Family Time.

Well, it's the end of January, and so it's time for Grandma Rosie's annual trip to escape the cold and celebrate Sara's birthday with all of us. This year though, Ellie can read to her instead of needing Grandma Rosie to do the reading! Thanks to the Santa Anas and climate change, it's been in the high 80s around here, so Grandma is definitely getting her money's worth on the warm weather.

And now Auntie Sara is officially 35, so I've taken to calling her an old hag, despite being the older sister. She's the very best sister and auntie we could hope for.

New Wheels

It finally happened, we got a new family car. I am a little distressed because by trading in my sub-compact Honda Fit, I can no longer be a smug a-hole when I parallel park in a tiny parking spot outside Ellie's school, like the cool city girl I once was. Don't worry, I can still be a smug a-hole based on the fact that Tim and I remain one of the few families we know with a two car garage and two actual cars parked in said garage, rather than having a garage filled with boxes and furniture.

We've been thinking about upgrading for probably over a year now, and after putting new tires on the Fit last summer and replacing the ignition coils shortly thereafter, I decided that I was done putting money into the car. It's been a great vehicle, and hauls SO much stuff despite the small size. I loved how zippy it was, and while the color was never my choice, everyone always knew it was me in my electric blue boogaloo. But, it's our family car, and turns out the rest of my family does not have abnormally short legs. It was getting uncomfortable for Ellie to be in the car behind Tim, and it's not the best car for long car trips with all of us. Not to mention it's ten years old, and so saying I didn't want to put any more money into it was like asking for a potential problem.

So! We got a Toyota Rav4. It's the first non-Honda I've ever owned, but I think I'll survive. We got the hybrid version, black exterior with a gray leather interior. My hill to die on was a light interior, because I wear dresses and don't want to burn the backs of my thighs, or roast my children in the back seat, but I also really wanted a non-white or gray exterior (sorry Tim!) So, the dealership was able to find me what I needed, and they actually offered me more than blue book for my trade in, which left me pretty much stunned. I think it's because I told them I'd throw in all of the cheerios and breath mints strewn throughout the car for free. Between that, and bringing my car up there filthy and almost out of gas, I feel like I got away with a crime!

And then I got to drive home in a clean car listening to my own music - that'll never happen again! Because let's be real, I'm not going to say that the kids can't eat in the car or that we all have to wipe our feet before we get in. The kids love it, Tim's very happy with it as well (because he does all of the driving when he's in the car) and while it's bigger than what I would have bought if it was just me, it's obviously not just me. But my dream car is a Mini-Cooper, and I've often told Tim, once the kids are out of the house and my life is more my own, I'm getting one. He actually said "oh, can you get the bigger one so I can ride in it?" and I told him no, I cannot. Did you hear me when I said when my life is more my own, I'm getting the small Mini, possibly convertible? I said what I said! The good news is, based on our previous track record of car ownership, and the fact that Ellie is already 7, by the time I'm ready for a new car, I can give her the Rav4 and get a Mini!

The downside is, I haven't done much driving this week. Yesterday morning Adam woke up complaining that his neck hurt, and then barfed. He managed to eat and keep everything down over the course of the day, but was running a pretty good fever other than the first hour after getting medicine, so we spent most of the day on the couch. Today the fever is gone, but he did get up at 4:30 to throw up, poor guy. It's terrible to see, but I'm glad he can at least hit the toilet. And we've had a chance to use our own wheels, talking a good walk down the trail both times, before I give my stroller to a friend of mine who is expecting her first baby this summer. The fresh air definitely does both of us good.

Girl of Many Talents.

We've had a relatively quiet weekend (for us.) Yesterday Adam had Daddy and Me day at preschool, and Ellie was dying for us to do something FUN too. I told her look, they're only going to be gone an hour, I don't have a car seat for you, and frankly, I want to lay in bed and drink this coffee, but maybe you can find a craft kit to work on with me?

She dug out the mini loom that Granny Janny gave her for Christmas, and immediately went to town. She said she wanted to make the purse that they showed on the box, and got to weaving away. I was surprised at how quickly she picked it up - I offered quite a bit of help during the first part of the day, but when she picked it up after nap time, she'd gotten the hang of doing the loops and keeping the thread tight. This morning she whipped up a strap for it, and we got it all sewn together!

Beads and fringe and neon yarn, hooray!

Then this morning Adam had a birthday party for a classmate, so Tim took him, and I'd promised Ellie that she could ride her bike down the trail to the park, so we did just that! I was really proud of her - she not only rode the long way to the park and back, but then I had offered we could go to a nearby sandwich shop for lunch, and she rode her bike over there as well, which was a good lesson about safely using cross walks, being careful of other people on the sidewalk, etc. It's so nice to be with my grown up lady-girl, who can order her own sandwich politely, and then when it came time to get her scoop of ice cream, she went into the restaurant (we were sitting outside) read all of the flavors available and made her choice by herself.

Meanwhile, it is funny to think that when she rode on ahead of me (I was jogging) I had a momentary worry about if someone would think she was unaccompanied and stop her. I don't worry about things happening to her, honestly, but I worry about some Nosy Nancy telling me I'm a bad mom because I don't have her in my line of sight at all times. Very different than when I was seven and would get on my bike, scarves and hair a-flying, and ride all over the place for who knows how long. If she wasn't so damn pokey in the mornings, I'd let her walk to school on her own, but I don't because the one time she started off for school on her own last year, a neighbor brought her home for being alone. And because almost every morning I have to tell her to get a move on, at least twice.

Meanwhile, she brought this home from school the other day:

Me too kid, me too.

Back to the Grind.

The kids went back to school last week, which everyone enjoyed. It was mostly quiet around here - I spent a day trying to declutter and get rid of all of the broken or useless toys, and then another couple of bags of toys and clothing to donate.

I also took Adam to get a hair cut, which I was dreading, because he hates having the buzzer used on him, and the last time we went, I had to basically hold him down, and we left the barber shop with him red and sweaty and both of us absolutely COVERED in hair. This time, went much better. He still wanted to sit on my lap, but thanks to a king sized bag of M&Ms, we managed to make it though.

There's no crying in hair cuts either, my son.

Here's a before, for reference of how long I let it get before I make myself deal with it.

I let Ellie do her homework at Tim's computer desk last week, which he did not like. He doesn't realize that sharing is caring.

She wasn't thrilled about the return to homework, but was happy to return to music class (especially to show off that she can play Doe, a Deer on the piano) and gymnastics (even if she was pooped afterwards on Friday.)

The big fun around here remains the kittens, though fun depends on the day. They both have some sort of tummy problem, which has result in some incidents of pure grossness. Early in the morning this weekend, I woke up because Taco had farted next to me in bed and the smell was so bad that I was gagging... and yet, I was just happy that he hadn't pooped when he farted. This is the world we live in, if it's not one cat, it's another.

Belated Goodbye.

Not mentioned in my earlier blog post was that Gigi started the year off in one of the worst ways possible, saying goodbye to her cat soulmate Petunia Jane. I do not hesitate to say that Petunia was not only the largest cat this family has ever had, she was also the best. She was friendly to everyone, she never bit or scratched anyone, she'd follow you around like a dog and flop in your lap, all she asked in life was unfettered access to mom at all times, and for you to not try to kiss her about the face (and if you are wondering, who would ever try to kiss a cat around their head or face, THIS IS NOT THE BLOG FOR YOU.)

She had fifteen good years, which was still not really long enough.

The good news is she's now reunited with Rocky, pictured here both in their prime, when my mom had almost forty pounds of cat thundering through her house at any given times. She says she's just keeping the boys, no new kittens for her, so now our family total is down to only five cats.

New Year, Same Old Blog

Sorry for the lapse around here! We've had a good vacation. The kids finished up two weeks of camp at the YMCA, which has been a life saver. They have three hours of activity in the morning, then lunch and a nap, and we get a break and pay someone else to work as the cruise directors of their day. Plus it's either that, or I'd take them and dump them at the kidzone while I worked out.

Not that I did a ton of working out - instead I escaped to the beautiful snowy wilds of Chicago to spend almost a week with Becca, Brian and Benjy. We've been missing some best friend twin-talk time, and since Tim is home from work between Christmas and New Years, it seemed like the best time to go (for me.) Don't worry about Tim - he had the kids in camp every day, they hung out with their grandparents, and the 30th, 31st and 1st, he had parties with all of our friends.

Meanwhile, I froze to death and had to huddle under cats and small children to keep warm.

While I was freezing, Ellie was rocking this as her NYE outfit:

She is wearing little bike shorts under this outfit - after Tim sent me a picture in the morning and I had to tell him that tights aren't the same as wearing actual pants, and she need something to cover up her undies.

The only big hiccup they had during my absence was that Thor had a bladder infection (probably caused by the stress of new kittens/losing Lulu) and his blood sugar was dangerously out of whack. He spent a good part of Thursday and Friday under the care of the urgent care vet and our vet, and has bounced back wonderfully. He's actually coming to like the kittens, though Taco likes Thor more than Thor likes either of them. But he's out and about more, he's more playful, he's more social. This morning I was laying in bed and I had Thor laying across my chest and Lucky across my legs, all purring. It's not a bad way to live.

They really are some wonderful babies.

Other than camp, we've done a lot of socializing this week. Had lunch guests, dinner guests, Jolie and the lovely cousin girls came up for a hang out, and then tonight after gymnastics we hung out with Lexi and Juddy, and all of the girls (including Kristen and myself) had a hand stand and cartwheel competition. I.... did not win. But I did my best!