Time Flying By

I think this is a picture of May and June speeding past me! I cannot believe that July 4th is this weekend. I spent the last few weeks of May and early June busily trying to fit my appointments in before the kids were out of school. And, the first few weeks of summer were spent busily shuttling the kids to and from swim lessons. Hmm...notice the pattern?

Luckily the kids love their swim lessons and here they are on FUN DAY, which is the last day of lessons and the day that the surfboards come out.



What's next? Well, the perfectionist and over-achiever would love to systematically move from one room in my house to another purging and organizing. But something tells me that no matter how hard I try, I won't end up rooms looking like these...





So, the realistic me will settle for a closet here and a drawer there and focus on slowing down my summer and truly enjoying it!

* images courtesy of wikipedia, pottery barn,and house and home magazine

A Perfect Weekend All Around

It's amazing how much longer a weekend feels when you can be completely spontaneous! Even with no schedule we managed to pack our two days with plenty of lounging, shopping, and eating. We even manged to squeeze in some fantastic poolside people watching while enjoying some fruity cocktails. The Riviera Hotel is quite the scene. We could have spent all night lounging here...

And what about those fantastic floating beanbag cushions?


While we were enjoying a wonderful time in the desert, the kids were having an equally wonderful time at home with dad. In fact, the dads who were left on their own this weekend decided to band together for the weekend. "Safety in numbers!" after all. So my kids ended up spending two days playing with friends, eating gourmet food (thanks to one of the dads who is an amazing cook), and having by all accounts a perfect weekend of their own. When my oldest was first born, I used to think that my way was the best way for my son. After all, I was the one reading all the books, talking to the pediatrician, preparing all his food. Who knows a baby better than his mother...right? Well, the wiser (and ok...the older) me knows that daddy's way is perfect too. A perfect time can come in all different settings, with all different types of people, with all different kinds of rules. Besides, how does that saying go? "What happens when mommy's away..."

It's Time to Get Away!

How do I know it's time for me to sneak away for a weekend in the desert? Well, in the last two days I have...

• Left two 12-packs of Diet Pepsi on the bottom rack of my shopping cart at Target! My absent mindedness was someone else's good fortune.
• Dropped a brand new jar of strawberry preserves on the kitchen floor. Picture tiny shards of glass intermingled with sticky red globs all over the kitchen.
• Made one of my favorite recipes for dinner: Miso Salmon...minus the miso. Of course I didn't realize this omission until the salmon came out of the oven.
• Spilled my cup of coffee all over myself this morning while sitting in my car. Yes, the car was not even moving.

Thank goodness I leave tomorrow! What can possibly happen in the meantime?

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is Friday and it feels like Friday! It's been a long week...with no time even for blogging! Ugh! But I want to send this out to all the mothers out there...

There are good days there are bad days
There are days you wish you could take back and days you wish would never end
There are days that question your abilities and days you feel like you can do it all

But no matter how harried or stressful the day there is always a peace that falls
When all is quiet and no one is heard. When you spy an angel with his or her eyes closed
This is when you know that everything you do has a purpose and you make yourself a promise to do it all again tomorrow.

Happy Mother's Day!

Be Careful What You Wish For!

As your probably know by now from reading this blog, my husband and I love sports, both playing and watching. If I remember correctly, the first date we ever had was watching the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament together (romantic, right?) B.K. (Before Kids) we spent a lot of time with our television tuned to sporting events. I don't remember much of my life B.K., but one thing I can remember is waking up Sunday mornings, walking to brunch (this was when we lived in San Francisco), coming home and watching the afternoon football game, going out to exercise, and then coming back to watch the Sunday night football game. I know this is not for everyone, but it was my little slice of heaven!

Being such sports fans, it's probably not surprising that we hoped and wished that our children would share our passion. Well, as they say...be careful what you wish for. I've already documented here what a sports fanatic my son is. "Great!" you might say. After all, it is what we've wished for...isn't it? Well...yes. But now his obsession is interfering with my obsession! When he was little, our rule used to be that he could only watch a certain amount of Sesame Street, but my husband and I would have the TV on all day if sports were on. Guess what? He eventually started to like watching sports. And that "like of watching sports" grew to "love of watching sports" and eventually grew to being practically the only thing he likes to watch. So now, in order to curb his TV watching, I am having to turn off the very thing that I love watching on TV! Cruel injustice!! So, I say to you once more, "be careful what you wish for!"

It's a Pillow and it's a Pet!

Not too long ago, my four-year-old came running out of the bedroom where she was watching TV declaring, "Mom! Mom! It's a pillow and it's a pet. We have to go to www.pillowpets.com. Can we get one? Only 19.95!"

My first thought was, "Those #@!! commercials!"

My daughter had been reeled in big time by a commercial depicting adorable plush stuffed animals that can either be a pet or unrolled into a pillow. Somehow the fact that it was a pillow AND a pet made it irresistible. She recorded the commercial onto our DVR and insisted on playing it for me...multiple times! To really seal the deal, she informed me that she could pay for it herself with money she saved from Chinese New Year.

As every good mother does, I then asked myself, "What's in this for me?" I decided to make a deal with my daughter. I told her that if she could demonstrate two weeks of exemplary behavior (no pouting or whining or excessive arguing), I would order her a pillow pet. I know, many of you probably disagree with my incentive method. But "experts" have proven that with these incentive methods, the good behavior will over time become automatic, proving the incentives unnecessary. So, the week started off peacefully until one day a friend of mine (whose daughter happens to be my daughter's best girlfriend) asked me innocently, "Alice, what's a pillow pet?" NO! She did not!! Yes, she did. My daughter was spreading her obsession to others. Peddling pillow pets to her friends.

That hitch aside, my daughter successfully completed her two week period and earned her giraffe pillow pet. I must admit that I really enjoyed the past two weeks with my "I'm on my best behavior" daughter. What is Nickelodeon selling next?

If I Had More Time

If I had more time I would...

** Have a real conversation with my husband instead of daily briefings
** Eat healthier. Let's face it, eating healthy takes time. Grabbing something quick is usually not as healthy (darn it!)
** Remember to take my vitamins (maybe this would not be as important if I actually had time for item above.)
** Exercise more. Hmmm, there seems to be a theme developing here.
** Just be a mom so I can enjoy my kids while they still think I'm cool. I feel like I am always so busy rushing from one activity or commitment to another being a chauffeur and activities coordinator extraordinaire. I need to just be a mom!
** Call, yes pick up the phone and call, my out-of-town friends so I can hear their voice
** Finish my novel that is 80% finished and has been for the past two (at this point, probably closer to three) years
** Write 3-4 blog postings each week...consistently!

A girl can dream, can't she?

Pinewood Derby

Last night was our Cub Scout Pack's Pinewood Derby Day. The first thing I have to say is congratulations to both my son and husband for all their hard work on their car! I think it looks pretty good!



I tried to keep up with everything they were doing, but they lost me somewhere in between the clear coating and something about graphite (which was extremely messy and not so good for the lungs.) This being my first experience with the Derby, I quickly discovered that it's serious business. My two clues were the fact that there was an official weigh-in earlier in the day and they brought out the In-N-Out Burger truck for dinner. Seriously though, it was great fun to see all of the cars and designs everyone created. This is just one table.


The track was set-up in the middle of the floor complete with an elaborate start mechanism and computer linked electronic finish line.



Everyone in our family was pretty excited when our car won it's first heat. Secretly, I think my husband felt like all his hard work was validated :) And my daughter felt it was safe at that point to cut out and head for the playground. The rest of us stuck around and cheered all the Tiger Cubs on. Congratulations to everyone for all their hard work and thank you Cub Scouts for such a fun evening!

Another Fabulous Find

I am very excited to share with you my latest fabulous find. It's an internet shopping find...no big surprise, right? The store is called Spool No.72 and you can link to it here. Of course I would never recommend a site without first sampling it's wares :) I purchased this beautiful ring...

And this purse, which for some reason is no longer available on their site.


And because presentation is everything...it all comes gorgeously packaged. I am sure you will find something or somethings to catch your eye!

Spring Break Adventures, Part II

One of the reasons for heading down to San Diego was SeaWorld. Let's face it, our kids have the Disneyland and Legoland thing down by now. So, we felt it was time to introduce SeaWorld into the mix, saving the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park for another visit. Note: This is the part where I try to insert my "be thankful we live in Southern California" mantra once again.

But, before heading anywhere, we made sure to stop by Hash House a Go Go for breakfast. Have you been there? Delicious, delicious breakfasts and um...really H-U-G-E portions. Don't be alarmed, but this is a picture of the fried chicken benedict with bacon, mashed potatoes and spinach hiding under the sauce. Yes, I ordered that for breakfast. Yes, it was fabulous! And, try as I did, I could not even finish half of it.


We walked right into SeaWorld and joined the crowd heading over to the Shamu Show. My husband was trying to talk the kids into sitting in the splash zone. But I thought our view was close enough :)



We also signed up for the Dolphin Encounter where we had the chance to see, feed, and play with the dolphins up-close. We even played a game of peek-a-boo (this first picture). I'm not sure who had more fun, my kids or my husband!




After our gigantic breakfast, we made sure to cover every inch of the park, including a short stop for some rides. I had no idea that SeaWorld had rides, much less Sesame Street themed ones. But the kids were excited to ride the spinning tea cup ride. And that's where I had a "My kids are growing up!" moment. They actually didn't want dad to ride with them! They were both tall enough to ride without a parent and that's exactly what they wanted to do. Here they are...by themselves!


And, in case any of you are thinking of visiting SeaWorld in the near future, they have a deal where you pay for a single day and get the rest of the year free. Another great deal is the Silver Annual Pass where you pay for one year and get the second year free plus extras which include free parking and 10% savings on food and merchandise. We also saved 20% on our dolphin encounter tickets. I purchased one Silver Pass for myself and with all of our discounts, the pass paid for itself in just one visit!