Ocean

I wish I were at the ocean right now. There is nothing like the cool air, the sound of the waves crashing, and watching Jack run from the waves. Thank you all for your well wishes, we are so much better. Jack is lively now, Stella is teething like crazy, but seems happy today. It's so pretty and sunny out right now, I am looking forward to getting out of the house today and having some fun. Jack asked to go back to the ocean almost everyday. I think we might go soon. John and I signed up for ballroom dancing lessons on the Saturday's in March, so maybe we'll have to head to the beach on a Sunday. I'm really looking forward to learning to dance with John. I'm really excited March is here.

The Longest Weekend

We took Jack to the Emergency Room yesterday. He has been sick for about 5 days now and yesterday he started having really bad intestinal cramps. Every 15 minutes or so he would scream out in pain ,plus his stomach was rock hard, so we called the Dr. and she said to take him right in saying he could have an twisted intestine or something. So we rushed down there (Thanks mom for watching Stella!!) and waited 5 hours. Wait did I just say 5 hours? O-yes I did...FIVE HOURS. 5 hours of Jack in pain, 5 hours of not so sick looking people going ahead of us, 5 hours of us reminding them we were there. Finally we came to our senses and left to go to a different ER where we were seen in about 30 minutes. In hour 4 of our ordeal Jack's fever had broken and he had stopped screaming in pain every few minutes, we were torn between just going home and continuing on. We figured it was better safe than sorry so stayed on our course. It turned out Jack was fine, he's just sick, no twisted intestine, just bad cramps. I'm glad we went though, it could have been something bad. We are all so tired today, the kids are still sick, but I can tell they are getting better. Hope you all are doing well, I havn't been able to spend much time on the computer. I look forward to catching up with you all when I can .

Grateful Friday

Today I'm so grateful for my family. For John and Jack and Stella. I love them with everything I have. I'm grateful for health. Last night I had a debilitating headache, and I kept thinking how some people suffer from chronic debilitating pain and how devastating that would be. I'm grateful for Stella's sense of humor and her adorable smile. I'm so grateful for my sister and her creativity that always inspires me. I'm grateful for hanging out with my loved friend Gretchen in the park and for getting back in touch with my old roommate and friend Therese. I'm grateful for God and that I know he is listening when I talk. I'm grateful for my blog and for all of your blogs, what a great outlet for our creativity and thoughts. I'm grateful for the warm California sun and the the coming of spring.

First of all let me say I'm sorry for making you all look at that last sorry spt photo of myself for the last three days, I meant to post something new yesterday but just couldn't find the time. Second of all let me just tell you we are all MISERABLE over here. I still have a cold, Jack and Stella have fevers and are puking their little hearts out. I look at this picture and wish we could time leap back to last week where we were all happy and healthy. I'm sure next week will be back to normal. Happy Thursday to all of you!!

Self Portrait Tuesday #3: "All of Me"

I took this picture this morning. Jack was chasing Stella around pulling her hair, Stella is screaming and Jack is not listening to me telling him to stop. I'm frustrated and tired because I've been sick the last 3 days. After I took this picture Jack and Stella both started crying, Stella I'm not sure why, Jack because he bit his nail so short it ripped on the side. Consoling 2 screaming kids at the same time is hard. Elmo helped though, I popped in the tape and the screaming stopped, I was able to cuddle with each of them while Elmo sang, thanks Elmo!!

Scarves

Heidi showed me how to crochet a month or so ago and now I've made so many scarves I don't know what to do with them. I taught myself a new stitch called "trebel" according a little Swedish pamphlet I found. I would love to learn how to knit and think I'm going to take a class soon. I like crocheting at night while John and I watch TV. It is sort of replacing my reading right now. I think I burnt myself out reading for the moment, I'm having trouble getting into any books. Hope you all have a super weekend.

Random Street Art : Cow found downtown

I grew up living with a dairy accross the street behind our house. Thousands of cows just yards away. It smelled like manure 100% of the time, but I remember the stench being especially strong in the mornings. It was the kind of smell that was thick and earthy, that you could taste. In the mornings you could see a field of steam rising from beneath the cows hoofs. We would get really thick fog sometimes in the mornings and as we drove to school and passed the cows all we could see were faint black and white ghost cows standing still just beyond the fence. We had our own cow at one point, he lived in one of the acres behind our house, there was only a small country road separating his pen from the dairy cows, and sometimes he would escape. We would go back to feed him and he'd be gone. We would find him mingling with the dairy cows a half mile away, having found a broken part of the fence. He must have been lonely in his own pen, knowing that just a few feet away he could be with a whole cow community. The dairy isn't running anymore, but you can still smell the manure. Sometimes when I go over to my mom's and smell the old dairy I look arcoss the street and imagine it still filled with cows looking back at me.

East Bay Vivarium

On our way to San Francisco this weekend we stopped in Berkeley to go to the East Bay Vivarium.
It is the coolest place, filled with lizards and snakes and turtles. There were hundreds of them, maybe thousands.

Jack loved it, he screamed "daddy look" so many times it started driving us(and I'm sure those around us) crazy. It was cute though and fun to see him so excited.
I never realized how expensive some of these creatures are, some we saw were over 1000 dollars. If you are ever in Berkeley stop by here it's a sight to see. I did feel a little sad though all these little guys cages were so small. Shouldn't they be out living in the desert somewhere? Well, I'm sure they are well treated and go to good homes.

Self Portrait Tuesday: "All of me" #2

This is me in Junior High. For some unknown reason this was my hairstyle of choice during those 2 years, thankfully by highschool I layed off on the hairspray and the middle part shifted to the side so I looked halfway decent. My 7th grade school photo is a close up of me, bright pink sweater, pink long dangly earrings, short red hair split down the middle plastered to my head with hairspray, grinning through a mouth full of metal. Pure 7th grade beauty.

Weekend in Chinatown

We went to the Chinese New Year street fair and parade in San Francisco this weekend. It is the biggest celebration of it's kind outside of Asia. The parade is voted one of the top 10 in the world.

To say it was crowded is an understatement. We had our double stroller and it was quite a task making our way through the crowds.

We ate lots of yummy pork and bean buns and noodles. Weaved in and out of little shops selling tea's and herbs and vegatables. We bought some trinkets to take home with us.

The parade started at 5:30. We spent about an hour looking for parking and then we pushed the kids up numerous steep San Francisco hills. We fought through the crowds and found our spot along the parade route. Trying to take pictures at night holding a squirming 1 year old is not easy. So whenever I got the chance to snap a picture it looked something like this. Jack liked the bands that played and the awesome dragons that came running by.

We saw maybe a quarter of the parade, the crowds and the pace of the parade(slow) were a little much for us all after a hour and a half or so. So we battled our way out of the crowd (which was very very very challenging with our gigantic stroller) and trekked back to our car.

Sunday we went to the beach. Much more relaxing. Jack loved running after the waves and making sand casltes (that's the Golden Gate Bridge in the background).
This is how we all felt driving home. It was a truly exhausting trip. I'm not sure we will try anything like that again any time soon. More beach play and picnics in the mountains for us. I would love to go back and see the parade and street fair when the kids are older and they can enjoy the experience as much and John and I.

Grateful Friday

This week I'm grateful for:
1. Daffodils Lorissa brought me from her garden.
2. Shirts our neighbors brought back for us from their trip home to Kenya.
3. A great cd I got from tinker with this .
4. Earrings Heidi's friend Bee made, they are so so so cute thanks!!
5. Watching Heidi swing on the swing, she giggled like a schoolgirl.

Jump for joy

What Jack and Stella love:

-Jumping on the bed
-Running around naked
-Drinking chocolate milk
-Seeing Grandma or Heidi
-Playing with my hair
-Going to the river
-Story time
-Running "free" in any store
-Sidewalk chalk
-Unrolling my balls of yarn

Take me to the river

One of Jack's favorite places to go is the river. Everytime we cross the bridge he yells for us to stop.

So we went out there this weekend and threw some rocks. The weather was beautiful and it was very relaxing to just sit and look at the water and watch the kids have fun.

Stella would pick up little rocks and hold them in her hand and sometimes try to throw one in too.

Jack is an expert thrower, he throws with his whole body and is very serious about it.

Thank you all for all the nice comments you left for my self portrait Tuesday yesterday. I love sharing my life with you all, and I love reading about your lives, good and bad. I love that with our blogs we can make each other feel a little more normal and a little less alone with our struggles and joys. I know I feel that way when I read some of your writings.

Self Portrait Tuesday: "All of Me" #1

Ok, here's some ugly. I wasn't real thrilled with this months theme of "All of Me". I don't want to show you my cellulite, or strech marks, or any other nasty little thing I have on my body.

I am not a peace with my body and have not been for quite awhile. I'm on better terms with it now than I think I've ever been, so that much I'm very happy about. John took this picture of me in 2002, I am 5'8" and weighed 112. I dropped down to 104 shortly later. I began waging war against my body in high school. Depression sent me to the grocery store to buy my first box of diet pills. So on and off for the next 10 or so years I experimented lightly with various ways to lose weight even though I had not been overweight in my life. It wasn't until the 2nd year of my marriage, while working at a really stressful job, around a group of girls that were constantly complaining about their weight, did a switch get flicked in my brain that sent me on a weight loss frenzy. I seriously would look at myself in the mirror weighing 104 and think I was gigantic. I would feel devestatingly guilty if I ate "too much" which could mean I had had 15 raisins at lunch instead of 10. I was gripped by it and I was terrified that I would let myself die. Anyway, long hard story short I got help. I'm nice and plump now and happy, but I must say that path still always seems so close to me now. Sometimes I feel like if I take a couple steps onto it I'll be sucked right back in. There is a pull. So now that I've shattered the image of Sweetpea perfection (ha) I've created here for you on my blog, I hope I'm a little more real to you, I really have nothing to hide from anybody this is part of me, but not all of me.

Other brave self portrait bloggers Here

Nature Walk

Yesterday was free museum day in Sacramento. We went to the Discovery Museum. The line to go in was a mile long so we just walked around the center property.

There was a nature trail and a pond with lots of turtles in it. There were hills and trees and it was beautiful. Jack had fun running up and down the hills.

We found this huge oak tree. It was amazing. The trunk was huge and the limbs were long and twisted. It felt like we were up in the mountains for awhile. Hope all you are having a great weekend.

Happy Friday

Happy Friday everyone. It's bright and early here, I just made some pancakes for the kids and I'm about to sit down and join them. John took his scooter to work today so I have the car. I think we might go to a park or go and see my mom or sister. I feel like leaving the house though.
HAPPY STELLA

My friend Gretchen and I are going to read a book called "Our God is an Awesome God" We've been feeling a bit distant from God lately so we thought it might help to read a spiritual book and the bible together and share what we learn together (hey Lorissa, join us). For 3 nights in a row I had a dream where I told Gretchen I was dying spiritually, they were different dreams but in each of them I said the same thing. So finally on Tuesday I told her. I do think God was wanting me to acknowledge out loud what I'd been feeling for awhile, It felt good and Gretchen made a good point. Maybe when we are feeling less spiritual or "close" to God is really when we are doing out best spiritually because we are recognizing our need for God. I liked that and it made me feel better. Anyway I'm not sure your all interested in my spiritual life and for some reason I am a little insecure writing about it, but it's my blog right? so I'll just write what I want and not worry about what you all think.

Ok a few of you requested a post pierced nose picture so here you go. The truth is I've never really loved my nose, but I always thought it might look a little better pierced, maybe I had the theory that it could only look better since I am at the bottom of the "cute" nose pile. I really like it. Each day that goes by I like it more. I hope you all have a super Friday and weekend.

Here are some things I am grateful for this week.

1. Getting my nose pierced with Heidi

2. Chamomile tea and carob malt balls

3. Survivor started and laughing at American Idol singers

4. Crocheting

5. Jack, Stella, and John

Pierced

So, Heidi wanted to get her nose pierced for her birthday. So why do you see me sitting there about to be stabbed by this dread locked woman? Well, I couldn't resist.

Heidi went and got her's done earlier that day and watching her inspired me to finally do what I've been chickening out of doing the last 10 years. That is one more thing I love about Heidi, she is constantly inspiring me and challenging me to just do what I want, jump in and do it. So I did, I called John got the ok from him (actually a big OK, he was excited for me!! I DO have the best man around) and went back and did it. I love it, and wished I would have done it along time ago. Thanks Heidi.


The woman who pierced us was named Zoe, and I must say she was about one of the coolest sweetest people I have ever meet. She was clam and patient, and just very very nice.

This is Heidi almost done after being pierced but before the stud was put in. Afterward Heidi and I went to Thudervalley casino and ate at "The Feast" a big buffet and then we gambled, I came home $30 poorer and smelling like smoke. Heidi won a little money. I had so much fun hanging out with Heidi on her birthday can't wait until next year, no telling what we'll end up doing.