Strike A Pose!

Last night as we were leaving the piano studio after Paprika's piano lesson, she spontaneously struck this pose for me:





And all I could think of was this picture of MY dad, circa 1978 (a photo Paprika has never seen):




Can you tell they are related? Ha!

Oh Happy Days!

My Dad, Nana Nancy, and my Grandma all boarded the big bird back to Indiana this morning. We had such an amazing time having them here. The house was full of life and energy, and now it feels so empty - which is saying something, considering there are three energetic little ones running around. ;-)

I was so glad we were able to host everyone comfortably. Even though our house is small, I didn't want that to limit our hospitality. I think we did a pretty great job (if I do say so myself - haha!) My dad and Nancy slept in the girls' room and my Grandma had the guest room. Everything felt just right - and now I am counting the days until we can do it again!

I promised my Grandma I would post pictures ASAP - so here they are! There are A LOT. I took a break from blogging while everyone was visiting - I wanted to focus on the here and now. Now I want to remember the good times, so here's a taste:


Saturday night (moments after arrival) - Celebrating Grandma's 80th Birthday!:







Sunday Morning - Reading with Grandpa:



Sunday Afternoon -

First we all went to the Park with the girls - they fed the ducks and played on the playground. Here is Nana Nancy with Violet pointing out some ducks:



After that, we went on a short scenic driving tour and then headed to the Beach and Aquarium. We stopped for ice cream at the end of the Pier and the girls got so messy eating their chocolate treats.  Then, the girls watched the surfers and asked (a million times) how old they have to be to go surfing.  :-)  Here's Great Grandma Mimi with her three great grandchildren, plus me and Mr. M. We love my Grandma so very much!:




Grandpa and Nana Nancy - we love them so very much, too!:




Grandpa with Ginger:




Sunday Night - Great Grandma Mimi holding Violet right after Violet's bath:




Paprika reading stories to Mimi and Nana Nancy:




Monday morning - Violet feeling bright and cheery sitting next to Grandpa:



Making fresh squeezed orange juice after picking oranges from the backyard:









Monday afternoon trip to the park:













The water fountain was a little overzealous in its spray - can you tell what the girls had the most fun doing at the park? They got soaked! :-)








Some of my favorite memories from growing up are my dad playing guitar to me (and teaching me how to play). I was so glad when my dad got out the guitar and favored us with a tune. Little guitar serenade by Grandpa on Monday night:



It was all the more special because this is the 12 string guitar that my dad bought me for my 17th birthday. It was burned badly in the fire and Robbie fixed it up when he was out this past summer. Lots of memories with this particular guitar:



Of course, Ginger wanted to play, too!:




On Tuesday morning, Grandpa made boats with the girls. The girls had made paper boats on their own and we added white duct tape to the bottom to make them waterproof - so the boats would sail easily.

Here's Grandpa helping Ginger construct her boat. She then decorated it by drawing lots of little people on it - so cute!:




Then we went to the Wilderness Park to see if the boats would really sail. Paprika's boat sailed fantastically - a seaworthy vessel it was:







We fed the giant koi in the pond (not that they need feeding - ha!) The girls were so excited Grandpa gave them quarters to get fish food. I always forget to bring quarters, but Grandpa saved the day!




We spent a few hours hiking around the Wildnerness Park. Hardly anyone was there - which, you know, was just great by me! We let Paprika miss school since it was such a special occasion. :-)

She got a little science lesson by way of studying the turtles over at the pond. There were so many turtles, and the cutest baby turtle, too! She wanted to take him home (but we didn't):









I tried to get a photo of Grandpa with the grandkids (and me!) - but Ginger was not having it! She had stepped in the pond and so her sock was wet - and well, that did not make her a happy camper. Don't worry - she quickly got over it! (When I gave her MY sock! Haha!)







I took tons of photos - and these are the highlights!

 I spent all day today so sad that my Grandma, my Dad, and Nancy had gone home. It was so wonderful having them here - I hope they come back soon. We miss them already.

And you know what - when they were here, the weather was AMAZING. And then today, after they left it got cold and now it's raining. So, clearly, the weather agrees.  Ha!

 I will always cherish the memories from this trip - they were TRULY sunny days! :-)


The End.

Daddy's Weekend!

So, after I posted last week that Baby Violet was not crawling, she turned around and started crawling about 10 minutes later. It's like she knew I was writing about her! So, yes, we have a crawler on our hands now. She loves to crawl straight for the electronics and power cords, so I've started babyproofing again. :-)

The end of last week was a little bit of a blur because on Thursday night, I got the flu! I was sooooo sick. I fell asleep with Ginger on Thursday night and was a mess all day Friday. That was a hard day because all the kids were feeling GREAT and had tons of energy, and I was taking care of them while wanting to just fall down and sleep.

The highlight of Friday was when I took the girls to the park because my cleaning lady was coming and I had to get everyone out of the house. We got to the park and Ginger had a pooopy diaper that had leaked all the way down to her ankles. She didn't want me to change it. At the same time, Paprika had a meltdown because she wanted water with ice and all the water bottles I had were "too hot" - so she was freaking out. And then baby Violet started screaming because she was hungry and wanted to be picked up. There were some teenage girls hanging out near our van and I know they were thinking, "Wow, I am NEVER having kids." Haha.

But it worked out fine. I got Ginger changed first, put on a special app for Paprika on the Ipad that calmed her down, and picked up Violet and fed her. Voila, michief managed.



By Saturday I was feeling a little better. Mr. M was home, so that helped. We did our usual picnic thing with the girls. We pick up take out and go to a park and eat lunch while they play. We did a ton of stuff around the house and got the guest room ready for my brother, Robbie, who was coming to visit on Sunday.

Sunday was Mr. M's day, and he wanted to get Rubio's again and eat at the park. We thought it would be fun to take the van to the automatic carwash (the kind where you sit in the car and go through the wash). He doesn't ever take the cars there because it's hard on the cars - but we thought it would be fun for the girls. Well, Paprika LOVED it. Ginger was scared. And Baby Violet was probably traumatized by it. She did NOT like it one little bit. ;-)

But, Paprika loved it so much that Mr. M took her back with our other car later (just the two of them) and she had the best time riding through the car wash a second time. It had been about 8 months since the cars were washed (!!!!) so it was HIGH time.

Then we went and picked up my brother at the airport, now he is here. The girls are loving their Uncle Robbie. They think he is SO OLD (he is 17!) I think they just think he is old because he is very tall. To them, tall means old. Haha.


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May You Live All The Days Of Your Life

On Friday, my stepdad Eric - my little brother's dad - passed away from colorectal cancer. He was 44 years old.

This past week has been a really difficult and sad one for our family. I have so many memories of Eric, and it is just hard to believe that he's gone. It's hard to believe I can't just pick up the phone and talk to him, or that we'll take a boat ride around the lake the next time I am home in Indiana.



You all may remember that in June of 2000, I was in a fire that burned down the house where I was living in San Francisco. I ended up driving back to Indiana with nothing more than the clothes on my back. I had lost every material possession I'd ever owned. I had a big collection of music (all on CD back then - we didn't have IPods yet), and all of my music was burned in the fire.



Eric was a big music lover - probably the biggest lover of music I have ever known. A lot of people would say, "Oh that's too bad" about the fire and move on. A few might have bought me a CD or two to replenish my collection. But not Eric. Nope.

Do you know what Eric did? He copied hundreds of music CDs for me to replace what was lost in the fire. He replaced pretty much every CD I had in my music collection, and he also introduced me to lots of new music I'd never heard of before. He not only fixed what I was missing, he made it better. He didn't just go buy a bunch of music...he took the time to create a whole music library for me. It was a gift that took hours and hours of his precious time (days even?) - and he did it without blinking.



It was thoughtful and unexpected. But if you knew Eric, then you know that he was the kind of person who went out of his way for other people all the time. He was the type of guy who would drop everything to be there for a friend. He was that friend in need (a friend, indeed).



You know how some people wait until the end of their lives to live, only to discover it's too late? Well, that wasn't Eric. When you were with Eric, you knew that you were going to have the best time possible. Eric made every moment seem like an event.

Whether we were going to the Indy 500, or to a Colts game, or roadtripping along the California coast, Eric always had a way of figuring out how it could be the best experience possible, and then making it so. If you were going to ride a rollercoaster with Eric, you were going to ride in the front car. He never did anything 50% - he always made sure every little memory he made with you was one you'd tell stories about for years to come.



I have enough memories of Eric to fill a hundred blog posts. He was my stepdad, and while our relationship was not perfect, he always treated me with so much respect and love. I have a hard time believing that he's gone. I don't understand cancer. He was too young, too vibrant, and had too much left to do for cancer to steal him away.



He died two days after my little brother turned 17 years old. I know all our lives are brief in the big scheme of things, but it's just really hard for me to reconcile a boy losing his father so young. Especially a father who coached Little League and took his son to football games, and gave so much love to the people around him. A guy who was so full of life.

Eric truly lived all the days of his life. He squeezed every good moment from his life and truly lived with passion. Every time I want to take the middle seat on the rollercoaster, I will honor Eric by riding in the front car. He showed up...for people, and for life. I hope that at the end of our lives, we can all say the same. Miss you, Eric.




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Back In The Swing Of Things!

This week school went back in session. I have to admit, I really enjoyed having Paprika home all Spring Break. I am really loving all the girls' ages right now, and there is something just so sweet about age five especially. I was a little heartbroken when Spring Break ended.

We made Spring Break last a little longer anyway- my Aunt Jackie and Uncle Rob came to visit us for the day on Monday, so I kept Paprika home from school since I knew this would be her one chance to see them before they went back to Indiana. Uncle Rob and Aunt Jackie were in San Diego and drove up...it was SO great to see them. They are so much fun to be around, and the girls just went wild over them.

My Uncle Rob looks a lot like my dad, so Ginger kept calling him "Grandpa" (what she calls my dad)...so then we corrected her, and she started calling him Grandpa Uncle Rob. It was a hoot.



Rob and Jackie wanted to have a "normal day" with us (no big outings, etc.), so we hung out around the house during the morning (gave them the grand tour- haha, and played with Daisy). Then we picked up some McDonald's and had a picnic at the park for a few hours. Then I took them on a driving tour of the city (Baby Violet had fallen asleep in the van, so it was an excuse to keep driving).

Then we all went to Paprika's swim lesson. Yup, that's right- swim lessons are back! We've been on hiatus since November, but now the pool is open again. Yay! Paprika is taking private swim lessons 3x/week now, and loving it. I am hoping to get her on swim team in the Fall after she turns 6.

So, we all hung out at the pool while Paprika had her lesson. Ginger is soooo much better behaved than she was in the Fall. It's amazing what a few months' of maturity will do for a two year old. ;-)

Then we came home and played Sight Words Candyland and waited for the traffic to improve before they drove back to San Diego (where they were flying out in the morning). It was soooo great to see them, even just for the day. I kept telling them to come back and stay with us, and I hope that they do! :-)

I took lots of pictures, but right now I am snuggled up in bed with two sleeping babies (Violet and Ginger) and so I am just using the photos I've already downloaded to my computer for this post (translation: I'm being lazy). It's been a bit of a challenge for me to find the time to work on my photos- Mr. M is working a lot and I have just surrendered to taking care of babies 24/7. I find I am a lot happier just accepting the fact that my kids are my life at the moment, and then when I do have a spare moment, the last thing I want to do is deal with pictures! Haha. But I am taking a ton of photos still, they are just housed on my camera until I have a spare hour (or several) to sort and sift through them all.



On Tuesday, I joined a gym. Woah, I know! I had gone a few times (free pass) and liked it enough to sign up. They have a little childcare area that is really nice. I took the girls to try it out and they want to live there practically.

Well, actually, Paprika and Ginger think they want to live there, but both times they have gone, it has gone South at about the 45 minute mark. So, I have about 30 minutes of alone time to do a workout, then 5 minutes each way to and from the nursery/childcare area...but hey, I'll take it.

Baby Violet has been doing great in the nursery. They have a separate private nursery for babies, so she is not mixed in with the "big kids." Both times she's gone, she's been the only baby, so she basically gets held by a little old lady for an hour. The little old lady could probably be my Grandma's mother (not really, but maybe!) - and she is so sweet. She told me how much she loves Baby Violet and that she wants her to come back again and again. That made me feel good.



Baby Violet really is such a sweet baby, I can see why she wants her to come back! :-) She's a happy little girl.

The other great thing about the club is that they have a pool for kids with open swim. Paprika is soooo excited about it. The pool where Paprika takes lessons also has open swim, but they don't allow floatation devices (which is an issue for Ginger), and I have to watch three little kids on my own, which is next to impossible. So, my plan is to take Violet to the nursery for an hour while I swim with Paprika and Ginger at the club's pool. Plus, Ginger can use whatever floaties she wants, so that's going to make it so much better for her.

I am still a little apprehensive about the whole joining the health club thing but they have a two week cancellation policy, so if it doesn't work out, no biggie. I am having fun with the tiny amount of freedom it affords me, and the kids seem to really like it (at least for 45 minutes!)



We didn't end up having Easter on Wednesday, after all. Mr. M had to work that day/night...and then today Paprika found all the Easter Bunny's chocolates and goodies in a Target bag. Whoops! So, I have no idea what we'll do. We are the lamest Easter Bunnies ever. Oh well. Don't feel too sorry for these kids. They just did get a new giant trampoline in the backyard! They have it pretty good. Haha.



That's the news around here. Oh, and this weekend someone (okay, it's Daisy) turns ONE year old! Paprika wants to have a "dog party" at the top of a tree like they do in the book Go, Dog, Go! Hopefully this "dog party" will be better planned than Easter Wednesday! I can't believe Daisy is a year old already and I've survived. More on that in a later post... Happy Weekend! :-)

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