Tears of Joy and Tears of Sorrow

My mom, sister, and two nephews have been in town this last week (as you can see by new and updated blog... Thanks JaNece!). It was so wonderful seeing them and spending time with them (JOY!) and now they are gone (sorrow.) Last night I told Karsten to say good-bye to Nana because she would be gone in the morning when he woke up. He paused for a moment then said, "But I love her!" Not only that, but they took Sierra and Skyla with them so they could have some bonding time in Utah. Initially I was so excited for a little break from the chaos of three kids (although the child still at home is the one causing all the chaos so I'm not sure why I thought I was going to get a break from that...) however it lasted maybe two hours and now I miss them terribly.

But onto the tears of joy... I've missed my mom and sister so much! It was so much fun having them here. We went to the chilly northern California beach, hiked at Point Reyes, explored San Francisco, played at parks, went crabbing in Sausalito (this sounds fancy but actually it was a hot dog on a stick with string and a nail and these little crabs would grab onto the hot dog), watched Stardust, cooked together, laughed together, ate yummy food, and just hung out! JaNece and I went to the Twilight book group so of course we couldn't stop talking about the books the entire week. It doesn't take much to get those books back into your head! Ugh. 13 more days until the conclusion can be known.

Lukas getting a drink?!?

My little nephews are the cutest. Lukas is just three months older than Karsten. He says the funniest things. He was constantly saying, "Hey Aunt Mindy..." in his cute little voice and I loved it! Max is 20 months and he loves to make people laugh. He'll do something, look around at the reaction, and then open his mouth as wide as it can go in the biggest smile when we are indeed laughing at him. Why didn't I get a picture of that!?!

Sierra teaching JaNece to play the violin!

Thank you guys for making the LONG drive to come and visit! I'm so grateful for the memories we made this week!!!

7/11 Day

Today is one of our favorite unofficial holidays - 7/11 Day!

Free slurpees all day long.

Joy!

Sierra, Isabel, Sky, Naomi, and Karsten

What the...

Where is all my time going? Why am I no longer able to blog?? If I don't blog it, does it mean it never happened???

So as you can tell by my non-blogging, I'm adjusting to having three kids at home again. The girls are out of school and it has been non-stop! Non-stop activities, non-stop friends, non-stop noise, and non-stop action. I'm not complaining because it's a good non-stop. I love that I get to have more time with my cute girls that are getting way too old! We are enjoying summer to the fullest!

But I am having a hard time (not) blogging. I miss it!

Classic Summer

Every kid needs the experience of summer entrepreneurship, and on this hot day it's otter pops! And with 86 degree weather, they're selling like hotcakes. (My UT friends are laughing, but that's really hot for here!) They've made $6 so far!

I remember hearing once that you should never pass up buying lemonade from the kid on the corner. So true! The sweet people who have stopped have made these kids day.

No More Homework, No More Books

School's out for the summer! We met up with our Jedi friends to celebrate the first day of freedom. Ever since my kids got into Star Wars over a year ago, we've been meeting the Knowles boys to "fight" at the park. Man are they good with those light sabers! I was duking it out with Owen for a bit and I was scared!

Unfortunately for Liam, many times the game evolves into everyone chasing him.

When Daddy Comes Home

(Video of kids singing "I'm so glad when daddy gets home" coming...)

It really is a special part of these guys' day! The second they hear that front door open, all activities stop and a chorus of "Daddddddy!!!" is sung. Even though I know he has LONG days at work with stress and deadlines, he is somehow able to erase that and walk through our front door with enthusiasm and smiles. Wow.

This song is fitting even for today since David was out-of-town for the weekend and just got back tonight. We're so glad when Daddy gets home!

Happy Father's Day to one AMAZING dad.

Guilty Confession

David is out-of-town and except for the 15 mile run (Yikes!) I did this morning, I have not left the house all day...

It was marvelous.

Fast Shoes

From a very early age, my girls were very particular about their clothes. They had very strong likes and dislikes and I had to relinquish control over that in order to maintain a good mother/daughter relationship. So I was excited to have a boy who could care less about his clothes. That part is true (for now at least although there are signs of change...). However, I forgot to be complete in my wish and so instead he cares tremendously about his shoes. He will not wear any of the cute flip flops (he has 3 pair!) that I've purchased for him. He will ONLY wear his "fast shoes" which are his tennis shoes. He does not think he can run fast without them. He won't even try. On the few rare occasions where I somehow coerced him to wear those other non-fast shoes, he moves at a snails pace with slumped over shoulders as if he is the saddest boy in town. The happiest day in his life is when he found Owen's pair of Sketchers that he has outgrown (and are melted from being too close to the heater overnight and the velcro doesn't work). He thought he struck gold! Owen graciously gave them to him and Karsten came home and (literally) tried to glue the one shoe where the velcro wasn't holding. That didn't work so he came up with the perfect solution all of his own...


Lord help me...

Mommy moments

Skyla's crying because she doesn't want to take her medicine and Karsten's crying because he wants some...

20 degrees of separation

Albany has a very mild temperature. The winters aren't cold, the summers aren't hot. But what is truly amazing is if you go inland even 30 miles, you've got weather that's 20 degrees warmer! So we ditched school on Thursday and Friday and headed to Napa Valley with David who was helping convince summer associates at his firm that they should work there because they get to go to fabulous places like the Silverado Resort. And it was fabulous! And hot! It was like we died and went to summer. And not just any summer - summer where you get free smoothies and room service and the firm is picking up the tab.

May Mayhem

With Mother's Day, 7 family birthdays (we consider the Dullums family which make this number even more dramatic), an anniversary, two weekend getaways, and my race this month, MAY WAS BUSY!!! Here are some smaller yet no less important moments I want to remember...

*Aspen's invitation to a doggie birthday party complete with cake and goodie bag. (Thanks Mery!)
*Annie Leibovitz exhibit at the Palace of Fine Arts.
*Going to the fabulous Tartine bakery in the city. YUM!!!
*Girlfriend movie with great girlfriends complete with a bottle of (fake of course) wine.
*Winning $20 with $1 playing the nickel slots in Vegas. (Yes, I stopped while I was ahead...)
*The girls' school openhouse.
*Running Inspiration Point with Marianna (with joggers!) and our "magic juice" - twice! *Catching and nearly missing our flight to AND from Vegas... Thanks honey! (Grrrrr)
*Reading "The K Brothers " by David Duncan for book group. Such a great book!
*Surviving the heat wave! We reached tempertures in the 90 which for here is RARE.

Soccer Mom

I have been a soccer mom literally for the last couple of months. That means three practises a week and two games on the weekend. It has been fun, but I'm tired! Saturday was the last game for both of my girls. Yahoo! They've both done great and I have loved watching them run after the ball and be aggressive in a completely acceptable manner. Sierra started the season NOT wanting to play soccer and instead loved every minute. It turns out she's really good at soccer! Her coach gave her the award "Girl who most got out of her comfort zone and kicked heiny while she was there." Adri was on her team which made it really fun for her AND me because then we got to see the Dullum's at the games and Marianna and I could carpool.

Sierra's got the ball!
This was Skyla's second season and so she already knew the ropes. Her coach was amazed at her progress and she got better with every game! There is nothing cuter than 6 little girls out there chasing the ball and then skipping off the field when there's a sub. They are just so happy-go-lucky at that age and it's such a joy to watch them. Kudos to their coaches who worked with their silliness instead of getting discouraged. David, Karsten and I loved our Saturdays together watching our little soccer girls!

Skyla heading towards the goal!