The Gap Days

LAUSD, for budget cut reasons, shortened the school year by three days. Instead of ending the year on  Friday, Tuesday was Addie's last day. Summer Camp doesn't start until Monday so we had three days without a childcare plan. We did a kid swap with Addie's friend Danika - great idea! Wednesday, Addie spent the day at Danika's house with her mom baking cookies, playing dollhouse and swimming -- and going a little Lord of the Flies too (I'm told this is their own mixture of sidewalk chalk turned face paint and moss).



Thursday, I took off from work and the girls did Shrinky Dinks and then I took them to the Griffith Observatory planetarium to see the star show. This has been a dream of mine for years. You have to 5 to go to the star show so we never went because of the little ones. This was the perfect opportunity with Eliza and Xavier in school and a free day with two six-year-olds. Danika was somewhat terrified (she thinks Tinkerbell is scary) but made it through the half hour show. Addie, of course, wanted to go again.

Friday, Cap and I switched off at home with Addie and Danika. They jumped in the bounce house (poor Addie got stung twice by a wasp!), played house and dress-up, walked to get lemonade from the kids down the block, and then I tricked them into going to Target to get Addie's comfortable clothes for summer camp with the promise of an Icee.

The girls are amazing together. No fighting and they always have tons of fun. They don't go to the same elementary school during the year, but they start a week of soccer camp together on Monday, followed by a week of art camp and then the rest of the summer they are doing regular camp except for vacations. Next year we are thinking of sending the 2 of them off to sleep-away camp for a week in the Hollywood Hills. Addie is already super excited!

Good-bye Kindergarten

It has been a mad dash to the end of school. Field day, water day, spirit week, and oodles of art and school work coming home in her backpack. I don't think I've worked a full week this June with the different end of year events between kindergarten and Montessori.

I am so proud of her. She can really read like a champ and on the second to last day of school she brought her own book to read to her class. To practice sight words, the kids, depending on their individual reading level, once a week tackle 20 "turtle" words. Her teacher calls them the Turtle Kids. I told Addie if she got to Turtle 10 by the end of the year she could pick out a toy. I would have gotten her an American Girl doll if she wanted but guess what she chose? A chocolate bar. Yup. That's my Addie.





On the last day of school, I picked Addie up at 2:29 instead of sending her to STAR in the afternoon. I had arranged with another Mom to take our girls to get frozen yogurt after school as a treat before going to the end of year party at another classmate's house. This is a story of managing expectations. I thought I was being the best Mom in the world taking a half day off from work but when Addie saw me she told me she didn't want to go with me to get a treat and only wanted to go with Sofia's mom. Did I cry? Almost. Addie thought she was going on a drop-off playdate, something she really loves, and I thought this was going to be a magical Mother-daughter afternoon. After we both adjusted expectations, we all had a great afternoon. Addie's teacher come to the party too and it was so great for Addie, and all the kids and parents, to say good-bye. I feel so lucky we had Mrs. Carman as her kindergarten teacher. I wish we could have her every year through fifth grade! How great is this photo. Of course Addie insisted on wearing vampire teeth in the photo. Why not?!

After the party, I took a reluctant Addie home and then went back to work where I was until 3 am. I worked 13 hours that day even though I was away for six hours. Busy times for everyone.

Hello First Grade! (thankfully there is a summer in between to get both of our heads around the concept.)


Practicing our 'do for Crazy Hair Day at school


Fancy Dress Day

Popsicles, Butterflies and Ball Pits

We said good-bye to Gran last Saturday morning after a lovely 2 week visit. Now that she's retired we get to enjoy longer and more frequent visits from Mom. Addie remarked after she left, "I forgot how fun Gran is." What a sweetie!

After art class, the girls ate the orange juice popsicles they had made with Gran the day before. It was a tough lesson for Eliza in delayed gratification. That afternoon we visited the butterfly pavilion at the Natural History Museum too. My favorite were the monarch butterfly caterpillars. We also saw a lot of California Dogface caterpillars too which I learned is our unfortunately named State insect.

Sunday after Eliza's class, I somehow convinced Cap to go to IKEA. The idea was to check out the outdoor furniture and bunk beds. I was actually impressed by their super duper cheap model (only $159!) but can already see that I'll be apoplectic trying to pick a color to paint the raw wood. I like the idea of teal or orange but have a feeling I'll chicken out and paint it white. We didn't actually buy it yet. While the minivan is big, it can't fit all 5 us and a bunk bed and there isn't a huge rush to get one anyway. I've always wanted these gorgeous Jenny Lind twin beds with trundles from Land of Nod for the girls room but the space (and cost) savings offered by the IKEA bunk bed is alluring. Decisions, decisions.


The ball pit is pretty cool and the free babysitting is very much appreciated. She looks like a cranberry here.

Book Time

Gran read Leonardo the Terrible Monster to Addie's kindergarten class on Friday. They loved it!  Addie introduced her saying, "This is my granny. Her her name is Gran."  Cute.

Beam me up!

Addie participated in her third and final school musical of the year on Thursday. We were lucky Gran was here to see it. This was the second musical put on by her after school program, and they really do an impressive job in just a few short weeks. Along with the singing, each kinder got a line. Addie's was "If I don't find something good to do, I'll scream. AHHHHH!" which she said with great dramatic flair and comic timing.

When Eliza saw her on stage she screamed, "Addie!" Addie gave her a little wave. Xavier kicked back in his stroller the whole time happy as a clam even thought the play started after his usual bedtime. Eliza, however, after about 30 minutes had already turned into a pumpkin and was bouncing all over the place going back and forth between the seats and the aisle, which was actually an improvement over last time when she walked around the darkened auditorium with Cap in pursuit.

And Addie's hair style isn't part of the costume. She looks like a comb and brush might be alien objects on her planet.

Art School Confidential

I can't tell you how excited I am that Addie is finally enrolled in a serious art class. Saturday mornings for an hour and half she gets to sit in a light filled studio drawing and painting with kids ages 6-12. After class she said she wanted to stay enrolled until she's 7 and then quickly changed her mind, "until I'm 10!" Seeing her admiring all of the art supplies was like a kid in a candy store (which she also super likes too). Her friend Emi is in the class so it's extra fun.

Eliza has her gym class and Addie has her art class on weekends. I just need to figure out how to get them both back into swim lessons. We have a trial swim evaluation class tomorrow after school. Summer lessons are already booked so I'm going to see if we can make it work at this new swim school. I'm eager to get Eliza swim safe this summer and give Addie a chance to work on her strokes.





van Gogh's Mulberry Tree

Tooth #3

Addie lost her first top tooth on Friday afternoon. It has been loose for ages. We were home early after Eliza and Xavier's school picnic when Addie called me from the living room to announce she had been wiggling her tooth and it just came out in her hand. No blood and gore. No swallowing. The tooth fairy is very generous and left not one but two gold $1 coins. One she put in her piggy bank and the other is momentarily misplaced somewhere in the house.

Don't you just love her toothy smile?!

10 months

Saturday wasn't just Addie's birthday party, but also Xavier's 10 month birthday.  He is such a sweetheart!  He has 6 teeth and is growing a fine dusting of blonde hair on that big noggin of his. He can pull himself up and still crawls on one knee - tripod style.

Xavier is a total delight. And funny. Like his sisters.

The Slumber Party

Addie made me promise a year ago that she could have a slumber party for her 6th birthday party and that day finally arrived. And we survived it!  Addie had two friends over and yet we had about 18 people at our house Saturday night to celebrate. Addie wanted a chocolate themed party too so we celebrated with chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate ice cream sundaes. The girls also made chocolate lollipops together that they could take home as party favors.

According to a Boston co-worker's 8 year old Adelaide, the key components of a successful slumber party are pizza, a movie, popcorn and manicures. I took her advice and scored some awesome party favors for the girls. Each one (including Addie and Eliza) got matching Hello Kitty pjs, flip flops (aka spa shoes), Hello Kitty nail polish sets, a nail file and some chocolates. The girls finally crashed at 10:30 pm all curled up together in a pile of sleeping bags and glittered toenails. The next morning everyone came back over for pancakes, coffee and a bloody marys. Success!




Glitter girl!

Happy 6th Birthday, Adelaide!

Addie has been eagerly counting down the months and weeks and days until her birthday. On Wednesday, we played hooky from usual routines of work and school to go to Disneyland. We didn't tell the girls until that morning after they had breakfast and were dressed. Addie squealed and jumped up and down exclaiming "You're the best parents in the world!" Eliza, who has no idea what Disneyland is, was just thrilled that she was going too, wherever it was.  Gran and I sent Cap and Xavier off to work and school and met up with Jamie and Clara for a girls day at Disneyland. It was so so so fun and we are all sore and exhausted from going on almost 20 rides and walking around the park for 10 hours.

This morning Addie had 6 silver dollar pancakes to get her birthday started, and then Gran and I took her to school (in itself a rare occassion) loaded up with brownie bites to share with her classmates. Tonight we celebrated at home with mac n cheese, molten lava cakes, birthday cards and presents. The fun isn't over yet (or the sleeplessness). Saturday is her official birthday slumber party! 

I'm really so very proud of my Addie. She's growing into a brave, independent, creative, and caring little girl. I love her so much.  Happy Birthday Adelaide!

Ring of Fire

I caught the eclipse bug which you may have noticed if you follow me on Instagram.  I hastily built a pinhole project Friday morning at work out of a long plotter paper box (my first ever!) and then tossed it into the back of the car as we raced off to San Diego for a wedding, not sure where would be on Sunday at 5:24 pm for the annular eclipse. While it took 4 hours to drive down on a Friday afternoon, it only took 2 to drive home on Sunday. We made it home just in time. We didn't get the full ring of fire in LA but it was fun watching it through our projector and seeing the quality of light change outside.  The coolest was the shadow of the eclipse through the leaves of the trees reflected onto the back wall of our house.

Birthday Boy

Going back a couple of weekends . . . we celebrated Cap's birthday with chocolate cupcakes that Addie and Eliza made along with handmade birthday cards. Earlier that day we met up with friends at LACMA to see the exhibit In Wonderland and then had an early dinner at The Counter. Xavier sat in his first high chair. It seemed like a big deal.  Happy birthday, Po!

My mom is here now too as we gear up for Addie's 6th birthday this week kicking it off with a surprise mid-week trip to Disneyland, then her actual birthday on Thursday followed by a slumber party (yikes!) on Saturday.

Our Family

Here is a recent portrait of our family by Addie. When I asked Addie what Xavier was trying to get, she told me "lipstick."




(and yes I inverted and colored this line drawing of Addie's too)

I love you this much

Mother's Day. I tried to sleep in but after Eliza dropped Xavier on his head I was pretty much awake. After that Cap made raspberry pancakes with fresh blueberries and lots of coffee. After Eliza's gym class we all piled in the minivan and headed out to Glendale to wish Grandma Vede a happy Mother's Day. Then we went to Descanso Gardens to ride the train and walk in the rose garden. Dinner was Chinese take-out followed by champagne and chocolate caramels. Lovely.

Xavier gave me a card with his handprint and a photo of his big happy bald head. Eliza made a handprint flower stuck in glued beans and Addie made this watercolor bouquet which I framed. All of these came home with them from school. While I was at Eliza's class, Addie also drew me the above picture. On the reverse it said, "I love you this much." So guess how much she loves me? As big as the Svana (savanna). I'm so lucky! There is an elephant, a giraffe, and hippo with her baby. I took her black and white line drawing and fiddled with it in photoshop (Addie said she didn't like it in color). I guess I shouldn't mess with the artist.

My mom is coming in less than 48 hours and will be staying with us for 2 weeks to celebrate Addie's 6th birthday. We all can't wait!

Happy Mother's day!




Eliza looking at koi


Addie looking at koi

Thought Bubbles

The Prince is thinking about the Princess and the Princess is thinking about the Prince. How romantic!

Derma-glued

2 weeks ago Addie took a swan dive off the couch onto the corner of the coffee table and ended up in the ER. No stitches but she had to have it cleaned, taped and derma-glued. We asked the doc if she needed a plastic surgeon and he looked at us like we were from outer space - or LA. After 10 days, I finally pried off the tape with a lot of baby oil and, while it will scar, it doesn't look to bad at all. She's thankful her hair usually hides it too.

Our coffee table is the worst - a giant thick wooden slap set in a metal frame both with sharp edges. But I think the table was just getting back at Addie after all these years for when she gnawed off chunks of wood. The first time she tried to eat the coffee table she was a little tot. Then at age 4 she decided to sample it again and carve 4 = 5 on the top of it. Poor table.  Poor Addie.

That same weekend a 2 foot square chunk of the ceiling in our laundry room collapsed at 1 am while I was standing there trying to clean up the flood from, what we later learned, was the upstairs neighbors broken water heater. It was just that sort of weekend.

Sisters

Sisters. What a dynamic.

Eliza wants to do everything her big sister does. When it comes to chasing each other around or jumping in the bounce house, they are great at playing together. But when Addie has homework or wants to draw or play with toys, Eliza is more into grabbing whatever Addie has and running away with it. Eliza's vocabulary just hit a development leap and with it we are seeing signs that she'll be able to resolve her struggles verbally instead of resorting to hitting, kicking, pulling hair and screaming - four things she excels at.

While they are often fighting, this past week we found them curled up in each others arms in our bed fast asleep. Heart melting. While they have over three years between them, I hope that throughout their lives they will find they have each other to depend on. I know my sister has my back and I have hers even if we live on opposite coasts (Hi Auntie Snorg!).

I Can Read

Addie is really turning into a great reader. She had an amazing head start with Montessori pre-school and we now have a little book worm. She can read a few Dr. Seuss books by herself and can easily sight read dozens of words. She especially loves reading on the Kindle.

Addie started out Kindergarten slowly and diligently sounding out each individual letter but now she's confidently attacking full sentences. I'm not pushing her though. She's at school for ten hours a day so in the evenings we let her listen while we do the reading.

9 Months

This has been a month of milestones. Xavier sat up on his own and then shortly after started crawling. He's chowing down on solid, although still pureed, foods and got his fifth tooth. He squirms and wriggles away when you try to change his clothes or hold him on your hip. He had his 9 month check up today and is taller than he is chubby and above average in both - a healthy boy. His eczema has improved greatly but he still scratches himself and sleeps with his hands in mittens. I took out his 12 month clothes from the bin in the closet and he has enough hand-me-downs to one his own thrift store.

The girls continue to adore him and Eliza loves making him laugh. He is full of smiles for everyone and rarely is upset. The only thing he seems to loathe is the bath. Getting a TB shot barely rises an eyebrow but a toe in the water sends him in hysterics.

When I think about all of the complications I had in the hospital, I can only be thankful to have such a sweet, amazing little boy in my life that I can smother in kisses.

Happy 9 months, Bubba!

Bouncing Baby Boy

Before he started crawling this was certainly the most action I had seen from this boy. Maybe mellow was just a phase for him?

Finally!

When I started to write this post two weeks ago it was about him sitting up - finally! I started to write that he is sitting up on his own and how life was about to change. Then, guess what? It did! He started crawling last weekend!

Where was Mommy? Tasting wine in the vineyards of Santa Ynez with my bestest friend Reid for two amazing days with just us girls. While it's our 20th high school reunion this month in Virginia, she instead flew from Colorado to Los Angeles to celebrate with just the two of us. So super lovely. 

Here is Xavier crawling for the second time -- second time for me at least. He's so determined!

Easter Weekend

Friday the kids had school off so I spent the day with all three of them - solo. I managed to take them to my office for a visit followed by a trip to the playground. Sure, I forgot my wallet and Eliza didn't have shoes, but I'm still calling it a success!

Saturday we dyed eggs in the backyard. Eliza dropped an egg into each of the dye baths in about 8 seconds and called it a day. Addie, not surprisingly, took her time with each egg even developing her own technique of spooning the color onto her egg. After that we walked down the street to a friend's house (what a luxury in car-centric LA!) for lunch and an egg hunt. 

Sunday Addie woke us up with a news flash on the jelly bean path that the Easter Bunny left from her room to the Easter baskets in front of the fireplace. The girls gobbled up as much chocolate and jelly beans as they could before breakfast. Then our lovely friends Chris and Rikke came over for brunch and an egg hunt (good thing the girls got practice the day before). We spent the entire afternoon in our backyard eating quiche, drinking mimosas and watching the girls go crazy in the bounce house and the kiddy pool. We had a confetti egg fight which somehow ended up in a water fight with both kids and grown-ups drenched! 

Best Easter!

Dresses from Gran. notice the hello kitty sweatband on her ankle?

Always in motion

Addie's dye technique