But it is home

I often wonder what I am doing living in the Silicon Valley. I am not a suburban city girl at heart. I like space and nature, being able to walk and ride places without endangering ourselves in traffic. I want a yard, a big one with lots of space for a garden and a swing set and chickens and a basketball hoop, not 8000 sq ft that I keep trying to pack full with all these things. And I can't pay the going market rate for that yard here.

There is so much going on ...all the time. It is truly full of opportunity for careers and activities. But it can make one weary. Maybe that is what I am feeling right now. Weariness from all the holiday obligations that are in full swing.

Also, when there are so many opportunities, I kind of feel like I need to take advantage of them or we'll miss out. (Ora, is this what you were hinting at when we had a conversation on differences in pace?)

I shouldn't complain I know and so I will stop and now be thankful for all the great things about my home, my friends, my spot on the globe. I can drive 15 mins up the hill and arrive at beautiful Christmas tree farms. I can drive 15 mins into town and play and shop until I am broke. Here are some pics of us doing just that over the past three weekends...

Lauren's 9th Bday party...10 girls, Powells Sweet Shop to sugar them up and then off to the movies. A Christmas Carol is something else to be weary about - yikes, should have read more reviews. (can't see to upload these pic:(

Christmas Tree Farm




Town Parade - we're a scoutin' family these days...yes, that is a uniform on me too.

Buy the darker sofa

NOT Me Monday...
Some of you may remember when I polled you as to whether I should buy a dark chocolate color sectional or medium brown one when I recently had the pleasure of replacing my awesome dark navy one that served us so well for 11 years. All said go with chocolate - I have a 2 year old after all. So I, of course, went with medium brown. Not out of defiance, I had good reason, my house is South facing, it does not get much sunshine inside and I am a person that needs light to maintain happiness so the medium brown made sense at that time.

Well, this certainly did NOT happen to my medium brown sofa, which was a tad bit closer to beige than I expected for my cleanliness abilities especially after coming off a dark navy that withstood every stain assault.

Above mentioned 2 year old did NOT take a green marker and run it across EACH AND EVERY of the 5 seat cushions! And I did not yell at the top of my lungs "NOOOOO...BAD!" because that was all that I could sputter in the same loud harsh tone Cruz gets. Nope, nobody who spent years at an attachment, positive parenting, co-op nursery school would do such a thing during this teachable moment. My 8 year old, whom is super sensitive to any emotional environment, did not take off upstairs in certain tachycardia and anxiety. Nope, that did not happen this Monday in this house.

But if it did, by chance, happen it is good to know that microsuede does live up to all its claims of washability.

whats going on...

We've made class party snacks...




and we carved jack-o-lanterns...




Prepared their own Halloween dinners (or at least suggested the meal)...




Trick or treated...




Fell in love again.

Happy Birthday pup

Yep, the exciting posts continue to roll as we celebrated Cruz's first birthday. Lauren made a dog cake (recipe available upon request:) Dog owners out there, please tell me that it gets easier now? No more getting up at night to let him out, no more accidents, will start walking calmly on the leash at our side, right?

He is a great dog, Shelby our cat even thinks so, and we are glad he is a part of our family. Happy Birthday!

I added some pictures of Cruz at a lure coursing event. Danish Farmdogs are supposedly instinctively good little event dogs for flyball and luring and Cruz didn't let us down. On his first try he did fairly well following the lure, though the kids had their worries that he'd head for the hills vs follow the lure so they ran the 1/4 mile loop after him!

Jason

My bordering on unhealthy crush on Jason Mraz wasn't made any better by Bushwalla taking my camera on stage to get close up pictures for us. How do we get so lucky? I don't know. Maybe I was in the zone. More likely it was my cute 8 year old just being herself as we loitered in the exit foyer. Whichever it was, it was special and the real reason is because these guys are magical. Thanks Billy, you have a few more fans!

Unfortunately, Lauren now thinks that the MC will always be so gracious.

You may have noticed my photo quality getting worse the past month and yes, this is ultimate validation that my camera needed to be replaced long ago...these would have been so good on a decent camera!

Autumn and weddings

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We went to Tahoe this weekend to attend our friends' beautiful mountain wedding with hopes of taking in some fall foliage, but instead got to see the first snowfall! Grandma came along.

Those beautiful people are MY maid of honor, best man, and of course, my one and only, but I share...and that was 11 years ago. How do some people just continue to get better and better looking?

Blog for a Cure

Follow the link above for bloggy ways to fundraise for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society...and win prizes:)

And if you are local:
LLS Light the Night Walk is Oct 17 in San Mateo and Oct 24th in Downtown San Jose, Green Arena Park. Come take an evening walk in the park with glowy balloons and support LLS.
http://www.lightthenight.org/

Queen of the Tide Pool

She is often doing her own thing. Imagining. Daydreaming. In class and during soccer practice. Sometimes missing what everyone else is doing. But those are also the qualities that made her Queen of the Tide Pool when she found a baby octopus, or maybe it was a squid.

And then there is this rock formation that the little guy compulsively created.

I love summer

We enjoy it so much that I don't have time to write about it, though I do still make time to visit friend's blogs regularly:)

So when the signs that summer is coming to an end show up, like the sunflowers wilting and the kids class rosters and soccer schedules being posted, I can't help but feeling torn between the excitement of whats to come and the melancholy of no more relaxed and fun-filled summer days. Seasons change, I guess all one can do is go along for the ride.

Tidbits of July

Because it flew by so fast...

Bits of Colorado

Bits of the boys rafting trip...no that rock is not a good place to be perched, but the alternative free-floating route that Sean was taking (the direction they are all looking concerned towards) was not any better.

The trip that made Ryan's summer. He still talks about his "big choo choo ride" daily.

Peace

Sitting here in Estes Park...big rocky hills to climb on...rushing river as our background music...the greatest little cabin (hot tub inside)...we don't want to leave.

Happy Birthday Me

That look on Rob's face is fear that a small child might be burned by the heat eminating from my 3? candles.

But see, all is good and the frosting was only a little melted.

Happy Birthday USA!

This is what the 4th of July looks like in our neighborhood. About 200 kids and their parents walk or ride in the "parade" while about 20 people watch. Good ol' hometown fun.

Matt got a turn in the leader vehicle with his favorite gal.

Happy summer to you!

Roadtrip!

The first week of summer vacation started off with a bang...an immediate 500mile roadtrip and back! We felt obligated to take the kids to Sea World and Legoland while they are still kids. We live in the same state and the kids aren't getting any younger and I have heard Legoland may start seeming babyish to a big 8 year old girl.

So we packed up the minivan and the dog, stopped off a grandma's at the 300 mi mark and dropped off the pooch, then proceeded to sunny San Diego, with the exception that June gloom doesn't make for sunny conditions and it was actually warmer at our nearby Santa Cruz beaches but anyhoo.

Happy 11 years 6/20/09!

We stayed at the Hotel Del Coronado, which was big, old, has a beautiful beach and was overall quite kid-friendly, though Lauren did have a skeptical look the first day as she had it pegged as a haunted mansion (My critique is that it is indeed a beautiful and historic resort, but don't look for good deal any where on the island).

We had a lovely visit with our friends G&S and their kids at their Del Mar hacienda but other than that it was amusement parks all the way.

Shamu's splashes broke our camera so we got few pix and those we did get were taken on the kids camera so not the greatest quality.

That's the last pic our camera took.

So, any of you who have taken vacations or roadtrips out there lately, may I ask...

1.) Do your older kids just yammer and yammer the entire car ride making you wonder if you aren't going to be able to continue to tune them out or take enough deep breaths before you lose it. Really, we don't say "Shut up" over here, but my mind was screaming it by day 2. L & M talk so animatedly nearly continuously it is driving me bonkers. Is this normal? The yammering and being pushed to the brink by it?

2.) Do all families have one child that always has something happen, illness or injury, during vacations? We do. Interestingly he is rarely ill, except he has impeccable vacation timing. Here is a listing of his lifetime of vacations:

Kona age 2 ...I pat myself on the back for raising such a well-behaved plane traveler as he is simply angelic, quite and calm, the entire flight, only to spike a 104F fever by the time the plane lands and remains feverish and lethargic the entire 7 days.

Kauai age 3 ... Wakes up 4am the last morning before we are supposed to depart at and proceeds to throw-up every 20 minutes until we have to get in the car and leave to catch the plane (thankfully he was done) and I must mention that this is the same trip that Rob, while lovingly lifting kids over waves, threw out his back and couldn't lift anything, luggage or sick child.

LA Family visit age 4 ...knocks loose front tooth prompting emergency DDS visit in not so nice part of Hollywood.

Disneyworld age 5... mysteriously pulls muscle in neck playing in pool and must wear self-prescribed neck travel pillow and sit in stroller remainder of trip (yes, a 5 y/o in a stroller looks ridiculous)

San Diego age 6...He mentions that he doesn't feel well and as I am walking holding his hand I realize why he is keeping me so warm, fever of course, thankfully very mild.

Not meaning to sound like I am complaining though...this was really a great start to summer...let the good times continue to roll!