kids

 The kids have been amazingly cute and fun lately. They have also been a very frustrating. I can tell Jonathan is reaching a mental and emotion jump. He is starting to recognized some words when we read. I found the book "Hop on Pop" at the library store, and he loves it, almost as much as "green eggs and Ham". He also has become more friend, oriented and has started to recognize people's different personalities. He also seems to have had an extra kick of testosterone... which is kinda annoying because all he does is grabs stick and pretend they are guns and he has been a lot more emotional.
Claire, is sooo cute with how she plays lately. She also is starting to repeat and say words, but with her brother and her dad she mainly just communicates in dinosaur roars. She has always has been a momma's girl, but lately she has gone to the "I must have mommy or I will die of sorrow" which sounds nice, unless your me and want to sleep in on Saturday morning or if I just want alone time...
Good thing I love her so much.

Claire getting her toy frog to hop around the kitchen.

Jonathan being Batman

Being a great dad puts a lot of weight on your shoulders, really.

Claire has mastered climbing up to the top bunk

Birthday

So Last year, I had one of the greatest birthdays ever, and during a 'remembering how we've been blessed'  I brought it up because I considered that time a great blessing.
Unmeaning to, however, I stressed Jacob out about my birthday. Bless his heart, he really wanted to make this birthday special for me, but things just kept falling through.
First he bought tickets to the Opera, only to have me pester him to make sure there was no "naughty-bits" in it. Well he finds out it has a naked demon orgy scene, so he had to pay a lot more money to switch the tickets to another opera. (no returns)
Then, he was planing to cook a great meal, only to have me ask to go out for sandwiches instead.
Next, he thought he'd make me pineapple upside- down cake, only to have me tell him I really don't care as much for that cake and what I really wanted was him to make flan (which has to cool for several hours and is more time consuming to make)
Finally, he bought me shoes to replace my now stretched out crocs, to discover that his color blindness had led him to believe he was buying me brown shoes, when they were actually purple...
Poor guy. I, however, had an awesome birthday! Jacob took the kids to the dollar store so I got a wrapped present from each of them. 
Also, the Opera we ended up going to, was great! We went to Falstaff (base on the Merry Wives of Windsor) and there was no sex in it.
I am so lucky to have such a thoughtful husband.

great drop biscuit breakfast

I decided to wear all my birthday presents stickers included

Claire falling asleep on her own

Jonathan watching Magic School bus

flowers from my birthday twin sister-in-law

 Us at the SF Opera

Jonathan earned his Halloween Costume, Its Spyro from the skylander's game his dad worked on for a while. He wouldn't even let me finish sewing it before he wore it. (He was a very demanding costume task master.

kids

So Jacob made me Grits this morning while I and Claire slept-in (she decided to be awake crying for an hour + last night until I finally gave-up and nursed her.)
Anyways I was slow getting to it after he left, because of cramps. When I finally did go to breakfast, this is what I found

she ate/put on the floor all my cereal. Which actually made me happy because she was being cute, didn't break the ceramic bowl, and had fed herself. I decided to eat my son's leftover yogurt, but, no, she got in my lap and ate that too :-).
The big news this week is that Jonathan swam all by himself, with just flippers and goggles from a platform and back at swim class! This is a big achievement for him, because he has a borderline phobia of getting water in his eyes, ear and/or nose.
I am so happy with my children. They are very different in their temperaments and strengths, but are both so loving and kind. I am a very blessed mother.
 Oh, in other news, we have a squirrel that likes to sit outside the kids window, it is an ugly squirrel.

 Here is Jonathan singing in the bathroom

legacy

So last month my husband's grandmother died. She amazed me. She started out with parents that expected her to be great, and so she was. She worked as a Rockette on the ballet team, then she found the church, then married a navy officer, moved to AZ, raised 6 kids that all are extremely intelligent and talented, opened her home to prophets, took it upon herself to raise awareness of the arts, taught ballet, and encouraged talent to flourish in her grandchildren.
I have to say, hers is an intimidating family legacy to be married into. Luckily, when I think of her, instead of comparing myself to all her outstanding grandchildren, I see that loving look and tone which she addressed me with. although we never talked much, I felt that she approved of me and that coming from someone surrounded with amazingly talented children, grandchildren and in-laws, means the world to me.

Her preforming at the World's Fair

Jonathan with the tinker-toys he always played with at her house.

Climbing the ladder

Blah, I've decided that I just can't play catch-up and need to just blog when I have the chance.

So the big news today is Claire, yes that 15 month old, started climbing a ladder at the park. She was two rungs up before I reached her and then faced the dilemma of wither or not I would let her try to climb it (it was taller then me and curved at the top (pic to come). I decided to let her try, with me spotting her in case she slipped. I excepted her to give up at the top where it curved, but this little girl was pushing my hands away and made it all the way up. At the top she gave me the biggest smile and squeal of delight. I think I am in for trouble now, but luckily she only tried to climb the ladder that once and the rest of the time used the stairs.
In other news, my mom's preschool is going well. I taught this week and the class a few days ago on music went really well. We talked about rhythm, pitch, and dynamics. We danced to "fast and slow" by Laurie Berkner, sang a scale and did a drumming song. The kids loved it.
Today, I taught instruments, and it didn't go as well as planed. We made rain sticks, but the moms had to do everything while the kids played. At least they put the beans in and liked playing with them after. Oh, I also thought I was going to teach them to play a song on the piano.... Nope. Three kids ages 3 2/3, 3, and 2 3/4 are not ready to all follow directions at the piano, at least to the extent I needed to teach them.
Life here is still good. Although, I've been missing LA a bit this week (weird). Actually, I've just been missing the Natural History Museum, Sample Sales, Mother's Beach, and my USC mom friends. The rest of LA I don't really miss, but I keep seeing more and more how fortunate I was to have that time and especially those friends. It was worth the frat house parties until 3am, dirty neighborhoods,  smaller space, and burned-out hobos outside my door. Heck, it was even worth going to the laundry mat three time a day when my son got sick. In short, the people at USC ward were freakin' awesome.
I, however, feel so blessed to have make friends with the other moms in our preschool group. It is interesting though that there can be so many starkly different shades of wonderful. I continue to be amazed at the friends I meet strengths, but I am also reminded that no one is 'replaceable.' The more you get to know someone the more singular they become. Isn't that amazing? 6+ billion starkly different individuals.

Muir Woods

So my Sister and law and her kids came to San Fransico to visit a few weeks ago and we got to spend two fun days with them. Saturday we drove down to Santa Cruz, which was a big mistake. It was crowded, slow traveling and hard to park. Luckily, the company was fun and the car ride itself turned-out to be so much fun. All the girls piled into the convertible and pulled up to the boys in the other car rocking out to NoDoubt and making "calls to the boys." Which, also, crossed off one of my bucket-list goals.
The next day, we went to Muir Woods at the request of our Nephew. It is so Beautiful! Jonathan ran to a fern and got super excited, then turn to us and said "look! for Dinosaurs!" I think he thoroughly expected to see a dinosaur at any moment.
Well I could describe the beauty or just show pictures, so...

the girls's car

bus drive to woods

Roosevelt memorial plaque

bloggingcatchup1

July went super fast and was very filled with fun. By the evenings I just wanted to sleep. Oh, July was also filled  with not sleeping... :-( Seriously! Why do my children seem to get worse at sleeping through the night? Jonathan was doing great, until his nightmares started up again. Claire, however, has just been a waking-up every three hours and screaming until she's nursed pain. (albeit a really lovable one)
Anyways, the highlights of the month Claire being obsessed with trying on shoes, Jonathan obsessed with "Magic School  Bus" shows from the library, Jonathan's hat being passed on to Claire, Sister-in-law + niece+ nephew visit to Muir Woods, Jonathan continuing swim class, and identity crisis. I may or may not talk about these later.
but for now... Pictures!

Jonathan's great hair day

the fadora

finally doing something about my 'mothers wrist'

Jonathan's lego phase, this is a dinosaur he made while in time out

kid concerts at the library

bag I made for a friend