Today's progress..

Stripe is painted, some of the vinyl polka dots have been added and we've moved some things back in.




Oh, and someone is getting very excited.

Today's lessons learned

Everyday of my life brings some new piece of information or lesson learned. Today's task of removing a wallpaper border taught me the following things...

1) A wallpaper adhesive stripper solvent is a must.

2) Another must is a little gadget called the "Paper Tiger". It perforates the wallpaper so #1 can soak into the adhesive. Well worth the investment of $8 plus the gas and time it took to return to Home Depot to purchase it.

3) Never...ever...ever put up wallpaper or a border if there is even the remote possibility that you'll ever need to remove it.

Feline dimentia

Anyone who knows our cat, Cheeto, knows that she's relatively sociable, as far as cats go. She comes out to greet people, enjoys hanging out with the humans of the house and definitely appreciates a good forehead scratch. But those who know her really well also know that Cheeto is not a lap cat. Never has been. She'll sit close by...but never on your lap. And her proximity to humans seems to be closely related to the temperature outside. During the winters you'll find her sleeping on the bed versus her favorite summer location, in a basket on the floor. But regardless of the temperature she'll leave that location if a foot gets too close.

Another character trait of Cheeto...Steve is probably her third favorite human in the house. He was surpassed by the fair-headed one when she became old enough to give her treats.

Anyhow, either Cheeto's old age is mellowing her or she's just getting plain senile...because today the girls and I walked into the room to find this...

Go figure.

Merry Christmas to all...

Christmas was a wonderful distraction from everything else we had going on in the days before.

Santa and family were very generous with gifts this year. We spent the day eating and playing with just about all of the toys and games that were received...Dogopoly, Sequence, Apples to Apples, GoFish and Super Mario Bros for the Wii were just a sampling.

Megan's new scooter was her favorite mode of transportation for nearly every task of the day...take something to the garbage, bring Emily a glass of water, a trip to the bathroom.

Twas the night before Christmas...

Some Christmas time prose

My Santa Poem
by Emily H

Santa
Wooly, soft,
Eating, working, reading.
Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas.
Working, building, laughing,
Funny, excited.
Elves.

Two months of Saturdays

This summer we were kicking around a soccer ball and realized that Meg was pretty agile with the ball. Following that we decided to sign her up for soccer...but then Emily announced that she wanted to play again (she's played for the past three years). So we took on the challenging endeavor that millions of parents have undertaken before us... two children in organized sports at the same time.

Steve is also the assistant coach for both teams (can you say gluttons for punishment?) So for the past twelve weeks our Tuesday nights, Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings and afternoons have been all about the black and white ball.

Emily's age group started playing on the bigger field this year. Her favorite positions are either defense or mid-fielder. Megan's favorite part of soccer is running through the tunnel (the parents arm tunnel at the end of the game) and snacks.

As you can imagine, we're looking forward to the last weekend of the fall season coming up and a few open Saturdays for awhile.

Best in Show

My mom is an amazing seamstress. Back in the 70s she made both my clothes and my Barbies' clothes. Just think about the scale of Barbie clothes. She added beautiful detail to each outfit. I didn't appreciate the skill it took back then...but I certainly loved that I had the most stylish and best dressed Barbies in the whole neighborhood.

Now that I'm the mother of girls and have a playroom full of Barbies, I definitely can appreciate my mom's talent. The clothes that you buy in the store are less than stellar quality, not to mention Barbies less than conservative taste in a wardrobe. It is also hard to find just the clothes. If you want the wedding dress for your Barbie, you need to buy the entire wedding themed Barbie doll. The marketing is ingenious for Mattel's stockholders but frustrating for the average consumer.

Lucky for both me and my girls, my mom is still making doll clothes. Megan received a trunk full for her birthday last month. From casual to formal, Meg has had so much fun dressing up the dolls.






Mom sent duplicates of some of the outfits so I've tucked them away for safe keeping. Perhaps one day both girls will be able to share them with their own daughters. A special gift made with love by their great-grandmother!

Witches and mice...how nice

A month or so ago, when the discussion of Halloween costumes came up, Megan announced that she wanted to be Minnie Mouse for Halloween. I was thrilled since Em was Minnie a few years ago and Meg is now the perfect size for the costume.

Emily proclaimed that she wanted to be a "pop witch" for Halloween. Our response was, "A what?" After her description I was able to deduce that she wanted to be a friendly variety witch with bright colors and perhaps some bling. Sounded like a fun endeavor so during fall break we started pulling all the pieces together.

Last Friday was the school's Fall Festival so both girls got to take a trial run of the costumes before the big night. She's very pleased with the final result...

All tuckered out

I'd say this is a sign that our first day of fall break was a success. Full of many activities including miniature golf, bumper boats, a roller coaster, bike rides and daddy calisthenics.

Rolling into five in style

Our baby girl is turning five on Tuesday. She hasn't had a birthday party with friends from school...ever. Not to say she's a poor deprived child. Last year we surprised the girls and took them to Disneyland. The year before we were in San Jose for my high school reunion and celebrated with our San Jose family. Both of those years we had a Halloween party for the girls in lieu of her birthday party. Before that, she was one and two and let's face it, after the first child we learned that simple and intimate is best at that age...so we had small celebrations with just family. But this year she's turning five...and it's the last year with this group of girls from preschool...and she's our sweet, amazing, funny and beautiful Megan. So we celebrated in style with seven of her classmates at a GirlyGirlz princess birthday party. Here's a few pictures from the festivities.










A special thanks to Michelle for capturing so many fabulous pictures that I was too busy to catch. It was hard to pick a sampling.

Like totally

For spirit week Em had "80's Day". You know you've reached a critical age when your kids are dressing up in "your" decade for spirit week. Isn't she like totally awesome?



What do you suppose our kids kids are going to wear when it's "Turn of the Millennium" day at school?

A bridge runs over it

If you are interested in engineering and ever visit the Southwest, I recommend a visit to the Hoover Dam. It is built on the Colorado River which borders Arizona and Nevada and creates Lake Mead. When it was completed in 1936, it was both the world's largest electric-power generating station and the world's largest concrete structure. It is now the world's 35th-largest hydroelectric generating station. It's really an impressive structure if you consider the undertaking to build it in the 1930s. You don't get to be one of America's seven modern civil engineering wonders without being pretty spectacular. There are tours available that take you into the bowels of the dam and the power plant and the views from the top are amazing.

As spectacular as it is, the Hoover Dam is the bane of automobile travel between Las Vegas and Phoenix. The most direct route, Highway 93, literally takes you over the dam when you cross the border. It involves switchbacks down to the dam and then, depending on the time of day, you'll likely be slowed down by the tourists that are walking across it. Since 9/11, there has also been heightened security so you are slowed down by the check-points.

That's why the Colorado River Bridge is being built over the canyon. When completed, it will be a 2,000 foot long bridge nearly 900-feet above the Colorado River. I imagine it will clip about 30-45 minutes off of an average trip between Vegas and Phoenix. I also suspect it'll get some honorable mention in the "concrete arch bridge" chapter of some civil engineering textbooks too.

Some of our very good friends live in Vegas so we drive out there at least once a year and have watched the project develop over the past 4 years. This last trip we saw some significant progress and took a number of pictures for posterity. In 20 years when our girls are making the trip to Vegas we'll be able to pull out our digital photo album and say things like, "Your dad and I remember the days when you had to drive across the dam, up hill, both ways. And gas was only $2.51 a gallon."

Welcome wagon

We have a new resident at the Desert Doers abode. And he came with his own portable home. No, there isn't an RV parked out front with an extension cord running from the garage. He brought a shell. That's right, we now have an ornate box turtle. A friend of a friend's family had some babies and we decided to take one in.

He's adjusting to his new environment but seems to be settling in well. The girls are very excited about him...decorating the back of his tank with pictures of trees and flowers. They've also been great about washing their hands. We were relieved to see that he'd eaten today. He seems to really like carrots and leafy greens. Tonight he'll be trying out some mushrooms. It's a rough life for any pet around here.

We're thinking he's a boy turtle and are deliberating on the best name. Let us know your favorite.

a. Tex
b. Dash (Emily doesn't seem to appreciate the irony)
c. Soup
d. Sal (short for Salmonella...just kidding, that's not a real choice)

Viva Las Vegas

Last weekend we had a great visit with our friends in Vegas. Whenever we go to visit the Woods, I find myself having conversations leading up to the weekend going something like this,

Others: "So do you have any big plans for the weekend?"
Me: "Definitely. We're visiting our friends in Vegas."
Others: "Vegas? Awesome. That will be a fun time."
Me: "Well, it's not your typical Vegas trip. You see, they live there. In the 'burbs. Just like here."
Others: "Ohhhhhhh."

When you say you are going to Vegas, everyone automatically assumes "The Strip." I would too. It's natural. But usually when we go to Vegas we're visiting our good friends the Woods. They have a 4 year old son. And as you know we have an 8 year old and a (almost) 5 year old. So it's not your typical Vegas trip. But it definitely was a fun time.

As it turned out, we did get down to The Strip. Steve's sister, Susan, flew in from Utah so Debbie volunteered to stay home with the kids while the four of us headed out for the night. Steve decided to check the web to see what bands might be playing. Turned out our favorite local boys, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, were playing at Mandalay Bay's House of Blues. We headed down after dinner, bought some tickets and enjoyed a great show. James and Susan weren't familiar with the band, but after that night I think they became fans. The band played for three hours...so our $33 lasted much longer in the club then it would have out in the casino.

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing, having Rock Band jam fests that had me laughing so hard, I was crying. We took the kids to a fun neighborhood park with wild slides. We spent Sunday afternoon up at Lee Canyon enjoying the views while lounging in the shade of pine trees. The girls bonded with Misty, the family dog. And we spent plenty of time playing in the pool.

Thanks Woods for a great weekend of non-laboring on Labor Day!

Never Forget

A year ago today we were in the middle of a very heated presidential campaign. My post on that day was a plea for the insults and criticisms to be put on hold long enough to remember what united us on this date in 2001. A year ago I never imagined we could be more divided than we were then. Unfortunately, a year later it seems as though we are.

Anyone over the age of 15 probably has memories from that day eight years ago. I remember watching the morning telecast with my 6 month old baby in my arms wondering how the world she was going to grow up in was going to be changed. That same 6 month old is now a 3rd grader and one of this week's homework assignments was to interview us about that day. What were we doing when we heard the news. How did it make us feel? Our answers were the same as probably most of the other parents. Dumbfounded and numb at first as you were transfixed on the TV...making sense of what you were watching. Then as you heard about the Pentagon...terrified. What would be the next target?? Then the towers fell. And it turned to anger. An anger that brewed from deep inside. An anger that you didn't even know you possessed. That anger turned us all into patriots. The flags were proudly displayed everywhere. We all shared our stories, our fears and our unity. We were proud to be Americans. For months that followed...we were not Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians or Independents. We were Americans. United.

Call me idealistic. Call me a fool. But I continue to pray that we can come through this turmoil and become united again. And that it doesn't take another national tragedy...a tragedy that claimed 2,996 innocent lives (and that's not counting the lives of servicemen and women lost in the war that's followed), to get there.

The half way mark

One of my favorite parts of being a mom is doing special and sometimes silly things to surprise my kids. Emily's birthday is February 27th so that makes August 27th the halfway mark between birthdays. Not really something that we celebrate regularly but since I was working at home and feeling especially playful, I decided to bake a 1/2 cake to surprise her on her 1/2 birthday.


Happy half birthday my sweet, eight and a half year old girl!