Sharing my adventures as a wife, mom, teacher, avid reader, and wannabe crafter.: the mommy express

First Tooth

Filed Under : Life,Love,Milestone by Steph

May. 20

2012

So in the continuing time warp of delayed posting, I started this post April 28th, the day Ava lost her first tooth.

I went to the back twice in two days this week, which for me is extremely unusual. We do direct deposit, I rarely need to use the ATM and just plain enjoy the fact that it’s one errand I don’t have to work into the schedule often. This week I happened to have some rebate checks to deposit and with last week’s excitement of Ava’s first loose tooth, I wanted to make sure that I was ready for when she lost her tooth. By ready I mean I wanted to have the pretty gold dollar coins for the tooth fairy to give her. Because I’m not able to get to the bank until after 4, the person who has access to the coins (really?) had already gone for the day as she leaves at 3pm.But, the super nice people at WAMU said they would talk to her and make arrangements for me to be able to pick it up tomorrow. I had my doubts as to whether it would be that easy but it really was. They remembered Ava and I (had to do this covertly with said recepient in tow. I know, not ideal.) and were super kind and friendly and had us out of that in under five minutes. Awesome.

I searched pinterest for some inspiring ideas. They included

tooth fairy letters, glittery dollars, and my favorite, fairy doors.

Now, as soon as I knew she had a loose tooth I did the search and the fairy doors had me at hello. I never knew such things existed and could hardly wait to make my own. But again, limited on being able to search for doors in the area, so I searched google using the door name/number and found this site. The door and fixtures shipped in under a week and before her tooth fell out. Problem? I ordered the wrong sized door. DOH. Oh well. I now have a mini-door for some other project.

(00ps, not the best photo from my phone, but you get the idea of difference)

I have clear memories of my mom having my brother and I set a timer and work on our loose teeth a certain amount of time each day. I was not so good about doing that with Ava, more concerned about her messing around with it during school because homegirl knows how to play hard. Many days she comes home with a dirt goatee and I did not like the idea of her trying to wiggle it loose with dirt-hands. It got progressively more and more loose and yet there was no way I was going to yank the tooth out. Saturday night (April 28th) Nate took a look with the intention of pulling it. Again, I wanted no part of that and found I couldn’t even be in the same room. I heard him telling her to twist it and thought, “is she pulling her own tooth?” and she DID!

The tooth fairy left her the fancy coin and a little note that included a sort-of scavenger hunt.

The envelope was super last-minute Saturday night so I need to make improvements on the template I created for it. All the links I saw recommended using a fancy punch tool that was a mini-envelope template, but that is no longer sold. Boo. Ava was very excited in the morning when she found her tooth bear and new book. Hard to believe we are at this milestone but so proud of her and her-even-more-widely-spaced-grin!

Potty-Talk Time

Filed Under : Life,Milestone,Motherhood by Steph

May. 19

2012

This is more for the grandparents in the reading audience.

In a very quiet and Lily-like way, our youngest is quite close to being fully potty-trained.

I don’t even know how it really happened, especially when compared to our previous experience. Her babysitter has been patiently working with her for the last few months but honestly, all of a sudden it seemed to just click with Lily. She no longer wanted to wear diapers and only wanted pull-ups. After a week of dry pull-ups we made the switch to underwear and with one accident during nap time, she’s been doing great. We used M&M’s as a motivator as well as the idea that when she told us about, ahem, going #2 (consistently), she would earn a Beauty and the Beast doll. Last Friday she told me she had to go so she earned Beast. The next day she earned Belle. So proud of her.

And here’s my attempt at capturing the pride she had in earning Beast. Winks and all.

Teacher Appreciation Week

Filed Under : crafts,school,Success! by Steph

May. 19

2012

(Started this one last weekend, so at least we are getting closer to real-time blogging again)

We have absolutely loved Ava’s kindergarten teacher and wanted to make sure to do something for her in honor of teacher appreciation week. In preschool Ava and her classmates celebrated with gifts all week, but I kind of figured that wasn’t the way her new school operated, so opted for a single day.

I again turned to pinterest for ideas. I’ve been wanting to preserve Ava’s artwork using embroidery for a while and thought this was the perfect opportunity. I also really liked the idea of Ava describing Ms. J. to me and creating wall art using wordle.net. And here’s what we came up with. First, I asked Ava to draw a picture of her and Ms. J.

I also asked her to tell me about Ms. Jou. I had to do more directing because she was fine with “pretty and nice” but obviously in order for this to work, I needed more detail. The more times you type a word, the larger it ends up being in the final product. We customized the font colors and then simply printed and put into a frame that I bought on sale at Jo-ann’s.

While at Jo-ann’s, I also purchased a tote, that the embroidered art would go on. The embroidery didn’t take too long–I started/finished it while watching Mad Men and Girls Sunday night. Monday night I sewed it to the tote and the gifts (along with a gift card) were ready for National Teacher Appreciation Day Tuesday (I went with that instead of Wednesday’s California Teacher Day because I knew she was getting a special luncheon.)

And here’s the two gifts together.

We’re so thankful for the extra time Ms. Jou has taken to challenge Ava academically and have truly enjoyed this year kindergarten year!

Heat, Night, and Teeth

Filed Under : Family,Life,Milestone by Steph

May. 19

2012

Okay, I last updated the draft of this post April 28th and believe I started it a week or two earlier. So yeah, things have changed. I’ve written a number of posts and was only waiting to add pictures and now it’s the middle of May. Whatta ya gonna do?

[April 28th] is much nicer than yesterday’s weather, but it’s still a big change from our cooler temperatures. Our spring break was very rainy and of course I was loving that. Nate and I somehow happened on the topic of me staying at home and I said I don’t think I could do it. I would sit and read all the time. He disagreed and said I would find something to occupy my time but nope, I pretty much think I would do that. When my mom was here in March, yes I felt sick for pretty much her whole visit, but for the most part, I did no.thing. NOTHING. I had all this opportunity to be super productive and yet, wasn’t.

Spring Break saw a little more productivity in our house – I cleaned out some more cupboards and drawers, and tackled some other organizing projects. Made time to travel to SJSU to purchase my gown and hood because I’m finally going to go through the graduation ceremony this year. Finally. We played at the park, traveled to the post office and the library a couple of times, and had a movie day.

I gave thought to going to the Children’s Discovery Museum, but then an opportunity to meet with a friend came up and I pushed that to later this summer, when we’re looking for an inside activity. My friend brought her two children who are around Ava’s age and they played while we talked about the dirt patches in our front yard. The patches that have been there since October? Why yes, those very same, why do you ask?

She had lots of great advice and I was super excited to get the ball rolling on planting. Saturday (April 14th) we traveled to the nursery and a few hours later we were home with the promise of a beautiful, colorful future.

Planting them was manageable, but by the time I got the rose-bush (the one on the right) in, my back was starting to act up. It was while I was working in the area next to the steps that I really messed it up. Like wanting to scream/moan but only able to gasp a little because even breathing hurt. I eventually went to the doctor Monday afternoon and she actually never told me what I did to it, but I believe she believed it was a pulled muscle. She gave me ibuprofen, told me to go easy on it, and that was it. I’m doing better [I have no pain during the daytime, but every once in a while get a twinge if I move a certain way. I also can't sleep on that side yet because it's so uncomfortable.] and haven’t taken any medication for a number of days, but I still have a hard time sleeping on my side. And by hard time, I mean I don’t do it.

Nate rode a century today in weather that reached 98 degrees in some spots. He too has chest/back issues. I’m not sure what both of us did, but the hacking cough we passed between us really did a number on our chests. I’ll be happy never to experience that kind of coughing again, thank you very much.

ANYWAY…

Here’s the finished product:

We planted two types of roses, five day lily plants, and three mediterranean heath which I can hardly wait to see next late winter/early spring when it blooms in our own yard. It will be lovely. Next to the house we planted two azalea bushes and a Buttermint Camellia which should eventually have blooms that look like this

It’s been nice coming home to it all week and noticing the new buds and growth throughout my water. I just hope it thrives. Our next mission is the backyard, which has been a…what, 8 year process? But it’s truly and honestly getting there.

UPDATE: Here’s how they are looking today. Really today, I promise.

One heath plant died, the roots just never took…root. Last weekend (yes really, last May 12th) we went to the nursery to purchase plants for the backyard and Nate simply pulled up the dead heath put it in a spare pot and exchanged it for a new one. The new one isn’t going to bloom the same color as the other two, but I really wanted another heath, so we went with it. The day lilies are really coming along and the white rose-bush is lovely. Need to work on the shape of the pink one, but yes, still very happy with how things look out front. Our wisteria was BEAUTIFUL this year, but the no-longer-wood-chip-bed-but-now-a-hot-mess-of-weeds-for-ground-cover needs some love and attention. Not cool. There’s always something.

In kid news, Lily continues her preference for dresses and skirts. There may have been a tantrum of epic proportions when I put her in shorts yesterday. Wow. No bueno. We also have the nightly discussion that begins with her saying “it’s not dark out” and me trying to convince a stubborn 2-year-old that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have to go to bed.

Ava brought home two more free ice cream cone certificates this week, one for improving her handwriting! This is a big deal because it’s something we’ve focused on. She knows her numbers and letters of course, she just rushes to complete her work and they aren’t always the most legible. Bringing home an award that said she’s improved on it was very exciting for us all. I thought it would be nice to use a few of those certificates (Ava mentioned on her own that she’d like to share her’s with Lily too) and so after dinner we drove to McDonald’s so Ava could redeem two of her awards.

And finally, tonight at dinner I noticed that a tooth (the left central incisor to be precise) in Ava’s mouth looked a little odd and I asked her if her tooth was loose. She wrinkled her brow, tested out a couple and then with a look of surprised excitement said, “THERE IS! I DO HAVE A LOOSE TOOTH.” Ever since we read that Ramona Quimby lost a tooth in kindergarten, Ava’s wondered when it was going to be her turn. Looks like your time is here big girl. You are growing up too quickly.

I <3 the weekends.

April Fools

Filed Under : Family,Fun,Holiday,Humorous,Life by Steph

Apr. 01

2012

Today was a pretty laid-back day, except for the times when Rage-Mom showed up, yelling for “x to be put away!!!”, for “x sister to stop bothering x sister for x”, and on and on and on. I realized a little belatedly that it was April Fools Day; something about not having 150 middle schoolers telling me all day made it seem like it wasn’t today. Ava and I talked about it briefly this morning, but I decided that I needed to step it up and actually do something to commemorate the day and not leave it in its wake Screamster McMom.

I had a friend use recipes from this site (or something very similar to the site) to fool her kids a few years back and I thought it was brilliant and knew Ava would get a kick out of it. So while she built “the most huge Lego ice cream sundae EVER!!!!”

and hosted what appeared to be a Lego cult gathering,

I was in the kitchen, attempting to keep her curious self out of it, casually telling her that “we’re having meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and cupcakes” for dinner.

I only lied about the cupcakes.

pictured: Real green beans (I saw fake candy ones online but knew we didn’t need death by sugar overload at this meal), “mashed potatoes and gravy” (ice cream and caramel sauce), and “meatloaf” (cocoa krispies, dried mango and red fruit roll-up)

My meatloaf was quite squat, but I think it looked like “meat.”

Our “cupcakes” were really meatloaf topped with colored mashed potatoes.

To say I rushed the making of this would not be an exaggeration. I made the Pioneer Woman’s Mashed Potatoes but wasn’t able to take the time to get them super whipped and smooth a la real frosting. We also hit a glitch when Lily, who had napped for over two hours, didn’t want to get up. So the fake mashed potatoes started to melt some, as evidenced by the above photo. Ava tackled her green beans first and then tried the meatloaf

I didn’t get a picture of her trying the items, because I already felt she was suspicious but she loved it. “Hey, this is ICE CREAM!” “This does NOT taste like meatloaf!” and the “cupcakes” cracked her up.

“This doesn’t taste like frosting!”

Lily (once she woke up) went along with it, but I think she thought we were crazy. And she dunked her fake meatloaf into her real mashed potatoes and was not thrilled with the results, nor did she find humor in our laughter.

Love her dainty hold on her “meatloaf.” Such a proper lady.

While April 1st started in the Woodhams home with some Llama Mama Drama, we ended with laughter, which is always lovely. I’m glad that I got my behind in gear, because we all (yes, even Lily finally cracked a smile) enjoyed some laughs from it.

Lovely Weekend

Filed Under : Family,Fun,Love by Steph

Mar. 27

2012

We had such a nice weekend that I didn’t get a chance to blog about it and am posting it now so we can look back and remember it. Seriously wish I could relive this weekend over and over all the time.

For the most part the weekend was pretty low-key. Saturday morning we ate a later breakfast, Grandma napped a little (because she’s been the rock star getting up with the girls in the early morn. Lily has not adjusted well to the time change) and then we headed out to a nearby park, hoping to beat the rain.

We are so thankful that the rain finally came to California and we’ve experienced very cool temperatures the last few weeks, made so much stranger by the warm weather Mom was missing in Michigan. So much in fact that our very dry hills are finally starting to show some green.

It was a COLD COLD overcast day, but we had fun at the park. We decided to stop at the grocery store (I know, after all my crowing about getting all the grocery shopping done on Friday, but this hardly counted as I was in and out in about 10 min.) to pick up french bread and fixings for chili because it definitely was the day for soup.

After some hot chocolate and lunch Lily took a nap while we watched the movie Ramona and Beezus.

from amazon.com

Ava and I are working our way through the Ramona series and I thought it would be fun to watch this while Mom was here. It’s actually a number of the Ramona stories put together, not just from the first book, Ramona and Beezus. It was a little spoiler-y for Ava, but it was really a great movie. I did not expect to be so emotional and found myself tearing up/crying through quite a bit of it. Seriously adorable movie.

After the movie, Nate and I headed to the Container Store and Crate and Barrel; the former to find a drawer organizer for this holy mess:

and the latter to pick up an immersion blender (with an anniversary gift card that may be a few years old.) So the drawer. I know. It’s a mess. But a mess no longer…$40 later (and while that’s sounds pricey, believe me, not having to store the knives on top of the fridge in a box, not having to move seven things to reach one thing you need, and realizing that we had a number of unused items that really needed to purged, was worth it), behold:

It makes me happy to open this drawer now. Operation Organize continues!

We ended Saturday watching Part II of the final Harry Potter movie. Holy Captain Delayed, right? Nate received the set for Christmas, just never got around to watching it. I definitely need to reread book seven, but my vague memory of it found happiness in the movie version.

And speaking of movies, Sunday morning Mom and I met friends at the theater to watch The Hunger Games. LOVED.IT. I have loved sharing the story with students through the years and while Monday morning came far too quickly, my homeroom (we read the book earlier this year) and I had fun discussing the parts we loved, what parts we wished would have made it into the movie, things we were surprised by, and most of all shaking our heads at the people who went to the movie who hadn’t read the book. I could totally nerd out on you about it, but I’ll resist. It was really nice to be able to see the movie with my mom and am so glad she was still here when it opened!

We are always so spoiled when she comes to visit and I’m already mourning the return to “reality” (daycare drop off/pickup, lunches, no more dishes magically washed, or laundry magically washed/folded/put away). Believe me, her help is greatly appreciated and not in any way taken for granted.

So yes, this last weekend was a lovely one and we were so happy to share it with Grandma! The girls will miss days at the park….

picnics….

a willing reader (who will read the same story over and over and over)

and someone who is always willing to let Miss Lily embrace her inner princess…

We loved having you here Mom! Safe travels and hurry back soon.

Marching On

Filed Under : Family,Life,Love by Steph

Mar. 18

2012

I had big plans for my mom’s visit this month that included me finishing lots of projects and doing lots of activities with Mom and the girls. It’s been pretty much all I can handle just doing the normal stuff though. I have this respiratory crud that I’m not able to get rid of and with the exception of a trip to the mall for the girls on Saturday (they had some money from grandparents to spend, and I thought it would be nice to do it while Grandma was here to see what they picked out–after setting some aside for their savings account), I’ve pretty much just laid in bed this whole weekend. I keep saying every day that I feel better, and I honestly do, but I just can’t seem to shake this.

I have made some yummy food, including these homemade Samoa bars

picture from bakingbites.com

Mine turned out pretty much like the picture, although my shortbread base was pretty crumbly, but the chocolate fixed that up. I pinned this a long time ago and decided to make them for book club this past Thursday. Non-coconut lovers tried them and said they were good, and they really do taste just like the Girl Scout cookie, so this recipe is definitely a keeper.

I also made chicken tacos for book club using this recipe. The comments said to use Paul Newman’s salsa and I used medium, but I think I needed to make the jump to hot for a little more flavor. Or try it with our preferred salsa. Regardless, it was a very easy meal to prepare for book club, made 10x easier with Mom’s help.

Today I made Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Pancakes from this book:

picture from amazon.com

The library has been our friend–well, Mom and Lily’s–the last few weeks and this book came in for me this week. This is kind of a tangent; Lily looooves going to the library but isn’t really a fan of story time. I guess while she’s there she asks mom if “it’s done yet?!?” We haven’t gone to story time since last summer, so it’s interesting that Lily is no longer a fan, because she really loves to be read to. Her current favorites are any Skippyjon Jones book and If You Give a Pig a Pancake. ANYWAY, the pancakes were good and very easy to make. Ava was faked out by the golden raisins, not believing me when I told her they were raisins. I’ve also checked out these books recently,

Pictures from amazon.com

The idea was that I – or Grandma – would make the food with the girls, but so far the minestrone soup and pretzels were made without either girl. Ava chipped in to use the other half of the dough recipe for dinner rolls. All were very good, although I think I needed to cook the pretzels for longer, and not let the dough rise as long. Again, looking forward to trying new recipes.

And not to make this all about eating (although honestly, cooking meals is really about all I’ve done for three weeks), we are also really enjoy trying each of the different meals from our Catholic Relief Service’s Rice Bowl daily activity. This week we learned what CRS does in El Salvador and made Casamiento is my favorite so far. It was delicious on its own and wrapped up in a burrito with leftover chicken taco and cheese. YUM.

In non-food-related news, last weekend Mom, Ava and I drove to San Jose to see Beauty and the Beast at the Center for the Performing Arts.

I saw this in Toronto with a friend many years ago (maybe 1996?) and loved it. I think they’ve changed the show some since then, but it was still really good. The set was beautiful and Belle and Gaston were great. The Beast was great too, but upon his transformation, he seemed rather Beast-like still. Disney obviously ruined me and my realistic expectations.

Ava’s favorite part was “the whole thing” and Mom’s was “Be Our Guest.” I think I liked the set the best; from a “small provincial town” to a run-down castle in a matter of seconds was pretty cool.

Where was Lily in all of this? Well, the website said they would not seat children younger than five, but we heard/saw children definitely younger than five at the show. Lily loves Belle, so I felt pretty bad about not bringing her, but the show was during her nap-time and she is also battling some of the same crud that I’m dealing with, so I think it worked out for the best.

Nate’s had some time to work outside, getting the garden ready for planting, although nothing went in this weekend. We’ve had much-needed rain the last few days, and today was windy and cooooold. It’s kind of funny to see the 80+ degree weather in Michigan when it’s rainy and cold here. Seems like we’re in an alternate universe.

Going to go and (surprise) make dinner. *Maybe* try to accomplish something else before I crawl back into bed. Oh and try to make time stop so Mom will get to stay here forever. Sorry Dad. We’ve decided it’s best if Mom just stays here.

Evolution of Lily’s Smile

Filed Under : Fun,Life by Steph

Mar. 18

2012

Must get my camera…too funny with minestrone all over her face…

Lily, look at Mama.

Smile for Mama!

No, not wink, smiiile, with your eyes open.

Okay that’s better, but now your mouth has to smile. *Nate adds, “so we can see your teeth.”

Okay, we definitely can see your teeth, but still not quite what I mean. Let’s try this again, smile with your eyes open and your mouth smiling.

We’re getting there…look at Ava, see how she smiles?

Arg. Nevermind, let’s try this one more time. Lily, look at Mama and SMILE!

Yes, I know, it is very exciting. Okay, ready? 1-2-3…SMILE!

Done. Whew.

Pete and Repeat

Filed Under : Family,Fun,Life by Steph

Feb. 26

2012

We traveled to Long Barn again this break, hoping to see some snow. Like much of the country, it’s been unseasonably warm and super dry. Here’s the same area last year:

Our first full day there (Tuesday) we headed further up the mountain in search of enough snow to sled on and eventually ended up at Pinecrest Lake.

We saw a helicopter doing some work for PG&E, which was exciting, but not as exciting as when we thought it was a search and rescue operation.

Nate did some exploring. Can you spot him on the rock?

Lily still isn’t sold on the joys of playing in the snow, but we were eventually able to convince her to stand and not be held and to stop crying. She wasn’t into sledding but eventually she had fun in the little snow fort we found. Her favorite activity was taking a header into it. Over and over.

Good times.

We made mini-snowmen,

went to the local ski lodge and drank hot chocolate while we watched the skiers and snowboarders. Ava’s convinced that she would love to ski.

After lunch Lily and I took a nap, Nate worked on a presentation and Ava continued to read and I think she watched a movie. After a walk we decided to go to the ice rink and Ava made it 7 times around the rink, two of which were after the lights went out (around 5:30pm).

She had a little boy–maybe 7 or 8?–who offered her advice on how to move around the ice faster without her buckets. She tried (very briefly) following his advice, but then switched back to her shuffling around with a death grip on the buckets.

We have no idea why the lights went out, but we were all set. The heat and stove run off gas, and I made our tasty dinner. Nate brought a flashlight and the cabin came equipped with a kerosene lantern so we were set light-wise. Nate and the girls read from their respective tablet readers and after dinner we watched a movie on mine. The lights were out maybe three hours, and obviously we were far from having to rough it.

The above picture was taken earlier in the day, when there was actually daylight, but it’s pretty much the same shot as if I took it with the lights out. They love that V-Reader. And just for fun, here’s how the girls looked last year:

It was another short and sweet family trip. I was disappointed that there wasn’t more snow and once again my girls haven’t really witnessed a snowfall, but we had fun. We loved traveling in our new vehicle. A and L listened to the V-Reader and I heard repeatedly “I can’t see it! Ava I can’t see it!” or “Lily now I can’t see it.” They are in this phase where they ask/tell me something multiple times in a row and it makes me feel like I’m going a little insane and just want it to stop. They are also often struck with a raging case of the sillies to which Mr. Silver-Lining reminded me that even in their lunatic-like laughing, they were bonding and not fighting and we should be thankful for that. And I really am. They love each other and dealt with sleeping on a droopy pullout couch (poor Ava slept in a broken part of the mattress because of missing springs and Lily rolled her all the way to that end). We might have been wide awake at crazy early times of the morning, but it was fun being together as a family in that one-room (with all the modern amenities) cabin.

Ahhhhhhhhh…….

Filed Under : Family,Fun,Holiday,Life,school by Steph

Feb. 19

2012

Haiku: Ode to February Break

February Break
Oh how you make my heart sing
To-do list no more.

Because seriously, I was a productive beast on my first day of break. Vacuumed, mopped, started laundry, went to the post office, cleaners, phone calls to the insurance company and other companies, emails sent, and finally ordered a silhouette of Lily (to match the one we have of Ava when she was 2) all before noon. Okay, I finished the errand to the post office at 12:10pm. I also took a nap and went to the mall for a hair cut and color. Came home in time to say goodnight to the young’uns and Nate and I finished up a series we’ve been watching. A lovely first day of break.

I am on a mission to organize our office, which includes filing, scanning art projects of Ava’s, shredding unneeded files and converting CDs to digital files and then storing. I know, Captain Excitement. Except to me, it really is. I started yesterday in dealing with some of the office supplies in our closet, organizing and getting rid of items we no longer need. We also finally called the phone company today Mom. At first we were again told it was our issue. Um no people, this happens at least six times a year, and it’s more than a little annoying. I’m thankful for the internet though, and am not going to complain so much that it jinxes us and goes down too.

I also have plans to read this break

And while this stack (along with the felt items to finish) will only be reduced one or two books this break, it’s still a lovely view of possibilities.

In kid news, Ava was Dr. Ava (in a chef’s coat) and Lily was Dr. Princess this morning. Dr. Princess who loves to build Lego flower towers.

Last night, Ava surprised Nate and I with a special delivery. We were in bed and Nate felt something at his feet and pulled out these two envelopes.

I <3 that girl. I think my favorite detail (besides the sweet words) is the CA that she added, just so we would “be sure to get it from the Post Office.”

the mommy express