End of the Year/Start of the Summer

Well, this blog is very out of date. Much like the concept of blogs themselves, I suppose.

The kids finished kindergarten and third grade on June 13th, and we celebrated by going to have a bunch of ice cream with friends, and then leaving on Saturday for Wisconsin.

We've been so lucky to have such a great year. Wonderful teachers, wonderful friends, and a great school community. Plus Ms. Kantor is teaching first grade again next year, so maybe she'll go Fords For Four next year!

The travel out to Chicago was easy peasy, and then we spent Father's Day out at John's lake place again, which was awesome. Saw many geese on their way to goose brunch, and then Ellie and I both water skied!

What is there to say about Door County? We ate a lot of cheese curds and goat milk gelator, we drank a lot of Old Fashioneds, we had a great time watching the ten kids twelve and under run around the yard and the various parks like a pack of wild animals. We saw a lot of beautiful sunsets, I spent a lot of time laughing until I was crying.

And each year is more fun with the kids. I love that I'm in a place where I made so many happy childhood memories, watching them make similar memories. Adam kept commenting on how gorgeous everything was, and Ellie pointed out how we had done things last year or the year before.

Then Adam spent the entire day that we were traveling home vomiting if we gave him more than a sip of water, so that was great! But he was a good little trooper - still happy to pull his own suitcase through the airport and then spent almost the entire drive and flight sleeping. Then woke up at 6:30 on Monday morning right as rain, wondering if we would make him some breakfast. So, now he's 3 for 3 on puking on a vacation, so he's no longer a part of the family. But as you can see, his last trip with us was a lovely one!

Grand Old Flag.

Last Friday the second graders at school did their American Symbols On Parade play, and it was super cute. They talked about the various American symbols and monuments, sang some songs, did some dancing. One of the best things is that in second grade (almost third, loud sobbing noise) is that they are able to deliver lines and act a little. They got a lot of jokes, and knew how to ham it up for reaction.

Ellie played the part of Rose, sharing it with a few other girls (there were several Roses, and several Uncle Sams.) She was SO darling. Please see video evidence.

Medicare for Mimi!

What a nice weekend celebrating Mimi's birthday! (and other hanging out, sleeping in, and regular weekend activities around here.)

On Friday night, Mimi, Ellie and Chris and Carly went on a grandmother and granddaughter trip to the theater to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Segerstrom. Adam and I got to crash their dinner at Ruby's as part of the drop off, but the show was all ladies - they had a blast!

And then on Sunday we went out to Yorba Linda and watched Jake made dinner for all of us, while we celebrated loudly and proudly.

Toofs

Another milestone passed in our house - my last baby lost his first tooth! I was unprepared for this event to make me have feelings, but it's weird to think that it's the end of their baby faces. And now that the tooth fairy has to start coming up with cash for the very same teeth that made our lives miserable on their way (this is a racket.) Anyhow - he's had a wiggly tooth for awhile, and then wrenched it out right before going into his classroom yesterday morning, so I got to walk home holding a human tooth in my hand.

We were over at a friend's house until fairly late last night and this morning when I got back from the Y, he was still sleeping! Thank goodness tball was rained out, because he slept in until 10am! I did go check on him at 9 to make sure he was still alive, because this is out of character for him. Then when he did wake up, there was much crying from his room and lamenting that the tooth fairy didn't leave him anything. There was a moment of panic where I thought maybe the tooth fairy DID forget, as it had been a late night, but I also remembered the tooth fairy very distinctly sneaking into his room with baited breath. Adam, in a very un-Howard-like fashion, did not realize that the gold dollar under his pillow was his prize, worth one American dollar. He feels much better now that he's fully awake, and also rich.

Memorial Day Weekend!

As usual, we managed to pack in a ton of fun!

Friday night I took Ellie up to LA to see Ben Platt at the Dolby Theather for baby's first concert. Ben Platt was the original Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway and has been in a couple of movies, and recently released an album of original songs. I downloaded it, and we were listening to it in the car until it became her FAVORITE. As in, I finally had to tell her, I have listened to this album now 100 times on repeat, it's time to take a break. For me, going to see an artist I like performing an album I love is one of my favorite pleasures in life, and so when tickets went on sale, I bought two for us and hoped for the best. 

It took us 2.5 hours to get to Hollywood, and we parked almost a mile from the theater because my LA geography is not what it once was, but I knew that $10 for parking was less than we'd pay at Hollywood and Highland, where the Dolby Theater is located. Good news, she enjoyed the Walk of Fame. 

Please note, I did not buy the VIP experience. I'm indulgent, but not a total idiot.

Our tickets were basically up in the nosebleeds, but the view was great and the acoustics were awesome. Ben Platt put on a wonderful show, and Ellie was SO happy, singing and dancing along.

And we got home without being accosted on the street, or me falling asleep behind the wheel. Success all the ways around

Saturday, I went to goat yoga!

This is the same baby goat that Ellie met and loved when we were at the goat farm with our cousins around spring break, now 10 weeks old and quite a load. I went with two girlfriends and we did a lot more giggling and goat petting than actual yoga (which is fine, I don't care for yoga anyways.)

We spent most of the rest of the weekend swimming in our friends' pools, because we are lucky ducks. Sunday was Juddy-Buddy's birthday pool party, and Monday we kept the party going at Mike and Nicole's house. Sunday was rainy but the kids still had fun, and Monday was sunny and beautiful, the perfect long weekend afternoon. 

Lots of cheeseburgers, chips and dips consumed, lots of time with friends. On Monday Adam was in the pool from 11am - 6pm with only a short break for lunch. Needless to say, we've been putting them to bed early this week and having to wake them up in the morning. They have two more weeks of school after this, and while I'm ready for all the pool partying, I don't know that I'm ready for the rest of it. It feels like the month, and school year, has flown by!

Happy Birthday Grandma Rosie!

Our beloved Grandma Rosie turned 90 this past weekend, and we were lucky enough to get to head out to Wisconsin and celebrate with her. Would you like to hear about our comedy of errors in traveling? You know you would.

Mom's platinum status on American allowed all six of us (Dad had headed out earlier) to sit in the extra leg row seats for regular price, which is nice for containing children and giving Tim leg room. When we got on, I made mom help me and my short arms move some stuff in an overhead bin so that we could jam Sara's suitcase up there - damn you business traveling dudes who think you can put your giant roll aboard AND your backpack in the bins, like your feet are too big to be near your bag underneath your seat. If you think an angry short woman and a grandma won't rearrange your possessions, YOU ARE WRONG.

Anyhow. Another extra leg room seat perk is that you get early access to the beverage cart. About forty seconds after I get my nice hot coffee, Adam announces that he has to poop. So I tell him to hang on, and we start getting ourselves ready to exit our row and scoot past the cart. As I'm telling him to wait, hang on just a second, please sit still he knocks my coffee into his own lap and begins screaming. The flight attendants and everyone around us was very nice in giving us napkins and getting us to the bathroom, where he pooped, and then changed into the jammies that I had brilliantly packed in our carry on. All is well. Kids watch videos, I take a nap, Tim reads a book. Then as we are getting ready to land, Adam is playing Minecraft on the tablet and announces in between handfuls of Cheerios that he has to throw up. I was sort of mystified by this because he is not someone who gets motion sick (in the past) but lo, it was a-coming and I didn't get the barf bag under his face quickly enough, so he barfed on his clean pajamas. UGH.

The good news is that he calmed quickly, and was not too disgusting - we waited until I was in line to get our rental car to have Tim go and change him. And the nice thing about all being grown ups now is that Kari has a very nice washer and dryer for all of our barf and coffee clothes.

I would say the rest of the trip to La Crosse was uneventful but I did get REAL salty and rude to my poor mother and husband when we didn't stop at any of the first three Culvers we drove by. I was real hangry. Ellie now does a good impression of me demanding Culvers, so that's great. Oh, and as we were pulling into the Culver's parking lot Adam got car sick/motion sick yet again, but this time fully into a bag, and he then put down a cheeseburger, applesauce, some fries and a dish of chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce, and held it down for the rest of the drive. I truly think the 5am wake up call is a part of throwing him off his game - the early wake up may have been part of him also getting altitude sick in Montana, I think.

Our weekend was so nice. It was awesome to stay with Kari and Bennett and Leah, and just get to hang out as adults, while also enjoying what a true delight Leah is becoming. She's so cute and funny and fun. I also love how much my kids loved her, especially Adam. Sunday morning I woke up and he was out reading a book to her - I was amazed at how great his reading skills were!

Also, please enjoy Tick Tock Croc, who is actually Bennett's childhood toy. Adam latched onto it when we visited a couple of years ago and Bennett let him take him home. Adam used to carry the croc with him in the stroller, etc, but has lost interest over the past year or so. Good news: Leah LOVES him, so that delighted me.

Saturday night we went out for a nice dinner all together, which was so fun. It was wonderful to have a nice meal with our nice family, and thankfully in a private room where the littles could get up and down and out of their seats and go play instead of having to sit very quietly. Also, I got to spend almost the whole meal snuggling month old baby Sophia, who is a sweet little love. I was for sure the biggest baby hog, with Adam and Ellie running as close seconds. Adam especially was very sweet with her - with all the little girls, truly. Ellie was thrilled to be with her big cousin Hailee, including a surprise sleepover at Grandma Betty's house.

Rose Marie, Elizabeth Rosemarie, and Sophia Rose.

Sunday we got the Sunshine Room at Hillview, and Grandma had ordered two fancy cakes for her own party (she can also cry if she wants to.) We'd also had a nice brunch together in the morning, and the kids helped Uncle John mow the lawn on Saturday and ride bikes - so it was a ton of relaxed, casual family time.

I think it was strategic of Grams to get small, fancy cakes, because we just didn't have the space to put 90 candles on it like we might have with a Costco sheet cake.

She also let everyone jam their fingers in

It was so nice. We all got to visit and hang out and make each other laugh. I especially enjoyed when Leah told Grandma that she was going to take her card back for HER fridge, or when Clara was doling out animal crackers and told Leah she couldn't have any more, because she hadn't had lunch yet (they had already eaten pizza for dinner.)

Our travel home yesterday was mostly uneventful. Definitely sad to go, but happy that we'll see everyone in about a month. Until next time, Wisconsin!

Mother's Day.

I joke every year, with deadly seriousness, that as far as I understand it, moms of grown children want to hang out with their children, have them come back and all snuggle up on the couch. However, as a mom of small children, I spend many many hours of the day with my kids. Adam is in school from merely 8:15 to 11:45 every day, three and a half hours. Some people spend more than than that every day commuting to work. So, I love my kids, A LOT, but a treat for me is when I don't have to parent, or really participate at all. And Tim is a good sport, and so he takes the kids to his mom's on Mother's Day so that I can go do whatever, which today included breakfast in bed, a trip to the swap meet with my mom, and then a visit to the Korean spa by myself.

But I did get these quality letters from the kids, that make me laugh. The best part about kids is watching their little brains at work, particularly when they are a sweet and funny as Ellie and Adam.

It's true! I will keep him. 

"The best mom you can." It's like the A for effort when it comes to being a subpar parent, eh? I appreciate she sees that I'm trying my damn best!

The best however, is the ceramics they painted for me the other week, and the great menu provided by my favorite, cutest waiter and bartender (who also just happens to be the father of my children!)