The Prince & The Pauper

You know how in books and cheesy TV shows, characters meet people that look just like them? Well, I used to be skeptical of that concept, that is until I saw the pictures above. The top photo is one I took of Morgan a few months ago. The bottom photo is taken of Tatum Maciel in when she was 22mos. old in 1995. No wonder Darla thinks my kids are cute, they look just like hers did!

Family Vacation: Test Run

This past weekend, we took a 3 day trip to San Diego, and did the whole family vacation thing; Sea World, hotel swimming pools, the beach, and we inhaled absurd amounts of "vacation treats" such as cream cheese filled pretzels, strawberry covered funnel cakes, and of course a few frappacinos. We realized this was sort of our first official family vaca. with all 4 kids. Usually our trips revolve around family visits, but this was like an actual spring break expedition. So I'm considering it my test run. Here's what I learned.

1. Our hotel room was awesome because it had our bedroom closed off to the kids. This is a must unless you and your hubby want to go to sleep when they go to sleep at 8:30.

2. Next time, I'm bringing all the contents of my medicine cabinet in my purse. We were in the sun a lot, and at one point, I got a headache. At one point, Lorelei's eyes hurt from the chlorine, at one point Maylin threw up in the van from heatstroke..... etc. Next time, I'll be more prepared.

3. We're still two years away from actually being able to relax by the the pool or the ocean. Morgan will be 2 in June, and she's just not water safe yet. I'm getting closer, but I definitely gained a few gray hairs by the pool this weekend, trying to supervise 4 overly-excited children who thought they were Olympic swimmers already, despite being unable to coordinate kicking and paddling at the same time.

4. Truthfully, theme parks are for grown ups and pre-teens. We're sitting at the dolphin show pointing out the magnificent and amazing animals that can jump in the air and wave with their fins, and all my girls cared about was the lemonade slushy they were fighting over.

5. Lastly, I learned that vacations are just like life. The kids still get cranky, they still wet their pants, and they still fight in the backseat. The only difference is there's more sugar involved, and I've got back up because Dan's with us and not at work (which makes a world of difference for all of us psychologically). But, it's what you make of it, and because I pretty much knew all that beforehand, I actually had fun (which is quite a feat for me these days). The weather was beautiful, God's creatures are truly amazing (manatees are awesome), and I really felt blessed to be able to even go on a family vacation with my girls and buy them Sea World trinkets that they will either break or lose before the week has ended.

Seriously, life is good.

*Footnote: I'd be a total jerk if I didn't mention, Jen got us the tickets (thank you Jen for the "discount")and we got to meet up with her, Neil, and Liam for the Shamu show, etc. Jen, we were so happy to see you, and Liam was a doll. Thanks for everything!

The Hills Are Alive

I grew up watching all the old Rogers and Hammerstein musicals with my mom. She loves them. As a kid, I would wonder why people in real life didn't break out into song and choreographed dances. Well, on April Fool's Day at the Grand Central Station in Belgium, they did just that. Check this out. It's classic, and will make you wish could audition for the local high school version of The Sound of Music. Trust me. (Thanks mom for sending it to me).

http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/04.09/antwerp.html

TTTMK #2

I'm the type of girl that sort of uses the whole, "I'm a girl" thing to get away with not knowing how to do certain things. For example: check my oil, put air in the tires, bring the trash cans in.... But here's the thing, sometimes Dan goes to work, and things fall on me. So this morning as I stood with a toilet plunger in one hand, the lid of the toilet thing on the floor, and I found myself screaming "Lorelei, get me my cell phone," and she was screaming back, "I can't find it," and my eyes were wide with horror as the water and some other things were threatening to overflow, I thought to myself, I know there's a switch somewhere, I know there's a way to make it stop......"

In the midst of all that, I thought, hmm, maybe I should add this to my Things To Teach My Kids list; How to stop the water when it begins to overflow because you have 4 children who like to fill the toilet with toilet paper that they haven't actually bothered to use. Ahhh, there it is again, irony. And here all this time, I thought it was just a literary device.

Easter Hoopla

Great Grandpa Felix with his youngest great grandaughter
Egg Hunt at the Pattees
Family fun in the van
The Martin del Campos & I
My parents, still lookin' good
Easter Dresses
Us all looking at the camera

In a very condensed nutshell: Road tripped it to Visalia. Girls got goodies from Mimi, from the Pattees (friends of the fam), and from my Aunt. Saw everyone. Went to Easter service at church. Girls got lots of candy that I will consume most of, and my dad made us take a bunch of family pix at his office since we were all dressed up. Family fun.

Easter Cookies

What? You think my newly frequent posting on this blog is somehow reflective of too much time on my hands? Actually, it's due to the fact that I'm on spring break for 2 weeks!! I'm lovin' catchin up at home, so much that I got in touch with my domestic side yesterday and baked some Easter cookies. Here's the recipe, they're to die for:

Old Fashioned Sour Cream Drops

1/2 cup shortening
1 & 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs

Blend above together, then add

1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla

stir those 2 things in, then add:

2 & 3/4 cp flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking pwdr
1/2 tsp. salt.

Stir, then chill at least 1 hour. Drop rounded teaspoons of batter onto your cookie sheet, bake at 400 for 10 minutes.

When cooled, drizzle with pwdr. sugar/water glaze (add food coloring & sprinkles if you feel like impressing others)

Also, here's a pic of my cousin's girls: Ellie & Janie, who came over to dye Easter eggs with us yesterday. We always have so much fun when they're around! Girl Power! (So far on my mom's side,there are 12 great grandaughters, notaone boy)!

Picture Day

Yesterday was picture day at the twins' preschool. I thought they looked pretty darned cute, so I took some pix myself afterward in our yard.

T.T.T.M.K

The above initials stands for Things to Teach my Kids.  Sometimes, I find myself going through my routine:  okay, made 3 half peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and one ham & cheese - check, cleaned crayon off the table - check,  yelled at kids to share their polly pockets - check.  Then suddenly the day is over, and I'm like did I teach them anything today?    I know some moms are really good at that, teaching their kids things, ironically, I am not.  Yep, I know I'm a teacher, but there's a paycheck involved in that portion of my life, so that's entirely different.

Anyway, sometimes things come up and I'm like, oh I so want to teach my kids that, these are things beyond the basics of education and the central points of the gospel and the bible.  These are the extras, you know like how to properly apply blush without looking like a clown.   I figured as these things come to me, I'd add them to my blog list.  Here's my first TTTMK, that came to me whilst watching everyone's favorite reality show. (You should all start your own lists by the way).

1. If you're ever on American Idol, Be a Gracious Loser.  (Hopefully, this will apply to other areas of their life, as well).  Last week, super pretty chick Megan Joy (not my favorite because she's recently divorced with a kid, and said, "marriage just wasn't what I thought it would be." Oh don't make me write an entire blog on that sister, because you won't like what I have to say).  Anyway, she got the boot on Wednesday, and when she received the news, she was like, "I don't care," and gave off this very foolish and flippant vibe that made me want to send her to her room.  That night I thought, man, I hope my girls grow up to be the type of girls that would simply say, "Thank you Simon for this opportunity, thank you America for allowing me to even get this far, and Paula, if you ever want to come to church with me, I'll happily give you a ride there...."  I mean is that too much to ask?  

So yeah, TTTMK, be a gracious loser, if not on American Idol, at least in the 4th grade spelling bee.  Nobody likes a poor sport. 

Sam Tyler's my Boyfriend

Okay, so for those of you who know me, I do this annoying thing when I become obsessed with a TV show personality where I refer to certain characters as my boyfriend for a season.  Don't worry, Dan recognizes that these tend to be fairly quick phases that pass in and out of my life; he's very secure. 

Anyway, this year I watched the entire 17 episodes of Life on Mars with Dan, and the two of us absolutely loved the show.  Apparently, we were the only ones, because it ended up being cancelled after only one season, so they had to wrap up the entire mystery of it all in one vaguely disappointing finale.  Finale aside, the other 16 shows were great, GREAT I tell you.  There were constant ironic references to The Wizard of Oz, complex and engaging characters, super funny moments, ridiculous fight scenes, awesome - makes you wish there was a soundtrack music, and a love story that just gradually grew on you like a really good pair of sweats, you know the kind you don't ever wanna give away even though you've had them since your freshman year in college?  And the main character, Sam Tyler, had these pained expressions at times on his face that just absolutely broke my heart, and well, made me want to be his girlfriend.

So despite the fact that I'm pretty sure that absolutely none of you watched it, or even really care about my Ebert inspired rant, I just had to pay tribute.   

The Best of Times

My students just turned in their Tale of Two Cities projects, and I must say, I was impressed.  Over the years, I've received many model versions of the infamous, "la guillotione" but the one above takes the cake!  It's blade really could release and chop carrots, and then the ramp lifted so that the severed "heads" could roll off into the crowd.  And I even had someone turn in a model of Madame Defarge's wine shop, the secret meeting place for the revolutionaries, and now an awesome hangout for Lorelei's polly pockets.