Confessions of a California Girl

After 32 years of living (with many of those being years in California not far from the beach), I have to confess, I just recently learned what you do with a beach ball.  I never understood why they are called "beach balls" when it is impossible to play with them on the beach.  The beach is always a windy place.  Try throwing a beach ball to a kid.  You'll be chasing the beach ball the whole time.  It should not be called a beach ball but rather an "ocean ball" or better yet, "surf ball."  Last Saturday Warren and I got a babysitter while we did a date at the beach without kids.  We did all the things you can't do while you're there watching kids.  Boogie boarding, a peaceful walk, playing a game, playing smash ball and just relaxing.  While we were playing smash ball in the surf, a little boy and his dad were playing with their beach ball right next to us.  Lucky for us, I learned something new.  This is what you do: you throw the beach ball into the ocean and the waves carry it back to you.  What fun! So when I went to the beach with the kids yesterday for our regular beach outing (we're still having gorgeous weather out here) for the first time ever I brought a beach ball for Rebecca to play with.  She had so much fun.  I'm just glad we discovered how to use a beach ball before my kids got to old to want to play with one.   Thanks little boy and your dad, wherever you may be, you made my kids day.

Food meets floor

Joseph and the blueberry muffin

Last week at Costco I had both of the kids with me.  But lucky me, it was "sample" day.  Last time there were samples at Costco it was a huge hit and kept the kids entertained and even provided lunch.  Hoping we would hit another gold mine we cruised through the food isles trying to get the three items I had come to Costco for. Literally.  First sample. Chips and salsa.  Rebecca starts whining: "I want some chips, I want some chips." Joseph starts screaming. I'm sure he was saying the same thing as his sister.  A lady was talking to the sample lady.  "Don't worry, your day will get better."  I grab my first sample of chips and salsa and hand it to Rebecca.  I grab another one and hand it to Joseph.  Rebecca: "Ooops, Mommy, I spilled."  She has salsa all over her legs.  I reach down to give her a napkin.  I turn around.  Joseph had dropped his chips and salsa on the floor and was screaming.  The lady who had just reassured the sample lady that her day would get better looked at me, my kids and the salsa everywhere and said: "Or maybe not."  The sample lady starts to head over to clean up my mess, but as supermom I am faster and get to the floor with napkins in hand despite my screaming child.

Next sample.  Something hot and Mexican.  The new sample lady is telling me the rules: "You have to take it for your children, they can't grab it themselves and be careful, it's very hot."  Okay, okay, I'm responsible, just let me take the sample so baby Tetradactyl here will stop screaming.  I blow on the sample. Temperature seems okay.  I hand it to Joseph.  He tries to put it in his mouth.  It drops and lands on the floor.  Another one bites the dust.  We're feeding the trash can today.  I can't find two of the three items I came for.  Joseph is screaming his head off.  Rebecca is trying to get in and out of the cart.  A man looks at me and says: "Believe me, these are the EASY years."  Little does he know my kids will be PERFECT teens.  

A couple of days later.  I was preparing dinner for the missionaries.  I decided I had to do something with those blueberries while they were still good.  So I started to make blueberry muffins.  Rebecca had a friend over.  Suddenly the friend was moody about something, so I told them they could come help me with the muffins.  But I was in a hurry and having a 4 and 3 and 1 year old help you bake when you're in a hurry is never a good idea.  They spent most of the time washing their hands and getting their chairs into the kitchen while I stealthily kept putting in the ingredients.  They helped me stir the dough.  Somehow things got out of control.  I don't even know what happened.  Suddenly the two girls were in the bathroom without their dresses on washing the kitchen floor mat in the sink, a tomato was squashed all over the kitchen floor and my new container of chocolate covered mints had also gravitated to the kitchen floor.  So I got the girls out of the bathroom before there was an even bigger flood, had them get dressed, sent them back to the neighbors house (who luckily took Joseph for 15 minutes, too), cleaned up the tomato, the mints and got the meatloaf made while the muffins were cooking. Phew.  

Just thought I'd add this post to balance the times I just talk about how cute and funny my kids are.  Did I ever mention motherhood is messy?

 

Joseph's first haircut

It was time. That's all I have to say. The curls were cute but when they didn't curl up enough it just didn't look good any more.



Someone save me...



Help!



Okay, so I survived...



...and even got a reward: pizza party at the park



Just had to throw this one in.

Oh what do you do in the summertime?

Summer adventures part two.
Now that I'm looking back over this whole entire summer I realize just how much we did. In addition to the Friday fun days and the Hollywood Bowl Kids Concerts we went to the the beach every Wednesday with a big group of friends and sometimes on Saturdays as a family, had a full month of swimming lessons for Rebecca, went to the Getty Museum, the Terracotta Chinese Warrior exhibit at the Bowers museum, a day of Disneyland with Uncle Jon and Lisa, played tennis with Steffi Graf, spent a week in Orem, Utah, and 4 days camping in Yellowstone National Park, went to opening night at the Hollywood Bowl with Warren's office, went to the John Williams concert for my birthday present, had play dates and park dates, slip 'n' slide days at Great-Grandparents Evans' house, a 4th of July party, a 9 years of marriage anniversary concert with Julie Andrews at the Hollywood Bowl, a Pioneer Picnic, AND if you want to count May as part of the summer, a trip to Kauai, Hawaii!!! Phew. Was that really my life? I'm amazed if I may say so myself.

Friday Fun Days: Summer Adventure Schedule

This summer I created a summer schedule of fun activities in and around LA for our "Little Rascals of LA" to participate in. (I like to call Rebecca and her little group of friends the Little Rascals because they run around together in their make-believe world and remind me of those cute Little Rascals on TV from decades ago.)
I made the schedule with links and meeting times and places to make it easier for people to participate in activities and so I wouldn't feel like I needed to spend lots of time on the phone each week inviting people to join us. I handed it out to everyone at church and two other wards asked for copies of the schedule. We went somewhere every Friday and the kids really looked forward to it.

In addition, we went to the three summer sounds concerts for kids at the Hollywood Bowl with a big group of friends. The kids made a craft and then went to a show that focused on a different country each time with music and dancing from around the world. Rebecca loved it and even Joseph had a lot of fun.

Starting in June here is what was on the schedule:

LA Zoo
Underwood Family Farms
California Science Center
Kidspace
Huntington Library Gardens
LACMA
Beach Park
Travel Town
Water Play at Virginia Park
Aquarium of the Pacific

My kids and I made it to all but a couple of them this year. We had so much fun. We always brought a picnic and ate with the rest of the group. It was fun to run into all sorts of people we knew while we were there.
Here are some pictures from our adventures:

LA Zoo

California Science Center



Kidspace Museum, Pasadena






Huntington Gardens, Pasadena




Virgina Water Park



Summer Sounds for Kids at the Hollywood Bowl

Labor Day 2008

On Labor Day we went to Dockweiler beach with a bunch of friends, had tin foil dinners, s'mores and enjoyed all the good food and good company. Unfortunately Warren had to work, but I braved the crowds, crazy parking and a beach I've only been to once to join the fun. It was worth it. We had also gone on Memorial Day. What a great way to begin and end a fantastic summer.

Joseph loves the water.


Rebecca always complains about the sand, but still does stuff like this.

Joseph often just goes up to people at the beach and stares at them.
Sometimes they ignore him, sometimes they strike up a conversation.
I find it amusing either way.



Great friends


What crazy mom let this one year old make his own s'mores?


But Mommy, I did fine!


I proclaim the holiday is over.


A perfect ending to a great day.

California Muse

FYI, I'm starting an additional blog that will be anything I feel like writing about in blog format. You can find it at californiamuse.blogspot.com

YellowBalloonDays will continue to be news about our family and the kids, all the funny things they say and do.  I'm experimenting a little but for now this is how I will divide the blogs (family versus random thoughts-although sometimes they overlap).  We'll see how it goes.  

"Charlotte's Web" rewritten

A few weeks ago I decided to follow one of my friend's examples and read "Charlotte's Web" to my daughter.  I had only gotten to the second page or so when Rebecca said: "Fern? What kind of a name is Fern? I want to call her something else."  So after a moments contemplation she decided on renaming Fern "Elizabeth."  Okay, I can try to remember that.  A couple pages later and Wilbur the pig is born.  Rebecca: "Wilbur? I don't like that name.  Can we call him Rose?"

Try reading "Charlotte's Web" out loud and substituting Elizabeth for every Fern, and Rose for every Wilbur.  It's not that easy.

Some daughter. 

Invisible discipline

As we were leaving the house today, Rebecca came running up to me.  "mommy, mommy..." She had a very concerned look on her face.  I was worried, what was wrong? "Mommy, my invisible boyfriend just hit me TWO TIMES!" Oh wow. How are you supposed to deal with an invisible boyfriend hitting your daughter?  I tried my best.  Everything I did was wrong.  In the end she decided to keep him locked up in the car while we went to the post office.  

This is the continuation to something that has been going on since school started.  She told me she has an invisible boyfriend-brother.  She told me that they kiss each other.  I told her, "we don't kiss until we're in college."  She said, "but I kiss Joseph and he is my brother so I can kiss my invisible boyfriend-brother."  She also told me that he is my child and that he was born on October 15th, just like her.  Smarty-pants.

Happy Birthday to Me!

My mom tells me I've been planning my own birthday parties since I was 2. I've always loved my birthday. I read a quote somewhere that growing up and not caring about your birthday any more should start by age 12. I disagree. As a kid my mom threw great parties for us. She has a talent of putting together a fun party without spending a fortune and helping everyone have a good time without getting stressed out herself. As time passed it is true, I would plan my own parties, the games I wanted to play, food to eat etc. As a teenager once I even got hired to provide entertainment at a little kid's party.
I don't think we should have unrealistic expectations as adults, but it is still fun to celebrate in whatever way makes you happy. This year, my birthday was one of the best ever. Warren had to leave before we even got up, but when I came out to the front room there was a big bunch of yellow balloons (he decided to take the hint from my first blog entry and not even wait till we had another kid!) and a plate of chocolate chip cookies. Throughout the day people called, emailed or said happy birthday over facebook. A dear friend took me out for lunch. Another friend brought over a plate of cake and we put some candles in it and voila, I had a birthday cake. It was a simple day but full of love from family and friends.

Kindergarten homework: I'm stumped

We're still adjusting to this kindergarten thing and you'll probably hear about it for awhile.  Today on the way home from school we looked at the homework while we were walking.  Our first set of homework.  Yippee! Instructions: Draw an X on the object in each row that does NOT belong.   Easy, right?  One of these things is not like the other.  I think I heard that on Sesame Street before.  First line.  Carrot-tomato-horse-corn.  Rebecca: "The horse!" Right. Easy.  Next two lines just as easy.  Last line: Eggs-loaf of bread-barn-container of milk.   My head was thinking: eggs are found on a farm, you make bread on a farm, you milk the cows on the farm, a barn is on a farm, what in the world  doesn't belong there?  I couldn't figure it out!!!  As soon as we arrived home I had my a-ha moment and realized, oh yeah, it's the barn. That's a place to live, the other things are things to eat.  Not wanting to give away the answer I point to the eggs and say to Rebecca: "Is that a place to live or a thing to eat?" Rebecca: "A place to live!" Stumped again.  If you use my logic then there isn't even a correct answer.  Am I smart enough for Kindergarten? We shall see....

Surfing USA

The other day one of my brothers asked me: "Why do you like the beach so much?" What kind of a question is that? I've always loved the beach. He said he didn't like getting all sandy. That is a comment I hear a lot. I don't like getting sandy either, but the positives definitely outweigh the negatives when it comes to the beach. For my birthday present this year other than the John Williams concert (which I'll write about later) I wanted to be able to go boogie boarding with Warren. Since one of us always has to watch the kids we don't get to go out into the ocean together. So yesterday since we were at the beach with some friends I got that chance. It was a blast. I caught a whole bunch of really great waves and Warren and I even caught some that we rode in together. It made me feel like a kid. That giddy, happy, carefree feeling of just PLAYING. Warren, thanks for being my best friend and playing at the sandy beach with me. It was a birthday dream come true.

Learning to laugh

So-to continue our walk to the ice cream store story. My husband and the kids went on ahead to the drug store where we were going to buy our ice cream and I stopped off at the grocery store to buy one single item. I wanted to be fast in order to catch up with them, so of course I got in line behind two super slow women. The cashier asked them for their "Ralph's card" and the one lady couldn't find hers so the other lady started looking. She literally pulled out every single other grocery store's club card before finding the right one: Albertsons, Smart and Final, Vons, etc etc. Then they paid and reached into the change machine to get their change. But instead of grabbing all the coins in one swoop the lady pulled out one or two coins each time, put them in her purse and went back for more. They were SO SLOW! I was getting annoyed. I finally bought my one item and started for the drug store when I revisited the situation in my mind and just had to laugh. It was so comical really, how she happened to pull out every single wrong card before finding the right one. So I arrived at the drug store in a better mood, stood in line to order the ice cream for the family when I turned around and saw my husband, the little guy Joseph, and a huge bucket full of big crazy fuzzy topped pencils all over the floor. My normal reaction would have been to get really frustrated with the situation, but since I had just decided to laugh about my slow grocery store ladies I just had to laugh again. I just hoped the store clerks wouldn't feel I was being disrespectful about their merchandise. But, no harm done, and I felt better for having chosen to laugh. Our attitude really can be a choice and especially in regard to motherhood I hope I will choose to laugh more often.

Clean up, clean up

"Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share."
If you have a little one around you you've probably heard this song at some point or even tried to use it to your advantage in that little one's room. My daughter, who has a hard time cleaning up her own room, decided to clean up the world yesterday. We were walking to the store to buy our celebratory ice cream cones in honor of finishing the first week of school when she suddenly decided to pick up any scrap of trash she saw on the sidewalk. Yuck. This is one of those motherhood dilemmas. You want to teach your child the importance of taking care of our earth, leaving it a better place than we found it and cleaning up after ourselves. But do we really want her picking up who knows what that has been who knows where? I've noticed at the park when our babies want to pick things up off the floor we moms automatically say: "Don't touch, that's yucky." But we should probably be picking the things up ourselves and throwing them in the trash. I resolve to do better and just bring along my wipes and hand sanitizer and "do my share."

misty...

Okay- I was so proud of myself for not crying yesterday, not even feeling tearful at all. But today it was harder. Rebecca still didn't want me to leave and that really tugged on my heartstrings. I'm so glad that I've had her around full time as long as I have. I don't regret my decision not to do formal pre-school with her. On my walk home from dropping her off I suddenly thought of my little girl in the big world and realized, who will make sure she's not too hot, too cold, hungry, thirsty.... I guess it's time for her to learn to take care of herself and she will do just fine. But it doesn't mean that I can't get a little misty while I'm adjusting to this new independence. Big girls DO cry, even when they feel right about the decisions they've made. It's all part of this thing we call life.

1st Day of Kindergarten

Rebecca and I have been nervous about this day for quite some time. I got all my tears out last week though, so by today, the actual start of school, I was fine and didn't even get misty. Rebecca was still acting pretty shy and nervous when I left but seemed to have adjusted by the time I picked her up.
In Germany, on your first day of school your parents fill a "school cone" up with treats. The children take them to school. They are usually pretty big, almost as big as the kids themselves. It is a cute tradition. Rebecca saw a picture of them in a German book we have about starting school. So last week she said: "Mom, the night before school starts, when I'm sleeping, will you make one of those cones for me?"
So last night, mommy the school fairy made a "school cone", daddy supplied the favorite treats (Oreos, Starbursts, lollipops and marshmallows) and Rebecca and Joseph enjoyed the outcome.

Before school got out I ran over to the grocery store and bought 3 dozen helium balloons. I made little cards that said: Happy 1st Day of Kindergarten. I pulled them, literally, through the wind to pick up Rebecca from school. Most of the parents were there early. I handed each parent a balloon for their little kindergartener. I think some people thought they were just being handed out through the school. Some parents didn't seem to speak English, some asked to trade colors, but all the kids were thrilled. Rebecca and one other little boy accidentally lost theirs, and one popped, but luckily, even though I guessed the number of balloons, I ended up with one for every one and one extra. What a happy balloon day!



Waking up to find the "school cone"



Ready for school!



I'm nervous but trying to look excited



Listening to the teacher for the very first time



Mommy with 36 balloons



Rebecca on the playground



Rebecca and Mr. Lapiad



Rebecca's seat



I did it!!!



What a great yellow (and pink) balloon day!



Telling Daddy all about it....

FREAKED!

A couple of days ago Rebecca said to me: "Mom, only two more days till kindergarten. I'm FREAKED! Do you know what freaked means? It means you're really scared."

Later that day at the beach she told me she was cold and wanted a jacket. Rebecca: "Mom, I want a jacket. Do you know what a jacket is? It's that thing that goes on your arms."

I'm sure glad I have a walking thesaurus with me all the time. What would I do without one!

Cookies and Milk and Yellow Balloons

When I was a little girl my mom would sing a song to me by Janeen Jacobs Brady.

I Want to be a Mother

When I grow up,
I want to be a mother
and have a family:
one little, two little, three little babies of my own.

Of all the jobs for me,
I'll choose no other.
I'll have a family:
four little, five little, six little babies in my home.

And I will love them all day long
and give them cookies and milk and yellow balloons,
And cuddle them when things go wrong,
and read them stories and sing them pretty tunes.

When I grow up,
if I can be a mother,
how happy I will be:
one little, two little, three little babies I can love.

And you will say each sister and each brother
all look a lot like me:
four little, five little, six little blessings from above.

This message always rang true for me. I always knew I wanted to be a mother. The line that stuck with me the most is "and give them cookies and milk and yellow balloons."
I do love chocolate chip cookies with a passion and my own mother can whip up a batch without a recipe in no time. But lest some people think this description of motherhood is a little too rosy, let me tell you some of the deeper thoughts that come to mind about “cookies and milk and yellow balloons.”

• I make a mess whenever I bake my cookies but the results are worth it.

• The kids and I love to snitch some of the cookie dough and have fun along the way even with the mess all around us. (In the pre-health-code-worry days I had a fantastic great-aunt who would make one batch of c-c-c dough to bake and one to eat. What a treat!)

• Milk is yummy and good for you. But along with the daily milk come the almost daily milk spills at our house. (That’s what happens when you let a one year old learn to eat their own cereal.)

• Balloons are bright, fun and happy. They make people smile. But they deflate eventually and I can get quite annoyed with old balloons that are lying around the house, still with a little air left in them that my kids aren’t ready to part with quite yet.

Having kids has probably been the thing I looked forward to most in life next to getting married. But it has also been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. The other day I was talking to one of my dearest friends and describing the ups and downs of my life. I mentioned one of the challenges has been that pre-motherhood I was always “good” at everything I did. Not to sound cocky, or so what if it does, but I got good grades, played the piano well, felt like I was a good kid, good daughter and good sister to my four younger brothers. I wasn’t perfect, but I felt capable. Motherhood blew that image away with a bang. I always thought I was a patient person before I became a mother. I thought I was organized and managed my time extremely well. All that was before I was in charge of the lives of two helpless creatures in my full time care.

So-back to cookies, milk and yellow balloons.

• Baking cookies: Motherhood is messy. You can’t live with kids and actually be LIVING, painting, play-doughing, baking, cooking, going to the beach, building forts in your front room and doing loads of laundry all the time without making messes. And at the end of the day you don’t necessarily have the energy to clean up those messes every day.

• Snitching dough: In the middle of the mess motherhood can be fun. My favorite moments are the smiles, cuddles, kisses, funny phrases, faces, entertaining thoughts, glimpses into their heads and imaginations. Often they are so small that you don’t even remember to tell Grandma about them on the phone, or write about them in their books. But they are there and they make me smile even though we might look like our front room was hit by a tornado.

• Milk spills and you have to learn to move on. Motherhood is about constantly moving on. Forgiving yourself, forgiving others, not comparing, just moving on. But we grow through all of the experiences and become stronger mothers and stronger women. Even the daily work of sweeping the floor 3-5 times a day (yes, there are some tasks I do manage to do most days) strengthens our patience and our ability to keep going through all of the mundane jobs that are part of motherhood.

• Just like the helium balloons that only last a day, childhood goes by fast and is precious. I hope I can be less annoyed by the milk spills and half dead balloons lying around the house and just enjoy the moments that much more each day.

A closing thought. I’ve always had a secret desire (not so secret anymore!) that someday my husband will bring me cookies and yellow balloons to the hospital if we have another baby (provided we make it to the hospital!). It would bring this song full-circle in my life. But in the meantime while I labor daily with my own mothering joys and inadequacies, I want this blog to celebrate the “cookies and milk and yellow balloon” days of childhood and motherhood in my own life.