Go-Go

What does one do before a Halloween party? A mani/pedi of course. Evan did NOT want to be left out. He chose the alternating orange and black fingernails with the black toenails. Kiira was a bit more purist in the orange fingernails and black toenails. Jenny and I stuck with the dark purple toenails. Very relaxing.



Topped off with a little bit of Woody's Ice Cream. Ahhhh.......

Strike a Pose

My kids are no stranger to the camera, as this blog illustrates. However, often I am cajoling them into a pose or smile or even a look at the camera. Something seems to have clicked in Evan lately though as we were at lunch the other day and he said out of the blue, "mony, take my picture". Then he struck this pose, unsolicited.

I had a feeling this one would be a bit more dramatic than Kiira but I didn't think it would start this early?!

A kitty in a pup bed

Why do I find it hilarious that our kitten likes to sleep in the pup's bed? Because she is so dwarfed? Because she acts so like she deserves this big bed? Because it displaces the large pup to another surface? Whatever the reason, it makes me pause while I walk by and crack up. I guess it's my version of stop and smell the roses. Stop and watch the kitten. See, I'm crackin' myself up right now!

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to us! It has been 9 years. Yahoo! We celebrated with some take out and some family cupcakes. I just had to share my card which I found hilarious.

And the punchline please....."now that's my idea of phone sex."

haaaaa!!!! haaa!!!!! haaaaaa!!!!!!!!

Snowflakes and peace signs

Halloween is here. Now that it is less than a week away, we carved the pumpkins. Or rather, Kiira came up with some difficult ideas and mommy carved. They didn't even get past putting their hands into the pumpkins to scoop out the insides. Well, maybe when they are older. Truth be told, I like the carving part!

Saturday is the big party at June's house. All of Kiira's buddies from the mommy group she has been a part of since birth will be there (and then some!). Look for highlights!

Lawrence Berkeley Hall of Science

Kiira's first grade class took a field trip to Berkeley to see the Lawrence Hall of Science. Right now they have a special Mars exhibit going on which if very cool. If a grown up reads the captions to you, the kids can learn about what happens to your bones in outer space, how astronauts communicate, how they excercise and what special clothes they have to wear (and whether or not it is easy to wear them!).



All the kids got to blow up a balloon using GAS. 2TB baking soda in a balloon. 1/4 cup vinegar in an old water bottle. Carefully attach the balloon to the top of the bottle and let the baking soda go into the bottle. Voila! Watch the balloon inflate all on its own.




I got to chaperone so I got to see everything firsthand.

Moony

When we were little, my sister earned the nickname "Moony". I suppose we were about 12 and 14 and we were driving to a horse show. Bill, our trainer's husband, was driving the gooseneck trailer with our horses. Now good 'ole Bill had an excellent sense of humor. And know that in her teen years, my sister was a bit of a wild child.

I guess she decided that on the highway, at 60 mph, as Bill passed us with the horsetrailer, was a good time to drop her drawers and moon him.

Well, he never got over that - laughed for days. From then on, she was dubbed "Moony".

Fast forward to present. Evan and I were in Petco getting the kittens some toys. As we got in line to pay, I hear Evan talking about his bum. Now, this is a regular occurance so I didn't think much of it. When I turned to keep track of him though, his pants were at his knees. Luckily no one was behind us. No pun intended.

I guess like auntie like nephew. Who knew mooning was a genetic trait?

Nicasio Classic Horse Show

This weekend we were in the Nicasio Classic Horse Show at our barn. A three day show that was fancier than most of the shows at the barn. Rhett looked as good as he felt!

We had a great show with two firsts in the adult amateur hunter over fences classes the first day. Although Rhett is not a stopper, he took to looking at the fences on the second day of the show. Our first class, second fence - he put on the brakes for no apparent reason. With no spectacular showing, I just seemed to tip to the side and fall off kind of in slow motion. In a way, I was relieved to finally have fallen off of him for the first time in the year that I've had him. Got it out of the way! The second class he stopped at an entirely different fence, seemingly just having a bad day. Our third class, well, I just wouldn't take no for an answer so we had a great round making it around all 8 fences quite well and getting first for that class (adult equitation over fences).
We ended up being reserve champion adult amateur hunter for our division that day. Had I not fallen off, we probably would have been champion. Oh well.

Our third day was equally terrific as we got second in our hunter classic class (missed first by only 2 points) and although we didn't place in our last class of the day, the $1000 hunter derby class, we had a GREAT round. We were the first to go in the class and the course was a little more challenging than the others (fences a little higher too). Our second to last fence we had a rail down but otherwise I think we would have done quite well. Jumps were all very autumnal looking and the air was crisp. A great day to celebrate fall. The photo above is taken from this $1000 hunter derby class. It was the first fence of the course and as with all the rest to come, Rhett was not quite sure of what he was jumping. He was looking down at almost all the fences going "what the heck is this!!!" And although that could make him a bit unpredictable, it also made him jump nice and round and pretty!



Oh, and other than a bit of a sore neck where my head hit the ground and a few sore muscles, I was none the worse for wear for falling off.

Another day, another ride, another show. I've got the bug.....

And by the way - Rhett is short of Amaretto. Every horse has a show name and that is his.

Halloween part 2

Each year we drive to Petaluma to Adobe pumpkin farm to pick out some pumpkins and have some fun. This year was just as fun as any other year. We had a hay ride, wished with the pumpkin fairy, did a few jumpy castles, climbed a huge pile of hay bales, played in the corn box, roped a “steer” and visited with the animals. All between picking out our pumpkins. I love the family day of it and I love the kid’s excitement that marks the beginning of fall.

Halloween

We have started decorating for Halloween. It seems I am meeting more and more people who have a strong opinion on whether or not they like this particular holiday. My husband says it’s his least favorite holiday (although he doesn’t like most of them). My girlfriend also has the same opinion. When I asked her though, the first thing she brought up was a bad memory from childhood. She did add that many have lost the meaning of what Halloween really is.

I suppose I am not looking into the meaning of this holiday when I say that I like it. I like it purely because of the good memories it evokes for me. It is memories of our neighborhood coming together; seeing the other kids on our street and their parents, each yielding a flashlight through an inevitably dark, windy evening. It is the memory of waiting on pins and needles until dinner was over and night had fallen before my parents would let us go out. It is the memory of brainstorming with our friends what we were going to be that year, and in many cases, making that costume (there were no Targets back then to go and pick up a $15 costume of your desire). On the east coast, it was bone chilling winds that made you squeal and hold onto your costume so it wouldn’t blow away. And later, it was your chums from school in a group going out to trick or treat.
I trick or treated through high school. I now see so many kids who are not interested at this age anymore. I suppose there are now many other choices of things for kids to do. When I was little though, choices were limited in a small town and we looked forward to any holiday that brought a get together. It was innocent, it was creative. It was fun and most of all, it was memorable. I am glad I have those memories and I hope my kids will have memories like that when they are older.

Blackie’s Hay Day

Every year there is a celebration for Blackie. Blackie is the old horse that used to live in the pasture below us. He is the symbol of Tiburon. Blackie passed away some time ago but we celebrate him every year with “Blackie’s Hay Day”. At the Hay Day there are games for the kids, singers, pony rides, a petting zoo and new this year, my favorite, the mechanical bull. Heeee-yaaaaaa!!! Sorry for the abbreviated footage. Alan fell down on this job.

High Jump

We got a few new kitty toys that Hawkeye and Lulu are REALLY enjoying! Lulu especially is loving practicing the highjump.

Gimme air....

...air hockey that is. Our newest addition. Man, can we marathon on the air hockey. Best of all - the whole family gets into it. Prepare to go down my friends....SCORE!!!!

Ain't life tough?

We are neglected....
We are left in bags.....
Oh such a rough life.....

Pi-ot

Pi-ot. Otherwise known as karate. Evan had decided that he would like to wear a karate outfit for Halloween. He really wants to take karate classes too! Here he is....trying it out.

Flowers for sale

The kids have taken to trying to earn some extra cash. They set up their "flowers for sale" boutique at the end of our road. Kiira has made a megaphone through which she screams, what else but, "flowers for sale". Thus far they keep overhead down by picking flowers from our garden. To date, they have collected $2. From mommy :-)