The Party Planner

Zoey planned a Valentine's Party for the Noah's Ark animals. I would go into detail, but a picture is so much better, right?

Splash!

Last night I was washing Zoey's hair in the bathtub. I was sitting on the edge of the tub, turned toward her with my hands in her hair under the faucet when Max comes barreling in and wooosh... pushes me into the tub! Everyone, but me of course, thought this was hilarious. Ross was cracking up as he reached his hand down to help me. Thanks Family! All ready picking on the mom!

Another Max funny. We had a long board set up between and crate and bucket turned upside down to form a bridge outside. The kids walked along it like a balance beam, or sometimes jumped along it. We called it the "letter bridge". Well, yesterday, Zoey jumped too high and it cracked in the middle! Oh, everyone lost it. Zoey was crying because she felt bad. I kept telling her it was an accident, and no big deal as I cleaned up the pieces and put them away. Max was standing on the bucket crying, too, but he was upset because he couldn't get across to the other side without the bridge! (There was just grass, not like river or anything, but to him, the bridge was gone). So he was crying and asking, "How can we get across?" I quickly put some little chairs in between so they go from one to the other (hey, all about working with what you have on hand, right?) and Max exclaims, "what a good idea, mommy!" Thanks, Max, it does happen from time to time.

Gymnastics

Here are some pictures from Zoey's Gymnastics class: concentrating...

TA DAH!

Here she is on a pretty high beam. She does pretty well! She likes the bars too.

Max's school actually had a field trip to the gym this week. Here he is giving the straight arm to one of the helpers. "Hey I don't need your help!" He actually has really good balance.

Running through an obstacle course. They pretty much ran and jumped and played for an hour... they were tired out!!

Oh the horror...

I have to say... I have a love/hate relationship with California. I mean, the weather is great for a large majority of the time, the opportunities available for activities and events are endless, and people in general are healthy and active, which provides us with unique food choices and fun activities. BUT, the traffic stinks, everything is really expensive and the only thing I have heard on the news and on the radio ALL WEEK is about the Oscars! It is actually scheduled to rain on Sunday, and this is causing the whole world to be turned upside down!! What are they going to do with the Gold statues, and the red carpet? It cannot get wet. Let alone the actors, why, they just might melt! I remember this from living here before too... "Oscar Sunday" is bigger than the Superbowl. There are recipes for your "Oscar party" and special themes for your "Oscar Sunday Dinner." The streets are noticeably barren. When I lived other places, I didn't even know when the Oscar's were going to be until the day of, or sometimes the day after when the winners were all over the news. I mean, I always like to know who the big winners are, and I like movies a lot, but this is a little ridiculous. I actually had the news on a couple of times this week, and tonight when I talked to Ross on the phone and he mentioned a huge newstory, all I could say was... they have tented three blocks of Hollywood Boulevard completely and the red carpet will be encased in plastic until Friday. Priorities...

Fun Pics

Not too much going on... just some fun pictures. Here are Silly Faces (I love Zoey in this one):


And then Max has a great one in this picture (of course, the cute one of each kid is in a different picture):


And here is the ultimate piggy back ride!!


Zoey has a "Responsibility Chart" And if she gets a certain number of smileys each week, she gets to pick a ticket for various things. This week she earned a "night out with Daddy!" Here they are before going out on their date of dinner and ice cream at "Berskin Robbins" (that is how Zoey said it at first. I just had to record it for my own memory!)
They had a good time. She looks forward to her end of the week reward:) Another sweet story of Zoey...
She went to a birthday party this weekend at an Adventure Plex where they had a huge indoor maze (think McDonald's playland, but way, way bigger and cooler and not as snotty and gross) Anyway, this type of thing is her thing. She loves to climb and slide and explore. So she ran right into the huge contraption without a second thought. If any of the other girls in her class were a little timid, she looked out for them. And then Max came at the end (he knew Zoey was going to a party and kept bugging Ross about cupcakes). This place was a little big for a three year old. Even one as big as Max. He was a little afraid at first because it was so big and tall and big kids were zooming by. We asked Zoey to help him and watch out for him. She was so, so sweet. It was definitely a proud moment for me and Ross. She led him through the whole thing, held his hand down the slide if he wanted, and if she got too far ahead, she was aware of it, and went back to get him to make sure he was fine. Even as her friends zoomed by, she didn't rush to join them. She stayed by him the whole time. He was so excited when he got there that he didn't eat his cake, and it got thrown out while he was playing! So he didn't give up on the quest for cupcakes. We had to make some at home. Yum!

Happy Valentine's Day

From Max and Zoey:

They made these.
And here is Zoey in her outfit for the day. She has been so excited for Valentine's. We have been crafting since January!

Smile

Is your computer screen dirty? Seriously... Click here.

SNOW DAY

Max's school had a snow day the other day. Real snow but it was 65 degrees. That is the way I like it!! Sledding and snow balls and no jackets or getting cold. Sounds like a good winter to me. Here he is about to go down the little "hill".

Oh, that explains it...

H/T: Danielle Bean

Bonding with Grandma and Papa

We recently had a visit from Papa and Grandma. From the second she saw them drive up, Zoey pretty much talked non-stop the first afternoon and evening they were here. She danced and sang and played make-believe with them. Here are some classic photos of the first HOUR they were here.

First, after instructing them step-by-step on how to make a ukulele...(which turned into a guitar), they had to have a concert. Here they are rockin' out:



And Zoey and Papa doing the guitar solo:

She really does things with such intensity. So funny!

And then on an adventure to Oklahoma, they became cowboys. So what do they need? Cowboy hats, of course. Here is a picture of everyone in their cowboy hats, homemade by Zoey. (We get reams of construction paper at Costco, so that we don't go broke supporting her craft habit).



I love, love, love this picture. Classic...

THE RAT

As in Happy Chinese New Year and the year of the rat, of course... did you think I was going to tell another rodent story? (No sign of the skunk since his tail was caught in the trap, yeah... take that mister stinky! I am of course all tough now about it)

Just for fun... here is some info for the new chinese year:

A Rat Year is a time of hard work, activity, and renewal. This is a good year to begin a new job, get married, launch a product or make a fresh start.

Zoey celebrated in school today and made a dragon hat:



I had to have her hold the tail part so you could see it. Cute, eh? Now go out and celebrate... eat an egg roll, Yum!

Happy Birthday Bree!

Sorry we are behind. The computer had to be out of sight this weekend, to keep Max from playing!! Wishing you a Happy Birthday. And Congrats! (I guess you can pass your gift card to Jeff, wink wink!)

Photo: Pinkcakebox