T-Mac and the Boogers

Actually, as always, this post is more about my kids, but the teenagers were there and so the title is not entirely untrue.  Sophie was much more adventurous with feeding the animals this time, which was good, otherwise there is very little to do at the Little Farm section of the park.  It was a little busy when we were there, but the animals were still eating… good thing they have no problem eating celery and lettuce all the live long day!

From L-R: Sophie and Kristy feeding animals.  Sophie jumping for joy… or excitement and trying to get me to hurry up.  Violet looking at the cow warily, it already had tried to lick her once!

L-R: Violet trying to see the GIANT piggie.  Kylie giving you a small example of her smirk… we have learned these last few weeks that she gives a MEAN dirty look!  Sophie, who won’t pose any other time, decided posing against the open door of a moving train would be fun… she is just so cute though!

Violet tried to learn some new skills from the cows this trip.  She is a master of her tongue, but this cow is able to clean out his nose with his tongue, compare the skill!  (By the way, this kid ALWAYS stick out her tongue… it is hilarious!)

Filed under: Odds N' Ends, Sophie, Violet on August 10th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

This summer we have done a couple new things, the joy of not working full time… though it does strain my creative mommy side a bit more than just planning afternoon naps and lunch!  During a hot spell this summer (I know we had one, I just can’t remember it… oh California summer, why are you letting me down?) Sophie asked to go play at a park with water.  Grammy tried her darnedest, but the places she went had turned off their summer water (we got rain and seem to STILL be in a drought).  So, the next day, Liz and I met up at a park in Clayton that has a water feature.  The kids had a good time, but the water only stays on about 30 seconds, and the button to turn it on is too hard for the kids… almost too hard for me.  I had bruises on my thumbs to prove it.  Either way the kids had a good time.  Sophie ran around entertaining the babies, and Violet and her buddy Holly sat in the spray of water being entertained.  JD toddled around being all grown-up.  It was a lot of fun, afterwards we decided to get frozen yogurt, it was way too hot for the playground.  Perfect way to end a summer play date!

The playgroup that I attend regularly did summer Friday field trips.  I was bad about attending, but this was an activity I had been wanting to do for a while.  We went to Contra Loma Regional Park.  There they have a pool with a sand walk-in (basically a swimming pool/beach hybrid).  I had heard how disgusting Contra Loma had been from those who grew up in the area, but I couldn’t imagine why all my friends kept going if it was so nasty, so I thought I would give it a go.  It was so much fun, and really clean.  There was grass to sit on and leave your stuff (and a friend borrowed a giant tent from her swim team and we used that for break time), then, when you first step into the pool there is just shallow water with tons of sand.  It was perfect, all us moms and babies sat in the shallow water and we could keep an eye on the older kids playing around.  The sand went out about 10 feet, and then it faded into the pool bottom.  Kids weren’t allowed in the deep end, past the rope, unless they had passed  a swim test, so Sophie had a visual reminder when to stop.  It was great (and she isn’t too adventurous without a buddy to push her).  Mainly Sophie sat with her buddy Kate and they scooped sand into buckets and then dumped it out.  Occasionally they would venture out to the deeper water, and then come back to shovel a little more.  Best day ever.  I had to force Soph to leave, she loved it so much (but the tears had come on and things were definitely bugging her… if she napped it would have been nap time).  Besides my burnt back (forgot to sunscreen me, though I was smart enough to get the girls 2 times at least) it was a lot of fun, and we will definitely be going back again, sooner than later, if the warm weather would ever come back.

I was unprepared and forgot my camera to both occasions.  So thanks to Liz for the pictures of the Grove and thanks to Melita for the cute pics from Contra Loma, she is always there with her camera, and is so good about capturing the kids there.  Thanks ladies!

Filed under: My crazy life, Sophie, Violet on August 6th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

I realized that I update you all on Violet frequently, or at least every month, but I rarely say much on Sophie, as she is always prevalent in our field trip activities.  So I thought I would say a little about my trying little girl.  (Funny story, today at work I said that my 3 year old was trying, a friend asked, “Trying to do what?”  I said, “Trying my patience, my temper, a lot of other things….”)  Sophie has such an attitude.  She is so determined to do things her way, which is great, I have worked to get my girl to be independent… but this is a whole different thing.  She gets so excited about doing things, and will try new things, eventually.  She takes a while to warm up (sometimes too long, the activity is almost over when she has warmed to it).  She always wants to do what Jeff and I are doing, but doesn’t always realize that it might be harder for her.  Her excuse to get out of it is that she is “dizzy.”  I think it disturbs people who see us walking someplace and our daughter says “Mommy, I am dizzy.”  To which we respond, “Ok, keep walking…”  We just know that it isn’t real, in fact, I doubt she knows what dizzy feels like.

Sophie is getting to be a talker.  It is a lot of fun, and then, sometimes not.  She doesn’t know how to end a story, because when she is done, she just loops back to the beginning.  She also picks up on some hilarious sayings.  At Tilden Park this last week we were going to the bathroom to wash our hands after feeding the goats.  Sophie didn’t want to go potty, but she had to go to wash her hands, “They are filthy” she says.  Don’t know where she got that, but it cracked me up.  She also likes knowing the order of things.  What we are doing next, who is going to be there and what is happening after that.  It makes it hard to make activities up on the fly, because she remembers it all. 

I am loving a lot about her age, she never used to say “I love you” but I get hugs and kisses and “I love YOU Mommy” a lot now.  She is also really becoming familiar with some scripture stories, and I love that she gets excited about reading them every night.  She has her own scriptures (picture and story books about the scriptures) and we take them on vacation and she makes us read them regardless of what else is going on.  I love her enthusiasm for the scriptures and church.  She is so fun when she is sweet and inquisitive.  It is the temper tantrums and fights of will that are making me question needing more kids!  I really love that girl!

Filed under: Sophie on August 6th, 2010 | 3 Comments »

The next few weeks are going to be interesting… see these 2 girls:

They have been staying with us for the last week… and we have 2 more to go.  They are my cousins, Kylie and Kristy… and I apparently have forgotten what teenage girls like doing… or have blocked it entirely in self-defense.

Last week they arrived early Monday morning.  Tuesday, while I worked, they went to FairyLand with my MIL.  Then Wednesday we all went to the Jelly Belly Factory, which I enjoy thoroughly, especially because it is free.  We also got there early enough to miss the crowds and lines, and walked straight onto the tour.  I have never been while the machines were running… it smelled good in that factory!  YUMMY!  The girls couldn’t wait to get to the outlets… there was money burning a hole in their pockets.

Please ignore my squinty eyes, it was sun-shiny that day!

Thursday I worked again, and the big girls had the small girls to themselves for a couple hours.  Friday we went to see “Despicable Me” which was hilarious!  Sophie still is deciding whether she likes it or not, but I bet the next time she watches it she will LOVE it… the little girls are so cute and funny.  Then Jeff  bribed the big girls to help move Justin and Meggie out of their apartment while Sophie and I went to a fun princess party for a friend from church.  There was even a real life princess who painted faces… it was great!

Saturday we had a day at Great America for the legal department summer party.  I hadn’t been since a high school orchestra competition (I was a big music nerd… I embrace it wholeheartedly!)… I remembered the rides not being that fun.  But we had a great time.  There were some really great roller coasters, and a pretty good water park.  It baffled me that people were going on water slides in jeans and t-shirts.  People, you get WET at water parks… I understand not packing swimsuits… but then shouldn’t you just skip the water slide?  Either way, going to an amusement park with Kelly (who hates roller coasters and heights) and a preggy Meggie (tee hee hee) was great, the rest of us could ride things and the 2 baby girls were kept busy.  I understand Meggie’s disappointment at not being able to ride the fun rides, but I have done it before… I believe I was pregnant for a Disneyland trip, Universal Sudios and MarineWorld, it isn’t always fun, but as we say, you have 9 months of missing out on things to have a baby the rest of your life…

We have been trying to keep busy, and maybe it is working as the big girls are on nap # 3 for the last week… that is pretty good, I think!  We’ll see how the rest of the 2 weeks go… wish me luck!

PS I will try to take more pictures, but I have been lazy of late… I fully acknowlegde that, I hope to change soon!

Filed under: My crazy life, Odds N' Ends on August 2nd, 2010 | No Comments »

Violet turned 10 months yesterday.  I can’t believe how close we are getting to the year mark… she just isn’t a little baby anymore (totally sinking in with all the baby Dean time).  She is getting more vocal, even though it is just sounds, she will say “mamamamama” and “mmmm” as well as sit in her seat and holler.  She is a funny girl.  I am learning, and have to remember, how much more “demure” and understated she is than her big sister.  She doesn’t get as worked up over things, she still doesn’t smile a lot or laugh, but she warms up to people faster than Sophie did, and she is just so content to sit in a room with you playing with the vertical blinds.

Her hair has gotten so red this summer, it makes me happy, expecially because a nice tan came with it, she has a great combination of the red hair and olive skin.  She has 5 teeth now, and she likes showing off her “teethies” and will open up if you ask to see them.  She can stand by herself (but can’t get there without the help of a couch or friend) for a goodly amount of time, depending on how excited she gets.  She loves standing and trying to walk to Jeff or I.  She can take 2 decent steps, anything past that is just “falling with style!”  She will just stand there and wave at you if you are lucky.

Her pincer grasp is finally functional.  She can put Cheerios in her mouth with zero problem and will sit happily at the dinner table with the help of a baggie of cereal.  She is also exploring so much more, she will venture off to see what is around the corner if you aren’t watching her too closely, and she loves pulling my Ziploc baggies out of their box… the other day she poured out some oats… life is getting more interesting!

For the stat book: She is 21 pounds, wish I could tell you how long, but I have learned that my measurements (or maybe the nurses measurements who I compare mine to) aren’t super accurate, and they get worse the more wiggly and mobile she gets.

We love our Vi-Vi!

Filed under: Violet on July 24th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

We drove down to LA for one of Jeff’s 9-80 days off… it was one of the only times we could see that we would be able to meet Baby Dean before his blessing weekend.  So we tripped down to visit Sean, Rachel, Dean, as well as Andy and Daisy.  It was a fun quick trip.  We wish we could have stayed longer.  Fridaywe headed over to see the baby.  The girls were nice to him (for the most part, Vi, at one part tried to attack him!) and he is a cutie-patootey!

Then we headed over to Mother’s Beach, which is a nice little cove with basically no waves.  It was cool.  The girls had a good time, and it was Vi’s first time touching sand where she could have a reaction!

That night we started our weekend of eating by heading over to C and O Cucina.  It was delicious.  They had these garlic bread balls that were divine, and my Gorgonzola pasta with eggplant and roasted red peppers… oh my goodness.  So delicious.  I didn’t have my camera… but trust me… so good!

The next morning we got a reservation at our favorite brunch spot in Hollywood… The Griddle.  I have talked about it before, so I made sure to bring my camera… because what good is it for me to say that we had banana pancakes with caramel, streusel, walnuts and whipped cream, buttermilk pancakes with baked cinnamon apples and lemon pancakes with raspberries… if I can’t show you what we ate?!?!  Also, what is it with the boys in our life and crazy picture faces?  Also, Violet looks ticked off, but she loved the pancakes, and was looking at me like that cause I was interrupting her eating.  Every time she took a bite she said “mmmmm.”

That night we headed to the Pasadena Pops with Andy and Daisy.  It was good, they did a Lion King song, and Hoedown from Rodeo.  I was happy, Jeff was ok, and Sophie danced up a storm.

Before we left we tried to get a picture of the 3 grandkids… .it sort of worked, but it was hard to keep Sophie smiling and stop Vi from touching Dean.  We tried!

Filed under: My crazy life, Sophie, Violet on July 21st, 2010 | 5 Comments »

My fabulous new sister in law has a little video clip up on Mormon.org!  If you would like to learn more about Daisy and her conversion story click here.  We love Daisy (and I find her so brave to take a camera crew everywhere with her… even the gym… I would have been laughing the whole time!).

PS: Mormon.org is a great website if you have questions about what Mormons believe and don’t want to have to ask someone about it!

Filed under: Odds N' Ends on July 18th, 2010 | 6 Comments »

This is my final (promise) post for Utah.  I thought I would just put a couple things in that didn’t quite match up with the other posts. 

Violet had a 3rd eye for a little bit of time… inside joke, so funny, and she kept making good faces while it was on!

The girls and the happy couple, all rested from Hawaii!

My favorite treat from the open house… ate WAY TOO many of these… they are fruit tarts, with custard and chocolate… so, so delicious. 

I thought I would end this mass of posts with an addition to the Chinese stereotype… Chinese folks with cameras.  The vacation was spent with my family… which includes some fabulous Chinese people and there were more than enough cameras at all times… here are a few of the shots of others taking pictures (there is even one of me, it wouldn’t be fair if there wasn’t!)

That is all to my recap of Utah… it was a good trip (even Jeff agreed it was a lot of fun… and it pains him to admit when Utah is fun, he would rather it be boring!)… with lots of good family and fun and fruit tarts!  Hope we can get all of the Lo family together again sooner rather than later.  7 years is just too long!

Filed under: My crazy life, Odds N' Ends on July 12th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Tuesday was spent at the Discovery Gateway children’s museum.  It was like a larger Habitot.  Kinda cool, boring for adults (wish they wouldn’t charge full price for adults), but Sophie loved it.  We started with some music, played in the full play house, complete with kitchen, ironing board and mini furniture and played fire fighter.

Then we went to the grocery store.  The store was complete with a dairy section, bakery, deli and produce section, as well as multiple cash registers that allowed your to make announcements “Clean up Aisle 3!”

The we drove on over to the farm section, where we picked apples, potatoes, onions, lettuce, carrots… and then drove them in the tractor past the rock wall and full size horse (this was a fun preschool age museum!  SO much for Sophie to do.)

Then we went to go play in the small kid section and water section.

Then we went to our class.  We learned about flowers and gardens.  Then made lollipop flowers!  Sophie couldn’t wait to eat hers… but had a surprisingly good time coloring it as well.

In addition to all of this we made parachutes to fly in the wind tunnel.  Sophie also got to “drive” a fully size Life Flight Helicopter.  The girls were exhasted by the end of our time there.  It was a lot of fun, and I would recommend it to those who have kids between 3-8 ish.  Upstairs were more bigger kid activities, they looked like fun, just too much for Soph.

Filed under: My crazy life, Odds N' Ends on July 12th, 2010 | No Comments »

I am finally an AUNT!!!!  Yeah for me!  But even more so, yea for Rachel and Sean for having cutie patootey Dean Gerald!  7 lbs 12 oz, 21 in long… can’t wait to meet him!  Congrats to the happy family!

Filed under: Odds N' Ends on July 12th, 2010 | No Comments »