Glasses McGee

Todays Craft: Secret Agent Man

We fight the forces of Evil with pure Awesomeness n' stuff.

Frumpy Jane

This is the face of a little girl who was forced to try on her brother's half done sweater. I was working on it late a few nights ago and Jane woke up to use the bathroom and get some hugs. She got more than she bargained for. I think this might make me a bad mom twice over, firstly that I made her try it on when she didn't want to and to add insult to injury I took her picture. I can live with that, I love this picture.

Discovery Park take two, the Josh and Jane experience

The twins LOVE Discovery Park, and to be going with cousins was a major bonus. Cousins or no, where ever the twins go they are always on the look out for new friends and oh did they make some on Friday. After Jane and Josh spent a ten full minutes chasing* Hannah around they found these two little boys to play with. They had a ball running around the park making up all kinds of little kid games.

I can't believe how fun it is for me to watch them be children, to try to look at things the way only children can and to be so hopeful. I think it must be this time of year when it starts to get a little cooler and we can venture outside a bit more often. It also might have something to do with reading Something Wicked This Way Comes around this time of year about 13 years ago. I don't think I have ever looked at childhood the same way again after reading that book. It makes me feel very wistful about my childhood and hopeful for my children.


*Jane was sobbing as she ran after Hannah crying that she wanted to play. It was so sad, I tired to explain to Hannah that the twins really wanted to play with her but, being ten I am sure she was not super interested in playing with five year olds. To her credit she did end up playing with the kids. Poor Jane, I hope the first few days of Kindergarten go well for her in the friends department.

Discovery Park in PG

We went to Discovery Park on Friday with Michele, Andrew and Hannah and had a great time. This park has everything, swings, slides, towering staircases of doom and all kinds of things for the kids to learn and... wait for it, discover. I love this park for so many reasons, mostly because it reminds me of the old Howarth Park back in Santa Rosa before they torn down all the old wood structures, but as parks go, it rocks.

As much as I love this park it really is a special occation park and not to be visited more than a few times a year. It is just too hard to keep track of all of the kids at the same time. All of the wooden structures make for a lot of hiddy holes which are fun for kids but not so much for the paranoid parent. I lost the kids a few times and quickly found them again.

Elliott was in Heaven, he found so much to do, it was so sweet to watch him wander around experiencing all sorts of new adventurers. He particularly liked the slide and all of opportunities to climb.

Elliott and the tap

This is Elliott's favorite game, he loves to play with the water as it comes out of the faucet. He love the water now and he gets so sad when bath time is over. Unlike Josh who hates baths and will complain nonstop until he is actually in the water and then he likes it just fine. Little stinker.

Frozen go-gurt? Yes please!

Mommy's Little Monster

Another fun idea from Threadbanger. Josh is running around the house after Jane yelling, "Stop it's just me Josh!".

Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie, I must have one before I die!

I kind of can't help myself when it comes to Halloween and Halloween decorations. For the last few years the kids and I have cut out pumpkins and bats from construction paper to decorate the house with. I love making things with the kids and I think we will still be cutting up a significant amount of paper this year but I thought it might be time to start a little Halloween crafting of my own. I know that I have more than two months to go but this is my favorite time of the year and if I start now, maybe it will last longer. Or maybe I will get burned out, ......... moving right along.

Last year I went to a friend’s house and she had a schload of Halloween decorations up and they looked so great. At the time we were right in the middle of moving, selling, building and a whole lot of crazy so I knew that making anything was out of the question. I really wanted to buy some Halloweenie things but buying more stuff before the move would have been super lame. I guess that didn't stop me from buying a number of Halloween wigs at 75% off last year after Halloween, but that is neither here nor there. Anyway, I have been dying to decorate and now I am so glad I didn't buy any decorations last year because it is so much more fun to make it myself.

The point for me is not to have it look amazing, it's the crafting, (the blood, sweat and tears) the experience of making whatever it is that counts. It's not that I don't have high hopes every time I start a project, it’s just that I know it will never be as perfect as it is in my head and I have decided that perfection isn't the goal. Mostly I just love that I made it even if it is really homely.

So for this project I really wanted to make some pumpkins, so I used a Martha Stewart "pattern" for tomato pincushions and just made them much bigger. I love these little pincushions, they are adorable. I made a couple of them a few years ago and I still love using them.

I didn't have any fiber fill so we just used A LOT of grocery bags and a little batting. The really hard part turned out to be getting the needle with the crochet thread through the center of the pumpkin for the veins. After we finished the pumpkins I found these Massive needles that would have saved my fingers a lot of trouble. Anyway, I LOVE them! I think they might be cooler if I made them with an off-white linen or solid Autumn colors but I'm not that cool. Maybe another year.

Josh requested a pumpkin with a blue stem for his room. Jane wanted a stuffed princess, we comprimised with stuffed Christmas trees.

Arrr, I'll be wantin' me milk

Elliott and Andrew take two

We watched Andrew and Hannah while Dixon and Michelle were in SLC today. Kgördee took Hannah and the twins to see Toy Story 3 and I watch the two little ones. The boys had a great time playing in the office while I worked on Halloween decorations.

Here they are on the deck playing in the "fort" I made them. They are so cute together.

Andrew and Elliott

Goat Rock

On our last day in California we went to Goat Rock on the way home from Armstrong Grove. There were warning signs on the dunes letting visitors know that this is one of the most dangerous beaches on the Sonoma Coast. Awesome, but we still had a great time, a great careful time. Mostly we just didn't let the kids go anywhere near the water. They found plenty of things to do anyway. The twins and I made sure the seagulls knew who was boss, and chased the flock around the beach. The kids also got some good diggin' time in and the ever popular "can we keep this" game.

The Real Deal

I've always been a fan of the Sandwich, no, not on facebook, but like in reality. I'm not sure I would be as interested in Nor Cal if there was not a sandwich at the end of that ridiculously long drive through waste lands of blah.

Isabel and I used to skip school and take Safeway sandwiches to the beach and just sit and watch the waves. I once carted a Safeway sandwich to a Weird Al show at Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa. After the show I happily ate my sandwich while my friends grilled up their steaks.

It's always been about the Safeway sandwich when we are California, always. About eight years ago Kgördee and I stumbled upon a Deli in Petaluma that has changed our lives. Two years later we went back to Lombardi's and the experience was equally amazing, Amazing!

This sandwich shop doesn't fool around, it is a New York style deli that also does a substantial amount of BBQ that I will probably never taste because that would mean not ordering a turkey bacon avocado. Until next time Lombardi's, I will miss you.

2818 Audubon Court

Driving by the old house is a hard way to end a trip to Santa Rosa, I should have made it our first stop. It's hard to see it and think of the nearly twenty years I spent there and not be able to go inside or walk into the back yard. I miss it, and the time with my family I spent there. I was the first baby brought home from the hospital there, my family moved in the summer before I was born.

Our trip has been a lot of fun and except for the side of crazy every family road trip invites, I am sad it has to end. We will be home tomorrow, and dare I say it, I've missed Utah.

Little Surprises