The List

I’m not usually one for making lists. I’m more of a wing-it kind of gal, one that will go to the grocery store to pick up milk, fill up a cart with food, only to leave sans milk because I didn’t make a list. My kids tend to take after their Dad when it comes to lists. They like to make ‘em and yesterday, with help from her Dad, Carrie made one that is the list to end all lists.  When I got to work yesterday morning, the husband texted me this picture and said, “Someone’s going to be very busy tomorrow!”

The List

Shockingly, her writing is pretty good for a 5-year-old and looks eerily similar to the husband’s. The writing may be his, but the words are all hers. This is a list of things “To Do with Mommy.” Of course, there’s a story behind the genesis of this list. Since Carrie goes to a Jewish preschool, she gets all sorts of random days off for semi-obscure Jewish holidays. Today she was off for Shavuot. (Yeah, I had to look it up too.) That meant we had a rare Thursday morning when it was just going to be me and her, and my girl had plans for us. Big plans. Plans that included playing. Lots of playing, and drawing, and painting, and fort building. I’m happy to say, we got through most of this list, and then some.

When I first realized she didn’t have school on one of my days off from work, I admit, I was less than thrilled. I look forward to my Thursday and Friday mornings when I’m not at work and I don’t have the kids. I get things done without little people asking me a million questions, or the little people fighting with each other. I have quiet. I love the quiet!

So this was not a quiet morning, but it was one of the most enjoyable ones I’ve had in a long time. And while we did do a lot of the things on the list like playing games, drawing, 

 

and building forts, we also strayed from it. Part of it was for selfish reasons. We were out of milk so I had to make a Trader Joe’s run. This time though, with a certain 5-year old reminding me, I remembered the milk! I also had to return a very overdue library book, so we made a special trip to the library, just me and her. 

Then we headed out to lunch.

Sushi and lemonade. What a combination.

 

As we walked into the restaurant, Carrie had a huge grin on her face. She was happy. In between munching away on her edamame and slurping down her big gulp sized lemonade Carrie admitted to me, “Mommy, this place is much better than Old Spaghetti Factory.” For her to make that declaration, this had to be one good lunch, and it warmed this sushi loving mom’s heart. Plus, I hate Old Spaghetti Factory. 

After lunch it was almost time to pick up the other two girls from school. At that point Carrie whined, “But we didn’t do everything on the list.” We didn’t, but I figured we could squeeze in a couple of minutes of playing outside at a neighborhood park.

I didn’t want to end our day with whining and seeing her happily swing away for five minutes was worth the detour.

Carrie’s list has got me thinking maybe I should start making lists. Not grocery lists. That won’t happen. But maybe lists of things I want to do with the kids. Or things I want to do with the husband. Or even things I want to do for myself. I think I’ve got a lot of lists to make.

The Escape Artist

He’s cute, he’s mostly lovable,  and if he can find the smallest of openings he’ll go through it. No, I’m not talking about my husband, I’m talking about our dog. Since he is part poodle, we knew he would be smart. Apparently he’s using his smarts to become the runaway dog.

Within two days of adopting Buster, he busted out of our gated back yard.

We figured as long as we were outside with him, he wouldn’t try to escape. We thought wrong. At least this gave us a chance to see how he was getting out. Since he’s 90% hair, he had no problem slipping his skinny, yet hairy body right through the bars of our gate. As the weeks went on, he didn’t even pause to break out. He’d get a running start on our driveway and simply jump through one of the openings. He may be a smart dog, but he’s just a dog, it couldn’t be that hard to keep him corralled right? Wrong. After we all tired of running through the neighborhood trying to catch Buster after one of his many escapes, the husband bought some mesh and attached it to the bottom of the gate in attempt to keep him from getting out. It worked for about five minutes. The terrier in him used his jumping skills to leap above the mesh and out the gate. You may have heard about a new American Heart Association report that says that owning a dog may reduce your risk of heart disease.  I’m convinced my heart is much healthier after running after him.

Since the mesh didn’t work, the husband had the ingenious idea of buying a retractable metal gate. Viola! It worked. But now Buster was pissed. Really pissed. He doesn’t want to be fenced in. As I like to say, he doesn’t want to have any boundaries to get his puppy out. So what did that dog do? He found another way to escape. Soon after I got home from work last night, the kids came running inside yelling, “We can’t find Buster!” I went outside and started calling his name. He didn’t answer, but our neighbor behind our house did. Our crazy dog slipped through a crack in our backyard fence and made himself right at home at our neighbor’s house. We’ve since covered the crack, but I have no doubt he’ll be looking and finding another opening to run free.

It’s a good thing Buster is cute and lovable.

Mother’s Day 2013

The phrase food feeds the soul has never rung truer during this Mother’s Day. With the last several weeks spent in doctors appointments, emergency rooms, and hospitals, I needed a soul feeding day and that’s exactly what I got. No doctors. No appointments. Just family and food. Lots of food.

In years past, the husband spearheaded the entire menu, but this year our 10-year old budding chef decided she was going to take care of breakfast. Scones are her specialty, but for Mother’s Day she came up with a new concoction. Maple pecan scones.

Scones made with love

Oh yes, and bacon. And coffee. The younger girls did their part and dutifully ate the scones and shared the last piece of bacon without complaint.

It was a picnic perfect day in the Bay Area with a bright blue cloud-free sky and the temperature in the mid-80′s.  So that’s what we did. We picnicked.

And we played. And we ate some more.

Then we came home to play some more.

Well, they played and I took pictures. And the husband ran errands.

Then we ate again. A seafood boil,

made mostly by the husband, but eaten by all of us.

It was a perfect Mother’s Day. I could not have asked for anything more.

I am one lucky wife and mother.

She’s Finally Five

Happy Birthday Carrie!

You’re five, but I don’t have to tell you that.  You have been counting down this day for months, asking me or dad how many days until you’ll turn 5. Finally it’s here. Finally. I’m not sure how much longer I could take the countdown. That’s how you roll though, Care Bear. You get excited about something and you can’t stop thinking about it. Or talking about it. Or asking about it. Or talking about it again. You can be exhausting, but your excitement usually makes the exhaustion worth it.

Its been a fun year watching you grow and learn. When you started preschool, you were a little fuzzy on your letters. Now? You’re spelling your name like a pro. You’re still working on writing it in straight line, but I will wait until at least kindergarten before I go all Tiger Mom on you.  And now that you’ve got your name down, you want to know how to spell everything. Your inquisitiveness is a joy to watch. I can’t wait to see how big your learning curve grows when you hit kindergarten. As excited as I am to see you start elementary school and end the preschool payments, you’re quite content to stay put. I think your sisters may have scared you a bit about kindergarten. Yes it’s going to be harder than preschool, but trust me on this, you’re still going to have fun.

You will still have plenty of time to sing and dance, something you love to do. I don’t know where you get those skills, certainly not from me or dad. Whenever you get a chance, you grab an iPad and expertly go to YouTube to find “Gagnam Style.” It’s times like these when you seem well beyond your five years. Maybe it’s because you’re the baby of the family and constantly trying to keep up with your big sisters. You may be the youngest, but you’re more than holding your own with them. You’re not afraid to fight for what you want, whether through tears, temper tantrums, or even the occasional flying fist.

But while you can be feisty, you can also be a big ‘ole love bug, especially in the mornings when you crawl into bed to snuggle. Many times, this is well before the sun rises, but it never ceases to brighten my day. Please don’t stop doing this.

You may not know this, but we didn’t settle on your name until after you were born. We had it narrowed down to two, Calla or Carrie. Once you arrived, Dad looked at me and said what do you think and I immediately said she’s Carrie. The name more than suits you my dear. You are one of the most caring and compassionate 5-year-olds I know, but just like your name, you’ve got a lot of spunk to you.

So here’s to you my sweet Carrie on your 5th birthday. May this year be filled with new friends, new adventures, and new dreams.

I love you!

Mom

My Sk8R Girl

For Hanukkah, Erin asked for and got a skateboard. It was a big deal. Her dad took her to a skateboarding store and let her pick out her board. She came home with all the skateboarding gear. The pads, the helmet, and of course the skateboard. She was one excited kid.

On the inaugural ride out, her excitement waned. Skateboarding was hard. She was nervous.  No matter how many pads she was sporting, Erin didn’t want to fall.

So after a few weeks, the skateboard got less and less use. Erin was pretty gun-shy about taking it out in the neighborhood. Then about a month ago, I noticed a skateboarding class offered through our community parks and rec department. I asked Erin if she wanted to take it. She was not interested, but I was interested in her using her skateboard so I pushed the issue. She finally relented and I signed her up for the class.

We showed up on the first day of the class at the Phil Shao Memorial Skate Park and she was nervous. I could understand why. I know next to nothing about skateboarding and the ramps looked big, steep, and downright dangerous. There were plenty of fearless kids doing tricks and Erin looked at them with obvious apprehension. Ever observant, Erin watched those kids like a hawk, probably wondering how they got the nerve to try moves like Tony Hawk.

When it was time for the class to begin, I was psyched to see another 7-year old girl signed up. The instructor was fantastic. He acknowledged the skate park looked a little scary, but  promised the kids would be zipping down the ramps in no time. With the exception of the other girl in the class who couldn’t wait to ride, I think we all were a little skeptical, but lo and behold, with a little hand-holding Erin was going down the ramp in the first lesson.

Fast-forward to this week and Erin was raring to go.  As cool as her lime green Penny skateboard is, apparently it’s mainly used for cruising so her instructor Johnny was kind enough to bring an extra trick board for her to use. I’m not sure if it was the board or the new-found confidence, but check out what she did in her second week of lessons.

She’s still got a lot to learn, but she’s no longer afraid. She’s also the new owner of a trick board, which Erin bought herself with her birthday money. I think her Dad just inherited a new lime green Penny skateboard. Or maybe one of her sisters.

Destination Disneyland

First, let’s get one thing straight about Disneyland. It’s not a vacation. It’s a trip. An exhausting trip. So exhausting that I fell asleep last night at 7 p.m. and didn’t get up until 7 a.m. this morning.

That being said, I will begrudgingly admit that it was fun. I had fun. The kids had fun. My sister-in-law had fun. My husband, even with a bum neck which prevented him from going on most of the rides had fun. The good people at Disney really have it down to a science when it comes to making it the happiest place on earth for kids. Since this was not our first Disney trip, (or probably last) we did things a little different this time.

First we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. OK, yes you pay a premium to stay on the property, but it makes things so much more convenient that to me it’s worth the extra cash.

Sweet Dreams

Sleeping under the fireworks headboard made going to bed relatively easy for the kids. They needed every wink of shut-eye they could get since we had a 6 a.m. wake-up call to get into the park at 7 a.m. the next morning. Yes, you read that right. 7 a.m. This being Spring Break, it was beyond crowded, so to get in as many rides as possible we got up before sunrise to take advantage of the “magic hour” guests of the Disney hotels get. I didn’t think it was a magic hour, but considering all the kids got up without complaint, there may have been some fairy dust sprinkled on them while they slept.

On the first full day, we headed into California Adventure to check out the new CarsLand attraction.

We weren’t the only ones. Not by a long shot. People weren’t just waiting for the Radiator Springs ride, they were waiting up to 45 minutes just to get a Fast Pass for the ride. We didn’t end up going on the ride until the following day, and while it was cool, I wouldn’t wait 3+ hours like many people did.

Since we started our days so early, we left the park each afternoon and went swimming in the hotel pool. This was another advantage to staying close. The kids seemed just as happy to swim as they were to be at the parks.

That’s not to say the kids or adults were always happy. But since I’m the one writing this blog, I’ll only point out when my kids were less than perfect.

Not a Happy Camper

Carrie had an epic meltdown on the first day for no apparent reason. Her sisters (at least to my knowledge) didn’t set her off. She simply wasn’t happy. Luckily it was short-lived, and she was out of her funk by the time she got onto the merry-go-round.

All better

Yes, it’s hard to believe this is the same kid.

Olivia lost it one night too. I’ll blame that on Space Mountain. It’s probably not the best ride for a kid who suffers from migraines. Luckily, she had no problem on any of the other roller coasters or thrill rides. And she went on all of them. She even managed to talk her friend who came with us, into going on the scariest rides. She must have been pretty convincing because her friend is not usually one for thrill-seeking rides.

You wouldn’t normally think of a ferris wheel as a thrill ride, but instead of a nice leisurely ride in a circle, our ferris wheel car swung, which is why Olivia’s friend has the sheer look of terror on her face.

 

We also celebrated Olivia’s 10th birthday on this trip. Disney is a pretty cool place to be on your birthday and even though she didn’t get a birthday cake, she did get a pretty memorable breakfast with Pluto and his friends.

So while I would have preferred a nice relaxing vacation on a beach this wasn’t bad. Not by a long shot. I may even be ready for a return visit in about five years.

O Hits Double Digits

To Miss Olivia:

You are now 10. You’ve survived a decade.

Wait. Scratch that. You’ve more than survived, you’ve thrived under what has turned out to be a more than challenging year. I won’t rehash it all for you because you’ve lived it.  Plus, it’s well documented on this blog.

Aside from your “complicated medical case,” you managed to do a lot of great things in these last 365 days. Suffice it to say, I’m beyond proud of what you’ve accomplished. You didn’t let missing six weeks of school stop you from still getting good grades.(Thanks to Maestro Jose Manuel tutoring you and your own hard work.) You didn’t let stomach issues stop you from cooking and baking like you’re a professional. (Notice I didn’t mention you cleaned like a professional dishwasher. How about we work on that this coming year?) You didn’t let a slow start on the swim team stop you from showing up every single day for practice. You found a sport you loved and stuck with it, and are already looking forward to swimming with the (Redwood City) Sharks again this year.

You’ve also found your voice.  I know you’re probably thinking, “What’s Mom talking about? I only lose my voice when I have a bad cold.”  That’s not what I’m referring to. I’m talking about becoming more sure of yourself, and not being afraid to speak your mind and share your opinions. Sure it’s easy to speak your mind when your sisters annoy you or when your Dad and I make you really mad, but now you’re also finding your voice to talk about  things you care about and interest you, no matter what anyone else thinks.

You’re also a fighter. That has served you well, especially in the last few months. But you’re also a bulldog. Once you get your mind set on something, you won’t let go until you get it. That’s probably why we now have Buster. For the most part, you have kept your promise on taking care of him.

Well except for daily walks. That’s still left to me and Dad, but it’s all you once Buster behaves better on a leash.

It’s been an unforgettable year Olivia, one that you have come through with strength, grace, humor, and unbelievable determination.

Happy Birthday. Here’s to HEALTH, happiness, and lots of laughter in your 10th year.

I love you!

Mom