The Scariest Slide EVER!

We made the trek to Davis for the day yesterday. We hung out with Amy and Corin and then enjoyed our friend Dawn's annual Thanksgiving dinner. It was a long day but it was fun and as always Adam and I are left driving with both kids passed out and talking about parenting, kids, and life. We have damn good kids....and I am grateful for that.

So we went to slide hill park, and I have to say that Davis takes the cake for parks. Huge green spaces with fields and lots of different structures, water parks, and greenbelt biking areas. But who the hell makes a huge dangerous cement slide at a family park. I mean come on, a little sense here. Because as calm as I try to be, as much as I try to let my kids experience the world on their own...this slide is not ok.

I wonder how many faces have been smashed, limps broken, tears shed over this gigantic cement slide.

Notice how relaxed and calm Amy seems. I believe she led my son (the boy who has broken two bones and is fearless) right over to this death trap, and then sat happily and watched as Adam and Charlie took the plunge.

When I came to the conclusion that there was no way to distract Charlie from this slide, I made Adam go first, hoping the sheer speed of the slide would deter Charlie. No dice. As soon as Adam zoomed down, Charlie had this look of pure delight all over his face and shouted down to me: I DO IT ALL BY MY_YELF, so I made Adam sprint back to the top and take Charlie with him.

My plan backfired because as soon as Charlie experienced this slide he was determined to go alone. I don't have a picture of him going alone because I was having a panic attack. This slide is so fast and Charlie is so light that he flew up in the air and turned over. I thought for a split second he would smash his face, but being the athletic king that he is, he did an amazing twist and turn to recover his failed attempt at the slide.

And of course as soon as Charlie flew down the slide Kate jumped out of Amy's lap and stated, "My Do IT"

And that was freaky for me too. But Kate loved it. As did Adam

And as everything is these days, both kids wanted the same at the same time....

Before the slide experience I had made plans with Amy to return in the spring and spend the day at the water park (right next to this slide), but now I am not sure I will ever return to the wonderful "slide hill park" I mean, who the hell makes a huge ass cement slide in a kids' park.

A new world

Kate is almost 22 months. When people ask I can now say, Oh she is almost 2. Wow, almost 2.

Before I got pregnant with Kate I thought I wanted three children. Both of us did. But when I found myself sick and tired and pregnant with another baby I quickly came to the conclusion that 2 was a perfect number. The birthing, babymoon, and adjusting to two tiny kids was so amazing that I started to waver once again as to how many kids our family could hold. Daily I thought about whether or not this would be my last birth, last newborn, last session nursing. I assured myself that the answer to that enormous question would one day surface the way answers to many difficult questions seem to do.

But here we are. Kate is almost 2 and still I have no clue as to whether she will be my last or my middle.

But that is not why I set foot on this blog at this hour.

It is a new world for us because Kate is a full blown toddler. She talks in complete sentences, has opinions as strong as my own, and has officially ditched the stroller. This means two things: A. I need a backpack instead of a tote bag and B. I have to be really "on" in my adventures.

Last week I decided to leave the stroller behind for our Fun Friday Adventure: the oakland zoo. and this little champ held up for 3 hours of walking, climbing, exploring, good zoo fun.

Kate not only gets to walk like us big folk, she gets her own treat at the end. There goes 2 bucks.

Notice the lip touching. Classic sign that he is tired and needing a nap. I want to take this time to repeat what we all know. THIS KID ROCKS. Sure he has his moments of defiance and yelling at us, but he is so in tune with who he is and we are. He loves his sister, protects her, plays with her.....I couldn't do the trips I do alone without my little sidekick.

FREEDOM! This pick said it all. After our adventure I was more tired than I am after an hour long cardio workout.

These kids have enough energy and personality to keep my busy, so why is it that as Kate is approaching 2 I am still thinking one more is calling my name?

200 posts

I have 200 posts out and am pretty excited about that. This has become an online journal of sorts, and my wonderful father has been slowly but surely printing it out in parts.....

Here's to 200 more..

Yummy Healthy Snacks

I am all about creating and making yummy snacks that the kids love and healthy. I saw this recipe and made them this morning while the kids were eating their breakfast. Super easy, fast, yummy, and healthy. I ended up popping about 5 in my mouth before the kids even tried it. I used agave nectar instead of honey, and didn't have sunflower seeds, but used sunflower seed butter instead of peanut butter.

I call them peanut butter cookies and both kids just had 2 or 3 for a snack.

Love the fact that it is raw with packed protein.

1/4 cup finely grated carrots
1/4 cup rolled oats or Granola (I used homemade granola)
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 Tablespoon honey
3 Tablespoons peanut butter

Mix all together and roll into balls and enjoy!

Hard at Work

This morning has been rough. Charlie has had two meltdowns almost unprecedented. Adam is playing one out of four matches this weekend, and it was delayed by an hour, so he will be gone a good chunk of today and tomorrow. And I am tired.

Too much fighting over toys, playdough, mommy for me to handle. But the last 20 minutes have quieted down and both kids are really focused on their "work". Charlie put on his hard hat and worker man vest, got his tools and has been walking from room to room saying, "Mommy, I'm fixin yumthing" and "I gotta get to work" and "That ok, you take my wrench Kate"

Funny how a little man can be so out of sorts for two hours and then so sweet, focused, and creative the next minute....

Checking out his tools...

And Kate is very focused in the kitchen. I had to giggle seeing this scene, girl in the kitchen, boy fixing things. Right before I snapped this shot she said, "toast mommy?"

But it isn't alway split by gender, before Charlie realized so much had to fixed, Kate found the dress up basket and got to work. Not sure why the lower lip during this pic, she was happy before and after the pic.

It has been so much fun to watch them play with the toys we have collected over time. People think we spend a fortune on these toys, but honestly most are gifts from grandmas, and hand me downs. The only we have purchased is our kitchen, some kitchen goods, and a few wooden trucks. We got the table, castle, and other things as hand me downs. This Christmas I have been thinking long and hard about what to add to our collection. I have narrowed it down to dress up clothes and dolls.

The time we spend playing we mostly read, make things in the play kitchen, play dress up and play with the parking garage.

Let's hope the rest of the day is like the last 20 minutes, because if it is like the first 3 hours, I won't make it until 7.

Like father Like son

This was an accident last week.....

Adam got dressed for work, while I helped Charlie get dressed for his "work", nursery school. When he saw daddy he showed me that he looked just like daddy. I thought it was pretty cute!

Anything can happen on a long nature walk without a bike or stroller.

We took our first real nature walk (no stroller, bike, wheeled helper) while Adam played tennis last Sunday. We were gone for 1.5 hours walking along the bluffs and through the deep, dark forest. Kate is big now. While getting ready for the walk by opening the garage and setting up the stroller, she turned to me and stated, "I walk now, mommy" and with that I parked the stroller and went for it, without a phone I must add. It was a success and just now I got back from a three hour adventure at the Oakland zoo without a stroller too. It is quite a sight to see me corral and chase and interact with two kids and no stroller...but I love it and look forward to leaving the stroller behind more and more.

Here is what can happen during a long nature walk:

a little girl can get off to a slow start while learning to use her new adorable rain boots. Charlie and I watched her for a good minute while she tried to get her foot up this booby trap.

Our idea was to go puddle jumping, but one day of sun dried up all of our puddles. Lucky for us a huge amount of goats had passed through our bluffs eating the weeds, so we got to goat poop jump instead.

A little girl can come alive, talking left and right, asking what's this, and who is that, running to keep up with her bro

And then that same girl can have a break down and decide pretty far from home that A. she is too tired to hike and B. she doesn't want to be held. GREAT, here is where the frustration came in for me. But how can one stay frustrated when surrounded by such beauty and such a happy boy....

Take a nature walk with kids and you are bound to see plenty smiles like this.

And of course you will find animals alive and dead. We saw egrets, hawks, dead worms, and more.

And the ultimate leaf blower, weed whacker, fire gun...

And of course after hiking for so long, you will find sweet spots to take rests together...

Work in Progress

This is what I have been working when the kids nap or after they go to bed.

The kids love to play on with their kitchen, and I love adding quality toys to their collection. They work hard to make me soups all day long, and you can frequently find Kate carefully carrying two tea cups on tea plates throughout the house.

It recently dawned on me that I can make my own play food. And it is peaceful, therapeutic and fun.

Here are the first two cookies I made. I have improved since then. I plan to add velcro to the backs and fronts so they can stacked and cut.

Our kids eat peas of all kinds like they are candy, so of course I had to make a few so they can put them in their "soups" and stir fries:

Bowtie pasta:

Fry up an egg and put in on rye toast and the kids go wild, so I know they will love to play with this:

Aunt Kate joined in the fun. She made two beautiful doll pillows for Claire and Bobby. After I finish making all the felt food I plan to learn to sew and knit doll clothes, blankets, hats....We plan on adding two dolls to our family for xmas, and I am so excited. There is nothing sweeter than watching Charlie and Kate carry, kiss, feed, and love their dolls.

Happy creating!

It has been a long day.

I feel good, though. I worked out for the first time in two weeks. Adam woke up this morning at 6:30 with a smile on his face and a spring to his step.

We had a fun playdate with one of Charlie's friends, I have a new dish baking in the oven that I am excited to eat.

And....my sweet son is so cute.

He is standing at the window, shirtless, with his hands at his waist, watching bigger kids playing street hockey. He just turned to me and said after a big sigh, "

"It's been a long day, Mommy. Is it getting to be night time. Almost time to go to sleep?"

It is 4:30 and my son who has been playing outside all day long is ready for bed.

Love it!

21 months going on 3

Take a close look at the pic of Kate...it says it all. she is all spunky and very sassy, and knows it.

If you ask Kate how old she is she will stick up anywhere from 1 to 4 fingers and say three, with a sly smile.....if you ask her again she will giggle and say two......

She is 21 months but walks, talks, and acts like a stubborn 3 year old.

Just now she looked up at me and said,

"Im Mad at you."

other phrases are:

I want ta yee

I dont know...

I wanna to do it

Come Me (while she sticks out her fist with her pointer finger curling up)

What daddy doing?

Where Charlie?

Shh Charlie sleeping?

I love you Charlie?

Play with me

mommy happy me?

Mad at me?

every time I put her in the car seat she says, "Too tight"

She constantly is bringing books to us and saying, "readbookame"

She hurt her foot the other day and hopped over to me and said, "ki my foo mommy?"

She wants to do what everyone is doing and where they are going ALL. DAY.LONG

Just now I heard her say, "I bad" and I turned around in the kitchen to see she had abandoned her art work to climb directly on top of the table.....as Charlie says, "baby bad to the bone!"

These are all quotes she has learned from her bro...

When she has extra energy to burn you will find her standing at one end of the living room. She will then shout, "ready. set. GO!" and sprint across the room. If I sit down on the carpet while she is doing this she will say, "ready for me. ready set go"

She sings twinkle twinkle and ABCs pretty well, and struts into her brother's nursery school like she owns the place.

Adam just told me that every morning she crawls over the body pillow (there is a dividing line between Daddy's side and kate's) and strokes adam's cheek. She then says, Miss mommy, Miss Daddy and points to her chin (the miss sign) She then starts singing.

She is a sweet, cute, and smart as ever. She is a pistol, stubborn, and independent. Just how I want my little girl to be even if it frustrates me most of the day.

Yesterday we met up with some friends at the beach at 10 am (it was a whopping 70 degrees out), she frolicked around without me for a good 30 minutes. Playing chase with the small waves, giggling at her little friends, and every once in a while racing back to me for a hug.

And then she saw a big girl go out a bit further in the water. I have never seen the look of determination that I saw that morning. She made a B line for the ocean. Thankfully I didn't hesitate to get up and sprint, and I mean SPRINT over to her. I told Adam and my mom I was only 5 feet away, but that is straight bullshit. I don't know how far away I was...maybe 20 feet? I didn't stop to think about whether my iphone was in my back pocket (where it frequently lives) or that I was wearing my nice new leather shoes.....she was sprinting to, and got pretty far into the water before she lost her footing and plunged head first into the cold ocean. I got there right when it happened and swooped her right up. She didn't even swallow any water, but we were both scared. My heart was racing, we were both soaked, sandy, and thankful to be in each other's arms.

It is a fine line between allowing your children the freedom they need to explore and learn on their own, and letting them get far enough away that the unthinkable becomes possible.

It was a great lesson, because Kate is fearless, fast, strong, and willful. And as confident as I am about watching the kids like hawks (what other choice do you have when you have two kids so close together), there is always room for improvement.

Happy 21 months Kate.