Jackson's Report Card

We had Jackson's first parent-teacher conference last week, and as we thought, he's doing great. But we learned that doing great doesn't necessarily mean great grades.

Ms. Hernandez kept gushing over Jackson. He's reading at more or less a first-grade level -- he tested out of his kindergarten words right away and knows almost all of his first-grade words. And, to be honest, if he was tested on any of the words from second grade through the fifth grade, he'd do pretty well on them, too. He's writing well, although he needs help with penmanship. And he's great at both math and science.

So here's the funny part: Ms. Hernandez kept apologizing that Jackson didn't get all 4's, which is the best grade a kindergartener can get and, of course, completely in her power to give. "I wish he could have gotten all 4's. He probably should have gotten them," she said. "But I wanted to give him something to work for."

Just to get this straight -- the best reader in his class, who was so excited by the book he was reading in class that he went home to create his own version of it (more on that later) -- needs something to work for?

I think it's an interesting look at how schools work now (at least in California), with No Child Left Behind. Schools -- and kids and teachers -- aren't measured by how good they are at something. They're measured by how much they improve. So even if the kid starts out solid, there's a need to rig the system a little bit to show them getting better. Ms. Hernandez will have a kid who got mostly 3s this time getting mostly 4s next time.

We were annoyed by all of this at first. But we're OK with it for the reason that kindergarten grades, especially in the first trimester, mean exactly nothing. And if it helps a great teacher look a little bit better, that's OK, too. But mostly we're OK because Jackson is a brilliant little kid who loves school and is thriving -- and it doesn't matter at this point how that is measured.

There May Be Raccoons

Jackson is doing the Pee Dance at my elbow during dinner tonight, and when he finally speaks it is to say, "I need someone to go to bathroom with me." Jackson is five and a solo pee-er for years and not particularly afraid of the dark and the bathroom lights are on anyway and I am not interested in humoring him, so I say, "I don't think so."

"But I can't see."
"The lights are on."
"But I have to go past the back door, and the raccoons might scare me."
Sunny: "At least you'll get to see a raccoon."
Me: "And they're on the other side of the glass. They can't get you."
"But I have to go to the bathroom!"
"Then you should probably not stay here and pee on the floor."
"Dad, you wanna go with me?"
"Not really."
"Mom?"
"No."
"Mikey, you wanna go with me?"

I should point out that Mikey is two years younger and a foot shorter and sick with a nasty cold and completely useless fighting a raccoon, through the glass doors or otherwise.

But Mikey says, "Sure," serenely slides off his booster seat and leaves his waffle dinner to lead his older brother to the bathroom, and Sunny and I are laughing and completely touched. They do not face down any raccoons along the way.

You Didn't Say Not to Write Anything

Jackson has a newly acquired habit of thinking that if he argues long enough or loud enough, he'll overturn any decision we just made. It's not a theory that has much basis in reality, but he's devoted to it anyway.

This weekend we were house-bound for a while, so the kids got a little more TV than they usually would. I was sick of it, so I told him to shut it off. He started yelling, "No! No turning off the TV!" I finally told him, "I don't want to hear you talking about it anymore, Jackson. Another word and it's a time out."

Jackson sat down in his chair in a huff, and started scrawling furiously -- in both senses of the word -- on his MagnaDoodle. And this is what he wrote:

We're beginning to see the drawbacks of a kid who can write -- but how cool is that?

Overheard Just Now

...Mikey and Jackson are in the back room with Charlotte, with a shut door or two between us. We just heard Mikey say, in a very calm voice, "Mommy, Daddy... Jackson is gonna kill me." How's that for matter-of-factly melodramatic?

Pocketful of Sugar

We picked up a trick from our friends to keep our kids in check while we're waiting for the food to come at a restaurant -- which, to a kid, can seem like a really, really long time. We give them a packet of sugar, and they dip their fingers in it like we used to do with Lik-M-Aid. Keeps their blood sugar at a manageable level, doesn't fill them up.

Today I took the boys to Jack in the Box after swimming lessons, and Mikey somehow snagged a packet while I was grabbing straws. Since our food was coming any second, I wouldn't let him eat it. But he kept asking, even after the food came, so I told him to put it in his pocket, and he could take it home for later.

A few minutes later, he was standing on his chair, struggling with his zipper on his shorts. I thought I hadn't pulled it up after swimming lessons, so I said, "Let me help."

"I got it," he said, and moved his hands. The zipper was still down, and it looked like his boxers were showing through. But it wasn't his boxers. It was -- of course -- the sugar packet. "I put it in my pocket," he said. "Not that pocket," I replied.

His shorts have lots of pockets. I guess that seemed the safest one.

Puke Week '08

What's worse than everyone getting colds in the same week? Everyone getting colds and the stomach flu in the same week. Mikey started it off right after Halloween, when the marshmallow witch he'd been eating turned his vomit bright green.

By the time Mikey had lost everything in his system and returned to normal, Jackson started complaining about his stomach ache on the way to school. Since I have used that excuse a million times myself, I didn't take him too seriously, and was rewarded for that three hours later by a call from the school office, asking me to pick him up. He made it home and spent the rest of the day throwing up, including once on his bunk bed that somehow made it to the bed below.

Charlotte started the next day, and Sunny is in bed right now with an upset stomach. So, what do you do?

1. Get used to your kids with green complexions.
2. Stop dressing them in clothes, since you're going to have to strip them off, anyway.
3. Try not to think of the germs they're giving you every time they snuggle.
   
4. Pull out the quilts given to you by your crazy relatives.
   
5. Be grateful all your floors are hardwood.

Sorry if this is all gross. But, I mean -- there's puke in the title, so you were kinda warned.

Best Day of His Life (So Far)

I came home from work yesterday and had to move both of our cars further up in the driveway so our tenant could get into her space. Mikey was scrapping with both Jackson and Charlotte, so I decided to get him out of the mix by asking him to help me move the cars.

Mikey loves cars. I told him he could just sit on my lap instead of getting strapped in like he always does (and after getting a safety lecture that he can only sit there when I'm with him and if we're not really driving, just in case you're freaking out just reading this), let him put his hands on the wheel, and that's all it took.

"I think this is going to be the best day of my life," he said even before we started, in this sweet, chirpy little voice he's been using lately. Really, if your dad let you pretend to drive your car 18 feet up the driveway, wouldn't you say the same thing?

I Ask For Tissues and I Get a Funnel!?!

Jackson has been a bit distracted lately. Case in point. I run to the bathroom, finish my business, only to realize that Mikey polished off the last roll of toilet paper. I figure I my best shot at getting what I need is to ask a 5 1/2 year old rather than a 3 year old to help – so I yell:

Me: Jackson I need HELP!
Jackon (running to the bathroom): What are you doing?
Me: Going to the bathroom, but I need you to get a box of tissues for me.
Jackson: Where?
Me: Downstairs by my brown chair next to my knitting basket.
Jackson: OK. (running downstairs)

waiting. . . waiting. . . waiting. . . waiting. . . waiting. . .WAITING

Me: JACKSON!! Are you coming?
Jackson (running into the bathroom): Here mom. (and hands me a LARGE RED PLASTIC FUNNEL!)
Me: What am I supposed to do with this?
Jackson: I don't know. What did you want?
Me: TISSUES!! NEXT. . . TO. . . BROWN. . . CHAIR!!!!

He then promptly retrieved the box of tissues. AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!#%#*$#!

Maltese, Milkshakes, Mac & Cheese Balls and Mayhem

Today started out like any ordinary day. Jeff brought Jackson to preschool (his second to last day) and I brought Mikey and the big birthday girl to Stroller Strides with me.

After class, we picked up Jackson and decided to take Charlie out for lunch and then to pick out some bithday presents for her. We went to the Glendale Galleria where Jackson immediately told me that we had to take Charlotte to Red Robin for lunch. The boys split a cheeseburger and Charlie and I split a BBQ Garden Burger. There was no yelling and everyone was relatively clean. The boys spent most of their time coloring and munching on fries while Charlotte chewed on a lemon wedge. Other than someone asking me if I was a tourist (?!?) everything was fine and dandy and we made it through lunch in one piece.

We then went to my favorite Target. I feel like they have more of a selection because it is spread out over 3 floors. We found some cute new clothes for the baby including some much needed larger jeans. She is already wearing 18-month clothing, and I feel like she hasn't worn some of the 12-month stuff yet! We found some school uniform shorts for Jackson (more on that later) then headed up to the 3rd floor to the toy section so the boys could pick some gifts out for Charlotte. Mikey chose a Maltese stuffed dog which Charlotte immediately called "Cat, cat, cat, cat" and beamed. Jackson helped to pick out a "Bee Bop Band" set of percussion instruments. We then went down to the 2nd floor to get some last minute party and school supplies.

Then, on our third and final trip on the elevator on our way down to check out, the doors opened and Jackson SCREAMED!!!! I thought he was scared of something coming onto the elevator and told him not to worry, just come with me. He started shrieking even LOUDER. "MY ARM, I'M STUCK, AHHHHHHHHH!!!" Normally when you hear someone screaming like that you'd think they were near the door, but Jackson was at the back of a very huge elevator. I ran back to him as the elevator closed again on its way to who knows where. Jackson had somehow wedged his elbow underneath the hand rail that runs around the elevator at waist height. It was REALLY stuck. He was panicking and crying and yelling and sweating and not making it any easier to figure out how to pull him out. Every time I pulled he screamed. If I tried to straighten his arm he screamed. He couldn't tell me if he got it in there with his arm straight or bent.

The elevator opened back up on the 2nd floor and I screamed for someone to get some help. A nice family grabbed a security guard, and next thing I knew we had three security guards, the store manager, and a really nice associate who was studying to be a nurse at our side. I had managed to get Jackson to stop screaming and moving, but Mikey and Charlotte were now freaked and she was screaming.

The nurse-in-training took charge, and told the men to back off and not to touch or pull him. She told someone to run and grab some olive oil. Luckily we were on the grocery floor and a bottle appeared in seconds. She poured about a half a bottle all over his arm and the bar. Jackson started to yell that he didn't want to get dirty (good boy).

He was still quite stuck, and their maintenance guy had left for the day, so she told one of the guards to call 911. The largest of the 3 guards started pulling on the rail, and managed to get it to jiggle a little and pulled it away from the wall a fraction of an inch. Jackson's arm popped out and they were able to cancel the 911 call.

We went down to Starbucks to get cleaned off. Both Jackson and my arms and hands were drenched with oil. The store manager followed and watched the younger kids for me and told them to get us whatever we wanted. Jackson asked for a lemonade, and they made him a frozen blended one that was quite tasty. The nurse brought him an ice pack and sat us down. He was very excited to find out that she made it by filling a rubber glove and tying a knot. After 15 min. of icing and chilling, we were ready to check out. Jackson's arm was sore and a bit bruised, but he was fine.

After all of the drama, when we got home, we collapsed in front of the TV and watched Zoboomafoo on DVR until Jeff came home.

Our oven is broken and our Kitchen is a mess, so we decided to take Charlotte out to dinner to the kids favorite sit-down restaurant: Fred 62. They have the best milkshakes around and an incredible appetizer that we are all addicted to, the "Fried Mac Daddy Cheeseballs" - homemade mac and cheese scooped into balls and deep fried. Even Jeff, a die-hard anti-mac-and-cheese-or-cheesy/creamy-sauce-of-any-kind guy can't get enough of them.

By the time we arrived, the birthday girl had crashed.

Well, we couldn't sit around and watch the milkshakes melt while we waited for her to wake up, so we parked her behind the booth and dug in.


At one point, Jackson said "Hey mom, where's Charlie? Did we forget her?"


Jackson was very happy about the treat, and was very affectionate throughout dinner.



Mikey couldn't get enough whipped cream. He kept spooning mouthfuls into his mouth saying: "This is my favorite."


After polishing off most of his milkshake, he ended up duking it out with Jeff over the last few onion rings on the plate.


Her Highness woke up before all of the food was gone. I think she got her first brain freeze tonight. She just learned how to drink through a straw, and isn't accustomed to the speed and quantity of the flow. After coming up for air, she cringed and grimaced for a minute or so before grabbing for more.


She made it through a mac & cheese ball, a falafel ball, a few french fries and a few bites of cucumber in addition to the shake (Yes, I know three out of five of those items were fried. But we ordered salad). And yes, just like the boys at that age, she couldn't make it through dinner without grabbing a knife.

When we got home, we brought out the presents that we had gotten for her. I had bought an assortment of hair accessories, not knowing what her hair could handle. It only just filled out in the last month or so, so I've only tried the tiniest of clips. What do you know, I can now pull it up into a "fountain!" Ta-da! Pink dress + fountain = Charlie now looks like a girlie girl!


We opened up the "Bee Bop Band" set and the kids played along while we sang all of their favorite kids' songs. Mikey was rockin' especially hard to "B-I-N-G-O" and Jackson asked to sing "Jingle Bells."


Then, the boys discovered the box of hair things, and requested to have fountains too. They wore them for the rest of the night. Jackson actually asked if he could wear his to bed and to Charlotte's party on Saturday. I told him "no way" and that he was going to be getting his back-to-school hair cut this weekend, and he wouldn't have enough hair to do this again. He said "On Monday I'm going to be BALD?!!"


Here is Charlotte in her girlie girl PJs with her girlie girl Maltese "Cat cat cat" that Mikey has named "Tuppy." I think she is thrilled that unlike Mamie and Tillie, this one can't run away.

Other than some major drama at Target, and sleeping through half of her birthday dinner, Charlotte had a very great day.

Charlotte Turns One

Yes. It happened. Charlotte turned one today.

One year ago I had the best delivery of all 3 of my child birth experiences. Charlotte came into the world during a planned C-section on the 13th anniversary of my first date with Jeff. We went to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena and had a nice uneventful surgery - on time, and the anesthesia actually worked this time! I was presented with a beautiful baby girl, my dream come true.


Jeff sent this quick birth announcement e-mail to our friends and family when he was able to escape the hospital:

Hi guys, full details to follow, but I finally managed to sneak away from the hospital long enough to send these. The vitals:

Charlotte Jayne Cannon Sweat
born 8/27, 12:56 pm
8 lbs, 2 oz
20 inches
Brown hair
Her eyes, when you can see them, are blue.
She's calm and sweet and already knows that a lap is better than a bassinet.

Sunny is recovering from her C-section, but is a long way from being able to pick up her boys, who can't wait for Mommy and Charlotte to come home.

Love,
Jeff

Here we are a full year later, and I just caught my precious little bundle splashing in the toilet. Who knew a year ago that my darling little princess would be into the same type of mischief that my rough-and-tumble boys are?


She has been learning and growing before our eyes. As if she knew she had a deadline, she took her first two steps last night. Her 8th tooth erupted yesterday, and after all of the picture taking and receiving her new gift today, she is now saying "deese" (cheese) and "daah, daah" (dog). Add those to her current vocabulary and she is saying about 12 words now. "Mama", "Dada", "Cat", "This", "That," "Ball", "Jaa-Sa" (Jackson), "Juice", "Mmmm!" (I want that food!), "NA-Na-na-Na-NA (DON'T Touch my FOOD!). We try not to touch her food.

Happy birthday, Charlie girl.

Don't Leave

We got back from our vacation on Monday (More on that to come), and the boys were pretty happy with the rare opportunity to hang out with their dad for five days straight. So much so that when we put them to bed that night, Mikey said, "You can't go to work tomorrow. I will lock the door so you can't go out." And Jackson added, "And I will wake up before you wake up and glue it, with Mommy's glue."

New Responsibility Chart

Growing up, my father devised a system of helping us take more responsability around the house and for our actions. He had a list of things we had to rate ourselves on every day. I still remember most of them, from having them rattled off so often. Here were the standouts:

• Homework
• Practice
• Prayer
• Put things away, not down
• Do as Jesus does

Our weekly score was tied up with what privileges or allowance we received. I think we started this rating system around second grade, and continued off-and-on in one form or another throughout grade school.

I have been trying to figure out a way to get the boys excited about helping out around here. We have been pretty good about getting them to clean up their toys each night, but sometimes it becomes a battle.

We were at Toys R Us the other day looking for a birthday present for Charlotte's buddy Lukas, when I found a great magnetic Responsibility Chart in the wooden puzzle section. There are a ton of different responsibility magnets with pictures of kids doing things on them, and smiley face "buttons" that say things like "Good Job" and "Awesome" on them.

I unwrapped it when we got home, and the kids helped me pick out what they were responsible for. Here is what we came up with:

• Get Dressed (without yelling or complaining)
• Share (on their own, without mom intervening)
  
• Clear Table
• Put Toys Away
• Brush Teeth
• Put Clothes in Hamper
  
• Get Ready for Bed (again without yelling)

Since it was set up for one child. We decided to color code the buttons. We put a blue one if both boys do it, a red one if Jackson is the only one who does something, and a green one if Mikey is the only one. I told them that if at the end of the week "most" of the squares were full of buttons, especially blue ones, we could get a treat. The more buttons, the better the treat. They immediately went around and cleaned their toys, cleared their breakfast dishes, helped sort the laundry and offered to share toys and snacks with Charlotte. It was amazing.

We were out of town for 5 days and didn't have the chart. I found Jackson on a stool this morning putting a blue button on the chart after they got dressed. He then ran in and told Mikey to help put their breakfast dishes in the sink so they could get another button. I hope the magic lasts!

Long Beach Adventure

Last weekend there was a sand sculpture contest down in Long Beach a few blocks close to my parents' home. We were planning on having dinner with them, and met at the beach to view the final sculptures. I didn't think we would be there very long, since the only way Jackson normally tolerates going to the beach is if there is a kite and food for the seagulls. We had neither. He normally hates the sand and is scared of the ocean. Mikey on the other hand wishes he had gills.

This was our favorite sand sculpture. The dragon was great and the castle it was coming out of was amazing.

After walking around all of the sculptures, Jackson asked if he could go step in the ocean and get his feet wet. AMAZING! We didn't have that much time to spare, but why not. It was a chilly evening, so how long could they be?

It wasn't long before one of the waves got the best of Mikey. . . again, and Again, and AGAIN. The first time was definitely an accident, but then he kept plopping down on purpose.

At some point Jackson ended up falling down as well. They were wearing MY jackets that I had found in the back of the car, so any potential warmth for the evening was now a sodden mess.

Mikey's clothes were such a wreck, that he looked like he could have been related to Brittany Spears getting caught by the paparazzi.

After stripping the boys down and spraying them off, we had to figure out how to dress them in order to go out to dinner. I found some spare underwear in the back of the car and a pair of shorts for Jackson. We drove over to The Children's Place, but arrived minutes after they closed. Alex, Dad and I then ran a few blocks to The Gap and got a small ladies shirt and a small mens shirt from the clearance rack. Unfortunately I don't have photos of what they looked like. Both boys had shirts on that hung almost to their ankles. The ladies shirt was a V-neck and was open to Mikey's navel, so I turned it around backwards. It kept falling off of his shoulders. We stopped at Rite-Aid hoping to find a bathing suit or something for Mikey to look a little more presentable in. I found a hoodie that ended up covering up everything.

We ended up having a lovely dinner and the boys have some great memories. I also happened to get a new shirt and hoodie out of the deal - BONUS!

Best Use of Metaphor by a Three-Year-Old

We were eating at a diner in Long Beach last night when Mikey asked me a question out of nowhere, something about cousins. I didn't catch it.

"What?"

"Are storms clouds' cousins?"

"Yes, I guess they are," I said, making a note to use that thought in my next short story.


P.S. -- Had a very "Jerry Maguire" moment with Mikey while I was working outside this weekend. "Did you know a hippo can open his mouth three feet?" No, I did not. But my three-year-old did.

Mowgli Mikey

I thought we would only have one Jungle boy in the family, now it looks like we definitely have two.Mikey or should I say Mowgli has been determined to not take any more naps, especially not in his bed. Lately I have been finding him sprawled out on the living room floor in various stages of undress. Here I found him completely au natural in the fetal position on his "lion chair."

Charlie the Darling Pain in the Neck (and Back)

Every day Charlotte seems to be growing and learning new things. She is getting so big that I think that she was a major contributing factor to my back going out last week. It got so bad that I couldn't turn my head at all, get into or out of the bath, or even carry a dish to the sink. I think she grew faster than my muscles, and my back and neck just gave up trying. Thankfully I have a great chiropractor and physical therapist who are whipping me back into shape. Now if I could just speed up her eagerness to walk, I'd be all set.

This morning, I was having a tough time dragging Jackson out of bed for preschool. I put Charlotte up in his bunk (yes it has rails) and said "GO GET JACKSON!" She quickly crawled over to him, coiled her fingers in his hair and gave him a HUGE open mouth kiss. She then snuggled in next to him as he wiped slobber off of his mouth. I said "Did you just give Jackson a love and a kiss?" She looked up and said "Jaaa-saa!" and beamed.

Later this afternoon, when our housekeeper arrived, Charlotte started to wave at her. Every time Ceci came into the room and said "Hola mi amore!" Charlotte would wave and wave and wave. Tonight when we said goodnight to the boys, Charlotte waved at them. Jackson said: "Why is she waving at me mom?" I told him that was her way of saying good night. The boys both waved back.

Flushed Away

While we're on the subject of Charlotte making a mess.... I was getting the kids ready for bed, and one of the boys left the toilet seat up. I had my back turned helping Mikey brush his teeth, and turned around to see Charlotte splashing in the toilet. I called Jackson back in, and gave the boys a mini-lecture on safety. "This is why we shut the toilet lid," I said. "Because she can reach in and get her hands dirty and maybe even fall in."

But Mikey had to take it a little bit further. "Yeah, and she will fall in, and someone will flush her, and she will go down the pipe, and she will get soft and break like toilet paper, and we won't have a baby sister anymore!" Yes, that might get them to keep her away from the toilet.

Charlie the Muncher Strikes Back

As I was posting the last picture of Charlotte and her yogurt mayhem, the boys came upstairs to ask me to call their friend's mom. The last I checked, they were playing with Charlotte quietly in the front room. I asked Mikey if Charlotte was still playing with her toys, and he said:

"No, Charlotte's in the refrigerator." I ran downstairs screaming "NO MIKEY! THAT'S DANGEROUS!"

This is what I found:I guess she had the munchies after her bath and nap! Mikey said: "She was just hungry for Nemo pasta mom."

Up for Grabs

Charlotte has done some pretty gross things, including making a b-line to eat catfood or try to grab at the litter box every chance she gets, but today she made her biggest mess to date.

Mikey left a cup of yogurt on the trunk we use for a coffee table. I had just gotten home from teaching my knitting class at the Senior Center, so I didn't know that Mikey had any yogurt, or where he would have put it. I went up to check my e-mail, and within a few minutes, Mikey yelled: "MOM!! Charlotte spilled my yogurt!!"

This is what I found:
Good thing we bought a new rug just as Charlotte is learning how to pull up and walk!

We Went to the Mountains, But our House Got the Tent

About a month ago, our Terminex inspector came back for a routine check-up. We knew we had termites in the trellis connected to our house, and we thought there might be some in one of Charlotte's window frames, but we didn't know that there were signs of them in our attic and our basement. He told us it was time to tent.

About that same time, my friend Christine (president of our local MOMs club) let me know that they were renting their cabin up in Big Bear and had a friends and family rate. Perfect timing! We needed a fun place to stay for 3 nights, and she had the perfect place for us at a great price.

A week or so before the tenting was scheduled to happen, our friendly neighborhood Terminex guy came by with the contract and a ton of bags for us to pack up our food. We told him we needed to leave a pathway for our guest house tenants to get to their place in the back, and wanted to make sure that they would be OK. He told us that they would be shutting off the gas, and he and Jeff figured out that if they opened the electrical conduit and plugged up the end that leads to their house, the gas wouldn't be able to reach them. As luck would have it, they were planning on being gone for one of the 3 days that this was happening, so it wouldn't be too big of a deal for them to order out or cook in their microwave for a few days. RIGHT??

Last Thursday around 2pm, we found out that the tenting crew was scheduled to arrive at 8:30AM!! I am rarely even dressed by then, let alone ready to evacuate my house and all it's living creatures by then!! AND, Jeff and I both had previous engagements that night, so we were in trouble. I was banking on a few hours the next day to pack clothes and food into the car, and I didn't have that time anymore.

Zach came over the previous Tuesday to help Jeff cut away all of the tree limbs that were touching our house, and called up that night to see if there was anything else he could help with. AS A MATTER A FACT THERE WAS! He and Dallas came by at 6:30 and immediately got to work with Jeff packing up all of the food in my kitchen, including the refrigerator and freezer. I had to leave to sing with the Hollytones at a garden party in Pasadena. The plan was, I was going to spell Jeff off at 8, so that he could go play Basketball.

On my way to Pasadena, I stopped to buy Barbary (2nd soprano) a birthday gift. Jeff's truck started acting up between the nail salon and the 5 freeway. By the time I was on the ramp merging onto the 5, it wouldn't accellerate, no matter how much gas I was giving it, and the emergency brake wasn't on. I pulled over onto the tiny shoulder and made a ton of phone calls as the huge trucks flew by me. Jeff, Zach, and Dallas tried to diagnose my problem over the phone, and asked if I could drive on the shoulder to the next exit and get off. It wouldn't even turn over. I called Barbara and Teresa to let them know I couldn't come to sing, and it Turns out Barbara had gotten tickets to a Show that night at the Amonson, and was bailing on the gig as well!! Teresa and Danielle were left singing a duet. AAA new right away that it was probably be my alternator, and sent a tow truck. I was stuck on the 5 for 45 min, with mountains of work at home, and a gig I was missing. What else was there for me to do, but dig in my bag for whatever yarn and needles I had and start knitting!

Well, the tow truck driver parked Jeff's dead truck at our house at 8pm, just in time for Jeff to leave for basketball. His game started over a half hour late, and he didn't get home until after 10pm. I was able to get some laundry done while he was gone, but there was still so much to do. We ended up going to bed at 5am, having gotten through about 90% of our list.

The next morning, we had to wake everyone up and get them ready to go. Terminex showed up EARLY at 8:15. Jeff had packed the car, so we were pretty ready to leave, but way too tired to go anywhere. The plan was to drive Jackson to zoo camp, drop the cats off at the groomers, have Zach come over to help Jeff push the truck to the autoshop down the street, give him the birds, drive Jeff to work, and then I would somehow kill time until 3pm when I would pick up Jackson and Jeff and head up to Big Bear. NO PROBLEM.

BUT. . . Terminex never told us that they would be tenting out back gazebo and deck. The only access that our tenants would have had was along the left side of our house and through our gazebo to the back yard to their house. They also never told us that there couldn't be any plants at all, even grass near our house. And there were other little chores that needed to happen, like taking down our motion sensor light, turning off timers, etc. that had to happen.

So, while the tenters quickly and expertly put a tent up over the house, Jeff and our savior Zach, tunneled their way through our bamboo forest and our overgrown lemon tree so that the tenants would could walk around our deck. They dug up any vegitation and roots that needed to be gone. They even took out 2 small trees.














The whole back of the driveway was piled with 5 feet of branches, our yard was muddy from the recommendation to have the sprinklers running for 8 hours before tenting, and we were exhausted from a near all-nighter. Zach and Jeff were finished with the last minute fixes and with dropping off the truck to get fixed at NOON. Mikey, Charlotte and I had nothing to do durring that time except pick up snacks and drinks for the guys. At least the kids were fascinated with what was happening to their house. After dropping the guys off, I was able to do a little last minute shopping for travel supplies, drop Barbara's gift off, and was able to then pick up Jackson and Jeff.

Jackson doesn't do well on long car rides, and we had to pull over about an hour into the trip for him to try and throw up. We had dinner and were off again once everyone was feeling better. We arrived in Big Bear around 7pm. I don't know where the time went!! Everyone was happy to get out of the car, and thrilled with the cabin that was waiting for us.


It was a 2 bedroom, 2 bath cabin about a mile from the lake and 1/2 mile from the local zoo. The boys room had 2 bunks and a full size bed. The boys alternated sleeping in the "big bed" and the "up bed." Charlotte spent her first night in a pack-and-play and didn't seem to mind.

It turns out that the TV didn't work, and that we didn't have cell phone coverage, or an internet connection, but that didn't matter. We were wiped out. The kids woke us up bright and early at 7:30 am. We decided to start our day at the zoo and go swimming in the lake in the afternoon. The next day we were going to go to the pony rides and then take a boat tour on the lake.

The Zoo was small and was in a beautiful setting. Most of the animals were mountain animals. The boys loved seeing the grizzly bears, black bears, assorted owls, hawks and eagles.


Charlotte was content to hang out in the stroller and nap on and off.


Inside the main office, Jackson was thrilled to find out that he was as tall as a sun bear, giant otter, and white stork. He was also excited to see his first "sugar glider."

As we drove to the lake, we heard thunder, and a few rain drops began to fall. The swimming beach was closed and locked up.


Mikey and Jackson had to be content with just wading around the shore for a little while. They enjoyed throwing rocks in the water, and Jackson at one point fell and got drenched.


We went back to the cabin, and all of us except for Jackson were able to take a nice long nap. It rained all night.


The next day, it rained off and on. We started off checking out if the boat tours would be running. They told us they were on a weather hold until 2pm. We tried to go to the petting zoo and pony rides, but they were closed because the thunder was spooking the animals.


The boys got to see the animals through the fence in the drizzling rain. When we went back to the boat tours, they were closed for the day. Nothing to do but have another nap and go out to dinner! Thankfully we we had a portable DVD player, animal flash cards, and a bunch of coloring books to keep the boys occupied. That night we packed and cleaned the cabin.

The next morning, we found that Mikey had wet the bed. Thankfully we had a mattress cover on his bed, but our dreams of being able to wake up at 8am and leave by 9am, so that Jeff and Jackson wouldn't miss too much work or zoo camp, were impossible. The wash took over an hour and a half. We were finally able to leave at 10:30am, and made decent time down the mountains. This time we gave the boys Dramamine and Jackson some motion sickness wrist bands. We did have to stop for Jackson to get some air halfway down the mountain, but the Dramamine knocked Mikey out. Jackson made it back for the last half of his zoo camp, and Jeff worked form home the rest of the day. I was left with an empty kitchen and 2 younger kids that had managed to catch a cold while we were gone!

As a vacation goes, it was kind of lame. We were way too tired to enjoy anything, and the rain kept us from the stuff we wanted to do most. On the other hand, if you are kicked out of your house for 3 days and have to weather some thunderstorms, there is no better place to do it than at my friend's beautiful cabin near a stunning lake.

What's a Twinkie?

Jackson drew a rounded rectangle with 3 circles in it and asked me: "What's this Mama?"
Me: "I dodn't know."
Jackson: "Wall-E gave it to his cockroach, and the cockroach went swimming in it."
Me: "Ah-hah! A Twinkie!"
Jackson: "What's a Twinkie?"
Me: "It's like a little cake with whipped cream in it."
Jackson: "Is it Junk food or a healthy snack?"
Me: "Definitely junk food. Next time we go to the store, I'll get one for you to try."

Jackson wanted to know why Wall-E gave the roach Twinkies. I told him that that was the only food that survived in the future.

The next day, we went to the store, and I got 4 Twinkies. As luck would have it, Liam came over that night, recognized them from the movie, and had never had one before either.

Charlotte, now quite mobile, quickly grabbed the one that I opened for Mikey and shoved it into her mouth. I reluctantly gave the one that I was saving to share with Jeff to Mikey.

All 4 kids were thrilled with their new discovery, and totally understood why the cockroach would want to swim in the creamy filling. Seeing them having so much fun made up for the guilt of giving them junk, the messy creamy aftermath, and not getting to have one myself!

Wild Animal Dr. Jackson Branches Out

A few weeks ago I asked Jackson what he was going to be when he grows up. He answered the usual: "A wild animal doctor, that takes care of baby animals in Africa." Sometimes he mentions being in charge of the Los Angeles Zoo, the Santa Barbara Zoo, and the San Diego Zoo as well. Then I asked him what I do, now that I'm grown up. He said "a knitter/teacher." I asked him what daddy does and he said "a basketball player/builder." I told him that he can call me a "designer" too since I like to draw pictures of clothes on the computer, and that he can call daddy a "writer," because daddy writes a lot on the computer when he goes to work. He was fascinated that you could be a designer and a teacher and a knitter or a basketball player and a builder and a writer. He finally decided at the end of our chat that it would be OK for him to be a wild animal doctor that takes care of babies AND is in charge of the zoos AND is an ARTIST.

Now he is taking his artwork VERY seriously, and if Mikey tries to touch it he says: "you can't touch that - that's my WORK." He spends over an hour a day drawing on his doodle pad and loves to make animals out of foam paper. We have started to take pictures of his most impressive doodle pad renditions and I will post a little gallery after we have some more.

Jackson Started Zoo Camp

Jackson started a summer Zoo Camp this week. We signed him up for 2 week-long sessions. This week is focusing on primates. They are there from 9am to 3pm and have class time, arts/crafts time, playground time, and of course a ton of time in the zoo with the animals.


On Monday Jackson brought home this beautiful picture. This is the first watercolor that I think he has ever done. When I asked him about it, he said that his teacher "ruined" it by erasing out a gorilla face and mountains. He was angry because you couldn't see his hippo (center), palm tree (left), and tree sloth (top right) anymore. I think the animal on the right is a bush baby. I love the colors that he used and his brush strokes are so confidant.

He loves this camp and is making friends quickly. I am loving having the extra freedom of having only 2 kids during the day. When I picked him up today, his zookeeper/teacher told me that Jackson is doing really well, and he is great having in class. I told him that Jackson is an animal fanatic, and he said he could tell.

Happy Belated 4th of July!

We had a great 4th this year! We started off the day going to see Wall-E with our Friends Courtney, Zach, Liam, and Rhett. We bumped into Theresa and her family while we were there too. I highly recommend it to anyone. I left the theater wanting to exercise my brains out and wanting to recycle everything I touch.

We then headed down to Long Beach to celebrate with my family. Long Beach was swamped with people waiting for the display. Some of them set up tents the night before!

We started off by riding a surrey built for 6. It was a very hot and humid day, and we weren't able to ride for the full hour. My dad helped pedal for the first leg of our trip around the marina, then we were on our own for a little while. The kids had a blast, especially since none of them could reach the pedals to help!

Charlotte learned how to pull up and cruise a little bit this week. She especially loved it at her grandparents place because of the super soft carpeting. She was especially fearless because she wasn't getting hurt each time she fell.


My brother Jake and his family made it down to LB as well. They have a 1 year old son, Jack, and a 3 1/2 year old son Max. Jack was especially interested in Charlotte. I think it was fun for them to have someone their own size to play with.







Max, Jackson, and Mikey ate almost an entire watermelon themselves. Grandma had surprises for all of them, and for a little while it felt like Christmas morning. Each one of them got a flag to bring home along with a new toy.

Alex and Veronica also came. They are both SO AMAZING with kids! I think my kids sometimes prefer "Ronca" to me!

My parents moved back to their old building that overlooks the ocean and the Queen Mary. They have an even better view now. We were able to sit on their balcony and have a perfect view of the fireworks over the ocean. What a great way to end a wonderful day!

Wanna play What's Grosser than Grosser than Gross?

What's Grosser than Gross?

Slimy furballs coughed up by Maime, our extremely furry persian cat, now that it's about 95 degrees at our house.

What's Grosser than that?

Baby Charlotte discovering one and squishing it in her hands.

What's Grosser than that?

Before I could catch her with a wipe, she put it in her mouth!!!

Beating the Heat, Part 2 - At Home

As if a day at a huge pool wasn't enough, when we got home last Thursday, the boys took an impromptu romp through the sprinklers. Jeff was home early from work and was fixing the sprayer direction, and the boys took the opportunity to get wet again.

Charlotte was torn between taking Jackson's beloved Doodle Pad and trying to figure out if she could crawl down the stairs and join in the action.

After the boys got nice and soaked and grassy and muddy, we had to strip them down and dry them off on the front porch. As is customary around here, they both demanded to be "burrito boys," and refused to put on clothes for at least an hour.

You can see how our fence is coming in the background. It is actually starting to look like a fence now! Thanks to all of the friends and family who have come over to lend a hand. We still have to finish the trellis above the gate, put up some trim pieces, and figure out how to build the gate itself. If we keep up the pace that we have been going, we may have a finished fence by the end of the summer.

Beating the Heat

Last Thursday the kids and I were invited to join my Friend Jen and her kids at the Hansen Dam Water Recreational Park. What an INCREDIBLE PLACE!! There is a 1.5 acre "swim lake." Instead of having a deep end and a shallow end, the pool tapers off on all sides like a lake would. The kids weren't too sure of the no life jacket or floatie rule, but they soon got over it when they realized they could wade out at least 20 feet and still touch the bottom.

There is a HUGE water slide at one end of the pool. It was so far away, that I didn't walk over to see what the rules were. Jackson may be big enough to ride, but we'll need to go with Jeff next time, so someone can sit with the baby.

We packed a Sunny-style picnic, and brought El Pollo Loco with us, but there was a taco truck and several ice cream vendors with carts walking around the grassy picnic area. Jackson's face turned a nice shade of blue from his blue ghost ice-cream pop, and Mikey looked like his TMNT pop exploded in his mouth.

The best part is, it was only 25 minutes from our house AND with a library card I got in for $2, and the kids were FREE!! I think this is a place we will frequent OFTEN this summer.