Adventuring

Although the weather took a turn for the worse over the last few days, we snuck in a very lovely beach day with the Gerbi cousins last weekend. We managed to get all the kids to wear their dry pants for the picture... despite pretty chilly temps (both air and water), the big three of the small set decided that it was still a-okay to wade (or swim) in the water and Molly was just very happy to be without pants in general. Jack remained the warmest because he still lets his mom boss him around (or he's not sure if his hair is going to be insanely blond so he's keeping it under wraps until he actually gets some). 

We also spent some time at the Children's Museum, and I stuck some Jack in some goofy places. He, luckily, didn't seem to mind since, you know, he still lets his mom boss him around. For some reason, this little series just cracked me up.

Meanwhile, Molly came and went from the touch tank and did hold (and drop) the starfish. She was alternately fascinated and couldn't give two hoots. 

Living The Good Life

Don't you just love when life is bubbilicious? 

And you don't have to worry about much else besides your jaunty hat?

Thank You For Being A Friend

Those astute and wise ladies (yes, it's the Golden Girls) said is best: your heart is true, you're a pal and a confidant...and I'm one lucky duck. I've written about my unbelievably wonderful, supportive family before but I've also got some really, really great friends that I may not thank enough but about whom I've been thinking lately. Being away from such a supportive group of gals (and guys) puts all these relationships in perspective. I oopsed it all up with a friend of mine this week and I found out two things from that: 1) I never really want to do that again because heaven forbid she doesn't forgive me some day and 2) It's actually a wonderful feeling when people can tell you that you've messed up and don't feel the need to hide it. That whole snafu combined with some recent great visits, emails, and the anticipation of celebrating a lovely upcoming wedding have given me the chance to have my own little private retrospective of my important friendships. I've had the opportunity think about all of the circumstances where I've met people who have ended up being really meaningful and exceptional friends and it's made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (not to mention super sappy). This includes, of course, my daily sanity savers who provide advice, shoulders to cry on, and lots and lots of laughter -- I don't even want to think about what I would do without them. It's all the different types of friendships that I have -- from the oldest, steadiest ones to the newest, how-did-we-not-know-each-other-before ones (and every wonderful one in between) -- that make me so very, very thankful to all of you out there who put up with my foibles, flakiness, and occasional rant. I genuinely appreciate all the love that I get to give and receive.

Molly has made some fantastic friends who make her little two year old heart do flip flops every time she runs past one of them on the playground or on a play date (literally... she always manages to do a lap around someone before coming back in for a hug or a hello) and I hope they stick with her, crazy hair and all, for years to come. Jack hasn't had as many opportunities in the friend department as far as small people his age are concerned but his older pals take good care of him and give him lots of reasons to smile and love life. Whatever challenges these two face in their lives, I have a feeling they will weather the storms successfully because of all the munchkins who are already surround them. Between all our amazing family and friends, I know that these guys will be okay and that makes being a parent much easier. Wherever these kids collect their pals, I hope that they give of themselves as much my friends do. Going to bed with a full heart each night is a gift that I'm thankful for every single day.

All of these are oldies but goodies...

Sunshine On My Shoulder

No Eyiafjallajokul ash on this side of the world, thankfully; just some good old fashioned sun rays -- it was one of those perfect days to be outside and enjoy the good life. 

We dragged the circle of neglect (aka the exersaucer) outside until I could figure out how much Jack wanted to eat grass and munch on dandelions. Luckily, it appears that grass and weeds are some of the few things he doesn't want to shove in his mouth so he eventually got to wiggle around to his heart's content.

Water table = small slice of heaven. 

And he's down... Molly is in a big "what happened?" phase right now. You can stub your toe, forget to fully shut the refrigerator door, or drop and earring and you can expect an incessant "what happened? what happened? what happened?" chirped at you. The best part -- even when she's the perpetrator of the event, you still get asked, such as in this case. 

Thankfully, he's back up and his toys are loads of fun.  

The bike is great, but the bell on the bike is even more fun.  

It's good for some laughs from the small crowd. 

Big sisters are so, so much fun. 

Moving and Shaking

This weekend we went to Vancouver because my friend Ellen was in town to celebrate her wedding anniversary with her lovely (and child-charming) husband, John. It was great to see them (Ellen is really and truly one of the funniest people I know, and who hates to laugh?) and visit the big city at the same time. We went back to Stanley Park and the aquarium and while Molly likes the aquarium, her interest tends to lie more in trying to unlock locked doors, climb up every viewing platform known to man, and wiggling her way into small spaces. The big sea animals are sort of eh for her (not for me. Love 'em) and she tends to enjoy things like big tanks of orange swimmers, ugly bottom-feeding fish who look like they have cataracts, and sting rays. More than anything, though, this aquarium has lots of ramps and risers to run up and down and climb. I think that's the real win for her. Jack was pretty chill while we were looking at the fishes but is in the drop game stage and just wanted to play over and over and over and over at the restaurant. Of course.

It's so funny to see Molly get shy around new people and then try to charm them by being busy and mischievous (not really sure it works). Jack, meanwhile, is trying to lull people into playing his new favorite game with his mono-dimpled smile (but I think peeps will catch on to him). It's always busy but luckily, we find their antics entertaining and are charmed day in and day out. Good ol' mom and dad are always good for a laugh. I didn't break out my camera enough in the city (since I was trying to steer Molly towards the actual touch tank) but these munchkins have been plenty busy at home, too.

Molly takes safety as seriously as her dad -- especially when the activity involves a magic wand.

This guy likes to bounce as much as his sister -- who is still bouncing under her own steam.

 Out of the blue, Molly has become interested in her babies. She has always had sporadic interest but all of a sudden, she's taking Baby outside and spending a long time sending her down the slide, feeding PJ 35 times a day, and dressing/undressing/dressing/undressing Maggie May and Rachel Rebecca. It's a very curious change of events to see her talking, feeding, and changing her babies. It's almost as if she has an attention span!

 The sunny Okanagan is baaaack and we've been soaking up our vitamin D (and C).

And other times we're trying to make clever escapes... oh, the mischief these two get into.

Little Funny Man

Each month in Vanity Fair there is a small bit called In Character where famous actors are given three hypothetical scenarios and their reactions to each are photographed. It's usually something like "you've just realized that your blind date is your second cousin" or "you're a clerk in a store and deathly afraid of clowns -- and one just walked into the store" (Liz), etc. It's a funny little tidbit and the more physical the actor, the better (see here if I'm not making any sense). Jack and I were clowning around this afternoon and it's almost as if he wanted to be in the next issue (I, once again, put words in his mouth)... 

 You've just been told that the vase you broke was $300... "oooohhh, really? Sor-ry" 

You're trying to avoid being picked for a role playing exercise in class... "who me? I'm sorry, did you say something?" 

You've just been told that there's a ghost in the next room... "Wha?"

You're from Southie and are trying to explain to the dry cleaner that your favorite track suit has a stain... "Now listen heah, guy..."

And, after a long time of amusing mom, stick a fork in him, we're done. 

More Birthday Love

Speaking of birthdays... I'm not kidding that Molly really, really loves birthdays. She did her best to help celebrate Grandpa's birthday when we were in Florida. In fact, she was rather distressed when we didn't have a cake prepared so she had to eat his ice cream to make herself feel better.

Yes, Molly, we're aware that you're the only one scarfing down someone else's goodies. 

Nana, thankfully, came to the rescue the next day with a cake of Molly's own. Phew...

and also worked on her arm strength by being Jack's personal bouncer. He's pretty popular, you know, so he really does need a bouncer to keep the ladies at bay. 

And on one of the nicest, sunniest days in Florida, both kids had to snuggle up tight with Grandpa to make sure he was warm enough. 

It's a good thing that grandparents are genetically designed to withstand crawling, creeping, invasions of personal space. 

The Big Day

We can hardly contain our excitement around here because it's John's birthday. Woo wee! I could get super sappy and blubber on about how happy we are to get to celebrate the big day with him but I decided that the best birthday present I could give John was to just stick to the facts and say happy birthday (in a very serious voice). We did some celebrating over the weekend and then we'll do the cake tonight -- and there is no one who has been more excited about his birthday than the curly/crazy haired blond tornado. The lesson learned: don't share any secrets with her just yet. She's not really good at the whole "mums the word" thing. We plotted a surprise birthday breakfast... that quickly became front page news... and then Molly kept saying "thanks for the surprise, Daddy!". Today at school, she told the teacher that she was painting for her daddy's birthday... and that her birthday is in December and Jack and Mama's birthdays are in October. She's a shameless self promoter. Not to be outdone, Jack has been scaring up his own birthday treat -- unbelievable amounts of drool. 

As an aside, John is a super duper dad. He has been Molly's point man lately and manages to chase her during her running games at night long after I feel like I've run a half marathon and lost some steam. He manages to find creative ways to keep her focused (and that's saying something) long after I've lost my last creative brain cell of the day. And, he comes up with lots of smiles for Jack even when his nice crisp shirt get yakked on, long after I've rung out my shirt for the 37th time that day. I feel really, really lucky to have him as my compadre in life and on this crazy ride called parenthood. These kids love him so dang much and he's well worth the love! And yes, I'm allowed to get slightly sappy because this was an aside...

Hopping Down the Bunny Trail

One of the big perks of being out on the left coast is that we get to see Katy, Emmy (and those parents of theirs... but parents are the afterthoughts these days. Once you have kids no one asks how you are -- just your small sidekicks) a lot more often. Their hospitality has been unrivaled and I'm pretty sure we've shown up at Eric and Mary's house at nearly every hour of the day and night with all our comings and goings. Thankfully they haven't kicked us to the curb yet because that would make Molly (and probably Jack too) super sad (and us... but we're those afterthoughts again). Molly loves her cousins, loves their music choices and dance moves, loves zooming around inside and out with them, and gets all amped up to see them when we bustle into town. Really, these two kids of mine are so lucky to have cool cousins wherever they turn.

On our way back from Florida we stayed for a morning of Easter egg hiding and hunting... and hiding and hunting and hiding and hunting. The girls kicked off their morning with a big breakfast and then got down to business (and I found myself, like many others I know, wondering why the heck a bunny leaves eggs behind... does this mean he stole the eggs? Bought them? Where does he get money to buy eggs? Do chickens donate eggs? I'm so confused).

Anyway, I count my blessings that Molly and Jack know so much of their extended family. Everyone gives so much time and love to one another. All the cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, second cousins, once removed cousins, etc. are woven into Molly's consciousness and she talks about folks all the time. It's lovely and heartwarming and we sincerely thank everyone for the gift of family. Not to mention, it makes any holiday loads of fun.

(thanks to Eric and Mary for the actual quality picture. My phone pictures aren't quite as good...)

Fringe On Top

Awhile ago, we predicted the trajectory of Molly's follicle future and it looked a little something like this:

 

Well, we are either clairvoyant or have really bad luck because we've gotten a lot closer to that image than I'd like. After nearly two years of almost no hair, yesterday we just got crazy hair. While we were in Florida, Molly had these gorgeous ringlets; pretty blond curls and she received so many nice compliments. Back in the land of zero humidity, however, we apparently just have crazy hair to look forward to.

Today, I put a stop to the madness and, despite many protests, got two adorable pigtails in place of the Christopher Lloyd/Don King/Medusa train that we were on yesterday. Her little buddy Chase even told her that she looked great so I'm hoping I have more luck with accessorizing in the days to come. Otherwise, John might have to ditch his mullet wig because it hits just a little too close to home.