Who does this kid look like, part 2...

Go Team Mom again!

I am on a roll today. I think I'll go buy a lottery ticket.

On a side note, now that a computer has decided that both girls look more like me, by a hair...
I will add my earnest request that this means more of their genetic code on the intellectual side is from their Dad...

You know the one who loves school, is on top of all politics, can recite any important date from history by memory, and oh, by the way can play just about anything you could request on the guitar, by ear.... (and coincidentally would never write a run-on sentence like this doozey!)

I think when it all comes down to it, they are both already completely unique. We wouldn't have it any other way!

Who does this kid look like?

Go Team MOM!

I now have "proof" that I am her Mom...
It has always been the consensus that she was strictly her Dad's kid. A computer can't lie, right?

Thanks Elizabeth for this supercool idea!

Whales, Whales, Whales!!!!!

I could be talking about myself and the rest of my crew after our Turkey Day feast, but happily I am not! Although it would be a different story if we ate like that more than once a year....

My Dad and I went Whale watching on Friday. What an incredible trip and this time I do have pictures. Now my Dad and I would have been thrilled just to spend a day together on the water, even if we had seen nothing. Luckily we got to have the quality time and an amazing opportunity to observe the wonders of our Monterey Bay.

Here are the seafarers...

Here are some Humpback whales....

Here is the blowhole of a Humpback whale. It doesn't smell the greatest, but we'll forgive that!

Here is the tail of a Humpback whale...

Here is an Orca or Killer Whale. Never let it be said I don't educate my readers.... Fun Fact... The Orca is not really a whale at all, it is the largest of the dolphins.... Kind of makes you rethink all that cute "Flipper" stuff huh?

Needless to say. We had a blast. We actually saw a Blue Shark and some more Orca's including a Mother and Calf, but my little camera and limited skills were not up to the task to share those with you. Come on out and visit and we'll show you!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone had as wonderful a Turkey Day as we did!

The reason for my recent (and uncharacteristic) silence is my parents' visit for Thanksgiving. They got here early on Tuesday and we haven't stopped going, or eating yet....

We just returned from the Cannery Row tree lighting and the arrival of the Big Guy in Red (on a Harley by the way). He came right by and said hello. M was thrilled. L's immediate response to his greeting, I quote....

"I don't like Christmas!"

I think the long beard was a bit over the top for one little bug.

I am going to cut this short to get back to the festivities. There's Wii bowling to be done!

I am including a couple of pics from our trip to Big Sur last week and will resume my usual mouthiness after Tuesday when sadly, my folks must return home!

It's always a gorgeous view, even with the frequent fog....

M rolled down her window to "feel the fog"

This pic is allegedly here to show off the moving fog, really it's just an opportunity to show off our new love, the behemoth....

The Mole...

No, we are not talking about the reality show, or even the creatures tearing up my yard. The entity I am referring to is the object of both of my girls' obsession. The mole below my left eye.


Now I don't remember ever not having the mole, or ever really caring about it for that matter. I guess I am lucky that it never bothered me or apparently anyone else, prior to my children. Now, it may be true that any of my middle and high school unrequited crushes were totally appalled by the mole, but thankfully none of them were ever heartless enough to tell me. The worst thing a boy ever did was make fun of my hairy arms.... Remember that shaving incident Mom and Dad? Oooh boy, they weren't amused. But I digress. From as early as M could talk, she would sit in my lap and touch it very gently and say "mole, mole, mole, mole...." incessantly. It was mesmerizing, for her. I considered it a cute and hopefully passing fascination. When L started talking it was not quite the same reaction.... She also had the "mole, mole, mole" refrain down. Her physical response, however was not nearly so gentle or sweet. L is convinced if she pushes or scratches hard enough she can either smash or remove all together this heinous flaw.



Now, when we were in San Antonio, I became mildly obsessed with "the MOLE" myself for a while. I went so far as to see the dermatologist at Wilford Hall because I could tell it was growing because I could for the first time see it in my peripheral vision out of my left eye. Here's where it would have been helpful to have the same doctor for more than two years in a row... The Dr. saw no concern with the mole but couldn't speculate as to why it had grown. Umm, hello? If he had known how much the rest of me had grown, it might have given him a little insight... When you get fat, so do your moles. Who knew? I am not making this stuff up! Anyway, self loathing aside, the doctor was convinced from the myriad of other scars on my body, that removing the mole would only leave a more hideous and gaping scar on my face in its stead. Umm, no thanks.

A couple of years later in Altus, L's obsession with removing it for me, forcefully, took me back to the doctor with hopes they would see things differently. No such luck. They again were sure, that a disfiguring scar would result.

So, I have embraced my flaw. The good news, lose a bunch of weight and your mole shrinks too.

As you know from having seen my Wii Mii, even she has a mole. She is also over six foot tall, but as I told C when he wanted to shrink me down to size, it's my virtual reality and in it I will be statuesque darn it!

I have one remaining burning question. How come Cindy Crawford's mole is considered her signature beauty mark worth millions? 'Cause otherwise she and I are twins, right?

When Did I tick off Karma?

It just gets better and better....

Picture it, 4am and you are awakened from a dead sleep by the smoke alarm going off in your toddler's room.

By the time you get your head around what is happening and stumble (sore knee and all) out of your bed, you can already hear your husband shouting, "Oh my God...."

What did he find when he burst through the door? He found nothing, because the room was absolutely WHITE with mist. This is NO exaggeration. You could not see the bed, or the kid allegedly in it, from the door. For no apparent reason, L's humidifier decided to go haywire and it looked exactly like morning on Monterey Bay in her room. When you visit you will understand. We had to open the window to get the fog out. That was refreshing as it is quite cold here at 4am....

The good news, L slept through the whole thing, the alarm, her Dad's yelling, the window, me putting the damp little one back on her pillow and covering her back up.

This morning even her carpet is wet.... Apparently it's time for humidifier purchase number 17.

So, Karma, I am very very sorry for whatever it is that I did! Can we call it even now?

And another one of those days?

So, C says I cannot let the opportunity pass to share with you how my morning began today.

I shared the joys of yesterday so I might as well keep going....

I woke up with a tender and quite purple knee cap. The burn on my arm made C tell me I look like I work at a fast food joint.

I got M to school without incident. Yippeee.

I came home to exercise before getting cleaned up for L's Parent Place class. It's basically a Mommy and Me class where the Moms get to do most of the work and entertain their toddlers by acting as foolish as possible. Right up my alley....

Now every time I take a shower, L insists on coming in to check on me. This always sets off the smoke detector in our hall. Yes, every time! Usually the alarm sounds at least twice per shower. Today it didn't go off until I was actually out. The only way to stop the alarm is to wave something under the detector. C always uses a book, but I am not tall enough for that to work. So, I usually use a towel. With the first swipe of my towel today, I knocked the light cover off the adjacent fixture. This sent L into a cry of hysterics, as if she was emotionally attached to a plastic globe? A few seconds later the alarm sounded again. L was still crying and I went waving the towel (off my back mind you) like a maniac to stop the BLEEPING machine. This time the frayed edge of my oh so deluxe bath towel caught on the exposed screws from the missing light cover and stuck there. So imagine the sight C came to find. Me, umm, indecent, and trying to stop the alarm, calm down L, and fetch my towel back from the ceiling. Sorry, no pictures.

You just can't make this stuff up....

Here's hoping that it's all out of my system. Otherwise it could be a dangerous afternoon.

Just one of those days....

Ever have one of those days where you feel it would be in the best interest of everyone if you just returned to bed and hid?

Here is the gist of my day....

7:30 am - Screaming, crying, hysterical kindergartner because hair has wound itself around earring and must be extracted

10:50 am - Lunch proctor for 22 kindergartners on pizza and Popsicle day, with a toddler in tow....need I say more?

12:48 pm - Three minutes late to get kindergartner because someone in front of me bought their lotto tickets with pennies at the local drug store

3:30 pm - Screaming, crying, hysterical kindergartner because I did not put her hair in a bun for ballet (keep in mind, mean old mom trying to avoid the sore ear from earlier....)

4:40 pm - Fall out of my car (yes, you read that correctly, d@#n flip flops...) while loading girls back in car after ballet. Bruise, if not shatter, left kneecap. Crawl in back of car and cry/cuss for a few minutes while toddler yells "I will kiss it Mama...."

6:20 pm - Burn my arm while pulling dinner out of oven


All I can say, is that in exactly 23 minutes my children are going to bed. And so am I!

Here's hoping tomorrow I can get out of bed without a crane!
Good night.

Roadtrip, Hooray!

We decided on Friday afternoon that we really should do something to celebrate our Veteran's Day three day weekend. My first few calls were to some little lodges near Sequoia, California to go see the Giant Redwoods. They laughed rather heartily when I asked if there were any vacancies for this weekend. Apparently like its neighbor Yosemite, you have to book at least several months in advance or plan to pitch your own tent. Now we have been adventurous enough to camp in a tent in our own backyard in OK. When I say "we", I mean M and I and Becky and the kids.... C slept in the house, in the king size bed, with the LCD TV and the Dish network.... because someone had to listen for L you know... never mind I kept the monitor in the tent with me! C loves the outdoors tons, but camping? on the ground? without AC or any other form of electricity? with two kids under 6? [This characterization does not reflect the views of C in any way, shape or form. Signed: the man, myth and legend]

NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN!

So where did we end up you ask? San Jose of course. Because they have a Zoo, a huge Mall, and your choice of four Chuck E. Cheeses. The Happy Hollow Park and Zoo was an awesome place for families with small kids.

C and the girls whooping it up on the dragon ride....

It's a small zoo with an odd and interesting assortment of animals. The only large animal they have is a beautiful Jaguar. Most of the other animals were members of the rodent or marsupial families. One strange, but absolutely true "coincidence" about a few of them? They were listed as being the natural prey of? You guessed it... The Jaguar. A little disturbing discovery but somewhat amusing to C and I and our rather warped senses of humor. My favorite exhibit you ask? A colony of Guinea Pigs!

Strangely, I could have watched this little herd all day.

More and more I realize that I really am not a city girl at heart. I keep insisting on introducing my girls to all manner of livestock, up close and in person. You notice who is the one who is always doing the feeding? I can't help myself.

You know those Orbitz gum "Dirty Mouth" commercials? This guy should have been there spokesmodel... Left me a lovely brown hand.....GROSS!

I also mentioned a Mall... We definitely had a "hick" moment on this trip. The mall we went to had the largest Target I have ever seen. No, I didn't go to Macy's. Of course, I went to Target. This sucker was two stories and this is where it got funny and in hindsight, embarrassing. We were headed to automotive to get two plain black license plate holders because C could not stand to do one more minute of free advertising for the dealer we bought the Armada from. The SUV we absolutely LOVE, the dealer we do not! On our way through the store we passed the escalators, all three of them. That's right. They have a separate escalator that lifts your cart up or down for you. And there we stood, blocking the aisle, showing M and L the cool machine that escalates the carts, all of us disappointed we hadn't brought a cart along to try it out. In hindsight C and I laughed our you-know-whats off imagining what the people were thinking about the funny folks with the southern accents standing there gawking at the escalators. Boy, we know how to show our kids the world... We also visited the Disney store. Three Disney princesses, and one screaming toddler tantrum later we were done with the Disney store. They were also done with us!

Sunday, we spent a few hours contributing to the coffers at Chuck E's. We did not go to the 2 story CEC because I was afraid it would be sensory overload, for C and I anyway... The girls had a ball. I beat C at basketball. The day was a total success.

Happy Veteran's Day to all who so greatly deserve it. May we never forget those who have sacrificed.

The Champ!

I just have to take a minute to brag. It's not an attractive thing I know, but when you have accomplished something this momentous, sometimes you just gotta toot your own horn...

Check out this score

That's right. That lovely Mii on the left with the telltale mole is me. I bowled a perfect game. Who cares about saving the world and other such menial matters. I have really accomplished something here. The handsome devil, with the somewhat frightening grin, on my right is you know who... It's sad how much joy I get out of having something I can best him in. It must be love.

We are off for a couple of days of spontaneous family fun. I am sure we will have pics and tales to tell on Monday.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Don't forget to thank a veteran if you get the chance!

Odds and Ends....

I am going to blame my current scatterbrainedness (is that a word?) on the time change. It seems I am having a bunch of senior moments all strung together and we all know I am MUCH too young for that. Last night was my monthly Bunko with my MOPS group. That's always fun. It's a little stressful though, when you totally forget all about it until 4pm and you don't get out of gymnastics until 4:45 and then still have to cook your family dinner, tell your wonderful husband he will be in charge of bedtime, and prep and cook your food contribution for the Bunko. Never mind locating and wrapping a wonderful white elephant gift. Believe it or not Speedy Gonzalez here got it all done. Flank steak cooked and served (everyone serves that with canned baked beans and thrown together salad, right?) Beer bread baked and Spinach and Dill dip prepped and placed on platter to take. Two freebie t-shirts from KidsFest wrapped and the white elephant will be really stylin'.

The only problem.... I signed up to bring drinks, and it was on the evite reminder I never got around to reading. So old speedy here could have taken a 2liter of Diet Coke and a stack of Solo cups and called it a day. Sometimes I am just so darn on the ball I scare myself!

The real joy of it all is that today was my actual MOPS meeting and I really was signed up to bring an egg dish and a dessert. SO at 6:30 this morning I was up and cooking again. Darn happy about it too, I might add. The breakfast casserole and chocolate fudge were both successes. I rushed home and ate leftover beer bread and dill dip. C looked at me like I was crazy knowing I had just come from a potluck. When I mentioned I had been too busy talking to actually eat, he laughed, out loud! Go figure.

On the kiddo front, M went to her first sleepover at a friend's house this weekend. Her best buddy from school, E, invited her to go to The Bee Movie, paint fingers and toes, make window art, and sleepover. This is the exact itinerary I was given. E and her lovely mom K ( my best buddy here coincidentally) picked her up at 1pm Saturday afternoon. Being the wonderful presumptuous friend that I am, I asked if they would like to keep L for a couple of hours in the evening so C and I could go to dinner with some of his classmates to celebrate a promotion. Who could say no to the LBug? Probably anyone who has spent much time with the demanding little bugger.... But not K, she said yes, and we jumped on it and ran. When we returned from dinner to get the Bug, we found four very happy girls in one full bathtub. Apparently K said something to her girls about bath time and mine were also naked in 3 minutes flat. How's that for friendship? They not only watch and feed our kids, they bathe them too. We are really sad that they are moving back East in December. We will have to go back to caring for our own children. Once everyone was again fully dressed, we were extended the invite to stay and get our Wii on... Never ones to turn down an invitation or challenge we were all too happy to stay a while. M's only concern was whether she still got to sleep over. Once the horrible thought of going home was dispelled a great time was had by all. The ladies ruled in bowling. Tennis is still NOT my game. Apparently tennis just requires a lot more finesse than softball. Brute strength I can handle, finesse, not so much. We didn't leave until 10:30 and only then to put the Bug to bed. Apparently with the time change, the girls had K back up at 5:30 am. It's GOOD to have friends, we slept until 8. Sorry K and Big E.

On that note of GOOD friends, K is also a great photographer with a wonderful camera. She took us to Asilomar one Sunday and took some great pictures. I will only be showing you a tiny tease because we have already ordered our Christmas cards from these shots.

The best thing about the military is all of the great people we meet, the worst part is constantly saying "See you later!" I absolutely don't do the G***bye word, ever!

These two are going to be really sad... but not today....

Happily for me K shares my love of pics shot from the back. There is nothing cuter than this.

It takes a patient photographer to work with us..... E is the director for this shot!

Trick or Treat!

I can't believe it is November!

Strangely, I don't have a lot to say today... I think I am in a contemplative mood as I bought my first four Christmas presents yesterday. Only a few gazillion to go. Shopping, wrapping, packing, shipping... I am actually close to speechless at the thought.

So today I will include a few shots of our first California Trick of Treat and let you have a quiet day!

The more observant of you will notice that M is not wearing the Sock hop poodle skirt from earlier entries. Apparently her four events so far this month in that costume were quite enough. It's always good to be a princess.....

These two really look as if they need a candy pick me up, don't they?

This was our whole crew for the big event...

L and her new friend Luke having a friendly conversation ...

L decides she is such a good conversationalist she doesn't really need a partner....
I can't imagine where she gets her gift for gab, or the tendency to talk to herself...



A side note to Grandma and Papa... Your extra Halloween green bought each girl an Island Princess Barbie. The only thing more "thrilling" than hearing the movie play all day long is hearing two Barbies repeat three lines of the theme song incessantly throughout the day. Oh and the night too, as M took hers to bed, and yes, she still has a baby monitor in her room.