Quotes from this evening...

Will and the kids are having a "Basketball Party". With the Celtics seconds away from their first National Championship in 22 years we are all pretty stoked. Like our Football Parties, the kids got treats for various achievements by the Celtics. A Good & Plenty or mini peanut butter cup for every steal, slam dunk or three pointer and a frosted mini donut (donettes) or Tootsie Roll if the Celtics were leading at the end of each quarter. Of course we set these rules not knowing that this would be the game where Ray Allen would tie the Championship three point record and the Celtics would break the Championship steal record. Thankfully, the Celtics made up for our sugar overload by simple lay-ups instead of the more entertaining slam dunk. Here are a few of the more memorable quotes from the evenings festivities:

All: "Slam dunk--uh, nope." "Three points!" "Steal!"

All singing with the crowd on TV: "Nah-na-na-na, Nah-na-na-na, Hey, Hey, Hey--Good Bye!!!"

Lorien after Daddy asks: "What's in your mouth?": "One of Momma's pills." (A Good & Plenty)

Wyatt with Daddy's arm draped over Wyatt's shoulder and waist: "This is my hairy seat belt."

I should mention here that I stepped out for a little R&R at the start of the game. The kids had been fighting for the last several hours and I was toast. When I left I mentioned to my hubby that the kids all needed baths and Wyatt could use a hair cut. When I came home I found all three of my darlings: cozyed up to Daddy on the couch, clean, pjammaed and styled. Wyatt sporting a sharp hair cut and Clare all done up in pig-tails. What a guy I've got!

School's out for summer...

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After 10 months of Kindergarten, topped off by a week of one activity after another, Lorien "graduated" from Kindergarten. Before I had a child "graduate" from Kindergarten, I thought the whole idea of Kindergarten "graduation" was pretty silly. It's Kindergarten for Peet's sake! But once I got to school on her "Kinder-Celebration" day I was so thankful for the "ceremony". In the days leading up to the celebration I was constantly on the verge of tears every time I saw the quickly emptying classroom walls. I couldn't believe how emotional I was about the end of Kindergarten! When Lorien headed out the door for her first day of school, I was more nervous than emotional. Would she make friends? Would she love school and learning? Would she like her teachers? Question after question filled my Momma brain causing worry and fret, leaving little room for sadness. I can tearfully report that I made up for that lack of emotion last week. I clapped with all the enthusiasm of a circus seal when she walked into the cafeteria and melted with pride when her class sang "Zip-idy-Do-Dah". The Kinder-Celebration was short and sweet topped off with an ice cream party at the play ground. Congratulations Lorien! I love you.

My Daddy is my favorite pal...

My Dad is a fun and very funny guy. He is chalk full of crazy stories from our childhood--think refrigerator box in the back of a pick-up truck and the fun a bunch of kids can have there. I got my Oreo and milk habit directly from him. He is generous and helpful. I love you, Dad. Happy Father's Day!

Day Two...

Hey Babe,

I really hate sleeping alone. Some nights I go to bed before you do and fall asleep easily because I know you are in the house and will be snuggling up to me soon. Right now the house feels empty (even with three sleeping children in the rooms next to me) and it doesn't help that I have an over-active-imagination. The neighbors cats are running around our yard again and once I've convinced myself that the noise I hear is the cats--not some crazed lunatic out to slaughter me and my children--I wonder if the cats are crazed and are going to break into the house to scratch us to pieces! So, instead of falling soundly asleep at 10:00 I am up, playing solitaire and blogging...I miss you. Good thing you come home tomorrow night.

Our day went pretty darn well. I didn't get a shower but got Lorien to school on time (without leaving Wyatt and Clare home alone) and the house is VERY clean (a luxury I paid for). The kids got a real treat for dinner: Kid Cuisine. This is quite possibly the most disgusting food ever pre-processed and frozen into blue plastic trays. Who puts chocolate pudding in a container covered with plastic you're supposed to microwave for 90 seconds?!? The kids don't like this food, I have to force them to finish their meal just like it was homemade casserole. However, they've been 100% brainwashed by the commercials on TV. Even though they take one bite and pull a face like they've just licked the bottom of my oldest pair of flip-flops they still beg and plead to buy them when we go grocery shopping (I almost never give in).

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In addition to microwaveable dinners and school we finished our shopping for Father's Day and the birthday of our resident trampoline bouncing, wrestling, rat exterminating, hard working, super hunk (that's all you Babe). Good luck tomorrow!

Lone woman in the wilderness...

This one's for my husband, who is in Texas for a few days for work. I know how much you've missed the kids and wish you could be here for every fight, whine and argument going on. So I thought I'd use the blog to get you all caught up.

You left us around noon on Monday, the day after that went like any other. We got Lorien from school, Clare refused to take a nap--choosing to mess her pants instead. The big kids fought over who would be able to jump higher once they were as big as Daddy and I fought with the kids over how much dinner they had to eat before we could have FHE. We did manage to have an easy FHE. We sang our usual songs, read a few stories from the friend and roasted marshmallows over the BBQ. Through one miracle or another we managed to roast about 15 marshmallows (and by roast I mean hold in propane fueled flames until they caught fire and turned black) without burning the deck down or setting any one's hair a-blaze.

After getting covered in melted-mellow-matter the kids hit the tub. You know our tub: the gigantic Rubbermaid container with a crack in the bottom that I plug every seven days with hot glue and plastic bags, set in our oddly tub less shower stall--yhea, that tub. Well I got all three kidd-o's piled in there and just started the water running when Dave and Angela stopped by. Their pity-senses must have been tingling because they offered to take the kids out on a walk. Too bad they had to hang out in the dirty living room while I finished up the kids bath. Good thing our air conditioner was on or they might have taken one look at the mess and bolted. We all walked to the near by elementary school where the kids rode their bikes and played on the playground. (Thanks for the fun activity Dave and Angela!)

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It was straight to bed once we were home. I promised myself, as soon as the kids were in bed I would be Super-Homemaker and get the house clean in one hour before heading to bed at a very early hour...instead I sat on the couch and watched "Step it up and Dance" before taking the trash out and going to bed. --One Day Down, Two To Go!--

Sunday Picnic...

The weather has really warmed up again and the kids have been asking to take a picnic on some huge swath of grass somewhere under the shining sun. Today, after church, we packed a lunch and headed over to Stanford. When Will was doing his MBA we spent many a Sunday afternoon walking around Stanford. The campus is so beautiful! I absolutely love walking there, seeing the buildings, the church, the oval and the arches. The kids like to pretend they are going on different adventures in the trees and arches and playing different "don't step on the crack" games on the giant sidewalk stones.

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We took pictures by the big bronze numbers in the sidewalks around Memorial Church. I think the numbers are for the year of each graduating class but I am not sure. We just stood by the tiles that marked our ages.

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Do today's pictures seem a little unearthly to you? We all look like we are glowing. I thought the sun was just too bright...turns out, there was a finger print over our lens...makes for interesting pictures.

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Hummmmmm...

No Comments on my boobie post, huh? Well, I thought it was hilarious.

How'd-ya like my melons?

I'm just asking?

Some friends went out Wednesday night for a birthday celebration (Happy Birthday Heather!). First we met at Buca di Beppo for dinner. The food was super yummy and served "family style". We tried our best to disappoint the waitress every chance we got:

"No we do not want any wine."

"Yes, we will ALL be drinking tap water."

"No, we do not want to upgrade to mineral water."

"Yes, we are going to split one small salad and one entree between the five of us."

The sweet gal (no doubt trying to keep her student loan bills down by waiting tables) tried to talk us into more food but we wouldn't be persuaded. "We are saving room for dessert." --true, too bad we were having dessert at another restaurant...

The food was fantastic, the decor was--interesting. Family style food is a great idea...I cannot say the decor was all that "family style". Lets just say, I probably wont be taking my kids there any time soon. Dining out with my three darlings is trial enough with out having to explain why (in a huge picture near the bar) that guy is dangling a spaghetti noodle between that lady's boobies. (You get the idea.)

After dinner we went to a frozen yogurt place across the street where more friends met to celebrate. Thanks, Heather, for getting one year older so we'd have a reason to talk and laugh together!

Yes Day...

We went down to the Children's Museum in San Jose on Thursday. In my opinion, this is one of the best children's activities around. If anyone from my family ever decided to come for a visit, this is where I would take them. Usually I try to get to the museum as soon as it opens and spend the morning at the various exhibits. Ending with lunch at the cafe and heading home. I think this is what everyone tries to do. The museum is pretty crowded in the morning and it can be hard to getting a turn at all the exhibits. Since Lorien has school every day we had to go in the afternoon today. We got to the museum at about 2:30 and the museum was practically empty! The kids had so much fun ruling the roost. They got to spend as much time as they wanted testing out each exhibit and I didn't have to worry about them disappearing in the crowd. It was a perfect afternoon at the museum. There are a lot of pictures in the slide show (in the post below)...check them out if you have the time.

Lorien's favorite activity is the face painting room. She paints and repaints her face trying out the clown look, the cat look and the doll look. Wyatt just likes to get as many different globs of color on his face as possible.

Wyatt has the most fun at the water works site. He splashes, experiments and gets soaking wet.

Clare loved everything. She was very proud of the giant bubbles she was able to create after watching Lorien's success.

Children's Museum...