Brunch and catching up

Whilst the hubby and oldest child were away, I took advantage of the simplified life and had Kim and her brother Brian up for brunch. There is always much laughing and on this day eating. I actually cooked.

The couch

My girlfriend said to me the other day that she was waiting for the guy to come and clean her leather couch. She has four kids (two of which are under 6) and lots of spills, tips and near misses. She was lamenting about how nice their couch had been at one time and try and they might, it just was never going to be a kid friendly couch that one wouldn't have to worry about.

Well, it got me to thinking. I guess I never think about our couch (click here for how we treat ours!) Clearly.....as this video shows. Although in my defense, I have thrown quite a cozy blanket over it to HIDE all the stains. That's trying right?

Gotta love Rennie....when he sees an opportunity for an extra snack - he takes it!

Nightmares

Kiira has been having nightmares. It's always the same thing. A coyote eating a lamb. She says she saw it on a video at school in the library (a substitute day). No matter, she would have found something else to have a nightmare about if it weren't that. Several people have said their 5, almost 6 yr olds have been going through the same thing. It is said to be one of those developmental stages. I'd like to take it in stride but I know she'd get more sleep if she'd stay in her own bed.

The poor thing is literally scared to sleep in her bed. We have a "nest" set up in our room. This translates to a small tent that has a bunch of blankets etc in it. This is her second choice place to sleep. She requests our bed every night but I just can't do it. She's very snuggly and all and we have reached a nice understanding in that she doesn't try and make the letter "H" between Alan and I anymore and we'll give her the occasional mommy/daddy bed night.

We've tried sprinkling the fairy dust, we've tried leaving the door open, the nightlight, the singing, the books, the checking in on her often and even the stay with her in her room until she falls asleep (which does work but is quite time consuming....) tricks. Sooooo.....if anyone else has any tricks up their sleeves, please, feel free to pass them on.

Oh, and how does this tie into this photo you ask? Well, when we are in her room and she is trying to get to sleep, she often says this bad dream is on her mind. So, I try to make her laugh and forget about it. This is my funny face that she is doing.

Bar mitzvah

Cousin Sandwich



Can't you just see the adoration?!



They made it. I'll tell you, traveling with Kiira is a piece of cake. Yes, she does like to talk with you quite a bit but she truly is a good listener if you say that you need some quiet time. She's happy to watch her ipod video or draw or, her latest focus, practice her letters and write sentences.

Isaac did great on his big day and everyone had a grand time. Kiira didn't want to leave the cousins and now says that her wish is that she could have the cousins as her brothers. Man she loves those cousins!

Gone baby gone

Kiira is excited to see the cousins. She and Alan left today for Boston. She was, in fact, so excited, she tried to pack herself in the suitcase.

Evan and I drove them to the airport this morning and after a whiny, headache inducing 45 min trip to San Bruno, we both decided, in fact, that it was good neither of us had to be on board an airplane, confined to a small seat with a 2 yr old and 5 hours of parental entertaining ahead of us.

Evan and I are sorry to miss your bar mitzvah Isaac but believe you me, you will love us for this in the end. Mazel Tov!

Muskrat "Muskie"

This, after much debate, has been declared a muskrat. At first I was calling it a sea otter as it does in fact strongly resemble one. Save for one fact - not sure sea otters have tails and this one indeed does. Hence the title of muskrat. Unless anyone else things it is something else...

Anyway, Evan won't let it out of his sight. Sleeps with it, cuddles with it, kisses it. He got it Halloween night and thankfully has not asked for any candy since.....

The road ahead

It has been an emotionally draining week. The election was on Tuesday. I didn't realize how draining it was until this weekend. Yes, Obama won.

The day before, Kiira came home from school and asked, "Mom, are we voting for McCain?" "Oh my," I replied. I quickly gave my eldest a lesson in why I thought Obama was the better candidate. I was so proud of her though for thinking about such grown up things. They have clearly been talking about voting at school. She came home one day with a sign that said "VOTE!" that she had colored in.

The night of the election, we let the kids stay up late and watch. Kiira was really into it. We tried to explain to her about red states/blue states and everytime she heard a color being called - she rushed to the TV to see what state it was. Not sure she actually got the whole electoral process, but hey, that confuses alot of grown ups. Both kids kept cheering, "Go OBAMA!!"

I hope that night is one that she remembers for years to come. We kept saying that this was a moment in history for her to remember. Bless her though, she has no clue that it is a historic moment for an African American. She really doesn't care about the color of someone's skin. When I asked her to describe what Obama looked like, her first reply was that he has a nice smile.

One thing I was very disappointed by was Prop 8. California voted on whether or not to repeal one of our latest laws that allows same sex marriage. The Yes's won - meaning it was repealed and same sex marriages are no longer allowed. It was disappointing to me not only because I believe that two people should have a right to marry, no matter their sex, but also because I don't believe all people really knew what they were voting on. The media (funded largely by the Mormon church in Utah) pulled in issues that had nothing to do with this one. For one, they tied same sex marriages into the schools saying teachers could teach your child about these issues.

First, this was not what we were voting on. Second, it already HAS permeated schools to a certain degree. Teachers have kids that have two mommies or two daddies and often they will have to field questions about this. While I agree there needs to be some control about what teachers tell our kids, it is not practical for them to not be able to explain something that the children may see day to day.

Our country made a vow to honor separation of church and state. Yes, I don't think marriage and who one should marriage should be taught in schools just as I don't believe religion should be taught in schools. So why pull this in? If you ask me, it was done to confuse the issue. And it worked. I talked with several people that said they voted the wrong way. Sigh....it passed 51% to 49%. I can't help but wonder if these people had fully understood the issue if the 49% couldn't have turned into the 51%.

Yes, history is being made every day. Slowly but surely change will creep upon us, whether we like it or not. Change can be good, even if it scares us. Change can be exciting if we let it. If we are lucky, Obama will be in office for 8 years. It shocks me to think that Kiira will be 13 year old when he leaves. By then, I think she will have a strong grasp of red states/blue states.

Halloween videos

Ginger and Evan, Kiira and June.

Evan and Ginger

Evan, Ginger, June and Kiira (BTW Na-Na is Ginger)

Money Party with the Wishing Well

Trick or treat?

The stuffed animal house.



The gang.



The peacock and the baseball player.

Believe it or not, Halloween went off without a hitch. And not one trick! All the kids chose treat. Go figure....

Nancy and Gideon had their famous Halloween party again this year. There were probably 30 or 35 kids and we went trick or treating around her FLAT neighborhood. We didn't switch the clocks till last night so we actually got to trick or treat in the light. Better to keep track of the kids since Alan was stuck in San Diego with a flight delay. The highlight each year is the stuffed animal house. They don't give out candy - they give out stuffed animals that people have donated throughout the year. It really is a blast.

These are just a few highlighted photos - for the full bunch, click here....