Me Too You

A Wedding

Big news! Ben and Lily got married today. The photo is a little blurry, because it was tough for Ben to contain his excitement. He really wanted to dance. Marriage to them is: she wears a dress, he gives her flowers, there is dancing, they kiss.


An aside: I'm pretty sure neither of them is gay, but you never know and I hope they can marry whoever they want to when it is really time. I'll be voting No on Prop 8 next Tuesday.

Beautiful Photos from Lemos Farm: From Solheim Photography

Here are the photos that my friend Linda, prinicpal photographer and founder of Solheim Photography, took of our day at Lemos Farm. Much better than the ones I took! Gotta love having a professional for a good buddy. Thanks Linda!

Girls Night Out with HP

Ahhh....after a long day with all this...stuff - work, kids, school, laundry, dishes, email - I LOVE being able to leave at 6pm (the hour is key, because I get out of making dinner, my most hated mom-chore, mostly because I suck as a cook) to go out with the girls. I actually, luckily, get to do this a lot. First, there are my long time BK (before kids) friends - friends from college and law school and work. We try to get together when we can without the kids so that we can...you know, finish a conversation. And being on the board of Gemini Crickets (my twins club) and on the board of the kids' preschool means there are many "meetings." Yes, there are agendas and we actually do real work, but we do it, well, how to say this...with...wine. Sometimes quite a lot of it. I have made some of my best friends through these moms groups. Then there is Silicon Valey Moms Blog and the various events that go along with that. More photos being taken and products being examined (as in "I'm totally blogging this"), but, really, these ladies are a hoot. 

Yes, my kids know my "meeting shoes" very well. If the "meeting earrings" go on in addition, they know they'd better not stay up late! So a week or so ago, when HP threw a "Girls Night Out" party for Silicon Valley Moms Blog and other local bloggers, my friend Linda and I said "yes, please." We were also able to invite some other friends, Carla (by the way, that's my Lily on Carla's BabyJIDesign website's front page! Isn't she cute?!) and Melisa.

Checking in at the University Club in Palo Alto at 6:30pm, we were handed a glass of wine from Parducci Wine Cellars, (Hold on...I'm getting inspired. Let me grab a glass. Ok, I'm back.) grabbed a chicken skewer from a passed plate and were off! The theme of the night was Gift Giving. With the state of the economy, I know I am looking at all the ways I can save money and making my own gifts for friends is a great idea. The girls and I sipped wine and ate finger foods all evening, while decorating Cookie in a Jars (here are some sample recipe cards - you can do Hot Cocoa or Bath Salts in a Jars too) and cute photo paperweights. I was able to take some supplies home, because I am one of those people who like to have everything in front of me before I start creating...no really, I was just drinking too much wine and couldn't think anymore. Good thing there are lots of links to the stuff we did: here and here and here. We were able to take home some HP brochure and flyer paper too, so I can print out some more supplies. Linda was really in her element. She worked those tables like her best marathon scrappin' parties she used to hold...before we all went digital.

One of the best parts of the evening was the intimate performance for us girls by singer/songwriter Dana Parish. She is an up and coming star and it was a real treat to listen to her and to meet her. She really reminds me of Sarah McLachlan, who I have been a fan of forever. Dana Parish's album "Uncrushed" is on iTunes and is coming out this Tuesday, October 28. I love her song "Hung Up" and the one about fathers and daughters "She Laughed" made all us mommies well up and, actually, miss our littles ones for a brief moments during our night out. So sweet. She was just on Good Morning America too! Dana is now my friend on Facebook and I'm hoping to convince her to join Twitter too. Feel free to bug her about that...

Until the next Girls Night Out...it was a nice break. Thanks HP!

Cool art by Ava

Ava and I are loving Teacher Annie's Friday 2s class at Explorer Preschool. My mom was asking me what kinds of things they were doing. Last Friday there was a birdseed table (like, instead of sifting and pouring sand, they do birdseed) - so cool and different! And something I would never have in my house... The art project was simple, but I never would have thought of it myself. Sheets of white paper, bottles of paint colors that the kids can choose from, plastic cars to drive through the paint. Vrooooommm!
Another big component to the Explorer experience is the Parent Education Classes (PECs). Today we had our first daytime PEC and we talked all about concrete learning (for example, a toddler examining a real rose for the first time) vs. abstract learning (for example, a toddler seeing the word "rose"). And then we talked about how this related to positive discipline and why time outs don't work (because time outs are abstract). It was an interesting exercise - every day that we are a part of this school, I am happier and happier to have found it. I hate the pressure on our preschool kids to be academically-focused so that they can be "ready" for kindergarten. I love the emphasis at Explorer on self-esteem, self-care, self-regulation and problem solving. I am no expert, but these things ring true to me as the things that they will need to be ready for kindergarten and beyond. And, while it is hard for me to imagine not using time outs at all...I am going to do some thinking about this and get some of the books that Annie recommends on positive discipline. I feel like I am constantly trying to figure out the best way to discipline/encourage/guide (whatever you want to call it) my kids - and these things help. A lot. I am a much better parent for my kids going to this school. Not perfect, by any means. But much better.

Let's all go down to the pumpkin patch

Friday afternoons are the only weekdays when all the kids are home in the afternoon now that Ben and Lily are in the 4day class at Explorer which meets in the afternoons Monday - Thursday. It has been tough...Ava fights her nap every day these days. She seems to be on the verge of dropping the nap altogether, which would be nice in some ways, but she does still need the rest a few days a week at least. Oh, and let's be honest, the rest of need us a break every now and then from the constantly-in-motion, often-destructive-to-elaborately-built-train-tracks/stations, getting-into-her-sister's-stuff, me-too!-ness that is Ava at 2 years and 4 months old. (By the way, Ava is now the exact age Ben and Lily were when Ava was born - I often wonder "how in the world did I not go insane with two of these little ones?! Plus a newborn that was ill?" But I guess I just did it.)

Anyway, so on Fridays, we have decided to just go with the No Nap! thing for Ava and just go out and do something fun that we don't get the opportunity to do during the week when Ben and Lily are in school, I am working, etc. 

Today we went with Nana Karin and Papa Silly (Ben and Lily's new nickname for Grandpa Steve) to Lemos Farm in Half Moon Bay with my BFF (and former Co-President) Linda from Gemini Crickets, whose twin girls were born on Ben and Lily's due date. The kids are very close in age and we were in the same playgroup, where Linda would constantly be snapping photos of all the kids. Linda used to have a scrapbook paper design business and she would get us together for marathon scrapbooking days/nights. Then she taught me to digitally scrapbook - that's how Robin and I did the 70 Stories scrapbook for my Dad last year. Then Akemi and I got Linda in blogging. So many amazing photos have been taken by Linda that us Mommys started to tell Linda that, really, she should just do this for a living. And now she has - Solheim Photography has officially launched and Linda is booking for the holidays. If you're looking for a children's and family photographer, check her out. She has a great eye and is so much fun to work with.

These photos are the ones I took at Lemos Farm last Friday - Linda took a bunch more and I will share those when she puts them up on her blog or however she shares them with me. Her photos are, no doubt, a lot better than mine. But for now, you will have to put up with enjoying the sights taken from my iPhone...