"meem"

story's favorite color is "meem"...he's holding a "meem" pen if your not sure what color that is...sea and story have been making mother's day cards and we are heading out in a couple hours to visit my in-laws for the weekend...while on the topic of "little things", sea asked me today for a "flavor" (favor)...story calls all birds "quackies", he says "dank ew" for thank you and "uv ew" for love you...just started calling monkeys "gunkey's" today...he's been walking around the house the last hour saying "happy...poppy" "poppy?" "happy"...now sea is asking me "how much longer are we not going to go?" kinda the flip side to the question but that is how she likes to ask them...

children's cooking playgroup #2

today i went to a playgroup where the kids made pretzels...i have a lot of other things on my mind right now so i'll just leave you with these photos...




sea was very proud of herself...she decided to make a "kitty" shape...

interview #1 with a 4-year-old (sea)

i hosted a gardening, cinco de mayo, early mother's day themed preschool at my house today...all but one of the members of the co-op attended (15) and then i invited non-member friends totaling almost the same...i'd say close to 30 people (most of them kids under 5) were running through my house for roughly 3 hours today...i'm too exhausted to upload the few photos i took or summarize so i thought i'd just list the questions and (sea's) answers from the interview i had moms complete (we switched kids figuring we would get different answers with a child other than our own):

what do you call your mommy? "mommy james" (story's middle names are manuel james?)
do you have any nicknames for her? danuse
what is your favorite thing about your mommy? having picnics at the park
what is your mommy's favorite thing to do? go and play with me and climb a tree and 100 more things
where is your mommy's favorite place to go? souplantation, muffay muffay
what do you wish your mommy would do differently? i wish she would let me eat meat
what is your mommy's favorite food? indian food
what do other people say about your mommy? how cute your mommy is!
what else can you tell me about your mommy? she likes going on lots of meetings
what is your favorite thing to do with your mommy? go and eat lots and lots of cupcakes off the floor

looking down, lists and "slippy soup"

i've had ongoing lists running through my mind...haven't had a chance to get them down anywhere where they will get done (and despite this challenge to myself, i can't bring myself to DO something first and then write it on a completed list)...so i remain a slave to lists and circular patterns that hinder productivity...one up side (back to the up theme of may at NABLOPOMO) is i like getting down on this blog all the random things we think about, do, hope to do but never do, minutia i'll likely forget but will be a window into our life at this point in time...

so what is "slippy soup" you may ask? or maybe you figured it out...that is what sea thinks we are saying when we serve her "split pea soup" so we go with it and ask her if she'd like slippy soup...this photo was taken at one of the museums in san francisco on the road trip with my mom in march that we never did get around to blogging about...

this is a totally unrelated idea but i've been free associating a lot in my head and want to get these things down so i can be productive (again, a losing battle cuz i can never get it all down and never have the time to be productive if i do get a lot down)...anyway, the idea that came into my head as i was vacuuming, head down, scanning the hardwood floors for dirt, food, rolly pollies (a lot make it through our open sliding door)...this is a run-on sentence if i've ever seen one! ha! anyway, back to the idea i still haven't relayed to you...the opposite of "looking up" or "looking down"...i do this often in my home in particular...obsessed with having a clean floor...it is a little easier with hardwood than carpet but still a pretty much all day long task...i am not usually all that clean or neat but i joke that my mom thought sweeping the kitchen floor was "spring cleaning" (not really, but it was a low priority to her growing up) and i distinctly remember visiting a neighbor with my mom when i was a little girl and my mom pulled me aside and was whispering in my ear in hushed tones something a long the lines of how neurotic or crazy said neighbor was as she hand washed her floors EVERY DAY and in that moment i determined that i wanted that for myself even if it meant i was crazy...so yeah, that is one of my obsessive cleaning things (i don't have many)...i think psychologically beyond my childhood issues with it i look at clean floors like the clean foundation of all else...like you can have clutter or other things to clean but if the you start with a clean ground you are on the right track...thanks for letting me share this free association on looking down...

now on to my lists...i thought to close this post i would just write out what i had hoped to do this week along with what i've actually done (or not done) so far, to give you an idea of life around here right now...

this past weekend i taught sabbath school and then we went to a birthday party (i hope to do a blog post with photos) for one of the 5-year-old co-op preschool members...sunday we spent ALL DAY at the beach which was lovely and relaxing...so much so that when we came home and got the children bathed and read them bedtime stories, well, we went to sleep with them! that meant sand, wet clothes, picnic baskets, etc. beach stuff needed to be cleaned up the next day...SO...my hopes of making it to a playgroup park day at the park literally down our street didn't happen...neither did my brisk walk...and then a girlfriend called to see if we wanted to meet her and her children (same age as ours) at people's, a health store where we shop and eat healthy vegetarian food together...i thought this would be the motivation i needed to be productive but i just felt overwhelmed, unmotivated and tired all morning...stalled and put off cleaning until it was almost time for story's nap when i was hoping to either sleep with him or have some down time and then i was frustrated the house was such a wreck...on the up side (there's that theme again) the kids played outside in our back yard a LONG time...without throwing rocks on the sidewalk, getting in to the pond, falling over the edge, digging up plants, getting everything but the plants wet...i have all these rules for being outside and i guess they wanted to be out there enough to avoid doing all these things...which was good for me...and them for that matter...i'll have to do a blog post about the mom's network class i attended on the value of the outdoors for children (and people for that matter) and how to get more of it into your life...so, i was happy about that...of course i did end up putting on a video for sea while i slept with story...manuel called in the middle of my nap and i couldn't fall back asleep so i must have done some tidying...

so here we are on tuesday...i had hoped to go to a storytime at a library in coronado that we regularly do on tuesdays...then follow it up with park playtime and a picnic lunch...but again, too much to do...and i really wanted to fit in a walk...so i made them a brief breakfast of bagels, almond butter and honey, bananas...apples...other snacks they could take in the stroller...bribed them with mango popsicles we could buy at the store and they could eat on the way back...manuel had a light morning and came home to be productive for an hour...we cleaned out the hall cupboards and gave away a lot of linens we never use...kids ate lunch and then went outside to play...sea discovered she could fill up a hole with water and slosh in the mud...up her to her chest sitting down...poured it down her hair and back...trouble rinsing off sufficiently made for much more cleaning inside...a bird flew in (twice!) and we moved slowly and directly to urge him/her to fly out the door...story has been napping really long now which means he'll be cranky when he does get up and then up late...but it has been worth it to get these rambling ideas out of my head...sea is drawing stories on typing paper (her favorite medium) with colored markers (her second favorite...she prefers "permanent ink" pens)...i had sea and story talk to their namenee (manuel's mom) on our walk and then auntie missy called awhile back and we caught up on the life of our cousin/niece baby meadow...i'm now stalling going through a lot of paperwork so i should give you a quick summary of the rest of the week and get on that in the moments i have before story wakes up...

the other thing i was going to do today that didn't happen is take the kids to the picture people...if you have one near you, get on their mailing list...you get a free sitting and one free 8 X 10 photo every month or so...we use them for our annual photo of the kids...we've used them since sea was 1...she wore the same pink dress and held the same monkey to compare her growth...i think she can squeeze into this dress this last year (it is a 3T size)...story wore jeans and a white shirt and held a stuffed bunny...if i can figure out how to use my scanner i'll get the age 1, 2 and 3 photos up for sea...

i did pay a couple bills and organize a meals on wheels delivery for a friend that just had a baby...meant to put some beans in a crock pot for cinco de mayo both for this friend's possible meal and co-op preschool. i'm hosting tomorrow and originally we were going to revisit a gardening theme but now i'm going to serve mexican food (and possibly a pitcher of margaritas...just a little for each mom since they have to drive home)...and have the children make mother's day cards. i thought i'd also take a photo of each mom and child to send them as my happy mother's day to them (probably via email since i don't even print out my own photos)...finally i'm going to have the moms switch kids and interview the 4 or 5-year-olds things about their mommy...i did this last year this time when sea was 3 and the answers are funny...maybe i'll do a post comparing 3 and 4...so that basically fills up my wednesday plans (except for running by the nursery for some gardening supplies...maybe little pots, soil and seeds to have the children grow a flower of some sort for mom? i was also going to have them make little 3 X 5 cards that say "sea's sunflower" and have them draw a picture of what is supposed to grow...but i know these won't make it onto popsicle sticks and/or get laminated...)

can you tell i'm back to drinking coffee? :)

we are going to a children's culinary class at a friend's house on thursday. last time we made pizzas and i can't remember what she is going to have them cook/create this week...

friday is typically my cleaning, car washing, laundry, groceries, etc. get ready for the weekend day and then we are leaving for ventura to spend mother's day with my in-laws and the little cousins...

i must make myself go now to be productive but thank you for allowing me this true "journaling" experience that someday hopefully will be interesting to myself or my children about our lives...

ballerina princess fairy

sea told me this morning that her name is "princess fairy ballerina" or "ballerina princess fairy" or something that combines the three ideas into one...these are photos from when she was visiting a friend and used "abbracadabbra" to turn on the t.v. with her wand...guess she doesn't know about remotes :)

"wanna fly a kite, brudder?"

ok, there are no kites in these shots...but these photos were taken yesterday after attending a costume birthday party (sea was a ballerina)...they returned with these balloons and i love how sea is flying (spinning) in these shots...then this morning she handed her brother one of the balloons and she took the other and they ran through the house "flying kites"...we've been at the beach all day and i'm too exhausted to write much else...have i mentioned how much i love my life? scroll down to catch all of them...

looking up

so i've fought against NABLOPOMO on and off the past few months...it isn't necessarily that i'm too busy to think i won't be able to commit to blogging every day as it is i feel i lose quality to quantity...and if i had to choose of course i'd rather write meaningful posts and have time to read others' posts, make comments, have a life...but the months i decide not to post every day, well i go 3 weeks without posting or reading others' lives or having a life...SO i am committing to blogging every day in may.

the topic for may is "look up" and i have some great cloud shots or tall buildings somewhere but thought a photo of one of my children (in this case, story) looking up would be more appropriate on my mommy blog...

a quick free association on this topic...my father passed away may 28, 2006 so i'll be reflecting on his passing at the end of this month. the day he died, the last real interaction we had before he left on the walk where he had a cardiac arrest and passed i was videotaping and not thinking about anything in particular and so it was a little windy and i turned the video camera up into the sky, watching the palm trees gently sway and that is where i ended the video...so i distinctly remember this and also the idea of "looking up" to heaven and beyond this earth to life in heaven where i can be reunited with my dad...

so this month i'd like to reflect more on God and His place in my life and connecting more with Him.

i also like the symbolism of "looking up" as being optimistic and hopeful, assuming the best in life and in myself and in others (i don't know much about the book/movie "the secret" but the idea is that if you change your beliefs and imagine them happening, they will...)...either way i'd prefer to focus on the idea that things are better than they may really be...

i also have to "look up" a lot of classmates in planning my 20 year high school reunion...i'm co-chairing the planning committee and our reunion is in july...

...and my daughter will be "looking up" from kindergarten at all the big kids when she starts in the fall...this milestone and all that comes with it and beyond will be on my mind a lot in the next few months...

i could keep free associating on this topic but i'm over it already (is that a bad sign for committing to blog every day?)...