2011-07-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

hangin' around at home...michael and jill spent a little extra time here this weekend, which was nice.
(this is sky's desk area in his room)
michael was dorking around on sunday night and got sharkey's favorite ball stuck up in a tree. the disgusted look sharkey gave him was priceless! i wish i had a picture of it. it was kind of like this:
(that's a picture of pants when he was little! LOVE it!)

pants also had to climb the fence to get a few badminton birdies that accidentally flew over. then he pretended he was falling off the fence and i totally believed him and almost had a heart attack.
so...are you sick of seeing pictures of my dumb old house yet? i am. but i have a few more i want to post, mainly just to show my mom. so bear with me!

pants made this cabinet so we'd have a little more chopping room in the kitchen. it even has an outlet in it, which he is extremely proud of.i love butcher block, so i was excited about the top!

there, i guess king george will be able to read that.

2011-07-05T10:50:00.003-07:00

we had such a happy 4th! in the morning we went to the parade with some good friends from our old neighborhood, and then spent the afternoon in our newly decked-out backyard with 6 of our pals (one with a delicious baby in tow!) who came down from LA. i felt like being a patriotic lass.
badminton! in the backyard! could we be any more 4th of july?!
we also played bocce ball, which was sooo fun. the best round was when all the balls ended up in the kiddie pool. we were all laughing sooo hard!
pants and his 'official' measuring stick.this little lovely had a blast running around the yard...precious!
the newlyweds, jill and michael.
our new chums, miriam and michael.
ahh, my happy place. everyone eating and chillin' at the new outdoor coffee table that pants literally whipped up in a day.
miss jill gettin' her game on!
mikey (who now has his own food blog!) cooked the bulk of our insanely yummy independence day feast, and the rest of us contributed some sides and desserts. i will post all about our good eats over on my food blog, asap!the evening was spent around the firepit eating mikey's grilled chili-rubbed corn on the cob, trying not to get killed by our neighbor's fireworks, and doing silly things like posing jill as our own little neon frieda. and this picture is really just for grandma to see the boys at the parade. they were so into it! and of course totally stoked to see a harry potter float.

i have this bag of hammers and i won't ask to come in

2011-07-02T21:36:00.000-07:00

i'm starting to get back into hiking again, and thinking of making it a weekly thing. today i went with a new club for a 6-mile jaunt in the hills.

that dark filthy cave is starting to look downright charming.

2011-06-30T10:54:00.001-07:00

when we first moved in to this house, i was so excited for the kids to play in the backyard. but apparently they were so used to not having a real one, they both started turning into inside cats whenever we were home. (although we had a huge grassy greenbelt in front of our old house where they played every day, so i don't really know what the problem was?)
anyway, apparently a few rope swings were all it took!and yes, i do realize sharkey is not wearing pants. i'm not a miracle worker here.
what? you wanted to see my new curtains? (this slider door goes out to a side patio, but we don't use it, which is why part of the couch is in front of it.)
so...i dropped a few more pounds, putting me back a little closer to feeling like my old self. i've just been trying to eat a smidge better (cutting out that afternoon sugar-y snackie and not baking quite so much) and run around with the kids a little more. oh, and i also colored my hair a darker red. although i'm still sooo tired sometimes. probably because my five-year-old still randomly wakes up in the night. last night he woke me up at 3 in the morning to ask for a baby wipe. seriously.
and this is really just a picture for my mother - our new grill!i still think the best part about it was watching how long it took mister 'i swear the instructions are wrong!' pants to put it together. hee hee.

now that the popsicle's melted, we've got ourselves a tongue depressor.

2011-06-28T10:06:00.001-07:00

** EDITED TO ADD PICTURE **

so we all know pants is a bona fide woodcrafter. but oh.my.gosh. pants just finished making THIS. from scratch.this outdoor lounger/sofa bench is hands-down my most favorite piece he's ever made. and apparently sharkey's favorite, as well:there's lots of little details, including the grains in each redwood board lining up in a specific way, and a decorative edge on the back:of course, pants did have a little helper along the way...here's a few 'in progress' pics. man, i love it when pants wears his detroit shirts working outside...so yummy...oops sorry, back to the lounger!
where it all began:
my job was to pick some outdoor cushions for it, but i looked EVERYWHERE and couldn't find any that i liked. i did, however, find some indoor pillows that were big and slouchy and perfect for lounging...so i bought those instead! they are super bright and fun, and sooo comfy:oh, did i mention pants built a matching table? geez louise, is there anything this guy can't do?!

2011-06-21T15:20:00.000-07:00

posting some of our budget-friendly (but still yummy!) pantry-based meals over at the butter...

at age 11, i audited my parents...there were some discrepancies, and i was grounded.

2011-06-15T22:24:00.000-07:00

wow, i think this is the longest i've ever gone between posts since i started blogging! maybe i needed a break? maybe i've been hanging on by a thread for 6 weeks straight? maybe i can never get near the computer since my nine-year-old whiz kid won't stop oh, i don't know, making his own 3D computer video games. i swear that kid is gonna be the next bill gates (social awkwardness included). aside from several online programs sky uses, pants even taught him a few things on a 3D animation computer program he uses at work, and within minutes sky was amazing us with stuff he came up with.

anyway, things are finally back to normal around here, whatever that looks like. all i know is that in the backyard, project 'patty o' is full steam ahead - we just bought a big ole' grill and a sunshade and chairs, and pants is hard at work in the garage building us an outdoor couch and coffee table. after the outside stuff is done, he is also going to make us a freestanding kitchen island/storage cabinet with a butcher block top, which will definitely come in handy since our counter space is now so limited. our goal is to have everything done by july 4th - i will post pictures when everything is completed!

oh, lately i've also been doing a lot of this:
and i cut my hair. again. i know! but i just need easy right now. and i think i accidentally time-traveled to the seventies in this picture. and the kids have been up to their usual tricks...sky's still into fantasy drawing, this time of the video game variety (of course):while sharkey's drawings are a tad more on the realistic side:
i do love my creative boys. all three of them.

napoleon, don't be jealous that i've been chatting online with babes all day.

2011-06-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

this five-year-old shark just learned to roller blade, and of course thinks he's the coolest cat in the neighborhood.

slap me thrice and hand me to me mama

2011-05-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

** EDITED TO ADD MORE PICTURES **

despite the craziness of this last week (pants' coming home from china, sky coming down with a really bad case of chicken pox right after sharkey had it, having my friend janna and her two boys staying with us in our still half-done house, etc), i have to say that i am soooo glad janna was here! she and i met years ago when we spent two consecutive summers together up in alaska during college...she's THE coolest girl i've ever known, and will be a lifelong friend. i miss her so much and it was so good to see her and for our kids to all hang out together!

serious talks happening over jamba juice...
aquarium time...
um...storytime with ms. janna? i swear, i have never seen a picture where janna isn't making a funny face...oh my gosh, she makes me laugh so hard!
we miss you guys!

anybody interested in grabbing a couple burgers and hittin' the cemetery?

2011-05-16T14:56:00.001-07:00

weekending...
homemade waffles + new lego pirates of the carribean xbox game = happy saturday morning. (the game is super cute, but the lego harry potter game is still my all-time personal favorite of the lego video game series. yes, i am a 35-year-old woman and i play video games. what of it?) of course my boys can only go so long before they have to act out a few pirate scenes for themselves... yes. i did it again. i cut my bangs. and i'm not sorry.
my little scorekeeper.

2011-05-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

playing catch-up today...also put up two new food posts over at the butter...

pushing through the darkness still another mile

2011-05-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

i'll be honest, it was the backyard that sold me on this place.
but i am really enjoying the inside space, too. it just has a calm, sunny vibe that is much needed for our family, and having everything on one floor makes it SO much easier to clean. anyway, here's a few snaps of our new (but technically old) digs. ignore the fact that we don't have curtains up yet. and pants is going to attempt to build a shelving surround (similar to our old place) for the fireplace when he gets back. just one big open room for living/dining. oh my gosh, i just realized sharkey was hiding behind the couch in this picture! hee hee.unfortunately, the kitchen is totally outdated, and very teeny tiny...although it does house a totally random super seventies wet bar, so...
anywho, this is the boys' playroom, which has a great built-in wall of shelves. i LOVE having all (or most of, at any rate) the toys confined to one space! aaand...here's a random pic of sharkey helping me make my bed:

i hold a cornucopia and a golden crown

2011-05-09T08:23:00.001-07:00

we moved. pants got shingles two days before starting a new job. i lost five pounds. sky has been a nightmare. sharkey currently has chicken pox. i spent the last 2 holidays caring for sick people. pants is in china for 2 weeks with his new job. we really like our new place. the backyard is gorgeous. trying to hurry up and decorate since friends are coming to stay next week. pictures of the inside of the house coming next. really wish we had family here to help. been staying up late reading harry potter books for stress relief. i could go on.

yes, it's been a little nutso here. but man, do i love our backyard...
sharkey was a big help during the move.
and his mother's day gift from preschool makes me smile sooo much:
our new front gate.
only calm on the outside during the big move.
easter still snuck in there somehow.sky's easter card to my folks:and sharkey's. is it just me, or does sharkey have really neat handwriting for a just-turned-five-year-old? wanna see something gross? shingles, baby.
which gave my baby chicken pox. thanks, pants.
doesn't seem to bother him much.

2011-04-22T13:04:00.001-07:00

just revamping my food blog... www.kissmybutter.blogspot.com

let's go downtown and watch the modern kids

2011-04-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

california weekending.

2011-04-17T02:05:00.001-07:00

sharing some easter-time cupcakes over at the butter...

2011-04-11T16:18:00.001-07:00

some good eats over at the butter...

don't pigeon-hole this aging romeo

2011-04-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

it's been a little wild around here! pants starts his new job next week, then we are MOVING on may first! here's the quick little story...
last year we had plans to move out of state since it was so tight financially living here in orange county (4 people + 1 salary + 1 mile from the beach = ouch). we made plans to move to the pacific northwest (our secret dream location!), and pants had done up his resume and super-sweet portfolio and was about to submit them to a few companies in the portland area. then, like 2 days before he sent them out, a company from TWENTY MINUTES AWAY contacted him out of the blue! they wanted to interview him right away (they actually really pursued him), it was the perfect job, and the money was right. so they offered him the job and he took it! which means we'll be living in the socal sun awhile longer, and can't say that we mind...so then we thought we'd move a little south of here, closer to where pants' new office is located and where the home prices are a little cheaper. (we have been wanting to move anyway, since we are in a townhouse right now and want to get back into an actual house.) but...two weeks ago one sunday night when i was sitting in church, i just felt really, i guess convicted? that we should stay in huntington beach. it was a really strong feeling, and i got sad thinking about leaving our life here. the weird thing was, when we got home that night and talked about it, pants felt the same way! fast forward two weeks, and we found the perfect (for us) single-family home (in our price range!) just ONE MILE AWAY from where we currently live! God is amazing. and kind of funny. so all our initial planning to leave california ended with us moving one mile away and committing to stay here for a longer time. hee hee. and we move in a couple weeks!! i'm excited. mostly for decorating the new place!

on another note, i've actually been trying to chill out a little bit. there's been a lot of reading and baking going on around here. aside from the pile of mystery books accumulating next to my bed, i've also been reading lots of cookbooks and books about specific food subjects, like the foie gras wars. sky's reading material of late includes the biography of elvis presley (his choice for a school project), and a few things of the darker variety:i do love his pictures, though...hmm...and what to do with these bangs? i definitely can't wear them straight down anymore. i tried it one day on my michigan trip and it looked so unflattering that i decided that was the last time i would EVER have straight-across bangs. i love what gaining a few pounds has done for my body (i finally have some curves! so anti-OC, i know), but not so much for my face, so i think a side-swept bang is a better look for me now. well, as soon as they grow out a little...i think i also want to darken my hair again...i'm getting tired of the red. i think i say that every single spring, btw.

tidbits of a household nature

2011-03-29T11:57:00.001-07:00

what, you don't accessorize like this when you go to the grocery store?or put marker on your face and then go around the neighborhood telling everyone you have a black eye? or tell your mom to leave you alone when you're trying to take your 3pm coffee break? huh. do you re-arrange your house every other week? sharkey is a big fan of turning this previously unused space:into a little play area:

2011-03-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

i couldn't help myself...i had to make some gluten-free cupcakes, too...

the nights when the living room was on the lawn

2011-03-28T16:00:00.001-07:00

two out of three of my favorite boys...

2011-03-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

just delivered some super cute harry potter cupcakes for a birthday party! check them out here...

grease monkey, ex-junky, winner of the fight

2011-03-22T17:16:00.000-07:00

this girl?is still tired. and just accidentally almost swallowed a bay leaf while eating dinner. darn chicken curry.
anyway. i just got back from my trip to michigan for micheal and jill's wedding! i was slightly nervous to leave the boys for 3 days, but apparently pants (and the multiple lists i left him) kept the kids alive.
i landed in michigan late thursday eve with my pal marissa, and after getting lost several times (in the airport trying to find each other...twice trying to find the hotel...aaand even in the actual hotel, trying to find our room. i was like, peeing my pants laughing so hard by the time we finally got to our room), we grabbed a late saint patty's day dinner at slow's barbecue in detroit. it was sooo good.
friday i spent the day with my fam, trying to soak in as much as i could of my sweet little niece that i hardly ever get to see:she is so funny. and likes to wear lipstick to lunch.
on friday night i went to michael and jill's rehearsal dinner and then a bunch of us went out to a fun little bar in detroit:btw, espresso stout? delicious.
saturday morning a group of us (including nervous mikey) went to the cutest brunch place:and this is where i died. they only serve crepes, and that savory crepe i had? was the BEST thing i ever ate. (oh yeah, um, i've totally been cheating on my diet for the last week. i know. but i was getting really cranky! and then i was on vacation! i am back on track now, promise...)
anywho, after a little drive around detroit:
(love the casino sign with the church steeple behind it)
...it was wedding time! the ceremony was so sweet and i cried buckets because i'm a big old baby. this is me and my pal janice (she's one of jill's friends from LA) before the wedding: and the reception was amazing - they had it at the henry ford museum. the dance floor was under an airplane, need i say more?this is my good friend carmel. man, i miss this cat. we were basically in hysterics the entire reception. so...business as usual for us. and my friend laura. i wish we got to hang more, and um, why aren't you here visiting us yet? pants and i so miss being constantly cracked up by her.and i have no words for this: in addition to dinner and cupcakes:
they also had coney dogs and a popcorn bar later in the night:
after dinner, we all ended up throwing off our shoes and wandering the museum. it was so fun!
the now-married jill: i had a great time seeing old friends and hanging out with some new ones, like marissa who i shared a room with. and speaking of which, here's a gratuitous shot of the dearborn inn where we stayed. fancy!

i plead the fifth.

2011-03-14T17:56:00.000-07:00

this little soldier turns five tomorrow. FIVE. my baby is five.
did i say soldier? i meant jawa.
we had a party on saturday to celebrate. five friends for the five-year-old. (plus his brother and an older neighbor kid who wandered in halfway through...) i still can't believe how good the kids were.
sharkey is totally into star wars right now (specifically the jawa guys), but i really didn't feel like going all out like i do for sky's parties. so we just turned the living room into a star wars playfest (including blankets and pillows on the floor for mountains, etc), and sharkey spent the entire night before the party setting up all his bases, ships, and star wars guys just so. this worked out great - the kids at the party were so content playing in the living room with the toys almost the whole time, which was awesome.
we then made our own pizzas, although i think the kids had more fun making them than actually eating them. probably because they were putting things on them like, oh, baby carrots. when the pizzas were cooking, we put on a star wars movie and they colored pictures. what was so cute was that sky was the one who actually made the coloring pages for them. and the kids LOVED the pictures he did! they all chose to color those instead of the regular star wars coloring pages we had. here's a few of the pix sky did:i told sky i was so impressed he put the letters and words on the pictures. his deadpan reply, 'well, they're preschoolers. they need to know this stuff.' hee hee. aaand...one quick hand smell, for old times' sake.
we also did the lamest craft ever. toothbrush holder + glow stick = lightsaber. but perfect for little hands.this is what sharkey told me he wanted for a cake - 'cupcakes with a big jawa cupcake in the middle'.i made this slightly-too-chubby jawa out of two stacked cupcakes and some fondant. sharkey's favorite gift was a little stuffed panda that makes sounds and you can feed it with a bottle. (we ended up getting sky one, too. and they've both been carrying them around ever since.)

2011-03-06T19:51:00.000-08:00

chapter 3 up over at magda...

that plus-faced child bride and her electric hips.

2011-03-06T14:42:00.000-08:00

ever play a trumpet with your nose?
ever been woken up at 5:30 in the morning by a trumpet blast? (um, it's not fun.)
ever go gluten/dairy/sugar free? (week 2 approaches and i'm feeling really good. i'll chat more about it on my food blog this week!)
ever eat breakfast in a homemade tank?
...or your lunch in a living room fort?
ever have a nine-year-old creative cat?ever have a place to finally store all the legos? (thanks, pants!)
ever snuggle a shark...who was snuggling a shark?

2011-03-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

eek, i'm writing again! over at magda. i'm scared.

2011-02-26T15:05:00.000-08:00

givin' the (really long) scoop about my new gluten and dairy free diet over on my food blog...

just dragonflies, flying to the side.

2011-02-15T17:06:00.000-08:00

sooo...i totally don't feel like talking about how exhausted i've felt the past few weeks or how life has been kicking my butt lately with some interesting conclusions about my nine-year-old son, so instead i'll save it all for another post and just show some pictures of fluffy cutesy things that have no meaning whatsoever. like how i heart this owl sweetness (that i turned into a necklace) i found at the craft store: and the fact that my feet are long and slightly weird. (but i always kind of liked them.)
and how i love the morning light.

these shells, the music box, and the reflecting glass.

2011-02-15T16:12:00.000-08:00

things i'm loving...

* that sharkey just walked up to me and said, 'look at my bow tie'. which is a piece of bow tie pasta taped to his shirt. incidentally, he's also been carrying a purse everywhere he goes for the past 4 days.

* sky drawing a literal human heart on his valentine's bag at school instead of a normal one.

* using this as a face moisturizer:thanks to my mom for turning me on to using this hand lotion on my face! (and sorry i made fun of you for it at first.) it WORKS, people.

* aaaand...pants just booked me a plane ticket to michigan so i can go to our good friends michael and jill's wedding in march! we can't really afford for both of us to go, so i thought it was a lost cause. and then i was secretly sad because i wanted to celebrate it up with some of our old michigan pals. and then pants was like, 'girl, you know i'm not a wedding type of guy - why don't YOU just go! forget about our bum van still sitting in the garage and go make that memory!' i think those were his exact words. actually, he was really sweet about it. so, i'm going!

and then, because he's the most awesome of all, he went out to the garage and built sky this to lounge on:
yes, a bed. it's gorgeous. a little on the heavy side. sky loves it. (and i swear his walls aren't really that bright.) the bed has a cool cantilevered edge around the outside of the dropped-down mattress:
but the best part is the little cubbies in the headboard to hold his guys.
this may be my most favorite picture ever. pants laughing? while holding a little broom? (oh yeah, and that's the bed he was making in the back.)
and, um...admiring?the kids were a really big help during assembly.aaaaand...pants also built this a few weeks back:a cute little (much needed!) coffee table.
and the shark takes us out...

playing a merry prince of thieves

2011-02-12T10:00:00.001-08:00

so...this blog. somewhat neglected. but honestly, right now what's most important to me is keeping our home calm and clean, spending time snuggling chatty little shark and probing the mind of prickly sky, reading library books next to the kids while they play, and hanging out with pants after the kiddos are in bed. (not to mention the other one thousand things we moms do during every single day.) which leaves, um, no time at all for blogging. i am also trying to get more sleep at night, so i don't want to stay up late blogging like i used to. if i didn't still have a little one home with me or an older child who requires a LOT of exhausting hands-on attention (not to mention kid-glove handling), i would probably have more time during the day to sit down and post things.

i keep thinking that next fall when the boys will both be in school is when i will really be able to focus on this blog, or maybe my writing blog. i have so many things running around in my head to post about all the time (besides just slapping up pictures of the boys and all our yummy treats), but holing up in the upstairs office by myself for hours just doesn't fly around here. i need a laptop in my kitchen, i know. but...i need a lot of things.

i definitely can't complain about my life, though. it's so full right now, in a good way. (and the fact that 'winter weather' here means like, 70 degrees, also helps.) i'm also pretty hopeful for lots of exciting changes this year. so for now, i am just popping in when i can. i'll try to post some fun stuff later today or tomorrow, but don't hold me to it.

louisa can make it with a whole jar of spiders in her hand.

2011-02-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

diary of a sick house...fevers, coughs, and a week-long tummy bug make the tub a happenin' place these days.
this cat keeps insisting he's not sick, but tummy troubles and an all-night cough tell me differently.
pants and i have it, too, although i think i'm finally over the worst of it. i did have enough energy yesterday morning to home-color my hair, but not for much else.
it's a bummer because last night we had plans to go to our good friends' engagement party - even had a sitter lined up and everything - but we just couldn't leave the kids while they were so sick. especially sharkey, who is still sporting a fever today. poor little dude. we played a family game instead. (which sharkey fell asleep in the middle of, conveniently after landing on free parking.)

2011-01-31T11:48:00.001-08:00

posting some yummies from the week over at the butter...

take ellen, for instance. she hasn't broken a dish all morning.

2011-01-26T19:44:00.000-08:00

my folks just left to head back to michigan after 2 weeks here. the weather has been GLORIOUS during their stay - sunny and warm pretty much the whole time. the kids loveloveloved having grandma and grandpa here. so did i. (and not just because they buy me new things like cute dresses.)my folks also had their own personal Bible school time with the kids last sunday (complete with crafts and a scavenger hunt, not to mention my mom re-enacting paul's Biblical shipwreck, which included her hiding a toy snake up her sleeve) so pants and i could steal away for a day up in LA eating ethiopian food with these newly-engaged cats: in between bike rides, playing at the park, and never-ending trips to target, my long-suffering parents also spent an afternoon helping me switch the boys' bedrooms. sharkey was quite a help taking the beds apart.the boys LOVE the switch. sky got a bigger room out of the deal, and sharkey is thrilled his room no longer has an adjacent bathroom for ET to be hiding in at night. so sky's smaller old room is now sharkey's four-year-old haven:sky had been having problems getting overstimulated at night in his smaller, cramped room, so moving him to the bigger room helped because we can put his HUGE lego collection away in the big closet in there, thus freeing up lots of floor space and having a simpler layout. pants is going to make a custom shelf unit this weekend to store all the lego bins.
anyway, thanks mom and dad! hope we didn't work you too hard! we miss you already!!

faith and begora, 'tis them redcoats again.

2011-01-26T17:10:00.000-08:00

my mom (who is a professional portrait photographer, by the way) snapped a few shots of the boys today before her and my pops left...

it's grand to be an englishman in 1910.

2011-01-22T20:28:00.000-08:00

just a little more sun...

my slippers, sherry, and pipe are due at 6:02.

2011-01-17T14:05:00.000-08:00

sunday night walkabout.

never confuse efficiency with a liver complaint.

2011-01-17T13:29:00.001-08:00

beachin' it with grandma and grandpa.

2011-01-16T10:03:00.000-08:00

bloggin' my favorite soup over at the butter...

to shake the towers and counsels of the great.

2011-01-16T08:28:00.001-08:00

i was doing some yoga in the backyard the other day, but got kind of distracted by the gorgeous sunlight.and by my feet.
i got new glasses. i thought i just needed them for reading, so i didn't much think about the style. then i realized i'm actually supposed to wear them all the time. oops.
and this is what happens when you let your husband pick the netflix movie. (not gonna lie, it was kinda funny. but i definitely DON'T recommend it unless you are a male with the mind of a 15-year-old.)meanwhile, the kids are loving having grandma and grandpa around.

many leagues, but not to the ends of the earth.

2011-01-12T15:35:00.000-08:00

memory lane...

me and pants, AGES ago.

the happiest moment of my life was when this sweet little cat joined our scene. nine years later, sky is still constantly entertaining us with his get-ups and the funny things he says and does.

and then this curly-topped addition came on board. oh my. those curls just kill me everytime.

sky is now way too cool to spend loads of time with his lame mom, but at least i still have the shark. for a few more years, anyway.

and also, i fancy, you'll find a golden ring.

2011-01-11T08:26:00.000-08:00

i haven't showered in 2 days.
it's actually been a long couple of weeks. emotionally exhausting (pants' sister was in a car accident and his grandma's health is failing), i've had some major dental troubles (don't ask), and we are now officially a one-car family, which tends to make things a little busier in general. so i feel my shower time has gotten lost in the mix, and all i can seem to manage computer-wise is a few snippets on facebook here and there. and did i mention sweet sharkey was waking up, oh, every hour at night this past week?
this little cat. he used to just wake up super early (like, 4:30-5am early), but i gave him a digital alarm clock and told him he can't come out of his room unless the first number on the clock is a '6'. he actually loves this, by the way. thinks it's such a fun game...that first morning he checked that thing so many times! it was really cute.
so now that we are solving the early bird prob, here comes another one. i think he is waking up a lot because of a nightmare he had last week. (he has a re-occurring dream that E.T.'s hands are touching his face. i almost want to laugh, but then i remember that as a kid, i was deathly terrified that disney's goofy was roaming our halls at night.) so neither he nor i are getting much sleep lately.on an unrelated note, sharkey also dipped his toe in my coffee cup this morning. sigh.

but good things are on the horizon...my folks are coming out in a few days, my hair is growing faster than i realized (although my bangs are rebelling), and the sun is out again. i didn't mind the rain though, i must admit.

2011-01-03T10:57:00.000-08:00

for the second week in a row, i put our menu plan up over at the butter...

Christmas morning 2010. 5:45am. yikes.

2010-12-26T18:12:00.001-08:00

sharkey's most prized possession was this little remote-control dog he's had his eye on. forget the myriad of games, the toy story train, the nerf gun, and the huge criss-cross car track we got him...he really just cared about this dog. which has a pink leash and collar, by the way.this cat finally got the DSI he's been wanting, an art set complete with easel, a wooden and glass chess set, a nerf gun, and loads of games and books.

and what was in those ships all three

2010-12-24T16:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas eve...
...with coconuts.

there has only been one Christmas. the rest are anniversaries.

2010-12-20T21:57:00.000-08:00

facebook is sucking me in these days...it's just so much easier to type a quick sentence here and there than actually sit down and do a whole blog post. there's just so much to do around here, not to mention the fact that my boys are demanding constant attention at the moment. my boys have been fighting A LOT lately, which is a bit unusual. but then they turn around and are all hugs and smiles, so i guess it's ok.gamers.creative cats. or should i say 'pups'.

2010-12-17T15:54:00.001-08:00

blogging some holiday treats over at the butter...