Gruesome Twosome.

Celebrating a successful butterfly home birth

Building a fairy house at the park

Bothering another gruesome twosome

Playing Scrabble Junior

Celebrating the first day of spring

Pre-partying with the Easter Bunny. I can't believe how similar they look in this photo. Perhaps the semi-forced smiles?

Adam is Five!

Happy, happy birthday to our fabulous five year old guy! We had a fairly large party on Saturday night - I invited a bunch of our friends with kids, and almost everyone was able to come. I was slightly worried about the house getting destroyed, and so set up a bunch of activities outside. The boys tossed cornhole bean bags straight in each other's faces, kicked balls and tossed frisbees over the fence, and raced around on the turf.

Tim drew a really awesome picture of the monster truck El Toro Loco, and the kids spent some time coloring him in as they felt appropriate, and then we played a rousing game of pin the wheels on El Toro Loco.

We also had a pinata, which result in a lot of screaming (from Ellie) when I made the kids line up in age order, and one of the four year olds knocked the thing open. THEN she cried because she wasn't getting as much candy. Dude, stop crying and go grab some! I'd put almost 400 pieces of candy in for a dozen kids - surely there was a sucker or a package of Smarties left. Oh my kids... always something to cry about at a fun event.

But see how happy she is to hang her bag on her bunny shirt?

We did pizza for the kids, and I made a turkey salad and a couple other big salads, plus I bought many of the meat and cheese items that Costco has to offer. (When I got to the register they told me my membership had expired, which, I can't imagine being up there with a bunch of beer, a bunch of chips and dips and snacks and a sheet cake and being like "well, nevermind then, I will just leave and buy 12 bags of chips at the regular grocery store to yield the same amount. Please put this cake back.") And the kids helped me make an El Toro Loco cake, which is both loco and straight up frightening.

And then towards the end of the night, all the kids curled up to watch a movie.

I mean, I joked about being surprised by having such a crowd, and having expected more people would be unable to attend, but I love having a house full of people and I feel lucky to have such friends, for Tim and I as well as for Adam. And it's definitely good for me to have a reason to get the yard cleaned up, the house acceptable inside, and the fridge stocked with beer and snacks for the summer fun to come.

The kids both slept in until almost 8 - they were pooped! We had a very relaxed morning - he opened his presents from us, worked on putting together his Lego firetruck, and we watched the third Harry Potter movie, since Tim and Ellie just finished the book. Then tonight we had Mimi and Poppy and Jake, Gigi and Grizz and Sara, and my friend Maree, her son and parents all over for dinner and actual birthday surprises (featuring the leftover appetizers and food I'd made the day before - THANKS COSTCO! And thanks to our families for being low maintenance, and awesome.

One of Adam's presents was a bunch of Overwatch shirts - he's been SO thrilled about having a matching Tracer shirt with Tim, so we got him a bunch of other heroes in his size. Today he picked out the Winston shirt for them all to wear, and I texted Mimi to let her know that she might want to get in on the action.

In short, Adam is a fantastic little nut and we love him to the moon and back. I can't believe he's five, and I can't wait to see what this year will bring. He's all signed up for kindergarten, and I just registered him for t-ball (good thing he got a baseball mitt and a t-ball set for his birthday!) I was also amazed - the other day he picked out a die-cast truck at CVS, and in the car on the drive home he tried sounded out the name and told me it was a "rum" truck. For an almost five year old who's not in a super-academic preschool, I was impressed that he saw RAM and got close to the actual word.

Activity List

It's funny how crazy our lives can feel, even though our kids do relatively little in terms of sports and other activities. We're still loving our Wednesday music theory lessons as we gear up towards the kids beginning piano lessons, and we're readying for swim lessons again, once the weather is nice enough that poor noodle arms Adam won't freeze in the heated pool at the YMCA. Some weeks it feels so busy that I can't imagine having two sport athletes! Or even athletes who have to practice more than once a week.

That said, I love being able to sign them up for what interests them, and watching them grow. I think once school is over we'll find a more serious martial arts studio for Adam, if that's what he wants to keep doing. And Ellie ADORES gymnastics. She very quickly stretched out those longs arms and legs and can do the splits, back bends and her cartwheels and handstands have really improved. Here's a minute or two of them at work.

The Greatest Showman

Kristen and Lexi invited Ellie and I to go and see the Greatest Showman with them yesterday. I'd wanted to see it when it first came out because I love all musicals, but it didn't get great reviews and Tim wasn't interested, so we didn't, to my great consternation. So, I was glad I could still catch it in theaters, and see it with my small friend.

Ellie LOVED it. She and Lexi were dancing along in their seats, and during the love song, we looked over and the two of them were leaning against each other, holding hands. Both hands. Then during a scary scene towards the end, they both fled to cuddle against their mothers. It's nice that she's at an age where she can sit through a movie without much fuss - she ate some popcorn and a sandwich, she had her water, but she wasn't whispering or fidgeting (makes me feel better about my decision to buy tickets to take her to Hamilton!)

Afterwards, we wandered through the mall, and we let them try on some make up Sephora. As you can see, Ellie's tastes are incredibly understated:

Everyone came back to the house, where we eventually ordered pizza for dinner, but before that, I bought the Greatest Showman soundtrack and brought the Bose player outside for us to listen. And Ellie and Lexi made up some sweet gymnastics dance routines. Looks like someone watched too much ice dancing during the Olympics!

Turf Toe

Like the Californians we are, we have officially ripped out our back lawn. It started going down hill a couple of years ago when our neighbors cut down their trees and flooded the back yard with light, and then the drought hit and we weren't supposed to water. Not that I would have watered anyways, because I am mostly terrible at yard work, and Tim is way worse.

I did some fairly successful re-seeding last year during the rainy season, but there's something going on with our sprinkler system so... it died. And I figured, by the time we got the sprinklers fixed and the grass redone, we'd have spent about as much as we would on replacing it with turf, plus there's probably another drought around the corner, so I'd have to let my new grass die.

Yesterday the turf company was here by 8, done by 3, and now we have a beautiful green backyard. The turf is softer than I expected it to be, and perfect for all kinds of sports, from gymnastics to just running around like a wild man.

I think it's going to be a really nice summer, out there enjoying a green lawn.

Art Classes.

Ellie has been enjoying running art classes with her brother - she even asks him to call her Mrs. Ford. But I must admit, results have been good:

This is his family portrait, complete with belly buttons and claw hands. I love this phase of art-work making. I also love that he's started writing his name more often, and with pretty good skill. It blows my mind that he's going to be in kindergarten next year.

He has also taken to doing some more avant garde pieces... like putting his best friend through Grizz's copier.

Ellie is also doing a special focus on portraiture. She says that's the button on Gigi's jeans... she's not wearing a speedskater suit.