Birthday number 6!

I got alot of flack last year for picking the theme of Kiira's birthday party so this year, she was fully responsible. She picked pony party. Boy was I good with that! We had it at Kilham Farm, the barn we ride at, and had pin the tail on the pony, a pony pinata and pony rides. I guess you get the theme. They each got a little Breyer horse with a Kilham Farm blanket as the party favor. We also did the traditional Kiira birthday CD (pony/horse theme of course). It seemed everyone liked the fresh air, pony smell and activities and food. I know we did! And the weather cooperated. Phew.

Christmas day

We had a very relaxing Christmas this year. We didn't go anywhere nor did we have anyone over. We stayed in jammies, let the house be a wreck and didn't worry about what time dinner would be ready. It all just was.....

This year we added a new addition to the family - a horse. A 15 yr old Hanoverian named Rhett (short for Amaretto). Santa left a big cardboard cutout of Rhett under the tree. If you'd like to see more of Rhett, click here (can you tell that I'm just a LITTLE excited?!!)

Christmas Eve

Also following in a new tradition, we went to Mike and Hilary's for Christmas Eve. The kids entertain themselves and Hil and Mike always have great people, yummy food, and exquisite decorations to make the evening. It was hard tearing ourselves away to get home so Santa could come visit!

Nutcracker

When Kiira turned 3 yrs old we decided she was ready for the San Francisco Nutcracker. It has gotten better and better each year. The set and costumes enthrall us and the dancing continues to be some of the best we've ever seen. This year we lingered at the end and got to see "backstage". Intriguing.

B :-)

Every year the house below us displays Christmas lights in a different form. One year it was an angel, one year it said joy, one year it said peace. This year, we thought they were quite clever. Be happy? Or something else that B.O. could stand for this year?

Don your gay apparel

....and so we did.

A new tradition

This year we started a new tradition. Christmas caroling. Even Alan came and sang a few bars. Our mommy group gathered at Nancy's house and thanks to the organization of a few key mommies, we were given words, houses to go to and eager kids! I have to say that of all the things we did this holiday season, this got me in the holiday spirit the most!

Nutcracker Tea at the Fairmont Hotel

This is our third year that Kiira, Nanny and myself have driven into "the city" for the Nutcracker Tea. It is one of the fanciest things we do - once a year. It is high tea at the Fairmont Hotel. The little sandwiches & pastries are almost too beautiful to eat. Almost. They tasted incredible. Kiira got her own setting and went for chamomile tea while mom went with a spring blend and I a jasmine blend. Kiira also got a nutcracker and a tin soldier gingerbread cookie to decorate. As Nanny would say, "WHAT fun!"

Santa Claus Express

For weeks now Evan has been asking to "ride a yain". Finally, he got his wish. We drove up to Sonoma to catch the wine train aka Santa Claus Express (almost missed it). Of course, after about 5 minutes of the 1.5 hr ride, Evan declared he was done. Ohhhhhhhh boy....... Well, we caught up with our old friends Rudolph, Gingerbread Man, Santa, and of course Santa's elf.

Wack job

Ok, I admit it, I'm a wack job when it comes to keeping the kid's toys sorted. At the end of everyday (for the most part), I put all the toys back in "their place" so I can make sure we still have all the pieces and parts. There are a few toys that are precious to me and I keep particular track of these. So, you can guess my alarm when one of the pieces of said favorite toy (it happens to be a green wooden car that goes down a wooden track) DISAPPEARED!!!! Alarm! Alarm! Alarm! In my rational mind, I knew it would turn up. It's not like it's outside the house right?! How far could it go?!

So, in the meantime, I go on with normal life and wait. There's always something that needs doing and today, well today, I decided to finally tackle the drawer that wouldn't close in my closet room. I knew a shirt had fallen behind the drawer and in my zeal to retrieve it, I unfolded a hanger and tried to fish it out. The end result was not only the original shirt to retrieve but also now a hanger. That was 9 months ago. Today - well today was the day I was going to get that sucker. I got a BIG 'OLE barbeque fork and decided to just stab the CRAP out of it until I either made a hole and could slide it out or gently punctured it and could lightly lift it out. SUCCESS! Not only did I gently puncture it and lift it out unscathed - I retrieved yet ANOTHER shirt that had migrated back there to keep the first one company. I slid the drawer back ready to relish my success, only to find my efforts foiled. Ugghhhhh I sighed...how was i going to fix this?

So, I turned the flashlight back on and looked in. Clean sweep from one side to the other. Well, as I got to that last corner, my heart did a little flip flop and I did a silent hurray as what did my little early christmas eyes lay upon but THAT DAMN GREEN CAR!!!! Well, apparently the "silent" hurray wasn't so silent because Alan came in and asked what I was doing lying on the floor, in the closet room, surrounded by several odd tools.

After informing him of my conquest and worthy opponent, we BOTH were on a mission to get that DAMN missing car. 20 minutes later, one HUGE barbeque fork, one metal skewer, a roll of packing tape, a hammer, a flashlight and a bent hanger later, we claimed victory over that devilish wooden adversary. We successfully pulled that (damn) little green car out of the abyss.

And while I was fishing this DAMN GREEN CAR out, all I could think of was Evan sticking his little hand behind that open drawer clutching the DAMN GREEN CAR, dropping it, with a devious look on his face. And if he could have uttered one word while performing this evil little act it probably would have been "SUCKERS!"

Yup, I'm a wack job. But, may I add, in my mind, a successful wack job.

I'm an Auntie!

Yipee! I'd post a photo if I had one but....gonna hafta do with just words for now.
Harper Adelaide Johnston was born at 3:50 pm today. Well really tomorrow. She's in Australia and it's December 19 there. And while we are confused, she really was born at 9:50 pm western standard time.
6 lbs 2 oz and 21" inches long.
All's well. Happy. Healthy. 10 toes. 10 fingers. And hungry. Yeah!!!!!!

Blown away - Simply Ahorn

I'm still blown away by the caliber of the horses at Kilham. Simply Ahorn is a horse at our barn. Alexis found this video of him on YouTube. Check it out.

Bernie Traurig

This past weekend I spent the majority of my time at the barn. Kilham sponsored Bernie Traurig for the weekend to teach us in a clinic. We were divided into several different groups and did intensive flat and jumping work. He's very technical which I happen to like so we worked alot on our positions and how to improve our effectiveness as a rider. I was in heaven.

A little background on Bernie - he is:

- George Morris' Associate Chef D'Equipe on the west coast for the United States Equestrian Team
- Chairman of the Board of the West Coast Active Riders
- Co/Chairman of the USEF Show Jumping High Performance Committee

all this = very impressive. He had great techniques. To translate he is a legend in the jumper world, has won in the dressage arena and as a junior he won both the AHSA Medal and the ASPCA Maclay. To give you all a little background on the different areas you could concentrate - jumpers (judged on how fast and how accurate your jumping rounds are); hunters (judged on the horse); equitation (judged on the rider). My personal interests are equitation so the fact that he won both the Medal and the Maclay made me a little weak in the knees. I competed in those classes but never won one.

An added plus - the barn Christmas party was Saturday night and Bernie came. We got to actually talk on a real level. Woooooooowwwwwwwww.........

Cookie decorating

Last weekend the kids decorated cookies. Or did the cookie's decorate the kids...still trying to figure it out.

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The getaway...I love the fact that you can actually even see the toe imprints....

Santa List

Need I say more....

Traditions

As Kiira and I decorated our Christmas tree this year, I couldn't help but feel younger than my age while unwrapping all the precious ornaments and decorations. Many I have had since I was a kid. And many have been made by either my grandmother or my mother. How special it is to have these to hand down. As I looked at two ornaments in particular, it brought me back to a time when I had braids, was horse crazy, and the most important things in my life were my next sleepover, raucous family gatherings, and getting to the barn.

In those days, I spent my days braiding yarn for my Breyer horse's bridles and making blankets to keep them warm. I wrote notes to friends with a real pencil and real paper. I still have the return notes to hold, to look at the handwriting, unique to each friend. The phone was my link to the friends I saw only riding (we all went to different schools), and we abused the privileges back then as those our age do now. The only difference now is there is no phone cord to snake from room to room - to lose in one of the bedrooms - to trip over as you rush to the phone. No coiled link from base to handset, to tangle in infinite loops that made you stand on your tip toes on top of your bed hanging the phone below, spinning....spinning...spinning - until once again the cord was semi straight and you could see each of the hundreds of circles that made up the coiled cord.

My mom, being ever so crafty, made the "If Only" ornament when we rode at If Only Farm in 1985. My friend Ann Udall, whom I have not seen since I was a teenager, made the other ornament for me in 1982. GlanNant Secret was one of the first ponies I rode and I loved her dearly. Ann knew this. And now I have this to remember that idyllic time of my life. And I do, every year when I pull this ornament out.

Hark, Rudolph the Jingle Belled Angel Drummer Boy

As family outings go, we tend to yuck it up in the car singing along to Christmas carols. And by we I mean Kiira and me. She is my little mini me and gets into things just as much as I do. She has her own favorite songs (as do I) so sometimes we tend to try to combine them which makes us laugh even more.

We piled the kids, the dog, some mittens, a hat, snacks, water and ourselves into our trusty stead aka stationwagon to go out and find the perfect Christmas tree this past weekend while "we" got into the mood with some singing.



We tried a new place in Petaluma where we could cut our own tree. Santa was there to hear what the kids wanted for Christmas and while Kiira was eager to let him know that she would like a pony and half chaps this year, Evan was not so sure of the bearded man in red.



It is hard explaining to a 5 yr old why mommy wants a tree with such and such needles because, in my opinion, the ornaments will stay on better. Or, why this tree is too short or this tree is too tall. I think we circled the entire lot looking for the least Charlie Brown tree we could find. In the end, although it looked a little rough around the edges, we welcomed our pine needled friend into the home with gaity, laughter and warmth. Evan went down for a nap, Alan fled the scene and Kiira and I decorated our little hearts out.

Kiira's first bank account

We talk alot about saving money in our house and Kiira has her own bunny bank at home where she puts money she has earned. She earns money for various chores around the house. It's a fine line between what is expected of her naturally and what she could do for "extra". So the next step was the bank. As a 5 yr old, how do you really get what a bank is? I thought maybe by seeing it she would get a better understanding.

So, Thursday after school we made a special trip to the bank where her twenty dollars is now safe and sound. As an incentive for saving, we have told her that for every dollar she deposits in the bank, we will match it.

I asked her what she was saving for and she replied, "a pony". Like mother, like daughter.

Evan counting

In the morning, while I dress, I often have Evan wanting to participate in the
process. A process which he referrs to as "go-go". This is short for, "getting gorgeous". Often, he wants to get "go-go".
So, to keep him busy while I complete the 5 minutes of "getting gorgeous" I'm allotted in the morning, I give him some bangle bracelets to play with. There are about 20 of them so it takes him awhile to put them all on.

Well, the other day while we were going through this sometimes arduous process, he walked over to me with two bracelets on and held up two fingers. Well, if I didn't just about keel over. The lessons we teach DO sink in and boy do they manifest in the strangest of places. A parental victory. Yeah!

Having a baby

Ha! I got many of you either excited or scared. No, I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking about my sister, Liisa. We have nicknamed my future little niece Pineapple. Or rather, Kiira has nicknamed her this. She is due on Kiira's birthday but due to circumstances beyond our control (she is breech and now has the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck) she will be welcomed to the world via c-section on December 19 (Australia time where she will pop out). That would be our December 18 here in the US. This is forever going to screw me up of course when I need to call her on her birthday.

I told my sis that because of the nature of her position, I'm sure Liisa will remind her periodically through her life (especially the teenage years) how ass-backwards she can be (yes, thank you - you can take the girl out of upstate New York but you can't take the upstate New York out of the girl).

Holy Moly - do you believe in two weeks I'll be an auntie! Yowsa!

Holiday excitement

I have to admit, I've jumped the gun this year. The last day of November, I was decorating for Christmas. Kiira is now at an age where she loves to help as well. We put on the Christmas music (she is partial to Rudolph and the 12 days of Christmas, while I like the Little Drummer Boy) and we just decorate our little hearts out.

My favorite decoration this year was the Rudolph outfit for lilly. Who you ask is lilly? That would be our car. I'd like to say I bought if for the kids, but this would be lie. I bought it for myself. I think this is just the funniest thing ever. The red nose on the front and the antleers. I'm spreading cheer as I drive. There have been numerous pointings and several people who have stopped and rolled their window down at the light to tell me how funny they thought it was. Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!

Kiira's third horse show

Kilham Farm had a fun show this past weekend and both kiira and I got to show. Since my handy steed Orbit is pregnant, I have been riding a nice big warmblood named Rhett. He is a handsome devil and I can't help thinking about Rhett Butler.

There were no walk classes which made it a bit tricky so Kiira entered the walk/trot over cavalletis class and had our trainer, Jeff, walk her over them. He didn't even touch the reins. She did the whole course by herself, steering where she needed to go. Alas there were 18 kids in the class (nearby barns actually trucked in for the show!) and she didn't get a ribbon. This begged, of course, a parental question of when is too soon to teach the, "you can't win every time" lesson. While I am a true believer in this, my gut instinct is that she is too young. She doesn't care about what place she comes in (although she has said on numerous occasions that she likes the color of the pink ribbon), but she does like getting A ribbon. Mom had to think of somthing, and think of something FAST because she just didn't understand why she didn't get a ribbon. It was confusion. So, I whipped up.....my ribbon. Which has worked for the time being.

Rhett and I did great. We got a 3rd in our equitation under saddle class and a 2nd in our 2'-6" jumping class. We entered the 3'-0" jumping class but didn't get a ribbon. I was good with that though as I thought we had a GREAT round and was proud of our performance. 3'-0" is the highest course I've jumped him and I entered the class mostly on a whim and personal challenge. I passed.

Ice Skating

What does one do with themselves the day after Thanksgiving in the bay area you ask? Go ice skating of course. There are a plethora of places just waiting to feel that smooth steel blade slither across it's surface. Or in my case, the feel of a plump, finally useful rear end hitting that cold, tricky sheet of frozen glass. Well, not this time at least but I had some close calls!

We joined Nancy, Gideon and June and Ginger for a bit of skating. We didn't think the little kids would skate but as you can guess by the longing looks at the ice, we finally gave in. Both Ginger and Evan were naturals and neither fell nor succeeded in taking out their parents. Alan set June and Kiira up skating around pushing a big cone to help with their balance and they turned into pros by the end of the session. They'd skate for awhile with the cone and then push it aside and skate on their own. They were really good! And after our lively trip to Yerba Buena (in San Francisco) we walked up a block and had some good 'ole Mexican food at chevy's. At least the parent/child ratio was good - 4 adults to 4 children. Everyone was VERY well behaved. A pleasure all the way around.

Turkey day 2008

Low stress. That's what it was actually. We had Nancy, Gideon and clan over as well as a couple of Alan's tennis friends. I didn't actually cook but rather ordered from Paradise where I knew the food would be edible. I've done this a couple years now and not only is the food delicious but the day of Thanksgiving is NO BIG DEAL! I'm not cooking all day, I spend time with the family and don't stress when guests arrive early. Really, I just need about 20 minutes before people sit down and dinner can be ready. That's about my style of cooking anyway. Mmmm...mmmm....good. Besides, this way I got to concentrate on my favorite part - setting the table!