It's all relative

Talia the Vampire and other Scary Stories

2011-10-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

So hey look we are still around. I have tried to peruse other blogs of relatives and although I am not the only one who has been super crappy at updating I still feel the guilt of not completing my goal of blogging regularly. I love looking\reading everyone else's and am not on Facebook enough to keep up with whatever is going on there. I need an outlet that gives me days and even weeks to get to versus the daily check-in. I send this challenge out into the family\friend Cosmo- I miss hearing about your lives please follow my lead and write something new soon. I just read Heidi's blog about her new baby and realized I didn't even remember that she was already due.

Guilt ridden lets begin:
My latest endeavor is to somehow get Talia to want to read. Do you know what it is like to have a child who is so against reading that you are scared that you will never find anyway to connect with her in any areas? I love to read and if we don't have even that in common how will we get through the tweens and teenage horrors that normally occur between mother and daughter? So when my lovely imaginative daughter picked out several books (that her grandmother graciously purchased for her) entitled, "Vampire Weenies" & "My Sister is a Vampire" I thought we must have them. They were from the Book Fair at school so I thought great no problem. Then I start reading Vampire Weenies. It was not funny nor was it anything a little kid (5th grade or below) should be reading. One story was about a ghost who tricks a girl down a hole and causes her death so she can have a ghost friend to talk to. It only got worse from there. Now I have never thrown away a book. I have this standing rule that one must finish a book and all books should be treated with a certain level of respect (we did burn that Judy Blume book at the beach one year but it deserved it); Talia went to take a rest one day and I found the book and threw it away. Great job Mom! I felt very "Footloose" about the whole thing and yet relieved to have it out of my house.

Still Talia has this obsession with vampires. She even plays good and bad vampires. I have told many this story but she was a vampire puppy the other day. She says to me, "I am a vampire puppy. A vegetarian vampire puppy." I look at her waiting for an explanation and of course she continues, " I only eat lions though. And only the daddy ones, not the mommies or the babies." I acted like that was great news and she continued with her game. She is something else.

Tristan and Tyler continue growing. Tristan loves preschool and Tyler grunts a lot to get her voice heard. I have done all I can to teach her some sign language but whenever I sign to her she acts like I am this crazy person. Today she put a plastic container on her head and laughed uproariously for 3 minutes while I tried to get her out of it. She is her own woman is all I can say.

Just to prove my point at the "scary" nature of my children, the pictures at the top are of Crazy man Tristan splashing it up, Talia and Tyler tetter-tottering (notice Tyler's legs, does she have a zest for life or what?) and Talia in yet another outfit of her own design.

I just realized my blog is so on point with October! Man even subconsciously I am able to bring a theme together!

Justin Bieber is My Hero

2011-04-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

A favorite show of mine is Fantasy Factory. Rob had Justin on as a guest star and I couldn't help but think about it and smile because my little girl is a Bieber fan. That show brings such joy to my heart and I will remember to buy my "Do Work" shirt soon but what I loved about the show is its fun loving nature. TV is supposed to be fun and so is life. Don't think me lame (or do) but I hate when my life isn't fun. My kids took showers tonight, racing to the "Baby Baby" song from Justin Bieber and it was so fun. Tristan added more Transformer stickers (they are actually bandaids that he had lined up on his leg and proceeded to transfer to the section of wall just outside the shower-he did the same thing last night) the whole time bebopping to the song. We totally completed showers in 3:43minutes and my kids were di-rrtttyy from the shark game they were playing outside. I also took the kids to Moo Creamery all by myself and only had to ask for help from near by customers one time (I totally lucked out there since my cousin and his kids were there by chance and offered to watch my food because Tristan had to go to the bathroom, which meant we all had to go leaving my delicious sweet potato fries unattended). Short story long-life should be fun. I can remember thinking of ways to make dishes fun or promising my self that when I had a family we were going to make dishes a group activity so that the work didn't seem tedious. I become too bogged down sometimes and am missing life and the goodness it has. Good thing I have kids; they always remind you how fun life can be. I would never have the appreciation that I do for JB if I didn't have a 5 year old daughter who screamed when she heard\sees him and really shouldn't we all have something we get that excited over every time it happens?

Tyler's Tricks

2011-01-26T20:49:00.000-08:00

Looking back at past posts I realize I haven't done enough justice to Tyler and my blog reporting. The following is my efforts to give props to the girl who has many tricks. One has to watch her very closely to truly grasp her greatness. Below is her best trick, we will call it "Wipe-out" (I am so clever).

She stalks the wipes and if I ever leave them unattended she is all over them. Her second trick is called "find the most unsafe place to start climbing and then climbing it". She decided to crawl up the mini slide we have in our family room. Luckily when she fell backwards she fell on her bum first before her head. Still the kid is 8 months old and made it halfway up the slide. I am just waiting to see what she climbs next. Her third most mentionable trick is crawling. I document it not because it is some astounding trick but because she has been doing it since she was 5 months old so she is really fast and determined. She follows Talia, Tristan and I through our whole house ( and there is a lot of ground to cover) just as fast as she can. Now if I could just get her to stop bumping her head every time she goes and hides under the coffee table she would be bumped to Amazing Status in the baby record books.

Oh and Tristan is still a pirate (he changed the name of the book"The Sailor Dog" to "The Pirate Dog" and each time I say sailor instead of pirate he corrects me) and Talia cries each time that I mention that on Saturday we have to cut her hair (because she doesn't want to look like a boy) and she still loves Justin Bieber. Shoot me in the foot.

The Mighty Mighty Bumbo and other Quick Thoughts

2010-11-08T08:21:00.001-08:00

I did not keep my resolution to post once a month. What a loser am I? So this will be a hodgepodge because I really did have great ideas for posts but did not get my act together and post them. The following are my post ideas:
1) All my children love(d) the Bumbo. It is such a useful seat to be had by any who desires a seat. It is like the Snuggie for my home. Unfortunately Tyler now hates it as much as Tristan and Talia enjoy playing with. Luckily I was able to only pay $10 for it.

2) The 80's Should Stay in the 80's-Talia's 5th Birthday was Jem inspired (look it up if you don't know what I am talking about). We danced and ate tri-tip, grilled cheese and special sauce.

3) Being Old is like Being Young- I saw this old man picking up trash and thought I so want to be an old person who gets stuff done. You know the stuff that people should be doing but make excuses for. I want to be a positive influence on society by doing the small stuff like taking meticulous care of my flower beds on my huge expanse of property. Or driving to every grandkids moment because I can (shout out to Grandma and Grandpa Nichols).
4) Breakfast of Champions-Okay it was really dinner but Tyler had her first people food and her facial expression were priceless. She has been trying to eat our food for quite some time so she was all about grabbing the spoon and feeding herself. She did not however enjoy the rice cereal and honestly who would? It tastes nasty. I quickly went out and bought some butternut squash and roasted\pureed that for her and I think it is going better.

5)Talia (who last week was requesting I call her by her Native American name Rainbow Breeze Flower) continues her love hate relationship with school, while Tristan can't stop talking about seeing his friends at the bus stop. My favorite question right now from him is "where my friends mommy". At the dinner table we talk about 3 wonderful things that happen to us during the day and Tristan always says "the bus mommy". Gosh he is cute.

Lobster Mac and Cheese and Other Fancy Things

2010-09-02T03:25:00.001-07:00

Have you ever read those Fancy Nancy books? If not check them out; if so you will have an almost perfect picture of my daughter Talia. She is my fancy girl and I aspire to be fancy just like her. This past month has been a big one for her and our family. She started kindergarten and even though she said it was only "sort of fun" she made it through the day and I did too.
She is pictured here before leaving to school (brother has his backpack too).
Tristan cried but that is because his favorite person to pick on\play with\follow around would be present in our home only half the time. He has quickly figured out that he gets full run of the TV and selection of Scooby Doo episodes without the helpful hints from Talia and is settling in nicely.Other fancy things that have been occurring include Tristan taking his first ride in a power wheel courtesy of my friend Maren's cool toys. He could not figure out how to make the miniature John Deere Gator reverse so every time he would run into things he would honk the horn and wait for it to move. Patio posts don't move, nor do play structures so it ended up being a funny thing to watch.
Tyler, my darling dragonfly, is just fancy because she is beautiful. She smiles just because which makes life in general seem fancy. She is pictured here in her fancy bathing suit.

We are still working on Jacob being fancy. Talia did tell him yesterday that he wasn't as "pretty as Justin Beiber" so I think he is going to try and up his game.

I feel the fanciest of all because I conquered Lobster Mac and Cheese. We had Wayne and Sheryl over for a late birthday celebration for Wayne and I decided that the Barefoot Contessa couldn't be lying about the deliciousness of this dish. Luckily Candice came to play that day because the start of my day was not going so fancy. I not only forgot my Talia at the bus (it was an early out and I didn't realize it) but I was stung by a bee. Candice's arrival saved me from under destruction; I was able to wipe away my tears and enjoy Sleeping beauty while making chocolate chip cookies. My fanciness reappeared and the dish was completed and let me tell you it was super fancy. We followed it up with homemade ice cream sandwiches and rippeted to bed- all in all a fancy end to a fancy day.

Hip Hip Hooray! The 4th of July!

2010-07-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

So the 4th of July was swell. We had hamburgers, homemade ice cream and good times. It was getting rather late for my kids to be up so Jacob took them out front to do fireworks. It wasn't dark yet but we decided to ignore that fact (Jacob had work the next day and I was tired) so we started lighting things. To make the evening more enjoyable Tristan and Talia ran across the lawn, holding hands, over and over again cheering. They also decided to grab the flags that I had stuck in the lawn and were boldly waving their arms back and forth to make our American flags very triumphant.

I wish you all could have witnessed my cute boy Tristan enjoying the fireworks. He was not at all afraid of the sparklers and flung his hand about almost lighting himself and his dad on fire. And once we started lighting the "big" ones he would jump up and down each time and say "Hip, Hip Hooray". Literally his jumps were threefold, each jump occurring in unison with his hip-hip-hooraying. Tristan also had to keep saying, "Look Mommy\Daddy Fireworks!" in his cute voice. He has a hard time pronouncing "Thanks" it sounds like "Hanks" but he can say fireworks perfectly after learning the word 30 seconds before. Tristan's excitement was so great that we brought the kids inside after a bit and bathed them and put Talia to bed and secretly took Tristan back outside so he could watch more fireworks. Our neighbors had begun shooting theirs so he watched those.

Isn't it amazing how our kids can make something so much more fun because of their exuberance?Unfortunately, I was holding Tyler (our new little gal) so no pictures are to be had of the evening. Yeah America!

Tristan and Talia -the update

2010-04-22T16:15:00.001-07:00

Well my babies are growing. We have had many adventures over the past month and a half. The best and worst is Tristan moving into Talia's room in preparation for the new baby. Jacob and I check on them each night and both of them end up in the strangest positions. I tried to take a picture one night but they both woke up. One was leaned up against the bed post asleep and the other was totally out of bed but asleep. Those two crazies...

Here are some pictures because all the magical things I had planned to say have left my brain. I blame the pregnancy (3 weeks to go)

Some Days Your the Dog; Some Days You're the Hydrant-Anonymous

2010-02-16T16:48:00.000-08:00

So I have a new hair-do and my sweet daughter told me exactly how she felt about it-"I don't like your hair like that." I felt like I was in the Green Eggs and Ham book. "I will not like you hair here or there, I will not like it anywhere..." what a turd. Sometimes honesty really hurts. On the flip side she is totally wrong my hair looks fabulous. I loved my long hair but did not love the pregnancy long hair that I was sporting. Okay totally off topic but my son is so cute. I had to post this picture just to remind everyone that he is.

I visited a hospital yesterday and today which meant that I was entering the Twilight Zone. I feel as though hospitals hate me. The staff does their best but I always seem to get the rotten end of the stick. I had to get the Rhogam shot but to do so you have to have your blood tested first. The lab lady said come any time so I did. Unfortunately when only one lab person is in the lab it makes rather tough to get a blood test. I waited for 1.5 hours to just have a bit of blood drawn then found out that it would most likely be another 4 hours (no lie here) for the pharmacy to have it ready. Good times, good job me showing up on a holiday. I returned the next morning to get the shot (at 6:15am) to find out that I had arrived right as the nurses were switching shifts. Shoot me in the head. Everyone was super accommodating and kind but I was totally the hydrant today (refer to title). Being pregnant really does require a lot of effort. Don't even get me started on my hospital time when I had Talia-I mean who doesn't love sharing a room with a girl who who suggests to the nurses to take her in a wheel chair outside to have a smoke? All while I have lost so much blood that I couldn't even walk. Like I said hospitals hate me.

On a happy note: Talia has career plans of "selling money to people" and Tristan's obsession with shoes makes me proud to have son. He is awesome at walking around in my heels and he told me I looked "pretty" yesterday.

Images: 1-My new cut; I don't know why I look so pale, 2-Tristan in his boots, 3-Talia has made her own sandwich (she likes lots of mayo and cheese)

My $50 bills won't fit into my wallet and my diamond shoes are too small!

2010-01-28T11:03:00.000-08:00

You know how things seem terrible even when they are actually good? If not maybe you are lucky (or in denial). Either way that pretty much describes my life for the past couple of months. I have been doing my best to get through the first 5 months of pregnancy and depending on who you ask you will most likely get a rating. I literally spent 2 months wandering around not eating, and hoping that Tristan and Talia would forget that I was being a crappy mom. On that note I realize how lucky I am. Even though I have been sicker than a dog (no not morning sickness, all day sickness where even water tastes like something I won't mention) I realize that I am blessed. So lets talk about blessings.

First people who are kind even when I am crazy: Friends and Family you know who you are. Were talking people bringing food, mopping my floors, taking my children so I can sleep, being super nice when I complain too much or am a bit too blunt because I am having a hard time concentrating and so on. Second my children: Tristan and Talia have made me laugh so many times these past few months. Tristan loves to wear hats and wander around the house pretending he is going somewhere. We are talking hats like Talia's newborn cap that barely covers his noggin and makes him look like a Jewish man. He always blows me a kiss, waves and says "Bye". Talia on the other hand (seriously God new I needed comic relief when he sent me her) plays the most outrageous games. Lately, she has been pretending to be a mermaid and will lay on the ground with her ankles crossed because "Ursula" stole her voice and her legs. She flops about trying to move from place to place and even gets tied up in seaweed that I have to untangle her from.

Now there are many other blessings but I don't need to go on for hours, although Jacob is getting really good at ignoring my continued disgust with doing dishes and just unloads and reloads the dishwasher. Basically, we should all reassess and remember that there is always a silver lining and even if nausea rules ones life being unable to eat milk products means I may not gain 60 pounds during this pregnancy. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Side Note: I stole my title from a line in a Friends episode but I think it really eclipses my point.

Side Note 2: Pictures of my children in various activities

Talia's First Shiner and My Little Fairy Princess

2009-10-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

Talia was playing in a rubbermaid container named the "nest" and as she stood up, she whacked herself in the eye on the coffee table. I didn't even realize it was that bad (I mean she cried and everything but she is emotional anyways) until after bath time that night. She calls it her makeup and is quite pleased about the magical purple and pink colors. It doesn't really look that bad in the pictures but if you look at the last photo up top and note that both her eyes should be opened like her left eye you get a better idea.

My Tristan has been having a splendid time too. He brought me this fancy outfit and put it in my hand. I said thank you and he growled at me indicating that he wanted it on. He did this little feet dance as a I put it on and wandered about the backyard and the house for an hour enjoying his time as a fairy princess. He did this super sweet dance on the counter (the start of it is the middle picture with his back to the camera) and probably wouldn't have taken it off but I didn't want to get his dinner on it- Talia would not have been pleased.

Late but still GREAT!!!

2009-09-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

So I am not going to win any special awards or anything for prompt posting but Tristan's First Birthday occurred in July and I wanted to share the pictures. Aside from some minor set backs like the cake melting en route and me being indecisive about the positioning of the tables (I am almost positive that if Candice had a gun to go with her super sweet costume she would have used it on me- and rightly so) everything turned out wonderful.

The party was a jungle theme and Tristan was dressed as a monkey\bear, depending on who one was asking. Talia was a peacock and I was a Toucan. The hot weather only took a few prisoners and by the end of the party Tristan was still going strong. He is pictured above with his cake and also with one of his new toys. He loves the truck and scoots about the house in it pushing the sound buttons.

I think my favorite moment of the whole day was showing up with the melting cake only to be greeted by a full mariachi band unloading for the party that was occurring next door. I mean who doesn't love mariachi music for a one year old birthday party?

Side note: Candice decorated the cake and I must say it turned out fabulous!!! She is always there to help me make everything extra magnificent and I love her for it.

The Beach was a Blast

2009-07-07T14:33:00.000-07:00

Okay we had a great time at the beach. My favorite times are at the beach and even though I didn't get a shower for four days my children enjoyed their cousins (er my cousins?) and baths in the big tub (gracias Michael and Jamie for always being so freaking prepared). Talia has a few new best friends even though Porter fell from his top spot (although yesterday she reinstated you so cheer up). I didn't get to read a single book when usually I get to read one a day-bummer. However I did discover the wonders of sleeping on a mattress and it was glorious! I have never rested to peacefully while surrounded by Tristan and Talia in a tent. Tristan bonded with Tyler and Amy and now has the gnarliest okie tan on his arms and we all didn't kill each other.
Another Urmston reunion in the bag!

A new Goal: Make things that taste good and look good

2009-06-06T20:47:00.001-07:00

Usually when it comes to baking I head to my mom's house so that she can help me create something that looks beautiful. When it comes to baking I can usually settle for something that tastes delicious even if it isn't pretty. No more. My new career as a full-time mother has changed me and I want my baked items to look pretty. I will, even if I have to cause every one around me to gain 5-10 pounds when I drop off treats at their door.

My first attempt at cake balls on my own went fabulous (others may disagree). I was so excited that I took pictures-hey I am not afraid to celebrate.

P.S. Instead of blogging the past 5 weeks I have been reading silly novels.

Talia sets the World on Fire!

2009-06-06T20:12:00.000-07:00

Talia has the best times with all things dangerous. If she is not jumping from high places, she is relating another tale of being tied up and escaping the dragon. I mean she lives such a fast paced life it is incredible that she is related to me. She is pictured below with a Talia size sparkler hijacked from our friends wedding.

Her brother is following in her footsteps. He shakes his baby gate to slowly wedge it apart to make his escape and last week while trying to give me a heart attack he crawled to the pool and got in to the water. He backed up, legs first and even held onto the side dangling in the water (I was trying to give him the fear so he wouldn't be so daring-no such luck). When he let go and tried to walk\swim to me I had to retrieve a floating Tristan. This picture is him recreating the event for the blog picture. Now that I think about it I was nicknamed "Danger" when I was younger so maybe I shouldn't act so incredulous.

Growing Up to be Like Mom and Dad...

2009-03-30T15:29:00.001-07:00

You know when you are young and naive and promise yourself how your life is going to be? I made a lot of interesting plans like for instance I planned to visit every country before I was 50 (hasn't happened but I still have tons of time-I have been to Mexico so cross that one off) or learn how to ride a skateboard and be able to competently ride to locations without mauling my face (still in progress). I also had several things on my list from my childhood experiences with my parents. They are wonderful people but there were certain things they would do when I was young that would drive me crazy. Well kick me in the leg and call me Linda\Marc because I went and committed one of the worst ones. I put Talia to bed last night and then proceeded to make dessert. My parents used to send Candice and I to bed and we would be lying in bed and the popcorn maker would go on. Man we used to get so burnt about it. I remember being in my dark room and at 7 years old promising myself that I would never do such a mean thing to my kid. I mean come on it is the loudest dessert you can have. It is not like you can hide the sound of the blender or the popcorn maker (they used to make milkshakes without us too-I am getting ticked off again just remembering the unjust nature of it all) and last night in my pursuit of a good treat after a long day of entertaining my children I flipped that loud ole' popcorn maker on and I knew that Talia could hear it in her bed. Am I a jerk or what? I didn't even feel any guilt about it as I added my Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips to the warm popped corn.

I guess the morale of the story is parents have a hard job and deserve their uninterrupted treats. And there should be things that our kids don't get that we do. To my mom and dad I hope you enjoyed your treats because you earned them. And I will be removing "Never leave my kids out of dessert" from my life long list of things to do.

P.S. Here are some pictures of my children enjoying their desserts (Tristan eating food off the floor and Talia after eating a Popsicle).

Party Socks

2009-03-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

For any one who has met Talia this might be a little redundant of a post, but I had to comment on this obsession of my daughter's. Talia loves having adventures, tying people up and seeing her friends (by the way I like many am her best friend). She also loves collecting things and putting them into socks. Now I don't why she does it, I only know that she calls it her party socks and carries which ever sock she is most inclined to care about that day around as such. She has become a little fanatical about it because I keep finding random socks throughout my house filled with items. Not to mention the fact that these hijacked socks are usually without their mate which means I folded laundry and some of my socks in my sock pile wandered away-hmmm.

The following is the collection of socks I found today to prove to you all that according to Talia, party socks although not wearable are great accessories. It can be worn over the shoulder or just in ones hand:

Items in sock (interestingly some days there are many more items stuffed into socks):

Tristan Attacks

2009-02-17T09:12:00.000-08:00

Tristan has begun to crawl and man is he everywhere. He is the most mischievous boy in the land right now. I can't seem to keep up. Now he isn't up to full crawling antics because he is mostly using the army crawl technique but at times he sticks his bum-bum in the air and stands his legs up like a stink bug. Right now his favorite trick is to crawl as fast as he can to the receiver by our television and turn the surround sound off or flip the volume knob so that it gets very loud. While he is in en route I call out for him to stop and he turns his head and looks at me smiles and then begins to crawl even faster towards his goal. He thinks it is a hilarious game (I do not). Still I will play it with him all day because he is just so darn bright and cheery. This kid could make Darth Vader smile-if you could see Vader's lips through his breathing mask.

Television and Games

2009-01-22T09:30:00.000-08:00

Most who know my family know that we recently subscribed to cable. I have been boring my parents with my descriptions of these great shows that have been on for a long time that I am just now being made aware of. I can't help it if Dinner-Mission: Impossible it interesting to me. I mean what girl wouldn't want her quincenera cooked to completion in under 7 hours by a man who has never made a cake before. It is entertainment genius. Still to fully understand our family's devotion to the telly I give you exhibit a and b. The front view is the results of a second that Tristan and Jacob turned their eyes away from the television to pretend to want to take a picture. Exhibit B is what they were actually doing. In fact just last night Tristan was nursing and stopped to crane his head around my arm to watch some of "Gary Unmarried".

I really am not that upset about it because Talia and her "Playhouse Disney" + PBS has really advanced her vocabulary. I am extremely amused by the pretend conversations we get to have wherein I am Handy Manny and she is the ice cream lady calling about her broken freezer. In her scripted phone call (she insists on telling me "No you say (whatever it is) and I say this okay?" and then we do it. Tristan even gets to be involved: Talia calls him "The tool" which is a riot because to some that is a derogatory name. "Daddy is a tool" really becomes a giggling moment for Jacob and I -we can't help it.

We do not however only watch TV. Jacob and I are quite adept at playing all manner of games. In the following picture we are showing off our excellent gaming skills after taking over in Cranium on Christmas Day. Jacob is quite good at "silently" drawing. We are working on improving our Nerts skills for the Nichols family reunion and finding new words for Speed Scrabble. I need to get back to studying the "Q" and "X" section of the dictionary to hone my skills for the upcoming game night... so I hope every one's new year is going fabulous and until next time.

Talia's Imagination and Other Information

2008-12-20T17:13:00.000-08:00

The Christmas season is here and I finally unpacked my very last "moving in box". I put the finishing pieces on my tree and lit my evergreen candle (I really miss the smell of a real tree). I made shortbread cookies last night with Candice. Tristan helped a little but mostly just tried to maintain control of the cup that Candice was letting him drink water out of. He is a strong old bugger. I have two things to address in this post first is to mention that it is really hard to have traditions once you move away from home and your whole family leaves. Continuing that feel good family feel when it is just little ones (who barely know what is going on) makes the holidays almost a sad time. I did my best to find the present everyone wanted but I think this year for me I have been fighting to not long for silly things like the ugly sweater contest or dumb old Christmas caroling. Please don't get me wrong I have much to be grateful for. I am grateful for my mother-in law for helping me continue my families tradition of matching pajamas for Christmas Eve (and Day). I am even more grateful that my children are happy and healthy. It is so fun to answer Talia's favorite question (no not "Do you want to see my new room?") "What do you want for Christmas?"; although I must say she keeps telling me that I want toys even though I keep answering that I want socks. I am grateful for family in general, I just miss some of the things that Christmas will be lacking this year...

On a totally different note: As we were decorating the tree this year Talia made a new friend out of my tree garland. I would like to introduce you to her cat. In fact she has now taken this cat somewhere that I can't find and now my tree is only half garland and half not. Personally I think it gives it some character. Below is Talia taking her cat for a walk.

Reading is Radical

2008-11-20T21:06:00.000-08:00

You know I don't think people use that word enough anymore. Maybe it is for good reason but I think I am going to let it back into my vocabulary. Laugh if you must but it was the best word I could come up with that started with an "R" that fully describe my love of reading. I am doing my best to pass it on to my children. You can see from the pictures that so far so good. Tristan reads his books every day (he likes the cat one right now and threw up all over it today because he was so excited to read it plus he was knawing on it). Talia's favorite is her "Children's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes" that she got from her Aunt Courtney for her first birthday. We (she and I) have it memorized.

I also realized this past week as I was downsizing from my 10 boxes of school stuff that I haven't read a book in a long time. I still am trying to finish Good Capitalism and Bad Capitalism ( that one I "stole" from Brett Dobson (a fellow educator and an excellent one at that) and I need to get on it. We moved the day after Halloween and I haven't had a second to breathe let alone read. So I have decided to do a shout out and ask for any recommendations of useful, brainless, and\or must reads that you have. I love anything that is well written and have made a goal to read non-fiction more often because there are finally some more writers who have learned to write. Let me know so that my next library visit is fruitful. I normally go up and down the aisles trying to find something that sparks my attention but with Talia and Tristan that type of maneuver isn't going to fly. I await your replies.

P.S. Moving is Crappy

Much Ado About Nothing

2008-11-20T20:56:00.000-08:00

We got Cable today and I had to share my joy and sorrow for the moment. I watched Remington Steele and was so jazzed I did a little jig. Tristan however was so excited to be alive and it quickly reminded me that just because I now have access to 300 channels and a wide variety of music channels does not mean that I need to increase my television watching time. Still I had to express my glee for that Remington Steele. Now all I have to find is when MacGyver is on and I will be set.

The Woman known as Sasha Fierce

2008-10-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

So I have decided after reading about Beyonce's new name that I want a new name for my alter ego. Just so we are all on the same page an alter ego (Latin, "the other I") is a second self, a second personality or persona within a person. A person with an alter ego is said to lead a double life. Now I read the article and was laughing the whole but as I was running today (Candice and I normally spend Saturday's running together but she had a sign to make-so please blame this thought process on her) I started to think about what the name should be.

I must first determine what my "ego" is all about. I mean there are so many questions to answer to truly define what my alter ego is. Does anyone have any suggestions? I would love to be able to name this other person, so far I have come up with Beatrice Fierce but that just isn't creative enough. I think I should keep the Fierce part but maybe not. If only my alter ego was writing this post she would surely be able to think of something great.

Our Trip to Santa Barbara

2008-10-25T17:22:00.000-07:00

Last week Jacob had a business meeting in Santa Barbara and he took us along for the adventure. Talia and I enjoyed an awesome (yet overly priced) meal at the hotel restaurant, we visited the beach and watched Alladin. Tristan was asleep for the meal and Alladin but he and I spent some quality time together watching the dolphins as they swam by the hotel.

Talia certainly has an extreme fondness for "computers" (see third picture) and she and Tristan both enjoyed the change of scenery. The bathtub spout shot out a stream of water in the center of the tub and it was surrounded by tiles that formed a sun. Talia was of course in the bathtub forever.

The Goddess??

2008-10-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

Jacob sent this link to me and I thought it might be interesting to see what everyone thought their own daughter(s) might rank according to the report. I am pretty sure Talia would not have made it past the night with the heads of sacrificed animals, still one can never tell with her.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081007/ap_on_re_as/as_nepal_living_goddess

Check it out and report. I will tally a list and keep the results so that we can crown a goddess....

I love PBS

2008-10-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

After being home so many mornings and relying on PBS I feel as though I need to do a shout out. I discussed this topic at a Sunday dinner with my Aunt Dayna and felt that the topic needed more airing out. Whenever there is nothing on TV there is always PBS. I don't have cable; I mean really with the Internet who needs it (Okay sometimes it would be nice but I would much rather have the $50 than too many channels) but I have watched some seriously great programs as of late and am a more informed person because of it. First was the National Geographic special: Stress: Portrait of a Killer. This brain scientist\professor from Stanford has completed a 30 year study on a family of gorillas and has determined that stress can actually cause a person\gorilla brain to die. Long story short the monkeys (I realize that monkeys and gorillas are not the same thing but I can't remember which that he studied) ended up losing 40 or so monkeys who ate tuberculosis tainted meat and the monkeys that ended up dying were the ones who were arrogant troublemaker males (i.e. ones who didn't play well with others -didn't handle stress well). I am really not giving this guys research justice just try and catch the program and simplify your life if you want to live long and prosper.

On a totally other spectrum is this new show called Sid the Science Kid. He walks around with this microphone and researches his questions. He even applauds himself. I think I love the show best because the kid reminds me off Talia.

My point in this lengthy entry is that I appreciate all those people who support it; I watch but have never actually pledged money. I have decided that I need to start. Now all I have to do is wait until that Suze Ormond thing comes on again so I can pledge and get that cool women finance thing for Aunt Dayna.

Up Too Late...Another excuse for not updating

2008-10-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

I love my Tristan but sometimes he keeps us up just a bit too late. I usually wake him up for his last feeding around 11:00pm and he falls asleep around 12:00am. Well this night he didn't feel like sleeping he felt like telling mom and dad to jump off a cliff. Luckily it was a weekend night so Jacob was up to keep me company. Still once he went to bed (around 1:30) I got to sleep until 7:00am. Totally worth it.

Back in the Saddle Again

2008-10-02T15:38:00.001-07:00

You know I thought I would be super good at doing this once a week but it was not to be. Hopefully I won't be silent for as long as I was this time ever again. I think my mind was dead and couldn't compute with a computer. I mean after spending so much time on computers at school one would assume that I would have no problem; sometimes I think Talia and Tristan didn't feel like blogging and so we all found other things to occupy our time. To play catch up though....

Talia had her third birthday and man was it exciting. That little girl was on top of the world and shooting off to the moon. My mom made this amazing Mystery Machine cake (see my parents blog for all the pictures) and Talia was shaking she was so excited. We had family over to Jacob's parents' house and ate delicious Plumberry's pizza (our favorite). It so loaded with cheese Talia can actually get full off of a couple of pieces. Usually she likes to eat the cheese off and then asks for another piece but we make her eat the rest of it. For some reason she enjoys eating it flat against her face instead of the "regular" way and it ends up all over her but eaten. Since it was her birthday we indulged her and let her have just the cheese. Man are we nice or what? She recieved a ton of fabulous gifts: her top 3 have been her Mystery Man (I wish there was some way for me to write it out so you can hear how she says it, it starts out low and she says it really fast), her packpack (in plain English Back pack-she put that one on immediately and wanted to go to school), and her "thingy". Now before you become confused that is a feather boa that Aunt Amy got her.

The Many Sides of Talia

2008-08-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

Side One: Talia the lovely girl
Side Two: Talia the ballerina almost in flight (on her way from the coffee table to the couch)
Side Three: Talia the Scooby Doo addict (she is watching it while trying to placate me and take a picture- she logs about 15 hours a week if she can talk me into it)
Side Four: Talia the bad listener (she was supposed to be smiling by the tree but instead chooses to sit on my lap and talk about being stuck in the computer)
Side Five: Talia at rest

Tristan Sits Around

2008-08-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

So, I never thought I would have a baby who hangs out on the couch at 6 weeeks. I mean good gracious I can sit him down and read a magazine and he will lean on the couch and contemplate life for a good 5 minutes. It really becomes fun when he starts laughing and chattering to me. If he does choose to cry his sister comes and gives him her "soft blanket" which entails her placing the blanket over his entire body. I really think she believes that this will stop his crying and allow here to hear her Scooby Doo "abominable snowman" movie better. It is especially funny when she shooshes him and he doesn't comply and she looks at me like I have brought some insane creature into the house. But the most amazing thing that has happened this week is Tristan is eating every four hours. Now for most people that would mean absolutely nothing, for me and Tristan it means a lifetime of happiness. We really needed some happiness after the Olympics ending...thank goodness for "Up to the Minutes" it always gets us through.

Panero 1 and 2

2008-08-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

2008-08-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

Our first post ever....
Ahh Friday my favorite day because it means for two days I will have continually interaction with an adult for more than an evening. This is my first official week as a stay at home mom and I must say that I am a bit out of sorts. People call and I really have nothing to relate or discuss aside from what I caught on the "UP to the Minute" news at 3:34 am. Tristan and I do love that program and really who wouldn't.

Here are my accomplishments this week: Cooking Chicken Cordon Bleu and figuring out that Talia was pretending to be "John" not " Leon" from Peter Pan. I mean you would think that her running around in her slippers that my brainiac mind would be able to put it together but alas I seem to have left my mind in my now empty classroom. Still the duck slippers that Talia ran around in and the "We Can Fly" song was worth it.

Tristan is a month old and is enjoying doing push-ups. The biggest problem is dodging his head when he tries to headbut me... more next time.